Corporate Communication

Question: Critically analyse the use of corporate communication for CSR. Discuss the use of intranets, newspapers and annual reports as a corporate communication medium for the use of CSR. Answer: Use of corporate communication for Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate communication is used for making aware of the organizational to the internal stakeholders like the employees and external stakeholders like community vendors, media and investors. Cornelissen (2014) also affirms that effective communication in the corporate organization must be consistent and controlled that results in better employee relations and engagement with public or media relations in a professional way. Moreover, Reilly and Hynan (2014) also depicts that companies communicate with media, government agencies to handle relations in the community for charitable and voluntary reason. This represents the corporate social responsibility approach of the organization and the advantageous factor that can be obtained from the CSR communicationis higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, motivated and productive employees, improved brand and product reputation, improved access to financing and better relations with the local community (Colleoni 2013). The mode of corporate communication with the stakeholders for making then knowledgeable can be in both ways- formal and informal. Kim (2014) portrayed these formal communications are the professional way to convey message and knowledge to the people. Formal communications comprise of the employee handbook, memoranda and employee reviews journals especially CSR report (also called a sustainability report), where the importance of CSR activities and their experience in CSR approaches along with the information about economic, environmental, social and governance performance are published. On the other hand, Cornelissen (2014) criticizes the fact that in recent time people are more concern towards digital entertainment technology; thus, using social media, online advertisements, e-mail contents and other can be used to communicate with them. Moreover, Colleoni (2013) also depicts that personal or ad hoc conversations can be considered as informal communication mode where the organizati on gets the advantage of communicating with the target audience directly and take their feedback in real time. Schmeltz (2012) illustrates that high-profile organization uses CSR Communication Strategies for attaining better recognition not only among their employees but also in the community. These organizations announce and explain the process, goals and benefits that they are going to get. They also emphasize on the tailor-made communication approaches so that effective communication can be established among the employees, major stakeholders and opinion leaders. Seele and Lock (2015) further adds that the communication steps relying on the CSR projects objective for that organization follow this step that are awareness raising, dialogue structures, image creation, research usage and involvements measures (Kim 2014). Some companies also adopts communication packages like project branding campaigning, three days certified expert training, blog and dialogue forum, project website with intranet tools along with the communications and media strategy. Moreover, Reilly and Hynan 2014) depicts th at organization can associate with NGO and other charitable institutes like old-age home, orphanage or schools during this training period. The primary objective behind this activity is that their employee can gain knowledge about making the living standard of the needy people better and provide them the required facility through which they can improve their condition fulfill all their basic requirements. Antecedents: It has to be understood that corporate communication is limited to very few people. In the past two decades, the importance of corporate communication has increased. Most corporate executives have been benefited from the use of corporate communication using it as an integrated and systematic framework for better cohesion (Kim et al. 2012). With a better approach towards corporate communication, the internal as well as the external stakeholders can be easily influenced and manipulated to some extent. It helps to deliver a collective message from the end of the management of the organization. If the antecedent of the use of corporate communication has to be recognized, it can be said that it is important to set a strategic plan before the application of any communication technique. For obvious reasons, it depends on the nature of the organization and the industry that the strategy or the plan is made. With the increasing competition in the market as a result of globalization, supplying quality product does not remain the sole responsibility of an organization. It has become a part of every corporate house to plan certain action that shows their contribution towards the society. Profit making thinking cannot be the sole objective of an organization to survive in the recent market condition (Schmeltz 2012). If an organization fails to perform such duty, there is a less chance of its acceptance among the people in the society. Therefore, it falls under the duty of every small or big organization to think of better opportunities that portray their contribution towards the betterment of the society. Communicating with the people in the corporate arena itself shall remain the ultimate goal of an organization to maintain a stable condition in the business and society. Outcomes: Outcome of a well planned communication is bound to be fruitful. Stakeholders are an important part of any organization. It has to be understood that making a thorough communication plan will help to influence the thinking of these stakeholders (Schmeltz 2012). If an organization successfully achieves this target, there is a better scope of development for the particular organization. Activities related to Corporate Social Responsibilities have definitely helped to improve the condition of the business and create a positive impact on the image of the organization. CSR activities have largely affected the thinking of consumers as well. Keeping the same concept in mind, it has attracted the shareholders. There are numerous examples when proper and better CSR activities have helped to improve the image of an organization. In this respect, it can be added that there remain the possibility of any kind of risks or drawbacks that can take place at any point of time (Seele and Lock 2015). An organization has to remain watchful about such situation. In such cases, if the organization has a good corporate communication ability or a good image in the market among its stakeholders, it can easily overcome the crisis and make keep their reputation intact. This can only be achieved if the organization plans a fruitful corporate communication as a part of its business strategy. Use of Intranet as corporate communication medium Huang et al. (2013) have stated that globally, there has been an interest in