Module 1 – Case
BUSINESS AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Case Assignment
Business and Intercultural Communication
The principle activity of this Case is to complete two
interactive tutorials, and prepare short essays (one or two pages each)
summarizing their key points.
Essay 1: Complete the
Pearson interactive tutorial, “Introduction to Business Communication.” This is
referenced on the Background page as Pearson 2015a. Write a short essay summarizing the key
features of business communication, as opposed to ordinary, everyday
communication. Feel free to use short
lists. Be sure to include a reference to
the tutorial (you may copy the reference from the Background page to the
bibliography of your own paper).
Additionally, be sure to include a citation in the body of your paper,
showing your readers where you used the tutorial. For information about references and
citations, please refer to the Writing Style Guide, found under the “My Resources”
tab on the TLC Portal.
Essay 2: Identical to
Essay 1 above, but summarizing the contents of the Pearson interactive tutorial
“Intercultural Communication.” This is
listed on the Background page as Pearson 2015b.
Assignment Expectations
Well-organized, well-written essays covering all the topics
outlined in the assignment.
No errors in spelling, grammar, or syntax, and an
appropriate scholarly style. Refer to
the Writing Style Guide.
All sources cited and referenced in accordance with a
standard citation style. APA is
preferred, but not required. Refer to
the Writing Style Guide.
Module 1 – SLP
BUSINESS AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Initiating the job search
In the SLPs for this course, you will assume the role of a
currently employed professional wanting to change careers. Each of the SLPs
will focus on different phases of the job search. In each SLP, you will apply
the business communication principles covered in the module.
Search for companies you are interested in working for, or
jobs you are keen on. You may begin your search at an employment website (such
as Monster.com, usajobs.gov, etc.) and find a job opening that interests you.
Save the existing job advertisement for a position you are interested in.
You will be completing the subsequent SLPs using this job
opening you identified.
Write a generic email, using principles from routine and
goodwill emails, to inquire about your desired position. You may ask questions
related to application procedures, deadlines, references, or any other detail.
The objective of this email is to build rapport with the company and notify
them of your interest, and the possibility you may be submitting an application
later on. Include the actual job advertisement in your submission. This could
be a pdf document, or a link to the advertisement.
Following the email, write an essay explaining the
principles and good practices you followed while creating it.
Submit your assignment by the module’s due date.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Your email should be professionally formatted and
effectively deliver the message, using concepts covered in the module. Please
use proper English. Sentences must be properly constructed and free of
grammatical and typographical errors. No citations are needed in the email.
In your summary, you are expected to discuss your strategies
and approach, using the concepts covered in the module. Your discussion should
be analytical and sufficiently rigorous to demonstrate synthesis of the
concepts. Formal citations are required, along with a formal bibliography. The
summary is to be prepared as an academic essay. Content should be clearly
presented with a logical flow.
SLP General Expectations
For the SLPs, students are expected to play a role as
themselves in the job market. You are to identify a job that interests you in
Module 1. The SLPs will take you through the job search and application
process, presenting you in different scenarios requiring you to demonstrate
your ability to communicate effectively and professionally.
Formal citations and a bibliography are required unless
otherwise stated.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
Module 2 – Case
PERSUASION
Case Assignment
Persuasive Communication
Case Assignment 2 pertains to the Purdue’s OWL site on memos
(2013), Bowman (2002), Beason (2001), and Reddy (2010).
As a manager at your company (the same one we used in Case
1), you think your company should be offering internships. With all the
colleges in the Los Angeles area, you would have a large group of people who
should be interested in an internship program. In addition, your company could
use the extra help and creativity of about-to-graduate college students.
You recently read about Nickerson PME1, a 10-person Boston
area marketing and public relations firm. Owner Lisa Nickerson offers a
year-round internship program. She calls participants “associates” to
make them feel less like “lowly interns” and more like members of the
staff. Her interns receive course credit and work experience, but do not earn a
paycheck. Instead, Nickerson teaches them to perform tasks like preparing press
releases and promoting the company to clients. The arrangement results in
valuable help around the office without draining the budget. Nickerson says,
“If you take the time to put together a good program, you don’t have to
pay the student. An abundance of students want that type of hands-on client
experience.”
You believe that Los Angeles college students would be eager
to gain experience at a real company, and fill in their résumés with solid work
experience. The problem is that your boss resists internship programs because
he has heard that interns are really employees who must be paid. He told you in
a recent conversation that he is unsure of the fine line that separates
employees from interns, and he doesn’t want to violate any labor laws.
