Constant change and the strategic role of communication

Abstract

Purpose

Libraries have been experiencing relentless change and uncertainty in their environment. The literature on corporate communications, strategic management and planning, marketing and public relations more recently, has been recommending using communications as a strategy to coherently and proactively handle and foresee change. Planning and using an overall communications strategy will bring integrity and adherence to the library’s goals and direction while reducing the discomfort of change. This selected bibliography is a quick starting point for understanding the significance of an overall communication strategy and its use for managing conflicts and changes in the library’s environment strategically. Design/methodology/approach – This article covers books and articles from mid-1980s to 2004, published around the world. The sources are listed alphabetically by author and then chronologically for different sources by the same author, providing brief but useful information about the content covered for each source. Findings – This bibliography illustrates a variety of research from corporate communications, strategic planning, communications management, marketing and public relations literature that emphasize the role of communication in strategic management. Research limitations/implications – It records a comprehensive list of publications covering international perspectives as well as publications about communication strategy. Practical implications – This selected bibliography is primarily intended for librarians, library planners, managers or administrators, but is also relevant to corporate and business professionals, planners and administrators. Further, it would also be a useful resource for students, faculty and researchers of communication. Originality/value – This bibliography presents a much needed resource list for gathering insights into the strategic role of communication for organizations such as the library that are in a state of constant change. Keywords Change management, Organizational change, Communication, Strategic management

Paper type Literature review

Introduction

In an environment of accelerating change, increasing competition, and effects of the worldwide information revolution, libraries are constantly managing programs and resources to accommodate changing needs. Change by its very nature tends to be uncomfortable, disruptive and even painful. Libraries have to manage this stress and uncertainty to be effective organizations. They have to counter their dynamic environment and competently convert threats and weaknesses from their internal and external environments into opportunities and strengths. As Pugh (2000, p. 2) points out: “…it is not a case of managing [emphasis added] change. It is more a matter of organizing ourselves to cope with anything that might come along.” Also, as Van der Waldt (2004, p. 135) asserts “the sooner organisations practise the routine of change, the greater the chances of organisational survival and sustainability. The management challenge today is not so much to plan for change, but to learn to live with it, anticipate it and to capitalise on it.” In order to be proactive and foresee change, libraries have to be strategic in their approach (Pugh, 2000). Such a path needs to be supported by a library’s structural and cultural orientation for planning and communicating, especially to the internal as well as external stakeholders. Communicating a library’s strategic plan and directions will instill stronger confidence in its constituencies about its programs, decisions and activities, as well as about the library’s sustainability and capability for handling chaos in its environment. “[C]ommunication can ease the pain of change for organisations” (Waldt 2004, p. 134). It not only informs, but also empowers stakeholders to understand the directions of change and transformation organizations are undergoing. In fact, the more stakeholders hear and learn about why and how an organization is moving in a particular direction, the lesser conflicts there will be between stakeholders and the organization’s understanding of programs and priorities. Similarly, the more an organization listens and learns from its stakeholders, the more its decisions will cater to the needs and interests of its constituencies (Kinnell, 1989; Da Saez, 2002). The success of library’s adjustment to change therefore, depends heavily on the effectiveness of its communication to all its constituencies. Communication helps libraries gain stakeholder support as well as reduce the library’s struggle to manage conflicts and change. A library’s communication plans typically comprise a layout of steps to inform all concerned about its products andservices (Weingard, 1999; Vikki Ford, 1985; Marshall, 2001). For instance, plans drawn up to communicate via newsletters, e-mails, announcements on the web site, departmental liaison’s messages, and so on are largely created for specific purposes of publicizing or marketing the new product or activity. Such communication plans typically tend to be ad-hoc and reactive. Although useful, they are fragmentary and do not present a coherent picture of a library’s strategic direction or path for handling changes in the environment (Weingard, 1998). There is growing evidence from the literature on organizational and corporate communications, communications management, marketing and public relations that “piecemeal, reactive communications” are not helpful for managing change or for making organizations more effective (Ferguson, 1999, p. 44; Waldt, 2004; Grunig, 2002). Creating an overall communications strategy can help bring coherence to all the various communication plans of libraries. Such a strategy “provides focus and direction for an organisation’s communication, building relationships with strategic stakeholders…[and] provides the framework for the communication plans necessary to carry out the strategy” (Steyn, 2000, p. 179). With such a strategy libraries can reconcile goals and activities with the expectations and needs of its constituencies. Libraries can engage in proactive, well-coordinated and useful communications by drawing up a communication strategy at the strategic planning level. A communications strategy is at the core of a library’s ability to do its work efficiently and competitively. By anticipating and detecting problems ahead of crisis situations, it can gain competitive advantage and handle issues more efficiently. Such a strategic role of communication will ensure excellence in the quality of information shared, while streamlining and prioritizing communication to help achieve an organization’s objectives effectively (Steyn, 2004). An overall communications strategy therefore is quintessential for libraries to manage changes in their environment, especially their stakeholder needs more efficiently and proactively. The need for greater attention to the strategic role of communication for organizations has been emphasized in several recent monographs and research studies including Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations: A Study of Communication Management in Three Countries edited by Grunig et al. (2002); The Communicating Leader by Puth (2002); Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Programs by Austin and Pinkleton (2001); Corporate Communication Strategy by Steyn and Puth (2000). The purpose of this bibliography is to provide informative sources that highlight the significance as well as application of an overall communication strategy. These sources will help libraries gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding the strategic role, creation and use of communication strategy as a management tool for handling constant change. This bibliography illustrates a variety of research from corporate communications, strategic planning, communications management, marketing and public relations literature that emphasize the role of communication in strategic management. Key publications published approximately from the mid-1980s to 2004 are included in this bibliography. The topic is comprehensively covered in terms of including selections on theoretical analysis, literature reviews, case studies, descriptive analysis, and practical workbooks. Although several publications were printed or published in the USA, a majority of the authors included here provide an international or global perspective as well as background for the topic of communication strategy. The bibliography comprising mainly of books and journal articles, is arranged alphabetically by author, and for more than one citation by the same author, the annotations are listed chronologically in ascending order for easy reference. Cross references to related publications that maybe of interest to the reader are listed at the end of the annotation. This selective annotated bibliography is intended to provide a quick and brief, but useful starting point for library planners, managers or administrators and librarians involved in strategic planning, communications, marketing and public relations activities in libraries.

