RETHINKING CORPORATE COMMUNICATION: PROVIDING ORIENTATION IN TIMES OF RADICAL UNCERTAINTY

RETHINKING CORPORATE COMMUNICATION: PROVIDING ORIENTATION IN TIMES OF RADICAL UNCERTAINTY

In this article in the Corporate Communication Review, Christof Ehrhart, honorary professor at the University of Leipzig, discusses the role of corporate communication under conditions of radical uncertainty. The article asks how communication can provide orientation when companies have to deal with fragmented publics, politicized stakeholder expectations and technologically changed communication spaces.

The core of the text is the distinction between a strategic-instrumental and a strategic-oriented function. The role of communication goes beyond the mere implementation of defined messages: it contributes to the classification of decisions. Ehrhart describes three competencies for this: Validation by looking at all intended and unintended communication effects, calibration by comparing management assumptions with stakeholder expectations and interpretation by sorting out incomplete signals from the media, the public and relationships. The ability to develop well-founded situational pictures and plausible visions of the future is crucial.

The classification of generative AI is particularly relevant. The article sees algorithmic systems as useful for analysis and production, but clearly limits their performance: Past data is only of limited help if the future cannot be derived from the past. For areas of communication, this shifts the focus from pure efficiency to judgment. Orientation arises where data, observations from stakeholder contacts and a reliable understanding of public dynamics are brought together.