New to this edition

• Connect Business Communication is an online assignment and assessment solution that connects students with the tools and resources they’ll need to achieve success. Connect Business Communication helps prepare students for their future by enabling faster learning, more efficient studying, and higher retention of knowledge. Connect Business Communication offers you and your students powerful tools and features that optimize your time and energies, enabling you to focus on course content, teaching, and student learning. Connect Business Communication also offers a wealth of content resources for both instructors and students. This state-of-the-art, thoroughly tested system supports you in preparing students for the world that awaits. Features Connect Business Communication include:

• Interactive Applications allow students to practice real business situations, stimulate critical thinking, and reinforce key concepts. Students receive immediate feedback and can track their progress in their own report. Detailed results let instructors see at a glance how each student performs and easily track the progress of every student in their course.

• Mastery Tools provide personalized learning plans to develop or improve editing skills and empowers students to put responsible writing into practice. This adaptive learning system helps students learn faster, study more efficiently, and retain more knowledge for greater success. It pinpoints concepts the student does not understand and maps out a personalized study plan for success.

• Presentation capture tool gives instructors the ability to evaluate presentations and students the freedom to practice their presentations anytime, and anywhere. With its fully customizable rubric, instructors can measure students’ uploaded presentations against course outcome and give students specific feedback on where improvement is needed.

• Connect Plus Business Communication — McGraw-Hill reinvents the textbook learning experience for the modern student with Connect Plus Business Communication. A seamless integration of an eBook and Connect Business Communication, Connect Plus provides all of the Connect Business Communication features plus the following:

• An integrated eBook, allowing for anytime, anywhere access to the textbook

• Dynamic links between the problems or questions you assign to your students and the location in the eBook where that problem or question is covered

• A powerful search function to pinpoint and connect key concepts in a snap

• Re-arranged Table of Contents — Based on reviewer feedback, the authors have moved their coverage on cross-cultural communication and research to earlier locations in the book to reflect their importance in the business communication process.

• Expanded Focus on Communication Technologies — Just as technology now plays a role in every facet of business, the authors include discussions on courtesy in the age of mobile devices in chapter 5; top ten e-mail mistakes and advice for writing Web content in chapter 6; use of Facebook and Twitter as sales media in chapter 9; electronic resumes in chapter 10; conducting research with social networking tools in chapter 13; online meeting tools in Chapter 15; RSS feeds and smartphone apps in chapter 17.

• QR Codes in Every Chapter — Included at the end of every chapter, the authors made it easier for instructors and students to access the online Web site that accompanies this text where they can find media-rich resources to apply and understand concepts.

• New Executives Featured — In each of the six part openers, the authors have updated the executives profiled to reflect the importance of business communication skills in the real world. New executives include: Stuart Crabb, Head of Learning and Development at Facebook; Lynn Marmer, Chief Communications officer for the Kroger Company; and Caroline Molina-Ray, Executive Director of Research and Publications at Apollo Research Institute.

• Completely Updated — The authors have updated references, examples, visuals, and exercises in every chapter to illustrate the current environment of Business Communication. Chapter 1 provides the latest statistics on the importance of communication skills in the workplace; Chapter 2 includes research on the cultural influence on online communication; Chapter 8 cites current research on when to use the direct versus indirect approach for communicating bad news.

• More than 120 Revised or New Problem-Solving Cases & 50 new Practice Sentences — Chapter 7 includes 52 revised or new problem-solving cases; 35 revised or new problem-solving cases for sales and proposal writing in Chapter 9; 35 revised or new problem-solving cases and 152 additional report topics in Chapter 12, and Chapter 18 includes 50 new practice sentences to build students’ skills in the use of pronoun case and pronoun antecedent.

• MHCampus: McGraw-Hill Campus is a new one-stop teaching and learning experience available to users of any learning management system. This institutional service allows faculty and students to enjoy single sign-on (SSO) access to all McGraw-Hill Higher Education materials, including the award winning McGraw-Hill Connect platform, from directly within the institution’s website. McGraw-Hill Campus provides faculty with instant access to all McGraw-Hill Higher Education teaching materials (e.g. eTextbooks, test banks, PowerPoint slides, animations and learning objects, etc), allowing them to browse, Search, and use any instructor ancillary content in our vast library at no additional cost to instructor or students. Students enjoy SSO access to a variety of free (e.g. quizzes, flash cards, narrated presentations; etc.) and subscription based products (e.g. McGraw-Hill Connect). With this program enabled, faculty and students will never need to create another account to access McGraw-Hill products and services. Learn more at www.mhcampus.com.

• CourseSmart eBook (ISBN: 9780077512651): Students can save money and obtain online access to their textbook, anywhere, anytime, or choose to download a copy of the text to their computers’ hard drives. Students can take advantage of a smarter way to learn with search capabilities, highlighting and note taking features, and more. The CourseSmart e-books is compatible with many mobile devices, including the new Apple iPad.

