Internal Relations and Employee Communication

Public relations deals with the relationships among organizations and all types of publics on whom organizational success or failure depends. You may think of public relations as communicating with external publics. However, the internal publics—employees—are any organization’s most important publics. One writer went further, asserting that companies today “realize employees aren’t ‘just another audience’—they are the company.”2 

This chapter discusses how public relations contributes to effective communication within an organization, also referred to as “internal relations.” Communication inside an organization is arguably even more important than external communication, because the organization has to function effectively in attaining its goals in order to survive. In short, “timely, complete, and accurate corporate communication and face-to-face managerial communication can help to secure employee action in favor of company goals.

Internal relations means building and maintaining relationships with all the publics inside an organization, including production line workers, managers and supervisors, administrative staff, and facilities and maintenance support, to name but a few. For example, a former CEO of General Motors (GM) identified internal communication as a “top three priority” because it is so vital to organizational success.4 As one practitioner put it, “an organization’s most important audience is, has been and always will be its employees.”5 Another explained: “When your employees aren’t advocating for you, you’re in trouble. There’s no amount of advertising to overcome someone saying, ‘I work at that hospital and it’s got problems.’ ”6 

For example, an employee from Domino’s Pizza prepared sandwiches using cheese that he had put up his nose, while his colleague filmed the prank in a video that they later posted to YouTube. This incident not only violated health-code standards and disgusted customers— it also demonstrated how two employees at a single location could bring major damage to a national corporation’s reputation.7 

The first part of this chapter discusses how organizational culture and worldviews are important concepts for internal relations and the cultural contexts in which employee communication takes place. The second section addresses some of the problems and challenges faced in internal relations, including the regulatory and business contexts in which employee communication takes place. The chapter concludes with a review of some commonly employed means by which public relations practitioners conduct internal relations—in particular, the nonmediated and mediated contexts for employee communication.

Importance of Internal Relations 

An organization’s most important relationships are those with employees at all levels. The terms internal publics and employee publics refer to both managers and the people being supervised. These publics represent an organization’s greatest resource—its people. According to Alvie Smith, former director of corporate communications at General Motors, two factors are changing internal communication with employees and enhancing management’s respect for this part of the public relations function:

1. The value of understanding, teamwork, and commitment by employees in achieving bottom-line results. These positive aspects of worker behavior are strongly influenced by effective, way-of-life interactive communications throughout the organization. 

2. The need to build a strong manager communication network, one that makes every supervisor at every level accountable for communicating effectively with his or her employees. This needs to be more than just job-related information and should include key business and public issues affecting the total organization.8 [Emphasis added.]

Organizations miss out on a sizable share of their human resource potential because they do not put a high priority on effective, two-way communication—the foundation for management–employee relations and overall job performance. Smith calls the consequence “slothing on the job”:

The ugly truth is that employee disloyalty and lack of commitment to organizational goals may be costing American businesses more than $50 billion a year. . .the cost of absenteeism, labor grievances, production interruptions, poor quality, repair and warranty expenses. Perhaps most costly of all is inaction by employees who withhold their best efforts and ideas; who cruise along with just passable performance.

The coordination and mediation necessary for dealing with employees today put the public relations staff, with its communication knowledge and skills, square in the middle of managing internal relationships. For example, former Delta Air Lines chairman and CEO Ronald W. Allen, who rose through the ranks by running departments such as human resources and training, saw his primary job as cultivating a motivated and loyal workforce.10

Day-to-day working relationships involve a great deal of contact, but effective employee communication develops in a climate of trust and honesty.11 Ideally, working relationships are characterized by at least seven conditions:

1. Confidence and trust between employer and employees 

2. Honest, candid information flowing freely up, down, and sideways in the organization 

3. Satisfying status and participation for each person 

4. Continuity of work without strife 

5. Healthy or safe surroundings 

6. Success for the enterprise 

7. Optimism about the future  

The chief executive must establish this culture and endorse it as formal policy. Even with such support from the top, however, many barriers stand in the way of free-flowing, two-way communication in organizations.

Opinion Research Corporation has tracked employee opinions of organizational internal communication since 1950. Large majorities consistently give their organizations favorable scores on credibility, but fewer than half say their organizations do a good job of “letting them know what is going on,” or downward communication (management to employee). Less than half also give high marks to their organization’s willingness to “listen to their views,” or upward communication (employee to management). Face-to-face communication with an “open-door policy” is the primary medium for encouraging upward, two-way communication and for building good working relationships with employees.

Balancing the needs for employee satisfaction with the success of the enterprise is but one aspect of the continuous adjustment and reconciliation in employer–employee relationships— especially in multicultural settings. As a part of the larger public relations function, however, the goal of internal relations is to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the employees on whom its success or failure depends.

Cultural Contexts 

Understanding the internal communication of any organization requires analysis of the culture of that organization. Some who study organizational culture define it as the shared meanings and assumptions of group members.12 Others focus on culture as a common values system or the behavioral norms in the organization.13 Organizational culture is an important consideration because it has a significant impact on the model of public relations an organization practices and on the internal communications that follow. Experts note that a poor cultural fit can make even highly qualified employees ineffective on the job.

Organizational culture is the sum total of shared values, symbols, meanings, beliefs, assumptions, and expectations that organize and integrate a group of people who work together.

The culture of an organization is often what defines it as different from other organizations, and—if managed properly—can be a valuable asset in building cohesion and teamwork inside the organization, resulting in organizational effectiveness—reaching its goals. Organizational culture defines the values and norms used by decision makers in an organization. Worldviews and organizational culture define the range of responses preferred in any given situation. Although it is often unspoken, organizational culture is a powerful influence on individual behaviors within an organization.

Dimensions of Culture Dimensions of culture are ways in which culture can be classified and explained. One of the most well-known studies of various cultural dimensions was conducted by Geert Hofstede.16 Although Hofstede’s work focused on national cultures, the dimensions that he articulated can be applied to organizational cultures as well, because organizations often reflect the national cultures in which they operate. The first dimension of culture articulated by Hofstede is the concept of power-distance, which is the extent to which people see inequities as natural and unchangeable. An organization with high power-distance is one in which managers and employees see themselves as inherently different from each other. Employees respect managers simply because of the position they hold within the organization, and promotion from the lower employee levels to the managerial levels would be unusual. In contrast, a low power-distance organization is one in which managers and employees see each other as equals, despite their different positions within the organization. In these organizations, there are no special bathrooms for high-level managers or different dining areas in the company cafeteria for workers of different positions. For the public relations practitioner charged with communicating internally, the powerdistance dimension suggests how organizational messages should be disseminated. In a high power-distance organization, communication might emphasize the power and authority of the top manager giving the information. For example, in South Korea, which has high powerdistance in both its corporate and national cultures, there is high social distance between managers and employees, and managers can control the organization’s communication system without “interference” from employees.17 In contrast, in a low power-distance organization, information might be better received if the manager emphasized similarities between himself or herself and the employees in terms of goals, values, or concerns. For example, many corporations in the United States, a traditionally low powerdistance country, have instituted company blogs in which employees interact directly with CEOs, speaking to them as social equals, asking them hard questions, and expecting timely answers.18 Hofstede’s second dimension of culture is individualism, or the extent to which people put their own individual needs ahead of the needs of the group. Organizations with strong individualistic cultures reward employees on the basis of their personal achievements, and there is competition among employees to gain that individual recognition. On the other hand, organizations weak in individualism are strong in collectivism, emphasizing the needs and accomplishments of teams of employees and focusing on the goals of the group instead of the goals of the individual. For employee communication messages, the public relations practitioner in a highly individualistic culture might emphasize the actions that employees can take as individuals in order to accomplish something, say, a successful recycling program. In a more collectivist culture, public relations messages might instead focus on how recycling is a team responsibility that benefits everyone in the organization. As another example, in one study of an international public relations firm, employees from cultures high in individualism preferred less standardization of their work activities.19 In other words, they wanted to do their jobs their own way. Third, Hofstede identified uncertainty avoidance as a cultural dimension that explains the extent to which people prefer organizational communication and structures that reduce their social anxiety. In companies with high uncertainty avoidance, employees tend to prefer “clear requirements and instructions,” to follow organizational rules, to take fewer risks, and to demonstrate more loyalty to the employer.20 In a low uncertainty avoidance culture, people feel more tolerant of ambiguous situations, have lower resistance to change, and show greater interest in taking risks. Organizations with low uncertainty avoidance are more likely to engage in twoway public relations activities; in other words, they do not feel threatened by input from their environment.21 Finally, Hofstede’s fourth dimension of culture, which he called masculinity, describes behaviors that are traditionally (or stereotypically) “masculine,” such as aggressiveness and independence. An organization that is high in masculinity rewards competitiveness and initiative. On the other hand, an organization that is low in masculinity rewards nurturing and cooperation, that is, traditionally or stereotypically “feminine” characteristics. For the public relations practitioner, employee communication must reflect organizational values to be effective, and this dimension of culture offers one way to characterize those values. Thus, in an organization with high masculinity, an employee communication program to encourage production might offer a competition between individuals or departments. In an organization with low masculinity, the same employee communication program might point out how increasing the production rate enhances or nurtures employees’ sense of self-esteem. Applying Systems Theory to Internal Relations Chapter 7 outlined the ecological approach to public relations and how organizations can be relatively open or closed systems. This approach applies as well to internal communication as it does to external communication. To review, open systems are organizations that receive input from the environment and adjust themselves in response to that input. Closed systems are organizations that do not receive input from the environment; as a result, they are less likely to be able to adapt to environmental changes. For internal communication, whether an organization is open or closed is related to its “worldview,” or the basic value and belief system prevalent in an organization. Generally, the worldview of the organizational leadership, that is, the dominant coalition (see Chapter 3), shapes the worldview of the organization as a whole through internal communication. Public relations researchers have identified two primary types of worldviews: symmetrical and asymmetrical.22 An asymmetrical worldview is one in which an organization’s goal is to get what it wants without having to change the way it does business internally. This worldview focuses almost exclusively on the goals of the organization, and the culture is to resist change, much like the culture of a closed system. In an asymmetrical worldview, power in decision making tends to remain on the side of the organization and is not shared with publics. A symmetrical worldview incorporates the ideas of negotiation, conflict resolution, and compromise in an organization’s operating procedures. The organization is not only selforiented, but also oriented on satisfying the interests of strategic publics. Therefore, desires and goals are set in a shared fashion by incorporating some of what the publics want. Change occurs on both sides of the relationship—a give-and-take on behalf of both the organization and its publics. Change may not always be balanced in every instance, but both the organization and its publics are open to adopting or adapting to the views of the other through dialogue and negotiation. In other words, an organization with a symmetrical worldview tends to function as an open system. Symmetrical and asymmetrical worldviews produce different organizational cultures— authoritarian and participative. These two organizational cultures have direct and indirect effects on the nature and flow of internal communication in the organization. Authoritarian Organizational Culture An authoritarian organizational culture arises from an asymmetrical worldview. In this type of culture, communication processes are structured and formalized within a decision-making hierarchy. Military organizations typically are examples of authoritarian organizational cultures. In authoritarian organizational cultures, decisions are made at the top levels of the organization and implemented by those at lower levels. Decision making is centralized at the highest level of the organization, and input is typically not sought from middle- and lower-level employees. An authoritarian organizational culture usually stresses individual accountability for an area of limited scope, and organizational departments are independent, rather than interdependent. Authoritarian cultures are often based on the idea of a “mechanistic” or “mechanical” organizational structure, in which tasks are routinized and there is a high division of labor. For example, at Amazon.com, one employee is responsible for sealing and labeling boxes as they roll off the stocking line, while another employee stacks the boxes in the warehouse where they wait to be shipped. There is little role for dialogue or feedback in an authoritarian organizational culture, because the input of employees is not seen as vital in management.23 Communication in authoritarian cultures, therefore, takes on the form of disseminating the ideas and goals decided by upper management to various internal employee publics, such as midlevel and lower-level management, administrative and support staff, supervisors, skilled laborers, and unskilled laborers. This means that communication is generally one-sided—or asymmetrical—in that management directs employees, but little communication flows from employees back to management. Furthermore, what little communication does flow from employees to management is unlikely to result in the managers’ changing their minds to accommodate employee concerns. Efficiency is valued over innovation in many authoritarian cultures due to the emphasis on uniform output of a product or standardized provision of a service. Authoritarian cultures, like other closed systems, tend to resist change. Input from publics is viewed as a threat to authority rather than as an opportunity for change. These organizations also resist sharing power with “outsiders.” Even internal publics face recalcitrant management in an authoritarian culture, leading to high employee turnover and lower levels of job satisfaction than reported in other types of organizational cultures. Participative Organizational Culture Participative organizational cultures are based on a symmetrical worldview that values dialogue and the exchange of input between the organization and its publics. Teamwork is valued, and emphasis is placed on the collective rather than the individual, meaning that the organization and employees share goals. A participative organizational culture values innovation and seeks input from employees and other stakeholder groups to ensure a thorough analysis of decisions and policy. Organizational departments are often integrated or multifunctional and emphasize open communication across different departments.24 A participative organizational culture values information and seeks input from internal publics; in other words, it functions as an open system with respect to employees, their opinions, and their concerns. Feedback and upward communication allow employees and those at lower levels of an organization to have a voice in management decision making. Feedback is encouraged and sought; furthermore, feedback is taken seriously and can lead to organizational change. In the language of systems theory (see Chapter 7), the organization engages in morphogenesis to maintain homeostasis. This type of culture is organic, as opposed to mechanistic, as parts of the team work together in an environment that encourages and rewards innovation. In participative organizational cultures, decisions are made in a decentralized manner— across varying levels of the organization—and implemented by those who hold responsibility over a specific area. Innovative ideas can come from any level of the organization, from the manufacturing line to top management, or from the person who fills potholes in city streets to the head of the city street department. Feedback at all levels of the organization is sought and valued. One effect of a participative organizational culture is increased teamwork and higher value placed on employees at all levels. At one company, the CEO established an employee advisory board to advise management on ways to be more environmentally friendly. Employees were eager to join the board, and many of its recommendations to help the company “go green” were implemented. According to the CEO, “employees will always be happier in an environment where they feel that they are being listened to and that their opinions count.”25 In short, whether described using Hofstede’s dimensions of culture or organizational worldviews, organizational culture has significant impact on internal relations and employee communication. Efforts to communicate with employees can only be successful when they account for and work with an organization’s culture and worldviews. (See Exhibit 9.1 for one approach to accounting for cultural factors in multinational organizations.) 

Regulatory and Business Contexts Internal relations involves more than communicating with employee publics in isolation; there are legal and business realities in which and about which employee communication takes place. Safety and Compliance Every organization must comply with the governing standards of the country in which it operates, even if the organization operates locations in many nations. The different standards for each country must be followed, or the organization can face severe penalties and fines from regulators. Internal relations specialists work hard at making sure the standards of each country are known and communicated internally in a global organization with locations around the world. Saying “that isn’t the way things are done in our home country” holds no weight with foreign governments, and Suman Lee, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University In the global economy, multinational companies usually include two or more cultures under a single corporate umbrella. Each cultural group has its own cognitive, affective, and behavioral characteristics. As a result, multinational companies face unique challenges, and sometimes more serious manager–worker relationship problems, than do companies operating in their home settings. For example, misconceptions led by  cultural differences can interfere with the integration of new workers and cause higher turnover. In this regard, effective communication and mutually beneficial relationships between culturally diverse managers and workers serve as significant indicators of successful operation of multinational companies. Co-acculturation is a theoretical model for examining relationships between managers and workers in a multinational organization. Co-acculturation is defined as simultaneous orientation toward each other and toward aspects of each other’s culture. Co-acculturation expands upon concepts derived from acculturation theory and the coorientation model (see Chapter 8). Co-acculturation is not one individual’s or one group’s acculturation to a fixed and given host culture, such as when immigrants and international students “acculturate” to a host country’s culture. Rather, it represents mutual and relational acculturation between two or more cultural groups. For example, Samsung Tijuana Park is a manufacturing plant in Mexico comprising expatriated Korean managers and resident Mexican workers. In this organizational setting, both Koreans and Mexicans simultaneously acculturate to each other’s cultures. Examining relationships in the co-acculturation paradigm requires three key measures: agreement, congruency, and accuracy. Exhibit 9.1 Co-acculturation in Multinational Organizations Agreement Expatriated managers’ view of cultural aspects Expatriated managers’ estimate of resident workers’ views Resident workers’ view of cultural aspects Resident workers’ estimate of expatriated managers’ views Congruency Accuracy Congruency Co-acculturation agreement is the comparison of one cultural group’s view with the views held by the other group toward the same behavioral artifacts of culture. It represents the degree to which the cultural groups share the similar evaluations of the cultural artifacts. Co-acculturation congruency is the comparison of one’s own view on cultural aspects with his or her estimates of the other cultural group’s view on the same topic. Co-acculturation accuracy is the degree to which members of different cultural groups estimate the other group’s perceptions correctly. Improving co-acculturation agreement, congruency, and accuracy can be a common goal for employee communication programs. This co-acculturation framework can be applied to other cultural settings, such as an organization with multiple organizational cultures undergoing merger or acquisition, as well as an organization with diverse employee compositions beyond nationality. To some extent, public relations practitioners function as cultural messengers within and outside an organization. As globalization makes work settings much more culturally diverse (see Chapter 2), it will become the bigger challenge for public relations practitioners to facilitate communication within an organization. Co-acculturation provides a paradigm for understanding this challenge. Courtesy Suman Lee, Ph.D. Chapter 9 • Internal Relations and Employee Communication 219 their regulations can vary tremendously from an organization’s “standard operating procedure” at home. Every country has the equivalent of taxes, labor laws that govern workers, operational laws that govern workplace safety, and environmental laws concerning waste and transportation of materials. These laws are in addition to what the organization must handle externally, such as import and export regulations, competition, and other civil and criminal laws. Internal relations staff also educates employees about compliance with government regulations. Employees need to understand the rules under which they are required to operate in order to maximize their own safety. In the United States, one primary responsibility of the internal relations function is to communicate Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) worker safety standards required by the government. The U.S. Department of Labor requires organizations to hang posters in the workplace that list federal, state, and OSHA standards. These posters, which are usually displayed on bulletin boards or near time clocks or lockers, include topics such as minimum wage, safety standards, hand washing, and wearing protective equipment. OSHA governs everything from requiring hard hats in construction areas to the quality of air in office buildings. For example, OSHA regulates work conditions and safety of those handling the printing chemicals used to produce this book. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is another U.S. government agency that regulates disposal and transportation of goods, especially those deemed hazardous in nature, such as petroleum products, industrial chemicals such as DMSO or benzene, or pesticides. Many hazardous chemicals are used in manufacturing, so they must be produced at a chemical plant, are transported to the manufacturing site, and are eventually discarded after use. For example, textile dying and manufacturing plants often have large, concrete “settling ponds” in which used dyestuff is treated to decompose over time into biodegradable sediment. Or, Dow Chemical uses benzene, a highly poisonous solvent if airborne, and must maintain sensitive benzene monitors and alarms throughout its facility in case of accidental leaks. The EPA regulates sites such as these, and many others, for environmental safety compliance. So, in many organizations, another important task of internal relations provides communication support to ensure that environmental regulations and worker safety standards are maintained. Responsible internal communication about these issues can be a matter of life and death and can help prevent the accidents and violations that damage organizational reputations. Labor Relations Another significant task of internal relations is interacting with hourly employees, some of whom belong to labor unions. The relationship with labor is a vital relationship on which the success or failure of the organization literally depends. This relationship cannot—and should not—be taken for granted. Maintenance of the relationship with labor constitutes a large part of an internal relations specialist’s work, especially in organizations with a “unionized shop.” There is an inherent and undeniable tension between the roles of management and labor. This tension is the basis for many schools of thought in sociology and economics, in which labor and management are seen as adversaries locked in an eternal battle between the “haves” and the “have nots.” Out of this socioeconomic theory arises the tension that exists in everyday relations with labor. There is a core value that labor enacts work and management controls work. Controlling resource allocations—money and number of jobs—is a main function of management, but workers would also like a voice in this process, and that is where internal relations comes into play. Relationships with unionized workers and their unions must be attended to continually, and internal relations specialists facilitate and help maintain those relationships. Some assume that human resources (HR) is in charge of this organizational function, but the role of HR typically is limited to hiring, firing, training, and benefits. If a union is thinking of striking, it is the public relations function in management (usually the internal relations specialist) who first learns of the discontent. It is also the responsibility of internal relations to communicate about matters of dissension and try to find ways to resolve labor–management relationship problems. 220 Part II • Foundations Although unions often draw much attention, the savvy internal relations manager accords just as much time and attention to communicating with nonunionized labor. (See Chapter 6 for legal considerations in labor–management communication.) Organizational Change: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Layoffs Internal communication specialists have important strategic responsibilities during organizational change. Communication during periods of change and uncertainty is more than just “hand-holding,” as it plays an important role in helping employees cope with uncertainty and adjust to change (see Exhibit 9.2). In situations such as a merger or acquisition, internal publics of all levels immediately have a need for communication about the future of their position in the organization. These situations tend to produce anxiety, especially for those not involved in the discussions and decisions that led to organizational change. The role of internal relations should be to guide the merger or acquisition communication with internal publics in a forthright and expedient manner, dealing with all questions and uncertainties honestly. Often, if employees know that a decision is still under consideration, their anxiety will be less than if they know nothing at all. Again, “We are still working that out” is a better answer than “No comment.” Publics with a high level of involvement in the organization will have a greater need for information in times of uncertainty than in normal times, and internal relations should respond immediately and proactively. For example, a sharp drop in stock prices can cause both employees and investors to become concerned and to want accurate information rapidly. This information must be truthful. In the Enron case, top executives were selling their own stock while assuring employees that the company was not losing value. This is an abhorrent example of allowing circumstances to dominate truth—rather than allowing truth to decide circumstances. It is the responsibility of the internal relations manager to be honest and forthcoming with information to internal publics, even when it means pushing recalcitrant top management to do the right thing. During reorganizations and layoffs, the responsible organization responds by helping employees to the greatest extent that it can. For instance, when a manufacturing site is to move, the company could pay to relocate employees to the new location or provide them with job search assistance and retraining. This is how Johnson & Johnson responded when the company sold a surgical scrubs facility that had employed many mentally challenged persons in garment folding and packing. The company worked with the buyer to make sure that this community outreach initiative was continued and then helped place some of the displaced workers in other Johnson & Johnson facilities. Communicating Internally Employee communication serves several purposes. First, internal communication is meant to acculturate employees or to get them to understand and internalize the organization’s culture and values. Second, internal communication serves as a way to inform employees of organizational developments, happenings, and news. Third, internal communication is a way for the organization to listen to its employees, to hear employees’ concerns and questions. Finally, employee-to-employee communication is desired within organizations. All of these purposes can be served in any of a variety of ways, and new technology increasingly affects the manner in which employee communication occurs. Acculturating Employees Efforts to acculturate employees start from the moment a new person is hired. Usually, no distinction is made between information about organizational culture that is provided to internal and external publics. This congruence of internal and external messaging has two benefits. First, it ensures that employees get the same information about organizational culture as everyone else. Second, it helps to attract new employees who already believe in the organization’s culture and values. Organizational culture is often articulated in vision statements, mission statements, policy documents, ethics statements, and training manuals. Vision Statements Vision statements provide an overview of organizational goals in the broadest sense. Although mission statements are better known, vision statements are the starting point for developing a more specific organizational mission. The terms mission statement and vision statement are closely related; however, there are basic differences between the two concepts. The vision statement represents a future goal that outlines general priorities for where the organization is headed. An effective vision statement answers the basic questions: “Why does this organization exist?” and “What would we like to accomplish?” A shared vision is an integral part of the culture of an organization and is communicated through internal relations. If employees share a common vision and clearly defined goals, the organization can make more 222 Part II • Foundations strategic and effective decisions than they can without a clear vision. A vision statement spells out the future goal of an organization. Vision statements are important tools of internal relations, particularly for helping manage reactions to changes in the environment. A well-planned vision statement gives employees an idea of what the organization will strive for in the future, the values it holds, and the areas of the business that will be of most strategic importance—ranging from strategies as diverse as research and development of new products to maintaining market share or developing relationships with new distributors. A vision statement is usually created at the highest level of the organization by the CEO or other members of the dominant coalition. One danger here is that creating a vision statement in the top level of the organization alone misses the opportunity to engage internal publics in the discussion of organizational mission. Employees often report that feelings of pride, ownership, and responsibility are fostered when many participants work together at creating a vision statement.26 Participating in the process can create a “shared vision” of the organization’s future throughout the organization (see Figure 9.1). Mission Statements The mission statement answers the question: “How are we different from  our competitors?” For this reason, they are sometimes called “competitive advantage statements.” They convey goals, organizational structure and strategy, legitimacy, values, participation and ownership among employees, leadership, responsibility to the community, ethical priorities, and commitment to publics and stakeholders. Although mission statements and vision statements are similar, mission statements are more specific and operational than are vision statements. The mission statement helps employees set priorities and goals, so that all members of the organization are committed to achieving the mission specified in the statement. Mission statements encourage members in an organization to focus on its strengths by emphasizing areas and attributes in which it has success. The focus fostered by a compelling mission statement can provide a competitive advantage. It does so by allowing members of the organization to remain “on strategy,” both in conducting their responsibilities and in allocating resources. Without a clearly defined mission statement, an organization might make decisions that are well intentioned, but that do not emphasize the unique competitive strengths of the organization. By building on what it does well, an organization reinvests resources in the areas where it is strongest and thus become less dependent on the areas in which it is weaker, giving it an overall competitive advantage. An organization whose mission focuses on providing the highest-quality product would have a different strategic mission than an organization focused on creating the most innovative products, or another that offers the most inexpensive merchandise. Compare the examples in Exhibit 9.3. Each mission statement spells out to employees what the organization values and rewards. Imagine that you worked for each of these coffee companies as a barista; how would each mission statement guide your interaction with customers? There is little standardization of content and style among mission statements, but topperforming organizations almost always subscribe to exemplary statements of vision and mission.27 In short, a clear vision for the future and a thoroughly articulated mission are vital to organizational success. Policy Documents Organizational policy and procedures are communicated through various channels to employees. Most organizations have an employee handbook explaining how to implement policies and procedures in common situations. For example, many organizations have a policy regarding employee nondisclosure of confidential or privileged information. Manuals often specify the internal policies and the governmental laws that regulate the organization, such as antitrust laws and rules to prevent insider trading of stocks. Increasingly, employee handbooks include computer usage and social media policies, including organizations’ “right to monitor personal e-mail. . .[and] limit. . . employees’ ability to make Internet posts about their employers (or their employers’ clients)… ”28 Policy manuals are generally exhaustive documents in book or electronic form that specify rights, responsibilities, and bureaucratic channels for procedures. A policy manual might include the procedure for reporting a sexual harassment situation or other problematic issue for employees, as well as routine procedures for requesting a promotion or personal use of office computers. A major drawback of this medium is that most policy manuals are little used because of their sheer length and complex content. Because of the presentation’s detail and complexity, many employees refer to the policy manual only as a last resort. However, policy manuals can be effective tools of internal communication if they are well written, concise, interesting, and organized. Ethics Statements Another common policy document is a code of ethics. By definition, an ethics document provides a guide to organizational management’s values, priorities, standards, and policy. The ethics statement spells out in clear terms the ethical parameters used by the organization in evaluating decision options. A well-written code of ethics provides more concrete guidance and priorities than does a vision or mission statement, but it is much briefer than a policy manual. Codes of ethics, also known as ethics statements, credos, principles, beliefs, values, or standards, are officially adopted and formalized statements that the organization adopts as its guide for ethical decision making. Johnson & Johnson’s credo is an outstanding example of an ethics statement (http://www.jnj.com/connect/about-jnj/jnj-credo/).

Training Materials Materials used in the orientation and training process help socialize new employees into the culture of the organization. The socialization process is a means of learning the values, standards, and norms of the organization, as well as what is expected in relation to job responsibilities. An employee is acculturated when he or she internalizes the values of the organization and begins to identify himself or herself as part of the organization. Socializing and acculturating new employees are important aspects of internal relations. New employee orientation at every level of the organization, from labor to executive management, can cover topics in the policy manual, benefits, and related procedures. Training provides internal relations staff an opportunity to help the human resources department to socialize and to acculturate employees at all levels of the organization. Employees need to be taught what is expected of them and the standards and methods to be used in that evaluation. Doing so builds more consistent organizational decision making, which can make maintaining relationships with publics easier. Providing rigorous training and setting clear expectations for employees also allows them to proceed in their responsibilities with the confidence that the organization will stand behind them when they act in accordance with its values. Informing Employees Using Nonmediated Communication The heart of communication inside an organization is in-person verbal communication. Employees prefer direct communication from their superiors over email, peers, news media, or any other form.29 Studies also show that the most memorable, effective, and preferred type of message delivery for employees is traditional face-to-face communication. Verbal communication has a significant impact on organizational culture and deserves attention, even though it is often an informal medium.30 The “Grapevine” The grapevine is neither a formal nor a controlled medium, but word of mouth is often the quickest means for communicating information. Word of mouth today occurs both face to face and online.31 The grapevine is not only a potent line of communication, but also dangerous because the information it carries is often unreliable or “enhanced.” Sometimes the grapevine is actually harmful, or threatens to be. Rumors of downsizing and layoffs, of a hostile takeover by a competitor, of friction among officials, of sexual harassment charges, or of bad blood between factions can cause dissension within the organization with the speed of a wildfire. Social media sites enable information to spread virally within seconds, and rumors can travel far beyond the organization, becoming more and more distorted as they spread. The public relations staff usually stays tuned in to the grapevine. When trouble brews, they squelch the gossip by releasing the full facts. Too often, however, the grapevine is the source of misinformation. The lesson for the public relations practitioner is that the grapevine will fill the information gaps left by an inadequate internal communication program. The informal, uncontrolled channels take over when the formal, controlled channels do not meet the need and demand for information. Meetings, Teleconferences, and Videoconferences Meetings bring people together, providing opportunities to both speak and listen, a method of two-way communication. Work group meetings, quality control circles, and participative management sessions are examples of small, task-oriented meetings. Face-to-face meetings are expensive in time away from routine tasks and sometimes include travel expenses. However, meetings are economical in the long run because of both the ideas they produce and their team-building effects. Employees prefer faceto-face communication on many topics—from organizational goals to financial and competitor information.32 Just as with other communication strategies, a meeting requires specific objectives, careful planning and staging, and skillful direction. Exchange of viewpoints can be open but controlled Chapter 9 • Internal Relations and Employee Communication 225 so that the meeting does not drag or get diverted from its purpose. Effectiveness depends on the conveyor’s ability to lead and articulate. For some meetings, specially trained group-process facilitators serve this vital role, while participants delve into important content issues. One school of thought is that important meetings involving people of different levels trying to resolve conflicts, to address crises, or to make critical decisions should be guided by a process facilitator so that power, content, and process are not vested in one person—the boss. For large gatherings, particularly those bringing together the entire employee force or important external publics, the public relations staff is called on to help plan the meeting. At Google, global communications director David Krane explained that public relations activities fall into five “buckets”; these include media relations, traditional corporate communications, issues management and public affairs, internal communication, and international communication. For internal communication, Google has held “Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) meetings each week since its founding.33 When the organization had fewer than 100 employees, these meetings “always took place in an open space within the office and always near food.” Today, with thousands of employees all over the world, Google holds TGIF meetings using videocasting. Furthermore, to accommodate those employees whose weekends have already started by the meeting time, the videocast is recorded, so that those not able to attend can replay the meeting later.34 As the Google example shows, many organizations use the latest technologies to bring ideas and people together. Some major global corporations have created state-of-the-art electronic meeting systems capable of connecting people around the world instantaneously to work together on a single problem. Another reason for using these meeting technologies is to reach people at many locations all at the same time with the same message. For example, key speakers unable to take time to travel to participate in person can address meetings via teleconferencing, videoconferencing, or podcasting. The savings in travel time and costs, meeting facilities, and boarding of participants can more than offset the costs of technology. However, traditional, faceto-face meetings are still highly valued and a preferred means of communication by employees, especially when their input on an issue is sought. Informing Employees Using Mediated Communication Mediated communication with today’s employees ranges from the traditional newsletter to such newer forms as intranet and email. Employee Publications Despite new communication technology, printed publications remain the primary media for internal communication in most organizations. Imagine the competition for attention these publications must overcome, given the amount of information that people are exposed to on a daily basis. The usual goals of such publications include the following: 1. Keeping employees informed of the organization’s strategy and goals. 2. Providing employees the information they need to perform their assignments well. 3. Encouraging employees to maintain and enhance the organization’s standards for and commitment to quality improvement, increased efficiency, improved service, and greater social responsibility. 4. Recognizing employees’ achievements and successes. 5. Creating an opportunity for two-way communication to generate employee feedback, questions, and concerns. Each publication, each issue, each printed word is part of a coordinated employee communication program designed to achieve these and other goals set in response to particular organizational settings and situations. Because of their impact, permanence, and reference value, printed words remain the workhorses of employee communication. An organizational publication can take the form of a simple newsletter, a website, an intranet, a regularly distributed email, a newspaper, a magazine, or a “magapaper” that combines the format of a newspaper with the style of a magazine. Many are high-quality, four-color publications (see Figure 9.2). Some companies now publish corporate history books, using them to tell stories about the company, its founders, and its employees.35 All organizational publications have these characteristics in common: They satisfy the organizational need to go on record with its positions and to communicate information essential for achieving organizational objectives; they permit the organization to deliver messages to specific target publics; and they let the organization communicate in its own words, in its own way, without interruption or alteration. In short, they give the organization a means of controlled communication. The organizational publication is versatile. It can be edited to serve the narrow interests of its sponsor. It can be edited to shed light on issues important to employees and other publics. Most often it combines editorial content that both espouses the sponsor’s point of view and addresses concerns of targeted publics. (Without the latter, of course, it would die for lack of readers outside the inner circle of top management.) Organizational publications are directed to many publics, but the most common use is in employee communication. Practitioners responding to surveys usually rate employees as a primary audience for organizational publications. The major advantage of publications is their ability to deliver specific and detailed information to narrowly defined target publics Figure 9.2 DyStar Employee Publications Courtesy DyStar, Frankfurt, Germany. Chapter 9 • Internal Relations and Employee Communication 227 who have an interest in the issues being discussed. As a result, many organizations have several employee publications, each designed to meet the information needs of different employee publics. For example, because about half of Callaway Vineyards’ employees speak Spanish, it prints its employee publication in both English and Spanish. Ciba Geigy Canada Ltd. publishes its employee publications in both English and French. The front cover and pages to the center staple are in one language; flip the publication, and the back cover becomes the front cover for the half published in the other language. Many organizations construct their publications as two-way communication—inviting questions, seeking input and comments, and conducting surveys, then reporting the results. This requires the full cooperation of top management because of the time required to respond to questions and the expense of conducting surveys. Two-way communication also demands a climate of trust. Employees are often reluctant to submit questions or write for publication, so sometimes comments are solicited anonymously. Nonetheless, internal publications provide an excellent mechanism for feedback and responsive communication. Comment cards provide a greater sense of anonymity to employees than do websites or intranet systems with feedback forms, because those people who want to comment anonymously sometimes fear that electronic communication will be traced back to them. Printed newsletters remain the “workhorse” of employee communication, even in the computer and intranet age. They are the most common form of periodical publication. Because of readily available and inexpensive desktop publishing technology, newsletters are relatively easy, fast, and inexpensive to produce. As a result, most organizations rely on newsletters to communicate news in a timely and targeted fashion. Printed publications are also important because not all employees have computer access. For example, at Walgreens—a drugstore company—only 10 percent of employees have daily access to a computer. The company’s corporate magazine, Walgreen World, targets the organization’s front-line employees who have daily contact with Walgreens shoppers. Numbering about 150,000, these employees represent a diverse group, from teenagers working the cash registers to near-retirees filling prescriptions in the pharmacy. Reader surveys from the company indicate that 64 percent of the magazine’s target audience reads the employee publication during lunch or breaks—quite an achievement considering that these employees have access to all the popular magazines being sold in the store!36 Inserts and Enclosures Anyone who has received bills from utilities or oil companies knows about inserts and enclosures. A common form of insert is the “payroll stuffer” that goes into paycheck envelopes or gets direct deposit receipts. The insert is a valuable medium for appealing to natural constituencies for support and for important notices and news. Examples include calls for employees or stockholders to write to legislators in support of an organization’s stand on a public policy issue, recruit contributions to charitable organizations, or notify of changes in benefits or procedures. One obvious advantage of the insert is that the message goes to a strategically targeted public that is predisposed to be interested in the message. Readership and receptivity can be high. Another advantage is economy. A small, lightweight printed insert need not add to postage. Published Speeches, Position Papers, and Backgrounders Expressing an organization’s position by electronically posting CEO speeches and position statements on an organizational website is a common method of communicating with both external and internal publics. Making such documents available on the website or intranet gives employees easy access to quotes and position statements, helps them follow developments, and enables them to more effectively ­represent the organization’s positions in their communities. Reprinting CEO speeches or news articles in their entirety provides access to employees to the ideas of the CEO that they will probably not have on a personal basis. 228 Part II • Foundations Position papers and backgrounders also help employees understand new assignments quickly and might prevent them from exploring previously tried approaches to problems on the issue if they are familiar with the history of the situation. The downside of this information is that generally only publics with a need for information will seek it out. Information seekers benefit from such information, but internal relations must also encourage other employees to visit the publications archive. Another method of extending the reach of limited-circulation materials is reprinting publications. With permission from the original publications, favorable publicity, analyses of important issues, and other relevant media coverage of interest to an organization’s stakeholder publics can be reprinted and distributed. This adds control to what would otherwise be uncontrolled media coverage. Reprints can be added to the organizational archive for employees to continue referring to as necessary. Bulletin Boards The use of bulletin boards is widespread and here to stay. If there were no other reason, laws requiring the posting of an ever-increasing number of notices (OSHA and Homeland Security notices, for example) would preserve this medium. Bulletin boards represent both physical spaces that display traditional notices as well as electronic notices. The Safeway supermarket chain takes electronic notices a step further and airs about 1,000 live television broadcasts as a way of reaching managers and department heads at thousands of locations nationwide.37 Bulletin boards offer a good public place to corroborate information with brief messages. They provide quick access for making announcements and countering rumors from both internal and external sources. In order to be effective, bulletin boards need to have regular attention and to be updated often. Seeing the same notice again and again becomes an annoyance and soon leads to inattention. The same category applies to notices, posters, and placards on walls or columns in work areas. The themes of such postings are usually safety, health, housekeeping, productivity, and security. Keep in mind that many of these items are required by regulations, and the specific mandated wording leaves little room for creativity. Employees get used to these items as part of the environment and often pay little attention to them. Therefore, other forms of internal communication are often needed to supplement bulletin boards and notices in a creative manner to remind employees of the message or to heighten awareness. Intranets Intranet postings are for internal use, because only employees can access the Internet-like system. The intranet can contain an email system, electronic employee publications, policy manuals, electronic bulletin boards, and many sources of shared information such as project data. Having information available as an electronic document, such as a procedures manual, allows employees to search the document using key terms. Using an intranet makes employees more productive because information can be located quickly and shared easily. Approximately three-fourths of American businesses use an intranet system because of the following: 1. It disseminates information widely and rapidly. 2. An intranet empowers employees by providing them with ready access to the information they need. 3. It overcomes geography, so that people in distant locations can work together on projects. Communication is likely to be more frequent and more two-way in a work group that uses an intranet.38 Senior vice president of IBM Jon Iwata said that during a restructuring, “We figured out that what employees want is one intranet where everything is logically integrated. They don’t want to hop around 8,000 sites; they want to stay in one place and have everything come to them. That requires all kinds of collaboration inside the company.” He estimated that its intranet gave the organization a $2 billion cost of operation savings in a few years of use.39 Similarly, in 2007, Motorola Chapter 9 • Internal Relations and Employee Communication 229 finished a two-year process of consolidating more than 25 separate company intranets and 5,000 employee blogs into a single site. The result? The intranet site failure rate dropped from 53 percent to only 3 percent, productivity increased, and employee collaboration flourished.40 Despite their advantages, intranets can create concern in internal relations. The advent of “spyware,” or software that monitors everything a PC does, raises the issue of privacy. Many versions of snooping software can be installed on a machine without the knowledge of the user, and some can even be placed and activated on the computer surreptitiously via email.41 Employees might feel less empowered, and mistrusted, if their every move on the computer is monitored, although this approach can prevent policy infractions such as employee use of scandalous websites. However the ethical and legal issues of computer surveillance are handled, internal publics should be involved in and aware of the decision. A second problem for an intranet system is that hackers could sabotage, disrupt, or steal information by electronically breaking into the site. Websites can be hijacked internally by employee hackers or accessed externally to redirect those trying to enter a legitimate site. For these reasons, security of intranet and Internet sites are major concerns. Potential threats should be communicated about immediately. Hotlines Hotlines or toll-free phone numbers are also used in internal relations for disseminating basic information. For example, Johnson & Johnson employees use a toll-free hotline to dial for emergency or weather information, such as closing due to ice or heavy snow. This information is also sent to radio stations, but the hotline provides employees a convenient and expedient source of organizational information. Email Perhaps the most ubiquitous form of employee communication today is the email. Emails and e-newsletters “push” information to the attention of employees, thus making them preferable for internal communication compared to electronic channels like intranets and websites, where employees must take the initiative to “pull” the information they seek.42 New MEDIA As new technology changes communication, public relations practitioners have adjusted their strategies for reaching internal publics. For example, Southwest Airlines uses CEO podcasts to connect the chief executive with rank-and-file employees.43 UPS celebrated its 100th birthday not only by inviting 100 employees from all over the country to the company’s Seattle headquarters, but also by giving the invitees the chance to share their experience with colleagues, friends, and family using blogs and video from the party.44 Some public relations firms even use Facebook to strengthen employee relationships, with colleagues also becoming one another’s “friends.”45 On the other hand, many organizations prohibit employees from using social media while at work, due to concerns about what employees might say about the company.46 Listening to Employees When organizational culture is participative, employees are given opportunities to communicate their questions and concerns to the management. As noted earlier, this feedback can be sought in meetings or by using employee publications and emails. However, one challenge to getting feedback from employees is that people often do not want to ask questions for fear of being labeled a “troublemaker.” To overcome this challenge, some organizations provide hotlines and toll-free phone numbers, as noted earlier, which allow employees to call with concerns or even as an anonymous whistle-blower source to report fraud. Anonymous email systems are also used as “tip-off” hotlines in which employees can report wrongdoing for further investigation without the stigma of being named the “whistle-blower.” In the United States, section 301(4)(B) of the Sarbanes Oxley Act requires publicly held (i.e., stock issuing) organizations to have an anonymous system that allows for reporting “questionable” accounting and management practices. As a result, companies that act as third-party 230 Part II • Foundations call centers have become popular because they guarantee source anonymity and have a consistent method of interviewing callers and documenting claims for further investigation. For a good example, visit www.tnwinc.com, a company that says it provides whistle-blower service to nearly 50 percent of the largest American businesses. Hotlines should not be limited to whistle-blower alerts, however. They can also be helpful for identifying trends within the organization that are problematic and need resolution before they rise to the level of an issue or crisis. The concerns reported on a hotline can range from work schedule conflicts with picking up children before the daycare center closes, to exposing someone padding an expense account report, to accusations of sexual harassment. Another way for organizations to listen to their employees is to provide the services of an ombudsman or ombuds officer. This person is charged with giving employees the opportunity to share their concerns and resolve them through informal mediation. For example, an ombuds officer can help prevent an employee sexual harassment lawsuit by helping to negotiate a satisfactory resolution for both the accuser and the alleged harasser. Information provided to the ombuds officer usually is considered confidential, as well as a good way to monitor emerging trends and potential problems the organization may be facing. More information on ways in which organizations can listen to their employees, as well as to other organizational stakeholders, is provided in Chapter 11, which explains various informal and formal methods of collecting data, or conducting research. An understanding of research is important for public relations practitioners, including those responsible for internal communication.47 Increasing numbers of organizations are conducting surveys to measure a variety of concerns, from employees’ levels of engagement with the organization to whether a supervisor covered job basics during orientation.48 Connecting Employees Internal relations must go beyond employer-to-employee communication, and even beyond employee-to-employer communication. Internal relations is also about connecting employees to each other. Traditionally, such activities as company picnics or family days brought employees together to connect socially, away from work duties. In a more modern twist, IBM nurtured its corporate culture using an internal social networking site that functioned like Facebook but was only accessible to employees. Called BluePages, this tool was accessed 6 million times each day by IBM employees around the world, facilitating employee connections and collaborations.49 With increasing numbers of Millennials entering the workforce, these online tools for connecting employees is one way for employers to attract and keep young talent.50 This chapter did not cover all the internal media available to practitioners. The intent here was to introduce the major media and employee communication channels used in internal relations. Controlled media are the primary means for communicating with internal publics. The composition and concentration of internal publics makes them relatively easy to reach with controlled media such as employee publications and the intranet, as well as with nonmediated efforts. Because external publics are often large and dispersed, sometimes making controlled media impractical, uncontrolled media and other communication targeted at external publics are discussed in the next chapter.