CONTENT/TEACHING OUTLINE
COMPETENCY:
4.00
Understand communication skills and the impact on human
relationships.
OBJECTIVE:
4.02
Classify techniques to manage emotional reactions in human
relationships.
A. Explain the impact of personal feelings.
1. Emotional intelligence.
a. Being aware of personal feelings and using them to make decisions.
b. Being able to manage emotions and handle them. For example, Shameka is
aware that difficult customers trigger anger; therefore, she practices
techniques to deal with those customers without becoming angry.
2. Empathy.
a. Understanding another person’s situation or feelings.
b. For example, Amy has dinner at the Prickly Pear with her parents and her
four young children. Typically, it takes over an hour for the meal to arrive at
the table. Since there are young children, the waiter brings chips and salsa
for the adults and coloring books and crayons for the children.
3. Self-esteem.
a. Self-respect or valuing ones personal worth.
b. Setting goals is a valuable tool for building self-esteem. For example, by
setting a goal to make the basketball team and achieving that goal, it will
bring about feelings of accomplishment.
c. Demonstrate self-esteem.
i. Smile and speak to customers.
ii. Get along with other co-workers even when it may be difficult.
iii. Do not complain about problems; be one who looks for solutions to those
problems.
4. Personal strengths and weaknesses.
a. Self assessment: Learning about oneself by looking at work values, interests,
aptitude, abilities, and personality traits.
b. Work values describe what is important to someone in a career. For
example, would someone prefer to work with people in a selling environment
or work alone outside doing lawn maintenance?
c. Interests are the things someone enjoys spending time doing. For example,
gardening, playing in a band, and snowboarding.
d. Aptitude and abilities are those things that come naturally or may be learned
quickly. For example, Josh is good in math and want to pursue a career in
engineering.
e. Personality traits are not necessarily learned but are part of someone’s
personality like friendliness and creativity.
B. Explain techniques to manage emotional reactions.
1. Ethics: Guidelines for human behavior; the study of moral choices.
2. Morals: The part of human behavior that can be evaluated in terms of right or
wrong.
Marketing
Summer 2006
92
CONTENT/TEACHING OUTLINE
COMPETENCY:
4.00
Understand communication skills and the impact on human
relationships.
OBJECTIVE:
4.02
Classify techniques to manage emotional reactions in human
relationships.
3. Standards: Accepted levels of behavior to which individual behavior is
compared.
4. Consequences: The result of an action.
5. Virtues: Positive traits, such as loyalty, respect, honesty, and compassion that
are found within a person.
6. Ethical behavior: Recognizing the difference between right and wrong, then
choosing what is right.
a. Ethical people can be trusted to make the right decision, even when the
decision does not benefit them.
b. Ethics deals with principles that apply to everyone but these principles
become personal and individual and vary depending on an individual’s own
belief.
c. Sources of ethical beliefs:
i. Higher authority. One might obtain his/her belief system from his/her
spiritual being, parents, or government.
ii. Culture. A belief system might be based on values and beliefs of the
individual’s nation or origin or residence.
iii. Logic. One might use reason as a tool for making ethical decisions.
7. Ethics in the workplace. The development of a strong work ethic relies on selfdiscipline, self-control, initiative, and a productive work behavior.
a. Business ethics: Applying principles of right or wrong to workplace situations.
Business ethics includes taking personal pride in accomplishments on the job.
This is an area of growing concern in today’s workplace.
b. Code of ethics: A systematic set of rules and procedures used to guide the
behavior of an individual, business, or culture.
c. Employee duties: The obligations of an employee to fulfill the job
responsibilities and to give the employer a fair day’s work for the pay earned.
d. Employee rights: The entitlement of an employee to equal opportunity, fair
pay, and safe working conditions. The Equal Opportunity Act protects rights
like discrimination based on age, ethnicity, and religion.
e. Positive climate: A work environment that fosters positive productivity, quality
work, workplace values, commitment to excellence, constructive criticism,
encouragement for growth, and continuing education. Positive work ethics
can be encouraged by managers practicing good principles of supervision.
8. Examples of unethical behaviors.
a. Conflict of interest, such as an employer pressuring an employee to do
outside business with another company owned by the employer’s family.
b. Employee conflicts that cause either or both employees to behave in an
unethical manner.
c. Immoral and/or illegal activity.
9. Possible consequences of unethical behavior.
Marketing
Summer 2006
93
CONTENT/TEACHING OUTLINE
COMPETENCY:
4.00
Understand communication skills and the impact on human
relationships.
OBJECTIVE:
4.02
Classify techniques to manage emotional reactions in human
relationships.
a. Unethical behaviors may be legal or illegal.
b. If news of unethical behavior reaches the media and/or the public, then
negative publicity may result.
c. Unethical behavior can result in decreased profits for the business.
d. Possible lawsuits can occur as a result of unethical behavior.
e. If the law is broken, the penalty may include jail time.
f. An employee who reports a business associate or superior for illegal,
immoral, or unethical behavior may be identified as a “whistle blower”.
C. Explain cultural sensitivity.
1. Cultural sensitivity: Awareness of cultural differences and similarities.
2. Diversity: Different people have different backgrounds and identities. People are
diverse in terms of demographics, geographics, and psychographics.
3. Business etiquette: Acceptable social behavior in business or professional
situations. Business etiquette differs from country to country.
a. In the United States, receiving a gift from a business partner could be seen as
a bribe; in Japan it is customary.
b. Do not schedule a sales appointment in France before 10:00 am. Do not
schedule one in Spain during siesta time. In the US, it is quite appropriate to
plan a power lunch or breakfast meeting.
4. Stereotyping: Identifying someone or something by a single trait or as a member
of a certain group rather than as individuals. For example, women are often
used in ads in the role of the housewife; this ignores all the other roles women
have in society and business.
5. Cultural bias: The belief that one’s own culture is the best. This often leads to a
more severe cultural problem called prejudice, which brings out hostility towards
a group.
D. Understand positive interactions in business relationships.
1. Treat others fairly at work.
a. Employer/Employee relations. “Happy employees = Happy customers =
More profits.” Many companies strive to keep their employees satisfied,
motivated, and loyal by offering competitive wages, attractive benefits
packages, and other incentives.
b. Benefits: Added compensation other than money an employer gives his/her
employees. For example, paid vacation, insurance, and a retirement fund.
c. Incentives: Includes tuition reimbursement, special bonuses, special
recognition, performance awards, and internal promotion programs.
2. Use appropriate assertiveness. Standing up for what one believes in by showing
confidence and authority. People will not respect someone if he/she is too pushy
and aggressive.
Marketing
Summer 2006
94
CONTENT/TEACHING OUTLINE
COMPETENCY:
4.00
Understand communication skills and the impact on human
relationships.
OBJECTIVE:
4.02
Classify techniques to manage emotional reactions in human
relationships.
3. Foster positive working relations.
a. Teamwork: The good working relationship among employees resulting from
combined support, leadership, and cooperation. For example, employees are
asked to work together as a team to complete a task. The more effectively
the team members work together, the more likely they are to achieve the
desired goals for the business.
b. Agreement: A specific commitment made by a person or a group of people.
For example, each member of the DECA Chapter made an agreement with
the advisor to bring in canned food for the food drive.
c. Consensus: A collective agreement reached by the members of a group. For
example, the DECA Chapter reached consensus on the details for the
community service project.
Marketing
Summer 2006
95