LESSON 8

COMMUNICATION FOR WORK PURPOSES

In the previous lesson, you learned the various purposes for

communication and even delivered a speech of your own! And in the lesson
prior to that, you had a taste of doing a web presentation as you delivered an
informative speech without realizing it! Who would have thought you would be
able to do those before the semester started? Congratulations! Thank you for
your hard work.

Now, as we are nearing the end of the semester, you still need to
continue working hard in order to improve your writing skills. These skills will
help you meet the demands of workplace communication. If you persevere and
focus, this lesson will teach you ways of improving your writing skills as well as
the manner in which workplace communication takes place. But first, you have
to have this mindset: That writing is a process of constantly thinking and
putting into paper your ideas and as such, your first written output is NOT
your FINAL OUTPUT. It is just your initial DRAFT and it will undergo revisions.
If you have this mindset, you will have the patience to deal with the rigors of
writing.

As you go through this lesson then, I need you to keep this in mind: To
become gainfully employed, you need to have good communication skills, both
written and oral. And once you are employed, your writing skills could advance
your career.

Speaking of which, how many of you are working students? Those who
are already immersed in the world of work know that writing is a very
important skill for survival. From application to resignation (and anything in
between) most, if not all, are done through written communication.

Now, read the objectives so you will know what you are supposed to
achieve for lesson 8.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. create clear, coherent, and effective workplace communication materials;
2. observe protocol in the flow of communication in the workplace; and,
 2. show competence in using web-based apps or computer software in
creating coherent workplace communication materials.

A. BASICS OF WRITING
The world of work requires a lot of writing; thus, if your writing skills are
sorely lacking, now is the time to remedy that. Writing may not be easy, but it
is a skill that can be acquired and polished. And just to show you that this is
possible and that at this point you already possess the basics of writing, let’s
review some of the things you did when you made your outputs for the last two
lessons. This question will help jog your memory (unless you’re a goldfish
whose memory resets every 3 seconds, LOL). (Seriously though, goldfish’s
memory spans up to 5 months.)

• Before you started writing your digital multimodal text as well as your
informative speech, persuasive speech, etc. what did you consider first?

Correct! You considered who your audience was going to be and what
your purpose was. And given these two, including the communication context,
you also considered the language register (choice of words) you would use. Did
you know at that time that your choice of words would set the “tone” of your
output?

In written works, the tone does not refer to the sound that you literally
hear when someone talks. Tone, in written outputs, refer to your stand on the
topic which is revealed through your choice of words.

Workplace communication is no exception. When you answer memos

(short for memorandum) or write request letters (from the simple request for
leave of absence to the more serious request for promotion), incident reports,
and what-nots, you also have to consider your purpose, target reader
(audience), and tone. When you do this, the rest falls into place. For a quick
rundown, here they are:

1. Purpose is the reason why you are writing. In the workplace,

communication is mostly transactional in order to facilitate work or in
order to avoid disruption of work flow or in order to improve
products/services.
 For instance, are you requesting for a leave of absence, or a budget
increase for the current project you are undertaking, or a replenishment
of office budget? Are you proposing a project, a new policy, or an
improvement of the current services? Whatever it is, it has to be clear at
the onset.

The good thing about workplace communication is that you won’t always
have to write a letter as most companies use standard forms to simplify
things. For instance, leave forms are available at the HR office. You can

fill out this form when requesting for a leave of absence. For example:
Source: https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/762726886869854840/

2. The reader or audience is the person or group of persons you are

writing to. These are the recipients or addressee of your communication
(read: letters or reports or proposal).

In the workplace, your target readers could be your immediate

supervisor, your human resource officer (HR, for brevity), your manager,
your co-worker, your client, your supplier, etc.

In the sample request for leave form above, who do you think would be
your target reader/audience should you file for one in the future?

3. Your tone, as previously explained, refers to your stand on the subject

matter. This is revealed in your choice of words (language register). As
 such, your preference and your bias are bound to be expressed or to be
implied in your communication.

In the workplace, this is not necessarily a bad thing. As long as you have
evidence to back-up your preference (or bias) for a specific product or
services (and as long as your communication sounds formal or
impersonal or professional), your manager or immediate supervisor will
acknowledge your idea especially if what you are saying could result to
better services and increased income for the company.

