Philosophical Implications Of Artificial Intelligence

Philosophical Implications Of Artificial Intelligence INTRODUCTION: For a long period of time philosophers are trying to resolve the questions related to artificial intelligence. Like, how minds are working? Can machines act intelligently like humans do?, if its so would they really have brain? What would be the ethical implications in that? The philosophers view about AI is that machines act intelligent and do to actually thinking are in strong AI categories. They never worried until program works properly, no questions like its working under simulation of intelligence or real intelligence. My stand on this is almost followed by the same instances. Do you think really robots act intelligent? Perhaps, it depends on how it is defined. In other words, it depends upon how one defining intelligence or consciousness with machines exactly involved. Yes, robots are intelligent with the system in-built or good simulations, but we deal with not practical, only theory. By comparing two architectures say human and machine, its not fair ask questions like robots really think?. But, consider the questions like, Machines fly? Machines can swim? For first question yes is the answer. Because aeroplane will fly. So technically machines can fly. For second question no is the answer. Though ships or submarines move in water, but we dont call it swimming. Neither of question does not have any impact on lives or its nature. It has to do with their capabilities and meaning how we take. Consider Mr.Alan Turing quotes,Instead of raising question machines think,we should ask it can past test on a behavioural intelligence. For example, the program ELIZA and the MGONZ internet chatbot fooled humans who didnt realize they are taking to a program and the ALICE program fooled one judge in 2001 competition named Loebner Prize. He also exercised on same facts which leads to the objection to the possibility of intelligent machines. According to the proposals given by Darthmouth ,all aspects which features of intelligence truly tells that machine can be made to stimulate it. I also agree to the following quote if a machine acts as intelligently as human, then it is as intelligent as a human. Consider the facts how artificial brain and heart is working, which can satisfy the law of nature, demands. So we can say machines are intelligent? We now analyze the facts in two dimensions. From Disability point of perspective, I should say,Robots can never do X. Mr.Alan Turing lists X as being kind, using proper words, doing something new, analyzing this from right from wrong, to the subject of tits own thought. Alan try to predict what would be possible in future years, though we have classical records of what computers or super computers already done. And its true that computers performs may well that what humans doing alone. It will play games like chess, cricket, spell check in documents and in medical theraphies like diagonising the diseases and it do hundreds of multiple task as well as human or better than humans. Computers requires performance at each fields in science say no chemistry, biology, computer science, astronomy, maths at level of a human expert. The educational testing service has used an automated program to grade millions of essays, the program agree with human graders 97% of the time, about the same level of two graders agree. [1]. And its also clear that computers do work better than humans, but it does not mean that computer excel everything. Of course, it use insight and understanding in task performances, not a part of behaviour. The objection from mathematics perspective for any formal axiomatic system F powerful enough to do arithmetic, to construct a Godel Sentence G(F) with the following properties, G(F) is a sentence of F,but cannot be proved within F. If F is consistent then G(F) is true [2]. Philosophers as mentioned this theorem shows that machines are mentally inferior to humans, because machines are formal systems that are limited by the incompleteness theorem, but human minds are operate by quantum gravity. No human brain could compute the sum of 100 billions of 100 digit number in their lifetime, but computer do it in seconds, before invention of mathematics itself human started to behave intelligent, so its not fair to say that mathematical reason plays more than important role in what it means to be smart or intelligent. Computers have binded to limitation on what they can prove but there is no evidence for human, that they are immune from those limitations. And its easy to claim that normal system cannot do X, then claims humans can do X using their informal method without evidence, like wise its too tough to say that humans are not subject to Godels incompleteness theorem, because any rigour proof contain a formalization of a claimed unformalizable humans talent. So I planned to left with an appeal to intuition that humans perform superhuman feats of maths insights. From informality point of view, the most persistent critics of artificial intelligence was ; argument from informality of behaviour; by Turing. Like humans, system cannot generate behaviour intelligent as human they can only follow set of rules. This inability to capture all in a set of logical rules is called the qualification problem in artificial intelligence. Its correct what Dreyfus pointed that, logical agents are vulnerable to the qualification problems. From his view, human includes knowledge of rules but as a background within which they exercise. Various problems have been addressed when Dreyfus and Dreyfus making proposal moving from being artificial intelligence critics to artificial intelligence theorists. i.e, Neural network architecture. It includes, Unless having proper background you wont get good serialization such that incorporating background knowledge with the neural network learning process. My concern about this is, the good reason for a serious redesign of current models of neural processing, then it can take the advantage of previously learning knowledge in the way that other algorithms proceed. Neural networks are supervised which requires guidance say it needs proper input and outputs. But unsupervised or reinforcement learning never looks for trainer (human). In many issues Dreyfus made impact on the commonsense knowledge, uncertainity importance of considering situated agents. But for me, these are all the evidences of intelligence progress,not its impossibilities. Let us consider this question can machines really think? According to myself, the machines which passes Turing test would still not be actually thinking. Its quite simulation of thinking. From his point of view,the machines has to be aware of its own mental states of action say consciousness, which is most important. Its almost false question, according to philosopher Mr.Karl Popper the term falsiable does not mean something is false, instead that if it is false, then this can be shown by experiment. [3] From my study of direct experience I personally feel that machines has a not actually feel emotion, whether the machine purpoted beliefs, desires of other representations are actually about something in the real world. Analysing Turings point,why should we want to insist on higher standard for machines that we do for humans? After all, in our life we dont have any direct evidence about the internal mental states of any other humans. Instead of arguing continually over the point ,it is usual to have the polite convention that everyone thinks. And questioning machines act on consciousness is difficult, but it got nothing to do with practice of artificial intelligence. I agree to the fact that, we are interested in created programs that behave intelligently, not in whether someone else pronounces them to be real or simulated. To understand this fact, we should consider the question of whether artifacts are considered real. Frederick Wohler synthesized artificial urea in 1848 and why its so important means, it proved that organic and inorganic chemistry could be united. Like the artificial Chateau Labour wine would not be the Chateau Labour wine, even if it was chemically indistinguishable, simply because it was not made in the right place in the right way. We conclude this topic by saying the philosophers John Searles lines, no one supposes that a computer simulation of a storm will leave us all wet. Why on earth would anyone in his right mind suppose a computer simulation of mental process?'[4] The behaviour of an artifact is important while in others it is the artifacts pedigree matters. For artificial minds, there is no convention just we are left to rely on intuitions. From the above quotes, its easy to agree that computer simulations of storms do not make us wet, instead its not clear how to make this analogy over to computer simulation of mental processes. Are mental processes more like storm or chess? like Chateau Labour or like Urea? This all depends on your theory of mental process and what it states. Under the theory of Functionalism any intermediate caused condition between input and output gives state of mind. In other words, two systems with isomorphic causual process would have the similar mental state. Therefore, computer program might have same mental state as a person. But in contrast, the theory of biological naturalism states that, the mental states are higher level emergent features which are caused by low-level neurological processes in the neurons and properties of the neurons that matters. To analyse these two view points, let we look at one of the oldest problem in the philosophy of mind. The mind-body problem: This problem questioning the mental states and processes related to the brain (bodily) state and processes. By analysing the problem of mind-architecture problem, it allow us to talk about the possibility of machines have minds. Mr.Rene Descartes, who considered how an immortal soul interacts with the body and concluded with the soul and body are two distinct type of things-a dualist theory. The monist theory called materialism, tells there is no such thing like immortal souls; only material objects. Consequently, mental states such as pain, knowing that one is riding in a horse or believing that Delhi is capital of India are brain states. Mr. John Searle pithily sums up the idea with the slogan, Brains cause minds. The materialist must face the two serious obstacles. The first problem is freewill: how can it be that a purely physical mind, where every transformation is governed strictly by the laws of physics, still retains any freedom of choice? Many philosophers agreed that this problem requires a careful reconstitution of our naÃÆ'Â ¯ve notion of free will, rather than presenting any threat to materialism. Then the next problem concerns the issues of consciousness but not identical, questions of understanding and self-awareness. So simply, why is it feel like anything to have certain brain states, whereas presumably does not feel like anything to have other physical states, for example being a rock. To start to answer such questions, we need ways to talk about brain states at levels more abstract than specific configurations of all atoms of the brain of a particular person at a particular time. For example, as I think about the capital of India,my brain undergoes myriad tiny changes from one picosecond o the next, but these never brings the qualitative changes in brain state. To account this, we need a notion of a brain state types, under which we can able to judge whether two brain states belongs to the same or different types. Though different opinions are existed, almost everyone believes that if one takes a brain and replaces some of the carbon atoms by a new set of carbon atoms (perhaps even atoms of a different isotope of carbon, as is sometimes done in brain-scanning experiments) the mental will not be affected. This is a good thing because real brains are continually replacing their atoms through metabolic process, and yet this in itself does not seem to cause major mental upheavals. Let us consider a particular kind of mental state: the propositional attitudes which are also known as intentional states. These are the states such as believing, desiring, fearing, knowing which refers to some aspect of the external world. Consider the examples, the belief that Delhi is the capital of India is a belief about a particular city and its status. We will be asking whether it is possible for computers to have intentional states, then it helps to understand how to characterize such states. Hence the identity or non-identity of mental states should be determined by staying completely inside the head, without the reference to the real world. To analyse this dilemma we turn to the thought experiment that attempts to separate intentional states from their external objects. From these several theories we conclude that mental states cannot be duplicated just in the basis of some program having same functional behaviour with similar inputs and outputs. The Ethics and Risks of developing artificial intelligence pose some problems beyond that of, to say, We might loose our jobs to automation. Humans might have too much leisure time. Peoples might lose their sense of being unique. We might feel like loosing some privacy rights. The use of artificial intelligence systems might result in a loss of accountability. The success of AI might mean the end of the human race. CONCLUSION: I conclude the machines are intelligent but often dependable on others intelligence. The intelligence explosion has also been called the technological singularity by maths professor Mr. Venor Vinge who writes that within 30 years ,we will have the technological means to creates super human intelligence. After human era will be ended. Considering the curve of technical progress Venor and Good said the progress growth is exponentially at present. However, it is quite a step to explorate that the curve will continue on to the singularity of near- infinite growth. The potential threats to society posed by Artificial Intelligence and relative technology some are unlikely and two basic thing which needs serious handling. The ultra intelligent machines might lead to a future that is very different from today and we may not like it. Next one is that the robotics technology may enable weapons of mass destruction to be deployed by psychopathic individuals. And I conclude that this is more of a threat from biotechnology and nano technology than from robotics.

