Excellence in Business Communication, 12th edition

About the Book

Contextualizes Learning from the Text with Real-World Examples

• UPDATED! On-the-Job Communication Vignettes and Simulations help students apply knowledge from the text using real-world business examples that students have some familiarity with, including JetBlue, GoPro, Hailo, Red Ants Pants, Warby Parker, and VMWare.

Tools to Simplify Teaching, Promote Active Learning, and Stimulate Critical Thinking

These components work together at four levels to provide seamless coverage of vital knowledge and skills:

• Previewing: Each chapter provides clear learning objectives that prepare students for the material to come and provide a framework for the chapter content. Each learning objective aligns with a major heading in the chapter, and this structure is carried on through to the end of the chapter and online activities, making it easier for instructors and students to gauge learning progress. After the learning objectives, a compelling “On the Job” communication vignette, featuring a successful professional role model, shows students how the material they will encounter in the chapter is put to use in actual business situations.
• Developing: Chapter content develops, explains, and elaborates on concepts with a carefully organized presentation of textual and visual material. The three¿-step process of planning, writing, and completing is adapted to every category of messages and every medium throughout the book, from traditional memos and reports to email, blogs, IM, podcasts, wikis, and social networking messages.
• Enhancing: Contemporary examples, including more than 70 new figures in this edition, show students the specific elements that contribute to or detract from successful messages.
• Reinforcing: Hundreds of realistic exercises and activities help students practice vital skills and put newfound knowledge to immediate use. Interactive Document Makeovers, pioneered by Bovée and Thill, let students experience firsthand the elements that make a document successful; giving them the insights they need to analyze and improve their own business messages. One hundred twenty-¿five communication cases, featuring dozens of real companies, encourage students to think about contemporary business issues as they put their skills to use in a variety of media, including blogging, social networking, and podcasting. At the end of each chapter, a multiple-¿choice simulation based on the chapter-¿opening vignette invites students to solve realistic communication challenges.
• A practical, time-tested approach that emphasizes the fundamentals of business communication–including writing, listening, and presenting–even as it integrates the latest technologies affecting businesses, was used.
• NEW! New and updated chapters and text sections emphasize the revolutionary role mobile communication in business, including:
  • Using All the Job-Search Tools at Your Disposal (Prologue)
  • The Mobile Revolution (Chapter 1)
  • The Rise of Mobile as a Communication Platform
  • How Mobile Technologies Are Changing Business Communication
  • Collaboration via Mobile Devices (Chapter 2)
  • Putting Meeting Results to Productive Use (Chapter 2)
  • Business Etiquette Using Mobile Devices (Chapter 2)
  • Selecting the Best Combination of Media and Channels (Chapter 4)
  • The Unique Challenges of Communication on Mobile Devices (Chapter 4)
  • Writing Messages for Mobile Devices (Chapter 5)
  • Designing Messages for Mobile Devices (Chapter 6)
  • Optimizing Content for Mobile Devices (Chapter 7)
  • Creating Promotional Messages for Mobile Devices (Chapter 10)
  • Visual Media on Mobile Devices (Chapter 12)
  • Organizing a Presentation (Chapter 14)
  • Integrating Mobile Devices in Presentations (Chapter 14)
  • Choosing a Design Strategy for Your Résumé (Chapter 15)
• NEW! Groundbreaking coverage of mobile business communication, including:
  • Coverage of emerging issues that are reshaping business communication, including digital information fluency and the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon.
  • Coverage of linear and nonlinear presentations, discussing the relative strengths of slide-based presentations (linear) and Prezi-style presentations (nonlinear).
  • Revised treatment of media and channels to reflect the continuing evolution of digital formats; we now categorize media choices oral, written, and visual, each of which can be delivered through digital and nondigital channels to create six basic combinations.
  • A new highlight box theme, Digital + Social + Mobile: Today’s Communication Environment, addressing such topics as gamification as way to engage audiences, the new careers available in social media community management, using mobile devices for business research, and using mobile devices in the job search process.
  • More than fifty new business communication examples and figures have been added. And the illustration portfolio for the Twelfth Edition includes nearly 30 mobile communication examples and more than two dozen social media examples.
  • New exercises and activities that focus on mobile communication have been added.
  • A selection of communication cases that challenge students to craft messages for mobile devices is now included.

Also Available with MyBCommLab^®

MyBCommLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with this text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students practice what they learn, test their understanding, and pursue a personalized study plan that helps them better absorb course material and understand difficult concepts.

