Introduction
Corporate communications stem from the need to influence and educate the service team (e.g. stakeholder, employee, customer) to organisational values. Success is measured through reputation and respectability. Dhir observes the attention researchers have focused on economic effects of reputation. Persuasive language is critical in successful influencing, but this area of study has not generated much research.
Dhir defines quality as consumer expectations being met. Premiums are charged for such service. Higher profit margins are realised. The author notes that objectively, products are in general of similar quality. Organisations that use successful rhetoric have more access to industry share. Dhir recognises the dangers of free market enterprise when failure to meet consumer expectations results in disastrous corporate scandal.
Dhir's literature review highlights effective use of narrative in reputation management. Critics have observed that while literature on organisational communication engages discursive and rhetorical analysis, there is not much written from the perspective of public relations. Literature suggests the lack of interest in public relations is the failure in that field to adapt to the environment. Organisations that are unable to effectively sustain communication internally and respond to the environment in an era of knowledge economy risk damage to their image and a cycle of decline.
Dhir indicates that some rhetoric explores aggressive forms of militaristic style communication to remain competitive. Standardised communication enhances efficiency, but this dehumanised approach distances individual members. Much has been done to improve communications theoretically and technologically but the potential to incur irresponsible corporate social behaviour suggests the need for alternative approaches. Dhir proposes non-violent rhetoric and the conditions required for its' existence.
The constraint of time
While an organisations' main role is to function competitively in industry, protocols and understandings towards ethical practice cannot be breached (e.g. taxes, safety standards). Dhir states in theory application seems straightforward. Tasks are allotted time according to a returns based priority. Tasks that lack quick returns appear to reflect badly on corporate leadership. Pace of activity may reflect consumer demand or the need to remain competitive.
The rhetoric of aggression
Dhir cites Gorsevski on expediency and efficiency as typical and universal measures of effectiveness and success. This creates a bottleneck in gathering new information and knowledge, in raising learning levels and in the application of wisdom. Bureaucracy handles change with efficiency, while systems cope with delay. Human fallibility is overcome through dehumanisation processes. Dehumanisation leads to aggressive behaviour. Dhir quotes Rubin, Pruitt and King "[i]f other is less than human, the norm does not apply". Major barriers to change lie in commitment and communication levels in management, Dhir argues. Compromising public trust levels renders corporate imaging as counter productive.
The non-violent rhetoric
Dhir states that any organisational rhetoric should be based on objectives that train/educate, engage and contribute to member well-being. He uses Sharps' proposal that non-violent action seeks to deny the opponent human assistance and cooperation that would otherwise allow control over the masses.
Traditions and forms of non-violent action
Generally conceptualised as falling into two distinct categories:
- Principled non-violence;
- Pragmatic non-violence.
Non-violent actions are divided into three categories:
- Non-violent protest and persuasion;
- Non-cooperation;
- Intervention;
The illustrative experience of Chevron Texaco in Nigeria
Thirty years after the organisation embedded their main local export terminal in Escravos, village women from the surrounding area took the terminal and employees hostage citing exploitation, pollution and intolerable living conditions. Within the local network, multi level sense making indicated to rival villagers long awaited government concessions on land disputes. Their response was to take hostage four other stations to draw attention to the lack of development in the organisations' host nation. The men threatened to burn all oil facilities if the women were harmed. In an environment known for aggression and violence, a feminist approach was a new phenomenon.
Strategies of non-violence depend upon tactics, ideas and courage. Dhir quotes Gadamer on comprehending socio-economic cultures. Knowledge and understanding is only possible when prejudices are overcome in order to listen to opposing ideology. Similarly, organisations that can reflect local socio-economic culture through adaptation transform communication processes.
Prerequisites for non-violence
Dhir argues the theory of non-violence as seen through the works of Sharp and Potter indicate that the potential flaw lies in the conditions under which it works. The categories that render non-violence impractical:
- Types of external circumstances that render nonviolent techniques inadvisable or unworkable or unlikely to succeed;
- Characteristics of the agents, organisations, or individuals proposing nonviolent action that preclude success;
- Techniques which will defeat the purpose of nonviolence.
Environmental prerequisites
- Non-violent acts ensure more beneficial states or maintain the present level of justice;
- Dhir quotes Potter "non-violence is precluded unless the resistance is undertaken as a response to an instance of violence";
- Derivation of "true and substantial".
Agency prerequisites
- Maturity
- Sophistication
- Wisdom
- Pure in motive
Methodological prerequisites
- Openess
- Feedback
Persuading the stakeholders
Corporate communications through non-violence has not been adopted by strategists despite available literature, Dhir notes. Political conflict has successfully engaged in non-violence and Dhir argues that conflict in organisations could successfully apply non-violence in context. Careful planning of rhetorical situations facilitate engagement of members through activities in information gathering and communication. By educating stakeholders, emphasis is placed on cooperation. Joint ventures pool strengths and resources to succeed. The objective is to rehumanise communication Dhir states.
Emerging technology decentralises the functioning of social institutions that are organically designed for centralised functioning Dhir observes. Non-violent action will transcend limits in freedom of expression.
Conclusion
Non-violence theory is an approach that offers new perspectives into corporate disciplines. Researchers are provided with new pathways of studying public relations and strategic management to explore consistent socially responsible corporate behaviour.
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