Strategic Orientation of Communication Professionals in Europe

Abstract

The strategic orientation of European communication professionals was one of the focal points of the European Communication Monitor (ECM) 2010, an annual survey among European communication professionals. In the context of the European way of doing business with the typical dialogical stakeholder approach, strategic versus instrumental action and the reflective dimension of communication that has been found in Europe, the strategic orientation of European professionals is assessed. A so-called strategic orientation index was constructed consisting of the professional role enactment of communication managers, the use of inbound strategic activities, the use of strategies and plans and the use of evaluation and controlling tools in the organization. The results show that there is a considerable strategic orientation of communication professionals in Europe. Professionals in Northern and Eastern Europe score highest on the strategic orientation index. Western European professionals score significantly lower than their colleagues in the North and in the East.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Ronny Fechner, M.A., and Katharina Simon, B.Sc., University of Leipzig (Germany), as well as Natasja van Est, B.Sc., University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), for their organizational support.

Notes

¹It is important to notice that this distinction has nothing to do with strategic versus instrumental communication or one-way versus two-way-communication as such, because both ways can include a variety of activities and are independent. In this paper we focus however on the overall strategic orientation of communication professionals.

²Partners of the European Communication Monitor are the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) and professional magazine Communication Director. The monitor of 2010 was sponsored by Infopaq and Grayling.