Additional Performance Appraisal Tools to consider

Examples on the Internet:

· AHI Employment Law Resource Center: http://www.ahipubs.com/products/pa/pasample.html

· American Academy of American Physicians: http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20030300/evalreport.pdf
· http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20030300/staffappraisalform.pdf

· Business Balls.com: http://www.businessballs.com/performanceappraisalform.pdf

· Business Bureau UK: http://www.businessbureau-uk.co.uk/employ/appraise.htm

· Halogen Software: http://www.halogensoftware.com/files/PDF/employee-evaluation-forms/Hourly_Performance_Appraisal.pdf

· Kansas Department of Administration: Sample Appraisal Forms: http://www.da.ks.gov/ps/subject/arc/resources/perfevalpub.htm

· Ohio State University: http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=3853

Examples in Print:

· How to Make Performance Evaluations Really Work: A Step-by-Step Guide Complete with Sample Words, Phrases, Forms, and Pitfalls to Avoid, by Glenn Shepard. Call number: HF 5549.5 R3 S46 2005

Information on Your Final Presentation (Assignment #4)

Please think about an interesting business or social problem that relates to communication in some way. You can draw upon your own experience, an item in the news, or a hypothetical situation. Your goal will be to describe the problem, analyze what companies and/or individuals did wrong from a communication perspective, and what they could have done ("best practices for communication") for a better outcome. The communication solution(s) you suggest can come from your reading, class discussion, and/or your own original thinking.

Follow these approximate stages in your presentation (with whatever variation you choose):

1. Grab our attention (the chapter on Oral Presentations in your Management Communication book talks about ways to accomplish this goal.)
2. Describe your topic so that we know exactly what you are going to talk about.
3. Give a brief "roadmap" of how you plan to develop your topic.
4. Make your point(s), including some kind of support (an example, statistic, anecdote, authority, etc.) for what you say
5. Wrap up with a memorable conclusion that answers the question "So what?" (So what if your points are true? What final thoughts or action(s) do they lead to?)
6. Take two or three questions from the audience.

Your main presentation should take no more than four minutes. The Q & A section will take no more than two minutes. Your professors will signal remaining time (1 min., 30 sec., etc.) so that you come pretty close to the time limit. (We all need to respect the time so that there is enough time during the evening for everyone's presentations.) Don't worry if you run 20 or 30 seconds beyond your time, but no more.

You will be given the opportunity to sign up for your place in the order of speakers. Some people prefer to go early, some later.

In addition to your DVD copy of your speech, you will receive feedback from your professors. You will also pass out five feedback sheets to five classmates, who will give you additional praise and suggestions for improvement.

Feel free to use notes, but take care not to read your presentation. In your coaching sessions this coming Monday (July 28), we will work on the "10 Do's" specified in the Oral Presentations chapter as well as other professional tips for confident presenting. We will also have time during our July 28 presentation workshop to answer any specific questions you may have about this assignment.

Additional Internet resources to consider in advance of our job interview class

For our class on Wednesday, please bring a current copy of a job specification from your present employer. If you can find a current analysis of the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform the listed job, bring that with you as well.

Also, please check out any of the listed sites to gain some additional insights into the art of "interviewing" either as an applicant or selector:

1. http://humanresources.about.com/od/interviewing/Interviewing_Tips_and_Interviewing_Techniques.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_interview
3. http://education-portal.com/articles/45_Proven_Job_Interview_Techniques_for_Landing_Your_Next_Job.html
4. http://www.job-interview.net/
5. http://www.beyond.com/Media/Behavioral-Interviewing.asp

Thanks, Monika

Reading on Management Interviewing

This excellent piece shows managers how to sharpen their social and interviewing skills so that the right hires don't slip through their fingers:

Click here for Business Week article on Management Interviewing

Assignment #3: Team Paper Due July 30

You have already received team assignments (the class roster with a number 1 through 6, constituting three-member teams). Assignment #3 won't be due until our class on July 31. Please note that Assignment #3 is not especially long, even though it will involve the work of all three team members. Here are specifics for the assignment:

1. See your assigned topic below.
2. Brainstorm with your team (either in person or electronically, perhaps using a wiki or google docs)
3. Decide how the three of you prefer to handle the drafting process, once your research has been completed. For example, some groups may want to meet in person to "talk though" the content of the paper. Others may want to circulate an outline electronically for team members to consider and revise before beginning the actual drafting process. Still other groups may want to divide up writing tasks, then carefully and seamlessly stitch the entire document together during the final editing and revision stage. Your work method is up to you.
4. Remember that I am available to help you. Although I am technically on vacation from July 21 to 31, I am "at your service" via email and, if you wish, by phone. You can send me any portion of your paper for comments and suggestions. (Obviously I would prefer not to grade completed papers twice, but I am eager to help you in the shaping process.)
5. Please abide by the style principles you have already discussed with Monika and the Eight Matters of Management Style I will emphasize in class on July 21.
6. Entire books could be written on any of the assigned topics. Your goal should be to narrow the scope of your inquiry to one or two central concerns of maximum interest to your classmates. All papers turned in will be shared with the entire class.
7. Length: no more than 5 pages of body text, not counting cover page and endnotes or bibliography. Please single-space, with double space between paragraphs. In a report of five pages, you will probably want to use a few internal headings, as illustrated in the sample reports in your Management Communication textbook.
8. Audience: your professors and classmates
9. Due: in class on July 31, in hard copy with electronic copy sent to bell@usfca.edu so I can distribute your paper easily to the rest of the class.
10. The paper will receive one letter grade, which will be shared by all three team members. If you experience dysfunctions on your team (for example, one team member does nothing), please communicate this problem to me so I can be fair in giving the correct grade to individual team members. If I do not hear about problems on your team, I will assume that things went smoothly and that all members contributed.
11. For a 5-page paper, I do not anticipate dozens of research sources, although I do not want to discourage your effort in this regard. Realistically, you may end up with eight or ten supporting sources that appear in your notes (footnotes or endnotes) and bibliography. I will pay attention to the currency and validity of your sources. (In other words, a quote from Wikipedia may not be adequate to support one of your key points. Business magazines and journals (perhaps as accessed on line) will be helpful in pointing you toward solid research studies. For many of the topics below, excellent books have appeared recently.

Assigned topics: Feel free to change your topic somewhat as your group decides upon its core message(s).

Team 1 Workplace Romance: Realities, Problems, and Solutions

Team 2 Flextime and Working from Home: Policies, Problems, and Potentials

Team 3 The Population Problem: Implications of Too Few Children in Many Major Trading Nations

Team 4 Offshoring and Outsourcing: The Dilemma of the American Worker

Team 5 On-line MBA Education: Costs, Quality, and Reputation

Team 6 Honesty Testing: Its Use and Effectiveness in American Business

Team 7 Causes and Solutions for America's Education Gap in Comparison to its Competitors

Team 8 Workaholics: American Schedules and Attitudes Toward Work in Comparison to Other Major Trading Nations

Readings on Illegal Interview Questions

The following link has a lot of good information on how to be an interviewer and an interviewee. Please read the text on the site and also click on some of its further links toward the bottom of the first screen.

Click here for Interview readings

Note on Blog Reading for Speaker's Nerves

There is no blog entry for an article on Speaker's Nerves since this material is well covered in your required reading of BUTTERFLIES BE GONE (one of the three paperback textbooks required for the class, available in the USF bookstore and on-line).

One Source for the Several Readings on Interviewing and Hiring

Here's the URL for a wealth of information on hiring, managing, and training new employees:

Click here for information on management hiring

Fighting Burnout

Here's a good article from Entrepreneur.com about fighting Business Burnout:

Click here for Business Burnout article

Submitting an Article

The reading for "Submitting an Article for Publication" is in your Management Communication textbook under "Writing for Publication." Please see those pages in the index. If you're serious about sending in an article, you will probably have to use Writer's Market 2008, a publication that lists the names and addresses of hundreds of magazines and journals now seeking articles. It also provides step-by-step advice on how to approach a publisher with an article idea. You can find this valuable book in the USF Reference library or see it on-line:

Click here for info on Writer's Market 2008

Citing the Internet

Click here for Information on Citing the Internet

Reading on Motivation

Click here for reading on Motivation

Reading on Psychological Violence at Work: US and International Perspectives

Click here for reading on Psychological Violence at Work

What to Read/How to handle Assignment 2

Dear Communicator Participants:

Great work on the three written activities AND great presentations WITH visual aids and limited prep time! You are well positioned for our crisis communication class on Monday.

Regarding readings - please skim Chapters 7-12 but READ Chapter 18 for Monday. In connection with Assignment 2, please use the same format for this written assignment as you did for Assignment 1. Remember Assignment 2 is due on Monday, July 21st.

I plan to have e-mailed comments to each of you on your Assignment 1 by noon tomorrow. Thanks again for your quality participation.

