BCIS 13 - Business Communication

Transfer Status

CSU

Unit(s)

3.00

• Lecture: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)
• Total: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)

Course Description: This course applies the principles of ethical, effective, and accessible communication to the creation of letters, memos, emails, and written and oral reports for a variety of business situations. The course emphasizes planning, organizing, composing, and revising business documents using word processing software for written documents and presentation-graphics software to create and deliver professional-level oral reports. This course is designed for students who already have college-level writing skills.

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Explain the elements of the communication process.
2. Analyze how word selection and usage affects communication.
3. Solve business communication problems through planning, problem solving, organizing, writing, listening, and presenting techniques.
4. Demonstrate the ability to adapt communication strategies to meet the needs, expectations, and cultural backgrounds of diverse audiences, showing awareness of cross-cultural norms, values, and preferences in both written and oral contexts.
5. Plan, organize, write, and revise accessible letters, memos, emails, and reports suitable for a variety of business situations, including quantitative (e.g. accounting and finance) and business legal contexts.
6. Plan and deliver accessible individual or team oral presentations for business meetings.
7. Evaluate communication challenges in an internationalization and global context.
8. Select a proper delivery format --face-to-face vs. electronic-- and identify the strengths of each modality.
9. Discuss uses of various types of social media and related Internet writing contexts.
10. Adjust composition, prose, and rhetorical language use for optimal conciseness and clarity.
11. Discuss the importance of accessibility and social etiquette applicable in a business environment.
12. Be able to discern and appreciate the differences between primary sources and secondary sources.
13. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of original work, the role of proper citations and references, and the ability to avoid plagiarism of either a deliberate or inadvertent nature.
14. Identify a basic logical fallacy in an oral or written context.

Topic Titles / Suggested Time Topic

Lecture

1. Class Activities
2. Demonstrations
3. Discussion
4. Homework: Students are required to complete two hours of outside-of-class homework for each hour of lecture
5. Lecture
6. Reading Assignments

1. Research Projects
2. Papers
3. Oral Presentation
4. Class participation
5. Written or Oral Examinations
6. Written Communications

Reading Assignments

1. Read about today's workplace communication channels in the "Essentials of Business Communication" textbook. Be prepared to discuss these channels and the factors which help a business professional select the best channel for various types of messages,including letters, memoranda, e-mails, and reports.
2. Read the section in the textbook about direct and indirect strategies in writing and when each would be used appropriately. Be ready to discuss this in teams and with the class.

Writing Assignments

1. Software engineers want to copy the latest version of Adobe Photoshop for personal use. Your task is to create a 1-2-page response that refuses this workplace request and utilizes the techniques appropriate for this type of situation.
2. Write a 1-2-page memorandum to your boss proposing that the company institute an educational reimbursement program for its employees. Explain the purpose of the program and the justifications for it, including how it would benefit the company and its employees. Apply the "You View" from the employer's perspective. Incorporate a bulleted list using parallelism. Use standard business memorandum formatting.

Out-of-Class Assignments

1. As a member of a student task force, you are asked to identify something you perceive as a problem at Butte College. Working in groups, select an issue to study, create a survey, conduct interviews, and prepare a summary to present to the class.
2. Create a 1-2-page credit refusal letter to Rudy's Camera Shop declining their sizable order. The rejection is based on poor credit history. As an alternative, suggest that your company is willing to accept smaller orders if Rudy's is willing to pay cash.

Guffey, M.E. & Loewy, D. (2023). Essentials of Business Communication. Cengage, 12th. 9780357714973.

Office Technologies

Business (Masters Required)

Business Education (Masters Required)