Course Description: Analysis of the principles of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and presenting business data. Written and oral reports involving problem solving in the business management process.

 Instructor: Dr. Jeanette W. Gilsdorf Office: CBA 427 Hours: T-T 3:15 - 4:45; T 6-7 p.m.; and by appt. Phone: 562-985-4553 (has voice mail) HOME 909-399-0107 Fax: 562-985-5543 or -4080; HOME fax 909-624-4022

 Course objectives: The objectives of this course include the development of (a) An understanding of the uses of written and oral reports in the business organization. (b) An ability to plan, prepare, and present the variety of oral and written reports typically required in the business organization. (c) A style of communication appropriate to typical reporting situations in business. (d) An ability to contribute to the solutions of business problems through collecting, organizing, analyzing, and presenting primary and secondary data.

Required text: Gilsdorf & Vik, Business Communication, Primus Publishing, Inc.,1998. Additional readings packet to be available from bookstore copy center. You'll need one blank videotape cassette.

TESTS: Because students will do considerable writing and oral work throughout the session, the tests will be objective. There will be one midterm and one final. The final will stress those materials covered since the midterm but may include some points (no more than 5 - 10 percent) from material before the midterm.

 Policy on withdrawals follows CSULB, CBA, and IS department policy. Attendance is required. Please word-process or typewrite all written assignments. Keep your disk.

 PAPERS requiring documentation must follow APA Style. See pp. 592-595; and p. 601 in textbook. For electronic/on-line sources see pp. 261-268. Also, consult Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), available in the Library's Ref. Dept.

 MURPHY RULES THE UNIVERSE. But Murphy can be thwarted: (1) Make yourself a file copy of all written assignments you hand in for the course, to fail-safe the system. (2) Start EVERYTHING early.

 PENALTY FOR LATE PAPERS: IN FAIRNESS TO THE PROMPT STUDENTS, A PENALTY FOR LATENESS WILL BE ASSESSED. GENUINE CRISIS? ASK ABOUT "MEMO REQUESTING VARIANCE." Inadequate planning on your part does not constitute a crisis.

 GRADING BASIS

A = 92 - 100
B = 84 - 91.9
C = 76 - 83.9
D = 68 - 75.9
E = 67.9 and below

A low "B" on a 100-point paper, for example, earns 84 points, not 80. While you may be used to a 90-80-70-60 scale, the narrower ranges and higher scale tend to balance the qualitative grading on presentations, which tends to be generous, with the quantitative grading used on objective exams.
Semester after semester, my grade distribution is fully comparable with that of other I.S. 301 instructors.

POINT VALUES - WRITTEN POINT VALUES - ORAL
 
 routine/direct message      30             self-intro (about 1 minute)                 (0)
unwelcome news message  30             1-minute impromptu (1 or 2)             10 - 20
persuasive message            30             report on news article (5 minutes)     50
vocabulary words 6 at 5 pt. 30             term project (10 min.)                         100
annotated sources I (3 pp)   50                                                                         160-170
annotated sources II (3 pp) 50
term report                         100               EXAMS midterm        100
                                           320                                             final 100
TOTAL POINTS: 680-90                                                            200

NOTE: Additional very short oral or written presentations - usually impromptu, usually worth about 10 points, and usually based on assigned reading - may be assigned in the course of the semester. The "total points" number will rise accordingly.

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WEEK          SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
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Aug 25         Orientation to course. Self-intro
    [27]          Ch 1 - Basics of Business Communication DUE, written: 1-page self-intro. See assignments ¯. (ungraded; I'll Ö it in.)
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Sept 1     Ch 2 - Routine, Direct Business Messages. rpts & rptg, cont [jwg phone stuf!!] DUE, written: 6-10 WORDS
    [ 3]     Ch 3 -Business Writing Style AND pp. 26-29.
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Sept 8     Ch 3, cont. – Bus. Writing Style AND pp. 61-64
     [10]

Written Self-Introduction Memo Length: a page (»200 words), word processed, single-spaced. See Appendix A for memo format.

Using good paragraph style, put in writing the unique things you said when you introduced yourself to the class. Suggested (but not necessarily required) content would include place of birth, size of family, special talents and skills or accomplishments, travels, experiences, preferred pastimes, kids or pets (if any), your expectations for this course, and anything else unusual that makes you the person you are.
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VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Each day, read business news. Watch for words that are unfamiliar to you.

