Business Communication

• Why Is It Important to Communicate Well?
• What Is Communication?
• Communication in Context
• Business Ethics and Your Responsibilities as a Communicator

• Recognize the importance of communication in gaining a better understanding of yourself and others.
• Explore how communication skills help you solve problems, learn new things, and build your career.
• Define communication, and describe communication as a process.
• Identify and describe the eight essential components of communication.
• Identify and describe models of communication.
• Learn types of communication contexts.
• Explore several examples of each of the two main responsibilities of a business communicator.

• What Is Language?
• Messages
• Principles of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
• Language Can be an Obstacle to Communication
• Nonverbal Communication in Digital Workspaces
• Visual Aids
• Improving Verbal Communication

• Define language and the role of language in perception and the communication process.
• Describe different parts of a message and their functions.
• Describe how language serves to shape our experience of reality.
• Demonstrate ways in which language can be an obstacle or barrier to communication.
• Explore the differences between clichés, jargon, and slang.
• Demonstrate the effective use of visuals in an oral or written presentation.
• Understand how to assess the audience, choose an appropriate tone, and check for understanding and results in an oral or written presentation.
• Explore nonverbal communication and describe its role in the digital workspaces.
• Learn how to use visual aids effectively in your presentation.

• Self-Understanding Is Fundamental to Communication
• Perception and Differences in Perception
• Getting to Know Your Audience
• Listening and Reading for Understanding

• Understand the factors that contribute to self-concept.
• Explore how the self-fulfilling prophecy works.
• Learn the concept of perception.
• Explore the process of selection and the factors that influence it.
• Explain how interpretation influences our perceptions.
• Determine how perception differs between people.
• Describe three ways to better understand and reach your audience.
• Explore the importance of becoming an active listener and reader.

• Oral versus Written Communication
• How Is Writing Learned?
• Good Writing
• Style in Written Communication
• Principles of Written Communication
• Overcoming Barriers to Effective Written Communication

• Explore how written communication is similar to oral communication, and how it is different.
• Explain how reading, writing, and critical thinking contribute to becoming a good writer.
• Explore six basic qualities that characterize good business writing.
• Understand the rhetorical elements and cognate strategies that contribute to good writing.
• Learn the appropriate use of colloquial, casual, and formal writing in at least one document of each style.
• Understand the rules that govern written language.
• Understand the legal implications of business writing.
• Explore some common barriers to written communication and how to overcome them.

• Think, Then Write: Writing Preparation
• A Planning Checklist for Business Messages
• Research and Investigation: Getting Started
• Ethics, Plagiarism, and Reliable Sources
• Completing Your Research and Investigation
• Reading and Analyzing

• Explore why preparation is important in business writing.
• Think critically to overcome common fears of writing
• Understand who, what, where, when, why, and how as features of writing purpose.
• Analyze the planning process and essential elements of a business document.
• Compare and contrast ways of knowing your reading audience.
• Understand how to be ethical, avoid plagiarism, and use reputable sources in your writing.

Writing

• Organization
• Writing Style
• Making an Argument
• Paraphrase and Summary versus Plagiarism
• Ethics and Content Selection 

• Understand how to develop and organize content in patterns that are appropriate for your document and audience.
• Explore how to compose logically organized paragraphs, sentences, and transitions in one or more written assignments.
• Explore how to prepare and present information using a writing style that will increase understanding, retention, and motivation to act.
• Learn how to form a clear argument with appropriate support to persuade your audience.
• Recognize and understand inherent weaknesses in fallacies.
• Understand the difference between paraphrasing or summarizing and plagiarism.
• Understand how to give proper credit to sources that are quoted verbatim, and sources whose ideas are paraphrased or summarized.
• Understand the importance of ethical research in developing your topic.

• General and Specific Revision Points to Consider
• Style Revisions
• Evaluating the Work of Others
• Proofreading and Design Evaluation

• Understand the process and purpose of revision.
• Learn three general elements of every document that require revision.
• Explore six specific elements of every document to check for revision.
• Understand the difference between revising and proofreading, and how to use proofreading marks.
• Learn six design elements for evaluation.

