COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
BUS 114	C	2	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	M.Sc. Saimir Mansaku smansaku@epoka.edu.al , Monday 09-30 to 12-00
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Compulsory
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Business Informatics (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	Google classroom code nsyin6h , E-B31, Friday, 8:45 - 11:30
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:	75%
Course Description:	Communication Skills: This course aims to provide better understanding of purposes and processes of communication in business. Cases and projects improving students` skills in a collaborative communication are provided. With the help of exercises, including videotaping, students have opportunities to improve and evaluate their oral communication skills. This course aims to provide better understanding of purposes and processes of communication in business. Cases and projects improving students` skills in a collaborative communication are provided. With the help of exercises, including videotaping, students have opportunities to improve and evaluate their oral communication skills.
Course Objectives:	This course offers an opportunity to learn and apply, in daily life, practical principles of interpersonal communication, communication in groups and organizations. Emphasis is placed on psychological, social, cultural, and linguistic factors, which affect person-to-person interaction. This course is designed to help students improve their communication in both personal and professional contexts. Attention is given to human perceptions, interpersonal dynamics, patterns of inference, listening, and verbal and visual symbols. Also the course is focused on business communication, political and diplomatic communication.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Succeeding in Business Communication
2	Analyzing Your Audience
3	Building Goodwill
4	Values and ethics
5	Business Communication Environment
6	Communicating across Cultures
7	Appropriate Technology
8	Building Résumés

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Succeeding in Business Communication. “Benefits of Good Communication Skills” first. Reinforces good communication as a quality that makes organizations desirable places to work. Includes information on how good communication skills benefit individuals. Provides new examples of billion-dollar costs for poor communication. Electronic communication.
2	Adapting Your Message to Your Audience. Opens with the outreach to male audiences for formerly female-oriented products. Increases information on electronic channels and their different advantages. Summarizes Pew research on channel shifts and age and gender preferences for channels. Provides examples on topics such as creative uses of channels and the efficacy of audience benefits. Discusses customers not willing to pay for benefits they need.
3	Building Goodwill. Includes new sections on “Positive Psychology,” what it is, how it uses you- attitude and goodwill, why business should care about it, and how companies can use it; “Trust,” how it relates to the skills described in this chapter and why it is important for job success; and “Using Technology to Build Goodwill,” how companies are successfully using electronic channels. ■ Opens with department store Macy’s efforts to offer merchandise appealing to specific minorities. ■ Shows Microsoft using you-attitude in its relations with Chinese officials. Emphasizes the importance of you-attitude as a job skill that computers will not replace. Updates information on the makeup of the U.S. population showing the growing diversity of the workplace and the need to communicate with appropriate, unbiased language.
4	Working and Writing in Teams. Provides a new section on technology for teams. ■ Opens with the importance of teamwork for animators. ■ Includes new information on leadership, brainstorming techniques, and conflict resolution, as well as the importance of team skills for hiring and job success. Also adds new material on technology for teams, including sections on technologies for meetings, scheduling and assignments, and collaboration
5	Sharing Informative and Positive Messages with Appropriate Technology. Includes new sections on tablet technology and on the use of story in informative messages. ■ Opens with an article on how the Cleveland Clinic is providing better information to patients. xiv ■ Includes new information on using communication technology, text messages, tweets, and other social media; also, content on e-mail etiquette and following up on e-mails. ■ Updates examples—from sources as varied as text messages, tweets, the National Hurricane Center, banks, credit card contracts, Zappos, and Standard and Poor.
6	Developing Job Application Materials: Résumés. Includes a new section on innovation and résumés, including videos, social media résumés, and “prezumés.” ■ Opens with a discussion of former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson losing his job because of résumé dishonesty and then highlights other famous people who recently lost their jobs because of résumé dishonesty. ■ Expands information on the role of social media in the job search. ■ Updates job changing information, the steps of a job hunt, the impor- tance of the GPA. ■ Adds information on how to organize for a job hunt, how new employ- ees are being found, how employers are filling jobs through social media, how to job hunt while currently employed. ■ Expands emphasis on the importance of the traditional résumé.
7	Developing Job Application Materials: Job Letters. ■ Includes a new section on social networking and personal websites. ■ Opens with two very different application letters, both widely circulated, for Wall Street jobs. ■ Includes new information on e-mail application letters and managing social media while job hunting. ■ Updates examples. ■ Presents sidebars on career changes, phantom job ads, unconventional tactics, bad cover letter content, and good cover letter content.
8	Midterm Exam
9	Interviewing, Writing Follow-Up Questions, and Succeeding in the Job. ■ Offers new sections on meal etiquette and long-term career strategy. ■ Opens with a Twitter interview for Pizza Hut. ■ Includes new information on campus interviews. ■ Provides new tips on phone, video, and multiple interviews.
10	Creating Visuals and Data Displays. ■ Includes new sections on infographics and software programs for creating visuals and data displays. ■ Opens with a discussion of Australian cigarette packaging. ■ Offers new information on dynamic displays, cross-cultural color asso- ciations, accommodations for persons with color blindness, ethical concerns with photos. ■ Provides new examples and figures. ■ Presents sidebars on ads for two audiences in one, color and NHL penalties, a doctored photo of the Boston Marathon bombing, and smartphones and photographs.
11	Writing Proposals. Includes new sections on brainstorming for proposals, proposal varie- ties, and proposals for businesses. ■ Opens with a new banking proposal. ■ Provides new information on using technology and organizing propos- als for businesses. ■ Presents sidebars on MBA business plan competitions, Airbus proposal contest, business plan resources, Boeing’s Progress Report on 787 Dreamliner, and databases and librarians.
12	Writing Reports. Includes new sections on data selection and appendixes. ■ Opens with Boeing’s Environmental Report. ■ Provides new information on technology aids, especially for using time efficiently and auto-generating a table of contents. ■ Presents sidebars on spreadsheet errors; hard-to-quantify sports participation data; the Feltron, an annual report on a life; cost-of-living comparison patterns; charity data; and a report on U.S. health.
13	Making Oral Presentations. Includes new sections on creating a Prezi and practicing presentations. ■ Opens with Steve Jobs as orator. ■ Includes new information on content choices, demonstrations, presentation openings, PowerPoint, other types of presentation software, backchannels and Twitter, and handling questions.
14	Show time - Project presentations

