Marketing communication: principles and practice

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internal marketing can help by providing a perspective in which responsibility
for marketing interaction is widespread throughout the corporation, trans-
cending functional or departmental boundaries (Gilmore and Carson, 1995).
Internal-marketing management must be seen as a holistic, systemic and
corporation-wide concept, and not solely in the interests of the marketing
department.
Internal marketing can build supportive working relationships between
departments, who come to understand each other’s needs, instead of focusing
solely on building a roster of customers. This requires mutual trust and
respect, which comes from demonstrated commitment, keeping promises,
and interactive open communication, and can result in better customer
service. Each party must be willing to take account of mutual expectations,
and training is required, since teamwork requires a team.
Bowen and Schneider (1985) have pointed out that the management group
has a dual problem of motivating employees and customers. Traditionally,
these tasks have been separated between human resource management and
marketing departments. However, employees and customers share many
motivations and interact, therefore the need for integration seems logical 
(see Box 11.2).
A shared set of beliefs about the meaning of customer orientation is
required. This will require the promotion of a particular interpretation of
the marketing concept and the systems and tools to achieve its objective, i.e.
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Technical support
staff
Field sales
force
End
customer
Figure 11.1
Reciprocal determinism among functions