Communication management in a millennium of chaos and change

Abstract

Changes occur in organisations because of changes in the environment.Conflicts arise between the organisation and internal and externalstakeholders of the organisation because of these uncontrolledinfluences. Small points of disorder may easily escalate into disorderedcrises and chaos (bifurcations and the butterfly effect). Communicationmanagement - and specifically constructive conflict management - couldlead to 'positive chaos' and a culture (strange attractor) of constantchange. Positive chaos implies an unstable, seemingly disorderedsituation that could bring about productive, creative, and improvedresults. Communication management could be used by organisations toreorganise themselves out of disorder and chaos by facilitating conflictsand diversity. Strategic planning will become even more important, butwill have to change from the basic premise of control and prediction toscenario planning, and the emphasis will be on relationship building.

Communication management research in South Africa

“…This includes such methods such as intellegence tracking that involves the monitoring of key sources of industry information for new developments that may influence the organisation, and is widely labelled as being of greater value to the organisation. Authors, including Cutlip, Center andBroom (1994), Dozier, Grunig andGrunig (1995), Geddie (1996), Kornegay and Grunig (1998), Baron (1997), Puth (in Lubbe & Puth, 1994, Pearce and Robinson (1997), Steyn (1998), Ströh (1998), Venter (in Kroon, 1995 and White and Mazur (1995) support this view.…”

“…The importance of research in the strategic management process is clear when Pearce and Robinson's (1997:3) statement about the requirement for successful strategic management is considered: "To deal effectively with everything that affects the growth and profitability of a firm, executives employ management processes that they feel will position it optimally in its competitive environment by maximising the anticipation of environmental changes and of unexpected internal and competitive demands". This planning process has been complicated by the increasingly turbulent nature of the organisation's external environment (Steyn, 1998& Ströh, 1998. Changes and trends that may affect an industry, and thus the single organisation, seem to develop at such a rapid pace that it is difficult to keep track of these.…”

“…Changes and trends that may affect an industry, and thus the single organisation, seem to develop at such a rapid pace that it is difficult to keep track of these. Ströh (1998) articulates this notion in the following way:…”

“…Other authors, including Puth (in Lubbe & Puth, 1994), Steyn (1998) and Ströh (1998), also describe the changing role of communication management in terms of this organisational function's ability to gather strategic intelligence and to negotiate conflict between the organisation and different publics / external forces.…”

Communicating affirmative action in three South African organisations

“…Controversy and confusion abound, and little research on the management of communication (strategic or technical) about AA (as a transformational process) has been completed in the South African context. Based on an extensive review of literature and database searches, it seems that communication research previously focused on the sub-fields or sub-topics of the management of corporate change (Barrett, 2002;Du Plooy-Cilliers in Verwey & Du Plooy-Cilliers, 2003;Grobler in Verwey & Du Plooy-Cilliers, 2003;Ströh, 1998), including transformational change (Cummings & Worley, 2001;Keene, 2000;Puth, 2002), and the nature and place of communication therein (Puth, 2002;Ströh, 1998;Ströh & Jaatinen, 2001). But, the nature of the efforts by the corporate communication function regarding the implementation of AA, specifically in the South African context, however received relatively little attention.…”