Business Communications

My new Blog!

2008-06-25T21:07:00.002+05:30

Hello everyone! As you can see I have not posted since very long time. And this blog was a part of my academics. Recently I've started my very own blog: http://www.clearpixels.net.

Please Do visit and leave some feedback. :)

Crisis Communication

2007-07-08T10:18:00.001+05:30

Crisis communications are generally considered a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. These challenges may come in the form of an investigation from a government agency, a criminal allegation, a media inquiry, a shareholders lawsuit, a violation of environmental regulations, or any of a number of other scenarios involving the legal, ethical, or financial standing of the entity.

Many organizations suffer extensively because they do not have proper crisis communication strategy setup. On February 2007 JetBlue had one of such crisis due to delay. 9 planes filled with passengers sat on the tarmac for more than 6 hours with no food, drink or polite handling, poor decision making, and a complete system breakdown that (even more frighteningly) indicates that JetBlue doesn't have the infrastructure or policies to cope with challenges that are going to crop up from time to time in the airline business. Now that was a serious situation and to come out of this situation JetBlue needed to execute the best in crisis communications.
Here's what JetBlue did do right:

" I'm mortified," said CEO David Neeleman on February 19th, acknowledging responsibility, and getting that acknowledgment, and his vision for making things better covered in major print and broadcast media
Put customers first. JetBlue built its reputation on customer service so last week's events really hurt. Yesterday, nearly a week since the problems, they released a Customer Bill of Rights feature it on the JetBlue homepage.
Brought CEO Neeleman to customers via a heartfelt conversation delivered via a YouTube video.

According to Nancy E. Schwartz, Nonprofit marketing expert, JetBlue should have done more than what CEO David Neeleman did. She pointed out some great logical solutions in her blog.
Here is an interesting article where the author created a model of crisis and discussed several dimensions of crisis. Examining the dimensions of a crisis, which executives can clearly recognize and relate to, helps the public relations counselor provide truly meaningful, strategic advice. It is this kind of analytical approach that helps senior management avoid career-defining moments, unless the moments are deserved.

The most important communications strategy in a crisis, particularly in the first few hours, is to be open with the public by being available to the news media. There are several contradictory theories regarding what to tell and when to tell. According to Frank Corrado it should be “Tell It All, Tell It Fast!” and some other says “Tell as much as you can, as soon as you can”. Both of these theories may have some pros and cons, but organization needs to be careful and wise.

Bill Patterson pointed out some most important rules of crisis communications:

1. Have an in-depth crisis communications plan that includes dealing with the media, the community and your employees.

2. Make sure the crisis team has been professionally trained in doing hard news interviews.

3. Name a spokesperson and two back-ups today. Do not wait for the crisis to occur.

4. Deal with the crisis head-on. Do not hide out.

5. Respond to reporters’ questions immediately. They expect a return call or an on-site interview within 10 minutes of the request.

6. Never lie. The big lie would be stupid but many executives tend to tell the little white lie. When you even think of telling a lie in a crisis situation, say the name "Richard Nixon."

7. Never go off the record. In a crisis there is already much confusion. Do not add to it. Tell a reporter only what you want to see on the front page of the local paper.

8. Practice implementing your crisis plan by going through a mock crisis once a year. Do not forget the news media element during the practice.

Crisis communication is very important function of organizational communication. Organizations must handle it very carefully before it’s too late.

21st Century Communication Trends

2007-07-08T10:13:00.000+05:30

“The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley

Hey its 2007! Who bothers to write a letter, put it into an envelope, stick some stamps and then drop it to a letterbox? At least I don’t. Gone those days when I people used to wait for the postman to deliver letters from our nearest and dearest one. Now we just do is dial up the number and call. What could be simpler than that? If we do not feel generous then just write an email or IM. That’s the generic picture of 21^st century communication trends. The magic touch of technology is everywhere.

