Having presented the decision-maker with the range of options available, it is now time for you to move to the action stage. At this point, it is important that you consider the following points:

? Develop and present decision-making criteria – Tell us why this alternative was selected over the others. What logic was used to make this decision of which alternative to pick? How will this alternative address the problem statement? Management needs to understand your reasoning and logic for selection.

? Recognize that your action plan may consist of different alternatives being merged but NEVER pull ‘rabbits out of magic hats’ – Pulling a rabbit out of a magic hat describes a situation where a set of actions are introduced which have never been discussed previously. For example, you discuss the need for improved scheduling procedures in your report. The problem is that you did not discuss scheduling problems or the need for a better scheduling procedure previously in your report. The reader is left wondering why this recommendation is in the report. It seems to be isolated. Such recommendations ultimately harm the overall quality of the report. If you make a recommendation, make sure that have introduced this as an alternative previously discussed in your case report.

? Specific action items related to your recommendations should be prioritized – They should begin from the most critical recommendations and then proceed in descending order of importance. Make sure that there is a specific timeline assigned to specific action items.

? Recommendations and action items should cover both the long term and the short term – There is a tendency for people to focus on the long term. However, recognize your role and position. You must be able to answer within your report the issue of what actions would you recommend that the decision-maker take first thing on Monday morning. By the way, telling the decision-maker to have a group meeting is not enough. You must tell the decision-maker what issues should be addressed & when? With who? How will they be discussed, etc.

Students are strongly urged to consider including a check-off table when discussing implementation of the recommendation. It provides a visual timeline for specific action items from the immediate sense to a long term basis. Here is a sample for illustrative purposes:
Action Items Immediate Timeframe Within 6 months Timeframe Within One Year Timeframe Long Term Timeframe
1. The HR Director sets up meeting with Mr. Smith to discuss the present hiring practices of firm and how to create a more strategic process for the future.

2.
3.

? Make sure that there is sufficient operating detail in the recommendations – The recommendations should be sufficiently detailed so that the decision-maker can identify what has to be done and how. There should be no confusion between what you recommend and what the decision-maker understands.

5.51 The Relationship between Analysis and Recommendations

Based on past experience, there is a tendency for students to spend most of their time and space on the size-up an analysis and to leave very little space for the alternatives and the recommendations. This is a fatal flaw. The result is a report which often tells management what they already know but which does not provide the action plan demanded by the report format. To avoid this situation, use the 50/50 approach. That is, in general, plan to spend about 50 percent of your report on size-up and analysis and the remaining 50 percent on alternatives, recommendations and the action plan and concluding comments.

Directions:Fill in the blank areas below to ensure you’ve addressed all aspects of this section
5.5 Recommendation and Plan of Action
• Which alternative did you select? ________________________________________
• Briefly repeat what the general idea of the alternative involved: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Why did you select this alternative? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Howdoes this solution address all aspects and timelines of the 5.2 Problem Statement? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Why didn’t you select the other alternatives? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Have you included a table or excel spread sheet as a graphic organizer of what you propose in your recommendation?

5.7 Concluding Comments

This final section should satisfy several important functions. First, it should summarize the major issues and problems discussed in the report. Second, it should summarize the recommendation. Finally, it should point out to the reader the ultimate impact (both qualitatively and quantitatively) of acting on the action plan. It should end the report on an up-note if possible. It should provide a compelling call for action.

Directions:Fill in the blank areas below to ensure you’ve addressed all aspects of this section
5.7Concluding Comments
• Summarize the major symptoms facing this firm and the inferences made – see section 5.1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Then identify the problem that this report was attempting to address – see section 5.2:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• What is the reasoning to act on this problem as identified in the table found in section 5.5:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• End the report on a positive CALL TO ACTION statement
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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