Instructor Manual
Guffey/Loewy, Business Communication: Process & Product, 10e, 2022, 9780357129234;
Chapter 1: Business Communication in the Digital Age
Table of Contents
Purpose and Perspective of the Chapter …………………………………………………………………………. 2
Cengage Supplements …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Chapter Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Complete List of Chapter Activities and Assessments ……………………………………………………… 3
Key Terms ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
What’s New in This Chapter ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Chapter Outline …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
Discussion Questions …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
Additional Activities and Assignments …………………………………………………………………………… 20
Purpose and Perspective of the Chapter
The purpose of this chapter is to provide students with an overview of business
communication in the digital age. First, we explain how communication and critical thinking
skills fuel career success in a digital, mobile, and social workplace. Next, we emphasize the
importance of building recession-proof and future-ready skills, exploring the creative
problem-solving process, the dangers of disinformation, and the skills that employers seek.
Cengage Supplements
The following product-level supplements provide additional information that may help you
in preparing your course. They are available in the Instructor Resource Center.
• Transition Guide (provides information about what’s new from edition to edition)
• Educator’s Guide (describes assets in the platform with a detailed breakdown of
activities by chapter with seat time)
• PowerPoint (provides text-based lectures and presentations)
Chapter Objectives
The following objectives are addressed in this chapter:
1-1 Explain how communication skills fuel career success in a technology-driven,
social, and mobile workplace.
1-3 Describe significant communication trends in today’s dynamic, networked work
environment.
Complete List of Chapter Activities and Assessments
For additional guidance, refer to the Teaching Online Guide.
Chapter
Objective
PPT
Slide
Activity/Assessment
Duration
Certification Standard
1-1
8
Pair Activity in PPT
15 min
BUSPROG: Technology
DISC: Communication
Evolution
1-2
20
Small Group Discussion in
40 min
BUSPROG: Technology
DISC: Truthfulness
1-4
Small Group Activity in PPT
30 min
BUSPROG: Communication
DISC: Receiver reactions
1-5
53
Poll Activity in PPT
20 min
BUSPROG: Ethics
DISC: Ethics and morals
1-1–1-5
55
Grammar and Mechanics
Quiz in PPT
30 min
BUSPROG: Communication
DISC: Standard English
N/A
N/A
Grammar and Mechanics
Pre-Course Diagnostic*
60 min
BUSPROG: Communication
DISC: Standard English
N/A
N/A
Grammar and Mechanics
Tutorials*
N/A
BUSPROG: Communication
DISC: Standard English
Chapters
1–3
N/A
Why Do Communication
Foundations Matter to Me?
(Unit 01 Communication
Foundations)**
5 min
N/A
1-1–1-5
N/A
Learn It: Chapter 01
Business Communication
in the Digital Age
35–45
min
N/A
1-1–1-5
N/A
Assignment: Chapter 01
Business Communication
in the Digital Age
Introductions (Chapter 01
Business Communication
in the Digital Age)
1-1–1-5
N/A
Practice Quiz: Chapter 01
Business Communication
in the Digital Age
min
N/A
Foundations)***
20 min
N/A
* These activities appear before the student will begin the course.
** This activity appears at the beginning of Unit 1.
*** This activity appears at the end of Unit 1.
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Key Terms
Ad hoc teams: Nontraditional project-based teams that disband after they accomplish
their objectives; the opposite of standing teams.
Anytime, anywhere office: An office that requires only a mobile phone and a wireless
computer.
Brand: In a professional environment, one’s personal brand or reputation at the office and
online.
Brick-and-mortar commerce: Traditional company that operates out of buildings rather
than on the Internet.
Co-living: Coworking spaces and accommodations available to digital nomads with the
help of platforms such as Roam or PodShare.
Corporate lattice: A workplace framework that is more intricate, open, fluid, and
interconnected than a corporate career ladder.
Disrupting, disruptor: New players, such as ride-hailing services and other upstarts, that
challenge and displace long-established business models.
E-commerce: Internet-based businesses.
Emotional intelligence (EQ): A concept from a bestselling book by Daniel Coleman
arguing that EQ is just as important as the intelligence quotient (IQ) for success; the ability
to understand and manage our own emotions as well as the ability to understand and
influence the emotions and behavior of others.
Ethics: The conventional standards of right and wrong that prescribe what people should
do.
Holacracy: A method of decentralized management, in which authority and decision-
making are distributed among self-organizing teams rather than resting on a management
hierarchy.
Kaizen: Toyota’s management philosophy of continuous improvement by engaged and
empowered workers.
Karoshi: Japanese word for death by overwork.
Knowledge workers: Employees who get paid for their education and their ability to learn.
M-commerce: Mobile technology businesses.
#MeToo movement: A global social movement sparked by allegations of sexual abuse
against film mogul Harvey Weinstein that has led to scrutiny of powerful men who engage
in inappropriate and unwanted sexual behaviors, especially in the workplace.
Sharing economy: An economic model in which individuals rent or borrow assets owned
by others through disrupting services such as Uber, Lyft, Bird, Lime, Spin, and Airbnb.
