Introduction
The Dragon Trip company was instituted by Ramsay Kerr 2010, who was British but was brought up in Hong Kong. Ramsay Kerr was a backpacking founder who decided to start The Dragon Trip at 22 after realizing that life held more than pursuing a finance carrier. He launched the company to provide individuals who cannot speak Mandarin with cost-effective backpacking adventure tours of China. In addition to providing tour services, the company helps protect the planet as well as give back to society. Moreover, the organization uses local adventure leaders to guide their visitors throughout tours and provide them with the best experiences. The company has employees from different countries and different languages, which contributes to diversity in the firm. For this reason, the company requires effective corporate communication to enable the firm to provide better services and great tourist experiences.
The emergence of Corporate Communication
Corporate communications emerged in 1906 in the U.S. when Ivy Lee sought to help John Rockefeller gain back his credibility, who was the most hated businessman in the country. Ivy Lee was able to transform her client’s credibility, which resulted in being recognized as a benefactor to humanity (Camilleri, 2021). The idea of corporate communications then spread to Western nations, including the United Kingdom and Brazil. The concept of corporate communication can be referred to as the actions and means utilized to deliver organizational information to internal and external audiences such as stakeholders, workers, and clients.
Importance of Corporate Communication
The brand awareness of a company helps strengthen the reputation of an organization which allows it to capture attention in the market. A company’s brand determines or establishes what an organization is, what it does, the products and services it provides, and how it is perceived by its customers (Camilleri, 2021). It helps clients or customers learn about the services of products of the company and what differentiates its products from its rivals. This makes customers develop trust in the corporation’s products and services, improving customer loyalty which in turn results in increased company revenue.
Effective internal communication within an organization helps improve employee engagement. Internal communication in an organization goes beyond sending information to the workforce. This is done by ensuring that the organizational leader acknowledges input, suggestions, thoughts, and ideas. This helps workers gain trust and comfort in their place of work (Lozano Oviedo, 2019). As a result, supporting dialogues, understanding the expectations of employees, and listening to their contributions are all important aspects of internal corporate communication that help improve employee participation.
Furthermore, effective communication within the company allows employees to understand what is required of them, focusing on achieving a common goal that enhances engagement. In addition, good internal communication provides employees with opportunities to connect or associate with other individuals who can act as role models or mentors. This boosts employee participation in young workers since they can receive guidance and valuable experience. Moreover, effective communication within an organization helps get rid of isolation and loneliness in the workplace environment, which reinforces the bond between employees, encouraging involvement.
Crisis management is a vital function in an organization whose failure can lead to severe harm in public relations and losses in the company. Effective communication is an effective tool that can be used in supporting crisis management within dragon trip adventures. Internal communications warrant that every employee is on the same page on the problem at hand. On the other hand, external communications help organizations convey the correct message or information to their customers (Cornelissen, 2020; Tankovic, kapeš, and benazić, 2022). Moreover, good communication helps in stabilizing and enhancing growth in an organization by motivating confidence and engaging workers, which will help bring in diverse inputs in crisis management.
Effective internal and external communications can help companies bring in the best talents faster and at a cheaper cost. This is because potential applicants will be aware that they can count on the present information to aid them in executing their assigned tasks. An organization can bring in new talents or employees using referrals and recommendations from their engaged workers by informing them of available vacancies that need to be filled (Cornelissen, 2020). In addition, employees can make use of social media to advertise their organization’s culture and positive work environment, which will tend to attract new talents.
Models
Charles Osgood’s model depicts that communication is a dynamic process with an interactive relationship between the receiver and sender. This is to mean that when people participate in a communication process, they engage in receiving and sending messages. Therefore, it portrays that communication is a two-way process or involves two parties on receiving ends. In addition, Charles Osgood’s model informs that individuals apply to encode, decoding, and interpreting approaches in understanding messages (Kapur, 2020). Furthermore, the model was based on the social complex of communication and is mostly applied in interpersonal communication where the messages’ recipients and senders are present physically. For instance, a manager in the Dragon Trip company can communicate information on a problem to employees through an internal memo, and both parties can interact by exchanging ideas.
Furthermore, Charles Osgood’s model is centered on the view that communications require to be executed between people in a lively and robust way. Moreover, the model displays that communication is a complex process as it requires interpretation skills. In Dragon trip tours, service providers will have to provide tourists or visitors with effective answers when asked questions about the type of accommodation or even the most suitable place that they can visit to gain an excellent experience. This can be done by displaying positive feelings and giving proper responses on a certain attraction site or even appropriate and best lodging locations (Kapur, 2020). This will help market their services brand and improve the company’s reputation, which will aid in promoting customer loyalty due to their quality services.