To the class meetings specified in the SCHEDULE, bring (handwritten legibly), between 6 and 10 words (a) that are new to you and (b) that would be useful in a business person's vocabulary. I'll collect them, check them in (5 pt credit), and return them to you. For each word, give

Sample (from item on marketing the arts):
 

· the word, correctly spelled    · the context in which you came across it - this means the sentence or sentence part, quoted word for word   · the definition of the word as used in that context    · the periodical, date, and page where you found it

· inveterate   · "...Leonard Bernstein, a gifted composer  and inveterate ham,...."   · settled in a habit or practice; habitual; chronic   · Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8, 1996, p. A 1.

The rules:

· If the word is being used as a noun, define it as a noun - not as a verb or something else. Define verbs with verbs. Define adjectives with adjectives, and so on.
· Don't define a word using another form of the same word (e.g., outmaneuvered: defeated by more skillful maneuvering.) (Now you need to define maneuvering.)
· Some words have multiple meanings. Be sure you provide the right meaning for the context where you find the word.
· Do not guess at the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Copy correctly. Spell correctly. Write legibly.
I'm eager to give you all the points. You can LOSE points, however, for doing an incomplete or sloppy job on this.
These will NOT be on any exam. Benefit: You'll learn and remember many of them all your life.
NOTE: This exercise is not intended to penalize people whose vocabularies are already large. If you're in this category, you don't have to find words unfamiliar to you. Just read the business news and bring 6-10 good words.

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Direct-Structure Message Length: about 1 page, single-spaced

You work as an assistant to the vice president of administration at Catalog Express, a mail-order seller of kitchen- and house-wares, small sportswear items, gifts, toys, and novelties. The company's 85 employees include designers, buyers, mailing-list workers, order processors, warehouse personnel, and accounting and sales people, among others.

 Your firm offers numerous unusual designer items that set it apart from other mail-order vendors. Naturally, Catalog Express wants to discourage people from copying its good ideas. Because the business has grown rapidly, the physical plant is spread out, with a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building, a warehouse with a truck dock, and several small temporary buildings. About 70 percent of employees are shift workers, working either 6 a.m. - 3 p.m. or 3 p.m. - 12 p.m. About 30 percent of employees work a normal 8:00 - 5:00 day.

 Problem: Your boss, Leslie Johnson (you decide whether it's Ms. or Mr. Johnson) has become concerned at the number of non-employees that people are seeing in the building. Five years ago, employees were few enough that everyone knew everyone else. Now numerous people do not know one other. Johnson doesn't want to turn the place into an armed camp, but your boss has decided that the firm urgently needs employee photo-identification badges (even for top managers) and some control on who comes and goes, where people go, and whether they are escorted. You have a receptionist, of course, but she cannot cover more than the reception area.

 You are asked to think the matter through, develop a plan, and draft a memo explaining what is to be done, and why. The memo will be directed to all employees and will go out under Johnson's name, not your name. Johnson will authorize the final draft, but the writing task is all yours. (Hint: Don't let the new arrangement sound like a downer. Consider, and emphasize, its advantages both to employees personally and to the organization.)

 You'll need to think about logistics: There's a main entrance. The main building, the warehouse (with a truck dock opening to an alley and a security guard at the dock), and the temporary buildings are within a landscaped area with a security fence around it, but there's no control past the main entrance and the truck dock. Between midnight and 6 a.m. one security guard makes rounds of the property.

 Your memo needs to describe the changes that have to be made. What controls need to be imposed? How do the changes affect employees? Who will be responsible for what? Which places, if any, will be off limits to outsiders? What responsibility will an employee have for politely challenging a person without an ID badge?

 The memo also needs to inform the employees of the arrangements for photo IDs for employees. One of your art departments has a digital camera, with immediate output that you can laminate on a badge. Tell employees what other information will go on the badge. Tell them when, where, and how to get their photo taken.

 Try to foresee what questions employees will have, and answer them in your memo. Make the process sound rational, orderly, and unthreatening. Be reader-centered. Use memo format (see textbook pages 561, 563, and 564). Write clearly and correctly. Do NOT borrow heavily from the wording in this assignment.

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Unwelcome News Message Assignment Length: about a page; roughly 200 words. Use LETTER format and indirect structure.

[Case comes from Guffey, M. E. (1994). Business Communication: Process and Product. Belmont, CA: ITP, pp. 218-219.]

