General provisions

The course is part of the Bachelor's Programme in Media, Communication and Journalism Studies.

Entry requirements

15 credits in media and communication studies

Learning outcomes

After the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• describe the constitutive role that communication has on organisations based on a critical approach,
• from an organisational perspective, describe and problematise different theoretical perspectives on communications,
• from a critical perspective reflect upon the consequences of applying different communicative perspectives on organisations' and their strategic communication activities,
• describe how policy and strategy documents about communication can be produced and the role they play in organisations.

Competence and skills

• in groups, develop and present a communication plan while adopting a critical approach,
• identify communication challenges that may arise in organisations and present solutions to these.

Judgement and approach

• critically reflect on the role of communication in organising processes and various theoretical perspectives on this,
• consider legal and ethical issues when working with communication and organising.

Content

Focus on this course is organisational communication. Organisations act in a complex environment and communication is often seen as a tool to manage demands, expectations and challenges. Even though communication is not the solution to all organisational issues and problems, communication plays an important and central role both for individuals, for organisations and society at large. This course provides advanced knowledge and ability to critically reflect on organisational communication theories and concepts, with a specific focus on the recursive and reflexive relationship between communication and organisation. This includes ethical and legal aspects on how to organise and plan communication activities. During the course, you will be given the opportunity to translate your gained theoretical knowledge into practical exercises for example by developing a communication plan and other strategic communication documents.

Instruction

Lectures, seminars and workshops are combined with individual and group work activities and assignments.

Assessment

The course is examined through active participation in compulsory activities, in individual and group-work assignments, and in oral and/or written exam.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator or a decision by the department's working group for study matters.