This summary is provided by the IPR Organizational Communication Research Center.
Dr. Cornelia Wolf and colleagues conducted research on the role and need for strategic internal communication in startup environments.
A review of 25 journal articles focused on strategic communication, business management, and entrepreneurship was conducted between January 2010 and June 2020. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted from June to August 2020.
Key findings include:
1.) In startup environments, internal communication tended to encourage back-and-forth discussion and fostered open ideas and thoughts.
2.) Internal communication went hand-in-hand with internal growth.
3.) Feedback from employees was often not systematically evaluated.
— There were no tools in place to measure or organize employee feedback, resulting in a lack of internal communication strategy.
4.) Organizations were constantly in flux and undergoing changes and it was crucial to avoid adhering too strictly to old routines or ways of doing things.
— Growth required flexibility and adaptation.
Find the original study here.
