Analysing Remediation Of Contaminated Land In Nigeria Environmental Sciences Essay

Analysing Remediation Of Contaminated Land In Nigeria Environmental Sciences Essay Crude oil is an important mineral resource vital to everyday life. Modern trend toward increasing dependence on the use of petroleum hydrocarbons for energy needs has resulted in severe pressure on the energy resource as well as increased accidental discharges of oil and its products into the environment. This occurs frequently during operations such as extraction, transportation, storage, refining and distribution notwithstanding technology-driven precautions. It would be reasonable to state that oil contamination is one of the most serious forms of water and land pollution as it endangers public health, imperils drinking water, devastates natural resources, and disrupts the economy. Nigeria is one of the largest crude oil producing countries in the world and depends almost entirely (over 90%) on it for her revenue. The Niger Delta region in Nigeria contains the bulk of Nigerias proven oil and gas reserves. The region is ridden with environmental problems, ranging from devastation of land and water (crippling income generation through farming and fishing), through death of thousands of domestic animals, disastrous fire out-breaks, various illnesses to deaths. This is as a result of oil spillage which has become a daily experience in the region. There exist some prevention and mitigation measures associated with oil and gas exploration activities but these measures are not implemented in Nigeria. Owing perhaps to poor enforcement of the standards by regulatory bodies, corruption, high cost of procuring and maintaining some of the mitigation equipments, ignorance, lack of vision, or carelessness. These have led, to political unrest, with the people of the area feel ing exploited and calling for reparations. Contamination of soil by is a widespread environmental problem that often requires clean-up of the contaminated site. Though many techniques have been undertaken to address oil contamination of land in the Niger Delta region, these either have negative effects or result to incomplete clean-up of the hydrocarbon contaminated soil. Although disposal or open dump burning may be simple and easily adaptable, these techniques have undesirable health and safety hazards from e.g. air pollution. Bioremediation is an alternative technology which is likely to be capable of achieving permanent remediation. Nature has developed microorganisms that can degrade hydrocarbons to avoid their accumulation to a point of being detrimental to life. To achieve rapid bioremediation, nutrients and aeration are applied to the soil and the indigenous microorganism is often augmented to obtain enhanced bioremediation. The design of an efficient bioremediation system requires a set of careful studies of the local conditions of the site to be remediated. Despite several indications of the environmental degradation and health effects caused by oil contamination of land in the Niger Delta region, little attention has been paid to investigating the effectiveness of the use of bioremediation in this region. Undertaking an evaluation of a selection of case studies could provide better insight whether bioremediation is the appropriate solution to oil contamination problems in the region. Various application of bioremediation on oil contaminated soil has been reported with encouraging results but its effectiveness has not been fully employed in the region. 1.2 Aim and Objectives The primary aim of this study is firstly to consider oil contamination of land as a global problem, assess the causes and effects of oil contamination of land both across the world and in Nigeria and secondly to evaluate whether bioremediation could be an effective treatment technique of land contaminated by oil with particular reference to the Niger Delta of Nigeria. In order to achieve this, the following will be addressed; (a) The extent and causes of oil contamination (b) The effect of oil contamination (c) Oil contamination in Nigeria (d) Remediation methods (e) Case studies and/or questionnaire 1.3 Overview of oil contamination of land Pollution of the land by oil has become a matter of widespread concern, attracting attention of politicians, environmentalists and scientists. There is growing public concern as a wide variety of toxic organic chemicals are being introduced accidentally or deliberately into the environment. Petroleum hydrocarbons are one common example of these chemicals, which enter the environment frequently and in large volumes through numerous routes. These routes include seepage from natural deposits, human activities in exploration, production, transportation and storage of petroleum. Such human activities inevitably involve the risk of accidental spills that can only be minimized but not eliminated completely. Deonarine and Basdeo (2001) explained that leaks from wellheads, leaks from pipelines, and overflows at gathering stations and deposition of oily mud are also other routes through which hydrocarbon enter the environment. Oil spills are now becoming a frequent and major source of water an d land contamination across the globe especially in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. 1.4 Justification of the Study In time past, land contamination was usually perceived in terms of relatively rare incidents, with poorly known but possibly catastrophic impact on human health and the environment. According to Nathanail and Bardos (2004) numerous incidents drew media attention and these include Love canal in New York; Times Beach Missouri in United States and Minamata, Japan disaster. They further explained that today land contamination is no longer perceived in terms of few severe incidents rather as extensive infrastructural problems of varying intensity and significance that is inherited from past and present industrial and waste disposal activities. Nowadays across the globe, land contamination is gaining a higher official recognition and is been recognised as a serious challenge to present and future generation. Recently a lot of policies for sustainable development and contaminated land management have been introduced and so many countries especially in developed countries have implemented these policies. Despite this trend, the Nigeria Government and oil multinational companies operating in that country are yet to implement such policies. They agree with sustainable development and good environmental management but these are only seen as a paper exercise. There is no adequate implementation of sustainable development and environmental management in Nigeria. Moreover, oil spill incidence still occurs and no adequate management is given to the spilled site. There are no known instances in Nigeria whereby an oil polluted site had been fully remediated and restored by any of the oil companies. Most polluted sites are neglected to the mercy of slow process of natural recovery that takes several years to accomplish.   Even in terrestrial environments where remediation is conventionally cheaper and easy, in the Nigerian situation, it is a luxury that is impossible. For example, most sites in Ogoniland where incident oil spill incident occurred since 1970 remains unclean till date 2009. Besides deliberate negligence, corporate corruption and penchant to cut-corners hinder remediation programmes in the Nigerian oil industry. Remediation contracts are often awarded to contractors who simply transport topsoil from elsewhere to mask contaminated spill sites. These sites are often reported as begin remediated Although many people and organisations especially non-governmental organisation (NGO) have writing about oil pollution in Nigeria and its negative effects, but solution to the pollution have been limited. 1.5 Structure of the Report Chapter one began with an introduction and justification of the study. It brought problems, Aims and objectives and conceptual framework of the work. The second chapter carries out a review of the existing on oil contamination of land with emphasis on the meaning, causes, effects, issues across the world and Nigeria, technology and oil spillage as a major cause of the oil contamination. Also this chapter review oil contamination in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Chapter three looks at the methodology, nature and sources of data collection as well as the technique for data analysis. The Chapter four looks at the proposed solution to oil contamination. Chapter five focuses on case studies and Discussion of findings of the study. (develop best practice guide for Nigeria) Chapter six looks at the conclusions and recommendations CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction Oil contamination is a major environmental problem which is caused as result of oil operations. Activities of oil companies constitute environmental problems; with substantial implications for economic development and human health. As a result of its impacts some individuals live as aliens in their own communities, where they are unable to actualize their interest or aspirations. This chapter provides a review of the menace of oil contamination. 2.2 The problem Oil contamination of land. The demand for energy is increasing globally as a result of rising population, increased industrialisation and prosperity. This has resulted on severe pressure on available energy resources. Energy has a major impact on every aspects of socio-economic life as it plays a vital role in the economic, social and political development of any nation. As a result, the demand for energy is increasing worldwide, along with this, pollution is on the increase. Many parts of the world have as a consequence, suffered significant contamination. Khan et al (2004) pointed out that these oil contaminants enter the environment directly as a result of oil waste (sludge), spills during exploration, production and transportation, leakage from storage sites, or from industrial facilities. Oil spillage and oily waste deposits represent the majority of hydrocarbon contamination of our planet. Al-Saleh and Obuekwe (2005) asserted that accidental and deliberate oil spills have been and still continue to be a significant source of environmental pollution. Contamination of soil arising from spills is one of the most limiting factors to soil fertility and hence crop productivity as well as animal activity. Also the runoff from oil spill impacted site usually degrade the quality of the fresh water source which serves the domestic rural water supply needs of the host communities. Molina-Barahona et al (2004) corroborated that oil spills caused great damages to the ecology and economy of rural regions as well as nations. Therefore these polluted areas constitute a big potential risk to human health, environment, subsoil infrastructure, flora and fauna as well as groundwater. 