Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. Proficiency in English equivalent to the general entry requirements for first-cycle (Bachelor's level) studies.

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to increase the students' theoretical and practical knowledge in organizational communication. Through problematization and analysis of theoretical and empirical themes relevant to the course, the course contributes to increased knowledge of the interplay between communication, organization and society.

Knowledge and understanding - after completing the course, the students are expected to be able to:

• Understand and explain theories, perspectives and concepts of communication and organizational communication,
• Understand the role of communication in and for different types of organizations based on current research,
• Understand and explain how different types of organizations and their employees use and work with communicative practices,
• Understand and explain what consequences work with communication can have for employees, organizations and society.

Skills and abilities - after completing the course, the students are expected to be able to:

• Propose and implement appropriate communicative efforts to deal with identified organizational challenges and problems,
• Review and evaluate the role of communication for employees, organizations and society.

Evaluation skills and approach - after completing the course, the students are expected to be able to:

• Determine which communication efforts are necessary in a certain situation in an organization.
• Discuss and evaluate consequences and ethical aspects of organizations' communication activities for employees, organization and society.

Content

The course aims to provide a communicative perspective on how we understand organizations. The students are trained to independently and critically identify, analyze and solve communicative challenges and problems. Based on contextual conditions for different types of organizations - such as municipalities, authorities, companies and non-profit organizations - communicative processes and activities such as media relations, change communication, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and crisis communication are analyzed.

The course consists of two parts. The first part gives the students a theoretical foundation and understanding of organizations based on a communicative perspective. In the second part, the theoretical tools are used to work with different empirical themes.

Instruction

The course consists of lectures, seminars, individual work and group work, which are presented both in writing and orally.

Assessment

Examination is done through seminars and assignments.

If there are special reasons, the examiner may make exceptions to the specified examination method and allow a student to be examined in a different way. Special reasons can e.g. be notification of special pedagogical support from the university's coordinator or decision on exceptions made by the department's working group for study matters.