HR vs Corporate Comms

It's been raining in Barcelona.  And raining hard. But the event that I am attending, the Internal Communications Forum, has been filled with some very challenging questions.

• How do you manage culture change? Particularly when you are merging businesses.
• Where are the middle managers in the communication process? Why is it that they always seem to be the broken link?
• How can you increase your credibility as communicators and the credibility of our channels?
• How can we better use measurement to bolster our communication?

But today we had a rather loud conversation about whether HR or Corporate Communications should be the home of Internal Communications.  Some people said that aligning internal comms closely to the marketing function is the only way to increase your stature and prospects in a company.  Others volunteered that corporate communications was a more strategic function and therefore a better place to be. Internal comms must be connected to the brand, said another.

The many people here (there are almost 100) are aligned to their HR department, and I could see a few people I know were sitting on their hands.

So, what is it?

So let's ask a few more questions:

1. When there is major organisational change (M&A, downsizing, etc.) who has the most important internal role?
2. When there are labour issues, or issues with works councils, who tends to have to deal with those?
3. Where is the employee survey commissioned from?
4. Who manages the direct 'hygene factors' for most employees?

I am guessing most companies would answer 'HR' to at least 3-4 of these.

Does that mean IC has to be in HR?

No.

Does it mean IC can operate in exclusion of HR?

No.

There are great companies doing really interesting internal communications from both corporate comms & HR.  I have personally moved an IC function from corporate communications to HR.  and back again.

/df

Published 09 November 2005 14:45 by David Ferrabee

Comments

• 

  AC said:

  Due to the change component, I see the question slightly differently. The role of IC is far reaching and touches many areas. Has the organization considered that IC is about the entire organization and should be housed in whatever department focuses on organizational development, which is neither HR or CC?
  
  Having a OD unit that seeks to collaborate with these other departments is truly in my mind where IC is best served. This is a theory I would love to test as I think having knowledge of change and commuincations is a very powerful tool in most organizations.
  November 10, 2005 22:49
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  Change & Internal Communications said:

  Where does it belong? Is it HR?  Or Corporate? ...Or Marketing?
  I have written about this recently....
  December 5, 2005 17:42
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  regina said:

  the problem when change and internal comm and hr are separate - it's easier to not do the real systemic work that makes change stick and companies can fall into the trap of just sharing info vs. the real change work at hand.
  February 10, 2006 17:12
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  Arieta Voivod said:

  How about a major M&A in a bank that has no internal communication function in the modern sense of the word? How does one go about starting to strategise such a function? Where do you really start from when you must start from scratch? Thank you, I appreciate any feedback I can get. Write me at arietavoivod@clicknet.ro
  PS I am writing from Romania...
  March 14, 2006 12:23
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  TJ Phelan said:

  We ought to think about whether the IC funtion should be located in HR based upon the kind of HR dept. we are talking about and what kind of leader it has. The success of IC in HR will depend, more than anything, on this.
  June 19, 2006 22:07
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  Alan said:

  IC is the communication arm - they specialise in packaging and channelising the message to get through to the target audience. HR is responsible for designing the right message. These are two different departments with different expertiese which should not be mixed or confused.
  October 10, 2006 07:39
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  Hannah said:

  IC needs to sit in Communications to ensure all messages emanating from Comms are aligned throughout the company and external audiences. Otherwise I agree with Alan -- IC need to expertly communicate HR's content.
  January 4, 2007 19:34
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  Brian S. Keefer said:

  As an internal communicator, I've sat in HR, and I've sat in Corp Comm. And I've always maintained that the reporting relationship is not what matters. We must partner with HR and Corp Comm -- and cultivate relationships throughout the organization. I know that some feel that communicators are de-valued if they're within HR. For several years at a large, matrixed organization, I was fortunate to be part of a dynamic HR department with a leader who really understood the business and opened doors for internal communications (and HR).
  April 2, 2007 22:16
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  Kagisho Mamabolo said:

  Well, i support Alan. IC is the responsibility of CC. CC must set communications strategy and the effective way of communicating internal messages to all staff. HR knows the issues that needs to be communicated but it does not have the tools and skills to communicate the messages. CC has its internal tools for communicaition, which includes: newsletters/notice boards/sms/meetings/e-mails. these tools can be easily managed by communications as it has expertise.

  February 14, 2008 10:39
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  John Jamison said:

  I like the approach of asking what relevant functions migt produce the most synergy with an IC team. Some other good questions might include:

  - Who has the closest ties with designers, printers, translators, etc.?

  - Who plans, drives, and assesses the external brand?

  - Which department has greater credibility among employees? Which has greater trust?

  - Does the company experience or expect regularly high turnover rates or corporate instability?

  - Is there an existing department that has comm expertise (e.g. HR, Marketing, PR) and could house a new IC function within the company with the expectation that the function would later disengage? This may be a good question for Arieta Voivod above.

  May 16, 2008 08:57