Crisis communications are generally considered a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. These challenges may come in the form of an investigation from a government agency, a criminal allegation, a media inquiry, a shareholders lawsuit, a violation of environmental regulations, or any of a number of other scenarios involving the legal, ethical, or financial standing of the entity. Crisis is an unexpected event in any organizations which creates problems for business. A crisis is a major catastrophe that may occur either naturally or as a result of human error, intervention or even malicious intent.
Crisis Characteristics
While all crises are unique, they do have some common characteristics. They are listed below:
•Element of surprise – For example, Pepsi learning of reports of a syringe found in a Diet Pepsi can. The element of surprise leads to a loss of control. It is hard to think strategically when overwhelmed by unexpected outside events.
•Insufficient Information – The Company does not have all the facts right away, but very quickly finds itself in a position of having to do a lot of explaining.
• The quick pace of events – Things escalate very rapidly. For example, even before Exxon’s crisis centre was up and running in Valdez, the state of Alaska and several other environmental groups were mobilized.
• Intense Scrutiny – Executives are often unprepared for the media spotlight, which is instantaneous, as answers and results normally take time.
How to Prepare Crisis
• Accept and involve the public as a legitimate partner
• Plan carefully and evaluate your efforts
• Listen to the public's specific concerns
• Be honest, frank and open
• Coordinate and collaborate with other credible sources
• Meet the needs of the media
• Speak clearly and with compassion
Whom to Notify in an Emergency
The list should contain the names and numbers of everyone on the crisis team as well as numbers to call externally such as the fire and police departments. The list should be kept updated as people leave the company or change responsibilities.
An Approach to Media Relations: The cardinal rule for communicating with all constituencies in a crisis should be “Tell It All, Tell It Fast”. If the organization has done a good job of building relations with the media when times are good, reporters will be more understanding when a crisis occurs. The person who has the best relationships with individual reporters is probably the right person to get involved with them during a crisis.
For example, having a reserve of goodwill with the media is what helped Johnson & Johnson during the Tylenol crisis.
A strategy for Notifying Employees: Employees should be seen as analogous to families in a personal crisis. Employees finding out from the media about something that affects the organization can be likened to a family member hearing about a personal problem from an outsider. An organization should take pains to ensure that a plan for employee notification is created with employee communication professionals in advance and is included in the overall crisis plan.
A Location to Serve as Crisis Headquarters: A contingency location should be determined in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack affecting the safety or security of the chosen location. Gathering the appropriate technology like computers, fax machines, cell phones etc, as quickly as possible when a crisis hits is also important. This headquarters location should be shared ahead of time with all key internal and external constituencies. All information should be ideally centralized through the office. Other lines of communication should then flow through the headquarters for the duration of the crisis.
A Description of the Plan: Companies should have their crisis plans documented in writing. In addition to communication strategy, a crisis plan should address logistical details as well, for example, how and where the families of victims should be accommodated in the case of an airline crash.
Select a Crisis Team
A crisis team should include:
• The president
• The executive director of communications
• General counsel or his or her designee
• Other staff, as appropriate
Organizing a team of staff members who will be on the scene in an emergency is an important part of a crisis communication plan. Include on your team the person(s) responsible for taking action in the absence of president and one or two other staff members whose expertise might be helpful in a crisis, for example, security or technical experts.
Communicating during Crisis
Get control of the situation – The first step is for the appropriate managers to get control of the situation as soon as possible. This involves defining the real problem with the use of reliable information and then setting measurable communication objectives for handling it. Failing to take this seemingly obvious, but crucial first step can be devastating to crisis management effort.
Gather as much information as possible - Directly related to defining the problem, the gathering of relevant information is crucial to addressing a crisis. This involves managing the information coming from several sources. As information becomes available, someone should be assigned to mine this information.
Set up a centralized Crisis Management Centre – Crisis management centre will serve as the platform for all communication during the crisis. All communications about the crisis should come from this one centralized location. The centre should include adequate computers, phone services, fax machines, etc.
Communicate early and often – The organization’s spokesperson needs to say whether he or she can as soon as possible. Silence and delayed responses should be avoided. Companies need to put good inside people on the front lines rather than hired guns and should encourage managers to adopt a team approach with others involved in crisis communication.
Get inside the media’s head – Members of the media in and extremely competitive environment, which explains why they all want to get the story first. They are also accustomed to a crisis environment in their work. They look for stories with villains, victims and visuals.
Communicate directly with the affected constituencies – Employees are likely to be the best media sources in the crisis as each of them act as a goodwill ambassador for the firm. Hence, the employees need to be communicated first about the crisis. External constituencies need to be contacted as well, which includes customers, shareholders, communities, suppliers, emergency services, experts and officials. All the available technologies should be used to communicate with them including e-mail, voice mail, faxes, direct satellite broadcasts, and online services.
Keep the business going – Except the top management, which is involved in dealing with the crisis, others should work to keep the business going. Managers should plan ahead replacements for employees working in crisis team.
Make plans to avoid another crisis immediately – Post crisis, corporate communications executives should work with other managers to ensure the organization will be even better prepared the next time it is faced with the crisis. Companies should realize that there is no better time than the period immediately following a crisis to prepare for the next one because motivation is high to learn from mistakes made the first time.
Experience
My family invested 3 lakh rupees in a Margadarsi chit fund private Ltd in 2005. But the company faced allegations in March 2007 regarding to the return of interests that are deposited by the depositors. This caused waves in minds of investors who started asking questions to Margadarsi. But Margadarsi took time to react. The chairman Mr.Ramoji Rao himself gave assurance to the depositors by giving a paper as well as television statements. After a few weeks the company successfully proved its innocence in court of law. The company was very successful to regain its customers’ confidence after overcoming the crisis situation.
http://www.margadarsi.com/html/AboutUsStatic.jsp
Monday, July 9, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Corporate Communication Relevance
In today's competitive environment, it is not only important to market products, but also to market the company as a whole. An organization's reputation management strategy is the most critical part of any corporate communication function. Organizations need to communicate to all the constituencies i.e. to both external and internal. In internal communication, organization deals with employees, employers and managers. In external communication, organization deals with existing and prospective customers, suppliers, investors, government and the wider public. Sometimes, constituencies have a special attitude or opinion about a company.
Corporate and Product Advertising
In product advertising, companies directly promote their products. Companies mention the products with features, types and prices. The goal of the product advertising is to attract customers to buy products. Corporate advertising includes building the image of a responsible corporate entity, attracting good talent and reinforcing the corporate mission. In corporate advertising, companies never promote the product directly. They promote the product along with giving something to society. With corporate advertising, companies take some social responsibilities. This will help to improve a company’s image in society.
