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Wayne State University - Department of Communication

Communication 3300: Business and Professional Presentations

OVERVIEW

Unit 4 Managerial Communication Assignments

· Oral Presentation 100 Points

· Visual Aid [PowerPoint] 50 Points

· Final Report Submitted to Safe Assignment 150 Points

Investigate a business topic through a "perspective" of communication . Choose a topic that is interesting to you, informative and contributes to your class members' understanding of one of the perspectives. These include ethical, technological, social & political, legal, global and cross-cultural, socialization for success and skills (See page 2 for details).

Prepare an informative and persuasive oral presentation (Between five & six minutes, presentations that exceed six and half minutes are subject to point deductions for overtime), incorporating professional visual aids (PowerPoint) and planning for a Q&A session. The presentation should identify a current workplace issue that can be defined through communication with some theoretical underpinning, informed by research and practical business experience and suggest ways of addressing it.

Topic Selection

Frame your topic for the oral presentation and the final written report by focusing on a single issue or problem. A productive approach is to work towards a suitable title while narrowing and focusing upon your subject area.

References and Research

The Presentation and the Final Report requires a minimum of five sources. You must include one each of the following

· Journal Article (That is not the Wall Street one)

· A newspaper or news website

· Book or edited book that relates to the topic (Guffey Text and other business texts do not count towards minimum of five)

This report needs be on a current management communication issue . As more weight will be given to named references, you should be limit your selection of websites that do not provide author(s).

General

http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/articles_databases/index.php

Accounting, Taxation, & Business Law http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/databases/subject.php?id=6

Communication & Journalism

http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/databases/subject.php?id=8

This database is a good link to issues in Marketing and or Advertising and PR management

You may consult business textbooks, including the Guffey text, but a business text will not count toward the minimum five sources. Other limitations will be discussed in class. This will include general website, dictionaries, and Wikipedia.

It is important that you provide credible references. I am looking for reliable and credible sources to support your ideas and thesis. If in doubt discuss with your instructor before you present. Consider using an interview as a primary source.

Sample Topics

Ethical Perspective

Ethical issues in communication situations. This can include how organizations respond to crisis, such as the government or other organizations such as BP, Johnson & Johnson etc.

Technological Perspective

New technological advances that affect our ability to communicate in the business environment. This can include using desktop videoconferencing, participating in Groupware on a corporate Intranet, preparing an electronic resume or aspects of social networking sites.

Social and Political Perspectives

Because business communication is a social and political activity, always grounded in a particular context and situation, social issues are particularly relevant. Specific social and political issues, such as communicating with hearing-impaired clients/customers or how organizations deal with handicapped people.

Legal Perspective

Currently the most significant legal impact on language is the 1998 Presidential Memorandum requiring that all Federal documents communicating with the American people must be revised in Plain Language. Although many businesses have revised their documents in Plain Language over the past two decades, many firms still write in bureaucratic, dense prose that is difficult for clients and customers to read.

Global and Cross-cultural

You may select any topic in this genre that was not covered by members of the class in Unit 3.

Socialization for Success Perspective

Sharpening your own skills for business career success, this can be expressed in such small details as learning how to introduce yourself effectively. Specific socialization-for-success topics include interacting at business social events, networking, business etiquette and dressing for success.

Skills Perspective

Many of the objectives of the course represent essential business skills. For example, writing high-impact memos, resume writing, mock interviews, participating in self-managed group meetings, and delivering persuasive presentations.

The following sample topics are listed to provoke your thinking. Although you may choose one of the topics listed below, you are strongly encouraged to develop an idea of your own. Just remember that your topic must focus on a management communication issue and why we need to understand how it affects us.

Miscellaneous Communication Topics, such as

· A comparison of two websites (They need to be business ones)

· A critique of a Business Power Point presentation (I will find them for you)

· Advantages and disadvantage of distance communication

· Challenges for Global organizations

· Changes in management- The History of Ford

· Communication issues with patient care

· Companies Annuals Reports ( I can provide)

· Corporate Espionage

· Drug Policies – Are they an infringement of our civil rights

· Ethical Behavior for Organizations

· Ethics in Advertising

· Global challenges, opportunities and best practices

· How a businessperson restructures his/her image

· How an organization portrays its image on the web

· How an organization restructures its image (Bank of America, GM etc)

· How organizations deal with crisis.

· How to deal with employees that access inappropriate websites at work.

· Humor in advertising

· International companies doing business in the US

· Issues in PR

· Leadership’s Images that impress you and why

· Mergers – Management challenges

· Negotiation – Uses for management

· NGO’s role during a crisis

· Opinion Polls - What do they do for us

· Organizational Apologia (How companies apologize)

· PR is the new advertising

· Response to Disaster – Company Focus

· Risk Management

· Romance in the workplace

· Speech Writing

· Teaming in the 21st century

· The do’s and don’ts of Social Networking

· The Job Interview – Communication Strategies

· The media’s role in framing a crisis

· Trust in Management

· What to do in an emergency – Examples of good and bad

· Workplace assessment methods

· Workplace Bullying

· Any communication theory and how it impacts the work place.

You may select any other topic as long as it has at its core communication issues the managers are facing today. Make sure your advise your instructor what your final topic is going to be.

EVALUATION OF ORAL PRESENTATION

These will include the following

· Presented potentially useful information about workplace communication issue to future managers?

· Adapted the material to the audience in an engaging way?

· Spoke conversationally (without memorizing or reading ), speaking loudly enough and with variety?

· Communicated non-verbally with eyes, face, hands and body?