B. FLOW OF COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Depending on who is writing and for whom the letter (or report or memo)
is for, the flow of communication in the workplace (Searles, 2014 as quoted by
Padilla, et.al. 2018) usually takes the following:

1. Upward
The communication is sent by a low rank employee to his/her
immediate supervisor or anyone above his immediate supervisor.
Request for leave of absence is a very good example of a communication
which flows from an employee to someone in the hierarchy, usually the
HR.

You might be wondering why you keep encountering requests for

leave of absence. This is because once you are gainfully employed, you
cannot decide not to go to work just because the mood strikes you. As a
student, you can probably get away with this. But as an employee, this is
an irresponsible thing to do. You can be sanctioned for habitual absence
if you do it frequently. The sanction to be given would depend on the
company policy.

Another example would be reports. Reports (e.g., incident report,

memorandum report, sales report, etc.) are usually written by the
employee and submitted to the proper authority requiring such report.

2. Lateral or horizontal
The communication is sent by an employee to another employee
who is of equal level or rank as hers/his. You had a taste of this when
you did Task 5 in the previous lesson. Why? Because the group members
for the task are of equal rank though you played different roles.
 In the workplace, when branch managers exchange
communication with each other to facilitate business transactions, the
flow of communication is lateral or horizontal. These could be report of
sales, transfer of an employee, project undertaking, etc.

3. Downward
The communication originates from the management and is sent to
the employees. These communications usually take the form of office
orders, memoranda, and important announcements.

Suppose you are to attend a training, the management, through its

HR, will issue an office order or a memo authorizing and directing you to
attend such training. Once you receive this order or memo, you can now
attend the training at the company’s expense. You will also not be
marked absent for the duration of the training, though you may be
required to submit a memorandum report after attending the training.

In the government service, employees who are authorized to attend

seminars or trainings outside of the workplace are asked to submit a
properly filled-out and duly signed Official Business form (OB form, for
short) upon return to the workplace.

4. Outward
The communication is sent to anyone outside of the company. It
could be a response to a client’s letter or a demand letter (in the case of
default loans) or a product brochure or official statements or press
releases.

Now that you know how communication in the workplace flows, it is

important to learn next the protocol you need to observe when it comes to
workplace communication.

C. OBSERVING PROTOCOL IN WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION

Whatever the circumstance may be, the established protocol in the
company or organization must always be observed. To do this, you have to
know what these protocols are. But first what is protocol?

A protocol is an agreed procedure of doing or dealing with things. These

are rules that govern daily business operations. The term business as used in
this sense applies to all kinds of business you can think of. Protocols are put in
place to keep the work flow smooth and to guide how the employees should act
in the company for the duration of their employment.

Filing a request for leave is one example of this protocol. Let’s take a look
at the sample Leave Request Form again. Now, study the form closely.

Before submitting this form to the HR, you must fill-out the form
properly and affix your signature. The HR will then forward this form to the
manager for approval. Or you can obtain the signature of your
supervisor/manager before submitting it the HR. As to which of these two
courses of action will take place, it all depends on what the employee handbook
says.

Thus, you should read the company employee handbook to be properly

guided. Properly guided, your stay in the company would be a happy one as
you would be able to avoid the breaches of the protocols as well as the legal
sanctions that come with it.

To give you an idea of how an employee handbook looks like as well as

its contents, I will show you a digital copy of an employee handbook used in
one of our government’s agency or department. But before I show you the
sample though, read the following unfinished statements first. Then, scan (i.e.,
read quickly to get specific details) the document for the details that will
complete each.
1. The guidebook is for the employees of the ___________________________.
2. Aside from the annexes, the employee guidebook has _________ parts.
3. The Rationalized ___________________________ gives the various
hierarchical positions in the agency.
4. _______________________________ is the highest office in the agency.
5. The _____________________________ gives the different types of
appointment status that are given to employees.
6. An applicant who possesses all the qualifications required of the position
he is applying for is given a _________________________.
7. All employees are required to render _________ of work every day, from
Monday to Friday, with a _________ lunch break.
8. All employees are required to use the biometrics for attendance
monitoring, _______ times in a day.
9. All employees need to sign their _________________________ at the end of
each month and to submit the same to the HR, also duly signed by
his/her head of office. Failure to submit this would mean the employee’s
salary shall be withheld (read: salary will not be given).
10. Employees earn a total of ________ vacation leave and 15 days
___________ annually with full pay (i.e., 1 day VL and 1 day SL for every
24 days of actual service)
11. Unauthorized/disapproved leave (read: absence) means outright
deduction from the employee’s salary as well as _________________
action.
12. Being continuously absent from work for 30 days without an approved
leave of absence would mean the employee can be declared ________
(hint: use the acronym) and can be separated from service (read:
dismissed, fired, terminated) without prior notice.
13. An employee can be sanctioned for being _____________________ 10 times
in a month for 2 consecutive months in a year or for 2 months within the
semester.
14. _______________ is leaving the office early before the employee’s official
time out. Incurring

