UCL - Internal communication

[COMU2610]

[30h] 5 credits

Teacher(s): Andrea Catellani

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

At the end of this course, the student will be able of:
- to include/understand the role and the place of the communication within the organizations;
- to discern phenomena and practical of internal communication;
- to identify the principal tools and techniques of internal communication and to include/understand their logic;
- to discern the various methods of analysis from the internal communication;
- to understand the ethical aspects related to the internal communication

Main themes

This course will show the principal stakes of the communication interns, by focusing its aiming on the various parameters influencing the culture of the organizations, the organisational image and their identity.

Content and teaching methods

The course will introduce the principals themes of contemporary internal communication. It will present the legal and deontological fundamental aspects of this communication form, and the crucial steps of its historical development (for instance, the passage from business journalism to integrated communication).
It will help the students in understanding politics of internal communication, by introducing, with the help of concrete examples:
- the objectives of internal communication;
- its different organised circuits;
- the different media involved (written, oral, and linked to the new technologies of information and communication);
- analysis and audit methods of internal communication.
The course will deal with the theme of tensions existing inside organisations between their internal partners (staff, direction, unions, etc.), and with the theme of the relation between internal communication, organisational culture and cultural change.
A series of scientific categories (in particular, semiotic and anthropologic) will be introduced, as useful tools for the analysis of the stakes and politics of internal communication.
The course will be articulated in different parts: presentation of themes and categories, exposition of concrete examples, participations of professionals.
The course will be coordinated with the seminar of internal communication's analysis.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

The course takes place over fifteen two-hour sessions.

Course requirements: basic notions on the most important theories of information and communication.

Assessment: written exam (individual research work).

Support: notes by the lecturers, and bibliographic references given during the course.

Documentation Website:
Belgian association of Internal Communication: www.abci.org
French association of Internal Communication: www.afci.asso.fr
3C (Corporate Communications Community): www.3c.be

Meetings with professionals are scheduled.