Topic outline

  • Welcome to the course!

    This course is based on self-learning and group work, and we only have three mandatory meetings. Hence you are expected to study the course readings and work on the assignments in your own time. Also make sure that you are able to come to class at the given times.

    As described in Sisu, the course has as prerequisites either 61A00200 Business communication skills or MNGT-A4004 Mastering influence in business communication, so you should have completed one of these courses before taking this one.

    If you have any questions related to the course that are not covered on this site and the syllabus below, you can reach me (the teacher) via email at kirsi.eraranta@aalto.fi 

    Weekly schedule and course outline


    • resource icon
      Syllabus File
      PDF document
    • forum icon
      Announcements Forum
    • choicegroup icon
      Select your group here Group choice
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    • assign icon
      Group contract Assignment
      Make a submission

      Submit your group contract here, decribing how you, as a group, are going to e.g.

      • Set objectives
      • Work as a group and participate
      • Communicate and meet
      • Resolve potential conflicts

  • Assignments

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    The course is built around one main group project that includes several deliverables. There are also some individual assignments related to the project (see below).

    Group project instructions

    This group assignment requires you to act as consultants and analyse an authentic, challenging organisational communication situation. In your analysis, you are expected to take a strategic approach towards communication and draw on relevant communication models dealt with during the course. You also need to make recommendations based on your analysis. Your audience for both the executive summary and the team presentation is the top management of the organisation/company in question.

    Objective

    1) To analyse an authentic internal or external communication situation (problem/challenge/crisis/change) 

    In your analysis, take a strategic approach towards communication and draw on relevant communication models dealt with during the course: Competing Values Communication Framework (CVCF), Strategic Contingency Model (SCM), Toulmin’s CDW argumentation model, sensitive message patterns, and persuasive patterns.

    2) Provide recommendations to the organisation in question

    You need to provide management with communication recommendations based on your analysis and findings. So, the audience for this presentation and executive summary is NOT classmates, but the top management of the organisation in question.

    Your aim is to focus on the communication aspects of the situation. 

    The project has 2 main deliverables

    1. A 15-minute group (live) presentation (see instructions below)
    2. A 1-2 page executive summary (see instructions below)

    Your group will need to

    1. Identify an organisational communication situation (e.g. problem/crisis/challenge/ change). It could be an incident within your own organisation (work / Aalto) or a public communication challenge. Choose something local, small, recent and manageable.
    2. Analyse stakeholder communications with the help of theoretical frameworks discussed in the course. 
    3. Use at least one new source of material produced by you and your informants (data gathered from interviews, a survey etc) and two or more sources of 'naturally occurring materials' (e.g. news / articles / press releases / blogs / company statements / company intranet) as data for your analysis
    4. Based on chosen course frameworks, comment on what aspects of the communication(s) were/were not successful (your analysis and findings).
    5. Provide recommendations on how the communication(s) could have been improved and if appropriate how your recommendations could be / have been implemented. 

    You could get new materials, for example, by conducting a survey, or by interviewing a business professional, an expert in the field, organizational members or other stakeholders.

    Key questions to be addressed in your discussions

    • What written and spoken messages ('naturally occurring materials') were involved in the situation overall and why did you choose specific messages for closer analysis? Were some important messages missing? Were there unnecessary, confusing, or harmful messages that might have been avoided?
    • Why was each message sent (intended outcome)? What communication objective was each message intended to fulfill? Did each message fulfill its objective?
    • Who sent and received each message? Did various individuals and groups receive information they needed, or did not need?
    • What was the timing of each message? Was the timing effective?
    • How did the choice of a particular medium and content for the message affect the situation?
    • What recommendations would you suggest in this situation? How would they have worked? Why would they have worked? How could they have been implemented?


    Grading

    All members of the group will receive the same grade for both the presentation and final executive summary unless the end-of-course group work evaluation sheet indicates significant differences in the individual contribution of group members. Please check the evaluation rubrics available in the submission inboxes (presentation slides, final executive summary) before starting to work on each assignment and again before you submit it.


  • Readings

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  • Session 1

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  • Session 2

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  • Session 3

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