GannonJ CIPRDiploma Project Aug2008

8/6/2019 GannonJ CIPRDiploma Project Aug2008

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CIPR Diploma

PR Academy

Shaping excellent internal communication practices with middle

managers in an international organisation.


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Executive Summary

The British Council is the United Kingdom's cultural relations agency operating in 109

countries with headquarters in London and Manchester. This project looks to identify key

issues and unresolved questions with regard to internal communications and the

organisations middle managers.

The following points emerge from the research:

internal communication (IC) is the strategic management of interactions and relationshipsbetween an organisations strategic managers and its internal stakeholders

the value of IC is to help deliver business ends by enabling employees to turn strategy

into action recognise how their decisions and actions impact the rest of the organisation

knowledge of the communication needs of the stakeholder group and its preferences is

important to ensure IC meets employee needs and is not seen as contributing to

information overload

managers are critical bridges and cascade briefings depend on their competence.

The research makes eight recommendations under three headings: targeting middle

managers; the role of senior and supervisory managers; a communication framework.

The recommendations propose:

1. carrying out analysis to segment the middle management audience

2. reviewing the fit between the corporate and local intranets

3. forming a strong partnership with the local communicators network

4. commissioning of articles to allow middle managers to connect with the world outside the

organisation

5. training of managers

6. establishing agreed communication principles and standards


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Table of contents

Table of contents i

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Boundaries of the study 1

Chapter 2 Literature review2.0 Critical literature review 2

2.1 Defining internal communications 2

2.2 The strategic impact of internal communications 3

2.3 Models of communication 4

2.4 Making choices 6

2.5 What people want to hear, the way they want to hear it 7

2.6 The role of the line manager 7

2.7 Summary 8

Chapter 3 Methodology

3.0 Methodology 9

3.1 Empirical objectives 9

3.2 Research methodology 9

3.3 Research design 10

3.4 Sampling 11

3.5 Cross-cultural market research 12

3.6 Reliability, validity and generalisability 12

3.7 Data analysis 13

Chapter 4 Research results and Recommendations


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b) The role of senior and supervisory managers 20

c) A communication framework 21

Chapter 5 Conclusions

5.0 Conclusions 22

References 23

List of appendices 25


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Section 1

Introduction


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Section 1 Introduction

1.0 Introduction

The British Council is the United Kingdom's cultural relations agency operating in 109

countries with headquarters in London and Manchester. It conducts an annual staff

engagement survey in partnership with Ipsos MORI. Middle manager results are closer to

more junior managers and non-managers rather than those of more senior managers. This

suggests there are potential tensions between the different levels of management.

While three quarters of middle managers overseas feel well informed about what ishappening in their country and two thirds overall are satisfied they have the information they

need to do their job effectively, just under half feel satisfied they have sufficient information

about organisational performance and that they are well informed about what is happening in

their region and the British Council as a whole.

There are concerns with the opportunities that exist to feed views/issues/ideas upwards and

a pronounced lack of confidence in feeling able to safe to speak up on issues and

dissatisfaction with receiving feedback on views/issues/ideas communicated upwards. This

gap is reflected in just over half of middle managers agreeing that their management team

will deliver a successful long-term future for the British Council.

As such, it is necessary to explore the theme of internal communications with the aim to

identify key issues and unresolved questions as the grounding for the empirical work to be

conducted to address the development of an understanding of the characteristics of the

internal communications (IC) process in the British Council that can be effectively translated

into employee-driven designs and standards to be applied throughout the British Councils

global network.

The critical literature review aims to provide an understanding of four themes concerning IC

from some of the research and debate that has taken place in each of the areas: its


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Section 2

Literature review


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Section 2 Literature review

2.0 Critical literature review

With or without management, communication happens constantly within organisations and IC

is a growing specialism in the field of public relations. However, very little attention is paid to

it by public relations scholars (Tench & Yeomans, 2006, p.333 & p.337). The gaps in IC

theory and research on its mandates, scope and focus are also highlighted by Welch and

Jackson (2007, p.178). This makes it important to be clear on a definition of IC to establish a

platform to discuss why it matters in organisations and the British Council specifically.

2.1 Defining internal communications

Tench and Yeomans (2006, p.334) offer Stauss and Hoffmans (2000) definition: the

planned use of communication actions to systematically influence the knowledge, attitudes

and behaviours of current employees.

Welch and Jackson note a number of writers cite the same passage by Frank and Brownell

(1989) which refers to organisational communication (2007, p.179). They argue that

organisational communication is concerned with communication in the abstract and

corporate communication with communication as an instrument of management (2007,

p.181). This distinction between theoretical and practical knowledge is also made by Kalla

(2005) who, while recognising no clear cut boundaries exist, defines four domains:

business communication the communication skills of all employees (knowing-why and

knowing-how elements although stress usually on the latter)

management communication the knowledge sharing skills of managers with

communication as a key managerial competence

corporate communication the formal corporate communication function

organisational communication the more philosophically and theoretically oriented

issues (Kalla, 2005, p.305- 306).


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Planning is taken into account by Welch and Jackson (2007, p.184) who take a stakeholder

approach and offer internal communication is the strategic management of interactions and

relationships between stakeholders at all levels within organisations across a number of

interrelated dimensions including, internal line manager communication, internal team peer

communication, internal project peer communication and internal corporate communication.

This strategic management of stakeholders allows for planned use and differentiatedgroups of staff which is not apparent with the term current employees in Stauss and

Hoffmans (2000) definition. It also recognises the different levels where communication

takes place.

The internal corporate communication dimension is defined as communication between an

organisations strategic managers and its internal stakeholders (Welch & Jackson, 2007,

p.186). These strategic managers are considered to be the senior management teams and

will be considered again below. The definition provides an important starting point to tackle

the middle management group in the British Council. Why the British Council should focus

on its IC is examined next.

2.2 The strategic impact of internal communications

It is commonplace to assert organisations today find themselves in a market environment,

where the conditions are continuously changing (Dortok, 2006, p.322; Tench & Yeomans,

2006, p.335), that decision-making is taking place at lower and lower levels in organisations

(Thomson & Hecker, 2000, p.48; Clutterbuck, 2001, p.72) and for customers, emotional

identification is increasingly important as products and services look more and more alike

(Dortok, 2006, p.322; Tench & Yeomans, 2006, p.337).

The value of quality IC and its relationship to organisational efficiency and effectiveness has


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promoting a positive sense of belonging in employees (the degree of identification

employees feel with their organisation and their attitude to supporting the organisation);

developing their awareness of environmental change; and

developing their understanding of the need for the organisation to evolve its aims in

response to, or in anticipation of, environmental change.

Taken together, the four goals equate to an overall objective of engaging employees with

their jobs and their organisations (Welch and Jackson, 2007, p.188- 190).

The value of IC is to help deliver business ends by enabling employees to turn strategy into

action. Organisations have to ensure that people at all levels share a common

understanding of the organisations strategic direction, have access to the same information,

and recognise how their decisions and actions impact the rest of the organisation (Welch &

Jackson, 2007, p.190; Clutterbuck, 2001, p.72; Quirke, 2002, p.10).

