Class Syllabus
BCOM/230
John Sperling School of Business
Class Syllabus
BCOM/230
Business Communications for
Accountants
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Class Syllabus
BCOM/230
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Course Prefix and Number:
BCOM/230
Course Title:
Business Communications for Accountants
Course Schedule:
11/30/10 – 01/17/11
Course
Location/Times/Newsgroup:
Online:
Required Course Materials
Links to course materials and electronic resources for each week of
class are located on the
page of the student Website.
Content is divided by weeks.
Instructor’s Name:
Gary Foote
Telephone:
706-354-7531
University of Phoenix E-mail
Address:
Footeg35@email.phoenix.edu
Alternative E-mail Address:
Gfoote1@its.jnj.com
Availability:
8:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Time
8:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Where to Go to Class: Your Course Forums
Main: This is the main forum for the class and is where discussion is conducted. It has read-andwrite access for everyone.
Chat-Room: This is a read-and-write access forum. It is designed as a place to discuss issues
not related to the course content. This is the forum to which we will send our bios.
Course-Materials: This is a read-only forum, which means you can read messages here but
cannot send any. This is where I will post the course syllabus and materials.
Learning-Team-A, B, C, D and E: These five Learning Team forums will be used as workrooms
for the learning teams. You will be assigned to one of these learning teams.
Individual Forum: You will see one forum with your name on it. This is a private forum, shared
only by you and me, the facilitator. Your classmates won’t have access to this forum. This is
where you will post some of your individual assignments, and where I will post your feedback.
You can also ask questions here. However, if you have general questions about instructions of
assignments, please post those in the Main forum, since other students may benefit by that
exchange as well.
Welcome!
My name is Gary Foote and I am looking forward to working with you as the class facilitator and
instructor. You can find out more about me in my Biography below and I will also send it
Class Syllabus
BCOM/230
separately. Please feel free to call me Gary. People in business that you want to correspond
with are usually very busy people and it takes a bit of an art to learn how to write your letters,
memos and emails in a way to capture their attention and get your point across. Over the next
five weeks we will learn the in and outs of what is needed to write these items in a way that will
get you the results you want which is for them to read it first and understand what you are looking
for quickly.
In this syllabus, you will find out what is expected of you, how assignments are weighted for
grading purposes and what you need to accomplish to get your grade. I am very fond of
accounting and I love what I do. I hope to shed some of that experience to you and give you the
information you will need to become good managers.
Instructor Bio
Hello, I am looking forward to meeting all of you and working with you in this course.
My name is Gary Foote. You can call me Mr. Foote, but when I hear that I look around to see my
father, so please call me Gary.
I am currently the Manager of Financial Analysis World Wide for Noramco (a subdivision of
Johnson & Johnson). I have a varied career path that has taken me all over the world. It started
two days after I graduated from Layton High School in Utah. I first left for Marine basic training in
San Diego and learned how to be an infantry soldier. I liked the physical aspect of this, but I
wanted something that challenged my mind more, so I transferred to the Air Force and became
an aircraft technician (crew chief) on F-16 aircraft.
I worked as a technician for the next four years. That period took me all over Europe, allowing
me to see many exciting spots such as Spain, Germany, Turkey and England. I then got my
orders to Moody AFB, Georgia. There I worked for the Deputy Commander of Maintenance as a
Deficiency Analyst. This gave me the schedule I needed to allow me to attend college.
I first started college basically with the intention of just meeting a lot of girls. This turned into a
competition with some friends for the best grades and then a mission to just make it out before I
got orders. Four years later at 11:00 o’clock in the morning I walked across the stage and picked
up my degree in Accounting. That same night at 6:00 PM, I said, “I do” to my wife in a church
about a mile a way. Yes, that was a day to remember.
I decided to follow my new career path in accounting and left the Air Force and my military family.
My young bride (Kelli), Cinder (our rabbit) and I headed west for my new job as a cost accountant
for NCR Corporation in Ogden Utah. I obtained my CMA certification while I was there and then
was promoted to an accounting manager position at a plant in Tennessee. We were back on the
road again.
While in Tennessee I obtained my Masters in Business (MBA) and was promoted to
Manufacturing Accounting Manager. Four months later we had our first child. Her name is Kaitlyn
and she is the joy of my life. One day not to long after Kaitlyn was born; I got a call from an
executive recruiter. Johnson & Johnson had an opportunity for me as a Plant Controller in
Alabama. We decided to take Johnson & Johnson up on this opportunity and relocate to just
outside Mobile Alabama. This move put us very close to my wife’s parents so everyone was
pretty happy.
The plant that I was a Controller at produced a product called Sucralose. You all may know it
better by its brand name Splenda. I started there when the plant site was nothing more than a
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Class Syllabus
BCOM/230
field. I worked through the construction accounting, to putting accounting systems in place and
then tying in our plant with all of the Johnson & Johnson worldwide procedures.
The plant was sold about a year ago to a British company named Tate & Lyle. I wanted to stay
with J&J so they transferred me to my current position in Athens GA as World Wide Manager of
Financial Analysis for Noramco. Since then, I have taken over the head finance position of the
site and total responsibility for Noramco Sox related items. I love my job, my field of work and I
have learned volumes about accounting and business in general. I look forward to sharing this
knowledge and experience with you as a facilitator in our class and learning from your knowledge
and experience as well.
Course Description
This course introduces students to the foundations of communication in a business accounting
setting. Students are exposed to various topics related to interpersonal and group
communications within the context of applications to the accounting field. Students will develop
skills in the forms of written communication, including memos, e-mails, business letters, and
reports. Other topics include communication ethics, collaboration, information utilization, critical
thinking, and professional competence and values.
Course Topics & Objectives
Week One: Organizational Culture and Communication



