Content Outline - University of Phoenix



Week One Content Outline

TOPIC and Objectives

COMMUNICATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

• Explain the benefits of successful communication.

• Describe important skills needed to communicate effectively.

• Use technological tools for enhancing communication.

Content outline

1. COMMUNICATING IN TODAY’S GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

a. Communication is the process of transferring information and meaning between senders and receivers using one or more written, oral, visual, or electronic channels.

1) Internal communication refers to the exchange of ideas within an organization.

2) External communication carries information into and out of the organization.

b. Effective communication yields several important benefits for employees and for the company.

1) Faster problem solving

2) Stronger decision making

3) Increased productivity

4) Steadier work flow

5) Stronger business relationships

6) More compelling promotional messages

7) Enhanced professional images and stronger brands

8) Improved response from colleagues, employees, supervisors, investors, customers, and other important audiences

2. Recognizing effective communication

a. Good ideas must be expressed clearly and persuasively.

b. Steps to develop effective messages:

1) Provide practical information.

2) Provide facts rather than vague impressions.

3) Present information in a concise, efficient manner.

4) Clarify expectations and responsibilities.

5) Offer compelling, persuasive arguments and recommendations.

3. Understanding what employers expect

a. No matter the career field, employers expect competence in a wide range of communication tasks.

b. Employers expect employees to be able to accomplish the following skills:

1) Organize ideas and information logically and completely.

2) Express ideas and information coherently and persuasively.

3) Read and listen to extract the intended meaning from other people’s messages.

4) Communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

5) Use communication technologies effectively and efficiently.

6) Follow accepted standards of grammar, spelling, and other aspects of high-quality writing and speaking.

7) Communicate in a civilized manner that reflects contemporary expectations of business etiquette.

8) Adhere to applicable government regulations and guidelines.

9) Use time productively.

4. Understanding the communication process

a. Communication is a dynamic, two-way process containing eight steps. It is helpful to understand these steps to improve skills and to recognize the many ways in which communication can fail.

b. The following eight steps make up the communication process:

1) The sender has an idea.

2) The sender encodes the idea in a message.

3) The sender produces the message in a transmittable medium.

4) The sender transmits the message through a channel.

5) The audience receives the message.

6) The audience decodes the message.

7) The audience responds to the message.

8) The audience provides feedback to the sender.

c. This process of communication is a simplified model; actual communication is often more complicated.

5. Developing business communication skills

a. Paying close attention to six themes will help improve business communication.

1) Commit to ethical communication.

2) Adopt an audience-centered approach.

3) Improve intercultural sensitivity.

4) Give and respond to constructive feedback.

5) Be sensitive to business etiquette.

6) Use communication technology effectively.

b. Ethics are the accepted principles of conduct that govern behavior within a society. Ethical communication includes all relevant information, is true in every sense, and is not deceptive in any way. Unethical communication includes lies, misleading information, and excluding important information.

c. Examples of unethical communication:

1) Plagiarism

2) Selective misquoting

3) Misrepresenting numbers

4) Distorting visuals

d. Deciding what is ethical can be complex.

e. Every company has responsibilities to multiple groups of people inside and outside the firm, and those various groups often have competing interests. When individuals must choose between conflicting loyalties and weigh difficult trade-offs, they face a dilemma.

1) An ethical dilemma involves choosing among alternatives that are not simple or straightforward.

2) An ethical lapse is a clearly unethical—and frequently illegal—choice.

f. The following questions can help determine an ethical decision:

1) Have you defined the situation fairly and accurately?

2) What is your intention in communicating this message?

3) What effect will this message have on the people who receive it or who might be affected by it?

4) Will the message achieve the greatest possible good while doing the least possible harm?

5) Will the assumptions you have made change over time?

6) Are you comfortable with your decision?

7) Would you be embarrassed if your decision were printed in tomorrow’s newspaper or spread across the Internet?

8) Would you be proud to describe your choice to someone you admire and respect?

6. Developing intercultural communication skills

a. Improving intercultural sensitivity requires the realization of the interaction between culture and communication.

b. Culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms for behavior.

c. Culture affects the way people think, which, in turn, affects the way people communicate.

d. With workplaces becoming more diverse in terms of race, gender, age, national and regional attitudes and beliefs, family structure, religion, native language, and educational background, people will be able to communicate more effectively if they do the following:

1) Assume difference until similarity is proved.

2) Withhold judgment.

3) Show respect.

4) Tolerate ambiguity.

5) Look beyond the superficial.

6) Recognize their own cultural biases.

7) Be flexible.

8) Emphasize common ground.

9) Interact with the individual.

10) Learn when to be direct.

11) Observe and learn.

e. Another successful tip to utilize when communicating with people from another culture is to unlearn the Golden Rule, which encourages you to treat others as you would like to be treated. Instead, treat others as they would like to be treated. One does not have to become an expert in the details of every culture in which he or she does business, but one must strive to attain a basic level of cultural proficiency in areas such as context, law and ethics, social customs, and nonverbal communication.

f. Every attempt at communication occurs within a cultural context, which is the mixture of traditions, expectations, and unwritten social rules that help convey meaning between members of the same culture.

g. High-context cultures rely less on the explicit content of the message and more on the context of nonverbal actions and environmental setting to convey meaning. The primary role of communication in high-context cultures is building relationships, not exchanging information.

h. Low-context cultures rely more on the explicit content and less on circumstances and cues to convey meaning. The primary task of communication in low-context cultures is to exchange information.

i. Four basic principles can help keep an intercultural message ethical.

1) Actively seek mutual ground.

2) Send and receive messages without judgment.

3) Send messages that are honest.

4) Show respect for cultural differences.

j. Rules governing social customs differ from culture to culture. Some rules are formal and specifically articulated, such as table manners, and some are informal and learned over time, such as the comfortable standing distance between two speakers in an office.

k. Nonverbal communication is a vital part of the communication process. Nonverbal communication includes everything from facial expressions to style of dress.

l. Interpreting nonverbal communication according to one’s own culture can be dangerous.

m. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge all other groups according to the standards, behaviors, and customs of one’s own group.

n. Xenophobia, a fear of strangers and foreigners, is an extreme reaction for ethnocentric individuals.

o. Stereotyping occurs when one assigns a wide range of generalized—and often inaccurate—attributes to individuals on the basis of their membership in a particular culture or social group.

p. Cultural pluralism is the practice of accepting multiple cultures on their own terms.

q. The following simple habits can help people avoid the negativity of ethnocentrism and the oversimplification of stereotyping:

1) Avoid assumptions.

2) Avoid judgments.

3) Acknowledge distinctions

r. To prepare effective written communications for multicultural audiences, remember the following:

1) Use plain English.

2) Be clear.

3) Address international correspondence properly.

4) Cite numbers carefully.

5) Avoid slang and be careful with jargon and abbreviations.

6) Be brief.

7) Use short paragraphs.

8) Use transitions.

7. Securing employment in today’s job market

a. Understanding how employers approach the hiring process is just one of many insights and skills required to conduct a successful job search.

1) Employers use several methods to find new employees, including personal referrals. Because as many as 80% of all job openings are never advertised—considered the hidden job market—the job seeker must take initiative.

2) Employers approach the employment process by looking first for candidates within their organization, relying heavily on referrals from people they know and trust, sending recruiters to college campuses to conduct interviews, and recruiting through employment agencies, state employment services, temporary staffing services, and employment bureaus operated by trade associations.

b. Networking is about people helping each other. To become a valued network member, a person must also help others.

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