Transcript Chapter 11 - siwah-usk

11.1
Chapter 11
Writing Business Reports
and Proposals
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.2
Chapter 11 Objectives
 Discuss the structure of informational reports.
 Explain the structure of analytical reports.
 List the most popular types of visuals and
discuss when to use them.
 Clarify five principles of graphic design to
remember when preparing visuals.
 Identify and briefly describe five tools that
writers can use in long reports to help readers
stay on track.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.3
First Thoughts
 When organizing business reports and
proposals, you need to
 Decide on the format and length
 Choose the direct or indirect approach
 Select the appropriate informational or
analytical structure
 Prepare the final outline
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Deciding on Length
and Format
When selecting a format,
you have four options:
Preprinted
form
Memo
Letter
Manuscript
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.4
11.5
Direct or Indirect Approach
 When your audience is likely to be receptive or
open-minded, use a direct approach: Begin with
a summary of your key findings, conclusions,
and recommendations.
 The direct approach
 Is the most popular and most convenient order
for business reports
 Saves time and makes the rest of the report
easier to follow
 Produces a more forceful report
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.6
Direct or Indirect Approach
 If you’re a junior member of a status-conscious
organization, or if your audience is skeptical or
hostile, use the indirect approach: Introduce your
complete findings and discuss all supporting details
before presenting your conclusions and
recommendations.
 The indirect approach
 Gives you a chance to prove your points first and
gradually overcome your audience’s reservations
 Implies that you’ve weighed the evidence
objectively without prejudging the facts
 Implies that you’re subordinating your judgment to
that of the audience
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Organizing
Informational Reports
To arrange your material, use a topical
organization such as
Importance
Spatial
orientation
Sequence
Geography
Chronology
Category
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.7
Organizing
Informational Reports
11.8
 Two other bases for organization govern specific
informational reports:
 Since compliance reports and routine internal
reports are often prepared on preprinted
forms, organize them according to the
instructions provided by the person who is
requesting the information.
 When responding to a request for proposal,
you must conform to the outline specified in
the RFP issued by the client.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.9
Organizing Analytical Reports
 When writing an analytical report, the
anticipated audience reaction dictates the
structural approach you use:
 Focus on conclusions (when your
audience will be receptive)
 Focus on recommendations (when your
audience will be receptive)
 Focus on logical argument (when your
audience will be skeptical)
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.10
Organizing Analytical Reports
 In analytical reports, focus on recommendations
when your readers want to know what they ought
to do:
 Start by establishing the need for action
(briefly describing the problem or opportunity
being examined).
 Introduce the benefit that can be achieved
(without providing any details).
 List the steps (recommendations) necessary
to achieve the benefit.
 Explain each step more fully (giving details
about procedures, costs, and benefits).
 Summarize the recommendations.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Structural Approaches
for Logical Argument
2 + 2 = 4 Approach
Scientific method
Yardstick approach
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.11
11.12
The 2 + 2 = 4 approach
 Convinces readers of your point of view by
demonstrating that everything adds up
 Is natural and versatile (your arguments
will fall naturally into this pattern)
 Is generally the most persuasive and
efficient way to develop an analytical report
for skeptical readers
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.13
The Scientific Method
 Convinces readers by stating a
problem, describing the hypothetical
solution(s), and offering evidence that
will either confirm or rule out the
solution(s)
 Helps you bring about a consensus by
showing the strengths and weaknesses
of all ideas
 Can confuse readers by discussing all
the alternatives, no matter how
irrelevant or unproductive
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.14
The Yardstick Approach
 Convinces readers by establishing the
criteria you use to evaluate possible
solutions
 Clears up any audience confusion because
all alternatives are reviewed against the
same standards
 Is ineffective if your audience disagrees on
any of the criteria
 Can be boring (repeating the same thing
over and over again for each possible
solution)
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.15
Final Outline
 A final outline gives you
 A diagram of your report
 The important points of your report
 The order in which you will discuss each
point
 The details you will include about each
point
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.16
Final Outline
 Your final outline often differs from the
preliminary outline that guided your research
because you need to account for
 Your purpose
 Your audience’s probable reaction
 The things you learned during your
investigation
 As you develop your final outline, remember that
 Your final outline is a working draft that you’ll
revise and modify as you go along
 The way you phrase outline headings will
affect the tone of your report
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.17
Visual Aids
Clarify and simplify the text
Depict relationships between points
Emphasize and summarize points
Attract and build credibility
Reinforce understanding
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.18
Visual Aids
 As valuable as visuals are, you should
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

