How to effectively report a problem to your supervisor!

Problem report

Good reports deal with real problems: disjunctions between reality and the ideal, choices that must be made. A good report problem meets the following criteria:

1. The problem is
Real.
Important enough to be worth solving.
Narrow but challenging.
Possible to solve with the time and resources available.
Something you''''re interested in.

2. The audience for the report is
Real.
Able to implement the recommended action.
One you can get information about.

3. The data, evidence, and facts are
Sufficient to document the severity of the problem.
Sufficient to prove that the recommendation will solve the problem.
Available to you.
Comprehensible to you.

Often problems need to be narrowed. For example, "improving the college experiences of international students studying in the United States" is far too
broad. First, choose one college or university. The problems of international students and the resources to solve those problems will differ dramatically at different schools. Second, identify the specific problem. Do you want to increase the social interaction between U.S. and international students? Help international students find housing? Open more ethnic grocery stores and restaurants? Third, identify the specific audience which would have the power to implement your recommendations. Depending on the topic, the audience might be the Office of International Studies, the residence hall counselors, a service organization on campus or in town, a store, or a group of investors.

How you define the problem shapes the solutions you find. For example, suppose that a manufacturer of frozen foods isn''t making money. If the problem is defined as a marketing problem, the researcher may analyze the product''s price, image, advertising, and position in the market. But perhaps the problem is really that overhead costs are too high due to poor inventory management, or that an inadequate distribution system doesn''t get the product to its target market. Defining the problem accurately is essential to finding an effective
solution.

Thechallenger1

Được britneybritney sửa chữa / chuyển vào 10:28 ngày 20/01/2004