Strategic Communication: A Concept at the Center of Applied Communications
ICA 2011 - Annual Conference of the International Communication Association Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 26-30 May 2011
Abstracts to be submitted until Dec. 1, 2010 / Full papers due May 15, 2011

Strategic is a much contested, albeit neglected, concept in communication studies. One of the reasons for this neglect is that strategic communication may be associated with persuasion in its most negative sense (e.g. Habermas, 2006). However, others argue that strategic intent is inherent in all communication (Foucault, 1984; Lyotard & Thebaud, 1985). From this perspective strategic communication extends well beyond its practical application in various fields of practice. In particular, thinking about communication at the center of society requires reflections on the frameworks of power and interests in which communication is enacted.

The focus of this preconference will be on the philosophical, theoretical, and applied nature of strategic communication. For the purposes of this conference strategic communication is defined as "the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission ... It further implies that people will be engaged in deliberate communication practice on behalf of organizations, causes, and social movements" (Hallahan, Holtzhausen, Van Ruler, Vereie, & Sriramesh, 2007, p. 3-4). Organizations refer to corporations, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, activist groups, nongovernmental organizations, organizations promotion various forms of social change, political parties or movements, and government organizations. It also includes communicative entities such as entertainers, performers, sports personalities, and others who form part of the pastiche of popular culture.

Sample questions to be addressed are the following:

• Which concepts of strategy are inherent in communication science, and which can be transferred from other disciplines like philosophy and management science?
• How is the strategic dimension of communication reflected in fields such as political communication, health communication, organizational communication, public relations, advertising, and popular culture?
• How is it possible to identify strategic and nonstrategic approaches in message design, use of online media, etc.?
• Are there new approaches to strategic communication when the paradigms of rational planning are challenged by participative cultures driven by the social web?
• What do we know about empirical insights in strategic communication in different regions of the world?

Researchers can apply methodologies from narrative analysis to quantitative research.

To accommodate as many participants as possible the 1-day conference will offer up to two concurrent sections, particularly with the aim of accommodating participants from outside the USA.

This preconference has been approved by the ICA 2011 organizing committee and is part of the official ICA 2011 conference program.

Submission procedures:

Abstracts of no more than 500 words plus a short CV of the authors have to be submitted by Dec. 1, 2010, via e-mail to derina.holtzhausen@okstate.edu and zerfass@uni-leipzig.de.

Participants will be notified of their acceptance by February 1. Full paper submissions are required by May 15, 2011.

Authors must state that they will attend the pre-conference and present their paper in case of acceptance. Please check http://www.icahdq.org/conferences for information (regularly updated) on registration, accommodation, travel grants etc. The preconference will most probably be staged all day on Thursday, May 26, 2011. However, this still has to be confirmed and details will be published as part of the overall ICA 2011 program in early 2011.

Accepted authors of selected papers will be invited to publish their work in the Handbook of Strategic Communication, currently in the planning stage.

Possible division involvement:

Communication and Technology
Communication Law and Policy
Global Communication and Social Change
Health Communication
Political Communication
Instructional and Developmental Communication
Mass Communication
Organizational Communication
Philosophy of Communication
Political Communication
Public Relations
Visual Communication Studies

Panel organizers and chairs:

Dr. Derina Holtzhausen, Professor and Director, School of Media and Strategic Communications, Oklahoma State University, United States.

Dr. Derina Holtzhausen (Ph.D. University of Johannesburg; M.A. University of South Africa; B.A. University of Pretoria) is professor and director of the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. She teaches courses in public relations, strategic communication management, and research at undergraduate and graduate level and serves as the editor of the International Journal of Strategic Communication. Before joining the University of South Florida in 1997, Dr. Holtzhausen, a native South African, practiced communication in that country for 25 years as a journalist, a partner in an advertising and publicity agency, and a communication executive in both the public and private sectors. She is a recipient of the Pathfinder Award from the U.S. Institute of Public Relations for her original research agenda on postmodern public relations and is a fellow of the Journalism Leadership in Diversity (JLID) and Journalism and Mass Communication Leadership Institute of the AEJMC/ASJMC. Since moving to the United States 13 years ago she has published 24 articles and book chapters and presented more than 30 papers. Her upcoming book, titled Public Relations as Activism: Postmodern Approaches to Theory and Practice, is currently in press.
E-Mail: derina.holtzhausen@okstate.edu

Dr. Ansgar Zerfass, Professor and Director, Institute for Communication and Media Science, University of Leipzig, Germany.

Dr. Ansgar Zerfass is Director of the Institute of Communication and Media Studies and Professor of Communication Management at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Prior to joining the faculty, he worked in management positions at various companies and institutions for 10 years. He holds a doctorate in business administration and a postdoctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation) in communication science. Ansgar Zerfass is engaged in various professional organizations and academic bodies, e. g. as executive director of EUPRERA, the European Public Relations Education and Research Association, and as associate editor of the International Journal of Strategic Communication (Routledge Publishers). He is author and editor of 24 books, several national and transnational empirical studies and more than 125 journal articles and book chapters. E-Mail: zerfass@uni-leipzig.de

References:

Foucault, M. (1984). What is enlightenment? In P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault reader. (pp. 32-50). New York: Pantheon.

Habermas, J. (2006). Political communication in media society: Does society still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on empirical research. Communication Theory, 16(4), 411-426.

Hallahan, K., Holtzhausen, D. R., Van Ruler, B., Vereie, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2007). Defining strategic communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 1(1), 3-35.

Lyotard, J.-F., & Thebaud, J. L. (1985). Just gaming (W. Godzich, Trans.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.