The Schramm Model portrays communication as a process that entails experience sharing and commonality of experience in terms of people that are exchanging information. Its main concept lies in the sender and receiver communicating with each other using different types of experiences. Using this view, the process of communication is worthwhile and more efficient when the recipient and the sender both have similar experiences. In this model, the concepts of feedback, interaction, and sharing experiences are not applied (Kapur, 2020). Here, the sender can encode, and the receiver can decipher or interpret information using experiences that people possess. In the Dragon Trip company, it helps portray how service providers and customers can equally contribute and share feedback to situations to demonstrate that the message being communicated has been successfully received, deciphered, and understood.
The model pioneered the perception of shared orientation between the source and recipient. Furthermore, the Schramm Model depicts that people working in related job obligations, having the same backgrounds, and belonging to the same categories are more likely to easily understand each other. In contrast, when both receiving ends vary from each other based on different concepts, they are likely to encounter difficulties while communicating, and the process will not be implemented effectively. Moreover, this model helps reinforce the wide-ranging social situations as well as the relations between the sender and receiver (Kapur, 2020).
Unlike other models, Theodore M. Newcomb’s model takes the shape of a triangle and imparts an explanation concerning the role of communication in social relationships as well as society. The triangular form revolves around the source, recipient, and matter of concern or topic. As per Theodore M. Newcomb’s model, the process of communication provides a vital contribution to sustaining balance in the social system. Moreover, this model portrays that communication between people is centered on the social setting (Kapur, 2020). An example is when a manager or supervisor in Dragon trip tours implements a new policy to improve their clients’ experience. If the organization’s employees and manager are satisfied with the executed policy, then communication helps sustain a balance between the sender and receiver.
Furthermore, the model is considered to be significant in light of people’s increasing requirements as well as needs in society. Therefore, it is significant for individuals to create awareness and enhance their understanding concerning the elements of the social environment, especially if they reside in a democratic country. As a result, the information from this model helps people to provide solutions to their troubles and in inspiring their lives (Kapur, 2020). Moreover, Theodore M. Newcomb’s model helps individuals understand the significance of creating good communication terms within their social climate. This is to mean that people can work efficiently in accomplishing desired outcomes and suitably maintaining their living conditions if they can appropriately communicate with each other. Moreover, the model indicates that communication between people can be used as a tool for maintaining relations between individuals.
George Gerbner’s Model tried to develop the aim of a communication model as a means of facilitating the transmission of messages. The model tries to link the message being communicated to reality. Moreover, the process of communication in this model is considered to entail two different dimensions, the receptive and perpetual dimensions, which communicate the control and means dimensions (Kapur, 2020). In addition, the model explains communication in three steps, two horizontal stages, and one stage. The first step, referred to as external reality, involves the interaction and negotiation process as the human view is considered to be a complex phenomenon.
The vertical dimension provides meaning for what has been concluded and is referred to as a message. This situation makes it significant for individuals to decide on suitable communication channels as the primary aspects of facilitating message transmission. Finally, in the last stage, the meaning of the information is not contained within the message. In addition, the notions of negotiation and interaction are considered to be essential in assisting the process of communication in an effective way (Kapur, 2020). This model is essential in the Dragon Trip organization as it displays the importance of communication in enhancing collaboration between different individuals and stakeholders.
Barriers to the Establishment of a Corporate Communication Capability
Males and females work together daily and have unique styles of communication which can hinder the other. For instance, females like to question a lot before they decide to start a project, while men prefer getting straight to the agenda. Therefore, an organizational manager that does not understand how women correspond can misunderstand them for not being ready to work. In addition, men center their focus on competition, orders, and data in their communication, while females use requests, intuition, and cooperation (Cornelissen, 2020). As a result, understanding differences in gender aids in avoiding confusion when working with them.
Filtering is where information is distorted or withheld to manage the reaction of an individual. For this reason, filtering makes it impossible for members of a firm to receive the right information as it was earlier communicated. As a result, it is vital to deliver messages using different ways and find information from various sources, which reduces the effect of filtering (Skripak, 2018). In addition, employees are inclined to distort and withhold bad news, especially when the communication is upward, which can result in miscommunications within the organization.
Communications can be disrupted by a lack of source credibility or familiarity. For instance, a sender and a receiver can lack a common setting that would hinder understanding. This can lead to miscommunications, and misinterpretations resulting from sarcasm, and humor. In addition, a lack of credibility or trust in the sender can hinder a message from being delivered to other parties. This is because the receiver may question the sender’s motives as to why they are being given the information (Cornelissen, 2020). Moreover, employees tend to gossip when seeking information about their organization.
Differences in language can make it hard for employees to understand messages communicated in a language they are unfamiliar with. This is particularly possible when a business operates globally, such as those the Dragon Trip company. It is, therefore, necessary for companies to ensure that their transmitted messages do not lose meaning in translation (Fyall, Legohérel, Frochot, and Wang, 2019). This is because it can result in confusion and discomfort or portray an offending view. In contrast, cultural differences can be a communication obstacle as conflicting values and ethnicity influence internal and external organizational relations due to diverse views or understanding.