Media Relations
Media relations are to create, maintain, and protect the organization’s reputation, to enhance its prestige, and to present a favorable image. Media relation involves product public, employee, financial, community, government and political relations, consumer education, and crisis communication. This is the only department from where investors, suppliers, retailers, and consumers receive information and develop the image of the business. The company should know the importance of media and hire people for media communications, who know the people form the press and can deal with them efficiently.
Internal Communications
Nowadays, many organizations focus their attention on their own employees, recognizing that employees have more to do with the success of a business than virtually any other constituency. So the concept of internal communication is important in both profit and non profit organization. In the 21st century, internal communication is more important than external communication. Internal communications should make sure employees get information that is affecting them before the public gets it.
Investor Relations
For a corporation, it is crucial to have an open dialog with its investors. Investors need information about the company, otherwise the investments become too risky and they would withdraw their money. IR professionals interact with individual and institutional investors and are involved with the financial statements and annual reports.
For example, Mahindra and Mahindra’s website has a special section for investors. They can get the company’s annual and financial reports along with the assistance from the company.
http://www.mahindra.com/index.asp
Crisis Communication
Organization’s stand during any crisis can be better justified to the constituencies with the help of the corporate
communication function. Even in case of a crisis, communications should be coordinated by the corporate communications function. Communications professionals should also be involved in crisis planning. Working together with senior management, corporate communications professionals can make the difference between good and poor crisis management.
For example, Dell has successfully come out of crisis by recalling 4.1 million battery packs, used in several of its laptop lines, because of a risk of overheating and fire.
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/batteryrecall/en/main?c=us
For example, high gas prices make some consumers think that these are only the fault of the oil corporations. Thus, there is a need for telling the public that many factors influence the oil price development.
The corporations communicate with its constituencies through several medium; some of them are listed below:
Image and Identity
Image is the corporation seen through the eyes of its constituencies; identity consists of an organization's defining attributes, such as people, products, and services. The corporate identity is a system of communication that is incorporated to the company’s global strategy and it is present in all its manifestations, productions, properties and activities. Identity should not vary from one constituency to another, but each constituency can have another image of the company. Determining what the organization's image is with different constituencies, is a task performed by the corporate communications function. Identity building is also a part of the communication function's work; that means to decide how the organization wants to be perceived and what measures to take to ensure a proper identity.
For example, H.P. which previously had an image of being costly changed its image by acquiring Compaq which is very economical.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/in/en/ho/WF02a/1090709-1116637-1123071.html
The corporations communicate with its constituencies through several medium; some of them are listed below:
Image and Identity
Image is the corporation seen through the eyes of its constituencies; identity consists of an organization's defining attributes, such as people, products, and services. The corporate identity is a system of communication that is incorporated to the company’s global strategy and it is present in all its manifestations, productions, properties and activities. Identity should not vary from one constituency to another, but each constituency can have another image of the company. Determining what the organization's image is with different constituencies, is a task performed by the corporate communications function. Identity building is also a part of the communication function's work; that means to decide how the organization wants to be perceived and what measures to take to ensure a proper identity.
For example, H.P. which previously had an image of being costly changed its image by acquiring Compaq which is very economical.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/in/en/ho/WF02a/1090709-1116637-1123071.html
Corporate and Product Advertising
In product advertising, companies directly promote their products. Companies mention the products with features, types and prices. The goal of the product advertising is to attract customers to buy products. Corporate advertising includes building the image of a responsible corporate entity, attracting good talent and reinforcing the corporate mission. In corporate advertising, companies never promote the product directly. They promote the product along with giving something to society. With corporate advertising, companies take some social responsibilities. This will help to improve a company’s image in society.
Media Relations
Media relations are to create, maintain, and protect the organization’s reputation, to enhance its prestige, and to present a favorable image. Media relation involves product public, employee, financial, community, government and political relations, consumer education, and crisis communication. This is the only department from where investors, suppliers, retailers, and consumers receive information and develop the image of the business. The company should know the importance of media and hire people for media communications, who know the people form the press and can deal with them efficiently.
Internal Communications
Nowadays, many organizations focus their attention on their own employees, recognizing that employees have more to do with the success of a business than virtually any other constituency. So the concept of internal communication is important in both profit and non profit organization. In the 21st century, internal communication is more important than external communication. Internal communications should make sure employees get information that is affecting them before the public gets it.
Investor Relations
For a corporation, it is crucial to have an open dialog with its investors. Investors need information about the company, otherwise the investments become too risky and they would withdraw their money. IR professionals interact with individual and institutional investors and are involved with the financial statements and annual reports.
For example, Mahindra and Mahindra’s website has a special section for investors. They can get the company’s annual and financial reports along with the assistance from the company.http://www.mahindra.com/index.asp
Crisis Communication
Organization’s stand during any crisis can be better justified to the constituencies with the help of the corporate
communication function. Even in case of a crisis, communications should be coordinated by the corporate communications function. Communications professionals should also be involved in crisis planning. Working together with senior management, corporate communications professionals can make the difference between good and poor crisis management.For example, Dell has successfully come out of crisis by recalling 4.1 million battery packs, used in several of its laptop lines, because of a risk of overheating and fire.
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/batteryrecall/en/main?c=us
21st Century Organizational Trends
Just as the 21st century has seen new types of organizations and new ways of doing business arise, so, too, will there be new management trends, ideas, and techniques. To successfully implement flexible management practices the organization needs to use the 21st century trends. Stephen P. Borgatti identified five organizational trends that influence the workplace of the 21st century. These trends also have an effect on workplace communication. The major trends that will influence the way we do business in the 21st century are globalization, diversity, flexibility, flat structures, and networks.
Globalization
International communication, transnational investment, international trade, and international travel are all growing
rapidly. Increase in sales for the product internationally and increase of multinational companies are results of globalization. The key benefit of global organizations is the ability to exploit regional differences in customers’ needs and production capabilities, such as worker expertise, costs, government aid and so forth. Due to the effect of globalization many companies enjoy the convergence of prices, products, wages, rates of interest and profits around the world.
For example, Globalization advocates such as Jeffrey Sachs point to the above average drop in poverty rates in
countries, such as China, where globalization has taken a strong foothold, compared to areas unaffected by globalization, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty rates have remained stagnant.
