EEU416 CRISIS! Communicating Reputation Issues Sustainably in Intercultural Settings

• Topics

  CRISIS! — Communicating Reputation Issues and Sustainability in Intercultural Settings is an interdisciplinary and intercultural course addressing key societal issues such as communicating sustainability, tackling ESG and CSR crises, and enhancing intercultural communication skills. The course examines the complexities of reputation management and crisis communication in multicultural environments, with an emphasis on sustainable and ethical approaches.

  CRISIS! is an ENGAGE.EU signature course. The course is fully online, bringing together students from NHH (Norway), University of National and World Economy (UNWE, Bulgaria) and Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU, Austria). You will collaborate in multicultural virtual teams to work through a case and develop and communicate solutions to real-world problems.  

  You will first learn about the context-sensitive theoretical foundations of effective intercultural communication, crisis communication, and sustainability communication. You will then apply this knowledge in a hands-on group project simulating a sustainability-related crisis scenario. As well as producing communication strategies and texts, you will also reflect on your experiences and on your own and your peers’ communication and teamwork throughout the project.

  You will develop key skills in media strategy, stakeholder engagement, narrative framing, and scenario planning. The course highlights the importance of cultural sensitivity, sustainability, and ethical responsibility, encouraging you to craft communication strategies that respect local values and global standards. Emphasis is placed on long-term reputation sustainability, but also on short-term damage control, fostering a holistic understanding of crisis dynamics.

  By the end of the course, students will be equipped to design and implement effective, culturally aware communication strategies that uphold organizational integrity and foster resilient stakeholder relationships during crises.

• Learning outcome

  Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

  Knowledge

  • identify relevant ethical and cultural considerations when handling crisis communication to ensure that responses fulfil social expectations

  • analyze media strategies, including the use of digital and traditional platforms, to manage reputation issues across diverse stakeholder groups

  • apply theoretical knowledge on intercultural, crisis and sustainability communication in a hands-on, online, collaborative, case-based project 

  Skills

  • demonstrate effective intercultural virtual teamwork and produce effective messages  

  • critically evaluate crisis communication strategies used in real-world scenarios, and demonstrate the ability to apply crisis communication response strategies, adapting messaging and tone in evolving situations 

  • reflect on the role of sustainability and social responsibility in crisis communication, avoiding practices such as greenwashing and promoting long-term organizational legitimacy

  General Competence

  • reflect on your own and others’ communicative practices in intercultural contexts and approaches relating to sustainability issues and crisis communication 

  • give effective presentations for an intercultural audience in English and offer constructive peer feedback  

• Teaching

  The entire course will take place online using virtual collaboration tools (e.g. Zoom/MS Teams). The course comprises three key elements:

  • live, interactive lectures discussing the theoretical foundations of sustainability, crisis and intercultural communication
  • a practical, online team project where students will work together in multicultural teams to develop a sustainability communication strategy and design a set of communication tactics in response to a crisis scenario
  • presentation of your projects and reflections on your own and your teammates’ communication and collaboration.

  The teaching sessions will take place in March-April. The teaching hours are 60 minutes and start on the hour.

• Restricted access

  EEU416 is an ENGAGE.EU signature course, and is offered to students from the Norwegian School of Economics (Norway), University of National and World Economy (UNWE, Bulgaria) and Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU, Austria).

  The enrollment capacity is limited to 10 students from each partner institution.

• Compulsory Activity

  • Compulsory participation in 80% of classes.
  • Active participation (including the team building activity and submission of a draft plan) is required.

  Approved compulsory activities are only valid for the semester in which they were completed.

• Assessment

  Portfolio consisting of:

  • Crisis communication plan (group) (counts approximately 10%)
  • Implementation and report (group) (counts approximately 30%)

  • Group presentation (individual assessment) (counts approximately 20%)

  • Peer feedback (group) (counts approximately 10%)

  • Learning diary with reflection (individual) (counts approximately 30%)

  Group assignments will be submitted by the student groups consisting of 3-5 members. All components must be completed in the same semester, and it is not possible to retake the individual elements separately. The assessment result cannot be appealed as the portfolio includes both written and oral components.

• Grading Scale

  A-F

• Literature

  A selection of book chapters and articles will be made available on the learning platform of WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business).