Raymond’s Run Essay

Everyone has dreams, everyone had desires, but sometimes these can make it hard to think of someone besides one’s self. Sometimes these dreams and desires can fill the heart, making it nearly impossible to even consider the needs of others. For most people, it can be hard to put others first, but in the end, it is the right thing to do. At the beginning of â€Å"Raymond’s Run† by Toni Case Bambard, Squeaky’s main focus is running and winning, but by the end of the story, Squeaky comes to realize that life isn’t all about her self. At the beginning of the story, Squeaky is a confident girl and she knows that she has talent. She is a very fast runner; in fact, she is the neighborhood’s track star. She is confident that she is the fastest, this is seen when she states â€Å"there is no track meet that I don’t win† (Pg. 59 paragraph 3) and that she has been winning since she was a â€Å"little kid in kindergarten† (Pg. 59 par agraph 3) However, her main focus is running and winning, this makes her a bit confrontational and at times, absent minded to her special needs brother, Raymond. Squeaky knows she is a talented runner, but she is quick to confront other girls when they annoy her. She also makes it clear to other girls that she is the fastest runner in town and will easily beat them in the town race. Despite this Squeaky is loyal to her brother, and is always ready to protect him. When ever people talked trash to her brother, she stand up and say â€Å"You got anything to say to my brother, you say it to me.† (Pg. 62 paragraph 12) She’s a person, who doesn’t tolerate standing and listening to people talking trash, shed rather get things right and over quickly. Squeaky is scared of no one. Later when Squeaky decides to participate in the town race, she leaves Raymond in a swing. However, right as the race begins, Squeaky sees Raymond positioning him self by the fence for the race, Although he is not actually competing, Squeaky can see that Raymond knows what he is doing, despite the facet he has never ran a race before. As the race commences, it is oblivious to everyone but Squeaky, that Raymond is running an imaginary race and that he is indeed a fast runner. At the end of the race, Squeaky has won, but she no longer cares about the race. At the end of the story, Squeaky has had a change of heart. She sees that Raymond has talent, and her original values don’t matter anymore. She no longer cares if she won or lost, she is just happy she is just happy for her brother. She realizes that she doesn’t have to be a runner, but can anything she wants, a runner, a coach, a spelling bee champion, a pianist; she just had to work hard on it. She realizes that she can coach Raymond and give him something to accomplish, and perhaps, this is what she was meant to do in the first place. She doesn’t need to prove herself. She has learned that life’s not all about herself, but rather, about helping others. In â€Å"Raymond’s Run†, Bambard uses Squeaky to model the average human. All people are self-centered in nature, which is the inevitable. Like most people, Squeaky starts out and an overconfident young girl, focused only on her own wants and desires. She finds it hard to think of others. In truth it is much easier and simpler to think only of oneself. However, Squeaky comes to realize that her desirers have blinded her to her brother’s abilities. Her own talent clouded her from her brother, preventing her form seeing that she had the chance to give her brother something to be proud of. Bambard uses this realization to show her readers that even though putting others first is hard, it is the right thing to do. Squeaky may have started out as a confident and confrontational girl, with her main focus being racing, but after seeing her brother run, that changes. Squeaky comes to realize that racing isn’t everything and that her brother has untapped potential, potation that every one overlooks. She discovers that, even though it’s hard to put others’ desires first, it really is the right thing to do. She comes to dedicate herself coaching Raymond and by doing so, she can give her bother something to accomplish, and perhaps, this is what she was meant to do in the first place. Squeaky helps readers learn that life’s not all about oneself, but rather, about helping others.

The Downside Risk of Ielts Essay Task 2 Band 9 Samples That No One Is Talking About

The Downside Risk of Ielts Essay Task 2 Band 9 Samples That No One Is Talking About The Honest to Goodness Truth on Ielts Essay Task 2 Band 9 Samples Introduction People appear to be either excited or worried about the upcoming effects of artificial intelligence. So maybe it's a superb concept to begin with part 2. Because you will likely hear the response to your next question. Make sure your answer fully covers all pieces of the endeavor. You won't have the ability to answer all the easier questions and you will lose points! You need the capability to paraphrase the issue to compose an introduction. So utilize maximum of 18 minutes per passage and go ahead. Make certain you spell words correctly and recheck once it's written. Don't panic if you happen across unknown words. Therefore, it's thought to be a very simple sentence. It's possible for you to comprehend the significance of a sentence or paragraph even in the event that you don't know each word! Word limit You ought to take care of word limit whilst writing. In the sentence, there's only one idea that's explained fully. To compose a body section, you've got to have the ability to clarify notions. You ought to likewise observe that the instructions allow you to know to use illustrations! New Questions About Ielts Essay Task 2 Band 9 Samples You might also have to talk about a variety of aspects of an issue and then outline your ideas for solving it. Thinking of good ideas is among the most difficult areas of the test for a number of people. A lot of people know they need to increase their writing, but haven't any idea how to do that. Find somebody who will supply you with accurate and useful feedback on your work. It's possible to also replace the fundamental words that you've used with fancier versions of them. You will end up reading the texts too many times, and you just don't have time for it. Topic sentences are simple to recognize since they sound as though they're announcing what's coming next. The New Fuss About Ielts Essay Task 2 Band 9 Samples Educational games on tablets and smartphones function as a delivery medium for learning content assists in cognitive improvement. Technology has opened up new avenues in how we communicate with a different individual situated anywhere on the planet. Utilise the assistance of our service and don't be concerned about how you complete the school. School curriculums should consist of mandatory sports along with theoretical lessons on the advantages of playing sports. Young children will get in the practice of co-operation and team building with the support of conventional games. Task 2 Some people think that teaching children at home is most effective for a child's development even though others think that it's essential for children to go to school. Ielts Essay Task 2 Band 9 Samples Can Be Fun for Everyone The next Practice Tests deliver extensive practice in the four modules at the degree of the true IELTS exam. Your answers shouldn't be too short or too long. Practice makes perfect in regards to IELTS Writing. Practice alone isn't going to aid you. It's clearly understandable that you must demonstrate that range of grammar whilst attempting the IELTS writing test and the speaking test also. The classical techniques of teaching always concentrated on the lecture format and examination. Much like an excellent doctor will be in a position to assist you fix a health issue, an excellent IELTS teacher will have the ability to assist you fix your individual problems. Studying hard is excellent, but don't neglect to study smart. In the event that you don't do so, you might lose marks that are vital for the two coherence and endeavor response. If you don't, you won't have the ability to move to the previous stage. You may also opt to attempt task 2 first. Task 2 is the same. Together with the UK Essay Help undergraduates find it impossible to be worried about the time but delight in a complete life. The students who get the greatest marks plan before they write and they frequently plan for as many as ten minutes. It is quite easy to get overly enthusiastic in examinations. Foreign pupils shouldn't be requested to pay a greater sum than local individuals.

