Page 189 - Corporate Communication

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Chapter 7
The Future of Corporate Communications

Central themes

There are a number of strategic, structural and staffing challenges that need to be faced
and overcome within each organization for communications to be treated as a strategic
management function.

One further important challenge for communications practitioners is to show and commu-
nicate their added value to senior management to secure their strategic input and status
within the organization.

When these challenges are met the future for communications in organizations looks
bright – well on its way towards a fully recognized and visible management function. The
alternative scenario faced by communications practitioners and their departments is to be
relegated or continue to be treated as a tactical support function for other management
functions.

7.1 Introduction
This brief chapter reviews and integrates the strands, ideas and arguments from the
previous chapters into a number of challenges and a vision for communications
management in the future. The previous chapters have described in detail the
changes that have occurred in communications practice. Chapter 2 outlined the
different market, organizational and communications drivers that have led to a new
way of viewing communications.This view embodies a more integrated conception,
which advocates seeing the whole range of communications disciplines and activi-
ties in conjunction, instead of narrower, specialist approaches. Corporate communi-
cations, as we have seen, is a perspective on communications management, and a way
of practising it, that departs from this integrated perspective. Seen in a historical light,
and against the background of the evolution of communications management, the
concept of corporate communications presents a new, integrated perspective of
managing communications where communication is connected to corporate objectives
and ultimately serves the organization as a whole. Perspectives of communications
management that preceded corporate communications had never to such an extent
advocated an intimate connection between communications and the overall corporate