Summer Issue
Q uadr ig a NEwsletter
Ne w sl e t t er of Quadr iga Univ ersit y of Ap p l ied Sc ienc e s Ber l in
Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen,
August 2015
Contents Quadriga Campus 2
Quadriga Research & Activities 4
Quadriga Teaching & Practice 5 Trust is a rare commodity. The strained relationship between Brussels and Athens that fed into a Europe-wide division, recriminations, ugly nationalism in the tabloid press, protests and riots, serve to remind us that living alongside one another demands trustworthy communication including honesty, transparency, integrity and understanding of the needs and sensitivities of the other. This is true of individuals, companies and organisations as much as of nations. In its courses and research, Quadriga University of Applied Sciences aims to promote better communication in order to secure the best possible exchange with stakeholders – those groups directly and indirectly affected by your activities. The international MBA Communication & Leadership stands for exactly this form of international and transdisciplinary understanding. The first graduates of the international MBA Leadership & Communication learned and in the process taught us how to communicate across national borders all across Europe. Not only did they research, for example, the factors that influence ethical decision-making, or the crisis response communication following the collapse of a shopping centre in Latvia - they also demonstrated what a strong, positive network looks like. Their concentrated and disciplined work showed that they are a extraordinary example of what a team should be: a group of people learning, supporting and networking together without barriers. Find out more about this group’s activities in this edition of Quadriga University’s newsletter. The newsletter also introduces the latest developments at Quadriga University. Please learn about our student’s activities including the welcome of the class of 2015 at Quadriga University, the modules of the class of 2014 in Brussels, Istanbul and London, and their participation at the European Communication Summit, plus information about our mentoring programme and the most recent work by our professors. I hope you will enjoy reading this issue.
Sincerely yours, Peter Voß
Quadriga Campus
International MBA Communication & Leadership 2015
Start of the new academic year
Four new classes welcomed by Quadriga University —— On July 3rd Quadriga University of Applied Sciences welcomed 11 new students of the international MBA Communication & Leadership. The programme they have joined for the next one and a half years has been developed to bring people from all over Europe together to deepen their knowledge in the field of communication management. For that reason, Quadriga University is especially delighted to welcome students from Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom this year. The new students’ first visit to Berlin started with a welcome session followed by
MBA Communication & Leadership 2015
their first module on management with Professor Dr. Jens Grundei. Additionally, they participated in an intercultural training in collaboration with cim consulting, which helped them to overcome any potential cultural differences and develop a team-spirit. The students stayed in Berlin for over a week. They were invited to the graduation ceremony of the class of 2013, a celebration of achievement which should motivate the new students for the next 18 month of study. Guest speaker Boris Radke, Head of Corporate Communications at Zalando, visited the students to share his insights into the work of his company and the importance of communications in the steadily growing
MBA Public Affairs & Leadership 2015
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and developing Berlin-based company. Quadriga University is grateful for the opportunity to be enriched by the new international students and hopefully will enrich these students’ professional portfolios in the upcoming 18 months. Also this year, three German-language programmes – the MBA and MA Communication & Leadership and the MBA Public Affairs – welcomed their latest group of students. The new attendance period started with the University’s annual reception. Students had the chance to meet the graduates and gain insider knowledge about what lies ahead for them. As ever at Quadriga University, there were plenty of other occasions where students could get to know each other such as the campus BBQ and extracurricular activities like a restaurant dinner in Berlin’s hip Mitte district.
M.A. Communication & Leadership 2015
Quadriga Campus
The graduates of the international MBA Communication & Leadership 2013 are celebrating their diplomas
Graduation Ceremony
The graduates of the international MBA Communication & Leadership leave their Alma Mater
from the freshly-started class of 2015 and of the German M.A. Communication & Leadership.
—— On July 4th 2015, Quadriga University of Applied Sciences, its students and guests, celebrated the graduation of the first class of its international MBA Communication & Leadership. The class of 2013 brought 15 students together from countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Anna Koj and Markku Herrala, two graduates of the international MBA, presented their master theses examining “Unethical Decision-Making in Organisations – Factors Influencing The Ethical Dimension Of Decision-Making” (Koj) and “Management communication practices’ contribution to employee engagement” (Herrala). Furthermore, Professor Voß praised the outstanding work and commitment of Leif Osmark and Axel Wiedemann. Both of them accomplished the MBA programme with outstanding results and shared the first place in best diploma.
