ABSTRACT

This chapter explores some of the theoretical underpinnings for internal communication within the wider public relations literature. It explains the treatment of internal communication in the academic public relations and human resources literature. The chapter examines the location of internal communication inside organisations. Excellence theory is based on the association of strategic public relations with organisational effectiveness, grounded in the identification of stakeholder categories which are segmented into ‘active and passive publics’ whereby active or potentially active publics are seen as most strategic for an organisation. The study of rhetoric concerns itself principally with how individuals, groups, and organisations make meaning through argument and counter-argument. The development of relationship management as a general theory of public relations has, according to Ledingham, been applied to a range of public relations functions, including issues management, crisis management, community relations, media relations and public affairs.