This assignment earned me the highest grade. I finished this course with obtaining a Distinction overall in both the first and second year of the course. This document covers (P1)
Types of formal written communication with advantages and disadvantages and how it is used in
the UPS.
Letter:
A letter is a well known form of written communication in which you write down your message on
a piece of paper and seal it within an envelope and put it in a letterbox for delivery.
The UPS use letters to inform members of the public such as with court dates, requesting
information, case updates etc..
The letter will contain key information such as the organisations name, address, phone number and
email address.
The public services would also use letters internally as well for example to inform all their members
of staff of a policy update.
Advantages of using a letter is that unlike an email a letter cannot be deleted and you shouldn't miss
it because its come through your letterbox instead of having to keep checking your emails, although
disadvantages would be that it could get lost/damaged in the post and you could put the letter
somewhere and then forget where you put it.
Memo:
A memo is usually used for communication within an organisation, they are less formal than letters
but serve the same purpose of communication key information to the people it concerns. Memos are
useful in situations where emails are not suitable for example sending over a report. Although in
many situations email has replaced the role of memos.
Advantages of using a memo, everyone concerned will receive the same information therefore less
chance of someone misunderstanding the message, it is also a good way of preserving information
that can be accessed whenever its needed. It is also a very quick and precise method of
communication. Disadvantages would be that if your discussing a complex topic then its hard to do
so via a memo because of how brief memos typically are. It can also only be used internally, it
wouldn't be used to communicate with any external party.
Email:
An email is a written communication sent via the internet. The UPS would use emails to inform
users of their service of upcoming changes, surveys, job opportunities etc, it would never contain
anything too sensitive as that is usually done either in person or as a letter. Quite often your asked
now which method of communication you would like to receive information from e.g. letter, phone
call, email.
Advantages of emails is that you always have a copy of that email archived in your account making
it very hard to lose it, you also have the ability to pin/save certain emails to make easy to re access.
, Its also one of the fastest methods of communication as you can send and receive emails within a
click of a button and can also send the same email to multiple people.
Disadvantages would be that because you can send an email to multiple people this could also mean
that you might accidentally send the wrong email to loads of people or include a recipient that was
not supposed to be on the list. Another potential disadvantage could be that if your email account
gets hacked into then someone could gain access to all your emails, this is also why its not advised
to discuss matters that contain sensitive information via email.
Internet:
The internet is used by the public services to promote their service and to basically show off to the
public what they do for example every public service will have a page on most social medias
twitter, facebook etc.. and they usually use these methods to give updates to the public as to what
they are currently up to, recent events, for example if you was to go on your local police’ twitter
page it would show you recent arrests that have been made and also images of missing people in
your area asking the public if they have seen this person etc..
Advantages of using the internet to communicate is that it can be accessed world-wide wherever
you are, can be used on mobile phones, like emails the information is received instantly.
Disadvantages would be that not everyone has the internet and also you have to be careful because
sometimes people on the internet might try to pretend they are part of the public services to try to
trick you into giving out certain information so always make sure the pages you are accessing are
legit before making any sort of interaction.
Intranet:
Intranet is a network within a specific organisation, it uses the internet but its restricted only to
those who those it concerns. The public services use this method to store more sensitive information
such as reports, databases containing peoples private details etc and is also accessed by certain
members of staff.
Advantages of intranet is that its very secure as its very hard for hackers to attempt to gain access to
it and very easy for those who do have access to it to quickly find the information they require.
Disadvantages however would be that it can be costly and time consuming to setup and some users
might find it confusing if they have never used it before.
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