Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
This course is designed to enable the working graduate engineers and technical
managers to understand the principles of effective business communication. It would
help in applying the critical and creative thinking abilities that are necessary for
effectively communicating in todays hi-tech business world. By the end of this course
students would be able to demonstrate clarity, precision, conciseness and coherence in
their use of communication tools.
Select appropriate communication channels (e.g., e-mail, memo, letter, report, fax,
voice-mail, etc.) for a particular situation and purpose.
Grade Distribution:
Quizzes 10%
Assignments 15%
Mid-Term Exam 25%
Research Paper / Final Project 20%
Final Exam 30%
Note:
Calling the instructor on cell phone is discouraged
Homework
Timely submission of Home Assignments is mandatory and if not turned in when due,
the student will be graded negatively. A maximum of 5 percent may be deducted.
Individual homework means individual effort.
Homework may be submitted via Email and Fax in case individual is out of
town/country. Please keep on reading your emails daily to find any new classroom
instructions.
The main thrust of this course is to learn the understanding human behavior in
organizational context specific to communication. Students need to focus on various
important issues, must deliberate a lot, and should have in depth discussion before they
finalize the project and team members.
Options:
3 Hard Copies of Final Project Report and one electronic copy must reach course
instructor positively on the same day of presentation.
No late submissions will be entertained unless previously discussed with the professor
There will be Three project presentations in one session. Each group will be given 20
minutes with 10 minutes Q & A Session. It is believed that after undergoing this
academic exercise, you will be able to contribute more effectively in your parent
department /future assignments.
Students, working in groups of three or four, will pick a topic of their own choice. The
course textbook also offers a good starting point in identifying topics of interest.
Students are to choose their topic by Week 5 of the course. Topics must gain clearance
of the instructor. The instructor will ensure the topic warrants investigation and does not
conflict with a topic investigated by another classmate. Topics will be approved on a
first-come, first-served basis and posted on Yahoo group for other classmates to see
what topics are already chosen. In the identification of your selected topic, ensure you
provide the following information to the instructor:
Project Report
The written report is a formal write-up of your business communication topic. The report
is worth 20% of your final grade. The body of the written report should be 10 to 15 (one-
and-a-half OR single-spaced) pages in length. This is a ballpark page count emphasis
will be placed on the quality of the content of your report as opposed to the quantity of
pages delivered. Feel free to include tables and figures directly in the body of the report.
However, place bulky materials in some form of appendix. The appendix, table of
contents, title page etc. are not considered to be part of the body of the report.
The report should start with a cover page which clearly identifies the issue being
investigated and lists your name(s), student number(s) and email address(es). This
should be followed by an Executive
Summary or Abstract that functions as a prcis and not as an introduction to the report.
Next should be a Table of Contents followed by an Introduction section. The Introduction
section should clearly identify your topic of interest, why it is important to study, and the
purpose of the paper. There should be a Conclusion section at the end of the body of
the report which summarizes the contributions of the paper and provides a nice
circular argument to your paper (corresponds to what was said in the Introduction
section). The Conclusion should be followed by a References section which provides
an alphabetized list of references cited in the paper; these should follow a standard
bibliographic formatting style, such as APA. It is expected that quality sources be
referenced (e.g., academic journals, published case studies) and that these form a
majority of the cited works.
Grading of the report will be evaluated by the instructor alone and based on both style
and content.
Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism in the report will not be tolerated and will result in an automatic mark of zero
for this assignment. Plagiarism includes copying text from Web sites without utilizing
proper citations and/or references. Refer to the section below on Academic
Dishonesty. Written reports are due in class in last week & will be announced by the
instructor. The purpose of the assignment is to facilitate an in-depth exploration of a
project management topic of interest and relevance to individual students.
Miscellaneous Instructions
It is expected that a student will check his/her email at least twice daily on
the weekdays
Instructors Profile