After an inspiring laudation by Markus Beeko, Director of Campaign and Communications at Amnesty International Germany, Professor Peter Voß, president of Quadriga University, had the honour of handing out the diplomas to the graduates. This occasion was accompanied by the cheers and applause of many family members and friends, as well as of other students
Quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, class representative Laura Earle summed it up with: „Life is a journey, not a destination.“ Quadriga University is very happy to have accompanied these deserving students on this particular stage of their journey and hopes it has equipped them with maps, footgear and a healthy dose of wanderlust.
Guest of honour Markus Beeko, Amnesty International, held an inspiring speech on graduation, communicating and leading
Sharing lead in class can also be very funny - as we learned from Leif Osmark (l.) and Axel Wiedemann (r.)
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Quadriga Research & Activities Professor Dr. Ana Adi on storytelling and PR-measurement
Look for the hero inside! —— The biggest challenges for today’s communicators are the measurement of PR activities and the rise in importance of visual communication. In the 24/7 connected world permanently and simultaneously streamed on multiple screens at the time, communicators face the challenge of sharpening their skills while also acquiring new ones that equip them for more effective communication, online and offline. The good news is that strong campaigns, whether online or offline, mobile or desktop, have clear strategies that are translated into SMART objectives, are brought to life through meaningful and impactful content and, yes, can be measured. Strategy is where creativity meets research and where consistency is key. However in social media, where amateurs and heroes like us rule the web, communicators need to change the way they tell their stories, too. “This is where storytelling comes in”, says Professor Dr. Ana Adi, Head of the Corporate Communications Department at Quadriga University of Applied Sciences. “Excellent storytelling that presents the brand as a mentor rather than a magical solution and portrays the client as a hero in the midst of a transformational yet personal journey brings better and longer term positive results.” In her hour-long master class on storytelling held during the European Communication Summit, Professor Dr. Adi encouraged businesses to look inside more often and find their heroes among their colleagues. More trust among employees, she argued, brings higher levels of loyalty and more business advocates, and could increase organizational happiness. Instead of going for the
distant, authoritative voices of the past, she invited participants to find and portray those whose voices are authentic and whose stories empower and give hope. Good storytelling, however, doesn’t exist independently of good measurement. On the contrary, they are intrinsically linked to one another and are both fundamental components of the strategic process. Speaking at another conference dedicated to PR measurement held in Bucharest earlier this year, Professor Adi reminded practitioners of the Barcelona principles and called for them to abandon AVEs (advertising value equivalency). By sharing her experiences gained from consulting small and medium enterprises, she showed how important realistic measurement is in assessing the effectiveness of communication efforts and how good measurement supports good storytelling. It is the skills of storytelling and research, said Professor Adi, which practitioners need to refine if they want to be social media-ready. To read more about Professor Dr. Ana Adi’s thoughts and her recent exploits, check out www.anaadi.net
Professor Dr. Ana Adi researches about PR-measurement and storytelling
Publicationen
Professor Ritter researches on factors of success in family businesses —— According to the Family Business Institute, only 30% of that the most successful of these companies do four things well: family businesses last into the second generation, 12% remain (1) they establish good governance practices that separate the viable into the third, and 3% operate into the family and the business and ensure oversight fourth generation or beyond. Those that do from a professional board; (2) they are caremanage to survive often see their value deful not to lose what makes them special — a quality the authors call “family gravity;” (3) cline significantly as a result of mismanaged they assess future leaders on alignment with succession. company values as well as on competencies; The authors of Leadership Lessons from (4) they follow a disciplined selection proGreat Family Businesses, all associates of the global executive search firm Egon Zehncess when considering candidates for the top post, and take care to provide meaningful supder, partnered with Family Business Network International to analyse 50 leading family port during the integration process. These and firms. Through interviews with both family other findings make Leadership Lessons from Professor Dr. Ritter on family businesses and nonfamily executives, they discovered Great Family Businesses an illuminating read.
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Quadriga Teaching & Practice The mentoring programme at Quadriga University
I don’t fit! Don’t bother, be authentic!
—— Each student at Quadriga University of Applied Sciences gets to participate in a mentoring programme that both mentor and mentee profit from. The programme was set up to help fulfill the university’s goal to be practice-oriented in a mutual and open dialogue between two professionals.
successful in a senior-level communications job. He advocates for “an open mind, the ability to analyse quickly and then do the right thing” as well as for “the ability to lead change, not only in ideas but also in actions, and the guts to stand up for transparency, sincerity and authenticity within your organization”.
