Objectives of Internal Communication Strategies in Green Organizations

Details

Supervisors

Swaen, Valérie ; Heinz, Matthias

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en Ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

Our planet has to be saved. Many facts and figures prove that climate change can have disastrous consequences. As an individual does not have much power to reverse the situation alone, we believe that companies can help in the promise for a healthier future. We also assume that the impact of their strength and power on the world relies on their internal communication strategies. Therefore, this thesis analyses how those are implemented nowadays: who communicates to whom, through what channel, about what topic? Are environmental messages a central part of these communication strategies? And what are the objectives of internal communication? Are these companies motivated by greed, do they really strive for improvements for the natural environment or are other objectives hidden behind their internal communications strategies? These questions are given an answer to in this thesis. In order to be able to answer these questions step by step, this thesis is divided in two parts. The first part consists of a literature review that comes back on previous research. It is divided in two chapters: chapter one aims at understanding how firms are dealing with the environmental issues today, given historical facts, firms’ positioning and their culture. Chapter two sheds light on the existing internal communication strategies and ends with a specification of these for green organizations. A second part consists of a multiple case study in well-chosen environmentally-friendly organizations for a better understanding of actual internal communication strategies and their objectives. We show how these units of analysis satisfy our predefined criteria for being green, and observe how they communicate internally and with what objectives. So as to look for evidence about whether their internal communication is effective, we observe whether their objectives are achieved. In a cross-case synthesis, we expect to find common patterns of internal communication among the different firms. Finally, a last section elaborates on our thoughts about the potential limitations and drawbacks of our study.