Organizations and Groups Communication

Code:

E403

Acronym:

CGO

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Psychology of Education

Instance: 2011/2012 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Education Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	First degree in Educational Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LCED	69	Official Curricular Structure	2	-	3	-

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Objectives:
-- to recognize communication in groups and organizations as comprising of specific processes;
-- to identify the specific processes present in communication within groups and between groups;
-- to define 'group' from the perspective of the minimal group paradigm;
-- to identify the components and processes (particularly those of personal and social identity) explaining competition between groups;
-- to inventory the conditions inherent to the complementarities among groups and their impact on identities;
-- to describe the relation between cognitive and expressive processes in establishing 'work consensus';
-- to identify the common features of complex organizations;
-- to understand the importance of the triple internal structure of organizational systems in conditioning interpersonal relationships within organizations;
-- to identify the creation of routines in organizations as favouring the circumscription of non-regulated areas of the system;
-- to identify the inherent conditions to leadership and to participation benefitting decision-making in the group;
-- to know the conditions and devices for the exercise of power in organizations.

Competencies:
-- to mediate processes of social and educational intervention by building the necessary synergy for its development and impact;
-- to follow and execute social and educational intervention projects taking into account the role of group and organizational communication in social action;
-- to follow and execute research tasks regarding group and organizational communication as social and educational mediation;
-- to follow and execute training activities taking into account the place of group and organizational communication in the impact of training.

Program

Regarding other related curricular units, this CU is distinnguished by its reference to communication and human relation in itself, i.e. by focusing on organizations and groups from the perspective of communication and human relation. The curricular unit focuses on communication in group settings (formal and informal) and/or organizational contexts from a perspective that brings in the theoretical contributions of Social Psychology and of Psychosociology of Organizations. It gives the students the possibility of contact with the basic theoretical elements of the specificities of communication within groups and organizations; it promotes practical experiences of the associated processes; and, it offers opportunities for analysing those same processes.

Contents:

1. Groups, organizations and communication and human relation
— Communication problems in groups and organizations;
— The issue of communication in groups and organizations;
2. Group interaction and identity
— Definitions and types of groups;
— The minimal group paradigm;
— Social categorization, comparison, belonging and identity;
— Intergroup competition and complementarities;
— Work consensus, identity and tasks;
3. Decision-making and cooperation
— The group, cultures and decision-making;
— Reciprocal trust and consensus;
— Polarization;
— Strategies for improving group decision-making;
4. Organizational systems
— Definitions and types of organizations;
— The triple-structure of formal groups;
— Sources of power in organizations;
— A typology of organizations based on the types of power and interests of those who constitute them;
— Organizations as socio-technical systems;
— Groups within organizations;
5. Leadership
— Functions of leadership;
— Leadership and mediation;
- Leadership and direction;
- Leadership and supervision;

Mandatory literature

MARC, E.; PICARD, D. ; A interacção social. Porto: Rés., Porto: Rés, (1992)
MOSCOVICI, S.; DOISE, W. ; Dissensões e consenso: Uma teoria geral das decisões colectivas. , Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, (1991)
Petit François; Introduction à la psychosociologie des organisations. ISBN: ISBN 2-7089-13328
DOISE, W.& MOSCOVICI, S.; Las decisiones en grupo. In S. Moscovici, Psicología Social. , Barcelona: Paidós., (1986)
Tajfel Henri; Grupos humanos e categorias sociais
Malarewicz Jacques-Antoine; Guide du voyageur perdu dans le dédale des relations humaines. ISBN: 2-7101-0868-2
Littlejohn Stephen W.; Fundamentos teóricos da comunicação humana
Pagès Max; A^vida afetiva dos grupos
Lipiansky Edmond Marc; Identité et communication. ISBN: 2-13-044200-5
MCCALL, G., & SIMMONS, JL. ; Identities and interactions - an examination of human association in everiday life., London: Free Press., 1978
Lopes Maria Amélia da Costa; Libertar o desejo, resgatar a inovação
Jesuíno Jorge Correia; Processos de liderança

Complementary Bibliography

PAGÉS, M., BONETTI, M., GAULEJAC, V. & DESCENDRE, D.; O poder nas organizações, Atlas, 2008. ISBN: 978-85-224-0223-6

Teaching methods and learning activities

Teaching methods for the contact hours:
Lecturing, debate, group dynamics exercises (organized by the lecturer and/or the students), tutorials and evaluation.

Modes of learning during autonomous work hours:
Reading and analysing texts; research on group dynamics, exercises and theoretical issues; producing various types of work.

Software

Não aplicável a esta UC

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Description	Type	Time (hours)	Weight (%)	End date
Attendance (estimated)	Participação presencial	26,00
	Total:	-	0,00

Eligibility for exams

Not disregarding what is stated in nr 4 of art.9 of the evaluation regulations, it is compulsory that students attend 75% of the total number of classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

Participating in group communication dynamics [exercises], assessed using a written report at the end of each class - 15%
Analysing an experienced case of communication in groups or organizations, taking into account the contents of this curricular unit (maximum of 6 pages) - 85%

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students who, by law, do not have to comply with attendance rules will have to perform a test in which they must show they have the knowledge and skills that were previously defined for this curricular unit. They will have to produce a critical synthesis on the contents of this curricular unit, to be delivered one week before the final week of classes and which will account for 100% of the final mark of those students. To have the possibility of being evaluated in this manner, students must contact the lecturer in the first week of classes and negotiate a training plan that can be completed by the mentioned critical synthesis.

Classification improvement

In accordance with the regulations and the principles that must be observed by lecturers, students may request a possibility for improving their mark - a single time per curricular unit and in one of the exams seasons with an exam for that course, immediately after the one in which they completed the curricular unit. Improving the mark will require the students to review/rewrite their individual assignment.