Internal Communications

Internal communications is an extremely important concept for effective overall communication. If a company is not functioning internally, then how can it function to its fullest potential? This link( http://www.managementhelp.org/mrktng/org_cmm.htm ) is some good information as to why internal communications fail. It states these key points as reason for failure:
1. If I know it, then everyone must know it.
2.We hate bureaucracy -- we're "lean and mean."
3. I told everyone, or some people, or ...?
4.Did you hear what I meant for you to hear?
5.Our problems are too big to have to listen to each other!
6.If I need your opinion, I'll tell it to you.
ect. the rest of the list is in the link. I feel these are great examples of why internal communication fails.
I also found this interesting blog on why internal communication is important and what the benefits that come with effective internal communication. http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2002/08/19/focus7.html
"Without effective internal communications, the crisis of confidence in businesses and corporate leadership could hurt sincere efforts to build a positive corporate culture and to enhance employee morale and productivity, and devastate the overall image of an organization.
("Courtesy of the Business Review")
I know this example of a real life situation is off the wall. But, yesterday I went to Dave and Busters and one of the game machines ran out of tickets. I went to the bar and asked them to page a game technician because I had looked and could not find one. They paged a technician and told me they would be there shortly. After about 10 minutes of waiting; there was still not technician. The bartender said, "Well I paiged someone." Then, finally a bus boy came and noticed that I had been standing there for about 10 minutes and said he would go look for a technician in the kitchen. He came out with one.
In my opinion this is an example of a level of organization communication that failed. Just because the bartender sent out the message over his radio he assumed that someone heard it and was coming. Just as the game technicians assumed that someone else would handle it. In the end the customer ends up paying the price of standing around for 10 minutes or more. This could end up costing the company customer satisfaction.

Crisis Communication

Crisis communication is designed to help a company or individual which is facing a challenge of defending their reputation. A crisis is any situation that threatens the reputation of your company. This can be brough through negative media attention. Situations can include: legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or manmade disaster that could be attributed to your company. It could also be a situation where, in the eyes of the media or general public, your company did not react to one of the above situations in the correct manner. This is a more detailed description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_communications

A companys reputation is one of their most valuable assets. When the image of a company is tarnished sometimes it is hard to get it back. This link describes a "Blue Print Plan" for acting in a crisis. http://www3.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html It is important to select a media spokesperson.

In IUP's case they have Michelle Fryling, who came to speak to our class. I already discussed this topic in the Media Relations portion of my blogs. It is important for media to have this one reliable source to get their information from, because then they know it is true and do not have to root around for any bit of information they can get. It is also important to counteract negative press with positive press. For example, leak stories of social awareness acts. By doing this the media will have positive stories to discuss instead of focusing on the negatives.

21st Century Communication Trends

Here is a picture of Stephen Borgatti

In order to demonstrate 21st Century Organizational Trends in Communication, our class was assigned a group project. In this project we would portray 1 of the 5 key organizational trends of Stephen P. Borgatti.
1.Globalization- increasing global sales, manufacturing, research and management
2. Diversity- workforce getting more heterogeneous
3. Flexibility-people that can respond differently to different situations
4.Flat- fewer levels of management
5. Networked- direct communication across unit
*** these ideas are portrayed more clearly here: http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/trendsin.htm
Our group was assigned Networked. We were asked to portray this through picture slides and were not able to use works. I feel that my group in our communications utilized all 5 of the organizational trends. We communicated with flexibility via telephone and email. We were a diverse group of individuals; all from different countries. We had a flat level of management.
We were asked to discuss the issue of Networked. We used three leading computer industries to portray our ideas. What we found is that computer industries are focused on making the environment a better place. For example, here is a the website that talks about Dells efforts http://i.dell.com/images/global/products/flash/red/index.html?dgc=JP&cid=27413&lid=622319
Overall what I took away from this project was a sense of understanding that organizations are changing. Even though they need to make a profit, that is not all they are about. They are focused on uniting a diverse work force and being socially aware as well.

Media Relations

We had a speaker that represents our college come to class and discuss media relations. She gave us some great pointers. The most important aspect of media relations is building a strong and truthful public image. First, there should be a select few (preferably 1 person) that relays messages with the media. Second, that person needs to become a truthful and reliable source so that newspapers and other media sources do not go digging around for information. Third, focus on the positive. If there is a negative story released, media relations should release a positive story, for example, community service stories.
If I can think of the worst public relations I think of Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise had branded himself, therefore he is an empire, and he is the product. When he first met Katie Holmes and told the world he was obsessed with her, he hurt his image. Now when people hear of Tom Cruise, they do not think, "Wow, he's a great actor". They think "Out of control, jumping on Oprahs couch". When he went on Oprah to spread the news of a new movie and uplift his image, he completely turned people the opposite direction of his initial reasoning. He is the prime example of hurting your public image http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5883772879840922003