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Bachelor Communication Science
(B-COM)
Bachelor Internship:
Assignment: Orientation on professional field of activity As a part of the Internship Reflection module (201500046)
Academic year 2019 / 2020
Version:
- September 2019
Orientation on professional field of activity
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Contact information University of Twente
Internship coordinator bachelor Communication Science (B-COM)
Mark Tempelman (MSc)
Cubicus building, room C-216
PO-BOX 217
7500 AE ENSCHEDE, The Netherlands
Tel (office): +31 53 489 6133
Mobile: +31 6 13501331
Skype: mark.tempelman
E-mail: [email protected]
WWW: https://www.utwente.nl/en/com/graduation-web/bachelor/internships/
Study adviser bachelor Communication Science (B-COM)
Gert Brinkman (MSc)
Cubicus building, room C-118
PO-BOX 217
7500 AE ENSCHEDE, The Netherlands
Tel (office): +31 53 489 4050
E-mail: [email protected]
International Office University of Twente
https://www.utwente.nl/en/study-abroad/
Study abroad office Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Coordinator Internationalisation BMS
Ms. Inge van Haare, MSc.
T: +31 (0)53 489 2874
https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/education/study-abroad/
Orientation on professional field of activity
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Table of content
1. Introduction and aim of the assignment 4
2. What do you need to do 6
3. What do you need to report 8
4. Appendices and the usage of the appendices 9
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1 - Introduction and aim of the assignment
The professional field of activity related to communication professionals is constantly changing and/or
developing. On the one hand of course due to rapid developments in information and communication
technologies, but on the other hand also due to various societal developments. Think about globalization,
sustainable energy consumption or privacy concerns related to (social) media. These developments offer
numerous challenges for communication professionals, but it also indicates that communication professionals
constantly update themselves in order to come up with relevant communication strategies, means and
content.
A first step as a communication scholar is to become aware of the developments and trending topics within the
professional field of activity of a communication professional. There are multiple sources to be found, both
academic and practical, that address the trending topics in the communication profession. Some examples of
these sources are listed below:
Forbes.com:
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/07/12/seven-
communications-trends-worth-knowing-about/#2cd9e70f4b19
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2017/08/31/the-biggest-and-most-important-
media-and-pr-trends-for-2018/#bc92dd95e444
Talkwalker.com:
• https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/6-pr-trends-2018#
Designobserver.com:
• https://designobserver.com/feature/the-future-of-graphic-and-communication-design/39668
• http://blog.visme.co/future-of-communication/
Academic articles:
Fuller, M., Heijne-Penninga, M., Kamans, E., van Vuuren, M., de Jong, M., & Wolfensberger, M. (2018).
Identifying competence characteristics for excellent communication professionals: A work field
perspective. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 233-252.
Jugo, D., Ciboci, L., & Alavanja, M. (2017). Trends in education of communication professionals: The
perspective of educators and employers in Croatia. Public Relations Review, 43(5), 998-1006.
Park, H., & Ki, E. J. (2017). Current Trends in Advertising, Public Relations, Integrated Marketing
Communication and Strategic Communication Education.
Apart from looking at relevant blogs or literature it is of course also (or even more) relevant to experience the
professional field of activity in practice to actually observe what is going on inside an organization. This is of
course exactly what you are doing during your current internship. Therefore you now have the unique
opportunity to critically reflect on the professional field of activity of a communication professional. In order to
do so, you will be provided with a pre-defined sorting task (Q-sort) to rank various activities a communication
Orientation on professional field of activity
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professional could perform, depending on the organization he or she works for. In your case that is your host
internship organization. You, as an intern in this organization, will be asked to rank the activities of a
communication professional on a scale of relevance for the organization. Next to that you will ask 3 to 5 other
employees of your host internship organization to perform the sorting task as well. This ultimately to compare
discuss the result. Do your results of the sorting task align with those of the other employees and what can you
conclude in relation to the field of activity of a communication professional?
Therefore, the central research question for this small scale study is the following:
“In general, but also related to your host internship organization, what are trending developments in
the field of activity of a communication professional, which activities of a communication professional
are perceived as more or less relevant by you as a student and how does this align with the perceptions
of other employees of the host internship organization?”
