Understanding Corporate Communications

Understanding Corporate Communications
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Introduction
Corporate communications is an integrated communication approach between an
enterprise and its key internal and external stakeholders. Typically, every company has a set
of missions, visions, and goals, which it means to pursue1. It is the role of the corporate
communications department to understand the company’s intended strategic direction and
create synergy by communicating clearly to the various stakeholders in order to achieve
success2. This essay will thus explore the functions of corporate communication and how it
could very well define the success of an organization using British airways reorganization
in 1987 as a case study. It will explain the relationship between a firm’s mission, vision, and
goals to its communications strategy. More to this, the paper will go on further to expound
on the various internal and external stakeholders of a company; their roles and impact on
the firm. Lastly, it will look at the various disciplines in corporate communications such as
corporate social responsibility and public relations and mention real examples.
Corporate missions, purpose and objectives
Organizations develop an individualistic foundation of plausible values demonstrated
by a vision to be undertaken by the firm’s mission statement3. The former coupled with
goals setting is particularly significant in the strategic direction of a company. Therefore,
the corporate communications practitioners must familiarize with these three important
aspects in order for it to carry out its task. Goals are generally guiding principles not only
for management but also for employees in terms of establishing precise direction and
1 Riel, Cees B. M. van. 2011. Principles Of Corporate Communication. London:
Prentice Hall.
2 Wright, Joel. 2002. Mission and reality and why not?, Journal of Change
Management, 3, 1, pp. 30-44
3 Tallant, James. 2011. Importance Of Vision, Mission, And Values In Strategic
Direction. Munich: GRIN Verlag.

coordination of activities within the firm. On a competitive viewpoint goals help in
distinguishing a company from its rivals4. It provides motivation and understanding of what
employees should be working towards achieving. According to Kokemuller (2009), goals
also drive innovation, research, and development, marketing strategy as well as service
delivery. This in turn gives the organization an upper hand in the market position.
The mission statement, on the other hand, defines the fundamental objectives of the
organization5. In brief, it summarizes what the company is about, the way of operation, its
core values and how the organizations intend to achieve its vision. Therein, the vision
narrates the future of organizations in fulfillment of its mission. Comprehensively, the
mission, vision and goals of a company in essences describe a company to its employees,
management, shareholders let alone the public6. A well-fabricated statement of these three
aspects would, however, be purposeless if not properly conveyed to the stakeholder, hence,
the need for corporate communications department in a company. For that reason, corporate
communications has to work hand in hand with the senior management to deliver the
company’s objectives effectively.
British Airways is the largest airline in the UK formed in 1974 and currently
operating a fleet of 270 aircrafts (Britishairways.com, 2018). During the 1970’s oil crisis,
British Airways experienced massive financial losses as it struggled to maintain it’s large
workforce. It developed poor services that led to a decrease in customer base. When Lord
King, was brought in as the new chairpersons in 1981 he restructured the entire
4 Kokemuller, Neil. 2009. "Why Is Goal Setting Important In
Organizations?". Yourbusiness.Azcentral.Com.
https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/goal-setting-important-organizations-
9317.html.
5 Drucker, Poel. 1994. The theory of the business, Harvard Business
Review, Sep. Oct, pp. 95 – 104
6 Sabrautzki, Stefan. 2010. Strategies, Mission, Vision, Goals. München: GRIN
Verlag GmbH.

organization. He reduced the workforce, eliminated routes that were unprofitable and
modernized fleet. This lead to massive increase in profits to $284 million 10 years later,
recorded as the largest profits during that time. This success can be attributed to the ability
of lord king to communicate effectively to all shareholders of the company. He clearly
explained the new vision of the company while making clear his reasons for restructuring
and layoffs in a transparent way. From this illustration, it is clear that communication is a
key factor for any strategy an organization chooses to undertake.
The role of corporate communications in modern organizations
As mentioned earlier, importance is accorded to the various stakeholders of a
company due to their ability to shape the company’s operations7. Internal stakeholders
include, employees, managers and shareholders. There have been rapid changes in the work
force over the last century whereby the new generation of employees demands more than
just monetary gain from their workplace8. Whilst previously, money was a motivator for
most people, recent developments are that satisfaction of employees can be linked to the
company values and culture. Other factors leading to employee satisfaction include,
leadership, opportunities for career advancement, security, fair treatment and welfare
(Chamberlain 2017). Poor organizational communication could be detrimental to an
organization as it could lead to a breakdown in trust between workers and management, low
productivity, inefficiency and ultimately high turnover. Corporate practitioners are obliged
to take into account the various need of these employees and communicate the same to
managers.
7 Ushanov, P. V. 2015. "Crisis Management As A New Management
Paradigm". Effective Crisis Management, no. 1: 66. doi:10.17747/2078-8886-
2010-1-66-79.
8 Chamberlain, Andrew. 2017. "What Matters More To Your Workforce Than
Money". Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/01/what-matters-more-
to-your-workforce-than-money.