Changing employee behaviour through strategic communication

Abstract

Businesses that actively engage in integrated internal communication practices should theoretically be more likely to foster employee engagement during change management interventions. Competitive forces and a dynamic business environment compel most organisations to continuously review the relevance of their current business operating model. As a result, organisations develop new strategies or revise existing ones. Part of the change management process of executing a strategy is the ability to communicate it to employees, in a manner that ensures alignment between strategy and employee. The communication process therefore must seek to effect behavioural changes among its recipients. This paper investigates the practices of a business unit of an organisation in the financial services sector which has recently undertaken an extensive strategic communication exercise. Through a series of survey questions and interviews, the research seeks an answer to the question of whether integrated internal communication initiatives are effective in changing employee behaviour. Furthermore, the report investigates the forces that either inhibit or promote internal communication; and engages communication practitioners to determine whether return on investment metrics are implemented that link internal communication initiatives to financial performance. Results from the research revealed that strategic communication does have the capacity to affect employee engagement, but if left unchecked, factors such as language, distance and education have the capacity to inhibit effective communication initiatives. Furthermore, the absence of financial metrics and indicators related to the strategic communication initiative render it improbable to determine a return on investment for the internal communication initiative.