Diversity
Diversity is approached as a strategy for improving employee retention and increasing consumer confidence. The global workforce is more heterogeneous in the 21st century: sexually, racially, culturally, and individually. Management and employees need to cope with different styles of interacting, dressing, presentation, and physically appearance in a multicultural company. Diversity becomes a source of both innovation and conflict/communication problems.
Flexible
Flexibility means that the organization is flexible regarding processes, people, rules, procedures, a
utonomy etc. Flexibility is needed to stay competitive, to adapt to new situations, and to compete with other organizations. By being flexible, the corporations have fewer detailed rules, greater autonomy, and special job schedules for mothers, and women. The corporations have been able to save huge amounts by letting the employees to decide the working schedules, working from home, job sharing and paying according to the skills. Individuals also should be flexible to adapt to different levels in an organization.
For example, back in 1994, shortly before retiring as chairman and chief executive officer of
Lucas Industries, Tony Gill addressed his shareholders and Lucas employees, With the following words:
"We aim to ... develop, through commitment to innovation, communication, training and successful management of change, a Lucas [Industries] culture which encourages and rewards enterprise, professionalism and flexibility at every level”. He justified the words by telling how he lost his credits in his earlier days when he was not ready to move from one task to another within a short notice.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/unevoc/conference/papers/rosen.pdf
Flat
Flat organizations enable discussions, decision making of employees and increasing motivation among employees. Flat organization can be more flexible and more competitive than an organization with more hierarchical levels, as communication is necessary to adapt to new situations. In order to maximize response time to the changing competitive environment, organizations have been flattening, downsizing, and networking. Flat organizations make decisions more quickly because each person is closer to the ultimate decision-makers. Organizations that flatten tend to simultaneously encourage horizontal communication among workers. Rather than work through the hierarchy, it is often faster for workers that need to coordinate with each other to simply communicate directly. Analyzing all the advantages organizations in 21st century are trying to be flat in structure.
Networked
Networks are necessary to deal with customers, competitors, the media and suppliers, as
well as shareholders and all stakeholders included. Networks can be an important part in a company's gained success. Networked organizations are particularly important in industries with complex products where technologies and customer needs change rapidly, such as in high tech. Close ties among a set of companies enables them to work with each other in ways that are faster than normal contracts would permit.
For example, retail giants like Big Bazaar maintain various networks with various retailers and wholesalers so that they keep their inventory update without any wastage.
Globalization
International communication, transnational investment, international trade, and international travel are all growing
rapidly. Increase in sales for the product internationally and increase of multinational companies are results of globalization. The key benefit of global organizations is the ability to exploit regional differences in customers’ needs and production capabilities, such as worker expertise, costs, government aid and so forth. Due to the effect of globalization many companies enjoy the convergence of prices, products, wages, rates of interest and profits around the world.For example, Globalization advocates such as Jeffrey Sachs point to the above average drop in poverty rates in
countries, such as China, where globalization has taken a strong foothold, compared to areas unaffected by globalization, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty rates have remained stagnant.Diversity
Diversity is approached as a strategy for improving employee retention and increasing consumer confidence. The global workforce is more heterogeneous in the 21st century: sexually, racially, culturally, and individually. Management and employees need to cope with different styles of interacting, dressing, presentation, and physically appearance in a multicultural company. Diversity becomes a source of both innovation and conflict/communication problems.
Flexible
Flexibility means that the organization is flexible regarding processes, people, rules, procedures, a
utonomy etc. Flexibility is needed to stay competitive, to adapt to new situations, and to compete with other organizations. By being flexible, the corporations have fewer detailed rules, greater autonomy, and special job schedules for mothers, and women. The corporations have been able to save huge amounts by letting the employees to decide the working schedules, working from home, job sharing and paying according to the skills. Individuals also should be flexible to adapt to different levels in an organization.For example, back in 1994, shortly before retiring as chairman and chief executive officer of
Lucas Industries, Tony Gill addressed his shareholders and Lucas employees, With the following words:
"We aim to ... develop, through commitment to innovation, communication, training and successful management of change, a Lucas [Industries] culture which encourages and rewards enterprise, professionalism and flexibility at every level”. He justified the words by telling how he lost his credits in his earlier days when he was not ready to move from one task to another within a short notice.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/unevoc/conference/papers/rosen.pdf
Flat
Flat organizations enable discussions, decision making of employees and increasing motivation among employees. Flat organization can be more flexible and more competitive than an organization with more hierarchical levels, as communication is necessary to adapt to new situations. In order to maximize response time to the changing competitive environment, organizations have been flattening, downsizing, and networking. Flat organizations make decisions more quickly because each person is closer to the ultimate decision-makers. Organizations that flatten tend to simultaneously encourage horizontal communication among workers. Rather than work through the hierarchy, it is often faster for workers that need to coordinate with each other to simply communicate directly. Analyzing all the advantages organizations in 21st century are trying to be flat in structure.
Networked
Networks are necessary to deal with customers, competitors, the media and suppliers, as
well as shareholders and all stakeholders included. Networks can be an important part in a company's gained success. Networked organizations are particularly important in industries with complex products where technologies and customer needs change rapidly, such as in high tech. Close ties among a set of companies enables them to work with each other in ways that are faster than normal contracts would permit.For example, retail giants like Big Bazaar maintain various networks with various retailers and wholesalers so that they keep their inventory update without any wastage.
Communication Technologies
Technology has been defined as the processes, tools and techniques that alter human activity. While often much attention is paid to such tools as computers, productivity software and peripheral devices, when we speak of technology, there is a need to focus on the processes that provide us with the conceptual tools with which to live our lives and to do our work more efficiently and effectively. Word of mouth, writing letters, speaking to one another, etc are the basic traditional technologies used by people for communication over a period. Technologies refer to such tools as computer hardware and software, calculators, fax machines, television and radio, VCRs and other electronic devices. Various tools and technologies are used in businesses, some of them are listed below:
Internet: The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a
"network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web. Internet successfully accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks. Internet is fast becoming a basic feature of global civilization, so that what has traditionally been called "civil society" is now becoming identical with information technology society as defined by Internet use
Intranet and Extranet: An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with its employees. Briefly, an intranet can be understood as "a private version of the Internet," or as a version of the Internet confined to an organization. Safety from intruders is assured and the hacker cannot easily access the corporate information, as there are different layers of security. Intranets differ from "Extranets" in that the former is generally restricted to employees of the organization while extranets can generally be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved parties.
