COM 295T Wk 1 – Apply: Signature Assignment: Credibility and Empathy

Using Emotional Intelligence to Show You Care

Managers need to be prepared to handle employee situations with empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ). The goal of this activity is to demonstrate sincere interest in others and show your emotional intelligence in challenging situations.

Wang-Li, an engineer at Cog Engineering, just learned that he must fly back home to China for a family emergency. How do his managers react to his telling them about the situation? How would you?

COM 295T Wk 1 – Practice: Demonstrating Cultural Intelligence

Manager’s Hot Seat: Demonstrating Cultural Intelligence

Business professionals who are high in cultural intelligence possess skills and attributes to work effectively with members of other cultures. They respect, recognize, and appreciate cultural differences; possess curiosity and interest in other cultures; avoid inappropriate stereotypes; adjust conceptions of time and show patience; manage language differences to achieve shared meaning; understand cultural dimensions; establish trust and show empathy across cultures; approach cross-cultural work relationships with a learner mind-set; and build co-cultures of cooperation and innovation.

Individuals high in cultural intelligence have a good understanding of cultural dimensions. In the book you are introduced to eight cultural dimensions. In this exercise you will pay attention to six of these dimensions: individualism and collectivism, egalitarianism and hierarchy, future orientation, assertiveness, humane orientation, and performance orientation.

Indians are generally considered fairly high in collectivism, whereas Americans are generally considered fairly high in individualism.

Indians are generally considered fairly high in hierarchy, whereas Americans focus more on egalitarianism.

Indians and Americans both tend to be medium to fairly high in future orientation.

Indians are generally considered fairly low in assertiveness, whereas Americans are generally considered relatively high in assertiveness.

Indians are considered slighter higher in humane orientation than Americans; however, Americans are considered quite high in this area.

Indians and Americans are both considered fairly high in performance orientation.

Understanding the communication patterns in other cultures requires an understanding of underlying norms and values. By understanding cultural dimensions, business leaders can better recognize appropriate approaches to communication in other cultures.

In this exercise, you will identify behaviors that are associated with six cultural dimensions: individualism (and its opposite, collectivism), egalitarianism (and its opposite, hierarchy), future orientation, assertiveness, uncertainty avoidance, and performance orientation. You will see a nine-minute videoconference of team members who work for a furniture company. In the meeting, you will see three professionals:

• Janet (director of communications, wearing blue shirt), who is leading a videoconference to resolve differences between Jake and Sangeeta
• Jake (freelance photographer, wearing a green shirt)
• Sangeeta (programmer, wearing a red shirt)

These professionals are working across continents on a project to develop a new website. They are up against a deadline, and Jake and Sangeeta each believe that progress is being hindered by the other. Janet is stepping in to help resolve differences.

COM 295T Wk 1 – Apply: Signature Assignment: Case: Going on a Business Trip to China

Going on a Business Trip to China

Business professionals who are high in cultural intelligence possess skills and attributes to work effectively with members of other cultures. They respect, recognize, and appreciate cultural differences; possess curiosity and interest in other cultures; avoid inappropriate stereotypes; adjust conceptions of time and show patience; manage language differences to achieve shared meaning; understand cultural dimensions; establish trust and show empathy across cultures; approach cross-cultural work relationships with a learner mind-set; and build co-cultures of cooperation and innovation.

In this exercise, you evaluate the experiences of an operations manager going to China to examine factories and potentially take bids for some of your company’s operations. You will notice differences in communication across cultures and analyze the interactions in terms of cultural intelligence and the following cultural dimensions: individualism and collectivism, egalitarianism and hierarchy, future orientation, assertiveness, and humane orientation.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Recently, senior managers at Judith Carey’s company concluded that some of the company’s operations needed to be produced in lower-wage locations for the company to stay profitable. They placed Judith in charge of learning about options in China, a country she had never visited.

After several months of making contacts via phone and email, Judith traveled to China to meet some potential manufacturers. She brought two of her staff members along with her on the trip. She also asked Mei, one of the company’s sales representatives in China, to join the group and act as an interpreter. Mei had joined the company’s sales department in China two years ago. Because she gained a marketing degree in a Canadian university, Mei’s English was excellent.

The first stop on the trip would be with representatives of the Shunde Manufacturing (SDM) Company, a potential manufacturer for the company’s line of dolls. After a long plane trip and a sleepless night at a hotel in Shanghai, Judith started the first day of work in China tired and slightly disoriented. Her team first met the company’s president, Bo Chen, and seven other men from SDM for lunch. Judith was seated next to the company’s president for the duration of the two-hour lunch, which included course after course of foods Judith had never seen or eaten before. Judith sampled most of the dishes but was clearly uncomfortable.

