Introduction
The consensus in literature on the well-being of employees in organizational settings is that positive employees’ relations have significant benefits. Some of the advantages organizations obtain positive employee relations include improved performance and productivity, higher retention rates, enhanced motivation, decreased absenteeism, reduction in conflict, and increased revenue generation (Gill & Meyer, 2013; Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg, 2012; Wright & Huang, 2013). The implication of the findings to organizational human resource management is increased advocacy for exploration of strategies for improving employee relations. Luo et al. (2012) proposed incentivizing management executives to develop ways of building customer and employee-firm relationship to improve customer satisfaction and organizational value. Profitability is the driver of most organizational strategy and objectives, but human resource managers need not to fall under the illusion that organizational goals are attainable without maximum employee engagement. Employees need to feel not only part of the organizational culture, but also as stakeholders in the shared organizational vision and mission. The objective is to have a satisfied and motivated workforce with familial ties to the firm. Integrating employees into the company’s structure leads to perceptions of being valued as part of the organizational team. The realization of the above factors is dependent on employee relations, defined as the processes for dealing with the contractual, physical, practical, and emotional relationship between the employee and the employer. According to Wright and Huang (2012), employee relations centralize on the well-being of the workforce with the aim to generate desired workforce outcomes stated earlier. The paper proposes that improving employee relations requires modernization through targeted change of organizational internal communication.
Impact on Organizational Strategy and Operations
For most organizations, instituting change in employee relations requires consideration of both practical and social implications. A study conducted by Anitha (2014) to explore the determinants of employee engagement in organizational settings established that the most impactful factors were the working environment and team and co-worker relationships. The observation is consistent with the concept advanced in literature on employee relations having a strong association with performance and productivity Gill & Meyer, 2013; Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg, 2012; Wright & Huang, 2013). Human resource managers must be apprehensive of the fact that employee relations extend beyond the human aspect. The practical conception is that organizations must strive to provide a better environment conducive for work and promotion of programs that enhance the building of peer relationships. Such an environment is synonymous to organizational effort to enhance the social aspect of employee relations by creating a healthy working atmosphere. Attaining a positive work environment requires restructuring of internal communication channels to facilitate open communication, promote recognition, and provide constant feedback. The process affects organizational strategy and operations substantially.
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Positive employee relations are dependent on building a culture of transparency and trust, a process human resource managers are recognizing to require strengthening of internal organizational communication (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra, 2014). Emphasizing on the people element of the organization is likely to trigger a cascade of events that affect all other organizational processes. For instance, a company seeking to improve its employee relations through strengthening of internal communication must ensure that its executives are responsible for all channels of communication with employees, which includes technology-based and traditional forums. In addition, Gill and Meyer (2013) contended that union presence has the potential to elevate organizational performance and competitiveness when coupled with positive employee relations. This means that a company may be forced to change its human resources management strategy to accommodate the needs of the union, which in most circumstances, serves as an oversight authority in relation to violation of employees’ rights. Under the circumstances, an organization must devise ways of keeping communication and feedback channels open to increase trust among its managers and employees.
The potential of internal communication strategies to influence organizational success or failure cannot be understated. Valuing internal communication has been demonstrated to improve management and employee perspectives, affecting different factors in organizational functioning (Ruck & Welch, 2012; Yuriivna, 2014). A significant proportion of managers consciously give priority to external communication, which is justifiable because the information customers get about the company and its products or services is equally important. However, Yuriivna (2014) argued that employees are the most reliable source of information, but for them to be effective; they must be well informed, satisfied, and appreciated. Turning employees into advocates of the enterprise and its products is dependent on having effective internal communication. This means that changes in internal communication strategies must resonate across organizational structures.
