Lecture 1

introducing yourself (30 seconds)

• 1. Name
• 2. Nationality (where you come from)
• 3. Job (title)
• 4. Company
• 5. Location
• 6. Your pitch

Pitfalls
- shaking hands
- irony
- jokes
- asking someone to do something

Introducing projects (TAPO)

- title (name of the project)
- Aims of the project
- processes
- outcome

Lecture 2
- good listeners make good talkers

How to listen (FACE)

- Focus
- Acknowledge (non verbal cues)
- Clarify (ask questions about the matter)
- Empathize (understand and appreciate what they are saying)

Management
- the process of dealing with, organizing or controlling things or people

Peter Ducker (5 key functions of a manager)

- planning (setting a objective)
- organizing (analyzing and classifying)
- integration (motivate and communicate)
- measuring performance
- developing people
Theory X
Theory X posits the idea that people are essentially lazy
- they will not willingly take on responsibilities
- they need to be encouraged to work
- they need threats and incentives
- they need to be closely supervised

Theory Y
Theory Y has a more positive view on the workforce
- people have a psychological “need” to work
- when people provided with the right circumstances they are willing to work and be responsi-
ble
- people will be creative ambitious and self motivated to do a good job

The Maslow Problem

• This claims that there is a progression from basic needs (such as food and shelter) to ‘higher
order’ needs (such as status and fulfilment)
• Those higher needs cannot be met if the lower-order needs are lacking
• However, this idea has long been challenged as it is based on a discredited structuralist view-
point which was not backed up with scientific evidence.

Hygiene factors
• Herzberg argued that what we might think of as motivating factors, a good salary or working
conditions, are in fact what he terms as ‘satisfiers’ or ‘hygiene factors’
• His view was that ‘motivators’ are factors such as having an interesting job or responsibility
• There are two possible objections to this: firstly, that companies could use these ideas to de-
fend poor salaries, and secondly, that some jobs are inherently boring or unpleasant

Factors that improve happiness in a work place

- trust employees with responsibilities and respect them as equal
- Fairness towards employees (treat every employee the same)
- listen (be humble and consider employees ideas)

Company structure
- Chain of command (traditional pyramid structure)
- functional structure (the devision of a large organization into diffrent areas of responsibility)
- flat/ devolved structure (The delegating of as much responsibility as possible)
- matrix management (in which employees report to more than one manager)
- teams (temporary anonymous groups)

Lecture 3 (library talk)

Lecture 4
Fake News
- false information that is broadcast or published as news for fraudulent or politically motivated
purposes: fake news, exploding on social media, is seeping into the mainstream

How to spot fake news

- all caps (flashy writing)
- obviously photoshopped diagrams
- check the date (social media love to share outdated events/ unrelevant facts

Echo Chamber
- environments in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their
own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered
- eg: some groups of people state vaccines are going to help the the world from cover 19 and on
the other hand some people believe that they are dangerous and unreliable even though they
didn’t check with the professionals but spoke to people having no idea in this matter)
- Echo chambers are mostly driven on social media as that is the place where most influential
people tend to share opinions or news which may be false
- Similar people talk to similar people (people having same ideas/ homophily)

Types of bias
• This move by people to seek out and remain within groups which are similar to themselves is
reinforced by three main types of bias:

Confirmation Bias
- We tend to search out, prioritize or remember information that supports rather than challenges
our existing beliefs
- This is based on the selective reading of information
- It often relies on the illogical correlation of incompatible facts
- eg: you are being a house however the house is over your budget but you are still asking the
seller information about the house to justify your thinking on why you should expand your
budget

Dunning Kruger Effect

- It states that people with low skills and abilities overestimate these and so have an illusory
sense of superiority

Cognitive Dissonance
- it occurs when people come across ideas or situations which do not fit with their own world
view
- this causes psychological discomfort which they seek to resolve
- the main way these try to fight dissonance is to argue away the the new evidence in favor of
existing beliefs

Academic dishonesty and citation

Evaluating information
- some internet sights are more reliable than others
- Some, especially those online, need to be approached with much more caution and require
considerable research before you can decide whether you can trust them

Correct information builds trust

• If you are trying to persuade someone of a point of view, or to back a project, then the integrity
of your sources and information will reflect positively on you
• If the sources and information you present are good, for example in a report, then your argu-
ment will be taken seriously

What to look for in a reliable information source

Purpose
- what is the purpose of the source
- why did they provide the given information?
- To persuade? To entertain? To sell a product or service?

Autor
- Who is the author? a person? a organization?
- what qualifications do they have to provide us with this information?

Accuracy and reliability

- Is the text well researched?
- are there references to sources?
- can this information be verified by other sources?
- how was the data collected?
- Is the data still valid?