Done reading these unfinished statements? You may now click this link.
Complete the sentences as you scan the document.
 Did you find it informative? Great! This is a sample of an actual employee
guidebook. Now that you have scanned its contents, skim through it this time
to be able to answer these questions.

1. Pretend that you are an employee of the DOLE. Give the protocol that
you should observe for the following circumstances.
a. You been absent for work for more than 5 days due to sickness.
What should you do upon your return to work?
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b. You want to file a vacation leave. How should you go about it?
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. What is likely to happen when the protocol for the filing of the sick leave
form is violated or breached? What sanctions can an employee expect?
________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

D. KINDS OF WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION

As stated earlier, the world of work requires a lot of writing. The good
thing is, as a rank and file employee, most of this writing requires your ability
to properly fill-out forms, while the rest requires your basic knowledge of
writing simple letters only this time, there are templates that you need to use.
For this reason, let’s categorize these into two: Forms and Templates.

1. FORMS
To standardize workplace communication as well as to make the flow
of communication effective, companies and even government agencies have
opted to utilize forms in the offices. Forms refer to documents where the
employee inputs information being asked in the form. These information can
come in words, phrases, sentences or symbols (x and ). As there are many
forms in use by companies, like job order form, purchase request form,
maintenance request form, etc., it will be impractical to include all of them
here due to time constraints. But what you will learn about here are the
most commonly used ones. Hopefully, learning this will contribute to your
resiliency as an employee or a business owner in the future.

a. Leave Form
 You have seen in the previous page what a generic Leave Request
Form looks like. Let me put it here again. Now, please fill-out this
form.

Are you done? Your filled-out form should look like this.

3 22 21

Taylor Swift Marketing Department

vacation

3 29 21 3 31 21

Taylor Swift
 Note that Ms. Taylor did not write anything on the
Notes/Comments box. Like her, you too, should not have written
anything on that box. Would you like to know who is supposed to write
there? Correct! It’s your manager or supervisor.

b. Official Business Form

Most companies have an Official Business Form which is used by
employees when going out of the office during office hours on official
business. The OB form varies from company to company or from
agency to agency. And just to give you an idea of how an OB form
looks like, below is the OB Form used by the employees of the Office
of the Solicitor General.

Source: https://www.scribd.com/doc/293818861/Official-Business-Form
 In our college, the OB form is called Locator
Slip. A common thing among these forms is the
fact they give instructions as to the number of
copies you need to accomplish and when you are
supposed to submit the form.

Unless you have an approved OB form or

Locator Slip, you are not to leave the premises of
your workplace. Why? Should you get caught,
you can be charged with loafing. In the
government service, the Civil Service Commission
(CSC) defines loafing as the "frequent
unauthorized absences from duty during office
hours" (www.chanrobles.com). And if you are
found guilty after due process, the sanction or
penalty ranges from 6 months to 1-year
suspension for the first offense to dismissal from
the service for the second offense.

In the private sector however, the charge

and the sanction will depend on the policy of the company.

c. Incident Report Form

The term “incident” refers to any kind of unplanned event such
as accident, injury damage to property, crime, or even office
equipment failure. While we don’t want these to happen, they do
happen. When they do and you happen to be on-duty when it
happened, you will have to write an incident report. Write it ASAP
while everything is fresh on your mind. You know how memories dim
with the passing of time, so it is a MUST that you immediately
accomplish the Incident Report Form.

An Incident Report Form is therefore used to document these

“incidents” in the workplace and should be completed immediately
when an “incident” occurs. It should be properly and truthfully
filled-out as this can be used as evidence in investigations should
complaints or legal proceedings arise from the “incident”; or as
reference to institute corrective action; or as supporting document
when filing for benefit or compensation. Here is a sample form.
 Indicate here what you
were doing when the
incident happened. For
example, I was
photocopying some
documents.