Through developing this better understanding the British Council would improve its position

to achieve its goal to maximise the impact and effectiveness of its operations.

2.3 Models of communicationNeeding more than simple compliance to implement its chosen strategy (Quirke 2002, p.3),

the organisation needs a framework that can help it shape an IC approach that fits with its

international environment.

Smith (2005, p.9) citing Brandon describes three major phases of development: industrial

relations (focus on people); realistic journalism (focus on events); marketing (focus on

strategic objectives) and adds a fourth to combine all three and emphasise listening and

taking on board contributions of staff. This parallels four eras of IC which Grunig and Hunt

link to their four models of public relations: entertaining employees (press agentry); informing


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line manager communication effectiveness plays a key role in employee motivation and

loyalty

shared interpretation and goal alignment employees must receive sufficient and useful

information about their role in the organisation and their performance; and the

overarching objectives of the organisation

perceived external prestige employees prefer to identify with a successful organisation,

therefore organisations should share their successes with employees.

With Ni (2007, p.53) noting employee relations has sometimes been limited to top-down

communication and such one-way communication caused many employees to be intensely

critical of managements unwillingness to listen, and Mounter (2003, p.265) stating to be

successful a company needs symmetrical communication, dialogue in place of monologue,

with the people where it operates, it would appear symmetrical two-way communication is

considered central to successful internal communication.

However, critical theory challenges two-way symmetrical communication as incomplete on

the grounds that it ignores power, influence and access (Tench & Yeomans, 2006, p.168-

169). This challenge is supported in a study of upward feedback in a healthcare organisation

which found the response to the findings of the communication audit by senior managerssuggested a tendency to over-critique negative feedback, while instantly agreeing with

positive feedback (Tourish & Robson, 2003, p.163).

Welch and Jackson (2007, p.187) also flag the practical impossibility for senior managers to

meet and discuss strategy with all employees and so one-way communication from strategic

managers to all employees is both unavoidable and necessary. A point reinforced by

Murgolo-Poore and Pitt (2001, p.234) who state its practicality and efficiency would be too

low to be used more than sparingly in conjunction with more efficient media. The two

opposing views would suggest a need for a middle road.


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This debate would seem to be converging on the importance of segmenting internal publics,

choosing the communication process dependent on specified objectives, wider awareness of

the dynamics of upward critical communication and an emphasis on listening and acting.

2.4 Making choices

Quirke (2002, p.169) lists a range of communication objectives: awareness, understanding,

favourability, involvement, commitment. Towards awareness and understanding, the focus is

on the task of communication, and the efficient distribution of information. As you movetoward commitment, the emphasis shifts to the quality of the relationship. Quirke states that

the more an organisation needs employee involvement and commitment, the more

interaction is needed, and the more time is involved.

This is related to media richness. Richness is the capacity of different media to carry

information and emotions and this depends on how much it allows of interactivity, multiple

cues, language variety and social and emotional cues. At some level managers have to

choose a method or combination of methods for delivering messages from the personal to

the impersonal depending on their objectives (Quirke, 2002, p.139; Smith, 2005, p.87).

This approach to selection of media based on content of the message is part of SouthwestAirlines communication guidelines (Theaker, 2004, p.170). These identify five dimensions:

emotional vs. factual content, dynamic vs. static information, build relations vs. just inform,

resolve conflicts vs. state facts. Media choice, ranging from face to face to the intranet,

depends on where content lies on these dimensions.

Differentiating internal stakeholder groups could be approached from a number of directions

such as segmentation by demographics, staff groups, contract with the organisation,

geographical location (Tench & Yeomans, 2006, p.340). Welch and Jackson (2007, p.184)

applied staff groups resulting in the identification of different stakeholder groups at different


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Quirke (2002, p.163) discussing communicating projects and initiatives suggests looking at

stakeholders in two ways the level of impact of change on them and their level of initial

interest or concern. This generates four categories: wake up, educate and inform, reassure,

engage.

The view of internal communication discussed above leads to distinctions based on: who

communicates, to whom, in what way, with what content, and, for what purpose? There is

one final consideration to make before deciding on the mode of exchange and interactionand that is the communication needs of the stakeholder group.

2.5 What people want to hear, the way they want to hear it

Roger DAprixs (1982) Managers Communication Model looks at workplace communication

from the employees point of view: what do employees want and need in order to perform

well and to be satisfied on the job? (Gorman, 2003, p.2). It is based on supervisory

communication responsibilities, expressed in six questions. The questions capture the

interactive, relational process of addressing employee information needs and suggest the

employee behaviours desired by the organisation.

Reflecting Maslows hierarchy of needs model, it suggests staff require answers to the I

questions before they move on to the we questions (Smith, 2005, p.123). This is similar to

Quirkes (2002, p.22) four step process to help people convert information into action.

People need to make data, ideas, concepts relevant to their situation. He argues providing

content is not enough, context is important as meaning depends on shared context. Staff

need to share a common understanding of the organisations strategic direction and link this

to the local situation.

One last theory of interest is uses and gratification theory. This focuses on what audiences

do with media and says that media choice is selective to satisfy individual needs (Tench &


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function alone to provide effective communication for the whole organisation, especially in

face-to-face format. Therefore, managers become critical in bridging the different layers

(Kalla 2005, p.309). Both Quirke (2000, p.27) and Smith (2005, p.48) argue communication

is central to a leadership role and IC is a line management responsibility.

van Vuuren et al. (2007, p.124) showed that communication can influence employees

perception of an organisation, through the managers who are seen to represent the

organisation. Madlock (2008, p.72) found a strong relationships between supervisorscommunication competence and both employee job and communication satisfaction.

However, Clutterbuck (2001, p.73) states systems such as cascade briefings to gather

feedback as well as inform are notoriously ineffective, except as mechanisms to review

current work tasks, being entirely dependent on the leader's competence in managing group

discussion.

This provides an area of focus between strategic management and day-to-day management

and communication competence.

2.7 Summary

This review samples just some of the research and debate that has taken place in IC. The

following points emerged as key issues:

internal communication is the strategic management of interactions and relationships

between an organisations strategic managers and its internal stakeholders

the value of IC is to help deliver business ends by enabling employees to turn strategy

into action recognise how their decisions and actions impact the rest of the organisation

one-way communication is appropriate where message consistency is important but

needs to be allied with encouragement of upward critical communication

knowledge of the communication needs of the stakeholder group and its preferences for


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Section 3

Methodology


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Section 3 Methodology

3.0 Methodology

The literature review identified a practical and theoretical framework for identifying activities

in IC. The British Council needs to explore middle managers expectations of IC and how

well IC currently performs against those so the organisation can focus on how to best

engage middle managers to deliver business ends.

3.1 Empirical objectives

A number of research questions regarding IC arise:

1. What are the ways in which middle managers receive information about the organisation?

2. What information do middle managers currently receive about the organisation?

3. What degree does the information meet middle managers needs?

4. What are the ways middle managers would prefer to receive information about the

organisation?

5. What is the nature and extent of supervisory communication to middle managers?

6. What are the opportunities for middle managers to provide upward critical

communication?

