Marketing communication: principles and practice

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climate in the North East business unit was the participation rate for their own employee
opinion survey – just 32%. Many people aspired to an excellent-service culture, but
many felt unable to deliver due to obstacles in the way that the business unit operated
and was managed.
One of the transformational projects, an integrated communications programme,
branded ‘Understanding the Business’, was being launched as part of a programme 
of improvement in communication activities, aimed at increasing the knowledge of
employees, at all levels, especially in the areas of:
•
products and services for external customers
•
commercial awareness
•
competitor activity
•
important customers
•
advertising plans and campaigns
Other developments at that time were in response to a growing recognition that what
was needed was a much more open and dynamic communication climate and system.
The internal-marketing approach offered an integrating system of interactive
communication that focused working practices and decisions on customer service in
a competitive marketplace.
BOX 11.4
LAVISH COMMUNICATION IN THE HERMAN MILLER
COMMUNITY
In order to ensure that employees feel part of a community and can make responsible
choices, Herman Miller Inc., a famous US upmarket office and healthcare furniture-
maker corporation based in Zeeland, Michigan, has striven to create a rich bath of
‘lavish communication’, with minimum requirements:
✓
full financial information for all employees and training in how to read financial
statements
✓
regularly posted measurements for all activities
✓
open discussion of strategic options and competitive situations, as well as
problems and concerns
✓
frequent discussion of how each part fits with the whole
✓
freedom of internal speech
✓
freedom of internal website postings and e-mail
✓
right of inquiry and learning in order to pursue the mission and best serve
customers and the corporation
The company was one of the first to adopt the Scanlon Plan for ‘gainsharing’
management by integration and self-control, and is one of the most widely known

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