Author Archives: Suzanne Epstein

Last day of classes

So I gave the last class today and I am feeling some mixed emotions about the course this year and mainly my teaching of it. I had a discussion with the students as to how the course was organized and what choice of content was used.

I organized the course in 3 main components, the first being rhetoric and how society has viewed work and labor through the ages and how that relates to today’s globalized workplace. The students then had to write a paper in relation to these concepts and the readings in the course. I wrote an earlier post on this part of the course.  This was a very successful part of the course and the students all agreed during today’s discussion that it was an interesting way to have an over view of the course material to come, and to think about organizations, work and labor as a whole.

The second part of the course was the different theories in organizational communication. I stuck very much to the textbook and went over chapters and lead discussions on examples of the theory in real life situations as well as having the students reading articles and case studies. The students then wrote a 5 page paper applying one of the theories to a case study or an observation in their own organization. I am not fully satisfied with  the way in which I taught and organized this particular component to the course.

The students seemed to like the general way in which the course  went over each theory by itself and then tried to apply it through case studies and articles. But they felt there was way too much theory and that they were overwhelmed at the end. This was demonstrated in an almost 70% failure rate on the mid term quiz.

I would like to rethink this 2nd part of the course and try to make it more functional to the course and the students.

The third and last component was ‘People’; emotion, diversity and the individual in the workplace. I followed some of Caryn’s guidelines for this final part pf the course. The students were very interested and I had  some up-to-date research articles which really worked well, ( I have put them in the reading resources pages). I would have liked to delve more into this area and I think the class would have benefited. However there was not enough time and I am thinking of ways to introduce this component earlier in the semester. But in truth there is never enough time. I also think I should have had  a paper that related to this particular area of content. I had the students do an expanded version of the 2nd paper. but I think now it would have worked better to do another 5 page paper on the third and last content component of the course.

So, I now want to advocate for fewer theories and will seek input from the other Managerial Communication faculty to see which theories are considered to be fundamental to Organizational Communication and which can be left for “Further Reading.”  I also want to examine the quizzes and exams; how can they be easier for the students to learn form as well as standards from which to evaluate the course direction.

I liked teaching this course and I like many of the changes we implemented for this pilot semester. I really continue to advocate for the rhetoric component; I think it starts off the course with a much more conceptual look at the content and the subject matter and I believe it helps the student move into a more academic-critical thinking mode from the very beginning of the semester.

The students were generally very pleased with the course, and I received a round of applause when I told them that I was expecting to see all of them in 5-10 years inviting us -COM3068 faculty-to the companies or political campaigns they have created to give talks and seminars. You see, I am getting some future work for us all.

Half Way There…

The Mid Term Quiz is done. I seem to be much more relieved about this then my students. I guess it is all about from which side you look at things. I have now decided to go through with my original plan of teaching this year’s COM3068 in 3 sections. The first was the rhetoric of work, the second is the theoretical approaches to organizational communication. I am giving the students a 2nd paper assignment on this particular section.

For this paper assignment I am experimenting with having the students do some observations using the different theories to get information on aspects or issues in organizational life. An example would be if a student’s company has been giving out rewards to different employees or departments, the student would use Schein’s model of organizational culture to observe what sort of organizational culture this system of rewards creates.  The student could do interviews, observe company meetings about the topic, research past archives in the company and look at other researchers who wrote about similar reward systems.

I think that in many cases this will be interesting and feasible for most students but I do know there are going to be several students who either do not have access to an organizational environment that they can study or they have no idea of how to go about it. So I might also give the possibility of looking at an organization in the news and have the students use one of the theoretical approaches to analyze the event.

I still believe quite strongly that it is through writing these types of papers that the student will learn the content on a deeper level. However, I am still experimenting on how to make these types of assignments work well. Any feedback on this assignment is welcome…

Communication on the campaign trail!

I am finally getting back to a question that Caryn asked weeks ago. She was looking for some ideas and articles for the chapter on technology and the impact on the workplace. But I just realized that the use of Internet and all types of technology are at this very moment redefining the electoral process let alone the current election. And a political party or a political campaign is by definition an organization. The following two links are just simple but real life demonstrations of how the Obama campaign has really gone into the use of technology to reach out to stakeholders of the electorate rarely reached before.

TTY is a very old technology being used in a new way to contact an electorate that has rarely been taken into consideration. And the second is the use of an ipod function, perhaps the newest political campaign tool, just created a few months ago! And it is being used to target the newest of members of the electorate.

I think that we can not ignore the teaching tool that is right in front of us for this entire semester, especially when the political campaigns’ use of new and old technology and communication is fascinating and likely to influence the business world and the greater organizational world for years to come.

I am finishing by adding a link to a post on cac.ophony.org that talks about the same thing, it sort of inspired me towards this conclusion that organizational communication is right in sink with technology and the big political parties. I’ll keep looking for some articles and electronic happenings in the two campaign camps.

The big questions…

Btw, i was at a teaching seminar that i’m attending monthly for the next year at Columbia so a warning you both get to hear me think about all of the issues in relation to 3068:).

But, one thing from the first session. we were talking about ‘liberal education’ and the tensions between asking the ‘big questions’ per se vs. the specifics of particular theories, concepts etc. and it made me think about this the purpose of this ‘rhetoric of work’ idea we’re playing around with and the autobiography assignment. in short, i’m trying to get students to make sense out of communication in organizations in a more personal way – trying to ask the question, ‘what is the meaning of work?’ across the ages and today as well as ‘what is the meaning of work to you?’ that in some ways is a ‘big question’ that we’re trying to then connect and/or simply ‘use’ as an entre into a conversation about specific managerial and organizational communication ideas and questions – so, no conclusion there on this issue for me, but it gave me encouragement to keep thinking this way.