Before Class

• The Chapter Warm-up helps you hold your students accountable for learning key concepts in each chapter before coming to class. The assignment consists of basic questions related to topics in the text, and gives students the chance to access their eText to read about the topics in question. Grading and item analysis in the assignment allow you to see what students know and don’t know.  
• Dynamic Study Modules help students study effectively on their own by continuously assessing their activity and performance in real time. Here's how it works: students complete a set of questions with a unique answer format that also asks them to indicate their confidence level. Questions repeat until the student can answer them all correctly and confidently. Once completed, Dynamic Study Modules explain the concept using materials from the text. These are available as graded assignments prior to class, and accessible on smartphones, tablets, and computers.
• Enhanced eText keeps students engaged in learning on their own time, while helping them achieve greater conceptual understanding of course material. The worked examples bring learning to life, and algorithmic practice allows students to apply the very concepts they are reading about. Combining resources that illuminate content with accessible self-assessment, MyLab with Enhanced eText provides students with a complete digital learning experience–all in one place.

During Class

• Learning Catalytics^™ is an interactive, student response tool that uses students’ smartphones, tablets, or laptops to engage them in more sophisticated tasks and thinking. Now included with MyLab with eText, Learning Catalytics enables you to generate classroom discussion, guide your lecture, and promote peer-to-peer learning with real-time analytics. Instructors, you can:
  • Pose a variety of open-ended questions that help your students develop critical thinking skills
  • Monitor responses to find out where students are struggling
  • Use real-time data to adjust your instructional strategy and try other ways of engaging your students during class
  • Manage student interactions by automatically grouping students for discussion, teamwork, and peer-to-peer learning
• Reporting Dashboard: View, analyze, and report learning outcomes clearly and easily, and get the information you need to keep your students on track throughout the course with the new Reporting Dashboard. Available via the MyLab Gradebook and fully mobile-ready, the Reporting Dashboard presents student performance data at the class, section, and program levels in an accessible, visual manner.

After Class

• Branching, Decision-Making Simulations put your students in the role of manager as they make a series of decisions based on a realistic business challenge. The simulations change and branch based on their decisions, creating various scenario paths. At the end of each simulation, students receive a grade and a detailed report of the choices they made with the associated consequences included.
• Video Exercises explore a variety of business topics related to the theory students are learning in class. Quizzes assess students’ comprehension of the concepts covered in each video.
• Writing Space. Better writers make great learners–who perform better in their courses. Designed to help you develop and assess concept mastery and critical thinking, the Writing Space offers a single place to create, track, and grade writing assignments, provide resources, and exchange meaningful, personalized feedback with students, quickly and easily. Thanks to auto-graded, assisted-graded, and create-your-own assignments, you decide your level of involvement in evaluating students' work. The auto-graded option allows you to assign writing in large classes without having to grade essays by hand. And because of integration with Turnitin^®, Writing Space can check students’ work for improper citation or plagiarism.
• Quizzes and Tests: Pre-built quizzes and tests allow you to quiz students without having to grade the assignments yourself.

Other MyBCommLab Features:

• Diagnostic Grammar Study Plan: Students struggle with basic grammar practices making it difficult to move onto successful writing. MyBCommLab’s Diagnostic Grammar Study Plan provides students will a pretest to identify weaknesses--specific to grammar, and then builds a personalized path of study to help practice grammar basics.
• Homework and Test Manager lets you create, import, and manage online homework assignments, quizzes, and tests that are automatically graded. You can choose from a wide range of assignment options, including time limits, proctoring, and maximum number of attempts allowed. The bottom line: MyBCommLab means less time grading and more time teaching.
• Comprehensive Online Course Content: Filled with a wealth of content that is tightly integrated with your textbook, MyLab lets you easily add, remove, or modify existing instructional material. You can also add your own course materials to suit the needs of your students or department. In short, MyLab lets you teach exactly as you'd like.
• Gradebook automatically tracks your students' results on tests, homework, and practice exercises online and gives you control over managing results and calculating grades. The gradebook provides a number of flexible grading options, including exporting grades to a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. And, it lets you measure and document your students' learning outcomes.
• Easily Scalable and Shareable Content: MyLab lets other instructors copy your settings so a standardized syllabus can be maintained across your department. Should you want to use the same MyLab course next semester, with the same customized settings, you can copy your existing course exactly--and even share it with other faculty members.

