Bus 236 Interpersonal Communications for the Workplace
Bus 236 Interpersonal Communications for the Workplace
Instructor: James Braden Office: 206-524-8464 bradenconsulting@comcast.net
Please call if you have questions or concerns. I'm generally in my home office, unless teaching courses on different campuses. If you get voice mail, I generally return calls immediately or within a few hours. Be sure to leave your name, the time you called, your question, and the best time to reach you.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course modules are designed to teach students the
importance of effective interpersonal communication in today’s modern
workplace. Students learn to recognize various communication styles and
effective ways to adapt communication to meet the needs of co-workers, bosses,
and customers. Students engage in a variety of individual and group activities
to help improve their own understanding of cultural diversity, non-verbal
communication, and individual influences on communication skills. Students learn
techniques for dealing with negative situations and handling difficult
individuals. This course encompasses the American Electronics Association
guidelines for the skills most valued by technology employers.
In addition,
students learn and practice techniques for making informal and formal business
presentations (instructional, informational, and persuasive). Additional focus
is placed on careful preparation for the employment interview and the
development of job search skills. Students learn about formal and informal
business meeting techniques.
All written assignments will be graded for use of
college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on
all papers. For those students needing assistance with writing please contact The
Loft, upstairs in the campus library.
Course
Outcomes/Learning Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Demonstrate a
better understanding of his/her own particular communication style
-Demonstrate the ability to recognize and adapt to others’ communication
styles
-Demonstrate improved communication skills through individual and group
participation
-Demonstrate an understanding of techniques used to mediate and diffuse
conflicts
-Demonstrate increased listening efficiency
-Demonstrate increased understanding of cultural diversity and cultural
influences on communication
-Demonstrate an increased understanding of nonverbal communication
-Demonstrate the ability to determine expectations of others
-Demonstrate improvement in customer relation skills
-Demonstrate the ability to prepare and give presentations following specific
guidelines for good speaking techniques
-Demonstrate the ability to make instructional, informational, and persuasive
presentations
-Demonstrate good interviewer/interviewee techniques
-Demonstrate an understanding of job search skills and the importance of
networking
-Articulate an understanding of government regulations related to employment
-Demonstrate ability to use appropriate techniques for business
meetings/seminars
-Demonstrate an understanding of correct telephone techniques
North Seattle CC learning outcomes that relate to class assignments
Outcome #4: Access,
evaluate, and apply information from a variety of sources and a variety of
contexts
Outcome #6:
Work and communicate effectively in groups
Text: Communicating for Results Cheryl Hamilton 8th ed. 2008
Attention! A completed bio with your photo is necessary before financial aid is notified.
Week 1 Sept 28 - Oct 2
Ch 1 The Communication Process: An Introduction
* Create an Angel
home page by entering your student id number in the user name and password
boxes. Then log on. You can always change your password later by going to
the personal preferences page. Bookmark this site for easy access later.
Post your biographical data into your Angel user profile
so that it displays on the class roster page. This is done by
clicking on the "head shaped" Preferences Icon on the left side of
your Angel home page. Then click on Personal Information to enter your bio into
the box labeled, About Me. Your email address and photo go into other
boxes on the same page. It's a good idea only share your telephone number
with the other students you choose to be on your team. Select student/members
for all the boxes labeled , Viewable By. Be sure to click save at the
bottom of the page.
Discuss your career goals and any personal interests or
hobbies that may interest other students to team with you. Please write
information and post a photo suitable for a college classroom. If you do
not have a recent photo of yourself to post, just take a favorite print photo to
campus and have it scanned for your page. (There are free scanners in the student
computer labs on campus)
* If you are comfortable with Instant Messaging you may want to include that information in your biography.
* Review the biographies/photos of the other students on the class roster and contact the persons you would like to work with to say hello. It's expected that you will use the first weeks of the quarter establishing good working relationships with at least one or two other students during this time of no assignments. There will be little time for this bonding later on when the assignments are due.
