White paper: Improving internal communications in organizations with enterprise collaboration networks.

Introduction

In 2022, the Air Force survived an email storm that interrupted their work worldwide (Ropek, 2022). A clerical employee at an Air Force base in Germany accidentally copied every email recipient in the military branch requesting help with a small technical matter. People began using the reply all feature with snarky comments, angry retorts, and requests to stop using reply all. This embarrassing situation is something many large organizations have had to deal with and is referred to as an "email storm" or a "replyallcalypse" (Ropek, 2022).

Internal digital communication is essential for workers to be productive, but the unstructured workflow of email can help and hurt organizations (Newport, 2016). Miscommunication within teams can cost companies around $26 thousand per worker's errors, misunderstandings, or misinformation (Grossman, 2011). Those figures were calculated from surveys of companies in the U.S. and the U.K. back in 2011, which means costs could be even higher today.

This paper aims to improve internal organizational communication by replacing internal digital conversations with enterprise collaboration networks (ECNs). Email has decreased the quality of dialogue between workers, which is important because it is the most used form of communication. Employees who work at different times or in separate locations rely on asynchronous communication methods to get work done, and email is very convenient. Companies that have begun using enterprise collaboration networks (ECNs) have seen around 30% improvement in their teams' productivity, and it has proven to be successful at reducing miscommunication (Leonardi & Neely, 2021; Slack, n.d.). A study with a financial firm tracked workers who used the enterprise social network Jive-n for six months and found that workers became more productive by using the internal networking tool to find other workers with the necessary skills needed for projects (Leonardi & Neely, 2021).

In looking at the teams who are excellent communicators, seven elements were present among them: knowledge sharing, problem-solving, timely communication, situational awareness, transparency, frequent messaging, and concise messaging (Kim, Giannitrapani, Huynh, Ganz, Hamilton, Yano, Rubenstein & Stockdale, 2019). The best way to improve internal communication is by increasing face-to-face conversations (White, Vanc & Stafford, 2010), but our busy work schedules make that nearly impossible. Managers typically rely on traditional methods of improving communication but need help with distributed workers (Fay, 2011). Co-located workers use impromptu, informal conversations to build trust and integrate with the company culture, which many remote employees do not experience (Fay, 2011).

Co-workers who know each other well may understand a sarcastic comment or joke in an email, but if it gets shared beyond the original receiver, others may read that same comment and feel offended (Kruger, Epley, Parker & Zhi-Wen, 2005). An engineer who writes a report in haste to their supervisor may not realize an error will quickly arrive at the inbox of a CEO or other high-level executive who makes decisions based on what they read (Mathes & Stevenson, 1991). Additional information could help avoid these situations through non-verbal cues, graphics, or instantaneous feedback in meetings (Newport, 2016).

The ease of sending off emails has led to complicated communication within teams as people hastily send messages vertically, horizontally, and externally (Newport, 2016). Email has also become redundant as managers try to keep track of who knows what or forward emails that have already been sent to everyone (White et al., 2010). Although increased communication can be beneficial, the unstructured flow has led to headaches and embarrassment for many people and needs to be addressed (Newport, 2016).

Background information and the problem

Many people do not think too much about internal communication but assume they know a lot about it since they do it all the time (Jakubiec, 2019). Internal communication is more than just sending emails, attending meetings, and water cooler chats; It is about passing information to employees, building a system of values, and creating an ideology of changes that boosts employees' loyalty and awareness (Jakubiec, 2019). Managers who communicate well will keep employees informed of relevant information while always choosing the correct communication channels and setting the expectations for frequency and formality that reflect the company culture (Jakubiec, 2019).

