|
fanning center for business communication
Curriculum Redesign for MBA Program Before MBA students even begin their studies at Notre Dame, the Fanning Center has already taken steps to help them improve their communication. An online evaluation helps the Fanning Center gauge incoming students’ skills before they are placed in their first required communication course. The Center has also developed a new week-long communication immersion program open to first-years, one of the new inter-term offerings for MBA candidates. Fanning Center courses, which are now offered in seven-week modules, challenge students to improve their communication skills in writing, speaking, listening, persuasion, and conflict management.
Management Communication Case Studies Used by 75 Colleges For more than ten years, MBA students, under the direction of Management Professor James O’Rourke, have been writing case studies on topical management communication issues. In 2004-2005, the Fanning Center added 12 new communication case studies to its list of more than 100 studies. Among the new titles are: CBS News: Challenging the Authenticity of a News Source; and Merck & Co., Inc.: A Recall of Vioxx. Mendoza case studies are now used by 75 business schools around the world, including those at Rice University, Emory University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and Dartmouth College.
Conference on Corporate Communications Since 1997, the Fanning Center annually has hosted a conference on corporate communications. Leading scholars and industry professionals gather to discuss current issues and best practices in corporate communications and the challenges of managing the reputations of large organizations. Recent lecturers include Dan Schafer, director of North American communications for the Coca-Cola Company, who presented Local Reputation in a Global System in 2004, and Michael I. Fanning, vice president of Michelin North America, Inc., who spoke in 2003 about Managing Backlash: When Culture and Politics Collide.
440 Undergraduates Took Business Communications Electives Roughly two-thirds of the senior class chose to take Business Communication electives in the 2004-2005 academic year. These popular classes include “Business Speaking,” “Business Writing,” and “Persuasion.”
Two New Books in the Managerial Communications Series The Fanning Center recently published two new books in the Managerial Communications Series expanding the popular collection to eight titles. Listening and Responding, written by Professor Sandra Collins, discusses the importance of developing good listening skills, by drawing on recent findings in behavioral psychology. The book focuses on active listening and its significance in building strong business relationships. Carolyn Boulger’s Writing and Presenting a Business Plan helps readers translate good ideas into a successful business plan through feasibility analysis. Boulger explains in detail how to acquire funding, package ideas for the market, and present a business plan to a prospective investor.
New MBA Courses Offer “Hands-On” Communication
Students in Sandra Collins’ new communications courses—Persuasion, Listening and Responding, and Conflict Management—take part in a range of exercises to develop their abilities. In the exercises shown, students are honing speaking and listening skills during brainstorming sessions; learning to express abstract concepts in drawing by direction sessions; speaking up under pressure in freeze frame negotiations; and giving guidance to others in complex role-playing situations. • Persuasion introduces students to the dynamics and ethics of social influence. Students learn how to decipher persuasive messages, and find out how to be more persuasive in communication. • Listening and Responding helps students develop better listening skills through class discussion and activities and learn techniques that facilitate effective communication. • Conflict Management addresses the psychology of conflict. Students learn about behavioral responses to conflict and participate in conflict resolution exercises.
|
| Copyright © 2005 University of Notre Dame All Rights Reserved Last Updated on: September 29, 2005 |