ASP -01/2017-18

Secretarial Practice
1. Who is a secretary? Describe his/her qualifications. What are the roles of a secretary?

2. What is a meeting? Outline different types of meeting. What are the requisites of a valid meeting?

3. Explain basic principles of correspondence. Outline form and arrangement of a business letter.

4. a) You run a bookstore “Brilliant Career Book Depot” at Jaipur. Write a letter to “XYZ Publishers”
Meerut requesting to send a catalogue of the books published by them in the field of management.

b) You dispatched a railway parcel to “XYZ Book World” Allahabad, but it has not been delivered
even after 3 months. Write a letter to the Superintendent , Railway Parcel Office Jaipur in this regard.

5. Write short notes on the following:

a) Importance of reports
b) Characteristics of a good précis
c) Minutes of a meeting
d) Postal services
 ASP -01/2017-18
Secretarial Practice
1. Who is a secretary? Describe his/her qualifications. What are the roles of a
secretary?
Ans. A secretary or personal assistant is a person whose work consists of supporting management,
including executives, using a variety of project management, communication, or organizational skills.
These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit of
more than one. In other situations a secretary is an officer of a society or organization who deals with
correspondence, admits new members, and organizes official meetings and events.

The role of the Secretary is to support the Chair in ensuring the smooth functioning of the Management
Committee. In summary, the Secretary is responsible for: Ensuring meetings are effectively organised
and minuted. Maintaining effective records and administration.

Secretaries and administrators help to keep an organisation running smoothly, taking care of the
administrative and organisational tasks that make the organisation function. The job title ‘administrator’
and ‘secretary’ can be used interchangeably to describe the same role, or ‘secretary’ can be another,
more old-fashioned name for a personal assistant or executive assistant.
Typical responsibilities of the job include:

 answering calls, taking messages and handling correspondence

 maintaining diaries and arranging appointments
 typing, preparing and collating reports
 filing
 organising and servicing meetings (producing agendas and taking minutes)
 managing databases
 prioritising workloads
 implementing new procedures and administrative systems
 liaising with relevant organisations and clients
 coordinating mail-shots and similar publicity tasks or processing bills or expenses
 managing reception and meeting and greeting clients
 if more senior, recruiting, training and supervising junior staff
An administrative role can sometimes be a way into a profession, particularly in the media or marketing;
that is, many professionals in sectors such as marketing and the media start out in an administrative role
and work their way up.

However, if you wish to specialise in an administrative role, career progression can come from taking on
more senior administrative positions; what these are exactly will differ according to the organisation. In
some, you might become a senior administrator or team leader; in others, a personal or executive
assistant; in still more, an office manager. It’s also not unknown for secretarial and administrative staff
to specialise in working for organisations in particular sectors.
Typical employers of secretaries and administrators
A huge range of organisations across the public and private sectors employ secretaries and
administrators.

Jobs can typically be found on jobs boards, directly through the employer’s websites, through
recruitment agencies and in the print and online versions of local and national newspapers.

Qualifications and training required

Formal academic qualifications are not always needed, although some employers do require you to be
educated to a GCSE/standards or A level/highers level. A small minority might ask for a degree, in which
case a degree in a English, business, IT or information science may be beneficial.

Most employers do ask for office or administrative work experience; relevant experience can be gained
through temping via recruitment agencies. This, in turn, can lead to permanent work.

Some organisations ask for the ability to type a certain number of words per minute or to have
experience in audiotyping; however, shorthand is no longer asked for as standard. A range or secretarial
training courses are available online or via further education colleges.

Key skills for secretaries

 Good communication, customer service and relationship-building skills
 Teamworking skills
 Organisation and time management skills
 Attention to detail
 Negotiation skills
 Assertiveness
 Flexibility
 Tact, discretion and diplomacy
 The ability to be proactive and use your initiative: to see what needs doing and to do it

2. What is a meeting? Outline different types of meeting. What are the requisites of a
valid meeting?
Ans. Formal or informal deliberative assembly of individuals called to debate certain issues and
problems, and to take decisions. Formal meetings are held at definite times, at a definite place, and
usually for a definite duration to follow an agreed upon agenda. In a corporate setting, they are divided
into two main groups

(1) Organizational meeting: normally a regular meeting involving stockholders (shareholders) and
management, such as a board meeting and annual general meeting (AGM).
 (2) Operational meeting: regular or ad hoc meeting involving management and employees, such as a
committee meeting, planning meeting, and sales meeting.