Write a persuasive memo message to Dick Elders, Senior
General Manager of your company. Explain to him how interns are different from
employees. Use the Internet to research the topic, and learn what six
requirements help the government determine whether an intern is a paid
employee. Use persuasive strategies you have studied, but stay focused on the
conviction that interns do not have to be paid as employees. You are on a
first-name basis with Dick.
1This is a fictitious case.
Assignment Expectations
In your memo, you are expected to apply the persuasion
concepts to demonstrate your ability to craft an effective persuasive memo.
Please use proper English. Sentences must be properly constructed and free of
grammatical and typographical errors. No citations are needed in the memo.
Write a summary explaining why you used the principles you
used in writing your memo. Your explanation should make use of at least two
sources from the required readings. It should be analytical and sufficiently
rigorous to demonstrate synthesis of the concepts. The summary is to be
prepared as an academic essay. Content should be clearly presented with a
logical flow. Formal citations are required, along with a formal bibliography.
Case General Expectations
In the Case Assignments, students will assume the role of a
Manager in Employee Communications at a large service firm, such as a bank, or
an advertising or consulting firm. Students will assume this role throughout
the Case Assignments and be challenged with different scenarios, requiring written
and verbal communication.
Formal citations and a bibliography are required unless
otherwise stated.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
Module 2 – SLP
PERSUASION
Making a Persuasive Case for Employment
Persuasion can also be applied in the job search process.
Essentially, we are presenting ourselves and our qualifications to prospective
employers, and persuading them to give us a job. Some companies require
applicants to submit supporting documents along with their applications. One
such document is a personal statement. This is different from a cover letter,
which is normally restricted to a single page. The personal statement may be
longer; in it, you present your abilities and persuade your prospective
employee that you are qualified for the job. (Note: We will write a cover
letter in Module 4).
Refer to the job opening you identified in SLP 1. Using the
job description, write a personal statement (about 2 pages long). Your
statement should be professionally prepared and lay out your strengths for the
job. Please ensure that the contents match the job description for the job you
identified in SLP 1.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Your personal statement is a statement that promotes
yourself. It should not contain any salutation, unlike a letter, as it will be
an attachment. No citations are needed for the statement.
Following the statement, submit an essay discussing the
approach you took. Please be sure to use references, which may include the
assigned readings, to support your discussion. Formal citations are required,
along with a formal bibliography. The summary is to be prepared as an academic
essay. Content should be clearly presented with a logical flow.
SLP General Expectations
For the SLP, you are expected to assume the role of a job
seeker. You are to identify a job that interests you in Module 1. The SLPs will
take you through the job search and application process, presenting you in
different scenarios requiring you to demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively
and professionally.
Formal citations and a bibliography are required unless
otherwise stated.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
Module 3 – Case
NEGATIVE COMMUNICATION
Case Assignment
Negative Communication
In Case 3, you are required to write two negative letters.
On the TV show “The Apprentice,” Donald Trump
seemed to relish announcing, “You’re fired” to losing contestants.
But most employers recoil from having to tell employees that they will be
“downsized.” To make a difficult job easier, managers sometimes use
euphemisms and jargon to avoid bluntly announcing that someone has been laid
off. In fact, cutbacks have generated new words like “rightsizing”
and “re-engineering.”
Regardless of the language, an economic tailspin forces
organizations to explain to laid-off employees that what’s bad for them is best
for the company. At eBay, 1,500 employees lost their jobs in a program of
“employee simplification.” At Yahoo the CEO explained layoffs as a
way for the company to “become more fit.”
No matter how you look at it, people are worried about
losing their jobs, and those who remain are worried about whether the company
will stay in business.
Experts differ on how to reveal possible workforce
reductions. Should managers disclose the news indirectly and quietly? Or should
they use the direct approach and announce loudly that they are taking forceful
action to strengthen the organization in a dour economy? Some say that
executives should use bland language to minimize the public relations fallout
from mass firings. Vague explanations and even corporate jargon may be
appropriate to reduce the negative effect on remaining employees and on
recruiting new employees when the economy rebounds. Opaque language and
euphemisms may lessen the impact of layoffs.