* You may use Angel Chat, or any other Instant Messaging system for your group work, send regular email, or simply pick up the telephone to speak with your fellow students. To video CAM in groups, you may want to explore this software http://oovoo.com
* PRINT A HARD COPY of this syllabus for later reference, just in case the servers are down when you have a question about assignments. It's also helpful to save the class website to your favorites list by copying this link http://facweb.northseattle.edu/bradenco/bus236jb/ and pasting it into your browser so you can go directly to the website outside of Angel
Week 2 Oct 5-9
Ch 2 Organizational
Communication
Ch 3 Improving
Interpersonal Relationships
#4 Differences Paper: Select a person with whom you have had several misunderstandings or disagreements. Make a detailed list of the person’s likes, dislikes, background, abilities until you have a fairly good idea of his or her frame of reference. Then make a similar list for yourself. Compare the two lists to determine frame-of-reference differences that could account for the misunderstandings or disagreements. Write a 1-2 page, double spaced paper. Examples of good papers
Submit to Instructor by Noon on Oct 12
Week 3 Oct 12-16
Ch 4 Effective Listening
Week 4 Oct 19-23
Ch 5 Nonverbal Communication in the Organization
Week 5 Oct 26-30
Ch 6 Overcoming Obstacles to Organizational Communication
#6 Team: Read the Communication Situation on pages 180-183 of your text. Being as specific as possible and using the terminology from this text, list and explain everything that Chief Ferguson and Sergeant Richards did that contributed to Richard’s resignation. Include useful information from Chapters 1-6 in your evaluation. Conclude your evaluation by summarizing what each should have done in the first place. Compare your answers with those of one or two other students on your team. See if you can agree on any solutions.
Submit to Instructor by noon on Nov 2
Week 6 Nov 2-6
Ch 7 Basic Information for All Types of Interviews
#4 Interview Paper: Conduct a 15 minute informational interview with someone who currently holds approximately the same job and title that you would like to have sometime in the future. Ask him or her questions that will either help you decide whether you want this particular job, or help you understand how to prepare effectively for it. Keep in mind that it is better to conduct at least three information-seeking interviews for the same type of job so you can compare your results and feel confident in the advice you’ve obtained. Write a 1-2 page, double spaced paper discussing what you learned. Examples of good papers
Submit to Instructor by Noon on Nov 9
Week 7 Nov 9-13
Ch 8 The Employment Interview
#6 Team:
Exchange a mock letter of application and a real resume with a team mate (or friend
if meeting a team mate is not possible) for any position of interest to you
both. Each of you should prepare to role-play being the interviewee and the
interviewer. If possible, when you meet to do the role-play, video tape the
interviews so you can analyze your verbal and nonverbal behaviors. If you choose
a team mate to interview, then both of you submit the summary paper of your experience in
working together.
If you interviewed a
friend, and not a team mate, then write a summary of what you learned from
your own experience. Then share that
information with a team mate from class. It doesn’t matter whether this team mate did
their interview with another student, or their own friend. You are just sharing
what you learned with each other.
Then you, and your team mate, turn in a joint summary
paper to the instructor describing what each of you learned from your interviews
and role-playing. You will evaluate each other on how much of yourself you seemed to
put into the experience. See discussion below for team activities.
Submit to Instructor by Noon on Nov 16
Week 8 Nov 16-20
Ch 9 Small-Group Communication/Problem Solving
#4
Cross Cultural
Analysis Paper:
Assume
that your company is expanding its international markets and that soon you will
be a member of a cross-cultural problem-solving team. Discuss the cultural
backgrounds that might have shaped the attitudes of your new team mates by
selecting any two countries and find specific information on the cultural norms
of those countries. Refer to the discussion about effective teams managing
cultural diversity the text chapter.