A meeting is typically headed by a chairperson, and its deliberations are recorded in a written form
called minutes. Under corporate legislation, two main types of meetings are general meetings and
special or extraordinary meetings. Such meetings must have a minimum number of members (called
quorum) present to make the legally operative. Decisions (called resolutions) are made on the basis of
number of votes the assenting and dissenting parties can muster. Under the doctrine of collective
responsibility, decisions taken at these meetings bind all members whether present or not. However, a
dissenting minority may apply to a court to have an already adopted resolution set aside if it is deemed
illegal, iniquitous, or ultra vires.

The six general types of meetings:

 Status Update Meetings
 Information Sharing Meetings
 Decision Making Meetings
 Problem Solving Meetings
 Innovation Meetings
 Team Building Meetings

Here is a break-down of the six general types of meetings with examples of the main activities involve in
each type. Knowing what type of meeting you are planning will increase the success of your meeting.

1. Status Update Meetings

Status update meetings is one of the most common meeting types. This category includes regular team and
project meetings, where the primary goal is to align the team via updates on progress, challenges, and next
steps. Commonly found group activities in these kinds of meetings are problem solving, decision making,
prioritization, and task assignment.
.
2. Information Sharing Meetings
Presentations, panel debates, keynotes, and lectures are all examples of information sharing meetings. The
primary goal of these meeting is for the speakers to share information with the attendees. This could be
information about things like upcoming changes, new products and techniques, or in depth knowledge of a
domain. Visual communication tools, like slides and videos, are powerful tools for making the shared
information more memorable.

At information sharing meetings the attendees have historically been passive listeners. With new
technologies like MeetingSift they can use their smart devices to go from passive spectators to
active participants, making the meeting more engaging and productive for all.

3. Decision Making Meetings

The vast majority of business decisions are made by groups in meetings. While small decisions are made in
all kinds of meetings, the more important decisions often get their own dedicated meetings. There
are different types of group decision making processes, and care should be taken to choose a process that
best matches the situation. A decision making process can include group processes like information
gathering and sharing, brainstorming solutions, evaluatingoptions, ranking preferences, and voting.
.
4.Problem Solving Meetings
Problem solving meetings are perhaps the most complex and varied type of meetings. Whether the meeting
is addressing an identified problem, or it is focusing on creating strategies and plans to navigate the future,
there are a rich arsenal of group processes that can be used. Scopes and priorities need to be defined,
opportunities and threats need to be identified, and possible solutions should be brainstormed, evaluated,
and agreed upon.
5. Innovation Meetings
Innovation meetings and creative meetings often start with thinking outside the box, by brainstorming,
associating, and sharing ideas in a broad scope. Meeting participants can then use various techniques and
processes to reduce the diverse pool of ideas to a more focused short list. Through ranking, evaluations, and
decision making the most suitable idea, or ideas, are identified, and recommendations and tasks can be
assigned based on this.
.
6.Team Building Meetings
All meetings should contribute to team building, strengthening relationships and corporate culture.
However, now and then team building activities should be the main focus for a meeting. This category
include meetings like include all-hands meetings, kick-off meetings, team building outings, and corporate
events. Have participants feel like essential parts of their unit, team, department, branch, and company has
all kinds of positive impact on their engagement, performance, and satisfaction.

Valid Meetings
Private meetings can be from the viewpoint of authenticity, classified into valid and invalid. Decisions
taken at a valid meeting are binding on the members of the association or committee or sub-committee
as the case may be whether present at the meeting or not or whether agree or disagree with the
decisions.
Actions have to be taken according to the decisions and the decisions can be imposed on the members.
If the decision itself is wrong or unlawful and for that if there is any punishment on the decision-makers,
they cannot escape the punishment. But a decision-making member, disagreeing with the majority may
escape personal liability if he has recorded a note of dissent.
Decisions taken at an invalid meeting are not binding even though a substantial majority or all the
members have agreed with such decisions. For example, even if all the members of a company have
ratified an act by the company which is not permitted by the object clause in the Memorandum of
Association of the company, the act cannot be valid

7 Important Requisites of a Valid General Meeting of a Company

1. Proper Authority: The authority to call a general meeting is the board of directors of the company.
The notice of the meeting should be issued under their authority, granted at a duly constituted meeting
of the board or passing a resolution by circulation. A single director has no power to convene a meeting.
The secretary of the company has no authority to call a general meeting unless the Board resolves and
authorises him to do so.