Organizations with solid communication networks typically outperform other companies because they can respond to changes rapidly (Rapert, Velliquette, & Garretson, 2002). Frequency of communication allows managers to keep employees updated on strategic goals to remain situationally aware, and unrestricted feedback lets managers know when the message is not clear enough (Rapert et al., 2002). If employees know they can easily reach out to leaders or their peers for more information, it demonstrates that the organization values open communication (Rapert et al., 2002). Unread emails or lack of replies leave workers feeling ignored and left out, so leaders need to let others know that a lack of response should not be taken personally (Zucker, 2021).

Companies with formal and informal communication channels do better at implementing strategic goals (Rapert et al., 2002). Informal channels typically discuss business and personal matters, which helps teams understand each other better and leads to trust (Rapert et al., 2002). Peer communication also allows employees to share their thoughts on current business affairs, including how to achieve those goals best and giving them a sense of belonging (Rapert et al., 2002).

When email was first introduced fifty years ago, I.T. technicians thought employees would transfer their current communication to this method, but servers were immediately overwhelmed by the constant exchange of messages (Newport, 2016). Employees had to continuously follow up with confusing emails as they learned to communicate digitally, which led to more miscommunication, wasted productivity, overwhelmed inboxes, and a new way for employees to lose trust in each other (Newport, 2016). Email users might spend up to two hours daily managing their inboxes, sometimes ignoring older messages to stay on top of what is due (Addas & Pinsonneault, 2018).

Many assume that traditional means of talking to co-workers can easily transition to email but fail to realize that non-verbal cues cannot be transmitted in the written word (Kruger et al., 2005). Email authors anchor their perspectives and egos into their writing, assuming the reader will hear the same inflections or tones of the writer's internal voice (Kruger et al., 2005). A study where participants drummed out a song by tapping their fingers for listeners and assumed 50% would be able to guess the song demonstrated how ego bias works (Kruger et al., 2005). The listeners could only correctly guess the song at a 3% success rate, which astonished drummers who could imagine all the melodies within their heads as they played (Kruger et al., 2005).

Transparency in communication is essential to make sure everyone is situationally aware of the work being done and how it relates to a company's strategic goals (Jakubiec, 2019). The use of carbon copy (cc) or blind carbon copy (bcc) in emails was intended to be a way to keep others included in conversations for situational awareness (McGlauflin & Abrams, n.d.). Blind carbon copy began to get co-workers in trouble or allow managers to gain a glimpse of conversations without others knowing (McGlauflin & Abrams, n.d.). This method reduces trust between co-workers and makes them much more hesitant to put more information in emails (Haesevoets, De Cremer, Schutter, McGuire, Yang, Jian & Alain, 2019). Workers who were required to copy managers on all emails felt it was too much oversight, but managers thought it provided a way to keep the company ethical through transparency (Haesevoets et al., 2019).

Email was revolutionary because it allowed people to communicate more asynchronously, but it led to too much communication. People get overwhelmed by receiving irrelevant emails, insulted from not getting a reply quickly, or annoyed with workers who use reply-all. When looking at the seven elements of good internal communication, email allows knowledge sharing but not in a timely manner. Copying other recipients increases transparency but destroys trust. Messages may not be concise enough or sent to the right people, leading to hastily read or ignored emails. Teams need a new digital application if they want to improve internal communication.

Solution

Social media began in the 1990s as a way for more personal engagement online instead of business or academic purposes (Lipshultz, 2021). It revolutionized how people communicate online, much like email did, as people began openly chatting with strangers and felt free to share personal information publicly (Lipshultz, 2021). Users enjoyed crafting online identities through profiles and sharing their interests (Lipshultz, 2021).

Social media also creates communities in which people choose to participate. As users click on “like” or hearts to social posts, algorithms keep users engaged by suggesting other similar topics that viewers may appreciate. This keeps users excited to participate as the content remains relevant and exciting to them. Social media platform X provides automatic translations, so users meet others worldwide with similar interests, breaking down national borders and language barriers. Two-thirds of Americans admit to gaining information about current events using social media platforms, meaning most of the U.S. is now social media literate (Lipshultz, 2021).

