Chapter 2: Communicating Strategically

Effective Communication Strategies
This chapter illustrated the proper method in developing corporate communication strategies. The author states that there are three characteristics in developing an effective organization strategy: set objectives, define resources to be utilized, and diagnose the organization’s reputation. While each of these areas have a caveat, the environment in which the organization exists, identifying these criteria will most definitely result in a more effective communication strategy.

Analyzing Constituencies
The book also discusses, in this chapter, the necessity of locating both primary and secondary constituents of a corporation in order to be able to use the proper communication medium. Primary and secondary constituents range from employees of the organization all the way down to media and government bodies. By formalizing organizational constituents, an organization is able to determine their image in the eyes of their constituents and, moreover, the constituents prior knowledge of the issues to be communicated. An important part about delivering a message is to make sure not to insult a constituent’s intelligence but also refrain from utilizing verbiage that they are unaware of as well.

Communication Channels
There is various communication channels that exist that will help deliver messages in a timely fashion but also in an appropriate manner as well. From the old channel of speaking all the way to the novel concept of blogs, communication channels must permit constituency response in order for the communication to be effective. The corporation must determine the message; find the resources and their reputation. Then the messages must be composed in a timely, orderly fashion communicated to their constituents, permit the constituent to respond.

Student’s Comments
The applicability of this chapter is what makes it so valuable. Although this is located in a corporate communications textbook, the theory and practices in this book can be applied to our normal lives. For example, when we communicate with our peers, we can often use abbreviated words and colloquial terms such as “lol” or “jk,” but when we are talking to our parents or elders we must communicate differently otherwise our message will not be effective.

Furthermore, when I communicate in my current job, I first consider the reputation I have with the person I am communicating with. Are they an upper level employee? Should they be referred to by first name? If I am communicating to my boss, we are on a first name basis and the message can be short and concise without worrying about offending him, where as, if I am communicating to another director or senior leader, it is often also a first name basis but the entire scope of the email is altered to reflect a more personal length email discussing all of the particulars of the message. Here we can see how my constituents play a major role in the amount of time and type of message that is created.

External Resources
Below are a few hyperlinks to other articles that further the discussion found in Chapter 2. One article discusses constituents in small and mid-sized organizations while the other looks more generally at the organizational communication strategy. Please feel free to scan them or provide articles of your own.
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page7129.cfm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/organizational-communication.html