Defending the Bottom Line

1.5 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor

This course is about crisis management, with an emphasis on dealing effectively with organizations (e.g., mass media) and individuals (e.g., reporters) who may adopt an adversarial posture with regard to the manager or the manager’s organization. The primary graded assignments consist of “moot press conferences” in which participants defend an organization against other participants who take the role of reporters among others. Course Objectives: • To increase awareness of communication’s role in crises (prevention, causation, management, and resolution). • To help participants think about ways to improve management systems and to take other steps designed to prevent crises. • To introduce the art and science of crisis leadership. • To help participants think creatively about adversarial communicative situations. • To provide experience in--and an opportunity to refine skills for dealing with--adversarial communicative situations. • To provide each participant with multiple speaking and writing opportunities. • To provide each partcipant with multiple pieces of feedback.