Major National Study on Generally Accepted Practices (GAPs) in the Communications Sector

Transcription

1 Major National Study on Generally Accepted Practices (GAPs) in the Communications Sector Marc D. David, Université de Sherbrooke Bernard Motulsky, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) November 23,

2 Background: The rapid growth of the communications sector and its increasing importance around the globe make it a worthwhile subject of research. To the best of our knowledge, there hasn't been any recent research conducted on professional practices in the communications industry in Canada. This study would benefit a variety of stakeholders, including organizations, members of the various professional associations, as well as university-based research and teaching. A similar study, focusing on the public relations profession, was conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center (SPRC), in The SPRC undertook an annual study to identify generally accepted practices in the public relations sector in the U.S. This first-ever study gave researchers and stakeholders a better understanding of generally accepted practices and provided a model for the industry's best practices. Therefore, we believe it is important to conduct a more comprehensive study of generally accepted practices (GAPs) in communications in Canadian companies in order to provide a model for these practices and, ultimately, to establish the best practices regarding the general performance of these companies. 2

3 Objective of the study: The objective of this study is to better understand and define practices generally accepted by the various stakeholders in the Canadian communications sector. We collaborated with the main representatives of the Canadian communications industry's various sub-sectors in order to optimize the model of this first major national study on generally accepted practices in communications. The objective is to gain a better understanding of the organizational environment, the stakeholders and the dynamics governing the practice of communications. Our study is also unique in that it will be conducted annually in order to track changes in the industry's business practices. The ultimate objective is to benchmark best national practices in the communications industry after three years of study. Every year we will communicate with the academic and business sector in order to convey the progress of the research. Topics addressed The study will also address several related issues in order to further clarify the way communications are organized, including: Scope of practice Terminology in use Structure and function Management and planning processes Roles of suppliers Budgets and human resources Measurement and evaluation tools Ethical and professional issues 3

4 Methodology: The methodology will involve targeted interviews and an online questionnaire to be filled by communication managers and executives, to be distributed directly to and via professional associations. Given the scope of topics addressed by the study, we have developed a three-stage research strategy in order to increase the number of respondents to the online questionnaire. These three questionnaires will be carried out annually for a minimum of three years, for a total of nine questionnaires. Number of respondents targeted: (managerial level) Size of sampling: to Delivery of questionnaire by answers online Duration of questionnaire: 12 to 15 minutes Permission to send additional university questionnaires (phase 2 and the following years) in order to finalize the study. Deadline 1st questionnaire in 2010, 1 st results in the spring of The second questionnaire will follow later in the year Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire 1 : follow-up Questionnaire 1 : follow-up Questionnaire 2 (TBD) Questionnaire 2 : follow-up Questionnaire 2 : follow-up Winter First year of the study (2010) Questionnaire 1: General profile of the communication function in the organization (see questionnaire in annex 1) 1. Personal information (TBD) 2. Description of the organization 3. Fields of practice delegated to communications 4. Structure and function of communications 5. Human and financial resources

5 Autumn 2010 Questionnaire 2: 6. Planning and management process Communication managers participation in the organization's strategic planning Importance given to the strategic planning of communications Formal annual planning for communications/marketing within the organization Source of mandates Internal use of formal briefing documents Importance given to the communications management process within the communications team Importance given to the identification of communications issues 7. Supplier relations with agencies, communications firms and freelancers Number of suppliers hired by the organization Average duration of business relationship Nature of activities Strategic and creative pitch 8. Performance evaluation tools Importance given to mandate evaluation within the communications team Frequency of evaluation Evaluation budgets Performance indicators used to evaluate the efficiency of communications mandates 9. Ethics and rules of professional conduct Frequency of problems related to rules of professional conduct and/or ethics in communications Level of internal resources available to deal with issues related to ethics or rules of professional conduct as pertains to regular communications activities Level of importance given by the organization to codes of ethics within the communications department List of main ethics-related issues in the communications sector Note: Questionnaire 2 will be finalized according to the results in Questionnaire 1. 5