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Organisations differ in the ways that they organise their communication disciplines. Contemporary literature features contributions from a number of noted authors, all focusing on the centralisation of communication. Scant attention, however, is paid to factors that are potentially capable of identifying the differences to be found in practice. This paper describes the results of a qualitative research project involving 16 major companies in the Netherlands. This project was initiated by Bennis Porter Novelli and designed to investigate the influence of corporate identity structure on the organisation’s communication structure. The research clearly shows that organisations with monolithic, branded and endorsed identity structures differ in the way they structure and coordinate their external communication disciplines.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze what the concept of agility means for communication evaluation and measurement and to challenge assumptions of goal-oriented and organization-centric approaches to evaluation and measurement.

This paper is a development debate based on a literature review, regarding agility, evaluation theory, communication evaluation approaches and what agility means for communication measurement.

Agility teaches that what works is more important than what was agreed upon in advance, so it is with more emphasis on needs rather than objectives. Regarding evaluation, the findings show that in today’s communication evaluation theory, evaluation is equated with summative evaluation of smart designed and fixed objectives. In agility, evaluation is always formative, to foster development and improvement within an ongoing activity. Consequently smart objectives are no longer valid as fixed benchmarks and ex ante and ex post evaluations do not exist; instead evaluation is an on-going and forward looking activity during action. Regarding measurement, the basic focus in agility on user needs implies that qualitative methods are more obvious than quantitative. The classic Weberian idea of “Verstehen” is helpful to understand how to focus on needs rather than objectives. This paper finally explores the merits of action research and sense-making methodology as applicable measurements in which “Verstehen” is the basis.

Agility is a very radical concept. The practical and theoretical implications of agile evaluation and measurement mean a total change for practice as well as for communication measurement and evaluation theory building.

The value of this paper is that it is the first to include agility into communication evaluation and measurement and that it, consequently, moves beyond organization-centric concepts of evaluation and measurement by bringing the often overlooked user needs into the game.

This paper is a second report on a Delphi study, which is part of the European Public Relations Body of Knowledge project (EBOK; see also Vol. 4, No. 4 of this journal). The EBOK project is led by a European project team. The Delphi research project questions the existence of a European authenticity of public relations. The project suggests that the present state of public relations professionalisation in Europe is far from complete. Nevertheless, the study reviews an enormous diversity of “schools of thought” and possible dimensions of a European approach to public relations. The paper also stresses the need for a European research agenda to learn more about the European identity of the subject internationally known as public relations.

This study aims to present current trends and developments in the field of communication management in The Netherlands. With the use of data obtained in 1999, the authors were able to identify trends and developments in the field and to compare these findings with studies conducted in the USA.

A total of 556 communication managers working in different parts of the industry responded and completed a questionnaire in 2005. Respondents were mainly heads of communication departments and were chosen by taking a random selection of 25 percent of all Dutch organizations with more than 50 employees. Members of the Dutch professional society, Logeion, also completed the survey.

The study's main areas of focus are: the size of communication departments, the glass ceiling for female professionals, and encroachment on communication positions. Findings show that the number of female professionals increased and balanced male professionals. Encroachment decreased compared with 1999.

Many studies report on trends and developments in the communication management or corporate communication profession. This study is unique because the authors compare its findings with those found in The Netherlands in 1999, enabling them to analyze developments over time. They also compare the Dutch situation with that in the USA.

Without doubt, communication management is an expanding and diversifying discipline and the demand for a strategic functioning is rising. Accumulation of knowledge can be seen as a major prerequisite for the development of its practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine the state of the art of, and trends in, communication management research in Germany and The Netherlands.

Following on from a Europe‐wide Delphi research project, this study focused on two countries – Germany and The Netherlands. The study was limited to PhD theses on communication management and compares the characteristics of the doctoral research of the two countries.

The range of disciplines that study aspects of communication management is enormous and most dissertations start almost from scratch, assuming that there is no relevant research that the project can take as a starting point. This fragmentation of research hinders the development of communication management as a theoretically sound and empirically grounded academic discipline.

By comparing the development and current trends in Germany and The Netherlands, the paper provides a context for transnational reflection of the relationship between research on communication management and the professional development of communication management as an occupational field.