Say what the incident was

and briefly narrate what
transpired. For example:
Accident/near-miss accident
The machine broke down.

Write the exact thing you did

when the incident happened.
For example: I unplugged the
machine, counted 1-10, then
plugged it again. It powered
up but still won’t copy
documents. So, I reported to
the maintenance.

If you know the cause of the

incident, write it here. If not,
then say: I don’t know since I
know nothing about copiers.

Write here the names of

persons who witnessed it. If
there are none, say: Nobody
else was at the copier center
at that time.

Lastly, It is important to be truthful when writing incident

reports. While there may be no witnesses except you, remember
that most offices are already equipped with video cameras which
record everything. (There’s your witness!) So, if you lie in the form
and you are caught, not only would it tarnish your reputation but
you could be facing falsification of document charges, the penalty
of which depends on company policy. (And there goes your
credibility!)

d. Progress Report Form

A Progress Report is written to provide information about how a
certain project is developing towards its completion. Thus, the
progress report keeps you on your toes! It’s a constant push that
 makes you push forward so you will be able to write a good progress
report. Companies require the submission of progress reports for
transparency and accountability purposes. It may be submitted
weekly, monthly or for every 25% completion of a project depending
on its complexity and scope. Here is a sample form.
Write here the title of the project undertaken. For
example: “Construction of a 5-Storey Technology Building”

For example:
Project Coordinator: Alex Corona
Team members: LA Construction Firm

Write your name here (if you wrote the report).

If the progress report is submitted monthly, the indicate

here the month and year covered.

Briefly state here the background of the project. For

example:
The Construction of the 5-Storey Technology Building was
funded by DPWH with the target completion date of May
2021. Construction started on May 2019.

Briefly state here the achievements made within the

reporting period. Since our example is a construction of a
building you can itemize here the work done for the
month. For example:
Excavated the ground for the foundation; Laid the
foundation, etc.

If there are no problems encountered, write none. If there

is, state the problem. For example:
Failed to secure building permit on time so work was
delayed by a week.

Briefly state here the remaining work still to be

accomplished to meet the target date of completion.

Briefly state here your assessment of the project given its

objectives, schedule and budget. If everything is running
smoothly, write: In the absence of constraints, it is highly
possible to meet the target completion date. If there are
constraints, write: The target completion date may not be
met if the problem on the release of budget persists.

Briefly state here your recommendation in order to

address the problem encountered and thus meet the
target completion date.

TASK 1
Directions: Read each scenario carefully then accomplish the forms that should
be submitted. Your prof will either send these to your email or upload the
forms in your Google classroom or in your class group chat.
1. You were able to snag a piso-fare promo flight from Air Asia last February
2021. Your scheduled departure flight for Boracay is on May 20, 2022 while
your return flight is on May 24, 2122. Suppose you are an employee of
DOLE, specifically at the Records sections of the Bureau of Labor Relations.
When should you file your Leave Request Form? Show this by
accomplishing the Leave Request Form correctly.

2. Gina’s legally adopted daughter died in her sleep on March 15, 2021. She
returned to work after a week of being absent. What is the first thing Gina
should do? Show what she should do by accomplishing the appropriate
form correctly and filing the same. (Pretend you are Gina Marquez, also an
employee of DOLE, specifically at the Bureau of Working Conditions. You
returned to work on March 22, 2021.)

3. You left your Refrigeration and Airconditioning Laboratory-Shop at around

5:00 pm, Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Before you left, you made sure
that the gate was securely fastened by a padlock. The following day,
Thursday, as you were about to open your shop, you saw that it’s no longer
padlocked and that the gate was slightly ajar. You hurriedly went inside to
check if something was missing. Upon careful examination, you found out
that the following were missing: 10 motors, 1 refrigerant recovery unit, and
1 charging scale, all issued under your name. Which form should you
accomplish to report this? Accomplish that form correctly. Write N/A for
items in the form that are NOT APPLICABLE in this case.
 2. TEMPLATES
Templates are documents that guide employees in writing a specific
communication. Here, you will be introduced to memorandum and minutes
of the meeting.

a. Memorandum
A memo or memorandum is an inter-office communication used to
formally deliver information to people in the company from one office to
another. Memos are used to make announcements, give instructions,
clarify or change a policy (or a procedure or an issue), alert a staff to a
problem, give a notice for meeting, give disciplinary action, etc. Once
issued, memos become official documents and sometimes, legal records
since they can be used as evidence.