During the meal, the company president asked Judith, “Ms. Carey, what are your impressions of China?” Judith replied, “Well, Bo, I don’t really know too much. I’m not quite used to the air here, with all of the pollution. Of course, I’ve always known about the one-child policy, but not much else. Do you think the policy is fair?” Bo stated, “China and America must solve their problems in their own ways.” Then, he talked about the final dish for the meal—a fish. He explained that ending the meal with the fish had special symbolism in China and signaled a prosperous future for their relationship.

Near the end of lunch, Bo told Judith, “We’ll meet for dinner and a reception later at 6 p.m. I’ve arranged a tour for you this afternoon. Several of our staff members will take you for a walk along the river, to some beautiful Chinese gardens, and to the Shanghai Museum.” Judith was a bit dismayed. She wasn’t really in the mood for touring. Rather, she wanted to get down to business, but she obliged for the afternoon tour. During the tour, Judith asked Mei, her interpreter, “What should I do this evening to make sure we can talk about business?” Mei replied, “Tonight, you should make friends with President Chen. Give him a nice toast in front of his employees. Enjoy the wonderful food. Tomorrow you can talk about business.”

That evening, Judith and her team were taken to a large private room at a restaurant. The SDM Company was now represented by more than 20 employees. Judith and Bo spent most of the dinner discussing family and professional experiences. Judith enjoyed the food, gave a toast mentioning “future cooperation” and thanking “President Chen for his hospitality,” and even sang karaoke when invited.

The next day, Judith arrived at the company’s headquarters. She and her team discussed options for a partnership with SDM representatives for the duration of the day. At the end of the day, both parties agreed to continue their conversations in approximately one month.

COM 295T Wk 2 – Practice: Planning a Persuasive Message

Planning a Persuasive Message

Gaining attention. The first task of most persuasive messages is to gain the attention of your readers. You can do this in a variety of ways, including asking a rhetorical question, providing a compelling or interesting fact, providing a compelling statistic, issuing a challenge, or posting a testimonial. For internal persuasive messages, the primary means of gaining attention is demonstrating a business need—a gap between what is and what could be.

Describing a need, giving a solution, and providing a rationale. Once you’ve stated the need, you may describe your solution, which is a recommended product, service, or idea. Many readers will remain skeptical unless you provide convincing support. So, you will need to provide a strong rationale, meaning solid reasons why your product, service, or idea really benefits them.

Show appreciation for other views. At some point in the body of the message, you should validate your readers by showing appreciation for their views and preferences. Validation implies that you recognize and appreciate others’ needs, wants, ideas, and preferences as legitimate and reasonable.

Give counterpoints. Traditionally, communicators overcame the objections of their audiences by providing counterpoints to any of the audience members’ objections. Overcoming objections with counterpoints, however, is risky in the post-trust era. This approach may unnecessarily carry a me-versus-you tone and delegitimize the readers’ concerns. Consider whether providing counterpoints provides more benefits than costs.

Provide a call to action. You conclude persuasive messages with a call to action, which asks your readers to take a specific step toward the purchase of a product or service or acceptance of an idea. However, a call to action should not be a hard sell; pressuring others is increasingly ineffective in the post-trust era.

Tone is particularly important for persuasive messages. Since your audience holds resistance to you or your message, any indication that your message is self-serving or manipulative will increase that resistance. You should aim for a positive, confident, and other-oriented tone. To do this, you can apply the following strategies: apply the personal touch, use action-oriented and lively language, write with confidence, offer choice, and be positive.

Apply the personal touch. You can apply a personal touch in several ways by personalizing the message and using you-voice. You can also do so by making statements tangible. By definition, tangible means that something can be touched; it is material or substantial. In a business communications context, making the statement tangible implies that the readers can discern something in terms that are meaningful to them. This allows the reader to sense the impact on a personal level. Often, you can achieve a tangible feel by combining you-voice with specificity.

Use action-oriented and lively language. In persuasive messages, you have somewhat more license to write creatively. Focus on using action-oriented and lively words to achieve a sense of excitement, optimism, or other positive emotions. Use strong nouns and verbs to add to the excitement of the message. Some sales messages sound dull because of overuse and reliance on words such as “provide” and “offer.” Across the entire message or thought, the action-oriented and lively language should emphasize a central theme.

