Valuing Internal Communication; Management and Employee Perspectives

VALUING INTERNAL COMMUNICATION; MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE PERSPECTIVES

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Valuing internal communication; management and employee perspectives Kevin Ruck and Dr. Mary Welch, University of Central Lancashire, UK 

Author note Kevin Ruck, Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire; Dr. Mary Welch, Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire. Correspondence about this article should be addressed to Kevin Ruck, The PR  Academy, Maidstone Studios, Vinters Park, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 5NZ. Email: [email protected] 

Abstract

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In a review of 12 leading recent academic and consultancy studies it was found that there is no consistent approach to measuring internal communication. Underlying internal communication theory is not always applied and emerging theory is missing from many approaches to measurement. The emphasis is on process not content, reflecting a managerial not an employee perspective. There is a reliance on a quantitative research methodology and outdated survey instruments. A new conceptual model is explored as a framework for a new approach to measurement that reflects the linkages between internal communication and employee engagement. This is supplemented by consideration of how the use of internal social media impacts internal communication theory and measurement.

Introduction

The role of communication is becoming an increasingly important factor in the understanding of the value of  intangible organisational assets (Ritter, 2003 p. 50). Communication within organizations is linked to higher  levels of performance and service (Tourish & Hargie, 2009 pp. 10-15) generating communication capital (Malmelin, 2007 p. 298) and social capital (Lee, 2009), grounded in organisational relationships. It is therefore important for managers to be able to assess internal communication. Many well established tools developed in the 1970s are still used, such as the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), the ICA Audit, the Organizational Communication Development audit, and the Organizational Communication scale (P. G. Clampitt, 2009 pp. 58-61). Though managers have long recognised the importance of internal communication, it is often seen from the perspective of management rather than the employee. As Welch and Jackson (2007 p. 187) argue, “research into employee preferences for channel and content of internal corporate communication is required to ensure it meets employees’ needs”. needs”. This is echoed by Uusi-Rauva and Nurkka (2010 p. 303) who assert that “little research has focused on finding out what employees consider important in the internal “expert communication process”“. This paper is based on a review of twelve leading academic and consultancy studies representing 10,928 respondents. It argues that approaches to assessment are too narrowly focused on process, rather than content. Assessment tools are outdated, rooted in a positivist research philosophy, and take little account of employee

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Communication, organisational identification and engagement

Employee communication needs

Before examining the twelve studies, t his section explores the general approach to assessment of internal communication. Goldhaber et al., (1978 p. 82) found that an employee’s primary needs include, first, more information about personal, job-related matters, and then, information about organizational decision making and a greater opportunity to voice complaints and evaluate superiors. According to the consultancy, Towers Watson (2010, p. x), “Most firms do well at communicating about the business; however…less than half of firms report they are effective at communicating to employees regarding how their actions affect the customer or increase  productivity”. Towers Watson (2010) go on to report that internal communication messages are delivered either  centrally or locally and content differs as shown in table 1 below. Table 1

Towers Watson 2009/2010 Communication ROI Study Report. Messages delivered centrally Explaining and promoting new programs and

Messages delivered locally Helping employees understand the business

 policies Educating employees about organizational

Telling employees how their actions affect the

culture and values Providing information on organizational

customer  Integrating new employees into the

 performance and financial objectives Providing individuals with information about the

organization

true value of their total compensation package

However, there is no evidence in the report to suggest that these topics are the most important ones that employees expect managers to discuss. Furthermore, the conclusion that firms do well at communicating about the business is challenged by Truss et al., (2006 pp. 13-14) who found that 25 per cent of employees say that their manager rarely or never makes them feel their work counts. And only around half of all employees say that their manager usually or always “consults me on matters of importance” or “keeps me in touch with what is going on”. In general, 42 per cent of employees say that they are not kept very well informed about what is

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 personal, operational and strategic issues. Many of these are reflected in an audit of communication in a healthcare organisation, where the following top six topics were cited for “information needed” (Hargie and Tourish, 2009 p. 252) How problems that I report in my job are dealt with (3.8) How my job contributes to the organisation (3.6) How decisions that affect my job are reached (3.6) Things that go wrong in my organisation (3.5) Staff development opportunities (3.5) My performance in my job (3.5) Scale: 1 = very little: 2 = little: 3 = some: 4 = great: 5 = very great These results signify the importance of upward feedback and managers “closing the loop” of concerns raised. They also highlight an interest in “things that go wrong”, something that does not sit comfortably with a  journalistic, tell or sell approach that can be perceived as organisational propaganda.

