The communication grid: an introduction of a model of four communication strategies

Increasing numbers of professionals in public relations consider themselves to be strategic managers and consultants. Surprisingly, they have difficulty in making clear what it really is that they manage and what their consultations truly represent, what aims they have and what strategies they use. In this article I present a model consisting of basic communication strategies, derived from communication theory and rooted in described public relations approaches in the Netherlands.     

New strategies in union organizing

The AFL-CIO has called for new and more effective approaches in organizing. This paper reviews the classical organizing model and then identifies four strategic approaches to organizing that have been developed or re-emphasized in recent years including the corporate power strategy, the collective bargaining strategy, community acceptance and integration strategy, and the coordinated/pooled resource strategy. Factors affecting the use and success of these strategies are discussed. It is concluded that while some have promise, their limited use and mixed outcomes will probably minimize their significance in union organizing during the 1980’s.     

Mapping the strategic thinking of public relations managers in a crisis situation: An illustrative example using conjoint analysis

A great deal of anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that the public relations function is not well integrated into the strategic decision making of most organizations. Observers suggest that to be part of the strategic decision-making process, managers must demonstrate that they are strategic thinkers, i.e., show that they have “what it takes” to be part of the dominant coalition.However, research on strategic decision making has been dominated by the case study methodology, which has led to calls for quantitative approaches that might verify and supplement these qualitative-based findings. This article illustrates the operationalization of the conjoint analysis multivariate technique for the study of the public relations function within strategic decision making in a crisis situation. Implications for theory development and testing are also discussed.Peggy Simcic Brønn is an assistant professor and Erik Olson is an associate professor in the Department of Market-Oriented Management at the Norwegian School of Management.     

Program evaluation of services for the homeless : Challenges and strategies

The rapid growth of the homeless population in North America has given rise to a sharp increase in the number of task forces and studies aimed at setting up either programs for the homeless, or policies for controlling the phenomenon. Whenever there is a need for program evaluations in this process, numerous methodological and strategic challenges have to be faced. Due to the characteristics of the clientele, evaluation studies of services for the homeless call for innovative approaches. This paper reviews the research strategies (types of evaluations, designs, and indicators) that have been developed to assess programs for chronic inebriates and mentally ill homeless. The findings from previous evaluations are then summarized and their consequences for evaluation practice are considered.     

INTEGRATING INDIVIDUAL AND SYSTEMS APPROACHES: STRATEGIC-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

The existing literature on the integration of family and individual approaches, largely analytic in orientation, consists of models which, for the most part, are not brief in application. An alternative, brief model is presented which integrates an individual, cognitive-behavioral approach with a strategic approach at both pragmatic and theoretical levels. The Strategic-Behavioral model justifies the selective use of behavioral frames in strategic therapy and offers guidelines for their selective application.     

Dialogue,strategic communication,and ethical public relations: Lessons from Martin Buber’s political activism

Dialogue and persuasive strategic communication are often perceived by public relations scholars as two distinct approaches to the practice. After revisiting and reassessing debates surrounding the two approaches, this article introduces accounts of the use of dialogue and strategic communication in the political life of Martin Buber, whose philosophy has inspired PR scholarship on dialogue. It traces Buber’s writings and activities as communicator in the service of the early Zionist movement and, in his later life, as campaigner against the establishment of the State of Israel, and as promoter of dialogue between Zionists and Arab Palestinians. Based on archival research the article uncovers Buber’s political and PR work to provide insights into his philosophy in the context of his political and life experiences. Inspired by Buber’s work the article argues that dialogue and strategic communication both have the potential to be deployed ethically, and for prosocial causes, or to be deployed in a self-serving and unethical way. In this, it supports other scholars’ argument that public relations should reconcile with the fact that both are legitimate tools and it further argues that both might be used either ethically or unethically. It concludes that ethical PR practice depends less on the form of communication, and more on transparency, honesty, openness, and respect in the way dialogue or strategic communication are conducted.     