Our students have access to more than 120 mentors from the As a mentor, Hans Koeleman feels that he profited the most fields of communication management and public affairs. For from the openness that young professionals bring with them: example, Hans Koeleman, Director “Experience is of course a very imof Corporate Communications at KPN portant part of our work, but being Royal Dutch Telecom and the Regioopen to any new idea, development, trend, change - whatever - is extrenal Coordinator for the Netherlands within the European Association of mely important for me in my job. Communication Directors (EACD), Being in contact with young, witty and was the mentor of one of this year’s passionate professionals sharpens graduates, Anna Koj, Communication my ideas about where I stand in my and Public Affairs Specialist currently work and where we have to be more working for the Open Dialog Founon top of things in the world today. Young people have the ability to dation – an organization for protectithink entirely out-of-the box becauon of human rights, democracy and rule of law in the post-Soviet area, se they are not in any box yet.” focused on Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. The commited mentor was Koeleman‘s comments confirm in regular contact with his mentee via what we at Quadriga University feel phone and email and also met her on very passionate about: openness is the foremost quality in commuseveral occasions, including the EACD conference in Brussels. nication. For our mentor and menRecently, he took time out to talk to tees, it enables them to establish us about his experiences as a mentor an open dialogue; for professionals at Quadriga University. in the business world, it helps them As a communication professional to stay receptive to new ideas and Mentor Hans Koeleman, KPN Royal Dutch Telecom, joined the programme from the beginning Koeleman knows what it takes to be disruptions.
Contact If you have further questions...
—— Fabian Klein, study advisor of the international MBA Communication & Leadership, is responsible for the admission process to the MBA and for the mentoring programme. Subsequently to the application process he gets to know the students and matches them with their mentors during the first months of their study so they can benefit from the mentorship for a long time. If you have got questions concerning the mentoring programme or our programmes in general, please contact Fabian Klein: Fabian.Klein@quadriga.eu
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Fabian Klein, study advisor
International teaching
Three stops on a communications tour —— LONDON In November 2014 the students of the International MBA Communication & Leadership visited London for their third and seventh module. Their instructors were Dr. Ingo Röders, auditor at Ernst & Young, Dr. Arnd Lodowicks, Senior Finance Manager at Rocket Internet GmbH, and Professor James Hagen of Hamline University, Minnesota. Alongside learning about accounting and finance, marketing and brand management, the students attended a guest lecture by Graham Smith, CEO of The Republic, who spoke about Scottish independence, and met Tobias Norström, planner of the hugely
—— ISTANBUL In April the International MBA Communication & Leadership visited Istanbul to examine the communication landscape of the Bosporus. On their meetings with Time Out Istanbul, Ogilvy PR Istanbul, local PR academics and bloggers from 140Journos – a Twitter channel that came to fame during the Gezi Park protests in 2013 – the students received important insights into the dynamics of journalism and public relations in Turkish society. “Istanbul is an interesting city to be studying media systems and the history of public relations” says Els Sytsma, student of the class of 2014. “Our classroom in the Urban Station meeting room in the middle of the Sishane neighbourhood was just the starting point for exploring a media culture, political system and society that differs in so many aspects from what many communications professionals are confronted with in their daily job.” Additionally, there were many extracurricular activities giving plenty of time to reflect on what they had learned and discussed and
—— BRUSSELS In June the students travelled to Brussels for their sixth module, which included courses on integrated communication, public affairs, globalization and communication and CSR. Teaching Professors were Dr. Ana Adi and Dr. Carolin Zeller. Their guests included Marc van der Ham, Public Policy and Government Relations at Google, who talked about Google’s recent developments and their implications for PR practice. Professor Adi organised a start-up surgery where four Belgian startups were invited to pitch their ideas and receive feedback from the class on concept, strategy and communication (including social media). The half day was well received with all four startups being very positive about the feedback they were given from the students. Together with the MBA Public Affairs & Leadership, who were in Brussels for a fieldtrip, the Internationals visited the Head of the Foreign Representation of BMW Group, Andreas Sauer, who held a guest lecture. They also met Charlotte Geiger, Finance
A new London welcomes the students of the international MBA
popular Volvo campaign, The Epic Split, visited the British Parliament and the London Metal Exchange on a guided tour.
