...| Course Syllabus School of Business XBCOM/275 Version 3 Business Communications and Critical Thinking | Copyright © 2013, 2012, 2011 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course introduces students to the foundations of communication in a business setting. Students will develop skills in critical thinking and decision making through the forms of written communication, including memos, e-mails, business letters, and reports. Other topics include communication ethics and cross-cultural communications, personal communication styles, solving organizational problems, and the evaluation of an organization’s strategic direction. Policies Students will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Moore, B. N., & Parker, R. (2012). Critical thinking (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Quintanilla, K., & Wahl, S. (2014). Business and professional communication: Keys for workplace...
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...Colton James Spurlock Mrs. Young Composition 2 10/1/2013 Concepts of Free Will: A Look at the Principles of Stance Applied to Antigone Isaac Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal opposite reaction. When decisions are made solely based off of free will and neglect external pressures the reactions and repercussions are of extreme magnitude. Stace’s external forces of free will are thrust upon Antigone most severely during her quarrel with Creon and during her death from her own hand; Ismene also has similar external forces thrust upon her, when she is questioned by Creon regarding her involvement with her sister’s affairs, yet responds in a different manner than Antigone. Antigone’s free will choice, made against the external force of human law when she defies Creon. The decision to bury Pholynices was made with complete disregard to the laws of the land. When Creon, questions Antigone, he first asks if “she was aware of the public notice?” The legal authority which put in place the regulations that inhibited Antigone’s actions first want to make sure that understood the law. Creon wanted to verify that Antigone’s actions were that of utter defiance. Antigone answers that her actions were in fact done in complete defiance, “…how could I not it’s public knowledge.”[Antigone] Antigone’s answer to Creon’s chance for penance, show’s that her decision was hers, and hers alone; made in complete disregard to Stace’s principal of the external...
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...Final Project: Debate Paper XBCOM/275 October 6, 2013 Should a Death Row Inmate be Granted a Last Meal One of the most controversial debates today is regarding the ability for death row inmates to order a last meal before execution. What sparked the debate most recently is when a man named Lawrence Russell Brewer, a death row inmate housed in a Texas prison, ordered a meat lovers pizza, two chicken fried steaks with gravy and fried onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and jalapeños, a large bowl of fried okra and a side of ketchup, three fajitas, one pound of barbequed meat with a half of loaf of white bread, one triple patty cheeseburger, a pan of peanut butter fudge topped with crushed peanuts, three root beer drinks and one full pint of Blue Bell ice cream (Fernandez, Manny). After Lawrence Brewer ordered this huge feast, he did not even eat one bite. This extravagant meal was costly in many ways to taxpayers. Lawrence Brewer took his last opportunity to show the government, the victims, the family of the victims, and all people just how little he cared. Many people were disgusted by his arrogance and disdain, and others thought nothing, as though it were his right to order whatever his heart desired in the last hours before his death. The current debate runs deep. Normally a last meal requests are made approximately two weeks prior the scheduled execution. Why in the world would you treat a vicious murderer like a special celebrity two hours before they...
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...What different persuasive approaches would you use with the following audiences: a manager, a peer, a challenging person, and an open-minded person? Why would your approach differ with each? The art of persuasion is not simply forcing someone else to see a point of view, do things a different way, or force someone to believe your opinion. Persuasion is getting a person to do something on their own free will, by making it enticing and/or appealing to them. In order to achieve that, it is crucial to know who the person is, or what they want or need in order to persuade them that they want to see things from your view. When talking to a manager, persuading them could take combining your desires with their job while making it seem beneficial . Say for instance I want a particular holiday off, I can give him a extra day when I know he needs a break. When talking to a peer often we know what their goal or job is, because it is most likely the same as ours. Scratching someone's back will get you far, but using data and facts to a peer will persuade them in my opinion because they would be skeptical. To a challenging person persuasion could be hard, because they will challenge anything said, simply to be challenging. To an open minded person maybe an honest genuine approach would be successful because they are willing to accept new thoughts and ideas without any other blocks. Each person is different and has desires, attributes, jobs, and goals differently. In order to...
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...What different persuasive approaches would you use with the following audiences: a manager, a peer, a challenging person, and an open-minded person? Why would your approach differ with each? The art of persuasion is not simply forcing someone else to see a point of view, do things a different way, or force someone to believe in a specific something. Persuasion is getting a person to do something out of their own free will, by making it enticing or appealing to them. In order to that, it’s crucial to know who the person is, or particularly what they want in order to persuade them that they want to see things from your view, or do them your way. When talking to a manager, persuading them may be along the lines of combining your desires with their job. If a manager’s job is to run a McDonald’s with low food and labor cost, and my goal is to leave early, an affective tactic may be explaining that there are too many people working for the volume of sales coming in, and that they would cut costs by sending me home, but also in a respectful way as they are still in charge. When talking to a peer often we know what their goal or job is, because it’s often the same as mine. So to persuade them maybe say something that would work on myself if they said it to me. To a challenging person persuasion may be much harder, because they will challenge anything I say simply to be challenging. Reverse physiology may be an effective tactic if they are determined to simply be challenging and...
