Discussion: The Strategic Management of Corporate Communication

(Steyn and Puth – Chapter 3)

Steyn and Puth quote Tibble who postulates the difficulty in the application of a strategy in a

communication context or within the corporate communication function. He says that strategy in

particular to PR do not seem to go together. This is informed by the rarity of a strong sustained

and effective communication strategy that does not implicit a brand strategy, a marketing

strategy or an advertising strategy.

The authors add that corporate communicators oft misuse strategy for something important such

as strategic messages or direction and also as an activity such as a communication strategy. In

their view, an effective strategy should provide

Leadership of thought and activity process for all communication programmes

The context and guiding principle for all communication activities

The link between the why and how that is the logic that binds both objective and tactics

together

It is therefore important to note that a strategy is the product of a well researched and thought

through process which takes the whole picture into account- the qualitative aspects of the

organization and the environment it faces. This forms part of the strategic thinking.

The importance of a strategy is that it:

establishes a framework in which ongoing communication are tested

helps in reviewing and questioning the decisions and direction taken by the corporate

communication function

aids in creating a profile that helps identify the right problems to solve and priorities

issues to which communication plans are programmes are developed.

Provides a framework for the strategic communication plan and operational plan. They

also help to choose how it should be communicated.

Determines what the corporate communication function should be doing in support of the

enterprise and corporate strategies

Strategy creation and implementation model

How it must be communicated

Analysis

SynthesisWhat to be communicated

The Corporate Environment in Strategy Development

Media

Employee communication Plan

Investor plan

Crisis communication Plan

Strategic communication plan

Implication of issues on Stakeholders

Internal issues

Identify key Strategic issues

Policies

External environment

Internal environment enterprise

Priorities issues

Specific communication plan/campaigns/programmes

Action plan

Environment is defined as the sum total of all conditions and forces that affect strategic opinions

of an organization and define its competitive situation but are typically beyond its ability to

control. The environment is important for corporate communication policy/strategy must exist

within it.

The environment comprises facets both internal and external. Internal environment entail issues

such as corporate profile, mission, vision, values, culture, philosophy, policies etc. The external

environment consists of stakeholders and other cultural and economic conditions.

Internal Environment

i. Corporate Profile: In this context, the financial status, repute, products and services

are considered. The marketing and legal functions in light of information e.g. reports

at different functional levels are considered. The location, size and nature of

ownership of an organization also build to its profile. Such factors in a sort of

boomerang further determine the location, size and nature of supplies, customers,

competitors and shareholders. Further, corporate profile comprises the staff

component and key management in terms of formal and informal structures of

communication.

ii. Vision: It is a representation of realistic-futuristic state of expectations. It defines an

organization’s direction and intended achievement in terms of goals and objectives. It

is an organization’s ‘big picture’ – that which makes it stand out from the rest.

iii. Mission: It is the purpose or role of an organization in society and economy. It

trickles down from the intentions of stakeholders, the public, government etc. It

identifies ambition and describes the nature of work done by an organization. It is

therefore an organization’s timeless and common cause. [Vision is about goals

whereas mission is about behaviour/emotional feeling of commitment].

iv. Corporate Values: They are sets of principles that determine standards of practice.

They emphasize the commitment of the workers of an organization. Corporate values

elicit codes of ethics that guide decision making and ensure congruity between

messages for internal and external consumption.

v. Corporate Philosophy: It is a system of concepts that determine motivation and are

derived from corporate values. Corporate philosophy bears an orientation on the

mission statement; and is a guiding principle for organizational behaviour, employee

engagement, empowerment, customer service, quality control, change, community

etc.

vi. Corporate Culture: It is a way of doing tings that is peculiar to an organization. It is a

set of shared values conveyed through symbols. Corporate culture is often a non-

written account of assumptions about what is acceptable (and otherwise) – an

intangible theme that defines overall conduct just like persona.

vii. Corporate Policy: It is an expression of strategies and plans. It comprises principles

for behaviour that define continuing basis for specific actions. It further defines

philosophy and, provides direction and guidelines. It is normally non-detailed and

exists as a set of tenets for conducting business. [Policies differ from procedures and

rules. Procedures - a detailed series of tasks for accomplishing an activity. Rules –

detailed specific requirements that relate to an employee’s conduct].

