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Whereas many organizational communication texts address internal communication processes, few consider the efforts that companies expend to communicate with external stakeholders. Likewise, many texts that concentrate on public relations or advertising consider external communication, but fail to give attention to internal communication. Combining both points of view, this text explains how an entire organization operates through enactments of personnel and external stakeholders.
Central to this book is a concern for meaning and its influence on the performance of jobs in response to expectations of co-workers and external publics. The concept of narrative is used to explain how individual and organization performance is the expression of personae that are best when enacted jointly -- in varying degrees of coordination -- to satisfy mutual performance expectations. Narrative explains the power of organizational meaning, interpersonal contacts, group performance, stakeholder negotiation, and internal and external organizational zones of meaning -- assumptions that are shared by people who enact an organization through coordinated efforts.
List of contents
Contents: Preface. Managing Communication in Companies: An Enactment Point of View. Coordination Through Meaningful Expectations. Narrative, Enactment, and Organizational Discourse. Information: Uncertainty Reduction, System, and Satisfaction. Managing as Symbolic Action: Enacting Interpretations in Organizational Settings. Companies as Negotiated Enactment of Stakeholder Interests. Interpersonal Contacts: Enacting with Boss and Others. Networks: Many People Speaking with a Single Voice. Markets, Images, Issues, and External Stakeholders. External Communication with Public Policy Stakeholders.
About the author
Robert L. Heath
Summary
While many organizational communication texts address internal communication processes, few consider how companies communicate with stakeholders. Likewise, texts concentrating on PR or advertising consider external communication, but fail to focus on internal communication. Combining both views, the text explains how a whole organization operates.
