6: Internal and Employee Communications

Internal communications between an organization’s leaders and their employees – a critical stakeholder group – are a crucial aspect of public relations, serving as the backbone for effective organizational communication and are one of the fastest-growing specialisms in the domain of corporate communication (Dolphin, 2004; Verčič et al., 2012). In public relations and communications management, an increasing understanding of the importance of employees as internal stakeholders developed from the 1970s (Smith, 2020), which is also referred to as internal relations (Cutlip et al., 2006). As Grunig (1977) observed, the significance of valuing employee communication and strategically maintaining a balance of and aligning management and employee interests and motivations: