1. Who are you writing the report or proposal for ?
2. What will they want to know ?
3. What is their level of knowledge ?
4. Make the objective as specific as you can, and write it down in one sentence.
5. I someone else has asked you to write the report or proposal, show them the objective before you start work.

Collect the information

Research

1. Start by deciding what information you need. Using the objective as your reference, list the areas you need to cover.
2. For each of these general area create a list of specific topics to research.
3. Go and find the information you need - use written sources, publicly available information, and talk to people.
4. Add your own notes of nay benefits you want to emphasis.

Organize

1. Copy each point (or a note of it) on to a separate piece of paper.
2. Sort these pieces of paper into logical groups.

Plan the structure - proposals

The four 'P' s 

1. Position: where we are now
   • Make sure you're all agreed on what the proposal is about.
   • State the position from the reader's point of view.
2. Problem: why we can't stay here
   • Could be good or bad
   • Persuade the reader that things can't be left as they are.
3. Possibilities: all the places we could go instead
   • Include this section unless the reader will be making a straight yes/no decision
   • Discuss the pros and cons of each option, and draw comparisons between them where this is useful.
4. Proposal: the best direction to choose
   • If you don't have a 'possibilities' section: explain your proposal, answer any objections and supply facts to support your case.
   • If you do have a 'possibilities' section: make a choice and justify it.

Research reports

• Aim
• Method
• Results
• Conclusion

Information-only reports

• Present the information in the logical groups you put it into when you collected it together
• If it is possible, work through these groups in a logical order.

Be persuasive

1. Show them you're on their side
   • Write from the reader's point of view.
   • Show you understand the real issues.
   • Be objective
2. Lead them over to your side
   • be fair.
   • Don't pooh-pooh the other possibilities
   • Give the reader and excuse to change their mind.
   • Put your preferred option last.
   • Anticipate objections.

Use plain English

Style

1. General approach
   • Match the style to the reader.
   • Use everyday English.
   • Be politically correct.
   • Explain new ideas clearly.
2. Phrasing and sentences
   • Avoid jargon
   • Keep away from stock phrases
   • Avoid clichés
   • keep sentences and paragraphs short
3. Words
   • Use short words
   • Avoid legal words and pomposity.
   • Avoid neutral words.
   • Beware ambiguous words.
   • Avoid tautology and redundant words.
   • Use concrete not abstract nouns.
   • Use active not passive verbs.
     

Mechanics

1. Check:
   • Your choice of words.
   • Spelling
   • abbreviations.
2. Punctuation :
   • capital letters.
   • Apostrophes
   • commas
   • colons.
   • Semicolons

Make it look readable

1. Check the layout :
   • spacing.
   • Margins.
   • Headings.
   • Sections.
   • Paragraphs.,
   • Lists.
2. Use appendices
3. Charts and graphs:
   • For component comparison use pie charts.
   • For item comparison use bar charts.
   • For time series comparison use column charts or line charts.
   • For frequency distribution use column charts.
   • For frequency distribution use column charts.
   • For correlation use bar charts or dot charts.
4. Flow charts:
   • Workflows charts: to show how people or work moves around a location
   • Schematic flow charts: for an overview of the stages of a process or project.
   • Detailed flow charts: to show how work moves around between functions.

Top and tail

1. Include in your proposal or report:
   • title page with title and author
   • contents page
   • summary
   • appendices
   • page numbers.
2. Consider using the following
   • acknowledgment
   • conclusion page
   • glossary
   • bibliography
   • references
   • further addresses etc.

FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS

An initials study

Objective

to identify the factors involved in introducing flexible working hours, to examine their benefits and disadvantages and to recommend the best approach to take.

Summary

At present, almost all employees of ABC LTD work from 9.00 to 5.00. A handful work from 9.30 to 5.30.

Many, though not all, staff are unhappy with this and would prefer a more flexible arrangement. Some are working mothers and would like to be able to take their children to and from school. Some, particularly the older employees, have sick or elderly relatives who make demand on their time which do not fit comfortably with their working hours.

For the company itself, this dissatisfaction among staff leads to low morale and reduced productivity. It also makes it harder to attract and retain good staff.

