Carl Brønn

A reflective stakeholder approach: Co‐orientation as a basis for communication and learning

Organisations are undergoing dramatic changes as stakeholder groups exert an ever‐increasing influence on the place and responsibilities of organisations in society. Important drivers in this process include the environmental movement, the search for total quality management, the concept of sustainable development, ethics and organisational learning. Because the various stakeholders can view these complex issues quite differently from the organisation, it is important that those working with communications are able to understand the underlying complexities of stakeholder relationships. Work in a number of diverse fields has provided an understanding of the factors involved in developing an effective communications strategy. Stakeholder theory is an important contributor in that it provides a means for uncovering the relevant participants in the process. The authors contend that, as part of this process, the co‐orientation model can provide a unifying framework for identifying the nature of the relationships between stakeholders or actors in a communication process. At the heart of this model lies the notion of “mental models” from the organisational learning literature and the recognition that in order for any communication process to be effective these models must be “oriented” properly. The authors build on research from the organisational learning field to gain a deeper understanding of the processes that influence our perceptions of stakeholder groups. Three specific communication skills are identified that enable the communications manager to engage stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue, and thereby enhance the effectiveness of the organisation’s communication efforts. These communication skills are reflection, inquiry and advocacy.

Linking experience and learning: application to multi‐project building environments

Purpose – The ability to learn is an important organisational resource. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues involved in achieving transfer learning across large construction projects in the building sector. The focus is on linking experiences gained in the operation and maintenance phase of one project to the earlier construction phases in subsequent projects.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presented is conceptual in nature.Findings – Evidence from the construction industry clearly indicates that significant economic benefits can be realized by improving the experience transfer learning process across projects. Despite the industrys significant investments in computer‐based management systems, experience and research shows there are other factors that have a significant impact on this learning process. A framework for diagnosing an organisations learning characteristics is identified. This framework includes both the structural dimension of the formal organisation and the cultural di...

Essentials of Decision Making Under Generalized Uncertainty

The nature of uncertainty and fuzziness is examined with reference to the amount of information available to the decision maker. Obstacles to certainty are identified uncertainty regarding the alternate courses of action, uncertainty about the outcomes of the action, and uncertainty about the decision maker’s preferences. A typology of decision methodologies based on various combinations of knowledge about the representation of preferences and uncertainty or /possibility is presented- Based on this typology, decision analysis methods ranging from statistical decision analysis to various ordinal techniques are reviewed. general approach, the General Multiple Facet Optimization method is proposed as a framework for developing strategies for dealing with a broader range of related problem types.

Systems Thinking: A Method for Reducing Reputation Risk

Abstract As firms strive to meet stakeholder demands and expectations, gaps can occur between various organizational members’ understanding of what these expectations are and what behavior organizations should deliver to meet the expectations. Fulfilling expectations is important, as it is the basis for building reputation. Furthermore, minimizing gaps between expectations and behavior delivery reduces reputation risk. However, getting everyone in the organization to pull together to minimize gaps requires an organizational mindset that is not easy to achieve. In this conceptual article, we argue for a holistic approach to reputation risk, an approach best represented by systems thinking. The systems thinking methodology is concerned with developing and testing operational explanations of organizational behavior and as such requires an understanding of the “whole” through the relationships between “organizational pieces.” We use the PZB service quality model (named for its creators Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1985) as a framework to illustrate the inter-relationship between internal organizational pieces where stakeholder expectations, if unknown, misinterpreted or simply ignored can create gaps that provide potential hot spots for reputation risk. We also argue that the complexity of the relationships, illustrated by the PZB model coupled with the nature of reputation, make recent arguments for establishing a chief reputation officer or a single function in charge of reputation unrealistic and untenable.