ROLES OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Roles of corporate communication

There is a widespread belief in the management world that in today’s society the future of any company critically depends on how it is viewed by key stakeholders such as investors, customers consumers and employees and members of the community in which the company operates. Managers of any large company now days consider protecting the company reputation to be critical and view it as the most important strategic objective.

Corporate communication is a management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination of all internal and external communication with the overall purpose of establishing and maintaining favourable reputation with stake holders groups upon which the organization is dependent. These communications are strategically planned in order to solve a specific plan.

Corporate communication is an art of building brand identities for the whole world access. Corporate communication is often a key strategic enabler in today’s highly competitive and informational-driven business environment. Corporate communication plays a key role in how investors, employees and the general public perceive a company.

Functions of corporate communication:

Media relations

In this function managers involve themselves in writing and distributing new releases and responding to media inquiries. Corporate communicators oversee all planning for news conference, including selecting the site for an event, arranging for banners and other graphics to be displayed at the event, preparing packets of information to distribute to the media and preparing executives to speak at news conference. They monitor news papers, television news broadcasts and other outlets to see what the media is saying

Public relations

Involves building a mutual relationship between the organization and the customers responding to inquires from the public fall under the public relations function of corporate communication. The duties involved here include producing newsletters, brochures and other printed materials designed for the general public. Also corporate communicators manage Company’s websites and social media presence, which include monitoring what customers and clients are saying about the Company on social networking websites.

Crisis communication

These are series of events that occur and threaten public safety or Company’s reputation the corporate communicators function as advisers to the top management in managing the crisis. Special training in the issue unique to crisis communication helps corporate communicators prepare for events such as chemical spills, violence, in the work place. They often work with staff throughout their organization to develop crisis management plan before disaster strikes. A crisis management requires communications staff to work with attorneys, government regulations, political officials, emergency response personnel and communications staff from other companies when developing crisis message.

Employee communication

The corporate communication manager may also be called on to function as employee communications manager, which includes designing printed publications and writing emails to announce company’s news, benefits information and training opportunities. This helps facilitate focus groups to learn what issues matter most to front-line employees. They give advice to top management on how to improve relationships with their staff and gain support for their initiatives.

BY MWORIA ANGEL

BAPRM 42642