Business Communication I – BUS 9551 S1BA – Summer

In modern society mobile electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, and laptops are important part of our life. We are very much depending on these devises which are powered by internet. We get instant, live information about the weather, traffic, we check our bank accounts on fly and we make transections, we buy, sell and communicate through these devises. And every time we use these devices we leave the permanent digital footprints which can be traced back us. It is like we are writing our digital diary or biography without really giving it attention and most importantly without knowing where this diary is. We know that data or in other words the diary is out there, we are creating them every day, but we do not really know the exact location, form or shape of the diary. It is dispersed all over the digital highways and the worst thing is this data is wildly available for inserting parties. Furthermore, there are many companies who target these data; their main business is to collect our digital footprints, give it some form or shape and sell it to other parties. We are creating the date, but it does not belong to us. For example, we know that Google saves and collects all the searches we do, but these data does not belong to us, nor we have any rights on it and we do not even know for what this data are used. I could imagine if someone can look to my Google search history just only past 10 years and combine these data with today’s sophisticated logarithms probably these someone would have full profile about me. As more we are enjoying the benefits of technology, we are generating more data and more vulnerable and easy targets we are becoming.

Security and Privacy is big issue today’s society. People are conserved and sometimes even paranoid that they have been watched and they have been followed. I think we need much better security and privacy laws and much batterer regulations and enforcements. Especially to regulate the companies that collect and sell the data about us.

In general there are many forces that have social impact such as politics, natural disasters, economics, epidemics and etcetera. All of these aspects could have and most cases do have technology factor.   Technology plays role in every social force. It goes so deep that it even effects our personality, our mood, and selection of people we choose to communicate. We become so dependent on technology that sometimes it even blur if we control the technology or it controls us. There is no doubt that technology shapes our society by effecting our culture, our values, and life style.

One of the interesting characteristic of technology is that while it brings the benefits for society and solves the problem it creates other problems and issues simultaneously. For example, it creates the efficiency, but wipes out the jobs, it connects the people but alienates at the sometime, and it gives the opportunity to poor but widens the gap between reach and poor. These are the organic consequences of the technology, but technology also can be viewed as powerful tool that can be used for bad or good things depending on intention. For example finical institutions use technology to make their service more flexible, robots and convenience for their costumers, but hackers could use exactly same technology to create the computer viruses and system frauds. In other words, technology creates the huge risk that it will not be used as intended. As a matter of fact, managing this risk become part of our everyday life.

The big questions when discussing the social effects of technology is if it is possible to find the golden middle ground where the society will be able to harness the benefits of technology while avoiding the side effects and reliably controlling the risk factors.

In today’s fast passed, data driven business environment, information technology plays the crucial role in any industry. Accurately planed and implemented Information systems enables business entities to create, distribute and exploit knowledge that gives the companies competitive advantage.

IT Governance is a mechanism that controls IT/IS planning, implementation, investment and decision making.

According to IMB the IT governance should

1)      Establish chains of responsibility, authority, and communication (decision rights)

2)      Establish measurement, policy, standards, and control mechanisms to enable people to carry out their roles and responsibilities

It is been well demonstrated that organizations that lack effective governance suffer from low performance, heightened risk exposure, and resource allocation.

IT governance is not simply a concern of IT department. It is the concern of whole organization as IT governance main objective is to align business strategically, empower and support business initiatives, while providing security and efficiency.

As IT governance plays such a huge role to organizations success, top management’s involvement is important. Board level IT governance is prescribed by normative publications such as the IT Governance Institute’s (ITGI, 2003) Board Briefing on IT Governance (BBIG).

Board level IT governance has a poor chance of being implemented and being effective if board members don’t pay attention to IT due to a lack of appreciation for its strategic significance or due to a lack of adequate IT knowledge. Therefore, it is important that organizations prioritize their IT strategy when selecting their leadership team.

