Synopsis

On

Strategic Communication for Indian Corporate

Content:

1. Evolving communication theory

2. Corporate Communication Strategies at Work

2.1 Setting an Effective Organization Strategy
2.1.1 Determining Objectives
2.1.2 Determining the Resources Available
2.1.3 Diagnosing the Organization’s Reputation

3. Analysis of Constituencies
3.1 Who are Your Organization’s Constituencies?
3.2 What is the Constituency’s Attitude towards the Organization?
3.3 What Does the Constituency Know about the Topic?

4. Delivering Messages Properly

4.1. Choose a Communication Channel
4.2 Structure Messages Carefully
4. 3. Constituency Responses

5. The Corporate Communication Connection to Vision

In this chapter we are going to discuss about discusses how communication theory developed and further, how
that theory can be used to work out communication strategies in organizations
1. Evolving communication theory:
Every speech is composed of three parts: the speaker, the subject of which he treats, and the person to whom it
is addressed. The above strategy used by the Aristotle to describe the components of speech. They are

1) Instead of a speaker, the first component in a corporate communication strategy is the organization.
2) The second component, in place of Aristotle’s “person…to whom the end or object of the speech
refers,” is the constituency.
3) The final component, which Aristotle describes as “the subject of which he treats,” will be referred to as
messages.

Communication through
messages….

To its constituencies….
The organization….

Who then to respond to…..

As we can see that the above three are interconnected.

2. Corporate Communication Strategies at Work

The above three can be further developed.

2.1Setting an Effective Organization Strategy

The three subsets of an organization strategy include: (1) determining what the objectives are for the particular
communication, (2) deciding what resources are available for achieving those objectives and (3) diagnosing the
organization’s reputation

2.1.1 Determining Objectives

In this we need to understand about how to decide the objectives and What does the organization want each
constituency to do as a result of the communication? Management communication expert Mary Munter writes
in Guide in Managerial Communication that managerial communication is successful only if you get the desired
response from your audience. To get that response, we have to think strategically about your communication,
including setting measurable objectives.
 2.1.2 What Resources are Available

Determining how to communicate about something like the VRS or introducing a new product into a market
depends heavily on what resources are available to the organization, including money, human resources and
time.

Money

The company must decide whether it is better to simply announce the program as clearly as possible to its
employees – say through the company newsletter, via e-mail, or on the company’s intranet – or to hire a
benefits consultant with experience in helping other companies sell scaled-back benefits to employees.

Human Resources

Human resources are also an important factor in determining the success or failure of a company in achieving
its communication objectives. Typically, too few are assigned to deal with communication tasks, and those
involved are often inexperienced or unqualified.

Time

The allocation of time, like the allocation of all resources, should be determined by what it will really take to
achieve the company’s objective rather than to seek a short-term solution

2.1.3 Diagnosing the Organization’s Reputation:

In addition to setting objectives for a communication and deciding what resources are available to
accomplish that objective, organizations must also determine what kind of image credibility they have
with the constituencies in question. Thus, we can see that an organization’s reputation is an important
factor in setting a coherent communication strategy
The three considerations for creating an effective organization strategy – setting objectives, deciding
on the proper allocation of resources and diagnosing the organization’s reputation –are the building
blocks upon which all other steps in communication strategy depend. A second set of issues the
organization can turn to is an assessment of the constituents involved

3. Analysis of Constituencies:

Analyzing constituencies is similar to analyzing your audience when you want to plan a speech or write a
memo. This analysis determines (1) who your organization’s constituencies are, (2) what each thinks about the
organization and (3) what each knows about the communication in question. We will look at each of these in
turn.

3.1 Who are Your Organization’s Constituencies :

 constituencies come from a group that is primary to the organization, but a secondary group can also
be the focus for a particular communication

Primary Secondary

Employees Media

Customers Suppliers

Shareholders Government

Communities Creditors

Companies have different sets of constituencies depending on the nature, size and reach (i.e., global or
domestic, local versus regional or national) of their businesses.

3.2 What is the Constituency’s Attitude towards the Organization?

Organizations also need to assess what each constituency thinks about the organization itself.

3.3 What Does the Constituency Know about the Topic ?

In addition to the constituency’s attitudes towards the company, we must also consider the
constituency’s attitude towards the communication itself. If they are predisposed to do what your
organization wants, then they are more likely to help the organization reach its objective

4. Delivering Messages Appropriately

Delivering messages appropriately involves a two-step analysis for companies. They must decide how
they want to deliver the message (choose a communication channel) and what approach to take in
structuring the message itself.

4.1. Choose a Communication Channel

Determining the proper communication channel is more difficult for organizations than it is for people. An individual’s
channel choices are usually limited to writing or speaking, with some variation in terms of group or individual
interaction. For organizations, however, there are several channels available for delivering their message.

Table 2.2 shows that there are now more communication channels than ever before for an organization’s internal and
external communications. For example, a company looking to reveal a change in top management may decide to
announce it through a press release, which gets the message out to a broad set of constituencies. In addition, it might
also announce the change in a memo and e-mail it to employees, as well as post it on the company’s intranet.

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 Table 2.2: Communication Channels

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Old Channels

 Writing
 Speaking

New Channels

 Blogs
 E-mail
 Voicemail
 Electronic meetings
 Video-teleconferencing
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Even this simple example, however, has multiple channel possibilities. Should the press release go to newspapers,
magazines or electronic media? If the company operates globally, should it get the message out on an international
newswire, such as Reuters? Should it transmit the message through its home page on the Web? Should the message go
to employees through visual communications since many companies today have satellite hookups for far-flung
operations? Then there is the whole question of timing: should the employees hear about it first? Should the story be
given to one reporter before all others, on an exclusive basis?

When a PC and computer equipment manufacturer spun off from its parent company, and faced plummeting sales and a
grim business outlook in 2001, the CEO had to communicate some difficult news to investors as well as employees. As
he prepared to release a large quarterly loss to financial analysts, the CEO decided that he wanted employees to hear
the news from him rather than from the media. So he got on the company’s public announcement system and delivered
the news to the employees himself. Included in the message was straight talk about further job cuts that would have to
take place, and also sincere thanks and praise to all the employees who had worked hard to carry out cost-cutting
measures and had done whatever they could to help the company. The CEO won praise from the employees for his
candid, direct approach in communicating with them about issues that would affect them, and while the news was not
good, they appreciated hearing it from the company’s CEO before hearing it from a business network news anchor.

4. 2. Structure Messages Carefully

According to most experts in communication, the two most effective message structures are direct and indirect. Direct
structure reveals your main point first and then explains the reason; indirect structure explains the reason first and then
reveals your main point.

When should a company choose to be direct, and when indirect? Normally, organizations should be as direct possible
with as many constituencies as possible because indirect communication is confusing and harder to understand.

The company had to change tracks completely: The mistake proved to be too costly, and predictably, Home Trade had
to close down, burdened with ever-growing debts and a very poor product take-off. The queue of embittered agencies
and consultants still continue to wait for their dues.
A third option in terms of message structure is to simply have no message. Traditionally, the response from companies
when confronted by questions was “no comment”. Today, this approach just does not work with a public hungry for the
next sound byte and the media looking for an “angle” on the story. Usually, saying that the company cannot talk about
the situation until “all of the facts are in” is better than just saying “no comment” or nothing at all. But lawyers who are
thinking about the legal ramifications of saying anything often influence managers, particularly in the US. Deciding to be
direct often means taking the court of public opinion into consideration as well, which, to some companies, is often far
more important than a court of law.

4. 3. Constituency Responses

The three variables discussed earlier are involved in creating a coherent corporate communication strategy: defining the
organization’s overall strategy for the communication, analyzing the relevant constituencies and delivering messages
appropriately. In addition, the organization needs to analyze constituency responses to determine whether the
communication was successful. Figure 2.2 summarizes this more complete version of the corporate communication
strategy model introduced earlier.

Messages

What is the best communication channel?

How should the organization structure the message

Organization Constituencies

What does the organization want each constituency Who

to do?
are the organization’s constituencies?
What resources are available? What is their attitude about the organization?
What is the organization’s reputation What is their attitude about the topic?

Constituency responses

Did each constituency respond in the way the organization wished?

Should the organization revise the message in light of the constituency responses?

Figure 2.2: Expanded Corporate Communication Strategy Framework

5. The Corporate Communication Connection to Vision

By creating a coherent communication strategy based on the time-tested theories presented in this chapter, an
organization reinvents its way of handling communications. Just as important for the firm, however, is its ability to link
its overall strategy to its communication efforts.

For example, Prahalad and Hamel’s Strategic Intent is based on the idea of generating an intense, single focus for an
organization like President Kennedy’s desire to send a man to the moon in 1960s or British Airways’ quest to become the
“World’s Favorite Airline.” To be effective once it has been developed, however, this sort of strategy must be
communicated to everyone in the organization. Managers should develop a method for communicating this kind of plan
using the corporate communication strategy framework presented in this chapter.

The extent to which an organization is affected by external forces is also determined by what industry the firm is in,
where it does business and how public its operations are. In addition to staying competitive, the question of how the
firm is perceived externally must be considered. Just as the company’s awareness about competitive forces protects it
from competitors, its awareness of external forces also protects it from attacks.

The fact that Johnson & Johnson consistently ranks at or towards the top of a number of highly publicized reputation
surveys is not surprising when you consider the care the company takes to ensure a strong connection between vision
and communication.

When developing an overall strategy, firms need to consider their corporate communication effort as manifested in the
company’s vision and mission statement. By doing so at the inception of an overall strategy, the firm avoids
repercussions later. Since all organizations operate at the behest of the public will, this egalitarian approach to
communications will be appreciated by a society that has come to depend on its organizations more than ever before.