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reporting panel or committee in an organisation and being sent to an executive or Department within the same organisation) adopts the formal report format on account of the seriousness or the nature of commissioning of the report.
3.5 Structure
The structure has to do with the content or substance of the information to be conveyed in a report. Part of the general art of reporting (indeed, of communicating as a whole) is identifying the division or classification into which the content of a report or another piece of communication falls, identifying the element or substance which makes up each division and arranging or ordering the divisions in a certain sequence. So, we become accustomed from the secondary school to talking about the Introduction to an essay, the Body and the Conclusion.
Structure is pertinent to every piece of communication – oral or written – and structure is much more uniform to reports than formats. When, earlier in the unit, we listed nine items from “Title” to “Appendices”, we were essentially outlining the structure of reports. That list refers to the structure of the more familiar kinds of reports in business organisations.
However, before we identify and describe the elements of appropriate structure for business reports, we shall first briefly examine a few general principles and ideas guiding, and related to, reports.
3.5.1 Structures of Reports: The Standard (or the Psychological) Structure
In general, it has been found by communication experts that most business reports will fit well into the following structure:
INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY Purpose
Scope
Conclusion(s) Recommendation(s) INTRODUCTION BODY
SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDIX (APPENDICES)
This structure is called (as already indicated) the “psychological structure”. This is because it suits the psyche of most readers,
157 particularly business executives. This is to say that this structure is logical, which is to say that it embodies or bears out the logic of rational thinking.
This arrangement leaves the reader the option to read as much of the report as his needs demand and his time permits. He wants to obtain as quickly as possible (and with as little strain as possible) the information he needs for taking a decision. This is why the report should logically begin with a summary, which quickly gives a brief account of the investigation and a resume of its findings and the recommendations ensuing from the findings.
3.5.2 The Components of the Standard Structure
1. The Introductory Summary: The Introductory Summary (which some people call the Executive Summary) – even though it comes first in the entire report – is written last. It explains the circumstances occasioning the report. It goes on to spell out clearly what the purpose of the report is, what aspects of the issue in question are covered (i.e., the scope and limitations of the report), and the methods of investigation employed or activities carried out. Then, it presents the findings or conclusions arrived at and outlines the recommendations for accomplishing the projected purpose of the investigation on which the report is written.
2. Introduction: Intelligent exercise of good sense is required for determining the content of the Introduction and the orienting of its presentation. Its primary purpose is to establish rapport with the reader in order to enhance receptivity of the report to him, i.e., his initial positive attitude towards the report, especially where the reader is known or suspected to be apathetic towards the subject or biased towards the writer’s views. Here, the writer attempts, in the Introduction, to dispel misconception, erase prejudice and win confidence.
Of course, there are several other content elements of the Introduction.
Background material – nearly always the element pre-eminently emphasized – is usually required. For example, the background of an existing conflict between management and labour; the origins and growth of a personnel policy that has brought about lopsided staffing in terms of skills, responsibilities and remunerations; political antecedents to industrial policy, etc.: these are necessary backgrounds that must be given in a report.
As already pointed out, discretion and good judgement are necessary for determining what should go into the Introduction of a report. It should
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not repeat – even by elaboration – the table of contents nor should it reproduce introductory or background material already given in the Introductory (or Executive) Summary.
3. The Body: Where the Introductory Summary can be described as the skeleton of the report, the Body can be labeled the flesh – the core – of the report. It is the longest part of the report. In it, all the details for which the Introduction prepares the mind and from which the Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations are drawn are discussed in detail.
Again, the mode of presentation of the Body is, to a large extent, dependent on the magnitude and length and the level of formality of the report. The long formal report should adopt sub-headings for presenting the different aspects of the Body, while the short report (probably presented in the form of a memorandum) may simply use different paragraphs for presenting the information on the different aspects of the investigation.
Whichever of these structures that is appropriate and adopted, one expects it to be logically organised. The sub-headings or paragraphs should follow the sequence in which their contents have been presented in the Introductory Summary, so that a reader interested in a particular aspect of the report can easily locate its elaboration and supporting facts and data in the Body of the report.