We were also talking about what are the ‘big ideas’ you want students to take away from a class — so, it made me think about our list of topics visa vie, a list of what issues do you want them to ‘wrestle with’ or reflect upon in relation to the course material? and, that learning goals may also include issues to reflect upon in their own lives and jobs . . .

so, what are the ‘big’ issue for 3068? i leave that for further discussion with wine and/or coffee . . .

Self, Other and Context

So we have at last finished the Eisenberg Chapter; Defining Organizational Communication. Though the first half went very well, I found that the second half of the chapter  was more tedious and though many students seemed to understand the broad concepts, I could see that the more complex and perhaps subtle theories on organizations as dialogues was difficult for them to grasp.

We were able to establish a strong connection at one point between the notion of Self, Other and Context and the modern work world when I challenged the students to demonstrate to me that their generation was the most self oriented generation yet. Many agreed and a few disagreed but it began to dawn on them that the notion of Self was not just me, me, me, that it was also the constant demand to define oneself at work, at play, and online. And that this happens in relation to the other; organization or individuals.

As is often, the minute we brought in the notion of defining oneself through face book or through secret coding in text messages, the students really began to theorize on their own. Phew! I finally got them there but after an hour of redirecting and refining and reminding them to read the article!!!!!!!

So I am thinking again, as Caryn mentioned, about how to prep for the coming chapters on new technologies and Organizational Communication. I think relating it to the use of social networking and the workplace will be a subject area the students will be able to relate to…

On another note, I am going to make a glossary page and start putting up terms that I have been using and defining in my COM3068 course as I think it might be a nice future reference for other faculty or even myself to see what were dominant terms during this semester.

Talk about timing!

I assigned the Eisenberg article “Defining Organizational Communication” for this Monday’s class. I woke up and listened to the news on the financial institutions crumbling, and I wondered if my students would make the connection between the Comm strategies in the article and this current event? Especially the strategic control theory… Well delights of delights, about 10 students had made the connection, 4 students actually had text messages from their CEO’s, ( in full strategic ambiguity mode) and the rest of the class seemed to really get the theory and how it was being played out right in front of their eyes. I had to struggle to keep everyone to a minimum in speaking not the other way around!

I am curious to hear more about Caryn’s hesitations on the Strategic Control theory and the Creativity and Constraints. I found the students really seemed to delight in debating the ethical side of the former and I feel these days the students really have some true to life examples of what it is and how it works. But perhaps there is a  side to it that I am not fully capturing.

I am also wondering how we could take some of these real life events and the communication; internal and external, and put it into an assignment or a paper. Perhaps  there is a way to use this relationship between ORG COM theory and the current financial crisis and something on the exams. Maybe to use the current financial crisis and see how the students can analyse and write a recommendation to the CEO or the board…

First Week

I have just had a very fruitful class discussion on the Claire chapter “Philosophy and rhetoric of work.” I would like to give credit to my students, who not only seemed to have read the whole chapter but took notes and had many things to say. They found the chapter easy to read as well as a good historical and contextual understanding of what I meant when I talked about the course as a Macro look at communication in organizations and how the influence of the global world influences how we talk about work as well as organize it.

I am now working on the prompt for the first paper. I have asked the students to write a 2-3 page paper on their work experience and how it relates to the Clair Chapter as well as Chapter one of the Miller book. Chapter one in the Miller book talks about the complicated way in which modern day communication happens and what that means for the world of work today. I might even add the Eisenberg chapter as background for their paper… I would like it to be in a personal essay format where the students explore their personal work history and put it into context. Hopefully, they will do this through the use of definition, historical context and references to the chapters I previously mentioned.

I am hoping this paper will bring them closer to thinking about the subject matter in a more theoretical way and at the same time show them how much a part of their lives these philosophies are. It would also be a mini exercise in what will be a more formal final paper.

As I re read this it sounds like a lot, but I think it should be pretty simple for them to do…? Do you have any feed back or suggestions?

I am also in the processing of putting up a few more articles in the reading section so keep your eyes open.

Ready, Set, Go

I am now working on my syllabus and I wanted to put forward 2 assignments and questions to see if they are applicable to the fall 3068 course. Also I have not found Caryn’s syllabus nor philosophy statement. Perhaps it did not get uploaded…

The first assignment is the observation paper that I have used for COM3102. I often use it as a first draft to the final paper. Allowing students through an observation report to better understand and experience various real life elements that can then be traced and researched through empirical research; the final paper. I have posted it under Activities.

My other “assignment” is the final exam as I have a preference to take home exams, which I believe give the students a lot more time to read the book and to write more. It is a good deal more work for the professor but I believe it does have a stronger impact in the student’s learning. I am posting my final exam from last year under assignments as well.

Let me know what you think and give me any feedback in shaping this semester’s syllabus.

On Our Way

As of right now all three of us are administrators and can therefore edit, post and upload as well as many other activities on this blog. This post is actually a test to see if the email notification is working so if you are now reading this it is because every time one of us writes a post on the blog we will receive an email letting us know that something is up…

I also wanted to say that we have put the Katherine Miller book on order at the Book store and are willing to let the students get the 4th edition and Caryn and I will be supplementing the first chapter with the Eisenberg chapter, more details on that later.

In comparison…

I have been browsing the web to see what other universities are doing for the the Managerial Communication course. Yet what I have found is that most of the other schools teach the course as a business communication skills course, with presentations and business writing assignments. These other syllabi are actually very similar to our Executive Communication course, COM3102.

I have linked to the MIT Managerial Communication course on the History of COM3068 Page. It seems that we have a very different view…