Mistakes in writing complaints and orders letters of purchasing department of northern green land service and real estate joint stock company

Research topic: "Mistakes in writing complaints and orders letters ofPurchasing Department of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint StockCompany" are both meaningful and nece

Research topic: "Mistakes in writing complaints and orders letters ofPurchasing Department of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint StockCompany" are both meaningful and necessary in theory and practice when writingbusiness correspondence with foreign partner by English

This study codified theoretical issues related to business correspondence inEnglish, especially complaint letters and order letters, the cause of mistakes whenwriting these two types of business correspondence of purchasing staff member ofthe company The study also analyzed, found difficulties in writing letters ofcomplaint and letters in English that employees of the Purchasing Department facedbased on their reasons and actual expression through the use of Data collectionmethods - survey questionnaires for all procurement department employees andbased on 30 complaint letters and order letters

From the above difficulties, the study has provided some useful solutions tohelp the Purchasing Department staff improve the skills of writing complaint lettersand order letters by English

Due to limited time, awareness and practical experience, research cannot avoiderrors and errors Therefore, I look forward to receiving comments and suggestions

to improve the research

i

In the process of completing the thesis, I received enthusiastic help fromsupervisors, teachers of the English Department - Thuongmai University, my familyand especially the staff of Purchasing Department of Northern Green Land Serviceand Real Estate Joint Stock Company

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my belovedsupervisor- Vu Thi Thu Trang, who directly leads me Thanks for her helpful adviceand detailed comments in the preparation as well as editing Besides, she alwayssupports and creates favorable conditions for me to complete this graduation article.Secondly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the PurchasingManager of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company-

Ms Nguyen Thi Quynh, who helped and guided me very enthusiastically during theinternship and work I also give special thanks to all the staff of the purchasingdepartment, especially contributing their ideas and experiences to help me enrich

my graduation

Finally, I want to express my deepest appreciation to my family and friends,especially my parents who always take care of me and bring me to complete mythesis

Hanoi, April 18, 2019

Student

Bui Thi Phuong Trinh

ii

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous study 1

1.3 Aims to the study 3

1.4 Research subject 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.7 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Overview of business correspondence 6

2.1.1 Business correspondence 6

2.1.2 Importance of Business Correspondence 6

2.1.3 Types of business correspondence 7

2.2 Overview of business letter 8

2.2.1 Business letter 8

2.2.2 Importance of business letter 9

2.2.3 Function of business letter 10

2.2.4 Parts of business letter 12

2.2.5 Types of Business letter 14

2.2.6 When to write which type of Business letter 15

2.3 Overview of order letter 17

2.3.1 Order letter 17

2.3.2 Factors to be considered while drafting order letter 17

2.4 Overview of complaint letter 18

2.4.1 Complaint letter 18

iii

2.4.2 Types of Complaint Letters 19

2.4.3 Factors to be considered while drafting complaint letter 20

2.5 Mistakes in writing business letter 21

2.5.1: Mistakes analysis 21

2.5.2 Common mistakes in writing business letter 21

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 24

3.1 Data analysis 24

3.1.1 Education level of purchasing department staffs 24

3.1.2 Timeserving in purchasing department 25

3.1.3 How frequently do writing complaints and orders letter of purchasing department? 26

3.1.4 Number of staffs feels confident in writing complaints and orders letters 27

3.1.5 Mistakes in writing complaints and orders letters 27

3.2: The main reasons for writing complaint and order letters 32

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 34

4.1 Some solutions which the company can use to improve writing complaint and order letters skill of Purchasing Department Staff 34

4.2 Some solutions which the staff can use to improve writing complaint and order letters skill of them 35

4.3 Some suggestion for the school where students are trained before they become employees 37 CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

iv

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 1: Sample of Error Log (adapted from Ferris and Hedgcock, 2005) 4

Table 2: Recapitulation of Errors 5

Chart 1: Education level of purchasing department staffs 24

Chart 2: Timeserving in purchasing department 25

Chart 3: How frequently do writing complaints and orders letters of purchasing department? 26

