InternalBusinessCommunication WritingMemos,CircularAndNotices

Unit9

Unit9InternalBusinessCommunicationWritingMemos, CircularsAndNotices
Structure
9.1 Introduction Objectives 9.2 WhatisaMemo? 9.2.1 9.2.2 9.2.3 PrinciplesofPrecisWriting SelfAssessmentQuestions1 ComponentsandFormatofaMemo LanguageofaMemo SelfAssessmentQuestions2 9.3 CircularsandNotices SelfAssessmentQuestions3 9.4 Summary TerminalQuestions AnswerstoSAQsandTQs 9.1Introduction Inthepreviousunit,wedealtwithanimportantformoforalcommunicationwithintheorganization, namely, meetings. Written communication within the organization is equally important, especially whenthingshavetobekeptonpermanentrecord,informationhastobeannouncedandinstructions have to be given to subordinates by superiors. In this unit, we will discuss some of the written communicationmedia,includingmemos,circularsandnotices,whichareusedtocommunicatewith employeeswithinanorganization.Weshalldefinethespecificpurposeofeachofthesemedia,and offerguidelinesforwritingthem,alongwiththeappropriateformatstobeused. LearningObjectives: Afterstudyingthisunit,youshouldbeabletounderstandthefollowing.

1. Appreciatetheneedforwrittencommunicationwithintheorganization 2. Understandthefunctionsofmemos,circularsandnotices
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3. Writememos,circularsandnotices.
9.2WhatIsAMemo? The word memo is ashortformfor memorandum, which is derivedfrom the Latin word which means a thing which must be remembered. It is also referred to as an inter office memorandum, since it is used primarily as a tool for communicating within the organization. Thememoisessentiallyacondensedorabriefreport,thatcanbeusedtoconveyinformationand decisions, or to make short requests to coworkers, superiors and subordinates. It is relatively informalinstyle,comparedtolettersandlongreports,andisunpretentiousandconcise. Itisimportantforthebusinessexecutivetoknowhowtowritecondensedreportsormemos.Often, business executives may also be asked to condense business articles for their superiors. This is essentially the same as prcis writing, where an article is condensed to one fourth its size, withoutlosingtheessenceormeaning.Thecondensedarticlecouldthenbeputinmemoformat andsenttothesuperior. Givenitsimportance,weshallbrieflydiscusshowtowriteaprcis. 9.2.1PrinciplesOfPrecisWriting Asmentioned,prciswritingisregularlydonebymanyassistantsoftopexecutives,tohelpthemin keepingupwiththeirbusinessreading.Therearethreemainprinciplesofprciswriting,whichmay bereferredtoasthethreeCsofprciswriting.Theyare 1. CondensationThismeansthattheprcisshouldbeabrief,shortenedversionoftheoriginal article.Ingeneral,theprcisshouldbeonefourththelengthoftheoriginal. 2. Comprehension While it is important to reduce the article to one fourth its size, the article shouldnotloseitsmeaningintheprocessofdoingthis.Itshouldbeaseasytounderstandthe condensedarticleasitistounderstandtheoriginalarticle. 3. CoverageIntheprocessofcondensingthearticle,allthemainpointsorideasintheoriginal articleshouldberetainedandadequatelycovered,sothattheshortenedarticlecomesacrossas complete.

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Preciswritingrequiresalotofskillandisnotjustaboutchoppingsentencesandwordstoreducethe lengthalone.AllthethreeCsareequallyimportantforaprcistobemeaningfulandreadable.A perfectly condensed article is of no value, if it cannot be understood. Similarly, an article which is perfectlyunderstoodbutwhichomitssomekeyideasisnotofmuchuse,sinceitdoesnotreflectthe original. Awriterneedstolookforthefollowing,inordertofulfilthethreeCsofprciswriting

MainThemeWhatisthearticleabout?Thisisusuallyindicatedinthecaptionitself,e.g.,The Future of the Indian Auto Industry. If not, it is important to read the articlefully and grasp the maintheme.

Components These are the main ideas, or the ideas used to support the main theme. For example,thefactthatthegrowthoflightcommercialvehiclesisatrendwhichislikelytocontinue in the future may be considered as one of the components or main ideas, since it will have a bearingonthefutureoftheautoindustry.

ElementsThesearethekeywordsthatareusedtoexpressthemainideas.Forexample,the numberoflightcommercialvehicleshasincreasedfourfoldinurbanandsuburbanareasthis year,comparedtothelastyear.Thewordsinboldarethekeywords.

