Communication Management and Leadership (COMU7400)

An in-class quiz, comprising of multiple choice questions, will be administered during the seminars in Weeks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 & 9.

As there will be no quiz in Week 1, the 6 quizzes will cover lecture material from Weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9. See learning activities table for more information.

This is an in-class only activity for which you must be present. Each quiz will be worth 5 marks, and each question is worth 1 mark, and thus, there will be a total of 30 questions over 6 quizzes, worth 30% of the course grade.

The quiz will be made available in class only at the end of every lecture via Blackboard - Assessment - Quizzes (in-class assessment). You will have a 10-minute window to complete the quiz, in an invigilated environment. The password will be provided in class.

Students are reminded to bring their own device to class in order to complete the quizzes on Blackboard. These are closed book quizzes with no other study materials permitted.

This assessment task is to be completed in-person. This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

THIS PORTFOLIO TASK IS THE FIRST PART OF TWO TASKS WITH THIS BEING THE PROPOSAL AND THE SECOND BEING THE FULL REPORT SUBMISSION (NEXT ASSESSMENT TASK IN THE LIST OF ASSESSMENTS FOR THIS COURSE). PLEASE READ INFORMATION ON BOTH TASKS CAREFULLY AT THIS STAGE ITSELF.

PROPOSAL IS WORTH 10% OF COURSE GRADE AND FOLLOWING FULL RESEARCH REPORT IS WORTH 20% OF COURSE GRADE = 30%.

RESEARCH REPORT PROPOSAL

How to choose a topic:

To begin, you should spend at least two hours looking at this semester’s topics and the reading lists. If you see something that seems relevant for your future career, download it, and scan read it (no more than 5-10 minutes for each paper you download).

Clearly identify a topic and write a proposal that makes a proposition of a generic topic and supports it.

Here are some examples of research topics in propositional form:

• Covid has changed the nature of organizations in a way that requires communication managers to adapt to new organizational processes.
• Because the cultural characteristics of contemporary China are different from the West, communication managers need to be careful in choosing how to conduct communication practices within an organization.
• Managers play an important role in assimilating and acculturating new employees to an organization.
• Managers need to work closely with management to ensure that their ESG reports are not simply greenwashing.
• As the concept of leadership has moved from command-and-control to authentic leadership, the style of communication must also adapt.

Once you have identified a topic, prepare your proposal submission for Week 6 via Turnitin.

Submission Format for proposal in Week 6:

1. Please use Times New Roman 12 point font with 1.5 line spacing.
2. Include your full name and student number & Title of Topic
3. Brief statement of issues involved (about 150 words) plus five references that seem relevant at this stage.
4. Use APA (7th) referencing.
5. Submit/Upload as a WORD file (not PDF) via Turnitin.

You will receive feedback on the topic via your Turnitin submission. Once the topic is approved, you must stick to the same, and you may begin the research process keeping in mind that the final report due date. More on that below.

Instructions for the full/final paper are listed below. Grading rubric is on Blackboard .

Submission Format for final Report due in Week 11:

1. Please use Times New Roman 12 point font with 1.5 line spacing.
2. Include your full name and student number & Title of Topic.
3. Use APA (7th) referencing.

Research Report (Submit as Word doc via Turnitin - PDF not permitted)

Genre: This is a research paper genre. This means that you will make a proposition at the start of the paper that you will support by drawing on relevant academic research to create clear, linked paragraphs. This is a short literature review - it is not a position paper where you present your personal views only.

Research Paper Topic

For the previous task (i.e., proposal) you will have a topic that has been approved within the proposal assessment task. You now must write a short literature review report on this approved topic that supports your proposition (based on academic sources/literature).

You may use up to four course readings in a total of 10-12 academic sources. Unless they are important seminal articles, try to use sources published within the past 9 years (2015). Most should be from academic communication and/or management journals; but other articles/books may be used [Seminal means Strongly influencing later developments. Research that remains strongly influential in contemporary research]. Newspaper articles, news stories, wikipedia do not constitute academic research.

You should ensure that your paragraphs are properly organized. For assistance on paragraphing seek advice from McKenna et al (2007) Corporate Communication : Effective Techniques for Business (2nd ed) which is available in the library. This book also has a chapter on Essays, Literature Reviews, and Research papers (Ch 9).

