Name That Report

Read the overview below and complete the activities that follow.

Reports are a critically important means of keeping information flowing within a company or between companies and outside readers. While business reports can be as various as the companies, readers, and purposes they're written for, it's possible to identify certain common types. Understanding these types will help prepare you for the specific report$-$writing needs you'll encounter in the workplaces you join.

This activity will test your understanding of the five common types of reports discussed in the chapter:

$-$Routine operational reports

$-$Progress reports

$-$Short problem$-$solving reports

$-$Meeting minutes

$-$Formal reports

To refresh your memory of the purposes and traits of these types of reports, review the Key Terms.

Instructions: For each of the communication scenarios below, select the best type of matching report.

$1.$ Ramone $-$ Each Friday, the four members of the company$$s training staff get together for a half hour to share thoughts and information regarding the past week. The training manager, Ramone, then reports the key points of the discussion in a brief email to his supervisor.

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$2.$ Julie $-$ A few years ago, two well$-$meaning police chiefs started a nonprofit organization to provide financial assistance to the families of police officers who had been struck down in the line of duty. The organization has grown to the point that it needs better control of all its operations. Its leaders have contracted with Julie, a graduate student in management, to provide recommendations on becoming a better structured, more formal organization with better fundraising practices.

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$3.$ Seth $-$ Seth$$s boss, an owner of an independently owned grocery, asks him to investigate ways to bring more business into the store.

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$4.$ Alex $-$ The company$$s Board of Directors will soon hold its quarterly meeting to track the progress of the company, make decisions, and offer advice. Alex$$s job is to record the content of these meetings and make them available to the shareholders.

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$5.$ Donna $-$ The Verstag Company, a metal$-$working shop with about $60$ employees, is considering adopting a profit$-$sharing plan. As financial manager for the company, Donna has been asked to study the government regulations for such plans, the forms the plan can take, how to implement such a plan, and the likely risks and benefits for both the employees and the company. She will present her results orally to the administrative team, but she will also prepare a detailed written report.

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$6.$ Pranav $-$ As an employee of an IT $($Information Technology$)$ consulting firm, Pranav oversees a team that is in charge of preparing a more intuitive interface for the customer$-$service staff of J$.$ Bullard$$s$,$ a catalog sales company. Today he received an email from the J$.$ Bullard$$s executive in charge of this change asking how the project is going.

$($Click to select$)$

$7.$ Jasper $-$ Jasper is a sales person for a financial services firm. His job is to call potential customers, discuss their current mortgages with them, and offer, if possible, a better deal from his firm. Each week he needs to report how many calls he made, how many he completed, what the current mortgage rates are of those he spoke with, and how many sales he made.

$($Click to select$)$

$8.$ Becky $-$ Becky recently held a meeting with her marketing team. Together, they decided to divert a good bit of their budget away from attending trade shows, which have generated fewer and fewer sales leads, and put the money into email marketing instead. Becky will write to her boss explaining the team$$s reasoning and requesting his approval for the new approach.

$($Click to select$)$