Internal Communication and Public RelationsA communication process starts with the identification of the publics that will
be addressed, and analysing the potential interests on the issue of the
communication helps to identify the publics. Once the objectives of the
communication process are evaluated, a further selection of the publics to be
involved may be accomplished. The communication process is always a logical process based on an adequate
evaluation of the publics and of their interests. Every company or organization has an infinite number of publics, all different
one from the other, and only a clear understanding of the fixed objectives
enables to identify the publics involved, case by case. There is just one kind of public that is present in every enterprise or
organization, the internal public. This is often neglected although it is the
closest, the most clearly identified, the most stable for its position within
the organisation and therefore within the communication process. However, it often happens that a message - the content of a communication -
reaches the internal public subsequently from the outside world, from an
indirect source, rather than being directly delivered to the internal public as
first addressee. Opinions and judgements of the internal publics interact with those of the
external publics, and the combination of the two identifies the frame of the
enterprise's communication. The "economic" link between an enterprise and its publics must also be
considered: this economic link is more or less wide and can determine a higher
or lower participation and efficacy, more or less flexibility in the
dialogue/comparison between enterprise and publics. Due to the deep economic
link between an enterprise and its internal public, the internal public appears
as the first, the "easiest" public from which a feed-back is highly obtainable
both regarding the definition and analysis of the enterprise or product
perception (image) and on the whole communication activity that is carried out
by the enterprise. All communications related to the corporate image of an enterprise or
organisation necessarily involve the internal publics. Considering the corporate image, issues and values (material and immaterial) can
be identified, issues and values that belong to a certain target: practically
the corporate image is determined by the values belonging to a target. Looking at internal publics, basically company employees, we find some material
values: salary, career, improvement of professional skills, information
availability. Additional immaterial values belong to the internal publics, such as the sense
of being part of a team, the attribution of a status, the role and participation
in the development of the business and so on. Considering all these elements - material and immaterial - and handling a proper
internal communication, employee satisfaction can be improved, and employee
satisfaction is a general objective proper of a mission of an enterprise or
organisation, just like consumer satisfaction and customer satisfaction. For all the above reasons, internal relations must have the same role and must
weigh as much as external relations in the communication process of an
enterprise or organisation. Altogether, internal relations and external relations build up the global
communication of an enterprise or organization, a global communication that
stems from a system of relations with the totality of publics regardless of the
nature of their relationships with the company, the business, the product or the
service. Normally, a certain capacity, a certain level of internal communication - more
or less planned and formal - always exist and use simple means like meetings or
house organs and so on. However, beside this planned and formal internal
communication, there is a kind that is informal, not planned, spontaneous, just
because some people work together. Consequently and first of all, internal communication must be aware of how
informal internal communication is expressed, on what subjects it develops, and
try to re balance the informal internal communication into a formal and planned
communication. The following can be considered as objectives of the internal communication
process:
- developing effective connection between the different units across the
organization
- encouraging cooperation, empowering and teamwork
- exploiting synergies with the external publics' systems of relations
- enhancing performance - individual and global
- improving the quality of all decision-making and execution processes
Once we agree on these objectives, the internal publics become co-makers for
attaining maximum results, and real "partners" for enterprise development. The internal publics of a company are the organization's associates who
represent:
- the key resource for the company's success
- the key elements of production, marketing and sales processes for services and
products
- a source of input, being channels of analysis/collection of internal or external
opinions and evaluations
- active and pro-active subjects
- precise targets, identified and specific publics to be addressed
Today, in many European countries, internal relations are considered as a part
of the communication process and therefore part of the basic responsibilities of
a PR practitioner who is well conscious that:
- the quality of internal relations is a critical element of each organizational system
- the quality of internal relations directly influences all external relations in
terms of effectiveness of the relationship itself
- internal relations enable the company to accomplish its goals in a quick, direct
effective fashion, with immediate control, less dispersion, less time and less
costs.
The Basic Contents of Internal Relations
The values, both and immaterial, and the issues on which the internal publics
show their opinions are closely linked to the corporate image that is proper to
an enterprise or organization and also affect product image (and/or service
image).
However, some general topics that identify areas and contents where the PR
practitioner must act can be summarised as follows:
- develop adequate information on company strategies, enabling associates to
effectively participate in the business development
- share information concerning results achieved in the different sectors
- provide regular, on-going business communication that is always timely, clear and adequate
- use internal relations as a channel for collecting opinions and information from
all associates assuring spontaneity and freedom of expression
- provide timely information on introduction of innovative processes connected to
organizational, production, marketing, sales and financial aspects
- timely share information in all situations of emergency or crisis, so as to
avoid employees receiving incorrect or misleading information from the outside
- assure monitoring for the management analysing the opinions of the internal
publics on all those key factors that can influence the opinion of the external
publics.
Profile of the Internal Communication SpecialistAccording to the above mentioned contents related to Internal Communication, the
internal communication specialists' basic duties may be considered as follows:
- Evaluating the employees' perception of the enterprise referring to vision,
mission and values;
- Monitoring employees' communication needs related to all enterprise's
programs/issues;
- Assisting management in empowering all employees;
- Collecting and sharing information on the enterprise's products and services;
- Developing appropriate training programmes in order to provide skills for public
speeches, verbal and written communication and presentation techniques;
- Planning and handling appropriate interactive media activities to support
internal communication;
- Providing an immediate reply to any questions received from employees to achieve
full employee satisfaction;
- Producing adequate information material to face whatever "Crisis situation"
- Organising special events for employees and their families, such as plant tours,
special celebrations, launch of new products and so on.
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