The aims of the paper and presented research are to monitor trends in communication
management and to evaluate specific topics that include decision-making style, leadership
style, role enactment and the power of communication departments in Europe.
This paper is based on data from the European Communication Monitor (ECM) annual
research, the most comprehensive analysis of communication management worldwide. The
ECM is an annual research project conducted since 2007. The ECM 2011 collected
quantitative data through an on-line survey from 2,209 participating professionals from 43
European countries, with representation of every European region.This paper presents original connections about previous theory and offers empirical
evidences about vertical and horizontal power of communication departments into
organizations. On despite of the limitations of a self-reported survey, these evidences open
new directions or research on hierarchical and social dimensions of power.
The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the power of communication
management in organizations. Concretely, the paper aims to develop knowledge and
understanding about horizontal and vertical power and the relationships established
between these dimensions of power and strategic roles, decision-making and leadership
styles that communicators play.
The paper presents original ideas by critiquing and re-focussing the literature and theory of
power and leadership in organizations. The paper also presents new empirical data to
support these arguments.