BUAD 501—Managerial Communication
Syllabus
      

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in Business.

Common body of knowledge content coverage:

• Business communication for domestic and international markets: case reports, electronic communication, meetings; audience, style and tone (I, II, III)*
• Credibility; personal and corporate ethics (I)*
• Analysis of business articles and cases (I-V)*
• Interpretation of data, critical evaluation of information
• Synthesis of data and information
• Planning, organizing, writing, and presenting business cases and reports (I)*
• Visual presentation technology: PowerPoint, Excel
  International, intercultural, domestic business conflict, argument, and negotiation (I-V)*
• Citations and reference list (APA or MLA); electronic database searches
• Information competency/library research: Lexis-Nexis, ABI-Inform etc. (Early in the semester you will attend a Bibliographic Information Session in the library)
• Workplace diversity (issues concerning minorities, women, and the disabled) (I, III, V)*
• Effective business document design on the computer
  
   

Readings and Materials:
Argenti, P. A. Corporate Communication. 3rd edition. 2003. (We will use approx. 7 chapters and 4 cases from this book.)

James S. O’Rourke, IV. Management Communication: A Case-Analysis Approach. Prentice-Hall, 2001.

Recommended:

• recently published portable dictionary and thesaurus; electronic versions welcome; MS Word and WordPerfect come with built-in dictionaries and thesauruses.
• Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, Walter E. Oliu. Business Writer’s Handbook. 7th edition. 2000. (an older edition is also on reserve in the library)
• All other course material is available on our Blackboard Web site: http://blackboard.fullerton.edu/
• College of Business and Economics Home Page: http://business.fullerton.edu/  Learn about CBE programs, faculty, advising, scholarships and employment opportunities.
• Electronic literature searches for individual or group projects; expect to work with online databases such as ABI/INFORM, Dow-Jones, and Lexis/Nexis.
• Productivity tools such as the Microsoft Office suite: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Computer specifications: Internet access and an e-mail account that allows attachments

You will need access to a computer and to the Internet five days a week (M-F).

Policies: Late withdrawals after the Titan registration period (first two weeks) are possible only for very serious reasons. All work must be completed and submitted on time. Assignments and readings are due by the beginning of the class session, meaning that early submissions are acceptable; late ones aren't. Points may be deducted for late work or it may not be accepted altogether.

Please let’s be professional: In the event of problems preventing you from submitting your work on time or attending class, e-mail or call the instructor during office hours or leave a voicemail message. In business, as in this course, effective time management is expected. Hand in papers ahead of time if you need to go on a business trip. If you must miss one of the class sessions, it is your responsibility to get notes from a colleague and to master on your own the material we have covered. And, please, don’t ask, "Have I missed anything?" Tardiness is unprofessional and will affect your attendance/participation points.

Save all your papers (practice assignments, too) until the end of the semester. Always back up your computer files and print hard copies of all your work. Practice "safe computing.

Assignments:

GRADING STANDARD:

A (100-90), B (89-80), C (79-70), D (69-60), F (below 60)

·In-class and practice assignments may be evaluated ü + (above average), ü  (satisfactory), ü  - (shoddy), or 0 (fail). The final course grade is assigned on CREDIT/NO CREDIT basis.

Revision policy: You have one week from the day on which your work is returned to you to revise a letter graded writing assignment. If you do an excellent job on the revision, resulting in a flawless document, you may earn up to 5 points. Revisions are required for all work at and below 82 points (=B-). Always submit the original document with the revised copy (staple them together, please).

Department Policy: You must pass the final examination in order to pass this class.

Course Format and Assessment: This class is mainly a discussion forum and workshop conducted with the help of our Blackboard site. Your participation in class discussions and in-group activities such as case analyses is extremely important. You will be asked to present assigned readings and your work to the entire class, individually or as a group. This requirement not only ensures completion of reading assignments but also gives you an opportunity to hone your oral presentation skills—indispensable in business.

Your participation in discussions and group activities such as case analyses is extremely important (10% of your course grade). Student usage of our Web site can be electronically tracked. You will need to check your e-mail and visit the Blackboard site regularly (M-F). Each student needs to create a personal Web page in Blackboard at TOOLS to introduce himself/herself to the class and the instructor.

Contingency Assignment: If the instructor cannot meet with the class because of some unforeseen circumstance, go to the library, find a recent business communication related article of interest to you, read the article, and, at the next class period, submit both a copy of the article and a one page summary in memo form.

Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarism is the failure to cite the source of your information or language; it means presenting someone else’s work as if it were your own. It can also mean using sources clumsily and irresponsibly. Since you will be given many helpful materials to provide for correct documentation and attribution, all work will be checked electronically with the help of www.turnitin.com and any unethical practices will be reported to the Dean of Students.

Please refer to the current university catalog for penalties at Cal State Fullerton. Academic dishonesty, when detected, will result in a lower letter grade for the work at hand, and may result in an F for the course plus additional university level disciplinary action. If you wish to quote someone, follow the APA Publication Manual (5th ed., 2001), the guidelines on our Web site and online at the library: http://www.library.fullerton.edu/cybercites.htm

Peruse the Information Competence Guide at http://www.library.fullerton.edu/information_comp/tutorial.htm

or see the "Student Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism" at http://www.fullerton.edu/deanofstudents/Judicial_Affairs/Plagiarism.htm
 

Important Additional Information and Policies:

Packaging: All work should look professional when it is submitted. Each document should be error-free, pleasing to the eye, clear, courteous, and business-like. When e-mailing MS Word attachments, always write a brief, courteous note explaining what it is you are sending.

"Netiquette"—appropriate online behavior and professional e-mail format:

Refer to the document E-Mail Rules!

Tech Support: In case of technical difficulties, please contact the Titan Help Desk at 657.278.7777.

Document format: Default form is a memo addressed to your instructor. All typed documents should be single-spaced, jagged right hand margin (don’t justify margin). Don’t indent paragraphs; start flush left. Use a business-like font (Times New Roman, New York, Palatino etc.), size 12, one-inch margins all around.

To direct your e-mail to the proper folder in my mail program and to ensure that you reach your instructor quickly, please write 501 and your name in the subject line of each e-mail:

Subject: 501 JOE TITAN: MY CASE ANALYSIS 1.

Attachments in MS Word need a clear document name with your name and course number. Example: Titan_501_CaseAnalysis1.

What to expect:

• You will enhance computer and research skills
• You will hone your comprehension and critical reading skills—indispensable for case analysis and effective strategic thinking
• You will learn to use language for creating appropriate strategies and to produce business documents of which your boss will approve (and which should ultimately advance your career).

We’ll review certain elements of standard business English as needed, but if you have chronic problems, you’re expected to take the initiative and conquer them on your own.

Group work: Teamwork is crucial in business. Learn to collaborate with strangers on the job or in the classroom. Each member of the group must put in the same effort. Peer evaluation will ensure that everyone is pulling his/her share. Every member is 300% (not 30%) responsible for the final product. The Blackboard group pages and chat rooms will help you to conference and exchange information. In plagiarism cases, the entire group will be held responsible.

In-class versus out-of-class skills: If there is any discrepancy between in-class and out-of-class work, your grade will be determined by your on-campus work only, discounting out-of-class points. The fact that this might become necessary is not an accusation and in no way implies that the teacher believes the student is "cheating." However, it is highly implausible that students who consistently do non-pass work can hand in A+ out-of-class work because the assignment was "done at home" and they had enough time to "do a good job." Remember, in business you will be expected to produce professional-quality work on short notice and within tight deadlines.

Effort and learning: If an assignment is full of errors and/or has little eye-appeal, it cannot receive a passing grade—no matter how hard anyone "tries." Your boss will not reward you for an unprofessional-looking and inadequate document, regardless of his/her knowing you put great effort into the project. You will earn your grade by producing work of high caliber.

 

Read and follow instructions, ask questions, and communicate!

Take an active approach to your learning.

Have a good semester!

SAMPLE SEMESTER OUTLINE — BUAD 501

Always bring a computer disk to class.

This schedule can be modified in order to benefit the students.

Additional tasks may be assigned. Expect an intense workload.

Read the assigned chapters critically, that is, in such a way that you could teach, that is, present, question, and evaluate them when they are due; be prepared to engage in a lively discussion without much prompting. Each session, we will share student-generated PowerPoint presentations about the assigned reading material or discussing a case.

Blue Roman numerals indicate the following perspectives:

• Ethics (I);

• global issues(II);

• political, social, legal, regulatory, and environmental issues(III);

•  technology (IV);

• demographic diversity in organizations (V).

In addition, the cases chosen for this class will reflect these important emphases.