Organizational Communication

External mass communication of an organization relies on the basis that the organization is the source for messages directed outside the organization. Specialized groups within function as the medium of communication and often fall under the departmental headings of advertising, public relations, lobbying, or issues management. Even though organizational communication is inherently concerned with the activities of internal communication, our group's organization Bed Bath and Beyond illustrates clearly many of the external interactional concepts identified in the study of organizational communication. In examining Bed Bath and Beyond's sources, purposes, audiences and channels of communication utilized we can identify how such a massive retailer is able to effectively prosper and adapt to the national economy through the usage of well implemented external communication.

The nature of organizational re-ification makes identifying a clear source of external communication difficult. Since BBBY has no singular voice of organizational messaging and considering the market environment of large scale retail chains it can be concluded that a collectivity of organizational members establish the external messages directed to their audiences.

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Mass external communication has many purposes and is encompassed by the desire for effective product advertising and engendering a favorable opinion of the organization. The two largest types of external communication are public relations and advertising. Since BBBY has little major societal influence, its primary communicating strategy is determined and implemented through its advertising. BBBY's use of image advertising allows them to foster favorable attitudes of the public about their stores on a whole, rather than individual products. Their image has been advertised as a convenient, competitively priced and pleasurable place to be able to shop for a full spectrum of home and living merchandise. The public's strong identification with BBBY's intended advertised image is seen in the unwavering success and growth obtained by the corporation.

Bed Bath and Beyond's image or organizational identity differs from their advertising image in that its purpose is directed towards the development of name recognition and a general understanding by the public of what the organization does. The effectiveness of being named Bed Bath and Beyond in such a market categorized by home furnishing and such creates a much stronger image and identity than other similar stores like Pier 1, where if one was unaccustomed to Pier 1 they would have little idea what if anything they did.

Organizational image has been crucial in the success achieved by bed bath and beyond. This different image is intended to provoke an evaluative response by the organizations audience, favorable or unfavorable considering the content of the messages used. BBBY is not as political in their attempts to communicate a positive organizational image; rather they are focused on creating a positive organizational image of a retailer who strives to satisfy their customer's needs. They do so by offering impeccable service, easily accessible products in a large store and competitive pricing by setting most product prices 20- 40% lower than their competitors. Also more relevant to organizational image, BBBY tries to convey an image of being ecologically aware by advertising and selling merchandise that is often times recycled or manufactured with environmental concerns in mind.

External public communication is dependent on its analysis of the audience and adaptation to it. Multiple audiences are targeted by BBBY and effectively increase profits. Different audiences often have competing interests and often have differing responses to messages delivered by an organization. BBBY has strove to tailor messages to these different audiences within the intended masses. In their marketing strategy, BBBY concentrates for the most part on middle to upper middle class women who are money conscious by utilizing advertisements that focus on the quality of their home items and decor as well as the low prices. Another audience focused on by BBBY is college students. They have large back to school specials that cater to dorms and dorm life which are more modern and flashy in order to target the younger male and female audiences that are less interested in the frills of the usual BBBY products.

Fewer channels are usually utilized for external communication by organizations. BBBY uses print media like circulars and mailings to do a majority of its messaging, while also using the internet with a web-site composed of an online catalog and other customer services. These channels of communication effectively satisfy the goals of BBBY's intended messages even though they typically have less of the feel of a speaker audience setting. One interesting channel of external communication that BBBY has received the majority of its audience response from is by word of mouth recommendations of satisfied customers about its stores and its services.

External mass communication is driven by the need for a speaker to send its intended messages to a specific audience outside the organization. The organizational collectivity we encountered with Bed Bath and Beyond has the messaging capacity and ability to utilize the many channels of communication to identify with its audience and effectively market its products. The success they have had in their organization is due to their success in communicating particularly externally and this communication has driven the employees to take more pride in their work and. The culmination of these aspects of BBBY's organization are examples of what makes a successful organization and sheds light on why Bed Bath and Beyond has been able to achieve success and experience such phenomenal growth..



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