The observation on the comprehensive impacts of changes in internal communication strategies stem from an understanding that communication is critical in communicating the company’s vision, mission, objectives, values, and business model to employees. These elements of the business form what is referred to as a company business strategy, and employees must demonstrate, understand, and master the key organizational values for the strategy to work. Internal communication is a process through which corporate strategy is aligned with internal operations to ensure employees' decisions are informed and conform to the company’s current vision. Therefore, internal communication strategy becomes a central element of daily organizational operations. Like any change, integrating it into the organizational structure automatically disrupts existing modes of functioning, which calls for re-alignment of strategy and operations.
Impact on Employees
Every employee wants to be part of organizational development, a state achieved through cooperation with other employees to fulfill organizational agenda. Internal communication facilitates the binding of the entire organization making it function as a unit. Internal communication is a critical component of employee relations, and its role in providing an enabling working environment molded on transparency and trust between managers and employees is self-evident. Employees would readily embrace internal communication if it promises to enhance career growth and development and improve their working relationships. The benefits of effective internal communication to organizations are well known. However, it is imperative to determine the effects of the strategy on employees in the same context.
The focus of change in internal communication is to lay the foundation for human resource development. Internal communication can be perceived as a tool for mediation in organizational settings because it sustains interpersonal relations, deals with pressing issues, and facilitates productive negotiations. Problems in the internal communication strategy would have a negative effect on the human resource department, which translates to detriments to employees. Therefore, employees take internal communication seriously because through it, they are integrated into the organizational strategy and operations. Effective internal communication serves as evidence of the management intent to create synergy between transformational leadership, communication channels, and employee satisfaction. Karanges, Johnston, Beatson, and Lings (2015) pilot study on the relationship between internal communication and employee engagement found out that the strategy created workplace relations based on meaning and worth. Internal communication was established to influence employee engagement at both organizational and supervisor levels. The engagement may be linked to Welch (2012) observation that internal communication allows employees to receive appropriate messages in useful and acceptable formats. This is a source of motivation for many employees because it demonstrates consideration by the management.
The implication for any organization implementing change in its internal communication strategy is that it must adopt an employee-centric platform for doing so. The value and benefits of the change to employees need to be stated clearly and integrated into organizational strategy. This is needed to enhance positive perceptions of internal communication among employees. The consensus among observers in the field of human resource management is that internal communication, which refers to the flow of information and communication within the organization, affects employee performance and decision-making. Therefore, employees need to be apprehensive of the role of internal communication on their ability to attain organizational objectives. The process of changing the communication strategy within the organization may be counter-productive. For most employees, change often symbolizes a challenge and some may be inclined to resist. Internal communication is a self-sufficient strategy for overcoming resistance to change. Through it, employees can trust in the organizational strategy and processes, placing themselves in an advantageous position to gain from the impending change.
Impact on other HR System and other Departments
Face-to-face strategy is an information rich approach used by transformational leaders to elicit employee satisfaction (Men, 2014). The understanding informs the development of appropriate approaches to incorporate other effective internal communication strategies. The mandate falls under the responsibility of the human resource department, but the communication department is charged with the development of the strategies. The human resources department retains the function of the implementer and oversight to ensure employees develop and grow in tandem with the organization. In any organization, internal communication managers are required to facilitate the smooth transition of employees through organizational change. Ineffective communication leads to uncertainty and negativity among employees because they are unable to see the benefits of the change or understand its necessity. Therefore, the change agent needs to demonstrate awareness of the obstacles. Such obstacles include difficulty in delivering messages, improper timing of message delivery, delivery using ineffective formats and medium hence employees miss them entirely, inconsistency in messages, and using the wrong people to communicate. The when, who, and how of internal communication needs to be given the importance they deserve for success to be realized.
