Culture and Communication
Principles of communication
· Communication theory
o The affects and effects of communication
o How communication works
o How we conceptualize and imagine communication
· Semantics
o The formation and production of effective communication
Culture and communication
· Culture is to society what memory is to the person
· The coherent, learned, shared view of group of people about life;s concerns that tanks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are approapriate and dictates behaviour
· An internal state of mind that underlies and influences the process of communication
Culture as discourse community
· Communication is basic to cultural identity.
· Communication constitutes culture.
· A culture is a group that creates and shares assumptions, priorities, practices.
· Discourse communities share assumptions about communication channels, formats, styles, and rules.
· Cultures are logical and learned, complex, contested, and contradictory.
· Cultures are learning to value diversity.
Culture and identity
· “[A]n individual’s sense of self derived from formal or informal membership in groups that transmit and inculcate knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and ways of life.” (Jameson 2007)
· Affected by close relationships (space/social proximity), time, power and privilege.
· Can evoke emotions, be negotiated through communications.
· Codes as physical & metaphysical boundaries: inside & outside.
Communicating culture
· Cultures are expressed verbally, through writing, and non-verbally, through negotiations of time, space, and power.
Communication as process
· Communication shapes and is shaped by the context.
· Cultures, individuals, and languages are in a continual state of flux, constantly changing.
· Theoretical models help us imagine understand the process, to a limited extent
Communication models (need hyper link)
· Claude Shannon’s Mathematical Model of Communication Process (1948)
· A two-way model (Northey)
· Transactional Communication model
· Dialogic communication model (Clausen 2007)
o Dialogue: Two words, two voices.
o Dialogic: meaning created between sender and receiver
o Dialectical Dialectical: Synthesis = Thesis + Antithesis (contradictions) Or Irresolveable but complimentary relations
Effective communications: Semantic principles
· Perception involves perceiver and perceived.
· Interpretations differ: observations, inferences, judgments.
· No two things are ever alike.
· Things change significantly with time.
· Most either/or classifications are not legitimate.
· A statement is never the whole story.
· Words do not equal things.
· To be effective, symbols must hold same meaning for sender and receiver
Communications construct relationships within organizations
· Bureaucratic: well-defined division of labour; hierarchical; consistency, stability. Impersonal, efficient, rational. (Weber)
· Complex: Collections of strategies and structures, relatively simple, partially connected. More capable of adaptation than bureaucratic. (Leventhal, et al.)
· Adaptive: Internally-Externally focused (customers and employees); integrated; welcome change. (Kotelnikov)
Constructing communications: Adaptive Organizations
· Vision: Sense of direction, aspiration.
· Balance: Leadership and management.
· Flat structure: Less hierarchy than bureaucratic.
· Open culture: Innovation rewarded.
· External input: Customers, partners, advisors.
· Forward looking measurements: Progress.
· Value of continuous education.
· Effective internal/external communication
· Strong and flexible.
· Regular reviews of assumptions
Corporate culture/subcultures
· Shared values and priorities
· Shared language
· Shared understanding of formality
· Shared stories, heroes, myths (also taboos)
· Shared goals, missions, performance expectations
Corporate culture problems
· Leblanc (2003) notes problems arising in some corporate cultures/subcultures:
· Detachment/Disintegration can give rise to dysfunction.
· External versus internal factors.
· Groupthink or ‘herd mentality’ within culture.
Communicating corporate culture
· Expression of shared goals and values.
· Internally and externally formulated and disseminated.
· Internal: motivation, beacon, guide.
· External: assurances, goodwill, corporate citizenship
Communicating brand
· Understand the “human” qualities of the brand.
o What might these qualities be?
o Internal & external?
o Tone, appearance, language, audiences (different approaches), channels
· Core values and philosophies
· Emotional Attachments
o Projection of desire
o Psychic Investment
Logos
· From the Greek: logos (logic, word, writing)
· Suggests both the word (logo) and logical appeal.
· Unique and simple representation of business.
· Emotional appeal.
Branding
· Differentiation: from others in field
· Relevance: to customers
· Esteem: of customers.
· Knowledge: from a factual basis.
· Can involve emotion (colours, typography, etc.)
· Effectiveness comes from consistency.
· What is a brand? Literally, it is a mark denoting ownership…it travels with the goods indicating ownership and exclusive purview. E.g. National brand and personal brand.
Corporate branding as communication process
· “Your brand is what people say about you.” (Kuzmeski)
· Appeals to internal and external audiences:
“Overall, internal stakeholder buy-in is vital.” (Merrilees and Miller)
· Works through marketing, training, and communications. (Merrilees and Miller).
· No guarantee of interpretation.
The value of branding: Human and social capital
¡ Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations – invisible hand
“the acquired and useful abilities of all the inhabitant or member of the society.”
“These talents, as they make a part of his fortune, so do they likewise that of the society to which he belongs.”