What decision making style did these team mates grow up
learning was "normal" in their country? For example, evaluate the
group decision making styles of Japan and Russia. What would you need to
understand about the background that shaped the attitudes of these team mates in
order to work with them? You even might want to discuss what ways your attitude
and behavior would need to change if you moved to either country to live and
work? Write
a 1-2 page, double spaced paper.
Access the website, http://www.cyborlink.com called International Business Etiquette and Manners for interesting descriptions of different cultures.
You can go to the CIA World Fact book website and select any country to research a variety of facts about that country. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
Or you may go to Executive Planet, choose the business culture guides for your countries, then review the sections about doing business with that country, including Making a Deal
Submit to Instructor by Noon on Nov23
Week 9 Nov 23-27
Ch 10 Participation & Leadership in Small Groups
#4 Your Leadership Style Paper: Fill out all the leadership questionnaires in the Awareness Check sections in Chapter 10, then write a brief summary (1-2 double spaced pages) of your leadership tendencies based on the questionnaire results. What seems to be your predominant leadership style? What are your strengths as a leader? What are your weaknesses as a leader?
Submit to Instructor by Noon on Nov 30
Week 10 Nov 30 - Dec 4
Ch 11 Informative Presentations
Ch 12 Researching,
Supporting, and Delivering Your Ideas
Week 11 Dec 7-11
Ch 13 Professional Visual Aids
Ch 14 Persuasive
Presentations: Individual or Team
Preparation for Oral Presentations to other students and instructor during
scheduled class meetings during the weekend and/or evening. All information from
those doing presentations off campus must be sent to the instructor by Dec 10. See times below
#4 FINAL EXAM: A Closed Book, 50 question, True/False-Multiple Choice Exam. Log on to Angel any time from Friday evening to the evening of the last day for finals.
ORAL PRESENTATION 60 points, 20 points per presentation
Three (3) oral presentations, INFORMATIONAL, INSTRUCTIONAL (using some kind of multi-media materials) and PERSUASIVE are required by the end of the quarter. Students should refer to the related text chapters for ideas on how to do these presentations. The text CD contains sample presentations by skilled presenters you might wish to view for tips under the section listed as Speech Interactive. Students can go to the section called Speech Templates where it gives advice on how to create Power Point presentations. Using the Website link leads to a variety of other resources that might be helpful in creating presentations.
Clear with instructor, in advance of your presentation, the proposed topic, type of presentation, materials to be used, and anticipated audience. Presentations may be done at any time during the quarter.
Students may choose individuals from their work or personal lives, who are willing to be members of an audience to evaluate them. These individuals must be willing to place their names and phone numbers on an evaluation form. This evaluation form can be downloaded by your audience members, completed online as a text document, then sent to me from their own email addresses. Or you may have them complete the forms, by hand, after your presentation and you can scan them into your computer and send them to me..
Ideally, these presentations should involve non-family members in a work or some other organized setting, as a club or religious activity. The student must have at least 3 separate evaluation forms completed by 3 different audience members. Students may combine all three types of presentations during one session or do three separate presentations on 3 different occasions. The choice is up to them.
A student may also have a member of their audience photograph them during their presentation, then the student submits those digital images as jpg attachments, or streaming video, to the instructor as further documentation of their presentation.
If you are already on campus, or it is easy for you to get to campus, there is a wonderful media lab for student use on the 3rd floor of the library. Ideally you take your 3 audience members to the lab where there is a camera, recording equipment to burn your own DVD then drop it off for me at the Business Dept office which is just around the corner. You must bring your own DVD-R style DVD. Information about hours and who to contact at media lab For those of you who are tech savvy and already have a U Tube account, you can post your video there and send me a link to it.
Or the student may submit email attachments of their Power Point slides, text from their presentation notes, or any relevant materials that document their presentation to the instructor. A student may also "burn" a collection of images and/or video onto a CD and send it (or drop it off, if already on campus) to the instructor in care of the Business Division at North Seattle CC. Information from these off campus presentations are due to the instructor by Dec 14.