• Diverse Forms of Feedback
• Qualitative and Quantitative Research
• Feedback as an Opportunity
• How am I Doing?

• Describe feedback as part of the writing process.
• Compare and contrast the feedback that can be obtained with qualitative and quantitative research.
• Explore validity, reliability, and statistical significance.
• Describe the five types of feedback identified by Carl Rogers.
• Understand the importance of feedback, even if it is negative.
• Describe the effective use of open- and closed-ended questions.

• Text, Email, Netiquette and Negative Emails
• Memorandums and Letters
• Business Proposal
• Report
• Résumé and Cover Letter
• Sales Message
• Crisis Communication Plan

• Recognize the role of text messaging in business communication.
• Explore the appropriate use of netiquette.
• Understand the purpose and format of a memo.
• Explore effective strategies for business memos.
• Learn effective strategies to use in a business proposal.
• Explore the main parts of a report.
• Understand the different types of reports.
• Explore the differences among functional, reverse chronological, combination, targeted, and scannable résumés.
• Explore what features are required in each type of résumé.
• Understand how to prepare a crisis communication plan.
• Write an effective Yes/No email.

• Functions of Communication to Inform
• Types of Communication to Inform
• Adapting Your Presentation to Teach
• Diverse Types of Intelligence and Learning Preferences

• Understand the functions of communication to inform.
• Learn the difference between exposition and interpretation.
• Analyze what an audience-centered perspective is.
• Learn examples of ways to facilitate active listening.
• Learn the concepts of multiple intelligences and learning styles, and identify different types of intelligence and learning styles that audience members may have.
• Explore ways to incorporate ethics in a speech.
• Draft an exploratory informational report with research.

• What Is Persuasion?
• Principles of Persuasion
• Functions of the Presentation to Persuade
• Meeting the Audience’s Basic Needs
• Making an Argument
• Communicating Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies
• Elevator Speech

• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of persuasion.
• Describe similarities and differences between persuasion and motivation.
• Explore how to use six principles of persuasion.
• Learn the effective use of five functions of communicating to persuade.
• Identify several basic needs that people seek to fulfill when they communicate.
• Learn the three components of an argument.
• Explore examples of emotional appeals.
• Demonstrate the importance of ethics as part of the persuasion process.
• Explore examples of eight common fallacies in persuasive communication.
• Learn the basic parts of an elevator speech.
• Draft a persuasive business memo.

• Intercultural Communication
• Intergenerational Communication
• Changing Demographics
• Strategies for Effective Communication
• Common Cultural Characteristics
• Divergent Cultural Characteristics
• International Communication and the Global Marketplace
• Styles of Management

• Define how to facilitate intercultural and intergenerational communication.
• Define the effects of ethnocentrism.
• Learn strategies to understand intercultural and intergenerational communication, prejudice, and ethnocentrism.
• Understand the concept of common cultural characteristics.
• Explore divergent cultural characteristics.
• Explore international and the global marketplace communication, including political, legal, economic, and ethical systems.
• Draft a résumé and mini-professional profile.

• Workspaces: Then and Now–A Comparative Analysis
• Communication Benefits of Different Work Environments
• Flexing Strategies in the Workplace
• What Is a Group?
• Group Problem Solving
• Using Technology to Facilitate Meetings
• Organizational Communication
• Collaboration in the 21st Century Workplace

• Review workspaces of then and now.
• Analyze the benefits of differing work environments.
• Understand flexing strategies in the workplace.
• Understand groups and teams.
• Explore how primary and secondary groups meet our interpersonal needs.
• Identify how to implement seven steps for group problem solving.
• Understand how to prepare for and conduct business meetings using available technology.
• Understand how to use technology to aid in group communications.
• Understand the basic principles of organizational communication.
• Learn what the 21st century workplace is like and how it functions.
• Compose a written cover letter/extended elevator pitch designed for a professional position in a workspace.