Welcome to

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English

• Welcome to
• Basic Business English !

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
AGENDA

• 1) Chair in Business English
• Team
• Teaching
• 2) Goals in the Phase of Assessment
• Competence in Business English
• Identifying and Solving a Problem
• Change Agent
• 3) Method
• Case Studies
• Write Essays
• Approach

• 4) Rules and Procedures
• Time Schedule
• Textbook
• 11 PO
• Exam in SS 2007
• Example
• 5) Todays topic
• Framing a message
• A Systems Perspective on Business Communication
• Cicero (106 BCE 43 BCE Rules for Good
  Conversation
• Systemic Communication Model
• Home Assignments

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Chair in Business English - Team

• Prof. Dr. Wilfried Böhler
• H 7.209
• Office hours Tuedays 11.00 to 13.00
• E-mail wboehler_at_notes.upb.de
• Mr. Hinck
• Instructor for W1642 Basic BusEng II only (begins
  18 Apr)
• Matthias Stover, M.A.
• C 3.334
• Office hour Mondays 13.00 to 14.00
• Booking via e-mail to mstover_at_notes.upb.de
• Roswitha Nell, Personal Assistant
• C 4.311
• Office hours Monday to Friday 09.00 to 11.30
• E-mail rnell_at_notes.upb.de

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Chair in Business English - Team
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Chair in Business English - Teaching

• Assessing phase
• Mentoring
• W 1641 Basic Business English I
• W 1642 Basic Business English II
• Profiling phase
• W2645 Advanced Business English I
• W2646 Advanced Business English II
• Mentoring
• Diploma/BA Thesis

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Goal - Competence in Business English

• Language Skills
• Business Knowledge
• Linguistic Skills in Speaking and Writing
• Basic RulesFOCUS ON THE ASSIGNED TASK!
• BE CONCISE!
• BE PERSUASIVE!

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Goal - Identifying and Solving a Problem

• Identify and Analyze a Problem (BasicBusEng I)
• Evaluate Alternatives, Recommend a Solution and
  take Position in a Specified Mindset(BasicBusEng
  II)

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Goal - Change Agent

• Learn to be a change agent? Analyze a problem,
• ? persuade your audience to imagine new
  perspectives and? support planned change.
• ? Guide to Making a Persuasive Case for Change -
  B 0, p. 60

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Method Case Studies

• Discussion of Case Studies
• Topics (Bachelor Program Summer Term 2007)
• (access Faculty WiWi-Home -gt Department 6 -gt
  WiWi 41)
• ? Look up the weekly assignments and info

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Method Write Essays

• Week of 02. Apr.Write simple, vivid introductory
  sentences for cases B 0 B 13 (with the value
  chain in mind), and compose a vivid link
  highlighting the key issue
• Week of 09 Apr.Based on the value chain
  framework, briefly sketch possible alternatives
  solutions for cases B 0 B 13 Discuss Case B
  14 The Salk Institute
• Following weeksWeekly write letters, memos
  and/or reports see example below
• Week of Topic Text-based
  assignments s
• 16 Apr case B STM
  Report from RD manager East Asia to COO
  B 4 corporate culture Number the
  stages of your case study and B
  8 visionary-mindset underline the mindset
  part(s)

Monday framework B 4 Write a report
- about 350 words combined
with visionary mindset B 8
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Method Approach

• Approach the case studies as follows
• ? Case Study Approach B 1.4, p. 74 Step
  1, 2, 3 and 4 only (Step 5 is optional,
  depending on assignment)

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Draft Course Schedule for Summer Term 2007 (dates
and rooms subject to change)
Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Rules and Procedures Time Schedule

• Course Schedule for Summer Term 2007 Bas Bus En
  Modul W 1642
• Choose and switch between five classes (lectures
  are similar!)
• Choose and switch between six similar tutorials

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Draft Course Schedule for Summer Term 2007 (dates
and rooms subject to change)
Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
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Draft Course Schedule for Summer Term 2007 (dates
and rooms subject to change)
Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Rules and Procedures Textbook
The course is based on the textbook W.
Böhler/M. Hinck. Wirtschaftsenglisch Business
Cases, Know How, Soft Skills (in Reihe Das
Kompendium, Hg. Christian Jaschinsky).
Merkur-Verlag, Rinteln. 3. Aufl. 2005. ISBN
3-8120-0622-7)
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Rules and Procedures 11 PO

• One exam in SS 07? Combines W 1641 Basic Bus
  Eng I W 1642 Basic Bus Eng II ?
  Exam candidates Last years students and new
  students

