Communication Studies 435/535

                                                        Advanced Organizational Communication

T, Th 9:10-10:25 a.m.

Murrow 229

 

Prof:                 Patty Sias

Office:              Murrow West 365C                                         Phone : 335-8857; e-mail: psias@wsu.edu

Office Hrs:        T, Th 1:15-2:30 p.m. and by appointment         Website:  www.wsu.edu/~psias

 

This course is designed for advanced undergrads and graduate students who are interested in learning more about organizational communication.  It is assumed that all students have taken ComSt 335 or a similar organizational communication course.  In this course we will cover some 335 topics in greater depth and we will also cover topics not discussed in basic org comm courses.

 

                                                                          Required Readings

 

1.         Eisenberg, E. & Goodall, H.L. (2004) Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint (4th Ed.). New York:  St. Martin's Press.

2.         A packet of readings available at the Bookie.

3.         Additional readings (listed in the syllabus in italics) I will provide to you.

 

                                                                       Required Assignments

 

                        Undergraduates:

EXAMS (2)                                         100 pts each                 200 pts

WEEKLY QUESTIONS (9)               15 pts each                   135

TERM PAPER                         100 pts                         100

TRAINING WORKSHOP                  100 pts.                        100

PARTICIPATION                              50 pts                             50

UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL                                     585 pts.

 

Graduate Students:

EXAMS (2)                                         100 pts each                 200 pts

WEEKLY QUESTIONS (9)               15 pts each                   135

TRAINING WORKSHOP                  100 pts.                        100

GRAD PRESENTATIONS (2)             40 pts. each                   80

RESEARCH PROJECT                       100 pts.                        100

PARTICIPATION                              50 pts                             50

GRAD STUDENT TOTAL                                                     665 pts.

 

Undergrad course grades will be given as follows:

A = 585-546; A- = 545-521 pts; B+ = 520-497 pts; B = 496-485 pts; B- = 484-468 pts;

C+ = 467-437 pts; C = 436-426 pts; C- = 425-409 pts;D+ = 408-378 pts; D = 377-351 pts; 

F = 350-0 pts.

 

Grad course grades will be given as follows:

A = 665-624; A- = 623-591 pts; B+ = 590-564 pts; B = 563-552 pts; B- = 551-532 pts;

C+ = 531-498 pts;  C = 497-485 pts; C- = 484-465 pts;D+ = 464-431 pts; D = 430-399 pts; 

F = 398-0 pts.

 

 

                                                                             Course Policies

 

1.         This is not a lecture course.  Therefore, students are required to attend and actively participate in class discussions, exercises, and reading of assigned materials. 

 

2.         Appropriate classroom behavior is expected.  This means engaging in civil discussion, not reading the newspaper, doing crossword puzzles, text-messaging, chatting, or otherwise distracting the rest of the class. 

 

2.         No extensions (without penalty) will be given on any assignment.

 

3.         Academic honesty will be strongly enforced in this course.  This means that any student caught cheating on an exam or plagiarizing someone else's work will be given an F for the course and will be referred to the appropriate university disciplinary action.

 

4          Exams will be given twice during the semester.  They will consist of short answer and essay questions.

 

5.         You will be required to prepare a written response for each week's readings.  These typed responses (a paragraph or two) should contain your questions, comments, and/or opinions about the week's assigned readings and should be brought to class each Tuesday.  Responses that are incomplete (i.e. you don’t respond to all readings) or do not display a thoughtful reading of the material, will be assigned points accordingly.  Class discussions will be based on your questions (remember, I'm not lecturing in this class).  I will collect your questions each Tuesday and give them back to you the following Thursday.

 

6.         The training workshop project will consist of a group (3-4 people) presentation of theory and skills-training on a particular organizational communication topic.  Topics will be assigned in class. 

 

7.         A term paper is due from the undergraduate students on the last day of class.  The paper will require you to interview at least two individuals employed in organizations regarding an organizational communication topic.  You are to analyze the data obtained from the interviews using the concepts covered in this class. Details regarding the topic of the paper will be provided to you long before the paper is due.

 

8.         Graduate students are responsible for presenting additional academic articles during the semester.  Your job is to "translate" your chosen articles for your classmates.  Please prepare a handout (similar to those I use in the 335 class) for the class covering the main points of the article.

 

8.                  Graduate students are required to carry out an organizational communication research study with me. Details will be provided to graduate students about this assignment.

 

9.         There are few written assignments.  I want you to concentrate on the readings and on your weekly questions, rather than out of class papers, etc., so that we can have in class discussions in which everyone has done the reading.

 

10.       All written assignments must be typed, double-spaced, and carefully proofread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                           CLASS SCHEDULE

 

Week 1             Introduction to course, review syllabus

(1/10-12)           Organizations in 21st century & Situating org comm.. (Text Ch. 1 and 2)

 

Week 2             Training and Consulting

(1/17-19)           DeWine “Training & Consulting”; DeWine “Using Training Techniques”

 

Week 3             Historical overview of org. comm. (Text Ch. 3 and Ch. 4)

(1/24-26)           [Grad student presentation:  Meyer & Rowan "Institutionalization" article]

 

Week 4             Overview of org. comm (cont.)

(1/31-2/2)          Mintzberg "The Manager’s Job"; Case "Open book Revolution; The Limits of Open Books”

[Grad student presentation:  Feldman & March "Information as Signal and Symbol" article]

 

Week 5             Organizational Culture (Text Ch. 5)

(2/7-9)              “Mr. Edens profits….”

 

Week 6             Critical and Postmodern perspectives (Text Ch. 6 & Ch. 7)

(2/14-16)           Argyris "Good Communication that Blocks Learning"

                        [Grad student pres.: “Emotional labor”]

 

Week 7             Review for Exam 1 (Tues); Exam 1 (Thurs

(2/21-23)          

 

Week 8             Relationships at Work (Text Ch. 9)

(2/2-3/2)           Aeppel “Personnel Disorders”

[Grad Pres:  Sias & Cahill "From Coworkers to Friends,” Sias, et al., “Narratives of Workplace Friendship Deterioration”]

 

Week 9             Training workshops (Interviewing; Employee Evaluations)

(3/7-9) 

 

Spring Break 3/13-17

 

Week 10            Experience of work (Text Ch. 8)

(3/21-23)           Runcie "Deviant Behavior; Fine "Letting off Steam"; “Hook, Line, & Sinker”

 

Week 11            Training Workshops (Listening; Ethics)

(3/28-30)

 

Week 12            Managing the Total Organization (Text Ch. 11)

(4/4-4/6)           Frye, “Winning at a Distance, “Virtual Company Advice”

                       

Week 13            Training Workshops (Running Effective meetings; Working with Difficult People)

(4/11-13)                      

 

Week 14            Review for Exam 2 (Tues); Exam 2 (Thurs)

(4/18-20)          

 

Week 15            Reports on projects

(4/25-27)