By Charles kulwa n reg no 42688

The evolution of communication discipline and techniques

The evolution of communication discipline and techniques that are used by organization to promote, publicize or generally inform relevant individuals and groups within society about affairs began at least 150 years ago. From  the industrial revolution until the 1930s ,an  era predominantly characterized by mass production  and consumption, the type of communications that were employed  by organizations largely consisted of publicly, promotions and selling activities to buoyant markets.

The move towards less stable, more competitive markets, which coincided with greater government interference in many markets and harsher economic circumstances, resulted from the 1930s onwards in a constant redefining of the scope and practices of communication in many organizations in the western world.

 Communication management -any type of communication activity undertaken by organization to inform, persuade or otherwise relate to individuals and groups in its outside environment, is from a   historical perspective, not new. But the modernization of society, first through farming and trade, and later through industrialization, created ever more complex organizations with more complicated communication needs
 

The large industrial corporations that emerged during the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century in the uk , in the usa and later on in the  rest of the western world required, in contrast  to what had gone before, professional communication officers and more organized form of handling  publicity and promotions. These large and complex industrial firms sought the continued support of government, customers and the general public, which required them to invest in public relation and advertising campaigns

In those early years and right up until the 1990s, Industrial Corporation hired publicist. Press agents, promoters and propagandist for their communication campaigns. These individuals often played on the gullibility of general public in its longing to be entertained, whether they were deceived or not, and many advertisements and press release in those days were infract exaggerated to point where they were outright lies., while such tactics can perhaps now be denounced from an ethical standpoint, this publicity seeking approach to the general public was taken at that time simply because organizations and their press agents could get away with it. 

At the turn of the nineteenth century, industrial magnets and large organizations in the western world were answerable to no one and were largely immune to pressure from government or public opinion. This situation is aptly illustrated by a comment made at the time by Wiliam Henry Vanderbilt, head of the new York central railroad, when asked about the public rampage and uproar that his companies rail road extensions would cause. The public de damned. He simply responded.

The age of unchecked industrial growth soon ended, however, and industrial organizations in the western world faced new challenges to their established ways of doing business. The twentieth century began with a cry from muckrakers’ investigative journalist