ABSTRACT

Staff reports are useless or worse than useless unless reporting officers fill them in properly. Many organizations run training conferences for reporting officers, either as special one-day conferences or as part of longer courses on the management and supervision of staff. The conference is usually divided into two parts, namely, talks on the principles of reporting, and a practical exercise. The practical exercise usually consists of full and detailed information about the background and performance at his work of an imaginary person, similar to what might be available in real life. Each reporting officer is supplied with a blank form and is asked to fill in a complete report on the basis of the information given. The chief limitation of training conferences in reporting is that they will not make reporting officers good judges of people. Inexperienced reporting officers are thus able to learn from the experience of their colleagues.