ABSTRACT
The origins of formal internal communication lie within the increasingly industrialised societies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It arose to meet the need to replace ‘the loss in personal contact between employer and employee’ where a written publication acted ‘as a means of communication between the members of the organisation’. The concept of a company publication developed simultaneously in many countries including the US, UK, Germany, India and Canada. The growing popularity of internal publications was affected by external factors. The employee magazine produced by a ‘qualified editor’, was valued as an efficient form of communication by personnel departments. The 1980s and 1990s were periods of global economic change, driven primarily by technology. The Confederation of British Industry presented a self-interested reason for communicating to all employees, arguing that it was ‘dangerous’ to rely on the unions to communicate management’s message.
