To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings

The aim with this study was to investigate the communication that takes place in public consultation meetings. My intention was to study and analyze both attitudes about the communication, as well as the factual behavior at the meetings, in order to found possible potential for improvement. In orde...

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Autor principal: Sandström, Tove
Formato: H1
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2009
Materias:
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author Sandström, Tove
author_browse Sandström, Tove
author_facet Sandström, Tove
author_sort Sandström, Tove
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description The aim with this study was to investigate the communication that takes place in public consultation meetings. My intention was to study and analyze both attitudes about the communication, as well as the factual behavior at the meetings, in order to found possible potential for improvement. In order to fulfill my aim I interviewed six people that were working with public consultation meetings in one way or another. I also observed three public consultation meetings. The information provided to me by the interviewees corresponded quite well with my own observations. The overall conclusion I have reached is that there are many potential changes from which the communication in public consultation meetings would gain. In many aspects the meetings I observed were not conducted in a democratic way and the meetings had more in common with meetings of information rather than meetings of dialogue. However both participants and process leaders would like to see more influence given to the participants and in this study I suggest that by doing so, several communication problems could be avoided at the same time as it would deepen democracy and give greater legitimacy to decisions that is being taken in relation to the meetings. Suggestively, this increased influence could be gained by letting the participants take part in deciding about the agenda for the meetings. The them-and-us feeling, which according to my findings also leads to communicational difficulties, could also be reduced with the participants’ greater influence. The meetings I observed and the interviews I conducted were all related to very different consultation situation. The study and its conclusion therefore become quite general. The need for some kind of change in all of the meetings however indicates that it would be interesting to look even further into each case and I believe that the meetings would gain from compiling my specific findings with the process leaders understanding of the meetings. I suggest that all people in the position of leading public consultation meetings should think and reflect upon the democratic aspects as well as the purpose of such meetings in order to improve their execution.
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spelling RepoSLU5902012-04-20T14:10:12Z To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings Sandström, Tove participation public consultation meetings communication democratic conversations influence The aim with this study was to investigate the communication that takes place in public consultation meetings. My intention was to study and analyze both attitudes about the communication, as well as the factual behavior at the meetings, in order to found possible potential for improvement. In order to fulfill my aim I interviewed six people that were working with public consultation meetings in one way or another. I also observed three public consultation meetings. The information provided to me by the interviewees corresponded quite well with my own observations. The overall conclusion I have reached is that there are many potential changes from which the communication in public consultation meetings would gain. In many aspects the meetings I observed were not conducted in a democratic way and the meetings had more in common with meetings of information rather than meetings of dialogue. However both participants and process leaders would like to see more influence given to the participants and in this study I suggest that by doing so, several communication problems could be avoided at the same time as it would deepen democracy and give greater legitimacy to decisions that is being taken in relation to the meetings. Suggestively, this increased influence could be gained by letting the participants take part in deciding about the agenda for the meetings. The them-and-us feeling, which according to my findings also leads to communicational difficulties, could also be reduced with the participants’ greater influence. The meetings I observed and the interviews I conducted were all related to very different consultation situation. The study and its conclusion therefore become quite general. The need for some kind of change in all of the meetings however indicates that it would be interesting to look even further into each case and I believe that the meetings would gain from compiling my specific findings with the process leaders understanding of the meetings. I suggest that all people in the position of leading public consultation meetings should think and reflect upon the democratic aspects as well as the purpose of such meetings in order to improve their execution. SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2009 H1 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/590/
spellingShingle participation
public consultation meetings
communication
democratic conversations
influence
Sandström, Tove
To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
title To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
title_full To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
title_fullStr To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
title_full_unstemmed To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
title_short To talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
title_sort to talk or to communicate? : a study on the prerequisites for communication in public consultation meetings
topic participation
public consultation meetings
communication
democratic conversations
influence