The Monsters Of The Epic Of Gilgamesh - 1623 Words

Today’s society defines a monster as a person or animal with unnatural qualities. These characteristics can be physical, mental, and can pertain to the way someone acts among other human beings. Any action or look that is beyond what humankind perceives as normal adopts the title of monster. Often in literature the monsters that are created are meant to portray the thoughts that society has as to what qualifies someone to be a monster. Many humans can have monstrous qualities, but the significance is in whether or not those qualities determine the trajectory of the person’s life and makes them unrecognizable that they can be described as a monster. Gilgamesh and Grendal seek to fulfill their monstrous desires motivated by ego and jealousy, but it is when one loses touch with their humanity that they become a monster. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is the two-thirds god, one-third man, king of Uruk. Since he is part god he is very strong and beautiful compared to th e average man. In the beginning of the tale, the people of Uruk pray to the gods to send someone to deliver them because Gilgamesh slept with wives and forced his subjects to do hard labor, notable for building the walls surrounding the city of Uruk. The gods decide that they need someone that can match the strength and beauty of Gilgamesh to create a balance. They created Enkidu who became Gilgamesh’s best friend. Enkidu then warns Gilgamesh of a threat in the sacred forest, the guardian Humbaba. Humbaba wasShow MoreRelatedEpic Journeys towards Improvement in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus Rex670 Words   |  3 Pagesreadings, The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus Rex, both protagonists embark in an epic journey to either better themselves, or their kingdoms. Gilgamesh slays a monster with the help of Enkidu for fame, but then leaves his kingdom of Uruk to go on a quest for immortality. Oedipus outsmarts a monster and saves the city of Thebes once, but then has to save it o nce more by leaving Thebes. Both protagonists have similarities and differences in each of their journeys. Oedipus and Gilgamesh both similarlyRead MoreBeowulf And The Epic Of Gilgamesh1667 Words   |  7 Pagesthe most widely known epic poems of their time were Beowulf and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Both Beowulf and Gilgamesh embody traits known exclusively of a hero. The poem of Beowulf and The Epic Gilgamesh both showcase the characteristics required of being an epic, in that they include a hero on a quest performing valorous deeds in an elevated style, while being protected by supernatural forces. The epic poem, Beowulf was based in the country of Denmark, while The Epic of Gilgamesh was based in a regionRead MoreEpic Of Gilgamesh : The Epic Hero1641 Words   |  7 PagesGilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian hero, featured in the famous tale of â€Å"The Epic of Gilgamesh†, who embarks on a perilous quest for immortality. This idea, â€Å"†¦touches on the most fundamental questions of what it actually means to be human†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Homer 33), and gives us light into the minds of the people during the era. Gilgamesh’s tale gives us a glimpse at how the people of that day viewed a â€Å"hero†, and allows us to reflect upon what we consider a â€Å"hero† today. Using the Epic Hero Cycle, I will analyzeRead MoreEssay on The Epic of Gilgamesh versus The Epic of Beowulf1147 Words   |  5 PagesThe Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf contain everything we can expect from a great epic literature. It portrays fantastic geographies, exotic characters, e xhausting quests, heroic battles with monsters, supernatural beings and natural forces. Most important of all, they are two outstanding stories of a great epic hero who is compelled to meet his destiny and who rises to every challenge with courage and determination. Beowulf is the earliest surviving epic poem written in a modern European languageRead MoreGilgamesh : The Epic Of Gilgamesh1238 Words   |  5 Pagesfascinating pieces of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh, deals with and explores many of the problems humans have wrestled with for thousands of years. Even though the text does not explicitly answer any of the questions it poses, it gives clues that point to the answers. One of these questions, the dilemma of whether to act based solely on a person’s intuition or act based on reason and advice, occurs regularly in the text. Throughout The Epic of Gilgamesh, characters have success and failure whenRead MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh And Analysis1436 Words   |  6 Pages The Epic of Gilgamesh –Summary and analysis Introduction The Epic of Gilgamesh is an excerpt of the original text of the Epic listed in the Sources of the Western Tradition, 5th edition, by Perry, Peden and Von Laue (2003). The Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of King Gilgamesh who is the powerful king of Uruk, the incidents in his life, the associations he makes, the encounters he has, and the transition that occurs in his life in relation to his gainingRead MoreBeowulf vs. Gilgamesh1212 Words   |  5 PagesBeowulf Vs. Gilgamesh The two cultures I chose to compare heroic values for are the ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Anglo-Saxon cultures. The texts I used in the comparison are Gilgamesh for Mesopotamia and Beowulf for Anglo-Saxon. Although they posses many similar heroic characteristics they also differ greatly. Beowulf is the earliest surviving epic poem written in a modern European language. It was written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D. The poem describes the adventuresRead MoreEpic Of Gilgamesh Myths And Dreams931 Words   |  4 PagesGilgamesh myths and dreams In World Literature Gilgamesh is considered to be a masterpiece. After, doing my research I noticed it had to be one of the oldest epics written, but it appears to be more of a myth or dream. The history of this myth draws concern about culture and religion in Babylonian. The perspective I came to understand and focus was myths and dreams. The aspects involved the inner and outer struggles of problems that are essential to this time period. When I look at the science thatRead MoreAnalysis Of The Epic Of Gilgamesh 903 Words   |  4 Pagesgenre is more appropriate to Voltaire’s quote than the epic. Epics in media are presented with high stakes, memorable heroes, and thought-provoking messages. They originated in preliterate societies and among the first epics is the ancient Mesopotamian poem called â€Å"The Epic of Gilgamesh†. Written during the Third Dynasty of Ur, â€Å"Gilgamesh† tells the adventures of the eponymous king as he befriends an intended rival cr eated by a goddess, slays monsters, and embarks a personal and perilous quest for eternalRead MoreElements Of The Epic Of Gilgamesh918 Words   |  4 PagesThe epic hero has been part of world literature since time immemorial. Epic tales have contained within them, various elements that have helped define the genre. These tropes have existed at least since the writing of the ancient Mesopotamian text, The Epic of Gigamesh. These vital characteristics transcend region, as they have been employed in the literature of disparate parts of the world. These elements can be seen the Old English tale of Beowulf, as well as in the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana

Essay When Books were Burned Fahrenheit 451 - 2035 Words

The Time Books were Burned Fahrenheit 451 The novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a science fiction novel that introduces a world controlled by the government. Humans are not accepted in this new world. Television has replaced family. The people live the present through television. The firemen are seen as flamethrowers, the destroyers of books. The people living in this society have no reminders or memories of history or the past. In Fahrenheit 451, the society has a strict set of values and beliefs. The government has constructed its own matrix for the people in the society to abide by. It is forbidden for books to be read or seen. Books are not to be read; they are to be destroyed without a question. Since the government has†¦show more content†¦After Montag meeting Clarisse for the first time, he begins to ponder whether or not he is truly happy. Clarisse speaks to Montag about the beauties of life, the man on the moon, the early morning dew, and the enjoyment she gets from smelling and looking at things. Montag has never thought of such things before. He tells Clarisse you think too many things(9). Although the two are the exact opposite of one another, there is an attraction between the two. Montag finds Clarisses outlook on life to be rather fascinating. She has Montag reflecting on ideas about life that he has never considered before. Clarisse has sparked Montags curiosity and begins to help him recognize that there is something missing from his lifetrue happiness. Montag fears that the hound has sensed that he has seized some books. The chief of the firehouse, Captain Beatty, is also suspicious of Montag. Beatty makes a special point to visit Montag when he doesnt show for work. Beatty tells Montag books are figments of the imagination. Fire is good because it eliminates the conflicts that books can bring. Beattys visit is intended to be a warning to Montag not to allow books to seduce him. Montag has to be careful of the mechanical hound. The hound represents the governmental c ontrol in the society. It used to be that dogs were the rescuers for firemen. They had the duty of sniffing out the injured. But in this dystopia, the hound has been made into a watchdog of society. TheShow MoreRelatedRay Bradbury Once Said, â€Å"Collecting Facts Is Important.1517 Words   |  7 PagesRay Bradbury once said, â€Å"Collecting facts is important. Knowledge is important. But if you don t have an imagination to use the knowledge, civilization is nowhere† (www.brainyquote.com). This powerful quote said by the author of the novel, â€Å"Fahrenheit 451,† provides insight to the overlying problems found in the futuristic utopian society. Ray Bradbury is well known for his masterful use of words to fill his novels with theme. Do we, as readers, pick up on the many universal ideas, or themes, authorsRead MoreRay Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451934 Words   |  4 PagesWhile reading Ray Bradbury’s â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†, the events that took place with in the story caused others to unfold within a ‘domino like effect ‘, which went from a beginning to an end within the story. It is important to note not just how different situations within â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† occurred, but also what happened before the situation occurred and as well as to what happened following the situation. Coinciding with a dystopian setting, â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† goes through dynamic changes within the storyRead MoreEssay about Fahrenheit 451 as a Criticism of Censorship943 Words   |  4 PagesFahrenheit 451 as a Criticism of Censorship      Ã‚  Ã‚   Ray Bradbury criticizes the censorship of the early 1950s by displaying these same themes in a futuristic dystopia novel called Fahrenheit 451. In the early 1950s Ray Bradbury writes this novel as an extended version of The Fireman, a short story which first appears in Galaxy magazine. He tries to show the readers how terrible censorship and mindless conformity is by writing about this in his novel.    