Cost of failed software projects and their negative effects on business organizations clearly demonstrates the importance of software project management. There has been many debates if the software project can be managed as any other project, meaning fallowing general project management standards and methods or is software project requires special approach. Recently I read the article about the software project management -published by one of the leading companies in the field, QSM (Quantitative Software Management http://www.qsm.com/resources/research/research-featured-research), which states nine key factors to consider when launching the software projects. In my blog I will briefly summarize these nine factors:

1)      Software Development is not Manufacturing

Developing the software is often a discovery process. Initial requirements are at a functional rather than an implementation level. The higher the level of the requirements the more time and effort is spent determining what to do and how to do it.

2)      Schedule and Cost are not Interchangeable

The relationship between schedule and the cost/effort required to complete a software project is profoundly non-linear. When a schedule is shortened to meet a deadline, the team will not function as efficiently. The quality of the delivered product will also be degraded due to the increased communication complexity and reduced testing. Unrealistic schedules are the number one cause of project failure.

3)      The Best Data for Comparison is Your Own

Many companies do not record, analyze, and use the schedule, cost, and quality data that all projects generate. This data forms a composite picture of how an organization develops software. With it, strengths and weaknesses can be identified, estimates can be grounded in reality, and achievable targets set for improvement.

4)      Don’t Get Lost in the Details

When initially planning a software project it is important to focus on the large questions

• Do we know enough to make an intelligent estimate?

• Are the project’s schedule, cost, and quality constraints achievable?

• Can we staff this project?

• Is there an agreed upon change control process in place?

Most projects are over budget, exceed their schedules, and don’t meet customer expectations. This is because they did not address the big questions that focus on feasibility before addressing the minutia.

5)      Change Doesn’t Come Free

Software projects are a delicate balance of tasks to complete, staff to work on those tasks, and time in which that work is done. A change to any one of these affects the other two

6)      Plan and Monitor your Plan

Every project should have a project plan that specifies

• What will be delivered

• Staffing

• Schedule

Here is critical to have historical data discussed in factor #3

7)      An Estimate is not a Project Plan

Estimate provides the big picture of a project and the level of risk for any particular solution. A project plan provides the detail of that project: what the individual tasks are, roles and responsibilities, and the critical path. Estimates and project plans are complimentary.  

8)      There’s a Lot More to Software Development than Coding

Majority of work in a software development is not in the coding. Requirements gathering, analysis, design, project management, configuration management, documentation, system and integration testing typically require 70% of a project’s total effort.

9)      Plan for Project Measurement

Software measurement and analysis don’t just happen. Like any business initiative, they need clear objectives, senior leadership support, established roles and responsibilities, standards, and knowledgeable staff. By itself, project measurement does not fix anything. If your productivity and quality are poor, measuring them does not remedy the problem. However, measuring them will tell what they are so that you have a quantitative basis for evaluating the effectiveness of your improvement strategies.

Many of these nine factors can be used just about any project, however software projects do require some specifications which make the software project different than any other project.

In our simulated conference call, four characters were the same people we selected in our business meeting. The scenario was based on the conference held by International Society for Heart Research in San Diego that we talked about in the previous meeting. The main problem was that after taking part in the conference, the company found out that the doctors or the medical professions from the Midwest didn’t know the new product at all. And the four people were discussing a solution that was supposed to be effective in fixing the problem.

In order to make the characteristic of the roll looks more like the one described in the case, again, we added a conflict between Burns and Wescott: Wescott said his department was planning to do some advertisement in a magazine in Midwest. However, Burns immediately strongly rejected Wescott’s suggestion because he thought that doing the advertisement was the responsibility in his department.

When we practiced, we proposed that Peterson asked Wescott about the suggestion first, and then turned to Burns. But when we were doing the tape record, Peterson suddenly changed his mind and asked Burns first. This change made me (Wescott) to be upset at the moment. If it was a face-to-face meeting, maybe I could had given a hint or tried to interrupted. However, since it’s a call meeting, I felt that it was much harder to interrupt someone else.

