Memos are written to allow certain people to direct their attention towards the bulletin as it is a matter of paramount importance. These memos often consist of announcements or advisories that either come from the top office (or sometimes just the human resource manager) of the company or even the principal or high school coordinator of a certain school. Short for memorandum, memos are literally translated as notes to assist the memory.
Memos are often short letters that are generally used for internal communication between executives and subordinates or between the officers of the same level of an organization. You may also see student memo writing for additional information.
Memos are considered the most important tools used for internal communication, especially when it is trying to communicate to all personnel concerned within the organization using the most efficient and time-saving method as possible. It contains information on routine activities of an organization and is used for different purposes. The functions of memorandum is discussed below from different perspectives. You may also see what do you mean by writing skills?
Since memos are designed to be short and simple, there are times wherein an informal report would have to be presented in case all concerned personnel’s attention are needed.
There are days that some employees will be absent and that the HR or supervisor could not call everyone to a staff meeting. Memos are there to provide instructions and suggestions from the top office to their managers or supervisors that gives them insight on what they could do to make their work more systematic. You may also like essay writing examples & samples.
Should there be any general concerns or issues that are raised, another function of memos would be to provide a certain response to that said issue or query.
Misunderstandings happen all the time. It’s only natural. Person A and Person B may have similar misunderstandings. That’s why memos are there to help address those specific queries. Remember that the responses made are meant to be short and simple. No matter how long the query is, there should always be a brief and detailed response to cover all the aspects of that query. You may also check out writing examples in pdf.
Although this does not happen a lot, but sometimes memos are used to make requests. Supervisors make requests to their subordinates to a certain task.
This is perhaps the main and most important function of a memo- to convey information. This information be refer to anything in particular really- from holidays changes to rice subsidiaries to to new management to newly implemented simple policies.
As mentioned before, disputes or problems can actually happen. If ever it does, it is best to address the said issue collectively and not just towards one person so that the others may be aware of what actually transpired and what they can do to avoid it the next time. You might be interested in script writing examples & samples.
Fortunately, memo writing is not as hard as it looks. Sure you would still have to sound formal and polite, but other than that everything else is as easy as pi. It is divided into 4 sections, but let us start off with the first one which is writing the heading of the memo.
What would a memorandum be without the word Memorandum in the first place, right? And since this is a memo, it is required of you to capitalize the all the letters and make it bold so that everyone will automatically direct their attention to the said post from the supervisor or management. You may also see formal writing examples & samples.
Never forget that while memos are considered to be short letters, it is still a form of business communication. So make sure to properly add a recipient as to who you are directing that post to as to avoid confusion.
For those who do not understand business communication terminologies, the word “CC” stands for courtesy copy. It means that the email or certain memo may not directly addressed to Person B, but it is also certain information that Person B needs to know to be aware on what to do next. You may also like tips for writing an effective essay.
Of course it would be rude not to know as to where the memo came from. As you wrap up with the memo heading, do not forget the “from” section of the memo. For instance, From: Barry Allen, CEO of Star Labs.
Another important factor for the memo to have would be the date. Time is not necessary for this, but it would have to be the complete date. 17 January 2019 or January 1, 2017. Whichever one you prefer.
It is important the for the memo to have a subject line so that they may be provided with an overview of what will be talked about in the memo. It does not have to be too complex or too detailed since that will be discussed in the body of the memo. It can be as simple as SUBJECT: Sexual Harassment or SUBJECT: Open Music during Office Hours. you may also check out what is writing used for?
The heading should be at the top of the page, aligned to the left-hand side of the page. Capitalize the words “TO:”, “FROM:”, “DATE:”, and “SUBJECT:”.
Just like a speech, you have to consider who your audience is as well. And once you do, you will be able to properly concoct the perfect memo that will be perfectly comprehensible towards your audience. With that in mind, it is important to keep these factors in mind when you draft your memo:
Formalities are pointless in a memo since they are meant to be brief and straight to- the-point. But do not forget to show politeness such as greeting with a “good morning” or “good day” in your memo as to show common courtesy to your subordinates or employees. You may also like application writing examples & samples.
Now that all is said and done with, it is time to proceed with the reason why you are writing you are drafting the memo in the first place- giving away the issue or problem at hand. And since this is just purely the introduction, it does not need to lengthy and if possible, limit it to a paragraph at most.
After writing the introduction of the query at hand, it is important to give it some context so that they might be able to understand the depth of the situation and how it tends to affect every single one. If the memo is about implementing a new policy, try to properly explain how it became this way and what were the reasons behind this implementation.
After you have made your statement with regards to the said issue at hand, now it is high time to elaborate on what action you are going to take in order to help put the issue to bed. For instance, you may such an action down like this: “Starting immediately, no one is permitted to browse any social media sites during work hours, otherwise they shall be reprimanded and eventually suspended if the need arises. You may also see report writing examples.
There is a passage that goes like this: Faith without works is dead. If there is no action taken once the audience has read your memo, then it is utterly pointless to have even posted something like that in the first place. The memo has to indicate what needs to be done so that similar issues will not be brought up before management again. It can be phrased like this: “The management advises all employees the mandatory fine of $15 seminar fee so that no late fees will be charged towards the employee. You may also check out minutes writing examples & samples.
If you have started the memo with a light and friendly tone, you might as well end it that way. Here are some of the suggested closing ending remarks that you may want to list down in the memo:
Let’s be honest here, no one writes their memos by hand anymore. In fact, they all do it on a computer. That’s not being lazy, that is just being efficient and making use of technology we have at present. Before you even begin typing, make sure that everything is properly formatted: from the kind of font that you are going to use to the making sure everything is in center position. You may also see writing examples in doc.
If you are done reviewing once, review it again. If you are done reviewing it twice, review it again. The only time you stop reviewing is when you make sure everything is written perfectly. Only then can you say that you have written a good memo. Double check all the aspects that consist your memo: grammar, structure, tenses used, etc… After all, no one wants to read an grammatically incorrect letter, right? You may also like how do you write a speech?
It is not actually that necessary to make your signature handwritten. If you happen to have a digital copy of it, then make use of it.
It would not be a formal memo without a letterhead. No matter how large or small, all companies have their own digital letterheads.
You can either print a physical copy of your memo and place it on a bulletin board or you also have the option of sending it via email to save paper. Either way would actually be fine.
Writing memos does not have to have to be too complex. All you need is to learn how to be direct and straight to-the-point what you would like to bring up. For more details on how to write a memo, you may also refer to writing holiday memos to gain more insight.