Onceaprcishasbeenwritten,itmaybewritteninamemoformat,asintheexamplegivenbelow

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SAMPLEPRECISINMEMOFORMAT TO: TheVPMarketing FROM: MarketingExecutive

th DATE: March10 ,2008

SUBJECT: TheChangingFaceofCustomerRelationshipManagement Asdiscussedduringourlastmeeting,Ihavesummarizedarecentarticleonthecurrentstatusof CRM,foryourreview. CRM Megatrend,TrendorFad?

In 2000, CRM was the buzzword in marketing circles. It was predicted to be a revolutionary technologythatwouldhavealastingimpactonbusinessinthelongrun. However,asCRMsoftwarevendorsrevenuegrowthsloweddown,theforecastsbecameless optimistic.ThisgaverisetodoubtsastowhetherCRMwasjustapassingphenomenon.

ChangingUserPatterns
In 2002, CRM seemed to gather momentum again, as companies reported significant improvements as a direct result of using the technique. However, CRM users no longer adopteditwithoutquestioningandwithoutspecificgoals.Thecompanysseniormanagement had to be convinced about the longterm benefits. CRM was implemented only after an in depthcostbenefitanalysis.

ShiftingVendorsFocus
From the CRM vendors viewpoint, there was a shift in emphasis from the technological aspectsto thefunctionalaspects when approachingusers. This meant that CRM developers were more concerned with identifying the specific problems of top managers in different functionalareasandwithofferingcustomizedsolutions.CRMsolutionswerealsotailormade fordifferentindustries.Besides,thetoolswerealsospecializedtosuitspecificprocesses.

WhattheFutureHolds
CRMisexpectedtopickupfurtherintheyearstocome.Itwillcontinuetoevolve,bothfroma users anda vendors viewpoint.Whileusers will become morediscerning in their approach, onlythosevendorswhocancatertoacrosssectionofrequirementswilldominate.Ultimately, itwillbethesurvivalofthefittest.

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Intheaboveprcis,themainthemeiscontainedinthesubjectlineTheChangingFaceofCRM. Thecomponents,orthemainideasareexpressedbythedifferentparagraphs,eachwithasubhead. Someofthekeywordsthatareusedtoexpresstheseideasarerevolutionarytechnology,long term benefits, indepth costbenefit analysis, functional aspects, customized solutions and survivalofthefittest.. Notethattheprcisiswritteninaonepagememoformat.Thisbringsustothenextsectiononthe componentsandformatofamemo. SelfAssessmentQuestion1 Arethefollowingstatementstrueorfalse? 1.Amemoisusedonlyforupwardcommunication. 2.OneofthethreeCsofprciswritingisComponents. 3.Unlikearegularreport,thememoisbriefandinformal. 9.2.2ComponentsAndFormatOfAMemo

Asshownintheexampleabove,amemoisabrief,onepageormaximumtwopagereport,and includesthefollowingcomponents 1.Header Thiscompactblockofinformationwhichappearsatthetopofthememoincludesthe To,From,DateandSubjectheadings,whichissimilartothetitlepageofalonger,moreformal report.

The To heading should mention the name of the receiver or the primary target audience. In the aboveexample,thisistheMarketingVP.TheFromheadingshouldincludethenameofthesender orwriterofthememo(MarketingExecutive).TheSubjectlineshouldincludethespecificpurpose ofthememo(thetitleoftheprcisintheaboveexample).Thishelpsthewriterinthedevelopmentof themessageandletsthereaderknowwhatthememoisallabout.

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2. Body This is the text of the memo which contains the details and major topics. Unlike as in letters,thememoneednothaveaformalsalutation(Dear).Unlikeaformalreportwhichhastobe completelyobjective,personalpronounssuchasIandyouareacceptableinamemo,asinthe openingsentenceofthememoshownabove.Thisisbecauseamemoispurelyforinternalusein theorganization. 3. Close/Action Unlikeformal letters, memosneednot includeaformal close ( e.g. Sincerely) andasignatureline.However,unlessthepurposeofthememoisjusttoinform,thereshouldbea clearcallforaction.Forexample,Irequestyoutoreviewmyproposalandtograntapproval. 4. c.c. This is an abbreviation for Carbon Copy. Sometimes a copy of the memo may go to anotherperson(s).Thisisindicatedbyc.c.,followedbythename(s)oftheperson(s). Amemomayfollowoneoftwotypesofformats,dependingonitsnatureandpurposea)Thedirect organizational plan or deductive organization and b) The indirect organizational plan or inductive organization. a)DirectOrganizationalPlanThisformatisusedwhenamemoispurelyinformational,asinthe exampleshownabove.Sincethepurposeisonlytoconveyinformation,thepurposeismentioned rightattheoutsetandallthedetailsarepresentedrightaway.Itisalsousedsometimeswhenthe purposeof the memo is to persuade. This is appropriate when youare sure that your proposal or requestwillbeacceptedwithoutanyresistance.Inthiscase,thewriterwillmaketherequestrightat thebeginningandthenlistoutthereasons. Anexampleofapersuasivememothatiswrittenfollowingthedirectorganizationalplanordeductive organizationisshownbelow

