Please read through this entirely to understand the project well.

Part I

Think of the company you are currently working for, or did work for recently (before the pandemic), or want to work for in the future. Think about an issue (a problem) that has occurred repeatedly in this company. Typical company issues have been the following:

1. Illegal or unethical behavior in the workplace such as stealing (white collar crime: from embezzling to cheating on time cards, ripping off company items, etc.). Others include deceptive sales practices; mishandling confidential information; abuse such as sexual harassment, discrimination, racist comments and innuendos, etc., many times rising out of fears such as homophobia (fear of gay people), xenophobia (fear of foreigners), gynophobia (fear of women), etc.
2. How to protect the Earth by staying green: polluting our planet, not contributing to the Earth’s welfare, destroying nature, polluting and destroying the ecosystem; not recycling, using dangerous chemicals in foods (GMOs/Monsanto Corporation), polluting the air with factory-smoke, polluting the oceans with sewage and oil spills (British Petroleum and the Gulf area), etc.
3. The best means of hiring and testing new employees: Not hiring the right people for the job; no proper screening done such as proper background checks, drug testing, psychological testing, etc.
4. Importance of personalized customer service to increase business (good for retail businesses); how to provide better service to retain existing customers, attract new ones and build goodwill (favorable reputation).
5. Violence in the workplace: random acts of violence with the recent downturn of the U.S. and world economies. These violent acts range from assault and battery of individuals to sudden mass slaughter of groups of workers by a deranged and disgruntled former employee. As perhaps the Director of the Human Resources Department in your company, suggest through a clearly written analytical business report how your company could prepare and forecast such events if they ever occur. What precautionary measures need to be taken? What signals should alert management about such possibility?

Think of anything else that you have encountered before, or read about recently and add them to the list. Keep me posted on what those things might be.

In each of the cases, you, as a top level manager or as an outside consultant, have been asked to analyze the issue/problem and make recommendations on how things can be improved. In short, the company has a major problem, find the solution.

Part II

Plan your work with the who, what, why, how, where, of business writing which is similar to writing in journalism.

• In the opening paragraph, very briefly (in three short sentences), introduce your report by clearly stating the purpose of your report.

NOTE:

Poor opening:

a) I was asked to do this report for the BUS 32 course.

b) Have you ever thought about how we poison our bodies? (Dramatic openings are not suitable for business reports; okay for sales letters or promotional items.)

Good opening:

a) Our company has been facing ….. (you complete the thought with the appropriate issue that you’re covering in this report).

b) This report covers a full analysis of the issues …., etc.

• In the next one or two paragraphs talk about the following:
  • How did you put together this report?
  • What sources did you use to gather information?

Secondary sources are Internet sites, articles, blogs, YouTube videos, TedTalk lectures, any work done by others. This is where you should begin your research, then do your own research which is called primary research.

Primary sources involve your direct participation in getting the information such as through either interviews, surveys, observations, or experiments.

For your primary research you can use Survey Monkey or interview your manager/HR person at work, or a company through Zoom/Skype/Phone, etc.–but not any family member or friends. You need to get actual facts on your own for this part; it should not come from the Internet or any other secondary source.

• Now use a header as appropriate to talk about what you found from your research. A typical functional heading (one-word heading) of secondary research could be simply: FINDINGS, or a talking heading such as: Results of the Secondary Research; or of primary research as: Results of Surveys Conducted at Santa Monica College. Reports must have headers/sub titles to group things together and for clarity. Each paragraph should be about four to six sentences only; not half a page. All headings must have double spaces above and below them just as in between paragraphs.
• Now insert at least one visual either taken from a secondary source such as the Internet, or from one that you created after doing your own research/primary research.
• A visual in business reports is essential as it gives credibility to the report, is easier to understand, and acts as a point of reference to the report. The different ways to show a visual in business reports are the following:

• • Pie chart which measures a proportion to the whole (think of a pizza pie) where each of the wedges of the pie chart represents a portion of that chart. Rules to follow when doing pie charts are the following:

• • • Start each wedge from the 12 o’clock position and go clockwise.
    • Begin with largest wedge first and the smallest wedge last.

• • • Either insert the actual percentage inside the wedge or write outside the wedge and write this in numbers, such as 20%.
  • Bar chart is also called a Comparison chart. Use bars to represent different results. The X axis (the horizontal line) is shown with names of the bars (A/B/C, etc.) while the Y axis (the vertical line) is shown in numbers ($, units, etc.).

• • Line chart also called a Progression chart tells you what has been happening to something (profit, demand, productivity, etc.) over time. The typical line chart is the Supply and Demand chart used in Economics 101.
  • Table is used when specific numbers need to be shown using rows and columns. This is typically used in sales meetings to show how a sales person is doing selling different types of products like cars, perhaps.

Students typically use the bar chart for their surveys in these reports.

Rules on how to show the Visual:

• One visual/chart per page, full length covering the whole page.
• Proper title above the visual.
• If a bar or a line chart is used then the X and Y axes must be properly labeled.
• If a table is used, each row and column must be properly labeled.
• A source information must be given below the chart. If it’s one you created then write the place and the date you gathered the information as in a survey, an observation, or an experiment. If it’s a visual copied from the Internet or any other external sources, write the site or source information using MLA.org format.

