Appropriateness of Internal Communication Channels : A Stakeholder Approach

Abstract: Internal communication is pivotal for the effectiveness of company procedures and ultimately the success of the company. Understanding more about the communicative needs of different employee groups is therefore important in order to convey a message in a satisfying manner to those employees. This explorative study is investigating communication preferences from a stakeholder perspective to find out what influences the appropriateness of using different communication channels when transmitting information to different stakeholder groups. Interviews with employees at different levels and functions at PostNord were conducted and analysed. We conclude that the top level stakeholder prefers face-to-face communication due to complex topics being discussed with a high need for feedback. The stakeholder at the middle organisational level preferred e-mail due to being constantly interrupted and therefore need to access information at later times. The bottom level consisted of two stakeholder groups that had high degree, respectively low degree of customer interaction. They both preferred face-to-face, for reasons that had grounds in strict working schedules and work tasks - they were not given time to take in information properly in any other way than scheduled meetings, and the stakeholder with low customer interaction mostly worked alone which made this stakeholder value meetings with other colleagues.