Telephone and Cell phone: The telephone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly speech). Most telephones operate through transmission of electric signals over a complex telephone network which allows almost any phone user to communicate with almost any other. The
telephone handles two kinds of information: signals and voice, at different times on the same twisted pair of wires. The signaling equipment consists of a bell to alert the user of incoming calls, and a dial to enter the phone number for outgoing calls. A mobile telephone or cellular telephone (commonly, "mobile phone" or "cell phone") is a long-range, portable electronic device used for mobile communication. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video.
Internet: The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a
"network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web. Internet successfully accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks. Internet is fast becoming a basic feature of global civilization, so that what has traditionally been called "civil society" is now becoming identical with information technology society as defined by Internet useIntranet and Extranet: An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with its employees. Briefly, an intranet can be understood as "a private version of the Internet," or as a version of the Internet confined to an organization. Safety from intruders is assured and the hacker cannot easily access the corporate information, as there are different layers of security. Intranets differ from "Extranets" in that the former is generally restricted to employees of the organization while extranets can generally be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved parties.
Telephone and Cell phone: The telephone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly speech). Most telephones operate through transmission of electric signals over a complex telephone network which allows almost any phone user to communicate with almost any other. The
telephone handles two kinds of information: signals and voice, at different times on the same twisted pair of wires. The signaling equipment consists of a bell to alert the user of incoming calls, and a dial to enter the phone number for outgoing calls. A mobile telephone or cellular telephone (commonly, "mobile phone" or "cell phone") is a long-range, portable electronic device used for mobile communication. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video.Experience: My cell phone allows me to keep in touch with my parents and friends even though I stay miles away from them. I also can use internet at remote places also without any wires. With earphones I also enjoy music and Bluetooth helps to exchange information.
Television: Television is a widely used telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving
pictures and sound over a distance. The television was the first consumer mass market for video displays. Today there are many television add-ons including video game consoles, VCRs, Set-top boxes for Cable, Satellite and DVB-T compliant Digital Television reception, DVD players, or Digital Video Recorders. The add-on market continues to grow as new technologies are developed. Computers, the internet, and even pocket devices such as the iPod provide other ways to consume video content. For businesses television is widely used for marketing and conveys messages to mass media.
E-Mail: Electronic mail abbreviated "e-mail" or, often, "email") is a store and forward method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems.
Most business professionals today spend between 20% and 50% of their working time in communicating through email: reading, ordering, sorting, ‘re-contextualizing’ fragmented information and of course writing emails. And email communication is likely to increase considerably in future due to trends of globalization, distribution of organizations (customer closeness), outsourcing, the knowledge economy etc.
Television: Television is a widely used telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving
pictures and sound over a distance. The television was the first consumer mass market for video displays. Today there are many television add-ons including video game consoles, VCRs, Set-top boxes for Cable, Satellite and DVB-T compliant Digital Television reception, DVD players, or Digital Video Recorders. The add-on market continues to grow as new technologies are developed. Computers, the internet, and even pocket devices such as the iPod provide other ways to consume video content. For businesses television is widely used for marketing and conveys messages to mass media.E-Mail: Electronic mail abbreviated "e-mail" or, often, "email") is a store and forward method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems.
Most business professionals today spend between 20% and 50% of their working time in communicating through email: reading, ordering, sorting, ‘re-contextualizing’ fragmented information and of course writing emails. And email communication is likely to increase considerably in future due to trends of globalization, distribution of organizations (customer closeness), outsourcing, the knowledge economy etc.For example, the diagram shows a typical sequence of events that takes place when Alice composes a message using her mail and sends it to Bob.
Blogs: Blogs enable people to read ideas and statements and share the same information on a common forum. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic that can be displayed in an attractive manner. Organizations today are making use of blocks by writing articles, making journal entries about their ventures, their employees are also contributing by sharing views and this information can be used by a variety of its constituencies. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
Media Relations
Media Relations
"Media relations are those activities that involve working directly with persons responsible for the editorial (news and features), public service and sponsored programming products of mass media.”
The News Media
The news media are omnipresent and powerful in our society. Media relations department is one of the most critical areas within any corporate communication function. With the advent of television and the tremendous growth in Internet, what had once been the domain of the print medium in newspapers increasingly has become part of the visual realm through television sets and computers. Media is the only one which keeps politicians under constant scrutiny. On the other hand business leaders who enjoyed their privacy in the past have gone public these days. So business sector today clearly realize the importance of good publicity.
The Growth of Business Coverage in the Media
As the public attitudes changed, however, the business news sections in newspapers gained recognition and began to expand. Today so many magazines and websites are devoted to the business new that it is nearly impossible to find a topic not thoroughly covered by one media outlet or another. With the increase in public demand for more information on business channels like CNN, CNBC etc started their 24 hours business channels. Forbes magazine was found in doctors’ offices earlier. But Forbes gained attention from a broad readership by publishing salaries of top entertainers, World’s richest people, World’s largest public companies etc. Business Week attracts by publishing information about business schools and corporate boards.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/88/biz_07platinum_The-400-Best-Big-Companies_land.html
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/07/undergrad/index.html
Building Better Relations with the Media
To build better press relationships with the members of the media, organizations must take time to cultivate relationships with the right people in the media. In general response rates of 2 percent are considered a success in the direct-mail business, and public relation executives get excited if their release gets picked up by a handful of publications. The measure of success in the media relations business has been the amount of “ink” coverage that a company gets. It is important for the companies need to find out who the right journalists are for a given story and understand the news organization that the company is dealing with.
Conducting Research for Targeting Media
A typical media research operation includes the following steps:
• The senior management needs to determine the objectives for a certain story. After realizing the goals, the company should begin to search for the right place to pitch the story.
•The corporate communication professionals look in their files to find out who covers their industry and the company specifically.
•The corporate communication department needs to determine what angle the reporter takes each time he covers a firm in the industry.
• The firm’s corporate communication team needs to determine what kind of a reporter they are dealing with.
Responding to Media Calls
Many companies willingly spend millions of dollars on advertising but are unwilling to staff a media relations department with enough personnel to handle incoming calls from the media. This can be a costly mistake, as responding to such requests carefully can make a powerful difference in how the company appears in the story. So the following steps should be considered to meet the needs:
•Calls should come into a central office that deals with all the requests for information from important national media.
• The person who takes the phone should try to find out what angle the reporter is taking on the story.
• The person responsible should try to get as much information as possible while being careful not to give in return any information that is not already public knowledge
• The tone of the conversation should be as friendly as possible
• The media relation professional should communicate honestly about the possibilities of arranging an interview or meeting other requests.