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TO FROM DATE

: TheMarketingManager : TheSalesManager
th : March10 ,2008

SUBJECT: Increaseinthenumberofsalespersons
BasedonmyexperienceandknowledgeofterritoryX,forwhichIamresponsible,I feelthatanincreaseinthesalesforcewillyieldapositivegrowthrate.Therefore,I wouldliketorecommendthatweincreasethenumberofsalespersonsfrom10to15, soastoreachmorenumberofprospectivecustomers. I have done an indepth analysis of the current market situation in territory X . Although several new entrants and our existing competitors have done well, we continuetoenjoyagoodreputationinthemarket.Althoughthecurrentrateofgrowth isdisappointing,thefuturemarketpotentialisenormous,pointingtowardsapositive growth. Strengtheningthesalesforcewillbeadvantageousforthefollowingreasons Increasesthereachofthecompanytothecustomers Increasesthefrequencyofcallsmade Givesusanedgeoverthecompetition

Inviewoftheabovelongtermbenefitstothecompany,Irequestyoutoconsidermy proposalandtograntapproval.

In the above example, the sales manager is confident that his request for strengthening the sales forcewillbegranted,sinceithasobviousbenefits.Therefore,therequestismaderightattheoutset, followedbythereasons. b) Indirect Organizational Plan or Inductive Organization This type of memo format is appropriatewhenthepurposeofthememoistopersuade,butwhenthewriterfeelsthatthereader mightobjecttotherequestortheproposal.Therefore,thewriterwilltrytoconvincethereaderby

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presenting the reasons first and then make the requestor recommendation rightat the end. An exampleofamemowrittenusingthisformatisgivenbelow

TO FROM DATE

: TheVPMarketing : TheAdvertisingManager
th : March11 ,2008

SUBJECT : Reviewofadvertisingcampaign
An analysis of our latest sales reports has revealed that territory X, for which I am responsible,isahighlyprofitableone.Thisterritoryhasbeencontributingtothebulk ofourcompanyssalesoverthelastoneyear.Theannualadvertisingbudgetforour productsbeingsoldinterritoryXiscurrentlyRs.50lakhs. Althoughouradvertisinghasbeensatisfactory,itneedstobereviewedforthe followingreasons Morefrequentadvertisingisneededtoimproveawarenesslevelsofour products,whicharestillnewtothemarket. Advertisingisaninvestmentandneedstobesustainedoveralongterm,in ordertobuildourbrand. Buildingapositivebrandimagethroughadvertisingcanhelpbuildlongterm brandloyalty. Fastmovingconsumergoodssuchasoursrequireahigherpercentageof salesspentonadvertising,duringtheintroductorystage. Weneedtospendanamountonadvertisingthatiscomparabletoourclosest competitorintheregion.

Inviewofthelongtermbenefitsofadvertising,Iwouldliketorecommenddoubling ouradvertisingbudgetinterritoryXtoRs.1croreayear.Irequestyoutoconsider myproposalandtograntapproval. Notethatintheabovememo,thewriterdelayshisrequestorproposaltotheendandjustifiesthe needforabiggeradvertisingbudgetfirst,bylistingoutthereasons.Sinceheissuggestingthatthe budgetbedoubled,heisnotsureiftherequestwillbegranted.Thatiswhytheindirect organizationalplanisusedinsteadofthedirectplan.Unlikethedirectplan,thesubjectlinedoesnot revealtherealpurposeofthememo,whichisarequestfordoublingtheadvertisingbudget.

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9.2.3LanguageAndWritingStyleOfAMemo Sinceamemoisashort,informalreport,thefollowingpointshavetoberememberedregardingthe languageandstylethatisused

BeconciseItisimportanttobebriefandtothepoint,sothatthememodoesnotexceedtwo pagesinlength.Makethesentencesandparagraphsshort,limiteachparagraphtofivelinesor lessandusebulletpointswhereverpossible.Ifyouaregivingreasons,numberthem,orputthem inseparateparagraphswithdoublelinespacing.Otherwiseusesinglelinespacingbetween lines.