Use the tools available to University of Phoenix students.
Explain the relationship between organizational culture and organizational
communication style.
Explain how adapting the message to the audience affects business communication.
Week Two: Group Communication



Describe barriers to group communication.
Describe techniques to enhance group communication.
Identify the role of conflict in group communication.
Week Three: The Influence of Leadership on Group Communication


Explain the effects of leadership style on group communication.
Compare the influence of different sources of power on group and organizational
communication.
Week Four: Information Utilization and Communication



Compare different forms of communication and their use in business communication.
Identify relevant information for communication with a specific audience.
Create appropriate forms of communication to meet the needs of a given audience.
Week Five: Formal Communication


Analyze the role of ethics in business communication.
Evaluate the effectiveness of a business communication.
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Course Materials
Beebe, S., & Masterson, J. (2006). Communicating in small groups: Principles and practices (8th
ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Leisker, R. V., Flatley, M. E., & Rentz, K. (2008). Business communication: Making connections
in a digital world (11th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2009). Organizational behavior (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson.
All electronic materials are available on your student website.
Software
Wiley’s CPA Review v. 13.0
Weekly Point Values
Week One
Individual Assignment: Behavior and Communication Paper
Week Two
Individual Assignment: Memo Review
Week Three
Learning Team Assignment: Group Communication Paper
Week Four
Individual Assignment: Influencing Group Communication Paper
Learning Team Assignment: Communication and the Audience
Week Five
Individual Assignment: Evaluating Business Communication
Individual Assignment: Final Examination
All Weeks
Participation & Discussion Questions
Assignment Totals
Individual
Learning Team
Point Total
All Assignment should be posted to the Assignment workbook. The link can
be found on your resource page.
50
90
130
90
140
100
200
200
730
270
1000
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CLASS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Class Policies can now be found on the eCampus page for this class. I have
expanded on some of the procedures of the class like participation,
discussion questions, weekly summaries etc. So please read down through
these to make sure you know what is expected in this class.
Please review and be aware of all policies.
Participation
Participation is different from attendance. To receive full participation credit you will
be expected to contribute to the class discussion in the MAIN forum in a substantive
way four out of seven days each week. (Please note that posting assignments
and posting DQ answers do not count for class participation.) “Substantive”
postings relate to real world issues, build on the ideas of others, suggest alternative
ideas, and even constructively disagree with other ideas. Simply posting “I agree”
will not be considered “substantive” participation. Posting fewer than four days will
result in a reduction of your discussion points.
Please note that both quantity and quality are important considerations when it
comes to participation. For example, a message which says simply, "I agree," does
not constitute participation, because it does not add anything of substance to the
discussion.
To earn full participation points, you must add something of substance to the
discussion 4 out of 7 days per week—this would consist of new ideas, your
perspectives, pointed follow-up questions, etc. You will find it is much easier to keep
up with an Online class when you are logging in and participating regularly.
Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation
score.
Participation and Discussion Question Grading
Discussion question responses will not count towards the class participation
requirement and will be evaluated separately.
Weekly Summaries
Weekly summaries will not be required in this course.
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Final Week Requirements
Discussion question responses will not be required during the final week of the course. The final
week will be dedicated to completing the final assignments listed below.
Expectations for Discussion Question Responses
Discussion question responses should be at least 200-300 words. For discussion question