Write with confidence. As you display more confidence in your idea, your product, or your service, you can more effectively influence your audience. Effective persuaders provide compelling and simple reasons for action.

Offer choice. In the post-trust era (PTE), customers and clients consider choice an indicator of credibility. They view simple language (not implying lack of sophisticated knowledge) as a display of transparency and respect. In contrast, they view overly complex language as potentially deceptive. Similarly, effective persuasive messages avoid statements that may be perceived as pressure tactics. Hard sells are increasingly ineffective in a PTE, especially in written format.

Be positive. Positivity in persuasive messages helps your audience focus on the benefits rather than the drawbacks of what you are trying to promote.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Assume that you work in a human resources department. Recently, a small earthquake struck near the headquarters of your company. Although there were no injuries and little damage, your company president thinks that all employees should be more prepared for a major earthquake. In her words, “you never know when we’ll get the big one.” She has asked you to promote some earthquake preparedness workshops.

So far, you’ve drafted the following message:

SUBJECT: Prepare Now!

Dear employees:

As you know, this area is prone to earthquakes. We often get complacent. But, that’s the wrong attitude because being unprepared can actually get people killed. In the last big earthquake 20 years ago, at least 15 deaths were due to poor preparation.

In order to better prepare for the “big one,” I invite you to attend one of the two-hour workshops we’ve set up. Our company president has generously scheduled these workshops to include meals (breakfast or lunch). In addition, she has decided that she will donate $100 to the Red Cross for each employee who attends the workshops. So, do you want to hold the company back from donating $100 for a good cause?

The two-hour workshops will include a lot of helpful information. These workshops will be fun and engaging.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

COM 295T Wk 2 – Apply: Case: Getting the Tone Right

Getting the Tone Right for Persuasive Messages

Tone is particularly important for persuasive messages. Since your audience holds resistance to you or your message, any indication that your message is self-serving or manipulative will increase that resistance. You should aim for a positive, confident, and other-oriented tone. To do this, you can apply the following strategies: apply the personal touch, use action-oriented and lively language, write with confidence, offer choice, and be positive.

Apply the personal touch. You can apply a personal touch in several ways by personalizing the message and using you-voice. You can also do so by making statements tangible. By definition, tangible means that something can be touched; it is material or substantial. In a business communications context, making the statement tangible implies that the readers can discern something in terms that are meaningful to them. This allows the reader to sense the impact on a personal level. Often, you can achieve a tangible feel by combining you-voice with specificity.

Use action-oriented and lively language. In persuasive messages, you have somewhat more license to write creatively. Focus on using action-oriented and lively words to achieve a sense of excitement, optimism, or other positive emotions. Use strong nouns and verbs to add to the excitement of the message. Some sales messages sound dull because of overuse and reliance on words such as “provide” and “offer.” Across the entire message or thought, the action-oriented and lively language should emphasize a central theme.

Write with confidence. As you display more confidence in your idea, your product, or your service, you can more effectively influence your audience. Effective persuaders provide compelling and simple reasons for action.

Offer choice. In the post-trust era (PTE), customers and clients consider choice an indicator of credibility. They view simple language—which does not imply a lack of sophisticated knowledge—as a display of transparency and respect. In contrast, they view overly complex language as potentially deceptive. Similarly, effective persuasive messages avoid statements that may be perceived as pressure tactics. Hard sells are increasingly ineffective in a PTE, especially in written format.

Be positive. Positivity in persuasive messages helps your audience focus on the benefits rather than the drawbacks of what you are trying to promote.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

You are attempting to achieve a positive and helpful tone to invite employees to the benefits fair. Your goal is to get as many employees to attend as possible.

In this exercise, you will assume the role of a human resources (HR) specialist for your company. Each year, your company holds an open enrollment period during October. During this period, employees can make changes to various benefits, such as health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, and retirement packages.

As part of the open enrollment period, you hold a benefits fair. At this event, representatives for each of your approved insurance and retirement plan vendors are available. Also, representatives from your own office are there to answer questions. To attract employees to the event, you also invite several high-profile speakers to discuss health care and retirement planning.

You are writing several messages to employees to invite them to the event. You will send these messages via email and as announcements on the corporate intranet. You expect that you can be particularly influential by posting to the benefits blog, which is one of the most widely accessed blogs on your corporate intranet.

COM 295T Wk 3 – Practice: Evaluating a Routine Announcement

Evaluating a Routine Announcement

This activity is important because managers and other professionals frequently give announcements to help coordinate the efforts of employees and keep them in the loop.