The dominance of process and the individual

The general focus of internal communication audits tends not to be on content so much as process. For example, Tourish and Hargie (2009, p. 31) state that audits typically focus on who is communicating with whom, the issues that receive attention, the volume of information sent and received, levels of trust and the quality of  working relationships. Valuable as these perspectives are, this highlights the general starting point for internal communication audits and research; the m anagerial perspective on process rather than i ndividual employee expectations of content. In the review of studies conducted for this paper, little research could be found that specifically tackled what employees would like their organisation to communicate. As Chen et al., (2006 p. 242) argue, “A review of the research on organizational processes concluded that member satisfaction with organizational communication practices has been ignored”. D’Aprix (2006 p. 238) does place an emphasis on the employee perspective in his model of the employee questions that line managers must answer (see figure 1). This is similar to Robertson’s proposal (above) with a primary focus on the individual’s role at work. This is

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factors. This represents an individual, cognitive psychological, perspective on communication and engagement and underplays the pivotal role that social connection to and involvement with the wider organisation has for  engagement. It is not enough only to know where the organisation is heading, that is just a starting point. As Truss et al., (2006, p. 45) report, the three most important factors for engagement are much deeper: 1) having opportunities to feed your views upwards 2) feeling well informed about what is happening in the organisation, and 3) thinking that your manager is committed to your organization.

 Figure 1. D’Aprix’s (2006) employee communication model Furthermore, it could be argued that job responsibilities, performance feedback, and individual needs are purely hygiene factors for engagement; if they are not satisfactory then employees will be disengaged. If they are in  place, then social identification with the organization, reinforced by informed employee voice, is what leads to higher levels of engagement. This concept is explored in more detail in the following section.

Content and organisational identification

Miller (2009) suggests that the content of internal communication is dependent on the approach to management in the organisation. For example, in a classical organisation it is argued that “communication about task is very

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 preeminent relationships at work; one with the immediate supervisor, and one with the organization. Organizational identification, based on social identity theory, is the degree of oneness with the organisation and has been found to be associated with job satisfaction, job involvement, turnover intentions, and in role and extra-role performance. Leiter and Bakker (2010 p. 2) suggest that “Employees’ responses to organizational  policies, practices and structures affect their potential to experience engagement”. This is illustrated in a social identity theory approach to organisational identification adopted by Millward and Postmes (2010, p. 335) in a study of business managers in the UK. They reported that “The fact that identification with the superordinate grouping of “the organisation” was particularly relevant to performance is important for theoretical, empirical and pragmatic reasons”. This reinforces research by Wieseke (2009) that found the higher the level of  organisational identity of sales managers the greater the sales quota achievement. Furthermore, a lack of  organisational identification has, according to Knight and Haslam (2010, p. 721) been associated with increased stress and burnout, withdrawal, and sickness. These are powerful drivers for an organisation’s investment in what Welch and Jackson term “Internal Corporate Communication” (2007, p. 186) defined as “communication  between an organisation’s strategic managers and its internal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims”.

Corporate vision, values, image and identity

Although D’Aprix includes organizational vision, mission and values in his communication model, the detail of  the content in these categories requires deeper consideration For example, c orporate image and identity is not  prioritised in the literature on internal communication as it is often seen more as the realm of external communication. However, Cartwright and Holmes (2006 p. 200) 200) suggest that it “can matter a great deal to an an employee as it represents their assessment of what characteristics others are likely to ascribe to them because they work for a particular organization”. Holtzhausen and Fourie (2009p. 340) argue that “the non-visual elements of the corporate identity impact on employer-employee relationships and thus need special attention when managing employer-employee relationships”. Although employees are int erested in knowing about

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I think people didn't go . . . because the first one that [the chief executive] held was all financial. . . . It was all money, money, money, and it meant very little to a lot of people. He wasn't talking about realities. He was talking about fiscal policies. . . . Sluss et al., (2008, p. 458) suggest that, in terms of values, perceived organisational support is a key factor. This is defined as the subordinate’s perception of the extent that ‘‘their work organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being”. It is especially important as many more people today “ are seeking a greater  sense of meaning and purpose in their extending working lives” (Cartwright & Holmes, 2006 p. 200).

