General provisions

The course is offered in English.

Entry requirements

A bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Swedish degree of at least 180 credits (i.e. three years of full-time studies), including at least 90 credits of studies in social sciences or a comparable field that qualifies for studies in Digital Media and Society. All applicants need to verify English language proficiency. This is normally attested by an internationally recognised test such as TOEFL or IELTS.

Learning outcomes

The main learning ambition of the course is to analyse and critically review global changes affecting organisations – with a specific focus on mediatisation, digitalisation, scientisation, moral rationalisation, marketisation, organising and deliberative democracy. Methodological awareness and skills on how to study and evaluate the different global changes are also general learning goals.

On completion of the course, the student should have gained profound knowledge and understanding about:

• how cultural, political, economic and technical changes shape realities of contemporary organisations,
• the role of mediatisation and digitalisation in these changes,
• how the above mentioned changes influence the structures and abilities of s to successfully conduct and communicate their activities,
• how organisations relate to and handle - not least communicatively - the risk and uncertainties that arise from the global changes,
• current research in the area of organisation, media, communication and corporate governance. The student should also have gained skills and abilities to:
• evaluate the relevance of different analytical methods,
• carry out basic analysis of the current and future global changes/developments,
• describe these developments (and their consequences) to non-specialists,
• use the gained knowledge about the developments in strategic contexts,
• reflect on the ethical aspects of organisational responses to the global developments.

Content

The course comprises thematic studies of how private and public sector organisations relate to and deal with processes and mechanisms of global changes within the cultural, social, economic and technical and media fields, such as mediatisation, scientisation, moral rationalisation, marketisation, organising and deliberative democracy. The rapid digitalisation of nearly all aspects of the social increase the rate of these changes, which in turn challenges the opportunity for reflection and critique. The overall aim of the course is to provide deeper knowledge of the consequences these global changes have on organisations. The course focuses on examining the diversity of communicative activities through which organisations seek to handle and relate to their environments. In this context the course pays particular attention to the concepts of risk and uncertainty and the way they are understood and handled by organisations. This is discussed at the level of the individual, individual organisations and at the level of organisational fields.

Instruction

Lectures, tutoring and seminars.

Assessment

The course is examined by a written examination and active participation in seminars.