11 Prüfungstermine (1) Alle Modulprüfungen
werden studienbegleitend abgelegt. (2) Jede
Modulprüfung in der Assessmentphase wird in jedem
Semester angeboten. (3) ... Profilierungsphase
? Usually you attend BasicBusEng I in the WS and
BasicBusEng II in the SS and write your exam in
the summer.
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Rules and Procedures Exam in SS 07 bases on
I. text excerpt from strategy cases B, B1 - B13
case The Salk Institute II. Required
communication forms for applying case study
approach letter, memo, report III. Required
management frameworks (for case analysis in
exam)1. Value Chain 2. Transaction costs (B2)
3. Network organization corporate governance
(B3) 4. the Company as an Open System, i.e.
adapting to the environment (B4) 5. Corporate
Cultures (B4) 6. Approaches to Measuring
Effectiveness (B6) 7. Contingency Framework for
Decision-making 8. Directions of Career Movement
(B8) 9. Total Supply Chain (B9) 10. Balanced
Scorecard (B10) 11. Product Life-Cycle 12.
Market Portfolio Matrix (B12) IV. Assigned
mindsets (intrapreneurial, executive,
administrator, auditor, advocate, coach,
visionary, entrepreneur -see overview B1.7) to be
applied either in analysis, or in generating
alternative solutions or in recommending a
solution
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Rules and Procedures Example
Fach Wirtschaftsenglisch, Datum 29.10.2005 Dau
er 120 Minuten, Hilfsmittel ------ keine
-----
Assignment (minimum 320, maximum 380 words) In
your role as country manager for Poland write a
memo to the Director of Human Resources at
Tesco's headquarters in Cheshunt in
Hertfordshire, based on the following
requirements By applying the case study format
and based on the career movement framework
(involving actions such as employee selection,
separation, promotion, rotation, etc.) and the
executive mindset (goal clarity, direction),
discuss a fit between career movement and
improving both efficiency and customer
satisfaction. Number the stages of your case
study and underline the mindset part(s)
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Todays topic Framing a message the art of
persuasion ? Textbook pages 59/60, 251 (always
3rd. edition) inmemos ? Textbook page 45 and
286 f. reports ? Textbook page 288 f. letters ?
Textbook page 252 f. Multistability - A
Systems Perspective on Business Communication -
Cicero (106 BCE 43 BCE Rules for Good
Conversation - Systemic Communication Model
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
A Systems Perspective on Business
Communication 1/4
Emergent systems self-organize through the
interplay of positive and negative feedback.
Hence, in a systems model of communication,
positive feedback amplifies creative
communicative behavior, whereas negative feedback
minimizes deviations, until stability is
realized. Patterns of interactions (i.e. stable
or dynamic) emerge in time through cooperative
processes or coupling among communication
partners. Recurrent patterns (or "attractors")
eventually stabilize and become increasingly
predictable. The relative strength (i.e. "space
depth") of a recurrent pattern represents its
pull on the interaction process, and its function
as a "default" option even in the face of a
changing environment. Repeated cycles of
interaction will create a stable set of
behavioral options. Thus, in the course of a
consultant-client or subordinate-superior
interaction a specific set of behavioural
patterns may be available, and situational
factors will determine toward which attractor the
relationship will eventually move.
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
A Systems Perspective on Business
Communication 2/4
For instance, in the course of post-merger
integration activities, a state space for
subordinate-superior interaction could contain
the behavioral attractors "mutually polite",
"playful-cooperative", "constructive-problem-solvi
ng", "proactive-committed, dismissive-hostile,
disengaged. Within a seemingly intractable
conflict situation, the dismissive/hostile
pattern of behaviour might be the relatively
strongest. Accordingly, the communication flow
would move toward this pattern. Once the
interaction is anchored there, the relative
strength of other behavioural patterns such as
the mutually polite attractor will fade,
limiting the diverseness and duration of any
interaction.
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
A Systems Perspective on Business
Communication 3/4
Recurring cycles of interaction will produce
stable interaction patterns that may be
punctuated by periods of disequilibrium when
established patterns are destabilized. Real-time
behavior during a transitional phase is variable,
flexible, and sensitive to new forces. However,
due to selective pressures only a small number of
variable states will be available to the system
at the end of a phase transition. Thus, in the
context of meeting convened to discuss a hostile
takeover, an unexpected confrontation may lead to
a climate of mutual blaming. As a result, in
ambiguous future situations, the residual lack of
trust will constitute a predictable attractor for
hostile behavior.
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
A Systems Perspective on Business
Communication 4/4
Perceived threats to the achievement of personal
goals will trigger hostility and blaming patterns
when a valued goal is thought to be intentionally
blocked. Similarly, psychological withdrawal
emerges when a blocked goal is considered to be
unachievable. Positive response patterns, on the
other hand, depend on mindfulness, i.e.
thoughtful, alert behavior that takes into
account the interests of other parties and
emphasizes the value of the communication process
above the outcome. Repeated feedback cycles
increase the tendency for particular emotional
elements to coalesce and to stabilize. Fewer and
less intense triggers are necessary to activate
habitual attractors in communication partners.
Concurrently, this process also narrows the set
of options for interaction.
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Cicero (106 BCE-43 BCE) Rules for Good
Conversation

• Speak clearly, maintain eye contact, and mind
  your body language
• speak easily, but not too much let others have
  their turn
• be a good listener do not interrupt
• show polite concern for your counterparty's
  needs
• deal seriously with serious matters, elegantly
  with lighter ones
• never criticize people in their absence
• stick to subjects of mutual or general interests
  
• do not talk about yourself
• never lose your temper
• Also
• remember people's names !

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Home Assignments

• Study at home
• - Review todays agenda
• Preparation Based on the value chain framework,
  briefly sketch possible alternatives solutions
  for cases B 0 B 13 Discuss Case B 14 The
  Salk Institute

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Prof. Dr. Wilfried BöhlerChair in Business
English
Thank you and see you next week!