Public Relations and the Power of Creativity

Strategic Opportunities, Innovation and Critical Challenges

Sarah Bowman, Adrian Crookes, Øyvind Ihlen, Stefania Romenti, Sarah Bowman, Adrian Crookes, Øyvind Ihlen, Stefania Romenti

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781787692992
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Public Relations
• Index: Business

Creativity is the development and use of imagination to solve current challenges or create innovative ideas for the future. The complexity and challenges of the contemporary world arguably require increasing levels of creativity and innovation to manage the disruptive forces at work and build a prosperous and sustainable global society.

Public relations isoften seen as the discipline that amplifies creative ideas developed by othersectors, but this is changing. With the blurring of lines among creativeindustries, organisations are increasingly turning to PR to generate the 'bigideas' at the heart of effective communication.

This volume gathers 12 outstanding contributions from scholarsbased in Germany, Finland, Austria, Romania, the UK, Spain, France, Norway, Turkey and the USA. Taken together, the chaptersdemonstrate a range of possibilities for creative thinking about publicrelations management and collaboration in different settings and with differentpurposes. The chapters hint at opportunities, point towards innovation, and challenge our thinking about the power of creativity.

PART I
LEADERSHIP, ETHICS AND
CREATIVITY

THE POWER OF LISTENING IN CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CORPORATE LISTENING AS A STRATEGIC MODE OF COMMUNICATION

Maria Borner and Ansgar Zerfass

ABSTRACT

This chapter attempts to broaden corporate communications and public relations research by introducing a theoretical foundation for the inbound (in contrast to the outbound) perspective of communication. The idea of organisational listening has recently been introduced by a small number of researchers. However, current concepts are mostly based on the relational paradigm of public relations. Listening is positively connoted in those concepts because it might help to foster mutual understanding, advance favourable relationships with stakeholders and support normative ideals of deliberation in democratic societies. This is not convincing from the point of view of communication managers who align their strategies and budgets to overarching organisational goals. The chapter aims to develop a new approach beyond the relational approach by linking corporate listening to corporate value. In a first step, current definitions and concepts of organisational listening are discussed in order to underline the need for a new approach. Secondly, the need for an inbound perspective of communication is explained by referring to Giddens’ structuration theory and its consequences for managing communications. Thirdly, corporate listening is conceptualised as a strategic mode of communication by referring to the overarching concept of strategic communication. Last but not least, the chapter elaborates on the value of listening for corporations and concludes with a broadened understanding of strategic communication.

Keywords: Corporate communications; strategic communication; listening; messaging; inbound dimension; outbound dimension

INTRODUCTION

Today’s hypermodern world is characterised by ambiguity, complexity, globalisation and societies in overdrive. Businesses are observed and evaluated by multiple stakeholders with diverging, sometimes irrational, interests. This leads to an increased sensitivity towards stakeholders and new challenges for communication management. Traditional gatekeepers, who used to influence public communication, have lost their relevance – the traditional public sphere does not exist anymore: ‘Now everybody matters in what is a communication sphere rather than a public sphere’ (Holtzhausen & Zerfass, 2015, p. 6). Markets have turned to conversations (Searls & Weinberger, 2000) and stakeholders are able to reach out to companies in many direct ways to articulate their concerns. Consequently, the ability to understand stakeholder perceptions and needs gains in importance as a driver for corporate success.

However, corporate communications are often misunderstood as one-way messaging activities. There is a rich academic debate about messaging strategies (Werder, 2015a) and integrating communication across multiple channels (Schultz, Patti, & Kitchen, 2011). At the same time, practitioners establish corporate newsrooms to address audiences more efficiently (Moss, 2016) and they run integrated campaigns to frame public debates and build consistent images (Werder, 2015b). Nevertheless, strategic potential lies both in the outbound (conveyance, speaking) and in the inbound dimension of communication (perception, listening).¹ Although dialogues with stakeholders – a process in which speaking and listening are integrated per definition – have long been propagated as an instrument of corporate communications, theoretical approaches of perception and listening have seldom been discussed. In recent years however, the idea of listening in an organisational context has been introduced by a few researchers (Burnside-Lawry, 2012; Macnamara, 2016; Muzi Falconi, Grunig, & Galli Zugaro, 2014; Tench, Verčič, Zerfass, Moreno, & Verhoeven, 2017). Listening has also gained international attention in the profession through the Melbourne Mandate, published in 2012 by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management. The manifesto describes listening as an important asset of corporate culture and an important task for communication practitioners. Nevertheless, empirical surveys of communication professionals across Europe have shown that listening strategies and techniques are less prevalent than messaging strategies or overall communication strategies in all kinds of organisations (Zerfass, Verčič, Verhoeven, Moreno, & Tench, 2015, pp. 52–69).

Obviously, listening as an overall concept as well as the inbound dimension of corporate communications in general are still in their infancy. The aim of this chapter is therefore to examine inbound aspects of corporate communications by examining the research question:

RQ. How can Corporate Listening be conceptualised as an integral part of corporate communications?

This overarching question will be broken down into three more specific questions:

RQ1. Why is it necessary for corporations to adopt an inbound (outside-in) perspective?

RQ2. How can Corporate Listening be defined as a strategic and value-oriented set of communication activities?

RQ3. How can Corporate Listening contribute to the creation of corporate value?

