LB160 (Professional Communication Skills For Business Studies)

About the Course Course is based on six key ideas Language is different in different situations Communication skills are developed by studying the language and organization of texts Communication skills are developed by using authentic texts Communication skills are learned through activity Communication skills are study skills Communication skills and knowledge are transferable

Mapping the Case What is a case study? First thing to say about them is that they are texts. A text is a collection of words Words individually mean nothing. Word has meaning only in a text (Keep out of reach of children, a christmas card) Words in a text have a meaning because the text is in a situation: each text has a situation to which it belongs Particular texts can be grouped into types of texts Texts are organised: according to the situation, there is a difference in the way the words are laid out. They are organised differently because they are different text types for different situations.

When we say case study is a text we mean that it has been organized into a particular text type in order to communicate in a particular situation.

What type of text is a case study text? Six features of a case study First three features are about the text itself Content: is it about a person, organization or an industry Organisation: is it like a story with a sequence of events happening one after the other or is it description with no time sequence Language: formal, informal, personal, impersonal Second three features are about the situation Writer: a business studies lecturer or a journalist Reader: is the writer writing for students or for the general public Purpose: education, entertainment or information See activity 1.1 on page 9 in your book and extracts in resource book

What is Analysis If your tutor gives you a text and says “Analyze it by next Saturday” : you will not only have to read it but also will have to write something about it. After that if you compare the text you read and what you write then you will begin to analyze. Business case analysis can be understood as a process or system. A business case analysis can be understood in the same way Input (flour, water, yeast etc) Transformation Process (mixing, baking, packing) Output (bread) Inputs (case study) Transformation (reading, thinking, writing) Output (case study analysis)

Activity 1.2 See activity 1.2 on page 9 in your book and extracts 1.5 and 1.6 in your resource book

Types of Input texts in a case study analysis First part of analysis process is the reading: You will find reading easy or difficult depending on how much knowledge you have about the six features of the case discussed above i:e: content, organization, language, writer, reader, purpose. Mind Maps Reading a case study may be difficult because of the number of words in a text and also ideas. Read with understanding: this will reduce all the words and ideas to a few key words or ideas which you understand. This is called Mind Mapping What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word Arab Open University or Almarai? Look at activity 1.3 in your books.

Mind maps can be used in a case study reading. This will make the work of analysis more easier for you. Drawing a mind map of your knowledge before you read a text is one of the reading strategies that you will practice in this session. Activity 1.4 (extracts 1.7 to 1.10). Do this exercise at your home

Analyzing the Business Case: The Six Skills Course breaks down the process of analyzing a business case into six main skills 1.Mapping the case: getting an overview of the case 2.Framing the case: read the case study in many different ways and use business studies concept to frame the case the way you see it. 3.Recognizing influences and impacts: the way in which one thing leads to the other is central. In this way you can explain why the events turn out the way they do, or will do in the future. 4.Identifying problems: Identifying certain situations as problems and describing them provides the basis for solving them. 5.Proposing solutions: create solutions for the problems you identify. 6.Evaluating the analysis: provide reasons for the particular solutions you prefer, explain how they will help in the situation and the ways forward to adopt. In short you put your ideas and persuade the reader to accept your analysis.

USA airline Industry case study in general. Transfer the knowledge gained from this to other case studies. Skill of reading is central to case study. There are many different ways of reading. Different reading strategies for different situations depending on the type of output you want. Activity 1.5: What kind of reading strategy do you adopt in these cases: reading newspapers, magazines, novels, websites, mobile phone text, reports and academic writing?

An Active Reading Strategy These are the techniques you will practise on the case study text ‘US Airlines’. They can be applied to any case study. 1) Be clear what output you want from reading the text. 2) Before you read carefully, look quickly through the text to see what it is generally about (good places to look are the title, introduction, first sentences of each paragraph and final paragraph). 3)Consider what you already know about the case. 4)Think of a question that the text will answer before you read. 5)Keep asking more questions while reading. 6)Read the text carefully and try to notice how it is organised. 7)Underline high levels in the text (‘levels’ are explained later in this session). 8)Write on the text. 9)Write notes somewhere else, not on the text, and if possible, draw mind maps. 10) Produce a summary.

An Active Reading Strategy 1)Be Clear what output you want from reading the text: This first technique is important. How you read a text depends on the output you want. Before writing an analysis you should get a general idea of the case. This is called mapping the case. After getting the general idea you can move to actual analysis which is called framing the case. 2) Before you read carefully, look quickly through the text to see what it is generally about: Activity 1.6: look quickly through the title and the first three paragraphs of U.S airline industry (extract 1.11 in resource book) In this only a few words may have stayed in your mind, but you may have got the idea about the case. But this forms the basis of the next technique.

An Active Reading Strategy 3) Think what you already know about the case: After reading you get an idea about the case, but there may be many things which you still don’t understand. For this we will again do mind mapping. Activity 1.7: Write words that you associate with U.S airlines industry and Problems for big airline companies 4) Think of a question that the text will answer for you before you read: In any case study you have to answer an assignment question. It is good to read the case carefully before you start thinking about the question. 5) Keep asking more questions while reading: this will make the task easier for you.