CORPORATE COMMUNICATION : VERSATILE CHALLANGE

- Anuradha Arya

Communication is the soul of life. It is the basic mantra of success in every possible phenomena of this universe. Communication deals with complexity by providing it organization. It handles diversity by gifting it integration. Perceptions always differ but communication makes it whole and pragmatic. Culture has its existence because of this driving force. In all it revitalize past, nourishes present and tonic for future. It is the essence of connectivity. 

It seems to be imaginative but its truth that various epochs and periods have been crossed. Economy has crossed the phases from primitive to protective and finally to all pervasive where globalization is trend. This is the trend of economic integration. So the role of communication acquires instrumentality here. 

When we talk of changing paradigm then how one can forget about corporate world. The foundation of corporate culture is not only inspired by profit maximization but it is about transforming the concept of global village into reality. corporatisation has to deal with multiple factors, out of them human resource is most dynamic and influential in achieving targets and objectives. So for every achievement coordination is required. As we in spite of being the most unique creation are also constrained biologically, physically and socially. Not to mention how communication can overcome these limitation. Corporate culture gets the boost from corporate communication for its smooth functioning in the system dominated by heterogeneity.

Corporate communication specifically aims for facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals sharing a direct relationship with an enterprise. It is concerned with internal communications management from the standpoint of sharing knowledge and decisions from the enterprise with employees, suppliers, investors and partners.

The aim of corporate communications is building company's reputation among its stakeholders as opposed to brand building in marketing communication. So far functioning mechanism is concerned; it is sheer management of relationships. It may include analyst relation, internal communication or employee relation, investor relation, corporate governance, issue management, change management related to growth, mergers and acquisitions, corporate social responsibility, litigation and finally crisis communication.

Enterprises use annual reports as corporate communications tools to convey information related to results, processes and relationships of the enterprise. Typically, these communications occur on a yearly basis. Corporations use electronic and print newsletters to share corporate diversity hiring practices and information on new hires. Enterprises use corporate Intranets to create corporate communication platforms to formalize processes around announcing requests to supplies to submit RFPs. 

Internal communications helps employees to understand the organization’s vision, values, and culture. It may involve staff members in issues that affect working life and keeps staff informed on important decisions taken by management. Furthermore, internal communication, when implemented effectively, can be crucial in a time of crisis, providing employees with not only a strategy to handle a crisis, but the facts surrounding such an event. As arguably some of the most invested individuals in an organization, trusted and valued employees can prove to be excellent partners when addressing a crisis. By maintaining open lines of communication between management and employees, effective internal communications can enhance stronger relationships throughout all levels of the organization and forge a sense of community.

Investor Relations (IR) is the field of corporate communications specializing in information and disclosure management for public and private companies as they communicate with the investment community at large. Used internally, the term describes the department of a company devoted to handling the inquiries from shareholders and investors, as well as others who might be interested in a company's stock or financial stability. In many cases, the term "investor relations" is used interchangeably with "public relations," and it is sometimes referred to as "financial public relations" or "financial communications".

Change management is based on ADKAR model developed by Prosci with input from more than 1000 organizations from 59 countries. This model describes five required building blocks for change to be realized successfully on an individual level. The building blocks of the ADKAR Model include: Awareness – of why the change is needed Desire – to support and participate in the change Knowledge – of how to change Ability – to implement new skills and behaviors Reinforcement – to sustain the change .

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.

Coming to Crisis Communications it aims this to assist organizations to achieve continuity of critical business processes and information flows under crisis, disaster or event driven circumstances. Responding quickly, efficiently, effectively and in a premeditated way are the primary objectives of an effective crisis communications strategy and/or solution. Harnessing technology and people to ensure a rapid and coordinated response to a range of potentially crippling scenarios distinguishes a well thought out and executed plan from a poorly or ill-considered one. The inherent lag time in marshalling responses to a crisis can result in considerable losses to company revenues, reputation as well as substantially impacting on costs. . Crisis communications can play a significant role by transforming the unexpected into the anticipated and responding accordingly.

Corporate communication is challenging aspect because it requires the understanding and touch of interpersonal conversation and impact of mass communication. Dealing with hundreds and sometimes thousands of employees is not easy job. Making it further complicated is the global existence of corporate offices. That means diverse geographical locations having unique and different cultural implications. In such condition, deliverance of message by corporate head office with the expectancy of ‘similarity of understanding’ is nothing but hard nut to crack.

In making the communication effective it’s not just the message but the medium is equally important. As the goal of corporate communication is not just to deliver the message and get feedback. The entire process passes through the way of tough test. Here the question arises of attention, when employee is already bombarded with information regarding clients, project, industry etc. any message requires deliberation for considerable time. But geographical dispersion hardly allows monitoring over it. So, single corporate communication has to struggle a lot to make its way possible for employee’s consideration.

 The range of corporate communication is so vast and versatile that it is hard to determine that any body is listening or not. Communication is two way street which requires sender and receiver to make something meaningful. Before preparing message and deciding medium, habits and idiosyncrasies of receiver should be considered on priority basis. This is the important ingredient for establishing effective communication. For example providing technology based communication to audience that is not tech savvy is sheer wastage of effort unless they have been provided first hand training in this field. It means typology of audience in their cultural context must be deciphered well.

 Corporate communication can win half of the battle just by devising a correct medium. As the medium is prime attraction, that provides the opportunity for selective attention of message. Corporate communications possess both push and pull methods for information dissemination. It may be by e-mail type route where sender pushes message to sender or it can be receiver pulling information from intranet. Generally push factor had got edge over. But it has inbuilt disadvantage of not being checked by employee due to preoccupation with other tasks. Email has the ability to alert the receivers individually but certain uncontrolled and unseen factors can not be denied.

Momentum is also growing in the corporate environment for REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION i.e. RSS. Organizations are beginning to see that RSS can be used to pick up where e-mail left off (or, some would say, failed) as an internal corporate communicator. One of the problems with corporate-wide e-mail announcements is that they can't be categorized. An important announcement concerning network downtime will end up in users' inbox, sandwiched between joke mail and spam. There's no context to e-mail messages short of the subject header, which is not always easily noticeable. RSS, however, offers more communication control on the part of both the sender and the receiver. Senders can create topical RSS feeds based on different types of corporate communications, and receivers have the choice of which feeds they subscribe to. This ensures that employees only receive content that's relevant to them. Effective communication ensures moral and motivation by keeping the spirits high for optimum performance. Survival and success of any enterprise depends on intelligent amalgamation of technology, objective of enterprise and founding principles of communication. Corporate culture has become the integral part of society now. In such scenario corporate communication   bears the responsibility of techno-socio-psycho balance.