7. What are middle managers expectations in relation to senior managers listening and

acting?

3.2 Research methodology

Two worldviews inform most of the research in public relations, the interpretive and the

realist (or positivist). Qualitative methods tend to be associated with the interpretive

worldview (Daymon & Holloway, 2004, p.4).

There were several reasons to use qualitative research:

1. Sensitive information respondents may be unwilling to answer certain questions;


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1. The target population was defined in terms of:

Elements: the object from which the information is desired middle managers

Sampling units: the basic unit containing the element as it was possible to sample the

element directly this was the same as the element

Extent: the geographical boundaries Near East and North Africa, West Europe and

North America and Contracts & Projects department in the UK

Time: the period under consideration June- July 2008.

2. The sampling frame was identified as individuals at middle management pay grade 7 (F

overseas) and 8 (E overseas) with line management responsibility within the British

Council.

3. The sampling technique was judgemental sampling which relies on the personal

judgement of the researcher rather than on chance to select sample elements and is

frequently used in commercial marketing research projects.

4. There are no precise guides to determine the sample size. Perry (1998, p.790) suggests,

while there is no ideal number of cases, a number between four and ten cases oftenworks well. Some research texts recommend six to eight data units when the sample

consists of a homogeneous group (Daymon & Holloway, 2004, p.163). This research

considered six cases from five different countries would contain the richness of detail

necessary to answer the empirical objectives set above.

5. Implementing the sampling process involved senior managers providing up to date

information regarding middle managers. An introduction was sent by e-mail to the

targeted participants outlining the researchers role and explaining that the purpose of the

study was to learn from their experiences within the organisation in respect to IC. This


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Case letter Organisations name Interviewees position Date of interview

A BC Egypt Manager 30/ 06/ 08

B BC UK Project Manager 30/ 06/ 08

C BC Jordan Manager 01/ 07/ 08

D BC Netherlands Manager 01/ 07/ 08

E BC UK Project Manager 04/ 07/ 08

F BC Madrid Manager 09/ 07/ 08

Table 3.1 Summary of interviews conducted

3.5 Cross-cultural research

It was assumed that as the respondents worked for the organisation this would go some way

to establishing equivalence of constructs. Nevertheless, attention was paid to probing

meaning in relation to attributes sought in IC. Respondents used English in the interviews

although it was recognised that this did not necessarily mean that they could use the

language to fully express themselves so the use of repeated questions to encourage the

respondent to express themselves in multiple ways to the same question helped define the

respondents field of meaning.

The nature of the depth interview also helped avoid sources of error related to response

styles. Through quickly establishing a relationship respondents displayed a willingness to

answer all questions and the inclusion of questions that explored dissatisfaction addressed

concerns of participants trying to provide answers they feel are sought by the interviewer.

3.6 Reliability, validity and generalisability

Healy and Perry (2000, p.120-122) propose six comprehensive quality criteria for validity and

reliability in qualitative research:


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Techniques proposed for addressing these criteria were:

1. Selection of methodology was carefully argued;

2. Concentrating in the report on why things happened and not just describing them and

describing the context of the cases;

3. Triangulation of data sources through multiple interviews, supporting evidence, and broad

questions before probes;

4. Providing a summary of the contents of the case study database in an appendix to the

report, making any parts of it available on request, and describing procedures like case

selection and interview procedures;

5. Identifying research issues before data collection, to formulate an interview protocol that

will provide data for confirming or disconfirming theory;

6. Using prior theory from the literature to define constructs, as well as maintaining the case

study database and using triangulation mentioned above.

The basis for generalisation in qualitative study is analytical generalisation (Hyde, 2000,

p.84). This dimension of generalisation has more to do with the information richness of the

cases selected. Thorough investigation and analysis to identify certain phenomena and

mechanisms means it was possible for a limited number of observations to be used as a

basis for generalisation (Gummeson, 2000, p.91).

3.7 Data analysis

The whole transcript was read through for familiarisation. The researcher went through the

transcripts with various colour highlighters coding units that cohered (Daymon & Holloway,

2004, p.234). At the same time marginal notes were made as the coding proceeded. This

was important in maintaining awareness of what the researcher was doing as well as building

up ideas and reactions to the meaning of what was being coded.


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Clustering(grouping and conceptualising things that have similar characteristics);

Subsuming particulars into the general(trying to locate the event, actor or activity in a

more abstractly defined class);

Making contrasts/ comparisons between sets of things; and

Making conceptual/ theoretical coherence addressing the need to tie the findings of the

research to overarching, across-more-than-one-study propositions that can account for

the how and why of the phenomena under study.

These create a form of ladder of abstraction where you begin with a text, try out coding

categories on it, move to identifying themes and trends and then integrating the data into an

explanatory framework (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p.91, p.245).


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Chapter 4

Research results and Recommendations


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Chapter 4 Research results

4.0 Research results and recommendations

Five broad categories of major issues relating to the objectives given in the methodology

were drawn from the research interviews:

a) amount and method middle managers currently receive information about the

organisation,

b) particular content middle managers currently receive,

c) the relevancy of the information they receive i.e. the context and rationale behind the

information and their role and specific actions they should take,

d) middle managers preference for receiving particular information content to ensure

communication meets their needs and is not seen as contributing to information overload,

e) opportunities and expectations in relation to dialogue with senior managers.

The following analysis focuses on these and uses the tactics for generating meaning

discussed in the methodology for deriving the key findings of the research.

4.1 Key findings from the data analysis

a) Ways in which middle managers receive information

Electronic

It is reasonable to say this is the main method for receiving information. Only C gave her

weekly face to face management meeting as her first point of reception. All respondents

mentioned email, the corporate online Office Bulletin, the intranet and, within that, B and F

specifically mentioned the Strategy 2010 site. Respondents also raised Chief Executive

Martin Davidsons communications including email, a blog and video clips on the web. Other

general electronic media common to the cases overseas were regional intranets and regional

electronic bulletins.

In addition to these general channels, overseas all mentioned channels specific to their area


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b) Information middle managers currently receive

Four cases referred to new procedures and policies, new strategies or high level stuff. (D).

