Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 443
Rephrasing cannot fix the wrong route
Planning Theory treats strategic communication as a hierarchy of goal-directed actions whose usefulness depends on accessibility, manageable complexity, and the level at which failure is repaired
Premise
Strategic communication requires more than selecting content. A person seeking agreement, explaining a failure, or repairing trust usually anticipates a route: what comes first, which evidence matters, how the other party may respond, and what happens if the first move fails. Planning Theory of Communication treats that organization of possible action as central to goal pursuit.
The executive problem is a paradox. Preparation can improve readiness, but excessive complexity can reduce fluency. A failed message may need repair, but changing the wrong level wastes effort. The theory therefore asks how plans are structured, how accessible they are during interaction, and when local adjustment should give way to a different route.
What the model is: Planning Theory of Communication in Knowledge →
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- FamilyModel
- CategoryTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainConversation & Relationships
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.