Overview

Internal and external advocacy is a complex communication process, with many interwoven purposes, methods, and expected (or unexpected) outcomes. Judith Hoover and her contributors show what the advocacy processes are, using a fascinating set of case histories, and then analyze and evaluate them by means of rhetorical, cultural, critical, and argumentation theories. In doing so they blend organizational communication and classical rhetorical theory, and thus extend the concept of corporate advocacy into new areas of study. An important resource for teachers and students of communication theory and practice, and an unusual insight for corporate communication specialists. In fourteen case studies analyzed through three significant communication theory perspectives, Hoover and her contributors examine the concept of advocacy by looking at corporate rhetoric, corporate cultures, and the hidden sources of power inherent in both. We listen to the messages of corporate spokespersons such as Lee Iacocca. We observe the internal cultures of business and industry. We investigate the meanings of such terms as Wall Street and consumerism. We broaden our view to include not only union advocacy, but also the role of language in the organizational distribution of power. By synthesizing these cases through yet a fourth perspective, the book not only extends the concept to recognize internal advocacy processes but also reveals the complexity of advocacy strategies that must be designed to accomplish multiple purposes and that must respond to multilayered and interconnected contexts.

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9781567200669

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Reviews

This book is a fine collection of case studies of and essays about organizations 'speaking.' While appropriately centering on the overwhelming persuasive power of the corporation as perhaps the dominant institution of the late 20th-century U.S., this book widens the scope of studies of organizational rhetoric to include a variety of persuasive campaigns by such bodies as consumer advocacy groups, labor unions and governmental investigative commissions....In displaying a healthy balance between theoretical development and practical insight, as well as treating significant ethical concerns, Corporate Advocacy will be valuable to the student of public relations and organizational communication and for others grappling with the role of the organization in society. -George Cheney University of Montana

Author Information

JUDITH D. HOOVER is Professor of Communication at Western Kentucky University./e She has published widely in the field and has authored chapters in various other contributed books.

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