Here is how a memo looks like and how it should be encoded.

L
The letterhead E
contains the T
T Marikina Polytechnic College
company name, the No. 2 Mayor Chanyungco Street, Sta. Elena, Marikina City 1800
E
logo, business R (Tel. Nos. 667 91864)
address, and contact H
numbers. E
A
D MEMORANDUM
The header follows this format:
to, from, date, and subject.
TO: MR. JUAN A. DELA CRUZ
Each part is encoded in each Gate Security Guard
line and you are to skip a line H
between each. “To” is used E FROM: MR. TOMAS SANTOS
when the flow of A Head, Safety and Security Department
communication is downward; D
while “For” is used when the DATE: March 16, 2020
flow is upward.
E
R
SUBJECT: SAFETY PROTOCOL FOR STUDENTS’ ENTRANCE
The body of the memo
contains the message.
The paragraphs are not In observance of the new normal policy for social distancing for Higher Education
indented. However, Institutions, you are hereby instructed to implement the safety protocol for students’
you are to skip a line entrance beginning March 30, 2020.
between paragraphs.
The signature of the As such, you are to instruct students to adapt the following rules during their entrance
B to the campus:
issuing authority is
affixed near his name
O
in the header portion. D 1. observing one-meter distance between students;
Y 2. passing through the foot bath; and
CC means carbon copies. It 3. getting their body temperature through thermal scanner.
bears the names of person or
offices that will be receiving a Your compliance of the said matter is highly enjoined.
copy of the memo. CC can
Cc: HR
either be placed at the header
or at the bottom.
 Note that the message has the complete details on the what, the
why, the how, and the when of the matter at hand. It is concise (i.e., brief
and clear) and has a professional tone.

Now, let’s see if you understood the sample memo. Answer these
questions.
1. Who sent the memo? _______________________________________
2. Who is the recipient of the memo? __________________________
3. Why was the memo issued? ________________________________
4. When is the effectivity of the memo? _________________________
5. Who else received a copy of the memo? ______________________

Once you have this initial memo on your computer, save it under
the file name Memo Template. So, the next time you need to encode a
memorandum, you can readily access this file. After encoding the new
memo, save it using another file name.

TASK 2
Directions: Read the memo below. Pretend you are the recipient and write a
response memo. Since you will be responding to a memo issued by a person of
a higher position than you, use “For:” in place of “To:” in the header.

TECHNOLOGIC SOLUTIONS, INC.

No. 5 Gumamela Street, San Roque, Marikina City 1800
(Tel. Nos. 627 80753)

MEMORANDUM

TO: MS. LIRA QUEZON

Staff, R&D Office

FROM: MR. ROARKE BELEN

Head, R&D Office

DATE: March 22, 2021

SUBJECT: FAILURE TO LOG IN AND OUT DURING LUNCH BREAK

As per report from the HR office, the biometrics generated Daily Time Record under
your name shows no log in and log out during lunch break on March 2, 2021 and March
3, 2021.

Since it is the company policy to log in and log out during lunch break, you are hereby
directed to submit a written explanation, 48 hours upon receipt of this memo.

Failure to comply would mean waiving your right to be heard and concurring to
possible disciplinary action as stated in the employee handbook.

Cc: HR
For this task, observe the following mechanics:
1. Use the default font, Calibri, size 11, for the title, header and body of the
memo.
2. Use one font size smaller (Calibri, size 10) for the position of both the
sender and the recipient in the header.
3. Use all caps for the names of the sender and the content of the subject
line. (Observe the sample memo.)
4. Observe the line spacing in the header as well as between the paragraphs
in the body of the memo.
5. Cc the HR, too.
6. Put in the subject line: written explanation re: failure to log in and out
during lunch break.
7. Run the grammar and spelling check to capture basic errors in grammar
and spelling.
8. Affix your signature, the shortened version, (also called initial) near your
name. Do not affix your REAL SIGNATURE. Remember, you are
responding in the memo as LIRA QUEZON. The boys can respond as LIRO
QUEZON.