In case the meeting of the Board of directors itself is unlawful e.g. where rightful directors are prevented
from attending the directors’ meeting, the decision taken by the Board at such meeting to call the
general meeting, shall also be unlawful.

Where, however, the meeting at which the directors decide to call a general meeting is not properly
constituted (e.g. there is some defect in the appointment or qualification of the directors), and the
Board acts bona fide, a general meeting called in pursuance of a resolution passed at such directors’
meeting, is not necessarily invalid.

2.Notice: Notice to whom? Notice of every general meeting should be given to the following persons:
(i) Every member of the company.

(ii) Every person entitled to a share in consequence of the death or insolvency of a member.

(iii) Auditor or auditors of the company [Sec. 172 (2)].

Deliberate omission to give notice to a single member may invalidate the meeting. However, an
accidental omission to give notice to or non-receipt of it, by a member will not invalidate the meeting
[Sec. 172 (3)].

3. Place of the Meeting: Annual General Meeting. The annual general meeting is to be held by a
public company at its registered office or at some other place in the same city, town or village where the
registered office of the company is situated. However, the Central Government has the power to grant
exemption to any company from this provision.
A private company can hold its annual general meeting at any other place if:

(i) It has fixed the place of the meeting by the articles; or

(ii) It has fixed the place of the meeting by a resolution agreed by all the members.

A company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act can hold the annual general meeting at
any place. In case of a Government company, meeting can be held at any other place with the approval
of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
4. Quorum: Minimum number of members required to constitute a valid meeting and to transact
business therein is called ‘quorum’. No meeting can be valid without quorum. Any resolution passed at a
meeting without quorum shall be invalid. Quorum is to be fixed by the Articles of Association. But unless
the articles provide for a large number, 5 persons personally present in the case of a public company
and 2 members personally present in the case of private company shall be the quorum for a meeting of
a company. [Section 174 (2)]. Thus, articles cannot provide a smaller quorum than what has been
provided in section 174 (1). Besides that, for the purpose of quorum, only members present in person
and not by proxy are counted.
If within half an hour from the time appointed for holding a meeting of the company, a quorum is not
present, the meeting, if called on the requisition of members, shall stand dissolved [Sec. 174 (3)]. In any
other case, the meeting shall stand adjourned to the same day in the next week, at the same time and
place, or to such other day and at such other time and place as the Board may determine [Sec. 174 (4)].

If at the adjourned meeting also a quorum is not present within half an hour from the time appointed
for holding the meeting, the members present shall constitute quorum [Sec. 174 (5)]. However, the
above provisions shall not be applicable if the articles of the company otherwise provide [Sec. 174 (2)].
But this does not mean that the number of members personally attending can be less than two. A single
person cannot constitute a valid meeting except in certain cases only.

5. Chairman: A general meeting of the company is to be presided over by a chairman who regulates
and supervises the proper conduct of the business at a meeting. He decides all incidental questions
arising in the course of the proceedings of the meeting. Chairman should act bonafide and in the best
interest of the company as a whole. Articles usually provide the mode of appointment of the chairman
of a meeting. If the articles do not provide otherwise, the members personally present at the meeting
shall elect one of themselves to be the chairman thereof on a show of hands [Sec. 175 (2)].
If a poll is demanded on the election of the chairman, it must be taken forthwith and the chairman
elected on a show of hands can exercise all the powers in this connection [Sec. 175 (2)]. If some other
person is elected chairman as a result of the poll, he shall be the chairman for the rest of the meeting
[Sec. 175 (3)].

Articles 50, 51 and 52 of Table A provides on the appointment of a chairman:

50. The chairman, if any, of the Board shall preside over as chairman at every general meeting of the
company.
51. If there is no such chairman, or if he is not present within fifteen minutes after the time appointed
for holding the meeting, or is unwilling to act as chairman of the meeting, the directors present shall
elect one of their members to be the chairman of the meeting.

52. If at any meeting no director is willing to act as chairman or if no director is present within fifteen
minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting, the members present shall choose one of
their members to be the chairman of the meeting.

Chairman of the original meeting shall be the chairman of the adjourned meeting also unless validly
removed. The chairman of a meeting may be appointed by the Company Law Board/Tribunal in cases
where there are differences among the shareholders, and a peaceful meeting under the chairmanship of
a person appointed by either group is impossible.

