Fanning Center Graduate Courses

MBCM-60400 MANAGEMENT SPEAKING. (Course Syllabus, PDF 103KB)
Fall and Spring, Multiple Sections, 2.0 credits. This course will provide you with an opportunity to improve your spoken communication skills in a variety of settings from informal meetings to large, formal presentations. Speaking experiences include business briefings, informative talks, persuasive speeches and television news interviews. You will receive instructor feedback as well as peer review on every aspect of oral communication, including delivery, non-verbal behavior, content, organization, and visual support. Small sections promote personal student-professor contact and provide time for individual coaching.

MBCM-60420 MANAGEMENT WRITING (Course Syllabus, PDF 89.6KB)
Fall and Spring, Multiple Sections, 2.0 credits. Because the most important ideas in business end up in writing, and because writing can frequently become a career sifter, this course focuses on the written word as a principal means of implementing business strategy and solving managerial problems. This course will focus on the basics of written expression in a business context, including the communication process, critical thinking, audience analysis, message development, correspondence, and document design.

MBCM-60440 MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION (Course Syllabus, PDF 81.8KB)
(One-Year MBA Program). Summer, 2 credits. This compact, two-week course offers a comprehensive overview of communication theory and practices in the management of modern business organizations.  The scope of topics ranges from the basics of business writing, document organization and design, grammar and syntax, to the fundamentals of business presentations, listening and feedback, communication technology, business meetings and conflict management.  This course is open only to One-Year MBA candidates and is structured as a diagnostic and instructional experience designed to introduce them to the norms and expectations of the North American marketplace.

MBCM-60460 LISTENING AND RESPONDING (Course Syllabus, PDF 45.9KB)
Fall and Spring, 2.0 credits. Being a good listener is frequently cited as one of the most important characteristics of a successful manager. Yet listening skills are rarely taught in an academic curriculum. This course will help you to develop your listening skills through an examination of individual barriers to good listening and personal strategies to overcome them, and through an exploration of feedback techniques that facilitate effective communication. Some specific topics include listening to criticism non-defensively, perception checking for accuracy, and providing affirming feedback to a speaker.

MBCM-60490 PERSUASION (Course Syllabus, PDF 50.7KB)

Fall and Spring, 2.0 credits. Every day we are bombarded with messages meant to influence us.

This course introduces you to the dynamics of social influence.  Through class discussion, activities, and lecture, you will learn about classic and contemporary research on persuasion and how organizations are putting these findings into practice.  You will learn how to craft persuasive messages, how to evaluate the attempts of others to persuade you, and how to recognize unethical attempts at persuasion.

MBCM-70450 CORPORATE COMMUNICATION. (Course Syllabus, PDF 85.9KB)
Fall and Spring, 2.0 credits. Few issues can affect stock price faster than a corporate crisis or a negative story in the news media. In the course of their careers, managers will confront a series of issues related to corporate communication, including reputation management, media relations, legislative and government affairs, employee communication, and crisis management. Other issues will include investor relations, corporate philanthropy, identity, image, and issue advertising. You'll examine the intersection of three separate yet related groups: the public, the press, and private enterprise. You will also focus on communication programs intended to improve and influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of companies, industries, organizations, and causes.

MBCM-70500 MANAGING CONFLICT (Course Syllabus, PDF 37.1KB)

Fall and Spring, 2.0 credits. Conflict is a central feature of human behavior on interpersonal, organizational, societal, and international levels.  In this course, we explore the psychology of disputes, the nature and sources of conflict, and the ways in which conflict and human emotion can disrupt or make business organizations dysfunctional.  As we examine the nature of conflict, we'll explore behavioral responses and theoretical approaches to it, and offer a wide range of alternatives to working through conflict.  This course is highly practical and will offer you an opportunity to apply current research findings as you interactively participate in conflict resolution.

MBCM-70520 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Fall and Spring, 2.0 credits. This course will prepare students for life and business in an increasingly global, multicultural world.  We'll examine the basics of culture: what is is, how you acquire one, how they change, the roles and functions they serve. We'll also look at the ways in which cultural factors, both domestically and internationally, affect private enterprise, NGOs, regulatory bodies, and global commerce. We'll also examine issues related to communication, culture and identity; culture and power; and the ways we apply our own cultural perspectives to achieve our goals in life.

MBCM-60100 INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION (Course Syllabus, PDF 73.9KB)

Fall, 1.0 credit. This highly compact course offers a brief survey of the communication processes, skills, theories and applications at work in the large and complex organizations of the North American marketplace.  You will receive exposure to basic theories, examine their application, then demonstrate your ability to analyze authentic management problems in case format.  Assessment of writing and speaking abilites, along with specific feedback to improve performance, are an important part of this one-week course open only to first-year Traditional MBA candidates.

MBGR-60210 TEN YEARS HENCE: A SPRING LECTURE SERIES (Course Syllabus, PDF 75.4KB)

This Spring Semester 2008, 1.0-credit hour course will explore issues, ideas, and trends likely to affect business and society over the next decade.  A series of seven separate lectures on selected Friday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon will feature a wide range of experts on economic demography, technology, religious fundamentalism, social trends, futurism and work, natural resources, and more.  No examinations or graded assignments.  Students must attend all lectures; no unexcused absences. 

MSA-60110 MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION (Course Syllabus, PDF 69.8KB)

Summer, 1.0 credit. This highly compact course offers a brief survey of the communication processes, skills, theories and applications at work in the not-for-profit organizations of the North American marketplace.  You will examine authentic management problems in the NFP arena, including a broad range of organizations, business models, and missions.  Assessment of writing and speaking abilities, along with specific feedback to improve performance, are an important part of this one-week course open only to Master of Science in Administration degree candidates.