COM495A Interorganizational Communication (Winter 2020, M/W 10:30am-12:20pm).
Course Overview: In today’s world organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors must interact well for the sake of their own organization and societal needs, but they face many challenges in doing so. Students in COM495A Interorganizational Communication will explore the dynamics of interorganizational communication in a discussion-based seminar centered in theory and praxis. Students will participate in facilitating discussions regarding theoretical frameworks and concepts drawn from multiple disciplines, applying them to real-world instances of interorganizational communication, and developing communication strategies for interorganizational interactions.
The centerpiece of the course will be a 5-week simulation in which each student takes a role in a mock multi-organization community task force, situated in a fictional mountain town, that negotiates the creation of a fire-fighting safety plan. Through this 5-phase simulation, students will apply knowledge gained from course readings, and develop skills in assessing other stakeholders’ needs and motives, building alliances, communicating constructively through disagreements, and negotiating multilateral agreements for the collective good.
Registration for COM495B is by add code only. To enroll, email Erika Samson [samsonej@uw.edu] with your student number, telling her that you are a graduate student– and cc me [kfoot@uw.edu]. Erika will enroll the first five graduate students who contact her into the course.
