The paper analyses key elements of communication that may lead to accusations that a company is engaging in practices of greenwashing failing to create stakeholder engagement. According to sensemaking and sensegiving approaches, the theoretical foundations that underpin the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and greenwashing practices are explored and a comparison between two energy companies in the Italian and Dutch context is set up for exploratory purpose. The integration of a company’s strategic CSR approach and its communication practices may help to enhance effective stakeholder engagement, prevent accusations of greenwashing and avert the negative associated consequences (e.g., scepticism among stakeholders). The research provides a theoretical contribution to CSR communication by identifying several pitfalls that can lead to the appearance of greenwashing and provides caveats for the further development of both theory and managerial practices.
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Background: In implementation science, vast gaps exist between theoretical and practical knowledge. These gaps prevail in the process of getting from problem analysis to selecting implementation strategies while engaging stakeholders including care users. Objective: To describe a process of how to get from problem analysis to strategy selection, how to engage stakeholders, and to provide insights into stakeholders’ experiences. Design: A qualitative descriptive design. Setting and participants: The setting was a care organization providing long-term care to people with acquired brain injuries who are communication vulnerable. Fourteen stakeholders (care users, professionals and researchers) participated. Data were collected by a document review, five interviews and one focus group. Inductive content analysis and deductive framework analysis were applied. Intervention: Stakeholder engagement. Main outcome measures: A three-step process model and stakeholders experiences. Results and conclusion: We formulated a three-step process: (a) reaching consensus and prioritizing barriers; (b) categorizing the prioritized barriers and idealization; and (c) composing strategies. Two subthemes continuously played a role in how stakeholders were engaged during the process: communication supportive strategies and continuous contact. The experiences of stakeholder participation resulted in the following themes: stakeholders and their roles, use of co-creation methods and communication supportive strategies, building relationships, stimulus of stakeholders to engage, sharing power, empowerment of stakeholders, feeling a shared responsibility and learning from one another. We conclude that the inclusion of communicationvulnerable care users is possible if meetings are prepared, communication-friendly presentations and reports are used, and relationship building is prioritized.
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The goal of a local energy community (LEC) is to create a more sustainable, resilient, and efficient energy system by reducing dependence on centralized power sources and enabling greater participation and control by local communities and individuals. LEC requires transformations in local energy systems, and strongly depends on the preferences and actions of the local actors involved. The necessity for extensive stakeholder involvement adds complexity to the energy transition, posing a significant challenge for all involved parties. The municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg has committed to the national decision for energy transition. It has taken a strategic approach by proceeding De Heuvel/Amstelwijk as the pioneer in this initiative, leading the way for other neighborhoods to follow. It is crucial to devise strategies that effectively facilitate stakeholder engagement. To this end, a thorough stakeholder analysis is needed. Such an analysis can focus on the identification of key stakeholders, their interests, their influence, and their behavioral characteristics in relation to the energy transition. Additionally, it's crucial to uncover the challenges encountered by these stakeholders and finally develop appropriate strategies to address them hence enhance their engagement. This thesis begins with an introduction to the research background, including a presentation of the case study and a statement of the problem identified in the field, followed by the research questions underpinning the study. A thorough literature review ensues, providing a robust synthesis of existing research relating to stakeholder engagement in LECs, with a view to expediting energy transitions. The literature review not only forms the foundation for the research methods adopted in this study but also promotes in the construction of the conceptual model. Subsequent to the literature review, the research method is detailed. The filed research is conducted in five steps: Step 1 - identification of stakeholders, Step 2 - prioritization of stakeholders, Step 3 - interviewing, Step 4 - data analysis, including stakeholder profiling with mapping and addressing challenges, and finally, Step 5 - proposal of strategies for stakeholder engagement enhancement based on the expected and current levels of stakeholders engagement. This research collects necessary information to understand the profiles of stakeholders in De Heuvel/Amstelwijk, tackle challenges faced by different stakeholders, propose strategies to increase stakeholders engagement. It not only aims to enrich the depth of theoretical knowledge on the subject matter but also strives to aid in the development of a localized energy strategy that is optimally suited for the De Heuvel/Amstelwijk neighborhood as good example for other neighborhoods.
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Objective: To gain insight into how communication vulnerable people and health-care professionals experience the communication in dialogue conversations, and how they adjust their conversation using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) or other communication strategies. Methods: Communication vulnerable clients and health-care professionals in a long-term care institution were observed during a dialogue conversation (n = 11) and subsequently interviewed (n = 22) about their experiences with the conversation. The clients had various communication difficulties due to different underlying aetiologies, such as acquired brain injury or learning disorder. Results from the observations and interviews were analysed using conventional content analysis. Results: Seven key themes emerged regarding the experiences of clients and professionals: clients blame themselves for miscommunications; the relevance of both parties preparing the conversation; a quiet and familiar environment benefitting communication; giving clients enough time; the importance and complexity of nonverbal communication; the need to tailor communication to the client; prejudices and inexperience regarding AAC. The observations showed that some professionals had difficulties using appropriate communication strategies and all professionals relied mostly on verbal or nonverbal communication strategies. Conclusion: Professionals were aware of the importance of preparation, sufficient time, a suitable environment and considering nonverbal communication in dialogue conversations. However, they struggled with adequate use of communication strategies, such as verbal communication and AAC. There is a lack of knowledge about AAC, and professionals and clients need to be informed about the potential of AAC and how this can help them achieve equal participation in dialogue conversations in addition to other communication strategies.
