Search results

This paper aims to present the results of a study into the relationship between horizontal and vertical communication and professional and organisational identification.

An empirical study was carried out at a large hospital in The Netherlands with multiple locations. Hospital employees (n = 347) completed a written questionnaire.

The results show that although employees identify more strongly with their profession than with their organisation, there is a positive connection between professional and organisational identification. Dimensions of vertical communication are important predictors of organisational identification, whereas dimensions of horizontal communication are important predictors of professional identification.

Identification with the overall organisation does not depend primarily on the quality of contact with immediate colleagues within a work group or department; rather, it depends more on appreciation of the communication from and with the organisation's top management.

Management should find a balance between communication about organisational goals and individual needs, which is crucial in influencing professional and organisational identification.

Previous research has shown a positive link between the communication climate at a specific organisational level and the employee's identification with that level. The current study adds to this concept the influence of horizontal and vertical dimensions of communication on identification among different types of employees.

When comparing novel centralized and distributed communications and video streaming services, the authors identified a need for a theoretic framework to position a multitude of ICT services and technologies according to their value proposition. Literature does not integrate existing value analysis concepts into a holistic theoretical framework. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by proposing a value analysis framework for ICT services capable of describing the value exchanges between different actors and their role constellations based on technological componentizations.

The paper evaluates a representative selection of communications and video streaming services and an extensive literature study on existing value analysis research was conducted to develop the framework and to verify it.

The paper demonstrates the applicability of the value analysis framework in communications and video streaming case studies, which are technically very different from each other but, at the abstraction level the framework provides, display very similar characteristics in value flows and role constellations.

The value analysis framework could be extended and verified with other case studies and complemented with quantitative modeling and system dynamics.

The authors combine existing literature into a proposal of a holistic value analysis framework and apply it to novel centralized and distributed communications and video streaming services. Both academics and practitioners can use the framework to evaluate the value proposition of ICT services and technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to chart the internationalization of Forex Club, mainly through improvements in internal communications.

The paper examines what gave rise to the need for a more international outlook at the company and how it set about achieving this.

The paper details the changes made in: formal and informal communication; vertical (top‐down and bottom‐up) communication; horizontal communication; and communication on the grapevine.

The paper argues that, in an era of change, it is important for HR to foresee possible communication bottlenecks and try to overcome them. It is always important to use both formal and informal communication channels. Communication tools must match the corporate culture, and reflect any changes in this. The leadership and commitment of change agents are crucial, as well as their personal‐communication skills.

The paper reveals the advantages that a company with a proud Russian heritage gained from taking a more international outlook.

The paper contains interesting information on how English was introduced as a second language in the business.

Teleworkers need to use information and communication technology (ICT) to communicate and collaborate with their team members, however, when new and complicated information systems should be used, this can lead to stress. Receiving adequate information and emotional support from team members could reduce the stress caused by technological complexity and subsequent work and occupational strains.

Participants (N = 400) teleworked at least half of their working hours and were employed in organizations with a minimum of 250 employees. Data from the online survey were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results demonstrate that aspects of informational and emotional communication contribute to perceived social support from team members, with emotional communication explaining more variance. Stress from technological complexity is mitigated by both supportive team communication and the extent of telework. Perceived stress from technological complexity, however, still increases work and occupational strains.

The findings emphasize the importance of supportive internal communication to foster a collaborative telework environment. Practitioners in internal communication need to encourage teleworkers to help each other with adequate information and provide also emotional support to overcome the negative effects of complex ICT.

The study shows that supportive communication among team members is important for teleworkers to reduce work and occupational strains, especially when facing difficulties with complex ICT.

Marketing writing has long argued the value to services companies of developing “market orientation”. However, the existence of organizational barriers to the development of market orientation in services businesses has been neglected. The findings of research in food retailing companies suggests associations between several important aspects of management behavior and successfully developing market orientation. These findings are of particular interest in enhancing the understanding of the problems faced in developing market orientation in retail businesses, but also of general interest to the services marketing reader. A series of conclusions and implications of this research for services marketing are presented.

Staff perceptions of management/staff communications are examined through an attitude survey. Organisational characteristics and their likely impact on the communication climate are considered and a communications strategy is developed. In challenging and changing times, organisations need to be flexible and responsive. They can achieve this through open communication systems which encourage staff involvement and participation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between routine communication practices and corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Drawing upon CE theory and neo-bureaucratic theory, the paper provides insight into all the directions of routine corporate communication and their potential influence on CE.

The paper reviews past and current literature from which hypothesis are developed. Applying the competing values framework and data from 64 Polish manufacturing firms, we used multiple power regression to test the hypothesized relationships.

The study provides evidence for a positive relationship between routine communication practices and CE. The analysis reveals different levels of influence of various communication aspects on CE.

Many organizations’ common objective of their redesign efforts is to get rid of the bureaucratic features of the organization. This study suggests that the challenge is to reconfigure certain routine processes and formal requirements within the organization to better suit CE purposes. The paper specifies which routine communication practices can significantly impact CE.

Very few prior voices articulate the need of routine practices study in CE research. This paper extends CE theory by providing a new perspective on CE factors and opening new avenues for further research.

Relative to the increasing focus on organisations’ outward communication consistency and coherency, the internal communication taking place between different organisational functions is under-explored. The study aims to address the following two research questions: What form does cross-functional communication take within organisations? How do features of the communication work climate influence the form of cross-functional communication?

The study draws on qualitative data generated from semi-structured interviews with media and marketing managers from 33 professional football organisations operating in the English Premier League.

Thematic patterns between internal communication practices and different communication climates lead to the development of a new internal organisational communications typology, comprising: Type 1: collaborative symmetrical communication (cohesive climate); Type 2: unstructured informal communication (friendly climate); and Type 3: cross-functional silos (divisive climate).

Internal organisational communication practices are deemed fundamental to organisational success, yet there remains limited empirical evidence of the form such practices take or how they interact with features of an organisation’s communication climate. The study introduces a new internal organisational communications typology to develop and extend the theory and practice of internal marketing communications.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal allocation of authority within “chain” organizations and to show when partial centralization becomes dominant in the sense of organizational performance.

This paper takes an incomplete contract approach and uses an information transmission framework to investigate the optimal governance structure, in which non-contractible decisions must be adapted to local operating conditions, and also coordinated with the upstream and downstream divisions. We also use simulation analysis to numerically show the theoretical mapping between the underlying parameters (i.e. coordination need) and the dominant organizational structures.

Partial decentralization will arise as the optimal governance structure only when the information in the middle branch is relatively concentrated or dispersive, so as to exploit the underlying information structure in the “chain” organizations. Specifically, when information is highly concentrated, direct control of the middle branch can improve coordination within firms. When the information is highly dispersive, to delegate authority to the middle branch only can improve communication.

This paper characterizes the optimal governance structure in “chain” organizations. The findings may give some enlightenment on real authority driven by ex ante asymmetric information structures and have implications on asymmetric delegation within firms.

The relationship between organisation structure and strategic planning has been discussed by numerous authors. However, empirical studies of this relationship remain scarce. This article examines the interrelationship between strategic plan intensity and organisation structural factors through an empirical analysis to provide additional insights into this important relationship. Strategic plan intensity is defined as the degree to which an organisation uses a strategic plan to guide the actions and decisions of organisation members.