Annotated bibliography

Andreasen, A.R. and Kotler, P. (2003), Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit

Organizations, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

In this book, Andreasen and Kotler suggest that in order for an organization to accomplish its mission, marketing and communication goals must be planned at the top management level. Relating specifically to the importance of communication for nonprofits, this book presents a thorough grounding in marketing including planning strategically, targeting and positioning messages, evaluating programs, and so on. It discusses these issues in five parts: “Developing a customer orientation”; “Strategic planning and organization”; “Developing and organizing resources”; “Designing the marketing mix”; and “Controlling the marketing strategies”. For information in the educational institutions context, see Kotler and Fox (1985). Although dated, this publication provides insightful approaches for educational organizations.

Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E. (2001), Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Programs, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, NJ Presenting a very practical approach to plan communications or public relations activities, this book shows how measurable outcomes for strategy can be planned. It distinguishes between strategic and tactical approaches to communication as the main path to successful communication plans. Using their academic and applied experiences, the authors have described in 16 chapters how to take stock of overall mission and strategic goals of an organization, determine research needs, collect data for strategic guidance, use a theoretical framework for guiding such research and finally pitch the message successfully and follow through. They recommend using a strategic approach to communication planning, skillful research methods and key principles from communication theories to increase credibility of measures used for such programs.

Bonk, K., Griggs, H. and Tynes, E. (1999), The Jossey-Bass Guide to Strategic Communications for Nonprofits, Jossey-Bass publishers, San Francisco, CA In this practical workbook style toolkit, the authors present information for nonprofit organizations to build a communications strategy so as to manage change and achieve the organization’s mission. The importance of building such a plan especially for nonprofit organizations is emphasized, for whom concrete outcomes are sometimes harder to measure. The first three chapters discuss about researching for information and trends from news and media as the communication plan is being developed. Chapter four details the needs for developing a communication plan and the various steps it involves such as identification of target audience, researching media coverage, public opinions and facts, message development, producing high quality public relations materials, assessment and development of a work plan. The rest of the chapters discuss details of the points mentioned in chapter four for building the communication plan.

Bryson, J.M. (1995), Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd ed., Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA Bryson presents a thorough study of the thought process and steps involved in strategic planning. Part one, “Understanding the dynamics of strategic planning” provides change management as the basic need for strategic planning in public and nonprofit organizations. Part two contains the main bulk of the book discussing topics such as the planning process, the need to clarify mandates and mission of the organization, assess the environment, identify strategic issues, formulate plans, establish vision, implement strategies successfully, and revisit and reassess plans and strategies. The process guidelines section in each chapter is a very helpful section presenting practical approaches for organizations to use. Through out the book, Bryson emphasizes the need for organizations to think and act strategically. The last part presents a discussion about the role of leadership in the strategic planning process and the steps to get started with the planning process. This book has become a popular reference handbook for strategic planning. In 2004, a third edition to this book with several updates was published. Much of the updates related to new material such as balanced scorecards, stakeholders analysis, collaboration and partnerships, and so on along with new examples from various types of public and nonprofit organizations. Also see for a practical application of strategic planning the publication listed below by the same author: Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations.

Bryson, J.M. (1997), Managing Information Services: An Integrated Approach, Gower Publications, Brookfield, VT More directly related to Library and Information services type of organizations, this book by Bryson is important for library managers to gain an understanding of the subject as well as to use methods for their strategic planning activities. The influence of information technology and telecommunications in the work of information organizations like the libraries is described. Information about strategic planning for managing and adjusting to the changing nature of the library business is presented in its coverage of subjects such as role of library managers, delivery of services, technological changes, conflict management, making policies, and communicating during times of change. Published in 1997, this book presents ideas for library and information service organizations for planning and change management.

Bryson, J.M and Farnum, K.A. (2004), Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA This workbook is a must for managers that are entrusted with the task of planning strategically for the library. It is a step-by-step introduction to all the work that needs to go into mission, vision and goals creation for an organization. A list of activities required to create, review, adopt and assess an organization’s strategic plan is presented in this book. This workbook can be used by itself or in conjunction with the comprehensive book by the same author published originally in 1995, with a new edition in 2004.

Clampitt, P.G., DeKoch, R.J. and Cashman, T. (2000), “A strategy for communicating about uncertainty”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.14, No. 4, pp. 41-57 The authors present a background of how managers make choices and communicate change within organizations. This article discusses what strategy constitutes as compared to tactics, and how executives can choose among alternative strategies. It presents sections that explain what to expect from strategy, how to communicate strategy, what makes communicating a strategy effective and how to evaluate strategy that would be particularly interesting to library managers.

Cushman, D.P. and King, S.S. (Eds.) (2001), Excellence in Communicating Organizational Strategy, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY This book presents the significance of communicating strategically for organizations to be able to achieve goals. It takes into account the need for organizations to communicate to their stakeholders so that the structures or initiatives planned are understood as intended. The purpose of this book according to the editors is to “explore in some detail the theoretic, strategic, and practical linkages for creating excellence in communicating a firm’s strategy”. With the help of several case studies of

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corporations, the book presents via 14 chapters, a wide variety of corporate practices that are involved in managing change and crises, competition, leadership and so on. The final chapter summarizes all the issues raised in each of the 13 chapters and presents the lessons learnt and implications for organizations to achieve excellent communications.

D’Aprix, R. (1996), Communicating for Change: Connecting the Workplace with the Marketplace, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA D’Aprix’s core argument in this book is to use communications strategically based on information from the “marketplace”. According to him, “communication is an essential tool for accomplishing change…and the only argument powerful enough to encourage people to embrace change is one that is rooted in the marketplace.” He recommends that an organization’s mission, vision and goals need to be connected to the marketplace activities and this needs to be done via strategic communication. In eight chapters, he pulls together a resource for organizations to understand what is the actual push behind change and how to embrace adjustments and threats through communication. Chapter one and two discuss the environment of change, especially for the worker. Chapter three describes the problems of reactive form of communication during change management. Chapter four presents the thesis of the book – the market based strategic communication model. Chapters five and six discuss the critical role of communication and the role of the leaders involved in communicating. In chapter eight the author summarizes the problems of horizontal communications in organizations. The main idea of the book is summarized in chapter nine with more analysis about communication based on the study of marketplace, customer demands or needs.

Deetz, S.A., Tracy, S.J. and Simpson, J.L. (2000), Leading Organizations through Transition: Communication and Cultural Change, Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA This book is written more in a textbook format where every chapter begins with an overview, objectives and questions for further discussion. Through its ten chapters, this book covers the importance of culture to manage change, role of leadership in managing transition and change, role and impact of technological changes on organizations, role of language for communication about change by leadership, role of communication as a process as well as content for communicating change, and managing change in multinational organizations. The final chapter provides a review of all the material discussed in the book along with a practical case for organizations to apply their situation. This book will be interesting for library managers looking to understand the role of culture and effective communication in change management programs.

Dozier, D.M., Grunig, L.A. and Grunig, J.E. (1995), Manager’s Guide to Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, NJ This is the second book from International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) funded research on excellent communication management. It presents a lucid and practical account of the results of the basic theory of public relations mainly for the practitioners of public relations and communication in organizations. It describes the

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characteristics of excellence in three broad aspects: communication within the organization, ideas and expectations from hierarchically placed upper level communicators, and finally organizational culture. Interested readers can see other books by Grunig et al. listed below that discuss research findings from the IABC excellence project.

Ferguson, S.D. (1999), Communication Planning: An Integrated Approach, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA Designed to reach an array of readers such as students, researchers, practitioners, and consultants, this book presents an excellent discussion (in four parts) of the integration of communications from public relations, marketing, advertising and corporate strategic planning. Strategic planning cultures and the role of communication is presented in part one. In part two the practical aspects of planning integrated communications and writing communication plans for overall communication strategies; operational plans for implementation; work plans for assigning responsibilities, evaluation and budgets; support plans for public relations, advertising, marketing campaigns; and finally communication plans for handling crisis are covered. Theoretical foundations for communications planning such as learning, persuasion, influence, psychology of audience theories comprise part three. Part four provides information about strategic approaches for management of collaborative and partnership type of activities. The book has practical advice and examples of communication plans for use by readers. Each chapter ends with a convenient conclusion that summarizes the purpose and main points discussed. Although primarily written for business audiences, this book will be very pertinent for librarians and managers seeking basis for library communication plans.

Grunig, J.A. et al. (Eds) (1992), Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, NJ This is the first publication from the work of a research project funded by International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), which editor James Grunig claims was the largest research project ever funded for public relations. A general theory of public relations as a theory of communications management is proposed here based on extensive multi-disciplinary literature review of all research relating to public relations. In the first part, the basic theory of public relations from various viewpoints, definition and description of effective organization, public relations and management decision-making and application of excellence and effectiveness by communication managers is discussed. The second part develops the program level planning of communication. This includes discussions of strategic management, publics, evaluation of public relations programs and practices and informs how effective public relations programs are managed. The third part presents department level characteristics of public relations for excellence. It attempts to explain how research on the environment and organizational issues helps bring about excellent public relations. This part includes chapters on excellence in management, models of public relations and communications, organizational role in communications, and public relations function. The fourth part of the book covers organizational level conditions that allow for excellence in public relations. Topics in this section include structure and environment of organizations, power, activism, two way communication, culture, and

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so on. In the fifth and concluding part, bottom line advantages of effective and excellent communication and public relations programs are discussed.

Grunig, A.L., Grunig, J.E. and Dozier, D.M. (2002), Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations: A Study of Communication Management in Three Countries, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, NJ This is the most recent book of the 15-year study funded by International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) of over 300 organizations in the US, Canada, and UK that began in 1985. It continues to develop the issue of how communication (as public relations) brings about organizational effectiveness and excellence. Results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis with details on methods, data and observations are presented. In chapter one, the authors present an overall theory developed from the literature, theoretical logic and data for public relations as communication management. In chapter two, the methodology of the excellence study is described with details of sample, measures of concepts and quantitative and qualitative methods used. In chapter three, the excellent characteristics of communication for organizations are presented. Chapter four, five and six discuss the value of public relations, empowerment of public relations function, and communicator roles. Chapter seven details the role of the communication function within an organization and its relationship to other functions of the organization. Four models of public relations – press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetrical and symmetrical model are presented here. In chapter eight three dimensions of these four models, namely, one-way and two-way; symmetry and asymmetry; and mediated and interpersonal techniques are explained. Chapter nine presents strategic communication programs as an excellence criteria for organizations. Another excellence characteristic discussed in chapter ten relates to activism of the organization. The authors found that organizations that are in a changing, unfriendly environment can move towards excellence better than those that are relatively stable. Chapter 11 presents the need for organizations to have an organic structure, a participative culture and a two-way communication system to build successful communication programs. Further, research questions related to globalization of public relations, strategic management and nature of relationships, ethics and the role of public relations in change management are discussed in chapter 12. Overall, this book is considered ground-breaking research on the role of public relations and informs readers about how and why communications should be considered as a critical management function for success of the organization.

Johnston, J. and Zawawi, C. (Eds) (2004), Public Relations: Theory and Practice, 2nd ed., Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, NSW Public Relations: Theory and Practice presents readings on a range of topics in public relations with cases and examples from Australia and New Zealand. The goal of this book as the editors claim is to provide “insights into organizations at a range of levels – corporate, political and NGO’s- as they interface with the publics”. The reader is led from a thorough grounding in public relations theory to the processes and application of the practice of public relations. Structured in five parts – Theory; The legal and ethical framework; Process and application; Public relations in action; and Public Relations Practice, this introductory book presents the nature, history, law, ethics, management and practice of public relations.

Kitchen, P.J. and Schultz, D.E. (Eds) (2001), Raising the Corporate Umbrella: Corporate Communication in the 21st Century, Palgrave, New York, NY Kitchen and Schultz present an “overarching corporate perspective” for corporate communication. They conceptualize a “corporate umbrella” that nurtures, protects and provides the firm support and means to integrate many different communications within the organization. The first chapter presents the logic and structure of the book. The role of the leadership to communicate with stakeholders, corporate identity and responsible managerial practices are the topics of chapters 2-4. Chapters 5-10 discuss integrated corporate communications; branding and advertising; global communications, marketing public relations, crisis communications and threats and opportunities. The final chapters, 11-13, of the book present nature of the corporation “as engines for prosperity and growth”; “vision, values, intellectual property and assets”; and the “value of the corporate brand. The editors conclude with a summary of the need for corporations to “raise the corporate umbrella” where “interaction and integration between these (corporate and marketing) two vital strands of communication lead to synergistic outcomes.” Illustrations of concepts, models and figures as well as examples from corporations interspersed throughout the book make the reading smooth.

Moorcroft, D. (2003), “Linking communication strategy with organizational goals”, Strategic Communication Management, Vol. 7, No. 6, October/November In this article, Moorcroft asserts that communication strategy should be simple and easy to think about and implement. Writing about experiences in Royal Bank of Canada, he presents steps for communication planners to follow so that the organization can achieve strategic alignment of its communication plans with organizational goals. The article is divided in to sections as follows: defining what strategy means, different types of strategy, getting information to build your plan, essentials of a strategic plan, placemat plan, operating plan, providing the link to business targets, links to overall communication objectives, Moorcroft takes the reader through various steps of successfully creating and implementing a communications strategy. This process of planning a communications strategy seems to have succeeded, since the author reports that Royal Bank of Canada has won more than 30 communication awards and was “benchmarked as a best practice communications company by many organizations and journals”.

