An Institutional History of Internal Communication in the United Kingdom

英国内部沟通的制度史

• 批准号: ES/W005247/2
• 负责人: Michael Heller
• 金额: $ 38.41万
• 依托单位: Northumbria University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW005247%2F2
• 关键词: Institutional; History; Internal; Communication; United

Internal communication does more than transfer information, it infuses organizations with meaning. This 3-year research programme traces the history of internal communication in the UK. As a specialized activity internal comms originates from company magazines in the late 19th century. Since then magazines have morphed into complex systems of intranets, emails, internal social media, company newsletters, road shows, briefing groups, huddles, blogs and roadshows. It is estimated that around 45k professionals are currently engaged in internal communication. The history of internal communication will be studied through the archives of 14 prominent organisations, where research access has been secured: BBC; Boots; British Airways; British Army; British Rail; Cadbury; GlaxoSmithKline; HSBC; John Lewis; National Coal Board; Prudential Insurance; Royal Mail; Shell; and Unilever. In addition the archives for 5 professional bodies and a leading consultancy will be used: AB Communications, which provides internal comms for prominent global and UK organisations; Chartered Institute of Marketing; Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; Chartered Institute of Public Relations; Institute of Internal Communication; and the Industrial Society. The British Library, which has extensive historical holdings of internal comms, has also agreed to assist with disseminating findings from the research. The changing form and content of internal comms will be mapped, tracing the transformation of the magazine format into the contemporary system of internal comms that aims at enhancing employee engagement, voice, and corporate identity. Discussions about the role of communication will be examined in documents such as minutes from board meetings and reports. Internal comms practitioners and company archivists theorise their own practices. The discourses of practitioners and their relation to actual practices will be examined through communications produced by professional bodies and consultants.Historians accept that nations have been imagined as communities through national newspapers and television channels. Corporations can also be seen as communities that have been imagined through internal comms. Three discourses of imagined communities have legitimated both organisations and the role of internal comms: esprit de corps, where the corporation is imagined as an extended family or military unit; brand community, where employees are imagined as part of community with consumers; and democratic polity, where the employees are imagined as citizens with internal comms as a free press holding government to account. The discourse of brand communities is now predominant, but the interplay between these discourses will be examined throughout the 20th century.Management scholars refer to the instrumental use of the past by corporations as "rhetorical history", which is usually studied in relation to uses of the past in the present for external marketing communication with customers. But references to the past featured in company magazines almost from the outset. The research will produce an account of how rhetorical history has been used in the past both to legitimate organisations to their employees, and to legitimate the role of internal comms.This research program will produce a theoretically informed history of internal comms as a reference point for contemporary debates, such as the response of organisations to the coronavirus pandemic. Company archivists will be interested in how their work informs internal comms, and how internal comms constitutes archives. The internal comms profession will be enhanced by historical debate, and organisations will be interested in finding out what made for effective internal comms in the past. As the wider public consists of many current and former members of large organisations, there will be general interest in remembering how these bodies communicated with their members in the past.

内部通信的作用不仅仅是传输信息，还可以注入具有意义的组织。这项为期三年的研究计划追溯了英国内部交流的历史。作为一项专业活动，内部通讯起源于19世纪后期的公司杂志。从那时起，杂志已演变为复杂的Intranet，电子邮件，内部社交媒体，公司新闻通讯，路线展览，简报小组，huddles，博客和路演的系统。据估计，目前约有45,000名专业人员从事内部沟通。内部沟通的历史将通过14个著名组织的档案进行研究，该组织已确保研究访问：BBC；靴子;英国航空公司；英军；英国铁路；吉百利；葛兰素史克林；汇丰；约翰·刘易斯；国家煤炭委员会；保诚保险；皇家邮政；壳;和联合利华。此外，将使用5个专业机构和领先咨询的档案：AB Communications，为全球和英国著名组织提供内部通讯；特许营销学院；特许人员与发展研究所；特许公共关系研究所；内部沟通研究所；和工业学会。大英图书馆（大英图书馆）拥有内部通讯的历史持有，也同意协助从研究中传播发现。内部通讯的变化形式和内容将被绘制，以追踪杂志格式为当代内部通讯系统的转换，旨在增强员工的敬业度，声音和企业身份。有关沟通作用的讨论将在诸如董事会会议和报告的会议记录中进行检查。内部通讯从业者和公司档案管理员理论上的实践。从业者的话语及其与实际实践的关系将通过专业机构和顾问的交流进行检查。历史学家接受通过国家报纸和电视渠道认为国家被认为是社区。公司也可以看作是通过内部通讯所想象的社区。想象中的社区的三个话语使组织和内部通讯的作用合法化：Esprit de Corps，该公司被认为是大家庭或军事部门；品牌社区，将员工视为与消费者的社区的一部分；和民主政治，在这些政治中，员工被认为是内部通讯的公民，是一个自由新闻，要求政府负责。品牌社区的话语现在主要是主导的，但是这些话语之间的相互作用将在整个20世纪进行研究。管理学者将过去的工具用途是“修辞史”，通常是针对与使用有关的，通常是针对与使用的使用。现在，与客户进行外部营销交流的过去。但是从一开始就引用了公司杂志的过去。这项研究将说明过去如何使用言辞历史将两者都与员工合法合法化，并为内部通讯的作用合理。这项研究计划将产生理论上知情的内部通讯历史记录，以此作为参考点的参考点。当代辩论，例如组织对冠状病毒大流行的反应。公司档案管理员将对他们的工作如何告知内部通讯以及内部通讯如何构成档案。内部通讯专业将通过历史辩论来增强，组织将有兴趣找出过去有效的内部通讯。由于更广泛的公众由大型组织的许多现任和前任成员组成，因此人们将普遍兴趣记住这些尸体过去如何与其成员交流。