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2 - What do you need to do
To answer above mentioned central research question, you need to perform following activities:
1 – Perform a literature review:
A first activity is to start searching for and reading some blogs or articles about developments in the
field of activity of a communication professional. You can of course use the sources mentioned before,
but we also expect that you can find some sources that are maybe more related to the context or
branches of your internship organization. Ultimately you will use these readings to provide an
introduction section in which you will elaborate on the developments and trends in the field of activity
of a communication professional. We expect that you will use a minimum of 5 sources of which at
least 3 are sources other than te ones already mentioned in the introduction of this document.
2 – Get familiar with Q-sort technique
The Q-sort technique is basically a card sort technique in which respondents sort statements or other
stimuli into a pre-defined Q-sort structure, which basically serves a measurement scale. In this study
respondents need to sort 40 activities of a communication professional in to a pre-defined Q-sort
structure of most relevant to least relevant. Of key importance are the 40 activities (the Q-sample)
and the underlying division of these 40 activities (see appendix D and E). For this study, the 40
activities of a communication professional are divided into:
1) 10 Operational activities (longer duration / less complex)
2) 10 Managerial activities (longer duration / more complex)
3) 10 Coaching activities (shorter duration / less complex)
4) 10 Counselling activities (shorter duration / more complex)
Analysis of the results of the sorting task may reveal preferences for certain groups of activities.
Normally Q-sort technique would analyze this by using special software and performing factor
analysis. For this small case study, the results can be analyzed more superficial by for example
calculating an average score of each of the sorted activities and subsequently rank this listing of
average scores. To learn more about the rationale behind the Q-sort method, please consult following
online sources:
• https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/evaluation-options/qmethodology
• https://qmethod.org/
3 - Perform the sorting task for yourself as an intern:
The next thing you need to do is sort the pre-defined activities of a communication professional for
yourself, based on following instruction: “How do you rank the relevance of each of the 40 the
activities of a communication professional when relating to your host internship organization?”. You
need to sort the 40 pre-defined activities into the Q-sort structure based on your perception of the
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relevance of the activity when being employed as a communication professional in your host
internship organization. We ask you to perform this exercise on two occasions;
1. First pretending that you would work at the host internship organization as a starting
communication professional (less than 2 years’ work experience)
2. Secondly pretending that you would work at the host internship organization as a senior
communication professional (more than 10 years’ work experience). What are the changes
compared to task / sort 1..?
4 - Have the sorting task performed by 3 to 5 employees of your internship organization:
Subsequent to doing the sorting tasks yourself, you will ask 3 to 5 employees of the internship
organization to do the sorting task as well. Also for the employees, you will ask them to arrange the
activities in the Q-sort structure based on their perception of relevance of the tasks for a
communication professional in their organization. Also the employees will perform the sorting task in
two occasions:
1. First considering the position of a starting communication professional in the organization
(less than 2 years’ work experience)
2. Secondly considering the position a senior communication professional in the organization
(more than 10 years’ work experience). What are the changes compared to task / sort 1..?
!! – Important - !!:
• Make use of the appendices, among which the checklist for respondents and the sorting cards
which are already prepared for you.
• Make pictures of each of the completed sorting tasks in order to preserve the results.
• After the respondent has completed the sorting task, ask some follow-up questions to the
respondent to elaborate why he or she sorted some activities as very relevant and some
others as not relevant at all. You don’t need to record and transcribe any of this, but do make
some notes. This will give you a more qualitative impression of the most and least relevant
activities.
5 – Report your findings as a chapter in your internship reflection report
The findings of your literature review, as well as the results of the sorting tasks and your final
conclusion, you need to report as a chapter in your internship reflection report. How this reporting
should look like is elaborated in the next section.
