BA324 Test Ch1-6

1.3 Significant trends in todays dynamic, networked work environment and recognize that social media requires excellent communication skills, especially in an uncertain economy

-Americans put in longer hours with shorter vacation b/c of easy connectivity -global expansion- Rise of new communication technology removal of trade barriers, advanced transportation, and saturated local markets -Shrinking management layers in response to global competition- communication lines shorter so quicker reactions -Teams of people with various experiences produce consumer demanded products Virtual office- workspace that's mobile and decentralized

6.4 Recognize proofreading problem areas, and apply effective techniques to catch mistakes in both routine and complex documents

-Check spelling, grammar, names, numbers, format, and punctuation -Safer/easier to proofread a printed copy

1.1 Communication skills fuel career success and why writing is vital in the digital workplace embracing social media

-Communication skills most desirable for hiring -Communication skills- reading, listening, nonverbal, speaking, writing

3.3 Strategies for intercultural effectiveness and nonverbal intercultural communication and how social media affects it, and also apply techniques for oral and written interactions between cultures

-Culture is learned -Ethnocentrism- belief in the superiority of one's own race -stereotype- oversimplified behavioral pattern applied uncritically to groups -prototype- mental representations based on general characteristics that aren't fixed -Improve intercultural communication: oral (eye messages, encourage accurate feedback, accept blame, listen, smile, follow up), written (short sentences/paragraphs, observations, avoid ambitious expression, clarity, correct grammar, cite #s correctly)

4.3 Analyze the purpose of a message, anticipate its audience, and select the best communication channel

-Determine your purpose immediately (primary- inform and persuade, secondary- promote goodwill) -Anticipate and profile audience and understand there may be a secondary audience through a forwarded email -Select best channel through cost, importance, speed, formality, confidentiality, richness, etc -Levels of richness- face to face, phone, video chat, email, IM, letter, memo, blog, report, wiki

3.5 Explain the advantages and challenges of workforce diversity, and address approaches for improving communication among diverse workplace audiences

-Domestic wkforce is becoming more diverse -More diversity builds products more demanded by consumers, helps with team building, and helps business organizations with employee relations and productivity -Diversity sometimes leads people to think of prejudices (men vs. women, old vs. young) -To improve communication with diversity seek training, understand the value of differences, don't expect conformity, make less assumptions, and build on similarities

2.1 Understand importance of teamwork in the digital era and explain how you can contribute positively to team performance

-Education, experience, hard/soft skills -teams help with better decisions, faster responses, increase productivity greater buy-in, less resistance to change, improved morale, reduced risks -virtual teams- collaboration with workers in other countries 4 Phases of Team Development: 1. Forming- getting to know team members, 2. Storming- members define roles(where conflict arises), 3. Norming- info flow among members, 4. Performing- "Can-do" mentality Groupthink-faulty decision making by members who are over eager to agree with others Positive group behavior- setting/abiding rules, listening, encouraging, contributing Negative group behavior- blocking ideas, insulting, wasting time, withdrawing Group Decisions- majority, consensus(discussion until all members agree), minority(subcommittee investigates), averaging(members negotiate to reach middle ground), authority rule with discussion Effective teams- small, diverse, agree on procedures/purpose, confront conflict, communicate effectively, ethical responsibility, leadership, collaborate>compete

5.2 explain how to generate ideas and organize information to show relationships

-Effective brainstorming with peers: define problem and create agenda for topics, establish time limits, set quota, wild thinking and write on flip card, organize/classify ideas -Group ideas with an outline or lists -2 organizational strategies: direct- main idea 1st, followed by evidence (neutral/pleased audience) indirect- details first, then main idea (uninterested/angry audience with bad news)

6.3 Enhance readability

-Employ white space -Understand margin/text alignment (1in-1.5in) -Choose appropriate type faces -Serif- small features at end of strokes used in books, newspapers, and magazines (Times New Roman, Century, etc) -Sans Serif- used in headings, signs, and materials (Arial, Gothic Century, Tahoma, etc) -Don't use more than 2 fonts per document -Use correct capitalization and type size -Number when sequence matters, bullet when it doesn't -Capitalize first word of each line when it's a sentence -Add end punctuation if it's a complete sentence -Use parallelism in the lines -Add headings for visual impact

3.4 Grasp ethics across cultures (business practices abroad, bribery, prevailing customs, and methods of coping)

-Ethic code of conducts to live up to expectations -US is least corruptible country and has strong anti-bribery laws -When making global ethical decisions, consider broadening your view, avoiding reflex judgements, find alternatives, refuse business if violates your beliefs, embrace transparency, don't rationalize shady decisions, and resist legalistic strategies 5 Questions: 1. is the action legal? 2. Would you do it if you were on the opposite side? 3. Can you rule out a better alternative? 4. Would a trusted advisor agree? 5. Would family, friends, coworkers, etc approve?

