Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Kevin Ruck
Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
kevin.ruck@pracademy.co.uk
1. Introduction
This paper explores the value of internal communication for organizations and
employees and argues that, in a fast changing communication environment,
traditional approaches to assessment are becoming outdated. They are focused on
process, volume and channels rather than content and dialogue. They also omit the
link to organisational identification and engagement and are too reliant on a positivist
research philosophy and questionnaires. Furthermore, assessment of internal
communication should now be revised to take more account of the impact of social
media, within a wider context of medium theory.
Hargie and Tourish (2009) and Downs and Adrian (2004) outline a broad range of
approaches to assessing organizational communication. These include
questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, data collection log-sheets, and
communication network analysis. However, little attention is given to the underlying
philosophy for the approach taken. An audit, according to Tourish and Hargie (2009
p. 410) is by its nature is designed to be setting specific and uses already validated
approaches. An epistemological approach reflects a researcher’s beliefs or
“worldview” (Creswell, 2009, p.6) though this may not always be explicit (Easterby-
Smith et al., 2008, p. 63). According to Crotty (1998, p.4), epistemology drives
research; it is the starting point that leads on to the theoretical perspective, which
leads to the methodology and then the methods used. Research methods are
consequently “characteristic” of the epistemological position (Easterby-Smith et al,
2008, p62).
This is most evident in the assertion that “there is a fundamental difference between
the subject matter of the natural sciences and the social sciences and that an
epistemology is required that will reflect and capitalize upon that difference” (Bryman
and Bell, 2007, p. 20).The positivist position is associated with natural science based
upon discovery, hypotheses, experiments, measurement, verification/falsification,
and causality (Easterby-Smith et al, 2008, p63). In effect, the philosophical
assumption is that there is a social reality that is external and objective and “data,
evidence, and rational considerations shape knowledge” (Cresswell, 2009, p7). This
is associated primarily with a quantitative research methodology. However, data,
evidence, and rational considerations are also intrinsic to a qualitative methodology,
albeit from a more reflective than objective perspective. The term “rational” here is
loaded, as it may be used to imply more useful, “scientific” and therefore credible
thinking.
An alternative relativist (or realist) position allows for observers to have different
viewpoints (unlike positivism); “what counts for the truth can vary from place to place
and from time to time” (Collins, 1983) cited in Easterby-Smith et al (2008, p62).
Relativism is linked to exposure, propositions, triangulation, survey, probability, and
correlation (Easterby-Smith et al, 2008, pp62-3). This sets it apart from positivism,
with its allegiance to experimentation that removes alternative explanations. It does,
however, remain firm to the position that social science can be investigated in the
Worldviews or research philosophies can extend to beliefs about the nature of the
topic of study. For example, Grunig (2009, p.9) outlines two competing paradigms for
public relations that also apply to internal communication; “the symbolic, interpretive,
paradigm and the strategic management, behavioural, paradigm”. This divergence of
view on how to research public relations is summarised by Grunig as a difference
between “buffering” (the symbolic, interpretive approach – centred on messaging)
and “bridging” (the strategic management approach – centred on dialogue and
relationships). Creswell (2009, p. 5) argues that researchers should “make explicit
the larger philosophical ideas they espouse”. It could be argued that pragmatic
worldviews are most appropriate for research in the field of internal communication
assessment based, as it is, on real world practice. However, an
advocacy/participatory worldview is also valid, for example, investigating internal
communication from the perspective of the employee rather than the organisation,
which is currently the common level of analysis.
In the long term, business success is vital for individual as well as societal
well being. However, the evidence reviewed here suggests that, in order to
grasp this wider picture, the fundamental human needs that people bring into
the workplace with them must be addressed.
The consequences of actions are therefore given primacy over theory generation.
However, the challenge is to establish what communication audits are being used to
test. If no established theory exists to guide practice, what is the epistemological
knowledge that the audit is using as a framework?
Marques (2010) Criteria for successful communication: Several participants listed the
timely, clear, accurate, credible, pertinent, aspect ofexecution or delivery
A qualitative study responsible, concise, professional, and format of the message, stressing
(entailing a sincere that communication should be
phenomenological delivered in a responsible format
approach) with 20 given its content. Not every
subjects. message lends itself for email, but
not every message requires face-
to-face settings either.
