Search results

Explores the importance of training in communications to enhance one’s business career. It is often taken for granted that a training in communications serves as an end in itself but such a training has far more implications than the communications graduate or management may realize. Indeed, the value of a training in communications permeates any organization. In spite of the growing awareness of training in communications, as seen from the numerous communication programmes in companies, and the value of communication in the workplace, it is sobering to note the low esteem in which communications professionals are held. Addresses this issue to emphasize the value of communications training and suggests how communicators can achieve better business success with the kind of training they have received.

The communications audit may be defined as “the process whereby the communications within an organisation are analysed by an internal or external consultant, with a view to increasing organisational efficiency”. Why communications audits are particularly necessary at present is described, how they are carried out, the arguments for and against in‐house communications auditing, and whether they are worthwhile, are also discussed. Examples are given of two typical audits. One is concerned primarily with communications effectiveness in terms of motivating employees towards organisational goals. The other is orientated towards a consideration of more novel means of communication such as computer conferencing.

The purpose of this paper is to show how effective project team communications is one of the major challenges to a construction project's success. The success of large‐scale construction projects is critical to Chinese economy. The purposes of the research are to grasp the current status of communications in large‐scale construction projects in China and lay a basis for further research on project communications.

A survey was conducted by postal questionnaire and telephone.

Through analyzing the data obtained from the survey, the communication problems in large‐scale construction projects in China are exposed. The roots of the problems are summarized as lack of good communication mechanism, weak organizational structures of construction teams, lack of uniform standards for construction information, and lack of support for advanced communication technologies.

The paper presents the directions for further research to improve communications in large‐scale construction projects in China.

Big data and analytics make digital communications more effective, but little is known about how institutional pressures shape data-driven communications. These pressures determine and constrain how, what, when and to whom practitioners should communicate. This empirical study explores how institutional forces influence the use of data in guiding digital communications. The paper identifies factors that impact communications and shape practitioner views on particular tools in their day-to-day work.

This study uses a qualitative exploratory approach with in-depth interviews of 15 Australian communication practitioners through the lens of neo-institutional theory. Thematic analysis was applied to identify three main themes.

Communications professionals disclosed how they were influenced by coercive institutional forces such as ambiguous data privacy regulations, normative forces that shaped ethical concerns, professionalism and various challenges, and mimetic forces that determined shared methods and implementation of digital communications technologies such as analytics. Furthermore, the authors reveal how analytics – tools typically associated with uncertainty and mimetic influences – exert coercive pressures that could lead to misguided decision-making.

This study’s findings highlight the need for practitioners to learn more about the inner workings of analytics tools and for managers to determine if the perceived benefits of these solutions outweigh any undesirable effects.

The study contributes to extant research on digitalization in strategic communication by providing new insights into practitioner views and challenges with digital communications technologies.

Despite the considerable effects of institutional pressures, this study is the first to explore the impacts of data-driven communications at the level of individual practitioners. The paper advances neo-institutional theory in public relations (PR), strategic communication and corporate communications at the micro level.

This article studies the digitalization of corporate communications and the emergence of communication technology (CommTech). The authors show communicators' expectations regarding digitalization, gauge the current level of digitalization across communication departments and agencies and examine the effectiveness of strategic approaches to manage digitalization.

The authors conceptualize the phenomenon of CommTech and propose a framework for studying CommTech's emergence and consequences by combining (1) recent theorizing on digitalization in corporate communications, (2) the concept of digital maturity from information systems research and (3) a socio-technical approach to analyze the development of work systems. The authors apply this framework in a quantitative study (n = 2,664) among communication practitioners from 46 countries.

While digitalization of both communication activities and the underlying support infrastructure is seen as critically important among communicators, a large fraction of communication departments and agencies are still assessed as digitally immature. Further, data reveal the relevance of different (technology, tasks, structure and people) dimensions of digitalization strategies and the influence of such strategies on the digital maturity of communications.

The framework and empirical instruments developed in this study help practitioners to uncover and evaluate the level of digital maturity of communication departments and agencies. This allows to identify current challenges and future opportunities for improvement.