Moore, J.I. (2001), Writers on Strategy and Strategic Management: Theory and Practice at Enterprise, Corporate, Business and Functional Levels, Penguin Books Ltd, London This paperback is excellent for getting an overview of writings on the subject of strategic management. Moore skillfully summarizes each of the writers main contributions in corporate strategy through six parts: The Shapers and Movers; The Consultants; The Scholars and Researchers; The Developers and Teachers; The Incrementalists; Strategies for Decline: Endgames and Turnaround. Each part includes an introductory preface and covers a number of works by different authors. The

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Shapers and Movers included are Kenneth R. Andrews; H. Igor Ansoff; Alfred D. Chandler Jr; Michael E. Porter; Henry Mintzberg. The Consultants are: Robert D. Buzzell and Bradley T. Gale; Bruce D. Henderson; Benjamin B. Tredgoe and John W. Zimmerman; and Kenichi Ohmae. Derek F. Abell; Joseph L. Bower; Richard G. Hamermesh; Henry Mintzberg; Richard P. Rumelt; Malcolm S. Salter and Wolf A. Weinhold; Oliver E. Williamson; Robert A. Burgelman and Leonard R. Sayles comprise the Scholars and Researchers. Lester A. Digman; Jay R. Galbraith and Robert K. Kazanjian; Charles W. Hofer and Dan Schendel; John A. Pearce II and Richard B. Robinson Jr; Arthur A. Thompson Jr and A. J. Strickland III, and Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes are the Developers and Teachers. James Brian Quinn; Charles E. Lindblom and Gray Hamel and C.K. Prahalad are the incrementalists. Finally, the Analysts of Decline are Kathryn Rudie Harrigan; Stuart St. P. Slatter and David Lovett. There is a subject as well as author and authorities index at the end of the book. This book presents key ideas from eminent and effective writers in the field of corporate strategy and strategic management.

Moss, D. and Warnaby, G. (1998), “Communications strategy? Strategy communication? Integrating different perspectives”, Journal of Marketing Communications, No. 4. pp. 131-140 Moss and Warnaby present an integrated model for the strategic role of communication by putting together concepts from the strategy literature with that of public relations and communications literature. Through a survey of the literature they show that the role of communication has been neglected in the corporate strategy literature but emphasized in the communications management and public relations perspective. Bringing together these two perspectives “strategy communication” and “communications strategy”, into the strategy making modes model put forth by S.L. Hart, the authors present a unique perspective for organizations to achieve a competitive edge as well as more effectiveness. The authors propose “communications styles” that present the focus for communication during the development of strategy: Directional, Inspirational, Informational, Enabling and Motivational. Further, they propose “communication orientation” for each of the styles that indicates the importance given to communication in terms of internal and external stakeholders. With their integrated typology the authors succeed in providing a starting point for organizations to understand the role of communications in organizational strategy.

Moss, D. and DeSanto, B. (2002), Public Relations Cases: International Perspectives, Routledge, London This book begins with an introduction to the changing role of public relations practice and the need for practitioners and students to understand that “to operate successfully on a global scale …. an acute sensitivity to cultural diversity” is required. The goal of the book is to “contribute to a better understanding of how public relations is being practiced in different countries around the world.” This collection of case studies illustrates how global public relations has become and provides the readers with insight into best practices and examples from various parts of the world. A total of 20 case studies from across various corporations, nonprofit and governmental organizations are included: Shell, Commission for Racial Equality, BBC America, Perkin Foods, Clarica, Barloworld, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Norwegian Dairies,

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Oklahoma City and Kerr-McGee; Swedish crises, UK BSE crisis, fundraising in Spain, Worldcom, Marks and Spencer and so on. Moss and DeSanto emphasize the importance of research for understanding situations, assessing perception, beliefs and values to understand publics. They predict that effective practitioners of public relations develop strategic plans grounded on such research and communicate “according to a well-thought-out plan, rather than a haphazard, ad hoc reaction to outside events”.

Oliver, S. (Ed.) (2004), A Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public Relations: Pure and Applied, Routledge, London In this book, Sandra Oliver pulls together a generalist approach to corporate communications and public relations including both pure and applied research. In part one – Corporate Communication at the National Level, articles include diversity programs, change communication program, knowledge management, corporate and government, corporate and public service and so on. Part two presents articles on corporate communication at the international level: Communication audits, framework for international public relations, facets of global corporate brand, differing corporate communication practice in successful and unsuccessful companies, communicating in china, corporate communication function, integrated corporate communication and the changing face of corporate communication. Part three – Managing Image, Identity and Reputation covers chapters on reputation and leadership; corporate reputation, communicating continuity plans, crisis management in the internet mediated era, terrorist attacks and impact on corporate public relations and public relations and democracy. Part four, the concluding section is titled – The future is now. This section presents articles on visualizing the message, methodological issues, creative thinking, using language, ethics and the final chapter on the new frontier for public relations. This book provides a useful synthesis of theory and best practices with case studies in corporate communications both at the national and international levels.

Oliver, S. (2001), Public Relations Strategy, The Institute of Public Relations, Kogan Page, London In this book of about 130 pages, Sandra Oliver succinctly presents the changing role of public relations, especially in “developing and supporting management strategy.” Writing for mainly public relations practitioners, she recommends that they should be looking beyond the “tactical requirements” of their jobs to connect to the overall role and policies of an organization. She begins with a description of strategy and the strategic role of public relations. The third chapter is a discussion of image and identity – “how organizations obtain and maintain their reputations, and how substance must underpin all public relations activity”. The fourth chapter is devoted to how public relations and communication (internal and external) is helpful for the human resources perspective. Chapter five discusses the differences, similarities and overlap between public relations and marketing. Finally, she presents the changing nature of communication with the effects from Internet and new communication media. This book discusses models and theories of public relations as a strategic function of management as well as presents several international case study examples to illustrate the trends in public relations.

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Potter, L. (2001), The Communication Plan: The Heart of Strategic Communication, International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), San Francisco, CA (spiral bound) Designed to serve as a practitioner’s guide, this manual steps through all aspects of managing communication strategically. It presents the “real stuff, the solid knowledge of what strategic communication really is and how to practice it.” This book (a loose leaf binder) begins with a study of strategic planning considered crucial to the communication planning process. Then it presents a ten-step strategic communication plan. The plan takes the readers step by step to show the process of aligning communications with the overall strategic plans of an organization. There are several examples of case studies included within the chapters as well as sample strategic plans at the end of the book. This is an excellent source for library managers or communicators to develop an understanding in a simple and easy way of the process of designing and implementing a communications strategy that is based on the strategic plans of the library.

Puth, G. (2002), The Communicating Leader. The Key to Strategic Alignment, 2nd ed., Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria First published in 1994, the popularity of this book is indicated from the fact that it was reprinted twice (1996 and 2001) and a second edition appeared in 2002. With the second edition the title changed from “The Communicating Manager” to “ The Communicating Leader: the Key to Strategic Alignment” indicating the transition in emphasis of the topic. Organizations are shifting from using strategies mainly to compete with other organizations using them to align the workplace and external stakeholders to the strategic intent and vision of the organization. This book is mainly about strategic communications by leadership of organizations. Written in a conversational style with a summary at the end of each chapter and illustrations, this book covers communication by leadership of an organization in three aspects: Fundamentals of leadership communication, contexts for leadership communication and basis for strategic leadership. Though the coverage in this book is mainly for the leadership of an organization, the last part about strategic contexts with sections on “formulating strategy” and “communication for strategic alignment” is very useful for understanding and applying an overall communication strategy within the organization.

Quirke, B. (1996), Communicating Corporate Change: A Practical Guide to Communication and Corporate Strategy, McGraw-Hill, London and New York, NY Written more from the perspective of internal communications for organizations, this book provides a comprehensive practical view for realizing effective communications. The first two chapters in this book provide an overall review of how change affects organizations, need for cultural and attitudinal changes and the role of communication strategy in handling such change. These chapters are especially useful for the reader who is looking for developing a more strategic role for communications within their organizations. Chapter three covers “ Structure, identity and values” indicating the significance of sharing values to create a common understanding of the identity and image of the organization. The fourth chapter covers the main content of the book where the communication of corporate strategy is discussed among numerous other

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aspects of communication. The other practical aspects of the book include “Communicating in teams”, and “Orchestrating communication” that provide readers with advice of how to work in and with teams, and offer a variety of communication approaches needed to understand and implement communication plans is described with help of a model. Although it uses examples of corporations, this book would be useful for library managers seeking diversity in approaches of internal communication.

Van Riel, C.B.M. (1995), Principles of Corporate Communication. [Identiteit en imago. English]. Translation, Chris Blackburn (Ed.), Prentice Hall, London Van Riel defines corporate communications as “a framework in which all communication specialists (marketing, organizational and management communication) integrate the totality of the organizational message, thereby helping to define the corporate image as a means to improving corporate performance”. The main issues of corporate communications are explained through six chapters. A lengthy introduction describes Van Riel’s explanation of corporate communications along with the discussion of Identity and Image as core concepts for organizations. The second and third chapters discuss details of corporate identity and image. The fourth and fifth chapters present “an effective corporate identity programme” and the processes involved in organizing corporate communications. The final chapter is a presentation of four case histories as examples. Each chapter provides a conclusion except for the last one. The corporate communications analysis in this book presents a theoretical and academic background as well as a clear practical perspective for using communications for the effectiveness of organizations.

