The first class session is Tuesday, March 21, 2000.

Course Syllabus

1. Course Description: The student examines the methods, protocol and appropriateness of various forms of communication for business decision making, which include written, oral, networking, teleconferencing, e-mail, and other methods of communication that are required in today’s business world. The course should include all types of communication the student needs to operate in the national and international aspects of business including sales promotions, financial promotions as well as computer networking within business structure.

2. Incoming Competency of Student Expected by Instructor: Students must have been accepted into the MBA program or have secured enrollment permission from their academic advisor. Students must also have completed the pre-course assignment (described under 5. Schedule) prior to attending the first class session.

3. Course Objectives:

Fundamentally, this course is designed to make students better business communicators. To accomplish this overall goal, the course will pursue two general objectives: 1) A practical objective of improving students’ personal communication skills across various media and 2) a theoretical objective of providing students with a fundamental and analytical understanding of human communication as it affects and defines business operations. This two-pronged theoretical/practical approach supports the following subsidiary objectives:

a.   To construct an effective message that is appropriate for the audience and occasion, is clear and makes use of appropriate media (oral, written, visual, electronic, etc.).

b.   To analyze in writing various communication situations identifying the crucial dimensions inherent in the audience and occasion, including issues and other audience expectations.

c.   To analyze messages in writing in terms of structure, persuasive strategies and language.

d.   To analyze the communication of an organization in terms of formal and informal communication strategies, assumptions of the corporate culture and persuasive dimensions of the organizational structure itself.

e.   To identify the significant trends in communication technology and to evaluate their impact on the fundamentals of human communication in business contexts.

f.    To identify the some of the key issues that affect cross-cultural communication in a business context.

g.   To identify the role human communication plays in business leadership and decision-making as these topics are discussed in popular contemporary business texts. 

4. Method of Instruction: The class activities will involve the following learning methods: readings from the text and other sources, oral and written analyses of certain readings, class discussions, lectures, oral and written presentations, exercises and examinations.

5. Schedule:

Note: For the first class session, students should complete the following assignments (see Week 1 Preview):

1. Read Chapters 1 & 2 of the Textbook, Business Communications

2. Collect at least two samples of internal business communication from your place of employment and be prepared to present the following:

a.   Does the message accomplish its goal? Why or why not?

b.   What issues do you think the author of the message considered important? Does the audience also consider these important?

c.   What problems are their with the message?

d.   What are its strengths?

e.   What strategies does it employ to accomplish its goal?

f.    How would you improve it?

 The work for this course will involve the following items, each of which are listed on the attached schedule:

• Chapters from the Text

Students should have these chapters read by the time the class meets on the day assigned. We may or may not discuss the textbook readings in detail. However, since the textbook contains helpful. practical information, students are still responsible for these readings.

• Topics for Lecture and Discussion

We will discuss these topics on the day assigned along with additional topics that may arise out of the assigned reading or activities. These topics are to some extent tentative and may change due to meet the students’ needs and interests.

• Activities to be Discussed in Class

These are, in effect, homework assignments that the students will need to complete before coming to class on the day assigned. We will discuss the students’ findings in class. Some of these activities will have a brief written component. Some will involve samples of the student’s own business writing that we will discuss and critique in class.

• Exercises

The exercises are most often from the text and are generally brief. The students should complete them and be prepared to discuss and defend their answers in class.

• Book Reports

Each student will be required to read at least one outside book for this class and prepare a 1-2 page written report to be given to the entire class along with a brief oral report. In most cases, the instructor will provide the book for the student (see book list). The student may substitute a text other than those suggested by the instructor with the instructor’s prior approval.

The student should approach these reports as he would a report on the job, that is, giving essential information and analysis for others who do not have the time to read the material. However, these reports should be more than merely informative; they should evaluate and critique the book relative to the topics we will discuss in class. A successful book report will give a brief overview of the book’s material, but will primarily focus on analysis. It should demonstrate that the student understands the author’s arguments and is able to evaluate them.

• Readings

In addition to the textbook, students will have additional outside readings that will generally be provided by the instructor. The student should have these items read before class on the day they are assigned. There readings will provide essential topics for the class discussions.

• Midterm and Final Exams

The midterm and final exams will be largely short-answer and essay and will stress the student’s understanding application of the material and topics discussed in class.

• Brief Sales Presentation

Each student should prepare a brief (3 minute) sales presentation designed to persuade the class to purchase a product or adopt a practice. This assignment is intended to give the student practice in an oral presentation. Topics must be approved by the instructor.

