Peculiarities of internal communications on the example of an organization

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Peculiarities of internal communications on the example of an organization

Internal communications and their management in the enterprise To ensure the life of every organization it is necessary to establish a system of management of all processes that allow it to work steadily and react quickly to any changes in the situation of the market. First of all it concerns processes of management of internal communications in the company. Developed system and culture of internal communications gives an opportunity to regulate the most important actions, such as technological (production) processes, processes of storage, shipment and supply of finished goods, process of reception and training of personnel and others. Communication management should be organized according to a well-thought-out system. The viability of this variant of communication management is characterized by its specific targeting and the possibility of making the necessary operational adjustments to the processes of information exchange.

The internal communications system is a calibrated mechanism that manages all of the company's formal and informal data transfer processes within the company, thereby creating a culture of internal communications in the enterprise. All internal communication channels in a company are enclosed in certain forms and regulated by the internal rules of the organization. Such a system of information exchange is actually a set of formal management processes. They may include operative meetings, planning meetings, summing up, reports, ​message alert, informational filling and updating of corporate mass media, etc. Informal processes of communication can be defined as processes of internal communication of the personnel, bypassing officially fixed channels of information transfer in the company. This is easily achieved through personal communication of employees of the enterprise and occurs at a level at which the management of the organization does not provide for the development of horizontal channels of internal communication. For example, if the leaders of the company are not able to provide the staff with current information, the employees will use an alternative channel for obtaining data, which includes rumors and speculation, and is called by common parlance "word of mouth".

It has long been determined that the reliability of information through internal communication of staff, called rumors, reaches 85%. At one time it was believed that it was impossible to control and manage informal communication. The presence of this phenomenon in the company was presented as a necessary evil. But since the 1990s the number of organizations that have learned to control and integrate informal channels of information into their own internal communication systems began to grow. Among these ways should be highlighted chat rooms, forums and blogs on the Internet, intracorporate channels of information and experience exchange, channels of stimulation and comprehensive support of innovative ideas and developments.

I would like to divide internal communications in the company into two influential segments.

Technological interaction (communication during implementation of projects and organization of business processes). To form a publicly available internal corporate communication in a company, regulations (lists of documents) should be developed, which would regulate its daily activities in organization and management of business processes, as well as establish norms and rules of interaction of all organizational structures within the framework of these processes. To make sure that regulations are not of a formal nature and that they work effectively in the actual conditions of the company's operation in the market, the staff directly involved in the implementation of specific business processes should be involved in their development. It is necessary to use all capacities and possibilities of internal corporate, marketing communications and internal communications of the personnel at maximum speed. Heads of corresponding subdivisions should realize the whole measure of responsibility assigned to them, when developing these setting regulations.

2 The information field of the company (all kinds of channels of information communications which unite employees in their direct involvement in activity of the company). The powerful factor which provides attraction of employees of the company for the decision of corporate business tasks, is presence of the developed information field in the organization. The existence of a workable information field in internal corporate communications is possible only if the company has a developed information strategy and policy. To effective elements of an information field it is possible to refer: regularly conducted meetings, plans, meetings; periodic meetings and briefings of heads of the company with the personnel; the Internet resource of the organization; corporate and branch mass media; the developed rules and standards of behavior in the company for newcomers; What means of internal communication can be used in the company

1. Printed communications With the development of all kinds of technology, new information communications tools have expanded and emerged. However, printed materials continue to play an essential role in internal corporate communications in order to achieve the objectives. In this way the following goals are realized: stimulation of internal communications of the personnel, operative and addressed informing of the formed goals and set tasks to the employees; providing specialists of the company with methodical developments, technical documentation, schedules of works, documentation on norms and standards - everything that contributes to quality internal communications and allows to effectively use their professional skills; introduction of tools to stimulate business and co Printed publications have one indisputable advantage - they allow you to convey to each employee, to the staff of the entire staff structure of the department and division the information necessary to ensure the management of production processes. A significant disadvantage of this communication is the unstable functioning of internal feedback channels.

The most popular form of publications in the internal communications of the company is a newsletter. The process of its creation is inexpensive, and the content is carried out in a short time, which allows such means to be publicly available. In most companies, these publications are an integral part of the culture of internal communications. In the past, the role of such communicators was played by wall newspapers, but with the advent of electronic means of information in the present time, they have lost their key role. Nevertheless, such publications are still an excellent means of communicating data, although they do not provide the opportunity for feedback. A similar tool in internal company communication is the bulletin board. At present, this form of communication has received a second life and is a true information center in the culture of internal communications of the enterprise. The bulletin board is a popular source of news information in the company. A number of organizations have begun to use electronic bulletin boards. Such bulletin boards allow for the systematic publication of short messages on operational issues of the life and activities of the company. In addition to the above-mentioned printed means of internal communication, companies use such popular printed materials as handbooks and manuals, brochures, books, supplements and attachments, letters, etc.

2. Verbal means of communication Verbal means of internal communication in the company may be: corporate meetings; events in departments, divisions and structural subdivisions; trainings, seminars, master classes, advanced training courses; corporate parties and theme holidays; organized tours and joint visits to pre-planned places; distribution of conversations, conjectures, assumptions, opinions, rumors. The influence of verbal communications on the overall culture of internal communications in the company is increasing significantly. Modern technology has somewhat modified the forms of such communication, but the traditional channels of verbal communication continue to deserve special attention and play an important role in the internal communications of the enterprise. First of all, employees want to receive information from the first source, i.e. from their direct superior. 90% of employees of companies welcome this form of internal communication. At the same time, there is a decrease in the number of employees who previously stated that their manager is a quality source of information. This fact forces the corresponding specialists of the company to implement mechanisms against spreading of false speculations, rumors and gossip.

So, in periods of tension in the team to resolve the order in the internal communications of staff, information is delivered thoughtfully and metered. Where possible, they try to smooth out sharp angles and defuse the situation of general tension. nonverbal means of internal communications Interesting to read: materials on the topic Emotional stress: the fight for the psychological health of the team How to conduct meetings: basic rules and non-standard ideas Examples of corporate standards and tips for their development How to analyze internal communications There are two views that allow effective analysis of internal communications. Corporate identity is defined by properties of an individual, a personality. Here we mean the presence in a company of an integral, autonomously thinking, self-sufficient corporate organism, capable of productive and competent use of channels of internal communications. The phenomenon of corporate identity consists in that the point of view on integrity of the company from inside coincides with the opinion of external observers in the eyes of whom the company looks as the uniform coordinated mechanism which has the characteristics satisfying requirements of constantly changing conditions in the market, gravitates to continuity and adheres to the consecutive corporate policy.

Corporate personality. This characteristic is a direct reflection of the culture of internal communications in the company, internal marketing communications and staff communications. It allows to perceive the company as a whole from the point of view of detachment from competitors, i.e. it demonstrates its individuality and presence of unique motivations in the internal communications of the company, allows to have its own, unique style, image, advertising campaign policy in the market, positive image and reputation of the organization as a whole and its managers in particular. It happens that communications do not reach the set goals, because marketers in the planning make a number of mistakes and do not take into account the following factors: the rejection by employees of the culture of internal communications and language of communication; lack of time due to the performance of their direct duties, which does not allow to focus on the understanding and acceptance of internal corporate communications; traditionally entrenched opinion about the information pressure from above without effective use of feedback mechanism; significant first impression that the internal communications of the company are not very effective. For the study of internal communications in the company methodologies developed in the social sciences and humanities, which include thematic conversations, questionnaires and surveys, work with focus groups, testing and conducting business games, professional quizzes, etc., are applied.

Targeted questionnaires can be conducted among the staff of the enterprise by phone, e-mail, ​pc alert software comprehensive research of focus group indicators and thereby classify the assessment of the effectiveness of internal communications of the company as well as its internal marketing communications. Methods of regression-correlation analysis allow to establish regularities in the behavior of company's employees and the influence of internal corporate communications on it.

General stages of formation and development of internal communications at the enterprise can be established by analyzing all the technological processes that affect the processes of development of internal communication channels: it is advisable to use all the tools of internal communications management, which would clearly illustrate the type of enterprise; develop and implement regulations and standards for internal communications. To acquaint the personnel with them; in a segment of internal communications of the personnel to form concepts of advantages and merits of communication interaction in employees; to carry out the analysis and to subject processes of internal communications to timely identification and operative decision of arising problems. Development of internal communications in the company is possible with the use of one of the technologies.

Technology 1. For the evolution of the internal corporate communications you should develop three basic elements, which form the basis of any kind of communications: human resources (number of employees, models of their behavior and motivations); production and communication processes (work scheme and cyclicity); technologies of internal communications (certain communication channels, ways of decision-making and task setting, forms of internal communications of the personnel). After completing the analysis of all three categories, by which you can determine the characteristics of internal communications, you should turn to the points of improvement. This is what the three key points of implementation of this stage look like.

Translation of all successful achievements in the process of internal communication at the enterprise on staff structures of the enterprise. The third stage of formation and development of internal communications in the company is characterized by transfer of positive experience to all divisions and structures of the enterprise. Its peculiarity consists in the necessity to identify in each structural unit small groups of employees who would be interested and who would be conductors of forms and methods of work of internal communications at the enterprise.

Technology 2. This technology of development of internal communications involves a set of measures. Technical base.

Represents a set of tools to manage internal communications, which regulates the speed of information flows and meets the standards and requirements of information security. Regulatory framework. The legal framework that manages the processes of internal communications of the company, the quality of content and uninterrupted feedback. Creation of intracorporate information sources. Assumes creation in the company of nominal and verbal carriers of the information which include corporate mass media, billboards, bulletin boards, meetings, meetings, planned meetings, etc. Formation of corporate culture.

Implementation of norms and rules of the culture of internal corporate communications, activation of feedback channels and all kinds of events of corporate character. Forming a positive image of the organization in the eyes of employees. Providing the employees with the information related to the achievements of the company, its structural divisions in the market, the main strategic directions of development. Comprehensive work on eradication of harmful rumors and speculations inside the organization. Attraction and retention of talents.

A complex of measures, carried out with the company's personnel within the framework of internal corporate communications, for the purpose of retention of the most perspective and talented employees. In this key the information on vacancies and staff rotation, development of new perspective projects, as well as on stimulation of employees to holidays and significant corporate events is of great importance. Corporate Database. Represents a virtual electronic or real library, a repository of information that concentrates and catalogs all the accumulated corporate experience, materials on professional training and professional development, professional and industry forums. Evaluating the effectiveness of internal communications. The final activity in the field of development of internal communications channels. Assessment of the effectiveness of the communication processes makes it possible to find failures in information flows in a timely manner, to localize them and improve the smooth operation of internal communications.

Rules of internal communications, increasing the efficiency of the company.

Rule 1: The purpose of the communication should be clear and understandable to all participants of communication. If the agenda of the company's top management includes an annual meeting, but instead they discuss the standards of staff behavior, the usefulness of such internal communication will be equal to zero, because the participants will not be ready for such a turn in the discussion.

Rule 2: The method (medium) of communication should be fit for purpose. The coefficient of usefulness of internal communication will tend to zero if the company's management, for example, announces the dismissal of a number of employees during a corporate party or at workshops on strengthening camaraderie and teamwork in the team.

Rule 3. There should be an agreement between all the participants of communications in understanding of terminology and interpretation of key concepts. In internal communications, as in ordinary forms of communication, it is necessary to be clear about with whom and what information we are sharing. It is necessary to conduct dialogues with people in the language they understand. Ordinary company employees are unlikely to appreciate the value of internal communications if, for example, a glossy corporate edition is replete with lots of foreign words and hackneyed, ineffective terms.

Rule 4. There should be a notification system for the participants involved in the process. The task of this system is to satisfy the information deficit by transferring the necessary amount of data at the right time and in the specified terms. The credibility of information in internal personnel communications can be undermined by rumors, whose communication channels are faster than the official channels for transmitting information. Keeping this in mind, you should comment on corporate events at the official level in a timely manner, rather than killing energy and time to later confront the results of rumors. The point is that an employee who has not received a proper portion of necessary information will remain in ignorance and try to satisfy his information hunger, wasting time and effort, which should be aimed at the performance of his main functional duties. From the aforesaid it follows that the higher level of internal corporate communications is, the more effective work of the company's personnel. Rule 5. It is necessary to create conditions for all participants of communication to receive feedback. The presence of clearly worked out channels of messages allows you to understand how accurately and reliably the information was assimilated by the addressee.

Conflicts in production are a direct consequence of the malfunctioning of internal communication channels. This conclusion can be made based on the following signs: employees know each other only visually; employees in different departments (offices, offices) have no information about each other's work. groups of employees (structural units) perform the same work in parallel mode; management documents for action are delayed or disappear on their way to the recipient. closed groups of employees arise in the company; some employees refuse to perform joint work with each other, explaining their refusal by psychological

The most common reasons are: boundary contact and direct overlap of areas of responsibility of structural units; lack of employees' desire to cooperate together. Vertical communication, when settings and tasks come from the top down, often ignores the requests of executors, which inevitably leads to conflict situations. In horizontal communication the situation is somewhat different. There incident may arise due to poorly regulated information flows when tasks from different employees are poorly regulated. Well-planned plans and schedules of priority of tasks help to solve such problems.

Poorly developed regulating documents can be a serious cause of conflicts in the internal communications of the staff. All the policies which have been legitimized by the appropriate documentation will work to no avail, if its paragraphs are disconnected from real life, and contradict the culture of internal communications within the company. For example, in our holding company it is considered a violation of the culture of internal communications if adjacent departments, which are on the same infrastructure level, do not respond to each other. Such a conflict is resolved not by the top management, but at the horizontal level of internal communications. In a system of horizontal communication coordinates a manager does not take disciplinary measures against an employee, who is responsible for the quality of internal communications of the staff.

The measure of evaluation of such an employee (manager) is the coefficient of his demand on the part of colleagues, personnel of services and departments. It allows eradicating the undesirable phenomenon in the company, when specialists start to compete with each other for approval of their actions from above. Here a different mechanism of stimulating business activity works. If a manager disrupts the functioning of internal communication channels, he stops being approached, and he drops out of the system of internal corporate communications and out of the business in general.