ECLECTIC STRATEGIC PRACTICE: A PROCESS CONSTRUCTIVE PERSPECTIVE

The development of an integrative individual and family therapy approach has been hampered by fundamental differences in philosophy and theoretical conceptualization among approaches. Given these largely irreconcilable differences systemic framework for a technical eclecticism may represent a logical step toward a more flexible consideration of both individual and family approaches. This article will describe an extension of the strategic therapy model that enables and encourages the selective application of content and techniques from individual and family approaches. Three case examples will illustrate a process-oriented, constructivist rationale for eclectic strategic practice as well as a more collaborative and relationship-oriented perspective of strategic therapy.     

Termination in Family Therapy: At Last a Beginning

Termination is a neglected area in family therapy. This paper examines termination from the point of view of non-specific, strategic and psycho-dynamic approaches. Completion of the therapy contract; completion of individual meetings; unsatisfactory progress; and symptom removal are considered under the heading of general approaches, while strategic approaches Includes a discussion of provocative, paradoxical and metaphorical interventions.     

Migrants as strategic actors in the European Union's Global Approach to Migration and Mobility

The European Union's discourse of ‘partnership’ in the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility and the widely expressed critique of this discourse as a process of ‘externalization’ of EU policy both depend on unitary accounts of the main policy actors involved. Two separate literatures contest such unitary accounts. Within political science and international relations, institutional approaches identify a range of strategic actors involved in policy development; in anthropology, there is a well‐established interest in the strategic behaviour of disempowered actors. In this article, I set out to link these two approaches with an examination of undocumented migrants as strategic actors. I use a case study of events at the borders between Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in late 2005, which have proved extremely influential in the continued development of the EU's global approach, to identify the ways in which even highly marginalized migrants were able to develop transnational social organizations.     

Politics,Plurality and Problemsheds: A Strategic Approach for Reform of Agricultural Water Resources Management

Starting from the assessment that past efforts at reform in agricultural water management in developing countries have achieved very little, this article argues that a fundamental change is required in the approach to policy and institutional transformation if the present deadlock in the internalisation of ecological sustainability, human development/poverty alleviation and democratic governance into the ‘core business’ of water bureaucracies is to be overcome. ‘Social engineering’ approaches need to be replaced by ‘strategic action’ approaches that acknowledge the inherently political character and the plurality of actors, institutions and objectives of water management — a perspective operationalised here around the notions of ‘problemshed’ and ‘issue network’.     

The union image: Concept,programs and analysis

Several key labor leaders have expressed the need to improve the public image of unions. This paper defines the core elements of the current negative image and describes factors contributing to it. The basic direct and indirect approaches employed by unions to improve their image are systematically presented. It is concluded that prospects for image change are minimal due to limited image building efforts overall, lack of strategic thrust and union coordination, limited understanding of the nature of the image, and virtually no evaluation of image building efforts.     

The two-party system under alternative voting procedures

Countries that elect their policy-makers by means of Plurality Voting tend to have a two-party system. This observation can be explained by the strategic behavior of voters. This article derives two broad classes of voting procedures under which strategic voting behavior induces a two-party system under standard assumptions on voter preferences. One class consists of the voting procedures with unique top-score, i.e., under which a voter can cast a top-score vote for only one candidate (e.g., Plurality Voting, Borda Count). The other class consists of the voting procedures that permit truncated ballots, i.e., under which voters do not have to cast all their votes (e.g., Approval Voting). This analysis suggests that the key for strategic voting behavior to induce a two-party system is that voters can always cast a different score for the two candidates they rank first and second on their ballots.     

Constructive Noncooperation as Political Resistance

Building on the examples of the Rank and File and Settlement House Movements, transformative social workers in the United States today have an obligation to strive to integrate liberation and resistance approaches into a broad range of settings. Liberatory social work practice requires us to challenge oppressive social conditions that regulate people's lives and constrain their options. In this article, we explore constructive noncooperation as an important strategic option in campaigns of resistance by oppressed populations and communities and as a key principle of practice for social workers acting in solidarity with those groups. Václav Havel's concept of living in truth as an individual path of constructive resistance and the construction of cultures of resistance and parallel structures as collective strategies have the potential for progressively shaping more just societies in which human rights can be universally realized.     