In Fahrenheit 451, BradburyRead MoreTechnology and Society in Fahrenheit 4511723 Words   |  7 PagesDo you  think  that  living in  a technical world would destroy society? Well, in Bradburys novel,  Fahrenheit 451, technology is very advanced and seems to get peoples attention. Youre not important. Youre not anything (Bradbury 163). Fahrenheit 451 is explained as a dystopian literature. Such literature portrays an imaginary world where misguided attempts to create a utopia, or a socially and politically perfect place, results in â€Å"large scale human misery. (Critique by Michael M. Levy) This quoteRead MoreEssay about Fahrenheit 451 - The Temperature at Which Books Burn957 Words   |  4 Pages Fahrenheit 451 - The Temperature at Which Books Burn nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, portrays censorship in the future through the fictional story of one man, Guy Montag, who undergoes an awakening by realizing the significance of his actions and the need to express the ideas that were bring oppressed by the future government. Guy Montag is a fireman who appears to be heartily supportive and contributive to the burningRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451829 Words   |  4 PagesThese were the shoes that every person had.You absolutely hated the shoes and they were too big for you, but you decided to get them because society is controlling and you knew that all of your friends would think they were cool.when you got to school you tripped in front of everyone and everybody laughed.Consequently You realized you shouldnt have let society control you.In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury thinking books were bad was just like the pair of shoes everyone thought that books were badRead MoreRay Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451976 Words   |  4 Pagesthat harped about playing with fire turned that very thing into my biggest fear. When I was younger, I had a repeating nightmare that my house would burn down in the middle of the night, and sometimes I would get stuck inside; other times I would escape and be purely mesmerized by both the danger and the beauty that the blaze held. This mesmerizing impression is brought to life in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury employs many different human associations and responses to fire throughoutRead MoreFahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury1661 Words   |  7 Pages1.) In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s view on life reverses. Two characters the influence the main character Guy Montag are the old lady whose house and books were burnt down and Mildred. The old lady was caught preserving books in her home. Firemen including Montag were ordered to burn the books. The old lady refu sed to leave her books, so she too was burned. She bravely gave an allusion as her last words, â€Å"Play the man,’ she said, ‘Master Ridley.’ Something, somethingRead MoreFahrenheit 451 Comparison Essay1698 Words   |  7 Pagesthat’s fighting for transgender rights as can be seen in the 21st century, or fighting to be considered a free man as can be seen in the 19th century. This fight can be seen throughout history books and literary classics such as Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. In Fahrenheit 451, the main character, Guy Montag is fighting against the technological revolution taking place in the 23rd century. He battles with a society full of censorship, where everyone is too caughtRead MoreEssay on Censoring the Pages of Knowledge1688 Words   |  7 Pagescould not read or own any books. How would you feel if you had someone burn your house because you have books hidden within the walls? One of the most pre valent themes in Ray Bradburys novel Fahrenheit 451 is the idea of censorship. In Bradburys fictional world, owning books is illegal. A firemans job is not putting out fires like one may assume. In Fahrenheit 451, a fireman has the job of starting fires. Firefighters start fires in homes containing books. If this were reality, there would be no

Internal Corporate Communication on Strategy Free Essays

Internal corporate communication on strategy and employee commitment International Business Communication Master’s thesis Michele Fenech 2013 Department of Communication Aalto University School of Business Powered by TCPDF (www. tcpdf. org) Internal corporate communication on strategy A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF and employee commitment EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF INTRA-COMMUNITY SUPPLIES Master? s Thesis Master’s thesis Katharina ele Fenech ? MichWeber 26. We will write a custom essay sample on Internal Corporate Communication on Strategy or any similar topic only for you Order Now 09. 2012 2013 Spring International Business International Business Communication Approved by the head of the Department of Management and International Business __. __. 20__ and awarded the grade ___________________ Approved in the Department of Communication / / 20 and awarded the grade AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS International Business Communication Mater’s Thesis Mich? le Fenech e ABSTRACT 02-02-2013 Internal corporate communication on strategy and employee commitment Objectives of the study This Master’s thesis had three objectives. The ? rst objective was to examine the employees’ needs and preferences of the case company’s internal communication channels, speci? ally internal corporate communication channels that convey the company’s corporate strategy. The second was to investigate success of the internal strategy (corporate) communication by analysing the employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge. The third was to research the relation between internal strategy (corporate) communication (ISCC) and employee commitment. Methodology and theoretical framework The research method was a single-case study and the data was collected using a background study, semi-structured interviews and a survey. The qualitative data was analysed and emerging patterns were identi? d, whereas the quantitative data was statistically analysed using the R programming environment. The theoretical framework presents how internal corporate communication conveys corporate strategy messages via rich and lean media, how the channel attributes affect employee preference and choice, and how the communication and interpretation of the strategy eventually result in commitment. Findings and conclusions of the study In the case company, top-down and primarily one-way internal corporate communication conveying strategy (ISCC) met the employees’ needs better than lateral and two-way internal strategy communication. The needs were recognised to include gaining strategy knowledge, gaining ability to use the knowledge, and reducing equivocality and uncertainty. Apart from the needs, the employees’ communication channel preferences and satisfaction seemed to be affected more with the channel accessibility and information quality attributes than with the richness of the channel. Internal strategy (corporate) communication (ISCC) was successful because the employees perceived to have corporate strategy knowledge. This strategy knowledge had a strong relationship with employee commitment, especially affective commitment. The main implication of this study was the recommendation that companies invest resources in internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), because it was preferred by the employees at the case company, it corresponded to their needs and it contributed to their affective commitment. Key words: international business communication, internal communication, internal corporate communication, strategy communication, communication channels, communication channel attributes, media richness, corporate strategy, employee commitment I AALTO-YLIOPISTON KAUPPAKORKEAKOULU Kansainv? lisen yritysviestinn? pro gradu -tutkielma a a Mich? le Fenech e Sis? inen strategiaviestint? ja ty? ntekij? iden sitoutuminen a a o o ? TIIVISTELMA 02. 02. 2013 Tutkimuksen tavoitteet T? ll? pro gradu -tutkielmalla oli kolme tavoitetta. Ensimm? inen tavoite oli tutkia ty? ntekij? iden a a a o o tarpeita ja n? kemyksi? sis? isen viestinn? n v? lineist? eritoten sellaisista sis? isen yritysviestinn? n a a a a a a a a v? lineist? , jotka v? litt? v? t yrityksen strategiaa. Toinen tavoite oli selvitt? a sis? isen strategiaa a a a a a? a viestinn? n (ISCC) onnistuminen analysoimalla ty? ntekij? iden n? kemys heid? n strategiatiedosa o o a a taan. Kolmas tavoite oli tutkia sis? isen strategiaviestinn? n (ISCC) ja ty? ntekij? iden sitoutumia a o o sen v? list? suhdetta. a a Tutkimusmenetelm? t ja teoreettinen viitekehys a Tutkimusmetodi on tapaustutkimus, ja aineisto ker? ttiin taustaselvityksell? , haastatteluilla ja a a kyselyll? . Kvalitatiivinen aineisto analysoitiin ja kategorisoitiin, kun taas kvantitatiivinen aia neisto analysoitiin tilastollisesti R-ohjelmistoymp? rist? ll? . Tutkielman teoreettinen viitekehys a o a n? ytt? a kuinka sis? inen yritysviestint? viestii strategiaa joko rikkaan tai niukan median kauta a? a a ta ty? ntekij? lle, kuinka v? lineiden ominaisuudet vaikuttavat ty? ntekij? iden mieltymyksiin ja o o a o o valintaan, ja kuinka viestint? ja strategian tulkitseminen lopulta johtavat ty? ntekij? iden sitoutua o o miseen. Tutkimuksen tulokset ja johtop? at? kset a? o Tapausyrityksen ty? ntekij? t pitiv? t parhaana vertikaalista ja enimm? kseen yksi-suuntaista sis? ist? o a a a a a yritysviestint? a, joka v? litti strategiaa (ISCC). Se t? ytti heid? n tarpeensa paremmin kuin hoa? a a a risontaalinen ja kaksi-suuntainen sis? inen strategiaviestint? . Tarpeiksi tunnistettiin strategiatiea a don saaminen, strategiatiedon k? tt? minen, ja moniselitteisyyden ja ep? varmuuden v? hent? minen. a a a a a Ty? ntekij? iden viestint? v? lineiden preferenssiin ja tyytyv? isyyteen n? ytti vaikuttavan enemm? n o o a a a a a v? lineiden k? ytett? vyys ja tiedon laatu kuin v? lineiden rikkaus. Sis? inen strategiaviestint? (ISCC) a a a a a a on onnistunut siin? ett? ty? ntekij? t kokevat, ett? he tiet? v? t yrityksen strategian. T? ll? stratea a o a a a a a a giatiedolla on vahva suhde ty? ntekij? iden sitoutumiseen, eritoten affektiiviseen sitoutumiseen. o o T? m? n tutkimuksen johtop? at? ksiin kuuluu, ett? yritysten pit? si investoida resursseja sis? iseen a a a? o a a a strategiaviestint? an (ISCC), sill? se on ty? ntekij? iden suosima, se vastaa heid? n tarpeisiinsa ja a? a o o a se vaikuttaa he id? n affektiiviseen sitoutumiseensa. a Avainsanat: kansainv? linen yritysviestint? , sis? inen viestint? , sis? inen yritysviestint? , stratea a a a a a giaviestint? , viestinn? n v? lineet, viestinn? n v? lineiden ominaisuudet, media rikkaus, yritys straa a a a a tegia, ty? ntekij? n sitoutuminen o a II Contents 1 Introduction 1. 1 Research objectives and questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Terminology of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. 3 Structure of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Review of Literature 2. 1 Internal communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 1 Internal communication matrix . . . . . . 2. 1. 2 Internal corporate communication . . . . 2. 2 Corporate strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 1 Strategy formation . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2 Strategy implementation . . . . . . . . . 2. 3 Communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 1 Media richness theory . . . . . . . . . . 2. . 2 Channel attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 4 Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 4. 1 Organisational Commitment . . . . . . . 2. 4. 2 Three-Component Model of Commitment 2. 5 Theoretical framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 6 8 9 9 13 15 18 19 23 30 32 41 43 46 50 55 61 61 62 63 64 66 66 72 80 83 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Methodology 3. 1 Research design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 1. 1 Exploratory and descriptive research purpose . . . 3. 1. 2 Quantitative and qualitative research strategy . . . 3. 1. 3 Case study method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2 Data collection and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2. 1 Background study, interview and survey techniques 3. 2. 2 Statistical data analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 3 Reliability and validity of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 III 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4 Description of the case company’s strategy and the internal communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 1 Description of the company’s generic corporate strategy . . . . . 4. 1. 2 Description of the company’s internal communication channels . Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 1 Strategy knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. Employees’ ability to apply corporate strategy . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 3 The quantity of strategy information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 1 Media richness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 2 Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 3 Information quality and channel accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 4 Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 5 Channel comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 6 ICC versus non-ICC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 7 ICC channels ful? l the employee needs to varying extent . . . . . Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 1 Affective, normative and continuance commitment . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 2 Strategy knowledge against commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 3 ICC channels and commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 84 86 89 90 93 94 96 97 102 106 107 109 112 113 116 117 119 122 125 125 127 128 129 130 5 Conclusions 5. 1 Research summary . . . . . . . 