References

1.Sonia Simone, “The #1 Conversion Killer in Your Copy (And How to Beat It),” Copyblogger, accessed 21 June 2012, www.copyblogger.com.

2.Jay A. Conger, “The Necessary Art of Persuasion,” Harvard Business Review, May–June 1998, 84–95; Jeanette W. Gilsdorf, “Write Me Your Best Case for…” Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication 54, no. 1 (March 1991): 7–12.

3.“Vital Skill for Today’s Managers: Persuading, Not Ordering, Others,” Soundview Executive Book Summaries, September 1998, 1.

4.Mary Cross, “Aristotle and Business Writing: Why We Need to Teach Persuasion,” Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication 54, no. 1 (March 1991): 3–6.

5.Robert B. Cialdini, “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion,” BusinessWeek, 4 December 2007, www.businessweek.com.

6.Wesley Clark, “The Potency of Persuasion,” Fortune,

12 November 2007, 48; W. H. Weiss, “Using Persuasion Successfully,” Supervision, October 2006, 13–16.

7.Tom Chandler, “The Copywriter’s Best Friend,” The Copywriter Underground blog, 20 December 2006, http:// copywriterunderground.com.

8.John D. Ramage and John C. Bean, Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, 3rd ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1995), 430–442.

9.Philip Vassallo, “Persuading Powerfully: Tips for Writing Persuasive Documents,” et Cetera, Spring 2002, 65–71.

10.Dianna Booher, Communicate with Confidence (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994), 102.

11.Conger, “The Necessary Art of Persuasion.”

12.“Social Factors in Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization,” W3C website, accessed

17July 2010, www.w3.org.

13.Weinberg, The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, 22; 23–24; 187–191; Larry Weber, Marketing to the Social Web (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2007), 12–14;

David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2007), 62; Paul Gillin, The New Influencers (Sanger, Calif.: Quill Driver Books, 2007), 34–35; Jeremy Wright, Blog Marketing: The Revolutionary

Way to Increase Sales, Build Your Brand, and Get Exceptional Results (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006), 263–365.

14.Gilsdorf, “Write Me Your Best Case for…”

15.“How to Comply With the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule,” U.S. Federal Trade Commission website, accessed 17 July 2010, www.ftc.gov; “Frequently Asked Advertising Questions: A Guide for Small Business,” U.S. Federal Trade Commission website, accessed 17 July 2010, www.ftc.gov.

16.Adapted from Samsung website, accessed 22 October 2006, www.samsung.com.

17.Adapted from Whole Foods Market website, accessed

19July 2010, www.wholefoodsmarket.com.

18.Adapted from Web Accessibility Initiative website, accessed 19 June 2012, www.w3.org/wai.

19.Adapted from Your World Instruments website, accessed 21 February 2011, www.yourworldinstruments

.com; “Ud,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed 21 February 2011, www.britannica.com.

20.Adapted from “Community Relations,” “DAS Faces an Assured Future with IBM,” and “Sametime,” IBM website, accessed 16 January 2004, www.ibm.com.

21.Adapted from Hangers Cleaners (Kansas City) website, accessed 19 July 2010, www.hangerskc.com; Charles Fishman, “The Greener Cleaners,” Fast Company, 30 June 2000, http://www.fastcompany.com; Micell Technologies website, accessed 1 September 2000, www.micell.com; Cool Clean Technologies, Inc., website, accessed 9 January 2004, www.coolclean.com.

22.Adapted from Curves website, accessed 19 July 2010, www.curves.com.

10

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Understanding and Planning

Reports and Proposals

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you will be able to

1 Adapt the three-step writing process to reports and proposals.

2Describe an effective process for conducting business research, explain how to evaluate the credibility of an information source, and identify the five ways to use research results.

3Explain the role of secondary research and describe the two major categories of online research tools.

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Many reports function best as “living documents” that are reviewed often and updated as business conditions change.

Finished reports, in print or on screen, can feel as if they’re carved in stone or cast in concrete—forever fixed in time, relics of a moment in the past. However, business and technology writer Elizabeth Wasserman emphasizes that vital reports such as business plans must “stay alive” if they are to deliver their full value. In the case of business plans in particular, even more important than the written report itself is the process of research, analysis, and strategic planning that leads to the information presented in the report. That process should never stop, because business conditions never stand still.1

Applying the Three-Step Writing Process to Reports and Proposals

In previous chapters, you learned to use the three-step writing process for developing shorter business messages; now it’s time to apply those skills to longer messages such as business plans. Reports fall into three basic categories (see Figure 10.1):

■Informational reports offer data, facts, feedback, and other types of information, without analysis or recommendations.

■Analytical reports offer both information and analysis and can also include recommendations.

■Proposals present persuasive recommendations to internal or external audiences, often involving investments or purchases.

Try to view every business report as an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of your audience’s challenges and your ability to contribute to your organization’s success. The three-step process is easily adapted to reports and, in fact, makes these larger projects easier to produce by ensuring a methodical, efficient approach to planning, writing, and completing.

1 LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Adapt the three-step writing process to reports and proposals.

Reports can be classified as informational reports, analytical reports, and proposals.

Reports can be a lot of work, but they also give you the opportunity to demonstrate your grasp of important business issues.