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In recent years, stakeholder engagement has increasingly become a catchphrase in response to calls for corporate accountability to their stakeholders in the developing countries. However, the processes and practices companies pursue to engage stakeholders tend to conspicuously be variable depending on whether one draws on the instrumental and descriptive perspectives of the stakeholder theory. The purpose of this paper is therefore to test these perspectives, which we do through considering the case of a subsidiary of a multinational firm fictitiously known as Ashford (Africa) Limited, which operates in Malawi, as a member of the global mining industry. Using qualitative data obtained from interviews with Ashford (Malawi)'s managers and stakeholders, this study highlights the significance of paying more attention to firm specific factors, community dynamics and the civil society (NGO) related factors, as they are fundamental to the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement agenda pursued by mining companies in the developing countries.
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The MSP Challenge uses game technology and role-play to support communication and learning for Marine/Maritime Spatial Planning. Since 2011, a role-playing game, a board game and a digital interactive simulation platform have been developed. The MSP Challenge editions have been used in workshops, conferences, education, as well as for real life stakeholder engagement. The authors give an overview of the development of the MSP Challenge and reflect on the value of the approach as an engaging and ‘fun’ tool for building mutual understanding and communicating MSP.
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Problems with communication and collaboration among perinatal caregivers threaten the quality and safety of care given to mothers and babies. Good communication and collaboration are critical to safe care for mothers and babies. In this study the researchers focused on studies examining the factors associated with good communication and collaboration as they occur in working routines in maternity care practice. Their study is part of a growing trend of identifying the positive aspects of communication and collaboration in maternity care.
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Background: Research on maternity care often focuses on factors that prevent good communication and collaboration and rarely includes important stakeholders – parents – as co-researchers. To understand how professionals and parents in Dutch maternity care accomplish constructive communication and collaboration, we examined their interactions in the clinic, looking for “good practice”. Methods: We used the video-reflexive ethnographic method in 9 midwifery practices and 2 obstetric units. Findings: We conducted 16 meetings where participants reflected on video recordings of their clinical interactions. We found that informal strategies facilitate communication and collaboration: “talk work” – small talk and humour – and “work beyond words” – familiarity, use of sight, touch, sound, and non-verbal gestures. When using these strategies, participants noted that it is important to be sensitive to context, to the values and feelings of others, and to the timing of care. Our analysis of their ways of being sensitive shows that good communication and collaboration involves “paradoxical care”, e.g., concurrent acts of “regulated spontaneity” and “informal formalities”. Discussion: Acknowledging and reinforcing paradoxical care skills will help caregivers develop the competencies needed to address the changing demands of health care. The video-reflexive ethnographic method offers an innovative approach to studying everyday work, focusing on informal and implicit aspects of practice and providing a bottom up approach, integrating researchers, professionals and parents. Conclusion: Good communication and collaboration in maternity care involves “paradoxical care” requiring social sensitivity and self-reflection, skills that should be included as part of professional training.
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Background The experiences of residents who have communication difficulties such as dysphasia are largely absent from the literature. Aim To illuminate the everyday experiences of four residents with severe communication difficulties living in a residential care setting in the Netherlands. Methodology & Methods A collective case study methodology was used. Seventy-five hours of observation, interview and documentary data was gathered over six weeks. Alternative strategies of communication were developed to enable the co-creation of dialogue between participants and researcher. For example, a participant who could not talk used intentionally created artwork to share her ideas with the researcher. Findings Participants' daily experiences were characterised by struggling against the constraints of the residential setting: having to wait, having unmet needs, experiencing vulnerability and uncertainty. Participants' communication difficulties exacerbated these constraints. Their experiences of struggling were sometimes ameliorated by significant social contact with family or particular staff members, and engaging in enjoyable activities. Occasionally the experiences of enjoying the here-and-now, and being 'seen' as a person by the other, would create beautiful moments in which truly person centred engagement would occur. These moments were neither articulated nor recorded, and were thus invisible after they had occurred. Similarly, the experiences of struggling against the constraints were neither acknowledged nor recorded. Significant experiences in the lives of these four residents were therefore invisible to others. The unifying theme representing the participants' daily experiences was: That which goes unsaid. Discussion It was necessary to develop communication strategies which would by-pass the researcher's assumptions and enable participants to introduce their own ideas and opinions. This ongoing process of co-creation of dialogue required work from, and trust between, participants and researcher. What is new? Expressly seeking the views of residents with communication difficulties Successfully using process consent with participants in this situation Using intentionally created artwork during data gathering in this context What has regional, national or international relevance? The findings indicate that people with communication difficulties may not receive optimal care in residential settings in the Netherlands. Methods are described which could be used by practitioners in their everyday work, and which show facilitators or practice developers how they can help carers to engage in more effective communication with this kind of resident. Additionally, this research contributes to the international discussion about ethical participation of vulnerable people in research.
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This paper lays the groundwork for building a communication model that will help cultivate communities of practice through the use of strategic communications. Theoretical models describing communities of practice in organizational knowledge generation typically have three main actors; the individual, the community and the organization. These models usually mention the necessity for their interaction, but are never specific about how this should be done. Furthermore, there has been little research on how communication processes can affect the relationship between the three actors in the model. This paper proposes that the interaction between the community, the individual members of the community and the organization must be facilitated and promoted through specific strategic communications in order to guarantee the success of the community. Topics such as knowledge sharing, knowledge building and organizational learning are looked at through a communication perspective.
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