The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate your understanding of routine announcements.

Read the announcement below. Then, answer the questions that follow.

(1) SUBJECT: New Policy

Dear fellow employees,

(2) We will soon implement a flextime policy, involving flexible hours and work-from-home options.

(3) I hope you will try to learn as much as possible about the new policy.

(4) If you have questions, please contact a member of our HR team.

(5) Jessica Tang, Senior Vice President

COM 295T Wk 3 – Apply: Signature Assignment: Case: Evaluating a Routine Email

Evaluating a Routine Email

Email continues to be the most common type of written communication in most businesses. You can follow a variety of principles to use it effectively: (1) use it for the right purposes, (2) ensure ease of reading, (3) show respect for others’ time, (4) protect the privacy and confidentiality of others, (5) respond promptly, (6) maintain professionalism and appropriate formality, (7) manage emotion effectively, and (8) avoid distractions.

Typically, as you write an email message, you should do the following: (1) provide a short, descriptive subject line, (2) use greetings and closings effectively, (3) keep your message brief yet complete, (4) clearly identify expected actions, (5) provide a descriptive and professional signature block, and (6) use attachments wisely.

Routine messages should be direct and front-loaded. The primary message should have ten words or fewer, and you should typically place it in the subject line of your email to immediately capture attention. Furthermore, the primary message should appear in the first sentence or two of the message and again in the closing if your message is several paragraphs long.

In the body of the routine message, you should provide short paragraphs with related details. To make sure your message receiver will comply, include all needed information. As you draft the message, aim for a helpful, professional, and reader-centered tone. Focus on making the message easy to read. Readers expect to understand your primary message in less than 10 to 15 seconds, so use short sentences and paragraphs. Paragraphs should generally be between 20 and 80 words. Design your message so that readers can find information in just moments. Use bullets, numbering, special formatting, and external links to relevant information to highlight key ideas.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

SUBJECT: Proper Submissions

Hey,

[Sentence 1] Thank you for traveling to our recent event “Marketing to Senior Citizens.” [Sentence 2] All of the following expenses will be reimbursed: air travel (up to $500 for coach-class airfare), meals (for up to $25 per meal), travel to and from the airport (for up to $75 per taxi ride), and some incidentals (up to $20 per day).

[Sentence 3] Reimbursement will be sent to you after the following steps are completed. [Sentence 4]An itemized spreadsheet of expenses must be received by October 15. [Sentence 5] A date, an explanation, and an expense amount should be included on the spreadsheet of expenses. [Sentence 6] Additionally, a single file with copies of all receipts (in .pdf form is best) must be attached in order for your reimbursement to be processed.[Sentence 7] The spreadsheet and copy of expenses should be sent to the following email address: teri@slpconsulting.com. [Sentence 8] The phrase “Reimbursement for Sept 15 Marketing Event” should be written in the subject line.

COM 295T Wk 4 – Practice: Evaluating the Needs of an Audience

Evaluating the Needs of an Audience

Understanding the needs of your audience is one of your first tasks as you develop your presentations. As you do your homework about the audience, answer the following questions to the degree possible:

How will audience members benefit from the product, service, or ideas I am proposing? This is the single most important question you can use to guide you as you design your presentation. In particular, focus on benefits that fulfill an unmet need.

What communication styles will your audience respond to based on their motivational values? Identify the motivational value systems (MVSs) of your audience and how you might appeal to the following MVSs: blue MVS, red MVS, green MVS, and hubs.

What is the learning style of your audience? Most people fall into one of three major learning styles: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Assume that you work in a human resources department. Recently, a small earthquake struck near the headquarters of your company. Although there were no injuries and little damage, your company president thinks that all employees should be more prepared for a major earthquake. In her words, “You never know when we’ll get the big one.” She has asked you to promote some earthquake preparedness workshops. The company president is holding an employee town hall meeting for approximately 100 employees this week. She has given you ten minutes to describe and promote the upcoming earthquake preparedness workshops. The workshops will run for two hours and involve expert training. Attending the workshops is entirely voluntary. You have scheduled five workshops to allow as many employees as possible to fit a workshop into their schedules.

Now, you need to think about how best to use your ten minutes to promote the workshops.

