Abstract
The article is about writing and critical thinking in the workplace. It covers issues on changing organizational environment, comparisons of traditional and new principles as well as understanding of public relations. The authors present these topics to how they affect the perception of technical communications amidst an increasingly demanding complex environment. They also show the adjustments that can be applied to help professionals adapt to the workplace.
Keywords: changing organizational environment, public relations, new principles, technical communication, professional adjustments, curriculum design, technical writing and higher education.
Introduction
Media personalities and CEO recognize the importance and the value of quality technical communication in the formulation and execution of proper public relations. These parties lead the quest to have technical communicators take on the roles of corporate spokespersons. In as much as the technical communicators would be seeking openings in the corporate world, they are responding to huge demands by organizations seeking to leverage on public relations (Troester & Warburton, 2001). The huge demands means that the technical communicators need to acquire professional trainings which open them to emerging issues. Professional qualifications and certifications in this line are needed if the new breed of technical communicators is to spruce up public relations for modern organizations.
Summary
Troester and Warburton’s article emphasizes on the growing demand for technical communicators to act as corporate spokesperson leading to effective public relations. The authors assert that companies prefer hiring “communicators whose clear and perhaps primary strength is defined by their technical background or knowledge” (Troester & Warburton, 2001). In other words basic public relation skills need to be supported by knowledge of the goings on in the company and deep technical knowledge. Whenever such spokespersons face the increasingly intrusive media they can offer satisfactory explanations on a wide variety of issues about the company.
Analysis
Polished technical communicators are in great demand because they can give precise, timely, relevant, updated and beneficial information. In the advent of advanced technology, there is plentiful of dynamic communication that needs to be made all the time. For instance, there are blogs and social media that can spread negative information about a given company and in such cases, technical communicators are in a position to offer in-depth clarifications and avoid any harm coming to the company due to misrepresentation of facts.
Some of the situations that suit technical communicators include handling of internal and external contacts with the media especially when there crises (Troester & Warburton, 2001). Good planning and clear communication need to go together for instance when a company’s stock has been devalued. Since technical communicators have immense knowledge on the company they represent, they can issue communications fast and in a consistent manner. Corporate communicators are also good at communicating future corporate strategies and plans to the interested parties such as stakeholders, customers, suppliers and employees. They can also help in the development of company policies.
Applicability
Troester and Warburton (2001) realize the importance of perception in relation to the facts and in this regard they urge modern technical communicators to strike a good balance between what they say, how they sit, when they say it and the places where they make communications because information is currently very prone to misquotation and misrepresentation.
Technical communication is still prone to emotions and attitudes that may derail it from its original intent. In fact the true intent of a certain communication may come in as being secondary to the emotions and the attitudes of the audiences and therefore technical communicators, though brief ought to play to the emotions and perceptions of the audience.
Lastly, technical communicators need to master the skills of analyzing public feedback and generating progressive measures out to the feedback (Troester & Warburton, 2001). They need to communicate vertically and horizontally to the senior management, the junior employees, departments and even the subordinate staff.
Scope/limits
The limits or scope of the technical communicators is that they have to adhere to the guidelines and responsibilities outlined by the senior management. They have to follow in the stipulations of the corporate mission and vision. In addition, no one has the monopoly of knowledge and no one can ever know everything about a company which always leaves room for companies to be attacked even when they have quality technical communicators (Troester & Warburton, 2001). The scope of technical communication may be limited to a single entity such as real estate company spokesperson and when applied to another industry such as the pharmaceutical industry the communications may fail. It is important for technical communicators to always prepare adequately and represent the corporate client in the best of their knowledge.
References
Troester, R., & Warburton, T. L. (2001). The Technical Communicator as Corporate Spokesperson: A Public Relations Primer. The Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Vol. 31(3) 241-256. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