Here I want to talk about my own experience in the real life. I had an interview several days ago. The interviewer asked a lot of questions about the technical knowledge. Since it was a phone interview, I couldn’t see the interviewer’s face or expression, so it’s very hard to judge whether she was satisfied with my answer only based on her tone.

From the video, I found myself not being very natural. My teammates seem quite relax, just like they were making a phone call in their own office. Compared to them, I am obviously more nervous and upset. I kept on looking at the people sitting in front of me and also I took a deep breath for several times. I have to say that all these behaviors look awkward in a conference call.

In my opinion, the room set-up this time was not as good as last time we did in the business meeting. Since it was a conference call, we shouldn’t have seen each other’s face, not even the backs. Thus, it is better to sit back to back.

Our group got a good prepare for the simulated business meeting, and we did it quite well. We selected four characters as follows: Erik Peterson, Biometra General Manager; Stephanie Hanes, clinical training; Trevor Burns, Marketing Supervisor; James Wescott, Sales Representative. The main topic in our meeting is that Biometra Company is planning to participate a conference held by International Society for Heart Research in San Diego. Due to the tight budget, the four people are discussing about how many persons should be sent to the conference in each department. Although the scenario is simply, the objective is very clear. I think it is not difficult for the audiences to catch the main idea of our topic in the meeting.

According to the case, the relationship between Burns and Wescott are rather strained. In order to make the simulated meeting looks like a real meeting happened in Biometra Company, we added a conflict between two persons: Wescott rejected Burn’s idea about sending the marketing department employees to take part in the conference. In addition, to make our meeting more diversity, we set a private conversation between Erik Peterson and James Wescott after Burns and Hanes left the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, we made a preliminary decision about how many employees would be sent to the conference. And Peterson asked everyone to submit a detailed report after the meeting. From the beginning to the end, the meeting was integrity. Just like the comment from our classmate, the simulated business meeting of our group was acted as a real meeting.

 If talk about the room set-up, I would like to say two points. Firstly, although we didn’t introduce ourselves at the beginning of the meeting, we put a name card on the table. This is also very easy for the audiences to realize who we are. Another point is that since Burns and Wescott have a conflict during the meeting, we on purpose seat them face-to-face.

In communication strategy group presentation, our group talked about the message strategy. In the first part of our presentation, the presenter introduced a brief idea about what was the message strategy. Otherwise, he emphasized three important points in how to use message strategy: Harness the power of beginnings and endings; overcome the retention; organize your message. In this part, I think our presentation closely related to the concept of message strategy, which is our main topic.

In the second part of our presentation, we talked about three reasons why Mr. Peterson got fired. In this part, I don’t think we did a good job to relate the message strategy and the Mr. Peterson case. Honestly speaking, throughout the case, I didn’t get any hint about what kind of mistakes Mr. Peterson made in message communication strategy.

We did quite a good job in content transitions between speakers. Each one of us used one or two sentences to summarize our own presentation. And then we introduced our teammate, the next speaker, to the audience. Finally, we provide a general idea about the content about the next part of the presentation. We did the transition work in a concisely, clearly way.

Finally, I want to talk about my job in the presentation. There are some grammatical errors on my slide. The sentences in the slide were not parallel as well. Otherwise, there are couples of weakness in my presentation. Firstly of all, from the video, it seems that I am a little bit nervous. Actually due to my low level English, I was quite nervous at the moment. This is the reason that I didn’t talk very smoothly and explain the idea clearly. In addition, I kept on moving back and forth. The movement was random, repetitive and purposeless. I believe this is not an effective body language when doing the presentation.

If we do the presentation again, I would like to make another approach to relate our topic and the case. In addition, we should practice more, especially I myself, to make our presentation more fluently and adjust the gesture more naturally. Last but not the least, we should spend more time on designing the slides or at least choose one of the PowerPoint’s built-in design templates.  I believe colorful slides would let the audiences be more interested in our presentation.

