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When communication professionals become trainers: a new role
Mid Sweden University, Faculty of Science, Technology and Media, Department of Media and Communication Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7382-3134
2020 (English)In: Journal of Communication Management, ISSN 1363-254X, E-ISSN 1478-0852, Vol. 24, no 2, p. 85-102Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how communication professionals enact an educational role aimed at improving organisational communication through communication training. Furthermore, this article analyses what this implementation means for the role of the communication professionals. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative interviews were conducted with seven communication professionals and ten managers in two organisations. The organisations were selected due to their involvement in developing and implementing communication training programmes. The interviews were then transcribed and analysed inductively. Findings: This study demonstrates how communication professionals are expanding their professional role to become trainers in communication. The managers who participated reported increased awareness of the communication departments and the support they can provide. The communication departments became more visible in the organisations. Research limitations/implications: The study is qualitative and limited to two organisations. The managers' perspectives suggest that when communication professionals act as internal trainers, their role within an organisation is strengthened. Practical implications: The results of this study indicate that in-house communication professionals enable managers to improve their communication, boosting their ability to implement simultaneous large-scale training and rendering the communication department more visible and available throughout the organisation. Originality/value: This study adds to the existing discussion regarding the new roles of communication professionals in organisations by presenting two cases in which communication professionals are successfully functioning as internal communication trainers. The findings can help both researchers and practitioners gain insights into the future role of the communication profession. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 24, no 2, p. 85-102
Keywords [en]
Communication departments, Communication professionals, Communication training, Educational role, Leadership communication, Organisational communication
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-39064DOI: 10.1108/JCOM-07-2019-0103ISI: 000532710600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85084450949OAI: oai:DiVA.org:miun-39064DiVA, id: diva2:1432137
Available from: 2020-05-26 Created: 2020-05-26 Last updated: 2020-10-08Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. The Dynamics of Developing Leadership Communication in Organisations
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The Dynamics of Developing Leadership Communication in Organisations
2020 (English)Licentiate thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Leadership development is an area which is a top priority for organisations. While communication has historically been viewed as one of many leadership activities, it has recently been suggested to be more central to, even constitutive of, leadership. It has also been put forth that communication researchers may provide a means to develop new theoretical frameworks from which to develop leadership.

The purpose of this thesis is to further the theoretical understanding of communicative leadership development, specifically in the form of training efforts. Furthermore, the goal is to provide a new understanding to practitioners who are working with the development of communicative leadership.

This is a compilation thesis that consists of three papers. An initial literature review shows that the development of leadership communication receives interest from fields related to health, for instance, from nursing teams, businesses, the military and construction. On the other hand, the subject doesn’t receive as much attention from the field of communication studies. The results of the thesis are based on interviews with managers and communication professionals in two organisations. The findings show several benefits from having communication professionals take on a role as communication trainers, such as increased visibility of the communication department within the organisation and the opportunity to continue to support the leaders after the trainings. Additionally, a framework of adult learning is used to analyse the interviews, which highlights several points of adult learning that are relevant to the development of leadership communication.

Based on the empirical data and the literature review, a model of communicative leadership development is suggested. This model is an amalgamation of what was learned from the three papers and summarises the understanding that was gained. Moreover, the model should provide practitioners with a basis for developing communicative leadership trainings as well as for developing the theory of communicative leadership.

Abstract [sv]

En av de högsta prioriteringarna i organisationer idag är ledarskapsutveckling. Historiskt sett har kommunikation betraktats som en sekundär funktion av ledarskap, men på senare år har forskare argumenterat för att kommunikation är mer centralt än så, möjligen det som konstituerar ledarskap. Det har dessutom föreslagits att kommunikationsfältet kan bidra till nya teoretiska ramverk för ledarskapsutveckling.

Syftet med denna avhandling är att utöka den teoretiska kunskapen kring kommunikativ ledarskapsutveckling. Vidare, är målet att bidra med ny kunskap till praktiker som arbetar med att utveckla kommunikativt ledarskap.

Avhandlingen är en sammanläggning som består av tre artiklar. Den första artikeln är en litteraturstudie, de andra två är kvalitativa studier som är baserade på intervjuer. I artikel 1 undersöks artiklar som publicerat empiriska studier av ledarskapsprogram som syftar till att förbättra kommunikationen. Resultaten visar att forskare inom hälsorelaterade fält, gällande exempelvis team inom kirurgi och sjukskötersketeam, studerar möjliga sätt att förbättra kommunikationen. Å andra sidan verkar kommunikationsfältet inte studera ämnet i samma utsträckning. Artikel 2 fokuserar på den nya rollen som tränare som kommunikatörer har antagit. Flera fördelar med att använda interna tränare hittas, bland annat att de blir synligare i organisationerna och kan stötta ledarna även efter träningen. I artikel tre undersöks en organisations kommunikationsträningsprogram genom ett ramverk baserat på teorier kring vuxet lärande. Denna teoribildning visar sig kunna bidra till insikter kring träningsprogram i kommunikativt ledarskap, men vissa anpassningar till organisationskontexter behövs.

Sammanfattningsvis ger de tre artiklarna en grund för en modell i kommunikativ ledarskapsutveckling. Modellen är ett resultat av lärdomar från alla tre artiklarna och summerar aktuell forskning. Vidare bör modellen kunna användas som en grund för praktiker som vill utveckla kommunikativt ledarskap.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sundsvall: Mid Sweden University, 2020. p. 46
Series
Mid Sweden University licentiate thesis, ISSN 1652-8948 ; 173
Keywords
organisational communication, communicative leadership, training, development
National Category
Communication Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-40033 (URN)978-91-88947-71-0 (ISBN)
Presentation
2020-11-06, Online, 10:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Funder
Knowledge Foundation
Available from: 2020-10-13 Created: 2020-10-08 Last updated: 2021-04-23Bibliographically approved

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Bergman, Sandra

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