Internal/Employee Communication and Organizational Effectiveness: a study of Chinese corporations in transition
2007; Routledge; Volume: 17; Issue: 54 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/10670560701693146
ISSN1469-9400
Autores Tópico(s)Corporate Identity and Reputation
ResumoAbstract This study has probed into the insights of possible contributions to the overall organizational effectiveness that internal/employee communication may render, and also identified possible key factors that communication effects may hinge on. The result of this study reveals that the relationship between internal/employee communication and corporate effectiveness is more significant than what has previously been assumed. This study thereby suggests that as Chinese corporations prepare themselves to become viable ‘game players’ in the new world economy, sufficient attention must be paid to improving internal/employee communication. This study has also tested James Grunig's ‘Excellence Theory’ against Chinese corporations' move toward communication excellence in recent years. Closely examining Chinese corporations' communication structure and operation, this study has found that the integration of employee/internal communication into managerial structure and practice holds as one of the keys, proposing that corporate communicators shall become part of the organization's dominant coalition so as to insure communication excellence, leading up to overall organizational effectiveness. Notes *Ni Chen holds an associate professorship in the Department of Communications Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. With a Ph.D. in Mass Communications–Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University, in 1992, she taught at universities in the United States from 1992 to 2001. Her research interest falls largely in the areas of Public Relations, International Communication, Organizational and Corporate Communications, etc. In addition to a co-edited book, International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis, her research works have been published in such journals as, Public Relations Review Public Relations Quarterly International Communication Bulletin Asian Journal of Communication Journalism Educator Newspaper Research Journal, etc. This author also wishes to acknowledge a research grant support by Research Grant Council, Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2003–2005. 1. See Heidi Bartoo and Patricia M. Sias, ‘When enough is too much: communication apprehension and employee information experiences’, Communication Quarterly 52(1), (2004). 2. For this point, see L. Grunig, J. Grunig and D. M. Dozier, Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations: A Study of Communication Management in Three Countries (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002), ch. 11; H.-S. Kim, Organizational Structure and Internal Communication as Antecedents of Employee–Organization Relationship in the Context of Organizational Justice: A Multilevel Analysis, unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 2005. 3. Rodney Gray, ‘What CEOs should do to improve communication and how you can help’, The CW Asia Pacific Supplement, (January–February 2005), p. 15. 4. From an employee communication perspective, according to R. Heath, the word ‘corporate’ should be general enough to embrace ‘all collectivities that are organized and functional, serving as stakeholders … in the mix of product/service marketing, image management, brand equity, and public policy management’. Here, the Chinese corporations under study fall largely into this range. See Robert L. Heath, ‘Onward into the Moe fog: thoughts on public relations research directions’, Journal of Public Relations Research 18, (2006), p. 95. 5. See, Charles Camic, Philip S. Gorski and David M. Trubek, ‘Introduction’, Max Weber's Economy and Society: A Critical Companion (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005). 6. P. V. Indiresan, ‘Can contract appointments enliven bureaucracy?’, Business Line (Internet edn), (4 October 2004), available at: www.blonnet.com/2004/10/04/stories/20041004. 7. Chris Argyris, Reasons and Rationalization: The Limits to Organizational Knowledge (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 4–12. 8. Tom Peters and Nancy Austin, A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference (New York: Warner Books, 1985). 9. Ibid., pp. 79–81. 10. Robert Frank and Fero Kuminiak, Primitive Asymmetrical C-Command Derives X-Theory, (2000), available at: www.cog.jhu.edu/faculty/frank/papers/nel-acc.pdf. 11. Indiresan, ‘Can Contract Appointments enliven bureaucracy?’, p. 2. 12. Dean Kazoleas and Alan Wright, ‘Improving corporate and organization communications: a new look at developing and implementing the communication audit’, in Robert L. Heath, ed., Handbook of Public Relations (New York: SAGE Publications, 2001). 13. William Ouchi, Theory Z: How American Management can Meet the Japanese Challenge (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1981), pp. 2–18. 14. C. J. Dover, ‘Three eras of management communication’, in W. C. Redding, ed., Business and Industrial Communication: A Source Book (New York: Harper & Row, 1964). 15. J. E. Grunig and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984), ch. 1. 16. J. E. Grunig, ‘Symmetrical systems of internal communication’, in J. E. Grunig, ed., Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992). 17. Ni Chen, ‘Public relations in China: the introduction and development of an occupational field’, in Hugh Culbertson and Ni Chen, eds, International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996), pp. 121–154; C.-J. Hung, ‘Cultural influence on relationship cultivation strategies: multinational companies in China’, Journal of Communication Management 8, (2004), pp. 264–281. 