Part 1:
Your company has decided to lay off 10 percent of its
workforce to maintain profitability. Although every department has participated
in cost-cutting measures, expenses continue to mount, and sales are not where
they should be. Your direct supervisor, Shirley Schmidt, has asked you to draft
an email that goes to the staff whose jobs are untouched by the layoffs. The
goal is to assure key employees that management is in control of the situation.
You need to emphasize that your company maintains a strong strategic vision,
and that management is convinced of the firm’s rosy future in the tech
industry. Still, layoffs are necessary to make the company more financially
stable. Ever mindful of its people, your company is taking all possible
measures to assist those who have lost their jobs. These reductions will help
make the firm stronger, says Schmidt.
In addressing remaining employees, your message should
explain the bad news and strive to preserve employee morale. Decide whether to
use the direct or indirect approach. Apply as many concepts as possible from
the readings. After you’ve written the letter, write an essay describing how
you used the ideas from the readings.
Part 2:
One part of your company’s business (again, the same company
in the Case Assignments 1 and 2) is website design and hosting services. Your
company values its clients and understands that the recession has affected
everyone. But lately you’ve realized that some clients are sapping your
business’s already stretched resources. One of your first patrons—Minnie
MacElroy of Minnie’s Miniscule Miniatures—has been a demanding client from the
get-go. She asked for changes to the site design she had already approved,
forcing you to put in more hours than your quote covered. Once the site went
live, Minnie consistently badgered you to make other changes so often that you
did them without charge just to get her off your back. When payment of her
monthly hosting fee started becoming erratic, you agreed to let her slide until
her business picked up. But now she’s six months delinquent.
Despite repeated phone calls and several letters asking her
to make a payment, you have received nothing. As a business owner, you
understand how difficult it is to keep your doors open. You have had to lay off
your best Web designer and are now doing your own bookkeeping instead of paying
for that service. The contract MacElroy signed has a provision that if an
account remains unpaid, your company may opt to render the site nonfunctional.
The contract also states that your company retains the copyright on the design
of any site it has created. While you are hesitant to lose any business in this
economic climate, you have decided that some clients are more trouble than they
are worth, and that if MacElroy doesn’t begin paying the money she owes you,
you will exercise your option of closing her site.
Write a letter informing Minnie that you are closing down
her site if she does not pay the money she owes you. Should you fully explain
that she has been a difficult customer, or should you rely on her lack of payment
as your reason for threatening to break the contract?
Address your letter to
Ms. Minnie MacElroy,
27694 Bay Point Lane,
Bonita Springs, FL 34134.
(Assignment derived from Dr. Guffey’s Business Communication
Newsletter)
In both letters, include a discussion to explain your
approach in each case.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
Assignment Expectations
Case Expectations
In the email and letter from Part 1 and Part 2, you are
expected to apply the concepts on negative communication to demonstrate your
ability to communicate effectively in written forms. Please use proper English.
Sentences must be properly constructed and free of grammatical and
typographical errors. No citations are needed the written communication.
In your summary, you are expected to explain why and how you
incorporated the principles you used in writing your email and letter. Your
explanation should make use of at least two sources from the required readings.
It should be analytical and sufficiently rigorous to demonstrate synthesis of
the concepts. The summary is to be prepared as an academic essay. Content
should be clearly presented with a logical flow. Formal citations are required,
along with a formal bibliography.
Case General Expectations
In the Case Assignments, students will assume the role of a
Manager in Employee Communications at a large service firm, such as a bank, or
an advertising or consulting firm. Students will assume this role throughout
the Case Assignments and be challenged with different scenarios, requiring written
and verbal communication.
Formal citations and a bibliography are required unless
otherwise stated.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
Module 3 – SLP
NEGATIVE COMMUNICATION
Rejecting Opportunities Strategically
In this SLP, you are given two scenarios that require you to
reject opportunities using written communication. These scenarios are a
continuation of your job search, begun in SLP 1. In your submissions, you are
expected to apply the concepts covered in this module.
(1) You have been approached by a head hunter who has a job
for you. However, for various reasons (which you will invent for this
exercise), you decided to decline the opportunity, and go for the job you really
want (the one you identified in SLP 1). Write an email to the recruiter
explaining your reasons for declining the opportunity. Be sure to apply the principles
covered in this module.
(2) The company you are currently working for has decided to
increase your responsibilities by adding you to a newly established committee
for a new project. Your manager feels that your experience and skills are
suited for the position on the committee. You are currently overwhelmed by
work, and given the lack of incentives (neither added compensation nor a
promotion), you have decided to politely decline. Write an email to your
General Manager explaining the situation. (Note: this is not a letter of
resignation. You are merely declining the added responsibility while still remaining
at your current job).