Monika

Plagiarism article-Art Bell

[For SOBAM Students]

How to Avoid Plagiarism in Academic Papers

Art Bell
Professor of Management Communication


Plagiarism (using someone else's words and/or ideas without giving appropriate credit) is a serious violation of academic honor and personal integrity. A single instance of plagiarism can result in failing an assignment, being removed from the course, or even being asked to leave the School or University. If you publish plagiarized work, you may be liable for significant copyright infringement damages and other penalties. Some internet sites such as turnitin.com allow professors to check for possible plagiarism in student papers. But “getting caught” is not the point. Doing the right thing is the point.

Many students plagiarize through ignorance or accident, not by intent. This guidesheet shows exactly what plagiarism is and how you can avoid it.

Situation One: Stating Matters of Common Knowledge

Not everything in your paper must be quoted from sources. You have every right to state matters of common knowledge such as the following:

The events of September 11, 2001, have impacted all Americans.

You don't have to cite statistics or quote an authority for this statement of common knowledge (although you may want to go on to give examples of the impact of 9/11).

But let's say that you find the following words in a Newsweek article: "The events of September 11, 2001, have changed the American way of life forever." If you want to use those words or a paraphrase of those words, you must give credit to the source, as follows:

According to Newsweek writer Tom Owens, "The events of September 11, 2001, have changed the American way of life forever." (Then, using the MLA or APA documentation systems, you will specify where that quotation can be found.) Don't drop quotations into your paper without introducing their source.

Situation Two: Using Someone Else's Ideas

Let's say, in the situation above, that Newsweek writer Tom Owens goes on to specify six areas of American life that have been impacted by 9/11 events. You decide (wisely) that you do not want to quote the entire article, but you do want to use some or all of his six areas to help develop and support your main points in the paper.

You are plagiarizing if you use Owens' ideas (even in paraphrased form) without crediting him as your source. Re-ordering his six areas or using only three or four of them does not exempt you from plagiarism.

Here's how to use Owens' six areas without plagiarizing:

Owens points to six areas of American life that have changed dramatically since 9/11. First, the airline industry has been decimated by the unwillingness of the American public to fly, except under urgent business or personal circumstances. (here you would cite an industry source). My own family, for example, now drives or takes the train for travel involving a day or less. Second, ... (and so forth)

[Notice here that you are working your way through Owens' list of six areas with full credit to him. You are saying his ideas in your own words, not his, and (in the third sentence above) are including your own ideas and examples.

Situation Three: Using the Words and Ideas of Others to Support Your Argument

In your best academic papers, the main structure of ideas (your argument) comes from your own thinking and analysis (as informed by your reading, discussions with others, and personal experience). Let's say that your main ideas for a paper on Business Ethics are as follows:

Idea 1: Few business people receive ethical training as part of their business education.

Idea 2: Once employed, these business people get little or no ethical guidance from their companies.

Idea 3: When ethical violations occur, business people often claim that they didn't know better.

Note that you do not footnote your main ideas in your argument--they are yours, after all, in your own words. You will, however, provide source citations for all the proof you must supply to support each of your main ideas. For Idea 1, for example, you will have to demonstrate (by statistics, authorities, examples, or other means) that few business people receive ethical training in their business education. You can assert this fact to be true only if you are able to back up your assertion with well-documented sources.

Your paragraph for Idea 1, therefore, might proceed as follows:

Few business people receive ethical training as part of their business education. For the period 2004-2007, only one out of nine graduates receiving undergraduate business degrees in the United States took a course in business ethics, according to the United States Chamber of Commerce (your footnote or endnote will appear here). Wharton Business School Dean Alex Morton calls this omission of ethical training "the hidden tragedy of American business education." (again, your citation will appear here)

Notice that you have used your own thinking (in your major ideas and arrangement of argument) as the heart of your paper or report. The words, ideas, research, and opinions of others (properly identified and cited) act as supporting material to convince the reader that your main ideas have merit.


A Useful Exercise

The website www.plagiarism.com includes a free on-line test to let you know if you have inadvertently plagiarized. The test asks you to key in a 100-word section of your own writing (not quotations from others) from your paper. The website program then inserts a blank line in place of every sixth word--and asks you, without looking back to your original paper, to supply the missing words correctly.

If you are not able to fill in the blanks, there's a good chance that your writing is not truly your own. Perhaps you found long passages of prose in a book, article, or website that seemed to say just what you wanted. If so, use quotation marks and source citations to weave that useful material into your own structure of ideas, not to replace your argument.

Talking to Your Professor

Every SOBAM professor is eager to help you avoid plagiarism. When you are in doubt about how to handle source materials correctly within a paper, describe your problem to your professor and ask his or her advice. Counselors at the Writing Center (227 Cowell) are also highly skilled in helping your recognize and avoid plagiarism. You are also invited to stop by my office, (Art Bell) MH 212 during office hours ( W 1-5) or by appointment (bell@usfca.edu or 415-422-6264) to discuss any writing problems you are facing.