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3 – What do you need to report
You will report this small case study as a chapter in your internship reflection report. You are advised to
organize or break down the chapter into following sections:
1. Introduction paragraph (+/- 250 words)
I.e.: Introduce the aim of the study and central research question (copy-paste)
2. Literature review (+/- 1.000 words)
I.e.: Elaboration of developments and trends, supported by practical (blog) and academic sources
3. Method (+/- 500 words)
I.e.: Introduce the Q-sort method, the Q-sample and explain the procedure
4. Results (max. 1.000 words, excluding graphs and/or figures)
I.e.: Results of the sorting tasks (pay attention to visualization and comparability) as well as a selection
of the qualitative comments (quotes) made by the respondents.
5. Conclusion (+/- 250 words)
I.e.: A general reflection towards the central research question, based on the findings (literature + Q-
sort) of your study
Regarding the reporting, be advised to pay attention to following aspects.
• Demonstrate your APA referencing skills and include a reference list at the end of your report.
• Demonstrate smart reporting skills of the results.
o In Q-sort research the emphasis lies on the statements or cards that are sorted at the
extremes of the Q-sort structure (least relevant / most relevant). You do not want to pay that
much attention to activities which are sorted somewhere in the middle.
o Use visual options to display results such as spider web visualizations or other graphs.
o Display comparative results in order to relate for example your opinions to those of the
employees.
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4 – Appendices and the usage of the appendices
In the following section some appendices will be provided that can assist you in the execution of the Q-sort
study and some that can help you with the reporting of the results.
A – The Q-sort structure
The 40 activities of a communication professional need to be sorted according to below structure. The
emphasis lies at the two extremes of the structure (-3, -2 and +2, +3). These are the sorting categories in which
respondents can indicate which of the activities they perceive as very relevant or not relevant. In the middle
categories (-1, 0, +1) activities may be sorted that are not relevant at all to the company or activities of which
respondents have no knowledge about.
B – The Q-sample; the sorting cards to be used as the research instrument
On following two pages the 40 activities of a communication professional are presented on numbered cards,
which you can use in your research. Simply print these pages, cut out the 40 cards and ask respondents to sort
these according to the structure in appendix A.
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1… counselling organizations about the usage of
online (social) media 11… analyzing the effectiveness of implemented
communication means
2… fostering future applications for innovative
communication technologies 12… design of print media content for daily
operational purposes
3… being the point of contact towards
communication agencies about the design of
new communication means13
… project based maintenance of operational
communication related activities
4… temporary coaching of employees of
organizations concerning marketing and sales
communication14
… analyzing strategic communication related
goals based on which communication policies
can be adjusted
5… supporting organizations regarding
communication related issues, based on interim
management projects15
… temporarily coaching of employees of
organizations about the usage of online (social)
media
6… counselling organizations about the
application of traditional (print) media 16… collecting articles, messages or producing
clippings about the organization in the (print
and online) media
7… project based organizing of (marketing)
events of organizations 17… organizing workshops, scrum- or brainstorm
sessions about communication practices in
organizations
8… innovating existing marketing and/or
communication concepts / formats 18… design and execution of fundamental
research about the effects of implemented
communication
9… development of long term visions about
communication strategies 19… project based counselling of organizations
about their corporate visual identity
management
10… counselling organizations regarding the
implementation of (public affairs) campaigns 20… developing strategic communication plans or
policies, related to vision and mission of an
organization
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21… project based development and execution of
market (opinion) research 31… researching and analyzing (auditing)
communication practices or problems in
organizations
22… maintaining connections with strategic
partners of an organization about
communication related issues32
… counselling of organizations towards the
implementation of CSR-communication
strategies
23… maintaining of daily contact with press and
journalists about topics relevant to the
organization33
… project based counselling of organizations
about the development of strategic
communication plans
24… Counselling of organizations regarding
integration of media into cross or multi media
strategies34
… the design and implementation of daily
online / social media content
25… collecting and analyzing content / responses
on social media channels 35… development of new and long term focused
marketing strategies
26… coordinating and implementing content of
internal and external communication channels 36… organizing and coordinating events for
employees of the organization
27… project based re-writing or redesigning of
marketing or corporate content for print or
online media37
… capacity management of staff and
management of other resources related to
communication projects
28… counselling of organizations related to the
implementation of communication in order to
reach strategic goals38
… temporary coaching of the management
board of an organization during organizational
change
29… temporary coaching of employees of an
organization during a merger or reorganization 39… coordinating a uniform implementation of a
company's visual identity policy
30… organizing marketing or public affairs related
events of an organization 40… developing and implementing workshops
about (21st century) communication skills
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C – Checklist and consent form for respondents
Below checklist is to be used to administer some basic respondent characteristics and for respondents to
consent to participating in your research.