2.3 Causes of oil contamination Crude oil is extracted world-wide at a very high rate to meets the bulk of the worlds energy requirements. At the same time, crude oil constitutes a potential hazard if discharged into the environment. Such discharge happens despite the fact that the distribution and storage network for crude oil is closely and well monitored. Oil development activities involve several polluting processes. The extent of these processes depends mainly on the environmental practices and technology used by oil companies. Apart from oil spills that mainly cause oil contamination of land, there are other different operations in the petroleum industry that cause contamination. These include drilling operation, leakage from wellhead and pipeline and over-flows at gathering stations. Fisher and Sublette (2005) stated that these causes of oil contamination are as a result of overflows, intentional dumping , illegal activity, aging facilities, equipment failure, operators error, construction defect, accidental damage, transport accident, defeat/bypassing protective system, ineffective quality control, over pressuring, natural phenomenon, blow out of oil well, sabotage and corrosion. During drilling, each well that is drilled produces drilling wastes, including formation water and drilling muds. Miguel and Anna-Karin (2004) pointed out that these wastes are frequently deposited into open pits, from which they are either directly discharged into the environment or leached out as the pits degrade or overflow from rainwater. Extraction of oil is also accompanied by seepage and spills. Offshore drilling routinely creates low level spills, and sometimes causes a blowout, a massive gush of petroleum. Most oil-wells are situated in deserts and oceans, which is where the majority of the worlds documented blow-outs have occurred. Storage facilities and pipelines can typically be destroyed by e.g.; either natural disasters like hurricanes, or accidents during construction or due to acts of sabotage or ageing of the facilities all resulting in release of large amounts of oil. The table below shows incident oil spill causes and number of incidents between 2000 and 2008. Table 1: Incident oil spill causes 2000-2008 2007 Incidents Causes No of incidents 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Equipment failure 8,383 8,429 8,341 9,132 10,078 9,958 10,209, 10,849 8,578 Operator error 3,459 2,885 2,305 2,889 2,997 2,684 2,908 2,885 3,022 Transport accidents 609 713 563 631 1,050 1,152 1,103 1,361 1,387 Dumping 1,523 1,494 1,265 960 806 757 863 1,004 935 Natural phenomenon 472 716 497 711 685 575 804 708 726 Sabotage 6,428 7,204 7457 6,531 3,907 3,865 3858 3860 3,942 Accidental spillage(aging facilities, construction defect, blow out of oil well, etc) 10,552 11,800 10,266 10,314 10,078 9,958 10,209 10,849 10,578 Source: (National response center statistics U.S 2008) It is observed from the table above that equipment failure and accidental spillage are the two main causes and these account for over 50% of oil spillage cause. Accidentals spillage could be as a result of traffic accident, aging facilities and blow-out of oil well. In addition to the above table, European Environmental Agency report that tanker accidents account for about 10-15 per cent of all oil that spill into the ocean world-wide every year. Fingas and Charles (2001) argued that oil spills accounts for a highest number and volume of oil contamination. Mokhalalati et al (2000) demonstrated that observations from many oil spill incidents around the world have shown that both land and aquatic environment suffer oil exposure and these environments are particularly difficult to protect and also clean- up once a spill has occurred. 2.4 Effects of oil contamination The oil and gas sector is one of the most lucrative sectors in business but reducing its negative impacts is one of the most pressing issues today. As an example, one barrel of crude oil can make one million barrels of water undrinkable and make hectares of land and water bodies useless. It has also destroyed crops, damage the quality and productivity of soil use for farming and as well damage fisheries. This exacerbates hunger and poverty in affected communities. In addition the residents often experience an increase of conflict with their neighbourhood. Miraglia, A.R (2002) observed that Chenega Bay, Niger Delta, Ecuador indigenous communities etc have been fighting due to oil compensation. This has resulted in killing of people, destroying of houses, property, etc. Khan,M.I and Islam,R.M (2003) asserted that practically all activities of hydrocarbon operations are accompanied by undesirable discharges of liquid, solid and gaseous wastes which have enormous devastating impacts . When oil reaches and penetrates into the soil and deep sea, the effects will be apparent for long period of time, thus the oil that reaches quickly will be more toxic. The effect depends on the following factors such as; size of the spill, the spread of the oil slick, the toxicity and persistence of the oil and the sensitivity of the environmental region affected. However oil contamination has caused a range of pervasive impacts on the environment, human health, economy and society. Ecological effects may include physical and chemical changes in habitats, changes in growth or behaviour and increased mortality of organisms and species. Wildlife can be impacted by direct physical contact with the oil, e.g., filterfeeding shellfish and bird eggs can be smothered by oil and the feathers of birds or the fur of seals lose their insulating properties when coated with oil, leading to the danger of death from cold. Also if oil is ingested, it can damage the digestive system of the animals. Its vapours have the potential to damage the nervous system of animals, as well as their lungs and liver. The oil impedes proper soil aeration as oil film on the soil surface acts as a physical barrier between air and the soil and this affects soil fertility which consequently has great negative impact on food productivity. Oil contamination affects certain soil parameters such as the mineral and organic matter content, the cation exchange capacity, redox properties and pH value. As crude oil creates anaerobic condition in the soil, coupled to water logging and acidic metabolites, Onwurah et al (2007) stated that the result is high accumulation of aluminum and manganese ions, which are toxic to plant growth. The smearing root plants with oily substances may cause the plants to wilt and die off due to blockage of stomata inhibiting photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration and reduces permeability of cell membranes. Due to the toxic nature of oil, Pezeshki et al (2000) asserted that petroleum-based products have adverse im ­pact on yields of various plant species and in high doses they can depress germination of plants and cause necrosis of seedlings. A substantial high rate of illness as well as psychological and physical symptoms is usually reported in areas affected by spill oil and on increase on the days when oil exposure was at its highest. Rodrigue-Trigo et al (2007) stated that these illnesses include; respiratory tract irritation, vertigo, headache, sore eyes, sore throat and exacerbation of asthma. They further stated that anxiety and depression rate is usually on high increase in the exposed region. Oil contamination has shown to have great influence on the engineering properties and behaviour of a soil. Puri, K.V (2000) corroborated that it has resulted in decrease in shear strength of a clayey soil, angle of internal friction of sand based on total stress condition decrease with the presence of oil in the pore spaces and compression characteristics of sand are significantly influenced. Khamehchiyan et al (2007) asserted that it has resulted in decrease in the value of the constrained modulus with increase in the degree of oil saturation. Oil contamination induces a reduction in permeability and strength of soil samples. Generally oil contamination has drastically reduced the bearing capacity of the soil. 2.5 Worldwide issues: Oil spill across the world In the last decade, a lot of oil contamination across the world has been experienced as a result of oil spill incident which account for highest cause of oil contamination. Meniconi et al (2002) pointed out that, characterizing the spilled oil, monitoring the affected ecosystem, determining the fate of the oil in the environment and subsequently assessing the environmental damage caused have been a pressing issue. The spill case studies described below encompass crude and fuel oil release on coastal ecosystems and land. We know that oil spill on sea can spread and dispersed to land by wind, tide, wave action and rainfall. Any oil spill on sea also affects the land. Some of the oil spill case studies in Nigeria and major spills across the world are highlighted below; The Torrey canyon supertanker disaster (1967) This is the first major oil spill to awaken the international community to the dangers of oil transport. On 18th March, 1967 the Torrey Canyon carrying 117000 tons of Kuwait crude oil ran aground on the Pollards Rock in the Seven Stones reef between the Scilly Isles and Lands End, England. Approximately119, 000 tonnes of Kuwait oil leaked from the ship and spread along the sea between England and France, killing most of the marine life it touched along the whole of the south coast of Britain and the Normandy shores of France. Sands, P. (2003). The Torrey Canyon oil spill proved for the first time the immense environmental damage that could result from an accident involving a large oil tanker as well as revealed the problems inherent in the international system for assessing liability and compensation for oil spill damage. Jacobsson (2007) stated that this spill triggered the International Compensation Convention. Exxon Valdez (1989) In March 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef in Prince William sound, Alaska and spilled about 37,000 tonnes of oil, the worst spill in US history. The spill subsequently affected a variety of shores, mainly rock and cobble, to varying degrees over an estimated 1,800km in Prince William Sound. The spilled oil impacted a wide range of intertidal organisms and as a result thousands of marine animals and seabirds were killed. (Peterson 2001) Braer (1993) The oil tanker Braer ran aground at Garths Ness on the Southern Shetland Isles Coast on 5th January, 1993 spilling approximately 84,700 tonnes of crude oil. The spilt oil was dispersed naturally in the wave action against the North Sea. The BRAER spill was unusual in that a significant amount of oil was blown on to land adjacent to the wreck site. Seabird casualties were also moderately low. Considering the size of the spill, the environmental impacts were surprisingly limited . (Gregory 2007). Erika Incident The Maltese tanker ERIKA, carrying some 31,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, broke in two in a severe storm in the Bay of Biscay on 11th December, 1999, off the coast of France. About 20,000 tonnes of oil were spilled. The main environmental impact of the spill was on sea birds and 65,000 oiled birds were collected from beaches, of which about 50,000 were dead. This incident led to rapid moves to accelerate the phasing out of all single hull oil tankers. (Le Moigne, and Laubier, 2004). Prestige (2002) In September 2002, oil tanker prestige sunk of the Galician north west of Spain spilling about 30,000 tonnes of oil. The spilled oil affected the entire coastline