On ideologies, micropolitics, and realpolitik – toward a political perspective on integration in corporate communications

Purpose While there is a persistent call for integration in research and practice of corporate communications (CC), differences in the underlying ideals, forms of internal resistance, and the enforcement of integration against this resistance have been widely neglected in academic inquiry. The aim of this conceptual article is to elucidate these differences in integration ideals, resistance, and re-enforcement, drawing on a growing stream of research arguing for an explicit political perspective in organization and management studies. Design/methodology/approach Applying theory adaptation of this stream of research, the ideologies, micropolitics, and realpolitik underlying different ideals of integration in CC are systematically elaborated. Findings We distinguish four ideal types of integration and their distinctive forms of micropolitical resistance and realpolitikal re-enforcement: authoritarian, libertarian, solidary, and liberal integration. Originality/value Our conceptual contribution provides a first comprehensive explanation of recurrent integration ideals in CC, their respective resistances, and re-enforcement from a political perspective. This perspective not only sensitizes research and practice to the underlying ideologies that often remain implicit in the pursuit of various integration ideals, but it also illuminates that every integration ideal entails its genuine form of disintegrative resistance and, consequently, the necessity of re-enforcing integration to assert corporate power interests.