Preparing for Media Interviews
The executive who will be interviewed needs to be prepared for the actual meeting with the reporter. The following approach works best.
• The executive should be given a short briefing on the reporter or producer’s prior work so that he or she develops a clear understanding of the reporter’s point of view.
• Next, the executive should be given a set of questions that the reporter is likely to ask.
• In preparing for a television interview, a full-dressed rehearsal is essential.
• In addition to thinking what to say, the executive need to think about the most interesting approach to expressing these messages.
• Finally, the executive needs to be prepared to state the key ideas as clearly as possible at the beginning of the interview.
Gauging Success
To sort media monitoring and analysis, the approach to measurement of media relations referenced earlier has the power to
•Identify which communications activities create the most value in terms of a specific business outcome.
•Evaluate how well an organization’s various communications functions perform against an industry average.
•Demonstrate the total value created by a CorpComm department in terms of one or more business outcomes.
•Drive strategic and tactical decision making in the communications function, hedging reputational risk, and managing major events such as mergers and top management changes.
•Highlight actual corporate value created by communications activities.
Building a Successful Media Relations Program
To build a successful media relations program the organizations must be willing to devote resources to the effort as an executive’s time can be just as valuable.
• Involve Media Relations personnel in Strategy: Companies should involve the most senior corporate communication executive in the decision-making process.
• Develop In-House Capabilities: Companies do not consider media relations important enough to hire professional staff in this area but for long-term approach, it is beneficiary to develop an in-house media relations staff.
• Use outside Counsel Sparingly – Companies should hire outside counsel for advice or information, to help with a major story or when a crisis hits.
Developing an Online Media Strategy
Internet has become a valuable tool that enables companies to get press releases out quickly and broadly. Companies’ media strategies need to be augmented with tactics for dealing with the new dimension of coverage. Because of the widespread reach of the internet, large number of companies are paying more attention to the web realizing that bad publicity online can threaten their bottom line.
Extend Your Media Relations Strategy to the Blogosphere
Public is often far more trusting of other consumers than it is of traditional institutions, including corporations. This helps explain the phenomenal rise of blog from 1990s to the present. Blogs are publicly accessible Web sites that serve as sources of commentary, opinion, and information on a variety of topics. The following steps are some guidelines on blogs:
•Take blogs seriously
•Act fast
•Don’t dismiss requests for interviews and information from bloggers.
"For a company or product that sells into a niche, you'll never get noticed by editors at major publications like The Wall Street Journal, but you will get niche bloggers to be interested in you," says Larry Schwartz, president of Newstex, a company that syndicates blogs for distribution to millions of people in corporations, financial institutions, and government agencies. (Disclosure: my blog is syndicated by Newstex and I do some marketing work for the company).
"For example, if you are in the consumer technology business, getting your product mentioned in Gizmodo and getting a link back to your site from Gizmodo are probably more important than even a mention in The Wall Street Journal," Schwartz says. "Increasingly, the way for people to find out about products is through blogs, and you often get a link to your Web site too. It used to be that the moment of truth was when somebody went to the store to find your product. Now the moment of truth is a link to your site from a blog."
Pitching influential bloggers as you would pitch mainstream media is an important way to get noticed in the crowded marketplace of ideas. But even more effective is having your own blog so that bloggers and reporters find you.
Handle Negative News Effectively
When a company does stumble upon bad news about itself the communications department should quickly access the potential damage that the news might cause.
Company lawyers should be consulted to discuss what legal stance the company might need to take.
Experience
The effective use of communication has helped Dell to regain its market share when many of the Dell laptops faced major problems with its batteries. Dell has promised its customers to resolve the issues with the batteries through effective usage of media. Dell widely publicized by calling this as the “Battery Recall Program”
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx?LN=en-US
"Media relations are those activities that involve working directly with persons responsible for the editorial (news and features), public service and sponsored programming products of mass media.”
The News Media
The news media are omnipresent and powerful in our society. Media relations department is one of the most critical areas within any corporate communication function. With the advent of television and the tremendous growth in Internet, what had once been the domain of the print medium in newspapers increasingly has become part of the visual realm through television sets and computers. Media is the only one which keeps politicians under constant scrutiny. On the other hand business leaders who enjoyed their privacy in the past have gone public these days. So business sector today clearly realize the importance of good publicity.
The Growth of Business Coverage in the MediaAs the public attitudes changed, however, the business news sections in newspapers gained recognition and began to expand. Today so many magazines and websites are devoted to the business new that it is nearly impossible to find a topic not thoroughly covered by one media outlet or another. With the increase in public demand for more information on business channels like CNN, CNBC etc started their 24 hours business channels. Forbes magazine was found in doctors’ offices earlier. But Forbes gained attention from a broad readership by publishing salaries of top entertainers, World’s richest people, World’s largest public companies etc. Business Week attracts by publishing information about business schools and corporate boards.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/88/biz_07platinum_The-400-Best-Big-Companies_land.html
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/07/undergrad/index.html
Building Better Relations with the Media
To build better press relationships with the members of the media, organizations must take time to cultivate relationships with the right people in the media. In general response rates of 2 percent are considered a success in the direct-mail business, and public relation executives get excited if their release gets picked up by a handful of publications. The measure of success in the media relations business has been the amount of “ink” coverage that a company gets. It is important for the companies need to find out who the right journalists are for a given story and understand the news organization that the company is dealing with.
Conducting Research for Targeting Media
A typical media research operation includes the following steps:
• The senior management needs to determine the objectives for a certain story. After realizing the goals, the company should begin to search for the right place to pitch the story.
•The corporate communication professionals look in their files to find out who covers their industry and the company specifically.
•The corporate communication department needs to determine what angle the reporter takes each time he covers a firm in the industry.
• The firm’s corporate communication team needs to determine what kind of a reporter they are dealing with.
Responding to Media Calls
Many companies willingly spend millions of dollars on advertising but are unwilling to staff a media relations department with enough personnel to handle incoming calls from the media. This can be a costly mistake, as responding to such requests carefully can make a powerful difference in how the company appears in the story. So the following steps should be considered to meet the needs:
•Calls should come into a central office that deals with all the requests for information from important national media.
• The person who takes the phone should try to find out what angle the reporter is taking on the story.
• The person responsible should try to get as much information as possible while being careful not to give in return any information that is not already public knowledge
• The tone of the conversation should be as friendly as possible
• The media relation professional should communicate honestly about the possibilities of arranging an interview or meeting other requests.
Preparing for Media Interviews
The executive who will be interviewed needs to be prepared for the actual meeting with the reporter. The following approach works best.