Respondent checklist
Respondent ID (unique ID for each respondent)
Which of below mentioned type of organization best fits the company you work?
0 Production / B2B organization
0 Retail / B2B organization
0 Non-profit organization
0 Consultancy organization
0 Government organization
To which of below age categories do you belong?
0 Younger than 30
0 Between 30 and 50
0 Older than 50
How long do you work for your current employer?
0 Less than 5 years
0 5 years or longer
Do you have a managerial position?
0 Yes
0 No
To what extend are you familiar with the job content of a communication professional?
0 Not at all familiar
0 To some extend familiar
0 Very familiar
Informed consent
Date: Signature respondent:
I have taken notice of the explenation of this research and I voluntarily participate in this study.
If the course of events during this study results in my willingness to withdraw from the research then I am free to do so after mentioning this to the researcher.
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D - Conceptual model; division of activities in four quadrants
Below conceptual model provides an overview of how the 40 activities of a communication professional are be
arranged in terms of task complexity and duration of the activities. This figure possibly can help you when
visualizing your results to indicate to what extend certain types of activities are perceived as more or less
important.
Conceptual model; division of activities of a communication professional
Operational activities Managerial activities
Example job-title: Communication officer Example job-title: Strategy manager / CEO
Quadrant 1 Quadrant 2
Practical - Strategic -
activities activities
Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4
Example job-title: Skills trainer/coach Example job-title: Media consultant
Coaching activities Counselling activities
Short term / flexible activities
Long term / continuous activities
E – The Q-sample – a selection of 40 possible activities of a communication professional
The listings on the following two pages (enclosures E1 / E2) provide an overview of the activities of a
communication professional, sorted either by 1) card number or 2) by quadrant of activity as indicated in
appendix D. These listings can be useful when analyzing your results and determining which kind of activities
(of which quadrants) are prominently sorted as most or least relevant.
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E1 - Q-sample; research instrument of activities of a communication professional
Sorted by card number
Card Quadrant
number in model Card content - activity of a communication professional
1 4 … counselling organizations about the usage of online (social) media
2 2 … fostering future applications for innovative communication technologies
3 1 … being the point of contact towards communication agencies about the design of new communication means
4 3 … temporary coaching of employees of organizations concerning marketing and sales communication
5 4 … supporting organizations regarding communication related issues, based on interim management projects
6 4 … counselling organizations about the application of traditional (print) media
7 3 … project based organizing of (marketing) events of organizations
8 2 … innovating existing marketing and/or communication concepts / formats
9 2 … development of long term visions about communication strategies
10 4 … counselling organizations regarding the implementation of (public affairs) campaigns
11 2 … analyzing the effectiveness of implemented communication means
12 1 … design of print media content for daily operational purposes
13 3 … project based maintenance of operational communication related activities
14 2 … analyzing strategic communication related goals based on which communication policies can be adjusted
15 3 … temporarily coaching of employees of organizations about the usage of online (social) media
16 1 … collecting articles, messages or producing clippings about the organization in the (print and online) media
17 3 … organizing workshops, scrum- or brainstorm sessions about communication practices in organizations
18 2 … design and execution of fundamental research about the effects of implemented communication
19 4 … project based counselling of organizations about their corporate visual identity management
20 2 … developing strategic communication plans or policies, related to vision and mission of an organization
21 3 … project based development and execution of market (opinion) research
22 2 … maintaining connections with strategic partners of an organization about communication related issues
23 1 … maintaining of daily contact with press and journalists about topics relevant to the organization
24 4 … Counselling of organizations regarding integration of media into cross or multi media strategies
25 1 … collecting and analyzing content / responses on social media channels
26 1 … coordinating and implementing content of internal and external communication channels
27 3 … project based re-writing or redesigning of marketing or corporate content for print or online media
28 4 … counselling of organizations related to the implementation of communication in order to reach strategic goals
29 3 … temporary coaching of employees of an organization during a merger or reorganization
30 1 … organizing marketing or public affairs related events of an organization
31 4 … researching and analyzing (auditing) communication practices or problems in organizations
