This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
11-1
Chapter 11:
Preparing Informative and Influential Business Reports
• 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
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
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.
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
• 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.
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.
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).