Human Capital (what you know)
¡ Includes education, skills, experience.
o Human capital is replaceable but not transferable.
o Expandable and self-generating with use.
o Transportable and shareable
Social capital (whom you know)
¡ “The advantages and opportunities accruing to people through membership in certain communities.” (Bourdieu)
§ Usually social, and organized wrt relative economic indicators
§ Tastes, distinctions, habitus
¡ Communities can include social and professional associations, as well as businesses.
¡ Symbolic power: power to use one’s social capital based on the symbols to which they have access (linked to cultural capital and authority)
¡ “Those shared customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit from generation to generation and enable their members to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives”
¡ Can affect economic performance (notions of trust, shared values).
Vision and mission statement
Unifying statements
¡ Strategic: defines commercial rationale and target market. Targets minds.
¡ Philosophical: unifies organizational work. Targets hearts.
Mission statements
¡ A mission statement explains an organization’s core purpose and values. It offers a clear, unambiguous statement to stakeholders and functions as a guide for development.
▪ What the company is, what it does
▪ What the company’s responsibilities are to stakeholders
¡ Internal guide: directs behaviours, decision-making.
¡ External expression: communicates to external stakeholders.
¡ Internal and external: satisfies expectations, secures moral legitimacy.
¡ “We strive to globally revolutionize low-risk high-yield technology while continuing to enthusiastically integrate enterprise-wide meta-services for 100% customer satisfaction.” (dilbert.com)
¡ “To organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful.” (Google.)
¡ Narrow enough to allow exclusion.
¡ Broad enough to allow expansion.
¡ Firm enough to serve as template for evaluation.
Vision statements
¡ Forward looking.
¡ Expresses desired status in the future.
Effective vision statements
¡ Conciseness
¡ Clarity
¡ Abstractness
¡ Challenge
¡ Future orientation
¡ Stability
¡ Desirability/ability to inspire
Evaluating Communications: Questions to ask
¡ How would you describe the culture of the organization?
¡ How does that culture express itself?
¡ How does the organization’s structure influence communications (internal, external)?
¡ How does the organization express its goal, values, and philosophies?
¡ How well do vision and mission statements express the organization’s goals?
¡ How are vision and mission statements communicated (internal, external)?
¡ How well does branding reflect mission and vision?
¡ How well does communication reflecting branding?
Applying to communication plan
¡ Use organizational models (bureaucratic, complex, adaptive).
¡ Proceed from an acceptance of change, whether organization, industry, or environment.
¡ Consider influence of organizational model upon state of communications in light of change.
· Communication theory
o The affects and effects of communication
o How communication works
o How we conceptualize and imagine communication
· Semantics
o The formation and production of effective communication
Culture and communication
· Culture is to society what memory is to the person
· The coherent, learned, shared view of group of people about life;s concerns that tanks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are approapriate and dictates behaviour
· An internal state of mind that underlies and influences the process of communication
Culture as discourse community
· Communication is basic to cultural identity.
· Communication constitutes culture.
· A culture is a group that creates and shares assumptions, priorities, practices.
· Discourse communities share assumptions about communication channels, formats, styles, and rules.
· Cultures are logical and learned, complex, contested, and contradictory.
· Cultures are learning to value diversity.
Culture and identity
· “[A]n individual’s sense of self derived from formal or informal membership in groups that transmit and inculcate knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and ways of life.” (Jameson 2007)
· Affected by close relationships (space/social proximity), time, power and privilege.
· Can evoke emotions, be negotiated through communications.
· Codes as physical & metaphysical boundaries: inside & outside.
Communicating culture
· Cultures are expressed verbally, through writing, and non-verbally, through negotiations of time, space, and power.
Communication as process
· Communication shapes and is shaped by the context.
· Cultures, individuals, and languages are in a continual state of flux, constantly changing.
· Theoretical models help us imagine understand the process, to a limited extent
Communication models (need hyper link)
· Claude Shannon’s Mathematical Model of Communication Process (1948)
· A two-way model (Northey)
· Transactional Communication model
· Dialogic communication model (Clausen 2007)
o Dialogue: Two words, two voices.
o Dialogic: meaning created between sender and receiver
o Dialectical Dialectical: Synthesis = Thesis + Antithesis (contradictions) Or Irresolveable but complimentary relations
Effective communications: Semantic principles
· Perception involves perceiver and perceived.
· Interpretations differ: observations, inferences, judgments.
· No two things are ever alike.
· Things change significantly with time.
· Most either/or classifications are not legitimate.
· A statement is never the whole story.
· Words do not equal things.
· To be effective, symbols must hold same meaning for sender and receiver
Communications construct relationships within organizations
· Bureaucratic: well-defined division of labour; hierarchical; consistency, stability. Impersonal, efficient, rational. (Weber)
· Complex: Collections of strategies and structures, relatively simple, partially connected. More capable of adaptation than bureaucratic. (Leventhal, et al.)
· Adaptive: Internally-Externally focused (customers and employees); integrated; welcome change. (Kotelnikov)
Constructing communications: Adaptive Organizations
· Vision: Sense of direction, aspiration.