Changing organizational internal communication strategy requires collaboration between the communication department and HR. As stated before, the communication department is responsible for strategy development, but the HR implementation is to ensure organizational processes are aligned with the new internal communication strategy. The role is espoused by the very goal of internal communication, which is transmission of information, and engagement and motivation of employees through the shared messages. Internal communication is critical to the success of HR in its role of keeping employees engaged and happy once on board. Tkalac Verčič and Pološki Vokić (2017) advanced that internal communication and HRM can work collaboratively towards the development of internal marketing philosophy. However, working together to realize the benefits of change in internal communication is not limited to the two departments. Every organizational section has employees who need to voice their opinions and ideas on organizational processes. Innovating internal communication provides them with the right platform for expression, and HR can easily follow the process to develop recommendations for improvement of the working conditions or align organizational strategy and processes in ways that maximize employees’ potential.
Strategies for Measuring Success
For any change effort, measuring success provides insights about whether the process was necessary and yielding the projected benefits. Ruck and Welch (2012) evaluation of the strategies used for measuring success of internal communication strategies established that most organizational approaches are over-reliant on the assessment the association between satisfaction and communication. In addition, review of literature in the field demonstrated emphasis on management-centric rather than employee-centric models. Therefore, measuring the success of internal communication should specifically focus on the views of employees obtained through internal research.
Part of the strategy for internal communication is establishing an effective communication channel with a feedback mechanism. Such a platform ensures the HR is better placed to obtain employees’ views through different media including interviews, surveys, forums, and feedback from team leaders. However, the starting point should be the assessment of the current internal communication strategy. The respective change agents need to determine the current position of the strategy, its strengths, and weaknesses, and stakeholders involved in its implementation. The position the organization wants to be and the method of reaching there must also be stated clearly, including the time to attain that position. Evaluation of the communication process would be based on the above set objectives through questions that address the effectiveness of the current internal communication strategy, whether the company is doing everything to make its vision transparent, the setbacks experienced by employees, the possibilities of increasing communication across departments, and areas where improvement can be realized.
Practical Application of the Proposed Solution
One company that has successfully executed internal communication change is KP Snacks. The UK-based company is the second largest manufacturer of snacks in the country and prides itself on being one of the most dynamic places to work in. Synergy Creative (2019) noted that KP Snacks embarked on an ambitious task of improving its internal communication processes to align it with modern needs of employees. The objective of the task was to define new values by asking employees what was working and what was not through focus group discussions. The findings were insightful because new ideas on how best to improve the company’s internal communication emerged. Employees stated that they wanted additional video and visual content, engagement of factory-based workers, and improvement of the challenger spirit. Consequently, KP Snacks internal communication embarked on improving manager communications by conducting hands on training on the use of the respective tools and interactive toolkit. The company’s move demonstrated its intent to improve the communication ability of the employees, a fundamental undertaking given its important role in building positive employee relations. KP Snacks case illustrated the inevitable steps every organization must undertake to improve its internal communication, particularly in the era of technology. The benefits of the investment are reflected in the positive outcomes of effective employee relations on their performance and productivity, which are beneficial to the company in the long term.
Conclusion
Employees from a critical component of any organization, and their well-being equates to improved organizational performance. Employee relations is a field through which HRM ensure employees are better placed to delivery on organizational vision and strategy. However, successful delivery of such outcomes depends on how well versed employees are with the organizational strategy and processes. Internal communication is demonstrated to be integral in facilitating understanding of organizational needs among employees. Through effective internal communication, the organization can establish communication channels that enhance transparency and build trust between manager and employees. The relationship between employee relations, employee growth and development, and organizational performance justify the need for change in internal communication strategy. Internal communication has been advanced to assist the HR in the development of employees. Effective internal communication strategies support employee creativity and allow them to engage actively decision-making. The proposed change is intended to increase employee engagement in communication activities. The success of the process is dependent on setting realistic goals and developing appropriate assessment frameworks. Therefore, implementation of the change should centralize on capturing perceptions of employees about the benefits and detriments of the internal communication strategy on employee’s interpersonal relationships and overall performance and productivity. Implementing change in internal communication is a practical process that has been applied successfully by organizations intent on improving their employee relations.
References
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