Discuss about the Corporate Communications and Public Relations.
John’s Outback Adventures Tours is a company owned by John Perkin. According to John’s adventures tours (2017) John has over 30 years of experience in leading tours in Western Australia. He is said to a vast knowledge of wild flowers due to many years of tourism and being familiar with Western Australia’s flora (John’s adventures tours (2017). The main clients of the company are international tourist and majorly Chinese nationals. An analysis of the company Public relations and corporate communication indicated major issues that needed immediate attention.
Corporate communications involve communication activities undertaken by an organisation internally as well as externally. It is important in building departmental bridges to enhance smooth flow of communication (Grunig 2013). On the other hand, public relations involves identification, building and nurturing relationships between the company and the public’s with the aim of promoting an organisations reputations through visible channels like editors and reporters who communicate about the organisation using the information provided to them.
This report will focus on developing effective organisational culture as well team communication for John’s Outback Adventures Tours. According to Jung, et al (2009) organisational culture is shared values, practices, attitudes and goals that make an organisation. It is the way behave around and the way we treat our customers, colleagues and community.
Development of organisation culture becomes the first priority is because organisational culture is responsible for shaping the personality of companies (Hearn, et al 2009). This organisational personality distinguishes a company from other companies offering similar products or services. In addition, organisational culture is responsible for developing rules and procedures that govern employee actions and conducts reflecting business aspects.
Effective team communication is also a very important action that needs to be prioritised. According to Grunig (2013) a team that communicates efficiently reaps the fruits of efficient action as time lost to misinterpretation of messages is cut down. Poor communication in a team results in team members taking incorrect actions. Promoting team communication leads to the right actions and in time project completion. In addition, effective team communication allows teams to cope with ever changing business world as team members hold each other’s hands during change thus encouraging participation and creating understanding and team spirit (Watson & Noble 2007).
When an organisation had a good organisational culture and teams can communicate effectively, then issues like conflict management, ethical issues in public relations and intercultural relations can be addressed easily as their will be a guideline as well as team spirit to take care of the issues. Organisational culture can give a guideline on how to prepare corporate communication literature effectively as it stipulates the image that the organisation needs to portray to the public. The role of corporate communication and public relation writer can be clearly drawn if there is developed team communication.
This outline will break down all the topics that will be covered during the organisational culture development training for John’s Outback Adventures Tours staff.
The team will engage in detailed discussion to promote understanding of what culture is. This discussion should generate a definition that is agreeable to participants.
This will help the participants address culture in terms of how it is applied within organisations and understand clearly why organisational culture is important. Diagnosing organisational culture
This is the most important section of the training. The participants will be taken through different steps that will aide an in-depth understanding of components of organisational culture. These steps include, describing the artefacts of culture, identifying espoused values of culture, identifying underlying assumptions of culture and determining if the assumptions have negative or positive effects on the improvements that are hoped for. To train on organisational culture management the participants are go through the assumptions that would have positive effects on hoped for improvements. The objective of this is to help the participants identify the steps that they can individually take in their sections. Then the assumptions that could have negative effects to the hopped for improvements are considered to help the participants realise the amount of cost needed in terms of time, money, energy and goodwill for development of a good organisational culture. This encourages the participants to work with objectives that are within their capabilities and are realistic. In addition, the participants will learn change management skills that will make it easier to convince team members to embrace change.
After all the assumptions have been analysed and necessary steps identified, the participants should develop action plan for developing organisational culture. The action plans should be developed for each department and then amalgamated for the general organisation action plan. The action plan should detail all the steps and activities that will be taken to create the kind of organisational culture that is appropriate for the company growth.
This is an outline for the topics that will be covered during John’s Outback Adventures Tours staff training on the topic of effective team communication.
Learning outcomes
Definition and Importance of communicating
The participants will brain storm and agree on a definition for communication. Then they will go further and detail down the importance of communication in an organisation and in a team. According to Merrilees and Miller (2008) brain storming is an effective learning method as it encourages exchange of ideas and active participation of all thus developing broad view of ideas.
The participants will learn about different methods of communications that exist and conduct an in-depth analysis of pro and cons of each method. The methods of communications to be covered will fall under, oral, written and nonverbal communication methods.
Why is effective communication important for a team?
The team will learn the role played by effective team communication in inspiring and influencing creativity and performance of employees. Team communication also influences how feedback about performance is given and impacts on performance improvement by encouraging goal setting to achieve different mile stones.
