Purpose -The purpose of this article is to provide a new perspective on the relationship between communication management as a strategic process and corporate strategy. Design/methodology/approach -This paper compares approaches of the prescriptive and the descriptive branch of strategy research and highlights how these seemingly contradictory strategy concepts are interrelated. It integrates decision-making and interpretive perspectives on strategy in management and transfers those perspectives to strategy in communication management. Two areas of communication management, problem definition and the identification of stakeholders, serve as examples to illustrate the conceptual framework. Findings -A conceptual model of strategic decision making in communication management is developed. Strategy in communication management is understood as deliberately creating decision-making situations. Strategic decisions in communication management are part of both retrospective and prospective sensemaking processes in organizations. Originality/value -This paper points to fruitful tensions between different strategy concepts and suggests ways to resolve this tension partly. It offers further insights into the role of strategy in communication management by providing a comprehensive view on strategies of communication management from the perspectives of strategy content and strategy process research.
No abstract
Die Erfolge von Politikern wie Donald Trump und Boris Johnson sowie von Parteien wie der AfD haben dazu geführt, dass mit Begriffen wie Desinformation, dem so genannten Bullshit oder Post-Truth Politics bzw. postfaktischer Politik bewusste Verstöße gegen die Wahrheitsnorm bzw. eine wachsende Irrelevanz von Wahrheit in der strategischen politischen Kommunikation intensiv diskutiert werden. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags steht die erweiterte Perspektive postfaktischer Politik, die in Deutschland empirisch bislang kaum erforscht ist. Für die Existenz einer solchen postfaktischen Politik ist vor allem die Unterstellung derselben relevant. Der reflexive Charakter postfaktischer Politik impliziert, dass man nicht nur selbst postfaktische Politik unterstellt, sondern auch anderen unterstellt, dass sie von einer solchen postfaktischen Politik ausgehen. Dabei kann zwischen zwei Typen unterschieden werden: „Postfaktische Bürgerinnen“ unterstellen Politikerinnen eine weitgehende Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber der Wahrheit. „Postfaktische Akteurinnen“ erachten einen solchen gleichgültigen Umgang mit der Wahrheit für legitim. Diese Aspekte stehen im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags: Wie bewerten Politikerinnen, Pressesprecherinnen und Journalistinnen die Verbreitung und Akzeptanz von Lügen und Bullshit in Deutschland? In welchem Ausmaß nehmen sie sich selbst als Teil einer postfaktischen Politik wahr? Und ergänzend: Wie reagieren Journalistinnen auf Politikerinnen, denen sie eine fehlende Relevanz der Wahrheit unterstellen. Dazu wurden in einer Onlinebefragung insgesamt 758 Abgeordnete des Bundestages und aller Landtage, der Mitglieder der Bundespressekonferenz und aller Landespressekonferenzen sowie Pressesprecherinnen von Parteien, Fraktionen und Ministerien auf Bundes- und Landesebene befragt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen u. a., dass etwas mehr als die Hälfte der Befragten sich in einer postfaktischen Demokratie wähnt, während mehr als 90 Prozent der Befragten eine Politik erwarten, die ernsthaft, verbindlich und mit Wahrheitsanspruch auftritt.
This article focuses on the issue of how players in strategic communication situations deal with apparently hopeless situations. The theory is that players in such situations sometimes engage in strategic communication play. Essentially, what strategic communication plays do, is help to continue communication. This article develops a theoretical concept of strategic communication. It is shown that strategic communication plays are found both in direct interpersonal communication and in communication via the mass media. Pursuant to the communication sociological approach, the theoretical basis is a differentiated and paradoxical definition of play, following Bateson, embedded in Goffman’s frame analysis. On this basis, two functions of strategic communication play are identified. These are as follows: on the one hand, expanding the sphere of possibilities and, on the other, by means of self-reference, the likelihood of increasing attributions of likability and trustworthiness.
Approaches to post-truth society describe a shift in societies towards non-binding communication. There are at least two problem inherent to these approaches. On the one hand, there is no plausible explanation as to why a shift from a truth-based to a post-truth society is now apparent. On the other hand, the blanket assumption that the truth is completely unimportant today is not plausible either. This is the starting point for this article. We begin with a concept frequently found in journalistic descriptions: politics as a play and politicians as players. A theoretical approach is presented that conceives political strategic communication as a play. Elaborating on this, the acceptance of lies and bullshit is the result of political self-staging. To this end, the theory of strategic communication plays based on Bateson and Goffman will be presented and developed further into staging and truth plays in politics. The proposition: strategic political communication is increasingly – but not always – being played and perceived as a play in which the entertainment character is more important than the binding nature of the staging and the statements.
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