 "Dustin Ronzonni, a magazine editor, asks your organization, Panatronics International, for confidential information regarding the salaries and commissions of your top sales representatives. The magazine, Marketing Monthly, plans to spotlight young sales professionals 'whose stars are ascending.' You've got some great young superstars, as well as many excellent mature sales representatives. Frankly, the publicity would be great. You would agree in a minute except that (1) you don't want to be forced to pick favorites among your sales reps and (2) you can't reveal private salary data. Every sales rep operates under an individual salary contract. During salary negotiations several years ago, an agreement was reached in which both sales staff members and management agreed to keep the terms of these individual contracts confidential. Perhaps the editor would be satisfied with a list that ranks your top sales reps for the past five years. You could also send a fact sheet describing your top reps. You notice that three of the current top sales reps are under the age of thirty-five. Write a refusal that retains the goodwill of Marketing Monthly, 145 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011."

 Some considerations:

Persuasive Message - about a page or (roughly) 250 words. Use MEMO format. Write using a clear, correct style.

You are executive assistant to Greg Bautzer, the new Vice President of Administration at Reservations America, a firm that sells its services to the hospitality industry. He has observed weaknesses in communication skills in about 40 percent of your front-line employees. He believes the problem is too extensive to correct by having individuals set self-help goals.

 He sees deficient communication skills in writing, giving directions, handling telephone contacts with customers, and completing reports. "They sound unprofessional on the phone," he told you. "They aren't concentrating on transcribing reservation information accurately. The level of customer complaints is unacceptable--people have to be able to depend on a reservation that they make. Also, when I've listened to some of those people tell how to get to a hotel in a given city, I'm surprised the customer doesn't end up somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean." He has assigned you the job of developing a training program, motivating needful employees to take and profit from the training, and measuring skill levels before and after the training.

 You held a similar job under the previous Vice President of Administration, Brent Cole, and you know some history. Cole was an excellent technical person whose communication skills, though adequate, were not outstanding. Less attuned to "people skills" than Bautzer is, Cole didn't pick up on employees' communication weaknesses. Employees figured this out and got even more lax. Occasionally someone was fired for making too many mistakes, but no one really pointed out the link between mistakes and sloppy communication. Training programs occurred from time to time, but most employees regarded them as "in-house vacation" time. Employees signed up eagerly, enjoyed the donuts and soft drinks, and made few or no changes in their skills. The trainers hired from outside were bewildered at the audience of trainees interested only in chitchat and hanging out, and wondered why Reservations America was wasting money.

 This must change, obviously. Through your network of contacts you have located new trainers, budgeted funds, and chosen a time a couple of months in the future when the company will be a little less busy and more able to allocate some paid employee time to training. You have devised a program for spot monitoring, which has already taken effect. You will use this spot monitoring for your "before" and "after" measurement. Your real problem, though, is changing the way employees think about communication training.

 Here are some considerations:

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ORAL PRESENTATION on in-depth business news story - 5 min. 50 pt.

Each student will make a 5-minute talk on a business news story of interest to him or her. We'll have several per class session, starting the 3rd week of the term. You'll be scheduled for your week at random.

The use of one or two visual aids is recommended. Read textbook pp. 285-290 for guidelines on preparing them; transparencies are probably most practical at this point. Hand in one hard copy of each visual on the evening you give your talk - be sure your name is on each. Make sure your type on the transparencies is at least 14 pt or larger.

First, locate an in-depth business news feature that interests you. Avoid "personality" features. Articles on business trends and happenings are much more instructive. Good possibilities are any BusinessWeek cover story, or any front-page-left-hand-column business-related news feature of the Los Angeles Times, or any front-page column-one or column-four business-related news feature of the Wall Street Journal. Your choice, if you find a business article elsewhere, should be comparable in length and in reliability of source. Look in several recent back issues - you don't want to be in the position of having to talk to the class on an article on which one (or several!!) other class members have just spoken.

Prepare a 5-minute talk in which you summarize the article's main content and tell the class why it's important to know about the issue. Explain the topic's importance to people in business careers.

Speak from notecards only, and do NOT write whole sentences on any card unless there's a BRIEF direct quote from someone the writer has quoted that you want to give word for word. You'll talk, not read. PRACTICE the talk in front of a mirror, several times, and work toward 100 percent eye contact with audience. Make sure the talk is the right length.