particularly the exposed rocky shores and sandy beaches which caused the largest ecological catastrophe in the history of Spain (de la Huz et al, 2005). Bernabeu et al (2006) observed that the spill had a huge economic impact as it affected the fishing and marine cultivation on which the Costa da Morte (Galicia, N.W. Spain) depends economically. Tasman Spirit (2003) The oil tanker Tasman spirit grounded in the channel of the port of Karachi, on 27th July, 2003 carrying a cargo of 67,535 tonnes of light crude. Approximately 30,000 tonnes of oil spilled when the Tasman Spirit broke down. Strong winds and rough seas spread the light crude along 10 kilometres (seven miles) of the highly populated residential and recreational coastline. As a result of the spill incident, people living around the area have experienced health problems. The coastal environment in which the Tasman Spirit spill occurred was a rich and diverse tropical ecosystem which was negatively affected by the spill. (Janjua et al 2006) Gulf war 1991 The Gulf War in Kuwait 1991 resulted in one of the largest man made environmental disasters, and almost certainly the greatest acute contamination of land and water with oil, in history as the result of oil spills. Kostreba (1999) described that during the Gulf war an estimated 67 million tonnes of crude oil was spilt and burnt on land. The oil spills were as a result of deliberate damage done by Iraqi forces during their invasion of Kuwait. Crude oil was deliberately dumped into the gulfs and oil production, storage, and refining facilities were destroyed. The oil leaking from the well heads, storage tanks, and pipelines formed huge oil lakes as deep as 2 meters. Many of the oil wells were also set on fire and this resulted in the aerial deposition of partially combusted oil particles and associated non-combusted products of the oil fires, which also polluted large areas. The resulting oil pollution affected mainly Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Hans-Jorg Barth (2001) pointed out that over 700 km of coastline from southern Kuwait to Abu Ali Island were smothered with oil and tar, erasing most of the local plant and animal communities. Lebanon (2006) During hostilities in Lebanon in 2006, Isreali planes struck the Jiyyeh power plant about 25 kilometres south of Beirut. The hit storage tanks leaked 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil into Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The oil slick covered 170km of coastline and was threatening Turkey and Cyprus. This is the worst environmental problem in the history of the country. The oil spill damaged land and marine ecosystems, destroyed fishermens livelihoods and rendered coastal areas lifeless. To worst the issue, no clean-up started until after three weeks due to security situation in Lebanon. (Friends of the Earth 2007). Ogbodo oil spill On 24th June, 2001 the community of Ogbodo in Rivers State, Nigeria, heard a loud explosion which was the bursting of a Shell Petroleum pipeline which traverses the village lands and waterways. Crude oil began to spill out into the environment. Rains and swiftly flowing water rapidly distributed the crude oil into the waterways surrounding the community. At least about 26,500 barrels of oil were spilt. The impact of the spill and the fire on local livelihoods was extensive and the devastating impact of the oil spill was exacerbated and prolonged because of failure to contain the spill swiftly. (www.waado.org). Oshire-2 oil spill According to Osuji and Opiah, (2007) on the 24th July, 2003, an oil spillage occurred in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State in Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The oil spill was as a result of leakage of one of the above-ground pipelines that criss-cross the Oshire-2 oil field. About 3,000 barrels of crude oil was allegedly spilled as a result a suspected sabotage. Oil spill in Ogoniland Ogoniland is the site of huge Shell facilities that have devastated the local environment. On June 6, 2001, Shell oil pipeline, which passes through the Baraale community, ruptured and started spilling crude oil into nearby forests, farmlands and houses. Many houses were flooded with crude oil. Disaster struck on 1st October, 2001, when the leaking oil caught fire. Residents of the community were about going to bed that night when a large fire started following a loud explosion. (Olukoya 2002). Also on 1 Sep 2003Crude oil from a ruptured oil pipeline caught fire, destroying farmland and polluting streams in the Ogoni area. This Day (2006) reported that oil spill from one of the Shell companys oil wellheads has devastated another Ogoni community. The spill is as a result of leak which occurred at Bomu Well-2, a dormant well in Ogoni land belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria limited. Oil spill incidence in Nigeria has become everyday news and its occurrence is too numerous that it cant all be highlighted in this study. Federal ministry of Environment on 2006 reported that quantity of oil spilled over 50 years is equivalent to 50 Exxon Valdez spills. This makes the Nigeria delta one of the 5 most oil polluted environments in the world. 2.6 Oil spill in Nigeria 2.6.1 Oil exploration in Nigeria In 1956, Royal Dutch Shell discovered crude oil at Oloibiri, a village in the Niger Delta, and the first commercial production started in 1958. Nwilo and Badejo (2005a) stated that 50 years later, 606 oil fields exist in the Niger Delta, of which 360 are on-shore and 246 off-shore. Nigeria is now the largest oil producer in Africa and the sixth largest in the world, averaging 2.7 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2006. Nigerias economy is heavily dependent on earnings from the oil sector, which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues (Central intelligence Agency (CIA) World Fact Book, 2005). Current oil exploration and production activities in Nigeria is concentrated in the Niger Delta region, a huge fertile wetland which covers a land mass of over 70,000 km2, and cuts across 800 oil producing communities. Oguejiofor (2008) demonstrated that the region has huge oil and gas reserve and accounts for 90 per cent of national exports and 70 per cent of Government revenue, mainly from oil and gas exported is from the region. Geological record and research shows that the region (both onshore and offshore areas) is particularly conducive for the formation and accumulation of oil and gas. Today, the oil industries are highly visible in the Niger Delta and have control over a large area in the region. The area is crisscrossed by thousands of kilometres of pipeline, punctuated by wells and flow stations. Much of the oil infrastructure is located close to the homes, farms and water sources of communities. 2.6.2 Overview of the damage in the Niger delta Oil and gas activities and enormous oil installations deployed in the Niger Delta explains her vulnerability to oil spill. The social and environmental costs of oil contamination have been extensive. These include destruction of wildlife and biodiversity, loss of fertile soil, pollution of air and drinking water, degradation of farmland and damage to aquatic ecosystems, all of which have caused serious health problems for the inhabitants of areas surrounding oil production. Oil spills in the Niger Delta have destroy vegetation, mangrove forests, food/cash crops, fishing ground/marine life, reduces nutrient value of the soil, induces land fragmentation, and sets communities on fire. For example a spill at Osima creek in Agbakabiriyai, near Nembe on February 28th 1998, led to eight days of fire, which razed down the entire community. This resulted to the destruction of about 400 houses, and the displacement of about 130,000 inhabitants. Also a spill that occurred on 7th December, 2008 in Ikarama community terribly caught fire on 1st of March 2009. The fire caused more damage to the environment (www.eration.org/index.php?). Given these challenges, land as an economic power resource base becomes critical for the Niger Delta region. Without fertile soil and good water, indigenous communities in the region lose their mode of survival and are faced with the crisis of food shortages. Due to oil spillage, many water ways, land and marine systems in the region have been badly polluted and residents have been badly affected by enviro

Importance of Integrity

Integrity is the number one quality of leadership. Integrity in leadership is expressed in terms of constancy and consistency. It is manifested in an absolute devotion to keeping one’s word. The glue that holds all relationships together-including the relationship between the leader and the led—is trust, and trust is based on integrity. Integrity is so important that functioning in our society would be impossible without it. We could not make even a simple purchase without a high level of confidence that the price was honest and that the change was correct. The most successful individuals and companies in America are those with reputations of high integrity among everyone they deal with. This level of integrity builds the confidence that others have in them and enables them to do more business than their competitors whose ethics may be a little shaky. Earl Nightingale once wrote, â€Å"If honesty did not exist, it would have to be invented, as it is the surest way of getting rich. † A study at Harvard University concluded that the most valuable asset that a company has is how it is known to its customers, its reputation. By the same token, your greatest personal asset is the way that you are known to your customers. It is your personal reputation for keeping your word and fulfilling your commitments. Your integrity precedes you and affects all of your interactions with other people. There are several things you can do to move you more rapidly toward becoming the kind of person that you know you are capable of becoming. The first is to decide upon my five most important values in life. Organize them in order of priority. Then I write a brief paragraph defining what each of those values means to me. A value combined with a definition becomes an organizing principle, a statement that I can use to help me make better decisions. It is a measure and standard which enables me to know how closely I am adhering to my innermost beliefs and convictions. Five of my most important values are: helping those who are less fortunate, working hard to reach my goals, being honest and truthful, working with others to get things done, and being the nicest person anyone could meet. I have always been regarded as a leader and that does not come with ease: backlash of the bullies and those who want to bring me down to get where I am will always encounter me, but because of my high integrity and honesty to do what is â€Å"right† I will not retaliate against them. I must go into others shoes, which enables me to help others in more ways than one, because their situations make me emotionally motivated to get them in a better place to be successful. Integrity is hard work, but that work is nothing but rewarding. I’m a leader and I will continue to develop to be the best leader I am to become, by living with integrity every day.

