This work has a practical purpose: to become a quick reference material for all those who seek to improve internal communication in the organizations where they work. It is about organizing an Internal Communication Management and giving it the value it deserves.
Introduction
To communicate indoors is to develop an environment of sincerity, listening and the circulation of information in work relationships. For this, firstly, it is important to implement participatory diagnoses and planning. If the ability to listen to the other is not stimulated, there is no feedback and meaning is lost. As Prieto Castillo (1999) would say, the "communication entropy" occurs. If you do not know how to listen, you run the risk of communicating the information that nobody is interested in very well, and another way of exchange is truncated to generate creativity and team spirit.
Internal communication helps the mission and history of the organization to be shared by all. In streams linked to managment this is linked to "personal motivation". Ignoring general work plans often leads to fragmentation and ignorance of the meaning of one's actions in an organization.
Before implementing a plan, you have to know the organization, make a diagnosis. In this case, since it is only about Internal Communication, you can:
- Conduct a survey and analysis of communication offers and demands Interviews with members Document analysis: by documents we define all normative or dissemination material that the organization uses in its various formats and supports Observation Diagram a SWOT (Analysis of Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats)
Once this stage is completed, the processed material will be analyzed. From the interpretation of the data, the actors that generate and receive information, the information flows, the volume and type of information that they receive and generate, potential demands, will be identified.
What is Manage Communication?
Managing communication involves defining a set of actions and procedures through which a variety of communication resources are deployed to support the work of organizations.
Through Management in Internal Communication, the deployment of all the communication apparatus for staff is facilitated in order to:
- Promote communication among members Facilitate integration between personal and institutional achievements Reduce the focus of internal conflict by strengthening the cohesion of members Contribute to the creation of spaces for information, participation and opinion
We must not forget that the Internal Communication of any organization is immersed in Organizational Culture. That is, by the set of values, references, habits, rites, signs, etc. Which support the organization's conception of itself. This culture should be taken as a starting point and framework for the implementation of a management since it conditions communication.
The recipients
When speaking of "Internal Public", it is only referred to the personnel of a given organization. But it is also important to consider in the strategy all those close publics such as providers or family members of staff who indirectly share the daily routine of the institution and can identify with it.
In this regard, it is worth noting that external communication also has its relationship with internal communication. Everything that is communicated outside, through the media, also affects the internal public. If we design an institutional advertising campaign, in contradiction to the messages that circulate behind closed doors, major conflicts can be produced.
Participation: the cornerstone
Participation, so feared by some organizations, is essential and is not limited only to knowing what is happening. It is necessary to provide emerging communication spaces that facilitate training, having and taking part in the processes aimed at creating values in organizations, feelings of belonging and valuing the member as a human resource. In other words, it is about involving rather than convincing and imposing, promoting decision-making based on the experience of their own members, promoting integration between institutional and individual objectives, having staff as a resource strategic, as an Internal Client (as they like to differentiate in cutting-edge institutional marketing) and not only as a link in the assembly line.
Instances of participation are distinguished at three levels that involve different degrees of commitment:
- Information: Having information about the organization allows each member to know where they are standing. Opinion: to facilitate the incorporation of the experience of the members of the organization. Some authors call this an “intangible asset”. All this in pursuit of institutional development. Opinion presupposes knowledge of information. It is about adding points of view, identifying problems that others did not observe. Decision Making: linked to the development of the necessary autonomy in each area. It is the highest level of participation and presupposes the two previous levels.
Diagnosis and planning:
According to the aspect that calls us, the analysis of internal communication will be privileged:
It proposes:
- - Identify the actors responsible for institutional communication tasks - Recognize the actors' perception of their own task, their image of the institution, their perception of other members of the organization and their interlocutors - Identify and analyze the relationships between groups of the organization - Analyze the content and form of the messages - Evaluate communication flows and resources
As long as the diagnosis is a way of building the participatory process of the organization, it is convenient for it to be carried out by a group and not a single person since the complexity of the views make it more enriching. In the words of Pichón Riviere, "the greater the heterogeneity, the greater the productivity".
