BUS603: Managing People

Internal communication is considered one of the fastest growing specializations in public relations, and is gaining renewed attention due to a range of factors including the rise of employer branding, workplace uncertainty caused by the Great Recession, and expectations of a worker shortage once more and more Baby Boomers reach retirement age. As evidence, the Seventh Communication and Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices (GAP) study, administered by four leading public relations associations, found an 11% increase (from 47% to 58%) among senior-level practitioners reporting internal communication as one of their core responsibilities compared to 2009. 

More and more companies are realizing employees aren't just another stakeholder as their degree of engagement is tied to key business outcomes such as profitability and customer satisfaction. In fact, the costs associated with poor employee relations are estimated at $450 to $550 billion a year including absenteeism, labor grievances, production interruptions, repair and warranty expenses, and employees who are disengaged or underperforming. Not included in those calculations are the costs associated with recruiting, training, and hiring new employees. Recent surveys have found that only 29% of employees in the U.S. and Canada are engaged, and that number declines globally to 14% in Western Europe, and 6% in East Asia. 

While many terms have been used to describe this function such as internal marketing, internal public relations, employee relations, and management communication, the most accepted term among European communication practitioners is internal communication. But which department is most qualified to lead this area? In a qualitative study in the United Kingdom, Dolphin found that independent internal communication departments were being created and tended to report to a communications executive. A 2006 survey found that corporate communications was the most common place for internal communication to be placed at 44%, followed by human resources at 18%, and public relations or public affairs at 8%. However, Johnson reported that a U.S. merger team that managed employee communication was comprised of investor relations, marketing, and human resources with no mention of public relations or corporate communications. Wright warned that "if public relations fails to reclaim the responsibility for all internal and external communications its function might be relegated to a publicity operation supporting, and maybe even reporting to, marketing". More recently, scholars and industry leaders pointed out that "both internal and external communication…must be integrated" to be effective and "you cannot communicate externally without communicating internally – the two are interdependent". 

While much of public relations practice and research has been focused on external communications, scholars have decried the "surprisingly sparse" contributions from the public relations and corporate communications disciplines in this realm, and the "dearth of research" in the academic literature. Fortunately, public relations scholars are beginning to fill this void. Verčič, et al., found industry leaders ranked internal social media and employee engagement among the top three issues in internal communication, with the other issue being change communication. However, the authors did not examine any of those issues in-depth. Kim and Rhee found that employees with good relationships with their employers were more willing to serve as advocates by communicating positive information externally on behalf of their organizations. Luo and Jiang identified some of public relations practitioners' internal roles as providing communication training to middle management, and reinforcing shared visions through communication with employees. Ruck and Welch examined common communication assessment tools and found a lack of measures for employee engagement among internal communication programs.  

While these studies provide valuable insights, in this changing landscape more research is needed to determine which departments can best fulfill the emerging communications needs in internal communication as well as when it is appropriate for internal departments to collaborate. The purpose of this study was to examine who oversees internal communication and what role public relations fulfills in this domain. In addition, the study examined current trends in internal communication and whether or not the employer branding movement that has been mentioned in the trade press is influencing the practice of internal communication. To examine these issues, 32 interviews were conducted with business executives working at companies listed among Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" as well as other well-known companies and organizations. Participants included executives from marketing, human resources, and public relations because previous studies listed these departments as most likely to manage some aspects of internal communication.