Chart 4: Number of staffs feels confident in writing complaints and orders letters 27 Table 3: The results of the survey results in mistakes 28

Table 4: The results of the recapitulation of mistake 32

v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY

1.1 Rationale

After nearly 30 years of renovation, Vietnam has achieved importantachievements From an outdated agricultural economy with 90% of the populationworking in agriculture, up to now, the material and technical foundations and socio-economic infrastructure have been gradually met to meet the industrialization,modernize (industrialization and modernization) and transfer all activities of self-sufficient agricultural economy to an industrialized economy Vietnam's economyhas gradually integrated into the regional and world economy The achievements ofthe process of industrialization and modernization bring the country to develop andimprove the material and spiritual life of the people and contribute to ensuringsecurity and national defense

Along with that strong development, Vietnam is also facing to some problems

in which trade integration is also a big challenge Vietnam is a potential market with

an abundant labor force that is an ideal choice for foreign investors Not onlycommunicative English, commercial English also has affirmed its importance notonly for tourism companies but also for other fields, especially real estate

However, there are still mistakes in writing complaints and orders letter ofpurchasing department of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint StockCompany English is most language that is used in the company Most staff inpurchasing in company has English basically so in writing complaints and ordersletters is still weak

In order to help the staffs, especially purchasing department improve writingcomplaints and orders letters skill after one- month internship at purchasingdepartment of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company,

I carry on this study with the title: “Mistakes in writing complaints and orders letter

of purchasing department of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate JointStock Company”

1.2 Previous study

There has been a lot of research related to writing business correspondence

1

such as “How to improve your business writing?” by Carolyn O’Hara; “How toimprove business writing?” by Jacob Funnell; “10 tips for effective businesswriting”; “The 10 most important business skill you will need by 2020”… Thesestudies all point to steps to write a business correspondence such as “How toimprove your business writing?” by Carolyn O’Hara:

Bury your argument Present your main idea as soon as possible.”

There has been a lot of book to writing business correspondence such as:

“Writing for business” The author reviewed: “This book has been written forintermediate students of English who want to write business letters It has beenspecifically designed for students working for companies which have a need forregular communication with overseas customers, agents, etc Students who want touse this book should have a basic knowledge of English grammar and a smallvocabulary In fact it has been assumed that students are familiar with the first threelevels of the Cambridge English Lexicon (2207 words) Most words above this levelare listed in the glossary” The book “Writing correspondence…E-mail…Fax…byEnglish” by Nguyen Thanh Yen also is an interesting book about businesscorrespondence

All of these studies and books show ways to improve your business writingskills very effectively However, to improve the most effective commercialcorrespondence skills, it is necessary to find difficulties in the writing process Inbusiness, writing business correspondence is very important in the business of the

2

company, it may even be related to the success or failure of a company transaction.

In reality, most people still have some difficulties when writing businesscorrespondence That is the reason why we choose the thesis “Mistakes in writingcomplaints and orders letter of Purchasing Department of Northern Green LandService and Real Estate Joint Stock Company”

1.3 Aims to the study

The aim of this study is to identify problems in writing complaints and ordersletter and find out some solutions to improve writing complaints and orders letter ofPurchasing Department of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint StockCompany The expectation is the staff of purchasing department of Northern GreenLand Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company can write complaints and ordersletter correctly to achieve high efficiently at work

1.4 Research subject

Real Estate is highly competitive one, every company requires their staff knowEnglish basically Nowadays, foreigner transactions are becoming more and morepopular Thus writing business correspondence must be clear and understandable

To improve writing complaints and orders letter skill, staffs of PurchasingDepartment need to understand the importance of writing business correspondence,know how to write letters correctly The finding of this study is beneficial forNorthern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company These findingcan be used to help Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint StockCompany appreciate qualification of purchasing department

Here are some questions to deal with the study

What is the reality of the use of English of all staff in Northern Green LandService and Real Estate Joint Stock Company, especially purchasing department?What are mistakes in writing complaints and orders letter of purchasingdepartment of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company?How frequently do writing complaints and orders letter of purchasingdepartment?

