Successful Business Report Writing.doc

Successful Business Report WritingAcknowledgementsDuring the process of writing this thesis, I was lucky enough to obtain much help and advice from many people. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to them.First and foremost, I wish to offer my heartfelt thanks to my respected tutor, Professor Luo Guoliang, for the warmth and understanding which he gave me, for the energy and time which he devoted to the improvement and polishing of my drafts, and for his advice and encouragement. Without all this, I could not have completed this thesis. Next, I would like to thank all the dedicated teachers of the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, who have spared no efforts to enrich my professional or theoretical knowledge in the past two and a half years. My acknowledgement also goes to my roommates and friends. Their encouragement, care and help were absolutely necessary to my timely completion of the thesis.Finally, I would like to give my thanks to my beloved family for their tender love, consistent encouragement and selfless support over the years.AbstractWith the globalization of world economy and Chinas entry into the WTO, more and more foreign enterprises have been targeting and investigating China as their market. Consequently, the effectiveness of communication cannot be over-emphasized. As a major means of communication, the business report is playing an increasingly important role in business organizations. Therefore, this thesis is aimed at a constructive discussion of the basic principles and especially the linguistic requirements for successful business report writing. Consisting of six chapters, this thesis presents a relatively complete study of report writing for business purposes.Chapter One introduces the modern theory of communication and its intrinsic link with business report writing.Chapter Two and Chapter Three provide a general introduction of business report writing, with details of the classification systems, functions, special requirements, and major ingredients of the business report.Chapter Four, combined with Chapter Five, deals with the principles and the process of writing successful business reports.Chapter Six, the heart of this thesis, lays out an elaborate discussion of the linguistic requirements for successful business report writing, ranging from word choice, through sentence construction, to paragraph design.ContentsChapter One Communication1.1 What is communication? -11.2 Communication process-21.3 Effective communication and its obstacles-51.3.1 Effective communication-51.3.2 Obstacles to effective communication-61.4 Effective business communication-101.4.1 Business communication-101.4.2 Importance of effective business communication-11Chapter Two An Introduction of Business Reports2.1 Definition of a business report-142.2 Classification systems for business reports -152.2.1 Directional classification-162.2.2 Contextual classification-17 2.2.3 Functional classification-17 2.2.4 Format classification-19 2.3 Functions of business reports-202.4 Special requirements of business reports -212.4.1 Purpose-212.4.2 Focus-222.4.3 Consideration of audience-222.4.4 Self-sufficiency-222.4.5 Objectivity-232.4.6 Style-23Chapter Three Ingredients of Business Reports3.1 Preliminary parts-253.2 Content of the report-273.2.1 Introduction-273.2.2 Body-293.2.3 Final section-293.3 Appended parts-30Chapter Four Principles of Successful Business Report Writing4.1 Completeness-314.2 Conciseness-324.3 Consideration-344.4 Courtesy-354.5 Concreteness-364.6 Clarity-374.7 Correctness-38Chapter Five Process of Writing Successful Business Reports5.1 Planning-405.2 Collecting-425.3 Designing-425.3.1 Documenting-425.3.2 Sorting-435.3.3 Interpreting-435.3.4 Preparing final outline-445.4 Drafting-445.5 Editing- 455.6 Revising-46Chapter Six Linguistic Requirements for Successful Business Report Writing6.1 Word choice-476.1.1 Using simple words-486.1.2 Creating vivid images-536.1.3 Choosing nondiscriminatory expressions-586.1.4 Selecting words for precise communication-596.2 Sentence construction-606.2.1 Keeping the sentence reasonably short-606.2.2 Making the sentence effective-626.3 Paragraph design-666.3.1 Keeping the paragraph in a suitable length-666.3.2 Maintaining the paragraph unity-666.3.3 Putting the topic sentence to good use-686.3.4 Making the paragraph move forward-70Conclusion-71Bibliography-72Chapter One CommunicationCommunication should be the primary goal of any business report.1 Raymond V. Lesikar, How to Write a Report Your Boss Will Read and Remember, revised edition, Dow Jones-Irwin, 1974 and 1984, p21Therefore, a preliminary study of business report writing will naturally start with a probe into the introduction of communication.1.1 What is communication?The term “communication” and its definitions have been used so often in recent years that we have no difficulty finding a definition suitable for our use. For instance, “Communication is the process of exchanging information and meaning or expressing thoughts and feeling between or among individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, and behavior.”2 Carol M. Lehman, and Debbie D. Dufrene, Business Communication, twelfth edition, South-western college publishing, p42 It is found, however, that these definitions are not specific enough. So we had better try not to be conventional, that is, not to use words to define words. There are two reasons. Firstly, words are only symbols that delegate things and they have no meaning in themselves. Secondly, defining abstract words like “communication” is especially difficult because such words do not indicate any material object to which we can handily refer.What is communication? Before beginning our analysis, lets clear up a common misunderstanding that communication is a natural human activity. This hypothesis is not quite right. Human communication is not an instinctive activity as are many of our other activities. As we know, our mouths could take in food and our teeth could chew it; similarly, our hands could perform their functions of picking up and handling things. Whether we grew up with animals or with civilized people, we could instinctively perform the above-mentioned functions. And most of our other organs could function naturally without instructions from other people. However, our vocal apparatus, the major organs used in communication, could make sounds, but not words if nobody tells us how to do it. Neither could our brains know words nor our hands write them without instruction. Clearly, communication is a function that we must learn and it must be acquired from other people. 