Over the last century the managerial view of employees and their communication needs has evolved, at least theoretically, from seeing employees as one-dimensional laborers who must be tightly controlled and directed. Organizations today realize that employees are their most important competitive advantage, and effective communication helps unleash their talents and energies. Once considered a “soft skill,” employee communication is now seen as having “hard business impact” in customer service, product quality, innovation and other areas.
However, there is no greater folly in too many organizations today than the employee communication practices used ostensibly to engage employees, build trust, increase commitment and gain competitive advantage. This folly represents the great employee communication paradox: We know what needs to be done to create cultures for communication, but too many organizations just don’t do it. They fail to move from KNOWING to DOING.
PDF: Employee Communication: Let’s Move from Knowing to Doing
4th Annual Grunig Lecture Series
Dr. Bruce K. Berger
University of Alabama
October 16, 2011
Stancy just hit the nail right into the head.Employee relations in today’s working environment is very crucial if any CEO of an organization want to succeed. Unfortunately, however, most of them pay lip service to employee communication and end up witnessing labour upheavals or low returns on investment. Something must be done by PR and Communication professional to turn the tide. Well done Stancy.