What are some solutions or suggestions used to help them?

3

1.5 Scope of the study

This study focus improving writing complaints and orders letter skill of staff

of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company Moreover it

is big problem, requires much time and effort Due to limited time, resources andknowledge as well as other conditions, the study carried out to find out mistakes inwriting complaints and orders letter of purchasing department of Northern GreenLand Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company to help them improve writingcomplaints and orders letter skill to write complaints and orders letter correctly toachieve high efficience at work Thus, this study is valuable for the PurchasingDepartment of Northern Green Land Service and Real Estate Joint Stock Company

1.6 Research methodology

Method of data collection from references is the method we choose in thisstudy In order to collect data for this study, we follow through letter are sent andreceived from email and fax in December 2018 There are 3 steps to conduct thesurvey:

Step 1: the researcher identified the situation/reality of writing complaints andorders letter of purchasing department

Step 2: the researcher data collection

In this step, we will collect 30 order and complaint letters of PurchasingDepartment and fill in the table which based on Ferris and Hedgcock model (2005)Data Morphological Lexica

Articl

e Error

Word Choice Error

Sentence Structure Error

Step 3: The researcher analysis data collection

After the error patterns are identified, the total number of error is recapitulated(in componential analysis) The recapitulation can be seen in the following table:

Error

Percentage (%)

Morphologica Verb Error

Noun ErrorArticle Error

ErrorSyntactic Sentence Structure

ErrorMechanical Spelling Error

Punctuation ErrorCapitalizationError

Total

Table 2: Recapitulation of Errors

1.7 Organization of the study

This study is divided into 4 chapters as follow

Chapter 1: The Overview of the study which including rationale, previousstudy, aims of the study, research subjects, scope of the study, researchmethodology and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review looking at some theoretical background realiting

to the study It focuses on concepts of complaints letters, orders letters, purchasingdepartment, mistakes

Chapter 3: Data analysis and research finding: provides the details of thefindings including survey results through data collection

Chapter 4: Recommendation and suggestion include summary of the study,discussion and conclusion before ending with recommendation for further studies

5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of business correspondence

2.1.1 Business correspondence

“Communication through exchange of letters is known as correspondence Wecommunicate our feelings, thoughts etc, to our friends and relatives through lettersthat may be called personal correspondence A businessman also writes andreceives letters in his day to-day transactions, which may be called businesscorrespondence

Business correspondence or business letters is a written communicationbetween two parties Businessmen may write letters to supplier of goods and alsoreceive letters from the suppliers Customers may write letters to businessmenseeking information about availability of goods, price, quality, sample etc, or placeorder for purchase of goods Thus, business letters may be defined as a media ormeans through which views are expressed and ideas or information iscommunicated in writing in the process of business activities”- According the book

“Business correspondence” of translation and interpreting department of faculty ofEnglish of Thuongmai University

2.1.2 Importance of Business Correspondence

“A business correspondence has numbers of importance Its most importantfeature is the ease of reaching and communicating with different parties It is notalways possible to meet persons face to face

A business correspondence helps to meet some organizational goals One canachieve the objectives through it Let us study some of them in details

1 Maintaining a Proper Relationship

It is not always possible for any business or organization to reach to anyperson in particular This will cost any business Here, the business correspondencewill be a rescue for any business

It helps in maintaining the proper relationships between the parties Businesscorrespondence strengthens the business It also helps in the internalcommunication It makes communication within the organization more clear andprecise

2 Serves as Evidence

Any written form of communication serves as evidence A businesscorrespondence helps the person in a business to keep a record of all the facts.These written records will serve as evidence

3 Create and Maintain Goodwill

It helps in creating and maintaining goodwill between a business and acustomer Any letter to enquire, complaint, suggestion or feedbacks helps acompany to grow and maintain goodwill

