Should it prove to be impossible to have unlimited access to the WU Campus, the class will be held in a rotation mode. This means that the students registered for this course will be divided into two groups of equal size, as will the lecture time of each session. One group will be taught during the first half of each of the ten sessions, and the second group during the second half. During the time not spent in class, students will have to work on presentations related to the topic of the course and upload them on Learn@WU, so that they can discuss them together with their fellow-students in small groups.

The course introduces students to the study of international business communication. Grounded firmly in both linguistics and organisational discourse studies, the approach we will take is interdisciplinary, reflexive and critical. The questions to be addressed include the following: What does it mean, in both theoretical and practical terms, to look at management and organisation from a language and communication perspective? How can adopting such a vantage point contribute to managerial effectiveness in international settings? What mindset, knowledge and tools do researchers and practitioners need to understand and improve communication processes?

The overall aim of the course is to lay the conceptual and methodological groundwork for the Spezialisierung. Having attended and successfully passed the course, students will be able to:

• Appreciate the key role played by language and communication in management and organisational life.
• Recognise the relevance of linguistic choices for attaining communicative goals in international settings.
• Explain what adopting a critical stance towards language and communication means in the context of management and organisation.
• Recognise the challenges involved in collecting, analysing and interpreting language data.
• Distinguish between popular and scholarly approaches to language and communication.
• Present and write up their own research in English.

As with all PI courses, you are required to be present for each session. You may miss up to two meetings of the PI. This means that if no Covid-restrictions are implemented, and all sessions can be taught with all students present, you may miss five hours of the course. In case of restrictions, the PI will be held in a rotation mode (for further information see below and on the WU website) and you may therefore miss up to 2.5 hours of the course. These conditions apply whatever the reasons for your absences may be.

The course combines mini lectures, student presentations, critical thinking exercises and hands-on analyses. During input sessions on linguistic and communicative strategies, as well as on critical thinking and academic writing, you will actively participate in discussion, and critically reflect on the concepts introduced.

Furthermore, in groups of three to four people, you will analyse, critically evaluate and present a study in the field of international business communication. Through doing this, you will be able to apply what you have learnt about academic and critical thinking and will become experts in one of the “focus” topics of the course [communication, language and 1) identity; 2) persuasion; or 3) power]. Further information about these group presentations and the individual written review will be provided in the first class.

• Participation in class (20%)
• Presentation of a journal article on the expert topic (in groups of three to four students) (40%)
• Written review of the journal article (40%)

For information on the specialization in "International Business Communicaiton" - including organizational aspects regarding admission - please see here.

We will assume that students have done the course “Introduction to Business Communication”. Those that have not may find it useful to familiarise themselves with the material covered by the relevant coursebook (Mautner/Ross/Komori-Glatz/Kopf, Introduction to Business Communication), which is available from the facultas bookshop on campus (http://mb000041.host.inode.at/f-erstsemfor.php?listNR=2).

gerlinde.mautner@wu.ac.at