responses in the Main forum, please post responses to the threads provided. To respond,
highlight the appropriate thread, click on Reply, type your response, and send. Please do not
start a new thread for the weekly discussion questions in the Main forum.
Unlike your formal written assignments, I do not require that your discussion question responses
adhere to specific formatting requirements. However, please make sure to proofread carefully.
Grammar and spelling errors may impact the grading.
I expect your discussion question responses to reflect critical thought. Whenever possible, please
try to relate the course content to real-world applications from your work experience.
Attachments
Please do not use attachments in the Main forum. Post DQ responses in the body of OLS
messages. Please post formal assignments in your Individual forum as attachments–Microsoft®
Word documents or PowerPoint® slides.
Learning Teams
Learning teams are meant to be a collaborative process. I expect everyone to equally
contribute to the research, writing and editing processes. When everyone has reviewed
the work, it can be posted to the main folder. I reserve the right to record different grades
to team members if work is not deemed to be substantially equal.
If you experience difficulties working with your team, you are expected to resolve them within the
team if possible. However, please feel free to contact me for guidance if you have concerns in
this area.
In order to create structure for your Learning Team, you will complete a Learning Team Charter
during Week 2. The form for this charter is provided in a separate message in the CourseMaterials forum.
Late Assignments
Late assignments will be penalized with a 10% grade deduction for each day late, unless
you have made prior arrangements with me. Deadlines will be defined as 11:59 p.m. EST. No
assignment will be accepted that is more than 3 days late. If you know you will be offline the
day an assignment is due, please make sure to post it early. Anytime you feel that you might be
falling behind in the course, it is best to contact me to discuss your situation. As noted in the first
message posted in the Main forum, no assignments can be accepted after the final day of class.
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If you have an assignment completed by the deadline but are unable to post it in the forum for
technical reasons, you can send it to me by email to demonstrate that it was completed on time.
However, you must post the assignment in the forum once that becomes available.
GRADING
Feedback
Each week, I will provide grades or scores and comments on assignments within 6 days of when
they were submitted. I will post your feedback in your Individual forum. After I post feedback
each week, I will post a notification in the Main forum.
Grading Formula
Points
Grade
950+
A
900-940
A-
870-899
B+
840-869
B
800-839
B-
770-799
C+
740-769
C
700-739
C-
670-699
D+
640-669
D
600-639
D-
<599
F
Week One
Organizational Culture and Communication



Use the tools available to University of Phoenix students.
Explain the relationship between organizational culture and organizational
communication.
Explain how adapting the message to the audience affects business communication.
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BCOM/230
Course Assignments
1. Readings
Read Ch. 17 of Organizational Behavior.
Read Ch. 1–4 of Business Communication.
Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.
2. Individual Assignment: Behavior and Communication Paper
Select one of the following organizations:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Walt Disney
Cisco Systems, Inc
Apple
Macy’s
Starbucks
Google
IBM
3M
Southwest Airlines
US Army (or other branch of the armed services)
The American Red Cross
Review the chosen organization’s philosophy, mission, vision, and values statements.
This statement identifies the organization’s espoused values. Research the
University Library or the Internet to locate articles about the organization’s enacted
values.
Write a 350- to 700-word paper based on your review and research. Complete the
following in your paper:
o
o
o
o
Describe the culture of the organization.
Discuss the types of communication this organization uses for internal and
external communication.
The extent to which communication in an organization is determined by the
organization’s culture.
Do the espoused values of the selected organization align with its enacted
values?
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
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Week Two
Group Communication



