course in communication

Management communication requires many skills, including writing
and editing business correspondence


Writing and speaking skills necessary for a career in management.
Students polish communication strategies and methods through
discussion of principles, examples, and cases. Several written and oral
assignments, most based on material from other subjects and from
career development activities.


Management Communication is intended to help you think
strategically about communication and aid you in improving your
writing, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills within
a managerial setting.

We will look at a set of "best practices" or
guidelines that have been derived from both research and experience,
give you the opportunity to put those guidelines into practice, and
provide you with feedback on your work to help you strengthen your
abilities. More often than not, we will be using a workshop format
that will rely heavily on discussion and in-class exercise


Objectives
Good communication is one of the keys to a successful career no matter
what field you choose, and many different skills contribute to a
professional's capacity to communicate well. The objective is to help
you improve the ability to:

Formulate an effective communication strategy for any message, in
any medium, and in any situation.
Write clearly, concisely, and convincingly.
Create impressive formal presentations that are delivered with
confidence and poise.
Give and receive feedback that will improve yours and other's
communication.


Listen for understanding.
Work effectively with others in small groups or teams.
Understand and negotiate the difference in communication between
yourself and people who are not from your culture.
Improving communication is a continuous process of learning, doing,
critiquing, evaluating, and doing again.


Expectations
Because so much of the class will be "hands-on" and because feedback
(ours, the TA's, and the feedback you give each other) is so important
to improving writing and speaking, our expectations about our work
together this semester include:

That you are committed to improving your professional effectiveness
as a communicator.

That you are willing to share your opinions and ideas on topics
presented in class.

That you will provide each other with clear, honest, concrete, and
sensitive feedback on work that is done.

That any concept that is unclear or confusing will be challenged and
examined.

That there are no stupid questions or comments.


Your success as an academic will depend heavily on your ability to
communicate to fellow researchers in your discipline, to colleagues in
your department and university, to undergraduate and graduate
students, and perhaps even to the public at large. Communicating well
in an academic setting depends not only on following the basic rules
that govern all good communication (for example, tailoring the
message to meet the needs of a specific audience), but also on adhering
to the particular norms of academic genres.


The purpose is threefold.


First, the course will acquaint you with guidelines that will help you
create well-crafted academic communication.


Second, it will give you the opportunity to practice your
communication skills and to receive extensive feedback from your
colleagues and from me. You will write and/or revise an article
manuscript or conference paper, present a conference paper or job talk,
write a manuscript peer review, and engage in various other
communication exercises. The article and talk, which are the major
assignments of the course, will be based on material from your own
doctoral studies.


Third, the course will provide an opportunity for you to learn about
professional norms for a range of activities that surround the academic
enterprise, including, for example, the scholarly publication process
and the job search process.


The purpose of this course is threefold.
First, the course will acquaint you with guidelines that will help you
create well-crafted academic communication.


Second, it will give you the opportunity to practice your
communication skills and to receive extensive feedback from your
colleagues and from me. You will write and/or revise an article
manuscript or conference paper, present a conference paper or job talk,
write a manuscript peer review, and engage in various other
communication exercises. The article and talk, which are the major
assignments of the course, will be based on material from your own
doctoral studies.


Third, the course will provide an opportunity for you to learn about
professional norms for a range of activities that surround the academic
enterprise, including, for example, the scholarly publication process
and the job search process.


Written and Oral Assignments: Your own research should serve as the
basis for the first two assignments. In fact, if you are currently
preparing a journal article, conference paper, grant proposal, and/or
job talk, you may use that work to fulfill assignments in this class.


Manuscript Review: One of the tasks faced by most academics is
reviewing manuscripts written by others for submission to a
conference or journal. Learning how to write a constructive review is
a key academic skill that we will discuss and that you will get an
opportunity to practice. You will arrange with your advisor or another
faculty member in your field to review a paper in your field.


The goals of this class are to provide opportunities for you to continue
polishing your communication skills in different contexts, and
particularly to provide practice in and feedback on the interactive
communication skills essential to successful managers.


Students will give various types of presentations, including
impromptu presentations and a longer (15-20 minute) presentation. In
addition, we will practice interactive communication (e.g., role play
with hostile client, interactive presentation to a hostile audience) and
communication in groups (e.g., running meetings, participating in
group decision making). Writing assignments include self-analyses
(including two individual self-analyses and one team self-analysis of
your team project) and one short business document (see discussion of
individual project, below).

Team Project: Team-led Class and Team Self-analysis
The class sessions designated "Team-led classes" on the syllabus will
focus on communication topics chosen by teams of students and will
be organized by members of the teams.
Individual Project: Presentation and Executive Summary
The individual project for the course culminates in a long presentation
and an accompanying one-page executive summary on a topic of the
student's choosing.


Readings:
Becker, Howard S. Writing for Social Scientist. University of Chicago
Press, 1986.
Davis, Gordon B., and Clyde A. Parker. Writing the Doctoral
Dissertation: A Systematic Approach. 2nd ed. Barron's Educational
Series, 1997.
Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spriduso, and Stephen J.
Silverman. Proposals that Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations
and Grant Proposals. Sage Publications, 1993.
Nash, Walter. The Writing Scholar: Studies in Academic Discourse.
Edited by Sage Publications, 1990.
Nystrand, Martin. What Writers Know: The Language, Process, and
Structure of Written Discourse. Academic Press, 1982.
Maanen, John Van. Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography.
University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Williams, Joseph. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. University of
Chicago Press, 1990. [The best book on style that I've ever seen-well
worth reading and having on your shelf.]
Caplan, Paula J. Lifting a Ton of Feathers: A Woman's guide to
Surviving in the Academic World. University of Toronto Press, 1995.
Deneef, A. Leigh, and Craufurd D. Goodwin. The Academic's
Handbook. 2nd ed. Duke University Press, 1995.
Frost, Peter J., and M. Susan Taylor. Rhythms of Academic Life:
Personal Accounts of Careers in Academia. Edited by Sage, 1996.
Zanna, Mark P., and John M. Darley. The Compleat Academic. Eds.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987.
Andre, Rae, and Peter J. Frost. Researchers Hooked on Teaching:
Noted Scholars Discuss Synergies of Teaching and Research. Eds.
Sage Publications, 1996.
Boice, Robert. First-Order Principles for College Teachers: Ten Basic
Ways to Improve the Teaching Process. Anker Publishing Company,
1996.
Christensen, C. Roland, David A. Garvin, and Ann Sweet. Education
for Judgment. Harvard Business School Press, 1991.
Christensen, C. Roland with Abby J. Hansen. Teaching and the Case
Method. Harvard Business School Press, 1987.
Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. Jossey-Bass, 1993.
Goldberger, Nancy Rule, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Mary Field
Belenky, and Jill Mattuck Tarule. "Women's Ways of Knowing." In
Sex and Gender: Review of Personality and Social Psychology. Edited
by Phillip Shaver and Clyde Hendrick. Sage Publications, 1987, pp.
201-227.
Weinstein, Gerald, and Kathy Obear. "Bias Issues in the
Classroom: Encounters with the Teaching Self." In Maurianne Adams.
Edited by Promoting Diversity in College Classrooms: Innovative
Responses for the Curriculum, Faculty, and Institutions 52 (Winter
1992): 39-50.

Beyer, Janice M., Roland G. Chanove, and William B. Fox. "The
Review Process and the Fates of Manuscripts Submitted to AMJ."
AMJ 38, no. 5: pp. 1219-1260.
Munter, Mary. Guide to Managerial Communication: Effective
Business Writing and Speaking. Prentice Hall, 2002. ISBN:
0130462162.