COM 610 Issue Management

For our final week of readings, I chose to examine the study by Ewing et al. (2019) regarding internal communication and employee engagement. I found it to be fascinating since I have limited experience studying communication between members of the same organization; most studies I read are focused on how an organization communicates to outside publics. However, the important concept I took away from this article is that employee engagement is a desired state of organizations for their employees, and it can be increased by utilizing social media platforms for the purpose of facilitating internal communication. The study defines employee engagement as "employees who are connected to the values and mission of the company, feel empowered, bring energy, passion, and discretionary effort to their jobs, and serve as advocates." (p. 113). It makes sense that an employee who is not engaged would feel and possess less of these positive characteristics, and that is why it is crucial fo...

I believe the most important ideas from this week's readings were the key components from the successful social media case study article. Allagui & Breslow (2016) examine four campaigns alongside their four categories which characterize an effective modern communications campaign. In short, these categories are a) the utilization of digital storytelling, b) compatibility with mobile screens and controls, c) the extent to which the online campaign catalyzes offline engagement, and d) to what extent the campaign allows sharing, both online and offline. Each of the successful campaigns were critically analyzed according to these components. I found them to be useful criteria to keep in mind if I work in public relations or campaign creation in the future. A recent example that has been at the forefront of my mind is how Purdue has been using their social media to bring attention to the issue of potential students choosing Purdue in the midst of this pandemic. There is a lot of u...

An important concept from the readings this week is transparency. Christensen and Langer (2009) define the overall concept as promoting availability of information, availability that minimizes opaqueness and complexity. The authors go on to explain how information is not truly successful in its transparent intent unless outsiders (such as individuals who are not organizational members) are able to unpack and understand the message. Otherwise, by manipulating a message to the extent that only insiders or experts can understand a message, organizations are hypocritical in their claims that they are being transparent. And obviously, organizations can also be hypocritical by claiming to be transparent when in actuality they do not provide open information. One example comes from the agricultural machinery manufacturing corporation John Deere. In 2018, they received an Ag Data Transparent seal of approval, which means that they effectively comply with agricultural data standards of techno...