Improving Organizational Communication Standards

Running head: IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION STANDARDS
SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY
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1IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION STANDARDS
To: Director of Communications at Company ABC
From:
Date:
Subject: How do leaders use communications to execute strategy in the 21st century?
Executive Summary
Strategic Leadership of C-Suit Executives:
“Over the past two decades, we have seen a profound shift in how leaders view
communications within organizations. This shift has moved from a tactical and superficial
focus (speech writing, media placements) to a more strategic and elevated level (developing
and implementing strategy through communication, sophisticated measurement using big
data to understand constituencies and influence reputation).” (Argenti 2017). The term C-Suit
is commonly used to refer to the most influential people in an organization, especially those
belonging to the administrative or managerial posts, whose designation usually begins with
the word ‘Chief’ as in ‘Chief Executive Officer’ (CEO), o Chief Financial Officer (CFO),
Chief Information Officer (CIO), or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) among many others. A
significant amount of leadership and technical skills is demanded from these C-suite
executive for the successful functioning of a company. They are supposed to implement
various modes of communication strategies, whereby, the morale of the employees are
enhanced and rate of productivity increased. Rather than delivering these in a hierarchical
format, a collateral approach may be useful. This decentralized control through a network of
officials at the different levels, when presented in a tactful manner, enhances creativity and
“...as part of a general decentralization of strategic responsibilities, research has identified a
role shift and new responsibilities for middle- and lower-level actors. Both the quality of
decisions and the efficiency of implementation are seen to benefit from more decentralized
planning...” (Wolf and Floyd 2017).
Strategic Planning as an Effective Tool for Leaders:
Any form of organizational development has to come from planned changes within
the structure and functioning of the organization both within, as well as from outside. The
leaders of the concerned organizations are expected to show the path of these changes, at the
same time, walking along those paths to set examples for his/her employees. They are the
preachers as well as practitioners of these planned changes, and must provide strategic insight
into the required knowledge and skills for the development of the organization. They must
figure out areas of improvement and follow a paradigmatic structure to address and resolve
the problematic areas. The implementation of Strategic Planning by leaders is of paramount
importance for organizational development. “We define strategic planning as a more or less
formalized, periodic process that provides a structured approach to strategy formulation,
implementation, and control. The purpose of strategic planning is to influence an
organization’s strategic direction for a given period and to coordinate and integrate deliberate

2IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION STANDARDS
as well as emerging strategic decisions.” (Wolf and Floyd 2017). These strategic planning
must come from the chief officers or executives of a company (Argenti 2017).
Importance of Narration
Narration of small incidents or stories always has a lasting impression in this regard.
“... narrativity emphasizes the simultaneous presence of multiple, interlinked realities, and is
thus well positioned for capturing the diversity and complexity present in strategic
discourse.” (Elmes and Barry 2017). The message should be simple, precise and meaningful.
A leader must provide the employees with a wholesome knowledge about the realities of the
market and customer requirements through these narratives. This mode of explanation of the
company’s strategy and execution, along with applicable procedures, should be reinstated and
reinforced from time to time, based on changes in market requirements (Wolf and Floyd
2017). Effectively done, this can provide a clarity in the in the employer’s future directions,
based on a proper framework for the company’s goals. Strategy management through
narratives can thus improve the communication standards and provide the employees with an
impetus for better participation and commitment.