4 Inexpensive and Convenient

It is a cheap and convenient form of business communication

5 Formal Communication

A business communication serves as a formal communication between twopersons It may be a seller and a buyer It can be between an employee and theemployer The language used is formal and logical

It helps in removing the ambiguity and the doubts of the person involved inthe business The formal communication in business is followed and acceptable

6 Helps in the Expansion of Business

A business correspondence helps a business to achieve the set goal It alsoensures the expansion of a business With no waste of time and proper utilization ofmanpower and resources, a business can expand

Any information regarding some resources or any product or market can beeasily done Even the news of the expansion of business can be spread by it” ”-According the book “Business correspondence” of translation and interpretingdepartment of faculty of English of Thuongmai University

2.1.3 Types of business correspondence

Base on Computer Hope:

"Email Short for electronic mail, e-mail or email is information stored on acomputer that is exchanged between two users over telecommunications Moreplainly, e-mail is a message that may contain text, files, images, or otherattachments sent through a network to a specified individual or group ofindividuals"

Email is the way businesses often use to exchange correspondence It is thelatest, most modern form of business communication and is used when there is aneed to communicate to large audience in an organization

Memorandum

“A memorandum, more commonly known as a memo, is a short message or

record used for internal communication in a business Once the primary form ofinternal written communication, memorandums have declined in use since theintroduction of email and other forms of electronic messaging; however, being able

to write clear memos certainly can serve you well in writing internal businessemails, as they often serve the same purpose” according Richard Nordquist

2.2 Overview of business letter

remember that a business letter is an official document Of course there are manyother communications between people and companies, for instance telephoneconversation, email, meetings, presentations, contracts, orders and invoices Abusiness letter is the most powerful communication tool for providing structuredand considered information in a formal way”

2.2.2 Importance of business letter

According to The Business Communication 1 Comment:

“Letter is as an indispensable tool of communication in business Business letters are used to sell the products, make inquiry about customers or prices of goods, seek information and advice, maintain good public relation, increase

goodwill and perform a variety of other business functions With the continuous growth of commerce and industry, usefulness and importance of business letter are also increasing gradually Some points highlighting the benefits or importance of business letter are discussed below:

Exchanging business information: Letters are the most economic and

convenient means of exchanging information With the help of letters, executives can easily exchange information with customers, suppliers, investors, government offices; regulatory authorities etc

Establishing business relationship: Business letter play important role in

establishing and maintaining relationship with various parties Business letters reduce the distance between a business and its customers, suppliers, creditors and other public groups

Creation of markets: Circular letter a form of business letter, helps to create

new markets for goods and services This letter contains information about utility, features and usefulness of the products and induces the customer to buy the

products

Substitute to personal visit: Introduction of letters in business world relieves

the business executives’ form visiting their clients, suppliers, creditors and other public groups by traveling a long distance For this reason, commercial letters are called alternative technique to personal visit

Saving cost and time: Business letters relieve the busy executives from

visiting personally their clients and other concerned parties Therefore, valuable time and costs can be saved.

Maintaining secrecy: Business letters also help to maintain secrecy of

information Non one other than the sender and receiver can know the message contained in the letter

Increasing goodwill: Business letters, like inquiry letter, circular letter, order

acknowledgement letter, adjustment grant letter etc help to increase good will of a business with the customers

Formal agreement: Business letter acts as formal agreement between buyer

and seller For example an order letter contains name of items, price, and quantity, time of delivery and mode of payment All these are regarded as the conditions of agreement between buyer and seller

Settlement of transaction: Commercial letters have paramount importance in

setting business transaction For example, by writing claim letter, buyer can raise his claims to the seller by writing collection letters; seller can collect dues from the customers

Use as reference: Information exchanged through letters can be preserved

permanently and used as reference when need arise Therefore, making business decisions becomes easier

Legal acceptance: Business letter is an acceptable document in the eye of

law It can be stored and produced as a documentary proof

Assistance in local and international trade: Bothe local and foreign trade

essentially requires the help of various business letters Through letters,

businessperson make inquiry about products and prices place orders for goods collect the dues make and settle claims etc

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that successful operation of business activities establishing, maintaining and developing business relationship and finally achieving business goal all require help of business letters In a sense, conducting business is impossible without business letters.”

