Exploring the History of Unilever: A Visit to Port Sunlight In April, our project team had the opportunity to visit the Unilever archives in Port Sunlight. The setting of the archives is, in itself, of great historical interest. The town of Port Sunlight was built in 1888 by Lever Brothers for its workers. Today, it […]
Research Update (May 2023) Read More »
‘Employee voice’ is seen as a vital part of modern internal comms. The CIPD’s factsheet says it brings mutual benefits to employers and employees. For employers, it helps to build trust and can lead to engagement, innovation, productivity, and organizational commitment. For employees, it creates a sense of value, job satisfaction, influence, and development opportunities.
Engagement with Internal Comms Practitioners and Archivists One of our project’s main objectives is to engage with internal communication professionals and archivists, and this month we were able to work with both groups. We collaborated with our partners the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) to conduct a survey of its members. We were thrilled to
Research Update (April 2023) Read More »
In today’s society, the spread of misinformation has become a major concern, particularly with the rise of social media, which has grown into a powerful channel of communication with very little regulation. However, this issue of misinformation is not new, and it has been a concern for firms throughout the last century. Before social media,
Over the last month, we have particularly focussed on engagement with the internal comms profession, our key target audience. Archival research has also been progressing and we’re looking forward to our teams’ upcoming trip to the Unilever archives at Port Sunlight. Engagement with the internal comms profession This project is different from most academic projects.
Research Update (March 2023) Read More »
Many routines in our everyday lives we do without thinking. If you are involved with management or communication in a large organization, then team meetings are one of those routines. People are rarely trained in how to do a team meeting. Managers take it for granted that this is how information is conveyed to their
The project has taken some exciting steps over the last month. We have launched our website, met with two of our project partners, and finished research on our first case study. Website launch In early January, we were delighted to announce the launch of the www.historyofinternalcomms.org website. One of the distinctive features of our project
Research Update (February 2023) Read More »
RICHARD BACON: ‘The other day the BBC sent me on a health and safety away day where they taught me how to carry a cup of coffee’. PETER MANNION: ‘This is exactly what I mean. That makes no sense. That is nonsense. We need to say no to the Nanny State. Boo to Nanny, and
Institutional accounts of organizational history do not simply write a narrative of events, nor do they see organizational history as necessarily being driven by a need for greater efficiency and functional optimization. Instead, our institutional approach will consider how developments in internal communication serve to legitimize and provide meaning and value to organizations. Institutionalization is
What do we mean by an Institutional History of Internal Communication? Read More »
‘An Institutional History of Internal Communication in the UK’ is a three-year research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UKRI) being undertaken by researchers at Brunel University and the University of Exeter, which will examine the archival records of twenty UK organisations. Internal communication lacks the professional identity associated with occupations like
An Institutional History of Internal Communication in the UK Read More »