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1-MINUTE ORAL IMPROMPTUS - 10 pt each

The instructor will call a name; that student will stand and face the class. The instructor will read a "discussable" question (one on which virtually everyone will have some kind of opinion, and one that has no right or wrong answer).

The student should take a few seconds to think of about three points to make in response to that question, and then speak for a minute: briefly introduce the response, make the three points, and conclude intelligently. A student timer will hold up a sign when one minute is up.

Rules: You must keep talking for a minute, and you must sound intelligent. You need not be right. No one will argue. You can even re-phrase the question if it comes to you in a form that you can't respond to. If you can do absolutely nothing with a question, you have one "peremptory challenge" - you can ask for a different question.

The 10 points are very easy to get. About the only way you lose points is if you stop talking before the minute is up. You can continue past one minute long enough to finish out your thought.

We'll try to do two rounds of these this semester. Past students have found this an enjoyable experience. Would you believe it?

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Term-Project-Related Assignments

Update an important business topic of your choice. You will complete, on this topic,

* two separate assignments that require writing abstracts

* your written term project

* your final oral presentation

Numerous examples of timely topics are listed on the next page, but you are not restricted to these. If you have a topic idea but are in doubt about its appropriateness, ask your instructor. DON'T select a topic that is highly controversial; doing so will increase greatly the potential for bias in your report. Specifics of the assignments follow.

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(1) Abstracts of five sources from WWW/Internet - 50 pt. Length: 2-3 pages. See schedule for separate due date.

Choose, thoughtfully, a business topic that interests you and on which you are sure you can find information. Your research may be in any area of business, so long as the topic is not one you have already done for another class.

Give your choice serious thought. Read ahead in the textbook and in textbooks in your major; spend an hour or two browsing current business periodicals in the library seeing what exists on the topic or topics in which you are interested. Remember that any problems you avoid now need not be solved later.

WWW/Internet sources need to be solid, credible, and long enough that they accomplish something. Download and save the articles to disk. Print out the articles to be submitted with the abstracts. Exception: If an article is longer than three pages, print out only the first three pages.

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(2) Abstracts of five sources from printed periodical literature - 50 pt . Length: 2-3 pages. See schedule for separate due date

Use indexes to business periodical literature to locate appropriate long articles from printed sources: a Business Week cover story, a Wall Street Journal long feature article, a research report in a scholarly journal, a long article in a practitioner journal.

I will be evaluating based on your perceived effort, your success in locating sources, referencing sources fully (including dates on-line sources were posted on line OR, if that is unavailable, the date you accessed the source), perceived quality of sources located, summarizing accurately and usefully, probable usefulness of information to a business reader with an information need in the area, clarity of your writing, and your control of writing errors.

Examples: What's been published since Jan. 1, 1997, in (choose ONE topic and concentrate on BUSINESS -- not consumer -- aspects) (You are not limited to these. They are examples to get you started thinking. Any business topic of suitable depth is open to your choice, but your instructor must approve it):

saving/investment trends for Gen-X
modifications of fast foods for specific foreign countries
NAFTA and the environment
the beginning environmentalist movement in one or more of US's foreign trading partners
NAFTA and U.S. jobs
changing business opportunities because of aging Baby Boomer generation
the gambling industry on Indian land
how joint ventures in (choose one industry) are doing in the PROC
marketing a type of investment
effects of welfare reform on _____ industry in (state)
the fixed-price auto pricing strategy
costs of "frivolous" lawsuits
the IRS's computer upgrade
encryption software and the U.S. government
civil rights organizations for Asian-Am's
the Islamic groundswell in secular Turkey and/or Egypt (and what it means for business)
advances in recycling industries
the beginning of a shift toward tolerance in Iran (and what it means for business)
workplace violence (1 person)
government regulations that affect the business management of team sports
Roth IRAs (only 1 person can choose this)
privatizing a given public service (trash collection, jails, highways)
WWW via TV cable? How practical; how soon?
a developing industry in India (e.g., software)
legal aid as an employee benefit
changes in job opportunities (job title, pay, projected numbers needed, etc.)
insurance coverage for mental health
for a person with your major
pesticide-free pest control for agriculture
first-home buying patterns in the real estate industry: Who buys? What prices?
illegal but healthy enterprises in Russia
something your present boss needs to know but lacks time or inclination to study

YOUR TERM REPORT will be a paper that combines and integrates your sources. More details on this below.