6. Proxy: The term proxy has two meanings:

(a) A personal representative of the member at a meeting i.e. the person authorised to act or vote for
another at a meeting of the company, and

(b) The instrument by which a person is appointed to act for another at a meeting of the company, since
a representative can be appointed only in writing.

The following are the provisions of the Companies Act regarding appointment and rights of proxy:

(1) Law entitles every member of a company to appoint a person as his proxy to attend and vote at
company meeting instead of himself [Sec. 176 (2)]. However, a member of a company having no share
capital does not have this right unless its articles provide otherwise [Sec. 176 (4)].

(2) A member of a private company is not entitled to appoint more than one proxy to attend on the
same occasion unless its articles provide otherwise. But a member of a public company may appoint
more than one proxy i.e., he may appoint one proxy in respect of certain shares held by him and a
different proxy for other shares held by him.

(3) Any person can be appointed as a proxy whether he is a member of the company or not. In case the
proxy is not a member of the company, he shall have no right to speak at the general meeting unless the
articles otherwise provide. There is, however, no provision preventing a proxy putting questions in
writing and sending the same to the chairman for answer.
(4) A proxy is ordinarily entitled to vote only on a poll. But he may vote on voting by show of hands if the
articles provide. Besides that, he may demand or join in demanding a poll [Sec. 176 (1) (n)]. However, he
shall have no right to inspect proxy forms or the minutes of the meeting.

(5) Proxy must be appointed by an instrument in writing, duly stamped and signed by the member of the
company. A blank but stamped proxy is valid and may be completed by the person authorised to do so.

Proxy must be deposited with the company at least 48 hours before the commencement of the meeting.
A company, however, cannot legally require proxies to be deposited with it earlier than 48 hours before
the time of the meeting.

After giving 3 days’ notice to the company, members may inspect during business hours the proxies
lodged with the company at any time during the period commencing 24 hours before the time fixed for
the commencement of the meeting and ending with the conclusion of the meeting [Sec. 176 (7)]. Proxy
lodged for the original meeting remains valid for the adjourned meeting also.

(6) Every notice of a meeting must appropriately mention that a member is entitled to appoint a proxy
and that the proxy need not be a member [Sec. 176 (2)]. A company cannot send invitation to members
to appoint any one or more persons as proxies.

(7) A proxy is revocable. It can be revoked at any time. Death of the shareholder appointing a proxy will,
in the absence of provisions in the Articles revoke the authority of the proxy. Shareholder may himself
attend and vote in the meeting. Vote tendered by the proxy in such a case will not be accepted because
the need for exercising the proxy had never arisen. Proxy in this case shall stand revoked impliedly.

However, the mere presence of a member at the meeting does not imply the revocation of the authority
of the proxy. When both the member and the proxy are present at the meeting, the member’s absence
from voting on the resolution on which the proxy casts his vote does not imply the revocation of the
authority of the proxy. A proxy appointed later revokes the proxy appointed earlier.

(8) The relationship between the member and the proxy is that of principal and agent. A minor member
has no capacity to appoint a proxy. He can act only through his guardian. However, a minor can be
appointed a proxy.

In the case of joint holders of shares, proxy appointed by the first named joint holder will have
precedence over the proxy appointed by second joint holder. Proxy appointed by first joint holder will
exercise voting right to the exclusion of the joint holders who may be present in the meeting. There is no
need to obtain prior consent of the proxy to his appointment as such.
7. Voting at General Meeting: The decisions at the meetings are taken by way of passing the
resolutions. Every proposed resolution is discussed by the members of the company. Members have the
right to move amendments to the proposed resolutions provided the amendments are germane to the
proposed resolution.
After a proposed resolution has been discussed it is put to vote. Every member has a right to vote on
such resolutions. Shareholders may exercise their voting rights in their best interests with complete
freedom.

They are allowed to vote even if their interest is in conflict with the interest of the company. A director
may vote in the shareholders’ meeting even though his interest in the subject matter is opposed to the
interest of the company. Only members whose names appear in the Register of Members shall have the
right to vote.

Share warrant holders, executor of a deceased member, receiver of an insolvent member cannot
exercise any right to vote, unless registered as a member. However, a person who becomes a member
between the date of original meeting and the adjourned meeting may vote at the adjourned meeting.
Members who were not present at the time of voting by show of hands may vote at a poll.

