title: The significance of communicating in enacting decisions

authors: Huebner, Hartmut

subjects: corporate communications

abstract: Purpose – Rational modes of decision-making, followed by communication of the decision to stakeholders, leading to implementation of the decision is taken as a given in most management theories. The role of corporate communication managers in many cases is to support this process via standard communication tools. This study aims to challenge the efficacy of this model by drawing on discourse and strategy-as-practice perspectives in order to explain the link between managed communication and performance in terms of enacting decisions.

Design/methodology/approach – Following an ethnographic case study approach, the research analyses communication discourse at Intech, a major international conglomerate based in Germany. Data was collected over a period of 15 months, structured and thematic analysis conducted, supported by ATLAS.ti computer-aided qualitative data analysis software. Methods of discourse analysis were applied in order to explain concrete practices.

Findings – A key contribution is to provide a framework that enables researchers and practitioners to understand in-depth the setting in which decision-related communication takes place, as recently demanded by Suchan and Charles (2006). Three critical fields of action for effective communication and strategy implementation are identified: giving decisions voice; facilitating the legitimisation process for decisions; and developing alternatives to cascading as a mode of decision implementation.

Research implications/limitations – Researchers may adopt the alternative view of corporate communication proposed and test or apply it in further case studies or in more large-scale, perhaps quantitatively oriented research projects across companies and cultural boundaries.

Practical implications – For practitioners, a key challenge lies in implementing modes of legitimisation into managed communication.

Originality/value – This paper makes the case for an alternative approach to enacting decisions via practices of managed communication, based on the insights gained from the Intech case.

text: The significance of communicating in enacting decisions Purpose – Rational modes of decision-making, followed by communication of the decision to stakeholders, leading to implementation of the decision is taken as a given in most management theories. The role of corporate communication managers in many cases is to support this process via standard communication tools. This study aims to challenge the efficacy of this model by drawing on discourse and strategy-as-practice perspectives in order to explain the link between managed communication and performance in terms of enacting decisions.

Design/methodology/approach – Following an ethnographic case study approach, the research analyses communication discourse at Intech, a major international conglomerate based in Germany. Data was collected over a period of 15 months, structured and thematic analysis conducted, supported by ATLAS.ti computer-aided qualitative data analysis software. Methods of discourse analysis were applied in order to explain concrete practices.

Findings – A key contribution is to provide a framework that enables researchers and practitioners to understand in-depth the setting in which decision-related communication takes place, as recently demanded by Suchan and Charles (2006). Three critical fields of action for effective communication and strategy implementation are identified: giving decisions voice; facilitating the legitimisation process for decisions; and developing alternatives to cascading as a mode of decision implementation.

Research implications/limitations – Researchers may adopt the alternative view of corporate communication proposed and test or apply it in further case studies or in more large-scale, perhaps quantitatively oriented research projects across companies and cultural boundaries.

Practical implications – For practitioners, a key challenge lies in implementing modes of legitimisation into managed communication.

Originality/value – This paper makes the case for an alternative approach to enacting decisions via practices of managed communication, based on the insights gained from the Intech case.

year: 2008

title: Better than Biggles: Michael Annesley’s ‘Lawrie Fenton’ spy thrillers.

authors: Bydder, Jillene

subjects: F.A.M. Webster

abstract: Captain F.A.M. Webster, the athlete, athletics coach and author who lived from 1886 to 1949, wrote a series of fifteen spy thrillers under the pseudonym of Michael Annesley. His hero, Lawrie Fenton, is a lively and laid-back secret agent for the fictional Intelligence Branch of the (British) Foreign Office. The books were published between 1935 and 1950, and the series is important because of its European settings, analyses of contemporary politics, insights into contemporary points of view, and snapshots of events and places. Fenton was a new and exciting hero for his times. The paper establishes Webster’s unrecognized but important influence on the development of the spy thriller. The photographs are from the Webster family collection.

text: Better than Biggles: Michael Annesley’s ‘Lawrie Fenton’ spy thrillers. Captain F.A.M. Webster, the athlete, athletics coach and author who lived from 1886 to 1949, wrote a series of fifteen spy thrillers under the pseudonym of Michael Annesley. His hero, Lawrie Fenton, is a lively and laid-back secret agent for the fictional Intelligence Branch of the (British) Foreign Office. The books were published between 1935 and 1950, and the series is important because of its European settings, analyses of contemporary politics, insights into contemporary points of view, and snapshots of events and places. Fenton was a new and exciting hero for his times. The paper establishes Webster’s unrecognized but important influence on the development of the spy thriller. The photographs are from the Webster family collection.

year: 2015

title: Responsive socio-cultural contexts: Supporting five year olds to become literate in a second language.

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: bilingual learners

abstract: Learning one's own indigenous language and culture as a second language learner within formal mainstream education settings can pose many challenges, especially for students who have been raised in the dominant first language and who are just beginning school. This paper discusses a Māori language resource used by a Māori immersion teacher to respond to these challenges. This resource utilises community support to develop students' phonological awareness while simultaneously increasing their oral language. This study shows that within a relatively short period of time, students' phonological knowledge improved along with their confidence and ability to speak in Māori. With these skills they were then able to progress more successfully to becoming literate in Māori, their second language.

text: Responsive socio-cultural contexts: Supporting five year olds to become literate in a second language. Learning one's own indigenous language and culture as a second language learner within formal mainstream education settings can pose many challenges, especially for students who have been raised in the dominant first language and who are just beginning school. This paper discusses a Māori language resource used by a Māori immersion teacher to respond to these challenges. This resource utilises community support to develop students' phonological awareness while simultaneously increasing their oral language. This study shows that within a relatively short period of time, students' phonological knowledge improved along with their confidence and ability to speak in Māori. With these skills they were then able to progress more successfully to becoming literate in Māori, their second language.

year: 2012