2.2.3 Function of business letter

In business communication wrote:

“Business letters secure, promote and maintain business withoutcomplications, Business letters serve us a reference for the future Everyorganization should have to classify its outgoing mail and incoming mail and filethem classified on the basis of their subject matter in a chronological sequence.Business letters serve to maintain the correct information of the organization in theperception of the receiver Business letters establish and maintain contacts over awide area truly enlarging the scope and extent of business Business letters can beused as legal documents in disputes All business letters promote goodwill andenhance the prestige and the image of the organization.

We can enumerate the functions of a business letter thus :

Promotional Functions

Business organisations have to grow and enlarge, improving the quality oftheir products, by producing new products and providing better services Thecustomers have to be kept informed through letters these developments Businessorganisations have to expand their market by tapping new areas All roundexpansion is possible only if the organisation keeps all the people concerned wellinformed through letters that promote sales and service

Informational Functions

Business letters provide valuable data about earlier policies, transactions andall other activities of the organisation Modern business cannot depend on memory

as in olden days Letters are ready references if they are available New policies can

be evolved by studying the earlier ones It is not only essential to maintain goodcorrespondence but also more essential to make them be available in the files

2.2.4 Parts of business letter

A business letter is more formal than a personal letter It should have a margin

of at least one inch on all four edges It is always written on 8½"x11" (or metricequivalent) unlined stationery There are 12 parts to a business letter

The Heading

This contains the return address (usually two or three lines) with the date onthe last line Sometimes it may be necessary to include a line after the address andbefore the date for a phone number, fax number, E-mail address, or somethingsimilar Often a line is skipped between the address and date That should always bedone if the heading is next to the left margin It is not necessary to type the returnaddress if you are using stationery with the return address already imprinted.Always include the date

The Inside Address

This is the address you are sending your letter to Make it as complete aspossible Include titles and names if you know them This is always on the leftmargin If an 8½" x 11" paper is folded in thirds to fit in a standard 9" businessenvelope, the inside address can appear through the window in the envelope Aninside address also helps the recipient route the letter properly and can help shouldthe envelope be damaged and the address become unreadable Skip a line after theheading before the inside address Skip another line after the inside address beforethe greeting

Subject

It is a statement in brief, that indicates the matter to which the letter relates Itattacts the attention of the receiver immediately and helps him to know qiucklywhat the letter is about

This is placed below the inside address It is usually followed by a comma

Body of the letter

This comes after salution This is the main part of the letter and it contains theactual message of thes sender It is divided into three parts

(a) Opending part: It is the introdutory part of the letter In this part, attention

of the reader should be draw to the previous correspondence, if any

(b) Main parts: This part usually contains the subject matter of the letter Itshould be precise and written ion clear words

(c) Concluding part: It contains a statement of the sender’s intentions, hopes orexpectations concerning the next step to be taken Further, the sender should always

look forward to getting a possive response At the end, term like Thank you, with regard may be used.

The Complimentary Close

This short, polite closing ends with a comma It is either at the left margin orits left edge is in the center, depending on the Business Letter Style that you use Itbegins at the same column the heading does The block style is becoming morewidely used because there is no indenting to bother with in the whole letter

The Signature Line

Skip two lines (unless you have unusually wide or narrow lines) and type outthe name to be signed This customarily includes a middle initial, but does not have

to Women may indicate how they wish to be addressed by placing Miss, Mrs.,

Ms or similar title in parentheses before their name The signature line may include

a second line for a title, if appropriate The term "By direction" in the second linemeans that a superior is authorizing the signer The signature should start directlyabove the first letter of the signature line in the space between the close and thesignature line Use blue or black ink Business letters should not contain postscripts.Some organizations and companies may have formats that vary slightly

