COMMUNICATION 5814 (CRN 60439)

TOPICAL SEMINAR: CORPORATE COMMUNICATION FOR MANAGERS

Department of Communication
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Summer 1 2017
Douglas F. Cannon, Ph.D., APR+M, Fellow PRSA 6-10 p.m.
dfcannon@vt.edu Tuesday/Wednesday
106 Shanks Hall, Blacksburg, 540-231-2331 113 Northern Virginia Center
Office Hours: Wednesday, 3-5 p.m., Northern Virginia Center
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Designed for students outside communication, this course introduces public relations as a
management function. Students explore the strategic role of public relations in building corporate
reputation and protecting goodwill. Sessions examine how relationships beyond company-customer
transactions foster trust and organizational relevance. Topics include executive and organizational
image, communication strategy, media relations, community relations, employee communication,
investor relations, government relations/ public affairs, and emergency/crisis communication. Pre:
Graduate standing.
OVERVIEW:
The course adds reputation-management fundamentals and in-depth knowledge about public
relations as a management function to the business theories and practices that MBA students study.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Direct development of corporate public relations plans.
Oversee implementation of coordinated efforts to manage corporate image, reputation, and
goodwill.
Assess effectiveness of strategic communication efforts with specific business publics:
employees, investors, community leaders, neighbors, customers, and journalists.
Detect and report illegal and unethical corporate communication practices.
REQUIRED TEXT:
Argenti, P. A. (2016). Corporate communication (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Other readings will be distributed in class and through the class Canvas site.
HONOR CODE:
The Virginia Tech Graduate Honor Code covers all aspects of this course and will be enforced. Any
suspected Honor Code violations will be promptly reported to the Graduate Honor System.
STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS:
If you have special needs, if you have emergency medical information to share or if you need special
arrangements during a building evacuation, please inform me during the first week of class.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Discussion participation: 10 percent
Discussion leadership: 25 percent
10 100-word summaries: 35 percent
Term project: 30 percent

COMM 5814, Summer 1 2017, Cannon, Page 1

Discussion participation: Students should be prepared to discuss the subjects of the day. Prepared
means being familiar enough with assigned readings to analyze content, synthesize
concepts, ask probing questions, and apply material to personal business situations.
Discussion leadership teams: Two-student teams will lead discussions of case examples during
Weeks 2 through 6. Team members will share two roles: discussion leader and discussant.
Each role has specific responsibilities (see below). Team members will need to coordinate
their presentations in advance. Team members should use audiovisual resources to support
their presentations and may distribute topic summaries, discussion guides, or discussion
questions.
a. The discussion leader summarizes key points from an assigned case (from the textbook
or other source), introduces additional related concepts, and asks questions that prompt
other students to discuss what they have read. The discussion leaders goal is to generate
interaction that lets class members show how they have analyzed content (such as
information related to corporate image, reputation, and goodwill), synthesized ideas, and
determined how those ideas might apply to business situations (such as interaction with
key publics).
b. The discussant is first to respond to the original presentation. That response may
augment the presentation, add a different perspective on the topic (such as additional
strategic considerations), or introduce concepts that the discussion leader may not have
included (such as ethical considerations). The discussant should introduce another case
example and use it to compare or contrast points in the original case. (The original
discussion leader becomes discussant for this second case.) The discussant should
stimulate further interest in the material students have read.
100-word summaries of readings: Students will submit a summary of each chapter in Corporate
Communication. Each summary will run no longer than 100 words. The goal is to synthesize
the key concept or concepts you want to remember. The 10 summaries should be a
resource for future work and decision-making.
Term project: Each student will analyze the corporate communication function at a business. The
analysis will consider the organization of the function, reporting relationships, range of
activities and responsibilities (research, planning, implementation, evaluation), interactions
with key publics, strategic role, strategic contributions, and effectiveness in influencing
organizational reputation. This project is due June 28. Besides submitting a paper, each
student will do an oral presentation on his/her project during the last class session. As part of
these presentations, students should distribute one-page summaries of their projects.
GRADING SCALE:
A (Excellent) 4.0 B (Good) 3.0 C (Fair) 2.0
Written assignment submissions: All assignments will be submitted through Canvas. Please use
12-point Times New Roman font in Microsoft Word documents. The work you submit should
reflect your professionalism. Carefully proof all work. Typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical
errors will lower your grade.
Written assignment grading criteria
A: Ready for release to corporate executives, the public, broadcast outlets, or publications. (1)
Demonstrates thorough understanding of context, readership, and purpose. (2) Presents
COMM 5814, Summer 1 2017, Cannon, Page 2
 accurate and well-focused information appropriate to the assignment. (3) Clearly supports
arguments or presentation points. (4) Skillfully uses high-quality, credible, relevant sources
to develop concepts appropriate to the assignment. (5) Clear, concise, correct writing. No
basic grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, or other writing errors.
B: Generally clear but are not ready for release to corporate executives, the public, broadcast
outlets, or publications without minor edits. (1) Demonstrates adequate consideration of
context, readership, and purpose. (2) Presents accurate information appropriate to the
assignment. (3) Adequately supports arguments or presentation points. (4) Consistently uses
credible, relevant sources to develop ideas appropriate to the assignment. (5) While content
is good and writing is straightforward, B papers contain 2 to 5 grammatical, spelling, or
other writing errors.
C: Not ready for release to corporate executives, the public, broadcast outlets, or publications
without major editing. (1) Demonstrates awareness of context, readership, and purpose. (2)
Presents accurate information. (3) Provides some support for arguments or presentation
points. (4) Attempts to use credible, relevant sources to develop ideas appropriate to the
assignment. (5) But content is not clear, concise, or correct. C papers contain 6 or more
writing errors.
F: Not ready for release to corporate executives or anyone else without major rewriting. (1)
Demonstrates minimal attention to context, readership, and purpose. (2) Includes inaccurate
information. (3) Offers inadequate support for arguments or presentation points. (4)
Demonstrates an attempt to use sources to support ideas appropriate to the assignment. (5)
But content is confusing and contains too many errors.
Case presentation grading rubric (yes/no):
Introduction: Gains attention, connects listeners to case topic, establishes case relevance
and presenter credibility.
Thesis statement/nut graph/presentation overview: Establishes objective for presentation,
puts case into context of course/topic for week, and gives overview of main points.
Relevance/accuracy: Connects case points to course concepts and student interests.
Presents accurate information.
Organization/delivery: Moves logically through topics. Main points (points to remember)
are distinct from supporting material. Establishes connection to audience through eye
contact (not reading from notes, cards, or slides), conversational speaking rate, voice tone,
and English fluency.
Audiovisual support: Uses aids effectively to enhance communication (reinforce oral
communication), not as a crutch or a visual distraction.
Term project grading rubric (yes/no):
Paper considers organization of corporate communication function: reporting
relationships, range of activities and responsibilities (20%).
Paper assesses corporate communication practice: Interactions with publics, strategic
role with and contributions to organization, effectiveness in influencing reputation and
goodwill (20%).
Writing demonstrates thorough understanding of subject and presents accurate, well-

