University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
Department of Communication
Difference Matters and Organizational Communication
CMMU 5250 001
Spring 2007 T 5:30 – 8:20 WSC 235
Professor: Dr. Brenda J. Allen
Office Hours: T 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm, and by appointment
Plaza 102E: 303-556-6713
Brenda.J.Allen@cudenver.edu
Department Website: http://cudenver.edu/clas/communication
Course Description
This graduate seminar will focus on theoretical and practical issues regarding relationships between
communication processes in contemporary U.S. organizations and socially constructed aspects of identity.
Specifically, we will concentrate on gender, race, sexual identity, social class, ability, and age. The
primary theoretical foundation of this course is social constructionism, which basically contends that
humans create reality through interaction.
Based upon the idea that individual/group differences make a difference (they “matter”), course materials
and activities will address a variety of related concerns (“matters”). These include theoretical perspectives,
socio-historical developments, research issues, and practical issues. To explore these issues, the course
focuses on how systems of power and privilege help shape perceptions of salient social identity groups
within the United States, and how individuals and groups resist and transform those systems.
The course also delves into communication issues relevant to ways that we learn about social identities
from such sources as our families, the media, and organizations. To explore these matters, we will take a
critical approach, which means looking for power dynamics, including domination, compliance, and
resistance. We also will self-consciously delve into our personal perceptions, perspectives, and experiences
as related to course materials. In addition, we will discuss implications of our studies for social change.
We will analyze and discuss work from several disciplines, including communication, sociology,
organizational behavior, ethnic studies, psychology, education, disability studies, and philosophy. We will
consider diverse types of organizations, such as corporations, educational institutions, non-profits, and
media conglomerates. And, we will address many modes of communication.
We will explore how communication helps to create and sustain understandings of ourselves in relationship
to different and similar others in society and in organizational contexts. We will engage the term
‘organization’ as a noun and a verb by investigating how communication occurs in organizations as well as
how it functions to organize social and organizational relationships.
Required Readings
Allen, B.J. (2004). Difference matters: Communicating social identity. IL: Waveland.
Additional readings on Blackboard. https://blackboard.cudenver.edu/ Please be sure to post your current
email address in your profile for the course.
Recommended Resources
Williams, J. M. (2002). Style: Ten lessons in clarity and grace (7th ed.). New York: Longman.
[available through online sources and local bookstores; OK to get an earlier edition]
Check Blackboard for additional resources. Please send me any resources you’d like to post.
Assignments and Evaluation
You must complete and be prepared to discuss all assigned readings by the date indicated on the syllabus.
Also, you must submit assignments by the beginning of the class session on designated due dates.
Your course grade will be based upon the following:
Participation and attendance
Reflection Papers
Final Project
Oral Presentation
Post Test
Point Scale
25%
30%
30%
10%
5%
250 points
300 points
300 points
100 points
50 points
Letter Grade
1000-950 A
900-949 A870-899 B+
835-869 B
800-834 B770-799 C+
735-769 C
C-
Below 735
Grading System for Graduate Courses
A = Excellent
A- = Very good
B+ = Good
B = Satisfactory
Grades below B WILL NOT BE COUNTED toward the M.A. or M.S. degree
Participation and Attendance
Active student participation is imperative to maximize the learning potential of this course. Therefore, you
should attend each class. Please inform me if you are not able to come to class, and we can negotiate
whether or not and how you might receive partial credit.
You should always be prepared to participate fully in class. Grading criteria for participation include the
following behaviors: seems prepared; listens actively; offers thoughtful comments and responses; asks
thoughtful questions; allows and invites others to speak; solicits feedback; responds well to feedback;
demonstrates cumulative learning; and, shows initiative.
Reflection Papers: Details forthcoming. (Worth 100 points each)
Final Project: Research Paper. This 15-20 page paper must present a fully developed research argument,
correctly follow APA style, and have few, if any, grammatical errors. I will require you to meet with me at
least twice before your oral presentation to discuss drafts of your paper. You will complete assignments
leading to the paper throughout the semester. Also, I will give you detailed grading criteria for the final
project and presentation.
Oral Presentation
You will develop and conduct an oral presentation of your final project to the class.
Due Dates: February 27 RP #1
March 1
Declare Research Topic
March 27
RP #2
May 8
Oral Presentations
May 10
Final Project and RP #3
COURSE SCHEDULE
January 16 Intro and Overview
January 23 Theoretical perspectives continued
Difference Matters Chapter 1, 2
Mumby, D. (2001). Power and politics. In: F.M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.) The new handbook of
organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods (pp. 585-623). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
Lull, J. (2003). Hegemony. In: G. Dines and J.M. Humez (Eds.) Gender, race, and class in media: A textreader (pp. 61-66). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Allen, B.J. (2005). Social constructionism. In: S. May & D. Mumby (Eds.) Engaging organizational
communication theory and research: Multiple perspectives (pp. 35-53). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
January 30
GENDER MATTERS
Difference Matters, Chapter 3
Trethewey, A. (2003). Revisioning control: A feminist critique of disciplined bodies. In: P. Buzzanell
(Ed.), Rethinking organizational & managerial communication from feminist perspectives (pp. 107127). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Hearn, J., & Collinson, D. (2006). Men, masculinities, and workplace diversity/diversion. In: A. Konrad,
P. Prasad, & J. Pringle (Eds.), The handbook of workplace diversity (pp. 299-322). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
Mumby, D. K. (1998). Organizing men: Power, discourse, and the social construction of masculinity in
the workplace. Communication Theory,8, 164-183.
February 6
Gender continued
Hsieh, C., & Winslow, E. (2006). Gender representation in the federal workforce: A comparison among
groups. Review of Public Personnel Management, 26, 276-294.
Pyke, K.D., & Johnson, D. (2003). Asian American women and racialized femininities: “Doing” gender
across cultural worlds. Gender & Society, 17, 33-53.
Harter, L. (2004). Masculinity(s), the agrarian frontier myth, and cooperative ways of organizing:
contradictions and tensions in the experience and enactment of democracy. Journal of Applied
Communication Research, 32, 89-118.
February 13
RACE MATTERS
Difference Matters, Chapter 4
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1994). Racial formation in the United States from the 1960s to the 1990s. New York:
Routledge.
Hall, S. (2003). The whites of their eyes: Racist ideologies and the media. In: G. Dines and J.M. Humez (Eds.)
Gender, race, and class in media: A text-reader (pp. 89-93). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Proudford, K. L., & Nkomo, S. (2006). Race and ethnicity in organizations. In: A. Konrad, P. Prasad, & J.
Pringle, (Eds.) The handbook of workplace diversity (pp. 323-344). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Ashcraft, K. L., & Allen, B. J. The racial foundation of organizational communication. Communication
Theory 13: 5-33.
February 20
Race continued
Allen, B.J. (2005). Allen, B.J. Communicating race at WeighCo. In J.T. Wood and S. Duck (Eds.)
Composing relationships: Communication in everyday life (pp. 150-156). Wadsworth.
Carillo Rowe, A., & Malhotra, S. (2006). (Un)hinging Whiteness. In: M.P. Orbe, B.J. Allen, & L.A.
Flores (Eds.). The same and different: Acknowledging the diversity within and between cultural
groups. International and Intercultural Communication Annual XXX. (pp. 166-193). Washington,
D.C.: National Communication Association.
Yep, G. A. (2002). My three cultures: Navigating the multicultural identity landscape. In: Readings in
intercultural communication: Experiences and contexts (pp.60-66). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Tovares, R. (2002). Mascot matters: Race, history, and the University of North Dakota's "fighting Sioux"
logo. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 26, 76-94.
February 27
SOCIAL CLASS
Difference Matters, Chapter 5
Nesbit. T. (2005). Social class and adult education. In: T. Nesbit (Ed.) Class concerns: Adult education and
social class (pp. 5-14). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Magnus, S. A., & Mick, S. S. (2000). Medical schools, affirmative action, and the neglected role of social class.
American Journal of Public Health, 90, 1197-1201.
March 6
Social Class continued
Segura, D. (2003). Navigating between two worlds: The labyrinth of Chicana intellectual production in the
academy. Journal of Black Studies, 34, 28-51.
George, D. (2006) Social class and social identity. Review of Social Economy, 64, 429-445.
Elliott, J.R., & Sims, M. (2001). Ghettos and barrios: The impact of neighborhood poverty and race on job
matching among Blacks and Latinos. Social Problems, 48341-361
March 13
SEXUALITY MATTERS
Difference Matters, Chapter 6
Yep, G. (2003). The violence of heteronormativity in communication studies: Notes on injury, healing, and
queer world-making. Journal of Homosexuality, 45, 11-59.
Raley, A. (2006). Stereotype or success? Journal of Homosexuality, 51, 19-38.
Raymond, D. (2003). Popular culture and queer representation: A critical perspective. In: G. Dines and J.M.
Humez (Eds.) Gender, race, and class in media: A text-reader (pp. 98-110). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications
Russ, T.L., Simonds, C.J., and Hunt, S.K. (2002). Coming out in the classroom…an occupational hazard?
The influence of sexual orientation on teacher credibility and perceived student learning.
Communication Education, 51, 311-324.
March 20
March 27
SPRING BREAK.
Sexuality continued
Nicholas, C.L. (2006). Disciplinary-interdisciplinary glbtq (identity) studies and Hecht's layering perspective.
Communication Quarterly, 54, 305-330
April 3
ABILITY MATTERS
Difference Matters, Chapter 7
Zola, I. K. (2003). Self, identity, and the naming question: Reflections on the language of disability. In:
T. Ore (Ed.), The social construction of difference and inequality (pp. 437-448). Boston: McGrawHill.
Coopman, S. (2003). Communicating disability: Metaphors of oppression, metaphors of empowerment. In: P. J.
