Overview
The unit aims to develop your skills and abilities to communicate effectively in business environments. The unit recognises employer and graduate needs to improve communication in different contexts. You will be introduced to different communication concepts including, but not limited to, models, competence, culture, media choice, channels and climate. You will also be introduced to the elements of effective communication for participation in business meetings, presentations, interpersonal and group interaction.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 3 - 2022
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student evaluations
Provide feedback earlier in the term.
The assessment items have been re-arranged (Term 2, 2022 on-wards) so that the students can receive feedback before the end of the term.
- Recognize advanced knowledge and skills required in written, oral, and interpersonal communication to address complex business problems
- Apply professional business writing and oral communication skills to effectively inform or persuade a target audience
- Deliver effective presentations to transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to both specialist and non-specialist audiences and achieve business objectives
- Critically analyse communication challenges faced by organisations by applying established theories to develop innovative strategies to address them
- Apply autonomous thinking to reflect on good practices in workplace communication in different organizational contexts
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Annotated bibliography - 23% | |||||
| 2 - Presentation - 32% | |||||
| 3 - On-campus Activity - 45% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
All required reading will be online (ebooks).
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
c.j.white@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to BUSN20017 Effective Business Communications and the Communication Process
Chapter
Assigned Textbook Chapter and Excerpted Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Guirdham, M. (2015). Chapter 1 and Chapter 5 .
Hartley, P., & Chatterton, P. (2015).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Module/Topic
Effective Non-verbal and Listening for the Business Context
Chapter
Excerpted Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Dwyer, J. (2016). Chapter 3
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Module/Topic
Effective Internal Messages and Critical Thinking
Chapter
Assigned Textbook Chapter and Excerpted Textbook Chapters (eReading List):
Guirdham, M. (2015). Chapter 8
Cottrell, S. (2017).
Inch, E. S. & Tudor, K. H. (2018).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Module/Topic
Effective Business Presentations
Chapter
Excerpted Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Dwyer, J. (2012).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Effective Interpersonal Business Communication
Chapter
Assigned Textbook Chapters and Excerpted Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Guirdham, M. (2015). Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.
Dunn, D. M., & Goodnight, L. J. (2014).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Module/Topic
Effective Team and Group Business Communication
Chapter
Assigned Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Guirdham, M. (2015). Chapter 10.
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Effective Internal Organisational Communication
Chapter
Assigned Textbook Chapter Except and Excerpted Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Guirdham, M. (2015). Chapter 12 (pp. 312-316).
Eunson, B. (2007).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Module/Topic
Effective use of Communication Media within Business
Chapter
Assigned Textbook Chapters (eReading List):
Guirdham, M. (2015). Chapter 2, Chapter 6 (pp. 145-154), and Chapter 9 (pp. 227-229).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Assessment One - The Annotated Bibliography is due on Friday, January 13th, 11:59 PM AEST
Module/Topic
Effective Intercultural Communication within Business Contexts
Chapter
Excerpted Textbook Chapter (eReading List):
Tuleja, E. A. (2017).
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Assessment One - The SLSO is due on Friday, January 20th, 11:59 PM AEST
Module/Topic
Effective Professional Genres of Written Communication
Chapter
Excerpted Textbook Chapters (eReading List):
Cenere, P., Gill, R., Lawson, C., & Lewis, M. (2015).
Judith, D., & Hopwood, N. (2016). Chapters 16-19.
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective business communicator.
Assessment One - The Video Presentation is due on Friday, January 27th, 11:59 PM AEST
Module/Topic
Effective Academic Writing
Chapter
Excerpted Textbook Chapters (eReading List):
Grellier, J., & Goerke, V. (2014).
Summers, J., & Smith, B. (2014). Chapters 3-5
Other articles that you need to read are on your Unit Moodle website.
Events and Submissions/Topic
The unit content is presented in a series of short videos. Please watch these videos in advance of the workshop. The workshop contains a range of interactive activities, which are aimed at enhancing your competence as an effective academic communicator.
