Strategic communication as a research field and a professional practice is becoming increasingly relevant for organizations. Bringing together contributions from almost 60 leading international scholars, this dynamic Research Handbook on Strategic Communication is a timely contribution to a vivid and developing academic field.

Divided into three key parts – fundamentals, perspectives, and processes – the Research Handbook provides a holistic overview of target-oriented communication in and between organizations and society. The Handbook begins by addressing core issues in the discipline, introducing theories of communication, strategy, propaganda, and the public sphere. Chapters further explore strategic communication from a range of institutional, democratic, spatial, gendered, professional, and technological perspectives. The final section covers an extensive array of strategic communication processes, from corporate branding, communication management, and public diplomacy to corporate social responsibility, political communication, and social media.

Offering an advanced overview of relevant theories, concepts, and methods in strategic communication, this comprehensive Research Handbook will be an essential resource for graduate students and scholars of communication studies, sociology, social psychology, organizational theory, marketing, and public relations. Practitioners will benefit from its combination of theoretical and practical insights.

Listening has many positive effects for organizations. The listening increases trust, commitment, job satisfaction among many other things. Despite the positive impact and that organizations have more communication channels than ever before, too little time is spent listening to customers, employees, and significant other stakeholders. How can it be so? The simple answer is that it is difficult, but it is possible to get better at it, both as an organization and as an employee. Organizations need to manage listening as a strategic issue to be able to exploit this great potential. At the same time as managers and employees need to be made aware of the importance of listening and practice it. Listening is an aspect of communication that has received much attention the last couple of years, and the pandemic made the importance of listening in organizations even more important. In communication between humans, listening is a particularly important part of creating and maintaining good relationships, trust, and psychological safety. Research shows that when managers are bad at listening, it can lead to higher turnover, burnout, dissatisfaction, and low commitment among employees. Listening to customers is another aspect that also has got more attention both in practice and research. The main aim of the book is to increase knowledge about listening and help organizations and individuals become better at strategic listening. And through this, contribute to strengthening the listening skills of organizations and individuals. The book provides both theoretical explanations and practical tools, and in the last chapter the authors present their model of how organizations can work more systematically with listening.

What is internal communication? What role does it play in contemporary organizations? What are the consequences of malfunctioning internal communication? There are many aspects of internal communication - work related, social, formal, informal, vertical, horizontal, between coworkers, between coworkers and managers, communication before and under organizational changes, internal crisis communications and so forth. We think of different forms of communication channels such as intranet, staff magazines, electronic billboards and internal television. This book interconnects these different parts and emphasizes the strategic value and importance of internal communication. We understand internal communication as an unused capital with a large potential for organizational success. Further, we understand internal communication as a basic prerequisite of organizations that is performed by all members of an organization - managers, coworkers and communication professionals. Traditionally, there has been too much emphasis on the work and function of communication professionals when internal communication is discussed, but most of the communication value is actually produced by managers and coworkers. However, communication professionals are the communication experts in organizations that strategically facilitate the organization. This book is based on a cooperation between Susanne Dahlman, senior communication consultant, and Mats Heide, Professor in Strategic Communication at Lund University. Hence, this book has a unique approach that covers both practical and academic aspects of internal communication. This book is a response to the demand for a book that covers the strategic aspects of internal communication in practice, and as such is ideal reading for both practitioners and advanced students.

Listening has many positive effects for organizations. The listening increases trust, commitment, job satisfaction among many other things. Despite the positive impact and that organizations have more communication channels than ever before, too little time is spent listening to customers, employees, and significant other stakeholders. How can it be so? The simple answer is that it is difficult, but it is possible to get better at it, both as an organization and as an employee. Organizations need to manage listening as a strategic issue to be able to exploit this great potential. At the same time as managers and employees need to be made aware of the importance of listening and practice it. Listening is an aspect of communication that has received much attention the last couple of years, and the pandemic made the importance of listening in organizations even more important. In communication between humans, listening is a particularly important part of creating and maintaining good relationships, trust, and psychological safety. Research shows that when managers are bad at listening, it can lead to higher turnover, burnout, dissatisfaction, and low commitment among employees. Listening to customers is another aspect that also has got more attention both in practice and research. The main aim of the book is to increase knowledge about listening and help organizations and individuals become better at strategic listening. And through this, contribute to strengthening the listening skills of organizations and individuals. The book provides both theoretical explanations and practical tools, and in the last chapter the authors present their model of how organizations can work more systematically with listening.