Motivational speech for a productive learning process
what it means for their day-to-day work. According to Els, “it was a pleasure just to enjoy the amazing beauty of the city, visiting a hammam, seeing the Hagia Sofia and the Roman Cisterns, the Grand Bazaar, the spice bazaar and doing a boat tour of Heybeliada Island – impressive experiences that we will remember for quite a while.”
Watch, Virginie Louis, Head of Media Relations at ICF Mostra, the European Parliament and the European Commission.
Brussels -- full of new perspectives
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Photo: Thorsten Wagner, Pressebüro TWAmobility
Quadriga Teaching & Practice
Quadriga Teaching & Practice Communication stronghold Brussels
European Communication Summit in Brussels —— On June 25th and 26th 2015, more than 600 professionals gathered at the Square Meeting Centre in Brussels for the annual European Communication Summit. Keynotes, main sessions, best cases and peer-to-peer sessions presented by over 80 speakers guaranteed healthy discussions about the numerous facets of this year’s Summit topic, Anticipation and Disruption. On the Summit’s first day, students of the international MBA Communication & Leadership – classes of 2014 and 2015 – joined several lectures and discussed presentations. The Mentor-Mentee Meet-up in the afternoon gave the students the possibility to meet communication luminaries such as Herbert Heitmann, president of the European Association of Communication Directors and Quadriga University Scholarship Partner, and Elisabeth Schick, Head of the Board of Trustees at Quadriga University. After the Summit the European Communication Award Gala took place, a fun event that was also an opportunity for the students to see at first-hand the innovative projects nominated for the Award and the winners of the different categories, as well as mingle with other professionals – on and off the dance-floor.
Disrupting the common and anticipating a new Brussels at Square Centre
Frederick Pferd, Google‘s Head of Innovation & Creativity Programs, inspires with his keynote
Digital Communication Award in Berlin
Berlin as the Centre of Online-Communication —— Just three months after the European Communication Awards, Quadriga University hosts the Digital Communication Awards in Berlin. On September 25th, the DCA rewards outstanding achievements, professional campaigning and strategic thinking in online communications in 34 categories. These Awards are a landmark event in the European digital communications landscape – we will keep you posted in the run-up to the event. Happy winners in one of 34 categories
To register, please follow that link: www.digital-awards.eu/gala-registration
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Contact Please feel free to contact us: arrange a telephone or personal consultation with the Vice President, professors or heads of our departments. Register for events or order detailed information about the programmes. And of course, you are welcome to visit our campus and meet us in person.
Vice President Dr. RenĂŠ Seidenglanz
Communication Julia Szymetzko
Study Advisor Fabian Klein
Head of Degree Programmes Rebecca Friese
Programme Manager Olga Sheremetova
rene.seidenglanz@quadriga.eu
julia.szymetzko@quadriga.eu
fabian.klein@quadriga.eu
rebecca.friese@quadriga.eu
olga.sheremetova@quadriga.eu
Prof. Dr. Ana Adi
Prof. Dr. Christopher Storck
Prof. Dr. Alexander Gutzmer
ana.adi@quadriga.eu
christopher.storck@quadriga.eu
alexander.gutzmer@quadriga.eu
DEPARTMENTS Corporate Communications
Politics & Public Affairs
Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun
Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus
christian.thorun@quadriga.eu
kristina.sinemus@quadriga.eu
Quadriga Campus Werderscher Markt 13 10117 Berlin Tel: +49 (0) 30/44 72 94 00 Fax: +49 (0) 30/44 72 93 00
Management & Economics
Prof. Dr. Jens Grundei
Prof. Dr. Torsten Oltmanns
Prof. Dr. JĂśrg Ritter
jens.grundei@quadriga.eu
torsten.oltmanns@quadriga.eu
joerg.ritter@quadriga.eu
For more information about our programmes please visit: www.quadriga.eu
IMPRINT
Thanks to our supporters Quadriga University scholarships are supported by several companies. We would like to thank the European Association of Communication Directors, BDI, BMW Group, EgonZehnder, Infineon, Metro Group and Telefonica.
Quadriga University of Applied Sciences Berlin Werderscher Markt 13 10117 Berlin District Court Charlottenburg HRB 77769 B Executive Director: Torben Werner Responsible for the content: Julia Szymetzko Exclusion or limitation of liability: Despite careful checking, we assume no liability for the content of external links. The content of linked pages is the exclusive responsibility of their operators.
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