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New crisis – new opportunities? The role of internal communication professionals as sensemaking enablers

Rikardsson, Elin LU (2021) SKOM12 20211
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
Internal communication is essential in crisis situations. It can build and increase understanding and trust throughout the organization, which in turn can help the organization stand stronger through difficult times. Internal communication professionals play a crucial role to enable understanding, and the need for sensemaking for all organizational actors is proven to increase during crises. However, in many cases the professional communicators have a limited strategic involvement, which restricts their performance. The purpose of this study is to gain deeper knowledge of the internal communication professionals’ role in a global organization during the COVID-19 pandemic with the theoretical viewpoints of sensemaking and strategic... (More)
Internal communication is essential in crisis situations. It can build and increase understanding and trust throughout the organization, which in turn can help the organization stand stronger through difficult times. Internal communication professionals play a crucial role to enable understanding, and the need for sensemaking for all organizational actors is proven to increase during crises. However, in many cases the professional communicators have a limited strategic involvement, which restricts their performance. The purpose of this study is to gain deeper knowledge of the internal communication professionals’ role in a global organization during the COVID-19 pandemic with the theoretical viewpoints of sensemaking and strategic improvisation. To research the role, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with internal communication professionals at a global retail company. The analysis provides insights into the importance for communication professionals to listen and stay alert to what the co-workers need and advocate their perspective throughout the organization. Furthermore, the findings of the study show that the internal communicators’ role might have found its place in the organization in a more distinct way than before, during the global pandemic. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rikardsson, Elin LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
internal communication professionals, sensemaking, strategic improvisation, internal crisis communication, COVID-19 pandemic, strategic communication
language
English
id
9049549
date added to LUP
2021-07-01 10:18:19
date last changed
2021-07-01 10:18:19
@misc{9049549,
  abstract     = {{Internal communication is essential in crisis situations. It can build and increase understanding and trust throughout the organization, which in turn can help the organization stand stronger through difficult times. Internal communication professionals play a crucial role to enable understanding, and the need for sensemaking for all organizational actors is proven to increase during crises. However, in many cases the professional communicators have a limited strategic involvement, which restricts their performance. The purpose of this study is to gain deeper knowledge of the internal communication professionals’ role in a global organization during the COVID-19 pandemic with the theoretical viewpoints of sensemaking and strategic improvisation. To research the role, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with internal communication professionals at a global retail company. The analysis provides insights into the importance for communication professionals to listen and stay alert to what the co-workers need and advocate their perspective throughout the organization. Furthermore, the findings of the study show that the internal communicators’ role might have found its place in the organization in a more distinct way than before, during the global pandemic.}},
  author       = {{Rikardsson, Elin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{New crisis – new opportunities? The role of internal communication professionals as sensemaking enablers}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}