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This is a postprint of an entry that is published at Oxford Bibliographies in Communication.
Please cite as: Zerfass, A., & Volk, S. C. (2020). Communication Management. In P. Moy (Ed.),
Oxford Bibliographies in Communication. Oxford University Press, 2020-02-26.
https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199756841-0244
COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
Ansgar Zerfass
Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany, &
BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway
Sophia Charlotte Volk
Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
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Introduction
Reference Works
Definitions and Concepts
Communication Management
Related Definitions and Concepts
Contrasting and Bridging Different Definitions and Concepts
General Overviews
Monographs
Anthologies
Textbooks and Handbooks
Journals
Management Foundations
Planning and Development
Strategy
Communication Manager Roles
Leadership
Organizing and Structures
Evaluation and Measurement
Value Creation
Comparative Research
Academic Associations and Conferences
Practice and Transfer Associations
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INTRODUCTION
The question of what comprises communication management has caused numerous discussions
among communication scholars representing different theoretical and disciplinary angles.
Communication management is generally defined as steering communication processes in
organizational contexts along the phases of analyzing, planning, organizing, executing, and
evaluating with the aim of contributing to organizational goals and value creation. The term has
however often been interpreted in different ways, and it is used inconsistently throughout the
literature: first, as an umbrella term for all types of goal-oriented communication encompassing
the related concepts of public relations, corporate communication, or strategic communication;
second, as an equivalent or as a replacement for the term public relations; third, as a specific
stream of research within these fields in the tradition of managerial functionalism. In view of the
inconsistent use of terminology, scholars have discussed what uniquely defines and distinguishes
the concept of communication management from public relations, corporate communication, or
strategic communication. The field of communication management does not have its own
distinct monographs, anthologies, or textbooks per se, but continues to share close ties with the
disciplines mentioned above. Therefore, this entry aims to offer a broad collection of references
relevant to the discussion of communication management. Characteristic of communication
management scholarship is the theoretical orientation toward management research and the
empirical reflection of how communication professionals manage the organization’s
communication with stakeholders and publics. The core contribution of a managerial
understanding of communication is the notion that communication management is an
organizational function embedded in the overall governance and steering of an entity, oriented
toward securing the efficiency and effectiveness of all activities and the sustained increase in
value of the organization. At base, such a managerial logic applies to all forms of communication
(internal or external, media or customer relations, marketing or product communications, etc.),
all instruments of communication (campaign, program, channel, etc.), and all types of
organizations (companies, governmental institutions, non-profits, etc.). Whereas communication
goals or target stakeholders will inevitably vary depending on the type of organization and the
publics involved, the basic processes for managing the function will remain the same. Typical
research endeavors in this tradition focus on questions related to different aspects and phases of
the management process, such as: formulation and alignment of communication strategies and
plans; structures and resources of communication departments; implementation of
communication programs and messages; professional roles and types of leadership; evaluation
and measurement of communication success and value creation through communication; specific
professional tasks such as managing crisis communication and reputation, or planning integrated
communication; usage of methods, tools, and frameworks in practice.
REFERENCE WORKS
There are currently two encyclopedias that encompass a plethora of aspects related to
communication management. Heath 2013 is specifically focused on the theory and history of
public relations scholarship, while Heath and Johansen 2018 is located in the growing research
field of strategic communication.
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Heath, Robert L, ed. 2013. Encyclopedia of public relations. 2 vols. 2d ed. Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE. [ISBN: 9781452240794]
The second edition of the two-volume Encyclopedia of Public Relations, first published in 2005,
contains nearly 450 entries spanning all aspects of the public relations field, including concepts
and theories, history of the profession, changing practices, and key practitioners. It was and
remains the first and most authoritative compilation on public relations, and includes many
articles focusing on managing public relations or—in a broader sense—any communication
activities of organizations.
Heath, Robert L., and Winni Johansen, eds. 2018. The international encyclopedia of strategic
communication. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley. [ISBN: 9781119010715]
The three-volume International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, written by a
multidisciplinary team of authors, provides a broad overview of strategic communication
research, including theory, definitions, concepts, and professional trends alongside a specific
focus on the four major areas of strategy, organization, management, and sociocultural impact. It
examines strategic communication from different scholarly perspectives and addresses a diverse
readership, including academics and professionals in communication management, public
relations, corporate communication, or marketing. Aspects of managing communications are
discussed in many articles.
DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS
The articles in this section provide an overview of the definitional approaches to communication
management as well as the closely related terms public relations, corporate communication, and
strategic communication. The term public relations has a long tradition originating from rhetoric
and speech communication in the United States, but has lost in popularity in academia and
practice due to its negative connotations and its problematic translations in other languages.
Traditionally, public relations is understood as the management of communication or
communicative relationships between an organization and its publics. Today, it is often replaced
with the term communication management, especially in the European countries. The term
corporate communication(s), in contrast, is preferred by scholars focusing on the totality of
communication of corporations (understood in a broad figurative sense of “corpus,” including
not-for-profit organizations), who are typically domiciled in business schools. The term strategic
communication denotes a growing community of scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds
who are interested in the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in
conversations of strategic significance to its goals.
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Communication Management
Brønn 2014 and Gregory 2018 understand communication management as a way of steering and
managing communication that contributes to value creation in organizational contexts. The
definition by Hallahan 2005 also emphasizes the idea of planning or organizing communication,
but views the concept as an umbrella term that encompasses the term strategic communication.
Verčič, et al. 2001 introduces the new term “reflective communication management” as a
European concept replacing the US-American public relations concept.
Brønn, Peggy S. 2014. Communication management. In The international encyclopedia of
communication. Edited by Wolfgang Donsbach, 753–757. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
This article defines communication management as the steering of all communications in the
context of the organization. The author provides a review and clarification of different
conceptual approaches to communication management: as a special way of managing; as
equivalent to public relations defined as managing communication itself; as part of corporate
communication, including organizational communication, marketing communication, and
management communication; or with a focus on integration, cooperation, and interaction
between communication functions.
Gregory, Anne. 2018. Communication management. In The international encyclopedia of
strategic communication. Edited by Robert L. Heath and Winni Johansen, 216–229. Hoboken,
NJ: John Wiley. [ISBN: 9781119010715]
This article understands communication management as a way of managing and organizing
communication, which is oriented toward making a strategic contribution at different levels of
and adding value to the organization. The author explores three different angles on the concept:
the context and need for communication; the four levels at which communication should be
managed (societal, organizational, program, and individual level); and the location and structure
of the communication function.
Hallahan, Kirk. 2005. Communication management. In Encyclopedia of public relations. Edited
by Robert L. Heath, 153–158. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. [ISBN: 9781452265452]
This article describes communication management as an umbrella concept consistent with the
concept of strategic communication, which involves the examination of how for-profit and not-
for-profit organizations use communications to achieve organizational goals. The author argues
that central to the notion of communication management is the idea of planning or organizing,
which indicates the concept’s close alignment with general business planning. From a practice
perspective, the term is also defined as a set of techniques to execute programs, campaigns, and
projects.
Verčič, Dejan, Betteke van Ruler, Gerhard Bütschi, and Bertil Flodin. 2001. On the definition of
public relations: A European view. Public Relations Review 27.4: 373–387.
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This article reports on a Delphi study—the so-called EBOK study—conducted to explore the
meaning of public relations across twenty-five European countries. The authors conclude that
European public relations differs from the US-American concept in four dimensions (managerial,
operational, reflective, and educational) and suggest the new term reflective communication
management.
Related Definitions and Concepts
Besides the definitions of communication management discussed in Definitions and Concepts
and Communication Management, scholars have attempted to achieve conceptual clarity of the
related terms public relations, which has nowadays often been equated with communication
management, corporate communication, and strategic communication. Len-Rios 2011 defines
public relations in a traditional understanding as the management of communication between an
organization and all of its publics and provides insights into the controversy of such a broad
definition. Lee 2011, in contrast, introduces a new definition of public relations as flow rather
than organizational function. Cornelissen 2013 offers a historical overview and definition of the
concept of corporate communications. Hallahan, et al. 2007 and Zerfass, et al. 2018 develop a
definition of strategic communication and trace its institutionalization across the field.
Cornelissen, Joep P. 2013. Corporate communication. In The international encyclopedia of
communication. Edited by Wolfgang Donsbach, 1004–1010. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
This encyclopedia article defines corporate communication from the standpoint of professional
practice quite broadly as a management function (alongside other functions) within corporations
that involves communication professionals engaging in different forms of communication with
internal and external stakeholders (e.g., corporate advertising, issues management, internal
communication, investor relations, change communication, public affairs, media relations). The
author traces the historical roots of corporate communication developing in business settings
from the 1980s onward and explicates the concept’s grounding in management theory.