• The executive should be given a short briefing on the reporter or producer’s prior work so that he or she develops a clear understanding of the reporter’s point of view.
• Next, the executive should be given a set of questions that the reporter is likely to ask.
• In preparing for a television interview, a full-dressed rehearsal is essential.
• In addition to thinking what to say, the executive need to think about the most interesting approach to expressing these messages.
• Finally, the executive needs to be prepared to state the key ideas as clearly as possible at the beginning of the interview.
Gauging Success
To sort media monitoring and analysis, the approach to measurement of media relations referenced earlier has the power to
•Identify which communications activities create the most value in terms of a specific business outcome.
•Evaluate how well an organization’s various communications functions perform against an industry average.
•Demonstrate the total value created by a CorpComm department in terms of one or more business outcomes.
•Drive strategic and tactical decision making in the communications function, hedging reputational risk, and managing major events such as mergers and top management changes.
•Highlight actual corporate value created by communications activities.
Building a Successful Media Relations Program
To build a successful media relations program the organizations must be willing to devote resources to the effort as an executive’s time can be just as valuable.
• Involve Media Relations personnel in Strategy: Companies should involve the most senior corporate communication executive in the decision-making process.
• Develop In-House Capabilities: Companies do not consider media relations important enough to hire professional staff in this area but for long-term approach, it is beneficiary to develop an in-house media relations staff.
• Use outside Counsel Sparingly – Companies should hire outside counsel for advice or information, to help with a major story or when a crisis hits.
Developing an Online Media Strategy
Internet has become a valuable tool that enables companies to get press releases out quickly and broadly. Companies’ media strategies need to be augmented with tactics for dealing with the new dimension of coverage. Because of the widespread reach of the internet, large number of companies are paying more attention to the web realizing that bad publicity online can threaten their bottom line.
Extend Your Media Relations Strategy to the Blogosphere
Public is often far more trusting of other consumers than it is of traditional institutions, including corporations. This helps explain the phenomenal rise of blog from 1990s to the present. Blogs are publicly accessible Web sites that serve as sources of commentary, opinion, and information on a variety of topics. The following steps are some guidelines on blogs:
•Take blogs seriously
•Act fast
•Don’t dismiss requests for interviews and information from bloggers.
"For a company or product that sells into a niche, you'll never get noticed by editors at major publications like The Wall Street Journal, but you will get niche bloggers to be interested in you," says Larry Schwartz, president of Newstex, a company that syndicates blogs for distribution to millions of people in corporations, financial institutions, and government agencies. (Disclosure: my blog is syndicated by Newstex and I do some marketing work for the company)."For example, if you are in the consumer technology business, getting your product mentioned in Gizmodo and getting a link back to your site from Gizmodo are probably more important than even a mention in The Wall Street Journal," Schwartz says. "Increasingly, the way for people to find out about products is through blogs, and you often get a link to your Web site too. It used to be that the moment of truth was when somebody went to the store to find your product. Now the moment of truth is a link to your site from a blog."
Pitching influential bloggers as you would pitch mainstream media is an important way to get noticed in the crowded marketplace of ideas. But even more effective is having your own blog so that bloggers and reporters find you.
Handle Negative News Effectively
When a company does stumble upon bad news about itself the communications department should quickly access the potential damage that the news might cause.
Company lawyers should be consulted to discuss what legal stance the company might need to take.
Experience
The effective use of communication has helped Dell to regain its market share when many of the Dell laptops faced major problems with its batteries. Dell has promised its customers to resolve the issues with the batteries through effective usage of media. Dell widely publicized by calling this as the “Battery Recall Program”
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx?LN=en-US
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Internal Communications
Internal Communications
Internal Communications and the Changing Environment
•The workplace today is different – tighter staffing, longer hours, greater workloads, and more emphasis on performance are the norms.
•The increasingly complex and highly competitive nature of today’s business environment puts greater pressure on employees and also calls for concerted effort in the area of internal communications.
•Today’s employees are increasingly demanding participation in the conversation that is driving the organizational change. In this light, communication should be a two-way process wherein employees’ feedback will be taken and the senior management act upon it.
•Both the long-term and short-term fallout of ineffective internal communication can be damaging for an organization. It can start from the spread of rumors to disillusionment among employees to a gradual destruction of the company’s brand image. Worse, it may also lead to the slow death of the organization.
•Strong internal communications can increase workforce loyalty and productivity and thus will playa vital role in the company’s employee retention and overall success.
Experience: I previously worked for Connoisseur Electronics Private Ltd, Bangalore in the marketing department as a marketing executive. We used to have daily meetings, weekly reviews and feedbacks from the management. Through the effective use of internal communications we had a chance to meet the CEO every weekend and discuss the problems that we face each week. The CEO’s effective feedback was very helpful for both the salespeople and the company.
http://www.connoiseur.com/connoi/index.php
Implementing an Effective Internal Communication Program
•Communicate Up and down - When implementing an internal communication program, it is important for management to take into consideration the importance of up and down communication. Effective communication cannot happen if high-level managers isolate themselves physically and psychologically from employees. Many managers do not encourage upward and downward communication. Thus, effective internal communications can generate a dialogue within the company, fostering a sense of participation in the minds of all employees. Informal discussions are a good approach for communication between employees and supervisors.
•Making Time for Face-to-Face Meetings - Holding meetings with large groups of employees is only one means of ensuring employees have access to senior management. Here, management should communicate company results, progress in key initiatives, and responsiveness to employee feedback. In these face-to-face meetings, employees have the opportunity to ask management questions in an open forum.
•Communicate Online - Online communication is increasingly important in companies. Intranets are an important way to communicate with employees; they provide a fast channel through which companies can reach their employees quickly and broadly. At IBM, employees can log on to a discussion forum online and discuss issues real-time. Management used this technology to identify and formulate IBM's new culture - to find out what employees think IBM should be and what it is. Later, management formulated the new culture, mission, and vision based on employees' feedback. Of course, communication technology can also distract people from their every-day work.
•Employee Oriented Publication - Creating employee-oriented publications means to not only focus on online methods, but also on print communications. This is particularly important if employees have no e-mail access. Organizations have to realize that they are competing with other media sources when they try to get their attention. Hence, the ideal corporate internal publication should connect employees with happenings beyond their local surroundings; it should discuss important accomplishments across the whole company, and give employees a sense of the company's direction and strategy.