Define the steps to follow:
- Pre-diagnosis: Assess the feasibility and feasibility of the diagnosis. Are the political and material conditions in place to start a diagnostic process? General and specific objectives: the general objective determines what it is that you want to diagnose and explains the purpose of the analysis. Specific objectives emerge from this objective. Conceptual framework: these are the theoretical notions that are used to analyze the communication situation. They refer to the field of communication, the objectives of the diagnosis or other disciplines of social theory. Methodological framework and tools: select the techniques (qualitative or quantitative) and instruments to be used for the survey of information Communicational reality: describe the situations communication and actors,Subsequently, the weaknesses and strengths will be analyzed and assessed based on their impact on management. In this way, it will be possible to understand how each of the actors is constituted in the complex fabric of social relations and practices. All this with the final objective of understanding the organizational processes. Weaknesses, strengths and decisive causal paths: define the weaknesses and strengths associated with management, the immediate context and the structural order of society. Weaknesses and strengths refer to facts, situations, capacities, achievements considered positive or negative for management.All this with the final objective of understanding organizational processes. Weaknesses, strengths and decisive causal paths: define the weaknesses and strengths associated with management, the immediate context and the structural order of society. Weaknesses and strengths refer to facts, situations, capacities, achievements considered positive or negative for management.All this with the final objective of understanding organizational processes. Weaknesses, strengths and decisive causal paths: define the weaknesses and strengths associated with management, the immediate context and the structural order of society. Weaknesses and strengths refer to facts, situations, capacities, achievements considered positive or negative for management.
- Identify the causal paths, in other words, the network of weaknesses associated with each other by causal relationships. Establish critical knots, that is, those weaknesses of greater relevance due to their incidence on others and have the possibility of becoming future action fronts.. Furthermore, immediate action is relevant.
Planning
Planning is a guiding tool for the organization. It orders the steps and the means, based on the previous diagnosis. According to the theoretical framework, three types of planning are differentiated:
- Traditional or normative Strategic Prospective
According to the explicit policy that takes participation as an important axis, convenient planning is the third. Prospective Planning sees planning as an opportunity for the collective production of knowledge within the framework of a participatory educational process. People and the organization are strengthened in their management capacities from the generation of reciprocal commitments between the members, the organization and society. Future alternatives are designed from collective instances of knowledge production, both with regard to the analysis of the current situation and the formulation of alternatives for its transformation.
Establish the content of the planning steps:
- General and specific objectives: the general objective is operationalized through the specific objectives that indicate the paths to achieve it and guide the programs to be developed. Goals and expected results: the goals are the quantitative expression of the achievement of the specific objectives of planning. The expected results are the explanation of the services and / or products that are expected to be generated from the activities foreseen in the programming. Political and strategic criteria for action: the former are linked to the mission, vision, organizational culture and ideal of communication. They are the guiding principles and expected values that the organization wishes to observe during its execution. Instead, the strategic action criteria,They are master lines of action to address specific communication situations recognized in the diagnosis. Programming: involves ordering and describing what we want in our organization to achieve the objectives, expected results and goals. In planning, the plan is differentiated from the programs and projects. A program is a set of interrelated projects and a project is a series of concrete activities. Correspondence tables: check the correspondence between the specific objectives, the expected results and the activities included in the projects. Calendarization: order chronologically the activities for its subsequent follow-up.the expected results and goals. In planning, the plan is differentiated from the programs and projects. A program is a set of interrelated projects and a project is a series of concrete activities. Correspondence tables: check the correspondence between the specific objectives, the expected results and the activities included in the projects. Calendarization: order chronologically the activities for its subsequent follow-up.the expected results and goals. In planning, the plan is differentiated from the programs and projects. A program is a set of interrelated projects and a project is a series of concrete activities. Correspondence tables: check the correspondence between the specific objectives, the expected results and the activities included in the projects. Calendarization: order chronologically the activities for its subsequent follow-up.the expected results and the activities included in the projects.Calendarization: chronologically orders the activities for their subsequent monitoring.the expected results and the activities included in the projects.Calendarization: chronologically orders the activities for their subsequent monitoring.
- Project evaluation: asks whether or not a project should be carried out and how it should be done. Continuous evaluation: observes the execution of the process. It serves to detect difficulties and introduce correction mechanisms.Evaluation of results: determines to what extent the project achieved its purpose (goals and expected results) and what are the side effects.
Towards an Internal Institutional Communication Plan
An organization is the product of the confluence of several dimensions: its objectives, the organizational mechanisms and the economic. Communication cuts across the institution in all its dimensions. As a result, we can recognize various areas of communication in organizations:
Scope of the information: it is made up of rules and data that allow the organization to function according to the defined objective.
Scope of disclosure: they are the news and elements that seek to capture people, convince them, persuade them and add their will to the ends of the organization. The bulletins, the publications, are some of the elements that can be implemented.
Scope of training and socialization: it aims to explicitly reinforce the institutional culture. Within this framework, training activities, recreational activities and celebrations are inserted.
Scope of participation: it is the participation destined for each one to express himself, give him the word and offer him recognition. This can include teamwork, recognition of initiatives, suggestions and proposals.
A Plan includes in itself to communicate the vision, objectives, and values of the organization. For its development and execution, it is necessary to have the political decision of the highest authority, otherwise it will be left in a drawer and the effort will have been in vain.
