Assignment 3 Portfolio Semester 1 2025
Unique #:
Due Date: 26 May 2025
Detailed solutions, explanations, workings
and references.
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, INTRODUCTION
This assignment explores communication practices at the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) during the 2020 restructuring crisis, which
involved plans to retrench approximately 400 employees. The case study
highlights tensions between leadership and staff, sparking protests, media
coverage, and widespread public concern. Through this assignment, various
aspects of organisational communication are examined, including communicative
situations, the transactional communication model, stakeholder engagement, and
different communication theories such as Afrocentric and Asiacentric approaches.
The assignment also considers the SABC as a public broadcaster and critiques
its restructuring using a critical organisational communication perspective. Key
themes include power relations, resistance, and ideological influence in
organisational decision-making. By analysing the SABC case, this assignment
aims to demonstrate how communication reflects and shapes relationships,
identity, and power within institutions. It also encourages reflection on how
communication can be used more ethically and inclusively in public sector
organisations.
QUESTION 1
1.1 Communicative Situations
1.1.1 Communicative Situation 1: Interpersonal Communication
This situation occurred between SABC leadership (e.g. executives, HR) and
employees during the internal announcement of the restructuring and
retrenchment plans. Communication was mostly one-way initially (from
management to employees) with limited opportunity for feedback. It happened in
formal spaces (like internal meetings, memos, or virtual platforms) and involved
direct stakeholders.
The motivation behind this communication was to inform employees of the
proposed restructuring and retrenchments. However, it lacked mutual
engagement and transparency, leading to dissatisfaction among staff. The
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