Module Overview CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS. Personal Information

Transcription

1 CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS MODULE OUTLINE DURATION: 22 nd July to 9 th August 2013: 6 sessions of two hours MODULE LEADER: David Kirkham, TD, BA, MSc, PhD E: [email protected] T: +44 (0) Personal Information David Kirkham obtained his PhD in risk and crisis management at the Management School of the University of Liverpool (ULMS). He has studied at Cambridge and London Universities and has completed an MSc in Development Management with the Open University. He has taught on under- and post-graduate management programmes at Liverpool and has lectured at Sheffield and Ulster Universities. He has led modules at the Laureate Summer School for the last five years. His early career as a journalist led to his setting up a PR consultancy, dealing with marketing, public relations, road shows and advertising. His company is currently sponsoring academic research into the corporate use of the social media. He has considerable experience working with those from different cultures and those whose first language is not English, because he has worked in 40 countries in five continents, across all business sectors and in the public sector. Module Overview Corporate communications is taking on yet greater importance in the digital age and many companies are lagging behind their customers and publics in their use of new and exciting communication channels. This module gives you the practical techniques and tips that the textbooks and universities don t tell you about. The programme will challenge your communication skills in a non-threatening environment but it s still fun and will help your future career in the private or public sectors, and not just as communications specialists. Most corporate communications are static and uni-directional but this module will provide the paradigms, the skills and techniques to guide you towards greater dialogue with all the stakeholders who affect or are affected by your organization and its activities.

2 Module Aims To develop practical knowledge and skills in: The nature of the media and developments in form and content of new media The visual, aural and written aspects of corporate communications The who, what, why, when, where and how of public relations Stakeholder engagement, issue management and cross cultural communication Internal communications, corporate identity, video production, intranet design and death by PowerPoint. Social media communications Module Learning Objectives At the end of the module, students will be able to: Appreciate the requirements and styles of different media Identify where they need to improve their communication skills Develop a public relations programme Draft news releases, organise news conferences, prepare corporate presentations Analyse stakeholder salience and plan engagement with key stakeholders Develop a scheme for issue and reputation management Organise internal communications (video, intranet and staff communications) Appreciate the issues in cross-cultural communication Identify cultural variations for international product marketing Teaching The module uses academic theories but turns them into useable tools, techniques and methods for the real-world. Teaching will be predominantly by inter-active presentations and practical exercises, supported by case studies. Teaching style will take the form of workshops, group work and student presentations. In every session there will be practical simulation exercise requiring the participation of all students. The module will be assessed by group presentations around a corporate PR, marketing or staff communications campaign.

3 Module Structure Session 1 Corporate communications and the media i. Who are the media and how do they work? ii. What changes have digital media made to the corporate response? SMS, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and YouTube The use and abuse of digital technology iii. Deconstructing a printed business news story iv. Barriers to communication v. Giving interviews Preparing for and giving an interview. Every student will do an interview on camera, either as an interviewee or an interviewer. (This will continue during the first part of Session 2) Session 2 Public and government relations i. Who are publics? ii. News releases, video news releases iii. Corporate presentations and death by PowerPoint iv. Cross-cultural communications v. Government relations vi. Building trust and social capital between organisations An extended business simulation game involving competing teams working in a multicultural context. The game (Pasta Wars) explores trust and social capital in doing business. You don t have to like pasta to succeed in this game! Session 3 Corporate identity and visual communications i. Principles of visual communications ii. The use of symbols iii. The psychology of colour

4 iv. Influencing people s attitudes v. Logo-jacking vi. Visual analysis of an advertisement vii. Cultural variations in international product marketing In the much-neglected field of visual communications, this practical exercise involves competitive pitching for a company s corporate identity contract as one of four/five advertising and PR agencies. Session 4 Stakeholder engagement i. Definitions of stakeholder ii. Analysing stakeholders iii. Engaging with stakeholders iv. Dealing with pressure groups v. The nature of an issue and its growth into a problem vi. The issue life cycle Using specially designed templates and display boards, student teams will analyse stakeholders and develop a stakeholder communications plan for a specific business context. Session 5 The Social Media i. An quick analysis of the social media from a corporate perspective ii. Differentiating uses of Blogs, Twitter and Facebook iii. A Blog Mediated Communications model iv. Using social media for staff communications (podcasts) v. Case studies in the use of social media Using a unique and recently developed Social Media Simulator, competing teams will run a digital campaign using a full range of social media and interacting with their publics in real-time. (Student should bring their own ipads and laptops to gain the most benefit from this simulation)

5 Session 6 The Student Project A competitive group presentation around a corporate PR, marketing or staff communications campaign.