Description of the Ph.D. programme in Strategic Communication Management
Ph.D students in Business Administration who specialize in communication will be affiliated with the section of strategic communication, which is part of the Department of Marketing & Management, located at the Odense campus.
Today, organizations of all types are expected to present themselves convincingly in their surroundings both rhetorically and aesthetically, to articulate strategic visions and goals in persuasive terms, to integrate their members around shared values and symbols of identification - often across physical and cultural distances, to predict and shape attitudes and demands from an increasing number of shareholders, and to manage the relationship between different media. In other words, contemporary organizations are expected to be able to organize and manage messages to and from a multiplicity of different recipients across formal organizational boundaries. As a consequence, communication has become a strategic management concern involving leadership and human resources as well as marketing, public relations and advertising. The aim of the research unit "Strategic Communication" is to contribute to an understanding of these tendencies.
Rather than seeing communication as a distinct marketing parameter, we regard communication as a managerial process with organizing properties that shape and generate contemporary organizations. The research of the unit is founded in theories of marketing, public relations, organization, sociology, anthropology, social psychology, systems theory, semiotics, rhetoric and philosophy.
The section members conduct research within the following themes:
• Corporate transparency and accountability
• Integrated communication as an organizing practice
• Corporate communication and its organizational implications
• The interplay between internal and external communication
• Organizational identification
• Public relations and issues management
• Organizational identity as a communication issue
• Marketing communication in a postmodern world
• Corporate rhetoric and organizational discourse
• Creative trends in contemporary advertising
• Cross-cultural communication
The research section is internationally known for its specialization in the interplay between internal and external communication. Its researchers publish their work in international peer reviewed journals, including Organization Studies and European Journal of Marketing, and in widely cited handbooks, encyclopedia and monographies. The section has developed intensive and long-lasting research collaborations with researchers at both international and national institutions such as The University of Utah (USA), Waikato University (New Zealand), Leeds University Business School (UK), Copenhagen Business School and Roskilde University.
The objective of the Ph.D. program is to train students to conduct research in accordance with the profile and goals of the strategic communication section. Usually a single senior faculty member is appointed as the formal supervisor, but other section members frequently participate in the guidance of Ph.D. students. The section offers a challenging, stimulating and supportive environment for the development of individual research projects. Ph.D. students are encouraged to present their research at both national and international workshops and conferences.
Ph.D. students are expected to spend at least 6 months at a reputable foreign university. They are encouraged to attend relevant Ph.D. courses when they study abroad. In addition, they can attend courses supplied by the following two institutions of which the section is a member: International Communication Association (ICA) and European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA).
Read more about the research unit: www.sdu.dk/stratkom
For further information on the Ph.D. studies under the unit, contact research leader: Simon Torp