Stress resilience: researching a key competence for professionals in communication management

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ziegele ◽  
Ansgar Zerfass
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Coping With Stress ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Stress Resilience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Novel Concept ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeNowadays, communication practitioners are well-equipped with all kinds of skills and competencies. Nevertheless, those capabilities seem not to prevent professionals from stress and burnout. Stress resilience, i.e. the ability to deal with high demands at work, to cope with and recover from stress, seems to be a missing competence. This study sheds light on this important, but barely discussed aspect of communication management.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was applied to understand sources of stress and to identify opportunities to build stress resilience competence. Therefore, 40 in-depth interviews with senior leaders and young professionals in 30 agencies in the largest countries on two continents were conducted (United States vs Germany).FindingsThis study revealed common and threat drivers of stress. Overall, the work environment can be summarised as highly demanding and multifaceted, where stress resilience might be a useful competence to have to be successful and to be protected against negative stress outcomes such as burnout. The study identifies several reasons why resilient professionals are more successful in coping with stress. It is further shown that most communication agencies in the sample have already implemented programmes to increase employees' resilience.Originality/valueThis study offers an alternative view on the much-debated future of work by using an interdisciplinary approach and large-scale, qualitative insights from the agency environment. A novel concept is introduced that can stimulate further research.

Ethical listening to employees during a pandemic: new approaches, barriers and lessons

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene S. Neill ◽  
Shannon A. Bowen
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Management Professionals ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to identify new challenges to organizational listening posed by a global pandemic and how organizations are overcoming those barriers.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers conducted 30 in-depth interviews with US communication management professionals.FindingsCommunication management professionals value listening, but do not always make it the priority that it merits. They listed lack of desire of senior management, time, and trust of employees as barriers to effective organizational listening. The global COVID pandemic has made it more challenging to connect to employees working remotely and to observe nonverbal cues that are essential in communication. Organizations are adapting by using more frequent pulse surveys, video conferencing technology and mobile applications. Most importantly, this pandemic has enhanced moral sensitivity and empathy leading organizations to make decisions based on ethical considerations.Research limitations/implicationsThe researchers examined organizational listening applying employee-organization relationships (EOR) theory and found that trust is essential. Trust can be enhanced through building relationships with employees, ethical listening and closing the feedback loop by communicating how employers are using the feedback received by employees to make a positive change.Practical implicationsCommunication managers need to place a higher priority on listening to employees. Their listening efforts need to be authentic, morally autonomous or open-minded, and empathetic to respect the genuine concerns of employees and how organizational decisions will affect them. Listening is essential to serving as an ethical and effective strategic counselor.Originality/valueThe study examines organizational listening in the context of a global pandemic.

scholarly journals A meaning-based framework for customer loyalty

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 825-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Närvänen ◽  
Hannu Kuusela ◽  
Heli Paavola ◽  
Noora Sirola
Keyword(s):  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Retail Setting ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper's purpose is to develop a meaning-based framework for customer loyalty by examining how consumers make sense of customer loyalty through meanings and metaphors.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study based on in-depth interviews and focus group data in the retail context was conducted with Finnish customers. The data were analysed with qualitative data analysis techniques such as the constant comparative technique.FindingsThe empirical findings comprise eight loyalty meanings characterised by two dimensions. The first dimension is reflexive vs. routinised, and the second dimension is private vs. social. The loyalty types are dimensionalised through four metaphors: loyalty as freedom of choice; as being conventional and binding; and as belongingness.Practical implicationsThe findings improve the way customer loyalty currently is understood in the retail setting. The paper proposes that customer insight that utilises thick data can be used to grasp loyalty meanings. These data are rich in context and detail, and they take into account customers' everyday lives. Utilising thick data in the form of storytelling fuels customers' meaning-making related to customer loyalty, potentially enriching their relationship with the retailer.Originality/valueCustomer loyalty has been driven largely by a transactional and company-centric perspective. This article presents an alternative view of customer loyalty that accounts for the variety of meanings that customers may assign to their loyalty-related thoughts and behaviours.

scholarly journals Narratives of everyday resilience: lessons from an urban kampung community in Surabaya, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirleyana ◽  
Scott Hawken ◽  
Riza Yosia Sunindijo ◽  
David Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Political Network ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Resilience Factors ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose This paper aims to discuss what people perceive as risks and resilience factors, and how they build everyday resilience. Design/methodology/approach The study focuses on Kampung (literally “village”) Plampitan, a neighbourhood in the inner-city part of Surabaya. The research used field observation, in-depth interviews and workshops during community meetings to collect data. Findings The results show how people respond to daily risks and find the support necessary to survive. The problems and risks revealed in the study include crime and economic difficulties, such as unemployment and insufficient income. Coping strategies identified are classified into place-based adaption, people-based network and political network. These strategies can serve as a starting point for local communities to assess their resilience and assist them in enhancing “everyday” resilience. Originality/value The paper argues that the concept of resilience must go beyond top-down approaches to disaster risk management and integrate bottom-up understanding from the perspective of local people, especially among marginal and disadvantaged communities. The paper develops the emerging and overlooked concept of “everyday resilience” and suggests that it is essential in surviving both “everyday” or small-scale chronic risks and large-scale disasters.