In both cases, include a discussion explaining the concepts
applied. Proper citations and a bibliography are necessary.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Both emails are expected to be formally and professionally
written. Please use proper English. Proper salutations are required. Citations
and a bibliography are not required for this part.
In your summary, discuss the approach you took. Explain why
and how you incorporated the principles of negative communication. Please be sure
to use references, which may include the assigned readings, to support your
discussion. Formal citations are required, along with a formal bibliography.
The summary is to be prepared as an academic essay. Content should be clearly
presented with a logical flow.
SLP General Expectations
For the SLP, you are expected to assume the role of a job
seeker. You are to identify a job that interests you in Module 1. The SLPs will
take you through the job search and application process, presenting you in
different scenarios requiring you to demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively
and professionally.
Formal citations and a bibliography are required unless
otherwise stated.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
Module 4 – Case
PRESENTATIONS
Presentation
Create a PowerPoint slideshow as described here. Add audio
to your presentation by using the “Record Narration” option under the Slide
Show tab in PowerPoint. You will need a microphone, which should be built in on
most computers. (There is no need to have a real audience, unless you want to.)
If you have difficulty recording, submit a full script in
the notes section of your PowerPoint slides that reads the way the narration
would have, had it been presented. Your submission will be assessed based in
part on this script. You may include colloquial expressions that you would use
(if any) if speaking to a real audience.
The presentation must have at least 9 slides, including the
opening and ending slides which should not be blank. Include the appropriate
recorded narration for these slides.
You are acting as a nutrition consultant to the restaurant.
Address your presentation to Mr. Adrian Hammersmith, owner, and his staff at
Adrian’s Steak House, 974 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA 30060. You will
explain information about the Healthy Dining program which can be found at the
Healthy Diet Finder (2015) home page (http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/home).
The home page is primarily for diners. A link at the bottom of the page, labeled
“Nutrition Services,” takes dietitians and restaurateurs to information about
nutrition and other services. Your presentation should provide the audience
with an overview of the program, including information about the services
provided by and benefits of Healthy Dining. Additionally, you should have at
least one slide that describes the impact on the staff that adopting the Healthy
Dining practices will have.
Save your PowerPoint presentation with recorded narration as
a slideshow. Submit it by the module’s due date.
Assignment Expectations
The PowerPoint slideshow must be professionally prepared and
include narration. (PowerPoint presentations should not be larger than 10MB.)
Record the presentation as a slideshow and submit it.
Your slideshow will be graded according to the Trident Oral
Communication Rubric (TUI, 2015).
No citations and formal bibliography are necessary for Case
4.
Case General Expectations
In the Case Assignments, students will assume the role of a
Manager in Employee Communications at a large service firm, such as a bank, or
an advertising or consulting firm. Students will assume this role throughout
the Case Assignments and be challenged with different scenarios, requiring
written and verbal communication.
Module 4 – SLP
PRESENTATIONS
Resume and Cover Letter
Using the job you identified in Module 1, following the
guidelines from the above readings, write a resume and a cover letter applying
for the job. Submit your resume and cover letter. Remember and apply what
you’ve learned so far on persuasion and writing letters. Using materials from
Module 1 on goodwill communication and from Module 2 on persuasion will be
helpful. In addition, materials from Module 3 on negative communication may
come in handy to prevent negative impressions. Please avoid re-stating your
resumes on your cover letters. Focus on your strengths and make your case a
compelling one.
Submit your assignments by the module’s due date.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Your submission should include a well-written resume and
cover letter. These documents should apply what you have learned in the course.
Both are to be formally written in a professional way. Please use proper
English. Your resume and letter will be graded on overall effectiveness and how
much and how well you applied ideas from the readings. This includes their
ability to generate goodwill and convince your prospective employer on your
strengths, while preventing potential negative impressions. Achieving these
would make a compelling case for your application and hence, give you an
opportunity to be interviewed.
No citations and formal bibliography are necessary for SLP
4.
SLP General Expectations
For the SLPs, students are expected to play a role as themselves
in the job market. You are to identify a job that interests you in Module 1.
The SLPs will take you through the job search and application process,
presenting you in different scenarios requiring you to demonstrate your ability
to communicate effectively and professionally.
