Week 1

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 1 Section 2: What Is Communication?”Please read “Section 2: What Is Communication?” in its entirety.  This section describes communication process, including its eight essential elements: source, message, channel, receiver, feedback, environment, context, and interference.  It also reviews communication models based on transactions and shared meaning.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. List three environmental cues and indicate how they influence your expectations for communication.
  2. How does context influence your communication? Consider the language and culture people grew up with, and the role these play in communication styles.

Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 1: Effective Business Communication: Section 3: Communication in Context”

This section introduces intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, public, and mass communication, including their advantages and disadvantages as well as appropriate and inappropriate uses.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Recall a time when you gave a speech in front of a group. How did you feel? What was your experience? What did you learn from your experience?
  2. If you were asked to get the attention of your peers, what image or word would you choose and why?
  3. If you were asked to get the attention of someone like yourself, what image or word would you choose and why?

Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 1: Effective Business Communication: Section 4: Your Responsibilities as a Communicator”

Please read “Section 4: Your Responsibilities as a Communicator” in its entirety. This section addresses the reader as a communicator, emphasizing how good communicators are prepared and ethical.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Recall one time you felt offended or insulted in a conversation. What contributed to your perception?
  2. When someone lost your trust, were they able to earn it back?
  3. Does the communicator have a responsibility to the audience? Does the audience have a responsibility to the speaker? Why or why not?

Week 2

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message: Introduction” and “Section 1: What Is Language?”

Please read the introduction to “Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message” and “Section 1: What Is Language?” in their entirety. These readings discuss the importance of words in delivering your message in words and how language is a system of words: idea-conveying symbols ruled by syntax, semantics, and context – all of which require interpretation.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Using a dictionary that gives word origins, find at least three English words borrowed from other languages. Record you findings.
  2. From your viewpoint, how do you think thought influences the use of language

• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message: “Section 2: Messages”

Please read “Section 2: Messages” in its entirety. This section discusses categorizing messages based on their importance.  It also introduces the five common elements in any message, some of which you will recognize from the discussion in Chapter 1 about communication models and all of which you will encounter later when you examine how a speech is organized.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Choose three examples of communication and identify the primary message and the auxiliary message(s).
  2. How does language affect self-concept? Explore and research your answer finding examples that can serve as case studies.
  3. Choose an article or opinion piece from a major newspaper or news Web site. Analyse the piece according to the five-part structure described in the readings. Does the headline serve as a good attention statement? Does the piece conclude with a sense of closure? How are the main points presented and supported?
• Read: Management: Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message: “Section 3: Principles of Verbal Communication”

Please read “Section 3: Principles of Verbal Communication” in its entirety. This section goes deeper into the rules that govern language and then introduces the concept of language paradigms (premises that are taken as fact).  It also explains how language is arbitrary, symbolic, and abstract as well as how it serves imperfectly to organize and classify reality.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Think of at least three words whose denotative meaning differs from their connotative meaning. Use each word in two sentences, one employing the denotative meaning and the other employing the connotative.
• Read: Management: Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message: “Section 4: Language Can Be an Obstacle to Communication”

Please read “Section 4: Language Can Be an Obstacle to Communication” in its entirety. This section discusses why clichés, jargon, slang, sexism, racism, euphemisms, and doublespeak weaken the effectiveness of language by making it less efficient and/or less acceptable.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Identify at least five common clichés and look up their origins. Try to understand how and when each phrase became a cliché. Record your findings
  2. Is there ever a justifiable use for doublespeak? Why or why not? Explain your response and give some examples.
• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message: “Section 6: Improving Verbal Communication”

Please read “Section 6: Improving Verbal Communication” in its entirety. This section describes how to improve communication by defining your terms, choosing precise words, considering your audience, controlling your tone, checking for understanding, and adopting results-oriented approaches.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Choose a piece of writing from a profession you are unfamiliar with. For example, if you are studying marketing, choose an excerpt from a book on fashion design. Identify several terms you are unfamiliar with, terms that may be considered jargon. How does the writer help you understand the meaning of these terms? Could the writer make them easier to understand?
  2. In you chosen career field, identify ten jargon words, and provide a definition for each.

