Communication

DQ 1

Asynchronous Communication – What Could go Wrong?

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

At one point or another, many people have experienced the accidental email. Maybe you sent an email, and then realized that you sent it to the wrong person, or included incorrect information, or maybe you forgot to attach something. As a professional, you must be especially careful about the messages you send, whether in email, social media, face-to-face, over the phone, or any other type of interaction or correspondence. A simple typo, or even a slight misunderstanding can change or undermine the purpose of the message and possibly a critical relationship.

To prepare for this Discussion:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

·

· Kumar, M., Parashar, A., & Prashar, S. (2016). When the tone of an email went wrong [Case Study]. Harvard Business Review.

· Consider the difference between intent and reception.

· Consider the times when email may or may not be the best way to communicate.

Note:  It might also help to consider text messages.

By Day 2

Post a cohesive response in which you:

· Describe a time when you sent an email that was not received well. As an alternative approach, describe a time when you received an email and misunderstood its intent. If neither scenario has ever happened to you, describe  one in which someone you know experienced one of these situations.

· What do you think led to the misunderstanding?

· Describe what happened as a result of the misunderstood email.

· Explain how this communication may have been made clearer and thus avoided any misunderstandings or problems. Include your evaluation of whether email was the most appropriate means to communicate the message.

· Describe the important things to consider when communicating with people using email or other asynchronous methods as a sender and as a recipient.

Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week's Learning Resources, as well as other credible resources that you have read; or what you have observed and experienced.

General Guidance: Your original post, due by Day 2, will typically be 3–4 paragraphs in length as a general expectation/estimate. Refer to the Week 4 Discussion 1 Rubric for grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this rubric to assess your work.

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DQ 2

Delivering Difficult News — When Feedback is Challenging and Managers Want to Motivate

Effective communication is a way to success.

Do you accept feedback easily or do you ignore feedback? Does it bother you when someone critiques your work, either positively or negatively? What is your preference for receiving feedback? Do you prefer to hear the comments in person or in writing, online, for example? What about another medium? Why? As a professional, how do you prefer to give feedback? Why?

To prepare for this Discussion:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially

· Petty, A. (2015). Learning from your communication mistakes. Government Executive, 1.

· Ramsey, R. D. (2009). A crash course in trust-building. Supervision, 70(10), 3–5.

· Takash, J. (2010). The four sins of poor listening. Smart Business Chicago, 8(2), 6.

By Day 3

Post a cohesive response in which you:

· Describe an experience when you received negative feedback, including how it made you feel or react. What do you think made you feel that way? For example, was it the content or the delivery of the feedback, or something else?

· Describe an experience when you received positive feedback, including how it made you feel or react. What do you think made you feel that way? For example, was it the content or the delivery of the feedback, or something else?

· Compare your reactions to receiving both the positive and negative feedback.

· Assess the factors that you think impacted the productivity of these conversations, including:

· How the person giving you the feedback might have made it more meaningful and productive.

· How your preference of how to receive feedback from a boss or colleague could affect your receptiveness to hearing the feedback. Consider whether you prefer to talk, or prefer email or text messages. Does it matter what the nature of the feedback is?

Based on your reactions to feedback, and this week’s resources or other credible references, describe how you might approach a situation where you, as a manager, need to give someone else negative feedback, including:

· What steps would you take to prepare?

· How would you confirm that your recipient received your intended feedback?

Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week's Learning Resources, as well as other credible resources that you have read; or what you have observed and experienced.

General Guidance: Your original post, due by Day 3, should be 3–4 paragraphs in length as a general expectation/estimate. Refer to the Week 4 Discussion 2 Rubric for grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this rubric to assess your work

Assignment:

Professional Reflection – Management Communication Skills

It’s so hard to communicate because there are so many moving parts. There’s presentation and there’s interpretation and they’re so dependent on each other it makes things very difficult.

For this week’s Professional Reflection, you will review the various types of communications managers must be prepared to make. and examine the various communication modes available to you, as well as what things you would need to consider to ensure that your message is received as intended.

To prepare for this Professional Reflection:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

· Clancy, A. B. (2010). Don’t just communicate, connect. Business Chicago, 7(12), 8–9.

· Enman, C. (2014). Why communication matters. SDM: Security Distributing & Marketing, 44(9), 54.

· Furnham, A. (2017). There’s no easy way to say this … . Professional Manager, pp. 72–73.

· Stanford Graduate School of Business [Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2014, December 4). Think fast, talk smart: Communication techniques [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAnw168huqA

· TED. (2013). Julian Treasure: How to speak so that people will want to listen [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen

·

Document: Professional Reflection Assignment Instructions

To complete the Professional Reflection Assignment, compose a cohesive document that addresses the following:

· Summarize the three most important items that you learned from your Discussion and the resources this week, including:

· Anything that may have surprised you about communication.

· What you will integrate into your future communications and why.

· As a manager, specify what you will do to avoid miscommunications in email, text messages, phone conversations, face-to-face Discussions, and correspondence. Include the following:

A description of a scenario in which you have one chance to get an important message communicated.

·

A summary of the specific steps that you would take to make sure your audience completely understands your message.

· Assess your own strengths and weaknesses as a communicator, including:

· What you think your greatest strengths are (as a communicator) and provide some examples. Think about times when you were good at communicating your intended message, and explain those circumstances.

· What do you think your weaknesses are, as a communicator? Think about times when your communications did not go as planned, and explain those circumstances.

· How will you capitalize on your strengths and mitigate any consequences of your weaknesses in order to avoid miscommunication? Be specific about the steps that you will take and provide examples that support your plans.

· As a manager, based on what you have learned this week, how will you inspire or develop others so they can likewise ensure that their communications are received as intended?

· As a manager, how will you ensure that your employees communicate effectively with you? With each other? With external stakeholders?

· What will you watch for or do to ensure that you understand what is communicated to you from your staff, colleagues, and upper management?

· What specific steps will you take to prepare when you need to communicate important or difficult information?

· What are the most important considerations that you need to make in preparing for the communication?

· How do you think your preparation will impact your success in communicating your message effectively?

Be sure to support your Professional Reflection using this week’s readings or other credible and relevant resources.

General Guidance: Aside from your 5-Minute Pitch in Week 1, your Professional Reflection submissions will typically be 2–4 pages in length. Remember to add these pages as a new section to your ongoing Professional Reflection Word document. Refer to the Week 3-4 Professional Reflection Rubric for grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this rubric to assess your work.

Questions about this assignment? Post them in the Contact the Instructor area. That way, everyone in the class will see, and benefit from, the Instructor's response.

Week 4 assignment

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Hi, ALL.

You submitted an assignment to me during Week 3 that continues into this week (Week 4) and I'll grade both as a Week 4 grade book entry. Use the subheadings below to prepare the Week 4 submission, which includes both Weeks 3 and 4 content.

Title page

Headings and subheadings that you create from the Week 3 assignment detail

Headings and subheadings that you create from the Week 4 assignment detail

References

NOTES:

1) I encourage you to review the rubric in the Week 4 assignment information because it contains the graded items, scattered throughout your content, and the point value for each one that I will use.

2) Pay close attention to proofreading your work and your use of the APA 7th edition style requirements for in-content and

References list items. We have a hotlink in the course room for Grammarly; I find it helpful in my writing and hope that you will by getting in the habit of using it.

If you have questions, please write me a private email. 

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