Business Communication | 4 Credits

Orients student to the academic design of the major and to the professional competencies in their intended discipline.

In this course, you will demonstrate the following competencies:

1. Describe the context and purpose of business.
2. Analyze the environments of both thriving and struggling businesses.
3. Analyze the role of marketing research, advertising and marketing in a business.
4. Explain the importance of operations management to businesses and the global economy.
5. Justify decision-making skills in the business environment.
6. Articulate personal and professional goals through a comparison of the BSBA degree structure and its requirements with existing knowledge and skills.

This course is about people and their behavior within organizations. As an entrepreneur, manager, employee, or participant in a group project students will learn that the interactions, relationships, and overall behavior of employees or peers will have a considerable impact on the success or failure of an organization or the outcome of a particular project. Organizational behavior is about human behavior. The concepts we explore in this course will most likely resonate with students’ experiences, but the scientific rigor of the theory and social-psychological models will add a new depth of understanding to what is sometimes considered simplistic or intuitive. This course is structured to enhance students’ effectiveness as an organizational member and manager. The course is designed to deal with the topics of effective behavior in organizations at three levels: (1) understanding the individual in the workplace; (2) understanding the individual in teams and team dynamics; and (3) understanding and applying the knowledge in an organizational setting within the concepts of leadership, culture, and change. Students will also be asked to evaluate, assess, and recommend appropriate communication styles and strategies related to specific business scenarios.

Required text(s): Saylor Foundation. Business Communication for Success (v. 1.0) and Saylor Foundation. Organizational Behavior (v. 1.1). (Materials provided with course.)

Successful completion of this course satisfies credit equivalents in the following competency areas: Organizational Behavior and Leadership (3.5) and Business Communication (0.5). 

• Evaluate the individual in interpersonal and team settings based on behavioral theories.
• Apply the theories of team dynamics to improve organizational performance.
• Assess the organizational culture and structure.
• Recommend the best leadership style for a variety of organizational settings.
• Create a strategic plan for organizational change.
• Evaluate and assess communication situations.

Prerequisites

• CGS ENG 102x Critical Writing, Reading, and Research II

In this course students will be assessed based on the knowledge and skills required to develop and professionally present a comprehensive marketing plan for an organization’s products and/or services.

Required text: Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2021). MKTG: Principles of Marketing, 13th Edition. ISBN: 9780357127889. Rental available here. 

Successful completion of this course satisfies credit equivalents in the following competency areas: Marketing (1.5) and Business Communication (0.5)

• Develop marketing plans for organizations’ products and services.
• Present marketing plans to key stakeholders.
• Deliver effective formal presentations in organizational contexts.

Prerequisites

• BAMS 300x Marketing Foundations Concepts and Application
• CGS ENG 102x Critical Writing, Reading, and Research II

This course gives students domestic sales records containing detailed information including store number, sales region, item number, item description, unit price, units sold, and date of sale. Students will work with the data using spreadsheet technologies such as Microsoft Excel to apply a number of spreadsheet formulas on the data, aggregate the data using pivot tables, summarize data, and create charts and tables with summary data. Students will also apply measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode) as they relate to sales data. They also arrive at measures of variability (e.g., range, standard deviation, and variance) on different segments of sales data and calculate measures of relative positon (e.g., percentiles, quartiles, and interquartile ranges). Students demonstrate an understanding of these statistical concepts and how to compute them with formulas in spreadsheets. Students will then use this information to complete a written report for the CEO as well as a PowerPoint presentation for the Board of Directors. Students will also demonstrate their editing capabilities by revising a colleague’s memo and complete an evaluation/reflection of the primary deliverables.

Required text (effective August, 2022 and later): Joshua N. Milligan, Learning Tableau 2020: Create effective data visualizations, build interactive visual analytics, and transform your organization, 4th Edition. ISBN-13: 978-1800200364, ISBN-10: 1800200366.

Successful completion of this course satisfies credit equivalents in the following competency areas: Information Systems (0.5), Business Statistics (0.8), and Business Communication (0.7).

• Construct and utilize spreadsheets effectively.
• Compute measures of central tendency, location, and variability.
• Write clearly for target audiences, purposes, and contexts.

Students are given a hypothetical business scenario. Students need to analyze what type of enterprise-wide systems are needed for the business. They also need to be able to present preliminary designs for the enterprise systems, articulate the usefulness of E-Commerce systems for the given business scenario, and document the requirements of the E-Commerce systems. Students need to provide details of different infrastructure components needed for the E-Commerce system and communicate plans for the E-Commerce system to key stakeholders, including how the solution will be measured and monitored in terms of effectiveness.

Required text: Glenn, Cheryl and Loretta Grey, The Hodges Harbrace Handbook, 2009 MLA Update Edition, 17th Edition. ISBN: 978-0495797562

Successful completion of this course satisfies credit equivalents in the following competency areas: Information Systems (0.5) and Business Communication (0.5). 

• Develop and communicate a plan for an E-Commerce System.
• Distinguish between enterprise-wide information systems used in organizations.
• Design appropriate and effective communication strategies that meet professional and business communication purposes.

Prerequisites

• BAOS 302x Building Competitive Advantage Using Information Systems
• CGS ENG 102x Critical Writing, Reading, and Research II

Students will be working for a hypothetical company and conducting research on one of several countries to come up with a recommendation as to whether or not this hypothetical company should consider expanding into that market as a new sales territory. Students explore and analyze the economic, technological, and cultural dimensions of doing business in the selected country and prepare a formal report for an executive.

Required text: Glenn, Cheryl and Loretta Grey, The Hodges Harbrace Handbook, 2009 MLA Update Edition, 17th Edition. ISBN: 978-0495797562

Successful completion of this course satisfies credit equivalents in the following competency areas: Global Business (1) and Business Communication (1)

• Examine major global political and economic systems.
• Articulate the role of cultural differences in managing interactions within global organizations.
• Design effective documents and data displays.

Prerequisites

• BAOS 310x Reshoring Product Manufactoring
• CGS ENG 102x Critical Writing, Reading, and Research II