4.4 Employ expert writing techniques (incorporating audience benefits, the "you" view, conversational/professional language, positive tone, bias-free language, plain language, and vigorous words)

-Focus on audience and "you" view with 2nd person pronouns (you, your) -Use conversational/professional tone with familiar words -Write with positive tone which makes it more knowledgeable (Ex: Your order can't be shipped by Jan 10 OR Your order will arrive Jan 12.) -Write with courtesy and without bias to gender, race, culture, etc -Jargon- technical terms in a field, only use it when whole audience will understand it

5.1 Apply phase 2 of the 3X3 writing process, beginning with formal and informal research to collect background info

-Informal research methods- search comp. files, talking with boss, interview target audience, conduct an informal survey -Formal research- access electronic sources, search manually, investigate primary sources, conduct scientific experiments

6.2 Improve clarity in business messages

-Keep it short and Simple (KISS formula) -Dump trite business phrases, cliches, slang, and buzzwords -Rescue buried verbs- zombie nouns (conduct a discussion --- discuss) -Control exuberance

6.1 Complete business messages by revising for conciseness (eliminating flabby expressions, long lead-ins, "there is/are" and it "is/was" fillers, redundancies, and empty words, and condense for microblogging

-Limit long lead-ins -Drop unnecessary there is/are and it is/was fillers -Reject redundancies (absolutely essential --- essential) -Purge empty words -Write concisely for blogging Microblogging- short messages exchanged on social media

2.3 Explain and apply active listening techniques

-Listening is vital -Control external/internal distractions -Become actively involved -Separate facts from opinions -Identify important facts -Avoid interrupting -Ask clarifying questions -Paraphrase to increase understanding -Capitalize on lag time -Take notes to ensure retention -Be aware of gender differences

2.2 Discuss effective practices and technologies for planning/participating in face to face meetings and virtual meetings

-Meeting purpose: intensive problem solving (5 or less people), Problem ID (10 or fewer), Info Review/Presentation (30 or less), Motivational (unlimited) virtual meeting- gathering of participants who are connected technologically

4.5 Understand how teams approach collaborative writing projects and what collaboration tools support team writing

-Necessary for big projects, short deadlines, or when you require the expertise of many people -Collaboration produces a better product -Work close together in Phase 1 (Prewriting), separately in Phase 2 (Drafting), and together in Phase 3 (Revising) Digital collaborations- wikis, email, text message, googledoc, dropbox, track change, etc -Revise others work with a positive attitude

5.5 Draft effective paragraphs using 3 paragraph plans and techniques for achieving paragraph cohesiveness

-One topic per paragraph -topic sentence- reveals primary idea in paragraph and is first -Supporting sentence- illustrates primary idea -Limiting sentence- opposes primary idea by suggesting a contrasting thought 3 Paragraph Plans: 1. Direct- begin with topic sentence, then supporting sentence 2. Pivoting- start with limiting sentence, then topic, then supporting (compare/contrast ideas, emphasize turn in direction with "but") 3. Indirect- start with supporting, conclude with topic sentence -To develop paragraph coherence, sustain key ideas, dovetail sentences, include pronouns, transitional expressions, and short paragraphs for readability

Effective Writing Strategies

-Separate facts/opinions, one topic per paragraph, positive tone, precise/vigorous words

Listening in the Workplace

-Stop talking, maintain an open mind, control distractions, become actively involved, separate facts/opinions, identify important facts, ask clarifying questions, paraphrase to increase understanding, take notes to ensure retention, provide verbal/nonverbal feedback

5.4 Improve writing techniques by emphasizing important ideas, employing active/passive voice effectively, using parallelism, and preventing dangling/misplaced modifiers

-Stress important ideas mechanically (bold) or stylistically (vivid words, label main idea, empathy) -Active voice- subject performs action (more direct and easy) Ex: Justin must submit a tex return. -Passive voice- subject receives action (useful to emphasize action over person, neg. news) Ex. The tax return was submitted by Justin. -Parallelism- match noun with noun, active with active, passive with passive, etc -Dangling/misplaced modifiers- modifier must be close to the word it describes (After working overtime, the report was finally finished. After working overtime, we finally finished the report.)

3.2 Define culture and its primary characteristics and explain the 5 key dimensions of culture (context, individualism, time orientation, power distance, and communication style)

-Understand how culture affects different global markets context- environment surrounding an event (low context cultures- logical, analytical, and action oriented, high context cultures- intuitive and contemplative)

6.5 Evaluate a message to judge its effectiveness

-Writing reflects your appearance!

Concepts of Effective Writing

1. Pre-writing- analyze, anticipate, and adapt 2. Drafting- research, organize, and draft 3.Revising- edit, proof-read, and evaluate

4.2 Summarize the 3X3 writing process and explain how it guides a writer

1. Prewriting(<25%)- analyze(whats the purpose?), anticipate(profile audience), adapt(message to audience) 2. Drafting(25%)- research(gather data for facts), organize(direct message with big idea first or indirect with negative messages), draft(short sentences with active voice, coherent) 3. Revising(50%)- edit, proofread, evaluate(will this message achieve your purpose?)

