Search

Solving the Rubik's Cube is a linear, step-by-step process, whereas solving the communication "puzzle" is anything but linear. It requires an approach that is simultaneously creative and analytical. The approach must also recognize that every "move" we make now has a potentially significant impact on future activities and outcomes. The "Perfect Fit" is what an organization needs to be communicating at a specific moment for its story to unfold properly. Communicators are often blessed with multiple choices to communicate to the world that are plucked from myriad business functions, processes and geographic areas.

This article discusses several problem of organizational communication. E-mail, memos, TV news, industry publications, employees are bombarded with messages. But communicators can guide them through the chaos and help them find what is relevant. Nowadays, the typical employee is assaulted by a growing number of messages, information about the company, its products and services, and its strategy, all flooding in from numerous sources, including internal vehicles such as e-mail, the intranet, management memos, internal publications and even the rumor mill, as well as external media such as local newspapers and TV news and national business and industry magazines. An employee trying to work in this environment is a lot like a tourist in the middle of a strange city without a map. The street names mean little or nothing, and particular places have less meaning, though they may appear to hold great significance. Communication is driven ultimately by leadership and management action, not by rhetoric. Internal communication has come a long way, from company picnics and bowling scores to leveraging an organization's people capabilities for greater results. INSETS: Is your organization sending a clear message?;The pulse of the organization.

Focuses on the role of professional integrators in the consolidation and merger of businesses. Impact of an incomplete or ineffective integration on business productivity; Ways of avoiding merger risk; Profile of IBM chief executive officer Louis Gerstner as an effective integrator. INSET: A POTENTIAL JOB DESCRIPTION.

Opinion. Offers advice on how companies can achieve world-class status. What strategies world-class companies use; Reference to companies like Federal Express, Microsoft, British Airways, Disney; How companies can achieve world-class status; Benefits of world-class communication; Characteristics of world-class communication.