How To Think Like Doctor House

Watch the video and try to analyze how Dr. House's methods of thinking can help youin your professional life, especially while brainstorming?

Online presentation: Managing conflicts.

Make an online presentation using Voicethread.com on one of the following topics:

(1) Ways to avoid potential conflicts.

(2) Strategies to manage conflict situations.

How to Give Effective Feedback Comments

It isn’t easy to change a pattern of workplace behavior. It all starts with feedback. People don’t see themselves the way others see them. So they need a mirror held up to them. Your feedback is that mirror. Your feedback will consist of both ratings and comments. Your opinions are both trusted and valued because you have worked closely with the individual, and we know you want this individual to improve certain aspects of behavior.

Consider including five kinds of information when you write comments. Your comment could include many or all of these elements.                                   

1.     Begin with a positive observation.

Describe related behavior that has been helpful or positive.

Reassure the person that you’ve noticed the good along with the issues.

Give balance to your feedback.

2.     Describe the behavior you observed.

Focus on the behavior, not the person.

Be specific about the behavior – what the person has done or not done.

Avoid judging the person's motives or intentions.

Avoid vague, broad or absolute statements, such as "You never..." or "You always...”

Avoid emotional or hurtful language, such as "Why on earth did you...” or “You’re such a…”

3.     Explain the impact of the behavior.

How it affects you or others.

Why the behavior has become a problem (if constructive).

4.     Describe the desired behavior.

What you need or expect.

What you’d like the person to do differently in the future.

5.     Give encouragement.

Affirm the strengths of the individual.

Express confidence in the person’s ability to succeed.

VoiceThread for Digital Storytelling

Negotiations in English: Assignment

One of the most important skills anyone can hold in daily life is the ability to negotiate. In general terms, a negotiation is a resolution of conflict. We enter negotiations in order to start or continue a relationship and resolve an issue. Even before we accept our first jobs, or begin our careers, we all learn how to negotiate.

Some people are naturally stronger negotiators, and are capable of getting their needs met more easily than others. Without the ability to negotiate, people break off relationships, quit jobs, or deliberately avoid conflict and uncomfortable situations.

In the world of business, negotiating skills are used for a variety of reasons, such as to negotiate a salary or a promotion, to secure a sale, or to form a new partnership.

Here are a few examples of different types of negotiations in the business world:

• Manager and Clerk: Negotiating a promotion
• Employer and Potential Employee: Negotiating job benefits
• Business Partner A and B: Making decisions about investments
• Company A and Company B: Negotiating a merger
• Customer and Client: Making a Sale 

Choose any topic and prepare for a negotiation. Work on three main stages:

1)      Opening: a clear introduction to the negotiation.

2)      Discussion: effective influencing strategies.

3)      Conclusion: the success of the negotiation for both parties.

Prepare to perform the negotiating process in class.

Web search

STUDENTS’ ACTIVITY:

-              Sign up with Glogster.

-              Having carried out the web search on the suggested topics, answer one of the two topical questions and publish your essay as a glog.

-              Share your links to glogs, and your ideas are to be discussed later on in class.

TopicS:

(1)             The challenges of negotiating across cultures.

(2)             Language of influencing.

Presentations Across Cultures: Links

Cross Cultural Presentations - Tips

Managing Across Cultures

8 Secrets to a Knockout Business Presentation

Business Presentations

 Business Presentations and Public Speaking in English

Presentaion Magazine

Module Task

Imagine you are working for a huge international company as an HR specialist working with the staff, or CEO working with the senior managers. Prepare a 5 min presentation analyzing problems you face when working with people, try to use information from the book.

Becoming a better listener: essay.

"We are given two ears, but only one mouth.

This is because God knew that listening

was twice as hard as talking."

How far do you agree with this idea? Express your opinion in 20-25 sentences, post it in the comment box.

National Communication Styles: Results

Alina:  The United Arab Emirates

Katrin: Turkey

Alexandra: Jamaica

Natalia: Mexico

Maria: Canada

Awkward international meetings: How to avoid cross-cultural blunders

Please think about a similar situation and prepare to perform it in class. Work in small groups and we will discuss your situation together in class! You are very welcome to leave your ideas and comments in the comment box.

Interactive Communication. Definition.

What is your definition / your personal understanding of an interactive communication style? How can interactive communication forms influence your cross-cultural business communication? Share your ideas in the comment box.

Interactive Presentations

Make a presentation on communication styles of different nations (choose one!) Describe how you would manage these styles and create a clear flow of communication.
How would you use an interactive communication style and its forms?

Use the Present.Me platform and make either a voice or video presentation.

Share links to your final products with your instructor and the links will be shared with the public!

Business Writing / Communicating Bad News

Please write a sensitive and effective email communicating a bad message to your international partner. Use ‘Communicating bad news’ strategies. Follow the recommendations at 20 Tips for Communicating Bad News by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston, founder of Syntax Training.

Please welcome Present.Me!

Present.me is an online application that allows users to combine a slide presentation with a video presentation. You'll see that the screen is actually split in half for the viewers: The left half contains the slides, and the right half contains a feed of the speaker. You can toggle with the view so that the slides become bigger, the presenter becomes bigger, or that the entire presentation switches to full-screen mode.

What are the positives about Present.me?

It's easy to use!
It enables commenting so that viewers can voice their opinions about the show.
Categorize/tag your videos so that others can find them easily.
Search through the databases to find lots of neat presentations that are already made!
Several sharing options: download, embed, or e-mail links.
Several creating options: slide with video, slide with audio, slide only, video only.
Upload a variety of different materials for your "slides:" PowerPoint, PDF, Word document, Excel spreadsheet, RTF text file, URL, Google Docs, etc.
Option to make a presentation private...can include a password that people have to enter if they stumble onto the correct URL. Well... you can only do one private presentation per month on your free account...

Business with Bob: Culture and small talk

Compare the Coconut and the Peach culture. Which type are you?
How can the peach-coconut communication challenge be solved?

Business with Bob: Starting meetings effectively

What important issues does Bob Dignen mention that are necessary to prepare for a meeting effectively?

Reflections

Reflecting about what you are learning is very effective as a method to improve your skills. We will use an online journal for reflections on the course material – it is one of the ways of organizing ideas. You will have to reflect on what you learned and how you may apply these ideas in your (future) professional life.

Having learned the material of each unit, you are supposed to add at least one entry to your online journal. It will be an ongoing record of what you are doing in the course. At the end of the course, you will be able to look back and create a summary post that gives an overview of what you have done and what it means to you.

To accomplish this task, you will have to create an account at Penzu or My-Diary which are free online personal diaries or journals that give publishing opportunities.

What is Culture?

What definitions of culture do people give? Which one is the most appealing to you? Share your ideas in the comment box!

Online Discussions

Dear students,

every week, we are going to have online discussions. To join them, go to NICENET and click 'Join a Class'. Our class key is S348854C7Z.

Every week, your posts and comments will be graded:

Excellent (5): Using respectful language, you specifically mention something you found interesting or thought-provoking. You give a related example from your own experience (which may agree or disagree with the original comment). Your comments give other students something to think about and agree or disagree with. An excellent comment will add significant value to what someone else has said.

Satisfactory (4): Using respectful language, you either mention something you found interesting/thought-provoking OR you give a related example. Your comments may or may not give other students something to agree or disagree with. A satisfactory comment will add some value, but not a lot.

Poor (3): Your comment does not use respectful language AND/OR your comment does not add any new information to what was said before. Just saying "I agree" is a poor comment. A poor comment will add little or no value to what was said. Your comment may use information from a source without citing the source.