Enclusures

This is required when some documents like cheque, draft, bills, receipts, lists,invoices ect…, are attaches with the letter These enclosures are listed one by one inserial number

Copy circulation

This is requires when copies of the letter ara also to persons apart of theaddress It is noted as C.C

Post script

This is required when the write wants to ad something, which is not included

in the body of the letter It is expressed at P.S

2.2.5 Types of Business letter

Business letters can be written between to an employer of the same company,

by an employer to his employee, can be written to the suppliers or other businesspartners, and of course to the customers There are different types of businessletters:

o Letter for Payment Collection

o Letter before Signing a Contract

2.2.6 When to write which type of Business letter

“Business letters start with the date, salutation, have professional content inthe body, and end with a signature of the person writing it and/or enclosures This is

a generalized format of different types of business letters

Before starting a business letter, you should always remember to:

o Choose the topic according to the issue to be addressed

o Consider your audience and the type of content that will suit their profession

o Choose a fitting tone

o Write a one-line statement of purpose

o Stick to the format and mention details

o Organize the details

o Proofread the draft for simple sentences,

proper grammar and punctuation and finish editing

The end result should be a clear and understandable business letter which islikely to get the job done It is needless to say, the biggest advantage of writing is inthe fact that all our thoughts can be put to paper, solved for mistakes be it on paper

or online, and finally sent to the recipients

Now let us understand what the most common business letters mean and when

to write them

o Acknowledgment Letters: This type of letters is otherwise known as

Letter of Receipt and do not mean anything more than just a confirmation They are usually written for and are a sign of legal evidence, and do not necessarily mean that the action in question has been started, but the recipient has

“acknowledged” that they have an understanding of the situation

o Apology Letters: Letters of apology are written to simply say sorry

for what has happened in the past, what measures are being taken to solve that issue or what the writer plans on about the inconvenience occurred Substantially,these letters say something negative, but with a positive tone Here the writer accepts their responsibility and shows sincerity about the problem so that the

recipient doesn’t feel demoralized or ignored.

o Appreciation Letters: These letters are written by someone of the

top management to the lower level to motivate or to express gratefulness These are also called Thank-You Letters or Letter of Thanks

o Circular Letters: This letter is sent to a small group but has the

intention to grab the attention of larger groups They are an important form of advertisement and promotion They usually inform about new improvements in a company, about new facilities, or to show if any product or service is on sale

o Complaint Letters: These letters are seen as actual problems and are

addressed immediately to rectify the mistakes These shouldn’t sound like the writer is nagging, but also shouldn’t lose its importance and professionalism if the writer wants to be taken seriously

o Cover Letters: Cover letters usually accompany something more

They are used to describe what comes with them, why, what should be done with

it and so on These types of letters are generally very short It might be attached with a resume explaining the applicant’s credentials and how it relates to the vacancy in the company

o Follow-Up Letters: Follow-up letters are usually sent after some an

initial communication has been made with the writer This could be the thanking letter for an order requested by a customer, a review of the decisions taken in a meeting or an applicant inquiring about the status of his application

o Inquiry Letter: This type of letters asks direct and detailed questions

usually bullet-listed to derive/request information from the recipient So, they are brief but powerful They should be answered with accuracy

o Order Letters: A business can write to another business requesting

for an order or placing routine or modified buy An individual can also request a firm and place an order The model number, name, amount, size, date, location and other specifications are cleared out in the utmost detail in this letter

o Payment Letters: These are collection letters or letters requesting for

payment These act as a reminder to the customer whose payment date is

approaching or is due

o Recommendation Letters: This is one of the requirements of the

employer who ask for such kind of letters before hiring an employee They

contain the relationship between the applicant and the person whose

recommendation is given

o Resignation Letters: This letter is written when an employer plans

to leave his job, explaining why and when the employee is leaving It is usually given to the immediate senior of a worker

o Sales Letters: These letters start with an interesting topic sentence to

attract potential customers These include the benefit that the customer will have from the sale, and often induce direct action by including a mode of

communication with the seller, like a telephone number, email address or website link” – According Learn Grammar.net

