BUAD 302 Final Study Key Terms

Credibility

Your reputation for being trustworthy; the degree to which others believe or trust in you.

Three Components of Credibility

Competence, Caring, and Character.

Competence

The knowledge and skills needed to accomplish business tasks and approach business problems; judged by your track record of success.

Caring

Understanding the interests of others, cultivating a sense of community, and showing generosity.

Character

Staying true to commitments made to stakeholders and adhering to high moral and ethical values.

Business Ethics

The commonly accepted beliefs and principles in the business community for acceptable behavior.

Integrity

Unity between what we say and what we do; consistently adhering strongly to a code of ethics.

Stakeholders

Individuals and entities affected by a business’s decisions, including clients, customers, employees, the government, and the environment.

Three Normative Ethical Approaches

Philosophies used to assess whether decisions are ethical: 1. Ends/Consequences (e.g., Utilitarianism), 2. Means/Actions (e.g., Deontology), and 3. Character (Virtue Theory).

Phronesis (Practical Wisdom)

A type of practical wisdom that enables leaders to act virtuously and make ethically sound judgments based on values and morals.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)

Federal law requiring publicly traded companies to have a code of ethics available to all employees and ensure it is enacted.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Understanding and managing emotions to serve goals; empathizing and effectively handling relationships with others. It is the single best predictor of workplace performance.

Emotional Hijacking

A situation in which emotions control our behavior, causing us to react without thinking.

Barriers to Shared Meaning

Include Physical noise (external sound), Physiological noise (internal, e.g., illness), Semantic noise (different meanings for words), and Psychological noise (interference due to attitudes/emotions).

Active Listening Components

Paying attention, holding judgment, reflecting, clarifying, summarizing, and sharing.

Learner Mind-Set

Showing eagerness to hear others' ideas and listening with an open mind, rather than having your mind made up before listening fully.

Motivational Value Systems (MVS)

Core motives that guide actions, identified in the Relationship Awareness Theory as Blue (Nurturing/Protecting others), Red (Directing/Accomplishing results), Green (Autonomizing/Ensuring things are thought out), and Hubs (Flexible/Cohering, guided equally by all three).

Stages of High-Performance Teams

Forming (gaining acceptance, avoiding conflict), Storming (competing ideas emerge), Norming (arriving at a work plan/roles), Performing (operating efficiently toward goals).

Team Charter

A document that provides direction to the team, listing purpose, mission, values, roles, goals, and communication/meeting protocols.

Groupthink

When groups verbally or nonverbally agree to ideas without gathering enough information and exhaustively evaluating options.

Inherent Diversity

Traits such as age, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Acquired Diversity

Traits acquired through experience, such as customer service or engineering experience.

Divergence vs. Convergence

Divergence involves working independently to increase the number of ideas; Convergence involves evaluating ideas and narrowing them to feasible solutions.

Presentation Structure (OABC)

Divided into Preview (10–15% of time), View (85–90% of time), and Review (5% of time).

Attention-Getter (AG or Hook)

The opening element of the preview designed to create interest, show benefits, and encourage action. Types include rhetorical questions, vivid examples, and intriguing statistics.

Slide Design Principles

CARS framework components: Credible (edited, cited data), Audience-centered (strong titles, relevant info), Readable (sans serif font, white space), and Strategic (highlighting key points).

Networking

A proactive approach to building professional relationships that is relational, not transactional.

Resume Accomplishment Focus

Emphasizing accomplishments using strong action verbs and quantifying results wherever possible.

Chronological Resume

Information grouped by work and education over time.

Functional Resume

Information presented in terms of key skills.

Cover Letter Components

Interest in the position, match with the position, STAR Story (one or two), and a call to action.

Memo Structure

Memos traditionally use the OABC writing structure; they do not require a salutation or signature area.

Memo Formatting

Typically uses Block Style Format: single space within paragraphs, double space between them, and all parts beginning at the left margin.

FAIR

Facts, Access (to motives/reasoning/information), Impacts (on stakeholders), Respect

Used to evaluate the fairness and ethical nature of business communications.

AIM

Audience, Information, Message

The planning process for presentations.

OABC

Overview/Preview, Agenda, Body/View, Conclusion/Review

A classic writing and presentation structure.

PREP

Position, Reasons, Example, Position (Restate)

A method for structuring and supporting key messages, especially in presentations.

CARS

Credible, Audience-centered, Readable, Strategic

A framework for designing effective presentation slides.

STAR

Situation, Tasks, Actions, Results

A method used for responding to behavioral interview questions or crafting accomplishment statements in cover letters.

EQ

Emotional Intelligence

The understanding and management of emotions.

MVS

Motivational Value System

Classifies communication preferences based on motives (Blue, Red, Green, Hubs).

SOX

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Federal legislation requiring corporate transparency and ethics codes.