Course Outline: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION # 4481
Professor Jelena Zikic
Office: 270 Atkinson
Office Hours:By appointment on day of your class (Monday)
Email Contact:
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.  Understand basic communication theory and apply its principles to practice.
2.  Become more comfortable and strategic in delivering and planning presentations.
3.  Learn to analyze audiences, develop and format messages specific to them.
4.  Plan and deliver impromptu individual and team presentations confidently and persuasively.
5.  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 May-June 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, Gender Related Issues & Providing Feedback / Tannen, D. ‘The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why’ Harvard Business Review 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
7
February 25th / External Image, Internal 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
10
March 18th / Leading productive meetings / Chapter 7 (text)
*Team Presentations 3
11
March 25th / Communication in the 21st century / *Team Presentations 4
12
April 1st / Final Exam – in class
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.
Short Final In-Class Exam / 15% / 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.