A company cannot prohibit any member from exercising his voting right on the ground that he has not
held his shares or other interests in the company for any specified period before the meeting or on any
other ground (Sec. 182).

However, the articles may provide that a member shall not be entitled to exercise any voting rights, in
respect of any shares registered in his name on which he has not paid all calls or other sums presently
payable by him or in regard to which the company has exercised any right of lien (Sec. 181).

The preference shareholders have right to vote only on such resolutions which directly affect them; and
when their dividends are in arrears for a specified number of years [Sec. 87(2)].

Voting may be either by a show of hands or by a poll.

3. Explain basic principles of correspondence. Outline form and arrangement of a
business letter.
Ans.

basic principles of correspondence

In order to achieve desired result in business, we need to correspond with utmost care. This correspondence can
be oral as well written but whatsoever it is we must keep few principles in our mind. These principles constitute
7Cs of Business Correspondence. Although these are just seven small words starting with alphabet ‘C’ they are the
most important features of business communication. These can be understood as follows:

1. Completeness: When a message is transmitted the audience (reader/listener) desires complete

information to be presented. A muddled message or half message creates confusion in the mind of the
audience. A chain of who-what-when-where-why questions must be addressed in the process of
information presentation. When these questions are addressed the scope of confusion in the mind of the
audience becomes minimal. These questions also help the writer/speaker deal with other business
activities of letter writing.
For example: If a customer enquires about a particular product is the responsibility of the person-in-
charge to give detailed information in a short span of time along with some additional information that
the customer is not aware of. This process helps in building good business relation.
2. Conciseness:Conciseness refers to ‘conveying complete message with the help of minimum words
possible’. It is a pre-requisite of business correspondence as it is said in the field of business that ‘time
saved is money saved’. Hence, a concise letter saves time and expense of both the parties.
How to achieve conciseness is a big question! Consider the following:
a. No wordy expressions: instead of ‘at this time’ one can use ‘now’.
b. Only relevant details: Instead of providing a complete list of products along with their features and
the product use manual only a comprehensive list of products with their salient features can be
provided when a customer asks for the list of products.
c. Avoiding repetition: A repeated word can make the whole information boring. Sometimes repetition
is necessary in case to lay focus on particular information but this should not be practiced without
more than one reason. Again this should also not be practiced more often
3. Consideration:It refers to the receiver’s intention/interest. While transmitting information one must keep
the interest of the target audience in mind. This is important because we communicate to make the
audience understand our information. If they do not understand our information it is the failure of the
whole communication.
For example:if the Business Communication teacher uses figurative metaphorical language the students
might find it difficult to understand.
4. Concreteness:It refers to the characteristics of the information. In order to inform a specific audience
about specific information, one must not use general sense. A specific message must be convey in a
specific way with specific information rather than in a generic way with general message. Choosing a
general way for specific information may lead to the problems of misunderstanding. When we talk to our
clients we must use facts and figures in the place of generic and irrelevant information.
 5. Clarity:The purpose of Clarity is achieving Accuracy. For the audience to understand the information
easily, the information must be very clear. In effective business correspondence, familiar and easy words
and short and effective sentences and paragraph construction help the audience in understanding the
information. Use of jargons and complex sentences leads to misunderstandings. If there is a choice
between jargons and familiar words or a simple sentence and a complex sentence one must choose
familiar words and simple words.
6. Courtesy:The knowledge of the audience is very important while communicating. It allows the sender to
use statement of courtesy. Not only the perspective of the audience but also their feelings eases the
situation and the sender can be courteous in true sense. Courtesy leads to stronger business
relationships. One must make the audience feel important and concerned therefore using socially
accepted forms of politeness adds positives to the sender. The sender must be tactful in using the words
and tone.
7. Correctness:Correct use of grammar, punctuation and spellings are a must for business correspondence.
Incorrect grammar, punctuation and spelling leads to highest level of misunderstandings. There are three
characteristics of correctness:
a. Use of correct level of language and paralanguage
b. Use of correct facts, figures and words
c. Use of correct mechanics of writing (formats)

Outline Form in cavity preparation. OUTLINE FORM: ... It is the placement of cavity margins in the
positions they will occupy in the final preparation, except for finishing enamel walls and margins and
preparing an initial depth of 0.2 – 0.8mm pulpally of DEJ or normal root surface position
A business letter is a formal letter with six parts:

A business letter.
The Heading
The heading contains the return address with the date on the last line. Sometimes it is necessary to
include a line before the date with a phone number, fax number, or e-mail address. Often there is a line
skipped between the address and the date. It is not necessary to type a return address if you are using
stationery with the return address already imprinted, but you should always use a date.  Make sure the
heading is on the left margin.
Example:
Mr. Manoj Kumar
Maidangardhi , Nearest Ignou Gate,
New Delhi.
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
August 28, 2017 
Recipient’s Address
This is the address you are sending your letter to. Be sure to make it as complete as possible so it gets to
its destination. Always include title names (such as Dr.) if you know them. This is, like the other address,
on the left margin. If a standard 8 ½” x 11” paper is folded in thirds to fit in a standard 9” business
envelope, the inside address should appear through the window in the envelope (if there is one). Be
sure to skip a line after the heading and before the recipient’s address, then skip another line after the
inside address before the greeting. For an example, see the end of this sheet for a sample letter. 
The Salutation
The salutation (or greeting) in a business letter is always formal. It often begins with “Dear {Person’s
name}.” Once again, be sure to include the person’s title if you know it (such as Ms., Mrs., Mr., or Dr).  If
you’re unsure about the person’s title then just use their first name. For example, you would use only
the person’s first name if the person you are writing to is “Jordan” and you’re not sure if he or she is
male or female.
The salutation always ends with a colon.

The Body
The body is the meat of your letter. For block and modified block letter formats, single space and left
justify each paragraph. Be sure to leave a blank line between each paragraph, however, no matter the
format. Be sure to also skip a line between the salutation and the body, as well as the body and the
close.
                  
The Complimentary Close
The complimentary close is a short and polite remark that ends your letter. The close begins at the same
justification as your date and one line after the last body paragraph. Capitalize the first word of your
closing (Thank you) and leave four lines for a signature between the close and the sender’s name. A
comma should follow the closing.

The Signature Line

Skip at least four lines after the close for your signature, and then type out the name to be signed. This
often includes a middle initial, although it is not required. Women may put their title before had to show
how they wish to be addressed (Ms., Mrs., Miss).
The signature should be in blue or black ink.

Enclosures
If you have any enclosed documents, such as a resume, you can indicate this by typing “Enclosures” one
line below the listing. You also may include the name of each document.
Format and Font
Many organizations have their own style for writing a business letter, but here  are some common
examples.

Block
The most common layout for a business letter is called a block format. In this format, the entire letter is
justified to the left and single spaced except for a double space between paragraphs.

Modified Block
Modified block is another popular type of business letter. The body of the letter and the sender’s and
recipient’s addresses are left justified and single spaced. However, in this format, the date and closing
are tabbed to the center point.

Semi-Block
The least used style is called a semi-block. In it each paragraph is indented instead of left justified.

Font
The standard font for business letters is Times New Roman, size 12. However, fonts that are clear to
read such as Arial may be used.
Sample Letter
{NOTE: your name goes only at the bottom}
Your Return Address (no abbreviations for Street, Avenue, etc.)
Your City, YO [your two letter state abbreviation] zip
Date (write out either like August 28, 2017 )
First and Last Name of the Person to whom you are writing 
Address 
City, Delhi
Dear Mr./Ms. Whomever:
In the first paragraph, introduce what you are writing about and what you want from them.
In the subsequent paragraphs, explain the nature of your problem and what they can do for you. Be
non-combative and straight to the point.
In the last paragraph, be sure to thank him/her for his/her time and efforts on your behalf. Also, let
them know that you will contact them or that they can contact you with any questions.
Sincerely yours,
{four spaces so that your signature may appear here}
Jane Doe
A business letter is not restricted to one page; the letter should be as long as it needs to be.

4. a) You run a bookstore “Brilliant Career Book Depot” at Jaipur. Write a letter to “XYZ
Publishers” Meerut requesting to send a catalogue of the books published by them in
the field of management. (STUDENT WORK)

b) You dispatched a railway parcel to “XYZ Book World” Allahabad, but it has not
been delivered even after 3 months. Write a letter to the Superintendent , Railway
Parcel Office Jaipur in this regard. (STUDENT WORK)
5. Write short notes on the following:
a) Importance of reports
Ans.Business reports are an integral part of actively managing any company. Management uses
the reports to track progress toward its various goals, control expenditures and increase revenue.
Business reports help to predict trends, and this is an advantage toward increasing profits.

