STR461 Strategic and Political Communication

• Topics

  "Ich bin ein Berliner", "Make America great again", "The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says ‘Go!’ - a leader says, ‘Let’s go!’."

  Why do phrases like these imply more than just the sum of their individual words? Why do they have an impact on our perception of issues, our emotions and actions? This course will raise your awareness of how language is used to achieve corporate, political, sustainability-related and other goals and teach you how to achieve effective communication in professional contexts.

  The overarching approach in the course is related to communication. Recent reports, such as the Future of jobs 2020 report, show that communication is among the key skills needed in the future workplace, for managers as well as staff (World Economic Forum). This is especially true in light of ongoing challenges such as the climate crisis, the pandemic, technological disruptions, etc. (OECD).

  A key point in business communication is to think consciously about who we are communicating with and why, as well as the conventions associated with different communicative genres and styles. Both written and oral instances of communication - together referred to as texts or verbal communication - will be considered in the course, along with some reflections related to visual communication in the form of pictures.

• Learning outcome

  Knowledge

  The candidate has

  ・developed a consciousness about how language is used in strategic and political communication.

  ・knowledge about how corporate and political agents communicate in order to reach strategic and political goals.

  ・knowledge about how text and pictures are used in communication on different digital platforms.

  ・ an understanding of why knowledge about strategic forms of communication is important.

  ・knowledge about different theoretical models for analyzing texts.

   

  Skills

  The candidate will be able to

  ・identify language features used strategically in written or oral texts.

  ・produce professional texts of different types.

  ・use tools to analyze such texts quantitatively and qualitatively.

  ・adapt texts to different target audiences.

  ・communicate about sensitive topics, within a company, to politicians and to media.

   

  General competence

  The candidate can

  ・produce their own and evaluate others’ texts within strategic and political communication.

  ・apply methods introduced in the course to new text types and areas.

• Teaching

  The course will be a combination of lectures, casework and written/oral activities.

• Recommended prerequisites

  None. 

• Credit reduction due to overlap

  None.

• Compulsory Activity

  Students must attend at least 75 per cent of the lectures. 

• Assessment

  A portfolio (mappe) consisting of 2 written and 2 oral assignments in addition to a reflection text (refleksjonsnotat), where the student reflects upon their own learning process. One written and one oral assignment will be group-based.

  The whole portfolio must be submitted in the same semester. A retake implies submitting the whole portfolio again.

• Grading Scale

  A-F

• Computer tools

  Laptop/tablet will be needed in class. 

• Literature

  Readings will consist of a selection of articles and book chapters that will be made available in due course.