Welcome to Business Communication & Public

Relations

Week 1

Introductions and defining the field

Objectives

To define the field of Business Communication & PR.

To communicate expectations regarding conduct, content, tutorials and assignments.

Agenda

Learn about the course, its themes, and its plansCourse outline & changesDefine the MCOM area

Discuss the different course assignments and expectations

Course outline: Course objectives

Students will be able to:Identify and define the basic communication

models, messages, practices, images and symbols;

Students will be expected to be able to identify their role, their audience and their focus when constructing a report;

Describe and reflect on effective team communication processes and practices in an intercultural environment;

To recognize the key role played by communication in organizations.

Defining the area considering communication, businesses & self

Let’s start by defining what is managementTo manage

To bring about; to succeed in accomplishingTo take charge or care of; to dominate; to influence by

tact, respect or artificeTo handle, direct, govern, or control in action or useTo contrive to get along

Managing and management contradictions

So what’s communication?

“ability and willingness of an individual to participate responsibly in a transaction in such a way as to maximize the outcomes of shared meanings”

(see your 1st reading)Communication competence

Communication Defined

Communication as transactionLinear ModelInteractive ModelTransactional Model

Communication as a processCommunication as Shared Meaning

Communication Competence Model

Competence DefinedElements of Communication Competence

Communication Competence Defined

Varying degrees: Depends & changesWe not me oriented: Relationships & audienceEffectiveness: Determined by receiverAppropriateness: Rules, norms & taboos

Communication = socially constructed and shared meanings/understandings

Management = shaping and influencing others

Managing = ongoing processes

Elements of communication competence

KnowledgeSkillsSensitivityCommitmentEthicsWhat’s missing???? (critique)

Our Conceptions of this paper

Introduction to Business Communication & PRCommunication central to good management

“Organizations are first and foremost communicating entities” (Clegg, Kornberger & Pitsis 2005, p.301)

Organisations consist of people, relationships and stories

Business Communication & PR is concerned with … OrganisationsCommunicationIndividuals and groupsSociety, cultural values and context

Therefore – construction, interpretation and power issues

All this expressed through various business communication processes, practices, activities, language, beliefs systems, rituals, symbols etc

So in essence the course is about …

Managing relationships and looking at the complex dynamic between self, others, organisations and society

The construction and interpretation of identities, diversities and futuresClaims to knowledge = powerWhat we have been, are and could be

expressed through communication

Unit I- Foundations of MCOM Theories: Identity context and resources

Introduction to MCOMConstructing and communicating

meaningsIntercultural communicationOrganizational Communication at work

Unit II Developing and communicating identity and identification

Organizational cultureSocialization: entering and leaving

organizationsTeam work and Team ProcessesResistance and participation in

organizational communication

Unit III: Identity events and performing in organizations

PR & Corporate CommunicationInterpersonal communicationProfessional IdentitySymbols, Images and discourses

Unit IV Developing management communication skillsBasic qualitative analysisWriting reportsMaking presentationsWriting Literature Reviews

(this section of the course objective is achieved through the Assignment1)

Summing up: So the course could be defined as …One definition is:

“Management communication is the process of making and taking sense in, and of, organizations and involves the negotiation of meaning through actions, behaviour, discourse, metaphors, myths, signs, and symbols” (Mckie, personal communication, 2000).

Information on course assignment

More detail in week 2Compulsory tutorials start week 2Course objectives and assignments

Test 1- Week 6Mid Term Exam – Week 8Team report (Group) – completion of specific tasks in

groups & team presentation- Week 9Test 2- Case Analysis (individual) – Week 13Final Exam – Week 16

Example of Task For Group Assignment

Please remember throughout the course you will be given group/individual task for completion and to be documented inside your “Assignment-1”

You requireMinutes of your group meeting for completion of

the task- documenting all the discussionsCopies of the individual reports of the members

(handwritten notes also acceptable)

In the business of identities

In your groups think about the following:How do businesses shape their

communications?How do ‘others’ communicate to businesses?Can a business have an identity?Can you name one/two organizations that you

like and one/two you dislike?