Abstract:

Internal communication is relevant from the standpoint of organizational evolution – it is a mean of exchanging information with the internal public, creating common understanding, and cohesive network, which ensures the functioning of an organization. Furthermore, it can be seen as a strategy of human resource management as it encourages employee engagement and development, and helps organizations to adapt with the changes and competition in the field. The adaptability is especially critical for organizations with fierce competition, such as higher education institutions. These organizations do not only compete with one another, but also with enterprises for the staff and students, making “staying ahead of the game” a matter of success. At the same time, the advances in communication technology and an overflow of information may have, however, changed not only the means of acquiring information, but also the role of internal communication in organizations. Thus, it is ever more important to understand employees’ information consumption habits and the purpose of internal communication within an organization. This study aims to find out just that – how do the employees of University of Tartu receive their work-related information and how does internal communication contribute to creating an institutional common space. For this, 275 employees of the Faculty of Social Sciences filled a questionnaire, and 3 focus group interviews were conducted. The results indicate that employees of the Faculty receive information usually in a timely manner and the received information is mostly correct, however while half of the respondents think there is enough information, nearly 40% estimate they receive a lot or even too much information. The latter could be explained by the amount of different information channels (mailing lists, newsletters, information systems, websites, etc.). According to the employees of the Faculty of Social Sciences, their daily tasks are being communicated the best, but they believe broader management decisions and development plans both on Faculty and University level does not reach them very well. This indicates internal communication’s role in creating faculty- or institution-wide network is limited. Staff members responsible for internal information flow are facing the challenge to re-evaluate the purpose of information distribution channels and decide if all of them are needed.

Keywords:

Internal communication, higher education institution, information channels.