Using strategic communication discourse processes in positioning practice

This chapter draws from Positioning Theory and scholarly definitions of strategic communication to examine how organizations use communication acts and discourse processes to construct strategically advantageous positions. Two strategic communication episodes from NASA are used as illustrative examples of positioning analysis, providing evidence of a strong interrelationship between Positioning Theory and strategic communication. These analyses suggested that a strategic communication skill, not previously articulated, is how practitioners choose to employ discourse based on its likelihood to exert sufficient social force to construct strategically advantageous positions. It was also shown that applying the positioning triangle in strategic communication research could break complex organizational positions into smaller components, aiding in identifying how and where social power within practice is mobilized. Future-oriented perspectives informed by Positioning Theory are presented to guide theory-informed ways to teach, practice, and research strategic communication. Further research is recommended to ascertain to what degree practitioners’ choices to employ discourse processes, without accounting for their social force to construct intended positions, impact the accomplishment of an organization’s mission.