No one wants to catch you in the act of plagiarism. At the same time, we all want to teach and learn in an academic environment that places high value on the ethical use of the words and ideas of others.

Podcast on Gender Communication

You may want to check out the following podcast to add to your thinking about gender communication.

http://womensmedia.com/podcast/2008/01/12/

Supplemental Gender Communication articles

Here is a short bibliography if you want some additional details about gender communication issues!

Short Supplemental Bibliography on Gender Communication Issues

1. D.R. Caruso and P. Salovey, The Emotionally Intelligent Manager (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), p. 23.
2. M. Crawford, Talking Difference: On Gender and Language (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995), pp 41-44.
3. D. Fallows, How Women and Men Use the Internet, (Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project, December 28, 2005).
4. A. Mulac et al, “’Uh-Huh. What’s That All About?’ Differing Interpretation of Conversational Backchannels and Questions as Sources of Miscommunication across Gender Boundaries”, Communication Research 25 (December 1998), pp. 641-68.
5. L.L. Namy, L.C. Nygaard and D. Sauerteig, “Gender Differences in Vocal Accommodation: The Role of Perception,” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 21, no 4 (December 2002), pp 422-32.
6. N.M. Sussman and D.H. Tyson, “Sex and Power: Gender Differences in Computer-Mediated Interactions”, Computers in Human Behavior 16 (200), pp. 381-94.
7. D. Tannen, You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation (New York: Ballentine Books, 1990).
8. D. Tannen, Talking from 9 to 5 (New York: Avon, 1994).

Assignment #2, due July 16 in class

In our July 7 and 9 classes, we studied two "tipping point" communication cases where "what was said" at a particular moment made all the difference to the outcome of the case.

In a paper of approximately two pages (single-spaced, with double-space between paragraphs), write about your own thoughts on the "tipping point" problem in personal and professional communications. You may want to consider such questions as the following:

-- What types of situations make us prone to uttering thoughtless, unwise comments or remarks? Can we sensitize ourselves to such situations so that we're "on alert" against damaging utterances?
-- Why do others so often "follow like sheep" once the tipping point comment has been made? Why don't others simply correct our untoward remark and then move on more productively and constructively?
-- What are some of the difficulties involved in "taking back" the tipping point comment or remark?
-- How does advanced education (such as an MBA) actually increase the problem of making a wrong-headed tipping point remark? In other words, why is the CEO more at risk with regard to tipping point communications than is the gas station attendant?

Please don't organize your work around a point-by-point set of answers to these questions in order. Instead, consider the broad issue of tipping point communication, then try to answer several of these questions in the course of writing your paper. You certainly do not have answer each question.

Thanks for the good discussion of the penny-pitching MBAs case

Monika and I appreciated your insightful comments on the penny-pitching case. In particular, we liked the way you brought all kinds of "disciplines" to bear upon your analysis--psychology, sociological, group dynamics, "human nature," motivation theory, theories of selfishness vs. altruism, and so forth. One of the pleasures of studying business is that we have the luxury of drawing on all kinds of fields in our efforts to make sense out of the world of commerce and the professions. Let's keep it up. Throwing the intellectual net as widely as possible is a rare privilege in life--one that we might not have if we were studying a more narrowly technical field.

Three required paperback textbooks

1. Management Communication, Bell/Smith (Wiley, 2006)
2. Butterflies Be Gone, Bell (McGraw-Hill, 2008)
3. You Can't Talk to Me That Way!, Bell (Career Press, 2005)

All available at amazon.com, the USF Bookstore, and most other bookstores. Amazon.com may be your best buy. You will need the Management Communication textbook right away; consider buying it at the USF Bookstore, where many used copies are available. You have time to buy the other two books on line if you wish.

Assignment #1

For your first writing assignment, please write approximately two pages (single-spaced, with double space between paragraphs) on the sad but quite human story of Vic. In particular, focus on the various forces that cause "the change." Assess the seriousness of Vic's situation, in your opinion. Finally, offer an analysis of what Vic could have and perhaps should have done to avoid the complicated dilemma he finds himself in personally and professionally. (Feel free to use "I" in this paper.) Although we are interested in accurate writing in terms of spelling, punctuation, and usage, we are more interested in this first assignment in your ability to make your points with clarity, support, and organization. This assignment is due in class on Tuesday, July 14.

Click here for Vic reading