Week 3

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience: Introduction” and “Section 1: Self-Understanding Is Fundamental to Communication”

Please read the introduction to “Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience” and “Section 1: Self-Understanding Is Fundamental to Communication” in its entirety. These readings focus on how you can become a more effective communicator by understanding yourself and how others view you.  They also discuss the centrality of attitudes, beliefs, and values with respect to an individual’s self-concept and how self-fulfilling prophecies can influence decision making.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. How would you describe yourself as a public speaker? Now, five, and ten years ago? Is your description the same or does it change across time?
  2. How does your self-concept influence your writing?
  3. Make a list of at least three of your strongly held beliefs. What are those beliefs based on? List some facts, respected authorities, or other evidence that support them.
  4. What does the field of psychology offer concerning the self-fulfilling prophecy?

• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience: “Section 2: Perception”

Please read “Section 2: Perception” in its entirety. This section explains in depth how we select, organize, and interpret words and ideas based on a perceptual framework shaped by our expectations and assumptions.

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•  Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Do a search on “M.C. Escher” or “tessellation art”. How does Escher’s work manipulate your perception? Record your opinions.
  2. How does the process of perception limit our view, or expand it? Can we choose how to perceive things?
  3. Think of a time when you jumped to a conclusion and later learned that it was incorrect. Write a brief summary of the experience.
• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience: Section 3: Differences in Perception”

Please read “Section 3: Differences in Perception” in its entirety. This brief section focuses on the individual differences and preconceived notions that can limit how well we work with others.  The main point of this section is to emphasize how understanding about each other can positively impact our communication and improve the degree to which we can share and understand meaning across languages, cultures, and divergent perspectives.

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•  Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Think of a time when you misunderstood a message. What was your psychological state at the time? Do you think you would have understood the message differently if you had been in a different psychological state?
  2. Think of a time when someone misunderstood your message. What happened and why?
• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience: Section 4: Getting to Know Your Audience”

Please read “Section 4: Getting to Know Your Audience” in its entirety. This section presents an important table of perceptual strategies you can use to overcome some of the perceptual issues that can handicap a communicator’s ability to understand audiences – a necessary ingredient in customizing messages to be effective with specific audiences.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. List at least three demographic traits that apply to you. How does belonging to these demographic groups influence your perceptions and priorities?
  2. Think of two ways to learn more about your audience. Investigate them and record your findings.
• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience: Section 4: Getting to Know Your Audience”

Please read “Section 4: Getting to Know Your Audience” in its entirety. This section presents an important table of perceptual strategies you can use to overcome some of the perceptual issues that can handicap a communicator’s ability to understand audiences – a necessary ingredient in customizing messages to be effective with specific audiences.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. List at least three demographic traits that apply to you. How does belonging to these demographic groups influence your perceptions and priorities?
  2. Think of two ways to learn more about your audience. Investigate them and record your findings.

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• 3.5 LISTENING AND READING FOR UNDERSTANDING

Read: Management Communication: Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience: “Section 5: Listening and Reading for Understanding”

Please read “Section 5: Listening and Reading for Understanding” in its entirety. This brief section explains active listening and active reading and why they are important behaviours associated with effective communication

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• Read: Contemporary Public Speaking: “Chapter 4: The Importance of Listening”

Please read this introduction to “Chapter 4” in its entirety.  This brief section explains the difference between listening and hearing and the benefits of listening in effective communication.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Make a list of benefits and drawbacks to each of the listening styles discussed in the reading from “Contemporary Public Speaking”.
  2. The reading from “Contemporary Public Speaking” refers to psychological noise as one of the distractions you might experience. Identify strategies you have successfully used to minimise the impact of the specific psychological noises you have experienced.
  3. Make a list of biases you might have as a listener. You can think about how you would answer such questions as, with whom would I refuse to be seen socially or in public? Who would I reject as a trustworthy person to help if I were in danger? What topics do I refuse to discuss? The answers to these questions might provide useful insights into your biases as a listener.
  4. Make a list of some of the abstract words you have misunderstood. What were the consequences of the misunderstanding?

Week 4

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 4: Effective Business Writing: Introduction” and “Section 1: Oral versus Written Communication”

Please read the introduction to “Chapter 4” and “Section 1: Oral versus Written Communication” in their entirety. These readings start with a review of the elements discussed in the communication models introduced in subModule 1.2, defining and exemplifying each element again to illustrate how writing for the eye differs from writing for the ear. The key concept here is that the biggest difference between those writing styles is that writing for the eye is usually asynchronous.

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• Journal:Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Review the oral and written applications in Table 4.1 “Eight Essential Elements of Communication” in the reading and construct a different scenario for each. What would Jay and Heather do differently to make the conference call a success?
  2. Visit a business Web site that has an “About Us” page. Read the “About Us” message and write a summary in your own words of what it tells you about the company.

• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 4: Effective Business Writing: “Section 4: Style in Written Communication”

Please read “Section 4: Style in Written Communication” in its entirety. This section categorizes writing styles as colloquial, casual, informal, or formal and indicates when and where each style is appropriate.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Refer to the e-mail or text message examples provided in the reading for this submodule. Would you send that message to your lecturer? Why or why not? What normative expectations concerning professor-student communication are there and where did you learn them?
  2. List three words or phrases that you would say to your friends. List three words or phrases that communicate similar meanings that you would say to an authority figure.
  3. When is it appropriate to write in a casual tone? Is a formal tone?
  4. How does the intended audience influence the choice of words and use of language in a document? Think of a specific topic and two specific kinds of audiences. Then write a short example of how this topic might be presented to each of the two audiences.
• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 4: Effective Business Writing: “Section 5: Principles of Written Communication”

Please read “Section 5: Principles of Written Communication” in its entirety. This section applies to words many of the same concepts that were applied to language in Chapter 2: Words are governed by rules, shape reality, and have ethical dimensions (e.g., plagiarism and libel).

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Identify a target audience and indicate at least three words that you perceive would be appropriate and effective for that audience. Identify a second audience (distinct from the first) and indicate three words that you perceive would be appropriate and effective. How are the audiences and their words similar or different?
  2. Create a sales letter for an audience that comes from a culture other than your own. Identify the culture and articulate how your message is tailored to your perception of your intended audience.
• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 4: Effective Business Writing: “Section 6: Overcoming Barriers to Effective Written Communication”

Please read “Overcoming Barriers to Effective Written Communication” in its entirety. This section argues that to overcome barriers to communication, good writers pay attention to details, strive to understand the target meaning, consider nonverbal expressions, and make it a habit to review, reflect, and revise.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Review the example of a student’s email to a professor in the reading, and rewrite it to communicate the message more clearly.

 

Week 5

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action: Introduction” and “Section 1: Text, E-mail, and Netiquette”

Please read the sections for the Chapter 9 introduction and “Section 1: Text, E-mail, and Netiquette” in their entirety. These readings emphasize how your written business communication represents you and your company and thus should be clear, concise, and professional. They also discuss the etiquette and context of text messaging and e-mail, emphasizing the social customs and netiquette rules that have been established with those forms of communication, even though they are relatively new in the workplace.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Write a text message in your normal use of language. It should use all your normal abbreviations (e.g. FWIW, IMHO, LOL), even if not everyone understands them
  2. When is e-mail inappropriate? Why?

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action: Section 2: Memorandums and Letters”

Please read “Section 2: Memorandums and Letters” in its entirety. This section covers the content, format, and standard elements of letters and memos, providing a concise guide to producing professionalism in the design of each format.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Create a draft letter introducing a product or service to a new client
• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action: Section 3: Business Proposal”

Please read “Section 3: Business Proposal” in its entirety. This section provides instructions on how to produce a business proposal.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.

1. Identify a product or service you would like to produce or offer. List three companies that you would like to sell your product or service to and learn more about them. Record your findings, making the link between your product or service and company needs. You may find http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/#3a useful resource in completing this activity.

• 4 REPORTS

Read: Management Communication: Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action: “Section 4: Report”

Please read “Section 4: Report” in its entirety. This section describes different types of reports and the writing elements they share and demonstrates how to develop your own report.  Attempt the exercises at the end of this reading.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Comment on a trend in business that you’ve observed, and highlight at least one main finding. Draw from your experience as you bring together sources of information to illustrate a trend.

• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action: “Section 5: Résumé”

Please read “Section 5: Résumé” in its entirety. This section provides the reasoning, guidance, and examples for how to create an acceptable résumé.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. When is a longer resume justified? Explain.
• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action: “Section 6: Sales Message”

Please read “Section 6: Sales Message” in its entirety. This section discusses how a sales message combines emotion and reason and reinforces credibility to create interest in a product or service that leads to a sale.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Create your own e-mail sales message in a hundred words or less.
  2. Please consider one purchase you made recently. What motivated you to buy and why did you choose to complete the purchase?
  3. Are you more motivated by emotion or reason? Explain

Week 6

• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 10: Developing Business Presentations: “Section 5: Overcoming Obstacles in Your Presentation”

Please read “Section 5: Overcoming Obstacles in Your Presentation” in its entirety. This section illustrates why it is necessary to avoid obstacles to understanding, such as language expressions (i.e., unknown to other listeners), cultural perceptions, and ethnocentrism.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Consider the vocabulary that you generally use in casual conversations. Are there slang expressions you often use? Is there a jargon related to your career or major field of study? Make a list of slang and jargon words that you might want to use in a speech. Now, consider whether you can substitute standard English words that will be better understood by all your listeners, remembering that in a business context it is often best to avoid slang and jargon.
  2. How can a speaker prepare a speech for a diverse audience? Explain and give some specific examples.