Internal Corporate Communication on Strategy

Internal corporate communication on strategy and employee commitment International Business Communication Master's thesis Michele Fenech 2013 Department of Communication Aalto University School of Business Powered by TCPDF (www. tcpdf. org) Internal corporate communication on strategy A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF and employee commitment EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF INTRA-COMMUNITY SUPPLIES Master? s Thesis Master’s thesis Katharina ele Fenech ? MichWeber 26. 09. 2012 2013 Spring International Business International Business CommunicationApproved by the head of the Department of Management and International Business __. __. 20__ and awarded the grade ___________________ Approved in the Department of Communication / / 20 and awarded the grade AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS International Business Communication Mater’s Thesis Mich? le Fenech e ABSTRACT 02-02-2013 Internal corporate communication on strategy and employee commitment Objectives of the stud y This Master’s thesis had three objectives. The ? rst objective was to examine the employees’ needs and preferences of the case company’s internal communication channels, speci? ally internal corporate communication channels that convey the company’s corporate strategy. The second was to investigate success of the internal strategy (corporate) communication by analysing the employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge. The third was to research the relation between internal strategy (corporate) communication (ISCC) and employee commitment. Methodology and theoretical framework The research method was a single-case study and the data was collected using a background study, semi-structured interviews and a survey. The qualitative data was analysed and emerging patterns were identi? d, whereas the quantitative data was statistically analysed using the R programming environment. The theoretical framework presents how internal corporate communicat ion conveys corporate strategy messages via rich and lean media, how the channel attributes affect employee preference and choice, and how the communication and interpretation of the strategy eventually result in commitment. Findings and conclusions of the study In the case company, top-down and primarily one-way internal corporate communication conveying strategy (ISCC) met the employees’ needs better than lateral and two-way internal strategy communication.The needs were recognised to include gaining strategy knowledge, gaining ability to use the knowledge, and reducing equivocality and uncertainty. Apart from the needs, the employees’ communication channel preferences and satisfaction seemed to be affected more with the channel accessibility and information quality attributes than with the richness of the channel. Internal strategy (corporate) communication (ISCC) was successful because the employees perceived to have corporate strategy knowledge. This strategy know ledge had a strong relationship with employee commitment, especially affective commitment.The main implication of this study was the recommendation that companies invest resources in internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), because it was preferred by the employees at the case company, it corresponded to their needs and it contributed to their affective commitment. Key words: international business communication, internal communication, internal corporate communication, strategy communication, communication channels, communication channel attributes, media richness, corporate strategy, employee commitment I AALTO-YLIOPISTON KAUPPAKORKEAKOULU Kansainv? lisen yritysviestinn? pro gradu -tutkielma a a Mich? le Fenech e Sis? inen strategiaviestint? ja ty? ntekij? iden sitoutuminen a a o o ? TIIVISTELMA 02. 02. 2013 Tutkimuksen tavoitteet T? ll? pro gradu -tutkielmalla oli kolme tavoitetta. Ensimm? inen tavoite oli tutkia ty? ntekij? iden a a a o o tarpeita ja n? kemyksi? sis? is en viestinn? n v? lineist? eritoten sellaisista sis? isen yritysviestinn? n a a a a a a a a v? lineist? , jotka v? litt? v? t yrityksen strategiaa. Toinen tavoite oli selvitt? a sis? isen strategiaa a a a a a? a viestinn? n (ISCC) onnistuminen analysoimalla ty? ntekij? iden n? kemys heid? n strategiatiedosa o o a a taan.Kolmas tavoite oli tutkia sis? isen strategiaviestinn? n (ISCC) ja ty? ntekij? iden sitoutumia a o o sen v? list? suhdetta. a a Tutkimusmenetelm? t ja teoreettinen viitekehys a Tutkimusmetodi on tapaustutkimus, ja aineisto ker? ttiin taustaselvityksell? , haastatteluilla ja a a kyselyll? . Kvalitatiivinen aineisto analysoitiin ja kategorisoitiin, kun taas kvantitatiivinen aia neisto analysoitiin tilastollisesti R-ohjelmistoymp? rist? ll? . Tutkielman teoreettinen viitekehys a o a n? ytt? a kuinka sis? inen yritysviestint? viestii strategiaa joko rikkaan tai niukan median kauta a? a a ta ty? ntekij? lle, kuinka v? lineiden ominaisuudet vaikuttavat ty? ntekij? iden mie ltymyksiin ja o o a o o valintaan, ja kuinka viestint? ja strategian tulkitseminen lopulta johtavat ty? ntekij? iden sitoutua o o miseen. Tutkimuksen tulokset ja johtop? at? kset a? o Tapausyrityksen ty? ntekij? t pitiv? t parhaana vertikaalista ja enimm? kseen yksi-suuntaista sis? ist? o a a a a a yritysviestint? a, joka v? litti strategiaa (ISCC). Se t? ytti heid? n tarpeensa paremmin kuin hoa? a a a risontaalinen ja kaksi-suuntainen sis? inen strategiaviestint? . Tarpeiksi tunnistettiin strategiatiea a don saaminen, strategiatiedon k? tt? minen, ja moniselitteisyyden ja ep? varmuuden v? hent? minen. a a a a a Ty? ntekij? iden viestint? v? lineiden preferenssiin ja tyytyv? isyyteen n? ytti vaikuttavan enemm? n o o a a a a a v? lineiden k? ytett? vyys ja tiedon laatu kuin v? lineiden rikkaus. Sis? inen strategiaviestint? (ISCC) a a a a a a on onnistunut siin? ett? ty? ntekij? t kokevat, ett? he tiet? v? t yrityksen strategian. T? ll? stratea a o a a a a a a giatiedolla on vahva suh de ty? ntekij? iden sitoutumiseen, eritoten affektiiviseen sitoutumiseen. o o T? m? n tutkimuksen johtop? at? ksiin kuuluu, ett? yritysten pit? si investoida resursseja sis? iseen a a a? o a a a strategiaviestint? an (ISCC), sill? se on ty? ntekij? iden suosima, se vastaa heid? n tarpeisiinsa ja a? a o o a se vaikuttaa heid? n affektiiviseen sitoutumiseensa. a Avainsanat: kansainv? linen yritysviestint? , sis? inen viestint? , sis? inen yritysviestint? , stratea a a a a a giaviestint? , viestinn? n v? lineet, viestinn? n v? lineiden ominaisuudet, media rikkaus, yritys straa a a a a tegia, ty? ntekij? n sitoutuminen o a II Contents 1 Introduction 1. 1 Research objectives and questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Terminology of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. 3 Structure of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Review of Literature 2. 1 Internal communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 1 Internal co mmunication matrix . . . . . . 2. 1. 2 Internal corporate communication . . . . 2. 2 Corporate strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 1 Strategy formation . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2 Strategy implementation . . . . . . . . . 2. 3 Communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 1 Media richness theory . . . . . . . . . . 2. . 2 Channel attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 4 Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 4. 1 Organisational Commitment . . . . . . . 2. 4. 2 Three-Component Model of Commitment 2. 5 Theoretical framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 6 8 9 9 13 15 18 19 23 30 32 41 43 46 50 55 61 61 62 63 64 66 66 72 80 83 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Methodology 3. 1 Research design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 1. 1 Exploratory and descriptive research purpose . . . 3. 1. 2 Quantitative and qualitative research strategy . . . 3. 1. 3 Case study method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2 Data collection and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2. 1 Background study, interview and survey techniques 3. 2. 2 Statistical data analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 3 Reliability and validity of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 III 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4 Description of the case company’s strategy and the internal communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 1 Description of the company’s generic corporate strategy . . . . . 4. 1. 2 Description of the company’s internal com munication channels . Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 1 Strategy knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. Employees’ ability to apply corporate strategy . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 3 The quantity of strategy information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 1 Media richness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 2 Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 3 Information quality and channel accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 4 Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 5 Channel comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 6 ICC versus non-ICC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 7 ICC channels ful? l the employee needs to varying extent . . . . . Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 1 Affective, normative and continuance commitment . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 2 Strategy knowledge against commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 3 ICC channels and commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 84 86 89 90 93 94 96 97 102 106 107 109 112 113 116 117 119 122 125 125 127 128 129 130 5 Conclusions 5. 1 Research summary . . . . . . . 5. 2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 3 Practical implications . . . . . . 5. 4 Limitations of the study . . . . . 5. 5 Suggestions for further research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV List of Tables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Important terminology of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Internal Communication Matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007) . . . . . . . . Adjective-Pairs Used In Evaluating Communication Ch annels . . . . . Background material from case company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interview data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The stages of channel choice for the survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case study tactics for Four Design Tests (Adapted from Yin (2009, p. 41)) 7 14 42 67 68 70 81 Selected channels and their dimension of internal communication . . . . . 89 The employee channel preference comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 The top three employee channel preferences in terms of media richness and internal communication dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The employees’ ranking of channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 V List of Figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 The Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon & Weaver, 1949) Internal Corporate Communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007) . . . . . . . Types of Strategies (Mintzberg, 197 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strategy Implementation, a link between planned and realizing strategy . Media Richness Hierarchy (Lengel & Daft, 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media Selection Framework (Lengel & Daft, 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . A Three-component Model of Organizational Commitment . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A box plot with annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A box plot with outlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter plot without and with jitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter chart with Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter plot without and without outlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removal of outliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The correlation between Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework (Content) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge . . . . . . . . Ability to apply strategy against knowledge of the strategy . . . . . . Having enough strategy information against knowledge of the strategy The Theoretical Framework (Media) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media richness attribute scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richness and Richness Adjusted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channel preference ranking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Information quality and channel accessibility scores . . . . . . . . . . The employees’ channel satisfaction scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ICC and non-ICC channel attribute comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework (Commitment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overall ACS, NCS and CCS results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commitment scales against Strategy Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . Knowledge affect commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 16 20 25 34 38 51 56 74 75 76 77 79 80 82 90 91 93 95 96 97 99 102 106 108 112 116 117 120 121 31 32 ACS, Strategy Knowledge and Employees’ perspective . . . . . . . . . . 122 The employees’ ? rst channel preference type with respect to strategy knowledge and ACS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 VII Chapter 1 Introduction In recent years, there has been a growing interest in internal communication in corporate communication research (Vercic, Vercic & Sriramesh, 2012).Internal communication can be described as any â€Å"communication with employees internally within the organization† (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 164). Not only does internal communication enable companies to have information and knowledge sharing between employees (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004a) but it also satis? es and commits them (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2000), and gives them a voice to speak up (Morrison & Milliken, 2000). Internal communication is important, because it affects the bottom line of a company (Yates, 2006) and, quite simply, is a contributing factor to success (Argenti & Forman, 2002; D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004d).According to Welch and Jackson (2007), one of the recent internal communication theories is based on a stakeholder approach, where internal communication is divided into four interrelated dimensions according to identi? ed stakeholder groups: internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication, internal project peer communication and internal corporate communication. In their new approach to internal communication, Welch and Jackson (2007) concentrate on the fourth dimension, namely internal corporate communication. It is de? ned as â€Å"communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its in1 ernal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims. † (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 193) The role of internal corporate communication is to convey corporate issues such as goals and objectives (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The internal corporate communication channels are mainly one-way channels, such as newsletters and the intranet. The aim of internal corporate communication is to reach four goals, which are belonging, commitment, awareness and understanding of the business environment.Welch and Jackson (2007) address speci? cally the formal and managed internal communication as opposed to the informal internal communication. Informal internal communication, also known as â€Å"grapevine†, includes the constant chat between people at work. The formal internal communication includes the managed company/work related communication. The new stakeholder approach to internal communication is important, beca use according to Welch and Jackson (2007), it broadens the previous approaches, which only looked at the employees as a single audience.The four internal communication dimensions give managers a tool to strategically communicate to different stakeholder groups within the company as well as to all employees at once. One of the corporate issues that internal communication conveys is strategy. Strategy has a multitude of de? nitions. Chandler (1962) created the basics for today’s typical strategy de? nition (Mintzberg, 1978; Mustonen, 2009), which is: â€Å"the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p. 3) Corporate strategy is important, because it aids the company to reach its long-term object2 ives and, therefore, affects the company’s long-term wealth (Al-Ghamdi, Roy & Ahmed, 2007). After the corporat e strategy has been formulated, it needs to be implemented, hence communicated, to the employees. The better the employees understand, accept and embrace the corporate strategy, the more successful the strategy communication is (Aaltonen & Ik? valko, 2002). Understanding the strategy objectives and the signi? cance a of everyone’s contribution has an effect on the commitment and work motivation of the employees (H? ? l? inen & Maula, 2004). a aa In spite of the wealth of research into strategy and strategy communication, there has been a call for more research on internal communication for more than a decade. For example, Argenti (1996, p. 94) points out that â€Å"no other corporate communication subfunction offers more of an opportunity for genuinely sought after research than employee [= internal] communication†. Even today, internal communication still calls for more research (Vercic et al. , 2012; Welch & Jackson, 2007). Welch and Jackson (2007, p. 94) call for fu rther research on â€Å"internal stakeholders’ [employees] needs and preferences for communication content and media† to improve internal corporate communication. Since the internal corporate communication concept is new, there has been little if any research in a corporate strategy context. Furthermore, internal corporate communication and its ability to contribute to the four goals, namely belonging, commitment, awareness and understanding of the business environment, hasn’t been studied much either. 1. 1 Research objectives and questions This Master’s thesis has three purposes. The ? st purpose is to examine the employees’ needs and preferences of the company’s internal communication (IC) channels, speci? cally internal corporate communication (ICC) channels that convey the company’s corporate strategy. The second is to investigate the successfulness of the internal strategy communication (ISC), speci? cally internal strategy corpo rate communication (ISCC), regarding the employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge. The third is to research the relation between internal strategy communication (ISC), focusing on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), and the employee’s commitment.The terminology 3 used in this study is described in Section 1. 2. Even though this study focuses primarily on the internal corporate communication (ICC) dimension, the other three internal communication dimensions, namely internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication, as well as the informal communication (non-ICC), are also taken into account in this study. This is because the other three dimensions are interrelated with the ICC dimension (Welch & Jackson, 2007); and, because informal communication adds an often used channel.This study looks both at the general internal strategy communication (ISC), which includes all four formal internal c ommunication dimensions and informal internal communication, and at Welch and Jackson’s (2007) more speci? c internal corporate communication conveying strategy (ISCC). Hereinafter, the general internal strategy communication (ISC) with the focus on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) is referred to as ‘internal strategy (corporate) communication’.Since, this study requires in-depth knowledge about a company’s internal strategy communication (ISC), it was deemed best to focus only on one company instead of looking at multiple companies. Also, since internal strategy communication (ISC) is con? dential, the case company prefers to stay anonymous. The chosen case company for this study is a Finnish daughter company of an international corporation. The daughter company is spread around Finland and has circa 350 employees. More information on the case company and the single case study method is presented in Section 3. . 3. The purpose of this stud y is transformed into one main and ? ve sub research questions. All of these research questions relate to the case company. The questions are as follows: Main research question: How does internal strategy communication, speci? cally internal strategy corporate communication, meet the employees’ needs and relate to employee commitment? Sub research questions: 4 1. What are the employees’ internal strategy (corporate) communication channel preferences? 2. How do the channels meet the employees’ needs? 3.How much knowledge do the employees perceive to have regarding the corporate strategy gained through internal strategy (corporate) communication? 4. How committed are the employees? 5. What is the relation between their commitment and strategy knowledge gained through internal strategy (corporate) communication? The main research question studies how internal (corporate) communication conveying the corporate strategy meets the needs of the employees. Also, it studi es whether the communication relates to the employees’ commitment towards the company. The ? e sub research questions are studying this main research problem more thoroughly. The ? rst and second sub research questions aim to identify what the employees’ internal strategy (corporate) communication channel preferences are and how the channels meet the employees’ needs. Internal communication media include different kinds of communication channels. On the one hand, it includes two-way internal communication channels such as performance appraisals, and on the other hand, it includes one-way internal corporate communication channels, such as newsletters and the intranet. The channel related needs will be identi? d from the literature. The emphasis in the ? rst and second sub questions is on the employees’ viewpoint on the channels and their characteristics. The third sub research question studies how much knowledge the employees perceive to have regarding the corporate strategy. It is assumed that strategy knowledge is gained and understood via several different ways, one of them being internal strategy (corporate) communication. The needs of the employees for internal strategy (corporate) communication are to receive the message, understand it, and gain the required strategy knowledge.The employees’ level of strategy knowledge and their ability to use this knowledge in their everyday work will help to determine whether the internal strategy (corporate) communication is effective and successful. The fourth and ? fth sub research questions investigate the commitment level of the case 5 company employees, and the relation between their commitment and their strategy knowledge. As has been discussed earlier, ICC leads to four goals, which are commitment, belonging, awareness and understanding of the business environment. Due to the scope restrictions in this study, only the ommitment goal is researched. The organisational commitment theory will be used to analyse how committed the employees are to the company. The gained strategy knowledge will be seen as a result of internal strategy (corporate) communication. Therefore, the employees’ strategy knowledge acts as a middleman in determining the relation between internal strategy corporate communication and the employees’ commitment. This Master’s thesis is well positioned in the research ? eld of International Business Communication, because this study is set in an international business setting researching communication.The Finnish case company is a subsidiary of a multinational company, with subsidiaries all over the world. There is close co-operation between the parent and subsidiary companies, providing an international setting for the business. This study explores internal strategy (corporate) communication in the ? eld of business. The speci? c interest is in the case company’s corporate strategy, how this company communicates t he strategy to its employees, how the employees perceive the communication and whether the communication relates to their organisational commitment. 1. 