Course Outline: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION # 4481
Professor Jelena Zikic
Office: 270 Atkinson
Office Hours:By appointment on day of your class
(Monday)
Email Contact: jelenaz@yorku.ca
Phone Contact: 416-736-2100 ext.22865
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is designed to help YOU improve your communication style and to understand the
impact of good communication for the success of your career, your employees and organizations.
Students in this course must be comfortable and prepared to engage in frequent individual mini
presentations and willing to provide and receive constructive feedback. Organizational communication
provides an introduction and overview of basic communication principles and theories as well as strong
practical focus on improving students’ ability to communicate persuasively. The goal is to raise student
awareness of basic tools for effective communication at different levels of the organization, with
different audiences and in different contexts. The focus is on interpersonal communication and basic
processes of informative and persuasive communication. The sessions will build on each other,
beginning with the foundation of interpersonal and as well as non-verbal communication, moving to the
role of emotional intelligence and cross-cultural communication to internal corporate communication,
communicating change and crisis, and concluding with the overview of communication issues in the
21st century.
COURSE GOALS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Understand basic communication theory and apply its principles to practice.
Become more comfortable and strategic in delivering and planning presentations.
Learn to analyze audiences, develop and format messages specific to them.
Plan and deliver impromptu individual and team presentations confidently and persuasively.
Understand the role of good communication in organizations and across cultures
REQUIRED TEXT & READINGS :
Barrett, Deborah J. 2010. Leadership Communication, 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill
Other readings and cases appearing on the class outline will be distributed in class or posted online.
In addition: Students may expect other readings and case material that will be distributed
throughout the course as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
COURSE CONTENT & CLASS SCHEDULE:
NOTE: Please note that this schedule is subject to minor changes. The instructor reserves the right to
add an additional reading for a specific class if he/she deems it necessary for better understanding of
the topic or to make minor changes to the sequence of readings. These changes/readings will be
announced in advance and often distributed in class and/or posted on the intranet. It is your
responsibility to keep on top of the readings.
Session
Topic
Readings / Self-Assessments
/Discussion Topics
1
January 7th
Course Introduction: Why
study Communication?
Basic principles of
Communication
No readings
2
January 14th
Developing Communication
Strategy, Persuasion &
Listening Skills
Text Introduction & Chapter 1 (text)
Conger, J. A. ‘The Necessary Art of
Persuasion’ Harvard Business Review MayJune 1998.
Individual presentations 1
3
January 21st
Delivering Presentations I &
Dealing with Stage-fright,
stress & Difficult Audience
Chapter 4 (text)
Rogers, C.R., & Roethlisberger, F. J.
‘Barriers and Gateways to Communication’
Harvard Business Review Nov-Dec 1991.
**Team members finalized
Individual Presentations 2
4
January 28th
Delivering Presentations II
Communicating Across
Cultures
Chapter 6 (text)
Morgan, N. ‘How to become authentic
speaker’, Harvard Business Review, Nov.
2008.
- Authentic Leadership
Individual Presentations 3
5
February 4th
Non-Verbal Communication, Tannen, D. ‘The Power of Talk: Who Gets
Gender Related Issues &
Heard and Why’ Harvard Business Review
Providing Feedback
Sept- Oct 1995.
+ Additional reading on providing feedback
given
**Team progress report due
Individual Presentations 4
6
February 11th
MIDTERM TEST
Reading Week February 18th to 22th
External Image, Internal
7
February 25th Identity & Reputation of
Organizations
Readings for this class will be provided
before the midterm
Individual Presentations 5
8
March 4th
Internal Communication &
Change Communication
Chapter 9 (text)
HBR Case
Individual Presentations 6
*Team Presentations start 1
9
March 11th
External Relations & Crisis
Communication
Chapter 10 (text)
*Team Presentations 2
Leading productive meetings Chapter 7 (text)
10
March 18th
*Team Presentations 3
11
March 25th
Communication in the 21
century
st
*Team Presentations 4
Final Exam – in class
12
April 1st
STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE:
This course will involve short lectures, and focus will be on individual and group presentations,
discussions, class exercises, and video presentations. This is a highly interactive course and every
class will require the student’s active participation in ALL class activities. You must feel comfortable and
open to improving your communication style. It is expected that the student will attend every class on
time and stay for the entire session. It is expected that the student will have completed the
assigned readings, exercises and other preparation prior to class so that the student can be
actively involved in class exercises, peer-coaching and discussions.
GRADE EVALUATION:
Midterm Test 25%
Team project 35% (20% presentation & 15% paper)
Participation 25%
(5% self reflection; 15% class comments and effort; 5% presentation feedback to colleagues)
In class mini-final 15%
Midterm Test
25%
The 2 hour midterm examination will be held during class time on
February 11th It will include all material covered in classes up to that
day and including all readings and exercises completed up to that time.
Please note that Professor will not remark these tests – should you
have any questions regarding your mark, you should contact the
professor (and provide your questions in writing) any time between 1
day after I return the tests and no later than a week after you receive
your test back.
Team Project
35%
This is a major course project and you must start working on it early in
the term. Students will work in groups of 3-4 (final list of group
members due in the 2nd week of class January 14th).
More information on this project will be given in class. Projects will be
presented to the class (20% in short 15min presentations during last 4
classes of the term) and a written report (15%) will be handed to the
professor at that time.
Class
Participation
25%
You will be expected to attend all classes and actively contribute to our
class discussions. In particular, it is important to provide valuable
constructive feedback to your colleagues during various individual
presentations (5%). Your meaningful participation will improve the
quality of this course and it is an essential part of your learning process
in this class. In order to actively participate in discussions, you are
expected to read the material in advance. Class participation is
evaluated on regular basis. Your written self-reflection after watching
your own video is 5% of this mark. The other 15% will be assigned to
your contribution during each class discussion, case discussions,
volunteering to do extra presentations, sharing your views during
lectures etc.
*In addition, each student will be expected to give short ad-hoc
presentations on regular basis throughout the course – students
should feel comfortable with presentations, giving and receiving
constructive feedback and willing to improve their communication
style. More information on this component will be given in class.
15%
Short Final InClass Exam
This will be in-class and will focus on the last few classes after the
midterm – mostly focus on Internal and External Communication in
Organizations.
Examination and Participation Policy
Examination results and the quality of assignments will determine the student’s grade. It is expected
that the student will write the midterm and final examinations on the scheduled day, time, and location.
There will be no make-up exams. The student will be assigned mark of 0 for missing the midterm test.
The only exception to the above rule may be granted in case of serious illness or extenuating
circumstances at which time students are asked to notify the professor immediately and extensive
written proof of the situation (valid doctor’s note etc.) will be required. In these cases, as decided by the
professor, the student may be allowed to redistribute the mark to the final exam (i.e., the final will be
worth 50%). However, for your own benefit, these cases are rare and highly discouraged.
It is expected that the written portion of the team project will be turned in on time. Projects handed in
past their due date will be assigned a penalty of (3%) per day late and assignments will not be accepted
if more than 5 days late.
The professor will re-review graded work if appealed. However, students should be aware that grades
could be lowered as well as raised or remain the same. No projects will be accepted by Fax. The
professor will hold office hours and follow the class schedule. However, the professor reserves the right
to change or alter office hours or the syllabus schedule with ample notice to the students.
All final grades will be reviewed by the School of Human Resource Management
and the School reserves the right to modify them in order to maintain high
standards.