I decided to find out all the basic methods of management within a company as well as strategic planning both internally and externally in order to apply the Seven Principles of Strategic Organizational Communications, developed by Francois Basili.
First, “Organizational Communication” is primarily a management process, with a specific business purpose and disciplined methods of development, implementation and measurements. It is accomplished through a strategic communication plan reviewed and approved by senior management. However, the plan must be easily understood and implemented by mid level management and throughout the entire company. The first step is reporting and analysis, which can be used both internally and externally. Regional, district and departmental meetings, teleconferences and “webinars” are mandatory. Public lines of communication should always be open for report analysis (Basili 2009).
Organizational communication is also an agent of change. The purpose of communication is not just to convey information, but to influence behavior. It influences behavior by persuading people to take action toward the organization’s objectives. This is especially true in external communications. For example, some external communications vehicles are always available, such as brochures and press releases. Others, such as annual reports take considerable effort to create and distribute. Some external communications should be proactive, such as a communications request form. This type of form is sent to a specific committee from a community group or social organization. This could serve as a focus of discussion in an upcoming dialog.
The primary responsibility for internal communication lies with all managers and supervisors. The organizational communication unit is responsible for designing and delivering the system and tools that enable managers to play their role as communicators.
The next step is to set up a series of message boards, hotlines and information sharing resources on the website for promoting new ideas within the company. This should be a step toward instead of a replacement for an in-person discussion of such ideas. Face to face communication with an immediate manager is the most effective form of communication, and is the way employees prefer to receive information relating to their job. However, as time and material constraints influence personal communication, alternative methods are being utilized more and more often. This emphasizes the need for effective communication (Basili, 2009)
Communication must also be a social process based on openness, sharing, and participation. Communication must recognize and leverage people’s need to know and relate. For example, Citigroup has 83,000 mortgage customers and more than 50,000 student loan borrowers in the Boston area. Before the company released details of its cost-cutting plan, some analysts had speculated that it could derail its expansion plans in Boston. But in an internal memo circulated by Citigroup chief executive Charles Prince said the cuts would not hamper the company’s most important growth plans and that the money it saved from layoffs would be used to fund those initiatives. Communication must be open, flowing vertically and horizontally throughout the organization. Communication must encourage and utilize user-created content (Reed, 2007)
In order to be understood properly, communication must be grounded in the interests and language of the listener. In addition to its bank branches, Citigroup’s Smith Barney brokerage has 11 Boston-area offices that handle about 133,000 accounts. “CitiStreet”, its retirement benefits joint venture with State Street Corp., as well as its investment, corporate and private banking units all have a local presence. While it seeks to achieve the organization’s strategic objectives, it cannot do so effectively unless it uses a receiver-focused approach in both content and context (Reed, 2007).
To be noticed, communication must be compelling and continuous as it must compete for the listener’s attention. Communication must use highly compelling and use creative ways to deliver its message. For external communication the marketing department will coordinate with human resources and strategic planning departments to invent effective ways of “selling” the company through mass communication. To be remembered and internalized, communication needs to be continuous and consistent. In terms of diversity in the workforce in relation to internal communications, times may change, but standards must remain. Memos and Correspondence must be easily distributed and understood without compromising the original theme in favor of affirmative action plans or cultural awareness. We simply can not afford not to communicate. The role of HR is to bridge that gap (Bohlander, Snell 2007).
Finally, to be influential, communication must be credible. Without a high degree of credibility, the integrity and believability of the message will be lost and the whole communication process will be a waste of resources. All materials must be copy-written and proof-read extensively. All sources must be checked and verified. The basis of the communication should be approved by management and understood by the entire staff.
Works Cited
Basili, F (2009) How to Overcome the Fear of Strategic Communication Planning
The Seven Principles of Strategic Organizational Communication Retrieved March 23, 2009 from http://www.communicationideas.com/communication- plan.html
Bohlander, G & Snell, S (2007) Managing Human Resources (14th ed.)
Mason OH: Thompson Higher learning.
Reed, K (2007) Area Citibank staffing likely to rise by 300 Company will cut 17,000 positions in global cutback Original date April 12, 2007 Retrieved March 23, 2009 from http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/04/12/