• Persuasive Presentation

The research project for this class will take the form of a persuasive presentation the form and content of which will be negotiated with the instructor after the third week of class.  

The first class session is Tuesday, March 21, 2000.

Course Syllabus

1. Course Description: The student examines the methods, protocol and appropriateness of various forms of communication for business decision making, which include written, oral, networking, teleconferencing, e-mail, and other methods of communication that are required in today’s business world. The course should include all types of communication the student needs to operate in the national and international aspects of business including sales promotions, financial promotions as well as computer networking within business structure.

2. Incoming Competency of Student Expected by Instructor: Students must have been accepted into the MBA program or have secured enrollment permission from their academic advisor. Students must also have completed the pre-course assignment (described under 5. Schedule) prior to attending the first class session.

3. Course Objectives:

Fundamentally, this course is designed to make students better business communicators. To accomplish this overall goal, the course will pursue two general objectives: 1) A practical objective of improving students’ personal communication skills across various media and 2) a theoretical objective of providing students with a fundamental and analytical understanding of human communication as it affects and defines business operations. This two-pronged theoretical/practical approach supports the following subsidiary objectives:

a.   To construct an effective message that is appropriate for the audience and occasion, is clear and makes use of appropriate media (oral, written, visual, electronic, etc.).

b.   To analyze in writing various communication situations identifying the crucial dimensions inherent in the audience and occasion, including issues and other audience expectations.

c.   To analyze messages in writing in terms of structure, persuasive strategies and language.

d.   To analyze the communication of an organization in terms of formal and informal communication strategies, assumptions of the corporate culture and persuasive dimensions of the organizational structure itself.

e.   To identify the significant trends in communication technology and to evaluate their impact on the fundamentals of human communication in business contexts.

f.    To identify the some of the key issues that affect cross-cultural communication in a business context.

g.   To identify the role human communication plays in business leadership and decision-making as these topics are discussed in popular contemporary business texts. 

4. Method of Instruction: The class activities will involve the following learning methods: readings from the text and other sources, oral and written analyses of certain readings, class discussions, lectures, oral and written presentations, exercises and examinations.

5. Schedule:

Note: For the first class session, students should complete the following assignments (see Week 1 Preview):

1. Read Chapters 1 & 2 of the Textbook, Business Communications

2. Collect at least two samples of internal business communication from your place of employment and be prepared to present the following:

a.   Does the message accomplish its goal? Why or why not?

b.   What issues do you think the author of the message considered important? Does the audience also consider these important?

c.   What problems are their with the message?

d.   What are its strengths?

e.   What strategies does it employ to accomplish its goal?

f.    How would you improve it?

 The work for this course will involve the following items, each of which are listed on the attached schedule:

• Chapters from the Text

Students should have these chapters read by the time the class meets on the day assigned. We may or may not discuss the textbook readings in detail. However, since the textbook contains helpful. practical information, students are still responsible for these readings.

• Topics for Lecture and Discussion

We will discuss these topics on the day assigned along with additional topics that may arise out of the assigned reading or activities. These topics are to some extent tentative and may change due to meet the students’ needs and interests.

• Activities to be Discussed in Class

These are, in effect, homework assignments that the students will need to complete before coming to class on the day assigned. We will discuss the students’ findings in class. Some of these activities will have a brief written component. Some will involve samples of the student’s own business writing that we will discuss and critique in class.

• Exercises

The exercises are most often from the text and are generally brief. The students should complete them and be prepared to discuss and defend their answers in class.

• Book Reports

Each student will be required to read at least one outside book for this class and prepare a 1-2 page written report to be given to the entire class along with a brief oral report. In most cases, the instructor will provide the book for the student (see book list). The student may substitute a text other than those suggested by the instructor with the instructor’s prior approval.

The student should approach these reports as he would a report on the job, that is, giving essential information and analysis for others who do not have the time to read the material. However, these reports should be more than merely informative; they should evaluate and critique the book relative to the topics we will discuss in class. A successful book report will give a brief overview of the book’s material, but will primarily focus on analysis. It should demonstrate that the student understands the author’s arguments and is able to evaluate them.

• Readings

In addition to the textbook, students will have additional outside readings that will generally be provided by the instructor. The student should have these items read before class on the day they are assigned. There readings will provide essential topics for the class discussions.

• Midterm and Final Exams

The midterm and final exams will be largely short-answer and essay and will stress the student’s understanding application of the material and topics discussed in class.