5.3 Compose the first draft of a message using a variety of sentence types and avoiding fragments, run ons, and comma splices

1. Simple Sentence- one complete thought (indep. clause) 2. Compound Sentence- 2 complete, but related thoughts (joined by conjunction, semicolon, or conjunctive adverb) 3. Complex Sentence- independent clause and dependent clause (When the entrepreneur saw the opp., she responded immediately.) 4. Compound-Complex Sentence- at least 2 independent clauses and 1 dependent clause (When the entrepreneur saw the opportunity, she responded immediately; however, she needed capital.) Sentence Faults: fragment (broken part of complex sentence), run-on (2 independent clauses not joined by conjunction), comma splice (writer joins 2 independent clauses with comma) -Average sentence = 20 words (Understanding decreases as word count increases)

Effective Feedback

1. Specific- explicit, quantitative 2. Behavioral- description of what has been seen 3. Timely- delivered soon after performance 4. Frequent- regular feedback builds accountability 5. Balanced- with desirable/undesirable performances 6. Constructive- supportive manner 7. Relevant- focus on progress and end results 8. Accurate

1.4 Examine the internal and external flow of communication in organizations through formal and informal channels, and explain the importance of effective media choices while overcoming barriers to organizational communication

Business communication in 3 categories- inform, persuade, and promote goodwill Internal communication- exchange ideas/messages with superiors/coworkers External communication- comm. w/ customers suppliers, gov, etc Social presence- degree to which people are engaged and connected online -Daft and Lengel's "Media Richness and Communcation Effectiveness" (Figure 1.9) -Downward communication- management to subordinates (policies, job plans, etc) -Upward communication- subordinates to managers (product feedback, customer data, problems, etc) -Horizontal communication- among same level workers (problem solving, idea generation, etc) -Barriers blocking communication flow- turf wars, ego involvement, lack of trust, top heavy structure, etc grapevine- informal communication with gossip Respons ethically to office gossip

7 C's of Business Communication

Clear(precise, vigorous words, and active voice), conversational(group your ideas, no cliches/jargon/pompeous), courteous(straightforward, respectful tone), coherent(transitions and other ideas logically), concise(no redundancies, minimum use of perfect tense), complete, correct

1.5 Analyze ethics in the workplace with communication, and recognize/avoid ethical traps

Ethics- conventional standards of right/wrong that prescribe what people should do Ethical Traps: False Necessity Trap- feeling you're doing what you must do Doctrine of Relative Filth Trap-comparing actions to worse actions of others Rationalization Trap- justification with excuses Self-deception Trap-inflating accomplishments to impress other Ends-justify-means Trap- taking unethical action to accomplished desired goal

Communication Barriers

Interpersonal- relationship between 2 people (personal issues, formality) Intrapersonal- yourself (personal emotions, sick) Cultural- different cultures (feedback, time) Business environment- (difficult manager, gossip, dealing with few too levels of management within the company) Writing- (lack of skills, wrong grammar, bad tone)

2.4 Understand how effective nonverbal communication can help you advance your career

Nonverbal Communications: eye contact, facial expression, posture/gesture, time, space, territory, appearance of people/business doc

2.5 Improve your competitive advantage with professional etiquette skills

Proper etiquette- polite words, sincere praise, selective in sharing personal info, rise above rudeness, disagree agreeably

3.1 Understand effects of globalization and the trends fueling it

Why expand globally? - favorable trade agreements, emergence of middle class in emerging economies, advancements in transportation and logistics, decking domestic markets, growing reach of info/communication technology -Domestic wkforce is becoming increasingly diverse

4.1 Understand nature of communication and its barriers in the digital age

communication- transmission of information and meaning from a sender to a receiver Communication Process: 1. Sender has an idea- shaped off own experiences, must analyze idea and how it can be presented and anticipate effect on receiver (could be vague/unclear) 2. Sender encodes message- consider receivers background, choose concrete words/symbols (could choose wrong medium) 3. Sender selects channel to transmit message- choose channel receiver prefers, reduce channel noise, be aware of competing messages (could choose wrong channel) 4. Receiver decodes message- avoid prejudging message, strive to understand verbal/nonverbal cues, ignore distractions, expect to learn (could not hear/understand) 5. Feedback returns to sender- craft clear response (receiver could have wrong impression, cultural differences) Communication Barriers: 1. Bypassing- use different meanings ("help") 2. Differing Frames of Reference- unique frame based off culture, experience, education, etc 3. Lack of language skills 4. Distractions

1.2 Tools for success in the hyper connected 21st century workplace, and appreciate critical thinking skills in the job market of the digital age

knowledge worker- paid for education and ability to learn information worker- those who produce/consume info in the workplace Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process: 1. Explore the Challenge (identify, gather info, and clarify the problem) 2. Generate ideas (come up with ideas to solve problem, pick most promising idea) 3. Implement Solution (select and strengthen solutions, plan how to bring your solution to life)