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Commandment 6

Strategised: Informed, Anticipatory and Trusted

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Communication Excellence

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Abstract

You hear the language of strategy in all walks of modern life: in sport, politics, travel, dieting, personal finance, economics and, of course, business. Everybody it seems wants to be strategic today. And, especially, inside contemporary organisations. Business, government, non-profit and non-governmental organisations alike, they all have strategies and nothing moves and no plans are made without one. We have strategies for the long term, for the short term and for every aspect of the organisation ranging from customer services, human resources and, of course, communication. In public relations and communication strategy has become the watchword as well.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mahoney (2011).

  2. 2.

    Steyn (2007); Verčič et al. (2014).

  3. 3.

    Kuypers (1973).

  4. 4.

    Habermas (1981), p. 85.

  5. 5.

    Habermas (1981).

  6. 6.

    Holmström et al. (2009).

  7. 7.

    Habermas (1981).

  8. 8.

    Habermas (1981).

  9. 9.

    Gregory (2010); Grunig and Hunt (1984); Van Ruler and Verčič (2005); Vos (1996).

  10. 10.

    Grunig et al. (2002).

  11. 11.

    Zerfass et al. (2015), pp. 52–56.

  12. 12.

    Zerfass et al. (2015), p. 56. n = 1,330 communication professionals from 20 European countries working in communication departments. Q: Does your organisation have one or more of the following strategies? Item: overall communication strategy or strategies (defining communication goals, stakeholders, key instruments, etc. for the organisation or for specific products/services, persons; etc.). Percentages: based on agreement.

  13. 13.

    Grunig and Hunt (1984); Van Ruler et al. (2000); Verčič, Van Ruler, Bütschi and Flodin (2002); Tench and Moreno (2015); Dozier and Broom (2006); Van Ruler and Verčič (2004; 2005).

  14. 14.

    BVC (Dutch Professional Association for Communication) 2002; Logeion (2012).

  15. 15.

    Lurati and Eppler (2006); Zerfass (2008).

  16. 16.

    Zerfass et al. (2009), pp. 10, 28–33.

  17. 17.

    Zerfass et al. (2011), p. 41. n = 2,209 communication professionals across Europe. Q: In your daily work, how much do you focus on supporting business goals by planning and executing communication? (1 = not at all; 7 = very much) /…do you feel responsible for helping to define business strategies? (1 = never; 7 = always).

  18. 18.

    Werder and Holtzhausen (2009).

  19. 19.

    Tench et al. (2009).

  20. 20.

    Nothhaft (2010).

  21. 21.

    Berger and Meng (2014).

  22. 22.

    Van Ruler and Verčič (2005).

  23. 23.

    Mazzei (2014).

  24. 24.

    Zerfass et al. (2016), pp. 42–53.

  25. 25.

    Zerfass and Viertmann (2017).

  26. 26.

    Cornelissen et al. (2013); Verčič and Grunig (2002).

  27. 27.

    Zerfass et al. (2016), p. 56. Longitudinal evaluation 2007–2016 based on 21,273 responses from communication professionals in 43 countries. Q: Please pick those three (3) issues which you believe will be most important for public relations/communication management within the next three years! Percentages: frequency based on selection as top 3 issue.

  28. 28.

    Moreno et al. (2015).

  29. 29.

    Tench et al. (2014).

  30. 30.

    Zerfass et al. (2015).

  31. 31.

    Zerfass et al. (2015), p. 44. n = 2,252 (2015) and n = 1,955 (2010) communication professionals across Europe. Q: How do you and your department help to reach the overall goals of your organisation or your client? Scale 1 (rarely) – 5 (very often). Percentages: frequency based on scale points 4–5.

  32. 32.

    Zerfass et al. (2015), p. 116. n = 1,600 communication professionals working in communication departments across Europe. Q: How do you and your department help to reach the overall goals of your organisation? Scale 1 (rarely) – 5 (very often). Mean values. ** Highly significant differences (Pearson correlation, p ≤ 0.01). * Significant differences (Pearson correlation, p ≤ 0.05).

  33. 33.

    Kiesenbauer and Zerfass (2015).

  34. 34.

    Zerfass et al. (2015), pp. 48–51.

  35. 35.

    Zerfass et al. (2015), p. 117.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Ralph Tench

  2. University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Dejan Verčič

  3. University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Ansgar Zerfass

  4. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

    Ángeles Moreno

  5. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Piet Verhoeven

Authors
  1. Ralph Tench
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  2. Dejan Verčič
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  3. Ansgar Zerfass
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  4. Ángeles Moreno
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  5. Piet Verhoeven
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Tench, R., Verčič, D., Zerfass, A., Moreno, Á., Verhoeven, P. (2017). Commandment 6. In: Communication Excellence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48860-8_6

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