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...This file comprises XBCOM 275 Entire Course A+ Study Guide Business - Accounting 1. Creditors' claims on the assets of a company are called: Net losses Expenses Revenues Equity Liabilities 2. Which of the following elements are found on the Balance Sheet? Service Revenue Net Income Operating Activities Utilities Expense Retained Earnings 3. Assets created by selling goods and services on credit are: Accounts payable Accounts receivable Liabilities Expenses 4. The description of the relation between a company's assets, liabilities and equity, which is expressed as + Equity is known as the: Income statement equation Accounting equation Business equation Return on equity ratio Net income 5. An example of an operating activity is: Paying wages Purchasing office equipment Borrowing money from a bank Selling stock Paying off a loan 6. Of the following accounts, the one that normally has a credit balance is: Cash Office Equipment Sales Salaries Payable Dividends Sales Salaries Expense 7. Reebok had income of $150 million and average assets of $1,800 million. Its return on assets is: 8.33% 83.3% 12.0% 120% 8. If Beginning Retained Earnings was $184,300, the company distributed $46,000 in dividends and Ending Retained Earnings was $345,000, what was the net income for the period? $154,700 $206,700 $114,700 $575,300 $160,700 9. Ethical behavior requires: That an auditors' pay not depend on the figures in the client's reports Auditors...
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...The right to health care coverage Nickolai Shaner XBCOM/275 June 7, 2014 Rhonda Curry The right to health care coverage The right to health care coverage has long been a debate within our government. Those that worked part time, were indigent or were healthy chose the path of no insurance. Unfortunately, things happen, tragedy strikes and if one does not have health care then the unthinkable happens. According to statistics nearly one-third of Americans do not have health insurance (Glied, n.d.). That individual will accrue hundreds or thousands of dollars of debt that can cripple them financially forever. There are varying degrees of advantages of government health care coverage versus private health care coverage. We will look at the role that the government has played thus far in providing universal health care and how successful that may be. According to "Where Can I Read The Affordable Care Act?" (n.d.),The Affordable Care Act was introduced and passed into law in 2010. President Obama had made strides to over healthcare to every individual in the United States. Over the past four years there have been many attempts to nullify and repeal the act but there have been many praises of the act as well. For individuals that had individual healthcare this has not been a welcome law. Many people feel that government should not be involved in healthcare as a general rule. ...
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...XBCOM/275 Audience Analysis and Reception Effective writing in the workplace is an essential skill. The rules are basically the same for any type of writing, however there are some special issues which arise in the business context. Knowing the elements of good business writing can make or break a career. Knowing your elements is the key to a effective business writing is knowing your audience. Before you sit down to compose your letter, memo or report, think about the recipient of your document. What are you trying to say to this person? Organization is crucial. Outlines are an invaluable aid to writing a lengthy report or memo. Remember time is in short supply for most professional. By organizing your thoughts beforehand, you can determine what exactly you are trying to say. Decide what details must be included in the report or memo. Look for graphic elements to add to your presentation, especially if you report contains many boring statistics. Statistics and research bolster your conclusions, especially if they are presented in a visually appealing manner. With the advent of modern word processing programs such as Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect, it’s easy to include spread sheets, graphs and colorful clip are to your report, thereby making your work memorable and convincing. After you have decided what the message is that you are trying to convey, work on saying it in concise language. Be brief whenever possible. Avoid wordless and unnecessary large words. Always...
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...Audience Analysis and Reception XBCOM/275 Tiffany Diestelhorst Greg Lee 04/04/14 If I were going to write a formal report to my management I would have to look at what type of people I am dealing with before writing the report. Therefore, I know what they are looking for in the reports when they read it. If I don’t know my audience, How can I please them so to speak. I cannot please someone I do not know or at least I don’t think so. Knowing what your audience likes, is looking for, and or don’t care for, will take you a long way in any part of life, I think. Leading is knowing and knowing is success I have always heard from family members on my fathers side. I like to try to add some charisma But if the managers are not so open minded or as charming as me then no, I won’t add any spunk to my reports. I have a good trait from my fathers side as well and that’s outgoing. Some people do not like how outgoing I can be so for those type people I calm it down until I know they are comfortable with me. I like to make the higher level positions think they have referent power over me but really I could go over them and show them the leader in me. I like the lower position for now. That is a risk I will take later in my career...
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...Cultural Evaluation Paper James Stein XBCOM/275 February 1, 2015 University of Phoenix Cultural Evaluation Paper The country I have picked is Japan. I picked this because I think Japan is one of the biggest and common company does deal with in the business world. Over the years working in company’s the United States have been modeling business plans after Japanize companies. So with this in mind I thought I could see why. In the United States a company will sit down and discuss a plan and make a decision quickly. During this time the company will unfortunately make errors in the decisions and this will not stop the process they will continue forward. In Japan the process is a little slower. The company will first discuss the idea then come to a solution then appoint a committee to oversee the process. The process needs to have continuous paper work and documentation so nothing is missed. So you can see in United States we are “cowboys” we will quickly try to fix in and then think about it later. In the country of Japan they do the opposite they think first then act. In the United States company’s mostly operate with the employees are individuals and have self-goal to achieve. In Japan companies have individual goals but your goals reflect your whole group or business unit. In Japan if one fails everyone fails. I found this interesting. Currently working for the company I currently do we have 3 women from japan. I always wondered how they can work 7 days...