21^st century communication trends can also be seen in workplaces. People no longer send memo or notes from desk to desk, instead they send email, instant message. As I pointed out in my previous blog that fewer people actually meet face to face for a team project. Instead, they rely on various modern technologies such as email, intranet, VPN, net-meeting, video-conference and various customized team suit applications depending on the requirement. These kinds of technology not only help in faster communication but also reduce the need of paperwork. Boeing designed its flagship aircraft Boeing 777 without any paperwork. The 777 was the first airplane to be completely designed with computers, which insured the internal consistency of its parts. Using computer-assisted design and manufacturing software, Boeing engineers were able to take their numerically-controlled machine tool settings directly from their plans.

Another interesting development is CEO Blog. This is a great communication tool which helps the CEOs to put forward their opinions about things, ideas and public relations. As Sun Microsystems COO Jonathan Schwartz says:

There’s no fundamental difference between giving a keynote speech in Shanghai in front of 30,000 people and doing a blog read by several million people.

The trend of blogging CEOs and other high level executives has been taken up with such fervor that an international CEO Bloggers’ Club has been started especially for such corporate bloggers. In fact people started ranking these CEO Blogs.

Time change, people change so do technology. Since the internet became public in 1995, communication technology has changed the way we communicate. What may seem advanced technology today is bound to become obsolete tomorrow. It’s just a matter of time. But at the end of the day I do agree with the fact that the more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.

Internal Communications

2007-07-07T09:54:00.000+05:30

"Extremists think "communication" means agreeing with them."
Leo Rosten (1908 - )

According to a Harvard Business Review study of Project Management Best Practices in Global 500 Enterprises face-to-face meetings and interaction in the work place is declining rapidly – and instead many teams are working virtually. Among the results from the study:
Fewer than 4% of teams ever meet physically as a whole.

Fewer than 17% even have individual team members meet in person.
More than 66% of teams include members from at least three time zones.
57% are cross-functional.
48% extend beyond company walls to include outside contractors, agencies, counsel, outsourcers and other third parties.

The above studies not only suggest the importance of communication for an effective team work but also point out that traditional face-to-face communication is getting harder. While technology has opened up new possibilities for communicating to staff, in practice the best results are often achieved through a mix of traditional and contemporary media. Moreover, if internal communications are to be fully effective, management has to have a genuine commitment to creating a dialogue with staff that involves as well as informs them. Consider the case of software industry.

Almost every major software corporations have development centers scattered in various parts of the world. For any given project, these development centers work on certain parts of the project. If they did not have effective internal communication then completing such complex tasks would have been impossible.

Most experts on organizations, management and leadership, assert that effective communications is the foundation for effectiveness in any type of organization. They assert there can't be too much communication. Some leaders misinterpret communications to be the same as paperwork or bureaucracy and so they're averse to a high degree of communications. As leaders and managers mature, they realize the need to effective convey and receive information, and efforts at communications (internal and external) increase substantially.

Common Causes of Problems in Internal Communications:

1. If I know it, then everyone must know it.

2. We hate bureaucracy -- we're "lean and mean."

3. I told everyone, or some people, or ...?

4. Did you hear what I meant for you to hear?

5. Our problems are too big to have to listen to each other!

6. So what's to talk about? 7. There's data and there's information.

7. If I need your opinion, I'll tell it to you.

Lastly, communications problems can arise when management simply sees no value whatsoever in communicating with subordinates, believing subordinates should shut up and do their jobs.

Clampitt (2005) lists three approaches managers use to communicate with their employees.

Arrow approach – This is one way communication approach where message is clear and target audience known. Problems arise when it is taken for granted that information is mostly transmitted by words and that recipients are passive receptors.

Circuit approach – This is two way communication approach. It assumes that communicating is grounded in mutual understanding. Problems arise because of the myopic view that understanding will lead to agreement and that this understanding should be the sole goal of communications.

Dance approach – Communications are achieved through an intricate combination of the practice, understanding, and intuition. It believes that the communication involves the coordination of meanings, the understanding of common rules, and the recognition of patterns between two or more people.