Define your purpose clearly so you don’t waste time with unnecessary reworking.

The statement of purpose for a proposal should help guide you in developing a persuasive message.

A detailed work plan saves time and often produces more effective reports.

Reports can be complex, time-consuming projects, so be sure to analyze the situation carefully before you begin to write. Pay special attention to your statement of purpose, which explains why you are preparing the report and what you plan to deliver.

The most useful way to phrase your purpose statement is to begin with an infinitive phrase (to plus a verb), which helps pin down your general goal (to inform, to identify, to analyze, and so on). For instance, in an informational report, your statement of purpose can be as simple as one of these:

To identify potential markets for our new phone-based videogames

To update the board of directors on the progress of the research project

To submit required information to the Securities and Exchange Commission

The statement of purpose for an analytical report often needs to be more comprehensive. For example, if you were asked to find ways of reducing employee travel and entertainment (T&E) costs, you might phrase your statement of purpose like this:

To analyze the T&E budget, evaluate the impact of recent changes in airfares and hotel costs, and suggest ways to tighten management’s control over T&E expenses

A proposal must also be guided by a clear statement of purpose to help you focus on crafting a persuasive message. Here are several examples:

To secure funding in next year’s budget for new conveyor systems in the warehouse To get management approval to reorganize the North American salesforce

To secure $2 million from outside investors to start production of the new titanium mountain bike

In addition to considering your purpose carefully, you will want to prepare a work plan for most reports and proposals in order to make the best use of your time. For simpler reports, the work plan can be an informal list of tasks and a simple schedule. However, if you’re preparing a lengthy report, particularly when you’re collaborating with others, you’ll want to develop a more detailed work plan (see Figure 10.2).

Some reports require formal research projects in order to gather all the necessary information.

Gathering Information

Obtaining the information needed for many reports and proposals requires careful planning, and you may even need to do a separate research project just to acquire the data and information you need. To stay on schedule and on budget, be sure to review both your statement of purpose and your audience’s needs so that you can prioritize your information needs and focus on the most important questions.

When choosing the medium for a report, think carefully about how your audience might want to use your report.

Selecting the Right Medium

In addition to the general media selection criteria discussed in Chapter 3, consider several points for reports and proposals. First, for many reports and proposals, audiences have specific media requirements, and you might not have a choice. For instance, executives in many corporations now expect to review many reports via their in-house intranets, sometimes in conjunction with an executive dashboard, a customized graphical presentation of key performance parameters. Second, consider how your audience members want to provide feedback on your report or proposal. Do they prefer to write comments on a printed document or edit a wiki article? Third, will people need to be able to search through your document electronically or update it in the future? Fourth, bear in mind that your choice of medium sends a message. For instance, a routine sales report dressed up in expensive multimedia will look like a waste of valuable company resources.

When your audience is likely to be receptive or at least open-minded, use the direct approach; if readers are skeptical about you or your report’s main idea, use the indirect approach.

Organizing Your Information

The direct approach is often used for reports because it is efficient and easy to follow (see Figure 10.3 on page 252). When your audience is likely to be receptive or at least openminded, use the direct approach: Lead with a summary of your key findings, conclusions,

The problem statement clearly and succinctly defines the problem the writers intend to address.

This section explains how the researchers will find the data and information they need.

The assignments and schedule

section clearly lists responsibilities and due dates.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The rapid growth of our company over the past ve years has reduced the sense of community among our sta . People no longer feel like part of an intimate organization that values teamwork.

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF WORK

The purpose of this study is to determine whether social networking technology such as Facebook and Socialtext would help rebuild a sense of community within the workforce and whether encouraging the use of such tools in the workplace will have any negative consequences.

The study will attempt to assess the impact of social networks in other companies in terms of community-building, morale, project communication, and overall productivity.

SOURCES AND METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Data collection will start with secondary research, including a review of recently published articles and studies on the use of social networking in business and a review of product information published by technology vendors. Primary research will focus on an employee and management survey to uncover attitudes about social networking tools. We will also collect anecdotal evidence from bloggers and others with experience using networks in the workplace.

PRELIMINARY OUTLINE

The preliminary outline for this study is as follows:

I.What experiences have other companies had with social networks in the workplace?

A.Do social networks have a demonstrable business bene t?

B.How do employees bene t from using these tools?

C.Has network security and information con dentiality been an issue?

II.Is social networking an appropriate solution for our community-building needs?

A.Is social networking better than other tools and methods for community building?

B.Are employees already using social networking tools on the job?

C.Will a company-endorsed system distract employees from essential duties?

D.Will a company system add to managerial workloads in any way?

III.If we move ahead, should we use a “business-class” network such as Socialtext or a consumer tool such as Facebook?

A.How do the initial and ongoing costs compare?

B.Do the additional capabilities of a business-class network justify the higher costs? IV. How should we implement a social network?

A.Should we let it grow “organically,” with employees choosing their own tools and groups?

B.Should we make a variety of tools available and let employees improvise on their own?

C.Should we designate one system as the o cial company social network and make it a permanent, supported element of the information technology infrastructure?

This paragraph identifies exactly what will be covered by the research and addressed in the final report.

The preliminary outline has enough detail to guide the research and set reader expectations.

and follow this path: Course