Hallahan, Kirk, Derina Holtzhausen, Betteke van Ruler, Dejan Verčič, and Krishnamurthy
Sriramesh. 2007. Defining strategic communication. International Journal of Strategic
Communication 1.1: 3–35.
This conceptual article introduces an often-cited seminal definition of strategic communication
as the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission. It offers a
comprehensive review of the various terms being used to denominate the communication field:
communication management, corporate communication, integrated (marketing) communication,
and reputation management. The authors also trace the increasing and decreasing popularity and
institutionalization of the different concepts and terms across disciplines.
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Lee, Edwards. 2011. Defining the “object” of public relations research: A new starting point.
Public Relations Inquiry 1.1: 7–30.
This article reviews several definitions of public relations and discusses the importance of
paradigmatic variety in the scholarly field. Building upon a synthesis of different conceptual
assumptions, it introduces a new definition of public relations as flow rather than organizational
function that can accommodate the range of research encompassed by these continua, thereby
facilitating greater unity and inclusivity in the field.
Len-Ríos María. 2011. Public relations. In Oxford bibliographies. Edited by Patricia Moy.
Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. [doi: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756841-0018].
This bibliographic article offers a broad definition of public relations as the management of
communication between an organization or individual and all of its audiences/publics, thereby
including a variety of practices ranging from media relations, to crisis communication, investor
relations, corporate communication, donor relations, lobbying, or reputation management. The
author provides insights into the controversy of such a broad definition, e.g., voiced by
postmodern and critical public relations scholars.
Zerfass, Ansgar, Dejan Verčič, Howard Nothhaft, and Kelly Page Werder. 2018. Strategic
communication: Defining the field and its contribution to research and practice. International
Journal of Strategic Communication 12.4: 487–505.
Drawing upon a decade of research and reviewing co-existing approaches, this conceptual article
builds upon the seminal definition by Hallahan, et al. 2007 and introduces a new definition of
strategic communication, which encompasses all communication that is substantial for the
survival and sustained success of an entity. The authors state problems with earlier definitions
and demarcate the distinct research object.
Contrasting and Bridging Different Definitions and Concepts
In an attempt to achieve definitional and conceptual clarity, scholars have contrasted, linked, and
bridged related terms and concepts in order to integrate the oftentimes-fragmented sub-
disciplinary academic communities. Shelby 1993 was among the first articles aimed at analyzing
the commonalities and differences between the four related fields of organizational, business,
management, and corporate communication. Theis-Berglmair 2008 and Wehmeier and Winkler
2013 both review the intersections of public relations/communication management and
organizational communication. Argenti 1996 specifically focuses on the evolution of the
corporate communication concept and how the related fields of management, business, and
organizational communication informed it. Will 2000 suggests a definition of communications
management as a primarily strategic management function, as opposed to corporate
communications as a primarily operative management function. Christensen and Cornelissen
2011 calls for a better integration of corporate communication and organizational
communication.
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Argenti, Paul A. 1996. Corporate communication as a discipline: Toward a definition.
Management Communications Quarterly 10.1: 73–97.
This conceptual article defines corporate communication as a functional area within
organizations, traces the development of the corporate communication discipline and demarcates
how the field is related to the subdisciplines management communication, business
communication, and organizational communication.
Christensen, Lars Thøger, and Joep Cornelissen. 2011. Bridging corporate and organisational
communication: Review, development and look to the future. Management Communication
Quarterly 25.3: 383–414.
The authors provide a formative and critical review of research on corporate communication and
identify intersections with related research traditions in organizational communication, calling
for a greater cross-fertilization between the two areas. They argue that integration will enrich the
theorization of corporate and organizational communication and may better link micro- and
macro level analyses.
Shelby, Annette Nevin. 1993. Organizational, business, management, and corporate
communication: An analysis of boundaries and relationships. Journal of Business
Communication 30.3: 241–267.
This conceptual article provides a theory-based analysis of the commonalities and differences of
four subject areas: organizational communication, business communication, management
communication, and corporate communication. The author uses a system-process-model-
framework to compare the published definitions and taxonomies of each of the four areas. The
goal is to achieve a relatively objective determination of discipline boundaries and their
interrelationships.
Theis-Berglmair, Anna-Maria. 2008. Organisational communication and public relations: A
conceptual framework for a common ground. In Public relations research: European and
international perspectives and innovations. Edited by Ansgar Zerfass, Betteke van Ruler and
Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, 111–123. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
[ISBN: 9783531156026]
This article explores possible reasons for the separation of the two research fields of public
relations and organizational communication. The author presents a theoretical approach, which
perceives decisions as the characteristic form of organizational communication, and proposes a
contingency model for a discussion of public relations and organizational communication on a
common theoretical basis, resulting in the idea of communication management as a management
of contingency.
Wehmeier, Stefan, and Peter Winkler. 2013. Expanding the bridge, minimizing the gaps: Public
relations, organisational communication, and the idea that communication constitutes
organisation. Management Communication Quarterly 27.2: 280–290.
This article explores the gaps between public relations and organizational communication
research in order to identify ways of bridging those gaps through a systematic comparison of the
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axioms underlying the two fields. The authors argue that German-speaking communication
research, which draws to a large extent on holistic social theories, may help to bridge the divides
between communication management, public relations, and organizational communication.
Will, Markus. 2000. Why communications management? The International Journal on Media
Management 2.1: 46–53.
This article calls for a management discipline for communications in its own right and offers a
definition of communication management as a holistic approach to managing a company’s
communications with all external and internal targets and intermediaries. The author draws a
distinction between communication management as a strategic management function, corporate
communications as the operative management function, and corporate marketing/branding as the
strategic and/or operative management process.
GENERAL OVERVIEWS
For readers looking for a general overview before diving in specific subfields, this section lists
monographs, anthologies, and textbooks that offer a comprehensive picture of early and
contemporary communication management scholarship. As noted in the Introduction, many
authors use different terms and the field does not have its own distinct monographs, anthologies,
or textbooks. Yet, the overall approach guiding these texts is the view that communication in
organizations can and should be managed.
Monographs
Numerous monographs have been written in the academic tradition of communication
management, starting with the popular book Grunig and Hunt 1984 and the later publication of
the Excellence study, Grunig, et al. 2002, which both remain well established until today. Tench,
et al. 2017 is a recent monograph that is grounded on ten years of empirical evidence and maps
the contours of the professional field of communication management in Europe. Ragas and Culp
2014 captures the business knowledge essential for communication professionals. The early book
White and Mazur 1996 presents techniques for the strategic management of public relations.
Grunig, Larissa A., James E. Grunig, and David M. Dozier. 2002. Excellent public relations and
effective organisations: A study of communication management in three countries. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum. [ISBN: 9780805818178].
This book is the final publication of the Excellence study. Compared to the 1992 edition, it
contains many new statistical analyses of the survey data and more details from the case studies.
It places strong emphasis on communication management’s role in top management,
symmetrical internal communications, and relationship building.
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Grunig, James E., and Todd Hunt. 1984. Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston. [ISBN: 9780030583377]
This widely cited textbook theorizes public relations from a managerial perspective, equating it
with communication management, and introducing the term in the US and Anglo-American
context.
Ragas, Matthew W., and Ron Culp. 2014. Business essentials for strategic communicators. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan. [ISBN: 9781137385338]
This book captures the knowledge needed by any communications professional who wants to
create shared value for the organization and its stakeholders. The authors describe the essentials
of financial statements, business terminology, and the stock market, needed to understand the
business world.
Tench, Ralph, Dejan Verčič, Ansgar Zerfass, Ángeles Moreno, and Piet Verhoeven. 2017.
Communication excellence. How to develop, manage and lead exceptional communications.
London: Palgrave Macmillan. [ISBN: 9783319488592]
This book presents a culmination of research and best practice models of excellent
communication management, based on an extensive longitudinal data set of the European
Communication Monitor studies conducted annually since 2007. It offers guidance on the
difference between normal and excellent communication departments and shows readers how
communication can effectively influence and support the organization and positively fit within
the business strategy.
White, Jon, and Laura Mazur. 1996. Strategic communications management: Making public
relations work. Harlow, UK: Addison-Wesley. [ISBN: 9780201593761]
This book presents analytic techniques and practical steps for the strategic management of public
relations, drawing on research featuring cases and examples of best practices.
Anthologies
Numerous anthologies (edited collections of chapters) on communication management have been
published over the past decades, and new ones continue to appear. These anthologies vary
greatly in contents, often representing particular theoretical traditions or approaches. Grunig
1992 is the oldest anthology selected here and discusses the concept of excellence in
communication management, which has inspired scholars over years. Moss and DeSanto 2011
and Ragas and Culp 2018 reflect various managerial dimensions of communication management
practice and feature essays from communication leaders. Brønn, et al. 2016 and Sriramesh, et al.
2013 offer essay collections about the current trends of communication management scholarship
and practice. The German standard work Zerfass, et al. 2020 provides a comprehensive overview
about the aspects and task fields of communication management practice and contemporary
research. Holtzhausen and Zerfass 2015 provides the first compilation of articles in the closely
related field of strategic communication.
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Brønn, Peggy S., Stefania Romenti, and Ansgar Zerfass, eds. 2016. The management game of
communication. Bingley, UK: Emerald. [ISBN: 9781786357151]
This book explores challenges of managing communication and provides insight into the
expanding field of corporate communication from a European perspective. The contributions
discuss a variety of research topics, including change communication, leadership and mentoring,
or current education in corporate communication.
Grunig, James E., ed. 1992. Excellence in public relations and communication management.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. [ISBN: 9780805802276]
This compendium of chapters is the initial volume coming out of the Excellence study, a
comprehensive research effort commissioned by the International Association of Business
Communicators (cited under Practice and Transfer Associations). It discusses the principles of
symmetrical communication, practitioner roles, and the communication unit’s role in
management.
Holtzhausen, Derina, and Ansgar Zerfass, eds. 2015. The Routledge handbook of strategic
communication. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9780203094440]
This handbook provides the first comprehensive review of research in the strategic
communication domain and offers educators and graduate-level students a compilation of
approaches to and studies of varying aspects of the field. Several chapters focus on the
communication management process and its phases.
Moss, Danny, and Barbara DeSanto, eds. 2011. Public relations: A managerial perspective.
London: SAGE. [ISBN: 9780761948575]
This book explores communication management and its role in the wider organizational world,
including related domains such as corporate branding and reputation, government relations, and
community communications. It features contributions from communications leaders in the
United Kingdom and the United States.
Ragas, Matthew W., and Ron Culp, eds. 2018. Mastering business for strategic communicators:
Insights and advice from the C-suite of leading brands. Croydon, UK: Emerald. [ISBN:
9781787145047]
This collection of more than twenty essays from current and former chief communications
officers provides students and professionals with expert insights and advice into the various
major business functions and departments.
Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy, Ansgar Zerfass, and Jeong-Nam Kim, eds. 2013. Public relations
and communication management. Current trends and emerging topics. New York: Routledge.
[ISBN: 9780415630900]
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To honor the scholarship of James and Larissa Grunig, this volume continues to reflect on and
expand their body of work (see Grunig 1992 and Grunig, et al. 2002, the latter cited under
Monographs) with essays discussing current trends of the behavioral, strategic management
approach to managing public relations. Contributions demonstrate the relevance of applied
theories for the practice, discuss the impact of globalization and internationalization, and suggest
new research topics and avenues.
Zerfass, Ansgar, Manfred Piwinger, and Ulrike Röttger, eds. 2020. Handbuch
Unternehmenskommunikation, 3ed.Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Gabler. [ISBN:
9783658229320]
This book is a German standard work with more than fifty articles covering different aspects of
communication management, from planning and leadership to evaluation. The chapters provide
an overview of the status of the German discussion on corporate communications and are
characterized by an understanding of communication oriented toward value creation.
Textbooks and Handbooks
Introductory textbooks and handbooks convey basic knowledge on communication management
and related fields. The texts differ in scope, perspective, focus on research, and illustration with
practice examples. There is no renowned textbook that explicitly uses the term “communication
management,” except for the popular British textbook Tench and Yeomans 2017 and the
handbook Oliver 2014 which focus on the management of public relations and strategic
communication. Most textbooks have been written from the perspective of corporate
communication and many of them are typically used in business schools, e.g., Argenti and
Forman 2002, Argenti 2016, Belasen 2008, and Cornelissen 2017. Brønn, et al. 2006 and Van
Riel and Fombrun 2007 focus specifically on managing reputation as the key goal of corporate
communication. Lerbinger 2019 and Goodman and Hirsch 2015 shed light on key issues of
corporate communication from a management perspective, whereas Van Riel 1995 offers an
integrative perspective on public relations and marketing communications.
Argenti, Paul A. 2016. Corporate communication. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill. [ISBN:
9789814636193]
This seminal textbook often used in business schools shows the importance of managing all
communication activities in an organization in order to stay ahead of the competition. Argenti
provides numerous cases and real examples of corporate communication activities in specific
situations. The text is mainly focused on operational activities and not linked to communication
science or theory.
Argenti, Paul A., and Janis Forman. 2002. The power of corporate communication. New York:
McGraw Hill. [ISBN: 9780071660594]
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This textbook provides an easy-to-read overview of communication management in businesses
and shows executives how to communicate effectively with employees, between organizations,
and across industries. The authors present workplace-tested approaches for addressing common
challenges.
Belasen, Alan T. 2008. The theory and practice of corporate communication. Thousand Oaks,
CA: SAGE. [ISBN: 9781412950350]
This textbook provides an integrative approach to corporate communication, covering both
theoretical aspects and practical examples and case applications. The author introduces the
Competing Values Framework to capture the richness, complexity, and interdependence of
communication approaches, functions, managerial roles, and organizational stakeholders.
Brønn, Peggy S., and Roberta Wiig. 2006. Corporate communication: A strategic approach to
building reputation. 2d ed. Oslo: Gyldendal.
This textbook examines a wide range of subjects including corporate communication theory,
corporate brand and image, stakeholder management, issues management, integrated
communication, and ethics.
Cornelissen, Joep. 2017. Corporate communications. A guide to theory and practice. 5th ed.
London: SAGE. [ISBN: 9781473953697]
First published in 2004, this seminal textbook combines approaches from communication
sciences and management research, including stakeholder management, reputation, identity,
planning, and organizing corporate communication. Cornelissen incorporates current thinking
and developments on communication management from both the academic and practitioner
worlds.
Goodman, Michael B., and Peter B. Hirsch. 2015. Corporate communication: Critical business
asset for strategic global change. New York: Peter Lang. [ISBN: 9781433119262]
This textbook examines the practice of managing communication as a critical business asset in a
time of global change. It looks at the major communication needs in the lifecycle of companies:
M&A, structural and culture change, innovation, new leadership, downsizing, global expansion,
competition, ethical decision-making, political action, and employee engagement.
Lerbinger, Otto. 2019. Corporate communication. An international and management
perspective. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. [ISBN: 9781119471370]
This book describes how economic, political, and cultural features of a country affect company
decisions and communication, addressing key management issues such as sustainability,
technology, and innovation. The author discusses various communication disciplines and
practices that are employed in programs and campaigns.
Oliver, Sandra M. 2014. Handbook of corporate communication and public relations. Pure and
applied. New York: Routledge.
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This handbook synthesizes multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to communication
management and public relations, corporate communication, corporate strategy, and corporate
affairs. It covers diverse topics, including national and international communication; image,
identity, and reputation management; and the future for corporate communication theory and
practice.
Tench, Ralph, and Liz Yeomans. 2017. Exploring public relations: Global strategic
communication. 4th ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education. [ISBN: 9781292112183]
This textbook from Great Britain offers a critical analysis of the field, blended with theory and
real-life application, including many case studies, exercises, and discussion questions.
Van Riel, Cees. B. M. 1995. Principles of corporate communication. London and New York:
Prentice Hall. [ISBN: 9780131509962]
Van Riel’s textbook features a cross functional perspective, integrating theory from public
relations and marketing communications, and focuses on the interdependent relations between
corporate strategy, corporate identity, and corporate image. It suggests scientifically based
models to analyze corporate image and corporate identity, techniques to improve the
effectiveness of corporate communication programs, planning and implementation.
Van Riel, Cees B. M., and Charles J. Fombrun. 2007. Essentials of corporate communication:
Implementing practices for effective reputation management. New York: Routledge. [ISBN:
9780415328265]
This textbook emphasizes identity, image, and reputation as the primary goals of the corporate
communications function. The authors, who were renowned academics and at the same time
founders of a global consultancy firm (The Reputation Institute), provide students with a
research-based toolbox for managing and creating a positive reputation, illustrated by original
examples, vignettes, and best practice examples.
JOURNALS
Much of contemporary research in communication management is published in peer-reviewed
journals. Articles appear in numerous academic journals dedicated to the broader field, including
public relations, corporate communication, strategic communication, or organizational
communication. Listed here are the most prominent journals, sorted according to their relevancy.
Historically, the preferred journal of communication management scholars is the Journal of
Communication Management, followed by Public Relations Review as the oldest and most
prominent journal in the field of public relations. In addition, scholars often opt for the
International Journal of Strategic Communication, which has published interdisciplinary
research since 2007, and Corporate Communications: An International Journal, which focuses
on communication in the corporate context. Management Communication Quarterly is an
excellent publication venue for research at the nexus of communication management and
organizational communication.
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Corporate Communications: An International Journal
(CCIJ)[https://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal/ccij]. 1996–.
This quarterly journal reflects on questions related to an organization’s communications arising
in the fields of communication management and public relations, corporate social responsibility
(CSR), and crisis communication. CCIJ publishes research articles and addresses academics,
professionals, and practitioners.
International Journal of Strategic Communication
(IJSC)[https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hstc20/current]. 2007–.
First published in 2007, this journal edited by American and German scholars aims to advance
the theoretical and practical development of strategic communication, which is understood as the
purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission. IJSC integrates various
communication disciplines and gives voice to cross-cultural research and scholars across the
world. The editors welcome articles from multidisciplinary approaches and research traditions,
including corporate communication, organizational communication, public relations, marketing
communication, advertising, political and health communication, or social marketing.
Journal of Communication Management
(JCOM)[https://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal/jcom]. 1996–.
This quarterly UK-based journal publishes theoretical and empirical research from
communication management and public relations, and the closely related fields of strategic
communication, corporate communication, and organizational communication. It addresses both
academics and research-oriented communication professionals and seeks to share knowledge
between those who study communication management and those who practice it. It was launched
in 1996.
Management Communication Quarterly (MCQ)[https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mcq]. 1987–
.
This quarterly multidisciplinary journal publishes conceptually rigorous, empirically driven, and
practice-relevant research covering all aspects of communication in organizational and
management contexts. MCQ explores a variety of contemporary organizational problems and
addresses scholars as well as professionals, consultants, and trainers interested in organizational
studies and the management sciences.
Public Relations Review (PRR)[https://www.journals.elsevier.com/public-relations-review].
1975–.
This US-based journal has the longest publishing tradition in public relations scholarship. PRR
carries both theoretically and empirical research articles, commentaries by specialists in the field,
invited research in brief, and book reviews. It publishes a greater quantity and longer articles
than other journals, which allows it to introduce novel research and foster new approaches. It is
mainly devoted to articles that examine public relations, but also mass communications,
16
organizational communication, public opinion formations, social science research and
evaluation, marketing, management, and public policy formation.
MANAGEMENT FOUNDATIONS
For readers wanting to dip a toe in landmark management concepts that have inspired
communication management scholars over decades, this section provides an overview of the
most popular and well-established management books. The books in this section have been
translated into numerous languages and appeared in multiple editions through several decades.
Drucker 1986 and Mintzberg 1973 provide insights into the fundamentals of management
theorizing and practice, while Porter 1980 and Porter 1985 introduce groundbreaking tools for
developing competitive strategies and advantages. Freeman 1984 suggests a stakeholder value
approach, which stands in stark contrast to Rappaport 1997 arguing for a shareholder value
approach. Kaplan and Norton 1996 presents the balanced scorecard as a new tool for
performance management and the idea of strategy maps for achieving strategy alignment is
discussed in Kaplan and Norton 2004. Mintzberg, et al. 2005 provides an overview of strategy
research and different schools of thought. Johnson, et al. 2008 is a classic textbook introducing
the reader to the fundamentals of management and strategy. Whittington 2006 opens up a new
understanding of strategy that has consequently greatly inspired the strategy-as-practice research
field. Czarniawska 2015 is a classic reading about organizing written from the perspective of an
organizational theorist.
Czarniawska, Barbara. 2015. A theory of organizing, 2d ed. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
[ISBN: 9781783478682]
This book presents a processual view and theory of organizing and is aimed at academics from a
range of backgrounds. The author defends a constructionist perspective from idealist
interpretations and challenges organizational theoreticians and organizational practitioners.
Drucker, Peter F. 1986. Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices. New York: Truman
Talley Books, E. P. Dutton.
This management classic discusses the tools and techniques of successful management practice
and has been used in more than thirty years of teaching management in universities, in executive
programs and seminars. Drucker’s famous bestseller equips managers with the understanding,
the thinking, the knowledge, and the skills needed for successful management.
Freeman, R. Edward. 1984. Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
[ISBN: 9781139192675]
This landmark book laid the foundation for the development of stakeholder theory, advocating an
understanding of businesses as systems to create value for stakeholders and linking strategic
management theory and business ethics.
17
Johnson, Gerry, Kevan Scholes, and Richard Whittington. 2008. Exploring corporate strategy:
Text & cases. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. [ISBN: 9780273711926]
This pre-eminent textbook provides an introduction to strategic management for students at all
levels and additionally offers a range of cases, commentaries, and wealth of supporting
resources. It covers key topic areas such as culture, corporate and business-level strategy,
internationalisation, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. 1996. The balanced scorecard: Translating strategy
into action. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. [ISBN: 9781422148167]
This seminal book introduces the concept of the balanced scorecard and lays the foundations for
quantifying intangible assets, such as people or customer relationships. The authors discuss the
theoretical foundations of the balanced scorecard and describe the steps necessary for building an
organization-specific scorecard.
Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. 2004. Strategy maps: Converting intangible assets into
tangible outcomes. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. [ISBN: 9781591391340].
Building on their bestselling work Kaplan and Norton 1996, the authors introduce the strategy
map as a new tool to describe the links between intangible assets and value creation with clarity
and precision. The book shows how companies can use strategy maps to align processes, people,
and information technology to desired outcomes and evaluate their performance.
Mintzberg, Henry. 1973. The nature of managerial work. New York: Harper & Row. [ISBN:
9780136104025]
The book provides an overview of the manager’s job, using case histories to describe the
professional activities, roles, and working characteristics of five top executives. Mintzberg
analyzes the consistencies and variations in the manager’s job, clearing up many traditional
descriptions of managerial work.
Mintzberg, Henry, Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel. 2005. Strategy safari: A guided tour
through the wilds of strategic management. New York: Free Press. [ISBN: 9780743270571]
This classic work on business strategy synthesizes the history and evolution of strategic
management and identifies ten schools of strategy that have emerged over the past four decades.
The bestseller is used in top Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs worldwide and
has been translated in multiple languages.
Porter, Michael E. 1980. Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and
competitors. New York: Free Press. [ISBN: 9780029253601]
This seminal book captures the complexity of industry competition in the so-called Five Forces
and shows how to achieve a competitive advantage through strategic positioning and competitor
assessment. Porter has introduced one of the most powerful analytical tools that has since
transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy and filled a void in
management thinking.
18
Porter, Michael. 1985. Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance.
New York: Free Press. [ISBN: 9780684841465]
This complement to the author’s path-breaking book Porter 1980 explores the underpinnings of
competitive advantage in the individual firm, introducing the concept of the value chain to
disaggregate a company into activities that represent the elemental building blocks of
competitive advantage. It is nowadays an essential part of international business thinking.
Rappaport, Alfred. 1997. Creating shareholder value: A guide for managers and investors. New
York: Free Press.
This updated edition of Rappaport’s 1986 business classic, which laid the foundation for the
development of a shareholder value approach, presents a new and in-depth assessment of the
rationale for shareholder value and provides practical tools needed to generate superior returns,
illustrated by a case study about the risks and rewards of mergers and acquisitions.
Whittington, Richard. 2006. Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization
Studies 27.5: 613–634.
This foundational paper identifies a practice turn in current strategy research, treating strategy as
something people do. The author proposes a framework for strategy research based on the three
concepts of strategy praxis, strategy practices, and strategy practitioners.
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Strategic planning has been a central aspect of communication management research and
practice that has been inspired by management and organization theory (see Management
Foundations). There are a number of best-selling textbooks that explore approaches to strategic
planning of communication management and public relations, e.g., Broom, et al. 2013, Gregory
2015, Smith 2017, and Austin and Pinkleton 2006. Ferguson 1999 and Wilson and Ogden 2014
employ an integrated perspective on the planning of communication management and marketing.
Coombs 2018 concentrates on planning in the field of crisis communication specifically.
Hallahan 2014 explains how to develop communication objectives based on organizational goals.
Austin, Erica Weintraub, and Bruce E. Pinkleton. 2006. Strategic public relations management:
Planning and managing effective communication programs. 2d ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum. [ISBN: 9780805853810]
This book describes approaches to communication program planning techniques and research
methods aiding data entry and analysis, thereby supporting communication managers in moving
beyond a tactical approach to developing a strategic management style.
Broom, Glen M., and Bey-Ling Sha. 2013. Cutlip and Center’s effective public relations. 11th
ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. [ISBN: 9780273768395]
19
This stand-alone textbook has been used in theory and practices courses for more than six
decades, since its first edition in 1952. In its updated version, Cutlip and Center’s foundational
book still continues to introduce students to the historical origins and theory of public relations,
planning and evaluation, ethics and professionalism.
Coombs, Timothy W. 2018. Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and
responding. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. [ISBN: 9781544331959]
This textbook introduces a three-staged approach to crisis management and spans the entire crisis
management process and crosses various disciplines. Drawing on firsthand experience, the
author explains how crisis management can prevent or reduce the threats of a crisis, providing
guidelines for how best to act and react in an emergency situation.
Ferguson, Sherry Devereaux. 1999. Communication planning: An integrated approach.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. [ISBN: 9780761913139]
This book explores the managerial responsibilities of communication professionals and examines
the role of integrated communication planning and strategic approaches to planning for issues
management.
Gregory, Anne. 2015. Planning and managing public relations campaigns: A strategic
approach. 4th ed. London: Kogan Page. [ISBN: 9780749468736]
This book provides an easy to read and practice-oriented overview for communication
practitioners on how to manage and plan campaigns, covering many vital areas including the
importance of context, research and analysis, setting objectives, strategy and tactics, evaluation
and review.
Hallahan, Kirk. 2014. Organizational goals and communication objectives in strategic
communication. In Handbook of strategic communication. Edited by Derina Holtzhausen and
Ansgar Zerfass, 244–266. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9781136207112]
This chapter clarifies the terms “goals” and “objectives” and explains the difference between
organizational goals and communication objectives. It suggests four intermediate steps to
planning communication objectives. In addition, the author gives advice on how to write goal
statements and warns against possible misapplications.
Smith, Ronald D. 2017. Strategic planning for public relations. 5th ed. New York: Routledge.
[ISBN: 9781351983389]
This popular textbook shows how to implement pragmatic, research-driven strategic campaigns
used in communication management practice, drawing on the author’s experience as a
professional in the industry.
Wilson, Laurie J., and Joseph D. Ogden. 2014. Strategic communications planning and
marketing. 6th ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
20
This textbook addresses communication managers and marketing professionals and features a
Strategic Communications Planning Matrix that follows each public through messages,
strategies, and tactics. The authors provide tips from successful practitioners and describe mini
cases vignettes that demonstrate how companies conduct planning, research, and analysis.
STRATEGY
Developing communication strategies and aligning communication goals with organizational
goals are key tasks of communication managers. Research in this domain has especially drawn
wisdom from strategy research in the management discipline (see Management Foundations).
The most recent textbook, Van Ruler and Körver 2019, introduces a new and dynamic
conceptualization of communication strategy and planning. Raupp and Hoffjann 2012 provides a
comprehensive overview of strategy research, whereas Nothhaft and Schölzel 2015 traces the
evolution of strategy thinking in the military. Steyn 2003 and Steyn 2007 clarify the difference
between enterprise, corporate, organizational, business, functional and operational strategies, and
communication strategies on the other hand. Botan 2006 and Tibbie 1997 contribute to a better
understanding of the communication strategy concept in relation to communication tactics and
activities. King 2010 discusses the concept of emergence and develops a definition of emergent
communication strategies, exemplifying how communication itself shapes strategy discourses.
Van Riel 2012 concentrates specifically on the challenge of alignment between communication,
the corporation, and its stakeholders, while Volk and Zerfass 2018 conceptualizes different
dimensions of alignment in the context of the organization.
Botan, Carl. 2006. Grand strategy, strategy, and tactics in public relations. In Public relations
theory II. Edited by Carl Botan and Vincent Hazleton, 123–247. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum. [ISBN: 9781282170179]
In this chapter, Botan introduces three levels of strategic planning: grand strategy (policy-level
organizational decisions), strategy (campaign-level decision making), and tactics (specific
implementation activities).
King, Cynthia L. 2010. Emergent communication strategies. International Journal of Strategic
Communication 4.1: 19–38.
This article focuses on the aspect of emergence and defines an emergent communication strategy
as a communication construct derived from the interaction between reader/hearer response,
situated context, and discursive patterns, which is illustrated with a practice example.
Nothhaft, Howard, and Hagen Schölzel. 2015. (Re-)reading Clausewitz: The strategy discourse
and its implications for strategic communication. In The Routledge handbook of strategic
communication. Edited by Derina Holtzhausen and Ansgar Zerfass, 18–33. New York:
Routledge. [ISBN: 9780203094440]
21
This chapter reviews military theory and presents a narrative history of the work of Carl von
Clausewitz with elements of deconstructive discourse analysis, concluding with a by
deconstruction of the strategy discourse in communication scholarship.
Raupp, Juliana, and Olaf Hoffjann. 2012. Understanding strategy in communication
management. Journal of Communication Management 16.2: 146–161.
This article reviews and compares different approaches of strategy research in the management
discipline, integrates decision-making and interpretive perspectives on strategy, and transfers
those insights in order to develop a conceptual model of strategic decision-making in
communication management.
Steyn, Benita. 2003. From strategy to corporate communication strategy: A conceptualisation.
Journal of Communication Management 8.2: 168–183.
This article reviews strategic management theory and introduces a distinction between enterprise,
corporate, business, functional, and operational strategy. Steyn conceptualizes corporate
communication strategy as a functional strategy and the outcome of a strategic thinking process,
providing focus and direction to the corporate communication function.
Steyn, Benita. 2007. Contribution of public relations to organisational strategy formulation. In
The future of excellence in public relations and communication management: Challenges for the
next generation. Edited by Elizabeth L. Toth, 137–172. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
[ISBN: 9780805855951]
This chapter explores the concepts of organizational strategy and communication strategy,
examines the operationalization of communication strategies and the professional role of the
communication strategist.
Tibbie, Steve. 1997. Developing communications strategy. Journal of Communication
Management 1.4: 356–361.
This article reviews different definitions of strategy, identifies tools and processes to develop
communications strategy, and looks at ways of embedding strategy within a planning cycle.
Van Riel, Cees B. M. 2012. The alignment factor. Leveraging the power of total stakeholder
support. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9780203124536]
This book contains guidance for aligning strategies to overarching organizational goals and
implementing strategies that engage stakeholders, using case studies to illustrate how
organizations succeeded in gaining stakeholder support.
Van Ruler, Betteke, and Frank Körver. 2019. The communication strategy handbook: Toolkit for
creating a winning strategy. New York: Peter Lang.
The English version of a bestseller book originally published in Dutch introduces a
communication strategy framework designed to help professionals make informed decisions and
22
continually adapt to changing circumstances while staying in command. The handbook provides
a step-by-step guide to link communication and business strategy.
Volk, Sophia C., and Ansgar Zerfass. 2018. Alignment: Explicating a key concept in strategic
communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication 12.4: 433–451.
This article reports on a comprehensive literature review and suggests a working definition and a
framework of alignment of strategic communication. The new framework differentiates between
external and internal alignment, intrafunctional and cross-functional alignment, management-
strategy-activities alignment and process-structure-culture-people alignment.
COMMUNICATION MANAGER ROLES
Research into professional roles of communication practitioners has a long tradition in the field,
commencing with the groundbreaking article Dozier and Broom 1995 that introduced the
technician and manager roles conception. Bronn 2001 and Moss, et al. 2005 criticize this early
roles conception and argue that today’s practitioners fulfill a broad spectrum of different roles.
Along the same line, Nothhaft 2010 examines what communication managers actually do in
practice, drawing on the findings from a shadowing study. Fieseler, et al. 2015 offers the most
comprehensive literature review of roles research. Zerfass and Franke 2013 concentrates on the
counseling or coaching role of today’s practitioners. Tench and Moreno 2015 explores the
competencies needed by communication professionals. From a different perspective, Falkheimer,
et al. 2017 and Zerfass and Sherzada 2015 provide rare insights into the perceptions of the
communicator role from the viewpoint of top managers.
Brønn, Peggy S. 2001. Communication managers as strategists? Can they make the grade?
Journal of Communication Management 5.4: 313–326.
This article criticizes the dichotomous role conception of technicians and managers and argues
that enacting a managerial role is nothing more than performing high‐level technical activities.
The author suggests a new measurement of managerial competency: strategic thinking.
Dozier, David, and Glen Broom. 1995. Evolution of the manager role in public relations practice.
Journal of Public Relations Research 7.1: 3–26.
This seminal article introduced the manager role conception to scholarship and initiated the
discussion about significant salary differences between men and women, based on a study of
members of the Public Relations Association of America conducted in 1979 and 1991.
Falkheimer, Jesper, Mats Heide, Howard Nothhaft, Sarah von Platen, Charlotte Simonsson, and
Richard Andersson. 2017. Is strategic communication too important to be left to communication
professionals? Public Relations Review 43.1: 91–101.
23
This article reports on an extensive quantitative study in Swedish organizations about the
perceptions of communicators from the perspective of managers and co-workers, indicating that
the role of communication professionals remains rather unclear.
Fieseler, Christoph, Lutz Christoph, and Miriam Meckel. 2015. An inquiry into the
transformation of the PR roles’ concept. Corporate Communications: An International Journal
20.1: 76–89.
This article reviews different professional role conceptions and argues for the further
transformation of the roles concept, turning a more execution-oriented job profile into a more
managerial and strategically oriented profession.
Moss, Danny A., Andrew Newman, and Barbara De Santo. 2005. What do communications
managers do? Defining and refining the core elements of management in a public
relations/corporate communication context. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 82:
873–890.
This article provides a compelling critique of the roles literature by pointing out that the
manager-technician dichotomy propagated by Dozier and Broom is too simplistic. The authors
argue for refocusing research from what managers are supposed to do (job descriptions) to what
they actually do (practice).
Nothhaft, Howard. 2010. Communication management as a second-order management function:
Roles and functions of the communication executive—results from a shadowing study. Journal
of Communication Management 14.2: 127–140.
Drawing on an extensive shadowing study of communication leaders in Germany, this article
describes how communication managers “manage the management of others” and suggests a
theoretical framework for practitioners to better understand what they are doing.
Tench, Ralph, and Angeles Moreno. 2015. Mapping communication management competencies
for European practitioners. Journal of Communication Management 19.1: 39–61.
This article reports on the European Communication Professional Skills and Innovation
(ECOPSI) research project that examined competencies required by communication
professionals across more than forty European countries. The authors present a Communication
Role Matrix to be used by professionals for reflecting their professional roles.
Zerfass, Ansgar, and Neele Franke. 2013. Enabling, advising, supporting, executing: A
theoretical framework for internal communication consulting within organisations. International
Journal of Strategic Communication 7.2: 118–135.
This article proposes a framework for internal communication consulting that combines different
dimensions of consulting forms and objectives. The research is based on a literature review of
business consulting and communication manager role models as well as qualitative evidence.
24
Zerfass, Ansgar, and Muschda Sherzada. 2015. Corporate communications from the CEO’s
perspective: How top executives conceptualize and value strategic communication. Corporate
Communications: An International Journal 20.3: 291–309.
This article reports on a quantitative study among CEOs and their expectations toward
communication performance and their interactions with professional communication managers.
The results indicate gaps between the self-perception of communicators revealed in other studies
and the perception of communicators by CEOs.
LEADERSHIP
The topic of leadership in communication management has only recently gained increased
scholarly attention. Besides the popular textbook Gregory and Willis 2013, the recent anthology
Berger and Meng 2014 provides a state-of-the-art overview of leadership research across the
globe. Hamrefors 2010 examines leadership competencies of communication managers. The
textbook Harrison and Mühlberg 2015 provides a broader perspective on leadership
communication and expectations from organizational leaders toward communicators. The
anthology Bolton, et al. 2018 offers a collection of essays and cases about the prominent
leadership role of the chief communication officer.
Berger, Bruce K., and Juan Meng, eds. 2014. Public relations leaders as sensemakers: A global
study of leadership in public relations and communication management. New York: Routledge.
[ISBN: 9781317938194]
This anthology presents foundational research on leadership in the communication management
and public relations profession, based on a global survey representing the perspectives of forty-
five hundred practitioners. The editors propose a theory of integrated leadership in the field and
highlight future research needs and educational implications.
Bolton, Roger, Don W. Stacks, and Eliot Mizrachi, eds. 2018. The new era of the CCO: The
essential role of communication in a volatile world. New York: Business Expert Press. [ISBN:
9781631575358]
Aimed at a professional audience, this edited book provides a comprehensive look at the
leadership role of CCOs in enterprise success, building on published research and professional
experiences as well as a collection of previous thought leadership reports of the Arthur W.
Page Society (cited under Practice and Transfer Associations). Academics and practitioners
share insights into the real life of CCOs, offer cases and advice.
Gregory, Anne, and Paul Willis. 2013. Strategic public relations leadership. London: Routledge.
[ISBN: 9780415667944]
25
This textbook provides communication leaders with a framework to clearly articulate and
demonstrate their own contribution to organizational effectiveness, as well as a checklist of
essential capabilities that practitioners must acquire and exhibit.
Hamrefors, Sven. 2010. Communicative leadership. Journal of Communication Management
14.2: 141–152.
This article identifies four areas of knowledge and four areas of skills that communication
leaders must acquire in order to be efficient in contributing to organizational effectiveness, based
on extensive research conducted in Sweden between 2003 and 2009.
Harrison, Bruce, and Judith Mühlberg. 2015. Leadership communication: How leaders
communicate and how communicators lead in today’s global enterprise. New York: Business
Expert Press.
This easy-to-read textbook is composed of short chapters about the importance of leadership
communication and the expectations of senior management toward leaders, using practice
examples and short case studies to provide understanding of C-level communication.
ORGANIZING AND STRUCTURES
In spite of the proclaimed relevance of organizing the communication function as a central aspect
of communication management research, little research has explored the structural set up of
communication units in the professional field. Moss, et al. 2017 provides the only large-scale
study to date. Gregory, et al. 2013 and Tench, et al. 2009 discuss the level of institutionalization
of the communication function in the organization context. Holtzhausen 2002 concentrates
specifically on the effects of divisionalization and decentralization in communication structures,
while Wakefield, et al. 2013 explores the effect of turnovers of executives on the communication
function.
Gregory, Anne, Emanuele Invernizzi, and Stefania Romenti. 2013. Institutionalization,
organizations, and public relations. In Public relations and communication management:
Current trends and emerging topics. Edited by Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Ansgar Zerfass, and
Jeong-Nam Kim, 268–282. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9780415630900]
This chapter theorizes the concept of institutionalization and examines whether communication
management is becoming institutionalized as a function within organizations, recognized as
important for organizational life and success.
Holtzhausen, Derina. 2002. The effects of a divisionalized and decentralized organisational
structure on a formal internal communication function in a South African organisation. Journal
of Communication Management 6.4: 343–349.
26
This is one of the scarce studies exploring the effects of organizational structure and structural
changes on the communication management function, using a large South African organization
as an example.
Moss, Danny, Fraser Likely, Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, and Maria A. Ferrari. 2017. Structure of
the public relations/communication department: Key findings from a global study. Public
Relations Review 43.1: 80–90.
This article draws on a comprehensive study about departmental structures in communication
management, based on interviews and surveys among communication leaders across the globe.
No one dominant structural model and no common formula of how organizations orchestrate the
design of the communication department structure emerged.
Tench, Ralph, Piet Verhoeven, and Ansgar Zerfass. 2009. Institutionalizing strategic
communication in Europe—An ideal home or a mad house? Evidence from a survey in 37
countries. International Journal of Strategic Communication 3.2: 147–164.
This article reveals that communication practitioners and departments are becoming entwined,
permanent, and necessary parts within the organizational infrastructure and therefore
institutionalized, drawing on a large data set compiled in Europe.
Wakefield, Robert I., Kenneth Dean Plowman, and Alex Curry. 2013. Institutionalizing public
relations: An international multiple-case study. Journal of Public Relations Research 25.3: 207–
224.
This article reports on an exploratory qualitative study of six organizations where there was a
turnover of senior communication managers, asking whether and why the department structures
changed after the turnover, based on the assumption that structures often depend on managerial
regimes.
EVALUATION AND MEASUREMENT
The evaluation and measurement of communication has been a perennial topic of scholarly
discussion for more than five decades. A number of monographs have been published since the
1990s and updated continually, for instance the popular book Stacks 2017 or Watson and Noble
2014. Macnamara 2018 is the latest comprehensive overview. Besides, numerous book chapters
and journal articles have driven the debate. Likely and Watson 2013 traces the historical
evolution of the field in a narrative manner, while Volk 2016 offers a systematic synthesis of
forty years of research. Macnamara 2014 provides a critical analysis of scholarly and industry
efforts and identifies continuing gaps and problematic issues in the debate. Fleisher and Mahaffy
1997 is one of the first attempts to adapt the popular management concept of the balanced
scorecard to the communication management field. Along the same line, Zerfass 2010 builds
upon concepts of controlling and auditing from management research and introduces a new
holistic approach to evaluation and measurement, called communication controlling. Zerfass, et
al. 2017 offers one of the latest large-scale studies about the usage of evaluation and
measurement in communication management practice. Macnamara 2016 concentrates on the task
27
of listening and monitoring stakeholders as one important task of communication management
practice.
Fleisher, Craig S., and Darren Mahaffy. 1997. A balanced scorecard approach to public relations.
Public Relations Review 23.2: 117–142.
The article introduces the popular balanced scorecard as a new framework to public relations and
communication management, and describes the process of applying the scorecard to
communication management units.
Likely, Fraser, and Tom Watson. 2013. Measuring the edifice: Public Relations measurement
and evaluation practices over the course of 40 years. In Public relations and communication
management: Current trends and emerging topics. Edited by Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Ansgar
Zerfass, and Jeong-Nam Kim. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9780415630900]
This chapter traces the evolution of public relations measurement research, highlights Grunig’s
contribution to the debate, and discusses approaches to assess communication value with
financial or non-financial indicators.
Macnamara, Jim. 2014. Emerging international standards for measurement and evaluation of
public relations: A critical analysis. Public Relations Inquiry 3.1: 7–29.
This paper presents a critical analysis of the public relations measurement and evaluation debate
that reveals continuing gaps and problematic issues to address in the latest efforts to measure the
value of PR and a substantial gap between theory and practice.
Macnamara, Jim. 2016. Organisational listening: The missing essential in public
communication. New York: Peter Lang. [ISBN: 9781433130533]
This research raises serious questions about the extent to which organizations listen to those who
seek to engage with them. Further, it suggests that organizations cannot effectively listen unless
they have an architecture of listening or do the work of listening, and identifies cultural,
structural, political, and technological components to create this vital missing element in
communication management.
Macnamara, Jim. 2018. Evaluating public communication. New York: Routledge. [ISBN:
9781138228573]
This book addresses the widely reported lack of rigorous outcome and impact-oriented
evaluation in advertising; public relations; corporate, government, political and organizational
communication and specialist fields, such as health communication. This transdisciplinary
analysis integrates research literature from each of these fields of practice, as well as interviews,
content analysis and ethnography, to identify the latest models and approaches.
Stacks, Don W. 2017. Primer of public relations research. 3d ed. New York: Guilford Press.
[ISBN: 9781462522705]
28
This book details how to bridge the rigors of scientific research with the issues confronting
contemporary practice. Stacks presents step-by-step guidelines for using a wide range of
qualitative and quantitative methods to track output, outtakes, and outcomes, and shows how to
present research findings clearly to clients.
Volk, Sophia C. 2016. A systematic review of 40 years of public relations evaluation and
measurement research: Looking into the past, the present, and future. Public Relations Review
42.5: 962–977.
This article presents the findings of a standardized analysis of evaluation and measurement
literature, employing a systematic approach to review more than three hundred articles published
since 1975. The author reports on the major topical, theoretical, and methodological trends over
time, and derives a research agenda.
Watson, Tom. 2012. The evolution of public relations measurement and evaluation. Public
Relations Review 38.3: 390–398.
This article chronicles the historical evolution of the field of measurement and evaluation in the
professional and academic debate over the past decades, using insights from a document
analysis.
Watson, Tom, and Paul Noble. 2014. Evaluating public relations. 3d ed. London: Kogan Page.
[ISBN: 9780749468903]
This popular book, first published in 2005, advises both students and practitioners how to
demonstrate clearly and objectively the impact of communication. The authors provide advice on
new industry standards and present a diverse range of evaluation methods and strategies,
illustrated with case studies and interviews.
Zerfass, Ansgar. 2010. Assuring rationality and transparency in corporate communications.
Theoretical foundations and empirical findings on communication controlling and
communication performance management. In Ethical issues for public relations practice in a
multicultural world. Edited by Melissa D. Dodd and Koichi Yamamura, 947–966. 13th
International Public Relations Research Conference. Gainesville, FL: IPR. [class:conference-
paper]
This conference paper introduces a definition and theoretical foundation of communication
controlling and performance management and presents empirical data of the state-of-the-art of
communication controlling across Europe.
Zerfass, Ansgar, Dejan Verčič, and Sophia C. Volk. 2017. Communication evaluation and
measurement: Skills, practices and utilisation in European organisations. Corporate
Communications: An International Journal 22.1: 2–18.
This study reveals that many practitioners lack the necessary expertise to conduct reliable
evaluation and measurement and that communication departments seldom measure
communication effects on stakeholders and organizational goals, drawing on a quantitative
survey of more than sixteen hundred professionals from across forty European countries.
29
VALUE CREATION
One of the recently evolving streams of communication management scholarship explores how
communication adds value to the organization and how this value can be conceptualized,
drawing upon concepts and theories from management research. The 1996 SPRA report Return
on Communications is one of the earliest explorations of return on communication, value links,
and non-financial measures of communication value. The German work Pfannenberg and Zerfass
2010 is the most comprehensive anthology to date, featuring conceptual contributions from
academics on value creation through communication as well as essays from practitioners
reporting on best practices and case studies. Zerfass and Viertmann 2017 and Zerfass and Volk
2018 suggest new theoretically grounded and practice-tested frameworks and tools on how to
conceptualize the valued added through communication. On a conceptual level, De Beer 2014
and Malmelin 2007 understands communication as a capital and call for an integration of
communication in the organizational value creation process. Huang 2012 develops a scale for
measuring and assessing public relations value. Zerfass, et al. 2018 reports on the first empirical
study assessing the adoption of management tools in communication practice, including
frameworks and methods to document communication value.
De Beer, Estelle. 2014. Creating value through communication. Public Relations Review 40.2:
136–143.
This article illustrates how communication can contribute to the creation of value for
organizations by integrating the corporate communication process into the strategic management,
governance, and value creation processes.
Huang, Yi-Hui Christine. 2012. Gauging an integrated model of public relations value
assessment (PRVA): Scale development and cross-cultural studies. Journal of Public Relations
Research 24.3: 243–265.
This article conceptualizes a two-level model of communication value and suggests a cross-
cultural scale for measuring and assessing the public relations value (called PRVA), which is
empirically supported across three independent samples.
Malmelin, Nando. 2007. Communication capital: Modelling corporate communications as an
organisational asset. Corporate Communications: An International Journal 12.3: 298–310.
This article develops a new model and concept of communication capital, based on an
understanding of communication as an intangible organizational asset within the framework of
intellectual capital research.
Pfannenberg, Jörg, and Ansgar Zerfaß, eds. 2010. Wertschöpfung durch Kommunikation:
Strategisches Kommunikations-Controlling in der Unternehmenspraxis. 2d ed. Frankfurt:
Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch.
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This German-language anthology provides a state-of-the-art overview of research in the quest of
explaining value creation through communication and the so-called “communication controlling”
approach. Besides conceptual contributions, best practice solutions from multiple corporations
are presented.
Swedish Public Relations Association (SPRA). 1996. Return on communications. Stockholm:
Svenska Informationsforening.
This technical report published in 1996 by the Swedish Public Relations Association (Sveriges
Informationsförening) presents one of the first fundamental models of communication value,
suggesting a form of return on investment that considers the creation of non-financial value
through communication. It also offers one of the first explorations of value links. However, this
publication became known outside Sweden much later and received little attention.
Zerfass, Ansgar, and Christine Viertmann. 2017. Creating business value through corporate
communication: A theory-based framework and its practical application. Journal of
Communication Management 21.1: 86–91.
This article reports on a multi-step research project aimed at explaining communication value
across different disciplines and proposes a new framework called the “Communication Value
Circle,” which identifies and systematizes communication goals linked to generic corporate
goals.
Zerfass, Ansgar, and Sophia C. Volk. 2018. How communication departments contribute to
corporate success: The communications contributions framework. Journal of Communication
Management 22.4: 397–415.
This article aims to clarify the core contributions of communication departments to
organizational success by introducing a distinction between strategic and operational
contributions. The authors suggest the new “Communications Contributions Framework,” which
demonstrates that communications serve the corporation in four strategic and operational
dimensions.
Zerfass, Ansgar, Sophia C. Volk, Christoph Lautenbach, and Melanie Jakubowitz. 2018.
Management tools for corporate communications—Relevance, benefits and experiences. Results
of an empirical study in communication departments[http://bit.ly/tools-cc]. Leipzig and
Frankfurt: Leipzig Univ./Lautenbach Sass.
This forty-four-page study report offers the worldwide first insights into the use of management
tools in corporate communications practice, based on an online survey in Germany.
COMPARATIVE RESEARCH
Although scholars have given more thought and attention to cultural differences in the
professional field of communication management across the globe over the past decades,
comparative research in the field remains rather nascent, as the systematic analysis Volk 2017
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indicates. Sriramesh and Vercic 2020 is the most comprehensive handbook and includes chapters
that explore the profession across four continents. The anthology Van Ruler, et al. 2004 provides
a nation-by-nation description with a specific focus on the European countries. The six-book
series Watson 2014 offers a global view on the history of communication management.
Sriramesh and Vercic 2012 explores the aspect of national and organizational culture on
communication management. Gambetti, et al. 2013 provides a theoretical perspective on the
cross-cultural management of communication. The largest empirical data set in the field is the
Global Communication Monitor series, initiated by principal investigator Ansgar Zerfass and
supported by numerous scholars from across the world. It spans more than eighty countries,
including the European Communication Monitor (ECM), North American Communication
Monitor (NACM), Latin American Communication Monitor (LCM), and Asia-Pacific
Communication Monitor (APCM). The study series can be downloaded for free online.
Gambetti, Rossella, and Stephen Quigley, eds. 2013. Managing corporate communication: A
cross-cultural approach. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. [ISBN: 9780230348028]
This compendium brings an intercultural dimension to the study of corporate communication,
contrasting American and European approaches to the practice.
Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy, and Dejan Vercic, eds. 2020. The global public relations handbook:
Theory, research, and practice. 3d ed. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9781138043145
]
Twenty-eight chapters in this seminal handbook offer insight into the conceptual foundations,
key actors, and fields of practice of the communication management profession in Asia, Africa,
Europe, and the Americas. This includes the management of communication functions in
different types of organisations and in different cultural, economic and political settings.
Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy, and Dejan Vercic, eds. 2012. Culture and public relations: Links and
implications. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 9780415887267]
This compilation of chapters explores the question how national culture and corporate cultures of
business enterprises affect communication management.
Van Ruler, Betteke, and Dejan Vercic, eds. 2004. Public relations and communication
management in Europe: A nation-by-nation introduction to public relations theory and practice.
Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. [ISBN: 9783110176117]
The book presents a nation-by-nation introduction to communication management in European
countries and argues that the professional field and academic discussion has developed its own
logic in Europe and is not merely a copy of the Anglo-American approach.
Volk, Sophia C. 2017. Towards comparative research in strategic communication: A systematic
analysis of cross-national studies and future directions. International Journal of Strategic
Communication 11.5: 434–453.
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This article provides a systematic review of the state-of-the-art of comparative studies in the field
of strategic communication, identifies common deficiencies, and outlines directions for engaging
in more advanced comparative research.
Watson, Tom, ed. 2014. National perspectives on the development of public relations: Other
voices. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [ISBN: 9781137404305]
The series is composed of six books and offers a global overview of the history of
communication management and covers continental and regional groups including Asia and
Australasia (Book 1), Eastern Europe and Russia (Book 2), Middle East and Africa (Book 3),
Latin America and Caribbean (Book 4), and Western Europe (Book 5). The sixth book includes
chapters on new and revised historiographical and theoretical approaches.
ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS AND CONFERENCES
Much up-to-date research in the field of communication management is presented during the
annual conferences of international, regional, and national academic associations. Many
associations offer opportunities to publish the presented papers in the conference proceedings, in
dedicated special issues of associated journals, or in anthologies edited by the host or chair of the
respective conference. Listed here are academic associations and conferences, sorted by
alphabet. ICA and ECREA are the largest associations for communication scientists and have
dedicated divisions for communication management/public relations and organizational
communication scholars. IPRRC, EUPRERA, and Bledcom are the leading conferences
specifically dedicated to communication management/public relations.
Bledcom International Public Relations Research
Symposium[http://www.bledcom.com/symposium/].
This conference based at Lake Bled in Slovenia welcomes an international crowd of scholars and
professionals each summer to present novel research in communication management and public
relations. Selected papers are published in anthologies or special issues.
European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)[https://ecrea.eu/].
Founded in 2005, ECREA is the largest European society of communication scholars devoted to
development of communication research and higher education. It holds a large biannual
conference and smaller regional conferences throughout the year across Europe.
European Public Relations Education and Research Association
(EUPRERA)[http://euprera.org/].
Named EUPRERA in 2000, this European-based association with nearly (primarily institutional)
five hundred members from forty countries is interested in advancing academic research and
knowledge in communication management, public relations, and strategic communication. It
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organizes a highly regarded annual congress each autumn in collaboration with a selected
university or college in Europe. Several cross-national and comparative research and education
projects are organized by affiliated universities.
International Communication Association (ICA)[https://www.icahdq.org/default.aspx].
With over four thousand members globally, ICA is the largest academic association in the
communication field. It publishes six major peer-reviewed journals and holds a large annual
conference and smaller regional conferences throughout the year. Scholars interested in the study
of communication management usually join and present their research in the Public Relations
Division or Organizational Communication division.
International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC)[https://www.iprrc.org/].
Throughout its history over more than twenty years, this Spring conference in Florida is one of
the largest venues for innovative research in the field of communication management and public
relations. Using round table discussions as the presentation format, it allows for interaction and
conversations among the participants. Proceedings are available online.
PRACTICE AND TRANSFER ASSOCIATIONS
Industry associations play an important role in the transfer from academic knowledge into
practice. The Institute for Public Relations is the oldest American-based association aimed at
promoting research and knowledge transfer in the field of communication management/public
relations. The International Association of Business Communicators and the International Public
Relations Association are worldwide membership associations that have funded some of the
field’s groundbreaking studies and awards. The Public Relations Society of America is the
largest professional body in the United States, whose members include both professionals as well
as college and university students. The Chartered Institute Public Relations is the voice of the
public relations profession in the United Kingdom. The Arthur W. Page Society and the
Academic Society for Management & Communication are both professional associations for
senior communication executives, which are dedicated to sharing best practices and promoting
the professionalization of the industry. The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations is
specifically focused on stimulating research in the field of leadership and ethical, excellent, and
professional conduct in practice.
Academic Society for Management & Communication[http://www.akademische-
gesellschaft.com/en/].
The German-based Academic Society is a joint initiative of more than forty global companies
and five universities in the German-speaking countries (Leipzig, Münster, Duisburg-Essen,
Hohenheim/Stuttgart, and Vienna). Founded in 2010, the society aims to actively shape the
future of corporate communications through joint research and knowledge sharing. The
Academic Society funds long-term, practically relevant research projects that support the
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professionalization of communication management. About a dozen studies have already been
carried out.
Arthur W. Page Society[https://page.org/].
This membership organization named after pioneer communication leader Arthur W. Page is a
professional association for senior corporate communications executives, agency leaders, and
academics. Founded in 1983, the society aims to strengthen the enterprise leadership role of the
chief communications officer. Its website is a useful resource for students, educators, and
practitioners and provides access to best practices and thought-leading studies.
Chartered Institute Public Relations (CIPR)[http://www.cipr.co.uk/].
Founded in 1948, the CIPR is a professional body for public relations practitioners in the United
Kingdom and overseas. Its goal is to advance professionalism by making its members
accountable to their employers and the public through a code of conduct and searchable public
register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards, and the production of best
practice and skills guidance. The association also awards Chartered Public Relations Practitioner
status (Chart.PR).
Institute for Public Relations[https://instituteforpr.org/].
Founded in 1956, the IPR is a non-profit based in the United States that promotes research in the
field of public relations and communication management and sponsors numerous award
competitions and events. The IPR website contains a compendium of free research reports on a
variety of topics, e.g., evaluation and measurement or new technologies, and other useful
resources such as blog posts or webinars.
International Association of Business Communicators[https://www.iabc.com/].
The IABC is a membership association with thousands of members from the field of business
communication and communication management across the world, founded in 1970. The IABC
funded several research projects aimed at fostering the professionalization of the industry. Its
services include educational offerings, certification, awards program, resource library, online
magazine, and an annual World Conference.
International Public Relations Association (IPRA)[https://www.ipra.org/].
Established in 1955, IPRA is a worldwide network for professionals in their personal capacity. It
aims to advance trusted communication and ethical practices through networking, a code of
conduct and intellectual thought leadership. IPRA organizes the annual Golden World Awards
for Excellence (GWA) competition for public relations excellence.
The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations[http://plankcenter.ua.edu/].
Founded in 2005, the Plank Center’s mission is to help develop and recognize outstanding
leaders, role models, and mentors to advance ethical public relations. Based on the legacy of
female communication pioneer Betsy Plank, the center offers awards and recognition programs,
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scholarships, speaker programs, publications, scholarly and professional papers, workshops and
symposia, research grants, and histories and papers of leaders in the field. Educators can find
course materials and resources on the website.
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)[http://www.prsa.org].
Founded 1947, PRSA is the largest membership organization in the United States, with more
than thirty thousand members comprised of communications professionals and college and
university students who encompass the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA),
which was established in 1967. It offers many continuing education opportunities to members,
conducts annual awards competitions (Silver Anvils), recognizing campaign excellence, and a
code of ethics.