Describe your visual on the page that is before the chart so that it makes sense.

After you have talked about and shown your findings from your research, write your conclusions.

Rules on how to write the Conclusion(s):

• Use nouns such as investigation, consideration, observation, calculation, etc. These nouns are taken from verbs.
• Try to limit your list of conclusion to five or six maximum, and write just one or two brief sentences—not whole paragraphs. This is the real challenge of business writing, being able to say what you mean in clear and concise way using as few words as possible.

Next, write your Recommendations, the most important part of an analytical business report.

Rules on how to write the Recommendation(s):

• Begin with verbs as in giving commands such as: “Hire more people ….”, or, “Hold weekly meetings…”, etc. Each of your listed item should begin with a verb, a commanding word as you’re making your recommendation to the company.
• Write brief sentences per item; try not to make your sentence so long that it wraps around to the next line.
• Limit your recommendations to five or six items. If you have more things to recommend, try to combine a few of them together and write two brief sentences if necessary.
• Make sure your recommendations are feasible (possible).

Depending on the length of your Conclusions and Recommendations, you can either combine them on one page or write them on separate pages for a greater impact.

The last thing on the report itself should be your final statement on the project and a forward-looking sentence. Make sure to mention that you are available to answer any questions, etc., and write this in a very positive and polite way.

Complete the report with a new page entitled Work Cited or References. List all your secondary research sources here following the proper MLA.org format. This is critical as not giving proper information here could cost the writer and the company a lawsuit sometimes. Information that you give here must be verifiable if needed. This section protects the writer from liability.

If you want to add images, maps, a list of interview or survey questions that you asked during your primary research, etc., then they will go here—after the report. These are called Appendices and are titled as Appendix I, Appendix II, etc., and are page numbered separately from the report, typically as -i-, -ii-, etc. Use the MLA.org source for proper page numbering format.

Part III

Presenting your Business Report:

In the business world, this typically involves a five- to seven-minute PowerPoint slide show presentation before an audience of chief decision makers of the company. In our face-to-face classes, students were required to dress professionally (as best as they could) in business suits for both women and men. Other options are jackets and long pants/trousers or jackets or cardigans and skirts or dress for women and dress shoes.

When making a business/official/formal presentation, dress as if going on an interview as you put your best image forward to establish credibility in the business world. Minimize jewelry and accessories/especially shiny objects, etc.

For our online class none of that is required as you will be simply recording your one to two-minute discussion of your report, audio required only. The class will get to hear it and respond in a discussion forum. Instructions on this segment will follow later.

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GRADING CRITERIA TOTAL = 200 points

Content = 60 points

Achieved the purpose of the report; included Conclusions and Recommendations, contained sufficient data, supported by concrete detail; included relevant data; at least one visual is shown; showed evidence of sufficient research (primary and secondary); achieved overall effectiveness.

Format = 60 points

Illustrated correct format; pages numbered; visuals on separate pages, displayed headings appropriately, proper spacing within and between paragraphs and headings, etc.

Report writing style = 20

Showed good organization; included coherent and unified sentences and paragraphs, used transitions effectively, attributed sources clearly and correctly.

Grammar = 10 points (six or more errors = -10)

Spelling = 10 points (six or more errors = -10) Use www.dictionary.com to check spelling.

Work posted either as .docx or converted to PDF file when posting in Canvas = 10 points

TurnItIn Similarity Report less than 30 percent = 30 points; (30 percent or above similarity = -30 points)

AS WITH ALL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS IN THIS COURSE, REPORTS MUST BE POSTED IN CANVAS SHOWING A TURNITIN REPORT AND BE VISIBLE IN GRADEBOOK IN ORDER TO BE GRADED; OTHERWISE, A ZERO GRADE WILL BE GIVEN FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. ATTACHMENTS OR E-MAILS OR THE USE OF ANY OTHER MEDIA WILL NOT BE GRADED.

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NOTE:

Here is a sample report that almost reflects the directions given in this task.

Sample Report Guffey Motivating Employees.doc

The above is just a sample to give you a rough idea of what a report looks like, but it has extra things which you are not required to do, and does not have things which you must do such as the following:

Don’t add a Table of Contents; don’t add an Executive Summary–no need for these things. Don’t copy the sample for your report.

You can have a title page with your name, a title for your report, date written with the proper format such as November 17, 2020, the college’s name as in Santa Monica College, and my name, Professor R. Paik, as your instructor/reader of your report–all if you wish; but don’t number that page.

Do make sure to have pages numbered for the report which includes the Work Cited page. This sample report does not have any and that’s a major error, especially since it has a Table of Contents that lays out the page numbers yet the pages are not numbered–this is how the publisher presented it in Guffey’s teaching material. The sample report otherwise is a fairly good one.

Read through the additional documents that will be posted in Announcement soon to enhance your learning about how to write business reports.

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