Die pad na gedeelde betekenis: Inlynkommunikasie as veranderingsagent vir volhoubare strategiese belangegroepverhoudings

Abstract

The accelerated capacity of the media can be to the advantage or disadvantage of individuals. From an organisational communication perspective, it is argued that shared knowledge through inline communication media could contribute towards sustainable strategic stakeholder relationships. To achieve this, this article is addressed from the Communicate Constitution of Organisations (CCO) school of thought as foundation with a specific focus on the knowledge management perspective as multidisciplinary approach to create shared knowledge and meaning. From a knowledge management perspective, it is argued that inline communication media could be used as change agent to create this meaning and awareness. For the purpose of this article, inline communication media refers to the integration of online and offline interactive communication between the organisation and stakeholders and the move towards shared meaning through cross-mediality for sustainable stakeholder relationship building. According to Larghi, Lemus, Moguillansky and Welschinger (2015:22), ‘inline’ actions and behaviour are valuable to understand strategic stakeholders and it could be used as a manner to systematically change how they add meaning to reality. This underlines the need for an approach to combine online and offline interactive media to strengthen strategic stakeholder relationships. In line with the CCO school of thought, it is argued that connectivity, which creates perceptions over time, space and relationships, allows individuals to move from the digital to the physical envrionment and back (Larghi et al 2015:28). Inline communication media therefore creates various cross-channel touch points to strenghten communication to apply relationship management with strategic stakeholders to the advantage of the organisation. An important aspect is the movement towards shared knowledge which, from an organisational communication perspective, differ from the mere transfer of information through the media. The continious change in the new and social media context creates the opportunity for open participation and a continious process where stakeholder characteristics could encourage and strengthen democratic activities. This article addresses this gap to move from information transfer through the media towards shared information where inline communication media is used as change agent to create shared knowledge, meaning, innovative collaboration and problem-solving to contriute towards sustainable relationship building with strategic stakeholders. This article provides a two-fold contribution: Firstly, from an organisational communication viewpoint, this article proposes a new perspective where inline communication media could be used as change agent for the transfer of shared meanding; and secondly, that this shared meaning, made possible through knowledge management, could contribute towards strengthening the organisation’s relationships with strategic stakeholders.