Chapter 8 - Business document writing. On completion of this chapter students will know how to: write a formal business letter using the full block format; differentiate between letters of inquiry, letters of complaint, response letters and sales letters; recognise the features and purposes of communicating via email; construct a standard email; use a range of practices to ensure successful business email communication.
Trang 1Chapter 8
Business document
writing
Trang 2Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
• differentiate between letters of inquiry, letters
of complaint, response letters and sales letters
• recognise the features and purposes of
communicating via email
• construct a standard email
• use a range of practices to ensure
successful business email communication.
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– Draft and redraft the letter.
– Edit and proofread.
Trang 5Qualities of a business letter
• A business letter should have the following six qualities:
– clarity – concreteness – completeness – conviction
– conciseness – courtesy.
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Trang 7Body of the letter
• The body of the letter should relate to the subject heading
• It should provide information logically
(i.e in a sequence)
• Different issues should be discussed in
separate paragraphs
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Style of letter
• Although there are several recognised styles for a business letter, the full block style is
widely recognised
• When working for an organisation ensure
that you are familiar with the in-house style
of the organisation, which may be a variation
of the full block style
Trang 9Types of business letter
• Letter of inquiry
• Response to letter of inquiry
• Purchase orders
• Sales letter
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Letters of inquiry
• Provide a clear, specific question
• Give a reason for the inquiry
• Are polite, but not servile
Trang 11Response to letter of
inquiry
• Use standard letter layout
• Always use a subject heading
• Begin by referring to the original inquiry
(be specific)
• Start with ‘Thank you for your inquiry …’
• Detail action you have taken in response to the inquiry
• If no action has (yet) been taken, still
respond immediately to the inquiry
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Purchase orders
• Follow standard letter layout
• Provide specific and complete information
• Provide information about an acceptable
alternative
• Give full instructions for delivery
• Provide payment details
• Start with ‘Please …’
Trang 13• A follow-up letter may be needed after a
certain period of time
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Trang 15• Get the reader to pay attention
• State a problem that affects the reader
• Promise a benefit
• Use an emotional appeal
• Introduce your primary appeal
• Ask a question (that can’t be answered yes
or no)
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• Answer the questions you raised
• Provide a clear transition from attention to
desire
Trang 17• Move the reader from ‘like to have’ to ‘really want’
• Justify the reader’s desire with emotional
appeals (feelings) or rational appeals (thinking ability) (e.g clothes sold on the basis of durability or fashion)
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Action
• Tell the reader what to do
• Give a reason for acting now (e.g free set of steak knives)
• Provide aids (e.g envelopes)
• Make reference to primary appeal to
convince the reader they are doing the right thing
Trang 19Receiver’s psychological
needs
• Letters cannot always provide good news
and fabulous opportunities!
• Sometimes letters are written to provide
unwelcome news
• The following slides provide strategies for
writing letters that take into account the receiver’s psychological needs
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Make neutral comments
• Indicate some form of agreement that is very general and will not alienate the reader
• Let the reader know the subject of the letter
to add meaning to later information
• Don’t imply ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Trang 21Provide explanation
• Give your reasons for the decision (note that reasons precede denial)
• Increase the chance of the reader
understanding and accepting your reasons
• If possible, emphasise reasons that might
benefit the reader
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Explain refusal
• Give clear and apparent reasons for refusal
• Write refusal after a neutral statement
(e.g ‘Thank you for your application I regret
to inform you that your application was not successful at this instance due to …’)
Trang 23End positively
• End on an upbeat note
• Try to regain good feeling
• Can you suggest an alternative?
• Show the reader you remain interested
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What to avoid
• Avoid the following:
– implying that the request will be granted – being overly apologetic
– falling back on company policy – talking down to the reader
– being so general that the reason does not relate
to the refusal – emphasising the refusal more than is necessary – making a direct negative statement of refusal – using active voice (e.g poor—‘I deny your application for credit’, better—‘Credit was denied’)
Trang 25Letter of complaint
• A letter of complaint should be rational
rather than emotional
• Give specific information about the issue
(e.g the product, the particular fault)
• Be specific about how you want your
complaint dealt with (e.g ask directly for a refund or exchange)
• Be succinct
• Avoid being rude or abusive
• Stick to the facts
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• Offer to investigate the matter further.
• Provide specific information about how you will rectify the problem.
• If the customer has made a mistake,
courteously provide the correct information (right at the start).
