Business Communication
Writing and presenting clearly at work in Canada: audience and plain language, the writing process and Canadian conventions, emails and memos, good- and bad-news messages, persuasion and proposals, reports with APA and Chicago citations, accessible visuals under WCAG, the ACA and the AODA, presentations, meetings and official languages, employment communication under human rights codes, and ethical, legal and AI-assisted communication with PIPEDA and CASL, ending in a portfolio capstone.
BUS-120 Year 1 3 credits 12 lessons · 6 h 17 min
Offered by HSM University · Business Foundations
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Explain the communication process, diagnose common communication failures and choose channels that match the richness and permanence a message needs.
- Define specific purposes, analyze primary, secondary, gatekeeper and watchdog audiences, and write in plain language consistent with Canadian federal plain-language practice.
- Plan, draft, revise and proofread business documents with concise, active sentences, an appropriate tone and consistent Canadian or American conventions.
- Write effective emails, instant messages and memos, and measure bulk email performance with delivery, click-through and click-to-open rates.
- Write routine requests, good-news messages, claims, adjustments, apologies and bad-news messages using the direct and indirect patterns.
- Write persuasive messages and business proposals using ethos, logos and pathos, the AIDA pattern, business cases with payback calculations and itemized budgets.
- Plan and write informational and analytical reports with executive summaries, talking headings, weighted decision matrices and sources cited in APA or Chicago style.
- Design readable documents and honest visuals, and make content accessible to WCAG 2.2 Level AA in line with the Accessible Canada Act and the AODA.
- Plan, time, design and deliver presentations in person and online, and handle questions with confidence.
- Run cost-effective meetings, communicate in teams, give feedback and adapt communication across cultures and Canada's official languages.
- Prepare targeted résumés, cover letters and interview answers, negotiate offers and apply human rights rules and Ontario's job posting requirements to hiring communication.
- Communicate ethically and lawfully with respect to defamation, PIPEDA, CASL and records retention, use AI writing tools responsibly and assemble a professional communication portfolio.
Course content
12 lessons · 6 h 17 min total · final exam
- 1 Communication at work 35 min · quiz
- 2 Audience and purpose 33 min · quiz
- 3 The writing process and style 31 min · quiz
- 4 Emails, messages and memos 31 min · quiz
- 5 Routine, positive and negative messages 32 min · quiz
- 6 Persuasive messages and proposals 29 min · quiz
- 7 Business reports 28 min · quiz
- 8 Visual communication and accessibility 27 min · quiz
- 9 Presentations 29 min · quiz
- 10 Meetings, teamwork and cross-cultural communication 32 min · quiz
- 11 Employment communication 35 min · quiz
- 12 Ethical, legal and AI-assisted communication, and capstone: a communication portfolio 35 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Description
Writing and presenting clearly at work in Canada: audience and plain language, the writing process and Canadian conventions, emails and memos, good- and bad-news messages, persuasion and proposals, reports with APA and Chicago citations, accessible visuals under WCAG, the ACA and the AODA, presentations, meetings and official languages, employment communication under human rights codes, and ethical, legal and AI-assisted communication with PIPEDA and CASL, ending in a portfolio capstone.
Part of the Business stream, typically taken in year 1.