Muzi Falconi primo non americano alla Grunig Lecture

_Involving and Engaging Stakeholders_ sarà il tema della settima _Grunig Lecture_ che si terrà il 12 ottobre prossimo a Washington nella giornata di apertura della Conferenza Internazionale della PRSA. _Toni Muzi Falconi,_ primo non americano invitato, presenta il anteprima il discorso che terrà in quella sede.

Toni Muzi Falconi è il primo non americano invitato come protagonista della settima Grunig Lecture, organizzata dalla Università del Maryland che si tiene il 12 ottobre prossimo a Washington DC nella giornata di apertura della Conferenza Internazionale della Public Relations Society of America, la più importante associazione nazionale delle Relazioni pubbliche al mondo.
A più di un mese dall’evento sono già registrati oltre 350 fra professionisti e studiosi americani delle relazioni pubbliche. In anteprima, Toni Muzi Falconi presenta la traccia del suo discorso.
In most public, private, non profit or partnership organizations, the time normally required to implement any relevant decision that impacts on one or more of their stakeholder publics, from a purely management perspective and despite time’s quantitative nature (seconds, minutes, days, months, years…), is very much a qualitative variable.
The delays obstructing and holding up the implementation of that decision are such that its quality will have significantly deteriorated and sometimes even become counterproductive.
Although the public discourse usually attributes this deterioration to decisions taken by public service organizations, we are fully aware that this happens equally in the private and the social sectors.
Instead, by deciding to professionally listen-to and interpret specific stakeholder expectations before the decision is taken, while it is taken and after it is taken, the organization may strongly accelerate its time of implementation.
What’s more, in the context of a communicating-with-stakeholders framework, and positing that listening constitutes more than 50% of any true communication process, this acceleration brings a highly valuable contribution to the organization’s overall performance.
If I know what to expect from my stakeholders on a certain issue before I take my decision, it is likely that this knowledge might somehow influence the orientation of the framework, when not the substance of the decision, and in any case, lead me to anticipate and prepare for stakeholder reactions and behaviors, thus avoiding that permanent crisis management mode that so many organizations today complain about.
The public relations function today should be better positioned than others to facilitate and govern this process given its specific managerial competence and skill in developing and disseminating throughout the organization’s culture and practice, communication as a fundamental tool to enhance stakeholder relationships in the framework of a process of coherent governance of stakeholder relationships. This by developing a specific infrastructure based on solid foundations in which dynamic hard and soft variables may guide the relationship efforts, transiting from the myth of ‘one company one voice’ to the practice of ‘one company with many coherent voices’.
In a corporate scenario where value today is mostly created by intangible assets rather than the consolidated value of material assets, the function is also well positioned to ensure the coordination of a continued, integrated, multichannel and multi stakeholder communication process.
This I call the Janus model, evoking the Ancient Roman Pagan God with one body and two heads.
My talk will focus on four specific issues:

the qualitative impact of time and its relevance to public relations
the fundamental relevance of listening and what it really means and implies in the context of a governance of stakeholder relationships context (Gorel)
the reasons for and relevance of the public relations infrastructure concept, its foundation and a description of the soft and hard components of the edifice
the Janus model of value creation involving the network society, relationship networks, the communicative equation and the integrated reporting process.