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Summary Strategic Communication Second Partial - All Lectures and Readings
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Complete summary of all lectures and readings for the Strategic Communication second partial exam
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By Mónica Smienk ArnedoSunday, 11 December 2022
Strategic Communication Second Partial Notes
Week 9: Dialogue and engagement
Reading 1: Taylor, M., & Kent, M. L. (2014). Dialogic Engagement: Clarifying
Foundational Concepts. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(5), 384–398.
• The principle of engagement underlies the relational and organisation-public
communication research > this concept suffers from a lack of clarity in the public relations
literature > in this paper we place it within dialogue theory as “engagement is part of the
dialogue and through engagement, organisations and publics can make decisions that create
social capital” > engagement is both an orientation that influences interactions and the
approach that guides the process of interactions among groups
• Public relations is a communication activity that helps organisations to engage multiple
publics, but what does engage or engagement mean? > in this paper, they argue that
engagement is part of the dialogue and through engagement, organisations and the public
can make decisions that create social capital > engagement is both an orientation that
influences interactions and the approach that guides the process of interactions among
groups > through engagement, organisations and the public can make decisions that contrite
to social capital
Engagement in public relations
• The ideograph of engagement. Ideographs are words that are concrete, vague, and
evanescent all at the same time > the purpose of ideographs is to close off discussions
rather than encourage them, by introducing concepts that on their face seem uncontested
and generally understood > engagement at first seems clear, but the closer you look, the
hazier it becomes
• The current conceptualisation of engagement. Can be used in five different combination
contexts: social media engagement, employee engagement, CSR and engagement, civic
engagement and social capital, and dialogic engagement.
• Social media engagement. Engagement is viewed as interactions with stakeholders and the
public via social media > engagement via social media is mostly a one-way communication
process from an organisation to followers or friends
• Employee engagement. How can organisations engage employees? This matters because
engagement in the workplace seeks to foster greater loyalty and job satisfaction > employee
engagement can be seen as an attitude or state of mind, which means it can be influenced
by communication from management
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• CSR and engagement. CSR can be seen as a form of organisational engagement >
engagement is viewed as organisations being transparent and open to public questions and
scrutiny > for CSR scholars, engagement is seen as enacting beneficial corporate initiatives
to local stakeholders and the public
• Civic engagement and social capital. How does engagement work to build social capital
and improve communities? > engagement in public relations can be seen as positive for
social capital > engagement can be seen as a fundamental part of civil society because it
can build social capital and help to promote democracy > PR allows engagement to work
through media relations, rhetoric, and cooperation/competition
• Dialogic engagement. The concept of engagement is central to the discussion of the
dialogue in public relations > organisations must ‘engage in dialogue to be ethical > we can
observe five underlying principles of a dialogic orientation: mutuality, propinquity,
empathy, risk and commitment
- The principle of propinquity means that “publics are consulted in matters than influence
them, and for the public, it means that they are willing and able to articulate their
demands to organisations” > engagement comes from interactions; assuming
accessibility, presentness and a willingness to interact
Clarifying dialogue and dialogic public relations
• Dialogue is an interpersonal concept to have more genuine and meaningful interactions
between people > dialogue should be treated as an orientation that valued sharing and
mutual understanding between interactions to yield more theory growth
• The goal of this study is to refine dialogue theory in PR and clarify how engagement
provides a better understanding of dialogue
The dialogic communication continuum
• Dialogue serves to mitigate power relationships, values individual dignity and self-worth,
and tries to involve participants in conversation and decision-making
• Dialogic communicators are open-minded, patient, and empathetic
• Dialogue values interpersonal interactions, and emphasizes meaning-making,
understanding, co-creation of reality, and sympathetic/empathetic interactions > the goal of
dialogue is to create, maintain, and negotiate relationships among multiple stakeholders
Caveats of dialogue
• Sometimes the public does not want to engage in dialogue and this can make it not the most
effective way to interact with the public in some circumstances > there are certain issues