External Environment

It comprises four main categories namely remote, industry, operating and functional internal

environments.

i. Remote environment: It is also referred to as the macro or societal environment. It is

referent to sectors that affect organizations indirectly by influencing its long-term

decisions. It is a conception larger than any particular organization. It exposes

organizations to opportunities, threats and constraints against which organizations

pose no challenges in reciprocity.

Factors under the macro environment include:

Social factors: beliefs, values, attitudes, opinions and lifestyles of people,

emanating from cultural, ecological, demographic, educational, ethnic (etc)

conditioning. They are dynamic and subject to change.

Economic factors: They exist at national and international level. They include

availability of credit, level of disposable income, people’s propensity towards

spending, prime interest rates, inflation rates and trends in the growth of the

gross national product.

Political factors: These define legal and regulatory parameters through

organizations must operate.

Technological factors: They involve rapid change or sudden breakthroughs –

factors considered paramount in avoidance of redundancy; and, promotion of

innovations and inventions.

Ecological factors: These are relationships between humans and other living

things; and patterns of utilization of natural resources.

ii. Industry environment: It may be global or domestic. It describes an assortment of

organizations that offer (real or perceived) similar products or services. The five

forces at play in this environment are:

Threat of new entrants

The bargaining power of customers

The bargaining power of suppliers

The threat of substitute products or services

The interplay amongst current contestants

iii. Operating/task environment: There are segments that have carry out direct

transactions with the organization thereby bearing directly on its daily operations and

goal attainment. It comprises groups such as customers, suppliers, competitors,

creditors etc. the organization has more control over the task as opposed to remote

environment because it is more susceptible to scanning, timing and predictability.

Through scanning, an organization is able to competitively strategize to market its

goods or services profitably. Factors affecting profitability of an organization in this

environment include its:

competitive position

composition of its customers

reputation amongst creditors and suppliers

ability to attract capable employees

However issues such as consumerism, government regulations, environmental

pollution, energy costs and/or availability, inflation fed wage demands, heavy foreign

competition etc may place immediate pressure on the task environment.

iv. Functional internal environment: refers to areas of specialization within an

organization for instance finance, human resources, operations, administration,

corporate communication etc. Information from this environment is not often

emphatically sought in scanning per chance it bears strategically minimally in task

environment analysis.

Issues in the Definition of Environment

Definition of the term environment in corporate communication is elusive as it is perceived

differently by different scholars. The existing definitions include the following issues:

The micro, macro and task environments as part of the core decision making process.

Members therefore have rights and ability determinate of the success of the organization

The environment as a non-physical source of information. This defines environment in

terms of messages and meaning (how they react to it). Organizations in this case survive

through arbitrary intervention - not necessarily through laid down policy or procedure but

subscription to social norms and responsibilities.

The environment as a patterning of strategic issues quite different from environment as a

set of general components, cognitive maps or a collection of stakeholders.

Components of the macro, industry and task environment may neither be easily identified

or mutually exclusive. The impact of one element therefore affects one or more elements

in different ways.

Such deviations are however important for understanding the strategic decision process.

Boundary Spanning

It is the continuous activity of scanning the external environment to seek information pertinent

for strategic organizational decision making. It is carried out by boundary spanners and is

considered fundamental in understanding external environment. Boundary spanners bear the

ability to recognize changes in the external environment for information needed for

organizational survival. Organizations therefore develop strategies and align their resources and

competencies with the environment to survive. The boundary spanning roles involve:

i. Input: information acquisition, processing and control; also referred to as the

mirror function.

ii. Output: external representation in which information is disseminated to the

external environment to create favourable image for organizational thrive.

Boundary spanning is not hierarchical thus can be carried out by different entities at different

levels in the organizational structure. Boundary spanners make critical decisions for the

organization. They must therefore beware of different scopes of contextual information and be

able to translate feedback across communication boundaries, oversee internal distribution and

creation of important links.

Representational boundary spanning does not mediate critical resources and is non-powerful, a

reflection of roles of most corporate communicators. Further, citing the rigidity of formal

information media and limited encoding capabilities of formal systems, boundary spanning is an

effective mode of timely acquisition and interpretation of information. Boundary spanners also

offer consultancy at higher decision making levels.

It has however been observed that many authors discuss how organizations should scan the

environment or who they should observe in the environment. Fewer scholars have addressed the

role of corporate communication in helping organizations identify the most important aspects of

the environment; and even fewer scholars in strategic management have mentioned it.

Model for Developing a Corporate Communication Strategy

1.1.1 Steps in the Process

Analyze the internal environment

Identify strategic stakeholders and publics in the internal and external environment

Identify and describe key strategic issues in the internal and external environment(differentiate between types of strategic issues)

Identify the implications of each strategic issue (for each of the strategic stakeholders)

Decide on the corporate communication strategy(what must be communicated to solve the problem/capitalize on the opportunity)

Set communication goals(based on the corporate communication strategy)

Conduct an overall corporate communication media analysis(which kinds of media best suit the organization)

Develop communication policy(who is allowed to communicate what to who)

Draft to top management

Develop a strategic communication planCommunication programmes, campaigns or plans

1.1.2 Analyze the internal environment

- To make communication relevant in formulation of organization’s strategy, intimately

familiarize with organization’s internal environment.

1.1.3 Identify strategic stakeholders and publics

Draw up stakeholder map (organizational linkages, public relations audit).

Identify organizational consequences on Stakeholders or Publics (social audit).

Identify Stakeholder Perceptions, Attitudes or Concerns (public relations audit).

Identify Stakeholder familiarity with organization (corporate image studies).

Identify key stakeholder issues (both organizational and communication).

- Key component of stakeholder’s communication function – anchored around

organization’s stakeholders.

- Organization’s environment consist of different groupings of stakeholders, with each

stakeholder having significant different set of values, needs, desires, wants, goals and

objectives.

- Management of relationships in an organization is the responsibility of corporate

communication department. To manage these relationships, the organization must first

identify different stakeholder.

- Ways of identifying strategic stakeholders: research, focus groups and surveys.

Analyze the internal environmentCorporate profile/Vision/Mission/Corporate

Culture/Values/Policies/Enterprise/Corporate Strategies

What is a stakeholder?

- Persons affected by decisions or an organization or of their decisions affect the

organization.

- Important step in developing the corporate communication strategy is to make a list of

people who are linked to the organization.

- The stakeholder map contains groups such as owners, consumer advocates, customers,

suppliers, competitors, the media, employees, special interest groups, environmentalists,

suppliers, governments, and the local community residents.

- Ongoing communication helps build stable, long-term relationships with stakeholders.

What is a strategic stakeholder?

- Those persons who are critical, essential, important, crucial, and vital for the organization

in the accomplishment of its mission.

- One method for the identification of key stakeholders is to analyse strategic linkages that

are critical for the organization to survive. The following linkages can be identified:

o Enabling linkages are with groups that provide authority to the organization and

control its resources (e.g. government regulators, stockholders, the board of

directors or donors).

o Functional linkages are with groups that provide inputs to the organization (e.g.

employees and unions) and use their outputs (e.g. consumers and graduates).

o Normative linkages are with professional or industry associations. These linkages

provide connections to similar organizations that can assist in solving shared

problems.

o Diffused linkages are connections to groupings of individuals who are not part of

any organization. Minority relations, community relations, media relations an

environmental relations are organizational attempts to manage linkages with

diffused groupings.

- These linkages should form the basis for the corporate communication function’s in

communication programmes.

An Organization’s Strategic Linkages

StockholdersThe board of directors

National, provincial and local government

Community leaders

Trade associationsPolitical groups

Professional associations

EmployeesUnions

Suppliers

ConsumersIndustrial purchasers

Users of servicesEmployers of graduates

EnvironmentalistsCommunity residents

StudentsVoters

MinoritiesWomenMedia

Other publics

Organization

NormativeLinkages

Enabling Linkages

Functional Linkages

Output

Diffused Linkages

Input

The link between stakeholders and corporate communication strategy

- Managing communication with stakeholders should be a more integrated approach,

supported by well thought-through strategies, systems and behaviours, that enables

organizations to prioritize between stakeholder needs, to align strategies and activities

directed at stakeholders, and to build bridges between them.