Use visual aids selectively and include
on each one only those elements that
support your primary message
Use visuals to supplement the written
word, not replace it
Restrict your use of visual aids to
situations in which they do the most
good
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.19
“Visualizing” Information
 Decide on the message.
 Identify points requiring visual support.
 Maintain a balance between illustrations
and words.
 Consider your production schedule.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.20
Types of Visual Aids
 Tables

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

Systematically arrange data in columns and
rows
Are ideal when the audience needs
information that would be either difficult or
tedious to handle in the main text
Should be limited to three column heads and
six row heads when projected onto a screen
during an oral presentation
Can sometimes be introduced into text as part
of a paragraph
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.21
Types of Visual Aids
 When preparing a numerical table, be careful to
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

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
Use common, understandable units and
clearly identify them
Express all items in a column in the same unit
(rounding for simplicity)
Label column heads clearly (using a subhead
if necessary)
Separate columns or rows with lines or extra
space to make the table easy to follow
Provide column-to-row totals or averages
when relevant
Document the source of the data below the
table
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.22
Types of Visual Aids
 Line charts
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



Illustrate trends over time or plot the
relationship of two variables
Depict trends by arranging the vertical (y) axis
to show the amount and the horizontal (x) axis
to show the time or the quantity being
measured
May have a broken axis if the data plotted are
far above zero
Can be confusing if they show more than three
lines at a time, especially if the lines cross
Can depict both positive and negative values
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.23
Types of Visual Aids
 Bar charts make a series of numbers easy
to read and are particularly useful when
you want to
 Compare the size of several items at one
time
 Show changes in one item over time
 Indicate the composition of several items
over time
 Show the relative size of components of a
whole
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.24
Types of Visual Aids
 Pie Charts
Show how parts of a whole are distributed
 Show percentages effectively
 Compare one segment with another
 When composing pie charts, try to
 Restrict the number of slices in the pie
 Place the largest or most important slice at the
twelve o’clock position
 Use different colors or patterns to distinguish
the various pieces

