Routine Business Letter

Routine Business Letter  This assignment is persuasive and requires ethical judgment.  You are writing a recommendation letter for another employee on behalf of your boss.  While your boss recommends this employee, your boss and you both know that this person is weak in a key area. Although this letter is labeled “routine,” it involves information gathering, strategic analysis, ethical judgment, and persuasion.  Your goal here is to avoid violating professional ethics in writing this letter of recommendation. You have been tasked with writing a positive recommendation in your boss’ voice. You have a responsibility to make the letter read as a positive recommendation. You also have a responsibility to the reader to be honest and reveal not only the strength of the applicant but also the key weakness in job performance. The trick will be to characterize the weakness in a way that does not preclude the applicant from getting an interview for their new position. You are free to construct the fiction around the content of this letter, but some examples of key weaknesses are: weak organization, a lack of punctuality, a mixed record of meeting deadlines. The applicant may also excel in their responsibilities but have an interpersonal weakness such as: being a distraction for others, not functioning well in group projects, lacking confidence. You may not reveal information regarding the applicant’s personal life/ situation. Depending on the area of weakness, you will insert your messaging in either the professional section or the interpersonal section – masking the weakness in a way that both reveals the information and characterizes the information in a way that does not damage the applicant. Common organization of letters of recommendation. Introduction paragraph.   Who are you? Why are you writing this letter? What position is the applicant applying for? How long have you known the applicant? In what capacity have you worked with the applicant? Professional information. 1-2 paragraphs.   What is your evaluation of the applicant’s positive work performance? Give a specific example of a time the applicant exhibited a strength mentioned in the work performance evaluation. Interpersonal information. 1 paragraph.   What is your evaluation of the applicant’s positive interpersonal behavior in the workplace? Give a specific example of a time the applicant exhibited a strength mentioned in the interpersonal evaluation. Sign off.   Give the reader information needed to contact you if needed. Review page 142 for letter design.