• NEW! MediaShare for Business. Consisting of a curated collection of business videos tagged to learning outcomes and customizable, auto-scored assignments, MediaShare for Business helps students understand why they are learning key concepts and how they will apply those in their careers. Instructors can also assign favorite YouTube clips or original content and employ MediaShare’s powerful repository of tools to maximize student accountability and interactive learning, and provide contextualized feedback for students and teams who upload presentations, media, or business plans.
  
• Decision Making Mini-Simulations put your students in the role of manager as they make a series of decisions based on a realistic business challenge. The simulations change and branch based on their decisions, creating various scenario paths. At the end of each simulation, students receive a grade and a detailed report of the choices they made with the associated consequences included.
• Learning Management System (LMS) Integration. You can now link from any LMS platform to MyBCommLab. Access MyBCommLab assignments, rosters and resources, and synchronize MyBCommLab grades with your LMS gradebook. For students, new direct, single sign-on provides access to all the personalized learning MyBCommLab resources that make studying more efficient and effective.
• Comprehensive online course content. Filled with a wealth of content that is tightly integrated with your textbook, MyBCommLab lets you easily add, remove, or modify existing instructional material. You can also add your own course materials to suit the needs of your students or department.
• Customizable Settings. MyBCommLab enables you to manage multiple class sections, and lets other instructors copy your settings so a standardized syllabus can be maintained across your department.

About the Book

Contextualizes Learning from the Text with Real-World Examples

• UPDATED! On-the-Job Communication Vignettes and Simulations help students apply knowledge from the text using real-world business examples that students have some familiarity with, including JetBlue, GoPro, Hailo, Red Ants Pants, Warby Parker, and VMWare.

Tools to Simplify Teaching, Promote Active Learning, and Stimulate Critical Thinking

These components work together at four levels to provide seamless coverage of vital knowledge and skills:

• New and updated chapters and text sections emphasize the revolutionary role mobile communication in business, including:
• Using All the Job-Search Tools at Your Disposal (Prologue)
• The Mobile Revolution (Chapter 1)
• The Rise of Mobile as a Communication Platform
• How Mobile Technologies Are Changing Business Communication
• Collaboration via Mobile Devices (Chapter 2)
• Putting Meeting Results to Productive Use (Chapter 2)
• Business Etiquette Using Mobile Devices (Chapter 2)
• Selecting the Best Combination of Media and Channels (Chapter 4)
• The Unique Challenges of Communication on Mobile Devices (Chapter 4)
• Writing Messages for Mobile Devices (Chapter 5)
• Designing Messages for Mobile Devices (Chapter 6)
• Optimizing Content for Mobile Devices (Chapter 7)
• Creating Promotional Messages for Mobile Devices (Chapter 10)
• Visual Media on Mobile Devices (Chapter 12)
• Organizing a Presentation (Chapter 14)
• Integrating Mobile Devices in Presentations (Chapter 14)
• Choosing a Design Strategy for Your Résumé (Chapter 15)
• Groundbreaking coverage of mobile business communication, including:
• Coverage of emerging issues that are reshaping business communication, including digital information fluency and the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon.
• Coverage of linear and nonlinear presentations, discussing the relative strengths of slide-based presentations (linear) and Prezi-style presentations (nonlinear).
• Revised treatment of media and channels to reflect the continuing evolution of digital formats; we now categorize media choices oral, written, and visual, each of which can be delivered through digital and nondigital channels to create six basic combinations.
• A new highlight box theme, Digital + Social + Mobile: Today’s Communication Environment, addressing such topics as gamification as way to engage audiences, the new careers available in social media community management, using mobile devices for business research, and using mobile devices in the job search process.
• More than fifty new business communication examples and figures have been added. And the illustration portfolio for the Twelfth Edition includes nearly 30 mobile communication examples and more than two dozen social media examples.
• New exercises and activities that focus on mobile communication have been added.
• A selection of communication cases that challenge students to craft messages for mobile devices is now included.

Also Available with MyBCommLab^®

MyBCommLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with this text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students practice what they learn, test their understanding, and pursue a personalized study plan that helps them better absorb course material and understand difficult concepts.

Other MyBCommLab Features:

• MediaShare for Business. Consisting of a curated collection of business videos tagged to learning outcomes and customizable, auto-scored assignments, MediaShare for Business helps students understand why they are learning key concepts and how they will apply those in their careers. Instructors can also assign favorite YouTube clips or original content and employ MediaShare’s powerful repository of tools to maximize student accountability and interactive learning, and provide contextualized feedback for students and teams who upload presentations, media, or business plans.