This document provides information and instructions for a writing workshop. It discusses how to structure a business report and story about leadership. It provides examples of business report elements like the executive summary, table of contents, and discussion section. It also gives instructions for an upcoming reflective journal assignment involving stories about personal leadership experiences. Students are advised to think about which experiences they will write about. The document encourages students to attend other upcoming workshops on academic writing and literature reviews.

1. WRITING WORKSHOP 1
152707 Leading and Organizing Change
These slides can be viewed at:
tinyurl.com/152707WW1

2. You will learn how to:
• Structure a business report
• Structure a story about a personal
experience of leadership
Learning outcomes

3. ASSIGNMENT QUESTION 1

4. FOUR DAYS FROM NOW!
Use our assignment
planning calculator at
owll.massey.ac.nz

5. SEE tinyurl.com/masseyreportvideo
BETWEEN 15 AND 20 PARAGRAPHS
OF 4 – 6 SENTENCES EACH
3 main parts

6. Include a formal
letter

7. TASK 1
You will read a cover letter for a business report.
There are 8 mistakes of grammar or style.
You have five minutes to find them all.

8. Dear Dr Mary,
Please find attached the report titled ‘Adding Value via Change’, which I
commissioned from Strategic SolutioNZ last month.
As detailed in the project brief, the report analysed the problem of staffs
retention at Pak ‘n’ Save, Albany and proposes an appropriate organizational
change. Suggestions are included regarding to implementation, milestones and
resource requirements, but it is understood that these may need to be refined
followed consideration by the board.
Do not hesitate to contact me would you have any comments or queries
regarding the report,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Hand (Senior Consultant, Strategic SolutioNZ)

9. Dear Dr Mary,
Please find attached the report titled ‘Adding Value via Change’ which I
commissioned from Strategic SolutioNZ last month.
As detailed in the project brief, the report analysed the problem of staffs
retention at Pak ‘n’ Save, Albany and proposes an appropriate organizational
change. Suggestions are included regarding to implementation, milestones and
resource requirements, but it is understood that these may need to be refined
followed consideration by the board.
Do not hesitate to contact me would you have any comments or queries
regarding the report,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Hand (Senior Consultant, Strategic SolutioNZ)

10. DO NOT PLAGIARISE THIS LETTER IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT.
USE IT AS AN EXAMPLE OF APPROPRIATE STYLE AND
STRUCTURE.
THE ONLY WORDS THAT MAY BE THE SAME IN YOUR
ASSIGNMENT ARE STANDARD EXPRESSIONS WHICH ARE
TYPICALLY FOUND IN BUSINESS LETTERS.

11. REPORT STRUCTURE

12. TITLE PAGE
TITLE OF
REPORT
(10.08.11)
To: Dr. Brown
AUTHOR’S
NAME
PAPER NUMBER
TO WHOM REPORT
IS ADDRESSED
Paper:
219.100
To: Dr. Brown
By: J P Brooks
Conflict between senior
management and
supervising staff:
Southland Branch
Communicate
DATE OF
SUBMISSION

13. TASK 2
At which stage in your report writing do you write
the executive summary?
Which of these tenses is NOT found in an
executive summary: past / present / future?
How many paragraphs would you normally include
in an executive summary for a 1500 word
business report?

14. Executive Summary
This report analyses management
conflict at the Southland branch of
Communicate. Specific objectives were
to identify key problems and offer
recommendations to Regional
Management. Problems were located in
the organisation’s structure,
management style and lack of
communication channels, especially
between the branch manager and the
supervisors. The report recommends a
major restructuring of the branch,
training for key personnel and
clarification of job descriptions.
Aims
Objectives
Main Findings
Key
Recommendations
EXAMPLE EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

15. TASK 3
In the table of contents, which parts of a report
are normally given Roman numerals (for example,
i, iv)?
What proportion of a business report does the
Discussion section normally comprise: less than
20% / 30% - 40% / over 50%?
Which part of a report summarises actions which
the company should take in future?

16. LAYOUT OF TABLE OF
CONTENTS Table of Contents
Executive Summary i
Table of Contents iv
1. Introduction 1
3. Conclusions 17
4. Recommendations 18
2. Discussion 1
2.1 Organisational Structure 9
2.2 Management Styles 11
2.3 Lack of Communication 13
2.3.1. Training 15
2.3.2. Identification of Responsibilities 16
5. References 19

17. SEE THE REPORT WRITING VIDEO FOR MORE SUGGESTIONS ABOUT
BUSINESS REPORT WRITING.
YOU WILL NEED TO DECIDE HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR
DISCUSSION.
ONE POSSIBILITY IS TO HAVE 3 MAIN SUBSECTIONS, BASED ON THE
THREE MAIN PARTS OF THE QUESTION.
YOU WILL ALSO NEED TO DECIDE WHERE TO INCLUDE THE
ACADEMIC RATIONALE.
ONE POSSIBILITY IS TO INCLUDE TWO OR THREE PARAGRAPHS OF
‘PRACTICAL’ ANALYSIS OR PLANNING AND TWO OR THREE
PARAGRAPHS OF ACADEMIC RATIONALE IN EACH SUBSECTION.

18. TASK 4
Assignment 3 is a reflective journal.
It is based on 3 personal experiences of
leadership.
You should start thinking about which experiences
you’re going to choose.
Listen to the example of an experience: How
many parts is the story made up of?

19. Components of a story
Context
Issue / Challenge / Problem
Response
Outcome
Evaluation

20. OTHER WORKSHOPS
Academic writing workshop in this room tomorrow (and on
next two Thursdays) at 4 pm.
Online Study Up workshop about APA Referencing at 7.30
am / 12 pm / 7.30 pm tomorrow (Thursday August 10).
Online postgraduate workshop on literature review writing
next Thursday (August 17th) at 7 pm. Go to
https://connect.massey.ac.nz/studyuppostgraduate
Next writing workshop for 152.707 here at the same time
next Thursday.

21. © 2017
This PowerPoint Presentation and the accompanying handouts are
copyrighted by Centre for Teaching and Learning, Massey
University and may not be used, except for personal study,
without written permission from the copyright owner. Please
note that examples are provided for illustration of writing
principles only and no reliance should be placed on any of the
ideas referred to in the texts.
Martin McMorrow, Centre for Teaching and Learning
09 212 7117 ctlalb@massey.ac.nz
These slides can be viewed at: tinyurl.com/152707WW1