• Brief Sales Presentation

Each student should prepare a brief (3 minute) sales presentation designed to persuade the class to purchase a product or adopt a practice. This assignment is intended to give the student practice in an oral presentation. Topics must be approved by the instructor.

• Persuasive Presentation

The research project for this class will take the form of a persuasive presentation the form and content of which will be negotiated with the instructor after the third week of class.  

Class Calendar

6. Textbook: Lehman, Carol, William C. Himstreet and Wayne Murlin Baty. Business Communications, 12th Ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Publishing, 1998.

7. Supplemental readings: Supplemental readings will be provided by the instructor and will include the following:

Samples of Egyptian Wisdom Literature

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Esther (Old Testament)

Homer, Iliad, 23.301-348.

Detienne, Marcel and Jean-Pierre Vernant. Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Trans. Janet Lloyd. Chicago:U of Chicago P, 1991, 1-54.

Fox, Michael V. “Ancient Egyptian Rhetoric.” Rhetorica 1 (1983): 9-22.

Burke, Kenneth. Counter-Statement. Los Altos, CA: Hermes Publications, 1953, 29-44, 123-138.

Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language,” 1946.

Brown, W.R. and S.K. Opt, “Organizations and Attention Switching.”

The Rhetoric of Western of Thought, Campbell, pp 148-157.

Robertson, James. American Myth, American Reality (New York: Hill and Wang, 1980), 1-22.

Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1962), 158-166.

 

In addition, books for book reports include works by various authors. Please see the supplemental list.

8. Visual Aids: The instructor will employ transparencies, videos and other technological aids when appropriate to augment the class activities.

9. Course Requirements:

See the schedule for a more detailed discussion of each type of assignment.

Item	Percentage of Grade
Activities	12
Midterm	18
Final	18
Book Report	15
Brief Sales Presentation	9
Persuasive Presentation	18
Participation	10
Total	100

10. Grading Scale:

94-100	A
90-93	A-
87-89	B+
83-86	B
80-82	B-
70-79	C
0-69	F

11. Cheating/Plagiarism Policy: Students discovered cheating or committing plagiarism will given a failing grade for the course, and may be subject to dismissal or further discipline.

Note: Course Syllabus is subject to change without notice.

Approved by:____________________________________________	_____________________
Faculty Coordinator	Date

                                                                 

This page was last modified on Sunday, August 19, 2001.

You may contact the instructor at SHKaminski@yahoo.com

This material is for the exclusive use of the students in Webster University BUSN 6150. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

6. Textbook: Lehman, Carol, William C. Himstreet and Wayne Murlin Baty. Business Communications, 12th Ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Publishing, 1998.

7. Supplemental readings: Supplemental readings will be provided by the instructor and will include the following:

Samples of Egyptian Wisdom Literature

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Esther (Old Testament)

Homer, Iliad, 23.301-348.

Detienne, Marcel and Jean-Pierre Vernant. Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Trans. Janet Lloyd. Chicago:U of Chicago P, 1991, 1-54.

Fox, Michael V. “Ancient Egyptian Rhetoric.” Rhetorica 1 (1983): 9-22.

Burke, Kenneth. Counter-Statement. Los Altos, CA: Hermes Publications, 1953, 29-44, 123-138.

Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language,” 1946.

Brown, W.R. and S.K. Opt, “Organizations and Attention Switching.”

The Rhetoric of Western of Thought, Campbell, pp 148-157.

Robertson, James. American Myth, American Reality (New York: Hill and Wang, 1980), 1-22.

Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1962), 158-166.

 

In addition, books for book reports include works by various authors. Please see the supplemental list.

8. Visual Aids: The instructor will employ transparencies, videos and other technological aids when appropriate to augment the class activities.

9. Course Requirements:

See the schedule for a more detailed discussion of each type of assignment.

Item	Percentage of Grade
Activities	12
Midterm	18
Final	18
Book Report	15
Brief Sales Presentation	9
Persuasive Presentation	18
Participation	10
Total	100

10. Grading Scale:

94-100	A
90-93	A-
87-89	B+
83-86	B
80-82	B-
70-79	C
0-69	F

11. Cheating/Plagiarism Policy: Students discovered cheating or committing plagiarism will given a failing grade for the course, and may be subject to dismissal or further discipline.

Note: Course Syllabus is subject to change without notice.

Approved by:____________________________________________	_____________________
Faculty Coordinator	Date

                                                                 

This page was last modified on Sunday, August 19, 2001.

You may contact the instructor at SHKaminski@yahoo.com

This material is for the exclusive use of the students in Webster University BUSN 6150. Unauthorized use is prohibited.