Corporate Communications for Executives

By Michael B. Goodman

Subjects: Business Communication
Series: SUNY series, Human Communication Processes
Paperback : 9780791437629, 346 pages, May 1998
Hardcover : 9780791437612, 346 pages, May 1998

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. An Overview of Corporate Communication

Corporate Communication and Its Strategic Importance

Developing a Corporate Communication Philosophy

2. Corporate Communication Practice

Skills and Talents for Individuals

Small and Large Group Requirements

Presentations: Meetings and Speeches

Selecting Media

Becoming a Multimedia Professional

Selected Commentary
The Odor of Mendacity: Root Causes of Poor Corporate Communication

Edmond H. Weiss

3. Corporate Communication and Corporate Culture

Defining a Corporation's Culture

Signs of a Culture in Trouble

Corporate Culture Changes

Perpetuating Corporate Culture

Selected Commentary
Communication and Change: Effective Change Communication is Personal, Global, and Continuous

Michael B. Goodman, Karen E. Willis, Virginia C. Holihan

Interpersonal Stress in the Organization: The Role of Psychological Fusion

Paul P. Baard

Case Study
Corporate Culture: Add 99 Years of Seasoning

Elliott Hebert

4. Corporate Identity

Mission Statements and Corporate Philosophies

Logos, Letterhead, and Annual Reports

Advertising and Company Perception

Internal Perception Programs

External Communication and Perception of Company Image

Relations with Various Publics

Outreach Programs

Government Relations: Local, State, and Federal Regulators and Agencies

Customer Relations

Public Broadcasting Sponsorships and Corporate Identity

Misconception: Public TV and Corporate Advertising

Public TV and the Corporate Marketplace

Case Study
The Business Environment, Demographics, and Technology: A Case Study of Florida Power and Light's Electronic Employee Communication Services

David H. Ostroff, Dawn Donnelly, Alan Fried

5. Corporate Citizenship and Social Responsibility

The Corporation as Citizen

Corporate Citizenship Policy

Benefits of Corporate Citizenship

Building Equity through Community Relations

The "New England Approach"

Selected Commentary
Corporate Social Responsibility: New Ways of Making a Profit

Patricia Siccone

Selling Science to Society

Linn A. Weiss

Crime, Business Ethics, and Corporate Communication

Vaughana Macy Feary

6. Corporate Communication and Meeting the Press

Meeting the Press: General Criteria

Meeting the Press: Some Guidelines

Wall Street: The Financial Press

Main Street: The Hometown Media

Park Avenue: National Newspapers

Industrial Boulevard: The Trade Publications

Research Plaza: Professional Journals

Broadway: Entertainment Media

Case Studies
The Case of the VP for External Communication

Orange & Rockland Utilities, Inc. and Subsidiaries

"Get Tough on Crime: But Don't Lock 'em in My Back Yard"

Diana Vance

7. Corporate Communication and Crisis

Stages of a Crisis and the Corporate Response

Crisis Communication Plans

Responding to Pressure Groups

"Green" Issues and Crisis Preparation

Selected Commentary
Supplying Your Own Banana Peels

Marion K. Pinsdorf

Case Study
Toward Better Two-Way: Why Communications Process Improvement Represents the Right Response During Uncertain Times

Linda M. Dulye

8. Corporate Communication and Technology

Understanding Information and Technology

Using Media Technologies

Voice Mail, E-mail, LAN, the Internet, the World Wide Web

Organizations and People Suitable for Technical Innovation

The Influence on Language

Technological Impact

Impact of Technological Innovation on the Corporation, on People, on Process

Information and Electronic Media

Selected Commentary
Anytime, Anywhere: The Social Impact of Emerging Communication Technology

Valerie Perugini

Case Study
Efforts to Simplify Human-Computer Communication

Michael W. Cusack

9. Corporate Communication in Global Markets

The Logistics of an Overseas Assignment

Who to Contact

Communication in the New Europe

Communication and the Pacific Rim

Communication with Developing Countries

Communication Technologies Overcome Barriers of Time and Space

Selected Commentary
Europe and the European Union

Michael B. Goodman

Afterword

Further Reading

Index of Essay and Case Authors

Subject Index

This strategic tool for executives to lead, motivate, persuade, and inform numerous audiences inside and outside their organizations explores corporate communication as an executive practice.

Description

Communication becomes more complex as businesses compete in a global environment. The complexity brought on by an explosion in the number of tools for communication—computers, digital media, interactive corporate television, faxes, e-mail, the Internet—fuels the need for a corporation to consider its communications as central to its strategic plans. Corporate Communications for Executives looks closely at the professional practice of corporate communication. It offers numerous perspectives on ethics, science and society, employee motivation, corporate social responsibility, internal communication, global corporate communications, and communicating corporate cultures.

Michael B. Goodman is Professor and Director of the Master of Arts Program in Corporate and Organizational Communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is the editor of Corporate Communication: Theory and Practice, also published by SUNY Press, as well as the author of Working in a Global Environment: Understanding, Communicating, and Managing Transnationally; Write to the Point: Effective Communication in the Workplace; Contemporary Literary Censorship; William S. Burroughs: A Reference Guide; and William S. Burroughs.

Reviews

"The topic is of considerable significance. Clearly, corporate executives today and in the future must be aware of the globalization phenomenon. This book contains some exciting information about future trends. " — Tom McPhail, University of Missouri–St. Louis

"The underscoring of the importance of ethics in the corporation is the major significant contribution of this book. I was impressed with the author's approach to ethics from so many different angles in so many of the chapters, and I was pleased that ethics was not treated as an obligatory subject that was added as an afterthought to be 'politically correct,' the way it is treated in most textbooks on organizational communication. There are numerous books in the area of corporate communications. However, few take as broad a view of the subject as this one. " — Richard J. Dieker, Western Michigan University