Module/Topic
Assessment Two
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment Two will be administered in Week 12 during your allocated workshop. You must take this Assessment in person ON CAMPUS during your workshop. Failure to undertake the assessment in person during your workshop will result in a failing grade for this assessment. If you are undertaking this assessment Offshore or Distance, online invigilation protocol strictly applies (this will be discussed during your workshop). Failure to adhere to the online invigilation protocol will result in a failing grade for this assessment.
This assessment is administered on-line. After 90 minutes, your responses will be automatically submitted. This means that if your workshop runs from 12.00 PM-2.00 PM and you start the assessment at 1.00 PM, you only have one hour to complete the assessment because the link closes at 2.00 PM.
NO OUTSIDE SOURCES MAY BE ACCESSED DURING THIS ASSESSMENT. THIS IS A CLOSED BOOK ASSESSMENT
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Annotated bibliography
Assessment One is based upon a case study. The following information outlines the case study and the specific requirements of the first part of the assessment.
You are a communication consultant. You have been asked by the CEO of a large-sized financial organisation to review the internal communication. The organisation, Anuka Finance, is a complex organisation that is both highly formalized and centralized. After conducting your communication audit, you see there are many communication problems within this organisation. The problems fall within the general areas of internal organisational communication, internal interpersonal business communication and business team communication. Your first task is to develop a video presentation that addresses ONE of these problem areas (you will need to refine the problem to focus upon one specific aspect). This video will be shared with all Anuka Finance employees.
In order to accomplish this task, you first decide to write up an Annotated Bibliography. You know that this is an important first step because the Annotated Bibliography will help you find the evidence for your presentation. Being aware of the reputable academic journal in the field of communication you pick five articles from journals listed on the Required Journal List (RJL--you will find this document in the Assessment Tile in Moodle). For each article in your Annotated Bibliography, you include:
1. An overview of the main focus or purpose or aim of the article (e.g., This article focuses on . . . .);
2. A summary of the theory, definitions of the main variables or concepts, and, if applicable, the research methods (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods);
3. A description of the findings, results and/or conclusions; and
4. An explanation of how this article will fit into your presentation (This article will fit into the presentation . . . .).
Each entry should be between 200-300 words in length (1500 max length). Please make sure you paraphrase. Do not directly copy information from the journal’s abstract. You must include a reference list (APA 7th Edition).
Week Eight Friday January 13th 11:59 PM AEST
Week 10 Monday (23 Jan 2023)
The Annotated Bibilography will be released two weeks after the due date (subject to the completion of the marking moderation). Please make sure that you read through the feedback provided as this will help you with you Sentence-Level-Speaking-Outline (SLSO) and your Video Presentation.
The Annotated Bibliography is evaluated based on the following assessment criteria:
1. Five individual bibliographic entries -- 4 marks each--20 marks in total.
2. References-3 marks
This part of Assessment One is worth 23 marks.
No submission method provided.
- Recognize advanced knowledge and skills required in written, oral, and interpersonal communication to address complex business problems
- Apply professional business writing and oral communication skills to effectively inform or persuade a target audience
- Deliver effective presentations to transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to both specialist and non-specialist audiences and achieve business objectives
- Critically analyse communication challenges faced by organisations by applying established theories to develop innovative strategies to address them
2 Presentation
The following information outlines the second part of Assessment One. There are two components to this part of Assessment One: The Sentence-Level-Speaking-Outline (SLSO) and the Video Presentation.
The SLSO is an outline of the information (including referenced information and reference list) contained within the presentation. Having developed this document, you can then use it to develop your speaking notes. There are some examples of a SLSO on Moodle (please see the Assessment Tile). The SLSO must include the 5 academic journal references you wrote about in your Annotated Bibliography (you will reference the information from these journal articles in-text and include the articles within a reference list at the SLSO (APA 7th Edition). Again--these references are the same ones that were included in The Annotated Bibliography.
