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ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD
(Department of Business Administration)
BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS (BBA-136)
CHECKLIST
SEMESTER: AUTUMN 2010
This packet comprises the following material:
1. Text book
2. Course outline
3. Assignment no. 1, 2
4. Assignment forms (2 sets)
5. Tutorial & Assignment Schedule
In this packet, if you find anything missing out of the above mentioned material, please contact at the address given below:
The Incharge,
Mailing Section, Block No. 28
Allama Iqbal Open University
H-8, Islamabad.
Phone: 051-9057611, 12
Muhammad Ayub Shaikh
Course Coordinator
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD
(Department of Business Administration)
1. PLAGIARISM OR HIRING OF GHOST WRITER(S) FOR SOLVING THE ASSIGNMENT(S) WILL DEBAR THE STUDENT FROM AWARD OF DEGREE/CERTIFICATE, IF FOUND AT ANY STAGE.
2. SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENTS BORROWED OR STOLEN FROM OTHER(S) AS ONE’S OWN WILL BE PENALIZED AS DEFINED IN “AIOU PLAGIARISM POLICY”.
Course: Business Communications (136) Semester: Autumn 2010
Level: BBA Total Marks: 100
Pass Marks: 40
ASSIGNMENT No. 1
Q. 1 What are the pre-requisites for insuring effective communication in an organization? Discuss. (20)
Q. 2 How for the cultural variables affect the organizational communication? Discuss. (20)
Q. 3 Describe the various challenges that businesses face in handling new technologies, in managing their information for greatest productivity inside and outside the organization. (20)
Q. 4 Differentiate between solicited and un-solicited letters. What guidelines should be observed for writing these letters? (20)
Q. 5 What is public speaking? Discuss the factors that should be considered by a manager preparing to speak before a group of audience. (20)
ASSIGNMENT No. 2
Total Marks: 100
Q. 1 How effective communication help an executive in his or her career development? (20)
Q. 2 How your business meetings can be effective and successful? How would you plan before and follow up after the meeting? (20)
Q. 3 Differentiate between letter report and memorandum report. Support your answer with examples. (20)
Q. 4 Discuss the process of preparing effective business message. Give examples to support your answer. (20)
Q. 5 Write a note on long report and short report. (20)
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
COURSE OUTLINE (BBA-136)
UNIT 1: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS IN BUSINESS
- Importance and benefits of effective communication
- Ancient heritage for communication principles
- Life blood of every organization
- Benefits of effective communication in your career
- Challenge of communication in the global market
- Components of communication
- Contest/sender-encoder/message/medium/receiver-decoder/feedback
- Concepts and-problems of communication
- Conventions of meaning/perceptions of reality/values, attitudes, and opinions
- Nonverbal communication
UNIT 2: BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS AND THE GLOBAL CONTEXT, ETHICS & TECHNOLOGY, EFFECTIVE BUSINESS MESSAGES
- Background to intercultural communication
- A concept of culture
- An intercultural communication model
- National cultural variables
- Education/law and regulations/economics/politics/religion/social norms/language
- Individual cultural variables
- Time(chronemics)/space (proxemics)/good acceptable dress/manners/ decision making/verbal and nonverbal communication
- Business communication and the ethical context
- Background to ethical context
- Ethical situations
- Ethics as a communication issue
- Business communication and the technology
- Managing information within organizations
- History of technological developments
- Challenges to the organization made by new technologies
- E-mail
- Understanding the internet
- Establishing security
- Other communication technologies
- Managing information outside organizations
- Managing crisis communication
- The process of preparing effective business messages
- Five planning steps
- Indirect (inductive) approach
- Beginning and endings
- Opening paragraphs/closing paragraphs
- Composing the message
- Drafting your message
- Revising your message
- Editing and proofreading your message
UNIT 3: THE APPEARANCE AND DESIGN OF BUSINESS MESSAGES
- Business letters
- Stationery and envelopes
- Standard parts of the letter
- Optional parts of the letter
- Letter layout
- Memorandums
- Envelopes and electronic mail
- Special time saving message media
- Electronic mail
- Facsimiles (faxes)
- Telegrams, mailgrams, telexes/teleconferencing
- Good-news and neutral messages
- Organizational plan
- Favorable replies
- Answering inquiries
- Granting requests for adjustment
- Approving credit/acknowledging orders
- Granting favors and other requests
- Job acceptance letters
- Goodwill messages
- Neutral messages
- Announcements/transmittals
UNIT 4: BAD-NEWS MESSAGES
- The right attitude
- Plans for bad-news messages
- Indirect plan/direct plan
- Negative replies to requests
- Answering non-sales-related inquiries when the information is undesirable
- Refusing adjustments on claims and complaints
- Refusing credit
- Acknowledging orders you cannot fill now or at all
- Declining invitations and requests for favors
- Unfavorable unsolicited messages
- Announcing bad news about prices or services
- Penalizing for nonconformity to rules or procedures
- Conveying other bad news
UNIT 5: PERSUASIVE WRITTEN MESSAGES, PERSUASIVE MESSAGES, SHORT REPORTS
- Organization of persuasive messages
- Direct request organization
- Indirect request organization
- Persuasive requests
- Persuasive sales letters
- Short reports
- Suggestions for short reports
- Developing the main sections
- Outlining the major sections
- Including other desirable sections
- Informational memorandum reports
- Conference reports
- Progress reports
- Periodic reports
- Analytical memorandum reports
- Steps in preparing an analytical personnel report
- Recommendation justification reports
- Letter reports—informational and analytical
- Informational letter reports
- Analytical letter reports
UNIT 6: LONG (FORMAL) REPORTS
- Prefatory sections
- Cover and external title
- Title fly and internal title
- Letter or memorandum of transmittal
- Table of contents
- Executive summary, abstract, synopsis
- Supplemental sections
- Bibliography/ footnotes and endnotes (citations)
- Appendix/glossary/index
- Presentation of the long report
- Writing the first draft
- Editing and revising the rough drafts
- Typing the final document
UNIT 7: PROPOSALS
- Purposes of proposals
- Kinds of proposals
- Research proposals/business proposals
- Parts of proposals
- Title page
- Executive summary, abstract, synopsis
- Draft contract
- Short proposals
- Long formal proposals
- Request for proposal (rfp)
- Chronology of procedures for solicited major proposals
- Government proposals
UNIT 8: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL SPEAKING AND SUCCESSFUL LISTENING
- Strategies for improving oral presentations
- Strategies for an effective nonverbal delivery
- Strategies for reducing stage fright
- Signs of discomfort
- Strategies for improving listening skills
- Faults in listening
- Purposes for listening
- Results of good listening
- Strategies for successful informative and persuasive speaking
- Organization for informative and persuasive speaking
- Dyadic communication
- Self-perceptions/dyadic communication relationships
- Interviewing
- Interview purposes
- Interviewee’s responsibilities
- Interviewer’s responsibilities
- Telephoning
- Dictating
- Suggestions for dictating
- Strategies for successful business and group meetings
- Preparation for meetings
- Effective participant roles in meetings
UNIT 9: THE JOB APPLICATION PROCESS-THE WRITTEN JOB PRESENTATION
- Self-assessment
- Market assessment
- Written sources of career and job information
- Helpful persons regarding employers and jobs
- Resume (vita, qualifications brief)
- Cover letter to resume
- The job application process—interviews and follow-up
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