5. 2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 3 Practical implications . . . . . . 5. 4 Limitations of the study . . . . . 5. 5 Suggestions for further research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV List of Tables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Important terminology of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Internal Communication Matrix (Welch Jackson, 2007) . . . . . . . . Adjective-Pairs Used In Evaluating Communication Channels . . . . . Background material from case company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interview data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The stages of channel choice for the survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case study tactics for Four Design Tests (Adapted from Yin (2009, p. 41)) 7 14 4 2 67 68 70 81 Selected channels and their dimension of internal communication . . . . . 89 The employee channel preference comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 The top three employee channel preferences in terms of media richness and internal communication dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The employees’ ranking of channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 V List of Figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 The Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon Weaver, 1949) Internal Corporate Communication (Welch Jackson, 2007) . . . . . . . Types of Strategies (Mintzberg, 1978) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strategy Implementation, a link between planned and realizing strategy . Media Richness Hierarchy (Lengel Daft, 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media Selection Framework (Lengel Daft, 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . A Three-component Model of Organizational Commitment . . . . . . . . Th e Theoretical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A box plot with annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A box plot with outlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter plot without and with jitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter chart with Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter plot without and without outlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removal of outliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The correlation between Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework (Content) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge . . . . . . . . Ability to apply strategy against knowledge of the strategy . . . . . . Having enough strategy information against knowledge of the strategy The Theoretical Framewo rk (Media) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media richness attribute scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richness and Richness Adjusted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channel preference ranking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Information quality and channel accessibility scores . . . . . . . . . . The employees’ channel satisfaction scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ICC and non-ICC channel attribute comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework (Commitment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overall ACS, NCS and CCS results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commitment scales against Strategy Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . Knowledge affect commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 16 20 25 34 38 51 56 74 75 76 77 79 80 82 90 91 93 95 96 97 99 102 106 108 112 116 117 120 121 31 32 ACS, Strategy Knowledge and Employees’ perspective . . . . . . . . . . 122 The employees’ ? rst channel preference type with respect to strategy knowledge and ACS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 VII Chapter 1 Introduction In recent years, there has been a growing interest in internal communication in corporate communication research (Vercic, Vercic Sriramesh, 2012). Internal communication can be described as any â€Å"communication with employees internally within the organization† (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 164). Not only does internal communication enable companies to have information and knowledge sharing between employees (D. Tourish Hargie, 2004a) but it also satis? es and commits them (D. Tourish Hargie, 2000), and gives them a voice to speak up (Morrison Milliken, 2000). Internal communication is important, because it affects the bottom line of a company (Yates, 2006) and, quite simply, is a contributing factor to success (Argenti Forman, 2002; D. Tourish Hargie, 2004d). According to Welch and Jackson (2007), one of the recent internal communication theories is based on a stakeholder approach, where internal communication is divided into four interrelated dimensions according to identi? ed stakeholder groups: internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication, internal project peer communication and internal corporate communication. In their new approach to internal communication, Welch and Jackson (2007) concentrate on the fourth dimension, namely internal corporate communication. It is de? ned as â€Å"communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its in1 ernal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims. † (Welch Jackson, 2007, p. 193) The role of internal corporate communication is to convey corporate issues such as goals and objectives (Welch Jackson, 2007). The interna l corporate communication channels are mainly one-way channels, such as newsletters and the intranet. The aim of internal corporate communication is to reach four goals, which are belonging, commitment, awareness and understanding of the business environment. Welch and Jackson (2007) address speci? cally the formal and managed internal communication as opposed to the informal internal communication. Informal internal communication, also known as â€Å"grapevine†, includes the constant chat between people at work. The formal internal communication includes the managed company/work related communication. The new stakeholder approach to internal communication is important, because according to Welch and Jackson (2007), it broadens the previous approaches, which only looked at the employees as a single audience. The four internal communication dimensions give managers a tool to strategically communicate to different stakeholder groups within the company as well as to all employees at once. One of the corporate issues that internal communication conveys is strategy. Strategy has a multitude of de? nitions. Chandler (1962) created the basics for today’s typical strategy de? nition (Mintzberg, 1978; Mustonen, 2009), which is: â€Å"the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p. 3) Corporate strategy is important, because it aids the company to reach its long-term object2 ives and, therefore, affects the company’s long-term wealth (Al-Ghamdi, Roy Ahmed, 2007). After the corporate strategy has been formulated, it needs to be implemented, hence communicated, to the employees. The better the employees understand, acc ept and embrace the corporate strategy, the more successful the strategy communication is (Aaltonen Ik? valko, 2002). Understanding the strategy objectives and the signi? cance a of everyone’s contribution has an effect on the commitment and work motivation of the employees (H? ? l? inen Maula, 2004). a aa In spite of the wealth of research into strategy and strategy communication, there has been a call for more research on internal communication for more than a decade. For example, Argenti (1996, p. 94) points out that â€Å"no other corporate communication subfunction offers more of an opportunity for genuinely sought after research than employee [= internal] communication†. Even today, internal communication still calls for more research (Vercic et al. , 2012; Welch Jackson, 2007). Welch and Jackson (2007, p. 94) call for further research on â€Å"internal stakeholders’ [employees] needs and preferences for communication content and media† to improv e internal corporate communication. Since the internal corporate communication concept is new, there has been little if any research in a corporate strategy context. Furthermore, internal corporate communication and its ability to contribute to the four goals, namely belonging, commitment, awareness and understanding of the business environment, hasn’t been studied much either. 1. 1 Research objectives and questions This Master’s thesis has three purposes. The ? st purpose is to examine the employees’ needs and preferences of the company’s internal communication (IC) channels, speci? cally internal corporate communication (ICC) channels that convey the company’s corporate strategy. The second is to investigate the successfulness of the internal strategy communication (ISC), speci? cally internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), regarding the employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge. The third is to research the relation betw een internal strategy communication (ISC), focusing on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), and the employee’s commitment. The terminology 3 used in this study is described in Section 1. 2. Even though this study focuses primarily on the internal corporate communication (ICC) dimension, the other three internal communication dimensions, namely internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication, as well as the informal communication (non-ICC), are also taken into account in this study. This is because the other three dimensions are interrelated with the ICC dimension (Welch Jackson, 2007); and, because informal communication adds an often used channel. This study looks both at the general internal strategy communication (ISC), which includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal internal communication, and at Welch and Jackson’s (2007) more speci? c internal corporate communication conveying strategy (ISCC). Hereinafter, the general internal strategy communication (ISC) with the focus on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) is referred to as ‘internal strategy (corporate) communication’. Since, this study requires in-depth knowledge about a company’s internal strategy communication (ISC), it was deemed best to focus only on one company instead of looking at multiple companies. Also, since internal strategy communication (ISC) is con? dential, the case company prefers to stay anonymous. The chosen case company for this study is a Finnish daughter company of an international corporation. The daughter company is spread around Finland and has circa 350 employees. More information on the case company and the single case study method is presented in Section 3. . 3. The purpose of this study is transformed into one main and ? ve sub research questions. All of these research questions relate to the case company. The questions are as follows: Main research question: How does internal strategy communication, speci? cally internal strategy corporate communication, meet the employees’ needs and relate to employee commitment? Sub research questions: 4 1. What are th e employees’ internal strategy (corporate) communication channel preferences? 2. How do the channels meet the employees’ needs? 3. How much knowledge do the employees perceive to have regarding the corporate strategy gained through internal strategy (corporate) communication? 4. How committed are the employees? 