Communication World articles from April 1997

Communication World archives from April 1997

Communicators: the shoemaker's kids in business planning?
April 1, 1997... Business schools have taught the importance of planning for years, but recent research points out a dichotomy between what these schools preach and what they and their communicators practice. Few business school communicators have strategic plans...

Ten steps for communicators to boost organizational diversity.
April 1, 1997... If there was ever any doubt that work-force diversity is a critical business issue with serious, bottom-line consequences, the Texaco lawsuit has erased those doubts forever. But, a well-publicized racial discrimination lawsuit - and associated...

Market for employee buy-in. (organizational communication of change programs)
April 1, 1997... In the 1980s and 1990s, organisations have had to grapple with a raft of management concepts - from total quality management to business process re-engineering. Once a company re-engineers successfully, its competitors feel they must do likewise...

Managing to get the best ... from freelancers. (outsourcing organizational communication projects)
April 1, 1997... YOU'RE A CORPORATE COMMUNICATOR WHO HAS COME TO THE INEVITABLE CONCLUSION THAT SOME WORK ABSOLUTELY MUST BE OUTSOURCED OR IT WON'T GET DONE Before you pick up the phone, think for a moment: What do you expect from the freelance writer who will...

From the three Bs to the high Cs. (history of employee communication)
April 1, 1997... Since its beginning, the employee communication function has evolved through three major stages of development. Unfortunately, the evolutionary process has been neither consistent nor universal, and many communicators are still operating in the...

CEOs want information, not just words: so ... write smart, simple and short.
April 1, 1997... Senior managers everywhere today view "Time Management" as a key strategic issue. Yet in many companies, the writing process is a major time-waster that has gone unnoticed. Some large corporations spend 20 to 40 percent of their time just in...

Battling information overload.
April 1, 1997... Remember the good old days when communication consisted of the company policy and procedures manual and a quarterly employee newsletter? Well, say goodbye to those days if you haven't already. Welcome to the days where communication has become a...

It's the bottom line, stupid. (communication of investor relations)
April 1, 1997... Communicating the bottom line to corporate stakeholders is no longer the sole domain of the CFO or investor relations manager. Corporate communicators have an opportunity to elevate their profiles by learning how to work more closely with CFOs...

It's time for communicators to integrate evaluation into strategic planning.
April 1, 1997... Why have an employee newsletter if no one is reading it because they find the information too corporate and not believable? Although most of us are trained to include evaluation and measurement into our communication planning, how many...

Five keys to a successful media interview.
April 1, 1997... As the communication consultant in your company, you have 24 hours to assess the opportunity, become familiar with the show and its audience, and prepare your CEO to do the interview. Depending on your perspective, this is an opportunity, a cause...

Thinking together. (pooling of knowledge about business communication)(Digital Knowledge)
April 1, 1997... "The art of professional practice is to turn information into solutions," says Richard McDermott, a knowledge management consultant in Mendon, Mass. mcdermo@Ultranet.com. You do it every day. You size up the situation, piece together...

Did you hear the one about the male cow? Is that an oxymoron? (grammatical and spelling errors)(Wood on Words)(Column)
April 1, 1997... If you're going to pull a quote, pay attention. The pullquote in a Boston Globe story about wastewater from a pulp and paper company said, "A Maine mill is the flashpoint in debate over the environmental cost of making paper its whitest." But...