Communication managers as strategists? Can they make the grade?

When discussing the role of executives in public relations and their involvement in decision making, much research has focused on the dichotomous roles of technician and manager. From this it is concluded that an executive’s input into an organisation’s strategic decision making depends on how they enact the managerial role. This paper asserts that there is more to being an accepted member of the top management team than role enactment. Enacting the managerial role is, in fact, nothing more than performing high‐level technical activities. A new measurement of is managerial competency is strategic thinking. What this is and how it can be measured is then discussed.