Book Description

Author Biography: Nana Yaw Oppong has worked in varied private sector organisations in administration and human resource roles, both in Ghana and the UK. He has also taught in higher and further education institutions in Ghana, UK and Germany. His experience from years of producing and managing varied business letters has encouraged him to put together this book as a resource for learners and practitioners. Nana holds PhD in talent management and development from the Leeds Business School, UK after his MBA from the East London Business School, UK and a BA and Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He is currently a senior lecturer in Human Resource Management in the School of Business of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He also teaches Industrial Relations; Executive Secretarial Practice; and Organisational Behaviour. His research interests include cross-cultural HRM practices; talent management and development; and indigenous methods of developing employees, with publications covering these areas, and has also shared knowledge in these area through conference presentations in Ghana, Greece, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Hong Kong. He is as well a consultant in human resource management and development. Book Description: Writing business letters is one of the few most frequently performed administrative (managerial) duties at our workplaces, as almost every business activity involves letter writings and/or memos. This makes it an important administrative task. Yet, in many English speaking countries, there is not much emphasis on this important subject in business studies curricula. The book is divided into seven sections. Section One considers stationery: the types and sizes of the paper and other stationery items needed to produce various business documents with special emphasis on business letters. This section also considers the appropriate methods of storage, preservation and issues of stationery items. Section Two tackles parts of a letter: the rules regarding their formation and appropriate positioning on paper, while Section Three deals with some writing rules that need to be observed to create professional and effective letters (and other business documents). Section Four takes readers through the formation of the letter, or what goes into the letter to render it effective. It also includes some letter writing habits to avoid. Section Five covers how letters are written with the help of others (subordinates), and considers manuscript writing and dictation management. Sections Six and Seven consider some specimen letters: Section Six deals with specimen letters in the areas of enquiries; orders; complaints; accounts; shipping and forwarding; packaging; and banking. Section Seven considers personnel letters (forming a bulk of the letters), covering job inquiries; advertising jobs; applications; seeking and providing references; making job offers; probation and confirmation; transfers and promotions; grievance and discipline; redundancy management; meetings; separation; request for assistance; reservation and appointment. This section also focuses on some social letters including hospitality, condolences, apology, congratulations, gratitude, and get-well messages. Together, there are 174 specimen letters. The letters come with comments on formation, content, layout, and pitfalls to avoid. The aim of providing the sample letters is for readers to receive some guidance to suit their own purposes, or to use the sample letters as guides to write their own letters.