LINiOhS: Data collection
Hi, i will give you three pieces of text, then i will ask you some questions, do you understand?
Yes, I understand. Please provide the text and ask your questions.
Here is Text 1: Goal setting in management communication. Management communication differs from some other types of communication in that it’s designed to get a specific result. It’s more like walking into a store and placing an order than like telling a friend about your day. This chapter focuses on establishing achievable goals within a particular context. Of course, the business context in which you are pursuing your goals is shaped importantly by less formal communications including social interactions with subordinates, peers, superiors, customers, and many others. It’s relatively easy to execute most communication tasks. Unfortunately, managers invariably face many communication decisions simultaneously. The right decision on one task often involves the wrong decision on another. Superiors have conflicting, hidden, or counterproductive demands. Subordinates’ requests are sometimes unreasonable or incompatible. Importance Once you’ve sorted out your goals, you’ll typically find that several are of high priority and that some of these are in direct conflict. The urgency test may help here. Some very important situations can wait a day, a week, or a month to resolve, while others can present a now-or-never opportunity. Sometimes less immediately obvious goals, such as establishing your credibility with coworkers, can be more important in the long run than getting a specific proposal approved. To summarize: The very definition of management turns on determining long-term goals and setting the processes in motion to achieve them. Time constraints require that you do some things and postpone others. Any successful manager will be deluged with requests to do more than is humanly possible. Often, you’ll have to say “no,” or “later.” If you can explain these responses in understandable terms, you’ll gain credit from your various audiences and earn the time to make informed decisions. Put yourself in the position of the protagonist in the following case, define your business goals, derive your key communication goals, and then ask yourself, What would I write? What would I say? While this case predates the age of the Internet, consider whether Goals must be tested immediately against the context in which you’re trying to achieve them. That context includes your personal position within the organization, the available resources, the organization’s traditions and values, networks of personal relationships, the interests and biases of superiors, communication channels, the situation of your business vis-à-vis that of competitors, how your area fits into the larger organization, and even the general cultural climate. Test each of your goals against the context by asking a few key questions: 1. Are my goals ethically sound? 2. Am I a credible source for this direction or proposal? 3. Are adequate resources available to achieve my purpose? 4. Will my goals enlist the support of others whose cooperation I need? 5. Do they conflict with other goals of equal or greater importance? 6. Do they stand a reasonable chance, given the internal and external competitive environment? 7. What will be the consequences of success? Overall, will I and my organization be better off after achieving these goals? These tests may cause you to conclude that either your goals need to be modified or other goals that you hadn’t considered at first may be more important than those you had identified initially. Are you ready for text 2?
Yes, I am ready for text 2.
Here is Text 2: Communicating with External Audiences Many managers believe that they will never have to deal with the press. Often, they regard it with hostility. Most think press relations are entirely the domain of their company’s or agency’s public relations department. But in fact, senior executives say they spend more time on communications than on other tasks, and a significant component of that time is devoted to press and public relations. Junior managers need to be highly sensitive to press relations for the following reasons: • Often, free press can be the best way to acquaint the public with your product or service. To cite only one example, the amount Microsoft spent on advertising Windows 95 was dwarfed by the value of the free publicity it received from international news coverage. • Your particular area of expertise may unexpectedly become something your organization needs to promote or explain. Line workers at auto companies have been drafted to extol quality improvements in advertisements; accountants may be called to the CEO’s office for briefings on a potentially embarrassing news report or an upcoming press conference. • Public relations considerations need to be addressed at the beginning, not the end, of a planning process. Business history is replete with examples of companies that invested vast sums to develop products, ideas, or services that couldn’t be sold because of public resistance to the concept, the configuration, or the public image of the company. General Motors’ Tacos, for example, could be the best in the world and still not jump off the shelves. • Junior managers become senior managers who will eventually have to deal with the press directly. As both marketers and corporate citizens, organizations have to explain themselves to the public constantly through advertising, press releases, and press conferences. Junior managers who understand this aspect of their work are likely to become senior managers faster. 