At the same time, except for F, all referred to work-specific information so this is undoubtedly

a major preoccupation the respondents bring to mind in evaluating what they receive.

c) Relevancy of information middle managers receive

All expressed difficulty with seeing how the information they receive is related to what they

do:

on the business support sidebecause you are not on the operational side it is very

difficult to think in terms of how much any operational development would impact on

your work. You feel you are a bit away from all this. (A)

I do tend to briefly read something and quickly dismiss it unless I think it is something

that is particularly interesting or I would have contact with (E)

Another implication was the information was being passed on without any mediation which

leaves respondents feeling it is inappropriate, they need to solve a puzzle or it was more

information overload:

I think it is relevant tothe level above me because there is really very little input that I

would have into those kinds of decisions. (F)

(The Director) does a sort of a round up of messages that he gets from HQ, you know,

these management briefs and things, he circulates to the whole office so then everybody

can readyou get to hear different namesyou dont know who they are really but then

you thinkOh yeah, thats somebody from Corporate Strategy. So you start to link it, it

becomes a little bit more tangible. (D)

The long emails talk about something that is going on in the organisation. However, it


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I would like it if it was shorter and more targeted. (C)

I mean it is worthy stuff but it isif it was any of my people I would have that

connection. (D)

d) Preference for receiving information

There was a preference for face to face communication as being more personal therefore

participants could be more direct, feel more valued and so responsible to deliver. However,

respondents were realistic and recognised the role for other methods such as video-, tele- or

web-conference and SharePoint:

not my preferred way but I think it has its place in the Council because it enables

people in other countries to have a discussion. (E)

There was also a desire to connect to the world outside the organisation:

reflect the world we are living in nowthe real world environment. (D)

I am only interested in what the British Council can do for other peopleIt should be

focussing more outside itself. (F)

One comment reflected Hewitts perceived external prestige dimension:

As an individual I feel that we are doing is worthwhile when people recognise what you

are doingI think it would boost peoples morale here because we are being valued

more. (E)

Knowledge/ training

Understanding the value of communication tools and how to choose the best method or

approach emerged from three respondents. E likened it to a business continuity plan were


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There isnt always sufficient consideration given to the people on the ground. (D)

it wouldnt be worth saying anyway because the decision would have been taken so

no even the opportunity to talk about those kinds of things is not there. (F)

There seem to be two issues, communication climate:

people fear that if you give feedback to your line manager they may give you a bad

evaluation. (A)

somebody who came from the Executive Board told me then that whatever you are

saying we dont hear up there. (C)

And over-critique of negative feedback:

they cant take on board what you are feeding upif you try to really question the

organisation or people high up you are seen to be a problem rather than someone who

is genuinely concerned. (B)

4.2 Managerial implications and recommendations

The research recommendations coalesce into three areas: targeting middle managers, the

role of senior and supervisory managers in delivering corporate information, a

communication framework.

a) Targeting middle managers

The implications of the research are that messages are not getting through and so any

communication, and by extension the organisation, will not achieve its desired outcomes.

There is a clear perception of high level stuff versus whats important for the job. Middle

managers relate to the environment in which they work. There is a need to show how ideas

Ch t 4 R h lt


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Recommendation 2:

Internal Communications should review how the corporate and regional intranets fit. One

suggestion would be to explore the role of the corporate intranet as a portal. It would be a

starting point signposting to content on regional and other intranet sites, discussions such as

on blogs and external content. It should seek to be complementary.

Recommendation 3:

C mentioned some occasions maybe send it to the communications manager in that country

and let them decide who to send it to, an idea the researcher endorses.

Internal Communications needs to form a strong partnership with the existing local

communicators network and equip them with the information to speak to staff. This would

be an element of the communication framework below.

Recommendation 4:

D and F spoke of connecting to the real world and E talked of raising staff morale by the

organisation sharing information on its external profile.

Internal Communications should commission articles that

i) link corporate concepts to how others are doing things;

ii) use original customer/ stakeholder feedback, support and recognition rather than

reflected by internal individuals

iii) feedback evidence of what impact people actually did have

These articles should address challenges overcome, connections made or innovative

breakthroughs.

b) The role of senior and supervisory managers



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Recommendation 5:

Internal Communications needs to train managers in perception and attribution effects and

how to facilitate, receive and respond to feedback.

c) A communication framework

The research showed the need for understanding the value of communication tools and how

to choose the best method or approach. It also uncovered the fact that upward feedback

was weak.

Recommendation 6:

Internal Communications should establish agreed communication principles and standards.

Reference points for these could be Southwest Airlines communication guidelines cited in the

literature review and, internally, English & Exams client service standards.

Recommendation 7:

Internal Communications needs to strengthen systems for feedback. In particular, they

should look to establish a mechanism that allows routine monitoring by the Executive Board.

Recommendation 8:

Internal Communications should implement routine evaluation of its programmes which

assess their preparation (inputs), implementation (outputs) and, crucially, impact (outcomes).


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Chapter 5

Conclusions



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5.0 Conclusions

The usefulness of qualitative research is not determined by how many clients say something

but by what is being said and how it is being said, it does not measure, it provides insight.

The detailed descriptions of events, situations and interactions between people give depth

and detail providing a road map to help understand the complex nature of the field. The

research findings in the previous chapter can be reasonably inferred and applied to the

internal communications activities of the British Council.

This research provides an initial road map. It also contains the challenges that will be faced.

A true transition towards an internal communications strategy requires a focus on

competences and resources. The organisation must develop such resources as personnel,

technology, and know-how as a resource. These include addressing issues such as

communication orientation in managers, communication organisation, and organisational

knowledge management systems.

Both the organisation and middle managers are looking for things that convey value to them.

To effectively deliver the strategic management of interactions and relationships between

stakeholders at all levels within organisations requires internal collaboration with the whole

chain of activities and people having to be co-ordinated and managed as one total process.

References


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References

References

References


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Malhotra, N. and Birks, B. (2000) Marketing Research: An applied approach, Harlow:Pearson

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References


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Quirke, B. (2000), Making the Connections; Using Internal Communication to Turn Strategyinto Action, Aldershot: Gower

Robson, P.J.A. and Tourish, D. (2005) Managing internal communication: an organizationalcase study, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 10 (3), pp. 213- 222

Smith, L. (2005) Effective Internal Communication, London: Kogan Page

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Theaker, A. (ed.) (2004) The Public Relations Handbook, 2nd ed. London: Sage

Thomson, K. and Hecker, L. (2000) Value-adding communication: Innovation in employeecommunication and internal marketing, Journal of Communication Management, 5 (1), pp.48- 58

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Appendices


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List of appendices

Appendix 1

Letter of introduction

Appendix 2

Interview guide

Appendix 3

Interview transcripts

Appendix 4

Coding system

Appendix 5

Sample coded transcript with marginal notes

Appendix 6

Within-case checklist matrices

Appendix 7

Cross-case content-analytic summary table

Contact details of the respondents, notes taken during the interviews, and the original

recordings of the interviews are available on request from the researcher.


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Appendix 1

Letter of Introduction


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Appendix 2

Interview guide

I i id li


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Interviewer guidelines

Interview format

60 minute telephone interview with Near East North Africa (Jordan & Egypt)/ West

Europe North America (Belgium & Spain)/ UK-based middle managers (Contracts &

Projects Department)

The interview will be audiotaped

Interviewers instructions

1. Introduce yourself and thank the respondent for agreeing to provide the interview andconfirm that they are prepared to have the interview taped. Reassure the respondent

that all tapes and individual results are kept strictly confidential.

2. Introduce the interview by saying:

This discussion forms part of a dissertation for a CIPR Diploma in Public Relations that

wishes to learn from the experiences of middle managers within the organisation in

respect to how internal communications work both to and from staff. I have several

topics that I would like to talk about with you, and I would be very grateful if you could

provide as much detail as you can.

3. Please ask all the questions below. Some prompts are provided but it may be necessary

to ask the respondent to elaborate other responses in which case please probe using

questions such as Could you explain that please, Could you give further details aboutthat or Could you talk about that further, please.