2Terminology of this study Since the ‘internal communication’, ‘internal corporate communication’ and ‘internal strategy corporate communication’ related concepts and terminology used in this study are very similar to each other, there is the potential for misunderstandings. In order to increase clarity of this study, a summary of the key terminology is provided. The terminology, the abbreviations and their descriptions are presented in Table 1. As can be seen in Table 1, the key terminology used in this study consists of variations about ‘internal communication’ and ‘strategy’.In each chapter, the ? rst time a term is mentioned, it is spelled out entirely with the abbreviation in brackets as a reminder. After 6 Table 1: Important terminology of this study Abbr. IC Desc ription Terminology Internal communication Internal corporate communication ICC Formal non-ICC Internal line manager communication Internal project peer communication Internal team peer communication Informal Small talk, corridor chats ISC Overall internal communication happening in a company. Could be both one-way or two-way communication.Includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal communication Predominantly one-way communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its employees on corporate issues Other internal communication that is not ICC. It includes most two-way communication, formal and informal, on work related issues between all the employees (line manager to subordinate, employee to employee, project peer to project peer, team peer to team peer) of the company 7 ISCC Internal strategy communication Internal strategy corporate communicationFormal Internal communication conveying strategy information in a company. Could be bo th one-way or two-way communication. Includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal communication Predominantly one-way communication on precisely the corporate strategy conveyed from the strategic managers to all the employees more or less simultaneously Internal strategy line manager communication Internal strategy project peer communication Internal strategy team peer communication Informal Strategy small talk, corridor chatsOther internal communication on strategy that is not ISCC. It includes non-ISCC most two-way communication, formal or informal, on strategy between all the employees of the company that the abbreviation is usually used. However, in selected places, like Section 2. 1 on internal communication, the term ‘internal communication’ is spelled out instead of using the abbreviation IC in order to make the difference towards ICC more prominent. 1. 3 Structure of the thesis The four main sections in this Master’s thesis are the literature review, the methodology, the ? dings and discussion, and the conclusions. The literature review presents the most relevant literature for this study, including literature on internal communication, strategy, internal communication channels and commitment. The ? nal section of the literature review explains the theoretical framework of this study. The methodology chapter presents the research design, methods and data, and reliability of the study. The ? ndings and discussion chapter explains ? ndings on the internal strategy (corporate) communication channels, employee preferences and need ful? ment, employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge, and employees’ overall organisational commitment and its relation to the gained strategy knowledge. All of the ? ndings are discussed throughout this chapter. Finally, the conclusion chapter reviews the research summary, explains the practical implications of this research, presents the limitations of the stu dy, and proposes suggestions for further research. 8 Chapter 2 Review of Literature This chapter will review literature that is relevant to this Master’s thesis. All of the sections in this chapter ? st review more general literature on the topic at hand and then dive into the more speci? c theory or model that is of relevance to this study. The ? rst section presents research related to internal communication in general and, more speci? cally, to the internal communication matrix and the internal corporate communication (ICC) concept. The second section addresses the formulation and implementation of strategy. The third section highlights communication channels, in general, and then more speci? cally focuses on the media richness theory and communication channel attributes.The fourth section elaborates on commitment, organisational commitment and the threecomponent model of commitment. The last section presents the theoretical framework of this study. 2. 1 Internal communica tion The word communication is based on the Latin words â€Å"communis† and â€Å"communicare† (Wiio, 1977). â€Å"Communis† means sharing in common and â€Å"communicare† means to make common, hence communication is something that is being done together (Wiio, 9 1977). Wiio (1970) de? nes communication simply as the exchange of information between the sender and the receiver.One of the earliest ways to describe communication is the Shannon-Weaver model of communication, which includes more elements than just the sender and the receiver (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). This model is presented in Figure 1. Transmitter Information message (Encoder) Source signal Channel Noise Source received signal Receiver (Decoder) message Destination Figure 1: The Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon & Weaver, 1949) In Figure 1 the sender encodes a message, transmits it via a channel to the receiver who decodes the message.Along the way there is noise, which refers to any disturbance that could affect the reception of the message (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). What makes this communication successful, according to Al-Ghamdi et al. (2007), is that the information transferred from the sender to the receiver is understood by the receiver. For a long time now, it has been recognised that the Shannon-Weaver model of communication is outdated because it cannot fully grasp the complex process of human communication, nevertheless, it is one of the best known models (Bowman & Targowski, 1987).It is important to note that communication can be both internal and external (Cornelissen, 2011). Traditionally it was easy to distinguish between the internal communication between the employees in a company and the external communication to, for instance, customers. Nowadays, however, with the arrival of technology and new communication tools (e-mail, intranet, videos, online newsletters) the borders between internal and external communication have become fuzzy (Cornel issen, 2011). For the purpose of this study, it is assumed that internal communication can exist as its own concept separate from external communication.This study will only focus on the internal aspects of communication. Internal communication is important because it helps to share information and know10 ledge with everyone at the company (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004a). It informs (Smith, 2008), satis? es and commits the employees (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2000), as well as, engages them (Kress, 2005) and gives them a voice to speak up (Morrison & Milliken, 2000). Especially in today’s rapidly changing business world, with all the downsizing, outsourcing and restructuring, internal communication is important (Vercic et al. 2012). It has emerged as a critical function, because organisational leaders need better management skills in regards to employees (Vercic et al. , 2012). Welch and Jackson (2007) argue that internal communication, speci? cally ICC, explained in Subsection 2. 1. 2, leads to commitment, and commitment leads to better performance (Meyer & Allen, 1991) and, therefore, internal communication is crucial for business success. It is the key to good management (Jay, 2005) and it produces better results (Smith, 2008).Internal communication affects the bottom line of a company, by decreasing employee turnover and increasing market premiums, shareholder returns and employee engagement (Yates, 2006), therefore, leading to success (Argenti & Forman, 2002; D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004d). The growing importance of internal communication is visible in many initiatives, for instance, the setting up of the Institute of internal communication in the UK, with the aim of understanding and studying the ? eld (Vercic et al. , 2012). Already in the 6th century St.Benedict said: â€Å"Smaller organisational decisions should be taken by senior individuals, but large ones should be decided as a group. Everyone’s voice must be heard to avoid murmurs and back-bit ing† (Smith, 2008, p. 10), which indicates that internal communication has existed for a long time and it is not only a phenomenon of today’s business world (Smith, 2008). Although the actual practice of internal communication has probably existed for quite some time, the concept itself is relatively new, having started in the US and spread from there to Europe (Vercic et al. , 2012) in the 20th century (Clutterbuck, 1997; Smith, 2008).Even though internal communication has been studied directly or indirectly by many researchers such as Argenti (1996); J. Grunig and Hunt (1984); Jefkins (1988); Kalla (2005); Quirke (2000); Smith (2008); Stone (1995); D. Tourish and Hargie (2004b); Wiio (1970); Wright (1995); Yates (2006), there has been a considerable gap in the academic research and understanding of internal communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007). This is highlighted with the following quote. â€Å"no other corporate communication subfunction offers more of an opportun ity for genuinely sought after research than employee [= internal] communic11 ation† (Argenti, 1996, p. 4) It is dif? cult to de? ne internal communication because it has several, often interchangeably used, synonyms such as change management (Smith, 2008), employee communication (Argenti, 1996; Smidts, Pruyn & Van Riel, 2001), employee relations (Argenti, 1996; J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984; Quirke, 2000), integrated internal communications (Kalla, 2005), internal public relations (Jefkins, 1988; Wright, 1995), internal relations (J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984), industrial relations (Smith, 2008), reputation management (Smith, 2008), staff communication (Stone, 1995), staff communications (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004b) and transformation (Smith, 2008).These synonyms add to the complexity of de? ning internal communication. The term internal communication has been chosen for this study due to the interest in Welch and Jackson’s (2007) ICC concept; for details see Subsection 2. 1. 2. In addition, the term internal communication is preferred by corporate communication theorists such as Van Riel (1995) and J. Foreman and Argenti (2005). There have been very few useful and appropriate de? nitions of internal communication. De? nitions have either been very simple, for example â€Å"communication with employees internally within the organization† (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 64), or describing something else entirely. For example, a very widely used de? nition of internal communication is that of Frank and Brownell (1989), which more accurately seems to be a de? nition of organisational communication instead of internal communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007). â€Å"the communications transactions between individuals and/or groups at various levels and in different areas of specialisation that are intended to design and redesign organisations, to implement designs, and to co-ordinate day-today activities† (Frank & Brownell, 1989, p. -6) Appropriately, Welch and Jackson (2007) addressed this gap in the academic research and understanding of internal communication and rede? ned internal communication. Welch and Jackson’s (2007) de? nition is adopted for this study, because of the interest in ICC 12 speci? cally. The de? nition is presented below. â€Å"the strategic management of interactions and relationships between stakeholders within organisations across a number of interrelated dimensions including, internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication, internal project peer communication and internal corporate communication† (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 84) This section continues by explaining Welch and Jackson’s (2007) internal communication matrix with its four formal internal communication dimensions in Subsection 2. 