CIPD (2009) Employees are most likely to say their Not assessed.
managers rarely/never coach them on the
A representative sample job (44%); this is particularly the case with
of more than 3,000 people larger organisations. They are also more
in employment in the UK. likely to say their managers rarely/never
discuss their training and development
needs (35%) nor provide them with
feedback on their performance (26%).
598 fulltime employees Satisfaction of company wide information Satisfaction with lean media –
from the US based offices – 3.2 3.43
of a high technology Satisfaction of business unit information
oriented organization, -3.05 Satisfaction with rich media – 3.76
using an adaptation of the Satisfaction of job information
International -3.37
Communication
Association (ICA) Response scale of (1) strongly
Communication Audit Response scale of (1) strongly disagree to disagree to (5) strongly agree
Survey (5) strongly agree
Hargie and Tourish (2009, pp. 235-6) highlight recurring themes in the
communication literature as:
• The need for adequate information flow concerning key change issues
• The central importance of supervisory communication as a preferred
communication source
• The importance of inter-departmental communication in promoting enhanced
innovation
• The role of participation as a means of enhancing corporate cohesion
• The notion of communication as a foundation of teamwork and positive employee
attitudes, and thus an agency for enhancing performance
• The need to maintain face-to-face communication as a primary method of
information transmission
• The benefits obtained from conceptualising dissent as a source of useful
feedback, rather than simply as resistance to overcome.
They conclude (2009, p. 236) that there is a “…disabling gap between theory and
practice”. This is reinforced by the results in the meta-analysis in table 1. Change
issues are not specified in any of the assessments reviewed, the overwhelming use
of e-mail and newsletters dominates information transmission and the omission of
facets linked to participation and useful feedback is very apparent. The approaches
adopted to assessment also lack congruence with the themes outlined. However, the
themes themselves may not necessarily form a complete validated underlying theory
of internal communication. For example, they do not fully incorporate research
findings that link internal communication to employee engagement (Truss, 2006). So,
there are gaps at both the theoretical and practice levels. If an audit or assessment is
Downs and Adrian (2004, p. 51) stress the importance of understanding the task
processes necessary for directing, controlling, and coordinating work assignments
alongside any communication assessment. This highlights the importance of linking
communication theory to wider management theory and this too is missing from most
current assessment models. Downs and Adrian also argue (2004, p. 245) that
communication theories are still incomplete, and as there are many of them, “theory
needs to be used judiciously”. Furthermore, Downs and Adrian suggest that:
The state of our art is such that no umbrella theory of communication exists.
Therefore, each problem in the organisation may require auditors to use
different kinds of theories, always watching for their contradictions and
inconsistencies.
If it is too much to expect that in the complex social world of internal communication
scholars can establish an umbrella theory, there remains a requirement for emerging
public relations theories such as relationship theory, critical theory, the excellence
theory of public relations and rhetorical theory to be more explicitly acknowledged in
the assessment process. For example, these are not explained as underpinning
theories within the themes shown above. Many of these theories point to a new
direction in assessment based more on bridging than buffering. As the assessments
reviewed in table 1 indicate, the focus remains on the circulation of information; type
of information, timing, and load, flow; downward, upward and horizontal and use of
channels (2004, pp. 52-60). These are all indicative of a focus on buffering. In the
next section, medium theory is explored in more detail in relation to the continuing
interest in channels, as it too suggests that assessment needs to change to reflect
the growing emergence of the importance of social networks.
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4. Medium theory and social networks
Much of the research and assessment of internal communication includes the use
and preferences of channels. According to Daft and Lengel (1986, p. 560) this is
linked to the concept of information richness and in order of decreasing richness,
media classifications are (1) face-to-face, (2) telephone, (3) personal documents
such as letters or memos, (4) impersonal written documents, and (5) numeric
documents. Rich media are personal and involve face-to-face contact between
managers, while media of lower richness are impersonal and rely on rules, forms,
procedures, or data bases. Downs and Adrian (2004, p. 57) argue that
communicators need to match communication that is high in ambiguity with rich
media and communication that is low in ambiguity with lean media. This basic
principle, in terms of matching content to media, is not an aspect of assessment that
is assessed in most current approaches.
It is worth noting that, according to some theorists, the channel itself conveys its own
message. Medium theory, developed first by Marshall McLuhan and then extended
by Donald Ellis (Littlejohn and Foss, 2008, p. 290), is based on the idea that the
media, irrelevant of the content, impacts individuals and society. As media change,
for example from print to television and more recently to internet, this affects the way
people think and relate to each other. Littlejohn and Foss (2008, p. 292) summarise
thinking on a first, broadcast, media age as a social interaction approach, based on
transmission of information and the second media age as a social integration
approach which is more interactive and personalized. This analysis can be likened to
Grunig’s (2009) differentiation between buffering and bridging. In the second age
there is less emphasis on the media and information per se and more on the way
that it creates communities. However, Poster (1995, p. 22) argues that the first age
may not have been an age at all, “Until now the broadcast model has not been a first
age but has been naturalized as the only possible way of having media – few
producers, many consumers”. Relating this to internal communication today, it could
be argued that its first real age has yet to arrive, with practice focused as it is on a
model of transmission of messages from senior management (the few) using email
and newsletters (broadcast channels) to employees (the many).
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The dawning of a new age of social integration in internal communication raises new
questions about theory and assessment. According to Poster (1995, p. 28) it
amounts to “users having decentralized, distributed, direct control over when, what,
why, and with whom they exchange information”. This leads to critical thinking,
activism, democracy, and quality. Poster’s approach is related to external
communication and the question is how far it applies to the world of internal
communication. Bennett et al (2010) claim that social networking sites provide
opportunities for both formal and informal interaction and collaboration with fellow
employees and clients/customers which aids knowledge transfer and communication.
This, in turn, leads to a shift in culture from “information gathering” to “information
participation”. Lange et al (2008, pp4-5) argue that the benefits of social networking
can be classified into three broad categories:
(1) Community. Defined as the use of social networking tools and capabilities to
interact with people who share your interests and passions.
(2) Collaboration. Defined as the use of social networking tools and capabilities to
connect people, expertise and resources in search of solutions that cannot be
created with any one of those ingredients alone.
(3) Contribution. Defined as the use of social networking tools and capabilities to
make it easier for customers or citizens to contribute their ideas, expertise,
concerns and preferences in the process of designing new products, services or
policies.
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Internal communication teams enjoy sticking to the basics with 61.6 per cent
suggesting they measure the success of social media initiatives by using
website data and analysis or intranet traffic figures.
The survey also reinforced assessment from other research regarding the use of
newsletters and emails; 68.8 per cent of leaders were found to be using online
newsletters and companywide emails to get messages out to their staff. The use of
social media technologies becomes increasingly important as organisations offer
different working styles, such as teleworking, hot-desking, and virtual offices.
Interestingly, despite concerns that virtual working provides a challenge for internal
communicators, research conducted by Akkirman and Harris (2005) found no
evidence to support the idea that a virtual workplace would have a categorically
negative impact on organizational communication. In fact, they found the opposite,
virtual office workers experienced higher levels of communication satisfaction than
office workers on all measured factors.
Currently, internal communication theory and assessment has not caught up with the
impact of social networks and media within organizations. This is an example of what
Poster (1995, p. 74) refers to as contingency in communication theory,
“Communication theory begins with a recognition of necessary self-reflexivity, of the
dependence of knowledge on its context”. He goes on to argue that “The first
principle of communication theory in the age of electronic technology, then, is that
there is no first principle, only a recognition of an outside of theory, an other to
theory, a world that motivates theory”. Poster warns against the temptation, at an
epistemological level, to try to secure a firm knowledge of communication theory.
This is a steer towards research and assessment of internal communication that is
more grounded in a relativist or interpretivist worldview, based on understanding
more than explaining or seeking to find absolute principles.
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5. Conclusion
This paper argues that internal communication theory and assessment are
intrinsically linked and that the field requires a stronger appreciation of
epistemological approaches to research that should be clearer in assessment
models. The techniques used in the majority of the assessments reviewed for this
paper are questionnaires, many based on scales that were developed in the 1970s.
The advantage of using such well developed tools is the potential benchmarking of
data on a significant scale. The disadvantages are that the tools do not reflect a
broad, current, range of theories. They also reflect a narrow, positivist, worldview
approach to the complex field of human communication and do not take account of
the changing world of work that is resulting from the introduction of social media
technologies.
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List of references
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