As a general guide, the SLSO should be around 500-700 words in length. Please remember this document is not a verbatim transcript of what you are going to say in your presentation. It is a sketch or an outline of what you plan to say.
Having developed your SLSO you can then start on your Video Presentation. You will present and record a presentation, using PowerPoint. The Video Presentation must include both the PowerPoint Slides and an image of the person who is speaking. The presentation must include the 5 academic references you wrote about in your Annotated Bibliography (Within your presentation you must orally cite your references and include a reference list at the end of your PowerPoint Slides (APA 7th Edition). Again--these references are the same ones that were included in The Annotated Bibliography.
The Video Presentation should be nine to ten (9-10) minutes in length. The introduction should be two (2) minutes in length. The body of the presentation should be around 3-4 minutes, while the conclusion should be around one (1) minute. It is important that you keep to time—do not go over. Please practice your presentation in advance so that you know it is the correct length. You can use Zoom to record your video presentation (please see Moodle for more instructions about recording and uploading your presentation).
The SLSO is due Week Nine (Friday January 20th by 11:59 PM AEST). The Video Presentation is due in Week Ten (Friday January 27th by 11:59 PM AEST)
The SLSO and Video Presentation will be released two weeks after the due date (subject to the completion of the marking moderation)
The sentence-level-speaking outline is evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. The format - 5 marks
2. The written presentation - 5 marks
3. The use of journals from the Required Journal List (RJL) and correct application of the APA (7th Edition) referencing style - 5 marks.
This part of Assessment One is worth 15 marks.
The video presentation is evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. The Introduction - 5 marks
2. The body - 6 marks
3. The conclusion - 3 marks
4. The delivery - 3 marks
This part of Assessment One is worth 17 marks.
The combined second part of Assessment One is worth 32 marks.
The combined total marks for Assessment One is 55 marks.
No submission method provided.
- Recognize advanced knowledge and skills required in written, oral, and interpersonal communication to address complex business problems
- Apply professional business writing and oral communication skills to effectively inform or persuade a target audience
- Deliver effective presentations to transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to both specialist and non-specialist audiences and achieve business objectives
- Apply autonomous thinking to reflect on good practices in workplace communication in different organizational contexts
3 On-campus Activity
The following information outlines the specific requirements for Assessment Two:.
Assessment Two consists of forty-five (45) multiple-choice questions based upon the content presented in weeks 1-10 (one through ten).
Assessment Two will be administered in Week 12 during your allocated workshop. You must take this Assessment in person ON CAMPUS during your workshop. Failure to undertake the assessment in person during your workshop will result in a failing grade for this assessment. If you are undertaking this assessment Offshore or Distance, online invigilation protocol strictly applies (this will be discussed during your workshop). Failure to adhere to the online invigilation protocol will result in a failing grade for this assessment.
This assessment is administered on-line. After 90 minutes, your responses will be automatically submitted. This means that if your workshop runs from 12.00 PM-2.00 PM and you start the assessment at 1.00 PM, you only have one hour to complete the assessment because the link closes at 2.00 PM.
NO OUTSIDE SOURCES MAY BE ACCESSED DURING THIS ASSESSMENT. THIS IS A CLOSED BOOK ASSESSMENT
Assessment Two is worth a total of 45 marks.
This Assessment will be administered during your allocated workshop time in Week 12.
The marks will be available on certification date and will be uploaded in Moodle.
Assessment Two is evaluated as follows:
There is only one correct response to each multiple-choice question. Each question is worth one mark.
Assessment Two is worth a total of 45 marks.
No submission method provided.
- Critically analyse communication challenges faced by organisations by applying established theories to develop innovative strategies to address them
- Apply autonomous thinking to reflect on good practices in workplace communication in different organizational contexts
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