· Balance: Leadership and management.
· Flat structure: Less hierarchy than bureaucratic.
· Open culture: Innovation rewarded.
· External input: Customers, partners, advisors.
· Forward looking measurements: Progress.
· Value of continuous education.
· Effective internal/external communication
· Strong and flexible.
· Regular reviews of assumptions
Corporate culture/subcultures
· Shared values and priorities
· Shared language
· Shared understanding of formality
· Shared stories, heroes, myths (also taboos)
· Shared goals, missions, performance expectations
Corporate culture problems
· Leblanc (2003) notes problems arising in some corporate cultures/subcultures:
· Detachment/Disintegration can give rise to dysfunction.
· External versus internal factors.
· Groupthink or ‘herd mentality’ within culture.
Communicating corporate culture
· Expression of shared goals and values.
· Internally and externally formulated and disseminated.
· Internal: motivation, beacon, guide.
· External: assurances, goodwill, corporate citizenship
Communicating brand
· Understand the “human” qualities of the brand.
o What might these qualities be?
o Internal & external?
o Tone, appearance, language, audiences (different approaches), channels
· Core values and philosophies
· Emotional Attachments
o Projection of desire
o Psychic Investment
Logos
· From the Greek: logos (logic, word, writing)
· Suggests both the word (logo) and logical appeal.
· Unique and simple representation of business.
· Emotional appeal.
Branding
· Differentiation: from others in field
· Relevance: to customers
· Esteem: of customers.
· Knowledge: from a factual basis.
· Can involve emotion (colours, typography, etc.)
· Effectiveness comes from consistency.
· What is a brand? Literally, it is a mark denoting ownership…it travels with the goods indicating ownership and exclusive purview. E.g. National brand and personal brand.
Corporate branding as communication process
· “Your brand is what people say about you.” (Kuzmeski)
· Appeals to internal and external audiences:
“Overall, internal stakeholder buy-in is vital.” (Merrilees and Miller)
· Works through marketing, training, and communications. (Merrilees and Miller).
· No guarantee of interpretation.
The value of branding: Human and social capital
¡ Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations – invisible hand
“the acquired and useful abilities of all the inhabitant or member of the society.”
“These talents, as they make a part of his fortune, so do they likewise that of the society to which he belongs.”
Human Capital (what you know)
¡ Includes education, skills, experience.
o Human capital is replaceable but not transferable.
o Expandable and self-generating with use.
o Transportable and shareable
Social capital (whom you know)
¡ “The advantages and opportunities accruing to people through membership in certain communities.” (Bourdieu)
§ Usually social, and organized wrt relative economic indicators
§ Tastes, distinctions, habitus
¡ Communities can include social and professional associations, as well as businesses.
¡ Symbolic power: power to use one’s social capital based on the symbols to which they have access (linked to cultural capital and authority)
¡ “Those shared customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit from generation to generation and enable their members to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives”
¡ Can affect economic performance (notions of trust, shared values).
Vision and mission statement
Unifying statements
- Expression of “a company’s identity and thus its core philosophy and values”
- Answers the question, “Where are we going?”
- A “significant channel” for communication with stakeholders”
¡ Strategic: defines commercial rationale and target market. Targets minds.
¡ Philosophical: unifies organizational work. Targets hearts.
Mission statements
¡ A mission statement explains an organization’s core purpose and values. It offers a clear, unambiguous statement to stakeholders and functions as a guide for development.
▪ What the company is, what it does
▪ What the company’s responsibilities are to stakeholders
¡ Internal guide: directs behaviours, decision-making.
¡ External expression: communicates to external stakeholders.
¡ Internal and external: satisfies expectations, secures moral legitimacy.
¡ “We strive to globally revolutionize low-risk high-yield technology while continuing to enthusiastically integrate enterprise-wide meta-services for 100% customer satisfaction.” (dilbert.com)
¡ “To organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful.” (Google.)
¡ Narrow enough to allow exclusion.
¡ Broad enough to allow expansion.
¡ Firm enough to serve as template for evaluation.
Vision statements
¡ Forward looking.
¡ Expresses desired status in the future.
Effective vision statements
¡ Conciseness
¡ Clarity
¡ Abstractness
¡ Challenge
¡ Future orientation
¡ Stability
¡ Desirability/ability to inspire
Evaluating Communications: Questions to ask
¡ How would you describe the culture of the organization?
¡ How does that culture express itself?
¡ How does the organization’s structure influence communications (internal, external)?
¡ How does the organization express its goal, values, and philosophies?
¡ How well do vision and mission statements express the organization’s goals?
¡ How are vision and mission statements communicated (internal, external)?
¡ How well does branding reflect mission and vision?
¡ How well does communication reflecting branding?
Applying to communication plan
¡ Use organizational models (bureaucratic, complex, adaptive).
¡ Proceed from an acceptance of change, whether organization, industry, or environment.
¡ Consider influence of organizational model upon state of communications in light of change.