Van Riel, C.B.M. (2000), Strategic Corporate Communication: A Selection of Articles by Belgian and Dutch Authors in Leading International Journals, Alphen aan den Rijn, Samsom In this collection of articles, Riel presents papers written by several Belgian and Dutch writers (cross-discipline) to summarize their thoughts about corporate communication strategy and reputation. All the articles are in English except for one, which is in German. The main subject areas this book covers are communication in management, marketing and culture. Divided in four parts: Strategy and communication; Marketing and communication; Corporate communication and management; and Language culture and communication, this book presents “communication as a management tool to solve organizational problems”. Some of the topics covered include: strategic business communication; types of journals that maybe useful for those interested in strategic communication; crisis communication: the Brent Spar case – superbrands: myth or reality?; Measuring corporate images; interactive communication: consumer power and initiative; the reputation landscape: a vision on reputation management rooted in five areas of functional management; and trade show effectiveness: a cross-national comparison.

Ristino, R.J. (2001), “Integrated strategic communication”, Strategic Communication Management, April/May, pp. 32-35 Ristino advocates the use of Integrated Strategic Communication (ISC) as a path to bring together all communications of the organization to support the overall strategies

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and objectives of the organization. ISC’s “aim is to optimize the impact of persuasive communication on key constituencies”. The critical first step identifies the core constituencies of the organization since they control the reasons for a strategy to succeed or fail. The author presents ISC in a ten-step process in terms of integrated strategic marketing communications. According to the author, most organizations “fail to use communication strategically to build the long-term relationships necessary to nurture grassroots support for corporate initiatives”. Information gathering and two-way communication is recommended with organizational leadership (or strategy coordinating group) managing the communication coordination and process. The message, as Ristino asserts, should be coherent as well as consistent. Communication work groups are assigned day-to-day communication activities by the leadership. The author recommends a communications strategy that basically builds “mutual understanding between the organization and its constituencies” and communicates how the initiatives would be helpful to them. Message strategy, segmentation, feedback loops, selection of channel or media are essential to move communications to the next stage of implementation. The message is implemented with an initial phase and a repetition phase. Monitoring and evaluating communications campaign is considered crucial to determine the effectiveness of the communication strategy. Written in a lucid style with examples from corporations, this article discusses the integrated strategic communication campaign.

Van Ruler, B. and Vercic, D. (Eds.) (2004), Public Relations and Communication Management in Europe: A Nation-by-Nation Introduction to Public Relations Theory and Practice, Mouton de Grouter, Berlin This book begins with an overview of public relations and communication management in Europe. As the editors state, it was brought together from the results of two projects: European Public Relations Body of Knowledge and The Public Relations in Europe project. The book is arranged in 29 chapters covering Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK. It presents contributions with an insider’s point-of-view along with background and history, facts, figures and qualitative research results. In between the 29 chapters, conceptual statements that described different approaches by well-known scholars and professionals in public relations are included: constructivist approach, reflective approach, transitional approach, public sphere approach, civil society approach, and dialogue approach. The book is unique in that it overcame language and cultural barriers to bring together public relations perspectives in Europe.

Sriramesh, K. and Vercic, D. (Eds.) (2003), The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ This book won the PRIDE Award from National Communication Association, Washington, DC, USA, for the best book on public relations published during the year 2003. Sriramesh and Vercic bring together an excellent collection of international information for public relations students, researchers and practitioners. The wide range of articles are arranged by continents including content on public relations

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history, development and current practices within each country. The introduction to the volume discusses the trends of globalization of public relations practice. Sriramesh states that “…every public relations professional must have a multicultural and global perspective in order to be effective, and such an outlook should not be considered the domain only of international public relations specialists anymore. The contributors to this handbook were asked to follow a framework set out in the first chapter of this book – A Theoretical framework for Global Public Relations Research and Practice. This chapter also presents to the readers an overall pattern for understanding public relations across the globe. Part one – Asia and Australasia covers China, UAE, Japan, Singapore, South Korea Australia and New Zealand. The African continent is represented by Egypt and South Africa. Part three – Europe includes information from Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia, and Russia. United States, Brazil and Chile comprise the fourth part – The Americas. Part five provides a discussion of non-governmental and global organizations – foreign governments, UNESCO, Transnational corporations and so on. An epilogue provides the rationale for connecting multiculturalism and public relations in the education of public relations. Sriramesh hopes that this “will pave the way for the public relations profession around the world to become truly strategic as a result of becoming more multicultural”. Also, refer to a separate publication by the same author on Asia: Sriramesh (2004).

Steyn, B. (2003), “From strategy to corporate communication strategy: a conceptualisation”, Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 168-183 In this article, Steyn discusses the concept of strategy and its role in the corporate communication context. She builds the idea of a corporate communication strategy as a “functional strategy” that provides “focus and direction to the corporate communication function”. Steyn provides a comprehensive analysis of literature in presenting a theoretical approach through strategic management and public relations. According to her, a corporate communication strategy uses the “enterprise level strategy” rather than the “corporate level” or “business level” strategies to draw the framework for the organization’s communication plans. The analysis and assessment of external environment and building stakeholder relations is essential for setting up such a strategy, even though it is created internally by the communication leaders of the organization. Corporate communication strategy as imagined by Steyn, has a non-linear development and takes into account changes and trends in the environment and stakeholders needs. “It is regarded as an emergent rather than deliberate strategy” since primary strategic issues are derived from the strategy before communication goals are defined. Steyn summarizes how this conceptualization of corporate communication strategy can be operationalized via a model she developed, which was presented at the 11th International Public Relations Research Symposium, held at Lake Bled from 2-4 July 2004. for further readings about this perspective see: Steyn and Puth (2000); Tibble (1997) and Verwey (2003) in the list of references.

