COURSE TITLE: Business Communication

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2

INSTRUCTOR: Arturo Perez-Reyes

E-MAIL ADDRESS: perezre@haas.berkeley.edu

WEB ADDRESS: http://haas.berkeley.edu/~perezre/

MEETING DAYS/TIME:   Tuesdays 12-2 PM in C210 Cheit

PREREQUISITES: for majors

CLASS FORMAT: Lectures, cases, exercises, and formal presentations

REQUIRED TEXT: Text written by instructor

BASIS FOR GRADE: Course evaluation will be based on the clarity and grace of your prose, the effectiveness of your oral presentations, and on your capacity to guide others to excellence in business communication. Grading will be weighted as follows: 40% Oral presentations 40% Written assignments 10% Participation 10% Exam.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE: Business professionals spend 70% of their time communicating. Consequently employers make communication skills the chief criteria for promoting employees. Despite the importance of these skills, few business schools do enough to prepare their graduates. Study after study of employers and recruiters finds dissatisfaction with the communication skills of recent graduates. The Haas School of Business Administration has decided to meet this challenge head on with Business Communication 100.

In this course, you will learn the theory and practice of effective communication while modeling real-life business situations. You will be asked to practice what you learn with a variety of in-class exercises, with two formal oral presentations, and with two written assignments. Oral assignments will run from three to five minutes and will be video taped in class before a jury of your peers. Both written assignments will be one page in length. There will also be tests and a mandatory final exam. If you would like more information, please follow the BA100 links on my web site: http://haas.berkeley.edu/~perezre/ .

OBJECTIVES:

When writing, you will be able to

* Write memos and letters with appropriate formats.
* Write without gross errors in spelling, mechanics, grammar, and punctuation.
* Write clearly, cohesively, emphatically, and concisely.
* Write up and down the chain of command.
* Adjust for rhetorically problematic or threatening situations.
* Write bad news letters that do not give offense and secure repeat business.
* Argue a case and persuade an audience.
* Institute changes of policy and secure cooperation.
* Structure and polish business reports and summaries.

When speaking, you will be able to

* Plan, structure, and deliver a long speech.
* Speak comfortably before large groups in both formal and impromptu settings.
* Maintain an audience's attention and interest with imagery, facts, and quotes.
* Present complex information clearly using graphical displays.
* Explain and demonstrate products.
* Make a pitch and close a sale.
* Persuade an audience or motivate them with a speech.
* Handle hostile questioning in crisis situations.
* Negotiate successfully against hardball tactics.
* Lead successful and efficient meetings.
* Navigate interculturally complex relationships.

When computing, you will be able to

* Format documents with style sheets or DTP apps.
* Design documents like business cards, resumes, and reports.
* Converse electronically with e-mail and newslists.
* Surf the Net; cruise the Web; locate data with search engines.
* Decode and encode files; use FTP; send and receive attachments.
* Prepare and deliver multimedia business presentations.
* Embed tables and charts; select appropriate contrasts for data.
* Use images, sound, and video.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Arturo Perez-Reyes has consulted and taught business communication for 15 years.  He has taught undergraduates, MBA candidates, and executives at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business; St. Mary's College Graduate School of Business; and the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.