To: Everyone
From: Assistant Manager (Purchasing)
Date: March 24, 2011
Re: Standardizing Purchase Requests

Last year we received complaints that some purchase requests were not filled on time. Some even complained about never receiving the status of their purchase requests from the purchasing department. We investigated the claims and have determined that the best solution is to institute a standardized purchase order request policy. This will ensure that the purchasing department is able to verify the sender of the request and receives all the required information to fulfill the order. Moreover, this will improve the company’s record of its purchases.

Beginning immediately, all purchase order requests should be made through the request form that can be downloaded from the company’s intranet. Please fill out all the required information on the request forms. Your cooperation will ensure a visibly faster order fulfillment with fewer errors. Send the original document to the purchasing department and keep a copy of the request order with you. Moreover, all purchase orders now require the approval of the budget manager on the request form. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me with your concerns. We hope the new policy will improve your purchase request experience and is a great success.

3A. When I write personal emails, I don’t worry about the sentence structure and spellings for as long as I know the receiver will understand my message. I may even use spelling shortcuts such as ‘u’ instead of you to save time. When I write professional emails, I try to make sure my sentences are short and clear. Moreover, the body of the email is organized. I am also careful about punctuations and before sending the email, read everything to check for errors. I also use only formal tone in professional emails just as someone does in handwritten professional letters. 3B. I was hunting for internships and found a lead (Adam) through one of the college alumni (Mike). Later, I came to know that Adam was on leave due to his mother’s death. So I sent him my condolence through email. A few days later, I decided to write Mike to thank him for providing me with Adam’s lead. Instead of writing an email from the scratch, I went through the ‘sent’ folder, copied the content of one past professional email and sent it to Mike, replacing just the name at the beginning of the email. When I checked the email, I found that it was the same email I had sent to Adam in which I expressed my condolence on his mother’s death. I was in shock and wrote another email to Mike explaining that I planned to write to both him and Adam around the same time and got the names mixed up. But the damage was done. I never heard back from Mike after that. Now I make sure to compose all emails from the scratch instead of copy pasting older emails.

3C. If receiver is not sure he/she understood the email message, he/she can write to the sender to ensure the message has been correctly understood. The purpose of the email may be stated in the subject bar so that the receiver knows what to expect and what the email is about. One should also use correct words so as to leave minimum room for mistakes by the receiver in understanding the message. The email should be properly organized so the receiver doesn’t get lost in random details. If we require confirmation or want reply, we may indicate so in the email instead of hoping that the receiver will do so. We should also remain aware of time differences especially when communicating across different time zones. Before hitting the send button, it is a good idea to read the email from the receiver’s point of view to identify missing details or confusing messages. The emails should also never be written in CAPS because emails in CAPS imply that you are shouting. The messages should be brief and to the point and sensitive information should never be included in the emails.