Enterprise collaboration networks (ECNs), also known as enterprise social networks (ESNs), were created to act as online employee intranets that mimic social media (Cotter, 2020). Yammer was one of the first enterprise social networks that eventually evolved and split into Microsoft Teams (Cotter, 2020). Yammer still exists, focusing more on replicating the social media experience but keeping users siloed by organizational membership. Microsoft Teams embeds video conferencing, instant chat, file sharing, and special channels for focused topics to increase collaboration in the workplace. It also allows external participants to join through a guest feature, which limits their access to sensitive data.

Companies found that blending social media concepts with business communication requirements created powerful collaboration applications (Leonardi & Neely, 2021). ECNs like Microsoft Teams and Slack use the idea of social media threads so users can participate in focused conversations that are relevant to them (Markovich, 2021) and saving them time from sorting emails into folders or creating rules to see the messages that matter (Addas & Pinsonneault, 2018).

Similarly, enterprise collaboration networks (ECNs) give workers the freedom to reach across organizational silos when they need to, leading to a flatter hierarchy in the communication flowchart (Riemer, Stieglitz & Meske, 2015). ECNs allow employees to observe conversations in threads, giving people insight into the experts that can help workers complete their tasks quickly (Riemer et al., 2015). Jive allows users to list their skills on personal profile pages, similar to the social media site LinkedIn, so that others can find the right expert within their company.

Many ECNs have status indicators next to user names to show when users are available, so if there is an urgent matter, people can look for help elsewhere. Emails could be ignored by a specific recipient who is busy, but anyone with the needed information could answer a general message in a thread and be free to respond (Markovich, 2021). Threads allow for timely feedback, transparency in business matters, and improved response times. Conversations in chat groups or channels also allow anyone to go back and view posts they may have missed, allowing them to catch up quickly without wasting time. Slack is also experimenting with a new A.I. feature that will summarize all missed conversations for employees who last checked on a specific channel a while ago (Roth, 2024).

Implementing new ways of communicating in an organization can be hindered by two significant factors: acceptance of the technology and the competence of workers (Kovaitė, Šūmakaris & Stankevičienė, 2020). ECNs like Microsoft Teams incorporated the Microsoft Office products most employees are already familiar with to make learning the new application faster (Kovaitė et al., 2020). The enterprise social network Jive modeled itself after Facebook by allowing users to upload pictures and make quick posts that others can enjoy, which keeps users engaged (Rao, 2012).

Once organizations choose and implement an ECN that fits all their needs, they will see an improvement in all seven elements that define good internal communication (Leonardi & Neely, 2021). Several platforms, like Teams and Slack, have built-in tools that provide immediate video chats with co-workers, bringing back clear face-to-face conversations that email cannot offer (Fosslien & Duffy, 2020). Instant chat messages also encourage employees to use concise, informal messaging that demonstrates respect for each other's valuable time and allows employees to develop trusting relationships by expressing their social identities in conversation (Fay, 2011). 

Informal messaging can be a short sentence requesting information, replying with emojis, or sending gifs. Employees who draft emails to superiors may need to select the recipients, select anyone else who needs to be copied, write a subject line that grabs readers' attention, so it won't be ignored (Zucker, 2021), and then write out the message. A longer message is likely to be ignored as readers tend to give emails about 9 seconds of their attention span before moving on (Muhammad, 2023). Social media instant chats create an expectation that short informal messages are acceptable, which is why many platforms add chat features for efficient communication. 

Although many ECNs are designed to be familiar by adopting social media structures, companies should still look to train workers on new technology along with writing out standards to guide users on how to communicate (Jakubiec, 2019). Younger generations prefer texting and chatting to voice and video in the workplace, but without proper communication training, too short of a message can be misconstrued (Wierman, 2023). Emojis have also been shown to help those on the autism spectrum understand the emotional tone behind a message (Kavountzis, 2022), but using too many emojis can be seen as unprofessional, which is why it is essential to know your audience (Fosslien & Duffy, 2020). Employees should use video conferencing to get to know each other and learn how to build working relationships to communicate clearly through the written word later (Fosslien & Duffy, 2020).