4. The Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations: Not all experts on report writing agree that, after the initial (i.e., Introductory) Summary, these end or terminal elements are any longer necessary in a report. In reality, however, the fact that the position of the Introductory Summary looks odd (at least to the newcomer to report writing) – since one should hardly be summarizing what one has not yet discussed – points to the necessity for a logical concluding of a report with these elements. In other words, the Introductory Summary is an expedient necessity, aimed at helping the reader, especially the busy executive, to decide whether the report is of interest to him in terms of helping him to reach a decision on an issue and, therefore, of saving his time.
Each of these elements should certainly be more detailed than its presentation in the Introductory Summary. Where the Introductory Summary is an anticipation awaiting validation in the Body, the terminal Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations are an arrival. The Summary creatively puts the substance of the report into sharp focus for the reader, spotlighting its salient points. It also details the findings.
The Conclusions make an all-embracing inference, which is a distillation of the outcome of the report. The Recommendations, for their own part, detail the recommended actions for achieving the
159 objective of the investigation, each recommendation being usually directly derived from a related finding.
One of the ways in which these terminal features can differ from the Introductory Summary is that where (as circumstances specifically dictate) the points in the Introductory Summary may be presented in continuous prose, the terminal Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations are, as relevant and appropriate, itemized.
Itemization compels the writer carefully to re-scrutinise his report and ensure that all its elements are brought to the fore of the reader’s mind as he completes reading the report. This stamps in his final impressions and makes them firmer and longer-lasting and inspires urgency of response.
5. The Appendix (Appendices): This is the place for material that is helpful, but not essential, for the understanding of a report, such as working memoranda, detailed statistics, supplementary tables, maps, photographs and drawings, experimental details and raw data. Material in the Appendix is to be perceived as being addressed to readers who, perhaps because of their own special areas of interest, want further to investigate the basis of some points in the report and the data from which some conclusions have been arrived at.
3.6 Outlining
The outline is part of the structure. Language teachers in the primary and secondary schools attempt to stress its importance in the essay-writing subject and to teach the techniques of handling it.
It should be obvious to anyone who has ever made an honest effort at developing a good outline that the exercise itself induces the discipline of thinking before putting pen to paper instead of proceeding precariously on the false assurance of the strength of the memory for producing a good report. A good outline is, to say the least, half the job of writing a report done. For all reports, and most particularly for the long report, an outline is an absolute necessity.
Three types of outline may be identified, namely, the topic outline, the broad outline, and the expanded outline. I believe that you have learnt these from your other language courses. (Again, if need be, see Okenimkpe, 2004, pages 187-192).
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SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
1. List and explain briefly the usual components (parts) of a business report.
2. Describe the activities which go into your actual collecting of material for writing your report.
3. What do you understand by the idea of a format for a business report? Name four types that may be used and describe the use of one of them fully.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Write reports in business, we must! So, it is necessary that we master the steps that lead up to producing a report. You must not take the attitude that when the need arises, you will be able to write a report.
You will not be able to produce a meaningful and usable report if you have not carefully learnt how to plan to write a good report.
5.0 SUMMARY
You have seen in this unit that the question of planning a business report depends on the kind of report that is required: is it the memorandum type, the letter type, the semi-formal kind or the strictly formal kind?
On the basis of the kind of report required, a plan is made for obtaining the information (data) required for writing the report. The information may already be available in the files of the enterprise, in the proposed writer’s memory of his daily experience of events in the business, or a formal instrument may be drawn up for collecting the material. There may be a need to interview people, carry out field visits and other kinds of field activities or carry out experiments. When collected, the information is then audited (checked) for correctness on the basis of the various criteria given and, then, the report writer is ready to embark on his report writing.
To reduce length, I have had to eliminate relevant material drastically from this Unit. So, it is absolutely essential to see Okenimkpe (2004), Chapter Seven, for fuller treatment of the topic.
ANSWER TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
Question 1: Sections 3.1., 3.1.1. and 3.1.2. contain the answer.
Question 2: The answer is in Section 3.2. Elaborate from Section 3.1.2. each of the points made in that Section 3.2.