Reports of different kinds

- Annual report
- Status report
- Survey report
- Proposal

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 1

 Basic Report Categories

Informational

Analytical

Proposals

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 2

Three-Step Writing Process

Planning Writing Completing

Analyze Situation Revise

Analyze
the Audience
Gather Information Produce

Select Medium Proofread

Compose
the Message
Get Organized Distribute

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 3

 Analyzing the Situation

Define the Purpose Prepare the Work Plan

Why It Is Being Prepared What Must Be Done

What It Will Deliver When It Will Be Done

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 4

Elements of the Work Plan

Problem or Purpose and

Opportunity Scope

Tasks to Be Final Products

Accomplished or Outcomes

Schedules and Plans for Working

Requirements Following Up Outline

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 5

 Gathering Information

Purpose

Audience

Priorities
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 6
Selecting the Right Medium

Audience Members

Media Feedback
Requirements Preferences
Hardcopy Digital
Format Format
Document Subject
Uses Matter

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 7

Organizing the Information

Direct Approach Indirect Approach

Conclusions and
Overall Findings
Recommendations

Overall Findings Discussion and Support

Conclusions and
Objective Support
Recommendations

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 8

Supporting Your Messages

1. Plan your research

2. Locate data and information
3. Process the data and information
4. Apply your findings
5. Manage information efficiently
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 9
 Plan Your Research

Develop a Identify
Problem Statement Information Needs

Generate Prioritize
Research Questions Information Needs

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 10

Research Ethics and Etiquette

Don’t Skew Respect

Results Privacy Rights

Document Observe Respect

Sources Property Rights Participants

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 11

 Data and Information

Secondary
Research

Primary
Research

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 12

 Evaluating Sources

Honesty and Potential Purpose of

Completeness
Reliability Bias the Material

Information Author’s Independent

Timeliness
Sources Credibility Verification

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 13

 Secondary Research

Inside the Company Outside the Company

Reports and Memos Print Resources

Other Documents Online Resources

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 14

 Finding Information
at the Library

Business Electronic
Newspapers Periodicals
Books Databases

Statistical Government
Directories Almanacs
Resources Publications

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 15

Internet Search Tools

Search Engines

Web Online Meta-Search

Directories Databases Engines

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 16

 Search Techniques
Keyword Searches

Boolean Operators

Natural Language

Forms-Based Searches
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 17
 Primary Information

Documents

Observations

Experiments

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 18

 Develop Effective Surveys

Clear Easy-to Answer Short

Instructions Questions Questionnaires

Easy-to-Analyze No Leading Unambiguous Self-Contained

Questions Questions Questions Questions

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 19

 Effective Internet Surveys

Save Time

Minimize Cost

Boost Response
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 20
 Conducting Interviews

Types of Questions

Sequence of Questions

Culture and Language

Demographics
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 21
 Using Research Results

Quoting

Paraphrasing

Summarizing
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 22
 Applying the Findings

Drawing Good
Conclusions

Making Feasible
Recommendations

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 23

 Planning
Informational Reports

Monitor and Implement Policies

Control Operations and Procedures

Demonstrate
Report Progress
Compliance

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 24

 Structuring
Informational Reports

Comparison Importance Sequence

Spatial
Chronology Geography Category
Orientation

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 25

Planning Analytical Reports

Assess Opportunities

Solve Problems

Support Decisions

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 26

 Challenges of Writing
Analytical Reports
Writing Quality Reasoning Quality Responsibility

What Must Be Why is this issue

Who Is Involved?
Determined? Important?

Where Is the How Did the

When Did It Start?
Trouble Located? Situation Start?

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 27

Focus on Recommendations

1. Establish the need for action

2. Introduce the overall benefits
3. List the required steps
4. Explain each step more fully
5. Summarize the recommendations
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 28
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 29
• An annual report is a comprehensive report on
a company's activities throughout the
preceding year.
• Annual reports are intended to
give shareholders and other interested people
information about the company's activities and
financial performance.
• Companies listed on a stock exchange are also
required to report at more frequent intervals.
• Corporate social responsibility reports for
companies with environmentally

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 30

What are the Contents of an Annual Report?
• The annual report is a document that enables
small businesses with investors to report on
the operational and financial performance of
the company.
• Contents
An annual report typically includes a
balance sheet, an independent auditor’s
report, a statement of income and a report
on company operations.

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 31

• Letter to Shareholders - The letter outlines
major achievements, such as market success,
launch of new products, customer wins and
significant management appointments.
• Operating Review
Annual reports can provide a detailed review of
operations, including information on production
levels, productivity initiatives, new product plans,
investment programs and research and
development activities.

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 32

• Financial Statements
• An annual report provides a detailed
account of financial performance over the
previous accounting period. It typically
includes a balance sheet, income statement,
cash flow statement; and equity statement.
• Market Conditions
• Information on a company’s marketing
strategy is an important indicator
Participation in market sectors that are
expanding highlights future growth
opportunities.
• Digital Content
• Small businesses that produce online
versions of their annual report rather than
printed copies can take advantage of digital
communications technology to add further
valuable content to the annual report and
make it easier for readers to understand
complex financial information. For example,
designers can include links to videos or
audio recordings.

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 34

 •A status report is a recurring update an employee
gives to a manager.
•Status reports represent a critical communication
within any reporting relationship, across all job
functions, industries, and company sizes.

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 35

 Who Benefits from Status Reports?