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...Danielle Brown Week 3 XBCOM/275 Some reasons you might consider data or information to lack validity, credibility, or reliability is very simple as long as a little critical thinking is involved. There are so many sources of data or information in the world today as well as people distributing it, that it’s hard to know what to believe. You have the Internet with sights like Facebook, twitter, as well as other news websites. You have the Television that has numerous information channels as well as what you can read at your local library. How do we filter out the biased, untrue information from todays…well biased and skeleton closeted world? With critical thinking, that’s our biggest weapon these days in filtering out the truth! No matter what outlet your trying to get your information from there is always one go to that can tell you more than you would think and that’s the source of this information. Authors are who gives us the information we seek, they can also give us the wrong information. Websites like Wikipedia, Ask.com, and Yahoo answers are big no-no’s in the credibility world. Sure some of the information may be accurate after tons of filtering and research but because anyone can just post their opinion, it doesn’t make it 100% credible. Most websites have a link to a page about the author where you can learn what this persons strong suits are on knowledge and information, to determine if they were a good resource or not to be giving the information. For instance...
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...William Rigney XBCOM/275 James Burrescia 2/22/2014 Check Point: Audience Analysis and Reception Communication is the single most important feature to consider in any relationship, be it professional or personal. In a professional, or business setting, it is the way we keep the business running smoothly and efficiently. Employees must be trained to deliver facts, and to report to a wide range of people. This is done via meetings, written communications such as emails, and memos, and in one-on-one interaction. For the employee to be effective, the employee will need to analyze and evaluate the needs of the audience before preparing their presentation. In this case, as always, we will want to maintain a professional tone throughout the report. Managers in a business expect a certain level of professionalism from their employees, and expect it in the reports they are given to read. Avoiding the use of slang terms, improper grammar and punctuation, and by staying on the subject are ways of making sure the report stays professional. The report should not be filled with too many facts of figures, but should include enough detail to cover and answer any questions management may have before they read the report, and should not leave any extra questions after they have read it. Even though they are managers, it does not mean that they know everything, or are aware of all that is happening. They need to be kept in the loop, and reports are the way of doing just that. If the needs...
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...Benefits and drawbacks of groups Lacrisa Johnson XBCOM/275 March 9,2014 There are several benefits and drawbacks of working in a group environment. When working within a group, the collaborated effort of a cohesive team will produce effective results. That effort is called teamwork. According to dictionary .com, teamwork is the cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group or person’s acting together as a team or in the interest of a common cause (2014). It is beneficial to understand the working relationships of group members, know the task and be able to identify possible obstacles. For example, some of the benefits of working in a group is productivity, reliability and unbiased. The productivity includes the skill levels and the abundance of resources that have now become available. The more individuals in the group equal an increased skill level. Reliability is an advantage because if one member is unable to manage their portion of the workload, the group will survive. Also it will be increasingly difficult to be bias within the group. The thoughts, opinions and ideas of others will be recognized. On the other hand, there are relevant drawbacks associated with working in groups. Individual thinking, time consumption and...
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...Group Debates Analysis Paper 11/10/2013 XBCOM/275 Colette Franklin A debate is an art of reasoning and clever wording to persuade an audience of an individual or group opinion regarding the interpretation of facts and ideas (Gamble, 2012). Debates can be performed individually or in groups, there are both benefits and drawbacks to a debate and how they are performed. Group debates consist of more than two people on both teams; affirmative and negative. There are more benefits and drawbacks when analyzing a group debate. A group debate has its benefits and they are extensive, from expansive knowledge to comradely. When there is more than one person on a debate side all the different ways one opinions is expressed can make the viewpoint more clearly for any persons “sitting on the fence”. All of the opinions put together can give a broad spectrum of information on the given topic, allowing for each team member to see the topic in a different light. With more people on a team there is more knowledge that can pooled together to pick which bit of information is more relevant and can be a stronger hitting point for the opposing team, also each person can be given a specific job based upon their strengths to help the team collect information and deliver their statements. Not every person on the team will have come from the same education lesson or background so they can have different perspectives on how the topic is perceived. Knowing there is such a variety of knowledge...
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...Week 1 Checkpoint XBCOM/275 Feb 25, 2013 Directions: Think of a misunderstanding you experienced when communicating with someone else at work, home, or school. Then fill in the blanks of the chart below. I’m going to use a misunderstanding I have experienced at work. |Who was the sender? |I was the sender. | |Who was the receiver? |A new employee in the job. | |What was the message? |Because I am experienced at my job, I was helping training a new team lead on how to close | | |the store down. | |What channel was used to send the message? |Face to face communication was used. | |What was the misunderstanding that occurred? |The new team lead did not understand all of the steps to complete the close for the | | |registers, and the entire store. | |How could the misunderstanding have been |I am highly experienced at what I do. I said the steps thoroughly to her, but she never | |avoided? |asked any questions,so I automatically...
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