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Due: Tuesday, February 17th
Workplace Audience
Either your Complaint Letter or Recommendation Letter will be mailed to your audience. Since these will be professional letters, the letter you mail will need to have a grade of at least "B-" before you mail it. If your letter does not receive this high of a grade, you may have to revise a couple of times to raise the grade before sending it. To revise your letter, you must submit the revision along with the original version that has my comments on it.
Once you get feedback from the company you write to, bring in the response so we can examine these in class. Historically, the responses from companies have definitely been the most interesting part of this assignment. We can take a few minutes each class period that someone has something to share and discuss the response and analyze the construction of the company's letter. There may even be some grade incentive to share such responses... so you probably want to do this.
Unsolicited Recommendation Letter
An unsolicited recommendation is similar to a complaint letter in that its ultimate goal is to initiate change, but differs in the fact that it does not focus on a problem with a given good or service, but proposes a way to improve a given good or service. A recommendation would include information on costs to the company as well as the potential benefits of implementing your idea.
Think of the main aspects of an unsolicited recommendation letter:
- Observed Problem—What situation / problem have you observed that could be improved / rectified with reasonable change? What negative effects on your audience have you seen due to this problem?
- Audience—Has your audience observed this problem? What understanding of the problem does your audience have? How does this problem affect your audience? Why should your audience consider this to be a potential problem?
- Proposed Resolution—What ideas for improvement can you offer your audience? Do you have multiple possible proposals? Why / How is this resolution better than the current situation?
- Benefits—Why / How would these proposed changes benefit your audience? Are there user benefits as well? Would this improved service to users generate / increase income for your audience? Would the changes you propose be cost effective?
Essentially, this recommendation is a mini-proposal in a letter form. An unsolicited recommendation letter usually originates from an observation of a problem or situation where the writer sees potential for improvement that might offer benefits to users, the letter recipient, or both.
Example: Your rent check must be mailed or hand-delivered to your landlord.
Rather than complaining about the cost of a stamp or the inconvenience of dropping off rent, show your landlord what benefits s/he would gain if s/he were to install a rent drop-box. The promise of receiving rent in a timely fashion from all residents due to the convenience of the drop-box placement, as well as the constant presence of the drop-box being a friendly reminder to residents, shows benefits to both landlord and tenant. This resolution could potentially alleviate many rent-related problems with both parties involved. |
Affecting Change in Your Audience
Remember your audience and remember your goal when writing your unsolicited recommendation letter. The best recommendation letters will offer cost-effective improvements that will generate or improve business for the letter recipient, and possibly provide more / better benefits to good / service users. Be sure to read the information on Understanding Audience for more examination of audiences.
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