32 4 … counselling of organizations towards the implementation of CSR-communication strategies
33 4 … project based counselling of organizations about the development of strategic communication plans
34 1 … the design and implementation of daily online / social media content
35 2 … development of new and long term focused marketing strategies
36 1 … organizing and coordinating events for employees of the organization
37 2 … capacity management of staff and management of other resources related to communication projects
38 3 … temporary coaching of the management board of an organization during organizational change
39 1 … coordinating a uniform implementation of a company's visual identity policy
40 3 … developing and implementing workshops about (21st century) communication skills
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E2 - Q-sampe; research instrument of activities of a communication professional
Sorted by quadrant in model
Card Quadrant
number in model Card content - activity of a communication professional
12 1 … design of print media content for daily operational purposes
34 1 … the design and implementation of daily online / social media content
26 1 … coordinating and implementing content of internal and external communication channels
25 1 … collecting and analyzing content / responses on social media channels
36 1 … organizing and coordinating events for employees of the organization
39 1 … coordinating a uniform implementation of a company's visual identity policy
30 1 … organizing marketing or public affairs related events of an organization
16 1 … collecting articles, messages or producing clippings about the organization in the (print and online) media
23 1 … maintaining of daily contact with press and journalists about topics relevant to the organization
3 1 … being the point of contact towards communication agencies about the design of new communication means
37 2 … capacity management of staff and management of other resources related to communication projects
9 2 … development of long term visions about communication strategies
11 2 … analyzing the effectiveness of implemented communication means
35 2 … development of new and long term focused marketing strategies
22 2 … maintaining connections with strategic partners of an organization about communication related issues
8 2 … innovating existing marketing and/or communication concepts / formats
20 2 … developing strategic communication plans or policies, related to vision and mission of an organization
14 2 … analyzing strategic communication related goals based on which communication policies can be adjusted
18 2 … design and execution of fundamental research about the effects of implemented communication
2 2 … fostering future applications for innovative communication technologies
40 3 … developing and implementing workshops about (21st century) communication skills
38 3 … temporary coaching of the management board of an organization during organizational change
29 3 … temporary coaching of employees of an organization during a merger or reorganization
15 3 … temporarily coaching of employees of organizations about the usage of online (social) media
4 3 … temporary coaching of employees of organizations concerning marketing and sales communication
13 3 … project based maintenance of operational communication related activities
17 3 … organizing workshops, scrum- or brainstorm sessions about communication practices in organizations
7 3 … project based organizing of (marketing) events of organizations
27 3 … project based re-writing or redesigning of marketing or corporate content for print or online media
21 3 … project based development and execution of market (opinion) research
5 4 … supporting organizations regarding communication related issues, based on interim management projects
6 4 … counselling organizations about the application of traditional (print) media
1 4 … counselling organizations about the usage of online (social) media
31 4 … researching and analyzing (auditing) communication practices or problems in organizations
28 4 … counselling of organizations related to the implementation of communication in order to reach strategic goals
10 4 … counselling organizations regarding the implementation of (public affairs) campaigns
33 4 … project based counselling of organizations about the development of strategic communication plans
19 4 … project based counselling of organizations about their corporate visual identity management
32 4 … counselling of organizations towards the implementation of CSR-communication strategies
24 4 … Counselling of organizations regarding integration of media into cross or multi media strategies
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F – Examples how students previously reported the results of the Q-sort tasks
Below some examples are provides in how you can report and / or visualize the results of the sorting
tasks. The examples originate from student reports of previous years.
F1 - Visualization based on a calculation of the average ranking of activities within the four
quadrants.
- Communication professional with less than 2 years of experience
- Communication professional with more than 10 years of experience
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F2 – Reporting of Q-sort results based on tables
- Example: student perceptions of most relevant activities of a communication
professional with more than 10 years of work experience
- Example: student perceptions of least relevant activities of a communication
professional with more than 10 years of work experience