Prerequisite(s):
Textbook(s):	Business and Administrative Communication, 12th edition 2019, Locker, Mackiewicz, Aune, Kienzler, ISBN 978-1-259-58062-8, McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Additional Literature:
Laboratory Work:
Computer Usage:
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	To increase the student’s ability to improve and utilize the skills necessary to be a competent interpersonal communicator.
2	To increase the student’s understanding of his or her own communication behavior
3	To increase the student’s understanding of others communication behaviors.
4	To improve the student’s communication skills in both social and professional contexts
5	To open a door to the communication sciences, show to the students the importance of this process everyday in our life.

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Business Informatics (3 years) Program
1	Identify activities, tasks, and skills in management, marketing, accounting, finance, and economics.	5
2	Apply key theories to practical problems within the global business context.	5
3	Demonstrate ethical, social, and legal responsibilities in organizations.	5
4	Develop an open minded-attitude through continuous learning and team-work.	5
5	Integrate different skills and approaches to be used in decision making and data management.	5
6	Combine computer skills with managerial skills, in the analysis of large amounts of data.	5
7	Provide solutions to complex information technology problems.	5
8	Recognize, analyze, and suggest various types of information-communication systems/services that are encountered in everyday life and in the business world.	5

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Homework	1	10
Midterm Exam(s)	1	25
Project	1	10
Quiz	10	1.5
Final Exam	1	30
Attendance		10
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	2	32
Mid-terms	1	11	11
Assignments	2	8	16
Final examination	1	11	11
Other	1	7	7
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

N/A