Internal Communications in Big Bulgarian Companies
The research was carried out in the period 17th-25th of October 2007 among the top managers and the middle managers that work in the biggest Bulgarian companies. Main goal of the research was to examine the idea that managers have about the importance of internal communications for the stability and the growth of a company. One of the side-goals was to examine the willingness for investment in the development of the internal communications in a company.
To explain the idea that big-company managers have about the term "internal communication", the respondents in the research were given the opportunity to define the meaning of the term by themselves. According to the given responses internal communications are:
Key department that is responsible for the two-way communication on all levels of the company and helps the high management for achieving the strategic objectives. Internal communications optimize the relations management, help solving the conflicts and ensure good interaction between all company's levels.
The functions that internal communications department should have are also part of the broader definition of the term. The research data shows that according to the respondents the internal communications department is related to wide range of activities: communication, managing internal conflicts and assuring good psychological climate.
According to the respondents the internal communications department should work with both managers and employees. In some cases this mediating function between the different levels of the company is carried out by single department or employee; in some cases internal communication activities are part of other specialized departments such as the PR or the HR departments; but most of the times the mediator’s role between different company levels is not carried out by anyone. The research data shows that from all 32 examined companies only 12,9% have separate department for internal communication. The rest 87,1% of the companies not have internal communications department or its functions are carried out by other department.
On the question "Who should be engaged with the function of internal communicator?" most of the respondents (36,7%) consider that this should be a priority of specialized internal communications department. One fifth of the respondents point out the HR department should be responsible for the internal communications and only 13,3% see this responsibility as part of the work of the PR department.
The ideal type internal communicator defined by our respondents is:
Highly communicative person; person who knows well his company and is loyal to it; person who has a well-developed contacts and has great teamwork and decision- making skills. Important skill is the ability to solve problems and conflicts. If the internal communicator has those necessary skills it is not necessary for him or her to have specialized PR education, business sagacity or to understand in details the management process.
Almost all of our respondents consider internal communications as necessary investment field for the growth of the company and express their possitive attitude about the advantages of internal communications department.
Internal Communications in 2010