•Communicate Visually – Various constituencies like the consumers, investors,etc today increasingly get their news from television and computers rather than from newspapers, employees are becoming more visually oriented in their consumption of information. As a result, many companies have developed powerful intranets as ways to communicate with employees. For example, Jet Blue holds meetings with employees and its president once a month. The meeting is broadcasted to all locations of Jet Blue via intranet-video. Thus, not only the people in the headquarters can participate, but also employees in off-site locations. Expenditures in communication technology are an investment in the firm - they make employees feel more connected to management’s decisions.
•Internal Branding - Internal branding is important to building morale and creating a workplace where employees are committed to their jobs. Management should try to sell the company to its employees in the same way as it sells its products to customers. Especially in times of organizational change (merger, acquisition), internal branding is critical. Internal branding campaigns should also be launched when internal communication audits reveal that employees are not connecting with a company's vision or when morale is low. Since marketing starts from inside out, branding should start with the employees. If they are not reflecting the brand, it could be destructive for the whole company.
•Consider the company’s grapevine - The senior management should consider the importance of company grapevine, an informal communications network including everything from private conversations between employees to the latest stories shared in the cafeteria. It is a major communication vehicle - same as official meetings. Especially if employees do not receive timely and complete information from their employers, they will have no choice than to rely on one another and on external sources. Surveys should be conducted, and the stronger the sense of trust, the less often employees will have to rely on company grapevine as source of information. Senior management should be aware it is a "culture carrier" and visionary within a company.
For example, Hewlett Packard deploys ShortCycles E-Service for Sales-Force Communications targeted for Use by 15,000 HP Worldwide Sales Personnel and Channel Partners - Company Operations. “The ShortCycles-based ESP solution allows our sales representatives and channel partners to find the exact information they need more quickly and easily," said Steve Baker, HP's worldwide sales communication manager. "We estimate the time savings alone at more than $25 million annually, but the biggest impact ShortCycles delivers is giving our reps more time to spend with customers. That time translates into improved relationships, shortened sales cycles and increased sales."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WUB/is_2000_May_29/ai_62515857
Internal Communications and the Changing Environment
•The workplace today is different – tighter staffing, longer hours, greater workloads, and more emphasis on performance are the norms.
•The increasingly complex and highly competitive nature of today’s business environment puts greater pressure on employees and also calls for concerted effort in the area of internal communications.
•Today’s employees are increasingly demanding participation in the conversation that is driving the organizational change. In this light, communication should be a two-way process wherein employees’ feedback will be taken and the senior management act upon it.
•Both the long-term and short-term fallout of ineffective internal communication can be damaging for an organization. It can start from the spread of rumors to disillusionment among employees to a gradual destruction of the company’s brand image. Worse, it may also lead to the slow death of the organization.
•Strong internal communications can increase workforce loyalty and productivity and thus will playa vital role in the company’s employee retention and overall success.
Experience: I previously worked for Connoisseur Electronics Private Ltd, Bangalore in the marketing department as a marketing executive. We used to have daily meetings, weekly reviews and feedbacks from the management. Through the effective use of internal communications we had a chance to meet the CEO every weekend and discuss the problems that we face each week. The CEO’s effective feedback was very helpful for both the salespeople and the company.
http://www.connoiseur.com/connoi/index.php
Implementing an Effective Internal Communication Program
•Communicate Up and down - When implementing an internal communication program, it is important for management to take into consideration the importance of up and down communication. Effective communication cannot happen if high-level managers isolate themselves physically and psychologically from employees. Many managers do not encourage upward and downward communication. Thus, effective internal communications can generate a dialogue within the company, fostering a sense of participation in the minds of all employees. Informal discussions are a good approach for communication between employees and supervisors.
•Making Time for Face-to-Face Meetings - Holding meetings with large groups of employees is only one means of ensuring employees have access to senior management. Here, management should communicate company results, progress in key initiatives, and responsiveness to employee feedback. In these face-to-face meetings, employees have the opportunity to ask management questions in an open forum.
•Communicate Online - Online communication is increasingly important in companies. Intranets are an important way to communicate with employees; they provide a fast channel through which companies can reach their employees quickly and broadly. At IBM, employees can log on to a discussion forum online and discuss issues real-time. Management used this technology to identify and formulate IBM's new culture - to find out what employees think IBM should be and what it is. Later, management formulated the new culture, mission, and vision based on employees' feedback. Of course, communication technology can also distract people from their every-day work.
•Employee Oriented Publication - Creating employee-oriented publications means to not only focus on online methods, but also on print communications. This is particularly important if employees have no e-mail access. Organizations have to realize that they are competing with other media sources when they try to get their attention. Hence, the ideal corporate internal publication should connect employees with happenings beyond their local surroundings; it should discuss important accomplishments across the whole company, and give employees a sense of the company's direction and strategy.
•Communicate Visually – Various constituencies like the consumers, investors,etc today increasingly get their news from television and computers rather than from newspapers, employees are becoming more visually oriented in their consumption of information. As a result, many companies have developed powerful intranets as ways to communicate with employees. For example, Jet Blue holds meetings with employees and its president once a month. The meeting is broadcasted to all locations of Jet Blue via intranet-video. Thus, not only the people in the headquarters can participate, but also employees in off-site locations. Expenditures in communication technology are an investment in the firm - they make employees feel more connected to management’s decisions.
•Internal Branding - Internal branding is important to building morale and creating a workplace where employees are committed to their jobs. Management should try to sell the company to its employees in the same way as it sells its products to customers. Especially in times of organizational change (merger, acquisition), internal branding is critical. Internal branding campaigns should also be launched when internal communication audits reveal that employees are not connecting with a company's vision or when morale is low. Since marketing starts from inside out, branding should start with the employees. If they are not reflecting the brand, it could be destructive for the whole company.
•Consider the company’s grapevine - The senior management should consider the importance of company grapevine, an informal communications network including everything from private conversations between employees to the latest stories shared in the cafeteria. It is a major communication vehicle - same as official meetings. Especially if employees do not receive timely and complete information from their employers, they will have no choice than to rely on one another and on external sources. Surveys should be conducted, and the stronger the sense of trust, the less often employees will have to rely on company grapevine as source of information. Senior management should be aware it is a "culture carrier" and visionary within a company.
For example, Hewlett Packard deploys ShortCycles E-Service for Sales-Force Communications targeted for Use by 15,000 HP Worldwide Sales Personnel and Channel Partners - Company Operations. “The ShortCycles-based ESP solution allows our sales representatives and channel partners to find the exact information they need more quickly and easily," said Steve Baker, HP's worldwide sales communication manager. "We estimate the time savings alone at more than $25 million annually, but the biggest impact ShortCycles delivers is giving our reps more time to spend with customers. That time translates into improved relationships, shortened sales cycles and increased sales."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WUB/is_2000_May_29/ai_62515857
Theories of Communication
Communication theories
•Communication is information-related behavior, and, by extension, the study of communication is the study of information-related behavior.