Features

• Lesikar’s Business Communication has a specific approach that successful business communication requires analysis, judgment, imagination, and effort.
• Realistic Scenarios — This book includes the most problem-solving cases, of any book on the marketing — over 150 of them. These make students consider specific contextual factors as they shape their messages, proposals, and reports. They also acquaint students with goals they’re likely to encounter on the job, from resolving ethical issues, solving management problems, and crafting company policies to reporting information, selling a product or idea, and managing customer relations.
• Technology Focus — Communication technologies is wide spread and students must know what kinds of tools are available and how their usage differs in order to plan and communication effectively. This book has dozens of useful communication-related technologies in every chapter and on almost every topic.

• Lesikar’s Business Communication has a specific approach that successful business communication requires analysis, judgment, imagination, and effort.

• Realistic Scenarios — This book includes the most problem-solving cases, of any book on the marketing — over 150 of them. These make students consider specific contextual factors as they shape their messages, proposals, and reports. They also acquaint students with goals they’re likely to encounter on the job, from resolving ethical issues, solving management problems, and crafting company policies to reporting information, selling a product or idea, and managing customer relations.

• Technology Focus — Communication technologies is wide spread and students must know what kinds of tools are available and how their usage differs in order to plan and communication effectively. This book has dozens of useful communication-related technologies in every chapter and on almost every topic.

• Lesikar’s Business Communication is comprehensive, skill-oriented, and current accommodates a wide range of student abilities and goals. Some of the special features, include:

• Learning Objectives at the start, at the end, and throughout each chapter that make the main goals of the chapter clear

• Introductory Challenges (formerly “Introductory Situations”) that launch each chapter and each form of business communication with a business scenario to draw students quickly into the topic being discussed

• Sample good and bad solutions for the Introductory Challenges

• Full-page Case Illustrations (real business messages, proposals, and reports), with margin notes, to show how to apply the book’s advice

• Outlines and checklists to help students grasp basic organizational patterns and editing guidelines

• Communication Matters boxes that provide expert commentary, interesting facts, and helpful tips

• Technology in Brief boxes illustrating numerous tools and techniques for making the most of technological aids to business communication

• Chapter summaries that distill each chapter’s contents into key points

• Critical Thinking Questions, Skills Building Exercises, and Problem-Solving Cases at the end of the chapters to promote comprehension, retention, and skillful use of concepts

• Online Learning Center (OLC) that provides online quizzing, PowerPoint slides, video cases, and a host of Web resources organized by bcomm topic

• A Blog for Bcomm Teachers — Instructors can keep track of the latest bcomm news, trends, tips, and tools by following the authors’ blog, Bcomm Teacher Xchange, at www.bcommteacherxchange.wordpress.com. The articles are searchable by subject, and a new one is posted almost every week.

• Tegrity Campus — A service that makes class time available all the time by automatically capturing every lecture in a searchable format for students to review when they study and complete assignments. With a simple one-click start and stop process, you capture all computer screens and corresponding audio. Students replay any part of any class with easy-to-use browser-based viewing on a PC or Mac.

• AACSB STATEMENT — The McGraw-Hill Companies is a proud corporate member of AACSB international. Understanding the importance/and value of AACSB accreditation, Business Communication, 13th edition, recognizes the curricula guidelines detailed in the AACSB standards for business accreditation by connecting selected questions in the Test Bank to the six general-knowledge and skill guidelines in the AACSB standards.

  The statements contained in Bus piness Communication, 13th edition, are provided only as a guide for the users of this textbook. The AACSB leaves content coverage and assessment within the purview of individual schools, the mission of the school, and the faculty. While Business Communication, 13th edition, and the teaching package make no claim of any specific AACSB qualification or evaluation, we have within Business Communication, 13th edition, labeled selected questions according to the six general-knowledge and skills areas.

• Blackboard Partnership — McGraw-Hill and Blackboard have teamed up to simplify your life. Now you and your students can access Connect and Create right from within your Blackboard course — all with one single sign-on. The gradebooks are seamless, so when a student completes an integrated Connect assignment, the grade for that assignment automatically (and instantly) feeds your Blackboard grade center. Learn more at www.domorenow.com.

• CREATE, our Custom Textbook Option Craft your teaching resources to match the way you teach! With McGraw-Hill Create, www.mcgrawhillcreate.com, you can easily rearrange chapters, combine material from other content sources, and quickly upload content you have written like your course syllabus or teaching notes. Find the content you need in Create by searching through thousands of leading McGraw-Hill textbooks. Arrange your book to fit your teaching style. Create even allows you to personalize your book’s appearance by selecting the cover and adding your name, school, and course information. Order a Create book and you’ll receive a complimentary print review copy in 3-5 business days or a complimentary electronic review copy (eComp) via email in about one hour. Go to www.mcgrawhillcreate.com today and register. Experience how McGraw-Hill Create empowers you to teach your students your way.