Handling difficult situations and difficult personalities
This will empower participants by learning different approaches they can use when faced by difficult situations or personalities. They learn the importance of using diplomatic channels in such cases to get desirable results.
Analysing existing team communication processes
At this stage the participants will conduct a situation analysis of the current team communication state of affairs. This will detail all the communication methods that are used at the moment and the level of impact they have, any communication challenges that exist and suggest the possible reason for the challenges and also clearly identify communication best practices that are in place. This will give the participants a clear picture of why they need to improve the communication in their teams and the level of urgency of the matter (Grunig 2013).
Developing new team communication strategies for better performance
After the thorough analysis of the company’s team communication state of affairs, the participants will come up with new communication strategies that will address the challenges and bridge existing gaps. Then they will be expected to implement the strategies in their respective departments to foster effective communication.
The training program for organisational culture development and effective team communication development will take 3 days. This program is best offered to management level employees, departmental heads and supervisors who upon receiving the training will pass on the skills to their team members using practical situations and during meetings. I would suggest creating an organisation development committee that will be tasked with attending training forums for organisation improvement then training others. The members of the committee should be drawn from all departments.
The areas of training and training participants have been identified and the training plan developed. Determine who will be conducting the training. Will you outsource or do you have employee who can do it. If you are outsourcing scout for a trainer early, check the referees for work quality, and request for quotations to decide on who is affordable to you.
Create a training budget and make sure to include training materials, speaker fees, food and any other expense that might be incurred. Budgeting is important as it promotes transparency and accountability while minimising unplanned spending (Grunig 2013). Remember to follow the company’s budgetary processes. In addition, create an evaluation sheet or form that the participants will fill after the training to determine whether the scope of the training was met.
After the budget is released allocate the money per training program. This will ensure that all the training programs scheduled are catered for in advance and adequately.
Select a trainer to do the training. This could be from an external firm or the company’s employee who is competent enough in the area in question. Set expectations that are clear for the trainer and establish feedback systems to determine how the training expectations are being met. Before the trainer starts the job make sure to have him sign a contract detailing all the terms and conditions that must be observed during the assignment.
After the training is completed, carry out evaluations immediately by ensuring the participants fill evaluation forms. Analyse the results to determine the need for future training. According to Xavier, et al (2005) evaluations are important in determining the need for improvement as they unearth weaknesses and challenges in projects. Continue to follow up the effectiveness of the skill in the departments to determine their impact on overall performance of the business.
John’s Outback Adventures Tours must prioritize the development of an organizational culture that is inclusive and appreciative of people of all ethnic backgrounds as well as languages and appreciate diversity. This can be achieved by employing multilingual employees who will bridge the intercultural communication gap and train others on intercultural issues.
To make the development of organizational culture easy, John’s Outback Adventures Tours must first develop company’s mission, vision, core values. According to Hearn, et al (2009) core values determine and shape n organizations culture. This will give a clear direction to employees about what is expected of them when at work.
To foster teamwork and team communication, John’s Outback Adventures Tours management should establish a system to recognize the best performing team and rewarding their efforts. This will challenge all the teams to put the best foot forward. The organization should also consider regular taking the employees on team building retreats to instill the team spirit in all employees.
Conclusion
In public relations and corporate communication, organisational culture and effective team communication are very important. These two aspects lay the ground for all other aspects. Organisational culture enable establishment of rules and regulations that govern an organisations activities. This makes decision making easier and faster. On the other hand effective team communication helps in accurate delivery of messages and promotes the taking of the right action. This further strengths the culture as the right procedures are followed hence boosting company’s image in public and customers eyes.
References
Grunig, J.E., 2013. Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Hearn, G., Foth, M. and Gray, H., 2009. Applications and implementations of new media in corporate communications: An action research approach. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 14(1), pp.49-61.
John’s adventures tours (2017) accessed on 21 March 2017. www.australianwildflowertours.com
Jung, T., Scott, T., Davies, H.T., Bower, P., Whalley, D., McNally, R. and Mannion, R., 2009. Instruments for exploring organizational culture: A review of the literature. Public administration review, 69(6), pp.1087-1096.
Merrilees, B. and Miller, D., 2008. Principles of corporate rebranding. European Journal of Marketing, 42(5/6), pp.537-552.
Watson, T. and Noble, P., 2007. Evaluating public relations: A best practice guide to public relations planning, research and evaluation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Xavier, R., Johnston, K., Patel, A., Watson, T. and Simmons, P., 2005. Using evaluation techniques and performance claims to demonstrate public relations impact: An Australian perspective. Public Relations Review, 31(3), pp.417-424.
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