1.2 Communication processCommunication is a process of transmitting information, such as facts, ideas, feelings, or courses of action, so that the recipient understands it. It is considered effective when it achieves the desired reaction or response from the recipient. A better way to describe communication is, therefore, a two-way process of exchanging ideas or information between human beings. In practice, the communication process is not simple, sometimes quite complex, involving five elements or factors: Sender/EncoderMessageChannel/MediumReceiver/DecoderFeedbackFigure1-1 illustrates partly how these factors interact in the communication process.Figure 1-1 A model of the communication process (Brown. L: 1973:4)Sender/EncoderMessageChannel/MediumFeedbackReceiver/DecoderSender/Encoder The sender/encoder is the one who initiates the communication. When the sender sends a message, he or she may be a writer or a speaker, which depends on whether the communication is written or oral. The sender carefully designs a message by selecting words that clearly and effectively convey the message, and by using nonverbal signals (gestures, tone of voice, and so on) that reinforce the verbal message, so that the receiver understands it and reacts with the response the sender desires. The message sending and encoding is affected by external and internal stimuli.An external stimulus triggers a need or desire for the sender to send a message. Perhaps the stimulus is a written question, a business transaction, a meeting, an unexpected favor, an interview, an investigation, etc. As the sender collects information for the message, he or she is also affected by various external conditions physical surroundings, discomforts, cultural customs, noise, weather, and others.Internal stimuli influence how the sender translates ideas into a message. In the course of encoding, the choice of symbols is affected by the senders own world of experience, whether mental, psychological, physical, or semantic. Attitudes, opinions, biases, emotions, past experiences, and communication skills influence the way to communicate ideas. Also especially important is the senders perception of the receivers viewpoint. In all, the sender decides which symbols best convey the message and which sending mechanisms to choose among the available written or oral media.Message The message is the information being transmitted. It consists of both verbal (written or spoken) and nonverbal symbols. When composing a message, we need to consider what content to include and how the receiver will interpret it. A message may be simple and easy, like “Nice to meet you”. In contrast, to inform 200 people of different items of news will require much more complicated, carefully planned messages. In all, whether a message is simple or complicated depends on the circumstances.Channel and medium The channel is the means used to convey the message. To increase the likelihood that the receiver will understand the message, the sender should carefully select an appropriate channel to transmit the message. The communication channels include nonverbal, oral, written, and electronic methods. As with message content, the choice of channel and medium is affected by the relationship between sender and receiver. If the message requires an immediate answer, an oral channel may be the better choice. But if the message contains complicated details and figures, it would be better to choose a written channel. Of course, nearly all-important communication is eventually put into writing because it provides a fairly permanent record.Receiver/DecoderThe receiver is the individual to whom the message is directed. He or she is the reader or listener also the decoder, influenced by external environment and internal stimuli. A problem is that all people do not have identical experiences, abilities, opinions, attitudes, or cultural customs, so the receiver reacts either with a response based on clear interpretation of the messages or an incorrect response because of miscommunication. In addition, the audiences distance both physical and emotional from the sender has an important influence on the transfer of messages. The greater the distance is, the more difficult the communication is. For example, communicating with friends is easier than with strangers. Friends keep the communication channel open even when they disagree. Strangers are more likely to give up when communication becomes difficult.Feedback Feedback is the receivers response to a message. It may be a brief “yes” or “no”, a detailed, helpful report, a lengthy written response, a request for further information, or an undesirable decision. Feedback is important because it can evaluate the effectiveness of the communication. If the receiver incorrectly decodes the message, the communication is ineffective. When the communication process does not include feedback, it is called one-way communication, like memos, newsletters, etc. When it does, it is called two-way communication. The latter is a better choice for accurate exchange of meaning.1.3 Effective communication and its obstacles1.3.1 Effective communication When communication produces the results we desire, it is effective. For example, when we write a letter applying for a job, we will know that our letter is effective if we get the required interview.Effectiveness depends on the way we organize the information we are communicating. Organizing a report by the use of headings and subheadings can reduce reading time. As we know, most readers can guess what misspelled words mean, and they can usually figure out what we meant to say even when we used inappropriate punctuation. But a reader who is aware that a poorly organized report will waste his or her valuable time may put the report aside. Therefore, when we reduce reading time, we will increase the effectiveness of our communication, and build a positive image in our readers mind.Effectiveness also depends on our care for the language of our communication. Generally, we are careful to perform mathematic calculations, and to collect and analyze data. But are we equally careful with our writing? We should know that our readers will make a judgment about our ability to do technical or business work on the basis of the care we show in spelling, punctuation, organization, sentence, and paragraph development, etc. in addition to the surface meaning of the words we use. In a word, effective communication in business reporting requires us to meet the following needs:1. 1. Our need to report accurately and clearly the information we have developed.2. 2. Our need to reinforce the validity of our report by using correct diction, grammar, and tone.3. 3. Our need to save our reader time by organizing our report effectively.1.3.2 Obstacles to effective communicationWhen we send a message, there will be internal and external obstacles that may affect effectiveness of the message. The effective sender understands that it is possible that the original idea of the message may be so strongly influenced by these obstacles that a communication can be broken. All sending and receiving of messages are subject to the following two basic principles3 Joel P. Bowman, Successful Communication in Business. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1980, p423:1. All messages are based on certain arbitrary agreements. 2. No message is valid except within the setting in which it is sent and received.There are millions of examples to explain both of these principles. In most western countries, a nod means Yes and shaking ones head means No. On the contrary, in certain African countries the same signals have opposite meanings. All oral messages are also agreed upon arbitrary signals. These signals can seldom be transferred from one language to another. In English, stress is a carrier of meaning in the spoken language. Lets read the following sentences aloud, especially stressing the italicized word each time.1.We are reading some books.2.We are reading some books.3.We are reading some books. With the shift of stress, we will find, the three sentences dont have the same meaning. The same oral effect cannot be achieved in all other languages. So, in communication there do exist obstacles like the following: SemanticsSemantics can create many obstacles in communication. Semantics is the science of word meanin