Occupational Health/safety Project

Business Report and Proposal Writing Guidelines

Written by Catherine Fitzgerald 2018

The following are some suggested guidelines for your written business report and proposal. Always keep in mind that written reports are used to evaluate your performance, by prospective employers and instructors.

Business reports are limited to ten to fifteen double-spaced pages, which includes the title page, executive summary, introduction, literature review, research methodology, findings and discussion, definition of problem, analysis of causes, development, evaluation and selection of alternative (s), recommended plan of action, benefits of proposal, and conclusion. These sections are described in more detail below. This order is not the order in which you work on these topic areas but rather just simply the order of the report sections. References and appendices are supplemental pages. APA style is used for report formatting and referencing.

Title Page

The title page records the report title, the name (s) of the recipient (s), the author's name (or names of team members) and the date.

The Executive Summary

The executive summary is a one page summary of the entire report. Information included in the executive summary should reflect the plan and issues identified in the report, provide a summary of the key points presented in every section of the report, present the key arguments so that decisions can be made from it and reflect that you have a clear understanding of the organization and their problem.

Introduction

The introduction of a report provides the problem or purpose of the report, background information (so that the reader has a better understanding of the problem), scope of the report and organization of the report. You will want to ensure you state your purpose clearly and concisely so the reader knows immediately why you are writing the report.

Literature Review

You will want to discuss the literature in terms of research studies, statistics, theories, models, concepts, examples from the course readings, quest speakers, conference speakers, videos, reliable websites and documentation that supports your suggested alternative and recommended action plan. Put your research in the context of other works. Cite studies to reinforce your proposal. Identify theories or models that apply to the organizations problems. You will use the identified theories or models later in the report to help you justify your choice of solution. You will need to reference all works cited.

Methodology

You will want to describe the methods you chose to collect data about the organization. Some examples are described below.

Secondary information might involve gathering information such as policy documents and management plans, OHS and WHP documents, annual reports, safety reports, WCB reports (investigations), collective agreements (union newsletters/reports), newspaper reports, media releases, industry reports and statistics, data about competing/similar organizations ( state assumptions), mission, vision, values strategy documents that help to understand the organizations direction and purpose, underlying philosophy and culture, codes of conduct, documents that tell you how long the organization has been in business and who are the major decision makers, financial reports that provide you with information on the organizations financial position, documents that describe the external environment in which the organization operates (such as industry, competition, economy, technological changes, government and legislative issues, standards, social health/safety/environment concerns, demographic trends, labour supply, provincial/national/international business operations), organizations charts, structure and systems, union/non union, resources, leadership communication, HR practices, OHS practices, labour composition ( immigrants, aging, skills), audits and surveys, job descriptions, performance standards, orientations, training manuals/online, testing, compensation, benefits, rewards and incentives. You can include this documentation in the appendices.

Findings and Discussion

You will want to provide a description of what you found out, an account of the information/data you gathered. You will want to make this a narrative (like a story), making use of the interesting bits from your data collection and putting more detailed information in the appendices. You will want to put your findings in the context of the previous research (such as what you described in your literature review). You will want to describe if your findings are similar to the current research or if you found something different, new or contradictory. You will want to offer some sort of explanation as well as the implications of your findings.

Definition of Problem

You will want to concisely state the major well-being, health and safety problem (s) facing the organization as something to be corrected or resolved. You will want to group related problems together. The problem is a blocked managerial goal. Describe the goal that is being undermined.

Analyse the Causes

You will want to identify and analyse all possible causes of the problem (s). Describe what factors are causing the problem or blocking the achievement of the goal. Based on the major problem identified from your causal analysis, and before you develop your alternative solutions for the problem, isolate the key quantitative and qualitative relevant criteria necessary for making the ‘best’ decision and weight all criteria to prepare for the evaluation of your alternatives.

Develop, Evaluate and Select Alternative (s)

You will want to describe what action you might take to remove the causes and solve the problem (s). Remember that these alternatives should deal with causes, not symptoms of the problem. You want to provide specifics about your alternative (s) and answer the question why. Evaluate the alternatives according to the relevant criteria (such as costs, timeframe, resources, real-life constraints.). Select and justify your alternative. You should not present every possibility but rather you should limit yourself to presenting the most convincing cohesive solution. Discuss the limitations of your alternative and how it can be overcome (or minimize). Keep in mind what the organizations goals and constraints are.

Recommended Plan of Action

You will want to recommend a detailed plan of implementation on how you would carry out your alternative. You will want to develop an objective for the problem identified in your causal analysis, and then discuss the actions that will be taken to achieve your objective. List the specific implementation steps in priority order (such as the development of a wellbeing, health and safety plan including measureable goals, expected outcomes, timeframe, costs and key stakeholder responsibilities ) and future evaluation efforts. You would want to provide concrete short and long-term action plans by addressing the what, when, where and how questions.

Benefits of Proposal

You will want to discuss the benefits the organization will receive by implementing your recommendations. Based on your knowledge of the organization's goals, emphasize the benefits of your proposal that meet the greatest needs and interests of the organization using quantitative terms. Consider possible objections to your proposal and address them.

Conclusion

You will want to summarize what you have achieved in terms of the research, analysis and its implications. You will want to rephrase or summarize the central ideas in your organizational well-being, health and safety analysis. You want to firmly establish your key message (s) to your reader.

References

You will want to use APA referencing format throughout your report. The reference list begins on a new page.

Appendices

You will want to include supportive materials, such as organisational charts, annual reports, survey questions and excel spreadsheet in the appendices. All appended material must be referred to in the text of your report. You will want to use APA style format