Being Dishonest
Plagiarism
- academic stealing
- taking someones ideas, arguments, words or data which clear acknowledgment
- you must always inform the reader if your text in any way relies on the work of others

Ghostwriting
- when someone writes a text for you

Cheating
- looking at someones work during a exam
- using unauthorized electronics during exam
- helping someone to cheat

Citation
- with citation we ensure we do not commit plagiarism
- We use in-text citation to show that the preceding or following piece of text or information
comes from, or is based on, another author’s work
- We use bibliographic citation to give more detailed information about the work we have cited
- APA-style (modul)

In text citation
- we need to add the following information to any sentence that is based on another source:
- the author(s) name(s) and the year of publication
- We can add the information in two ways: ‘Fontana claims that the argument can be challenged
on two fronts (2009)’ ‘The argument can be challenged on two fronts (Fontana, 2009)’

Journals
- Journal articles are cited with the author(s) and date, followed by the title of the article
- Faddis, J. (2004). Extreme altitude survival strategies. Mountain and High-Latitude Medicine

Magazines and newspapers

• The volume and issue numbers are omitted and the month and day of publication added after
the year
• If the newspaper or magazine are accessed online then the page number(s) is/are omitted and
the URL is given
• Roach, M. (2019, December 28). Reporting from the front line: The true story. The New York
Times. http://nyt.com/roach28dec

Books
• surname(s) author’s(‘) initial(s) and year
• The title of the book is italicized and the first words of the title and subtitle are given capital
letters
• If there is a subtitle then this follows a colon (:)
• At the end is the publisher
• Rosolino, F. (1980). Elements of theory: A students’ guide. Harvard University P

Webpages
- author name, date, page name, URL
- Roney, W. (2018, April 14). Essential elements of delegation. LeadNet. http://www.wroney.-
com/delegation

Lecture 5
CV
- Max 2 pages
- clear and organized layout

What to include
- personal details (name address phone email nationality)
- key skills
- experience
- education
- trainings
- It skills
- languages

Imposter syndrome
- This common pattern was first observed in highly successful female college students and pro-
fessionals who, despite their accomplishments, were unable to internalize a sense of them-
selves as competent and talented. Attributing their successes not to their abilities but to exter-
nal circumstances or to attributes unrelated to actual talent (e.g., personal charm, ability to
read and meet other's expectations)

Covering letters
- explain why you want the job
- should be specific for the job you are applying to. Adopted to the organizations and show you
have some background knowledge in the matter

Writing Correspondence
1, purpose (15 second rule)
2, Background and explanation
3, details
4, ending

Purpose
- capture their interest
- inform what you want from them, feel or do
- 15 second rule means that the reader will take only 15 seconds to analyze what your document
is about, and whether it applies to them

Background
- reader needs additional information to support your key message at the beginning
- highlight and extent your key message to make more impact
- supply information the reader needs to agree with your request

Details
- keep this section as short as possible
- do not include details just to show

Ending
- repeat the purpose of your document
- ensure that you are ready to provide more information when needed

Layout of a letter or E mail

- Greeting
- introduction
- main content
- pre-closing
- closing
- signature

E.g.
Dear Ms..
i am writing to
please find attacked
if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me
I look forward to..
your sincerely

Lecture 6
Research
- Research is a essential component of a good report
- reliable evidence is key to create credible recommendation
- thorough study through data, collect all relevant facts and information, analyze data

Concluding and Recommending

- the conclusion is supported by statements and the writers position, other relevant data
- these conclusions then lead to the recommendations

Structure and headings

- A report has a linear structure and follows a logical series of steps
1, title page
2, table of content
3, executive summary
4, introduction/ background
5, main body
6, conclusions
7, recommendations
8, appendices

Appendices - list of source, important information not included in the main body, aaaaaaaaaaa
graphs, diagrams

Executive summary - no more than 1 page, overall summary of the whole report

Figures and Illustrations

- visuals can be used to make the reports more effective
- clearer understanding
- huge amount of information explained in a short period of time
- tables, pie charts, line graphs, timelines, maps, pictograms

Why include Figures

- important reasons for using visuals:
- prompt reader interest
- emphasize key points
- to summarize large amount of information
- simplify the concepts
- helps a non native readers

How to write a good report

- too long
- poorly written
- most reports are often:
- boring to read

Strategies to report writing

- Preparation (thinking and planning of the report, most crucial)
- writing the first draft
- editing and producing the final version
- creating a proper plan allows the writer to make a coherent flow of the text
Rational argument
- rational argument is a central to the model of the business report given here
- to create a proper conclusion emphasize on
- use of language (clear and logical)
- creation of categories (makes the report more clear to understand)
- value of the debate

Cultural differences
- different cultures have diffrent approaches
- some cultures in contrast resolve differences by looking for commonalities, this method
achieves results through harmonizing…

Jargon and corporate speak

Jargon:
- special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for group to un-
derstand
- Jargon is in its very nature very exclusionary and therefore can be used to confuse, deflect and
discriminate
- it hinders communication by using languages that only insiders can understand

Why is it used
- makes you feel important, sense of status
- covers up “bullshit jobs” (useless jobs) makes them look important (middle management)