1. 1. Then, Subsection 2. 1. 2 de? nes the internal corporate communication concept and its four goals (Welch & Jackson, 2007). 2. 1. 1 Internal communication matrix The internal commu nication matrix created by Welch and Jackson (2007) consists of four formal internal communication dimensions, which are the earlier mentioned internal corporate communication (ICC), internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication.The internal communication matrix helps to separate the ICC dimension from the other internal communication dimensions. Welch and Jackson (2007) take a stakeholder approach to internal communication. This is done in order to address the criticism and recent calls for research. L’Etang (2005, p. 522) criticises that â€Å"employees are too often treated as a single public† with respect to internal communication in a company. In addition, Forman and Argenti (2005) call for more research on employees as the target audience of internal communication.Welch and Jackson (2007) address these issues by differentiating stakeholder groups at the company, while at the same time still focusing on communication that reaches all the employees. Hence, Welch and Jackson (2007) take a stakeholder approach to internal communication. 13 According to Freeman (1984, p. 25), a stakeholder is: â€Å"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the ? rm’s objectives†. Stakeholder theory, together with internal communication, add to the identi? ation of participants that form stakeholder groups at different organisational levels: all employees, strategic management, day-to-day management, work teams and project teams (Welch & Jackson, 2007). This implies the earlier mentioned four interrelated dimensions of internal communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007). These four internal communication dimensions in a management context form the internal communication matrix, which is visible in Table 2. Table 2: Internal Communication Matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007) Dimension 1. Internal line management communication 2.Internal team peer communication 3. Internal project peer communication 4. Internal corporate communication Level Line managers/ supervisors Team colleagues Project group colleagues Strategic managers/ top management Direction Predominantly two-way Two-way Two-way Predominantly one-way Participants Line managersemployees Employeeemployee Employeeemployee Strategic managers-all employees Content Employees’ roles Personal impact, e. g. appraisal discussions, team brie? ngs Team information, e. g. team task discussions Project information, e. g. project issues Organisational/ corporate issues, e. . goals, objectives, new developments, activities and achievements As Table 2 shows, the four dimensions of internal communication are followed by the organisational level, the direction, participants and content of the internal communication, respectively. The level, direction, participants and content of the internal communication differ according to the internal stakeholder group in question. The ? rst dimension, inter nal line manager communication, is between the line managers and the employees of a company at the line manager/supervisor level.This communication is mainly two-way, between superior and subordinate with the content being, for instance, about employee roles (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The second dimension, internal team peer communication, is two-way communication between team members, employee to employee, with the content being team information (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The third dimension, internal project peer communication, is two-way communication between project peers, employee to employee, with the content being project informa14 tion.The difference here between a team and a project is that teams are work teams in departments and divisions while projects have a wider scope with dispersed teams (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The fourth dimension, ICC, is strategic one way communication from the strategic managers/top management of the company to all employees. This communication deals with corporate issues such as goals, objectives and achievements (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Internal line, team peer and project peer communication have been considerably researched by J. Grunig et al. (1992).Therefore, the focus of this study will be on ICC, which has been largely ignored to date. 2. 1. 2 Internal corporate communication The internal corporate communication (ICC) concept developed by Welch and Jackson (2007) is communication between the strategic top of the company and the rest of the company. It focuses on all the employees and, therefore, ? lls an existing void in research (Forman & Argenti, 2005). Internal corporate communication is predominantly oneway and includes issues such as company goals and objectives. The concept of ICC is presented in Figure 2, with the de? ition of ICC being: â€Å"communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its internal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims† (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 186) Figure 2 shows that the strategic managers, who are situated in the circle in the middle of Figure 2, send corporate messages, shown as arrows in Figure 2, to all the company employees, who are situated in the circle depicting internal environment.Figure 2 also points out that internal corporate communication, where the strategic managers are sending corporate messages to the employees, leads to four goals, which are visible in the thick one-way arrows: commitment, awareness, belonging and understanding. In addition, there are four smaller double headed arrows between the internal environment and the external micro environment. These arrows imply two-way communication, which ex15 External MacroEnvironment Employees Commitment External MicroEnvironment Corporate Messages Understanding Strategic managers Awareness Belonging EmployeesInternal Environment Figure 2: In ternal Corporate Communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007) ists in the other three internal communication dimensions: internal manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication. Finally, there is also an external macro environment in Figure 2. The double headed arrows in Figure 2 show that even though the main messages are predominantly one way, the strategic managers are still getting feedback and information from their employees in other ways, for instance, through internal team peer communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007).Welch and Jackson (2007) note that the one-wayness of the internal corporate communication concept can be criticised; however, it would be unrealistic to assume that the company could have face-to-face discussion with every single employee on every issue at hand. Therefore, it is important that the messages sent from the top are consistent and this could be done with mediated means of communication (e. g. external news rel ease, corporate television advertisement, corporate web site, internal newsletter).Internal mediated communication can be considered symmetrical: â€Å"if 16 its content meets the employees’ need to know rather than the management’s need to tell† (L. Grunig, Grunig & Dozier, 2002, p. 487). The channels of ICC are a focus in this study, which is to answer the call for further research highlighted in the following quote. â€Å"Research into employee preferences for channel and content of internal corporate communication is required to ensure it meets employees’ needs† (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 87) The aforementioned goals of the ICC concept are to increase commitment of the employees to the organisation, develop their awareness of the environmental change, increase their belonging to the company and develop their understanding of the changing objectives. Out of these four goals the commitment goal is of speci? c interest to this study. Commitment is like a positive attitude among employees (De Ridder, 2004; Meyer & Allen, 1997; Mowday, Porter & Steers, 1982) and a degree of loyalty towards an organisation (Welch & Jackson, 2007).It is de? ned as â€Å"the relative strength of an individual’s identi? cation with, and involvement in, a particular organisation† (Mowday, Steers & Porter, 1979, p. 226). Meyer and Allen (1997) identify three types of workplace commitment, namely affective, continuance and normative. Since the concept of commitment and Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three types of commitment are relevant for this Master’s thesis, they will be further reviewed in Section 2. 4. Belonging is described by Cornelissen (2004, p. 8) as â€Å"a ‘we’ feeling [–] allowing people to identify with their organizations†. Internal communication has an effect on this degree of identi? cation (Smidts et al. , 2001, p. 1052). The need to belong is a strong motivator for people (Baumeist er & Leary, 1995). Therefore, it has to be remembered that organisations could use a persuasive strategy to in? uence the employees (Cheney, 1983) or even use internal communication as a tool to try to manipulate employees (Moloney, 2000). Due to this Welch and Jackson (2007) point out that ICC has an ethical aspect.It is important for the employees to be aware of the environmental change, and understand how it impacts the organisation (Welch & Jackson, 2007), because the organisational environment is dynamic. This dynamic environment has three levels, namely macro, micro 17 and internal (Palmer & Hartley, 2002), which are also shown in Figure 2. These environments are subject to change, and change in the business world has been substantial in the past years for instance due to technology (Cornelissen, 2004).Due to these environmental changes and the implications they could mean, it is vital for the employees to be aware and understand the change (Welch & Jackson, 2007). In addition , to just plainly communicating the current situation of the organisation to the employees, the organisation should even communicate about the external opportunities and threats of the company. Effective internal corporate communication should enable employees to understand the constant changes the company is going through (Welch & Jackson, 2007), thus reducing employees’ uncertainty. In sum, ICC is of speci? interest in this study, because it hasn’t yet been extensively researched. Internal communication is important for companies, because it contributes to their success (Argenti & Forman, 2002; D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004d). When a stakeholder approach is taken, internal communication can be divided into four interrelated dimensions (Welch & Jackson, 2007). These dimensions together form the internal communication matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Out of these four dimensions ICC is the strategic top addressing all the employees simultaneously about the company goals and objectives (Welch & Jackson, 2007).The goals of the ICC include giving the employees a feeling of belonging and commitment, as well as raising the employees’ awareness and understanding of the company’s changing environment (Welch & Jackson, 2007). 2. 2 Corporate strategy Corporate strategy is important, because it aids the company to reach its long-term objectives and, therefore, affects the company’s long-term wealth (Al-Ghamdi et al. , 2007). Understanding these objectives and the signi? cance of everyone’s contribution has an effect on the commitment and work motivation of the employees (H? m? l? nen & Maula, 2004), a aa which is a contributing factor to an effective company (Koch, Radvansk? & Sklen? r, y a 2011). 