There are three basic options for the future:

1. Leave things as they are. This is obviously less demanding on resources than implementing a new system. At least we know it works even if ti isn't perfect.
2. Highly flexible system. Employees would clock on and clock off anytime within a 12 and half hour working day until they have 'clocked up' 44 hours a week. This would be the hardest system to implement
3. Limited flexibility., Staff could start work any time between 8.00 am to 10.00 am and work through for eight hours. This would not solve all employees' problems but it would solve most of them.

Proposal

Introduce a system of limited flexibility for now, retaining the option of increasing flexibility later if this seems appropriate.

Portion

The current working hours at ABC LTD are 9.00 to 5.00 for most employee, with a few working from 9.30 to 5.30

Problem

Although this works up to a point, it does have certain disadvantages, both for the organization and for some of the employees.

The organization: The chief disadvantage of the current system is the many of the staff are dissatisfied with it. This has become such a serious problem that it is becoming harder to attract and retain good staff. Those staff who do join the company and stay with it feel less motivated: this, as research has shown, means they are less productive than they could be.

The employees: Some employees are satisfied with their current working hours, but many of them find the present system restrictive. There are several reasons for this but the employees most strongly in favor of greater flexibility are , in particular:

• parents, especially mothers who would prefer to be able to take their children to and from school, and to work around this commitment
• employees, many of them in the older age range, who have elderly or sick relatives who they would like to be more available for.

A more flexible approach would make it easier for many staff to fulfill these kinds of demands on their time.

An initial study questioned nearly 140 employees in a cross-section of ages. A large majority were in favor of a more flexible working hours. Appendix I gives the full results of this study.

Possibilities

Since this report is looking at the principle and not the detail of a more flexible approach, the options available fall broadly into three categories: retaining the present system, introducing limited flexibility of working hours, and implementing a highly flexible system.

Retaining the present system. I have already outlined above the problem with leaving things as they are. On the plus side however there are one or two points to make.

Although the system is not perfect, at least we know it works. The staff all signed their contracts on the understanding that the company worked to standard hours of business and while it may not be ideal for them it is at least manageable. Better the devil you know.

Implementing any new system is bound to incur problems and expense, consequently retaining the present working hours is the least expensive option in terms of direct cost.

Highly flexible system. A highly flexible system would mean keeping the site open from, said, 7.30 am to 8 .00 PM. All staff are contracted to work a certain number of hours a week and time clocks are installed. Employees simply clock on and off whenever they enter or leave the building, until they have reached their full number of hours each week.

This system has the obvious benefit that it can accommodate a huge degree of flexibility which should suit the various demands of all employees. They could even elect to work 35 hours a week spread over only three days. A further benefit to the company would be that doctors' appointments and so on would no longer happen on company time as they do at present. This system does have several disadvantages, however:

• Many staff regard occasional time off for such things as doctors' appointments or serious family crises as a natural 'perk' of the job. With this system they would have to make up the hours elsewhere. Not only would they lose the time off, but many would also feel that the company did not trust them. This would obviously be bad for company morale.
• It would be difficult to implement this system fairly. The sales office, for example, must be staffed at least from 9.00 to 5.30 every day. What if all the sales staff want to take Friday off? How do you decide who can and who can't? What if the computer goes down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and there are no computer staff in until 7.30 the following morning?

Limited flexibility: This would mean asking employees to continue to work an eight hour day, but give them a range of, say, ten hours to fit it into. They could start any time between 8.00 and 10.00 in the morning, so they would finish eight hours later - between 4.00 and 6.00.

On the plus side, this would give the employees the co-operation and recognition of their problems that many of them look for, and would therefore increase staff motivation. For some it would provide a way around their other commitments.

On the other band, this approach still does not allow enough flexibility for some of the working mothers, in particular, who want to be available for their children at both ends of the day.

Proposal

Given the number of staff in favor of more flexible working hours, and the importance of staff motivation, it seems sensible to adopt some kind of flexible approach. But it is probably advisable to find a system that allows the significant minority who prefer to stay as they are to do so.

So which is the best system to choose? It is harder to go backwards than forwards in developing new systems: if the highly flexible approach failed it would be difficult to pull back to a less flexible system(in terms of keeping the staff happy). On the other hand, a limited degree of flexibility could easily be extended later if this seemed appropriate. So at this stage it seems that the most workable system, which contains most of the benefits required by the employees, is the limited flexibility of working hours.

Appendix I

Table of employee responses to the proposal for flexible working hours.