How Technology has Influenced the Field of Corporate Communication

Abstract

Ten years ago, when the definitional article Corporate Communication as a Discipline: Toward a Definition (Argenti, 1996) was commissioned by Management Communication Quarterly, the field of corporate communication was relatively new to business schools and transitioning in the business world from the media-oriented field of public relations to 'corporate communication' - a more integrated, organizational function focused on multiple constituencies. Today, changes in the business environment, coupled with unprecedented technological changes, have significantly affected how the corporate communication function is defined, taught, and implemented in the United States and throughout the world. This article will focus on those changes with a particular emphasis on how technology has shaped the field of corporate communication. It will focus on number of questions including: how has the increase in internet use and access to information challenged corporations as they communicate with their vast array of constituents such as employees, customers, and investors? How has an increasingly mobile workforce presented challenges for corporations? What opportunities does technology present to communications professionals? The article will first reflect on key changes in the discipline over the last decade, then discuss the most significant challenges to corporate communication resulting from new technologies (such as the proliferation of new uncontrolled media outlets like web logs), the opportunities these challenges create for both academics and practitioners (such as the ability to measure and integrate the function), and how those challenges help us to rethink the focus of our research and teaching about the field of corporate communication.