COM 295T Wk 4 – Apply: Signature Assignment: Case: Establishing Credibility

Establishing Credibility as a Presenter

One of your first presentation strategies should be to establish credibility. Without appearing self-serving, find ways to increase your perceived credibility. Use the presentation to show your thorough understanding of a business issue. Frame your ideas in ways that show clear benefits to your company, its employees, and its stakeholders. In every way, display honesty and openness.

During the presentation, you establish your competence by showing that you know the content well. You show your caring by connecting emotionally with audience members and adapting to their needs. You show your character by being open and honest. After your presentation, following up as appropriate with audience members shows your caring and character as well. Some audience members may raise issues for you to look into or ask for additional information. Comply with these requests promptly and you will establish a reputation for responsiveness.

In this exercise, you will evaluate how your actions and statements build your credibility in terms of competence, caring, and character.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

You are a marketing specialist at a media company. Over the past few years, you have been researching how TV viewers use mobile phones and other devices while watching TV. You have found that viewers increasingly expect to engage via mobile devices with TV shows and their audiences while watching TV.

About one month ago, you and your colleagues gave a presentation to executives at your company regarding some of your survey results. The executive team members were generally impressed with the information, but they also seemed skeptical that your company needed to make any major changes. These executives made various statements referring to using mobile devices while watching TV as “largely a fad” or simply “nonmonetizing.” They also expressed concern about making major changes to cater to the youngest viewers (under 25 years old), who they feel are not their most important demographic. However, they were impressed with your presentation enough that they wanted you to dig deeper into the data and come up with some recommendations.

After a month of deeper analysis of your data, you have found even stronger evidence that viewers under 40 use their mobile devices frequently while watching TV. You thought these data helped bolster your argument that younger TV viewers expect an interactive experience while watching TV programs—using mobile devices to interact with TV hosts, actors, and other viewers; to participate in contests and games; and to interact in other creative ways with the programming.

With more and more TV viewers recording shows and watching commercial-free later, you thought that adopting an interactive approach to many programs could counteract this trend and get viewers excited about watching programs live. In fact, you think there is currently a great opportunity to develop a new business model that embraces interactive programming.

Now, you’ve returned to make a presentation to this same group of senior vice presidents (SVPs): Katie O’Harrah, SVP of marketing; Jake Ecksberg, SVP of programming; Sam Clawson, SVP of interactive; Marco Feinstein, SVP of communications; and Peter Orwell, SVP of business development. You know most of these executives are skeptical of major changes to the current business model, but you also expect them to listen objectively to your views. You will recommend that the company aggressively pursues programming with an interactive component. In particular, you will suggest pilot-testing interactive features for three shows that are most popular with your 31- to 40-year-old demographic.

COM 295T Wk 5 – Practice: Comparing Communication Channels

Comparing Communication Channels

Strategically selecting a communication channel means that you choose the communication channel that is best able to meet your work objectives. This process involves evaluating three qualities of communication channels: richness, control, and constraints.

As a new district sales manager, you have been given a variety of tasks by the director of marketing. In this case analysis, you will evaluate your communication channels for each task in terms of richness, control, and constraints.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

You work for Performance Now Sports (PNS), a chain of retail sports stores. You sell high-end sports clothing and gear. After two successful years as a PNS store manager, you were recently promoted to a district sales manager. In this role, you are responsible for the performance of 15 stores. You work closely with each store manager to carry out the organization’s overall sales strategy.

Last week, you met with the company’s marketing director. She stated that you are responsible for achieving a 15 percent growth in revenue for your district during the next year. She wants you to implement a new incentive system in which sales representatives receive lower base wages but higher commission rates. She also wants you to provide recommendations for at least five locations within your district for new stores. Finally, she wants you to lead local marketing campaigns that draw attention to stores in your district.

COM 295T Wk 5 – Apply: Avoiding Disclosure of Confidential Information on Social Media

Avoiding Disclosure of Confidential Information on Social Media

Social media can be a far-reaching and impactful tool in the workplace for spreading messages to your audience, building your brand, or even communicating with employees. However, it can also be a source for leaking proprietary information, posting negative comments about a company, and other harmful communication about employees or the company. This activity is important because practices regarding social media in the workplace can be a gray area as social media usage continues to grow. It is increasingly important for managers to know and implement your company’s social media rules and to make decisions regarding your employees’ social media usage. The goal of this activity is to provide you with techniques for making decisions about social media in the workplace.

It is brought to the attention of the Horizon Technologies project manager that one of his employees has told someone outside the company information about a proprietary product, information that was then leaked on social media. How does he handle the situation? How would you?

Click the ► button to watch the video. Then, answer the questions that follow.