Business Communication Polishing Your Professional Presence

For courses in business communications.

Effective communication in business practices

Business Communication: Polishing Your Professional Presence helps students achieve the highest level of professionalism when conducting business. With a clear communication model that helps students professionally analyze and react to any sort of business situation, this text stresses the importance of etiquette in successful entrepreneurial practices. The 4th Edition relates business communication to modern technologies and social media outlets, bringing the text into the context of our digital world. With a focus on learning and exercising skills in writing, speaking, critical thinking, and collaborating with peers, the text prepares students for the social and communicative challenges they will face as successful business people.

Business Communication: Polishing Your Professional Presence, 4th Edition is also available via Revel™, an interactive learning environment that enables students to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience.

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Barbara Shwom, PhD, is Professor of Instruction in Writing at Northwestern University, where she teaches in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, and McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. For more than 30 years, she has designed and taught communication courses that have influenced this textbook, including Writing in Organizations, Communicating Complex Data, Engineering Design and Communication, and How to Become an Expert in Roughly 10 Weeks. 

Professor Shwom’s teaching at Northwestern has been recognized by both an outstanding teacher award and an appointment as a fellow of Northwestern’s Searle Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning. Professor Shwom has gained industry experience as the managing principal of Communication Partners, a consulting practice that works with clients from a range of industries, including biotechnology, high tech research and development, pharmaceuticals, management consulting, market research, financial services, engineering, and consumer products. 

Professor Shwom’s research interests include evolving genres of business communication, visual communication of data, and methods of persuasion. In addition to many articles, she is also the coauthor of a textbook on graphics and visual communication for managers. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Association for Business Communication and the editorial review board of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly and has served as president for both the Association for Business Communication and the Association of Professional Communication Consultants.

Lisa Gueldenzoph Snyder, PhD, is a Professor and the Chairperson of the Department of Business Education in the College of Business and Economics at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. She earned a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where she also received a master’s degree in Business Education. Her Bachelor’s in Business Education is from Northern Michigan University.

Dr. Snyder is widely published in journals such as, The Business Communication Quarterly, Journal of Business Communication, Business Education Digest, The Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, and NABTE Review. She regularly presents sessions on business communication and instructional practices at local, regional, and national professional development events, workshops, and conferences. Dr. Snyder received the Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Business Communication, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Business Education program at Bowling Green State University. She also has received the Innovative Instructional Practices Award from Delta Pi Epsilon, the Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio Business Teachers Association, and the Collegiate Teacher of the Year Award from both the North Carolina Business Education Association and the Southern Business Education Association.

Dr. Snyder is the 2018 President of the Association for Business Communication and has served as the National President of the Association for Research in Business Education, the Research Coordinator for the National Association for Business Teacher Education, and the Past-Chair of the Policies Commission for Business and Economic Education. She is also actively involved with the National Business Education Association.

Visual Walk-Through  xvii

Acknowledgments  xxiii

PART I: UNDERSTANDING THE FOUNDATIONS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

1. Developing Your Professional Presence 

2. Working with Others: Interpersonal, Intercultural, and Team Communication 

3. Managing the Communication Process: Analyzing, Composing, Evaluating 

PART II: DELIVERING EFFECTIVE MESSAGES

4. Communicating Routine Messages and Building Goodwill 

5. Communicating Persuasive Messages 

6. Communicating Bad News 

7. Using Social Media in Business 

PART III: RESEARCHING, PROPOSING, REPORTING, AND PRESENTING

8. Finding and Evaluating Business Information 

9. Preparing Persuasive Business Proposals 

10. Preparing Business Reports 

11. Preparing and Delivering Business Presentations 

PART IV: PERSUADING AN EMPLOYER TO HIRE YOU

12. Communicating Your Professional Brand: Social Media, Résumés, Cover Letters, and Interviews 

Appendix A Formats for Business Documents 

Appendix B Documentation and Reference Styles 

Appendix C Grammar, Punctuation, Mechanics, and Conventions 

Appendix D Answer Key to Grammar Exercises 

Appendix E Proofreader’s Marks 

Glossary 

Index

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