scholarly journals Organizational learning and bureaucracy: an alternative view

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 403-415
Author(s):  
Jonas A. Ingvaldsen ◽  
Vetle Engesbak
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Process Industries ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Periodic Replacement

Purpose This paper aims to reconceptualize the relationship between organizational learning and bureaucracy. Although the two are generally considered to be antithetical, this paper shows that, in some organizations, bureaucracy can be functional for organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach The central argument is theoretical and builds on two main ideas: firstly, the nature of knowledge creation and organizational learning is conditioned by the organization’s main technological characteristics; and secondly, bureaucracy has a dual nature as an instrument of managerial control and as a vehicle of large-scale collaboration. This study uses examples from process industries as empirical illustrations. Findings As products and production systems come to embody deeper and more diverse knowledge, their development takes on an increasingly collaborative character. The need to integrate differentiated knowledge and material artefacts calls for specialization, formalization, centralization and staff roles. Hence, technological complexity drives a bureaucratization of organizational learning. Research limitations/implications The core argument is developed with reference to industries where organizational learning involves the accumulation of knowledge, not its periodic replacement associated with technological shifts. Its relevance outside these industries remains to be assessed. Practical implications Organizations, whose knowledge creation fits the pattern of creative accumulation, should learn to harness formal structures for large-scale collaboration. Originality/value The main thesis runs counter to mainstream perspectives on organizational learning. This paper explores organizational learning in sectors that have received little attention in debates about organizational learning.

How communication departments contribute to corporate success

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ansgar Zerfass ◽  
Sophia Charlotte Volk
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Organizational Strategies ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to clarify and demonstrate the core contributions of communication departments to organizational success beyond traditional ideas of messaging or information distribution. The main aim is to develop a better understanding of the different facets of value that the communication function delivers by introducing a distinction between strategic and operational contributions, following established management models.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on an extensive literature review at the nexus of communication management and strategic management research and ten qualitative case studies in large, internationally operating German organizations from different industries, combining in-depth interviews and document analyses.FindingsThe newly developed Communications Contributions Framework demonstrates that communications serve the corporation in four strategic and operational dimensions and emphasizes the critical role of communications in reflecting and adjusting organizational strategies, i.e. through identifying opportunities to innovate or securing intangible assets.Practical implicationsThe paper outlines different application scenarios for how the new framework can be used in practice, i.e. as a multi-faceted rationale for explaining the impact of communication departments in the language of top management and reporting communication success in the logic of business.Originality/valueThe framework provides the first theoretically and empirically based “big picture” of communications’ contributions to corporate success, designed to lay ground for further discussions both in academia and in practice.

Key messages and message integrity as concepts and metrics in communication evaluation

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig E. Carroll ◽  
Nell C. Huang-Horowitz ◽  
Brooke Weberling McKeever ◽  
Natalie Williams
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
News Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Media Relations ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communication Evaluation ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concepts of key messages and key message integrity, and examines their viability for communication management scholars and practitioners in evaluating media relations activities. Key message integrity addresses not only what messages transfer, but also how well. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyzed 18 nonprofit organizations’ key messages and the messages’ integrity levels using content analysis on one month of their news coverage. In-depth interviews with eight of their media relations practitioners helped validate the concepts and the results. Findings – The authors found five unique categories and functions of key messages: information concerned with dissemination, raison d’être concerned with purpose, categories concerned with positioning, resource management concerned with accounting for resources, and social relevance concerned with legitimacy. Findings also revealed varying levels of transmission and message integrity across the categories. Interviews revealed insights into challenges for communicating organizational key messages to the news media. Originality/value – This study lays the foundation for additional research on key messages and key message integrity as useful metrics for communication management scholars and practitioners.

scholarly journals Ameliorating time and cost control with project learning and communication management

