Chapter Thirteen Completing Business Reports McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

13-2 Learning Objectives LO13.1 Explain how completed reports affect your credibility. LO13.2 Demonstrate excellent thinking by applying a precision-oriented style to reports. LO13.3 Design your reports to aid in decision making. LO13.4 Project objectivity in reports. LO13.5 Review reports for effectiveness and fairness.

13-3 Excellence in Thinking for Reports Figure 13.1

13-4 Demonstrate Excellent Thinking by Applying a Precision-Oriented Style  Start with a Clear Statement of the Business Problem or Challenge  Use Fact-Based Language  Document Secondary Research and Avoid Plagiarism  Base Recommendations on Facts and Conclusions in the Report  Provide Specific and Actionable Recommendations

13-5 Use Fact-Based Language You can raise the credibility of your report by: a)supplying the facts with precision b)providing supporting details for your conclusions; c)carefully dealing with predictions and cause- effect statements d)responsibly citing your research sources

13-6 Document Secondary Research and Avoid Plagiarism  You should provide a reference list at the end of the report that contains all your sources  Throughout your document, you should provide citations to indicate the information you have drawn from other sources

13-7 Document Secondary Research and Avoid Plagiarism  Plagiarism  “steal and pass off (the ideas of another) as one’s own”  “to commit literary theft.”

13-8 References in APA and MLA Documentation Styles Table 13.3

13-9 Document Secondary Research and Avoid Plagiarism  Direct quotations  verbatim restatements from another source  Paraphrasing  involves using your own words to express the meaning of the original speaker or writer.

13-10 Basing Recommendations on Facts and Conclusions

13-11 Making Recommendations Specific and Actionable

13-12 Designing Your Reports to Help Decision Makers  Assume that decision makers may not read your report from start to end, and design it so they can navigate the information rapidly  One way to make your report easy to navigate is to provide a structure that decision makers are familiar with

13-13 Common Structures for Business Reports Figure 13.3

13-14 Common Structures for Business Reports Figure 13.3

13-15 Common Structures for Business Reports Figure 13.3

13-16 Components of a Formal Report

13-17 Tell the Story of Your Report with an Executive Summary  Executive Summary  purpose is to summarize the most important contents, including key findings, conclusions, and recommendations, so that busy executives and other decision makers can quickly understand and act on the report

13-18 Providing Clear Headings that Support a Story Line

13-19 Creating Headings to Help Decision Makers Navigate the Document

13-20 Providing Clear Preview Statements

13-21 Using Charts to Support the Story Line of the Report

13-22 Applying Bulleting

13-23 Create a Cover Page, a Table of Contents, and Appendixes  Reports of more than ten pages often include a cover page  At a minimum, the cover page should include a title, names of those who wrote and/or are submitting the report, and a date.

13-24 Create a Cover Page, a Table of Contents, and Appendixes  A table of contents is expected for nearly any report over ten pages long  Reports also frequently include appendixes to provide reference materials

13-25 Achieving Objectivity and Positivity Through Tone  More so than positivity, you should project objectivity—the sense that you are providing information, analysis, and advice that is sound, reliable, and unbiased  Ensure that your enthusiasm and strong positive emotion do not appear to cloud your judgment

13-26 Assessing Key Features of a Completed Report Value to decision makers PrecisionDocumentation Easy navigation Objectivity

13-27 Reviewing Your Reports for Fairness and Effectiveness  When possible, discuss the report with the ultimate decision makers so that you can best tailor the final product to their needs  Review it at least once for typos or mechanical errors