From memos to messages: WhatsApp as a strategic internal communications tool in the South African public service

Abstract

This study examines the shifting dynamics of internal communication in South African public service organisations, focusing on the rise of WhatsApp as a strategic communication tool. Traditionally, organisational communication in the public sector has been dominated by memos and circulars that reflect the bureaucratic, top-down nature of government institutions, privileging hierarchy, formality, and control. However, the widespread adoption of WhatsApp has introduced a faster, more interactive, and more informal mode of communication that blurs organisational boundaries and challenges established hierarchies. Against this backdrop, the study investigates how WhatsApp is utilised to convey and interpret strategic objectives in the public service, and what this means for organisational coherence, authority, and inclusivity. The research is framed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which provides a lens for unpacking how language use in WhatsApp reflects and reproduces power relations, while sense-making theory is used to illuminate how employees interpret, negotiate, and reframe strategic messages in digital contexts. Data for the study includes organisational WhatsApp group communication from six government departments and entities which are analysed to reveal patterns of authority, resistance, and reinterpretation in the circulation of strategic objectives. Findings suggest that WhatsApp not only accelerates communication but also creates a discursive space in which strategic directives are contested, re-articulated, and normalised through everyday interactions. This has significant implications for both theory and practice. Academically, the study extends scholarship on digital internal communication by contributing to CDA-based understandings of mobile messaging and sense-making in South African public organisations. Practically, it provides insights for public servants and communication practitioners, in particular, on how to harness WhatsApp effectively, balancing its speed and accessibility with the need for clarity, accountability, and alignment in strategic messaging. The study therefore highlights both the opportunities and risks of digital messaging platforms in shaping the future of public service communication.