Business Report Guides

Routine and Nonroutine Reports and Policies, Procedures, and Instructions

Dorinda Clippinger

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781631574177
• eBook ISBN: 9781631574184
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Skills
• Index: Business

This book includes reports that managers originate often, reports they may create occasionally, organizational policies, procedures, and work instructions.

Inside, the reader will discover guides for creating over 20 diverse reports; designing report forms; planning, writing, and formatting narrative reports; producing digital and print employee manuals; and locating the service providers and software that can improve your reports' cost-effectiveness.

A crisp writing style, bullet points, and many authentic examples and visuals convey essential information quickly. Each chapter summary includes checklists. Business Report Guides gives ample information to apply instantly. It also works as a handy reference for use throughout your career.

CHAPTER 2

Writing Nonroutine Reports

The need to write or read reports differs for everyone almost daily. As you carry out your work, you sometimes confront circumstances, make decisions, or take actions that deviate from your normal routine yet fall within your range of responsibility. These situations often require that you report your actions or decisions to upper-level management, your subordinates, or even to the public or stockholders. Those reports may be classified as nonroutine reports.

Naturally, this book cannot illustrate all nonroutine reports that you may encounter. However, it will present the following nonroutine reports that you might send and receive.

• Interview reports: individual job applicant, focus group
• Recommendation reports: justification report, feasibility report
• Public relations (PR) reports: press release, fact sheet, and backgrounder
• Marketing reports: whitepaper and business proposal
• Summaries: abstract, overview, and executive summary

Interview Reports

Although you may not interview people regularly in your job, you may occasionally be requested to interview a job applicant to your company. Additionally, you may now and then be on a special project team that requires you to obtain critical information by interviewing a group of people. In both cases, rather than provide verbatim transcripts of your interviews, you will likely be expected to condense the information you obtained in a report to whomever asked you to conduct the interview.

Individual’s Interview Report

Appropriate content for an interview report includes the following information.

• When, where, and how the interview was conducted
• Summary of the information obtained
• Relevant comments about the interview experience, such as problems encountered or recommendations related to interview procedure.

Figure 2.1 demonstrates an interview report for an individual job applicant.

Figure 2.1 Interview report for individual job applicant

Figure 2.1 (Continued)

Following these guidelines will help you write an effective interview report.¹

• Introduction. State the subject’s name and position applied for, along with the date, time, and location of the interview. In addition, state how you expect the interview information to be used and why you conducted the interview, since interviewing job applicants is not one of your regular duties.
• Discussion. Give a summary of topics discussed in the interview. Also, comment on the nature, or themes, of the applicant’s answers, without going into detail.
• Findings. Write about your findings during the interview; that is, state what you learned about the job applicant. If the interview revealed unexpected information that is altogether relevant to the interview’s purpose, discuss that information briefly.
• Circumstances. Write about the interview context, too. Explain any ways that the setting—such as distracting noises or blasts of cold air—may have affected the interview. Comment on the interviewee’s behavior, mannerisms, and reactions to your questions.
• Summary. Recap the report, emphasizing your major findings. Restate your plans for using the information gathered in the interview.

Focus Group’s Interview Report

Focus group interviews are often used to determine interest in a new product or service, the effectiveness of advertising and communications research, background studies on consumers’ frames of reference, or consumer attitudes and behaviors toward an idea, organization, and so on.²

The standard focus group interview involves six to twelve similar individuals—such as male customers, young professionals, or those who regularly purchase a certain laundry detergent—who are brought together to discuss a topic. The respondents are selected according to the relevant sampling plan and meet at a central location that has equipment to make an audio or audiovisual record of the discussion. Note: In recent years, online focus groups have been increasingly useful for consumer research. An interviewer, also called a facilitator or moderator, invites vetted interviewees to sign into a web conference at a pre-arranged time and to participate in an online focus group.³

In face-to-face and online focus groups, the facilitator keeps discussion moving and focused on the topic. Usually the interviewer also analyzes the transcript or recording of the session and prepares a summary of the meeting. Figure 2.2 shows a focus group interview report.

Figure 2.2 Focus group interview report

Both interview reports provide the information necessary for others to evaluate the interviews and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Abstract
• Contents
• Preface
• Ack
• 01-Chapter 01
• 02-Chapter 02
• 03-Chapter 03
• 04-Appendix A
• 05-Appendix B
• 06-Notes
• 07-References
• 08-Author Bio
• 09-Index
• 10_Adpage