Organizations that previously failed to implement ECNs assumed the younger users would automatically adopt the technology or assumed that employees would maintain confidentiality standards (Leonardi & Neely, 2021). Although the idea of blind carbon copy does not exist in ECNs, users should still be reminded to follow the organization's H.R. rules (McGlauflin & Abrams, n.d.) and remember that all online conversations using company assets can still be viewed by their organization.

Managers looking for guidance can still apply traditional methods of improving internal communication to enterprise collaboration networks (Jakubiec, 2019). As each technique is applied using ECNs, there will be improvements in one of the seven elements that define good internal communications (Jakubiec, 2019; Kim et al., 2019). The critical part of implementing ECNs is having leadership use the application to bring structure back to communication flows, which was lost when email became the number one method of conversation (Arkell, 2010; Newport, 2016). Email continues to be a good way for leadership to inform others, but it is not suitable for conversations (Kovaitė et al., 2020) and it will still be necessary to communicate with external parties.

Enterprise collaboration networks have many options that every company will need to consider the pros and cons of before deciding on one. Companies should look at ECNs that support current workflows instead of adapting workflows (Duncan, 2023) and ensure that the current I.T. infrastructure can handle the bandwidth (Duncan, 2023). Many companies make plug-ins compatible with certain ECNs to help maintain workflows, making some apps better for a company's needs than others (Fingertip, 2024). Next generation technology is already looking toward expanding enterprise collaboration networks with virtual meeting spaces, using avatars rather than webcams, and live streaming to recreate the feeling of co-located employees (Murray, 2020).

It's also helpful that an organization sticks with one application for all departments to make everyone accessible, or it may run the risk of creating silos where none existed before (Keyton, Ford & Smith, 2019). During the pandemic, military branches migrated to using Slack as it provided one platform with enterprise-level security features required by the government (Slack, n.d.) In an organizational crisis, teams will likely need to communicate with other branches they usually do not work with; if all departments use the same methods and standards, it should help save time in a crisis (Keyton et al., 2019).

Conclusion

Email can clog up communication lines by disrupting work, but it is still the number one method of communication among employees. Workers no longer have time to meet face-to-face, even though it could lead to less miscommunication that can cost thousands, sometimes even millions of dollars. Studies show that using enterprise social networks has increased productivity through increased communication across silos.

The best communication teams excel at knowledge sharing, problem-solving, timely communication, situational awareness, transparency, and frequent and concise messaging (Kim et al., 2019). Email can help with several of these elements, but not as well as face-to-face conversations. Loss of trust between workers led to people withholding information in their emails. Social media showed us that users want to communicate and share when they can meet others with the same interests or build an online identity.

Enterprise social networks took the social media structure and created a new way for employees to communicate internally. Enterprise collaboration networks restore face-to-face conversation with video conferencing, provide focused areas for problem-solving, transparency, and situational awareness, and use social media concepts to keep messaging frequent, timely, and concise. Knowledge sharing is more effortless when workers can demonstrate their expertise through channel conversations and profile pages listing their skills.

Keeping all departments in one organization on the same platform reduces the chance of building silos that can hurt a company in a time of change or crisis. Employees should be trained to communicate formally and informally to create trust and efficiency. Companies must provide training and guidance for workers to maintain standards and confidentiality. Leaders should participate in online conversations to demonstrate expectations of communications within the organizational culture.

Implementing ECNs using traditional management methods will improve internal communications and help create formal and informal conversational channels. Organizations must look at the features each ECN provides before deciding on one, including the current workflow of their company and infrastructure capabilities. Organizations should use one internal platform as part of standardizing communications to keep everyone connected and collaborating.

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