4. When completed, thank the respondent, ask if they would like a summary of the research

findings and whether they would be willing to participate in further research on this

subject.

Questions

To start I would like you to tell me a little about yourself

1. How long have you worked for the British Council?

2 What is your position in the British Council?

N I ld lik t t lk b t th f i t l i ti h


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Now I would like to talk about the process of internal communications where you are

6. From who or where do you receive most of your information about the British Council?

(Try not to prejudice responses but if necessary prompt by suggesting:

- e-mail, immediate manager, senior manager (what level?), team briefings, staff

association, Intranet, grapevine)

7. What information do you receive about the organisation?

(Try not to prejudice responses but if necessary prompt by suggesting:

- organisations strategy & objectives, reasons behind major decisions,

organisations/department/locations performance, their role and specific actions they

should take)

8. How often do you receive information about the British Council?

9. How do you feel about the amount of information you currently receive about the

organisation?

Turning now to communications itself

10. How relevant is the information you receive?

11. How timely is the information?

12. What opportunities are there for you to feed your views/issues/ideas upwards?

13. What opportunities are there for you to receive feedback on views/issues/ideas you have

communicated upwards?

14. What opportunities are there for you to let the organisation know how you feel about

things that affect you and your work?

Looking at the communication relationship you have with your line manager

15. How satisfied are you that they express the organisations purpose and goals clearly?

Why?

16. How well do they make the connection between general information about the

organisation's business agenda and your goals?


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Considering the future then

22. What information would you like to receive about the organisation?

23. How would you prefer to receive your information?

24. When would you expect to receive this information?

25. What features would satisfy you that giving and receiving feedback on your

views/issues/ideas was working effectively?

26. Are there any other ways in which you think internal communications could be improved?

(Elicit specifics)

Very interesting. Well, that is all the questions I have for you, thank you very much for your

time

Is there anything we havent spoken about but you would like to mention?

Thank you very much for your time once again. I will be typing up our conversation and I

would be happy to send you an executive summary of my findings and conclusions by the

end of November if you would like. (Note response and contact details).

Would you be willing to take part in further surveys about internal communications?(Note

response)

Well, thank you, goodbye.


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Appendix 3

Interview transcripts

Interview A British Council Cairo Egypt Business Support Services Mon 30/06/08


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Interview A. British Council, Cairo, Egypt. Business Support Services. Mon 30/06/08.

Key: I indicates interviewer

R indicates respondent

indicates a pause

[] indicates part of the audiotape that has not been transcribed

(?) indicates a word that is not clear

[]

I: Things like how long have you worked for the British Council?

R: You will be surprised35 years.

[]

I: What exactly is your position in the Council?

R: My title is is called Manager Business Support Services and the function itself is to

support other operational functions within the each office in terms of HR support, IT

support, facilities support, procurement, premises. It supports other operational functions to

reach the strategy sort of by providing certain services.

I: So you mention that this is for the Cairo office. Can you tell me what is the overall size and

how is it organised in Cairo?

R: Cairo office is about 198 peopleabout 198 in the Egypt office because we support the

Egypt office rather than just Abuja our site. In Cairo we have two offices and in Alexandria

we have one office. The 198 relates to the whole Egypt operations. About one hundred and

something are local/country staff, we have about five UK staff and the others are teachers.

I: How exactly is it organised youve got teaching centre there obviously what are the

other kind of business units?

R: We have just changed the names of our business units so my initial unit was Central

Services Unit now called Business Support Unit. We have Audience and Communications

[...] Social and Cultural Partnership. And under Audience and Communications we have

three sections: one is called Communications, one is Customer Service and one is

Knowledge and Information, the KIS [...] then we have Social and Cultural Partnerships; we

I: [] Im sorry let me start again...so youre Manager BSS, there will be managers for


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I: [] I m sorry let me start again...so you re Manager BSS, there will be managers for

Audience and Communications, Social and Cultural Partnerships, Education and

Employability, Exam Services, and teaching centre obviously.. do you all meetare you all

part of a kind of leadership team?

R: Thats right, were called Management Coordination Team and it comprises of a number

of managers at different grades actually. I am Grade F, there are others in Grade Fthere

are others in Grade E and the Director obviously at I think Band 10 or something and Deputy

Director.

I: So you are part of that team. Are there any other types of teams?

R: Yes, there is another team called [] Management Networkit consists of many more

peopleabout thirty two other people.

I: Thirty Two? So, who are all these extra people then?

R: There will be staff in other unitsI mean in our units again but at different grades.

I: So its a wider staff body?

R: Thats right, the Management Coordination Team meets once a week.

I: How often does the Network Team meet?

R: It used to be that the main team would hold weekly meetings but we have discontinued

thatand we communicate with them, for example, the outcome of the management

coordination team meeting itself certain things where we think they need to be involved

inwe communicate with them.

I: How often is that? Is it after each weekly meeting or once a month, a quarter...something

like that?

R: I think after each weekly meeting but I need to re-check that because I dont send any

note round, its Director [] yes, every week they get a summary of the management

coordination meeting.

[]

I: That is very interesting, thanks Sondos. What I would like to do now is talk a bit about the

process of internal communications where you are thenyou have touched on it a bit. Just

thinking about yourself: from whom or where do you receive most of your information about

R: And also if you are a member of any international sort of networks then you get


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y y y g

communication from them either through a SharePoint and email if you are part of social

community.

I: What type of communities are you thinking of there?

R: Like the HR communityand Marketing community.

I: Those are the principal ways that you receive information about the organisation as a

whole?

R: Yes

I: What kind of information do you receive about the organisation? What kind of things come

through these types of communications: the intranet, the bulletin, your regional intranet etc.

R: Lets look at for example, the office bulletinthere are always announcements about

anything that has been newly introduced. For example if there is a certain initiative under HR

files are announced; if there are new jobs to be advertised; if there are certain deadlines to

be met then it is announced; if there are developments on SAP we know about

them...Tawasul is also developments that are happening in the region like projects that are

going on, every success storyand sometimes you will find some helpful documents like a

PowerPoint presentation about something that someone has used and they thought this

might be helpful to others.

I: .so PowerPoint, other helpful documents thats on that Tawasul site?

R: Yes. HR now has a collaboration site, a SharePoint, I dont know what the difference is,

some sort of point that we can access for example, about learning and development and now

about the new Performance Management System. You can access all the documents

related to the system; you can access PowerPoint presentations, samples on how certain

people completed their performance agreements

I: If I am right this is all kind of general level information. Do you get specific information

about your job and what you should do this from this or you just read this information and

decide what the action is necessary to take?

R: Yes, most of the time this is what happens.

I: So, you read, interpret and then take action?


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R: I mean that some people lets say maybe a bit lower down the hierarchy may not feel this


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is relevant to them. They are more interested in the day to day happenings around whether

people have certain problems and things like that.

I: When you say lower down the hierarchy what kind of people are you talking about?

R: Lets say, for example, particularly on the business support sidebecause you are not on

the operational side it is very difficult to think in terms of how much any operational

development would impact on your work. You feel you are a bit away from all this.

I: What about the timeliness of the information: do you think that it arrives at the right

timein time for you to do things with itare you happy when it arrives? Is it always too

tight a deadline? Is it after the event? What do you think about the timeliness?

R: The office bulletin arrives in Egypt at 3 oclock on Thursday. This is when many people

leave the office for the weekendfor the weekend. So it means that if I do not access it

when it arrives I may not read it until after the weekend. And either I access it or I dont. It

depends on how much you want to be proactive about it []

I: So, when would you think would be a better time for it to come out then?

R: I think earlier [] either one day before or if on Thursday then a bit earlier so people have

more time to go through it.

I: What kind of opportunity is there for you to feed your views or issues or ideas upwards?

R: At the country level or?

I: Either country level or beyond region or to the organisation? Lets have a quick look at

the country level first.

R: At the country levelmostly during the performance reviewsnow with the revised

performance management system this is going to happen four times a year then you have

more opportunity to air any concerns with you are line managed and things like that.

I: Before the new system how often?

R: Not much but actually in the weekly meetings that we have, you always have an

opportunity to air a concern if there is onebut it is not a concern about the way you are line

managedits a concern about things happening around which are stopping you from doing

the right thing you may have an opportunity there.


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I: What about the SharePoints you mentioned?


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R: The SharePoint depends on you taking initiative to access them. If you dont take the

initiative then you will not access them. If there was something that supplements the

SharePoint site, alerting, signalling that something new has come up then this might help

because you cannot just access the SharePoint everyday to see if something new has come

in or not and remembering if this was there before or not, so something to tell you a certain

development has happened.

I: So, what things would make you feel unhappy with internal communication performance?

[]

R: What makes me unhappy sometimes if someone has a complaintthat they send it to

everybody. If someone has a problem, then talk to the person himself rather than to

everybody else.

I: So again specific emails

R: Thats right. Also there is an issue that you might not know yourselfbut we are in a

culture where the main language is not English so sometimes if peoples English is not

veryadvanced enough they might send a message which is hurting to other peoplewhen

they did not really mean it. I do not know what solution is but it happenswhen you come to

talk to them how do you say that and they would have meant something else.

I: So how satisfied are you with the way that the British Council performance in terms of

internal communications?

R: I think communications generally is a very important tool for getting things happening.

Even if you keep quiet about something there is a message to that. So, I attach very high

importance to communication. Even though the council is improving a lot in terms of the

number of messages that we get lets say from the CEOI am sure that there are some

improvements bit I dont know what they are.

I: You mentioned improvements in terms of the CEO. What is the improvement that you are

seeing there?

R: Generally, he keeps you up to date on what is going on elsewhere and in his own area.

He producesa feel for wanting to do something.

R: We dont know enough about the tools of communication to allow us to choose the best


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method for certain type of communication. I think we need someone to train people there or

to let them know the difference between this and that; get them to think about what tools they

use for certain messages or certain communications.

I: When you say people what people are you thinking of there?

R: Everybody. Everybody who needs to communicate.

I: We are moving into the final partlooking at the future now. What kind of information

would you like to receive now: this is HQ level now or regional?

R: I think the same kind of information as at present..what initiatives are going onany

new things happening, any new people coming, any people going, any change; initiatives

elsewhere; I think we need to have more shared documents between everybody in the world

to learn from everywherefor example, job descriptions from everywheresample job

descriptions, sample performance agreementsso we are all at the same level or to learn

from each other.

I: How would you prefer to receive this kind of information?

R: I dont mind as long as I know how to use it and as long as it is the most effective.

I: Well, what would be the most effective to you in terms of communication of new initiatives,

people movesthings like that.

R: The office bulletin is a good methodI find it a very good means of communication with

people but lets say if we wanted to share knowledge about initiatives elsewhere maybe

linking through the office bulletinI dont know if this is best way or notSharePoint but

people should know how to use them.

I: You put very little emphasis on the line manager. You dont have much expectation there

from say, regional director or your new line manager now?

R: My line manager has been communicating quite often. Actually, my previous line

manager was not communicating that much but I now I have been exposed to a large

amount of communication from Paul from several years now so I dont feel there is a

problem.

I: What about the information from regional level?

R: After I spoke to you I checked with my colleague on whether they get a summary of the

kl ti d h id Thi t th t th h ld


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weekly meeting and she said no. This means to me that they should.

I: What about the frequency of face to face meetings with this group? Do face to face

meetings happen at all?

R: No, sometimes but there is no regular meeting.

I: Would that be something that would be welcomed: more regular face to face meetings?

R: I think so. I think it would be welcomed. Or else lets take the team away, why do they

exist?

I: Okay I see what you are saying there. What kind of things would satisfy you that giving

and receiving feedback on your views and ideas and issues was working effectively? [] you

mention that you had to chaseyouve not tried at regional level, what kind of things would

make things better there?

R: Its a very difficult question but I think that giving and receiving feedback has to become a

value in the British Council as part of the values of the British Council. Even though we have

had a course about giving upwards feedbackin the end people are still frightened to give

upwards feedback.

I: Why is that?

R: Because they fear that if you give feedback to your line manager and they may be

upsetthen they may give you a bad evaluation and this sort of thing even though the new

system does not give a big chance to do thisbut still I think that people should accept

upwards feedback from people they line managebecause I feel, for example, certain things

that the organisation is advocatinglets say Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Everyone is

talking about equal opportunity and diversity but when it comes to implementing this people

will object as if they have not heard about this topic before. I want consistency between what

people learn and what they do.

I: When you talk about people that object because they have not heard it before: what

people? The managers or staff generally?

R: I dont want to point to some people.

I: We are not talking individual names here. We are talking about groups or roles?

R: In my view the most important thing is people, knowing what tools of communication exist

and when do they use what as the best tool To understand the differences a technical


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and when do they use what as the best tool. To understand the differencesa technical

understanding of knowing how to use the tool.

I: That is very interesting. That is all I have got. Is there anything we havent spoken about

that you would like to mention?

R: Not really.

I: Thank you very much for your time. What I do now is type up this conversation. Then I

have this conversation with a number of other people and make a report and I would be

happy to send you an executive summary of the findings which would be by the end of

November. Would you like that?

R: Yes, of course.

I: Would you be willing to take part in any more research about internal content?

R: Yes.

I: Thank you.


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nowand it has only come into the British Council Life in the most recent versionso it is

almost like you get more information on the grapevine and by mining information from


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almost like you get more information on the grapevine and by mining information from

colleagues rather than what comes through official channels.

I: So this mining of informationwhat colleagues are you referring to there?

R: I am referring within C&P, colleagues within ESS that are working on similar type projects

to myself.

I: So you are saying that the information is quite late in certain things like strategywhat

other kind of information do you or dont you get about the Council through C&P newsletter,

for example?