Or the student may choose to attend a specific on-campus meeting for their presentation to the instructor and other students who are also choosing the on-campus option. Due to time constraints, students should plan on combining all three types of presentations into one presentation, if they choose the on-campus option. These students will meet in room IB 2312 C on the 2nd floor of the IB building, adjacent to the Business Division Offices. The time will be from 9am-Noon or into the afternoon on Saturday, Dec 12. Other students waiting to do their presentations, or those in attendance will be asked to complete forms evaluating all presentations, along with the instructor's evaluation.
TEAMS
60 points, 30 points per exercise
1-2 Single spaced pages per exercise.
Scores are not routinely sent out, only upon
request by student. Spelling and Grammar will not be
checked on this activity, since you are grading yourself.
Select 1 or more classmates to work with as a team (3
in a team is ideal), via discussion chat/email/phone contact. If, for any
reason, a student chooses to turn in their own answers without team interaction
then the automatic score is 15 out of the possible 30 points per team/case
analysis. A person may be a member of only one team per activity, with no
overlapping teams. All members must claim each other as a part of the same
team. You do not have to stay with the same team all quarter.
Students should individually answer all questions
accompanying each of the three team activities listed on the syllabus, then
SHARE their answers with other team members to see if there are points of
agreement. If you choose to work together at the same time, you might find using
an electronic whiteboard useful in compiling your responses on one paper. http://writeboard.com
Any COMMONLY AGREED UPON answers are compiled into a
SINGLE PAPER. All members of the same team must submit an IDENTICAL copy
of this paper to me by email. This will verify all have actually worked
together. (However, if any student has opinions which differ from those of their
fellow team members they may include them as an addition on their copy.)
All papers will be emailed to me by the due dates stated in the syllabus.
These papers should show EVIDENCE of group interaction
and an exchange of information. Each student is expected to make an honest
contribution to the effort of arriving at mutually agreeable answers or
solutions. Do not be overly concerned if you can't all agree. Students will be
expected to read the material and put in sufficient "thought time" to
make meaningful Critical Thinking contributions to their group discussions.
Each student paper should contain a self rating
of their own efforts AND a rating of fellow group members.
Each student assigns themselves and the others a score from 0 to 30 points.
Students should list those points after their own name and the names of fellow
group members at the top of paper to be submitted. Points roughly correspond to 30
= A 24 = B 21 = C 18 = D 0 = No
preparation.
The average of a
students self rating and that of their fellow group members will be each
students grade for the activity. (For example: John Smith submits a Rating
of 19 for himself and his 2 fellow group members rate him a 15 and 11. The
total is 45 points and his average is 15. This is John's score for the
activity.)
Final Exam
100
288-300 4.0
2 Team Exercises
60
273-287 3.5-3.9
3 Presentations
60
243-272 2.5-3.4
Interview Paper
25
213-242 1.5-2.4
Cross Cultural Paper
20
189-212
0.7-1.4
Your Leadership Style Paper
20
Differences
Paper
15
300 points
Please note
*Tips for writing good papers. Give yourself plenty of time! Write your paper, then let it sit overnight. You will be amazed at the errors you catch the next day. Read it aloud to yourself, your ears will catch mistakes that your eyes do not. Or read it aloud to a friend, or better yet, an enemy! If they say, HUH?, what do you mean by that, they have done you a favor. Your paper should be self explanatory to anyone reading it or listening to you read it. By doing any one of these things, or all of them, you will produce your best work.
*All written assignments need to use college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all papers. For those students needing assistance with writing please contact The Loft, upstairs in the campus library
* All assignments are due on dates specified in the syllabus. Late
assignments may be penalized, unless student has contacted
instructor for an
extension.
* Any grading system is subject to human error, so please contact me if there are questions.
* Final grades are assigned according to published grading standards for the course
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