Rubrics:

Criteria Description Points

Content The response memo appropriately
addressed the task. Message is concise.
Tone is professional. 10
Organization Response memo has complete parts
and correct format. 10
Mechanics Required mechanics were complied
with; no punctuation, grammar and
spelling errors. 10
TOTAL 30

b. Minutes of the Meeting

The minutes of the meeting or simply, the minutes, is an important
written record of a meeting. In the workplace, business meetings are
conducted on a regular basis, which could be monthly or quarterly. Of
course, emergency meetings can also be called if there are urgent issues
to be discussed and decided upon.
 Normally, it is the secretary who takes and writes the minutes of
the meeting. But what if the meeting is just within your department and
the designated head of your department has no secretary? There is a
likelihood of you being assigned to take the minutes. Once you are
assigned to take the minutes, it means you will also be the one to write
the minutes. In this case, you are called a recorder. Thus, you also need
to become familiar with the minutes.

Have you seen one? No? Here is sample template of the minutes.
Please pay careful attention to the notes inside the parenthesis for it does
not only tell you what to write in each part but also the flow of the
business meeting.

Example
 ORGANIZATION NAME (Letterhead)

Date : ______________ Time : ____________Venue : _______________________________

Presiding Officer: _______________________ Minutes taken by: ______________________

I. ATTENDANCE
A. Attendees (Indicate the names of those who are present in the meeting.)
1.

B. Absentees (Indicate the names of those who are absent in the meeting.)
1.

II. MEETING PROPER

A. DECLARATION OF QUORUM
(A quorum is declared when the attendees reach more than half of those who are
supposed to be present for the meeting. The rule is 50% + 1. As soon as quorum is
reached, the secretary or recorder informs the presiding officer. So, what do you
write here? Indicate that quorum has been reached by mentioning the number of
attendees vs. the expected perfect attendance. Thus, if perfect attendance for the
meeting is 14 persons, quorum is reached when the roster of attendance shows 8
persons being present.)

B. CALL TO ORDER
(As soon as the quorum is declared, the presiding officer calls the meeting to order. In
layman’s term, calling the meeting to order is declaring “We can now start the
meeting.” So, what do write here? Indicate here the presiding officer has called the
meeting to order after quorum has been declared. Approval of “Other Matters” items
should also be mentioned here.)

C. READING OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

(Upon calling the meeting to order, the secretary distributes the minutes of the
previous meeting. After a few minutes, the presiding officer asks the attendees if
there are corrections to the previous minutes. If there are no corrections, one of the
attendees should move for the approval of the previous minutes. Should there be no
minutes of the previous meeting, the secretary should move to dispense the reading
of the minutes. Dispensing the minutes means that the minutes of the previous
meeting will not be read or appreciated precisely because the secretary was not able
to prepare the minutes of the previous meeting. This means further that in the next
meeting, two minutes should be appreciated. So, what should you write in this
section? Write here that the minutes of the previous meeting dated ______ has been
approved and duly seconded, as read, if there were no corrections. You must also
indicate the name of the person who moved for the approval. Now, if there are
correction to the minutes, then indicate that the minutes of the previous meeting
dated _____ has been approved as corrected and that it has been duly seconded.)
 D. UNFINISHED/OLD BUSINESS
(Upon approval of the previous minutes, the presiding officer takes up unfinished
business from the previous meeting. This refers to agenda items from the previous
meeting that were not settled. So, what will you write in this section? Write in this
section the discussion of the agenda items from the previous meeting. Discussion of
this old agenda items should include the motions and resolutions passed.)

E. NEW BUSINESS: DISCUSSION OF AGENDA ITEMS

(Write in this section the discussion of the agenda items for this meeting. Each agenda
item is written in separate paragraphs. You should include all motions made and all
resolutions passed. Thus, this portion of the minutes will be longest one.)

III. OTHER MATTERS

(Write here the discussion for the items that were not originally included in the agenda but
were approved to be taken up in the meeting at the start of the meeting.)

IV. ADJOURNMENT
(Write here the time the meeting was declared adjourned or finished. Indicate, too, that
the motion to adjourned has been duly seconded.)

CERTIFIED TRUE AND CORRECT:

Name of the person secretary or recorder

Position in the company or organization

ATTESTED BY:

Name of the presiding officer

Position in the company or organization

*This should only be signed after the minutes was presented, corrected, if necessary, and approved by
the body.

