Transcript Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations Sections

Summary, Conclusions and
Recommendation
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
• The summary is a brief restatement of the
main findings presented under each factor.
• Findings answer WHAT. They are based
on the facts.
• The conclusion is an interpretation of the
facts you gathered and discussed. It is not
a repetition of the facts. It is not an action
that the company must take.
• Conclusions answer SO WHAT.
• You should develop a conclusion for the
facts gathered for each factor.
Example of CONCLUSIONS
• Assume you are researching alternative
sites for a new plant and have gathered
the following data:
– Site A: $50,000 cost, 5 acres, and 5
miles from the interstate
– Site B: $75,000 cost, 7 acres, and 1
mile from the interstate
• The conclusions would be that Site A is
least expensive and that Site B has
more acreage and is closer to the
interstate.
Example of CONCLUSIONS
• Assume that you found data from three
companies who utilized an open office layout of
some sort. They experienced increases in
productivity of 5%, 6%, and 15%, respectively.
• In your factors section, after discussing these
companies’ productivity figures, your analysis
stated, “There was an average increase in
productivity of 8.6%, with individual company
productivity increases ranging from a low of 5%
to a high of 15%.”
• What would your conclusion be?
CONCLUSION Statement
“As was previously discussed, several
companies experienced increases in
productivity ranging from 5% to 15%,
with an average increase of 8.6% by
using an open office layout. These
increases would seem to indicate that
there is potential for Crocker Insurance
Company to also realize an increase in
productivity in the neighborhood of 9% if
some type of open office layout were
employed.”
Constructing the
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
• Combine summary and conclusions into
a single level-five heading.
• New information is not presented in this
section; no sources are cited.
• You will probably write a paragraph for
each factor considered in your report.
• Write your summary for each factor you
analyzed, followed immediately by your
conclusions (regarding those findings).
RECOMMENDATIONS
• A recommendation is a suggested action
the company should take based on the
conclusions (conclusions were based on
the findings) and answers the problem
statement.
• Recommendations answer WHAT NOW.
• The suggested action should be explicit
(use action verbs such as purchase,
implement, explore, etc.) and detailed.
• Included a brief “how” to implement or
the next step the company should take.
Recommendation statement
active verb
example
It is recommended that Crocker Insurance
should implement an open office layout for
its employees. In order to successfully
implement an open office layout, all
department managers should be
interviewed about …
implementation
statement
“In a Nutshell”
• The summary is developed from the
data you discussed.
• The conclusions are drawn from the
main facts repeated in the summary.
• The recommendations are developed
from the conclusions.
• The recommendations answer the
problem statement.
Problem
Statement
Scope
Recommendations
Data
Conclusions
Summary
Pagination
• Numbers are aligned center at the bottom
of the page in the footer box.
• Prefatory pages numbered in small Roman
numerals. E.g., i, ii, iii, iv, etc.
• Body pages (beginning at OVERVIEW)
numbered in Arabic numerals. E.g., 1, 2, 3.
• Prefatory pages that are COUNTED but do
not show numbers include:
– memo of transmittal (i)
– Title page (ii)