Public Relations Strategizing : A Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Doing of Strategy in Public Relations

Strategy is considered one of the most central concepts in public relationsresearch and practice. However, public relations strategizing, i.e., the doingof strategy, remains a black-box concept in public relations and wouldbenefit from additional approaches to theorizing strategy. This conceptualarticle draws upon strategy-as-practice, practice theory, and the existentialistnotion of human modes of being and articulates a theoretical frameworkdescribing four modes of strategizing in public relations: (1) absorbed strategizing,(2) deliberate strategizing, (3) deliberative strategizing and (4)abstract strategizing. The first three modes are conceptualized as immersedmodes of strategizing in everyday activities, while the fourth is conceptualizedas a detached mode of strategizing in strategic planning activities.Then, it draws upon Mintzberg and Waters’ (1984) five types of strategyand situates the four modes of public relations strategizing in strategyformation and realization. The article thereby contributes to theorizing strategyand strategizing in public relations by offering researchers a theoreticalframework for researching strategizing in public relations

Public policies as obstacle to sustainable CDWM practices

The sustainable management of construction and demolition waste (CDW) should play a significant role to achieve the SDG11 for sustainable cities and communities as well as the SDG12 on responsible consumption and production. However, the construction sector is still a major contributor to the waste generated within the European union and contributes with around 25-30 percent of the total amount. The EU followed by the Swedish agencies and the professional associations have defined successive policies to increase the recycling ratio of CDW and mitigate its negative effect. The role of these public policies is to define and to encourage the implementation of sustainable solutions. In the case of management of CDW and in particular the renovation and demolition waste, those policies are not delivering the expected result. Building on multiple regulatory levels with the intent to govern professional\u27s behavior, they so far fail to support change in practice. The aim of this study is therefore to study and analyze how the policy framework and professional guidelines are defining the conditions for adopting more sustainable waste management practices in the industry. The study is based on a document analysis of grey literature in terms of governmental reports, official guidelines, regulatory publications and other publicly published documents concerning CDW management. The analysis highlight ambiguity and contradictions within the material as to how the challenges concerning CDW should be addressed. There is a misalignment between the different actors view on definitions, responsibility and the design of roadmaps toward a more sustainable agenda. This ambiguity and complexity could explain the maintaining of the current practices, hampering practitioners to act. We therefore emphasize the need for a more coherent framework to create the necessary conditions for the industry to move towards a more sustainable agenda

Bridges, Walls, Doors : On Democracy and Nature

The concept of green democracy has been advanced in green political theory as a way to include the natural world in the political and, by that, overcome an alleged wall, a fundamental disunity, separating humans and nature in modernity and substitute it with a unity of identity that would bridge the gap between them. It has also been vested with the coupled power to transform society in a sustainable direction. This study argues that green democracy disqualifies the concept of democracy it adopts and that, instead of bringing humans and nature together in a unity of identity, it reproduces a relation between them according to which they form a unity of difference, a relation where they are connected as if being the inside and outside of a door. Through a historical analysis of medieval, early modern, and modern modes of Western thought, it is shown that modernity does not wall humans off from nature but instead relates them in such a unity of difference and that this particular relation is fundamental for the modern concept of democracy in general, which is shown to have the same meaning as democracy has in the concept of green democracy. A tendency within the modern concept of democracy to disqualify itself is also delineated. The analysis suggests that the conceptualisation of green democracy in green political theory reproduces a unity of difference between humans and nature because it adopts a modern concept of democracy presupposing such a relation, and that it disqualifies its own concept of democracy because modern democracy tends to disqualify itself. Also, this tendency, it is argued, is exacerbated in green democracy

The meaning of innovation capital

A larger study surrounding innovation capital has taken place at Lund University in Sweden. The purpose of the study was to examine what meaning the management, research department and the financial analysts perceive in the reported information about innovation capital. The authors have found some prominent patterns that arose during the interviews. The different perspectives between the research department and management affects the meaning of the reported information. The company representatives value information higher for value creation than financial analysts, and also, the internal information is more important for the value creation than the external information. Today, innovation capital is a small part of the discussion on what creates value in businesses. Since there is a lack of innovation capital information in the external reports, financial analysts does not use it as a basis for investment decisions. One can see how other types of information have increased the value of the companies in which the meaning is equal regardless of role or position within or outside the company. The problem arises if the perceived meaning differ both in companies and with the financial analysts. Different perceived meanings of innovation capital can lead to separate opinions on how important the information is for value creation. In order to provide information to improve the value creation, an understanding of the meaning is required. Otherwise, it will be impossible and unnecessary to measure and report innovation capital both internally and externally. Understanding each other’s interpretations of the meaning should make it possible to change and improve the reported information. Getting closer to a similar perceived meaning of the information is a necessity for development around the measurement and reporting of innovation capital. Therefore a study of the perceived meaning of innovation capital is needed. One can imagine how the innovation capital is communicated in a chain from its origins to a valuation of the information. It is in this chain, the study discovered what meaning ascribed to different people. Emergences of innovations were expected to arise in the research department where research managers compile information about it. It was expected that this information would be shared with the management who subsequently selects what information to be presented externally to fairly present the company's entire value, both financial and intellectual value. The model explains how the authors captured information in the communication chain described. The internal information was assumed to include innovation capital and report further in the external information. This study comprised six companies with representatives from the research department and the management. Also, four financial analysts have been interviewed. The following three sections explain the findings of the study. In three companies it was clear that the person who represented the research department and the person who represented the management had different perspectives when they answered the questions. The researchers often tied their meaning to an ongoing project or another part of the research. The person from the management explained from an investor or end-user perspective. This perspective arises most likely from the profession, that one gets used to tie information to its own reference point. This means that experience and work tasks might affect the way one perceives meaning of information. The different contexts are assumed to contribute to these perspectives. The study did not discover a certain perspective from the analysts. Another pattern found in the study was that the company representatives generally gave a significantly higher valuation of the information for its role as a creator of value in relation to the analysts. This applied to both internal and external information. One can assume that what the company reported externall

From waste to resource management? Construction and demolition waste management through the lens of institutional work

The European Union has issued action plans to reduce the production of construction waste and increase the reuse and recycling of materials in the hope of triggering a rapid transition towards a Circular Economy (CE). The management of construction and demolition waste, however, struggles to apply these measures. Our purpose, therefore, is to analyse how different actors involved in the management of waste could contribute to transform existing practices so that they respond to the shifting demands of legislation and support CE. To understand how this transformation work is performed, we build on the concept of institutional work, which enables us to describe how actors, rather than accepting institutions as permanent and immovable, contribute to their development by creating, maintaining or disrupting the existing institution. Drawing on qualitative research methods, we collected empirical data through 31 semi-structured interviews, observations of meetings and site visits. Our results show that whereas the production of waste is somewhat reduced, and the sorting of fractions improved, the institutional work performed is not sufficient to translate sustainability into new economic values. Although the work performed legitimizes CE principles and enables new initiatives, it mostly fails to change normative associations and to define new rules of action that support CE

Communicative coworkership

Communicative coworkership is an area with great potential for both organizations and communicators. Communicative coworkership is also an area where there is a clear link between the core operation and the communication of the organization. It is fairly easy to demonstrate the value of communicative coworkership for an organisation, for example in terms of crisis aversion, innovation, listening, learning, branding, trust and other aspects that have an important strategic value for organisations in general.In this report, we present previous research on communicative coworkership and propose a definition of the concept. We provide a model that shows three areas of responsibility for communicative coworkership. In addition, we discuss obstacles to communicative coworkership and the support that the organization can provide to employees.In the final discussion, we present the wheel of communicative coworkership with six factors that must exist in order to realise the idea of communicative coworkership: (1) sensemaking approach to communication, (2) communicative leadership, (3) decentralised organizational philosophy, (4) open communication climate, (5) internal trust and (6) identification with the organization