The sample template you see here is just one of the many that you will
encounter someday. So, which template should you use when you’re already
working? Simple! You should use the one that your company is using. For
now, it is enough that you know what the minutes is, its content, and how it is
written.

Now, here is the general guidelines (Padilla, et.al., 2018) you should keep
in mind when preparing the minutes of the meeting.

❖ All motions and resolutions are recorded, and proponents are

identified by name.
❖ Seconded motions are also noted and recorded although the
ones who seconded them need not be identified.
❖ Results of seconded motions must be recorded and whether
approved or rejected, should be indicated in the minutes.
❖ Headings are used to mark report sections. Titles should be all
capital letters.
❖ Minutes of the previous meeting should also be taken up.
❖ Do not report/write verbatim (word for word) what are said.
Summarize. Readers are more interested in results.
❖ Lengthy discussion, debates and reports given should be
summarized.
❖ The past tense is used.

TASK 3
Directions: With a partner, watch a role play of a business meeting at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMsOw2urOQU then prepare the
Minutes of the Meeting following the template given here.

Rubrics

Criteria Description Points

Content The minutes covered everything that was
tackled in the meeting. Tone is professional. 10
Organization The minutes has complete parts and correct
format. 10
Mechanics General guidelines in preparing the minutes
were observed; no punctuation, grammar and
spelling errors. 10
TOTAL 30

Wow! Congrats! You’ve made it this far. Now that you’re finished with all
the tasks, take a 20-minute nap to recharge your energy. Sweet dreams!
 Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326803
ASSESSMENT
A. Directions: Match column A with B to identify the appropriate type of
communication to be used in the given situation. Write the letter of your
answer.

Column A Column B
____ 1. One of the staff members met an a. Progress Report
accident while operating a machine. b. Leave Form
____ 2. A new company policy has to be c. Memorandum
cascaded to all workers. d. Official Business Form
____ 3. The monthly board meeting shall be e. Incident Report
held in a week’s time and the f. Minutes of the Meeting
secretary has to prepare this
document for appreciation in the said
meeting.
____ 4. An employee has been absent from
work for 2 days due to illness.
____ 5. An employee in-charge of a project has
to update his supervisor on the its
status.

B. Directions: Fill in the blanks with the words that best complete the meaning
of each sentence.

1. In writing the minutes of the meeting, the __________ (past, present,

future) tense is used.
 2. The (Minutes of the Meeting, Incident Report, Progress Report)
___________________ is a record of what was discussed and decided in a
meeting.
3. The (To, From, Subject, CC) _______________________ in the header of the
memo informs you who else received a copy of the memo.
4. (Upward, Downward, Lateral) ____________________ communication
happens when a letter is sent among people of equal status in the
company.
5. Since readers are more interested in the results of a lengthy discussion,
minutes should be ______________________ (summarized, verbatim,
wordy).
6. A (Memo, Incident Report, Progress Report) __________________________ is
written to give a client an update about a project, the flow of
communication is (upward, lateral, outward).
7. Incident Reports generally flow (lateral, upward, downward) in workplace
communication.

C. Directions: Write a memorandum pertaining to one of the following

situations.

Situation 1: A new Sous Chef is hired and as the Head Chef, it is your
task to inform the Kitchen Staff about it. Include in the memo the duties
and responsibilities of a Sous Chef.

Situation 2: There is a change of policy regarding the disposal of used

machine oil. Instead of a two-times a week collection, it shall be collected
once a week by the Garbage Collection Unit of the local government.
Include in your memo the specific day and time of the new schedule of the
collection of used machine oil.

Situation 3: The Supreme Student Council will conduct a seminar about

the minimum health standards that must be observed by all students
inside the campus. Pretend that you are the Supreme Student Council
President and you need to write a memo announcing the event. Fill in
the other information needed like date, time and venue of the seminar,
speaker, etc.

Rubrics
 Criteria Description Points
Content The memo appropriately addressed the
task. Message is concise. Tone is
professional. 10
Organization Memo has complete parts and correct
format. 10
Mechanics Required mechanics were complied
with; no punctuation, grammar and
spelling errors. 10
TOTAL 30
ANSWER KEY
Assessment
A.
1. e 4. b
2. c 5. a
3. f

B.
1. past
2. Minutes of the Meeting
3. CC
4. Lateral
5. Summarized
6. Progress Report, outward
7. upward

C. Answers may vary.