Organizational Communication

The Organizational Communication area focuses on the various ways in which we produce, enact, and generally conduct our lives in various organizational contexts. We explore organizations at the interpersonal, cultural, and social levels, with emphasis on creating ethical, constructive communities in both for profit and non-profit settings.

The Faculty

The organizational communication faculty use a variety of methods—including rhetorical, qualitative, and quantitative—to explore organizational communication phenomena. They explore topics such as socialization processes, power in organizations, identity, identification, emotion management, and managing destructive workplace processes.

Graduate Program

Graduate Coursework

The coursework is designed to provide both breadth and depth of knowledge about organizational communication. The classes explore the various ways in which we can define organizational communication, the ways in which organizations themselves are a product of communication. The courses also examine intimate and significant communication processes by which we are defined and define ourselves as organizational members. The research collaborations between faculty and students have resulted in numerous publications in scholarly journals.

Selected Graduate Course List

You will work with your committee to develop a program of study that is unique to your interests. More courses are available in the course catalog.

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Required Communication Courses

8000 Communication Pro-Sem
8120 Introduction to Communication Research Methods
9280 Seminar in Communication Theory

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Specialized Communication Courses

8410 Seminar in Organizational Communication
9430 Topics in Organizational Communication (Topics vary and course may be repeated)
Topic 1: Power in Organizations
Topic 2: Organizational Rhetoric
Topic 3: Identity and Stigma in Organizations
9170 Research Practicum
8310 Seminar in Relational Communication
9330 Topics in Interpersonal Communication
9610 Seminar in Disaster, Crisis, and Risk

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Outside Courses

Human Development and Family Studies

8620 Work and Family Seminar
8630 Gendered Relations in Families
8770 Poverty

Management

8370 Managerial Leadership
9020 Seminar in Micro Organizational Behavior
9030 Seminar in Macro Organizational Behavior
9050 Seminar in Organizational Theory

Public Affairs

8520 Human Resources Management
8620 Organizational Analysis and Change

Sociology

7500 Sociology of Social Policy
7320 Culture, Identity, and Interaction
8087 Critical Race Theory
9525 Culture, Difference, and Inequality

Women’s and Gender Studies

7110 Feminist Research and Criticism
8020 Graduate Feminist Theory
8040 Seminar: Problems & Issues in Feminist Scholarship

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Method Courses

8120 Seminar in Quantitative Methods in Communication
8130 Seminar in Qualitative Methods in Communication (Topics vary and course can be repeated)
A-Narrative theory and Grounded Theory
B-Ethnography and Phenomenology
8140 Content Analysis
8160 Rhetorical Criticism
JOURN 8010 Advanced Qualitative Methods in Journalism
ESC_PS 8610 Quantitative Methods in Educational Research I
ESC_PS 8620 Quantitative Methods in Educational Research II
ESC_PS 8630 Qualitative Research in Education I
PSYCH 9320 Social Psychology Methodology
SOC 8187 Seminar on Interview Theory and Techniques