Alexandra Waterworth. week05 Strategic Communication and Compliance Strategy

 

CMGT 500 Application Assignments:

In this application assignment I will discuss Compliance Gaining Strategies and how that relates to our readings on strategic communication. Compliance Strategies are strategies that organizations use to persuade clients. Stakeholders, or anyone else involved in a situation to follow and agree with proposals, courses of action, etc. There numerous compliance strategies that are part of the overarching framework of the concept, these include: Actor Takes Responsibility, Aftercasting (negative), Aftercasting (Positive), Altruism, Bargaining, etc (Kellerman &Cole 1994).

One strategy of Compliance that stood out to me in the Kellerman &Cole Article was Expertise (Positive). Expertise (positive) means: “Try to get others to comply by Pointing out that because the way the world works, favorable things will happen if they change their behavior. That is, try to gain their compliance by noting that in the natural course of things, good outcomes will occur if they do what you want. (Kellerman &Cole).

Strategic Communication (in regards to organizations) can be defined as this : “We define strategic communication as communication aligned with the company’s overall strategy, to enhance its strategic positioning…A strategic communications approach also attempts to tie its activities to both financial and behavioral outcomes.”(Agentini, Howell, Beck 2005). In order to have a successful outcome in regards to a campaign and/ or initiative an organization has to uphold a level of clear strategic communication, and therefore, general compliance from all stakeholders. Based upon our readings everyone in an organization including managers, CEO’s CFO’s and other “face(s) of the organization have to “be on message” and ensure that they are communicating the same messages to all of the stakeholders/ ‘constituencies’; The CEO and other top leaders, including the CFO, must understand the importance of communication and leverage communications strategically with all their constituents.” If the strategic Communication is applied correctly it will aid in the overall use compliance strategy.

One Possible way that Strategic communication professional to get constituents to comply is through using Expertise (positive). I could see "Expertise Positive" working especially well in a crisis-management situation where there is some sort of scandal, or unfavorable leak that effects the organization's image. For Example, The organization could respond to a crisis saying something to the effect of "We apologize for any harm or humiliation that this scandal has caused, to our supporters,employees, and clients. We will move forward and take appropriate action to solve this problem and let the situation be treated as a learning experience." This statement is two fold: it acknowledges that there was a scandal/wrongdoing on the part of the organization, but it is saying in an indirect way that the situation will work it self out because the organization is committed to fixing the issue and making it better.The Expertise strategy (positive) is focused on the organization persuading the constituents that whatever course of action the organization is implementing, is because the organization knows that the outcome will be favorable.

By using the expertise (positive) strategy of compliance it clears up any doubt, and shows the organization is being forthright. Honesty and sincerity are “must haves” for a successful communication strategy. Furthermore, by the organization telling the various constituencies that the change is going to be the “best option” for the organizations’ success, that demonstrates a level of commitment to the organization, a commitment to its’constituencies and stakeholders, and a high level of credibility and integrity.

Ideally, the message, plan, or initiative, that the organization is trying to implement or communicate should not at be communicated on the terms of message control (Goodall, Trethewey, McDonald) / Hierarchical Communication; it should be as transparent as possible and remain flexible. "Strategic Ambiguity" (Goodall, Trethwey, McDonald) allows for communication to flow through and allow for a wide sharing of information (Goodall, Threthwey McDonald). In Eisenbergs paper he suggests that in relation to there should be a shift from the ideological adherence to clarity and focus on the communication being more strategic in it's orientation. He references to Pascale and Athos, "Explicit communication is a cultural assumption, it is not a linguistic imperative. (Eisenberg 229). Eisenberg cites other theorists' (critical) labels for strategic ambiguity these incude indirectness, vaugeness, unclarity and disqualification.

The great thing about Compliance strategies is that there are different compliance gaining practices, that can be used in different situations. I think that in relation to transparency, compliance can facilitate and even manipulate a situation to the organizations advantage. It is possible for organizations to be (mostly) transparent and appear transparent to the stakeholders, but also not disclose everything. I am sure that this calls for implementing strategic amibiguity, in that the information that is despersed throught the organization aids in the information being circulated successfully and clearly. 

 

Argenti, P., Howell, R., Beck, K. (2005) The Strategic Communication Imperative, MIT Sloan Management Review, 46 #3, pp. 83-89 (full article)

 

Kellermann, K. & Cole, T. (1994). Classifying compliance gaining messages: Taxonomic disorder and strategic

confusion. Communication Theory, 1, pp. 3-60.)

Goodall, B., Terthewey, A., and McDOnald, K. (2006) Strategic Ambiguity, Communication and Public Diplomacy in an Uncertain World: Principles and Practices, Consortium for Strategic Communication, pp. 1-14 (full article)