Written Managerial Communication

Handbook
Instructor Danesh Gojer
The WAC Report Structure*
Writing decision reports is both an art and a science. This translates into the fact that
there is no one “correct” procedure to follow. So although there are many equally
effective ways in which a decision report can be structured and presented, for the
purposes of this course the below format must be followed for all submissions:
1. Situation Analysis
2. Problem Statement
3. Options Available
4. Criteria for Evaluation
5. Evaluation of Options
6. Recommendation
7. Action Plan
8. Contingency plan (if required)
9. Exhibits (if required)
The main rationale being that following this method will help to ensure that you
systematically go through all the analyses and processes involved with rational
decision-making.
In addition, your report should start with a cover page, a letter of transmittal, an
executive summary and a contents page, in this exact order.

The Preliminary Pages

Cover Page
The cover page ought to contain:

 Title of the report (Title of the Case)

 Title of the course
 Your Name and Date of Submission
Letter of Transmittal
This represents a cover note addressed to the audience of the report (as specified in
the assignment). It provides an overview of the contents of the report and the reason
as to why it was written. If the report is for an “internal” reader then the memo format
should be followed.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is not a statement merely indicating what you will find in the
report but a miniature report itself typically intended for secondary audiences (e.g.
your boss’s boss). The “basic rule of thumb” is that it should contain the bare
minimum amount of information and detail a reader needs so that he/she does not
have to read your report in its entirety. Please note that the word limit of the
Executive Summary should not exceed twenty percent of the word limit of the entire
report.
*Adapted from the WAC Handbook 2007, IIM Ahmedabad
Situation Analysis
This is arguably the most important part of your report as it provides the foundation
from which you will build and write the remainder of your report.
Please note that under no circumstances should your situation analysis be a mere
description of the situation or a mere restatement of facts and figures from the case.
Instead what is required and essential is that you identify and analyze all the
pertinent factors that you consider relevant for decision-making and indicate the
relationships that you perceive between those factors.
In short, it should represent your understanding of exactly what the prevailing
situation/predicament facing the company is and why.
Subsequently if your analysis in this section of the report is thorough enough, you
will have no difficulty in identifying, developing and writing the remaining components
of the report.
For instance if you analyze the situation well, you will have no difficulty defining the
decision problem or managerial challenge being faced by the protagonist in the case.
Problem Statement
This section of the report requires that you articulate and succinctly (using one-two
sentences) state the problem to which a solution has to be found or the managerial
challenge that has to be met by the protagonist.
As stated before the problem statement should logically flow and follow from your
analysis of the situation.
The Options
Sequentially, once a problem has been identified the next step is to generate
different ways of solving it. These represent the various different courses of action or
options available to the decision maker.
However your options need to be mutually exclusive – that is if you opt for A, you
cannot also opt for B or C or some combination thereof. For example, if you want to
buy a TV set, the options available become the various models within your budget.
Naturally choosing one model automatically precludes you from buying any other
set.
This section of the report also provides you with an opportunity for “out of the box” or
creative thinking. However please note that for good decision-making it is essential
to generate credible options, options that have a very reasonable chance of being
adopted and working out.
Criteria for Evaluation
Generating sufficient and credible options is only “half the battle” in regards to
reaching a solution or recommended course of action. The next step is to determine
how they should be evaluated in order to arrive at an optimal solution.
And the method for doing so is determining your criteria for evaluation or the same
set of standards that each option has to be measured against. Your criteria for
evaluation could also represent all the ideal outcomes you desire.
To illustrate, continuing with the television example, criteria for evaluation would
typically be price, quality and after-sales service. Or in other words your ideal TV
would be priced low, deliver high quality (picture, sound etc.) and assure you of
excellent after-sales service should the need arise.
In addition, you will also need to arrange your criteria in the order of their importance
i.e. prioritize them. Prioritizing your criteria then greatly facilitates your task of
choosing between them and arriving at a final recommendation/decision.
However please note that it is also essential that you provide your audience with the
rationale behind your rankings.
Evaluation of Options
This section of the report requires that you evaluate each option in turn using each
one of your previously identified criteria. This is absolutely mandatory to ensure a
complete report.
Recommendation
Here you must explicitly state which option you are recommending be adopted by
the company as well as why. The main reason being that it is unlikely that any one
option will satisfy all your previously identified evaluation criteria and typically there
will be “trade-offs” involved.
For instance, you are unlikely to find a television model that offers the best quality
and after sales service and has the lowest price. Therefore, the need for a
rationalization to help convince your audience to adopt your recommended course of
action.
For example, you may recommend a model with a poor warranty with the
rationalization that given the quality of the product and reputation of the
manufacturer there is only a remote probability of any malfunction in the future.
Action Plan
This section of the report requires that you list out all the necessary steps and/or
measures the company must take in order to carry out the course of action you have
recommended.
It also provides you with an opportunity to mitigate some/all of the risks associated
with the course of action you are recommending. For instance, with the TV purchase
example, part of your action plan may be to buy and familiarize yourself with a TV
repair textbook/manual.
However please note that this component of the report must contain specific
actionable steps that the company/protagonist from the case can take and not
general guidelines and/or words of advice.
Contingency Plan
With the action plan, your report is complete. However, as the old dictum states
“even the best laid plans often go awry” and therefore the potential need for this
extra step.
One contingency in the TV purchase example may be a sudden shortage of your
chosen brand in your local electronics stores. Your plan needs to state what you
need to do should this contingency arise (e.g. purchase over the net/directly from the
manufacturer).
However, your contingency plan should not be an adoption of one of the rejected
options. This typically indicates that an insufficient or even blasé level of analysis has
been performed.
Please note that a good contingency plan will enhance your report but you should
not look for outlandish contingencies and create a plan for the sake of creating a
plan.
Exhibits
Exhibits are tables, charts, graphs, worksheets and other similar collections of data,
which support the argument in your report. Incorporating such data as running text in
the report may make the report unnecessarily lengthy and less readable.
Some reports may not have any exhibits while others may have several. If you do
have any exhibits you need to give them brief, explanatory titles and number them
according to the order in which they are referred to in the body of the report.
If you have only one or two very small exhibits, you may place them in the body of
the report close to/below where they are referred. But if your exhibits are several
and/or long then they must be placed at the end of the report in the order that they
are referred to.
It is also important to note here that exhibits are not meant to serve as a way to
circumvent the word limit assigned to your reports. In other words, exhibits must not
contain any discussions, analysis and/or interpretations – these should be a part of
the main body of the report.
Lastly, do not put in “orphan” exhibits – tables, charts etc that are not referred to in
the body of the report nor should your exhibits be “headless”.