Unless you can communicate effectively, the knowledge and skills you acquire are of little use to others.
You have to be able to collect information, organize it, and present it in a logical and concise form.
Regardless of a report's target audience, the structure and organization must convey the exact meaning
you intend. A well-written report can be helpful to your career while a poorly written report calls into
question the credibility of your work and frustrates your reader. To underscore the emphasis placed on
the art of writing, many departments offer cash prizes for the best work report.

In a recent meeting with our sales staff we discussed the particulars of several new business pushes in
various states of planning and execution. This discussion — and the opportunity to focus on our own
marketing lead me to consider the basics that we provide to our customers and partners.

It should come as no surprise that a lot of thought and time goes into proposals. It’s rarely as simple as
“pulling numbers.” Nearly every project starts with an element of discovery to truly understand the
request prior to research and strategy, followed by considerations of how to share this information — 
layout, design, etc.

There’s an ever present thought throughout this process. This is, and may be our only shot, at selling
ourselves. Appropriately, we invest time with that in mind.

However, in the majority of cases the proposal is unlikely to be considered a deliverable. The client
didn’t pay for this work (most of the time), and that makes it easier to under-value the information
contained within. If you’re footing the bill, your much more focused on the service, or more likely the
results that you’re paying for. The plan is great, but our clients hire us because they trust our ability to
execute and deliver.

Obviously we provide a service guided by a formalized process, the majority of which our clients never
see. The exception is of course reports.

We must remember that for the most part, this information is self-reported from the client’s point of
view. There’s a lot of trust in that, and we acknowledge that while that trust is often casually handed
over — that doesn’t mean we take that responsibility lightly. We also understand that reports are many
times our only true deliverable and represent the greatest opportunity to highlight the value of our
services.

We’ve always understood that the work we do is incredibly valuable to our clients. That morning
meeting lead us to double our efforts to ensure our reporting communicates our execution of the plan
and the value we bring beyond simply executing. In the next few weeks, our clients will begin to see the
results of resource investments we’ve made to improve the quality and visibility of our results and
 reports. We hope that by treating each report as a proposal to continue our partnership with clients,
we’ll all benefit.

b) Characteristics of a good précis

Ans.A precise is like a miniature portrait of the passage: it retains the absolute essential points
accompanied with the mood and tone of the author of the passage. The one aspect one must be careful
about is that one should not add one’s subjective interpretation or comments to the précis and should
try to retain the original author’s voice and opinions. As far as the writing style is concerned, one must
ensure that one write clear and effective sentences (no rambling) and one’s diction is flawless.
Ultimately, it the coherence of the views that you presented in the précis that matter, and this can be
achieved by making sure that one is precise and to the point in one’s approach. Unnecessarily long
sentences or rambling thoughts are not required in précis writing, and one should make sure that one
sifts from one point to another in a smooth matter. At the end of the day, the précis should make sense
and be logical in its presentation.

While keeping the above in mind, you need to keep in mind what a precis is not. The following are some
of things that should not be a part of or a reflection of the precis:

 simply a summary of a passage.

 simply an abstract of a passage.
 an outline of a passage.
 a mere selection of a few important sentences from a passage.
 a collection of disconnected facts and statements.

c) Minutes of a meeting
Ans.Minutes, also known as protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of
a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of
attendees, a statement of the issues considered by the participants, and related responses or decisions
for the issues.

Meeting minutes are the written or recorded documentation that is used to inform attendees and non-
attendees about what was discussed and what happened during a meeting. The meeting minutes are
generally taken or recorded during the meeting so that participants have a record of what happened
during the meeting.

Minutes usually include:

 the names of the participants,

 the agenda items covered,
 decisions made by the participants,

 the follow-up actions committed to by participants,

 due dates for the completion of commitments, and
 any other events or discussions worth documenting for future review or history.

Exemplary meeting minutes focus on decisions made during the meeting and commitments made by the
participants. The commitments are accompanied by due dates and any other details necessary for
a shared understanding by meeting participants.

d) Postal services
Ans.The mail or post is a system for physically transporting documents and other small packages; or,
the postcards, letters, and parcels themselves. A postal service can be private or public, though many
governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century national postal systems
have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of
payment is often in the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk
mailing. Modern private postal systems are typically distinguished from national postal agencies by the
names "courier" or "delivery service".
Postal authorities often have functions other than transporting letters. In some countries, a postal,
telegraph and telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system, in addition to telephone and
telegraph systems. Some countries' postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications
for passports.