Stroh, U. and Miia, J. (2001), “New approaches to communication management for transformation and change in organisations”, Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 148-165 This article presents an approach to change management by organizations using communications. Using implications from chaos, postmodern, complexity and

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contingency theories it describes the need for a communication approach. The authors emphasize the strategic approach, stakeholder importance and customer-oriented communications for managing change in organizations. The beginning of the article defines the concepts of change management, transformation and organizational development. In addition, it discusses via a comprehensive literature review the changing paradigm of organizational communications as they move from single subject to multi-disciplinary approaches. The article concludes that a “[w]ell-developed organisation change should be a strategically managed process but take into consideration all the possibilities of change that could occur in the environment.”

Tilson, D.J. and Alozie, E. (Eds.) (2004), Toward the Common Good: Perspectives in International Public Relations, Pearson Education Inc., Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA This book presents a global perspective including a theoretical as well as practical approach to public relations. The editors Tilson and Alozie skillfully present readings that cover a wide variety of international settings. This is especially helpful for students to prepare for a global career in public relations. “A broad range of public relations practices and institutions – governments, public relations firms, corporations – are examined within a discussion of history, politics, economics, culture and communication.” Part one covers the historical perspective of public opinion and its relationship to public relations as a profession. Part two through part five are divided into articles by continents – Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some chapters present overviews of relevant information specific to the country, while other provide case studies from different countries. One of the goals of the book is to bring together “thoughtful analysis and commentary from leading scholars” to explain the emerging field of global public relations and the local and global roles of public relation professionals.

Van der Waldt, De la Rey (2004), “Towards corporate communication excellence in a changing environment”, Problems and Perspectives in Management, Vol. 3, pp. 134-143 In this article, Waldt presents a discussion of corporate communications and change management. The main point of this article is that “communication eases the pain of change for organizations”. Proper communication to both internal and external stakeholders makes the management of change easier, which leads to an effective organization. The article discusses (with an extensive literature review) the conceptualization of communications as a solution for managing change and the application of strategic management of communication in organizations. The ten-step communication strategy process presented by the author are: Analyzing the internal environment, Identifying strategic stakeholders and networks, Identifying and prioritizing strategic issues, Identifying implications of strategic issues for stakeholders, Deciding on the corporate communication strategy, Setting communication goals and policy, Determining a budget, Discussing the draft strategy with top leadership, Conducting an analysis to choose the right channel of communication and Developing a strategic communication plan. The final step gives the organization a framework within which all its communication takes place.

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White, J. and Mazur, L. (1995), Strategic Communications Management: Making Public Relations Work, EIU Series. Addison-Wesley Publishers Ltd. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Inc. and Economic Intelligence Unit, Cambridge This book presents details of using “good communication” for an organization’s strategic planning and decision-making. It shows through research and in depth analysis how public relations can be used as strategic communication to achieve an organization’s goals. The first part of the book – Public relations and communications management describes strategic contributions of public relations, management, human resources, budgeting, control and evaluation aspects. The second part of the book discusses various types of communication such as media relations, marketing, internal, public affairs and crisis management. Part three presents information about managing relationships with stakeholders. Ethical and legal issues and the future of public relations are the topics of discussion in the final fourth part. This book is useful for understanding and applying communications as a strategy to aid implementation of an organization’s initiatives.

References

Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E. (2001), Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Programs, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.

De Saez, E.E. (2002), Marketing Concepts for Libraries and Information Services, 2nd ed., Facet Publications, London.

Ferguson, S.D. (1999), Communication Planning: An Integrated Approach, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Grunig, L.A., James, E.G. and David, M.D. (2002), Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations: A Study of Communication Management in Three Countries, Lawrence Erbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.

Kinnell, M. (1989), Planned Public Relations for Libraries, Taylor Graham, London.

Kotler, P. and Fox, K. (1985), Strategic Marketing for Educational Instituttions, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Krishnamurthy, K. (Ed.) (2004), Public Relations in Asia: An Anthology, Thomson, Singapore. Marshall, N. (2001), “Public relations in academic libraries: a descriptive analysis”, The Journal of Academic Librarianship,, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 116-21.

Pugh, L. (2000), Change Management in Information Services, Gower Publications Limited, Brookfield, VT.

Steyn, B. and Puth, G. (2000), Corporate Communication Strategy, Heinemann Publishers, Sandown, South Africa.

Steyn, B. and Bu ¨tschi, G. (2004), “A model for developing corporate communication/public relations strategy – an online application (http://www.digitalmgmt.com/htm/demo/ dmsUserWeb)”, paper submitted to the 11th International Public Relations Research Symposium, held at Lake Bled, Slovenia from 2-4 July 2004. p. 28,

Tibble, S. (1997), “Developing communications strategy”, Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 356-61.