Week 7

• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 12: Organisation and Outlines: Introduction” and “Section 1: Rhetorical Situation”

Please read the sections for the Chapter 12 introduction and “Section 1: Rhetorical Situation” in its entirety. These readings focus on the elements of the rhetorical situation, which are basically the “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how” of your speech from the audience’s perspective.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Is it important to consider the rhetorical situation? Why or why not?
  2. Let’s take the topic of tattoos. Imagine you are going to present two informative speeches about tattoos: one to a group of middle school children, and the other to a group of college students. How would you adapt your topic for each audience and why? Provide an example or explanation.
• Read: Management Communication: “Chapter 12: Organization and Outlines: Section 2: Strategies for Success”

Please read “Section 2: Strategies for Success” in its entirety. This section gives you an overview of the nine cognate strategies, which are widely acknowledged methods for framing, expressing, and representing a message to an audience.

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• Journal:Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Make a copy of Table 12.2 “How I will Apply the Cognate Strategies” and use it to help get yourself organised as you start to prepare your speech. Fill in the far right column according to how each rhetorical element, cognate strategy, and focus will apply to the specific speech you are preparing.

Aristotle’s Forms of Rhetorical Proof	Cognate Strategies	Focus	My speech will address each element and strategy by (verbal and visual)
Pathos	o    Tone o    Emphasis o    Engagement o    Expression o    Relevance o    Relationship
Logos	o    Clarity o    Conciseness o    Arrangement o    Clear understanding o    Key points o    Order, hierarchy, placement
Ethos	o    Credibility o    Expectation o    Reference o    Character, trust o    Norms and anticipated outcomes o    Sources and frames of reference

• Find an example where a speaker was lacking in ethos, pathos, or logos. Write a brief summary of the presentation, and make at least one suggestion for improvement.
• Does organising a presentation involve ethics? Explain your response.

• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 12: Organization and Outlines: “Section 3: Building a Sample Speech”

Please read “Section 3: Building a Sample Speech” in its entirety. This section gives you a brief overview of how speeches are built by identifying the main points to be communicated and by developing five structural elements: attention statement, introduction, body, conclusion, and residual message.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. By visiting the library or doing an Internet search, find a speech given by someone you admire. The speech may be published in a book or newspaper, recorded in an audio file, or recorded on video. It may be a political speech, a business speech, or even a commercial sales pitch. Read or listen to the speech and identify the five structural elements as this speaker has used them. Record your results and include a link to the speech if available.
  2. By visiting the library or doing an internet search, find a speech that would benefit from significant improvement. The speech may be published in a book or newspaper, recorded in an audio file, or recorded on video. It may be a political speech, a business speech, or even a commercial sales pitch. Read or listen to the speech and identify the five structural elements as this speaker has used them, noting specifically where they could improve their performance. Record you results and include a link to the speech if available.
  3. What functions does organisation serve in a speech? Can organisation influence or sway the audience? Explain your response and position.
• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 12: Organization and Outlines: “Section 4: Sample Speech Outlines”

Please read “Section 4: Sample Speech Outlines” in its entirety. This section justifies the use of outlining as part of the speech development process and provides examples of two types of outlines: one focusing on verbal and visual delivery and another on cognate strategies.

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Create an outline of your day, with main headings and detail points for your main tasks of the day. At the end of the day, review the outline and write a brief summary of your experience.
• Read: Management Communication: Chapter 12: Organization and Outlines: “Section 5: Organizing Principles for Your Speech”

Please read “Section 5: Organizing Principles for Your Speech. This section provides an exceptional list of 17 purpose-specific organizing patterns for business communication speeches. While the usual rhetorical strategies–based patterns are included (cause/effect, comparison/contrast, etc.)—as well as the logic-based ones (chronological, spatial, etc.)—Management Communication adds very specific step-by-step guidance for ceremonial, wedding, award, introduction, and other types of non-academic functions).

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• Journal: Complete the following exercises and add them to your reflective journal.
  1. Think of one technology or application that you perceive has transformed your world. Choose two organising principles and create two short sample outlines for speeches about your topic.