with dialogue as a mode of communication
1. PR professionals need to be careful about confusing dialogue (“the orientation to fruitful
and ethical communication that develops from enacting dialogic principles”) with
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dialogic (“the procedural steps involved in creating an ethical communicative
environment”) > dialogic precedes actual dialogue
2. Dialogue is a product of a particular type of relational interaction, not just any
communicative interaction > engagement is a necessary part of the dialogue +
Situating engagement within dialogue theory
• Dialogic engagement should take place because it enables organisations and stakeholders to
interact, fostering understanding and a shared view of reality
• Engagement represents a two-way, relational, give and take between organisations and
stakeholders/the public with the goal of (a) improving understanding among interactants,
(b) making decisions that benefit all parties involved and (c) fostering a fully functioning
society
• This article proposes the following components of engagement
1. Engagement requires interactions with stakeholders and the public to begin only after
secondary research has been conducted to understand an issue(s), key publics,
cultural variables, etc
2. Engagement requires a demonstration of positive regard for stakeholders/the publics’
input, experiences and needs
3. Engagement requires interaction with stakeholders/the public for relational purposes
outside of an immediate problem/issue
4. Engagement requires interaction for advice and counsel on issues of organisational/
public/community concern
5. Engagement requires interaction that contributes to a fully functioning society
whereby organisations and the public recognise their interdependence and act
together for the good of the community
• Multiple methods can be used to measure engagement such as observation, interviews,
surveys, co-orientation, social capital measures, or triangulation of methods to set
baselines, track changes, and measure progress.
Internal processes create engagement
Review of Pearson’s six dimensions of dialogic organisation systems for effective dialogic
engagement for organisations and public relationships
1. In a dialogic interaction, there should be an understanding of and agreement on the rules:
designing an ethical, interactive, system before any interaction takes place
2. There should be public understanding of and agreement on the rules governing the
length: dialogic organisations should publish guidelines
3. There should be public understanding of and agreement on rules governing opportunities:
engagement means being ready to talk about topics that are uncomfortable or risky
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4. There should be public understanding of and agreement on the rules for when a response:
dialogue is premised on trust, and trust is built when questions are answered
5. There should be public understanding of and agreement on rules for channel selection
6. There should be public understanding of and agreement on the rules for talking about:
communication rules must be open to revision as relationships progress and regress >
one-way interactions from the organisations do not show engagement
Updating Pearson: Specifying a greater engagement role for the public
• This new conceptualisation wants to outline dialogue more fully as a role for the public and
public relations practitioners in dialogic engagement by proposing one new rule
- Steps should be taken by the public to ensure that their spokespeople and leaders are
trained in dialogic engagement > dialogue cannot be obtained unless these conditions
are met (a) public relations professionals are trained on how to facilitate dialogue and
(b) management becomes convinced of its value
Conclusion
• For future research, this paper encourages researchers to add something new to the public
relations theory of dialogue, to further explore dialogic communication at the interpersonal/
organisational/community/societal level
Reading 2: Dhanesh, G. S. (2017). Putting engagement in its PRoper place: State of the
field, definition and model of engagement in public relations. Public Relations Review,
43(5), 925–933.
• This paper assesses the use of engagement in the field of public relations and critiques the
equation of engagement with communicative interaction, with its foregrounding
engagement as collaboration over that of engagement as control
• The definition of engagement used in this paper is “engagement is an affective, cognitive,
and behavioural state wherein publics and organisations who share mutual interests in
salient topics interact along continue that range from passive to active and from control to
collaboration, and is aimed at goal attainment, adjustment, and adaptation for both publics
and organisations”
Literature review
• Engagement can relate to psychology, organisational behaviour and human resource
management, education (i.e. student engagement), political science (i.e. civic engagement),
and marketing/advertising (i.e. customer engagement) > we can find three main clusters of
work 1) digital engagement, 2) employee engagement, and 3) public/stakeholder
engagement
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