•Communication is a necessary life process through which animal and human systems acquire information about their environment that is necessary to carry out their life activities.
Three common communication settings are:
•Interpersonal (face- to- face) – direct one to one communication
•Machine assisted (computers, cell phones, etc) – use of email, instant messages, conversation over cell phones, etc, which makes use of machines as a channel for information exchange.
•Mass communication- information to be conveyed is targeted at a larger audience that is scattered. Television, radio, print media like magazines, newspapers, etc are used as medium of communication.
Models of Communication
•Lasswell's Model - Harold Lasswell explained the communication model in 1948. He explained the model by
“who says what to whom in what channel with what effect”. The model is a simple description of one-way communication process, which comprises of a speaker who communicates a message to a receiver by making use of any of the media like print, radio, television, etc to finally convey the information.
•Shannon & Weaver’s Model - Claude Shannon is known as The Father of Information Theory. The model consists of an information source, which selects a desired message out of a set of possible messages, and the selected message may consist of written or spoken words, or of pictures, music, etc. It has a transmitter that
converts the message into a signal, which is sent over the communication channel from the transmitter to the receiver. During signal transmission through the channel, receiver may come across noises, which are any mental or physical distraction that interferes with the transmission of a signal from the source to the destination. "Correction channels” are introduced which overcomes the problems created by noise and the information in form of the signal finally reaches the receiver. (http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon/Shannon.html
• Schramm’s Model -In Schramm's First Model (1954) there is a source of information, an encoder, a signal, a
decoder, and a destination. The goal is to find a common ground between sender and receiver. Schramm saw communication as an effort with the proposal to establish a common ground between a source and a receiver. The word "communication" comes from the Latin "communis", which means "common". This fact becomes even 
clearer in Schramm's Second Model. Here, both source and destination of the signal are surrounded by a field of experience. Every field has its own language, and communication can only work if there is a crossover, an overlap, a place where the experience matches). In Schramm's Third Model, he added the importance of feedback to his ideas, especially to overcome the problem of noise. The goal is when sending a message; one should use a channel that is reliable, and develop a clear message that results in the expected feedback. (http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/lis6260/lectures/shannon.htm
•Communication is information-related behavior, and, by extension, the study of communication is the study of information-related behavior.
•Communication is a necessary life process through which animal and human systems acquire information about their environment that is necessary to carry out their life activities.
Three common communication settings are:
•Interpersonal (face- to- face) – direct one to one communication
•Machine assisted (computers, cell phones, etc) – use of email, instant messages, conversation over cell phones, etc, which makes use of machines as a channel for information exchange.
•Mass communication- information to be conveyed is targeted at a larger audience that is scattered. Television, radio, print media like magazines, newspapers, etc are used as medium of communication.
Models of Communication
•Lasswell's Model - Harold Lasswell explained the communication model in 1948. He explained the model by
“who says what to whom in what channel with what effect”. The model is a simple description of one-way communication process, which comprises of a speaker who communicates a message to a receiver by making use of any of the media like print, radio, television, etc to finally convey the information.•Shannon & Weaver’s Model - Claude Shannon is known as The Father of Information Theory. The model consists of an information source, which selects a desired message out of a set of possible messages, and the selected message may consist of written or spoken words, or of pictures, music, etc. It has a transmitter that
converts the message into a signal, which is sent over the communication channel from the transmitter to the receiver. During signal transmission through the channel, receiver may come across noises, which are any mental or physical distraction that interferes with the transmission of a signal from the source to the destination. "Correction channels” are introduced which overcomes the problems created by noise and the information in form of the signal finally reaches the receiver. (http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon/Shannon.html• Schramm’s Model -In Schramm's First Model (1954) there is a source of information, an encoder, a signal, a
decoder, and a destination. The goal is to find a common ground between sender and receiver. Schramm saw communication as an effort with the proposal to establish a common ground between a source and a receiver. The word "communication" comes from the Latin "communis", which means "common". This fact becomes even 
clearer in Schramm's Second Model. Here, both source and destination of the signal are surrounded by a field of experience. Every field has its own language, and communication can only work if there is a crossover, an overlap, a place where the experience matches). In Schramm's Third Model, he added the importance of feedback to his ideas, especially to overcome the problem of noise. The goal is when sending a message; one should use a channel that is reliable, and develop a clear message that results in the expected feedback. (http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/lis6260/lectures/shannon.htmFor example, Karen Gustafson, former director of employee communications for The Pillsbury Company, whose employee-feedback system won an Optimas Award in 1998 from WORKFORCE, describes the benefits of such a system. "Obtaining ongoing feedback from employees ensures that there are no misunderstandings between what is in the hearts and minds of employees and what management believes is in the hearts and minds of employees," says Gustafson
•Westley-MacLean Model - Bruce Westley and Malcolm MacLean, Jr. proposed a model, which tells that in an environment various events occur on which advocates may choose to comment. The advocate’s comment are taken up by different types of media like print, radio, television, etc which passes on the information to the audience. The audience responds to these comments and gives its feedback to the media and to the advocates. Even the media can give its feedback to the advocates. The model elaborates the feedback concept and emphasizes on mass communication and interpersonal communication, as well as the relationship between the two.
•Kincaid’s Convergence Model - Kincaid's Convergence Model (1976) describes communication as a
process in which participants create and share information to reach the goal of mutual understanding. Shared actions lead to a collective action, shared beliefs lead to mutual agreement, and shared understanding leads to the ultimate goal of mutual understanding.
•Westley-MacLean Model - Bruce Westley and Malcolm MacLean, Jr. proposed a model, which tells that in an environment various events occur on which advocates may choose to comment. The advocate’s comment are taken up by different types of media like print, radio, television, etc which passes on the information to the audience. The audience responds to these comments and gives its feedback to the media and to the advocates. Even the media can give its feedback to the advocates. The model elaborates the feedback concept and emphasizes on mass communication and interpersonal communication, as well as the relationship between the two.
•Kincaid’s Convergence Model - Kincaid's Convergence Model (1976) describes communication as a
process in which participants create and share information to reach the goal of mutual understanding. Shared actions lead to a collective action, shared beliefs lead to mutual agreement, and shared understanding leads to the ultimate goal of mutual understanding.
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