5. What is the relation between their commitment and strategy knowledge gained through internal strategy (corporate) communication? The main research question studies how internal (corporate) communication conveying the corporate strategy meets the needs of the employees. Also, it studies whether the communication relates to the employees’ commitment towards the company. The ? e sub research questions are studying this main research problem more thoroughly. The ? rst and second sub research questions aim to identify what the employees’ internal strategy (corporate) communication channel preferences are and how the channels meet the employees’ needs. Internal communication media include different kinds of communication channels. On the one hand, it includes two-way internal communicati on channels such as performance appraisals, and on the other hand, it includes one-way internal corporate communication channels, such as newsletters and the intranet. The channel related needs will be identi? d from the literature. The emphasis in the ? rst and second sub questions is on the employees’ viewpoint on the channels and their characteristics. The third sub research question studies how much knowledge the employees perceive to have regarding the corporate strategy. It is assumed that strategy knowledge is gained and understood via several different ways, one of them being internal strategy (corporate) communication. The needs of the employees for internal strategy (corporate) communication are to receive the message, understand it, and gain the required strategy knowledge. The employees’ level of strategy knowledge and their ability to use this knowledge in their everyday work will help to determine whether the internal strategy (corporate) communication is effective and successful. The fourth and ? fth sub research questions investigate the commitment level of the case 5 company employees, and the relation between their commitment and their strategy knowledge. As has been discussed earlier, ICC leads to four goals, which are commitment, belonging, awareness and understanding of the business environment. Due to the scope restrictions in this study, only the ommitment goal is researched. The organisational commitment theory will be used to analyse how committed the employees are to the company. The gained strategy knowledge will be seen as a result of internal strategy (corporate) communication. Therefore, the employees’ strategy knowledge acts as a middleman in determining the relation between internal strategy corporate communication and the employees’ commitment. This Master’s thesis is well positioned in the research ? eld of International Business Communication, because this study is set in an international business setting researching communication. The Finnish case company is a subsidiary of a multinational company, with subsidiaries all over the world. There is close co-operation between the parent and subsidiary companies, providing an international setting for the business. This study explores internal strategy (corporate) communication in the ? eld of business. The speci? c interest is in the case company’s corporate strategy, how this company communicates the strategy to its employees, how the employees perceive the communication and whether the communication relates to their organisational commitment. 1. 2 Terminology of this study Since the ‘internal communication’, ‘internal corporate communication’ and ‘internal strategy corporate communication’ related concepts and terminology used in this study are very similar to each other, there is the potential for misunderstandings. In order to increase clarity of this study, a summary of the key terminology is provided. The terminology, the abbreviations and their descriptions are presented in Table 1. As can be seen in Table 1, the key terminology used in this study consists of variations about ‘internal communication’ and ‘strategy’. In each chapter, the ? rst time a term is mentioned, it is spelled out entirely with the abbreviation in brackets as a reminder. After 6 Table 1: Important terminology of this study Abbr. IC Description Terminology Internal communication Internal corporate communication ICC Formal non-ICC Internal line manager communication Internal project peer communication Internal team peer communication Informal Small talk, corridor chats ISC Overall internal communication happening in a company. Could be both one-way or two-way communication. Includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal communication Predominantly one-way communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its employees on corporate issues Other internal communication that is not ICC. It includes most two-way communication, formal and informal, on work related issues between all the employees (line manager to subordinate, employee to employee, project peer to project peer, team peer to team peer) of the company 7 ISCC Internal strategy communication Internal strategy corporate communication Formal Internal communication conveying strategy information in a company. Could be both one-way or two-way communication. Includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal communication Predominantly one-way communication on precisely the corporate strategy conveyed from the strategic managers to all the employees more or less simultaneously Internal strategy line manager communication Internal strategy project peer communication Internal strategy team peer communication Informal Strategy small talk, corridor chats Other internal communication on strategy that is not ISCC. It includes non-ISCC most two-way communication, formal or informal, on strategy between all the employees of the company that the abbreviation is usually used. However, in selected places, like Section 2. 1 on internal communication, the term ‘internal communication’ is spelled out instead of using the abbreviation IC in order to make the difference towards ICC more prominent. 1. 3 Structure of the thesis The four main sections in this Master’s thesis are the literature review, the methodology, the ? dings and discussion, and the conclusions. The literature review presents the most relevant literature for this study, including literature on internal communication, strategy, internal communication channels and commitment. The ? nal section of the literature review explains the theoretical framework of this study. The methodology chapter presents the research design, methods and data, and reliability of the study. The ? ndings and discussion chapter explains ? ndings on the internal strategy (corporate) communication channels, employee preferences and need ful? ment, employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge, and employees’ overall organisational commitment and its relation to the gained strategy knowledge. All of the ? ndings are discussed throughout this chapter. Finally, the conclusion chapter reviews the research summary, explains the practical implications of this research, presents the limitations of the study, and proposes suggestions for further research. 8 Chapter 2 Review of Literature This chapter will review literature that is relevant to this Master’s thesis. All of the sections in this chapter ? st review more general literature on the topic at hand and then dive into the more speci? c theory or model that is of relevance to this study. The ? rst section presents research related to internal communication in general and, more speci? cally, to the internal communication matrix and the internal corporate communication (ICC) concept. The second section addresses the formulation and implementation of strategy. The third section highlights communication channels, in general, and then more speci? cally focuses on the media richness theory and communication channel attributes. The fourth section elaborates on commitment, organisational commitment and the threecomponent model of commitment. The last section presents the theoretical framework of this study. 2. 1 Internal communication The word communication is based on the Latin words â€Å"communis† and â€Å"communicare† (Wiio, 1977). â€Å"Communis† means sharing in common and â€Å"communicare† means to make common, hence communication is something that is being done together (Wiio, 9 1977). Wiio (1970) de? nes communication simply as the exchange of information between the sender and the receiver. One of the earliest ways to describe communication is the Shannon-Weaver model of communication, which includes more elements than just the sender and the receiver (Shannon Weaver, 1949). This model is presented in Figure 1. Transmitter Information message (Encoder) Source signal Channel Noise Source received signal Receiver (Decoder) message Destination Figure 1: The Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon Weaver, 1949) In Figure 1 the sender encodes a message, transmits it via a channel to the receiver who decodes the message. Along the way there is noise, which refers to any disturbance that could affect the reception of the message (Shannon Weaver, 1949). What makes this communication successful, according to Al-Ghamdi et al. (2007), is that the information transferred from the sender to the receiver is understood by the receiver. For a long time now, it has been recognised that the Shannon-Weaver model of communication is outdated because it cannot fully grasp the complex process of human communication, nevertheless, it is one of the best known models (Bowman Targowski, 1987). It is important to note that communication can be both internal and external (Cornelissen, 2011). Traditionally it was easy to distinguish between the internal communication between the employees in a company and the external communication to, for instance, customers. Nowadays, however, with the arrival of technology and new communication tools (e-mail, intranet, videos, online newsletters) the borders between internal and external communication have become fuzzy (Cornelissen, 2011). For the purpose of this study, it is assumed that internal communication can exist as its own concept separate from external communication. This study will only focus on the internal aspects of communication. Internal communication is important because it helps to share information and know10 ledge with everyone at the company (D. Tourish Hargie, 2004a). It informs (Smith, 2008), satis? es and commits the employees (D. Tourish Hargie, 2000), as well as, engages them (Kress, 2005) and gives them a voice to speak up (Morrison Milliken, 2000). Especially in today’s rapidly changing business world, with all the downsizing, outsourcing and restructuring, internal communication is important (Vercic et al. 2012). It has emerged as a critical function, because organisational leaders need better management skills in regards to employees (Vercic et al. , 2012). Welch and Jackson (2007) argue that internal communication, speci? cally ICC, explained in Subsection 2. 1. 2, leads to commitment, and commitment leads to better performance (Meyer Allen, 1991) and, therefore, internal communication is crucial for business succe ss. It is the key to good management (Jay, 2005) and it produces better results (Smith, 2008). Internal communication affects the bottom line of a company, by decreasing employee turnover and increasing market premiums, shareholder returns and employee engagement (Yates, 2006), therefore, leading to success (Argenti Forman, 2002; D. Tourish Hargie, 2004d). The growing importance of internal communication is visible in many initiatives, for instance, the setting up of the Institute of internal communication in the UK, with the aim of understanding and studying the ? eld (Vercic et al. , 2012). Already in the 6th century St. Benedict said: â€Å"Smaller organisational decisions should be taken by senior individuals, but large ones should be decided as a group. Everyone’s voice must be heard to avoid murmurs and back-biting† (Smith, 2008, p. 10), which indicates that internal communication has existed for a long time and it is not only a phenomenon of today’s business world (Smith, 2008). Although the actual practice of internal communication has probably existed for quite some time, the concept itself is relatively new, having started in the US and spread from there to Europe (Vercic et al. , 2012) in the 20th century (Clutterbuck, 1997; Smith, 2008). Even though internal communication has been studied directly or indirectly by many researchers such as Argenti (1996); J. Grunig and Hunt (1984); Jefkins (1988); Kalla (2005); Quirke (2000); Smith (2008); Stone (1995); D. Tourish and Hargie (2004b); Wiio (1970); Wright (1995); Yates (2006), there has been a considerable gap in the academic research and understanding of internal communication (Welch Jackson, 2007). This is highlighted with the following quote. â€Å"no other corporate communication subfunction offers more of an opportunity for genuinely sought after research than employee [= internal] communic11 ation† (Argenti, 1996, p. 4) It is dif? cult to de? ne internal communication because it has several, often interchangeably used, synonyms such as change management (Smith, 2008), employee communication (Argenti, 1996; Smidts, Pruyn Van Riel, 2001), employee relations (Argenti, 1996; J. Grunig Hunt, 1984; Quirke, 2000), integrated internal communications (Kalla, 2005 ), internal public relations (Jefkins, 1988; Wright, 1995), internal relations (J. Grunig Hunt, 1984), industrial relations (Smith, 2008), reputation management (Smith, 2008), staff communication (Stone, 1995), staff communications (D. Tourish Hargie, 2004b) and transformation (Smith, 2008). These synonyms add to the complexity of de? ning internal communication. The term internal communication has been chosen for this study due to the interest in Welch and Jackson’s (2007) ICC concept; for details see Subsection 2. 1. 2. In addition, the term internal communication is preferred by corporate communication theorists such as Van Riel (1995) and J. Foreman and Argenti (2005). There have been very few useful and appropriate de? nitions of internal communication. De? nitions have either been very simple, for example â€Å"communication with employees internally within the organization† (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 64), or describing something else entirely. For example, a very widely used de? nition of internal communication is that of Frank and Brownell (1989), which more accurately seems to be a de? nition of organisational communication instead of internal communication (Welch Jackson, 2007). â€Å"the communications transactions between individuals and/or groups at various levels and in different areas of specialisation that are intended to design and redesign organisations, to implement designs, and to co-ordinate day-today activities† (Frank Brownell, 1989, p. -6) Appropriately, Welch and Jackson (2007) addressed this gap in the academic research and understanding of internal communication and rede? ned internal communication. Welch and Jackson’s (2007) de? nition is adopted for this study, because of the interest in ICC 12 speci? cally. The de? nition is presented below. â€Å"the strategic management of interactions and relationships between stakeholders 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† (Welch Jackson, 2007, p. 84) This section continues by explaining Welch and Jackson’s (2007) internal communication matrix with its four fo rmal internal communication dimensions in Subsection 2. 1. 1. Then, Subsection 2. 1. 2 de? nes the internal corporate communication concept and its four goals (Welch Jackson, 2007). 2. 1. 1 Internal communication matrix The internal communication matrix created by Welch and Jackson (2007) consists of four formal internal communication dimensions, which are the earlier mentioned internal corporate communication (ICC), internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication. The internal communication matrix helps to separate the ICC dimension from the other internal communication dimensions. Welch and Jackson (2007) take a stakeholder approach to internal communication. This is done in order to address the criticism and recent calls for research. L’Etang (2005, p. 522) criticises that â€Å"employees are too often treated as a single public† with respect to internal communication in a company. In addition, Forman and Argenti (2005) call for more research on employees as the target audience of internal communication. Welch and Jackson (2007) address these issues by differentiating stakeholder groups at the company, while at the same time still focusing on communication that reaches all the employees. Hence, Welch and Jackson (2007) take a stakeholder approach to internal communication. 13 According to Freeman (1984, p. 25), a stakeholder is: â€Å"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the ? rm’s objectives†. Stakeholder theory, together with internal communication, add to the identi? ation of participants that form stakeholder groups at different organisational levels: all employees, strategic management, day-to-day management, work teams and project teams (Welch Jackson, 2007). This implies the earlier mentioned four interrelated dimensions of internal communication (Welch Jackson, 2007). These four internal communication dimensions in a management context form the internal communication matrix, which is visible in Table 2. Table 2: Internal Communication Matrix (Welch Jackson, 2007) Dimension 1. Internal line management communication 2. Internal team peer communication 3. Internal project peer communication 4. Internal corporate communication Level Line managers/ supervisors Team colleagues Project group colleagues Strategic managers/ top management Direction Predominantly two-way Two-way Two-way Predominantly one-way Participants Line managersemployees Employeeemployee Employeeemployee Strategic managers-all employees Content Employees’ roles Personal impact, e. g. appraisal discussions, team brie? ngs Team information, e. g. team task discussions Project information, e. g. project issues Organisational/ corporate issues, e. . goals, objectives, new developments, activities and achievements As Table 2 shows, the four dimensions of internal communication are followed by the organisational level, the direction, participants and content of the internal communication, respectively. The level, direction, participants and content of the internal communication differ according to the internal stakeholder group in q uestion. The ? rst dimension, internal line manager communication, is between the line managers and the employees of a company at the line manager/supervisor level. This communication is mainly two-way, between superior and subordinate with the content being, for instance, about employee roles (Welch Jackson, 2007). The second dimension, internal team peer communication, is two-way communication between team members, employee to employee, with the content being team information (Welch Jackson, 2007). The third dimension, internal project peer communication, is two-way communication between project peers, employee to employee, with the content being project informa14 tion. The difference here between a team and a project is that teams are work teams in departments and divisions while projects have a wider scope with dispersed teams (Welch Jackson, 2007). The fourth dimension, ICC, is strategic one way communication from the strategic managers/top management of the company to all employees. This communication deals with corporate issues such as goals, objectives and achievements (Welch Jackson, 2007). Internal line, team peer and project peer communication have been considerably researched by J. Grunig et al. (1992). Therefore, the focus of this study will be on ICC, which has been largely ignored to date. 2. 1. 2 Internal corporate communication The internal corporate communication (ICC) concept developed by Welch and Jackson (2007) is communication between the strategic top of the company and the rest of the company. It focuses on all the employees and, therefore, ? lls an existing void in research (Forman Argenti, 2005). Internal corporate communication is predominantly oneway and includes issues such as company goals and objectives. The concept of ICC is presented in Figure 2, with the de? ition of ICC being: â€Å"communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its internal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims† (Welch Jackson, 2007, p. 186) Figure 2 shows that the strategic managers, who are situated in the circle in the middle o f Figure 2, send corporate messages, shown as arrows in Figure 2, to all the company employees, who are situated in the circle depicting internal environment. Figure 2 also points out that internal corporate communication, where the strategic managers are sending corporate messages to the employees, leads to four goals, which are visible in the thick one-way arrows: commitment, awareness, belonging and understanding. In addition, there are four smaller double headed arrows between the internal environment and the external micro environment. These arrows imply two-way communication, which ex15 External MacroEnvironment Employees Commitment External MicroEnvironment Corporate Messages Understanding Strategic managers Awareness Belonging Employees Internal Environment Figure 2: Internal Corporate Communication (Welch Jackson, 2007) ists in the other three internal communication dimensions: internal manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication. Finally, there is also an external macro environment in Figure 2. The double headed arrows in Figure 2 show that even though the main messages are predominantly one way, the strategic managers are still getting feedback and information from their employees in other ways, for instance, through internal team peer communication (Welch Jackson, 2007). Welch and Jackson (2007) note that the one-wayness of the internal corporate communication concept can be criticised; however, it would be unrealistic to assume that the company could have face-to-face discussion with every single employee on every issue at hand. Therefore, it is important that the messages sent from the top are consistent and this could be done with mediated means of communication (e. g. external news release, corporate television advertisement, corporate web site, internal newsletter). Internal mediated communication can be considered symmetrical: â€Å"if 16 its content meets the employees’ need to know rather than the management’s need to tell† (L. Grunig, Grunig Dozier, 2002, p. 487). The channels of ICC are a focus in this study, which is to answer the call for further research highlighted in the following quote. â€Å"Research into employee preferences for channel and content of internal corporate communication is required to ensure it meets employees’ needs† (Welch Jackson, 2007, p. 87) The aforementioned goals of the ICC concept are to increase commitment of the employees to the organisation, develop their awareness of the environmental change, increase their belonging to the company and develop their understanding of the changing objectives. Out of these four goals the commitment goal is of speci? c interest to this study. Commitment is like a positive attitude among employees (De Ridder, 2004; Meyer Allen, 1997; Mowday , Porter Steers, 1982) and a degree of loyalty towards an organisation (Welch Jackson, 2007). It is de? ned as â€Å"the relative strength of an individual’s identi? cation with, and involvement in, a particular organisation† (Mowday, Steers Porter, 1979, p. 226). Meyer and Allen (1997) identify three types of workplace commitment, namely affective, continuance and normative. Since the concept of commitment and Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three types of commitment are relevant for this Master’s thesis, they will be further reviewed in Section 2. 4. Belonging is described by Cornelissen (2004, p. 8) as â€Å"a ‘we’ feeling [–] allowing people to identify with their organizations†. Internal communication has an effect on this degree of identi? cation (Smidts et al. , 2001, p. 1052). The need to belong is a strong motivator for people (Baumeister Leary, 1995). Therefore, it has to be remembered that organisations could use a persuasive strategy to in? uence the employees (Cheney, 1983) or even use internal communication as a tool to try to manipulate employees (Moloney, 2000). Due to this Welch and Jackson (2007) point out that ICC has an ethical aspect. It is important for the employees to be aware of the environmental change, and understand how it impacts the organisation (Welch Jackson, 2007), because the organisational environment is dynamic. This dynamic environment has three levels, namely macro, micro 17 and internal (Palmer Hartley, 2002), which are also shown in Figure 2. These environments are subject to change, and change in the business world has been substantial in the past years for instance due to technology (Cornelissen, 2004). Due to these environmental changes and the implications they could mean, it is vital for the employees to be aware and understand the change (Welch Jackson, 2007). In addition, to just plainly communicating the current situation of the organisation to the employees, the organisation should even communicate about the external opportunities and threats of the company. Effective internal corporate communication should enable employees to understand the constant changes the company is going through (Welch Jackson, 2007), thus reducing employees’ uncertainty. In sum, ICC is of speci? interest in this study, because it hasn’t yet been extensively researched. Internal communication is important for companies, because it contributes to their success (Argenti Forman, 2002; D. Tourish Hargie, 2004d). When a stakeholder approach is taken, internal communication can be divided into four interrelated dimensions (Welch Jackson, 2007). These dimensions together form the internal communication matrix (Welch Jackson, 2007). Out of these four dimensions ICC is the strategic top addressing all the employees simultaneously about the company goals and objectives (Welch Jackson, 2007). The goals of the ICC include giving the employees a feeling of belonging and commitment, as well as raising the employees’ awareness and understanding of the company’s changing environment (Welch Jackson, 2007). 2. 2 Corporate strategy Corporate strategy is important, because it aids the company to reach its long-term objectives and, therefore, affects the company’s long-term wealth (Al-Ghamdi et al. , 2007). Understanding these objectives and the signi? cance of everyone’s contribution has an effect on the commitment and work motivation of the employees (H? m? l? nen Maula, 2004), a aa which is a contributing factor to an effective company (Koch, Radvansk? Sklen? r, y a 2011). 