This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Readings

In the table below, readings listed as MM are from the course textbook:

Buy at Amazon Munter, Mary. Guide to Managerial Communication. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005. ISBN: 9780131467040.

LEC # TOPICS READINGS
1

Introduction to course

Communication strategy and structure

 Meriam, Richard S., Franklin E. Folts, and George F. F. Lombard. "Dashman Co." HBS Case: 9-642-001, rev. December 21, 1982. (PDF)
2

Strategy and structure (cont.)

Persuasion

Yates, JoAnne. "Pyramid Structure." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, 2004.

———. "Persuasion: What the Research Tells Us." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, 2001.

Cialdini, Robert B. "Harnessing the Science of Persuasion." Harvard Business Review, October 1, 2001, 72-84.

MM, pp. 2-23, 86-96, and 50-67.
3

Oral presentations

Minto pyramid

MM, pp. 138-151 and 34-43.

Barnes, Louis B. "Managing Interpersonal Feedback." Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, rev. March 16, 1989.
4

Oral presentations (cont.)

Visual aids

Handling Q&A

Zelazny, Gene. "From Data to Chart." In Say It with Charts. McKinsey & Company, 1979.

Von Hoffman, Constantine. "Getting the Most from Presentation Software." Harvard Management Communication Letter. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1999.

"Handling Q&A: The Five Kinds of Listening." Harvard Management Communication Letter. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1999.

Parker, Ian. "Absolute Powerpoint." The New Yorker, May 28, 2001.

MM, pp. 108-137.
5

Writing process

Style and tone

Presenting data

Swift, Marvin H. "Clear Writing Means Clear Thinking Means." Harvard Business Review, January 1, 1973.

Breslow, Lori, and Leigh Hafrey. "Style in Managerial Writing." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, 1997.

Yates, JoAnne. "Conceptual Parallelism." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, rev. 2004.

"On the Use of Exhibits." Management Communication Program, Leonard B. Stern School of Business, New York University.

Yates, JoAnne. "Using Figures in Text and as Attachments." MIT Sloan Courseware, 2004.

MM, pp. 68-85.
6 Resumes  
7 Intercultural communication

Breslow, Lori, and Neal Hartman. "Intercultural Communication." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, rev. 2004.

Buy at Amazon Mead, Richard. "Intercultural Business Communication: An Example." From Cross Cultural Management Communication. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. ISBN: 9780471937180.
8

Intercultural communication (cont.)

Group presentations

Mahmood, Mahboob. "Kashf Foundation: A Pakistani Microfinance Organization Gears up for Dramatic Growth." Fontainebleau, France: INSEAD, 2007.

Larry M. Robbins. "The Business of Writing and Speaking: A Managerial Communication Manual." McGraw-Hill Companies, 1985.
9

Active and reflective listening

Interactive presentations

Yates, JoAnne. "Active Listening and Reflective Responses." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, 2004.

MM, pp. 152-157.
10 Cover letters  
11

Communication in the job search

Interviewing

  
12 Communication: media choice

Munter, Mary, Priscilla S. Rogers, and Jone Rymer. "Business E-mail: Guidelines for Users." Business Communication Quarterly 66, no. 1 (2003): 26-40.

O’Leary, Michael, and JoAnne Yates. "PC+ Computers." Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan Courseware, 2004.

Yates, JoAnne, Wanda J. Orlikowski, and Anne Jackson. "The Six Key Dimensions of Understanding Media." MIT Sloan Management Review 49, no. 2 (2008): 63-69.
13 Team project presentations  
14 Course wrap-up