Review of approaches to assessment

Shortcomings in establishing theory in internal communication have often led to a predominance of the assessment of channels used, or volume of information generated (the what); essentially process explanations rather than the content of the communication itself, how well it is provided, or  understanding . The well established International Communication Association (ICA) survey is a comprehensive approach made up of  eight main sections. In an adapted version set out by Hargie and Tourish (2009, pp.420-437) one of the sections explores content and another channels, four are more generally about processes and volumes of information sent and received and two can be tailored to specific organisational issues. The range of content topics is mainly job related; pay, performance, promotion, development, with only one question in the set related to wider  organisational goals. Respondents use a five point Likert scale to rate the topics according to the how much information is provided. The balance of job related questions and organisational related questions is skewed

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appropriateness of the medium used. It also fails to address questions of credibility of the information provided and how far it led to two-way dialogue. Another well established survey, the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) takes a different approach to the ICA and focuses on primary dimensions of communication satisfaction that include: general organizational perspective, organizational integration, personal feedback, relation with supervisor, horizontalinformal communication, relation with subordinates, media quality, and communication climate (Downs & Hazen, 1977). This focuses mainly on information specific to an individual but also includes some wider  organisational aspects, such as clarity of communication and openness to ideas (Pincus, 1986 p. 399). It is grounded more in general satisfaction than volume of information. The findings of the studies that have used the CSQ indicate that the areas of greatest employee satisfaction are the supervisory communication and subordinate communication, while the area of least satisfaction tends to be the personal feedback factor (P. Clampitt & Downs, 1993). The shortcomings of the CSQ are, according to Clampitt (2009 p. 58) the omission of top management communication and decision-making. Other surveys often explore preferences for channels and as White et al., (2010, p. 78) explain, e-mails are appropriate for quick notices and updates, printed paper  signifies importance, and web sites are archives for retrieval-as-needed information. However, interpersonal, dialogic communication remains important to employees at every level of the organization. Review of twelve leading studies

An analysis of twelve recent leading academic and consultancy studies of internal communication is provided in table 2 below. What emerges from this analysis is a disjointed picture of the assessment of internal communication. Despite the existence of well established tools, these are not always used. Consultants and academics use different question sets and approach the topic from different perspectives. This analysis reveals

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 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. It would be more meaningful to work towards assessments that reflect a combination of positivist and interpretivist approaches in the future. Table 2

 Review of approaches to internal communication and engagement assessment  Source Towers Watson

Content Understanding the business

Channels Social media – less than half of 

(2010)

60% effectiveness

respondents are using this channel

Organisational performance and

Electronic communication – substantial

328 organizations that

financial objectives

increase in use

collectively represent

56% effectiveness

Face to face communication – significant

5 million employees

Rewards (health care, bonus, pension,

increase in use

in various regions

 pay) 45% effectiveness

Print – increase in use in some areas but

around the world.

Actions affecting customer

significant decline in other areas

45% effectiveness Job security

IABC Research

24% provide no information on this topic Formal list of values or description of 

Frequently used channels, ranked in

Foundation

the desired culture published – 74%

order

and Buck 

Involve senior leadership in orientation

Emails (83%)

Consultants

programs to transmit vision, values,

Intranet (75%)

Employee

and culture – 54%

Face-to-face meetings (54%)

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Business television (8%) Home mailings (5%)

Even when respondents said they had

Podcasts (4%) Employees who were most satisfied with

sufficient information to perform

internal communication were those

147 interviews

their job and sufficient information about

who received information from a variety of 

conducted in a large,

 policies and goals of the

sources, including interpersonal

multicampus,

organization, organization, they still wanted

channels. Despite the convenience of e-

geographically

information about administrative

mails, a high value was placed on

dispersed university

decisions, budgets,

face-to-face communication, even though

in US.

 personnel decisions, pending changes,

many employees noted that meetings are

Melcrum Social

goals, and future directions, etc.  Not assessed.

time-consuming. Newsletters and emails

White et al., (2010)

Media Survey (2010)

68.8 per cent of leaders use online

More than 2,600

newsletters and companywide emails to get

internal

messages out to their staff.

communication  professional

Online video was chosen as the most

respondents; 1,800

 popular "social media" tool with 52.6 per 

from organisations

cent, with blogs (51.9 per cent – 

with more than

respondents were told they could tick all the

500 employees.

tools that applied to their use of social media), instant messaging (47 per cent) and social networks, including Twitter,

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subjects. CIPD (2009)

Employees are most likely to say their 

A representative

managers rarely/never coach them on the

sample of more than

 job (44%); this is particularly the case

3,000 people in

with larger organisations. They are also

employment in the

more likely to say their managers

UK.

rarely/never rarely/never discuss their training and

requires face-to-face settings either.  Not assessed.

development needs (35%) nor provide them with feedback on their performance (26%). More than one in five (26%) are either  dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the opportunities opportunities that exist within their 

Al-Ghamdi et al.,

(2007)

organisation to feed their views upwards.  Not specifically assessed.

The eight highest rated methods used by

employees to learn about their  firm’s strategy were:

187 responses from

(1) Plant Manager meetings

employees in one

(2) Group meetings conducted by

company based in

employee’s immediate supervisor 

Riyadh and Jeddah.

(3) Employees’ immediate supervisor  (4) Information placed on bulletin boards,  posters, and signs in the plant (5) E-mail

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vision Well informed about organisation

42% say they are not well informed Voice

37% satisfied with opportunities for 

Byrne and LeMay

upward feedback  Information

Lean/Rich media

Satisfaction of company wide information

Satisfaction with lean media 3.43

(2006)

598 fulltime

3.2

employees from the

Satisfaction of business unit information

US based offices of a

3.05

high technology

Satisfaction of job information

Response scale of (1) strongly disagree to

oriented organization,

3.37

(5) strongly agree

using an adaptation of  the International

Response scale of (1) strongly disagree to

Communication

(5) strongly agree

Association (ICA)

Satisfaction with rich media 3.76

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VALUING INTERNAL COMMUNICATION; MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE PERSPECTIVES

 per cent) and

13

workers/traditional workers

traditional office workers returned 22 surveys (a response rate of 62.8 per cent). Clampitt and Downs

Communication Satisfaction

(2004)

Questionnaire (CSQ)

Around 1300 people

Supervisor communication – 34.18

from organisations in

Subordinate communication – 33.43

different countries.

Horizontal communication – 31.81

 Not assessed.

Organizational integration – 29.62 Media quality – 29.17 Communication climate – 26.56 Corporate information – 26.35 Personal feedback – 23.99

Quinn and Hargie

Scale of 0-50, (50 is max satisfaction) ICA questionnaire

ICA questionnaire

(2004)

Information - respondents thought they

Information received through various

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understanding the business strategy, values and goals, 60% of employees understand where the organisation is headed, though this is undermined by senior manager clarity (48%) and minimal senior management involvement in telling the story (54%). Most concerning is the very low (30%) level of consistency in behaviour  to match values. At an individual level, 30% of employees do not have any discussion about performance at all,  job information satisfaction is around 67%, and personal feedback satisfaction ranges from 48% to 58%. Satisfaction with opportunities for upward feedback varies in the two studies highlighted, nevertheless it is clear  that at best there is still a large number of employees who are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with this (26%). Taking the three key drivers for employee engagement highlighted earlier; feeling well informed, line manager  commitment, and employee voice, it is not surprising that given the data summarised here that engagement levels are often stubbornly low, around 35% according to Truss et al., (2006, p. xi). In terms of new and social media, it is clear that electronic communication is replacing print, though use of social media is still at an embryonic stage with less than half of organisations using it at best. Finally, questions about satisfaction with content are rarely asked and it is worth noting that employees do, naturally, expect channels to be used appropriately for the information provided.

Table 3

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Satisfaction with feedback on

30% performance not discussed (Truss et al.), 44% of managers rarely/never 

performance

coach employees (CIPD), satisfaction of job information 3.37 (out of 5, Byrne and LeMay), personal feedback 3.38/2.92 (out of 5, virtual worker/traditional worker) (Akkirman), personal feedback  23.99 (out of 50,

Content

Clampitt and Downs). Timely, clear, accurate, credible, pertinent, responsible, concise, professional, and sincere, but communication should be delivered in a responsible format given its content (Marques), main shortfalls are: self development opportunities; major management decisions; development and changes in policing; things that

Channels, new and social

go wrong in the organisation (Quinn and Hargie). Lean media; 3.43 out of 5, rich media; 3.76 (out of 5, Quinn and Hargie), email

media

83%, intranet 75%, social media 12% (IABC), email/online news 68.8%, online video most popular social media tool (Melcrum), general increase in use of  electronic channels, though less than 50% using social media tools (TowersWatson).

Linking assessment to theory

Hargie and Tourish (2009, pp. 235-6) highlight recurring themes in the communication literature as:

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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 et al.2006). So, there are gaps at both the theoretical and practice levels. If an audit or assessment is conducted to obtain an accurate, objective, picture of the state of internal communication, then it is clearly important to understand what an ideal state is. Downs and Adrian 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 auditors need to call upon a range of theory, then emerging public relations theories such as critical theory, the excellence theory of public relations and rhetorical theory (Toth, 2009) could be incorporated much more into internal communication theory. As yet, these approaches are under-explored and could be a rich vein of  research. Many of these theories point to a new direction in assessment based more on bridging than buffering, where bridging where bridging is about relationships with stakeholders, rather than a set of messaging activities designed to  buffer the organisation from them (Grunig, 2009, p. 9). As the assessments reviewed in table 2 indicate, the

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Medium theory and internal social media

Information richness and new media ages

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

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activism, democracy, and quality. Poster’s approach is related to external communication. Could it equally apply to the world of internal communication where there is usually usually more control over channels? If so, assessment approaches need to add these dimensions as t hey are missing from most current instruments. 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 pp.4-5) argue that the benefits of social networking can be classified into three broad categories: (1) Community. Interaciont with people who share your interests and passions; (2) Collaboration. Connection to people, expertise and resources in search of solutions that cannot be created with any one of those ingredients alone; (3) Contribution. Capabilities to make it easier for customers or citizens to

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contingency in communication theory, “Communication theory begins with a recognition of necessary selfreflexivity, 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. Conclusion

An analysis of the studies reviewed in this paper suggests that levels of satisfaction with internal communication are around the 50 to mid 60 percentage range. Understanding of organizational strategy is around 60 per cent.

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References

Akkirman, A., & Harris, D. (2005). Organizational communication satisfaction in the virtual workplace. Journal of Management Development, 24 (5), 397-409. Al-Ghamdi, S., Roy, M., & Ahmed, Z. (2007). How employees learn about corporate strategy: An empirical analysis of a Saudi manufacturing company. Cross Cultural  Management: Management: An International International Journal, 14 (4), 273-285. Bennett, J., Owers, M., Pitt, M., & Tucker, M. (2010). Workplace impact of social networking. Property Management, 28 (3), 138-148. Byrne, Z., & LeMay, E. (2006). Different media for organizational communication: Perceptions of quality and satisfaction. Journal of Business and Psychology, 21 (2), 149-173. Cartwright, S., & Holmes, N. (2006). The meaning of work: The challenge of regaining employee engagement and reducing cynicism.  Human Resource Management  (2), 199-208.  Review, 16 (2), Chen, J., Silverthorne, C., & Hung, J. (2006). Organization communication, job stress, organizational commitment, and job performance of accounting professionals in

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Hargie, O., & Tourish, D. (Eds.). ( Eds.). (2009).  Auditing Organizational Communication. London: Routledge. Holtzhausen, L., & Fourie, L. (2009). Employees' perceptions of company values and objectives and employer-employee relationships: A theoretical model. Corporate communications: An International Journal, 14 (3), 333-344. IABC. (2010). IABC Research Foundation and Buck Consultants Employee Engagement  Survey, June 2010 Survey Results . Knight, C., & Haslam, S. (2010). Your Place or Mine? Organizational Identification and

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Truss, C., Soane, E., Edwards, C., Wisdom, K., Croll, A., & Burnett, J. (2006). Working Life:  Employee Attitudes and Engagement 2006  (No. 9781843981794 (pbk.) 1843981793 (pbk.) : No price). London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Uusi-Rauva, C., & Nurkka, J. (2010). Effective internal environment-related communication: An employee perspective. Corporate communications: An International Journal, 15(3), 299-314. Welch, M., & Jackson, P. R. (2007). Rethinking internal communication: a stakeholder  approach. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 12 (2), 177-198.