After I reviewing my 30 seconds pitch, I have to say I didn’t do it very well. The pitch video was recorded without preparation. Honestly speaking, I was very nervous at the moment and there were totally no ideas in my mind. Suppose the five points is the full score, I would grade myself as one point or two points.

Since the volume in the video record is really low, I can’t hear very clearly what I was saying. But I remember my content definitely didn’t meet the 4 C’s requirement: conciseness, clarity, coherency and cogency. For example, after I introducing my major Quantitative Methods and Modeling, I said that the name of the major is really long. I think I can say this in a free talking or in a conversation with friends. However, it is obviously not appropriate in a 30 seconds pitch. In addition, the content in the pitch did not hundred percent aim to the goal. The audiences may feel lost about what I really want to express. Otherwise, I believe there are many grammatical errors and pronunciation problems in the pitch.

Referring to the nonverbal communication, I didn’t do a good job, either. First of all, I didn’t stand in a relaxed, professional manner. I crossed my hands from the beginning to the end. Crossing the hands is a not my natural style when I were speaking to one person instead of to a group of audiences. Simply speaking, I didn’t be myself at the moment. This is an evidence shows that I was really nervous. Otherwise, my facial expression also looks not natural as well. Although my facial expression was not totally stony or deadpan, it didn’t keep relaxed. And I didn’t vary my expression according to the subject and the occasion. Compared to these three elements of body language, I think I did eye contact better. I started by looking at the friendly faces (Of course, all of our classmates’ faces are friendly faces) and then connect with other people throughout. I tried my best to avoid staring at someone or looking continually at the floor.

30 seconds pitch is just like a short and brief self- introduction. It’s quite important either in a job interview or under some other situations. This tape record is a good practice to remind me that I should get the 30 seconds self- introduction prepared at any time. If I can do it again, I will focus more on my content and try to make it closely related to the goal. Practice again and again in front of the friends or families, and check whether they have got the brief idea about what I want to express. If not, that means there are still some problems in the content. I believe if the content is good, no grammatical errors involved, it will help me to be much more confident, relax and nature in performing other nonverbal communication skills.

My name is Yingyi He. I am currently majoring in quantitative methods and modeling at Baruch College. Simply speaking, the major combines the statistics with the computer modeling. My career goal is to be a data analyst in a big company’s marketing department; or be a professional quantitative analyst in financial field, such as investment bank, insurance company, etc. I had a solid foundation in engineering, and combined with the knowledge gained as a QMM major, I am confident to say that I will be able to do quite well in this field. However, except the professional knowledge, I believe that the technique of business communication is also very important. As a senior quantitative analyst, skills in written communication, business meeting, presentation, and conference call are definitely necessary in daily work. Otherwise, a senior analyst should also be good at explaining the analysis report to the clients, who has no professional knowledge in the statistical field, by using the plain English.
Honestly, I have a good command of communication skills in my native language. When I worked in a company’s marketing department in China, I accumulated a lot of face-to-fact communication experience with customers and clients. And I was very confident to show my ideas in the meeting and to speak in the public. However, after I came to the U.S, it is totally a different story. Since I have only been in U.S. for one year and a half, I have to say that both of my written and oral English are in a relatively low level. Sometimes I still have difficulties in listening, and for most of the time, it is hard to express my opinion hundred percent accurately, which really makes me feel nervous and frustrating. As a result, I become more and more unwilling to do the group discussion and presentation.
In order to fulfill my career goal, I have to improve the communication skills as soon as possible. First of all, I should develop effective listening skills. Listen to the other person’s words and engage in communication on what the other people is speaking about. Secondly, I should read as many articles as I can, which may help me to accumulate more vocabularies and phrases. Third, be courage to say what I think and say it loudly. Even if the pronunciation is not correct enough or the word chosen is not perfectly accurate, just be confident to express my opinion in the public. And be confident in knowing that I can make worthwhile contributions to group works.