Purpose Despite the proven link between internal communication and more effective business results, only a few attempts have been made to answer the essential question of who is responsible for managing internal communication in an organisation. This paper aims to examine the presence of internal communication management (ICM) practices in companies in Latvia and launch a new discussion on who should manage internal communication in a modern company to support business strategy and development. Design/methodology/approach In the first phase of the study, a survey was conducted in three business sectors in Latvia involved in managing and implementing the internal communications function. Using the multiple case study method, the second phase of the study examined in-depth, ICM and the implementation practices in four different Latvian companies. In total, 13 in-depth interviews were conducted within 4 companies, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the material gained from the interviews. Findings The target companies and relevant professionals from different fields have divergent opinions about who should manage the internal communication function. From the research across four companies, it was concluded that internal communication was implemented in a fragmented manner. There was a weak understanding of the meaning and goal of internal communication. The potential of effective internal communication in reaching strategic goals has not been realised. Responsibility for ICM is often limited to the reactive performance of public relations departments, human resources or marketing specialists. The companies clearly did not have a defined scope of responsibilities for managing internal communication amongst the different parts of their organisations. It can be concluded that company managers should pay attention to how internal communication is conducted, clearly delegate this function to a manager and define the expected results that meet the company’s strategic goals. The results of this research can be used to inform recommendations for integrating the ICM function. Originality/value Only a few research papers have discussed responsibility for internal communication functions. This research particularly fills this gap and emphasises the need to assign responsibility for an organisation’s ICM function as it is the core factor in strategic implementation and input related to business goals.
In the organization's strategic management, internal communication is one of the main components enabling the strategic management process to be carried out. Its role is important in both the planning and implementation of the strategy. Still, in practice, the internal communication’s potential remains untapped, resulting in the pursuit of organizations' strategic objectives. In developing the doctoral thesis, the author has an interest in investigating not only businesses, but also higher education institutions (HEIs), as they are similar organizations to other sectoral institutions, and their processes must be similar. The purpose of this study is to analyse who currently manages the internal communication function of four Latvian regional universities and to what extent the internal communication can be considered strategic. The study reviews international literature on the strategic management of organizations and the strategic management of internal communication. It uses a combined research strategy involving questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with respondents indicating that their university has developed an internal communication strategy.The results show that the internal communication management practices of universities differ since some universities do not clearly define the purpose of internal communication, strategies, and plans, as well as those which merely indicate the existence of internal communication management practices. In all four universities, specialists carry out internal communication in the field of marketing, communication, or human resources management who demonstrate that private business practices are being applied – implementing internal communication in fragmented ways without acknowledging it as a management’s function. The research participants have indicated that internal communication should be managed by the administrative vice-rector. Since the analysed articles show that the employee responsible for the internal communication function should be part of the decision-making process, more in-depth research should be continued which would allow making conclusions whether the administrative vice-rector at the university should take on the strategic management function of internal communication.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.