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ORAL PRESENTATION OF TERM REPORT - 10 MIN. 100 PT. Last three or four weeks of the semester

So that others may benefit from your research, you'll present a formal oral report of your completed research. Much more information on this assignment will be given during the semester.

The purposes of your presentation are (a) to share the information you have learned with your colleagues, (b) to give you practice in selecting from your written report those highlights that are important for a complete understanding and appreciation of your research, and (c) to present this information convincingly and skillfully. Your oral presentation should reflect these important objectives. Attendance at the oral-presentation sessions - like all other sessions - is required.

You must not read. Bring no notes other than a few phrases to cue your memory, on a FEW notecards. NO READING FROM WRITTEN-OUT PAPERS OR CARDS. Without adequate eye contact your grade is unlikely to rise above a C.

You will be asked to incorporate at least one visual.

You will be videotaped (please bring a VHS tape to your presentation for that purpose) and will critique your own talk in a memo which you'll bring to the final exam.

From Research Question to Final Report -- READ THIS CAREFULLY

By about the midterm you will have settled on the topic of your final report. Ideally, it's the same topic on which you found five electronic sources and five hard-copy sources. Now you will need to shape the research question that your final report will answer. Read through the material below and consider how-- or if -- you need to narrow or focus your topic.

Earlier, you were advised to avoid topics that would be of interest only to individuals. Maintain a business, not a personal, focus. "Which car-CD player is the best value for the money?" is interesting, but would not be of interest to a business organization. Even a marketing researcher would be unlikely to formulate a research question in this way.

Avoid topics on which opinion is polarized. Examples are the safety of nuclear power plants, oil spills, and the like. First, it's hard to obtain impartial, factual information. Second, it's hard to set aside one's own opinions completely enough to process new information dispassionately - if it can be found.

Don't set out to build an argument. It's essential to understand the need for objectivity.

Don't resist narrowing your topic. What you undertake to do, you must do thoroughly, and until you are well along in your reading, you are unlikely to be aware of the volumes of information that exist on some topics. Don't "promise the moon." An insufficiently narrowed topic causes you to lose grade value because it's impossible to deliver thorough treatment of a broad topic. A business report cannot be shallow. Anything you do not exclude in the wording of your research question and scope, statement, the reader will expect you to cover.

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FINAL WRITTEN REPORT - due the second last week of class - 100 pt

Your report should run 6 - 7 pages (about 2500 words) including introduction, body, and conclusion. The title page, letter of transmittal and bibliography (in alphabetical order) are in addition to the 6-7 pages. The letter of transmittal contains a "Here is the report on xxxx that you requested on date " statement, a brief paragraph saying what the most important points are, a brief paragraph acknowledging any special assistance you received (if any), and a gracious remark at the end saying you were pleased to do the report.

Turn in two copies of your term report. Be sure the pages are numbered. Do not supply any plastic or paper report binder. Staple the report. Your instructor will grade and return one copy and keep the other on file.

The introduction must contain your research question, narrowed, focused, and clearly stated; a scope statement (specifying exactly what you are including and excluding), and purpose of the study -- i.e., why it is important. In the introduction also give briefly your research strategy: what indexes and databases you searched. Do this in such a way that the reader will feel confident that you are systematically and thoroughly covering all the necessary ground and that your information will be complete and credible. Definitions are needed if you are using any important terms in a way the reader won't immediately understand. As a transition to the report body, give the reader a brief preview of the way your report body will be organized.

Assume at least some prior knowledge on the reader's part; otherwise the report might be too elementary.

The report body contains the information you found. Use a system of headings, and at least one visual. Use in-text references, done according to APA style. An example is (Byers, 1994, pp. 276-277); this in-text note would refer the reader to your bibliography, which should also be done in APA style.

The conclusion contains a summary of main points and any inferences you can draw on the basis of the summary. Most reports should NOT contain a recommendation. You are gathering information, not trying to get someone to do something.

Allow yourself generous amounts of time as the due date nears. Writing and revising take time. Occasionally you discover a weakness or a gap in information after you thought you had gathered it all. Sometimes Murphy (of Murphy's Law) creates a catastrophe for you. No one ever expects a catastrophe, but every semester, someone is visited by one. Ensure your success. Allow extra time.

Use your most competent business writing style. That means clear, correct, plain, direct, concise, businesslike English -- nothing fancy, wordy, or pompous. Be sure to proofread your report carefully. Watch sentence structure, appearance, formation of the possessive, spelling, and all the other errors that mar the good impression your work can make.