Kalbfleisch (Ed.). Communication yearbook, 27 (pp. ). London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nelson, J. (2000). The media role in building the disability community. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 15,
180-193.
Cherney, J. L. (2003) Sport, (dis)ability, and public controversy: Ableist rhetoric and Casey Martin v. PGA tour,
Inc. In: R. S. Brown and D.J. O’Rourke (Eds.) Case studies in sport communication. Westport, CN:
Praeger.
April 10
Ability continued
Holmes, J. (2003). Small talk at work: Potential problems for workers with an intellectual disability. Research on
Language & Social Interaction, 36, 65-84.
Drainoni, M., Lee-Hood, E., Tobias, C., Bachman, J., Andrew, J., & Maisels, L. (2006). Cross-disability
experiences of barriers to health-care access: Consumer perspectives. Journal of Disability Policy
Studies 17, 101 – 117.
Braithwaite, D. O., & Eckstein, N. J. (2003). How people with disabilities communicatively manage assistance:
helping as instrumental social support. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 1 – 27.
April 17
AGE MATTERS
Difference Matters, Chapter 8
McCann, R., Dailey, R. M., Giles, H., & Ota, H. (2005). Beliefs about intergenerational communication
across the lifespan: middle age and the roles of age stereotyping and respect norms. Communication
Studies 56, 293 – 313
Bergstrom, M. J., & Holmes, M. E. (2004). Organizational Communication and aging: Age-Related
Processes in Organizations In: Coupland, J. (Ed.), Handbook of communication and aging research
(pp. 305-327). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
April 24
Age continued
DiRomualdo, T. (2006). Geezers, grungers, gen-Xers and geeks - a look at workplace generational
conflict. Online Available: http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=3224.
MayoClinic.Com (2006). Workplace generation gap: Understand differences among colleagues. Online Available:
www.mayoclinic.com/health/working-life/WL00045
May 1
Course Wrap Up
May 8
PRESENTATIONS
May 10 Final and Reflection #3 Due
***
Department Mission Statement: To create a learning environment in which students develop the skills,
knowledge, and abilities necessary to use communication to create a more civil and humane world. By
civil and humane the department means a way of communicating that is rooted in an acceptance and
appreciation of others and that involves communicating in ways that express respect for and
acknowledgement of others regardless of their station in life, wealth or lack of it, politics, religion,
ethnicity, race, or any other quality.
Department of Communication Incomplete Policy: Incomplete grades are not given to students simply
because they are receiving lower grades than they would like. To be eligible for an incomplete grade,
students must have completed 75% of the course assignments with passing grades and have special
circumstances outside their control that preclude completion of the course. The incomplete grade that will
be given if the above conditions are met is an IF, which means that if the student does not complete the
work for the course within 12 months, the grade reverts to an F.
Plagiarism Policy: If a finding of plagiarism has been made by the instructor and by other members of the
communication graduate faculty, the student may be assigned a failing grade in the course. At the
discretion of the graduate faculty, the student may be asked to leave the graduate program.
Religious Holiday Accommodations
Faculty in the University of Colorado system have both a legal and moral obligation to provide reasonable
accommodations to students who must be absent from classes because of religious holidays. Faculty are
expected to develop course-consistent accommodations for students who miss class or graded assignments
in order to observe religious holidays. Faculty are encouraged to (1) avoid examinations during major
religious holidays and (2) ask students to privately identify all course conflicts at the beginning of the
semester.
Disability Accommodations
Faculty in the University of Colorado system have both a legal and moral obligation to provide reasonable
accommodations to students with disabilities. To be eligible for accommodations, students must be
registered with the UCDHSC Office of Disability Resources and Services (AR 177, 303-556-3450, 303556-4766 TDD). The DRS staff has experience to assist faculty in determining reasonable
accommodations to coordinate these accommodations.
CLAS Incomplete (IW/IF) Policy
The faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences passed the following policy relating to the awarding
of Incomplete grades. This CLAS policy is consistent with the CU-Denver campus policy.
Incomplete grades (IW or IF) are not granted for low academic performance. To be
eligible for an Incomplete grade, students must (1) successfully complete 75 percent of
the course, (2) have special circumstances (verification may be required) that preclude
the student from attending class and completing graded assignments, and (3) make
arrangements to complete missing assignments with the original instructor. A CLAS
Course Completion Agreement is strongly suggested.
The CLAS Course Completion Agreement is available from the CLAS Advising
Office, NC 2024.
Academic Ethics Policies Students must adhere to the Academic Honor Code and
Policies as stated in the UCDHSC Catalog (also available on our department website,
under Student Resources)
Spring 2007 CLAS Academic Policies
The following policies pertain to all students and are strictly adhered to by the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences (CLAS).