· Highlighted the talk with appropriate and effective visuals?

· Interacted with Power Point or Website

· Conducted Q&A session effectively?

Please review the evaluation sheets on Blackboard for full details.

EVALUATION OF TEXTUAL VISUALS [PowerPoint]

Overall Visual Guidelines

· Creates an impact with one major message per slide

· Presents readable text (24 pt. or larger) applying document design and readability principles (e.g., avoiding solid caps, italics, wrap-around lines and all bold)

· Expresses meaning in concrete, concise, and correct language, using key terms for audience. Not a page of text.

· Provides Images, diagrams etc. that support the message

· Supports message with design and color (avoiding distractions)

· Use of headings on each slide

· Use of bulleted or numbered list

· Provides references on each page not a list at the end of the report (Name and date)

Please review the evaluation sheets on Blackboard for full details.

MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION REPORT –

ASSIGNMENT 150 Points

Write an informative report ( approximately five pages, that includes a summary page, the report and a reference page. Single-spaced and formatted [include charts, bulleted list etc]) ) that corresponds with your presentation.

The report should look like this:

Page 1 Title and Summary

Page 2-4 The report – Make sure you include the title and your name at the top of page 2.

Page 5 Reference Page

The short formal report, addressed to the class as an audience of current and future managers, should provide practical value to managerial communicators or managers of subordinates' communication initiatives.

Audience and Purpose

Write the report to this class as representative audience of new and future managers. Your purpose is to inform them about a significant managerial communication topic. Focus on a topic that receives attention in academic journal articles, trade literature for managers or trade books. Using your report, your readers should be able to apply practical advice that is research-based for dealing with managerial communication problem or issue.

Information

Use whatever is relevant in each publication to support your argument, mainly synthesizing, but paraphrasing, quoting sparingly and citing appropriately. Develop the information from your reading and your practical experience into a resource that is of potential value to your peers. Frame a point of view your audience can understand and critique. For example, "How employees use story telling (fantasy) during times of uncertainty.” Literature on why many employees reject deductive writing and communication might inform the story-telling topic.

Format

Present your materials as a modified formal report. Do not include a cover page . The first page should include your name the title and a brief summary. Please see Blackboard for examples. (This is not a term paper)

The body of the report should be heavily formatted with headings and subheadings, white space, with lists and charts as needed. Use deductive organization overall and on the section and paragraph level so that reader can glance over it rather than reading it carefully--and still grasp the message and main points.

The text should include citations for references, using the author and year (APA) method in parentheses, for example (Smith & Johnson, 1988). The references should be listed alphabetically according to APA format on an attached separate page entitled "References."

Suggestions

Prepare a report plan--Prepare a tentative outline for the report and a reference list. Plan to discuss your progress or any problems you encounter along the way with your instructor at least once before the due date. When outside class, plan on communicating with the instructor during office hours. Draft copy should be discussed while consulting with your instructor. Draft copy includes, outlines, headings, references, introductory material and rough drafts.

This report is to be submitted to Safe Assignment on the date shown in the syllabus

EVALUATION OF MANAGEMENT REPORT

These will include

· Introduction covers purpose. Bottom line first: forecasts/previews the contents, deductive

· Headings and subheadings reflect the forecast/preview and indicate contents of sections

· Short paragraphs focus on one topic and begin with the "Bottom line.”

· Provides reasoning why this is an issue that we need greater understanding, Focuses on developing reader's understanding/acceptance/action/negotiation. (Why should we care)

· Supports claims with adequate evidence and explanation (research)

· Provides charts, graphs and images to support overall claims as needed

· References are cited in APA format (Name & Date)

· References Page in APA format

· Overall, arrangement is "top-down" with claims presented before supporting evidence

Please review the evaluation sheets on Blackboard for full details.

Communication 3300: Business and Professional Presentations

List of Business Communication Publications

ADE Bulletin ADE Bulletin

Alabama English AlaE

American Biology Teacher AmBT

American Journal of Nursing AmJN

American Journal of Physics AmJPhys

American Journal of Psychology AmJPsy

AVideo AVideo

Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication BABC

The Balance Sheet BalS

College Composition and Communication CCC

College English CE

Chemtech Chemtech

Communication Education ComEd

Communication Monographs ComM

Communication Review ComR

Community Technical and Junior College Journal CTJCJ

Corporate Video Decisions CVD

English for Specific Purposes ESP

Et Cetera Et Cetera

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication IEEETPC

Information Management Review IMR

International Journal of the Sociology of Language IJSL

Journal of Advanced Composition JAC

Journal of Business Communication JBC

Journal of Business Ethics JBusEth

Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing JConENursing

Journal of College Science Teaching JCST

Journal of Documentation JDOC

Journal of Educational Research JER

Journal of Educational Psychology JEPsych

Journal of Educational Technology Systems JetSys

Journal of Research in Science Teaching JRST

Journal of Research on Computing in Education JRComputE

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication JTWC

Linguistics and Education Linguistics and Education

Management Communication Quarterly MCQ

Photomethods Photomethods

Public Opinion Quarterly POQ

Presentation Products Magazine Products

Quarterly Journal of Speech QJS

Rhetoric Society Quarterly RSQ

Rhetoric Review RR

Research in the Teaching of English RTE

Southern Communication Journal SCJ

Technical Communication TC

Teaching English in the Two-Year College TETYC

Technological Horizons in Education THE

The Technical Writing Teacher TWT

Written Communication WC

Western Journal of Speech Communication WJSC

WPA: Writing Program Administration WPA