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Alignment of Strategic Communication for International Organisations with Diverse Multiple Country Branches

Gabel, Juliane Johanna LU (2023) SKOM12 20231
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of country branch’s communication alignment between the corporate and country-specifics, based on the example of the German development organisation GIZ and its country branch GIZ Pakistan. This includes how the communication strategy and concepts are aligned and how the alignment is negotiated and decided. The analysis is guided by the interplay of two theoretical frameworks: The alignment framework by Volk and Zerfass (2018) and the sensemaking approach by Weick (1995). This study utilises mixed qualitative methods to explore the phenomenon both from a receiver’s side via content analysis and a sender’s side via interviews. The findings suggest that the national communication... (More)
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of country branch’s communication alignment between the corporate and country-specifics, based on the example of the German development organisation GIZ and its country branch GIZ Pakistan. This includes how the communication strategy and concepts are aligned and how the alignment is negotiated and decided. The analysis is guided by the interplay of two theoretical frameworks: The alignment framework by Volk and Zerfass (2018) and the sensemaking approach by Weick (1995). This study utilises mixed qualitative methods to explore the phenomenon both from a receiver’s side via content analysis and a sender’s side via interviews. The findings suggest that the national communication strategy is negotiated by the decision-making individual as a sense maker to bring the corporate framework in consonance with the national context, including the culture in which the branch exists. Thus, the sense maker seems to play a crucial role in communication alignment. This study’s findings are visualised through a communication alignment model, which can be used by branches of international organisations for guidance during the process of negotiating a national communication strategy. (Less)
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author
Gabel, Juliane Johanna LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
communication alignment model, strategic communication, communication alignment, international organisation, corporate communication, alignment framework, sensemaking, culture, GIZ, Pakistan
language
English
id
9119290
date added to LUP
2023-06-09 12:17:23
date last changed
2023-06-09 12:17:23
@misc{9119290,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of country branch’s communication alignment between the corporate and country-specifics, based on the example of the German development organisation GIZ and its country branch GIZ Pakistan. This includes how the communication strategy and concepts are aligned and how the alignment is negotiated and decided. The analysis is guided by the interplay of two theoretical frameworks: The alignment framework by Volk and Zerfass (2018) and the sensemaking approach by Weick (1995). This study utilises mixed qualitative methods to explore the phenomenon both from a receiver’s side via content analysis and a sender’s side via interviews. The findings suggest that the national communication strategy is negotiated by the decision-making individual as a sense maker to bring the corporate framework in consonance with the national context, including the culture in which the branch exists. Thus, the sense maker seems to play a crucial role in communication alignment. This study’s findings are visualised through a communication alignment model, which can be used by branches of international organisations for guidance during the process of negotiating a national communication strategy.}},
  author       = {{Gabel, Juliane Johanna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Alignment of Strategic Communication for International Organisations with Diverse Multiple Country Branches}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}