Every student MUST check and verify their schedule prior to the published drop/add
deadlines. Failure to verify a schedule is not sufficient reason to justify a late add or drop later in
the semester. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that their schedule is correct prior to
the appropriate deadlines.

CLAS students must always have an accurate mailing and email address. Email is the
official method of communication for all University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences
Center business. Go to http://www.cudenver.edu/registrar to update and/or change your email
address.

Students are NOT automatically added to a course off a wait list after wait lists are
dropped. If a student is told by a faculty member that they will be added off the wait list, it is the
responsibility of the student to complete the proper paperwork to add a course. Students are NOT
automatically added to a course from the wait list after the 5 th day of the semester when wait lists
are dropped.

Students must complete and submit a drop/add form to make any schedule changes.
Students are not automatically dropped from a class if they never attended, stopped attending or
do not make tuition payments.

Late add’s will be approved only when circumstances surrounding the late add are
beyond the student’s control and can be documented independently. This will require a petition
and documentation from the student. Late add’s will only be approved if the student has not taken
any exams, quizzes, or has not completed any other graded assignments. Independent verification
of this from the professor of record will be required. Please note that the signature of a faculty
member on an add form does not guarantee that a late add petition will be approved.

Late drops will be approved only when circumstances surrounding the late drop are
beyond the student’s control and can be documented independently. This will require a petition
and documentation from the student. Please note that the signature of a faculty member does not
guarantee that a late drop petition will be approved.

Students wishing to graduate in spring of 2007 must meet with their academic advisor by
the end of the drop/add period to obtain a graduation application. This application must be
completed and submitted by 5 PM on January 31, 2007. You can obtain an application ONLY
after meeting with your academic advisor. There are no exceptions to this policy or date.

Students are responsible for completing financial arrangements with financial aid, family,
scholarships, etc. to pay their tuition. Students will be responsible for all tuition and fees for
courses they do not officially drop using proper drop/add procedures and forms.

Students who drop after the published drop/add period will not be eligible for a refund of
the COF hours or tuition.
Spring 2007 Important Dates

January 16, 2007; First day of Class

January 18, 2007; Last day to be added to a wait list

January 18 – January 31, 2007; Students are responsible for verifying an accurate spring
2007 course schedule via the SMART registration system. Students are NOT notified of their
wait-list status by the university. All students must check their scheduled prior to January 31,
2007 for accuracy.

January 19, 2007 at 5PM; Wait lists are dropped. Any student who was not added to a
course automatically from the wait list by this date and time MUST complete a drop/add form to
be added to the class. Students are NOT automatically added to the class from the wait list after
this date and time.

January 22, 2007; First day an instructor may approve a request to add a student to a
course using the Schedule Adjustment Form (drop/add form).

January 25, 2007; Last day to add a course using the SMART Web Registration system.
Students MUST check their registration to verify what classes they are enrolled in.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day to add structured courses without a written petition
for a late add. This is an absolute deadline and is treated as such. This deadline does not apply to
independent study, internships, and late-starting modular courses.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day to drop a spring 2007 course with a full tuition refund
and no transcript notation. Drops after this date will appear on your transcript. This is an absolute
deadline and is treated as such.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day to completely withdraw from all spring 2007 courses
with a full tuition refund and no transcript notation. Drops after this date will appear on your
transcript. This is an absolute deadline and is treated as such.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day for students to apply for Spring 2007 Graduation.
Students MUST see their CLAS advisor to obtain a Graduation Application.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day to request pass/fail option for a course.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM: Last day to request a no credit option for a course.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM: Last day to register for a Candidate for Degree.

January 31, 2007 at 5 PM: Last day to petition for a reduction in thesis or dissertation
hours.

April 2, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day for Non-CLAS students to drop individual classes or
withdraw from all classes without a petition and special approval from the student’s academic
Dean. This is treated as an absolute deadline.

April 13, 2007 at 5 PM; Last day for CLAS students to drop individual classes or
withdraw from all classes without a petition and special approval from the student’s academic
Dean. This is treated as an absolute deadline.

No schedule changes will be granted once finals week has started. There are NO
exceptions to this policy.