corporate social responsibility efforts than ever before and use of social intranet has supported corporate social reasonability activities. Initially, it can be seen that intranet has helped in creating awareness of corporate social responsibilities. It can be stated that every corporate social responsibility initiatives starts with letting all the employees know that it exists. In this regards, new articles, blog sports as well as the informational pages on the intranet are one of the great ways to do that. Apart from that, it can be stated that the long term initiatives require an online home, i.e. a place to successfully organize people, dates and the documents. Therefore, it can be stated that it is required to keep the editing permissions open in order to encourage participation. Cornelissen (2014) has stated in his research paper that in several organizations, where the employees can easily join as we ll as contribute at will, there many successful examples of corporate social responsibility have been self-organized. From this part, it is understood that the use of intranet plays an important role in communication. Along with that, it can be mentioned that when an emergency situation takes place, a cloud-based social intranet is one of the great places to coordinate relief. Firstly, it can be stated that it can be accessed from home or mobile phone, if a person cannot get to the place of work. Secondly, it is accessible even if the office network or the work place network is down. Thirdly, it can be mentioned that forums, blog posts, news items, comments as well as the calendars are all highly effective at getting the world out and coordinating responses. Treem and Leonardi (2013) have opined that after corporate social responsibility initiatives are complete, it is required to celebrate success. In this regards, news items, shout-out walls and the photo galleries can be used to thank all the employees for their kind co-operation. Intranet gives chances to every employee to post their comments and this enhances communication among them. However, it is required to mention that the more positive social reinforcement received, the more successful and similar corporate social responsibility initiatives would be in the future. Use of Newspaper as corporate communication medium Communication through newspaper is known as one of the most useful communication tool in corporate communication. This is also called as media relations. Media relation include writing and distributing new releases and responding to media enquiries (Cornelissen 2014). Three most important use of newspapers as corporate communication tool is, Media relations are a part of corporate communication, which is monitored by corporate communication mangers. This includes inscription and distributing news releases and responding to media investigation. Information about conferences that includes selecting a site for an event, arranging for banners and other graphics that will be displayed in an event are displayed through newspapers. This is also an useful to find out what the media is saying about the organization. Based on that, strategies are devises to address misinformation. Developing a positive relation with the customers and with the public is another major responsibility of corporate communication department. In this era of social media, it is true that most of the people follow social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in order to gain information about the organizations (Reilly and Hynan 2014). However, in many parts of the world people still depend on traditional communication tools such as newspapers, newsletters, brochures and other printed materials. In addition to conveying an organizations messages to external audiences such as external stakeholders, corporate communication through newspapers also helps to communicate with the employees. It helps to provide information about training programs and benefit information. Corporate communication via newspapers also helps to advise senior leaders on how to enhance relationships with their staffs and to gain support for their initiatives. Newspapers can also be used as a medium of advertisement. Advertisements through social media networks and televisions are more productive; however, the cost of this type of advertisement is higher than newspaper advertisement. Therefore, organization can use this traditional mode to communicate with the customers and other stakeholders and shareholders. According to Bharadwaj et al. (2013), sharing business information on newspapers can also allure new stakeholders and funders, which will help to expand a business. Use of Annual reports as a major corporate communication medium Annual reports of an organization provide information on the health of your company to shareholders, stakeholders, media and the community. Besides, it also exhibits the milestones that an organization has achieved during a fiscal year. The main purpose of annual reports are mentioned below, Annual report provides information on an organizations fiscal year. Graphs are charts must be included which will help to break down complex information. It will help to understand an organizations mission and history that in turn will allow summarizing achievements of that organization in the past (Colleoni 2013). This section will also include information related to sales increase or adding new machineries that have helped to increase profitability and productivity. Last but not the least; it helps to promote an organization towards the potential customers. Use of precise topic for example historical milestone or a focus on enhancing lives via technology is sometimes seen in annual reports. Annual reports also highlight information on particular interests including brief overview of profits, successful marketing strategies, campaigns, business conditions that have changes recently and plans of an organization. Some organizations include a letter written by highest member of an orga nizations administration (Kim 2014). This letter is to communicate with the stakeholders directly and is added at the beginning of the annual report. Annual reports not only shows how an organization has performed in order to attract customers, but also to show stakeholders that the organization is doing everything by maintaining the policies and demands of the stakeholders. References Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O.A., Pavlou, P.A. and Venkatraman, N.V., 2013. Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights.Mis Quarterly,37(2), pp.471-482. Colleoni, E., 2013. CSR communication strategies for organizational legitimacy in social media.Corporate Communications: an international journal,18(2), pp.228-248. Cornelissen, J., 2014.Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage. Huang, J., Baptista, J. and Galliers, R.D., 2013. Reconceptualizing rhetorical practices in organizations: The impact of social media on internal communications.Information Management,50(2), pp.112-124. Kim, Y., 2014. 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