Trang 27Cultural sensitivity and
• Awareness of cultural norms in business
writing in other cultures will assist in writing appropriate documents
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• Email is now the key communication
medium in contemporary workplaces
• It is a ‘hybrid medium’, uniting elements of both spoken and written communication (Wood & Smith 2001, p 9)
Trang 29Email communication (cont.)
• Communicators are less inhibited and show less differentiation between people of
different status (cited in Wood & Smith 2001,
p 72)
• The Internet is liberating because users can play with various roles and disclose or not disclose certain information (Wood & Smith 2001; Turkle 1995)
• Email has the potential to provide a new
type of communication
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• Benefits of email include:
– speed – the sense of identity afforded to the communicators
– bridging the psychological gap between communicators in ways which other channels of communication do not allow (Sunderland 2002,
pp 245–246)
Trang 312 How often do you write a letter and send it
using the traditional mail service?
3 How is your experience with business
documents different to your parents’ and grandparents’ experiences when they were studying or first started working?
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Email: new communication
• Many hard-copy business documents have been superseded by the fast, efficient use of email
• There is still a need for formality in all professional communication
• A more formal style is needed when:
– the receiver holds a more senior position in the organisational hierarchy than you
– the receiver is outside your organisation – the receiver is unlikely to be familiar with the jargon
or terminology used in your area of expertise – there is a possibility that the email will be referred to
by others or archived for future use.
Trang 33Activity 2
• Complete activity 8 on pp 184–185 of your textbook
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Five parts to an email
Emails can be divided into five main parts:
health and safety policy.’
• Too brief: ‘Meeting’.
• Appropriate: ‘Meeting on Wednesday to discuss OH&S policy’.
Trang 35Five parts to an email (cont.)
Salutation
• Simple salutations are still important, even
when you know the recipient well (e.g Dear Kim, Hi John)
• Once an email ‘conversation’ has started, you may omit the salutation
• Salutations in emails still require some
acknowledgment of status (e.g use titles such as Dr).
• Salutations assist the reader to find the
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Opening
• State the main idea immediately in the
first line
• This is known as ‘frontloading’, where the
key information is given immediately after the salutation
• Also referred to as a ‘direct opening’
Trang 37Five parts to an email (cont.)
Body
• Provide any necessary background
information and logically explain the main idea
• Use short paragraphs, dot points and
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Close
• Summarise key points
• Request action or provide a closing thought
• Include a ‘goodwill message’
• See the annotated examples of emails
provided in Chapter 6: Writing genres
Trang 39Activity 3
• Complete activity 9 on p 186 of your
textbook
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Common email errors
1 Hasty responses that have not been
carefully thought out
2 Responses that do not take into account the computer knowledge of the receiver
3 A discourteous or overly familiar tone
4 Traditional routine letter openings that
sound insincere
5 Obscure, unfamiliar words or jargon
Trang 41Common email errors (cont.)
6 Lengthy sentences, or text with no
paragraph breaks
7 Negative, pessimistic content
8 A closing that does not reiterate the key
purpose of the email
9 An assumption that the receiver checks
their email inbox as often as the sender does
10.A sender who does not give a name and
can only be identified by a meaningless
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Email guidelines
• Make the subject line short and meaningful (never leave it empty)
• Always include a salutation
• Make your message inviting (use short line lengths and paragraphs; edit typographical errors)
• Be brief Use only one screen
• Place key information first
• For business emails do not use emoticons, initials or SMS abbreviations (e.g ; FYI, R
U ok?) Use attachments carefully
Trang 43Email guidelines (cont.)
• Hold your temper Avoid using capitals for emphasis, as this is like SHOUTING
• Do not use email as a way of avoiding
contact
• Resist using humour
• Assume that all business emails are
monitored
• Proofread carefully, as in all business
communication
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• Use identifying labels such as ‘urgent’ or
‘action’ with caution
• Set the context for your email
• Respect confidentiality
• Never send spam
• Email threads encourage brief responses
• Always close your email appropriately
• Create a standard signature block for all
emails Include your full name and contact details
Trang 45Activities 4 and 5
• Complete Activities 10 and 11 on pp 188–
189 of your textbook
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• All business communication documents
need clarity, concreteness, completeness, conviction, conciseness and courtesy
• Business writers need to consider the
psychological needs of the receiver
Trang 47• Always consider the advantages and
disadvantages of email before using it over