Going the distance: serving the needs of older youth at scale

Few communities have developed successful strategies for attracting large numbers of older youth to their out-of-school-time programs. In addition to meeting the unique developmental and programmatic needs of this population, communities have struggled with the challenge of creating communitywide integrated approaches to service delivery and resource development. Communities wanting to build a system of supports for older youth must do so in the context of a communitywide strategy as opposed to fragmented, individually operating programs and services. A communitywide strategy creates greater opportunity for strategic mobilization of resources, greater funding leverage, evaluation and assessment consistency, and more powerful input into creating a public voice and public will for supporting and serving older youth as they make the transition to adulthood.     

Pressing the right buttons: Australian case studies in the protection of employee entitlements against corporate insolvency

Looking at recent cases where employees in Australia managed to salvage their accrued entitlements when their company became insolvent, the author considers the factors which contributed to those successful outcomes. Comparing those examples with cases where workers in similar circumstances were not so fortunate, she shows that the successful protection of entitlements is often a matter of timing, strategic choices, innovative approaches, regulator intervention, union pressure, political expediency or a happy confluence of circumstances. Someone, somewhere, has been “pressing the right buttons”. Lessons will be drawn from the cases considered here, she argues.     

Exploring the strategic potential of internal communication in international non-governmental organisations

The role and importance of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has increased with globalization and the growth of global institutions. Despite this growth, academic research into INGO management remains limited and, due to their unique characteristics, management theories developed for for-profit organisations cannot be applied as is to INGOs. Internal communication is a critical area of management that has been proven to have a major impact on an organisation's effectiveness, particularly when managed strategically. Therefore this article explores the strategic management of internal communication within the INGO context. This study synthesised the current literature on this topic and included five case studies to understand the current state of internal communication within INGOs. It was determined that INGOs do not manage internal communication strategically. However, there is evidence that the implementation of strategic internal communication could help INGOs address several of their challenges and have an impact on their overall effectiveness. This study is exploratory and further research to identify the process for strategic internal communication in INGOs is needed.     

Der Wert von Kindern für ihre Eltern

Demographic and micro-economic approaches have not sufficiently resolved the explanation of fertility behavior and intergenerational relationships. The “value-of-children-approach” promises a possibility to solve these problems especially with regard to cross-cultural differences. The approach is re-conceptualized in the framework of the theory of social production functions as a special theory of action. Children are seen as strategic intermediate goods to fulfil basic needs of their (potential) parents: Their (1) work and income utility and their (2) insurance utility increases physical well-being, their (3) status utility and their (4) emotional utility increases social recognition. The explanatory potential of this special theory of action is systematically unfolded for six essential dimensions of the action system of the family (size, durability, context opportunities and restrictions, resources, intergenerational relationships, and gender). Finally, the implications for the modernization and social change of intergenerational relationships in societies with different kinship systems are discussed.     

An Attempt in Modeling the Labor Supply Process of Married Women in Tunisia

ABSTRACT

This article is aimed at determining the appropriate model for a married woman’s labor supply process in the presence of strategic interaction. We here compare two approaches: a traditional model and a strategic model. We try to estimate the process using Probit and Strategic models and specify, via structural equations, the advantage of the strategic model in the study of strategic data. Using the two models on individual Tunisian data enables us to note that as contrary to the woman expectations in a Probit model, the financial side is not a determining factor in the husband’s reaction once his wife gave up her work. This result has been observed only via the strategic model because it takes into account the presence of effect of strategic interaction between a woman’s decision and her husband’s reaction.     

Incentives Programs for Girl Children in India: Global Experiences,Local Reflections

ABSTRACT

Success of incentive transfers programs in South America has encouraged policymakers in India to adopt similar demand-driven approaches to reward behaviors that invest in girls and eventually change negative cultural attitudes toward them. Embrace of this approach, however, needs to be nuanced by a closer scrutiny of the gendered impact of such programs; an understanding of the differential sociocultural and public policy contexts; and a questioning of the design of the incentive transfer programs in India. Despite their political uptake, such programs address the practical needs of girls and women while neglecting their strategic interests. Furthermore, without adequate critical engagement, the programs can have unintended consequence of reinforcing gender stereotypes. Rather than importing developmental shortcuts, India should turn its gaze inward to supply-side interventions and homegrown mobilization experiences of the women’s movement.