COM4805 2025

Assignment 01

Integrated Communication and the

Year module

Department of Communication Science

This tutorial letter contains important information about the module.

BARCODE

CONTENTS
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Assignment 01

Due Date 13 May 2025

FIELDS OF COMMUNICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF ORGANISATIONS

Learning objectives

At the end of Assignment 01 you should be able to do the following:

● Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the individual fields of organisational

● Demonstrate an understanding of technological developments and specific technologies as applied

● Present arguments on the influence of technological developments on organisational

● Interpret applied content relating to technological developments in the context of the fields of
organisational communication.

● Prescribed book

No book is prescribed for this module as we encourage wide reading.

● Recommended books

Angelopulo, GC & Barker, R (eds). 2013. Integrated organisational communication. 2nd edition. Lansdowne:
Juta.

Donald, M. 2019. Leading and managing change in the age of disruption and artificial intelligence. London:
Emerald. Available at: [Link]
[Link]/[Link]?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2012177&site=ehost-
live&scope=site (Accessed on 18/04/2023).

Gershon, RA. 2017. Digital media and innovation: management and design strategies in communication.
Thousand Oaks: Sage. Available at: [Link] (Accessed on 18/04/2023).

Gillis, T & IABC. 2011. The IABC handbook of organizational communication: a guide to internal
communication, public relations, marketing, and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Available at:
[Link]
ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_iii (accessed on 16/04/2023).
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O'Kane, P, Hargie, O & Tourish, D. 2004. Communication without frontiers: the impact of technology upon
organizations, in Key issues in organizational communication, edited by D Tourish & O Hargie. London:
Routledge:74–95.

Rozalena, A. Sulaeman, M, Mulyati, S & Gunawan, H. 2020, Business Communication Skill Model Based
on Internet of Thing (IoT). Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1477 (7):072010.

Shockley-Zalabak, P. 2014. Fundamentals of organizational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills,

● Articles (e-reserves and e-resources)

Amodu, L, Omojola, O, Okorie, N, Adeyeye, B & Adesina, E. 2019. Potentials of Internet of Things for
effective public relations activities: are professionals ready? Cogent Business & Management,
6(1):1683951.

Arief, NN & Gustomo, A. 2020. Analyzing the impact of big data and artificial intelligence on the
communications profession: a case study on public relations (PR) practitioners in Indonesia. International
Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology 10(3):1066–1071.

Christensen, LT & Cornelissen, J. 2011. Bridging corporate and organizational communication: review,
development and a look to the future. Management Communication Quarterly 25(3):383–414.

Delanoy, N & Kasztelnik, K. 2020. Business open big data analytics to support innovative leadership
decision in Canada. Business Ethics and Leadership 4(2):56–74.

Farshid, M, Paschen, J, Eriksson, T & Kietzmann, J. 2018. Go boldly! Explore augmented reality (AR),
virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) for business. Business Horizons 61(5):657–663.

Hallahan, K, Holtzhausen, D, van Ruler, B, Vercic, D & Sriramesh, K. 2007. Defining strategic
communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication 1(1):3–35.

Lakshmi, MV & Suresh, M. 2022. Virtual reality and augmented reality tools: develop business
communication skills. Specialusis Ugdymas 1(43):6523–6532.

Lies, J. 2019. Marketing intelligence and big data: digital marketing techniques on their way to becoming
social engineering techniques in marketing. International Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Artificial
Intelligence 5(5):134–144.

Noble, SM, Mende, M, Grewal, D & Parasuraman, A. 2022. The Fifth Industrial Revolution: how harmonious
human–machine collaboration is triggering a retail and service [r]evolution. Journal of Retailing 98(2):199–
208.

Shelby, AN. 1993. Organizational, business, management, and corporate communication: an analysis of
boundaries and relationships. International Journal of Business Communication 30(3):241–267.

Siau, KL & Yang, Y. 2017. Impact of artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning on sales and
marketing. MWAIS 2017 proceedings. Available at: [Link] (accessed on
05/04/2021).
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Taylor, M, Reilly, D & Wren, C. 2020. Internet of things support for marketing activities. Journal of Strategic
Marketing 28(2):149–160.

Vlačić, B, Corbo, L, Costa e Silva, S & Dabić, M. 2021. The evolving role of artificial intelligence in marketing:
a review and research agenda. Journal of Business Research 128:187–203.