18 The origin of the word strategy comes from the Greek word â€Å"strategos†, â€Å"a general† (Bracker, 1980, p. 219), referring to skills of warfare (Cummings, 1993; Lahti, 2008). Furthermore, the Greek verb â€Å"stratego † stands for †plan[ning] the destruction of one’s enemies through effective use of resources† (Bracker, 1980, p. 219). The word strategy was originally linked to war and politics, and only after World War II was there a need to link the word to business (Bracker, 1980).The ? rst ones to connect the strategy concept to business were Von Neumann and Morgenstern with their game theory (Bracker, 1980), where strategy is the set of rules that players follow (Mintzberg, 1978). Chandler (1962) created the basics for today’s typical strategy de? nition (Mintzberg, 1978; Mustonen, 2009): †the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p. 13) Bracker (1980, p. 221) sums up many of the strategy de? itions to: â€Å"entails the analysis of internal and external environments of a ? rm to maximi ze the utilization of resources in relation to objectives†. Strategy quite simply put is a †plan† (Mintzberg, 1978, p. 935). This section continues by explaining the strategy formation with Mintzberg’s (1978) theory and a brief review on vision and mission related research in Subsection 2. 2. 1. Then, the strategy implementation is explained in Subsection 2. 2. 2. Issues covered include the importance of the implementation process, the de? nition, Aaltonen and Ik? alko’s (2002) a theory, the importance of managers in the process, some practical issues and the dif? culties of strategy implementation. Finally, the subtle difference between internal strategy communication (ISC) and internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) is discussed. 2. 2. 1 Strategy formation The strategy process starts with the company’s corporate strategy formation. Mintzberg’s (1978) theory is one of the many theories that explains the theoretical strategy for mation. 19 A more practical view of strategy formation is found in research on vision and mission statements. Mintzberg’s (1978) theoryMintzberg (1978) developed a strategy formation theory, where there are two kinds of strategies, the intended and the realised. According to Mintzberg (1978), in the mainly theoretical strategy formation research, the majority of strategy de? nitions have one thing in common: they are a deliberate set of guidelines that determine future decisions. This type of a strategy is called an intended strategy, and it has the following three characteristics (Mintzberg, 1978). First, it is explicit. Second, it is created purposefully and consciously; and third, it is made in advance to help decision-making.Opposite to the intended strategy is the realised strategy, which is the actual strategy that is put into action. In order to expand the strategy formation research, Mintzberg (1978, p. 935) de? nes strategy as â€Å"a pattern in a stream of decision s†. He then claims that these two kinds of strategies, intended and realised, can be combined in three different ways, resulting in ? ve types of strategies, namely the intended, unrealised, deliberate, emergent and realised. These ? ve types of strategies and their relations are presented in Figure 3. Intended Strategy Unrealized StrategyDeliberate Strategy Realized Strategy Emergent Strategy Figure 3: Types of Strategies (Mintzberg, 1978) As can be seen in Figure 3, the intended strategy is to the left implying a starting point, and the realised strategy is to the right implying an end result. Mintzberg (1978) reasons that the intended and the realised strategy, at least theoretically, can be combined in the following three ways. First, intended strategies that get realised without anything left 20 out or added are called deliberate strategies. Second, intended strategies that do not get realised are called unrealised strategies.This could be caused by issues such as unreali stic expectations. Third, unintended strategies that get realised are called emergent strategies. These could develop over time, unintended, out of a pattern of continuous decisional behaviour. Mintzberg and Waters (1985) suggest that for a strategy to realise itself exactly as it was planned, three conditions need to be met. First, the strategy needs to be planned in detail, in a way that it can be communicated clearly. Second, everyone in the company needs to know it. Third, the strategy implementation is not in? uenced from outside of the company (Mintzberg & Waters, 1985).At least two out of these three conditions need communication, which emphasizes the role that communication plays in the strategy process, especially in the implementation, which is presented in Subsection 2. 2. 2. Vision and mission Vision and mission have been recognised as a part of the more practical view on the strategy formulation process for all types of organisations (Darbi, 2010; David, 1989). However, David (1989) argues that the strategy formulation process consists of not only the creation of the vision and mission statement, but also of the SWOT-analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and the identi? ation of the long-term objectives, to name a few. H? m? l? inen and Maula (2004) point out that it is common practice that a aa companies de? ne at least vision, mission, strategy (a more limited concept, not to be confused with the main corporate strategy) and value statements during their strategy process. These four components could be seen as the most central operational guidelines of a company (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). a aa Vision and mission statements are important, because they in? uence strategy and organisational performance (Darbi, 2010).Vision and mission statements give direction and clarity to the employees; and create a common sense of purpose (Campbell, 1997; Ireland & Hirc, 1992; Klemm, Sanderson & Luffman, 1991; Matejka, Kurke & Gregory, 1993; Mullane, 2002). In addition, these statements also motivate (Ireland & Hirc, 21 1992), shape behaviours (Collins & Porras, 1991), develop commitment (Klemm et al. , 1991) and ? nally in? uence employee performance positively (Mullane, 2002). Vision describes the desired future state of a company (Darbi, 2010; H? m? l? inen & a aa Maula, 2004).The content and length of this description may differ (Darbi, 2010). In addition, G. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) argue that the vision should show how the company produces value for its stakeholders. A vision gives strategic direction to a company and, furthermore, is the foundation for the mission and other related goals (Darbi, 2010). â€Å"Vision statements are supposed to be challenging and ambitious yet workable enough to evoke employees’ ingenuity as far as its realisation is concerned† (Darbi, 2010, p. 96) A mission is the company’s current purpose (Darbi, 2010; H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). aa It answers the question: â€Å"what is our business? † (David, 2009, p. 85), and expresses the corporate strategy in terms of scope and value creation (David, 2009). The mission should convey the company’s strategic direction to the stakeholders (Bartkus, Glassman & McAfee, 2004). Hence the company should identify the most important stakeholders in their mission statement and assure that their needs are met (Mullane, 2002). The mission should speci? cally correspond to the values and expectations of the stakeholders (Darbi, 2010). The last two corporate strategy components presented are values and strategy.Values refer to the company embraced principles (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). Strategy shows a aa how the company is going to achieve its vision and mission (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). a aa This type of strategy is a more limited concept in the whole big corporate strategy process, and its purpose seems to be to show a practical way to reach the goals. It seems to b e rather confusing to have two separate concepts named the same, which de? nitely can be seen as a problem in the strategy implementation phase. This could potentially be solved by renaming the more limited strategy concept as something else.However, the word strategy has also many other meanings (Jones, 2008), and it has become a synonym for 22 different words. For instance, strategy could refer to a plan, a position, a purpose or a long term view (Jones, 2008) and in the adjective form of â€Å"strategic† even important or signi? cant (Alvesson, 2002). There is some criticism in regards to the usefulness and bene? ts of these vision and mission statements (Simpson, 1994). In terms of the content, for instance Simpson (1994) and Goett (1997) note that the majority of these vision and mission statements sound very general and are â€Å"rarely useful† (Goett, 1997, p. ). Hussey (1998) notes that there are semantic problems with vision and mission, therefore what someone thinks of as a vision, another one would say is a mission. Jones (2008) points out that the terms vision and mission have as many de? nitions as people want to give them and they are very overused. Collins and Porras (1999) go a step further and indicate that vision is one of the most overused words in the English language; it is also the least understood. In addition to the criticism against the content, there is also criticism against the process of formulating the vision and mission.Mullane (2002) noted that it is not really the content itself but rather the process of formulating the vision and mission, and how they are then implemented. These statements are seen as top management’s compulsory work that will inevitably end in the employees’ desk drawers or walls, forgotten. So, are the vision and mission statements useful after all? Well, the literature that supports the usefulness and relevance does outweigh the opposite literature (Darbi, 2010), implying that th e vision and mission statements are useful.However, the problem of not everyone knowing and understanding the vision and mission statements remains, and should be addressed with a well thought-out strategy implementation, which takes this into consideration. 2. 2. 2 Strategy implementation It is not enough if only the top management knows about the corporate strategy; it also needs the employees embracing the parts of the strategy that affect their work (H? m? l? inen a aa & Maula, 2004). Therefore, a successful strategy implementation is vital for any com23 pany (Aaltonen & Ik? alko, 2002). Strategy communication, being a major part of a strategy implementation, is important, because it is essential to operational ef? ciency of a company (Kagan, 2004; Roy, 2001). The more successful the strategy communication (Aaltonen & Ik? valko, 2002), the better the employees understand, accept and a embrace the corporate strategy and, hence, the more successful the strategy implementation. H? m? l? inen and Maula (2004) concluded from Juholin’s (1999) work that strategy a aa communication also increases work satisfaction.Strategy communication does not only affect culture, general well-being and performance, but when it is missing, there might be moral problems and weaker performance (Kazoleas & Wright, 2001). In H? m? l? inen and Maula’s (2004) viewpoint strategy implementation means those cona aa crete choices and decisions that employees do everyday at work. Noble (1999, p. 120) de? nes strategy implementation â€Å"as the communication, interpretation, adoption, and enactment of strategic plans†. Communicating strategy to the employees is a central part of strategy implementation (Alexander, 1985; Noble, 1999; Roy, 2001).Strategy communication, as part of the strategy implementation process, is both written and oral communication about the corporate strategy. It is usually communicated in a top-down direction (Aaltonen & Ik? valko, 2002). The com munication is about the responsibilita ies and tasks the employees need to know so that they can ful? l the corporate strategy (Alexander, 1991). Naturally, a strategy might need to be communicated to other stakeholder groups as well, such as customers, suppliers, partners, analysts, media, authorities, local community, NGO’s and competitors (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004).Steckel (2000) even points out a aa that companies commonly communicate the strategy to partners and customers and forget the employees. However, in this study the emphasis is put on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) and, therefore, the only receivers considered are the employees of a company. Aaltonen and Ik? valko (2002) developed a strategy implementation theory based on earlier a research (Mintzberg, 1978; Noble, 1999; Pettigrew, 1987). They adopted the strategy formation theory from Mintzberg (1978) and the strategy implementation components from Noble (1999).Aaltonen and Ik? valko’ s (2002) strategy implementation theory is a presented in Figure 4. 24 vision planned strategy Strategy implementation: communication interpretation and adoption actions realizing strategy Figure 4: Strategy Implementation as a link between

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