Assignment

Please review the course as a whole. This is for your benefit, and also for ours. Reviewing the topics covered in this course will help you recall and integrate them with what you already know. Reexamining the topics with a critical eye and sharing your observations and suggestions, will help Trident improve the course and provide a better learning experience for those coming after you.

Address the following points in your response.

• The extent to which you met the learning expectations.
• The perceived usefulness of the topics covered, and of the course as a whole.
• The relative difficulty of the various topics. Which were the most challenging? The least? Please explain.
• How could the topics have been presented differently? How could we make this course better? Explain in detail.

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to develop student skills for effective communication in business and professional settings. Effective methods of verbal, nonverbal, and written communication will be introduced. Consideration will be given to the effect of information technology on organizational communication and issues relating to intercultural communication.

Significance of the Course within the Program

The outcomes of the BSBA program, as listed in the University Catalog, are as follows:

1. Apply effective communication skills in a business environment.
2. Assess the impact of culture and diversity on business practices.
3. Assess the ethical implications of business decisions and actions.
4. Apply business theories, models, and concepts to guide analysis of problems and situations.
5. Use technology to gather and analyze information.
6. Utilize data driven analysis in making business decisions.
7. Analyze the impact of global forces on business practices.

The primary outcomes of BUS303 are:

1. Apply effective communication skills in a business environment.
3. Assess the ethical implications of business decisions and actions.
5. Use technology to gather and analyze information.

The other BSBA objectives are secondary.

Course Overview

In this course you will be examining the nature of business communication. You will start by examining simple emails; then you will learn how to be persuasive in your written communications. Unfortunately, not all communications will be positive and upbeat; for this reason, you will take a look at negative messages and how to manage them. In business today you can't escape presentations, so you will have the opportunity to prepare a PowerPoint deck. Finally, you will have the opportunity to work on your resume. You will be asked to write a resume and cover letter and conduct an interview. When you are finished with the course, you will have a solid appreciation for the importance of proper business communications.

About assignment length:

William Strunk (Strunk & White, 2000) said it best:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, and a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines, and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

For this reason, BUS303 has no guidelines concerning assignment length. If an assignment is too short because of oversights and omissions, or too long because of redundancies and irrelevancies, then the grade will suffer. A business professional must know not only what to write, but also how much to write.

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

• Module 1

o Describe and discuss the essential features of business and intercultural communication.

o Write an effective email, and describe the principles involved in doing so.

• Module 2

o Effectively communicate persuasive messages and discuss the strategies employed.

• Module 3

o Effectively communicate negative messages and discuss the strategies employed.

• Module 4

o Create and deliver effective presentations.

o Create effective resumes and letters and discuss the strategies involved in the job search process.