Course Description:

Within this class, we learned about the techniques, ideas, and philosophies behind how people communicate within organizations. This provided a unique opportunity to think about how communication is approached, how effective (or ineffective) communication can be, and the ways that communication can be utilized or improved. We first approached this class learning about the basic philosophies while further learning about external communication within our own organizations on a more macro level. We then refined our learning and took a deeper dive into the internal communications within our organizations, people to people, and how the way that this communication can have a lasting impact, positive or negative, on the culture of the organization. One of the main projects that helped this class was a “communication audit” that we did of an organization that helped us assess and evaluate the communication techniques and opportunities. I put together a 44-page audit of a local non-profit organization that gave me an opportunity to look into the limitations, formal/informal communication networks, in depth question and answer interviews, the growth of the organization, a summary of major findings, and a full conclusion with provided recommendations. We rounded out this course by focusing on the evolving challenges that we face in the 21st century with communication tactics and how we can adapt.

 

Course Artifact:

I’ve attached and included my Communication Audit that details the non-profit that I decided to focus my project on. This Communication Audit includes current areas of communication for internal and external purposes, and has a full question and answer session with three employees from the company. Lastly, this also includes a full description on opportunities, results, areas of improvement, and suggestions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course Materials:

 

Books:

Conrad, C. & Poole, M. S. (2012).  Strategic organizational communication in a global economy. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

 

Downs, C., and A. Adrian (2004).  Assessing organizational communication: Strategic communication audits. New York: Guilford Press.

 

Films:

Judge, M. (Director). (1999). Office space [Motion Picture]. United States: Fox.