ABSTRACT
In the past two decades South Africa has contributed to the global search for excellence in communication management, initiated by the Excellence Study in Public Relations and Communication Management. This chapter describes the development of what has come to be known as the Pretoria School of Thought — a scientific worldview on strategic communication management shared by researchers, lecturers and postgraduate students in the academic field of Communication Management at the University of Pretoria.
The foundation of the Pretoria School of Thought is based on the differentiation between ‘strategic communication management’ and ‘communication management’ taking place on different organizational levels. Theoretical pillars include the corporate communication ‘strategist’ role at the top management (macro/environmental) level, contributing to the development of the organization’s enterprise strategy; and the redefinition of the historic ‘manager’ as a role played at the middle management (meso/functional) level, focusing on the development of corporate communication strategy linked to enterprise strategy.
The next wave of thinking in the Pretoria School of Thought includes the conceptualization of strategic communication management in the triple context environment, providing a research area within which contemporary scientific and pragmatic questions can be addressed. Its assumption is that the most value is added at the strategic level, taking into account the changing environment within which organizations operate with specific reference to governance and sustainability.