1. A successful manager understands how the press works. Successful managers tend to follow the press in general, and how their organization is playing in particular. Members of the press tend to trust companies and individuals with a track record of accuracy and accessibility. To cite only two examples, both Johnson & Johnson and Perrier survived charges of contaminated products because they had a record of reliability and accessibility and addressed the problems immediately. In both cases, and many others, stonewalling would have been disastrous to the company’s image of wholesomeness and purity. Most press stories last only a few days, but they can leave an indelible impression in the public’s mind. Many managers tend to believe they can “snow” the press with their greater expertise, but this strategy rarely works. Most reporters are hard-working professionals who will carefully check out an expert assertion or who know someone who can. 2. A successful manager understands what the press needs. What the press needs is a story, and bad news generally sells better than good news. Companies and individuals are most likely to have to deal with the press when something has gone wrong. This suggests a couple of lessons. When you have good stories, give them to the press to establish a record of credibility; many media outlets will print or broadcast a press release from a reliable source more or less verbatim. Consider how private decisions may look if they should become public. If something has gone wrong, take the initiative in announcing it, explaining it, and telling the world how it’s going to be corrected. 3. A successful manager understands press jargon. Reputable reporters will stick to their verbal agreements on how information you provide them is to be used. How you will be quoted depends on the ground rules you establish at the beginning of an interview. Deep background means the reporter can reflect the information in her story without possible attribution. Background means that you can be referenced as “a reliable source.” Any other comment, however apparently casual or social, can be quoted directly and attributed. 4. A successful manager should be able to generate an attention-grabbing, accurate, and well-constructed press release. While many managers may not be regularly mailing out press releases themselves, most will be contributing to them and need to understand how they work. A good press release is extremely formulaic and follows the structure of a good news story: a. The first paragraph states the main point clearly and emphasizes its newsworthiness. For example: “Acme Corporation announced today that it is releasing the best tire ever available on the world market.” b. The second paragraph provides a quote from a reputable source: “Acme President Rudy Roadrunner said, ‘Not only does this tire surpass all our competitors’ in endurance, quality, and safety; it’s also available at a lower price.’ ” c. The third paragraph provides evidence that the claims made so far are true: “In repeated tests against our competitors . . . ” d. The remaining paragraphs provide background information on the product, the company, and Rudy Roadrunner, and they demonstrate a track record of credibility. They may also include testimonials available from respected independent sources. Obviously, the formula of an effective press release will vary depending on the nature of the news to be announced. But the pyramid structure suggested by this example always applies: Move from the most important and specific to the least important and most general information. Busy editors often run a press release more or less verbatim and just cut it off when they run out of space. The easier you make their jobs, the more likely they are to cover your story. Once you’ve written or contributed to a press release, decide who’s most likely to run it. This can cover the gamut from extremely specialized trade magazines to the national or international media. Consider the use of venues other than print and broadcast media as well; perhaps there’s a room on the Internet where interested parties are likely to gather. 5. A successful manager understands the role of the press in crisis management. This includes knowing how to provide effective interviews and understanding when and how to hold a press conference. Certain rules apply to both: Applications a. Identify your central message, make sure you can back it up, and stick to it. b. Prepare materials in advance—press releases, statements, supportive studies—that the reporters can take away with them and study or quote later. c. Never say more than you know to be true. If you don’t know, say, “I don’t have that information at the moment, but I’ll get it to you as soon as I do”— then follow up. d. Make sure your team is behind you. This means making sure not only that top management of a corporation agrees on a message, but also that other potential press sources (for example, subordinate employees) have the same information you’re dispensing to the public, believe it, and are unlikely to leak contradictory and embarrassing information. e. Provide the press with the most credible and informed access possible. Reporters will always want to get to the top. They’ll be more likely to cover the comments of a CEO or a Cabinet secretary than those of a press agent or an underling. But they will understand that a high official may need to refer technical questions to an informed specialist. f. Anticipate, and be prepared to respond to, the most difficult questions. g. Don’t become hostile or defensive; experienced reporters are experts at smelling anxiety. h. Make your answers brief, quotable, and to the point. Rambling and repetition are likely to get you into trouble or open new lines of inquiry. i. If you’re facing a problem you’ve caused, however inadvertently, be prepared to acknowledge Are you ready for text 3?