Please note, the tutorial will start five minutes after the advertised time

and typically finish 10 minutes before the set finish time.

This will allow for a smooth transition between classes.

This week’s class will also finish earlier than usual, as it is the introductory
class.
 Organisational
Communications

Week 1 – Introduction
Emotion, Rationality and Your Communication Style
 Course convenor
Editor, Insights Magazine
Interview:
Names, Identity, Belonging

Personal Qs:
1. What would you like to be called in this class? Do you
have any other names?
2. Does your name have a special meaning in your culture?
What is its history?
3. How important is your name to your sense of identity?
Would you ever change it? Why?

General Qs:
4. Why do you think names are important in communication?
5. When are names easy/difficult to remember?
6. What are some strategies you use for remembering
names?
 From class to community….
Introduce your
classmate:
 Their name
(and how to
remember it)
 One other interesting
thing about them
Assignments
 Let’s look at this subject’s assignments
Assignment one (30%)
 In-class exam (open book)
 Will require you to prepare a response to a scenario to
do with inter-cultural communication.
 Conducted in the week four class time.
 Question released two days in advance.
Assignment two (30%)
 Group presentation and report
 At the beginning of weeks 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10
 Presentation plus 1,500 word report (one submission per
group).
 Groups of 4 students, 20-25 minute presentation
 You will examine a case study of an organisation,
relevant to that week’s readings and subject matter.
 You are encouraged to draw on case studies from the
past year.
Assignment three (40%)
 Research paper
 Week 10
 2,500 word reflection.
Key concepts
in MDIA 5022
The Organisation
 What is an organisation? What definition would you give?
 What about ‘organisational communication’? What do
you think that refers to?
The Organisation
 A “consciously coordinated social unit comprised of two or
more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to
achieve a common goal or set of goals” (Robbins, cited in
Hahn and Payton, 2019).
Approaches to organisational
Communication
 There are multiple ways to approach the subject of
‘organisational communication’
 The ‘communications within organisations approach’ is an
information-based perspective. This considers how
messages flow withing organisations.
 The ‘organisations as communication approach’ is a
constitutive perspective. This considers how organisations
themselves are constructed by communication (how the
organisation is structured, upheld, and perhaps changes).
(Klein, 2020).

 We will consider both of these approaches throughout the

term.
Approaches to organisational
Communication
 Blundel (2004) suggests that organisational
communication can “help organisations to achieve:

• satisfied repeat customers, rather than unhappy ex-

customers;

• well-motivated employees, rather than an expensive

industrial dispute;

• a positive reputation, rather than an international boycott

of its products;

• innovative and creative strategies, rather than

inefficiency, indecision and resistance to change” (2).
Approaches to organisational
Communication
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl116ud7T_U
Discourse
 Organisations by their very nature are discursive.
Analysing their dominant discourses is a fascinating area
of organisational communications studies.

 Relevant to any study of discourse, the concept of discursive

formations was also developed by Foucault. This refers to
discursive events that share the same style, support a strategy
and belong to a common institutional, administrative or
political drift and pattern (Cousins and Hussain, 1984: 84-85).
Interpersonal communication
 This unit also aims, broadly to help develop your
interpersonal communication skills.
Giving and Receiving Feedback

 Are you giving others the messages

you intended to give them?
 What can you do to find out other
people’s honest responses to your
communication?
 How can you help others improve
their communication skills?
Self-Reflection

 How can self-reflection be used to better understand and

improve our own communication?
 How important is writing for self-reflection?
Communication, simple right?

Source: Dwyer J, Business Communication Handbook 9 th Edition

Is this the only way to view
communications?
Common metaphors used to describe organisational
communication, along with their associated terms:
 Conduit eg transmission, line, tool
 Lens eg eye, scanning, filtering
 Linkage eg relationships, connections, networks
 Performance eg drama, episode, display, ritual
 Symbol eg representations, artifacts, narratives
 Voice eg chorus, expression and suppression, participation
 Discourse eg language, conversation

Source: Cheney G et al. Organisational Communication in an Age of Globalisation, p7

Self-awareness
To improve your interpersonal skills you need to know:
 Your personality: values, needs & behavioral styles
 The impression you make on others
 Your blind spots: things you do that hinder your interpersonal
effectiveness

2-22
Johari Window
Johari Window
Self awareness – your
thoughts
 Why do we avoid trying to better understand ourselves?
 How honest were you with revealing information about
yourselves in the names/introductions exercise? Was
there something you thought about saying but decided
not to? Why?
 Why do we fear disclosing things about ourselves to
others?
Forming groups for A2

 You will be placed in random groups using the breakout

groups tool.
 You can move into another group, if there is someone
you would like to work with.
 In the end, you need to form groups of 4.
 Use this time to exchange email addresses. You should
also choose at least one other way to communicate with
one another.
Extra source
 Klein, 2020: Organizational Communication Theories,
Part 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DeOUYyNl4
Next week
 Analysing Organisational Culture
The week two classes will not run, on account of the public
holiday. However, there will be a recorded lecture that will
release on this day. Please keep a look out for it.