Now every organization is taking internal communication more seriously. Managers have understood the effectiveness of internal communication as a motivational tool. With the sophisticated technology available to communicate with the employees today, the most important factor in internal communications beings with the manager who cares to listen to the employees and get to know who they really are as individuals. One of the examples is Nokia. In 2006 Nokia launched internal news hub aimed at Nokia personnel worldwide, allowing employees to publish their comments about current news items. This feature was added due to requests from employees, and has received very positive feedback. It has increased Nokia’s internal engagement capabilities by generating meaningful conversations on a wide range of business topics. Nokia News Service is accessed by approximately 156,000 readers, on multiple occasions, each month.

Media Relations

2007-07-06T12:49:00.000+05:30

“If you don't know what to do, call the media and at least give the appearance of doing something.” David Peterson

One of the most critical areas within any corporate communication function is the media relations department. With the growth of television and internet, media relation function has become more critical because of the speed of information transfer. Now that companies are going global, it’s very critical for the company to have good relationship with the media so that during crisis Company can take advantage of it.

Today, so many websites, TV channels, Magazines, news papers are dedicated to business news that it is virtually impossible to find a topic or company that is not covered thoroughly. Today consumer generated news, socal networking, blog etc plays a major role in media relations. Most importantly media do not get excited about good news and good things that companies do. Instead, they are more interested in the bad news because people are more interested in gossips. This helps media to sell more.

"At best, good media relations, one of the ranges of tools within the discipline of public relations, could even prevent a business catastrophe by safeguarding company’s reputation and profitability"

Nothing boils the blood of any journalist or beat editor more than unknowledgeable media relations people. According to Bill Arnovich, Media Relations Specialist,

“You not only hurt your chances of securing media coverage for clients, but you also make it harder for the rest of us who actually prepare themselves before they engage any media pitching assignment. It pays in the long run, and it’s a good practice.”

With that in mind, here are 6 tips to building better relationships with the media:

Identify who you are and why you are calling.
Ask if this is a good time to talk. If it isn’t, ask the reporter to suggest the best time you should call back. Never ask a reporter to return your call. If it is a good time to talk, proceed to the next step.
Let the reporter know you are familiar with the publication or with stories she writes about.
Explain the idea in a sentence or two.
Explain quickly why readers will care.
Ask if the reporter is interested.
Avoid sayin "no comment"; explain why you can't answer and promise to get back to the reporter when you can.

Following those simple six steps consistently can make all the difference in the world between a productive day and one that ends up empty handed.

Corporate vs. Product Advertising

2007-07-05T12:55:00.001+05:30

Corporate advertising is different from product advertising. Corporate advertising seeks to benefit the image of the corporation as a whole rather than its products and services alone as in product advertising. A major difference between corporate and product advertising is who pays for each of the two types of advertising. A company’s marketing department typically is responsible for all product-related advertising and pays for such ads. Corporate advertising, on the other hand, falls within the corporate communication area and either comes out of that budget or, in some cases, is paid for by the CEO’s office.

There are different types of corporate advertising such as advertising to reinforce identity or reputation, advertising to attract investors and advertising to influence opinions. When Coca-Cola was in between pesticide controversy in India, the company used well renowned actor for advertisement to reinforce corporate image. Companies use advertisements to attract investors. Issue advertising is used to respond to external threats such as environment, government etc. now-a-days it’s common to see these kinds of advertisements by all major corporations to establish good corporate citizenship image. A good corporate advertising program can clarify and enhance a company’s reputation, and the absence of one can hurt the company, especially during crisis.

The purpose of product advertisement is to increase awareness and selles. The relationship between corporate advertising and sales is less clear than that between product advertising and sales, because corporate advertising is meant to do things that eventually boost but likely won’t directly or immediately do so.

Identity, Image, and Reputation

2007-07-05T10:54:00.000+05:30

I do not know if any mobile phone ever made headline even before its launch or people queued outside the shops for days to get it on the first day, except iPhone by Apple. So, why people are so crazy about iPhone? Why it’s the most hyped phone ever? Of course it has some great technologies built in but one of the reasons is Apple’s identity, image and reputation. When people think of Apple Inc, first that come into mind is that it’s the “one of the most innovative companies in the world”. Yes that’s what an image is- it is the organization as seen from viewpoint of its constituencies. Identity, image and reputations are the elements that separates a company from similar other companies.

Given how every industry today faces global competition and companies are trying to manage the limited resources, and organization’s identity and image might be the only difference that people can use to distinguish one company from the next. That is why people prefer an Apple iPod than a Creative Zen even though Creative products are more feature rich than Apple iPod.

Image, identity and reputations cannot be built in one day. A company needs to work hard to build them. There are some complex and hard tasks are needed to be executed in order to build successful image and identity. First thing the organization needs to do is conduct an identity audit by an external “identity firms”. This helps to find out how does the general public currently view the organization? Next goal is to clearly define its objective and goal. Here consistency is the key. An organization’s vision should manifest itself consistently across all its identity elements, from logos and mottos to employee behavior. Next step is- develop designs and names. This is a step that simply cannot happen without the help of consultants because so many names are already in use that companies need to avoid any possible legal issues. Next is develop prototypes. Once the final design is selected and approved by everyone involved, consultants develop models using the new symbols or names. Once the prototype is done company must launch and communicate. Companies can use various communication technologies to do that. He final step is implementation. Implementing an identity program is a communication process involving lots of interpersonal savvy and coordinated approach to deal with many constituencies.

In the changing business environment image and reputation is the key for survival. A company that has good understanding of its constituencies and what is important for them can successfully create good reputation programs and implement them.

Corporate Communication Relevance

2007-07-04T18:45:00.000+05:30

“Without credible communication, and a lot of it, employee hearts and minds are never captured.”
John P. Kotter, Leading Change

Some people may doubt the relevance of ‘Corporate Communication’ function in an organization. Apparently they might think that all a corporation has to do is communicate efficiently with the employees. So they think that HR function is sufficient for all its communication need. But as we have seen that the business environment has changed dramatically since last couple of decades. Communication function is no longer confined within the organization. Now companies need to address various constituents in order earn their trust and build image and reputation. If Coca-Cola did not have proper Corporate Communication function then it would have cost more for the company during the pesticide controversy in India in 2003.

Corporate communication has various functions such as corporate advertising, media relations, marketing communications, investor relations, government relations, crisis management etc. the best corporate advertising creates goodwill and enhances reputation by letting constituents in on what the organization is all about. Good media relations help a company to gain advantage during crisis. Company may want to use marketing communication to advertise product or use investor relations to show company’s value to the investors. For example, Bosch India use various corporate communication campaigns such as ‘Innovations’ campaign, environmental campaigns, industry expo, corporate advertisements, in order to build good corporate image and reputation, advertise products and build investor relations.

One of the important functions of corporate communication is crisis management. If a corporation does not have proper crisis management system then the situation may turn into fiasco. Significant crises that involve the loss of human life (Bhopal or Tylenol) pose enormous challenges for companies trying to make whole the damage that has been done and to regain public trust and confidence. Another example of crisis management is the airline industry’s recent work with the government to enhance safety measures post-9/11. Examples also include situations such as Enron, where the post-scandal strategy appeared to be one of closing ranks and attempting to prevent damaging information from leaking into the public domain.

So we can see that “Corporate Communication” function is very important and relevant to today’s business practice. Without proper communication function it is very difficult to survive in the competitive business world.

Communication Technologies

2007-07-04T18:08:00.000+05:30

“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.”
Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876

Information technology is changing continuously and there by affecting the way we communicate. Communication technologies have undergone a revolutionary transformation since past 100 years. All thanks to the science and technology. Now we do not need to wait for weeks to deliver a simple message to the other part of the world. We do not need messenger boys. Massive invisible network of communication technologies help us to reach anyone to any place in any time.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876 few peope considered Bell's invention more than a toy, but it did not take long for people to install telephones in their homes, businesses, or towns. A new era of communication began. Since then communication technologies have under gone various changes. What seemed to science fiction a decade ago is now reality. Cellular phone, internet, intranet, wireless networking, VOIP, video conference etc is now a reality. With the help of these technologies we can communicate with anyone any time within a fraction of a second. We thought telephone is all we need for instant communication. But humans cannot be satisfied. We wanted to see each other while we are communicating. Therefore video conference came into place to satisfy our need. To put life into video conferencing, companies are coming up with new technologies such as Teleportec Conferencing which helps to achieve eye-to-eye contact with all participants.

These communication technologies help companies to achieve high degree of success in communication. One of the important uses of various communication technologies within companies is to build efficient internal communication system. One of successful use of these technologies is

IBM’s intranet – w3.

w3 is a portal to provide one place with personalized access to IBM resources. Integrates content, learning, expertise, collaboration (e.g., Domino applications to a browser, rather than a Notes client) and business applications (Siebel, SAP, and more). It Enables increased productivity through role-based delivery of resources and eliminates development and deployment costs through reuse.

Technology is changing rapidly so is communication technologies. It is just a matter of time when new technology comes and replace existing one. In fact scientists are now working on to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence (CETI). So it’s just a matter of time when we will find ourselves chatting, or video conferencing or even calling our friends in other planets!

Communication Theories

2007-06-30T09:05:00.000+05:30

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.” Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)

When my professor of “Corporate communication” popped up “Communication theory” presentation in the class, first thing I came into my mind was “why do we have to learn these useless theories to be an MBA?” But after one hour the experience was completely different. It was really interesting to see that how a simple thing like communication (as I thought before) was actually was not so simple at all. There are so many factors we consider in our conscious or unconscious mind on order to communicate, to convey our message.
So, what is communication? According to Encyclopedia of Public Health:

“Communication is the production and exchange of information and meaning by use of signs and symbols. It involves encoding and sending messages, receiving and decoding them, and synthesizing information and meaning. Communication permeates all levels of human experience and it is central to understanding human behavior.”

Theories of communication are actually is not something new that came into picture in twentieth century. In the history of philosophy, Aristotle first addressed the problem of communication and attempted to work out a theory of it in The Rhetoric. Aristotle represented communication as might an orator who speaks to large audiences. Although His model incorporates few elements.

Aristotle’s Model of Communication

Mass communication research was always traditionally concerned with political influence over the mass press, and then over the influences of films and radio. The 1950s was fertile for model-building, accompanying the rise in sociology and psychology. It was in the USA that a science of communication was first discussed.

> The earliest model was a simple sender-channel-message-receiver model.
> Modifications added the concept of feedback, leading to a loop.
> The next development was that receivers normally selectively perceive, interpret and retain messages.

Lasswell’s Model
Political scientist Harold Laswell, writing in 1948, posed the question, “Who says what in which channel with what effect?”. His model includes considerations of a variety of factors being considered to determine the impact of a communication. But his model does not consider some important factors such as noise, field of experience etc. For example, what would happen if the speaker speaks some language that the audience does not understand? What if the audience does not have any knowledge about the subject the speaker is trying to convey?

Shannon & Weaver’s Model
It is interesting to see that a communication theory has come out from a telephone company- Bell Telephone Company. Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) model introduces three elements not found in Aristotle’s model: a transmitter, a receiver, and sources of noise. At first glance his model seems to be more focused on telecommunication; some of the elements may easily generalize into other fields of interest. Consider that in any face-to-face situation, there may be environmental or other sources of noise that interfere with the communication.

Schramm's Model
Wilbur Schramm (1954) began studying communication as an independent discipline. He developed several models for addressing different questions. One contribution Schramm made was to consider the fields of experience of the sender and receiver. The sender encodes the message, based upon the sender’s field of experience. The extent to which the signal is correctly decoded depends on the extent of the overlap of the two fields of experience. For instance, if I give a lecture on finance to an audience of sixth graders may result in little or no communication because he has no experience or knowledge about finance. The colored overlapping ovals in the figure represent the fields of experience of the sender.

Another one of Schramm’s models introduced the idea of feedback from the receiver to the sender. In this model, communication becomes a continuous process of messages and feedback. This model allows for interaction. The feedback not necessarily has to be verbal, it could be in any form. For instance, when someone is explaining something to me, I might node my head to give feedback to say that I understand what he or she has to say.

The Westley-MacLean model
This model accounted for both mass communication and interpersonal communication, as well as the relationship between the two. Also, it broadened and elaborated on the feedback concept. This model suggests that in a given situation some of the many signals in one's environment at any point in time were selected by an advocate and combined to form a new message -- a news story, advertisement, or speech, etc. If the audience had some firsthand knowledge, they might question the advocate, and their questioning would be classified as feedback.

Kincaids's Convergence
In the convergence model, "communication" is defined as a process in which participants create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual understanding. Several cycles of information-sharing about a topic may increase mutual understanding but not complete it. Generally communication ceases when a sufficient level of mutual understanding has been reached for the task at hand. Mutual understanding is never perfect.

The convergence model represents human communication as a dynamic, cyclical process over time, characterized by:

Mutual causation, rather than one-way mechanistic causation;
Emphasizing the interdependent relationship of the participants, rather than a bias toward either the "source" or the "receiver" of a message.

Mutual understanding and mutual agreement are the primary goals of the communication process. They are the points toward which the participants either converge or diverge over time.

Just as no single behavioral theory explains and predicts all human behavior, no communication theory explains and predicts all communication outcomes. Some view this as a fragmentation in understanding the role of a communication in human affairs. Others view this as a productive theoretical diversity, conducive to the understanding of human activity in many complex dimensions.

Before I forget, all credit goes to Richard S. Croft for his wonderful article and illustrations.

Changing Environment of Business

2007-06-24T22:26:00.000+05:30

Our environments are changing constantly. There is no exception in business world too. Globalization and information technology has changed the way companies do business. That is to say, business environment has become more complex and competitive. Major reasons for these changes are: Political changes, economic changes, social changes, and technological changes. A fundamental shift is occurring in world economy. National boundaries are becoming irrelevant for business. Gone those days when businesses were developed country centric. Developing countries such as China, India are rising as leader of world economy. According to FDI index 2005, in 2005, China, India and Eastern European countries reached new heights of attractiveness as destinations for FDI as they competed for higher value-added investments, including R&D. The United States dropped to 3rd place. For business this is the best of time. Globalization has the increased the opportunities for firms to go global and expand its revenue by selling around the world. But this has increased the complexity of business too. As the living condition of people increasing so is the demand. They are no longer satisfied with mass produced goods. They want choice, option of customization.

Political Changes. Since the collapse of communism at the end of 1980s, the world economy has moved toward free market. Regulations and government barriers to do business in foreign country have come down. But this did not reduce the problem, largely due to various government regulations. A very prominent example is foreign direct investment (FDI) policies in India. Indian government does not allow foreign companies to operate multi-brand retail stores. If any foreign company wants to operate retail chain in India they have to do so with a 51-49 percentage joint venture with an Indian company. Because government fears that this will seriously harm Indian unorganized retail stores (kirana store) and create unemployment.

Economic changes. Economic conditions of people increasing. Purchasing power of the consumers are increasing. They are spending more for better living. This has created an opportunities for companies to come up with new products and sell more. But consumers are no longer satisfied with mass produced goods. They want customized goods according to their preferences. This has increased the manufacturing complexities.

Social changes. Though globalization has increased business opportunity, differences in culture and preferences is a challenging issue. For example, McDonald use beef for various dishes in USA but in India they use chicken because of cultural differences. So it’s a challenge for a company to understand the cultural values in which it wants to operate. Failing to do so can have severe consequences for the company. Environmental issue has become a new major challenge for companies.

Technological changes. Technology has changed the way we see the world, communicate, and do business. Now days in this busy life people do not have time to stand a long queue and do shopping. They prefer to do online shopping. It is a challenge for a company to make well online presence. A major wave that changed the business environment and in fact made challenging is environmental issues and health consciousness among consumers. No wonder fast food companies such as McDonald, KFC are under pressure to offer healthier items in their menus.

Business consultant, lecturer, and author, Daniel Pink has written about the global economy and its effects on people worldwide in two well-received books, A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation. In an interview he said

“In my view, globalization is good, not perfect. And we can't let perfect be the enemy of good. Globalization in general has lifted living standards throughout the world. Now there have been obviously some dislocations from that. If you are an American worker and your manufacturing job goes to a country in the developing world where someone is going to get paid one-fifth of what you're earning, then you have been in some fashion harmed by globalization.”

Ultimately it’s the globalization and information technology which has changed the business environment and made it more complicated. Cut-throat competition has become more intense and international presence has become a necessity.

A very interesting study in changing business environment in Indian context is in Indian aviation industry. Indian Air was monopoly in Indian aviation industry. But when government lifted the regulations, many private operators jumped into the industry. Competition became intense. But it did not stop there. A new player “Air Deccan” came up with a new strategy – “no frill” airline. The competition became intense and cut-throat. This is a real world example showing how business world can be unpredictable and competitive.

In conclusion, we must all remember that the need to grow drives the decision to transform and change. A business needs to grow; otherwise, it will die or become marginal.

Strategic Communications

2007-06-24T21:59:00.000+05:30

"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and essayist

I have often come across many situations where the supervisor fumes over the employee about a mistake that the employee has made. The supervisor claims that the employee did not follow his/her directions. But the truth is that almost all conflicts involve communication problem.

Rapid changes in business environment have affected the corporate communication strategy. Effective communication strategy has become a key strategic issue in corporate decision making. Whether an organization is trying to advertise its new product/services, to communicate its employees, stakeholders or to the clients, using an effective communication strategy is very crucial.

There are three basic elements of effective communication: setting an effective organization strategy, analyzing constituencies, and delivering messages appropriately.

The first step for an effective corporate communication strategy is to setting strategy such as determining objective, available resources, organization’s reputation in the society. Communication strategy differs depending on the objective. According to the objective organization must allocate resources such as money, human resources, time etc. Next step is to analyze constituencies to find out the target audiences, organization’s position in the target audience’s mind, and their attitude towards the subject of the communication. For example, if the company wants to advertise new product then it must select target audiences. Indian audiences prefer advertisements with song and dances rather than intellectual advertisements. The final step is to deliver the message. To do so the organization must select the appropriate communication channel (mass media, voice, written etc) structure the message carefully. Delivering message accurately is very important. If the message that is to be delivered is not properly conveyed than the result could be devastating. For example, Pesico India in an advertisement used Health and Family Welfare Minister of India for which the company had to apologize. Pepsico India Holdings Ltd. at that time had said the company meant no offence through the advertisement and had issued a statement stating

"we meant no offence with our advertisement. The directions of the Health Ministry are being complied with."

But major problem faced by organizations is in internal communication, mostly within employees leading to communication crisis. According to Perspective (a Sibson consulting publication): gaps in communication deliberate or not, are frequently a root cause of stagnant or poor performance. Three main challenges exist for companies seeking to resolve a communication crisis and boost performance:

1. To communicate effectively about company strategy below the top executive level.

2. To demonstrate the link between employee action and company performance.

3. To disseminate critical information consistently to all employee groups.

Implementing these fundamental communication strategies will help executives to mobilize their employees to achieve greater company performance.