Smartphone apps: Software applications designed to work on mobile devices.
Social presence: The degree to which people are engaged online and ready to connect
with others.
Soft skills: Powerful interpersonal skills that are anything but “soft,” also called people
skills or emotional intelligence.
What’s New in This Chapter
The following elements are improvements in this chapter from the previous edition:
• Rewrote substantial sections to reflect the pervasive influence of new and nascent
technologies on business today to prepare students for the digital, mobile, and
social workplace.
• Showed how the explosive growth of social media networks and mobile technology
has enabled disruptive new business models in the new sharing economy.
• Boosted the coverage of technology-enabled remote work, including the emergence
of digital nomads to give students a likely preview of a future on the go that will
require superior communication skills.
• Addressed the downsides of the always-on work culture and discussed work-life
balance to offer an even-handed view of communication technology and the
environments in which it operates.
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Chapter Outline
In the outline below, each element includes references (in parentheses) to related content.
“CH.##” refers to the chapter objective; “PPT Slide #” refers to the slide number in the
PowerPoint deck for this chapter (provided in the PowerPoints section of the Instructor Resource
Center); and, as applicable for each discipline, accreditation or certification standards (DISC).
Introduce the chapter and review learning objectives for Chapter 1. (PPT Slide 2).
I. Thriving in a Digital, Mobile, and Social Workplace (1-1, PPT Slides 3–9, DISC:
Purpose; Communication evolution)
a. Future-proof occupations require communication, creativity, and specialized
knowledge.
f. Employers often rank communication skills among the most requested
competencies. Writing is a marker of high-skill, high-wage, professional work,
according to the former chair of the National Commission on Writing. A
PayScale study revealed that the skill most lacking in recent college
graduates was writing proficiency.
frequently by category. Students should share their results with their
partners.
• How do you use each?
• Estimate how often you access these sites per day and indicate the
tools you use (e.g., smartphone, tablet, laptop).
II. Building Future-Proof Skills for the Twenty-First-Century Workplace (1-2,
PPT Slides 10–21, DISC: Communication evolution; Theory application)
a. Knowledge workers are individuals who are paid for their education and their
ability to learn. Information workers work with information and technology.
Both knowledge and information workers deal with symbols: words, figures,
and data.
e. Knowledge and information workers can expect to be generating, processing,
and exchanging information across various communication channels and
multiple media. Lifelong learning makes workers more competitive and
valuable as an employee.
f. In an age of fake news, information literacy and a critical-thinking mindset
become increasingly important in order to accurate evaluate new
information and avoid the dangers of both misinformation and
disinformation.
whether an employee works in m-commerce, e-commerce, or brick-and-
mortar commerce.
l. Employers seek employees who meet the employer’s fundamental criteria,
including having the required major and course work. GPA is still a
distinguishing factor, but fewer employers screen candidates by grades.
m. Students are adequately trained for entry-level jobs, but not equipped for
advancement. Promotable candidates excel at oral communication, critical
thinking, ethical judgment, teamwork, independent work, self-motivation,
writing, and real-world application of learning. (Figure 1.3)
o. Small Group Discussion Activity: 40 minutes total. Activity 1.1—Fact
Checking: Digging Deep to Spot Fake News
Break class into groups of three to five students. Have each small group
complete the activity found at the end of the chapter. Groups should
collectively choose the most compelling or outrageous hoax found within
their small group and then share their findings with the larger group.
• What was the most compelling or outrageous hoax chosen by your
group?
III. Trends and Challenges Affecting You in the Information Age Workplace (1-3,
PPT Slides 22–31, DISC: Communication evolution; Cultural imperatives; Teamwork)
a. Technology has led to a sharing economy, an economic model in which
individuals rent or borrow assets owned by others through disrupting
services such as Uber, Lyft, Bird, Lime, Spin, and Airbnb.
d. However, even their most avid users are learning that their go-to
technologies also come with significant downsides—for example, data
breaches, invasion of privacy, identity theft, manipulation, and
disinformation, as Figure 1.5 illustrates.
e. Figure 1.6 illustrates many common office and communication technologies
you will find in today’s workplace.
i. The U.S. workforce is becoming increasingly diverse, and a diverse work
environment requires new attitudes and skills. The racial and ethnic makeup
of the United States is projected to change and diversify further, with the
population of non-Hispanic whites expected to drop from 61 percent in 2016
to 45 percent by 2055. (Figure 1.7)
k. Case Study Activity: 90 minutes total. Zooming In—Nordstrom: A Century-
Old Retailer Keeps Reinventing Itself
Break class into groups of three students. Have students read through the
case study found at the beginning of the chapter and answer the questions
posed. Have the small groups look for additional information about the
target company in articles on the Internet. After completing the assignment,
have each group make a five- to ten-minute presentation to the class of their
findings and reactions.
• Wall Street analysts have criticized Nordstrom for its lagging profits in
recent months; the company’s bold new ventures have been called a
“gamble.” What explains this clash between the Nordstrom family’s
vision and the reaction of the stock market?