LITERATURE REVIEW: CURRENT RESEARCH ON ORGANISATIONAL LISTENING

Apart from communication science and organisational studies, listening is discussed in different disciplines – not only in psychology, but also in counselling, psychotherapy or rhetorical training. Key hubs for the international discourse are the International Listening Association (ILA) and the International Journal of Listening. The topic has seldom been studied in the domain of communication management, public relations, strategic communication and corporate communications. An analysis of academic journals in this field reveals a surprisingly small number of articles mentioning ‘listening’ somewhere in the text (Macnamara, 2016, p. 135). The existing approaches examine organisational listening either in an internal and mainly interpersonal context (intra-organisational listening) or as activities between organisations and their stakeholders (inter-organisational listening).

INTRA- AND INTER-ORGANISATIONAL LISTENING APPROACHES

Intra-organisational concepts of listening are mainly rooted in business communication (for an overview, see Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008). They analyse listening as a key managerial ability, a valuable competency of employees (Cooper, Seibold, & Suchner, 1997) or as part of corporate culture (e.g. Goby & Lewis, 2000; Welch & Mickelson, 2013).

Inter-organisational approaches can be found in the communication management and public relations literature. Heath (2009) describes inter-organisational listening from a rhetorical perspective as prerequisite to co-create shared meaning in the public sphere by aligning the interests of organisations and stakeholders. He emphasises the necessity of listening for messaging: ‘[…] no communicator or manager can be effective without first being a good listener who wants to know, appreciate, and respect what others believe and think – and why they hold those positions’ (p. 19).

Macnamara (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) examines organisational listening on a macro-level as an integral part of democratic societies and public participation. He was the first to systematically analyse listening as an organisational activity through empirical studies on listening practices in corporations and government. The author proposes an architecture of listening (Macnamara, 2014, p. 102) for any organisation, which includes integral parts such as a participating corporate culture, open systems and listening policies. Macnamara embeds listening in a normative framework when he argues:

listening can be seen to involve a substantive level of human cognitive engagement with the expressed views of another or others involving attention, recognition, interpretation to try to discover meaning, ideally leading to understanding, as well as responding in some way […]. (Macnamara, 2013, p. 163)

While Macnamara has greatly advanced the debate on organisational listening by presenting a concise definition and a broad literature overview, his approach is closely linked to normative ideals of social participation and developing ‘voice’ in a democratic sense. The value of listening for corporations is only discussed indirectly; his thoughtful conceptualisation does not provide arguments for allocating financial and human resources to such activities.

Most approaches to listening on the meso- and micro-levels in communication management are linked to the relational and co-creational paradigm of public relations (e.g. Ledingham & Bruning, 2000). The main goal of listening is described normatively as initiating mutual understanding or favourable stakeholder relationships. Burnside-Lawry (2012) has empirically investigated the listening skills of two Australian organisations during various stakeholder engagement events. The study analysed which factors are relevant for effective organisational listening. Burnside-Lawry (2012) describes listening:

as the presence of affective, cognitive, and behavioral attributes that contribute to ‘accuracy’, the perception that the listener has accurately received and understood the message sent, and ‘effectiveness’, where the listener demonstrates supportive behavior to enhance the relationship between speaker and listener. (p. 104)

The author emphasises the role of listening for the expectation management of organisations by showing how mutual understanding can be achieved by listening through appropriate organisational behaviour, sincerity, knowledge, comprehension, corporate culture and speech. However, the study and the underlying concept focus on interpersonal listening between managers and external stakeholders and neglect other methods, structures or strategies of listening.

Mutual understanding and acceptance is part of a description of active listening proposed by Harris and Nelson (2008, pp. 253–271), who define listening from a more psychologic point of view as a process of sensing, interpreting, evaluation and responding:

Active listening enables receivers to check on the accuracy of their understanding of what a sender said, express acceptance of feelings, and stimulate senders to explore more fully their thoughts and feelings. (p. 264)

Brunner (2008) stresses listening as a key element for the development and maintenance of corporate relations. The author conducted qualitative interviews with public relations practitioners in the United States and examined factors that contribute to the genesis of relationships between companies and their stakeholders. She concludes: ‘Active listening and communication are essential for successful business/organizational relationships to be built and maintained’ (Brunner, 2008, p. 77). However, it is not explained how organisational listening can be implemented as integral part of communication management.

Muzi Falconi (2014) also argues for the desirability of listening from a normative point of view, but he introduces a more detailed, stakeholder-oriented conceptualisation. Organisational listening is described as an essential element of stakeholder engagement in global stakeholder relationship governance:

listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from and re-sponding to a spoken and/or nonverbal content. (Muzi Falconi, 2014, p. 34)

His basic assumption is that managerial decision-making can be improved if organisations implement stakeholder management infrastructures that include systematic listening. This enables organisations to change perspective and see themselves in a broader societal context (Muzi Falconi, 2014, p. 33). By doing so, the quality of the decision-making process will be increased and long-term relationships with stakeholders can be established by integrating their interests into the company’s activities. The author describes listening in more detail by presenting its role in the management process as a task of the communicator and as an element of the infrastructure of stakeholder governance. This approach examines listening from the perspective of communication management. It provides interesting and detailed insights into the managerial function of listening. Nevertheless, a theoretical framing of listening in organisational theory is still missing, and the strategic dimension of listening is scarcely discussed.

Hence, the review of current literature on listening leads to the following conclusions:

• Existing conceptualisations of listening in communication management and corporate communications are rooted in the relational paradigm of public relations. They argue that the main benefit of organisational listening is building mutual beneficial stakeholder relationships. This normative perspective, which emphasises participatory, consensual relationships as a general goal of communications, can be criticised as too narrow and one-sided. Companies are embedded in markets and societies alike and forced to define successful strategies that...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Part I Leadership, Ethics and Creativity
• Part II Knowledge and Collaboration for Fostering Creativity
• Part III New Creative Approaches to Public Relations
• Index