Interpersonal and Organizational Communication Courses

Students in the PhD program are invited to take courses across any of our areas .A complete listing of courses in the PhD program can be found in the Graduate Catalog.

Regularly scheduled courses in Relating and Organizing include:

COMS 7210 – Communication Process in Small Groups
Theory and research in group social system, group modification of individual judgment, leadership styles, group vs. individual goals, and intragroup lines of communication in small problem-solving and learning groups.

COMS 7220 – Communicative Process in Organizations
Interaction between organizational structure and communication within organizations. Emphasis on theoretical and methodological analysis. Primary focus on conducting major research project.

COMS 7250 – Organization Communication Consulting: Foundational Perspectives
A focus on theoretical perspectives to organizational communication consulting and organizational development. Review of theory and research on communication training, consulting practices, communication variables involved in the client/consultant relationship, as well as intervention techniques.

COMS 7900 – Topics in Communication Studies
Seminars focused on a special topic with a COMS faculty instructor, a visiting faculty member, or a visiting professional. May be repeated for up to 20 hours.

COMS 8200 – Communication in Organizations
Introduction to organizational communication. Specific objectives include development of historical progress, examination of major research issues such as information flow, network analysis, communication overload and underload, exploration of theoretical foundations in organizational decision making, superior-subordinate communication, organizational effectiveness, and change processes.

COMS 8210 – Seminar in Interpersonal Communication
Provides advanced graduate students with opportunity to identify and analyze basic components of dyadic communicative system including multivariate nature of both relationships and effects.

COMS 8220 – Public Deliberation
Course addresses theoretical and practical dimensions of the public, private, civil, and technical spheres of human discourse, with an emphasis on the content, structure, suasiveness, and social cultural implications of the speech and action emerging from and contributing to those spheres.

COMS 8230 – Integrated Research in Communication Studies
This course is designed to provide advanced students with an opportunity to apply communication theory in exploring questions and/or addressing problems that connect the realms of interpersonal communication studies and organizational communication studies. The course will be open to COMS graduate students who have successfully competed their first year of graduate studies and to graduate students from other programs in the university contingent on instructor permission. The precise questions explored and methods employed in that exploration will vary according to instructor interests and background.

COMS 8290 – Topics in Relating and Organizing
Advanced seminar focusing on the role and dynamics of communication employed in the processes of relating and organizing. Topic varies with instructor. Course topics will vary; may repeat course as topics rotate for a total of 12 credits.

COMS 8900 – Special Topics in Communication Studies
Specific course content will vary with offering.