Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

Although this book is a generalist one it
therefore brings together the pure and the
applied to further develop the profession
and those in it and all who endeavour to be
a part of it in the future. Most vocational programmes
provided by today’s university
sector have learned to balance the demands
of further and higher education, training and
practice albeit with some difficulty due to
the demands of the university research assessment
exercise in Britain and increasing governmental
control of universities worldwide.
The contributors to this book believe that
the underpinning of specialist areas will lead
to a greater self-confidence in the face of prevailing
cynicism and pessimism about strategic
corporate communication at local and
global levels. This book supports the multifaceted
roles that any corporate communicator
plays, whether he or she be mentor,
facilitator, monitor, co-ordinator, director,
producer, broker or innovator. 7 These eight
roles represent a competing values framework
which together establish competency in any
management field especially in corporate
communication, public relations and public
affairs. Whether the practitioner/consultant is
at expert, proficient, competent, advanced
beginner or novice stage of a career, the competing
values framework is ‘grounded in paradoxical
thinking – it forces one to think about
the competing tensions and demands that
are placed on [corporate communication] managers
in new ways’.
The research presented in this book supports
what Quinn et al. calls ‘the need to use
paradoxical thinking to create both approaches
to the management of opposites’.
The corporate communicator is always at the
cutting edge of ‘informing and transforming
our future leaders’, even though ‘every area is
under siege’ because of the ‘crisis of confidence
in accounting practices and corporate
fiduciary principles. In the twenty-first century,
leaders are being challenged like never
before to resolve dilemmas around organisational
effectiveness, economic viability and
political and military security’. These chapters
are based on real research. They are neither
descriptive nor prescriptive but challenge
reductionist views of corporate communication
and provide persuasive evidence for the
notion that no organizational communication
strategy equals no corporate strategy at all in
a postmodern, mediated internet era.
Sandra M. Oliver
General Editor
NOTES
1 Foster, T. R. V. and Jolly, A. (1997) Corporate
Communication Handbook, London: Kogan Page.
2 Purcell, J. (1999) ‘Best practice or best fit:
chimera or cul-de-sac’, Human Resource Management
Journal, 9(3), 26–41.
3 Delery, J. E. and Doty, H. D. (1996) ‘Modes of
theorising in strategic human resource management:
tests of universality, contingency and
configurational performance predictions’, International
Journal of Human Resource Management,
6, 656–70.
4 MacDuffie, J. P. (1995) ‘Human resource bundles
and manufacturing performance’, Industrial
Relations Review, 48(2), 199–221.
5 Armstrong, M. (2001) A Handbook of Human
Resource Management Practice, 8th edn, London:
Kogan Page, 2, pp. 32–52.
6 Sadler, P. (2001) Management Consultancy: A
Handbook for Best Practice, 2nd edn, London:
Kogan Page, 1, pp. 3–16.
7 Quinn, R. E., Faerman, S. R., Thompson, M. P.
and McGrath, M. R. (2003) Becoming a Master
Manager: A Competency Framework, 3rd edn,
Chichester: Wiley.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors