2. Learning outcome
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
Define internal communication and recognise it in
practice
Evaluate internal communication from the
employee’s perspective
Describe and evaluate corporate strategies and
methods for communicating with employees
3. Definition
Internal communication is also known as
employee communication.
It is defined as ‘the planned use of
communication actions to systematically
influence the knowledge, attitudes and
behaviours of current employees’. (Stauss
and Hoffman, 2000)
4. Who are our internal publics?
- the group of people as having a stake in an
organisation
Employees
Part-timers
Casual
workers
Volunteers
Contractors
5. Pat Jackson’s Total Relationship
Management Model
Investor Relations or Fundraising
Public Affairs
Customer Relations
Social Responsibility
Community Relations
Employee
Relations
6. Why is internal communication
important?
Easy to communicate during difficult
situations (crisis, conflicts, reputation
building)
Facilitate dissemination of information in
building the organisation reputation
To ensure everyone in the organisation
understands the mission and vision
To encourage a two-way communication
(feedback, suggestions)
7. Continue…
The relationship with external stakeholders would
best served if internal stakeholders were
attended to.
In order to reflect the importance of employees in
organisations, the term “employers of choice”
was created – attract the best talent and gain
competitive advantages in the industry.
Family benefits
Values employees’ education/ training
Has diversity programmes
8. Its purpose…..
The strategic purpose of internal
communication involves:
2-way communication between the employer
and employees
Trusting relationship
9. Skills to strategy…
The roots of internal communication are:
communication skills (writing, speaking)
Tools used: noticeboard, newsletters, blogs,
websites, factsheets, facebook, face-to-face
meeting, walk-about, corporate video, etc.
Involves the combination of interpersonal
and new media channels
10. Strategic internal communication
Factors leading to the trend towards strategic
internal communication:
Political
Economic
Social (and cultural)
Technological
11. Factors leading to strategic internal
communication
Political /legal
Economic
Social/culture
Technological
Organisation
Re-brandingRe-branding
12. What is employee engagement?
This is when employees ‘go the extra mile’
How do you get to this?
When employees believe in the orgnisational
values
Employees given the opportunity to
‘experience’ company products
Create company ‘ambassadors’
13. What do internal communication
practitioners need to know?
Communication
‘Articulating’ or ‘verbalising’ a message
Listening
Reflection
Inquiry
advocacy
14. Continue…
Internal communicators need to understand:
Organisational structure
Organisational culture
Organisational history
Communication networks
Business goals and priorities
External industry environment
External stakeholders
Previous communication activities
15. Corporate strategies
In order to create a good internal relationship
with all employees, organisations create:
‘Psychological contract’- due to low level of
trust/ commitment/ loyalty
- employee and employer commitments
Corporate culture – values or practices that
account for an organisation’s success
Example 1: Disney’s values
Innovation: we follow a strong tradition of
innovations
16. Continue….
Examples 2: Tesco’s values
The way we work:- The way we work is how we
deliver. Every Little Helps to make Tesco a
better place to shop and work in. We use
simple processes so that shopping is Better for
customers, Simpler for staff and Cheaper for
Tesco
17. Continue….
Organisational Culture – a set of beliefs held my
members of an organisation
Example: Freedom of speech, dress code
Leadership and strategic change
A good leader provides a clear direction to
employees
‘Charismatic’ leaders – emotionally connect with
their audiences
The communication approach is important to the
credibility and effectiveness of internal
communication
18. Conclusion
In this chapter, we have:
examined the key issues in building internal
relationships in an organisation
outlined the changing nature of work, in particular
the importance of achieving the sense of unity
within the organisation
emphasised the importance of corporate
strategies in order to create good practices in
organisations