Routine Report
Assignment
Scenario:
Your company is
the largest private employer in your metropolitan area, and the 43,500
employees in your workforce have a tremendous impact on local traffic. A group
of city and county transportation officials recently approached your CEO with a
request to explore ways to reduce this impact. The CEO, Ms. Suarez, has
assigned you the task of analyzing the workforce’s transportation habits and
attitudes as a first step towards identifying potential solutions. She is
willing to consider anything from subsidized bus passes to company-owned
shuttle buses to telecommuting, but the decision requires a thorough
understanding of employee transportation needs. Figures 1 – 4 summarize data
you have collected in an employee survey.
Figure 1: Employee Carpool Habits
Frequency of Use:
Carpooling Portion of Workforce
Every day, every
week 10,138 (23%)
Certain days,
every week 4,361 (11%)
Randomly 983 (2%)
Never 28,018 (64%)
Figure 2: Use of Public Transportation
Frequency of Use:
Public Transportation Portion of Workforce
Every day, every
week 23,556 (54%)
Certain days,
every week 2,029 (5%)
Randomly 5,862
(13%)
Never 12,053 (28%)
Figure 3: Effect of Potential Improvements to Public Transportation
Which of the
following would you encourage you to use public transportation more frequently?
(Check all that apply) Portion of Respondents.Employees can check more than one.
Increased
perceptions of safety 4,932 (28%)
Improved
cleanliness 852 (5%)
Reduced commute
times 7,285 (41%)
Greater
convenience: fewer transfers 3,278 (18%)
Greater
convenience: more stops 1,155 (6%)
Lower (or
subsidized) fares 5,634 (31%)
Nothing could
encourage me to take public transportation 8,294 (46%)
Note: This question was asked to those respondents who use public
transportation randomly or never, a subgroup that represents 17,915 employees
or 41% of the workforce.
Figure 4: Is Telecommuting An Option?
Does the nature of
your work make telecommuting a realistic option? Portion ofWorkforce
Yes, every day
3,460 (8%)
Yes, several days
a week 8,521 (20%)
Yes, random days
12,918 (30%)
No 18,601 (42%)
Task:
Write a
recommendation memo report to your supervisor, Ms. Suarez illustrating the data
you have collected and recommending two ways to solve this problem. This is ashortreport; therefore,
your report willnotinclude a
title page, a table of contents, or appendices. The visualized data must be
within the text (body) of the report; donotplace the data at
the end of the report.
Organizational Guidelines:
TO: Ms. Suarez,
CEO
FROM: Insert Your
Name
DATE: Month Day,
Year
SUBJECT: Workforce
Transportation Habits
Begin your report
memo with a brief introductory statement outlining the background,
problem/opportunity/purpose, scope, and organization of the report. Refer to
your text for assistance.
In the body of
your report, you are required to illustrate each set of data with figures.
Keep in mind this
portion of the report requires an appropriate heading, and each of the four
figures requires a reference statement, a caption, and if applicable, a legend.
Do not place the data in a bulleted/numbered list or in a table.
For example:
APPROPRIATE SECTION HEADING
Precede the graph with a reference statement explaining what the graph
illustrates. For example, Figure 1 illustrates the employees’ carpool habits.
Figure 1: Employees’ Carpool Habits
Create the figure. Determine which figure best illustrates the data. Should
you use a pie chart, a bar chart or a line chart? Once you have decided which
chart to use, review your text for format requirements. How large should the
chart be? Should the data be an ascending or descending order? Where should you
place the labels? Does the chart require a legend? Is the visual clear,
complete, concise, connected, and compelling (see textbook for guidelines)?
Note: If you are not familiar with how to create chart using MSWord or
importing them from
Excel and embedding them into MSWord, you should consult the Help function
in MSWord.
Immediately
following the chart, explain the significance of the data. This is referred to
as the illustration’s caption.
For example, As you can see from Figure 1…
After all four
chart are completed, offer two possible solutions to the problem. Each solution
should be logically derived from the data and each must be adequately
explained. This section of the report also requires an appropriate heading.
There should only be two solutions for the entire report.
For example:
APPROPRIATE SECTION HEADING
Introduce this section of the report with a paragraph previewing your
recommendations.
Solution 1: XXX
Explain your solution and why it is a logical option.
Solution 2: XXX
Explain your solution and why it is a logical option.
Close your report
with a summary of the key points as they appeared in the report body. Do not
introduce new facts into your closing paragraph. End by inviting Ms. Suarez to
contact you to discuss the report’s recommendations.
Evaluation Criteria
Outstanding: (90-100%)
The report demonstrates
superior application of business communication concepts and principles outlined
in the readings and exercises. The assignment does not contain errors in
content, grammar, spelling, punctuation, format, and/or the visualization of
the data. All four of the data sets are illustrated properly.
Above Average: (80-89%)
The report
demonstrates above average application of business communication concepts and
principles outlined in the readings and exercises. The assignment has a few
minor errors in content, grammar, spelling, punctuation, format, and/or the
visualization of the data. All four of the data sets are illustrated properly.
Satisfactory: (70-79%)
The report
demonstrates satisfactory application of business communication concepts and
principles outlined in the readings and exercises. The assignment has a
moderate number of errors in content, grammar, spelling, punctuation, format,
and/or visualization of the data.
Three of the data
sets are illustrated properly.
Poor: (1-69%)
The report has an
inconsistent application of business communication concepts and principles
outlined in the readings and exercises and/or has frequent and serious errors
in content, grammar spelling, punctuation, format, and/or the visualization of
the data that distorts the meaning. At least two sets of data are not
illustrated properly.
Incomplete: 0 points (0%)
The memo was not
submitted before the due date and/or was not completed according to the
published instructions.