2.3 Overview of order letter

2.3.1 Order letter

“The letter that is written by a potential buyer to the seller requesting him todeliver goods is known as order letter By writing inquiry letters, buyers can collectnecessary information about the price, quality of goods and terms of sale If thebuyer finds the quoted price, quality of goods and terms of sales satisfactory, heplaces an order to supply goods in his address The seller delivers the goodaccording to the buyer’s order

In modern time, sellers supply printed orders forms to the customers andcustomers place orders by filling up those printed order blanks In this case, theprinted order sheet or blank is considered as the order letter.” Posted By TheBusiness Communication Leave a Comment

2.3.2 Factors to be considered while drafting order letter

“Through order letter, the potential buyers request the suppliers to delivergoods to them In modern time, printed order blanks or purchase order formssupplied by the seller are typically used for placing orders However, in absence oforder blanks and purchase order forms, order letters are written Such letters containthree major categories of information:

Information about the items being ordered;

Information relating to shipping; and

Information relating to payment

1 Information about the items being ordered: An order letter must contain fullparticulars of goods ordered Such information including the followings:

Desired receipt date;

Desired shipping location; and

Mode of shipping (rail, road, or waterways)

3 Information relating to payment: Mode of payment of prices for the ordereditems must be clearly indicated The seller will accept the order letter only whenboth of them come to a common ground relation to payment of price Paymentinformation including the following:

Mode of payment (cash, cheque, draft)

Payment data

The above stated factors are usually included in order letter However, thebuyer can include any other instruction or element if he thinks necessary.” Posted

By The Business Communication Leave a Comment

2.4 Overview of complaint letter

2.4.1 Complaint letter

“A Complaint Letter is a type of letter written to address any type wrong

doing, offence, grievance, resentment arising out of a product, service etc.Complaint Letters are used to raise your concerns about unfair things and seek aproductive outcome They are also used to vent out your pent up emotions arisingout of your suffering or bad experience It is a fundamental right and duty of acitizen to seek justice arising out of any injustice, which is initiated by a Complaint.Complaint letters then, become your First Step towards your Consumer Rights.They inspire other hassled consumers, influence the concerned authorities towardstaking proper action and make the defaulters more liable, responsible andresponsive This is because unresponsive behaviour of the offender is liable to aPunishable Court Proceeding or an Expensive Lawsuit.

Writing complaints letters is an essential responsibility of the victim whilstseeking positive outcomes Complaint Letter writing is not only a pre-warning forthe offender but also a chance for them to rectify their act in time These letters arenot just meant for defective products, service they can also be written towards anyinjustice happening in the society, like ‘Smoking in Public’, ‘Misuse of Water byany Person or an Organization’ and any issue happening in society which needs to

be addressed

Anyone can complaint through letter if there is a legitimate reason Anyonecan write a letter to the administration regarding the pollution, water supply, trafficproblems, shortage of electricity etc You don’t need to be a lawyers or aninfluential person All you need to do is to learn to write a complaint letter in anappropriate manner with all the relevant information included In the mattercontained here, you will get all the tips to write a complaint letter.” According totargertstudy.com

2.4.2 Types of Complaint Letters

“Complaint letters are of different types and different reasons and dependingupon that they can be categorised accordingly Depending on the level of anorganization or an individual these can be:

Personal Complaint Letters

When a letter is written at a personal level by an individual it is called asPersonal Complaint Letter These are written by consumers to get refund, replace aproduct etc These are also written for grievances’ regarding a service or any issue

affecting the individual or society at large.

