Collaboration between Management and Communication Professionals
Abstract
The outstanding majority of companies in Germany are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is surprising that the communication activities of SMEs have scarcely been scientifically researched. The close collaboration between management and communication professionals plays a crucial role for communication in this type of company. Our focus is on the communication strategies. We seek to answer the question of how and under what conditions managing directors and communication professionals in SMEs negotiate with each other to determine whether and to what extent a communication strategy is pursued. The study comprises qualitative guided interviews carried out with staff members from six SMEs. The respective managing directors and communication professionals in these companies were interviewed, which resulted in a total of twelve interviews. The results of the study offer, for the first time, the opportunity to systematize factors that shed light on the collaboration between management and communication professionals regarding the emergence of strategic communication work in this type of company. By affording space in the interviews to the perspectives of both decision makers, the study can fully identify which levers of collaboration must be pulled to encourage a professionalized approach to handling communication activities in SMEs. The results show that the managing directors have a decisive involvement in the emergence of strategic communication.