To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.25
Types of Visual Aids
 Flowcharts illustrate a sequence of events
from start to finish—such as
 Processes
 Procedures
 Sequential relationships
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.26
International Trade Operations Workflow Analysis - Appendix A
Import Issuance/Amendment Workflow
Sort into
Sort into
Specialists’
Specialists’
Bins
Bins
TS2
Pick Up
Pick Up
Work
Work
TS3
Approved
Check Credit
Check Credit
Send to RM or
Loan Admin for
Approval
Assess
Assess
Transaction
Transaction
Needs
Needs
C1
Get LC
Get LC
Number
Number
Create File
Create&File
Folder
Folder
Pymt
Card&
Pymt Card
Calculate Fees
Determines Settlement
(Optional)
Mail
Telex
Verify Customer
Verify
Customer
Setup
Setup
Doc Track
Doc Track
Enter Customer
Enter
Customer
Setup
Setup
Checks Limits
Edits
Checks DDA
Assign LC#
BankWindow
CATS
Over Limit
Warning
Generate Accounting Entries
Send SWIFT/Telex/Fedwire
Debit/Credit DDA
Check Limits
Enter Instrument
EnterData
Instrument
Data
EOEntry Edits
EOEntry Edits
Determine
Determine
Advising
Advising
Bank
Bank
Validate
Validate
SWIFT
Auth
SWIFT
Key Auth
Key
Compose
Compose
Documents
Documents
Over
Limit
Resolve
Record
Record
Transaction
on Transaction
Pymt Card
on Pymt Card
Returned for Correction
Not Approved
TS1
Verify and
Verify
Release
by and
2nd
Release
by 2nd
Specialist
Specialist
Check for
Check
App
andfor
App
and
Bank
Setup
Bank Setup
CATS and
MARS
Fill Out
Fill Out
MARS
MARS
Ticket
Ticket
Enter into
Enter1.6
into
CATS
CATS 1.6
Calculate
Calculate
Fees
Fees
If needed
infrequent,
happens for
only one
Charlotte
customer
TS4
Verify by 2nd
Verify
by 2nd
Specialist
Specialist
File Folder in
File Drawer
Folder in
Open
Open Drawer
File Copies
Copies
inFile
Folder
in Folder
Dispatch
Dispatch
Documents
Documents
Prepare a Bill
Prepare a Bill
infrequent, happens for
only one Charlotte
customer
NationsBank/AMS TradeLine Implementation - Charlotte
Working Document
Send MARS
Send
MARS
Tickets
Tickets
Format &
Format
&
Queue
Trans
Queue
Trans
to BESS
to BESS
Release
Release
Transaction
Transaction
on
CATS
on CATS
Print Final
Print Final
Documents
Documents
TS5
MARS data entry
Version: 1396.01
Page A.2
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.27
Types of Visual Aids
 Organization charts illustrate the
interactions between a firm’s positions,
units, or functions.
 Maps show geographic relationships:
 The concentrations of something by area
 Regional differences
 Locations
 Drawings, diagrams, and photographs are
most often used to show how something
looks.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Using Graphic Design
Principles
Continuity
Emphasis
Contrast
Simplicity
Experience
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
11.28
11.29
Fitting Graphics Into Text
 Introduce graphics in the text.
 Place them near the text they illustrate.
 When referring to visuals in text



Be sure to introduce each visual before it
appears
Emphasize the main point of the visual
without simply repeating the data that is
already shown in the visual
Place the visual near the point it illustrates
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Composing Business Reports
and Proposals
11.30
 You can use an informal tone when
You know your readers reasonably well
Your report is likely to meet with their approval
You’re writing a brief memo or letter report
 Use a more formal tone when
 Your report is longer and contains complex or
controversial information
 Your report will be sent outside your own work
area or outside the organization
 You’re communicating with people from other
cultures



To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Composing Business Reports
and Proposals
11.31
 When using a more formal style, you
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Eliminate all references to I, we, us, our, and
you
Stress your objectivity, remaining businesslike
and unemotional
Avoid overusing phrases such as there is and
it is
Avoid passive voice
Eliminate your own opinions and perceptions
Use no jokes, similes, or metaphors
Avoid colorful adjectives and adverbs
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Guiding Readers
through Reports
11.32
 Start with an opening that indicates the
report’s subject and importance.
 Use headings, subheadings, and
lists effectively.
 Use transitions to bind the report.
 Use preview and review sections.
 Create an ending that leaves a strong,
lasting impression.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Let’s
Discuss
Test Your
Knowledge
11.33
 What are your options for structuring an




informational report?
What are your options for structuring an
analytical report?
How does topical organization differ from
logical organization?
When is it appropriate to use tables, line
charts, surface charts, and pie charts in a
report?
What five principles apply to effective visuals
for business reports?
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Let’s
Discuss
Test Your
Knowledge
11.34
continued
 How does a flowchart differ from an




organization chart?
What tools can you use to help readers follow
the structure and flow of information in a long
report?
What ethical issue is raised by the use of
technology to alter photographs in reports?
What is the purpose of adding titles and
legends to visual aids in reports?
How do writers use transitions in reports?
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall