Graduate School of Communication
Mastertrack Corporate Communication
Prof. dr. Rens Vliegenthart
Chair in Media and Organizations, Program Group Leader
August 28, 2014
Today





Who are we?
The master programme in corporate communication
Experiences of former students: Gert-Jan and Bert
Research presentation: dr. Joost Verhoeven
Questions?
Who are we?
Who are we?

Largest track in the master

Not only teaching, but also research.

Part of ASCoR
The programme

Specialization seminar 1
Specialisation seminar 2
Research methods
Two electives
Thesis
12 ec
12 ec
6 ec
2x6 ec
18 ec

Total
60 ects




First semester
Block 1 and 2:
Specialization seminar 1: Strategic communication in organizations
Specialization seminar 2: Strategic communication of organizations
Block 3 (January):
Research methods tailored to the thesis
+ Thesis preparation groups
Strategic communication in organizations
Strategic communication of organizations
Thesis preparation groups
Programme master second semester
Block 1:
Electives and continuation of thesis preparation
Block 2-3 :
Thesis
Electives
Corporate communication and hypermodernity
Organizations on the web
Entrepreneurship in Corporate Communication
PR, Media and Public
The Economic Crisis and the Media
Masterthesis (1)
• Thesis as a ‘regular’ course with a blackboard site
• Phase 1 (first semester):
• Thesis preparation groups
• Allocation of supervisor, choice for method
• Develop and write research proposal
• Phase 2 (second semester, first block):
• Final research proposal
Masterthesis (2)
• Phase 3 (second semester, block 2 and 3)
• Data collection, analysis and writing thesis
• Deadline end of June 2015
• Download relevant documents with exact deadlines from
blackboard
Questions so far?
Corpcom Research:
Work-related Social-Media Use
Dr. Joost Verhoeven
CorpCom Research Program
“The development, execution and effects of
communication strategies towards internal and
external stakeholders of organizations.”
•
•
•
•
•
•
How do organizations get into the news?
How are corporate issues framed?
news coverage  stakeholders
New Ways of Working  employees
CSR communication  stakeholders (I&E)
Internal communication External
Communication processes
Social Media in Organizations
But also….
work-related social-media use
Survey (SWOCC)
1 out of 3 employees
Women > Men
Correlation with education
Correlation with age
Interviews & Surveys
Interviews & Surveys
“So well it’s no secret and I do it because I am
building my own reputation eh to brand myself.”
“…stay up to date about current affairs”
“…I maintain contacts like I said earlier eh, to be
able to do so you obviously need to post something
or react to something every once in a while.”
Content Analysis
Conclusions
• For employees social media serve many functions
–
–
–
–
Personal branding
Corporate branding
Relationship management
Knowledge management
• Social Media Behavior is embedded in…
– …an organizational context
– …a professional context
– …a communicative context
Thank you!