R: They give some good information on some of the current projects that we are working on

so thats good. In terms of procedures and, you know, like introduction ofthere have been

a lot of changes in the last couple of years as you knowso again we would normally hear

from various sources within C&P about changes. For example, Ill give you an example,

there is the new costing model, Oonagh MasonsI havent heard about that from any

official sources. No one has said to me there is a new costing model on its way. However, I

have been in consultation with Oonagh over a year, been hounding my bosses because I

want a costing model and I have heard on the grapevine that it has been signed off at the top

level. And then I contacted my Finance Decision Support here .can we use Oonagh

Masons model and is the final version theyve published does it use the same rates as the

bootleg one that we have been using over the last few months because Oonagh did circulate

something when she was starting her consultation about it. So, it still has not come on the

bulletin that yes, this is the model that you need use to cost your projectbut by the time it

does we will probably have found out already through unofficial channels. That is an

example of the stuffand its the same with the strategy and the same with commissioning

procedures andC&P project management systems and things like that. You almost feel

like you are pulling information from the organisation rather than it being there when you

need it.

I: I take it that you are definitely not happy on the timeliness of it. So in terms of the

relevancy of the information would it be fair to say that it is not directly relevant to youI

them are completely overwhelmed and they rolled out the business plan by having a C&P

kind of roll out and they had workshops within every team within C&Pbut if you turned


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y p y y

round to them and said Look, there are problemsoperational problems it seems that there

is a schism between the senior management and the people on the ground that are actually

doing things. So, if you are actually encountering problemsmaking things workand you

turn around to senior management and sayand tell themyou are trying to be helpful, you

know what I meanthis needs looking at, this needs looking at...at high level. Intellectual

property rights on our global productsit hasnt been sorted outhow we are going to

maintain intellectual property rights on our global products. So I am working on a global

product and I can do it for my own product but I think that there needs to be some knowledge

here that needs to be circulated and theres something that needs to be done corporately

about this. They are so overwhelmed with so many changes that have taken place that they

cant take on board what you are feeding up and I think it is the same with the programme

areas, the programme directorsokay, some of them are not appointed or whateverand

also the senior management team who are so newall of them that if you turn round and

say this, that and the other they wont even understand what you are talking about.

I: These five senior managersI take it Sally is one of them?

R: Yes, Sally Robinson, Lily all of them.

I: What is that level called?

R: I call it Contracts and Projects Senior Management team.

I: So I take it that the opportunity to feed updo you have the opportunity though, do you

have regular meetings?

R: I do have meetings with Sally but I wouldnt say that they were regular because as I say

she is very often down in London or Belfast or Edinburgh or Cardiff, dont know if she does

go to Cardiff, dont think so butshe is often away. I think that she has taken some very big

contracts on which are, you know, I also think its a way of being because we had aContracts and Projects Staff conference which I think was an excellent initiativeand so we

had, was it 200 people from C&P or maybe it was 150 people who participatedand it was

excellently facilitated and we were all split into about 10 groups and we all came up with

we need to have a very clear portfolio management and communications system so we need

to have a track record for every single project that we have on our portfolio and that needs to


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y g p j p

be on the website. And our portfolio needs to be coherent. [] I think its an attitude from

C&P Senior Management of not engaging with their middle management.

I: What opportunity is there to let the organisation beyond C&P know how you feel about

certain things in your work life like what you just described there?

R: I think it is your Annual Staff Survey. Weve had a few presentations from Martin

Davidson and Cathy. I welcome those. I do like the fact that Martin does, I think it is once a

quarter or something, come up to Manchester for those presentations. I think that is a nice

thing for him to do. I havent heard him listen very much either to staffI think some issues

were raised a long time ago but I kind of feel that people raise issues like concerns about UK

Ops change, concerns about FABS that are never addressed. And if you try to really

question the organisation or people high up you are seen to be a problem rather than

someone who is genuinely concerned about the way things are going.

I: Would you care to tell me why you say thatwhy you feel that?

R: I feel that because before UK Ops change happened I asked Martin Davidsonhe came

up to give a presentationand I said Have you looked at UK Ops change and the affect that

its going to have on our portfolio of full cost recovery projects?I am very concerned about

how the changes are going to affect the teams who are currentlybecause we had a 10

million business which was bringing in 2 million a year of what we call management fee

income, now it isnt profitsorry, no, no, no the management fee income was around about

7 million and the surplus was around about 1point something million. I know that those

concerns were expressed straight to Martin himself because I personally raised those issues

and all of those concerns were brushed aside and then we went into, for example, UK Ops

change and we had a 70% drop in our portfolioand then we get a schizophrenic

organisation that says we should be winning more contracts, that is what we want to do. Atthe same time any concerns that are raised about the business itself are brushed aside and

not listened to.

I: [] there is no mention that these contracts were the wrong sort of contracts you felt

didnt recruit people when we needed to recruitwe havent progressed people who needed

to progress. We havent managed the business and if we go back nowwe havent heard


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that they were the wrong contracts to be doing. Now, suddenly everyone is waking up to the

fact that [] we used to get a lot of exposure, a lot of T1s and T2s in ministry of education

and justicewe lost something here that is quite difficult to get back. What I think is that

British Council senior management do not seem to want to engage with British Council

middle management on lets talk about the strategy, lets unpick the strategylets listen to

what people have to say about when you start to implement the strategy. These global

products []I think we are doing too much innovation I dont think that we need so much

innovation and we are spending a lot of money saying we need so much innovation in the

company.we only need 10 global products and maybe weve already got them. We are

again rushing off in some new direction and perhaps if Martin and Mark and all of

themperhaps if they sat down with some people that are actually managing the global

products that weve got at the moment []. If they were closer to the business then it would

be of benefit to the organisation and we wouldnt rush off in new directions all the time.I: Lets look at the communications relationship you have with your line manager, Sally. How

satisfied are you that she expresses the organisations purpose and goals clearly?

R: I am not. She is very factual. Is this in confidence and wont go any further?

I: I can absolutely assure you of that.

R: She never has a chat about how things are going strategically within the organisation

so...with tying it with her emotional feeling about things. [] She is unlikely to give chatty or

just information that she has picked up from attending the various high level meetings and

workshops and things like that. She will only share information once there is a corporate

requirement for her to disseminate some new procedure. The information she shares with

people she line manages is very much based on factual information that she is required to

pass down.I: When she passes that information down how well does she make the connection between

that information about the business agenda and your actual goals as a C&P delivery person?

R: I am afraid I dont think that there is much inspirational leadership around. I mean

product rather than winning the old cost recovery business. But in terms of what information

Sally givesthat is the question you are asking, isnt it? I dont think it is very linked, no.


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[]

R: It does seem to be a bit drythe meetings with Sallyshe has meetings with her linemanagees once a weekits supposed to be once a week but for various reasons some of

them get cancelled. Its by VC as there are people in London, Belfast and Edinburgh and it is

[used] to give information like there is a deadline for APA to come in on 30 June and

everyone needs to put on their time logging. It is quite uninspirational information giving

rather thanthe British Council has a new (?) paperwhich I never heard aboutthat would

be interesting.

I: Whats important to you in terms of effective internal communication?

R: It would be very important for the programme directors to unpack the top level of British

Council outcomes and outputs so we know what we are supposed to be doing because I am

a bit lost as to what we should be doing in the Council. You know, climate change,

intercultural dialogue, knowledge economyokaywhat does that mean? I am trying to findout what that means but I dont think that there is very clear information on what that means

to the Councilto the programme directors and to the British Council senior management

board. So, I think it would be very helpful to have more strategyalso Strategy 2010, we are

now at 2008 so what happens beyond. I am looking forward to the next strategy paper.