Återkommande projekteringsmissar i offentliga utemiljöer

I byggprocessen kan saker och ting gå fel och det är inget ovanligt att något byggs och senare används på ett helt annat sätt än vad det var tänkt från början. Träd kan med tiden utvecklas till att utgöra stora problem genom att kronan växer in mot fasaden av byggnader eller att rötterna tränger in i ledningar. Varför uppstår den här typen av projekteringsmissar fortfa-rande när vi bör ha lärt oss för länge sedan? Syftet med arbetet blev därför att ta reda på var i byggprocessen som felen uppstår. Dessut-om presenteras en sammanställning av återkommande projekteringsmissar i offentliga ute-miljöer. I diskussionen diskuteras olika åtgärder för varje projekteringsmiss. Arbetet bygger på intervjuer eftersom litteraturen inom ämnet projekteringsmissar är kraf-tigt begränsad. Resultatet av litteratursökningen visade sig vara förvånansvärt dåligt, även internationellt sett där ingen litteratur alls blev funnen. Personerna som blev intervjuade arbetade antingen på ett konsultföretag eller inom kommunal förvaltning. Ett specifikt fram-taget frågeformulär för respektive yrkesgrupp användes under intervjuerna. Sammanställningen består av exempel på projekteringsmissar ur skötselsynpunkt och funk-tionssynpunkt. Med tips från intervjuade personer och andra kontakter har en inventering genomförts för att samla in eget bildmaterial till arbetet. Bildmaterial som inte gått att samla in genom inventeringar har lånats av olika personer som jag har varit i kontakt med under arbetets gång. Under varje exempel följer en beskrivning på problemet med en tillförande bild som lättare ska få läsaren att förstå beskrivningen. Under intervjuerna framkom det att en projekteringsmiss är svår att definiera. Målbeskriv-ningen är avgörande för om något ska anses vara en projekteringsmiss. Dessutom kan allt inte heller kallas för en projekteringsmiss om det inte sker under projekteringsfasen. Orsa-kerna till att projekteringsmissar uppstår är flera, framför allt är det bristande kompetens, kommunikation och dåliga förutsättningar från början i form av dåliga detaljplaner som är vanligaste orsakerna

Kommunikatören som meningsfacilitator – Kommunikatörens strategiska arbete med kommunikation

Denna studie undersöker problematiken med den begränsade kunskap om vad kommunikatörer gör när de arbetar strategiskt med kommunikation. Problematiken innebär att strategisk kommunikation har karaktären av en ”svarta lådan”- teori. Genom en kvalitativ fallstudie av två fallorganisationer inom offentlig sektor har jag genom att göra kvalitativa intervjuer studerat vad kommunikatörer gör när de arbetar strategiskt med kommunikation, vad som möjliggör och begränsar kommunikatörernas strategiska kommunikationsarbete samt vilka konsekvenser deras strategiska kommunikationsarbete får för organiseringen och organisationerna. Resultatet pekar på att strategisk kommunikation som praktik börjar institutionaliseras i fallorganisationerna. Vidare visar studien att kommunikatörernas strategiska kommunikationsarbete innebär att de agerar meningsfacilatorer i sina organisationer genom att koppla strategi med vardaglig praktik och vice versa, omvärldens förväntningar med organisationens grundläggande mission, vision och mål och vice versa. Det strategiska kommunikationsarbetet resulterar i att organisationen förtydligas och görs meningsfull för aktörerna som deltar i den sociala konstitueringsinteraktionen.This study examines the problem regarding the limited knowledge about what communicator’s do when working strategically with communication. The problem results in strategic communication gaining the characteristics of a “black box”- theory. Through case studies and qualitative interviews in two public organisations I have studied what communicator’s do when working strategically with communication, what enables and limits communicator’s strategic communication practice, and what consequences their strategic work with communication has to the process of organising and the organisations. The results indicate that strategic communication as practice is starting to become institutionalized in the case organisations. The study also indicate that the communicator’s when working strategically act as sensefacilitators by connecting strategy with everyday practice and vice versa, the environmental expectations with the organisations mission, vision, goals, and vice versa. The practice of strategic communication results in a clarification of the organisation and a sensegiving to the stakeholders participating in the social constitution of the organisation

Stakeholderperspektivet och utestängandet av det politiska: Om stakeholderperspektivets begränsade möjligheter att förändra miljöpolitiken

In contemporary global environmental governance stakeholding, as a means for defining legitimate participants in democratic decision-making, has become of great importance. In this essay I deploy the concept of ?the stakeholder perspective? to denote arguments that all stakeholders ? defined as carriers of particular interests ? should be able to participate in political decision-making affecting their interests. The purpose of the essay is to analyze the stakeholder perspective's potential to change environmental politics. Departing from the philosophy of Heidegger, I develop a theoretical approach that separate the concept of the political from that of politics. The political is defined as a process in which society is instituted and can be conceived of as a process in which a particular demand is transformed into a stand-in for a universal demand. Politics is defined as a sphere of social reality that is the manifest result of the political. I also argue that politics is often organized in a way that displaces the political. Since the logic behind the stakeholder perspective, per definition, renders the universalization of the particular impossible, I argue that it should be conceived of as displacing the political. Since a realization of the political is necessary for fundamental change of society, I argue that the stakeholder perspective only has a limited potential to serve as a basis for changing environmental politics