English   Danish

2021/2022  KAN-CICOO1011U  Organisational Communication

English Title
Organisational Communication

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for Master of Arts (MA) in International Business Communication in English
Course coordinator
  • Steffen Blaschke - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
Main academic disciplines
  • Communication
  • Organisation
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 30-06-2021

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Describe and explain the preconditions, theories, concepts, models, and methods introduced in the course.
  • Apply these preconditions, theories, concepts, models, and methods to an analysis of specific issues in organizational communication as well as develop solutions to these issues
  • Provide an account of the theoretical and applied (practice-oriented) interconnections between organization and communication introduced in the course
  • Reflectively consider (meta-theoretically and critically) the preconditions, theories, concepts, models, and methods introduced in the course, and the potential and limitations of these in theory and practice
Examination
Organisational Communication:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance, see also the rules about examination forms in the programme regulations.
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 5 pages
Assignment type Essay
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

The student will have 72 hours to prepare the essay based on given questions. 
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Postmodern organization theories increasingly assume that communication constitutes organization. The emphasis on communication as the constitutive element sheds a new light on structures and dynamics of organization, necessarily putting collectivity before individuality.

 

For example, we cannot maintain that managerial decisions are immediately and unmistakably carried out by employees. Instead, organizational communication constructs decisions which, in turn, demand further decisions for the implementation.

 

The course introduces students to communicative approaches to the management of organizational structures and dynamics. In particular, it addresses issues of agency, identity, culture, materiality, change, knowledge, learning, and memory.
Description of the teaching methods
The course is taught in a combination of lectures and exercises with discussions in smaller groups.
Feedback during the teaching period
Students receive general feedback immediately in class. In addition, they are provided with feedback on an ungraded mid-term that leads straight to the final exam.
Student workload
Lectures 21 hours
Exercises 21 hours
Preparation and exam 116 hours
Teaching preparation 58 hours
Expected literature

Ashcraft, K. L., Kuhn, T. R., & Cooren, F. (2009). Constitutional Amendments: “Materializing” Organizational Communication. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 1–64.
 

Blaschke, S. (2015). It’s All in the Network: A Luhmannian Perspective on Agency. Management Communication Quarterly, 29(3), 463–468.


Brummans, B. H. J. M. (2015). Forum Introduction: Organizational Communication and the Question of Agency. Management Communication Quarterly, 29(3), 458–462.


Brummans, B. H. J. M., Cooren, F., Robichaud, D., & Taylor, J. R. (2013). Approaches to the Communicative Constitution of Organizations. In L. L. Putnam &
D. K. Mumby (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Communication (3rd ed., pp. 173–194). New York, NY: SAGE.


Cooren, F. (2004). Textual Agency: How Texts do Things in Organizational Settings. Organization, 11(3), 373–394.


Cooren, F. (2015). In Medias Res: Communication, Existence, and Materiality. Communication Research and Practice, 1(4), 307–321.


Dobusch, L., & Schoeneborn, D. (2015). Fluidity, Identity, and Organizationality: The Communicative Constitution of Anonymous. Journal of Management Studies, 52(8), 1005–1035.


Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T. (2003). Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(1), 94–118.


Ford, J. D. and Ford, L. W. (1995). The Role of Conversations in Producing Intentional Change in Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 541–570.


Koschmann, M. A. (2013). The Communicative Constitution of Collective Identity in Interorganizational Collaboration. Management Communication Quarterly, 27(1), 61–89.


Koschmann, M. A., & McDonald, J. (2015). Organizational Rituals, Communication, and the Question of Agency. Management Communication Quarterly, 29(2), 229–256.


Musacchio Adorisio, A. L. (2014). Organizational Remembering as Narrative: ‘Storying’ the Past in Banking. Organization, 21(4), 463–476.


Schoeneborn, D., Blaschke, S., & Kaufmann, I. M. (2013). Recontextualizing Anthropomorphic Metaphors in Organization Studies. Journal of Management Inquiry, 22(4), 435–450.


Schoeneborn, D., Blaschke, S., Cooren, F., McPhee, R. D., Seidl, D., & Taylor, J. R. (2014). The Three Schools of CCO Thinking: Interactive Dialogue and Systematic Comparison. Management Communication Quarterly, 28(2), 285–316.
Last updated on 30-06-2021