Employees
Status reports help employees plan and prioritize their efforts
against their goals, while also providing a platform to share their
perspectives. Status report benefits for employees include:
 Gives them a voice
 Aligns focus with manager expectations
 Helps address workplace dependencies
 Provides a record of efforts and outputs
 Offers an opportunity for recognition

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 36

People Managers
Status reports provide managers with the information they need
to manage the team more successfully. Status report benefits for
managers include:
• Gives planning and forecasting insights
• Creates a catalog of employee activity
• Opens new views into the business
• Provides a minimalist approach to management
• Offers quick access to urgent matters
• Allows for the recognition of great work

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 37

Owners and Executives
Status reports help business owners and executives see trends
across their business. Status report benefits for owners and
executives include:
• Gains insights across departments
• Captures a bottoms-up view of the business
• Increases company transparency
• Makes for a happier workforce with a voice
• Creates a powerful motivation and tracking tool

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 38

Daily Status Report Examples

Sales teams, particularly those with higher transaction

volumes, use a daily sales status report to improve
revenue forecasting and focus the team on what matters
most: closing the next deals in the pipeline.

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 39

 Survey report

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 40

REPORT PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION PROCESS

Problem Definition, Data Pre-report

Research Design Analysis
and Methodology Writing
Activities

Interpretation of
Research
findings

Report
Report
Preparation Writing
Activities

Oral
Presentattion

Post
RESEARCH Reading of the
Report by the Report
FOLLOW-UP
client Writing

41
It depends on the depth of your project, your subject matter and the
way you carried out your survey.

Surveys are some of the most useful research tools you could ask for.
Surveys are relatively easy to conduct and, depending on the subject
matter, can be fun for participants to complete.
The more challenging part of survey research is the analysis
component.
Not only do survey results need to be computed and added up, they
also need to be analyzed against the respondent pool's demographic
information.

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 42

© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 43
 Most research reports include the following elements:

I. Title page XI. Research design

II. Letter of transmittal a. Type of research design
b. Information needs
III. Table of contents c. Data collection from secondary sources
IV. List of tables d. Data collection from primary sources
V. List of graphs e. Scaling techniques
f. Questionnaire development and pretesting
VI. List of appendices g. Sampling techniques
VII. List of exhibits h. Field work
VIII. Executive summary XII. Data analysis
a. Major findings a. Methodology
b. Conclusions b. Plan of data analysis
c. Recommendations XIII. Results
IX. Introduction XIV. Limitations and caveats
a. Background to the
XV. Conclusions and recommendations
problem
b. Statement of the problem XVI. Appendix
X. Approach to the a. Questionnaires and forms
problem b. Statistical output
c. Lists
44
© Prentice Hall, 2007 Business Communication Essentials, 3e Chapter 10 - 45
Project proposal
 Project proposal
• A project proposal is a detailed
description of a series of activities
aimed at solving a certain problem.
• The proposal should contain a
detailed explanation of the:
• justification of the project;
• activities and implementation
timeline;
• methodology; and human, material
and financial resources required.
25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 47
 Research Proposal
Presentation
Supporting Project Managers in
building sustainable
relationships for project success.

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 48

 Topic description
• Background
• Statement of problem
• Objectives
• Research question
• Research Method
– approach
– sampling strategy
– timeframe

• Scope and location of research

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 49
 Background
• Managing relationships for project success is acknowledged as
being as important as the ‘hard’ skills of managing schedules and
budgets
• The Project Manager’s accountabilities include relationship
management (Stakeholder Management)
• A project’s stakeholder set does not remain static throughout the
project and needs to be identified, tracked and managed
appropriately throughout the project lifecycle
• In large organisations today, many projects have team members
from many different organisations. Teams consist of staff,
contractors, and staff of other organisations
• This core team should share responsibility for Stakeholder
Management: workload management, coaching, knowledge
management, personality matching

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 50

 The Problem
• How can a project manager ensure
all stakeholders are identified and
assessed for importance to the
project
• How can the PM fulfil responsibilities
in:
– inspired leadership
– relationship (stakeholder) management
– knowledge management
– HR management Lynda Bourne - 3024113
25 August, 2003 51
 Objectives
Main objective:
– To identify ways to improve the building and
maintaining of sustainable project
relationships for project success.

Sub-objectives:
– 1. To determine the effectiveness of a
visualisation tool for stakeholder management.

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 52

 Research questions

1. How effective is the use of a

visualisation tool for project
stakeholder management?

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 53

 Research Methods -
approach
• Deductive Approach
– testing theory through observation and data
• Exploratory Study
– Purposive, self-selection sampling
• Longitudinal
– projects must be around 6 months in length

• In-depth interviews at beginning and end

with PM
• Group interviews with key team members
• Self-completion diaries
– to track issues and changes
25 August, 2003 Lynda Bournein stakeholder relationships54
- 3024113
with project
 Research Methods -
Timeframe
Day 1 Day 344

Research Project

Develop Research Proposal

and obtain approval
Develop and test questions
Develop and test tool
Obtain participants
Administer instrument(s)
Ongoing data collection and analysis

Final collection of data

Research Report

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 55

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 56
25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 57
Business focus
o a mission statement describing the purpose of your business
• List of your specific products
o what products your business will offer your customers
o choose tangible products rather than services
• Market analysis
o target demographics – who will be interested in your product
o market place – what other players are in your area of business
• Expected cash flow
o how much revenue will you generate
o how much money will you spend
o when will your business become profitable
• List of partners
o who’s going to work with you
o what are their qualifications
25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 58
 References
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXszI16k
CGM
http://www.statuspath.com/daily-status-
report-examples/

25 August, 2003 Lynda Bourne - 3024113 59