LAIZER EDWIN N BAPRM 42691

Implications for corporate communication

Accelerated pluralism both civic and commercial is an incubator of corporate and government communication. What do these trends tell us about the modern context in which corporate communication flourish.

Pluralism is a competitive condition concerning groups of individuals in society. It is a condition in which the one has to compete for survival amongst the many. Corporate communication are the symbolic and expressive component of this competition and should be seen as competitive activity by transmitters and receivers. The aim of the competition is the search for organizational advantage. It is usually the case that only marginal advantage is available.

Second, corporate communication come from many different types of organization and group. Modern British pluralism is a highly variegated and pervasive phenomenon across its civil society and political economy. It would be inadequately descriptive to narrow the term corporate just to business. Friends of the Earth, the Trades Union Congress, and Help the Aged are as structured, hierarchical and stable as McDonalds, the Institute of Directors and EMI. Churches, synagogues and temples are more communicative than many boardrooms. Think of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Catholic Media Office.

Third, accelerated pluralism is not the same as neo-liberalism, the ruling conservative ideology of much of the Anglo-American world since the 1980s. Apart from any coincidental identity, they are separate: the pluralism described here is a social phenomenon and process; neo-liberalism is a philosophy. A neo- liberal government may welcome pluralism as an agent for the expression of individualism and free association, but it would also note that pluralism is a process of interest intermediation and that many of these interests are inimical to a neo-liberal government.  For example, environmentalism and consumerism have flourished during the period of accelerated pluralism, but they are viewed with suspicion by the neo-liberal as imposed, external costs on markets, and as the cause of increased government regulation.

The fourth contextual point is that corporate communication is, mostly, public activity, even though its subject matter is sometimes about private behaviour. Corporate communicators are known and accountable officials for their organizations and their work is track able mostly. Corporate communication is the public relations of communication: public communicative relations of display for attention and advantage aimed at a distinct public other. Corporate communication sometimes deal with private matters but mostly in a public way. For example, the pay rise of an individual business executive causes controversy but it is defended in terms of policy, if not principle.

The firth is that it is important to identify the social locations where communication between interests and government is exchanged. There are three exchange locations for corporate communication. The first is the media, both old and new, where communication between interests and government is in the mass media and this location is a major focus for this chapter. The second location is civil society which includes the churches, universities, the professions, trade unions, cause groups and sporting organizations.

It’s important to understanding that it is important to realize that much corporate communication takes place in locations where government is not involved (civil society) or is only involved in a supervisory way (markets) and that this is usually competitive communication done in public mostly, between allies and critics