What on Earth Do Communication Professionals Do? The Anatomy of Communication Management

Abstract

As the importance of communication management rises, the need grows to understand its mechanisms. Remarkably, there is still little agreement on what communication is, let alone how to manage it. This paper aims to fill this gap in understanding communication management and improve clarity on how communication professionals contribute to organisational success.

Within organisational communication, it is commonly presumed that communication is intentional, serving organisational goals. Following this intentional paradigm, this article proposes Berlo’s S-M-C-R model to define and analyse in an anatomical way what communication professionals do. This model is translated in 2018 into a survey that has been adopted and distributed by 12 universities in 9 countries in 3 continents and in 7 languages as of 2022.

Analysis shows that the survey around Berlo’s model helps to identify how many communication professionals work in participating regions and industries. Furthermore, it can be assessed to what extent communication professionals make choices in communication management with organisational stakeholders. The “Berlo-score” is proposed to measure the decision making power of communication professionals.

This approach substantiates theory and knowledge on how to manage organisational communication, offering guidance to teachers, researchers, managers, journalists and other stakeholders who want to understand how communication professionals contribute to organisational success.

Berlo's seminal theoretical model is made applicable for the work of communication professionals. Thereby, a framework for anatomical analysis of communication management is created. This new standard enables substantial international comparisons on what communication professionals do.

Keywords: organisational communication, public relations, corporate communication, integrated communications, strategic communication, communication management, Berlo’s SMCR-model

JEL Classification: D83