Typical business communication courses provide significantly more opportunities for students to hone their skills in writing compared with speaking. This article outlines an impromptu speech assignment and explains a course-level strategy for providing each student with more than 30 significant speaking opportunities during a term. This approach…

The intercultural divides in values, perceptions, and interpretations of concepts have been studied extensively by international business and intercultural communication scholars. Consequentially, much effort in university classrooms is spent on focusing on the differences between groups and on finding ways to "manage" cultural…

One business school addressed the "zeitgeist" of the financial crisis by introducing in its inaugural seminar the cultural and ethical values too often absent from the types of transactions students are trained to manage. Drawing from cross-cultural and communication studies, the author tested "serious games"--cultural…

With the increase in the use of mobile devices in the workplace, both employer supplied and personally owned, and the major role social media has begun to play in today's world, businesses face many new challenges with their employees. Social media may be seen by some employers as a virtual Pandora's Box. Though it may seem to hold…

As a relatively innovative teaching/learning approach in the Arabian Gulf region, in general, and in Oman, in particular, project-based learning requires progressive amendments and adaptations to the national culture of the learner. This article offers analysis of the current state of the approach in the local educational environment. Furthermore,…

Organizations are increasingly using social media to improve their internal communication. When successfully implemented, such initiatives can have a dramatic impact on internal efficiency, team collaboration, innovation, organizational alignment, and cultural transformation. This article describes a course offered by the Ross School of Business,…

Employees often perceive periods of change--no matter how warranted or beneficial--as crises, exhibiting both cognitive and emotional reactions including feelings of insecurity and uncertainty, even fear, chaos, stress, betrayal, grief, and anger. Management must have a clear strategy for communicating with employees through change, as employee…