UseactivenotpassivevoiceAsmentionedearlier,useofpersonalpronounsandactivevoice ispermittedinamemo,unlikeaformalreportwherethepassivevoiceshouldbeusedforthe sakeofobjectivity.Inotherwords,itisappropriatetosayforexamplethatBasedonmy experience,I feelthatthebudgetisnotadequate.

UsesimplelanguageInanearlierunit,theimportanceofusingsimpleEnglishwas emphasized.Useshort,uncomplicatedwordsandavoidtryingtoimpressbyusingunnecessary jargonandtechnicalterms.

AvoidgivingtoomanyreasonsAlthoughitisimportanttoprovideajustificationwhenyou makearequest,ortrytopersuadesomeonetodosomething,donotoverdoit.Ingeneral,a readercanonlyabsorbamaximumofsixorsevenreasonsatonce.Therefore,donotoverstate yourreasons.

ClosewithacallforactionDonotleavethereaderhanging.Ifyouwishtopersuadehimto acceptyourrequestorrecommendation,youmustsaysoclearly,usingactionwordsand indicatingatimeframeorlimit.Forexample,Iwouldliketodiscussthisinpersonwithyouand getyourapprovalbeforetheendofthisweek.

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SelfAssessmentQuestion2 MatchtheFollowing

1.Passivevoicea.Mainmessage 2.Directorganizationalplanb.Reasonsfirst 3.Persuasivememoc.Regularreports

4.Indirectorganizationalpland.Informationalmemo 5.SubjectLinee.Callforaction 9.3 CircularsandNotices

Likememos,circularsandnoticesarealsowrittenformsofcommunicationwithintheorganization. The difference between a circular and a notice is that circulars are announcements that are distributed to small or selective groupsof people within the organization, whereas notices are meantforalargergroupofpeople. Example If a manager wants to call a meeting of heads of departments, he will pass around a circularonlytotheheads,requestingthemtoattendthatmeeting.

Ontheotherhand,noticesgenerallycontaininformationorannouncementsthataremeantforallthe employeesofanorganization. ExampleAlistofdeclaredholidaysforacalendaryearisanotice,sincetheinformationisrelevant toallemployees. Anoticeisthereforealegaldocumentthathastobeputuponanofficialnoticeorbulletinboard.

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Letusexamineanotherexampleofacircularandanotice. ImaginethatyouarethePresidentoftheStudentCommitteeinamanagementcollegeandwishto holdameetingtoplanfortheAnnualManagementFestofthecollege.Youwillhavetosendsome information to those whom you want to involve in organizing the Fest. You may not want all the students to be involved initially, since it may take a lot of time and there may be too many suggestions.Instead,youmaychoosetoinviteonlythecommitteememberstodiscussdetailssuch as the date, venue, duration, how to get sponsors and so on. For this purpose, you may send a circularonlytothestudentcommitteemembers,requestingthemtoattendthemeeting. During the meeting, the date and venue may be finalized and various smaller committees may be formed, such as a reception committee, stage committee and so on. You may also decide to get eachstudenttocontributeanominalamountfortheFest.Inordertoannouncethesedetailsandto askforstudentcontributions,youmaythenputupanoticeontheofficialcollegenoticeboard,which allstudentscanseeandrespondto. Asamplecircularandnoticearegivenbelow

TO :AllDepartmentalHeads CIRCULAR SafetyAspectsinScienceLaboratories

Thepurposeofthiscircularistoemphasizetheimportanceofsafetyinresearch laboratories.Alllaboratorysupervisorsareresponsibleforthesafetyofresearch scientistsintheircharge.Itistheirdutytodrawtheirattentiontoanysafetyhazard thatpertainstoaparticularactivity.Inthiscontext,supervisorsshouldbefamiliar withrelevantguidelinesonlaboratorysafetyandtheyshouldbecarefulatalltimes toobservestandardsafetyprocedures,whenpracticalactivitiesarebeingconducted inthelaboratory. Please bring this circular to the notice of the supervisors concerned and to the notice of the representatives asappropriate,for transmission to individual research less spacescientists.

GeneralManager HR
th March11 ,2008

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Notethatacircular,likeamemoisbriefandtothepoint.Ithasacaptionthatindicatesthemessage tobeconveyed,Likeamemo,thereisnoformalsalutationorclose.
th MANIPALUNIVERSALLEARNINGMarch11 ,2008 ManipalTowers,BangaloreREF:ADM/N/4499

NOTICE Sub:ManipalFamilyDayCelebrations
ThisistoinformallemployeesofMULthataManipalFamilyDaycelebrationwillbe th heldatManipalCountyonFridayMarch14 ,between10amand7pm.Apickup anddropbackfacilityisbeingorganizedforallemployeesandtheirfamilymembers. th Inviewofthecelebrations,thiswillbeaholiday.Instead,Saturday,March15 willbe aworkingdaytocompensateforthisholiday.Allareencouragedtoattendandmake theeventasuccess.

