12-1
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
Part II: Chapter-by-Chapter Lecture Notes & Exercises
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
Teaching Suggestions
Lecture, discussion, and illustration are all good for teaching types of reports. You can use lecture to
summarize text highlights. We give special emphasis to the overall makeup of reports. For the
discussion you can use the questions at the end of the chapter (and the suggested answers in the
following section).
Of course, much of the learning comes from application. So probably you will assign some problem
work. In-class analysis of these exercises after they have been completed is an effective teaching
technique. It is especially effective to show good and bad reports—with appropriate explanation and
discussion, of course.
Connect provides instructors with a variety of ways to customize courses, create assignments,
determine grading policies, and receive student work. One of the tools Connect offers is the ability to
presentations against course outcomes and give students specific feedback. Peer-review functions are
also available. For more information, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qWtyFlYtRWc.
Learning Objectives
LO12-1 Explain the makeup of reports relative to length and formality.
LO12-2 Discuss the four main ways that the writing in short reports differs from the writing in
long reports.
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Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
LO12-3 Choose an appropriate form for short reports.
LO12-4 Adapt your general knowledge of report writing when preparing routine operational
reports, progress reports, problem-solving reports, and minutes of meetings
LO12-5 Write longer reports that include the appropriate components, meet the readers’ needs, and
are easy to follow.
Key Terms
formal reports
prefatory pages
short report
letter report
email (or memo)
title fly
title page
transmittal message
table of contents
executive summary
routine operational reports
progress report
problem-solving reports
feasibility study
minutes
facts of authorization
scope
limitations
summary
conclusions section
recommendations section
bibliography
appendix
white paper
Text Summary, Lecture Outline
Slides 12-1, 12-2, 12-3
Problem-Solving Challenge
Continue in your role as a management intern for Betsy Tippett, of Mockbee’s Ice Cream and Bakery
(introduced in Chapter 11). Now it’s time to write a report about how to do usability testing to be
turned in to Betsy, and you have lots of questions. (See all the questions in the Problem-Solving
12-3
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
An Overview of Report Components
Slide 12-3
Slide 12-4
Slide 12-5
Slide 12-6
Use this slide to discuss each of these components of reports, asking students to recall what they’ve
read and looking at samples in the book.
The transmittal message is the letter that hands the report over to the reader. It describes the report’s
purpose and main findings and includes any other information about the project that the writer wants
to include. This piece of the report has the most personal tone of any of the parts; it typically uses
personal pronouns and a more conversational style than the rest of the report.
12-4
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
Slide 12-7
Let students answer this as an in-class or homework assignment. They can be creative and make up the
details about the company, then write the executive summary for this report in the style they think is
appropriate and explain why they chose that style.
Characteristics of Shorter Reports
Slide 12-8
Shorter reports are frequently written in business. They generally share the following characteristics:
• Less need for introductory information
Short reports need coherence, but not an elaborate structured plan.
Connect Assignment 12-1 (a-e): Recommending the Purchase of Email Marketing Software
Summary: Students will read the scenario and then answer the questions about planning an effective
short report.
12-1a, 12-1b
12-1c, 12-1d
Learning Objectives: 12-02, 12-03, 12-05
Difficulty: Hard
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Evaluate
12-5
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
12-1e
Follow-Up Activity: Students can create the transmittal email that will go with the short report.
Slide 12-9
Little Need for Introductory Information
If shorter reports need introductory information at all, it is small.
Slide 12-10
Predominance of the Direct Order
Direct order means that the conclusions and/or recommendations begin the report.
Most short reports use it because readers want answers first in routine situations.
Direct order follows this pattern:
Use the direct order when readers expect an answer and when you expect them to respond positively to
your main findings/recommendations.
Use the indirect order when readers need to see the facts before the conclusions/ recommendations.
12-6
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
Slide 12-11
More Personal Writing Style
Shorter reports use more personal writing (I, we, you).
Slide 12-12
Less Need for a Structured Coherence Plan
Long, formal reports usually need a formal, structured coherence plan (summarizing, forward-looking,
backward-bending parts).
Short reports need coherence, but not an elaborate structured plan.
12-2a
Learning Objectives: 12-01, 12-03
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Analyze
12-2b
Learning Objective: 12-02
Difficulty: Hard
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Analyze
12-2c
Learning Objective: 12-04
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Analyze
12-2d
Learning Objectives: 12-02, 12-03, 12-04
Difficulty: Hard
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Evaluate
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Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
12-2e
Learning Objectives: 12-04, 12-05
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Create
Forms for Short to Mid-Length Reports
Slide 12-13
You can use this slide to outline the report forms discussed in the text.
The Short Report
Letter Reports
Letter reports—reports in letter form—present information to readers outside an organization.
Although exceptions exist, letter reports are usually written personally and in the indirect order.
Email Reports
Email, of course, is widely used in business, and thus so are email reports.
Typically email reports are informal, use headings, and sometimes have graphics.
Common Types of Short Reports
Slide 12-14
You can use this slide to describe common report types (based on purpose) discussed in the text.
Routine Operational Reports
12-8
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
These are the workhorse of business. Virtually every organization relies on them to get the information
where it needs to go, and on time.
Progress Reports
Progress reports can be viewed as a type of routine operational report. They review progress made on
an activity. They may also include problems encountered and future projections of progress.
Problem-Solving Reports
While all significant forms of business communication can be said to solve business problems of one
kind or another, we focus here on reports that are specifically focused on helping decision makers
figure out a course of action to take.
These are often assigned (or requested by a client company), but they can also be unsolicited (as when
an employee needs to bring a problem to his or her supervisor’s attention).
Audit Reports
Audit reports are written to hold organizations accountable to standards that they are required to meet.
12-9
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
While audit reports can assess an organization’s finances, operations (for example, do they comply
Meeting Minutes
Meeting minutes are an example of reports in business that do not recommend or even conclude
anything—they simply describe what happened. Trip reports and incident reports also fall into this
category, and you and your students may think of others.
Minutes provide a written record of a group’s activities and decisions during a meeting.
Announcements, reports, significant discussions, and decisions are usually included in summary form.
Connect Assignment 12-3: Name That Report
Summary: This click-and-drag activity will test students’ ability to identify five common types of
reports: routine operational reports, progress reports, problem-solving reports, minutes, and formal
reports.
Learning Objective: 12-04
12–10
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
Sample Short Report
Slides 12-15, 12-16, 12-17, 12-18, 12-19, 12-20, 12-21, 12-22
Analyze this short report with students.
Note that recommendation and key facts are up front.
Bases of comparison (factors) permit hotels (units) to be compared logically.
Long, Formal Reports
Slide 12-23
In this section, we elaborate further on the special features and components of long reports. The
textbook provides an annotated example of a long report.
The Introduction
The introduction is the first section of the report itself, coming after all the prefatory pages, and in long
reports, it can be quite elaborate. Its purpose is to prepare the readers to receive the report. Whatever
Ask yourself what you would need or want to know about the problem if you were in your readers’
shoes.
The following could all be part of the introduction:
• Origin of the report: a review of the facts of authorization—who, when, and how the report
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Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
• Limitations: anything that kept your report from being an ideal treatment of the problem
• Background: knowledge of the history of the problem
Slide 12-24
You can end your report in any number of ways: with a summary, a conclusions section, a
recommendations section, or a combination. Your choice depends on the purpose of your report. But
whatever your choice, be sure to use helpful formatting to make the key points stand out.
The Ending
The following could all be part of the ending:
• Summary: a review of your major findings (not to be confused with the Executive Summary,
Appended parts in a long report could include a bibliography and an appendix.
Direct students to study the annotated example of a long, formal report provided in the book.
Connect Assignment 12-4: The Components of a Formal Report
Summary: Students will put the components of a report into the proper order.
Learning Objectives: 12-01, 12-05
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Understand
Slide 12-25
This final quote makes clear that skillful report writing is more important in “the information age”
than it has ever been.
12–12
Chapter 12: Creating the Right Type of Report
Power Charge Your Professionalism: Using Apostrophes
Correctly
Using your memory or a guide, choose the correct answer in the following sentences. Then explain
why you made the choice you did for each one.
1. This report has eight entries in (its/it’s/its’) list of illustrations.
(its is the possessive of it)
2. All the (figure’s/figures/figures’) titles in this report are missing the figure number.
(possessive plural)
6. In some (people’s/peoples’) opinion, an executive summary should always be in the direct
order.
For further instruction and practice, do the “Apostrophes” activities under “Punctuation and
Mechanics” in LearnSmart Achieve.