Decalogue of attributes for a Communication Management, according to Norberto Chavez:
- Relevance: adjusting to the identity and objectives of the organization Synergy: reciprocal support between messages. One corroborates the other. A classic synergy occurs between advertising and the press of a company. Synthesis: concentration and specificity. Effective communication has a high degree of concentration and specificity. Concentration on content and specificity on content and opportunities. The context of the message defines the message, provides meaning. Dynamicity: permanent adaptive evolution. Communication must be constantly adapting without losing style.
Management tools
It is important to generate different Internal Communication Supports so that communication is richer. They can be oral, written, audiovisual, digital, etc. The New Information and Communication Technologies (NTIC) open the range of possibilities and integrate different modalities generating Multimedia and Hypermedia supports. The development of this last topic deserves a separate chapter.
Letter to Staff:
Letters should be short and legible. They are used to disseminate important information such as results, changes in the organization, etc. Its advantage lies in the speed of its arrival and the impact caused by the sender. For this reason, it is advisable not to do them multiple times with a common recipient, but rather personalized them.
Billboards:
This ancient but effective means of communication must be placed in a place of safe transit for personnel. It may contain general information, institutional regulations and information exchanged by personnel. It is necessary that your content is ordered so that it is visually readable and noticeable the periodic change of your information. To avoid misunderstandings, it is necessary to record the senders and their date in each message.
Welcome Booklet:
Anyone who enters a new Institution needs to know where they have joined. For this purpose, some organizations design this material, which may tentatively include: a historical synthesis, the internal rules, its organization chart, its members, etc.
Style manuals:
They are systematized guides of institutional procedures that gather technical, organizational, historical information, etc. They help organize and coordinate activities. Furthermore, as the dimension of communication is broad, it collaborates indirectly in the image, creating a synergy of discourses that are not necessarily verbal; avoiding contradictions.
Brochures:
On particular topics such as ART coverage or what to do in the event of an accident at work? Simple and practical trifold brochures for staff can be designed in the context of internal awareness campaigns.
Institutional Publication:
An internal magazine informs, motivates and unites the staff. Its importance is that it brings together information from different areas. Thus, an upward, downward and lateral communication occurs. In addition, the identification of the members with their content implies, on the one hand, the assessment as a person and, on the other, a feeling of belonging. These publications are tailored to each other's reading habits and create a regular appointment between the newsroom and staff.
Meetings:
Meetings are a space for communication to: inform, train, reflect, make decisions, etc. The important thing is to have a suitable space and to summon the participants in due time.
Open Line or Direct Line:
It is a telephone line where everyone can call and leave their questions, suggestions, fears, etc. on an answering machine. It can be used by all members of the organization and it is mandatory that, together with the message, they leave their name and sector. The messages will be reviewed by the person in charge and within a few days the messages must be answered.
Communications Mailbox:
They allow all members of the organization to express themselves freely and to make their proposal known to the higher levels of the organization. Anonymous messages should not be considered.
Electronic media
Man-space / man-man relations, in the context of the Scientific-Technological Revolution, are increasingly less face-to-face. An increasing number of networks are interspersed and organize interaction. As a result, it is necessary to create new exchange relationships, not only from individual to individual, but also of individuals with the organization as a space of belonging. Among the possibilities that a company can start, we can mention:
E-mail: its advantages are: speed, interactivity, multicasting, ease of setting the recipient.
Intranet: it is an internal network. It has the advantage of being a fast and instantaneous medium. You just need to network computers.
Distribution lists and online discussion forums: it can serve to motivate members to use these tools and stimulate their membership. The relevant issues would be institutional.
On the institutional website, you can provide a restricted area only for the members of the institution and implement the forums.
Evaluate:
Periodic evaluation of the process is necessary to analyze the possibility of making course adjustments if necessary. The data obtained will lead to future actions. If these data are not taken into account or investigated, it will be difficult to maintain an internal communication structure. The most widely used methods are internal opinion polls and surveys.
It is also necessary to consider evaluations prior to starting a project or plan, during its execution and, subsequently, its impact. That is, if the objectives set, the goals and the expected results were met.
Bibliography Consulted:
- Daniel Prieto Castillo, Communication in Education, Ediciones Ciccus La Crujía, Argentina, 1999.Francois Eldin, Communication Management, Edicial SA, Argentina, 1998.Alejandro R. Balza and Karina Aphal, Developments in Internal Communication, communicators.com.Jesica Croci, Indoor Communication, Monografías.comLeonardo Enrique Sayago, Research in Organizational Communication, Licencomunicacion.com.arLic. Mónica María Viada, Institutional Communication: well understood communication begins at home, licencomunicacion.com.ar