SENIORMANAGER,HR

Theabovenoticeismeantforallemployeesoftheorganization.Ithasareferencenumber,dateand a subject, similar to a memo. The notice covers two different issues related to one subject. Employees are first informed that a holiday has been declared to celebrate Manipal Family Day. Thenthesamenoticementionsadifferentworkingdaytocompensateforthisholiday. Sometimes, under special circumstances, notices may also be sent to individual employees. An example of this type of notice is the Show Cause Notice, which is sent when an employee is foundtobeguiltyofmajormisconduct.Thenoticementionstheallegationsagainsttheemployee andasksforawrittenexplanationwithinaspecifiedtime,failingwhichtheactionthatwouldbetaken againsthim/her(e.g.,beingsuspendedfromthejob)isstated. Notices are read by a large number of people and can also be used as evidence in court cases. Therefore, care must be taken when writing them. They have to be worded very precisely and clearly,tomakesurethatthereisnoambiguity.Theyshouldalsobebriefandtothepoint.Thetone should be firm, but not offensive and arrogant. Depending on the type of notice, the duration of displayofanoticeisspecifiedundervariouslegalprovisions.
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SelfAssessmentQuestion3 1.A_________________________isatypeoflegaldocument. 2.Acommonpurposeofnoticesandcircularsisto__________________,ratherthan ____________________________. 3.A___________________________noticeisanexampleofanoticesentto individualemployees. 9.4Summary This unit dealt with the different written media used in internal business communication, namely, memos,circularsandnotices. Amemo,whichisashortformformemorandum,isalsoreferredtoasaninterofficememo,since itspurposeistocommunicatetopeers,superiorsandsubordinateswithintheorganization.Amemo isacondensedformofareportandcanbeusedtopassoninformation,giveinstructionsandmake decisions. Writing a memo is similar to prcis writing, or condensing an article to one fourth its length. Theprinciples of precis writing also apply to memo writing. These principlesare referred toas the threeCs,namely

Condensationorreductionoftheoriginalarticle. Comprehensionorretentionoftheessenceoftheoriginalarticle Coverageorinclusionofallthemainideas.

Aprcismaybewritteninamemoformat.Businessexecutivesoftensummarizebusinessarticles and send them in memo format to their superiors, to help them to keep up with their business reading. A memo should be a maximum of two pages in length and include the following standard components

HeaderwithTo,From,DateandSubjectlines Bodywithmainpoints

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Acallforaction,inthecaseofapersuasivememo.

Memosaregenerallyoftwotypesinformationalmemosandpersuasivememos. A memo may be written in one of two formats 1) Direct organizational plan or deductive organizationand2)Indirectorganizationalplanorinductiveorganization.

A memo whose main purpose is to inform, is written following the direct organizational plan. Sometimes, a persuasive memo is also written in thisformat, when the writer is confident that his request will be granted. On the other hand, a persuasive memo where the writer feels that his request maynot beacceptedeasily, should bewrittenfollowingthe indirectorganizationalplan.In thiscase,thereasonsorjustificationfortherequestarestatedfirst,followedbytheactualrequest. Circularsaresenttosmallorselectivegroupswithintheorganization.Theyarewritteninthesame wayasmemosandmustbebriefandtothepoint.Noticesaredisplayedonofficialnoticeboardsand aremeantforlargergroups,usuallyallemployeesoftheorganization.Occasionally,noticesmaybe sent to individual employees in the form of Show Cause Notices, asking for an explanation for misconductandmentioningtheactionthatcouldbetaken. TerminalQuestions 1.Selectanarticleofabout400wordsfromanybusinesspublicationandprepareaprcis, reducingittoonefourthitslength. 2.Asamanagementtrainee,youhaveconductedanemployeesatisfactionsurvey.Writea persuasivememotoyourboss,requestinghim/hertoacceptyoursuggestionsbasedonthe findingsofthesurvey. 3.Prepareabriefnoticetobeputuponofficialnoticeboards,informingemployeesofyour organizationaboutanewlyintroduced,officialbusservice.

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AnswerstoSelfAssessmentQuestions SelfAssessmentQuestions1

1. False 2. False 3. True

SelfAssessmentQuestions2

1. c 2. d 3. e 4. b 5. a
SelfAssessmentQuestions3

1. Notice 2. Informpersuade 3. Showcause

AnswertoTerminalQuestions 1.Refer9.2.1 2.Refer9.2.2 3.Refer9.3

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