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Boon Hui Yap ◽  
Martin Skitmore
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Cost Control ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeLegions of projects fail to attain their time and cost objectives due to ineffective coordination. This is often due to a lack of essential learning from projects because of insufficient communication and working experience. One of the key reasons why this occurs is that managers are unaware of what knowledge needs to be retained. In contrast with knowledge management research, which mostly focuses on the systems and processes for capturing, storing, and retrieval of knowledge, this paper investigates the nature of project communication and learning and their role on project time and cost control.Design/methodology/approachA stratified proportional purposive sampling approach was adopted in choosing the interview participants for the study. They are experienced industry practitioners working on building construction projects in Malaysia. Content analysis was then performed on the interview data. The identified variables were further validated by 11 industry experts from the three primary construction stakeholders.FindingsThe results of a series of 12 in-depth interviews with industry practitioners are provided to reveal the effective communication tools for sharing and learning in a project-based environment, the learning inducing situations involved, and the use of reusable project experiences to improve project time and cost control.Research limitations/implicationsA possible limitation of the study is its focus on a small group of Malaysian practitioners delimits the generalizability of the findings.Originality/valueA two-phase model with three-step project management process of input, tools, and output is developed from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide as an aid for more effective knowledge reuse in project time and cost control in the future.

Building and maintaining the family business-private equity relationship

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-63
Author(s):  
Vincent Molly ◽  
Diane Arijs ◽  
Johan Lambrecht
Keyword(s):  
Private Equity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Template Analysis ◽  
Empathy Gap ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose Adopting an integrated agency and stewardship perspective, the purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between family businesses (FBs) and private equity (PE) investors at three stages: entry, cooperation, and exit. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study combines the perspectives of 11 FB owners and/or managers, seven PE investors, and four intermediaries. The in-depth interviews of this purposive sample are analysed at the intra- and inter-case level using a template analysis approach up to reaching theoretical saturation. Findings Building and maintaining an effective relationship between the FB and the PE investor requires both a stewardship perspective (i.e. reciprocal principal-steward behaviour) and a necessary but insufficient agency perspective (i.e. principal-principal behaviour). Research limitations/implications More large-scale studies with an integrated agency-stewardship perspective on FBs using PE can increase the external validity of the insights from this research to build and maintain an effective relationship between both parties. Practical implications Providing insights into the relationship building process and best practices, this study helps reduce the knowledge and empathy gap that exists between FBs and PE. Originality/value The results clarify the need to reconcile an agency and stewardship perspective to thoroughly understand the relationship and behaviour of FBs and PE investors, and to help the parties understand and benefit from each other’s added value.

ICT in higher education: students perceive increased engagement

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolein B.M. Zweekhorst ◽  
Jeroen Maas
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Learning Effect ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose – In general, active participation increases learning outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to explore how: information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used to improve the participation of students during lectures and the effect of ICT on the learning outcomes of students. Design/methodology/approach – The authors tested a specific tool, Soapbox, in a compulsory course of a Masters’ program, at VU University, The Netherlands. During half of the lectures the students were invited to participate using their mobile phone or laptop, for the other half of the lectures, taught by the same lecturer, the tool was not used. The authors compared the two groups of lectures. For the evaluation the authors used observations in the classroom, a questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions with students and with the lecturer. Findings – The results show that the ICT tool facilitated and increased the level of communication and interaction among the students and between the students and the lecturers. Students’ scored lectures with the tool consistently higher on the item “engaging.” Most of the students appreciated the use of the ICT tool and said that they felt more involved. Originality/value – Despite the knowledge about the limited learning effect of lectures on larger groups, most of the teaching at universities is conducted through such lectures. The research shows that the majority of the students felt more involved in the lectures with the ICT tool, and almost half of the students feel that the learning effect of lectures with the tool is higher than the learning effect of lectures without. Although observations could not confirm the perceived enhanced involvement, about 80 percent would recommend using the tool in other classes, providing a case for the use of interactive technology in large-scale lectures.

Museums' communication in small‐ and medium‐sized cities

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Capriotti
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Narrow View ◽  
Communication Policies ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study how museums in a medium‐sized city (Tarragona, Spain) communicate with their local community, analysing how people evaluate and inform themselves about the museums in their city, and studying how museums identify their specific publics within the local community and communicate with them.Design/methodology/approachThe author has designed a dual methodological approach, using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research was conducted using in‐depth interviews with communication managers of the museums. Also, quantitative research was employed, designing a questionnaire directed at the local community in Tarragona (Spain).FindingsThe results show that museums have a narrow view of their publics, which is focused basically on their visitors, and that they are familiar with and use communication tools and techniques, although with a tactical perspective.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper was focused on all the museums in Tarragona, but it is a small number of organisations, and therefore, the results are not necessarily representative of all Catalan or Spanish museums.Originality/valueThe paper presents a specific methodology for analysing the communication of museums of any kind. From an academic perspective, this paper can improve our understanding of how museums communicate with their publics. It can be used by other researchers to analyse these types of organisations, and to promote the comparison of results. From a practitioner perspective, the results can contribute towards identifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of communication policies and activities of the museums and help to improve their communication management.

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