eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Objectives of the Study

This study focuses on the use of communication processes in corporate communication and aims to show how international business communication as a discipline could benefit from process thinking. The main research question is: How can process thinking be utilized in corporate communication? Therefore, the study had two objectives. The first objective was to find out how corporate communication function can benefit from process thinking, and identification, and documentation of the core communication processes. The second objective was to identify the main communication processes in corporate communication.

Summary

Corporate communication is often seen as a hectic, ad hoc natured function, but the present study argues that by managing communication processes more effectively, a more systematic and planned way of working could be achieved. Previous research on the use of processes and process models in corporate communication was very limited. The literature review introduced Business Process Management (BPM), and discussed process models, their documentation and reported outcomes of processing. Finally, business communication was integrated to BPM by identifying the main corporate communication activities. The theoretical framework was constructed on the basis of Harrington’s (1995) framework for BPM and Ungan’s (2006a) framework for standardization. Empirical data was collected through two qualitative data collection methods: semi-structured interviews conducted in 14 Finnish companies and public organizations, and an online survey with open-ended questions with 82 respondents.

Findings and conclusions

The findings showed that processes do exist in corporate communication. Based on the data, the main communication processes in organizations could be identified. The main reason for documenting business communication processes seemed to be inconsistency in performing processes. Also, the reported benefits of process thinking in corporate communication were identified, as well as the possible risks involved. However, process improvement in corporate communication was not a widely spread practice. The main reason for this could be that processes had not been used for long in corporate communication, and thus they were not yet outdated. Business communication could benefit substantially from process thinking just as many other business disciplines have. Literature reviewed on business processes supported the use of processing in corporate communication. Effective communication is critical to organization’s success, and process thinking would improve overall efficiency and quality of communication processes.

Keywords

International business communication, corporate communication, ad hoc, business process management (BPM), process, process documentation, process model, process improvement, communication process, standardization