This textbook provides an overview of the core concepts, theories and methods in strategic communication, using examples from research and experiences from practice. Strategic Communication begins by explaining the fundamental concepts related to communication, organizations and strategy, and then explores the communication processes within leadership, reputation, crisis and change. The authors work to present a framework for the future, underpinned by the concept of Communicative Organizations. The content of this 2nd edition has been fully updated to incorporate the latest research and practice examples, including a new chapter on 'The Future of Strategic Communication'. The new edition also features enhanced pedagogical features to aid learning, such as key takeaways, and new international case studies and examples throughout. After reading the book the student or reader will be able to define and reflect upon strategic communication as an academic field and professional practice, describe relevant theories and apply these to communication problems. It is primarily aimed towards Undergraduate students studying Strategic Communication, Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Marketing, as well as reflective practitioners looking to gain a more thorough and applied introduction to the field.

This textbook provides an overview of the core concepts, theories and methods in strategic communication, using examples from research and experiences from practice.

Strategic Communication begins by explaining the fundamental concepts related to communication, organizations and strategy, and then explores the communication processes within leadership, reputation, crisis and change. The authors work to present a framework for the future, underpinned by the concept of Communicative Organizations. The content of this 2nd edition has been fully updated to incorporate the latest research and practice examples, including a new chapter on ‘The Future of Strategic Communication’. The new edition also features enhanced pedagogical features to aid learning, such as key takeaways, and new international case studies and examples throughout.

After reading the book the student or reader will be able to define and reflect upon strategic communication as an academic field and professional practice, describe relevant theories and apply these to communication problems. It is primarily aimed towards Undergraduate students studying Strategic Communication, Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Marketing, as well as reflective practitioners looking to gain a more thorough and applied introduction to the field.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I. Fundamentals

Chapter 1. What is communication?

Chapter 2. What is strategy?

Chapter 3. What is strategic communication?

Part II. Communication Processes and Organizations

Chapter 4. Strategic communication in Society and Market Places

Chapter 5. Organizational identity and culture

Chapter 6. Change and crisis communication

Chapter 7. Mediatization

Part III. Future Developments

Chapter 8. The Future of Strategic Communication – Communication Value and the Communicative Organization 

Today almost everyone in the developed world spends time online and anyone involved in strategic communication must think digitally. The magnitude of change may be up for debate but the trend is unstoppable, dramatically reconfiguring business models, organisational structures and even the practice of democracy. Strategic Communication, Social Media and Democracy provides a wholly new framework for understanding this reality, a reality that is transforming the way both practitioners and theoreticians navigate this fast-moving environment. Firmly rooted in empirical research, and resisting the lure of over-optimistic communication dreams, it explores both the potential that social media offers for changing the relationships between organisations and stakeholders, and critically analyses what has been achieved so far. This innovative text will be of great interest to researchers, educators and advanced students in strategic communications, public relations, corporate communication, new media, social media and communication management.

Today almost everyone in the developed world spends time online and anyone involved in strategic communication must think digitally. The magnitude of change may be up for debate but the trend is unstoppable, dramatically reconfiguring business models, organisational structures and even the practice of democracy. Strategic Communication, Social Media and Democracy provides a wholly new framework for understanding this reality, a reality that is transforming the way both practitioners and theoreticians navigate this fast-moving environment. Firmly rooted in empirical research, and resisting the lure of over-optimistic communication dreams, it explores both the potential that social media offers for changing the relationships between organisations and stakeholders, and critically analyses what has been achieved so far. This innovative text will be of great interest to researchers, educators and advanced students in strategic communications, public relations, corporate communication, new media, social media and communication management.

We live in a crisis society, with traditional media responding on a minute-by-minute basis on daily, seemingly inevitable, organizational crises. Whether crises have become more prevalent or we're simply more aware of them, they are now of great concern to organizations and crisis management and communication is a priority. Most organizations have a crisis response plan; many have dedicated crisis and security management staff. Yet much of the emphasis has been on action outside of the organization. Neglecting communication between managers and employees, they risk poor, inconsistent crisis management and the very real possibility of crisis escalation. Crisis management, like charity, begins in the home. Internal Crisis Communication is one of the first guides to communication inside organizations, before, during and after a crisis - not just on the acute crisis phase - to provide a complete and holistic guide for managers that will help them manage and contain crises. It includes an in-depth real-life case study, referred to throughout, from the author's own experience, which makes practical application explicit and the methodology clear. Strengthened by rigorous academic research and tested in real-life crisis situations, the methods included in this book will be invaluable for communication professionals, security officers and crisis managers, as well as valuable reading for students and researchers interested in crisis and risk management.