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Continuous discussions have been going on about the question whether communication has much or little effect on the public opinion and how such effect comes about. The prevailing opinion at present is: if used skilfully, communication can exert influence towards a certain direction which is determined by other factors.
What is actually meant when talking about "effects of communication" also differs during different periods.
In former times behaviour took central position as aimed effect. From about 1960 till 1980 people took an interest in the fact whether communication was capable of changing opinions, judgments, prejudices, etc.
From the nineties on the most desired yield of communication is called "public support". In many countries, people who wish to realize something do not look immediately for power, but for people who support their views. The application of communication is nowadays expected to play a dominant role in the field of creating public support. Public support means that one may count on support from large sections of the population. An idea which has public support can often easier be realized. Resistance against such an idea will be weakened by public opinion.
There are three strategies to create public support by using communication: information, involvement and participation.
Information is a tool in cases when people wish to gain support for an idea, after it has been adopted. The idea cannot be changed any more. By explaining what the idea is about, one may find support for a decision already taken.
At first sight, it may seem superfluous to create public support for something that has already been decided upon, but it may be useful indeed. It may be necessary to prepare people for the consequences of the implementation.
It is no secret that things go often wrong with providing information. A common mistake is not to make sufficiently clear that only information is given. As a result people may think that their opinion still counts and noticing that this not being the case, they get angry. The mishap may be caused by an innocent reason like for reasons of politeness not telling that accomplished facts are involved. But often there is a more complex reason like a decision has not yet been taken formally but in reality it is not open to change anymore. The latter situation is often seen with decisions born in political circles.
One of the basic principles of communication is that poor communication is more harmful to a relationship than no communication at all. People who have nothing to say will be dissatisfied with that, but less dissatisfied than when they find out that they have nothing to say, after having been told otherwise.
Involvement means that it is possible for people to make changes to a proposed plan.
The public support by means of involvement is based upon the account been taken of peoples opinions and interests. Successes in involvement are characterized by changes made to a plan. Involvement does not result in the plan being felt as a common product. It rather invites the public to make a contribution. This may be satisfactory, but it leads to passive public support. It is not so that creative strength is really mobilized - the plan never becomes our plan.
The distinctive feature of involvement is that the contribution of those who comment is not really necessary for realizing the plan. If the public makes use of the opportunity to comment, those about to execute the plan are free to take into account the wishes and ideas put forward by the public. But if no comments are made at all, this will not affect the plan. In that case, the plan will be normally carried out in the form in which it had been submitted to the public for comment.
Participation may involve either a simple or a more ambitious form of participation.
In the case of the simple form, people are invited to take part in the execution of a plan which has come about without participation. This may result in enthusiastic cooperation: a group of people roll up their sleeves.
In the case of the most ambitious form of participation, people are involved in the analysis, handling and solution of a problem right from the formulation of the problem. The point of departure then is that a certain problem can only be solved through participation.
The message here is: If you have enough interest in the issue, take part! If that appeal is responded to positively, maximum public support will have been obtained for the approach.