Vol 6, No 1 (1987)

TRULY effective and successful human negotiation and the resolution of conflict (also where South Africa is concerned) can only be developed by a process preceding actual negotiation. Destructive tendencies resulting from perceptions or expectations deeply rooted in different cultural backgrounds, can only be overcome through the conscious effort to create a basic, mutually acceptable communication sub-culture in which trust plays a central role. Rather than approaching any given negotiation situation with a fixed, preconceived action model already in mind, communication scholars will have to begin their work much earlier. Individual, social, and cultural components which exist prior to interpersonal communication situations will have to be identified and studied. This approach requires the initial acceptance of complexity, and the ability to allow specific conditions to assist them in discovering and developing situationally appropriate techniques.

THE future of South Africa depends largely on the extent to which blacks and whites have common aspirations, goals and values, This paper, which is largely based on over a decade of research on social change amongst urban blacks and whites, outlines the roots of the prevailing value system; and highlights similarities and differences between the races comparisons are made with Western Societies where comparable research is being conducted.

SPORT sponsorship is increasingly used as an organisational communication tool. Its effective use is generally diminished by a lack of coordination with greater organisational communication objectives. The alignment of the objectives of sport sponsorship with an organisation's greater communication objectives as a means of increasing sport sponsorship's effective use is dis- cussed. The validity of differentiating be- tween objectives of sport sponsorship for public relations and for marketing communication objectives was tested amongst a sample of South African sponsors, and a measuring instrument of sport sponsors communication objectives was developed.

IN South Africa political advertising as mode of political communication is now firmly established and even the Government used paid space to promote its post- Rubicon policy emphasis. While South Af- political parties are strongly refraining from using political advertising (with the qualified exception of the Labour Party of South Africa and the Progressive Federal Party), Big Business emerged as the major political advertiser. This can be explained by the interdependence between politics and economics. However, without being truly accountable to the public, this is a somewhat controversial trend. Therefore, for the future of democracy, political parties as the primary political actors cannot refrain from using all available communication techniques. The effective use of communication techniques in no way diminishes the need for realistic appraisals of the circumstances, sound policies, organisational efficiency and interpersonal contact P with the voters. Deeds still speak louder than words.

INTERGROUP relations are of the utmost importance in South Africa where these re- lationships have seriously deteriorated dur- ing the past decade. In this study the focus Is on the communication patterns of Afri- kaans speaking Coloureds and Whites In the Cape Peninsula. These two groups share important facets of a common culture and this aspect should be a major impetus for positive communication between them. This approach proved to be rather simplis- tic and therefore attention is given to the social identity theory and the contact hypothesis to explain the data obtained in the pilot study. Although there are some similarities between the two population groups there are also some differences in the communication patterns. Communica- tion between the two groups takes place primarily in the context of the work situa- tion. Because of the relatively small number of respondants involved in the study no generalized conclusions could be made. It seems, however, that the relationships of different groups of people in a multicultural society will not improve as long as certain measures exist in the society to treat them as totally different entities with different needs and aspirations. This aspect was dis- cussed in depth in the theoretical founda- tion of the study.

RELATIONS has, for reasons not that obvious, been neglected in terms of theoretical conceptualization in the study of communication phenomena. Though the field has seen a number of text books and articles written on public relations, attempts to put public relations in conceptual theoretical perspectives have been limited. The need therefore is to elevate the study of public relations to higher theoretical levels, which could also benefit industry eventually. In this article Lewin's field theory, and in particular his topology of the inner per- son has been put forward as a focus domain of how to conceptualize public relations in an organizational context. Public relations is playing the mediating role between individual and individual, organization and individual as well as organization and organization. Lewin's field theory, as such, provides the communicologist with exploratory alter- natives to the study of public relations.

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