Information overload is abundant or excess information provided to employees when undertaking decisions. This is where the quantity of available information overpowers an individual’s capability to process it, thereby decreasing the decision’s quality. As a result, information overload causes employee burnout from confusion and restlessness that negatively impacts a worker’s physical and mental health (Skripak, 2018). This is because they will have to deal with a lot of sources and tools of information all at once. Moreover, information overload can lead to decreased judgment accuracy, which negatively influences organizational performance.
Another impact of information overload is that it causes employee disengagement. This is because employees feel pressured to deal with information from multiple sources and end up losing motivation. In addition, information overload leads to a decrease in productivity. This is an outcome of losing focus and increased frustration from the huge amount of information they are being subjected to. Moreover, information overload increases the probability of poor decision-making among employees and managers (Cornelissen, 2020). This follows that employees will be unable to determine priorities and organize their train of thought, leading to ineffective decisions.
Selective perception is where different people possess diverse interests, motivations, past influences, and experiences which can greatly impact what they observe or hear. For instance, the head of the human resource department can have biased views toward a certain race or gender, which can influence their decision to recruit workers. Moreover, an employee working as a tour guide at Dragon Trip Adventures can have negative views about a place and decides to choose a different location that best fits his interests (Cornelissen, 2020). This can negatively impact tourists’ decisions to use the organization in their travels.
As a result, it is necessary to decrease selective perception to the minimum within a company to ensure its reputation is maintained and increase organizational performance. Selective perception can be handled or reduced by building a diverse work environment and fostering employee teamwork. A diverse workforce provides the company with different experiences and views that impact perception among employees (Skripak, 2018). Moreover, having group, collective, or teamwork decision-making eliminates biased perception, which helps improve the quality of choices, thereby promoting the optimum performance of the company.
Need for a Corporate Communications Plan
A communication plan enables organizations to efficiently organize their information in a clear format, especially when a lot of information has to be shared. This is because a communication plan makes it easier for an individual to determine the news to be distributed first that interests the receiver. Moreover, an individual can categorize messages according to their significance which will enable one to communicate the relevant details only (Skripak, 2018). As a result, a planned communication distribution allows a manager or supervisor and their team members to effectively collaborate and keep consumers and stakeholders updated.
A communication plan enables an organization to manage messages and conversations more strategically. This is because an organization can engage more with the audience. Moreover, solid communication skills make it possible for customers to recognize the relevant details that the organization would consider communicating. In addition, customers will be able to remember the interaction the organization facilitated compared to the ones from its business rivals (Melewar et al., 2017). This will maintain the company’s reputation as well as enhance the brand awareness of the organization, which will help attract emerging talents.
An effective communication plan within an organization helps attract favor from the customers in its business. This can help the company easily impart relevant information to its customers. As a result, a good communication plan in any industry, such as the Dragon Trip, allows the industry to establish activities with a positive impression of the brand. Moreover, an integrated communication plan helps ensure consistency in the brand over all channels of communication (Kalogiannidis, 2020). In addition, effective communication helps companies reflect on what audience to target and the means to communicate to involve them.
An effective and appropriate communication plan allows an organization to logically provide correct information corresponding to its respective audiences. For this reason, a great communication plan enables an organization to establish how to distribute different messages to diverse groups using different channels. In addition, a good communication plan allows a company to effectively determine different ways to reach audiences (Melewar et al., 2017). Hence, having an efficient communication strategy provides companies with the appropriate structure that helps determine what audience to reach.
Anything can happen during the process of communication, starting from forgetting to include an email address and issuing a press release, which will result in misinformation. This can lead to the emergence of a real disaster that has the potential of discrediting the company’s reputation. As a result, an effective communication plan will put the organization in a position to anticipate that an error or obstacles might arise and have strategies in place to mitigate the emergence of a crisis, emergency, or potential barriers (O’Leary and Samson, 2021).
Conclusion
Corporate communication is an essential component of every organization, department, and industry as it results in promoting brand awareness, employee engagement, crisis management, and attracting top talent. As much as corporate communication is vital for an organization’s success, it is not without barriers. These obstacles include gender differences, information filtering, lack of source credibility, information overload, selective perception as well as language and culture differences. In addition, corporate communication requires models of communication that enhance skills and abilities that can be used to effectively dispatch messages. They include Charles Osgood’s Schramm Model, Theodore M. Newcomb’s, and George Gerbner’s communication models. Moreover, integrating corporate communications plans is essential in any organization as it enhances the organization of a communication flow, differentiates messages, encourages actions from audiences, a better understanding of the target audience, and helps anticipate emergencies and barriers.
References
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