Wow. Another long and detailed chapter loaded with information. It goes to show the sheer volume of variables and factors that go into how public relations work in an organization. So far, in most of the previous chapters, we can observe how public relations work with regards to the relationships between a company and its publics or consumers and even the relationships between two companies.
So for this chapter, I would like to zoom in and focus on one aspect of PR known as internal relations.
Public relations not only needs to deal with a company's consumers and shareholder, but to it's employees as well. A Ferrari is only able to produce so much power and torque if all the internal components of the car's engine work perfectly with one another. Using this analogy, we can clearly see how important the relationship between a company and its employees is.
The whole concept of internal communications can be summed up into three main categories.
Organisational Culture
"Culture is made up of shared values, symbols, meanings, beliefs, assumptions and expectations that organise and integrate a group of people who work together"
Grunig & Dozier, 2002
The culture of an organization is usually developed by its founders or leaders and is internalised by its staff and management. It affects how things are done in the organization, how people work and how the company itself operates in general. For example, Google has an extremely participative and innovative company culture which gives a lot of autonomy to its employees.
However, due to the fact that any organisation is made up of so many unique individuals, conflicts are inevitable. This is where the PR department can come in and resolve these conflicts. The role of PR practitioners here can be to solve conflicts, reinforce organisational mission and vision and internally promoting the company culture of an organisation.
Understanding Employees' Needs
As I have mentioned earlier, employees are what make up the compnay, so it would be in the best interest of any organisation to keep its employees happy. In order to do this, the company must understand the needs and feelings of its employees.
Each individual employee is different. As such, employees should not be lumped together as a whole demographic. There are, however, several categories that can be used to group employees if necessary - for example, their reason for being in the company, be it good pay f,or the experience, good organisational culture, etc.
When situations arise and there is a need to communicate with employees, a PR practitioner can adhere to the following guidelines:
- Tell employees FIRST
- Tell bad and good news together
- Be timely
- Inform employees in all matters that are important to them
- Use media that is trusted by employees
Employee Communication Channels
In any organisation, there are many existing channels of communication. Some of these channels are more formal than others - for example, the chain of command leading up from the lowest-ranked employee right to the company's CEO. As a PR practitioner, it is important to know when to use which channels for what purposes. Certain information would be better-received by employees if delivered through a more formal medium. Others work better when delivered in a more casual fashion.
And to end off, here's a little cartoon depicting a manager who doesn't give a flying fish about hi's company's internal communications.
Hi Syaz,
ReplyDeleteYou have decided to focus on internal communications for this blog post, and I can see why. Internal communications is certainly very important as an organization is but a shell without its employees.
I have to say the cartoon in the post is really cute, and educational at the same time. It clearly tells us that internal communications is not only about emails, chats over coffee or drinks after work. It is the way the company presents itself to its employees; their culture, their long term and short terms goals, their code of conducts and the current situation of the company. These can't be done only through powerpoint presentations. And also, companies cannot neglect employees working on the lower tire.
If you were the PR practitioner working for Howard's company, what will you do to motivate employees? To embrace the company's vision, culture, attitude and to ensure employees' enthusiasm is maintained?
Hey Joane,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I'd just like to highlight a single word:
COMMUNICATION.
Having reliable and effective communication channels are of utmost importance when dealing with employee welfare, satisfaction and motivation.
A company can go all out to plan company parties and getaways and give all kinds of benefits to their workers. But is that really what the employees want? In order to have motivated and satisfied workers, you need to know what they need and what they expect from the company.
The only way to do this is to have proper communication channels where employees can voice their concerns freely without fear of being penalised.
So if I was the CEO of a certain company, the first thing I would do in terms of ensuring employee motivation and satisfaction is to give them a voice. Everything else comes after.