- The corporate communication strategy entails inter alia:

Identifying and defining strategic stakeholders groupings.

Identifying key strategic issues around which publics may (have)

emerged.

Determining whether the publics are in the latent, ware or active

stages or which publics have already turned activist.

- Only when organizations is ware of key strategic issues, can decisions be made as to what

should be communicated to stakeholders to solve problems or capitalize on opportunities.

Stakeholder group can be assessed in terms of the following:

To what extent will an intended organizational strategy affect each group, either positively or

negatively?

How far does the strategy align with their existing beliefs about the organization’s values and

purpose?

How far do they share the value or purpose?

What potential do they have to influence the organization directly or indirectly (via other

stakeholders), positively or negatively?

How robust is the organization’s existing reputation with them?

How likely is it that the effects of the intended strategy in regard to this group will act as a

prompt for action by other groups?

What are the consequences if they do?

1.1.3 Identify and prioritize key strategic issues.

Identify and describe key strategic issues in the macro task or internal environment

(environment scanning or issues tracking).

- Identify publics or activists that emerge around issues (issue tracking)

- Identify consequences for organization (e.g. SWOT analysis).

- Prioritize key strategic issues.

Differentiate between types of strategic issues:

Organizational issues Type 1

- Communication is not the cause of the problem, but can provide a solution (e.g.

organizational change such as transformation or mergers).

Organizational issues Type 2

- Communication is not the cause of the problem, cannot provide a solution but can explain

the issue (e.g. budget cuts or the employment equity legislation).

Corporate communication issues

- Where too little or no communication with external stakeholders is the problem.

Tactical Communication issues

- Where messages are sent but are not reaching the target groups i.e. coz of the

inappropriate communication channels.

1.1.4 Identify implications of strategic issues for stakeholders

- There is need to identify and understand the business or strategic issues that the

organization faces, and then determine what their implications for strategic stakeholders

might be (i.e. how the stakeholders are feeling about the issue or its consequences for

them).

1.1.5 Decide on the corporate communication strategy

- What must be communicated to each stakeholder to solve the problem or capitalize on the

opportunity presented by the strategic issue.

- A corporate communication strategy should help an organization to compete more

effectively by identifying what should be communicated to stakeholders to firstly solve

the problems; or secondly, to capitalize on the opportunities presented.

1.1.6 Set communication goals

- Set communication goals around which communication plans are developed. A

communication goal is the destination to be reached by means of the organization’s

communication.

- Based on the corporate communication strategy, (which identifies what should be

communicated about), communication goals are developed to indicate what the

organization wants to achieve with its communication regarding the situation described.

- Does the organization want to give information; change attitudes; or change behaviour.

1.1.7 Develop a communication policy

- Develop the communication policy ( who is allowed to communicate with whom).

Organizational guidelines for communication.

- Communication policy is influenced by corporate culture, values and norms and deals

with

Functional communication areas (internal or external communication) and

specified communication programmes e.g. lobbying or media liaison.

Functional relationships between corporate communication and other

departments e.g. marketing or research or human resource.

The structure of the corporate communication department, hierarchical

orientation and lines of command.

Corporate communication goals and objectives.

Corporate ‘do’s and donts’s’.

The use of confidential information.

- Way of developing corporate communication policy is to make a list of:

1. what must be communicated.

2. what should be communicated.

3. what the organization prepared to communicate

4. what the organization is not prepared to communicate.

5. what is to be communicated in special situations e.g. emergencies.

1.1.8 Submit a draft of the corporate communication strategy to top management

- Obtain management support.

1.1.9 Conduct a media analysis

- Purpose is to investigate the different communication media that might be suitable for the

specific organization and its stakeholders.

- Communication media can range from interpersonal (face to face). To group or

organizational media (meetings), to public or mass media (radio or television).

1.1.10 Develop a strategic communication plan

- Develop a master plan of how to do it:

o Communication Programmes (continuous communication with strategic

stakeholders).

i.e. – Issues management

Change management

Government relations/lobbying

Industrial relations

Social investment

Community relations

Publications

Crisis communication

Employee relation

o Communication Campaigns (single or cyclic).

o Communication Plans (implementation strategy and action plans).