18 The origin of the word strategy comes from the Greek word â€Å"strategos†, â€Å"a general† (Bracker, 1980, p. 219), referring to skills of warfare (Cummings, 1993; Lahti, 2008). Furthermore, the Greek verb â€Å"stratego† stands for †plan[ning] the destruction of one’s enemies through effective use of resources† (Bracker, 1980, p. 219). The word strategy was originally linked to war and politics, and only after World War II was there a need to link the word to business (Bracker, 1980). The ? rst ones to connect the strategy concept to business were Von Neumann and Morgenstern with their game theory (Bracker, 1980), where strategy is the set of rules that players follow (Mintzberg, 1978). Chandler (1962) created the basics for today’s typical strategy de? nition (Mintzberg, 1978; Mustonen, 2009): †the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p. 13) Bracker (1980, p. 221) sums up many of the strategy de? itions to: â€Å"entails the analysis of internal and external environments of a ? rm to maximize the utilization of resources in relation to objectives†. Strategy quite simply put is a †plan† (Mintzberg, 1978, p. 935). This section continues by explaining the strategy formation with Mintzberg’s (1978) theory and a brief review on vision and mission related resear ch in Subsection 2. 2. 1. Then, the strategy implementation is explained in Subsection 2. 2. 2. Issues covered include the importance of the implementation process, the de? nition, Aaltonen and Ik? alko’s (2002) a theory, the importance of managers in the process, some practical issues and the dif? culties of strategy implementation. Finally, the subtle difference between internal strategy communication (ISC) and internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) is discussed. 2. 2. 1 Strategy formation The strategy process starts with the company’s corporate strategy formation. Mintzberg’s (1978) theory is one of the many theories that explains the theoretical strategy formation. 19 A more practical view of strategy formation is found in research on vision and mission statements. Mintzberg’s (1978) theory Mintzberg (1978) developed a strategy formation theory, where there are two kinds of strategies, the intended and the realised. According to Mintzberg (1978), in the mainly theoretical strategy formation research, the majority of strategy de? nitions have one thing in common: they are a deliberate set of guidelines that determine future decisions. This type of a strategy is called an intended strategy, and it has the following three characteristics (Mintzberg, 1978). First, it is explicit. Second, it is created purposefully and consciously; and third, it is made in advance to help decision-making. Opposite to the intended strategy is the realised strategy, which is the actual strategy that is put into action. In order to expand the strategy formation research, Mintzberg (1978, p. 935) de? nes strategy as â€Å"a pattern in a stream of decisions†. He then claims that these two kinds of strategies, intended and realised, can be combined in three different ways, resulting in ? ve types of strategies, namely the intended, unrealised, deliberate, emergent and realised. These ? ve types of strategies and their relations are presented in Figure 3. Intended Strategy Unrealized Strategy Deliberate Strategy Realized Strategy Emergent Strategy Figure 3: Types of Strategies (Mintzberg, 1978) As can be seen in Figure 3, the intended strategy is to the left implying a starting point, and the realised strategy is to the right implying an end result. Mintzberg (1978) reasons that the intended and the realised strategy, at least theoretically, can be combined in the following three ways. First, intended strategies that get realised without anything left 20 out or added are called deliberate strategies. Second, intended strategies that do not get realised are called unrealised strategies. This could be caused by issues such as unrealistic expectations. Third, unintended strategies that get realised are called emergent strategies. These could develop over time, unintended, out of a pattern of continuous decisional behaviour. Mintzberg and Waters (1985) suggest that for a strategy to realise itself exactly as it was planned, three conditions need to be met. First, the strategy needs to be planned in detail, in a way that it can be communicated clearly. Second, everyone in the company needs to know it. Third, the strategy implementation is not in? uenced from outside of the company (Mintzberg Waters, 1985). At least two out of these three conditions need communication, which emphasizes the role that communication plays in the strategy process, especially in the implementation, which is presented in Subsection 2. 2. 2. Vision and mission Vision and mission have been recognised as a part of the more practical view on the strategy formulation process for all types of organisations (Darbi, 2010; David, 1989). However, David (1989) argues that the strategy formulation process consists of not only the creation of the vision and mission statement, but also of the SWOT-analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and the identi? ation of the long-term objectives, to name a few. H? m? l? inen and Maula (2004) point out that it is common practice that a aa companies de? ne at least vision, mission, strategy (a more limited concept, not to be confused with the main corporate strategy) and value statements during their strategy process. These four components could be seen as the most central operational guidelines of a company (H? m? l? inen Maula, 2004). a aa Vision and mission statements are important, because they in? uence strategy and organisational performance (Darbi, 2010). Vision and mission statements give direction and clarity to the employees; and create a common sense of purpose (Campbell, 1997; Ireland Hirc, 1992; Klemm, Sanderson Luffman, 1991; Matejka, Kurke Gregory, 1993; Mullane, 2002). In addition, these statements also motivate (Ireland Hirc, 21 1992), shape behaviours (Collins Porras, 1991), develop commitment (Klemm et al. , 1991) and ? nally in? uence employee performance positively (Mullane, 2002). Vision describes the desired future state of a company (Darbi, 2010; H? m? l? inen a aa Maula, 2004). The content and length of this description may differ (Darbi, 2010). In addition, G. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) argue that the vision should show how the company produces value for its stakeholders. A vision gives strategic direction to a company and, furthermore, is the foundation for the mission and other related goals (Darbi, 2010). â€Å"Vision statements are supposed to be challenging and ambitious yet workable enough to evoke employees’ ingenuity as far as its realisation is concerned† (Darbi, 2010, p. 96) A mission is the company’s current purpose (Darbi, 2010; H? m? l? inen Maula, 2004). aa It answers the question: â€Å"what is our business? † (David, 2009, p. 85), and expresses the corporate strategy in terms of scope and value creation (David, 2009). The mission should convey the company’s strategic direction to the stakeholders (Bartkus, Glassman McAfee, 2004). Hence the company should identify the most important stakehold ers in their mission statement and assure that their needs are met (Mullane, 2002). The mission should speci? cally correspond to the values and expectations of the stakeholders (Darbi, 2010). The last two corporate strategy components presented are values and strategy. Values refer to the company embraced principles (H? m? l? inen Maula, 2004). Strategy shows a aa how the company is going to achieve its vision and mission (H? m? l? inen Maula, 2004). a aa This type of strategy is a more limited concept in the whole big corporate strategy process, and its purpose seems to be to show a practical way to reach the goals. It seems to be rather confusing to have two separate concepts named the same, which de? nitely can be seen as a problem in the strategy implementation phase. This could potentially be solved by renaming the more limited strategy concept as something else. However, the word strategy has also many other meanings (Jones, 2008), and it has become a synonym for 22 different words. For instance, strategy could refer to a plan, a position, a purpose or a long term view (Jones, 2008) and in the adjective form of â€Å"strategic† even important or signi? cant (Alvesson, 2002). There is some criticism in regards to the usefulness and bene? ts of these vision and mission statements (Simpson, 1994). In terms of the content, for instance Simpson (1994) and Goett (1997) note that the majority of these vision and mission statements sound very general and are â€Å"rarely useful† (Goett, 1997, p. ). Hussey (1998) notes that there are semantic problems with vision and mission, therefore what someone thinks of as a vision, another one would say is a mission. Jones (2008) points out that the terms vision and mission have as many de? nitions as people want to give them and they are very overused. Collins and Porras (1999) go a step further and indicate that vision is one of the most overused words in the English language; it is also the least understood. In addition to the criticism against the content, there is also criticism against the process of formulating the vision and mission. Mullane (2002) noted that it is not really the content itself but rather the process of formulating the vision and mission, and how they are then implemented. These statements are seen as top management’s compulsory work that will inevitably end in the employees’ desk drawers or walls, forgotten. So, are the vision and mission statements useful after all? Well, the literature that supports the usefulness and relevance does outweigh the opposite literature (Darbi, 2010), implying that the vision and mission statements are useful. However, the problem of not everyone knowing and understanding the vision and mission statements remains, and should be addressed with a well thought-out strategy implementation, which takes this into consideration. 2. 2. 2 Strategy implementation It is not enough if only the top management knows about the corporate strategy; it also needs the employees embracing the parts of the strategy that affect their work (H? m? l? inen a aa Maula, 2004). Therefore, a successful strategy implementation is vital for any com23 pany (Aaltonen Ik? alko, 2002). Strategy communication, being a major part of a strategy implementation, is important, because it is essential to operational ef? ciency of a company (Kagan, 2004; Roy, 2001). The more successful the strategy communication (Aaltonen Ik? valko, 2002), the better the employees understand, accept and a embrace the corporate strategy and, hence, the more successful the strategy implementation. H? m? l? inen and Maula (2004) concluded from Juho lin’s (1999) work that strategy a aa communication also increases work satisfaction. Strategy communication does not only affect culture, general well-being and performance, but when it is missing, there might be moral problems and weaker performance (Kazoleas Wright, 2001). In H? m? l? inen and Maula’s (2004) viewpoint strategy implementation means those cona aa crete choices and decisions that employees do everyday at work. Noble (1999, p. 120) de? nes strategy implementation â€Å"as the communication, interpretation, adoption, and enactment of strategic plans†. Communicating strategy to the employees is a central part of strategy implementation (Alexander, 1985; Noble, 1999; Roy, 2001). Strategy communication, as part of the strategy implementation process, is both written and oral communication about the corporate strategy. It is usually communicated in a top-down direction (Aaltonen Ik? valko, 2002). The communication is about the responsibilita ies and tasks the employees need to know so that they can ful? l the corporate strategy (Alexander, 1991). Naturally, a strategy might need to be communicated to other stakeholder groups as well, such as customers, suppliers, partners, analysts, media, authorities, local community, NGO’s and competitors (H? m? l? inen Maula, 2004). Steckel (2000) even points out a aa that companies commonly communicate the strategy to partners and customers and forget the employees. However, in this study the emphasis is put on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) and, therefore, the only receivers considered are the employees of a company. Aaltonen and Ik? valko (2002) developed a strategy implementation theory based on earlier a research (Mintzberg, 1978; Noble, 1999; Pettigrew, 1987). They adopted the strategy formation theory from Mintzberg (1978) and the strategy implementation components from Noble (1999). Aaltonen and Ik? valko’s (2002) strategy implementation theory is a presented in Figure 4. 24 vision planned strategy Strategy implementation: communication interpretation and adoption actions realizing strategy Figure 4: Strategy Implementation as a link between How to cite Internal Corporate Communication on Strategy, Papers