COMM 5814, Summer 1 2017, Cannon, Page 3

 organized information (15%).
Citations are accurate, adequate, and appropriate for documenting information in text
(10%).
Writing is clear, concise, and correct and includes no basic grammar, spelling,
punctuation, syntax, or other errors (10%).
Oral presentation adequately summarizes case: introduction, thesis statement, relevance,
delivery, audiovisual support (15%).
One-page case summary covers key points (10%).
CLASS SCHEDULE:
Week 1: May 23-24: The corporate communication function. Communicating strategically (public
relations planning).
READ: Chapters 2 & 3; Argenti, Howell, & Beck (2005), The strategic
communication imperative; Garcia (2012), Warfighting principles for
leadership communication; Pay (2017), What is PR; Burson (2004), Is
public relations now too important to be left to public relations
professionals?; Forbes Communication Council (2016), 6 things most
businesses dont understand about PR; Griesel (2016), The value of
consistent corporate communication; Weiner (2015), The duality gap
in corporate public relations; Duggan (2017), The evolution of public
relations; Arenstein (2017), Integration of corporate functions
remains elusive.
Examples: PwC, United Airlines
Week 2: May 30-31: Changing environment for business: Opinions about business, MBAs.
Opinions about public relations. Ethics.
READ: Chapter 1; Sweeney (2017), Richard Edelman on Americas trust
crisis; Economist (2010), Rise of the image men; McCormick (2010),
PRSA response to The Economist; Hutton (2001), Defining the
relationship between public relations and marketing; Edelman (2011),
Marketing 3.0 and the mischaracterization of public relations;
Lukazewski (2011), Chief integrity officer is tailor made for PR;
Marx (2011), The truth about public relations; Neill (2013), PR
professionals are not yes men when pressured to be unethical;
Penning (2013), Is PR your organizations conscience?; Schmidt
(2016), Many corporate leaders lack communications skills; Bowen
(2016), PR has been vindicated.
Cases: Google Inc. (pp. 17-23), Carson Container Co. (pp. 46-47) & Sweet
Leaf Tea (pp. 69-71).
Week 3: June 6-7: Identity, image, reputation, goodwill. Corporate social responsibility.
READ: Chapters 4 & 5; Argenti (2004), Collaborating with activists: How
Starbucks works with NGOs; Campbell (2017), How search and
social define reputation today; Cundick (2017), How to build a great
corporate narrative that people use; Conner (2016), Selling by
storytelling.
Cases: JetBlue (pp. 105-110), Starbucks (pp. 144-148) & Patagonia CSR (pdf).
COMM 5814, Summer 1 2017, Cannon, Page 4
Week 4: June 13-14: Media relations. Internal communication.
READ: Chapters 6 & 7; State of workplace communications 2017.
Cases: Coors Brewing (pp. 171-178), Westwood Publishing (pp. 197-199) &
Cavalier approach to LeBron James (pdf).
Week 5: June 20-21: Investor relations. Government relations.
READ: Chapters 8 & 9
Cases: Steelcase (pp. 221-226), Disney (pp. 240-252) & Sea World
Blackfish response (pdf).
Week 6: June 27-28: Crisis Communication. Term projects due. Project reports.
READ: Chapter 10
Case: Coca-Cola India (pp. 281-297) & Measles outbreak at Disneyland
(pdf).
NOTE: This course schedule is subject to change as the term progresses. Class dynamics may
dictate more or less time for some topics.
Copyright 2017 by Douglas F. Cannon
Lectures, written materials, audiovisual presentations and online resources presented, used or distributed during this
class are the instructors intellectual property. They may not be duplicated without the copyright holders advance
written permission and may not be used for any commercial purpose. Students are expressly forbidden from selling
course materials or resources to any organization that makes the information available to students for study guides.

COMM 5814, Summer 1 2017, Cannon, Page 5