• Write 1,000 words (5% tolerance) excluding references (typed, double-spaced)
• Follow APA 6th/7th edition format guidelines
• Include at least 10 academic references
• Include up to five subheadings to aid your reader in following your argument
• Follow APA student sample paper available here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_sample_paper.html
• Submission accepted only in WORD (no PDFs allowed)

Sections of Research Paper

• Statement of Relevance: Before you begin the paper, you must write no more than 100 words explaining why you chose this topic in terms of its relevance to your future career. This is not assessed as it simply provides the reader with an understanding of your position as the writer.
• Abstract: In this section you provide a short summary of around 100-150 words describing what was done and what was found. (This is not included in the word count) See https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html for how to write an abstract
• Introduction: This section provides an introduction to your paper. You should identify the focus of your paper, describe the theories or concepts that you are focusing on, and outline how your paper will evolve. (Note that it is acceptable to use first person (I, me, my) and that you will still be expected to insert references if needed.
• Body: In this section you will elaborate the proposition in paragraph 1. There should be about four or five points in support of your proposition. If you have more than this, then you haven’t organised your material effectively. Ensure that there is a topic sentence when you introduce each supporting point (https://purdueglobalwriting.center/topic-sentence-and-paragraph-organization/). Some points may need two or three paragraphs to develop, so it really assists the reader if you use cues like “First, second … “ or the “The major cause of …” . Then another paragraph beginning “A second cause of “ 
• Conclusion: This often the most difficult to write. A good way to write this paragraph is to go back to the beginning: “This paper set out to … “. Then you can briefly summarise the (up to) five points you made. Finally, you should acknowledge that you haven’t been able to cover everything by identifying areas of interest that may be relevant.

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct. 

You are required to make a 3-minute elevator pitch presentation as if you are taking part in a job interview.

Presentations will happen only during class time in Weeks 11, 12 and Week 13. There may be some variation to this depending on student enrollment numbers in this course. If any change is necessitated, the same will be communicated to you by the course coordinator well in advance.

The purpose of the presentation is to provide a practice arena for how to communicate and present yourself putting your 'best foot forward' to make the best impression as you graduate and (re)enter the job market.

You will deliver it in person without technical aids or reading from any written script. Presentations will be recorded for marking purposes and associated records. A staff member from Student Enrichment and Employability might also be present to give feedback.

Numerous learning resources are available on the course BB site to assist with this assessment task. More task details will follow in Blackboard in week 7.

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct. 

Recording of Oral and Practical Assessment

• All presentations will be recorded for marking purposes via recording facilities available where the assessment takes place (eg. ECHO360, Zoom, camera device).
• Recordings will be retained by the School of Communication and Arts for at least 12 months from the release of the final grade for the course.
• Recordings will be stored in a secure manner and will only be accessed by authorised school staff for the purposes of:
• Moderation of marking;
• Provision of feedback to the student(s) recorded; and/or
• Re-marking following a successful re-mark application.

The purpose of the End-of-Semester Examination is to test your knowledge and understanding of the issues covered in this course -- in lectures and specified reading material. Accordingly, the examination will cover topics taught in lectures and specified topics taken from any specified reading material.

The examination will be conducted at a time and place determined by the University's Examination department during the University's designated End-of-Semester examination period block (UQ Central will release the timetable and the same is not under my control).

UQ has rolled out a new online assessment tool, Inspera Assessment. Inspera Assessment provides additional functionality to complement the existing suite of digital learning tools at UQ with a greater range of question types, accessibility provisions, and non-English languages.

Inspera Assessment will be used in this COMU7400 exam in the form of an invigilated, on-campus digital exam, which students will complete using their own device (or a loaned device from the UQ Library). Refer to Inspera Assessment whcih includes an introduction to Inspera functionality and where to go for support. Further information will be provided on the Blackboard site for this course during the semester, and practice exam opportunity will be available in Week 10.

The exam questions will test your comprehension of the major ideas and debates covered in the course, as well as your ability to think critically about them and to apply the skills and understanding you have developed to different examples or contexts. More details will be made available during the seminar and on Blackboard

Materials permitted into the exam will be a laptop/approved device that is compatible with Inspera (no other materials permitted).

PLEASE NOTE: This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.