Professional Complaint Letters

When a letter is written on behalf of an organization it is called known asProfessional Complaint Letter These letters have the backing of an organizationand are mostly related to professional items and services.” According totargertstudy.com

2.4.3 Factors to be considered while drafting complaint letter

“A complaint letter should be written in a polite and considerate way byincorporating the following factors or elements:

Specific cause of complaint

In a complaint letter, the customer should mention the specific cause ofcomplaint This will help the seller to understand his fault and to take necessary stepfor adjustment

Nature of loss

Complaint letter must specify the nature and extent of damage caused in terms

of money, loss of sales, loss of service or goodwill

In the letter, the buyer should include only the actual event There should not

be any assumption on the part of the buyer

Controlling anger

Though anger is a natural reaction of the affected buyer, it is not wise toexpress anger Rather, the buyer should make the complaint in a respectful andconsiderate way

Art of presentation

Complaint should be made artfully That is the buyer should raise thecomplaint in a way that does not hurt the seller Artful presentation requires raisingthe complaints passively rather than directly

Mentioning preventive measures for future

For preventing the mistakes in future, the buyer can suggest the seller somealternative course of actions.” Posted By The Business Communication Leave aComment

2.5 Mistakes in writing business letter

2.5.2 Common mistakes in writing business letter

Base on “Problems in writing English business letter: errors and factors” ofShafa Firda Nila, there are 4 common mistakes in writing business letter

1 Morphological Error

Morphological errors indicate that learners have misconception about themeaning and function of morphemes and about the morphological rules and theirexceptions (Ramadan, 2015); it relates to the construction of words and parts of

words (Bloomfield, cited in Faisyal: 2015) This kind of error includes errors inverb, noun, and article.

- Verb Error: The verb error occurs when the students use the verbsinappropriately in their writings This happens when they have to deal with thetenses, the subject, and the preposition

- Noun Error: The noun error typically occurs as the students failed torecognize singular and plural nouns This is usually in line with the use of a/anarticle and quantifier in their writing

- Article Error: The article error occurs as the students failed to recognize thecorrect article and misplace the article before the name of a person There is alsominor article error as the students unconsciously repeat the same article in thesentence

2 Lexical Error

Lexical error is a type of error deals with the lexicon The form of lexical error

is error in word choice Lexical errors are an inevitable part of the process of secondlanguage vocabulary acquisition, and as such they are evidence of that process(Agustin-Llach, 2007)

- Word Choice Error: The word choice error refers to the use of inappropriatevocabulary/terminology in particular field and situation It also deals with the parts

of speech Some words have different meaning when they are used in certainsubject The students often failed to recognize the appropriate word because theyare much to transfer the word literally by ignoring the context There are manycases of word choice error in this study for the students failed to differentiatebetween General English and Business English in terms of vocabulary/terminology

3 Syntactic Error

Syntactic error is a type of error which occurs in sentence structure Syntaxcomplexity is one of the most difficult structural elements for ESL/EFL learners(Ngangbam, 2016)

- Sentence Structure Error: Many students still write the incorrect sentencestructure due to their less understanding of English grammar Besides, they tend towrite the sentence literally from Bahasa Indonesia into English

4 Mechanical Error

Mechanical error is a type of error which deals with spelling, punctuation,and capitalization It is believed that in many cases, mechanical errors are theconsequence of quick writing where the focus is on the content instead of the form

- Spelling Error: Spelling error is an error deals with the error in spelling theword In most cases, the students misspell the words because they don’t check thecorrect spelling in the dictionary

- Punctuation Error: In this research, the punctuation error is mostly in terms

of using commas and periods Punctuation marks such as comma and period should

be used for separating the sentences to make clear meaning

- Capitalization Error: Capitalization error mostly occurs in writing a person’sname or a company (e.g.: Tarra Reid, Selena Swift, Shopinonline) and in thebeginning of a sentence It is found that the students have less attention to the rule

of using capital letter to write a name of a person or a company and to begin asentence.”

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Education level of purchasing department staffs

Education level of purchasing department staffs

University & College High School

Chart 1: Education level of purchasing department staffs.

This is data taken base on 2018 data Looking at this chart, it is easy to see thatthe proportion of employees with university and college education is the largestproportion (80%), 4 times higher compared with the proportion staff with secondaryeducation( 20%) The chart shows that education level of purchasing departmentstaffs is very high