I: In unpacking these outcomes and outputswhat ways of communicating would you

likewhen we kicked off you spoke about C&P newsletter, BC Life etc. are those effective in

your opinion or..?

R: Yes. They go out to every single person in the organisation I believe, so if you have

important pieces of information. on the intranet for Strategy 2010 there was a site with

documents that you had published so you could backI also think there was a little update

on there but you accessed it through the bulletin. The bulletin reminded you that there wasstuff going on there.

I: That is communication to everybody. What about you?

R: I also value having people from senior management like Martin Davidson give an update

from C&P about where we were going and what we were doing. Sorry, that was

development services. When C&P was created that systemthat management structure


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was washed away.

I: Washed away and not replaced effectively?R: Correct.

I: Are you saying that the old structure was awkward or what bits would you be looking to

rescue? []

R: No I think the old structure was much more effective than what we have now.

I: Now the old structure, from what I picked up, I would imagine had a newsletter?

R: It had a newsletter. It had quarterly business meetings where you fed into them, where

youd received information out of them.

I: Where there other elements beyond those two that made you feel this was worth?

R: There was a lot more time from senior management to for line managing. I used to

have weekly meetings with my line manager Lili Marfani. They were not cancelled [] There

was much closer relationship between the team that were working on a piece of business. Isuppose that was one of the reasons we were so successful.

I: If we look at back at the organisation how satisfied with the way the Council performs in

terms of internal communications?

R: I think there is a lot of potential for the global products. I think that instead of UK Ops

change we actually needed to do analysis of our portfolio. [] There is the potential for

people to do an analysis of our current portfolio. I am excited about having global

productshaving a menu of products that is coherent and that people can draw down in

different regions and different countries. I dont think our offer should be the same in every

country or region of the worldto have a coherent portfolio of contracts and that country

directors decide what is best and I think there is some support needed from the UK in terms

of quality assurancejust taking the products to different places. What was your questionagain?

I: We were talking about how satisfied you were with how the Council performsso you see

a lot of potential in these global products. I understand that.

R: I would like the old methods to be used again like strategy 2010 communications were

quite good.


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I: Can you remind me about Strategy 2010 communications?

R: They had a bit of the website some of it was always theresome of it wasupdatedand then they put reminders and little articles on the bulletin. So there was

information there that you could read quickly and then once you wanted more you knew

where to find it.

I: you previously mentioned that youd like more quarterly meetings and more time with your

line manager I suppose?

R: Within C&P. Yes.

I: Within C&P what features would satisfy you that giving and receiving feedback was

working for you?

R: How would it look like? I think, possibly, it would be a good thing to admit mistakes: FABS

wasnt value for money; UK Ops was a waste of time. Certain things have happened over

the past two years that, I personally, think would help people move on. Listening to people: ifyou do go to someones presentation and you do engage that you do actually see a result

from engaging.

I: So the result there would be an answer to your question whether you liked the answer or

not.

R: Oh, yes. I think that Martin does that. I think that our senior management are caught up in

some process or procedure that we dont know what it is. They are not facing the customer

or the business.

I: Is this the executive board?

R: The executive board but also C&P. As soon as you draw the cadre of senior

management you no longer have anything to do with the business so the business people

on the shop floor can say I need a coordinated client management systemI need to link upwith other people that have DFID as a client within the councilall I am saying is we want a

little email between us or a chat room on the website or something. Just to say this is best

practice for when doing such and such. So you can make any suggestion or you can work

with them and they all seem to be facing similar problemsthey are all reinventing the wheel

so Ive chatted and some have been successfulbecause they come from different


64/144

backgrounds, and some of them have marketing communications backgrounds, some of

them have project management backgrounds, so they all have different strengths andweaknesses and some can overcome the managing suppliers issues, some of them can

overcome the creating issue very easily. And I said we all need to communicate and I fed

this up to my line managementas yet, no one has invested time in getting us altogether.

I: Who do you think should invest time in doing that?

R: I am still lobbying the commissioning department to see if they will do that. Anne

Staniforth has said it is an issue and perhaps they could do something on the intranet or

SharePoint. Just a little chat roomy thing or something where you identify what the problems

are that people are encountering and then you identify the resources people have already

solved certain problems so if you want to do fundraising and sponsorship for example who

do you talk to in the Council? [] There needs to be some network set up.

I: Is there anything that we have not spoken about that you would like to mention?[]

R: I think we need another big strategy paper on where we are going. Now that all the

changes have happened, you hopefully have got people who can feed into it. So I think

somewhere where we are going. [] But where are we going, if we put all inot place all

these things they have been talking about, global products and da-de-da-da what does it

mean, what happens, what are we working towards now. Finally, senior management have

a lot of their trust and as a plank to their strategy, the fact that we are going to raise all this

money from sponsorship. I have no idea where this is going to come from. I am not sure that

this is correct. There are certain assumptions that I am not sure are correct.

I: I dont know. They do say confidently that we will double our income.

R: Well, I dont know where that is going to come from so lets see where that will come from.[]

Interview C. British Council, Amman, Jordan. Resources. Tues 01/07/08.

Key: I indicates interviewer


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R indicates respondent

indicates a pause[] indicates part of the audiotape that has not been transcribed

(?) indicates a word that is not clear

[]

I: How long have you worked for the British Council?

R: About 11 years.

I: What is your position?

R: I am Assistant Director for Resources.

I: Okay, because that is slightly different to the information that is on the intranet.

R: I took this job last October so we need to update it for sure.

I: What does the job involve?R: There are three functions within my job: one of which is managing finance and I basically

manage a team of four people. Then there is administration. Administration is a bigger

group which contains security and administration staff members so that is about 18 staff

members. Duties within administration are to arrange bookings, flight bookings, delivery of

packagesall sorts of possible administration work. And then there is a third element which

is human resources. That one takes about 25% of my job, however, it is a really big role

because I end up implementing regional projects. My HR duties revolve around doing the

administration work of collecting performance evaluations and filing them to making HR

Strategy for the Council and the British Council, Amman. I am contributing to the regional HR

in whether Change project or to regional HR in general.

I: How many people in that team?R: Theres none. Theres none except for me. That is why it is 25% representative because

sometimes there are no duties at all and sometimes it takes up all of my time. Under the first

element of my job: the Assistant Director part where I contribute to policymaking in the office,

I: Each of the units have managers heading them up, yes?

R: Yes.

I Wh t th ti l ti hi b t b i it ? F t t h d


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I: What are the reporting relationships between business units? For a start, who do you

report to?R: I report to our Director, Charlie Walker. Most of the other departments: examinations

report to the Country director so does the teaching centre. We dont have a teaching centre

manager. We are sharing one with Egypt and we have a deputy teaching centre manager

over here.

I: Knowledge and Information?

R: Knowledge and Information reports directly to the Director and Head of Operations, who is

also Assistant Director for Programme, also reports to the Director.

I: What kind of manag

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