Knowledge Creation and Management
Introduction The concept of knowledge as the founding block for attaining competitive advantage has become quite prevalent in Management studies. All knowledge should begin form a piece of information. For the conversion of information into knowledge there is a critical aspect to be noted. This is related to the timing of the retrieval of information. […]
Brand Categories
Every marketing management student would have heard the story about origin of branding, that it was initially used to identify and isolate a particular stock of cattle in the west. From the Wild West, branding as a concept has grown and changed beyond its original purpose. Today brands have become the common tool for us […]
Need for Auditors, Certifiers, and Consultants to be Ethical and Manage Conflicts of Interest
How Corporates and Auditors, Certifiers, and Consultants Partner with Each Other In the corporate world, companies have relationships with a number of external and third party entities like suppliers, auditors, certifiers, and consultants who either advise them on their strategies, partner with them in the supply chain, audit their financial statements, and have a network […]
Relevance of Mass Media to Society
The Fourth Estate Mass media perform a vital and a crucial role in society. They are called the Fourth Estate, as they are one of the pillars of democracy along with the executive, legislature, and the other socioeconomic forces that bind a society together. In this context, it is important to note that they are […]
Qualities of a Good Response – What a response must provide ?
An organization should understand that response is the key towards creating quality relationship with customers and nurturing the future business depending upon the customer’s perception and senses determined from the response. Response creates a channel of interaction that can enhance business relationship which will be mutually beneficial. This is only possible when the responses from […]
With the proliferation of activities that any company does, there needs to be a mechanism through which it advertises its achievements, answers queries about its performance, and has a window to the external world in times of crises and other catastrophes.
The corporate communication department of any organization performs the three functions listed above. Before the deepening of private sector activity, companies used to have public relations departments or used to outsource their public relations activities to specialized firms that had the expertise.
Even now, many multinationals have corporate communication teams that double up as event management teams in addition to their media interfacing activities. Indeed, companies like Infosys have dedicated spokespersons whose sole function is to liaise with the media because these companies often are in the public eye.
Apart from the reactive media interfacing in response to queries and requests for information, corporate communication teams also are proactive in media management, which means that they actively suggest media coverage to the press and set the agenda about what to be written about the company and how it is to be covered.
It is often the case that many employees in the companies think that corporate communication teams are all hype and fashion with no substance. This is because of the nature of the work that they do which is glossy and hip. However, it needs to be mentioned that corporate communication teams play a vital role in driving the news coverage about the companies and in these days of 24/7 news coverage, the onus of representing the company’s viewpoint accurately and reliably falls on the shoulders of the corporate communications teams.
In most IT companies, the nerdy and the geeky crowd often downplay the importance of the corporate communications teams. This is not the ideal attitude towards the practice of corporate communications and should be discouraged. Instead, a nuanced appreciation of what corporate communications is all about must be articulated by the management to the employees so that they do not dismiss it as all hype and no substance.
If we start with the disadvantages first, it is clear from the recent downsizing in many IT companies that unless the media are kept informed about the stance of the management, the media coverage would be anything but friendly.
Often, there are many rivals with agendas and these translate into poor or negative reporting about the company.
On the other hand, if the corporate communications teams proactively brief the media about instances of downsizing and other crises and shapes perceptions that are favorable to the company viewpoints, then the advantages of having corporate communications teams becomes apparent.
There is no denying the fact that in this current media landscape where news changes by the minute, having a dedicated corporate communications is the answer to the problem of having the company’s perspective put forward.
In conclusion, corporate communications teams are indispensable and any attempt to sideline them as a peripheral activity would boomerang on the company.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