Wiesenberg, M, Zerfass, A & Moreno, A. 2017. Big data and automation in strategic communication.
International Journal of Strategic Communication 11(2):95–114.

Additional research (compulsory)

You must do the following additional research: Conduct research into the use of the Internet of Things (IoT)
in the fields of organisational communication.

INTRODUCTION TO ASSIGNMENT 01

Vishal Barapatre, the Chief Technology Officer of In2IT Technologies in Johannesburg, writes on the
Bizcommunity website: “Technology is now a crucial business enabler. You need to have the right
technology in place to enable your business to continue to function, never mind being competitive and thrive”
(Barapatre 2019). Whether it is reaching customers, engaging employees, talking within industry circles or
building relationships within complex stakeholder networks, organisations can no longer succeed without
embracing technology.

Against this background, the fields of organisational communication and the way in which technological
developments manifest within them are important business considerations, especially with the growing
integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its increasing influence on communication practices within
organisations. Both communication practitioners and communication scholars need to understand how to
harness the dynamic, innovative, connected, collaborative and integrative potential brought on by emerging
technologies.

Reference

Barapatre, V. 2019. The customer experience drives digital disruption. [O]. Available at:
[Link] (accessed on 12/07/2022).

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

Technological advancements are constantly shaping organisational communication. Every field within
organisational communication has been influenced by the advanced technologies of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution (4IR). As we transition into the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR), the growing prominence of
advanced technologies is continuing to drive these changes.

One such advanced technology is the Internet of Things (IoT), which has been receiving substantial
attention in the media.

For this assignment, you must discuss how the Internet of Things (IoT) can be used or could be used in the
following fields of organisational communication:
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● Marketing communication
● Business communication
● Public relations
● Management communication
● Corporate communication

Do the following when answering the assignment question:

(a) Provide an overview of each of the five fields of organisational communication, referencing relevant
academic literature. Each overview (key concepts and characteristics) should be 100 to 150 words long.

(b) Include a discussion of how the Internet of Things (IoT) can be used in each specific field. In each
discussion, provide examples relevant to specific activities associated with the field. Use both academic
and industry literature for your discussion. Each discussion should be between 300 and 400 words long.

(c) Critically reflect on the potential use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in each specific field. Discuss its
future potential and consider areas where it may be overlooked or underutilised. Your reflection should
be between 200 and 400 words long.

Content: 90 marks
Technical presentation: 10 marks
Total: 100 marks

GUIDELINES FOR COMPLETING ASSIGNMENT 01

● Carefully read through the learning objectives of this assignment.

● Read widely about the fields of organisational communication and include the views of different scholars
in your assignment.

● Read widely about IoT and technological developments associated with 4IR and 5IR.

● You must be able to interpret literature on technology in organisations where that literature does not
specifically refer to a field of organisational communication.

● You should use the details about the different fields of organisational communication and your broader
understanding of these fields to interpret information that might not explicitly refer to a field.

● Consult at least 10 academic sources (excluding tutorial letters). You may use other relevant sources
not mentioned or recommended here. As a student of Unisa, you have access to thousands of articles
through the website of the Unisa Library (search for e-resources).

● Consult at least 10 industry sources by making use of the internet for this assignment. Draw on these
sources to support your description of the specific technologies and their applications in the
communications industry.
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● You will be penalised if the content of your assignment (from the introduction to the conclusion) exceeds
4 500 words.

● All points mentioned in the learning objectives should be dealt with in the assignment.

● Detailed guidelines will be posted on the myModules site for the module to assist you with the
completion of this assignment. Go through the lesson that is linked to this assignment and attend the
live class on Microsoft Teams (the date of the class will be announced well in advance).

● You will be penalised if your assignment does not meet the technical requirements. Make sure that your
assignment complies with the technical requirements as uploaded onto myUnisa under Additional
Resources.

● Do not share your assignment with your classmates. Should your assignment be found to be identical
to any other student, a mark of zero will be awarded and disciplinary actions may be taken against
you.

● Ensure that your assignment has a declaration of own work attached, otherwise, assignments without
a declaration will receive zero marks.

● Ensure that you include a table of contents listing all the headings in your assignment. An example of
a table of contents is available under Additional Resources. Headings and subheadings must
correspond with the headings and page numbers in the assignment.