COM223 Managing Internal Communication Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : COM223
• University : Charles Sturt University (CSU) My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Communications

Organisational Communication

Executive Summary of Managing Internal Communication

Organizational culture is an essential aspect that every organization should seek to build or adopt in the urge to continue operating in the current competitive edge (Al-Sada, 2017). It is also essential to note the best channels of communication that are used to affect organizational communication in an organizational context. Therefore, this assignment gets an in-depth look into the ways of building and maintaining an impeccable organizational culture through communication with both internal and external stakeholders. Again, the research work also looks keenly on two channels of communication that is: social tools for communication such as internet, instant messages, blogs and social networking tools and secondly the print publications such as posters, newsletters and magazines (Verčič, 2020). The paper also clearly looks into the impact of both communication channels and the organizational culture to the internal stakeholders in an organizational setting. The paper also contains informative information regarding how the different communication channels support the culture of an organization and how it works to benefit the employees. The evolution of organizational culture is also an important aspect, and therefore it is not left out in the discussions of this paper. Finally, it is clear from the information provided herein that channels of communication vary in cost, sociality, richness, the ability of message conveyance, formality and ease of control (Skinner, 2019).

Definition of Organizational Culture

An organizational culture entails a collection of expectations, values and practices that operate in guiding and informing the actions of the entire team within an organization (Willis et al., 2016). The organization's ream includes employees, customers and the other stakeholders. Organizational culture is defined by the characteristics that an organization exhibits and which makes an organization what it is. Organizational culture can also be defined as an aspect of an organization that includes its expectations, philosophy, experiences and the values that act as guiding principles to govern the behaviour of members. They are exhibited in the members' image, interactions with the others and the outside world, future expectations and the inner workings. It is commonly based on beliefs, shared attitudes, customs, unwritten and written rules within their time of validity. Organization culture also includes the vision, norms, values, mission, habits, beliefs, assumptions, language, symbols and systems (Bolcaș, 2019).

Organizational culture is created through a range of factors that includes the founder's preferences and values, the demands of the industry, the initial values and goals and the organization's assumptions (Sueldo, 2016). After its creation, it is maintained through employee onboarding, organizations systems of rewarding, leadership and attraction-selection-attrition. Whatever is created in an organization must, therefore evolve and change its look and perception. Organizational culture evolves by changing the cultural forces. Leaders can change the ways of leading, which brings about cultural evolution. When organizational leaders exhibit positive values, the culture adopts it therefore evolving. Organizational culture significantly impacts the internal stakeholders. Take an example of employees as internal stakeholders, the form of culture an organization adopts impacts much how the employees' complete tasks and how they interact with the other members of the organization. The organizational culture shapes the actions of the internal stakeholders, such as decision making. For instance, if the organizational culture does not allow the leaders to convene meetings past the working hours, then leaders will not turn up when called for an impromptu meeting past the working hours.

Discussion, Analysis and Appraisal of Your Two Chosen Channels

Many communication channels are available today in business and organizations (Sanina et al., 2017). Communication is very vital in organizations as it is the steering aspect of all the organization operations and very key in developing, evolving and maintenance of the organizational culture. Among the channels, they are standing out to be the most effective and that I have nominated from the list. The two communication channels are print publications and social tools. These print publications include posters, newsletters and magazines. As a channel of communication, newsletters are effective ways of drawing attention and sharing information, and they are considered as an easy source of communication within an organization. The employee newsletters are used to disseminate to the employee's new policies awards and new products. They are essential tools for strengthening the relationship between the employers and e employees and also building trust to the customers. Newsletters can also be used to share information about the advertisement for new products and services. The information concealed in newsletters, magazines and posters are not prone to bias during delivery as opposed to message delivery through word of mouth. However, print publications are considered an effective channel of communicating organizational culture, and it has disadvantages as well. Some of the disadvantages are that not all people like reading newspapers, the delivery of the printed newsletter may be delayed leading to a delayed message conveyance.

Another channel of communication in organizations to communicate it's culture is through the use of social tools (Storey et al., 2016). Social media stands out to be one of the commonly used platforms in communicating the organizational culture in an organizational setting. Social media can be defined as the means through which people interact and create, exchange and share information and ideas in networks and virtual communities. It is considered the most effective channel of communicating organizational culture thou not official. It is useful because many people like browsing through the internet and visiting social networks. Almost 90% of both internal and external stakeholders are on social media. The social tools used in communication include social networking sites, the internet, blogs, instant messenger, among others. The social networking sites for communicating organizational culture are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Skype, Google Hangouts, among others. These social networking sites offer a comprehensive platform for communication between the leaders and the internal stakeholders, including the employees. Taking a case study of Alibaba group limited, these two communication channels play a significant role in communicating the organizational culture and the role of the team members in maintenance or evolution of the culture.

Jack Ma, the founder and chief executive officer of Alibaba group, decides strategic plan that uses these two channels of communication to ensure that the company organization culture is upheld. Therefore, these two channels of communication are considered the best based on cost, sociality, the ability of message conveyance, richness, formality and ease of control. Blogs are websites the are managed and regularly updated by the individual administrators. The blogs are commonly written informally and conversationally that they seem to be communicating some information conceived in them. Alibaba department leaders came up with individual departmental blogs that they use as a channel to communicate the culture and the current operations of the first. They are convenient modes of communication with an organization. Therefore, it should be known that these two channels of communication are effective and efficient in communicating the organizational culture, but they have bottlenecks.

Several theories explain the organization communication and which help organizations communicate their reasons for existing and their organizational culture. Some of the prominent scholars who put forth some organizational communication theories include max weber, George Cheney, Philip Tompkins and Stanley Deetz. These four scholars are considered the pioneers of the theories of communication in an organization setting. The first theory is the theory of fixtures by Max Weber in his classical organization theory. Max Weber founded the bureaucratic theory of organization, and he was the first person to define organization structure and all the communication processes that take place within the organization (Byrkjeflot, 2018). Max Weber argues that organizations have defined responsibilities and roles and therefore, communication within these organizations should be clear, structured and hierarchical. Therefore it is clear that Weberian theory proposes that as the organization structure is hierarchical; therefore, work should be allocated according to seniority and capability, which in return support the how organizational culture is communicated. The second is the theory of organization control there was founded by Cheney and Tompkins and which scholars perceive to be an extension of the bureaucratic theory by Max Weber. The organization control theory argues that four types of controls work in determining how different organizations exercise power, and these are simple, bureaucratic, concertive and technical. This theory explains that everyone in an organization should be aware of what they are supposed to do and also communicate the purpose of the organization vision and mission. Therefore, this theory defines wh communication is imperative and how it promotes organizational culture. The last organizational theory is the theory of managerialism that was founded by Deetz. The deets theory explains and defines how administrative control and communication happens. The acknowledgement of economic and political interests replace classical notions, and therefore, this theory gives voice to diverse organizational interests. Managerialism theory campaigns for democratic aspirations of people and proclaim that power rests within the organization. Therefore the adoption of this theory will ensure effective communication of organization culture and work to evolve and maintain it.

The stakeholder theory is viewed as a form of capitalism that explain the relationship that exists between businesses and employees, customers, investors, suppliers and the immediate community and some additional others who claim stake in the organization (Freeman, 2017). therefore this theory is material in the communication of organizational culture of Alibaba group limited because it stresses the creation of value for stakeholders and not only the shareholders. Ian Mintroff founded the stakeholder theory in 1983, and from there, other scholars and philosophers like Freeman Edward and up with a different version of this theory. In communicating organizational culture for Alibaba, this theory is an important tool as it sheds light to the leaders and informs that all internal stakeholders are important and their interests should be taken care of. Stakeholder theory is, therefore considered beneficial in the communication of organizational culture to the internal stakeholders.

In a nutshell, communication is an important aspect in an organization as it is the tool used in coordinating all activities and operations within an organization such as Alibaba group limited. Organization culture is also another aspect that should be taken care of because it determines the future and the image of the organization. Therefore, there should be proper channels of communicating organizational culture within a given organization.

References for Managing Internal Communication

Al-Sada, M., Al-Esmael, B., & Faisal, M. N. (2017). Influence of organizational culture and leadership style on employee satisfaction, commitment and motivation in the educational sector in Qatar. EuroMed Journal of Business.

Bolcaș, C., & Ionescu, V. C. (2019). Organization Culture. Models and Approaches. Manager, (30), 163-171.

Byrkjeflot, H. (2018). The Impact and Interpretation of Weber’s Bureaucratic Ideal Type in Organisation Theory and Public Administration. In Bureaucracy and Society in Transition. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Freeman, R. E. (2017). Five Challenges to Stakeholder Theory: A Report on Research in Progress', Stakeholder Management (Business and Society 360, Volume 1).

Sanina, A., Balashov, A., Rubtcova, M., & Satinsky, D. M. (2017). The effectiveness of communication channels in government and business communication. Information Polity, 22(4), 251-266.

Skinner, A. N. (2019). Changing the channel: The relation between information complexity and disclosure channel richness. Available at SSRN 3384947.

Storey, M. A., Zagalsky, A., Figueira Filho, F., Singer, L., & German, D. M. (2016). How social and communication channels shape and challenge a participatory culture in software development. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 43(2), 185-204.

Sueldo, M., & Streimikiene, D. (2016). ORGANIZATIONAL RITUALS AS TOOLS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE CREATION AND TRANSFORMATION: A COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH. Transformations in Business & Economics, 15(2).

Verčič, A. T., & Špoljarić, A. (2020). Managing internal communication: How the choice of channels affects internal communication satisfaction. Public Relations Review, 101926.

Willis, C. D., Saul, J., Bevan, H., Scheirer, M. A., Best, A., Greenhalgh, T., ... & Bitz, J. (2016). Sustaining organizational culture change in health systems. Journal of health organization and management.

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