Describe barriers to group communication.
Describe techniques to enhance group communication.
Identify the role of conflict in group communication.
Course Assignments
1. Readings
Read Ch. 1, 6, & 7 of Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices.
Read Ch. 5–7 of Business Communication: Making Connections in a Digital World.
Read Ch. 11 of Organizational Behavior.
Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.
2. Individual Assignment: Memo Review
Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Accounting memo
Review the Accounting Memo, which is an informal memo sent to you and your peers.
You must now send an accounting memo to the executive vice president.
Write a 350- to 700-word summary indicating the ways that this memo should be
changed based on its audience. In the summary, identify how and why the audience
affects the style of communication. Include the following:
o
o
o
o
Types of information to include or omit
Use of jargon. such as accounting-specific language
Potential repercussions of failing to know the audience
Write Summary using APA guidelines
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Week Three
The Influence of Leadership on Group Communication


Explain the effects of leadership style on group communication.
Compare the influence of different sources of power on group and organizational
communication.
Course Assignments
1. Readings
Read Ch. 13 & 14 of Organizational Behavior.
Read Ch. 12 of Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices.
Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.
2. Learning Team Assignment: Group Communication Paper
You are a manager responsible for introducing new employees to their teammates.
Having recently accepted a promotion, you have decided to write a three-page memo for
the new manager who will replace you. The new manager is an accountant with limited
background in group communication.
Write a three-page memo based on the scenario. In this memo, draw upon both the
personal and workplace experience of your Learning Team members. Refer to reallife examples to complete the following:
o
o
o
o
Analyze barriers that may exist in group communication.
Describe techniques to overcome those barriers and enhance group
communication.
Explain the role of conflict in effective group communication.
Format paper consistent with APA guidelines
Week Four
Information Utilization and Communication



Compare different forms of communication and their use in business communications.
Identify relevant information for communications with a specific audience.
Create appropriate forms of communication to meet the needs of a given audience.
Course Assignments
1. Readings
Review Ch. 11 of Organizational Behavior.
Read Ch. 10–12 of Business Communication: Making Connections in a Digital World.
Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.
2. Individual Assignment: Influencing Group Communication
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
Consider the organization where you work or an organization with which you are
familiar. Reflect on your professional experiences or possible professional
experiences within this organization. Consider how these experiences relate to the
five bases of power, which are coercive power, reward power, legitimate power,
expert power, and referent power.
Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper describing the five bases of power. Indicate which
power bases are formal and which are personal. How might each of these power
bases affect communication in your selected group or organization?
Format your paper consistent with APA standards.
3. Learning Team Assignment: Communication and the Audience
Resources: University of Phoenix Material: Accounting Scenario
Assign each team member a different audience from the following list:
o
o
o
o
Marketing manager
Sales manager
Accountant-peer
Chief executive officer
Write four 250- to 350-word communiqués. Different communiqués may include a formal
memo, e-mail, presentation, text message, accounting report, and so forth. Members
of the team are on the accounting team for ABC Company – as either the accounting
manager or staff accountant. Refer to the matrix in the Communique Scenario for
roles, audience, and the purpose of the communique.
Determine which type of communiqué to send to each assigned character from the
Communiqué Scenario.
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Class Syllabus
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Week Five
Formal Communication


Analyze the role of ethics in business communication.
Evaluate the effectiveness of a business communication.
Course Assignments
1. Readings
Read Ch. 16–17 & Appendix E of Business Communication: Making Connections in a
Digital World.
Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.
2. Individual Assignment: Evaluating Business Communication
Resources: Communiqués from the Week Four Learning Team assignment
Review the communiqués from the Week Four Learning Team assignment.
Evaluate each communication to determine its effectiveness.
Write a 350- to 700-word summary in which you address the following questions:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
How well did the communication convey the intended message?
Would another type of communication have been more appropriate? Why?
Is the communication at the appropriate level for the intended audience?
How did the leadership styles in the scenario affect the communication within the
group?
What changes would you recommend to improve the communiqué?
What are the ethical implications of the information being shared?
Does the communication share too much information?
Does the communication share too little information?
How does considering the ethical implications affect your evaluation?
Format Paper Consistent with APAP guidelines
3. Individual Assignment: Final Examination


Click the link to the Final Examination on your student website. The link is available
from the end of Week Four through Week Five.
Complete the Final Examination. You are allowed one attempt to complete the
exam, which is timed and must be completed in 3 hours. Results are autograded and
sent to your instructor.
Note. Final Examination questions are adapted from Organizational Behavior, Business
Communication: Making Connections in a Digital World, and Communicating in Small
Groups: Principles and Practices.
As always, Please let me know if you have any questions at all about the
syllabus or anything regarding the class. Thanks and I look forward to working
with you all.
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