E312. Written Communications in Business
Winter 2006 in Italy
Deborah C. Andrews
dandrews@english.udel.edu
www.english.udel.edu/dandrews

 
Learning Goals

1. Understand and apply the principles of effective communication in an increasingly global, technologically mediated, and complex business environment

2. Create effective, accessible, and well designed communication products that help you fulfill personal needs, contribute to the vitality and values of the organizations you’re associated with, and make a positive difference in your community

3. Become familiar with the genres and contexts of professional communication and know how and when to adjust genres for changing circumstances and technologies

4. Manage the development and presentation of communication products on a team, including virtual teamwork

Texts

Management Communication: A Guide(MC). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. 
Employment Communications / Reports and Reporting: Supplements (S)

Schedule

Please read the designated pages of the texts in advance of the due date so that you can discuss them when we meet. This class is a special section of E312 designed to accommodate intensive study in Italy. Formal assignments and informal exercises in class draw on your personal observations of organizational communication in this setting; on interviews you will conduct with local professionals; on your research into secondary sources, primarily on the internet but also international newspapers and magazines; and on your readings in the texts. They should enhance your understanding of organizational communication in Italy and simulate tasks you will perform and communication products you will compose as a professional. Once we are launched in the course, many of the classes indicated on the schedule will serve as studio sessions in which you will advance your work on a project conducted as a member of a team. Each project will have its own shape, but all teams have the same reporting requirements. Given our setting and the contingencies of travel and technology, we need to remain flexible as we pursue our learning goals. The schedule below provides a framework from which we can divert as situations require.

Team Project

You’ll join a team to develop a report within one of three broad categories. Early discussions in class will help each team narrow into a comfortable topic and approach.

 --The business of culture. We will visit many museums, historic sites, gardens, and other locations that display objects and interpret them for various publics. The brochures, wall labels, acoustic guides, scripts presented by living guides: these are all worthy of study not just for what they say but also for how they say it. In addition, behind this display and interpretation are organizations that have goals and visions for themselves; that need to market themselves to a variety of audiences and derive and compete for funding from a variety of sources; that exist in an economic, political, and social context; that communicate internally and externally to remain viable. Some teams will take advantage of our tours to observe and conduct research on communication aspects of cultural organizations.

--The rhetoric of tourism.  We’re tourists, participants in an industry that is expanding rapidly internationally. As one specialist in hotels notes, every hotel room displays at least 30 messages. Hotels and restaurants must communicate with customers, of course, but also internally at local sites and often in an international management hierarchy as well. In addition, governments issue travel bulletins and maintain travel websites (e.g., http://travel.state.gov/) Some teams will look at an aspect of communication in the tourism industry.

--Emporia communication. That’s a more elaborate label for shopping, understood not just as what you can buy but as how retail organizations communicate. The likelihood that you’ll spend at least some time shopping in Italy is probably 100 percent. Some teams will also use that time to look at, say, organizational patterns in the fashion and design industry there.

Scenarios

Each chapter in the Management Communication text includes a scenario, a narrative about communication challenges in the global economy. These are based on real incidents but generalized to apply broadly. On a team (a different team from your project team) you will lead a discussion of one scenario and write up both the scenario and the discussion. You will also need to read every scenario carefully so that you can participate in the discussions led by other students in the class.

Blog and/or paper journal

Individuals as well as corporations are increasingly using blogs to build and share knowledge. A blog also provides an excellent opportunity for you to record otherwise fleeting impressions from your travels, both in words and in pictures (if you have a digital camera); to comment on others’ impressions and observations in similar situations; to link to resources on the Web that support or amplify your own work; to maintain contact with family, friends, and colleagues around the world; and to practice your skills at writing and visualizing. For these reasons, especially the last one, you’ll be encouraged to set up a blog, either individually or with another student. It’s a great way to enhance your learning-while-walking-around experiences. You’ll need to post to the blog often during the course; we’ll determine the exact number of posts later on. I’ll check into your blog from time to time (so keep it clean and in acceptable English).

To set up a blog, use one of the free services, for example:
www.blogger.com  --  (owned by Google)
www.TravelPod.com  --  (as its name implies, a travel-oriented blogging service)
www.TravelBlog.org -- (another easy-to-use traveler site for blogging)

 For ease and efficiency, set up your blog and practice posting to it before we head to Italy. The university does not provide internet access in Italy, but you can gain such access at the many inexpensive internet cafes in each of the cities we’ll be visiting. If you prefer, you may complete your journaling assignment by commenting frequently in a paper notebook.


Schedule

Reading assignments are noted in italics. Discussion topics are in Roman type (!). Assigned communication products are bolded.

Grading

Employment communication                                       15 percent
Scenario responses and discussion                              20 percent
Blog or notebook commentary                                    15 percent
Team communication assessment project                    40 percent
Professionalism                                                         10 percent