The authors propose a concise definition for the much-debated concept of CommTech and develop a new theoretical framework for understanding CommTech's emergence and consequences in the profession. This empirical work constitutes the first large-scale study on the digital maturity of communication departments and agencies.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

Data communications is a relatively neglected topic, which is surprising as it offers the infrastructural platform that can help to provide organizations with flexibility and responsiveness. DataComms 2000 explores the business themes and issues, and technology drivers and focus that will shape the industry. Explores the perspectives of a range of different actors.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new model of communication capital which addresses the current challenges of corporate communications within the framework of intellectual capital research.

Modelling corporate communications from the perspective of intellectual capital research.

Communication capital consists of four component factors: juridical capital, organizational capital, human capital and relational capital. The proposed model supports the closer integration of organizational communications with business operations and strategies.

The paper provides a new approach to managing and analysing corporate communications. The ideas of communication capital are applicable to the management, development and planning of communications not only in business companies, but also other organizations and associations.

A central theme that has always separated C‐suite executives from communications practitioners – the ability to operate within the parameters of immutable data – is beginning to unravel as uncontrollable external forces challenge traditional business approaches. However, while communicators' skills are being recognized as essential to building and maintaining strong reputations and bottom lines, the importance of data‐driven accountability has by no means dissipated; on the contrary, it has only grown as resources dwindle in today's business climate. This paper's purpose is two‐fold: giving communications executives a roadmap for achieving data‐wielding parity in the C‐suite, and offering senior management teams a process through which they can leverage this function's strategic value to a much greater effect – all by applying techniques drawn from Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology.

The article introduces executives who are not LSS experts – who may even be wary of the concept – to “communications process improvement,” effective LSS methods that can be executed by non‐experts. It details a process for applying communications process improvement (CPI) to various business functions and activities in the context of LSS‐derived procedures.

The article examines the application of CPI to specific organizational activities, including marketing, communications planning and customer service. When applied as a step‐by‐step procedure mirroring that of LSS (where the steps are define, measure, analyze, improve, control), CPI generates constant, cross‐functional awareness of how things should happen, why they're not happening that way now, and how to make sure they are done properly on a continuously improving basis going forward.

Lean Six Sigma is an established business management strategy that seeks to identify and remove inefficiencies in manufacturing processes. While it is well known in this context, there is very little evidence that management teams are applying the same methodologies to more intangible functions within the other departments – specifically, corporate communications. This article offers executives a standard, step‐by‐step process for doing just that, which they can begin implementing today to transform their communications departments into customer‐facing, data‐driven, proactive cultures of excellence, based on accountability and focused on demonstrable results.

This paper aims to introduce a new integrated strategic framework entitled, “The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders’ attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum” and elucidates the central and strategic importance of corporate identity apropos corporate communications, corporate image, attributed stakeholder identifications and resultant behaviours. The strategic importance of corporate identity is noted. The continuum incorporates a variety of disciplinary/theoretical perspectives.

The paper/framework is informed by corporate marketing and strategic perspectives; legal theory of the firm; social identity branch theories; and stakeholder theory. The effects and management of corporate identity are seen as a continuum. The framework accommodates Tagiuri’s (1982) scholarship on corporate identity.

This paper formally introduces and explicates “The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders’ attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum”. Corporate identity management is an on-going strategic senior management/strategic requisite. Notably, the legal theory of company law – routinely overlooked – and its impact on corporate identity management is accepted, acknowledged and accommodated. The importance of stakeholders and stakeholder identification (a derivative of social identity theory) is underscored.

Via the explication of the continuum, managers can comprehend the nature and importance of corporate identity; appreciate that corporate identity adaptation/change is on-going; comprehend its interface/s with corporate communications, stakeholder attributed identities, identifications and the business environment; understand the need for on-going fidelity to an institution’s legally based core purposes and corporate identity traits (juridical identity); cognise the efficacy of constant stakeholder and environmental analysis. Corporate identity sustainability requires corporate identity to be advantageous, beneficial, critical, differentiating and effectual. Stakeholder prioritisation is not solely dependent on power, legitimacy and urgency but on legality, efficacy, ethicality and temporality.

The resultant framework/approach, therefore, aims to make a meaningful advance on the territory and, moreover, seeks to be of utility to scholars and practitioners of corporate marketing, strategy and company law. Arguably, therefore, the framework is more ambitious than extant framework on the domain. The resultant framework/approach, therefore, aims to make a meaningful advance on the territory and seeks to be of utility to scholars and practitioners of corporate identity, communications, images, identification, stakeholder theory, company law and, importantly, corporate strategy.