11-1 chapter 11: preparing informative and influential business reports © 2014 by mcgraw-hill...
TRANSCRIPT
11-1
Chapter 11:
Preparing Informative and Influential Business Reports
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
• Write clear problem and purpose statements.• List the factors involved in the problem.• Explain the common errors in interpreting data.• Organize information in outline form.• Turn an outline into a table of contents.• Write reports that are focused, objective, and
interesting.• Prepare reports collaboratively.
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Chapter Overview
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
An orderly and objective communication of factual information that serves a business purpose.
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Definition of Report
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
• Conduct a preliminary investigation.– Gather facts to better understand the problem.– Study the company’s files and consult experts.
• Create a clear problem and purpose statement.– The problem is a clear description of the situation.– The purpose statement may ask why the problem
is happening.
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Determine the Report Purpose
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Declarative statement (problem):“Sales are decreasing at Company X.”Infinitive phrase (purpose):“To determine the causes of decreasing
sales at Company X…” Question statement (purpose):“What are the causes of decreasing
sales at Company X?”
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State the Problem & Purpose
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
• Subtopics in informational and some analytical reports
• Hypotheses for problems requiring solutions• Bases of comparison in evaluation studies
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Determine the Factors & Purpose
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Purpose statement: To review operations of Company X from January 1 through March 31. Subtopics: 1.Production2.Sales and promotion3.Financial status4.Computer systems5.Product development6.Human resources
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Sample Purpose & Subtopics
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Purpose statement: To find out why sales at the Springfield store have declined.Hypotheses: 1.Activities of the competition have caused the decline. 2.Changes in the economy of the area have caused the decline. 3.Merchandising deficiencies have caused the decline. 4.Changes in the environment (population shifts, political actions, etc.) have caused the decline.
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Sample Problem & Hypotheses
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Purpose statement: To determine whether Y Company’s new location should be built in City A, City B, or City C.Comparison bases: 1.Availability of skilled workers 2.Tax structure3.Community attitude4.Transportation facilities5.Nearness to markets
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Sample Problem & Comparison Bases
• Primary– Observation– Experiments– Surveys• Telephone• Mail/Email• Web surveys• Interviews (personal,
expert)– Company records
(raw data)
• Secondary– Library– Online– Company records
(interpreted data)
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Gather the Information Needed
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
• Report the facts as they are.• Do not think that conclusions are always
necessary.• Do not interpret lack of evidence as proof to the
contrary.• Do not compare noncomparable data.• Do not draw illogical cause-effect conclusions.• Beware of unreliable and unrepresentative data.• Do not oversimplify.• Tailor your claims to your data.
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Advice for Avoiding Human Error
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• Maintain a judicial attitude.• Consult with others.• Test the interpretations.– Test of Experience
“Is this conclusion logical in light of all I know?”– Negative Test
Build a case for the opposite interpretation and see if it’s stronger.
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Appropriate Attitudes & Practices
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• Statistical tools enable writers to simplify data.• Most readers can understand descriptive
statistics, measures of central tendency, dispersion, ratios, and probability.
• Inferential statistics enable you to generalize about a population based on the study of a sample.
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Statistical Tools for Data Analysis
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Q. A study produced data that showed United States college students to be far behind their comparable groups in European countries. The conclusion was made that the educational systems in these European countries are superior to that in the United States.
A. The education systems are not comparable. The United States is committed to a system of educating the masses. Many of the other countries maintain a system of highly selective education.
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A Logical Conclusion
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The nature and benefits of outlining•shows what things go together (grouping)•what order they should be in (ordering)•and how the ideas relate in terms of generality (hierarchy).
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Why Outline?