18. J. Y. S. Cheng, ‘Introduction: China's modernization programme in the 1980s’, in J. Cheng, ed., China: Modernization in the 1980s (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1989). 19. Interview with Hugh Culbertson, 15 June 1996, Athens, Ohio, USA. 20. Grunig, ‘Symmetrical systems of internal communication’. 21. G. M. Vasquez and M. Taylor, ‘Research perspectives on the publics’, in R. Heath and G. Vasquez, eds, Handbook on Public Relations (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001), pp. 127–138. 22. David M. Dozier with Larissa A. Grunig and James E. Grunig, Manager's Guide to Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1995), pp. 48–49. 23. Ibid. 24. Owen Harqie, Dennise Tourish and Noel Wilson, ‘Communications audits and the effect of increased information: a follow-up study’, The Journal of Business Communications, (October 2002), pp. 18–19. 25. John Guiniven ‘Suggestion boxes and town hall meetings: fix ’em or forget ’em’, Public Relations Tactics, (February 2000), p. 22. 26. Ibid. 27. Interview, 8 August 2003, Pudong, Shanghai, PRC. 28. Christoff Loch, ‘Collaboration, motivation, and the size of organizations’, Working Paper No. 5, Xerox, (1995), available at: http://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/xeroxp/_005.html; C.-J. Hung, ‘Exploring types of organizations–public relationships and their implications for relationship management in public relations’, Journal of Public Relations Research 17, (2005), pp. 393–425. 29. Carter McNamara, Organizational Culture, (1999), available at: www.mapnp.org/library/org_thry/culture; P. Murphy, ‘The limits of symmetry: a game theory approach to symmetrical and asymmetrical public relations’, in J. E. Grunig and L. Grunig, eds, Public Relations Research Annual, Vol. 3 (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991). 30. Dozier et al., Manager's Guide to Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, ch. 10. 31. Grunig, ed., Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, ch. 20. 32. Martha M. Lauzen and David M. Dozier, ‘Issues management mediation of linkages between environmental complexity and management of the public relations function’, Journal of Public Relations Research 6, (1994), pp. 163–184. 33. James Grunig, ‘Two-way symmetrical public relations’, in Heath and Vasquez, eds, Handbook on Public Relations, pp. 11–30. 34. See, Chen, ‘Public relations in China’; David M. Dozier and Larissa A. Grunig, ‘The organization of the public relations function’, in James E. Grunig, David M. Dozier, William P. Ehling, Larrisa A. Grunig, Gred C. Repper and Jon White, eds, Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates). 35. Grunig, ed., Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. 36. D. R. Holtzhausen and R. Voto, ‘Resistance from the margins: the postmodern public relations practitioner as organizational activist’, Journal of Public Relations Research 14, (2002), pp. 57–84; B. K. Berger, ‘Power over, power with, and power to public relations: critical reflections on public relations, the dominant coalition, and activism’, Journal of Public Relations Research 17, (2005), pp. 5–28; J. Grunig, ‘Furnishing the edifice: ongoing research on public relations research as a strategic management function’, Journal of Public Relations Research 18, (2006), pp. 163–164. 37. Chen, ‘Public relations in China’, pp. 121–154. 38. Kim, Organizational Structure and Internal Communication as Antecedents of Employee–Organization Relationship in the Context of Organizational Justice, pp. 150–154. 39. Chen, ‘Public relations in China’, pp. 131–144. 40. H. M. Shatshat, ‘A comparative study of the present and ideal roles of communication directors in selected business organizations’, Journal of Business Communication 17(3), (1980), pp. 51–63. 41. Grunig, ‘Symmetrical systems of internal communication’, ch. 20. 42. Interviews, 10 December 2003, 29 December 2004, and 22 December 2005, Shanghai, PRC. 43. Interviews, 29 December 2004, Shanghai, PRC. 44. Interviews, 10 December 2003, Shanghai, PRC. 45. Focus group discussion, 8 April 2004, Shanghai, PRC. 46. Focus group discussion, 8 April 2004, Pudong, Shanghai, PRC. 47. Focus-group meeting, 8 April 2004, Pudong, Shanghai, PRC. 48. Focus group meeting, 11 August 2005, Shanghai, PRC. 49. Focus group interview, 8 June 2004, Pudong, Shanghai, PRC. 50. Interview, 22 December 2005, Shanghai, PRC. 51. See Grunig et al., Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations. 52. Kim, Organizational Structure and Internal Communication as Antecedents of Employee–Organization Relationship in the Context of Organizational Justice, p. 154. 53. Grunig, ‘Furnishing the edifice’, pp. 151–176; also see E. L. Toth, ed., The Future of Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management: Challenges for the Next Generation (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007). Additional informationNotes on contributorsNI CHEN * *Ni Chen holds an associate professorship in the Department of Communications Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. With a Ph.D. in Mass Communications–Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University, in 1992, she taught at universities in the United States from 1992 to 2001. Her research interest falls largely in the areas of Public Relations, International Communication, Organizational and Corporate Communications, etc. In addition to a co-edited book, International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis, her research works have been published in such journals as, Public Relations Review Public Relations Quarterly International Communication Bulletin Asian Journal of Communication Journalism Educator Newspaper Research Journal, etc. This author also wishes to acknowledge a research grant support by Research Grant Council, Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2003–2005.
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