Case Studies
By Raha Naddaf, staff writer
(note: all case studies are in PDF format)
The
HSC News Goes Digital and Prepares Employees for the Future,
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
In September 2001, Dr. Francisco G. Cigarroa was inaugurated as
the third president of the University of Texas Health Science Center
at San Antonio. Because of the sluggish economy, Cigarroa was aware
that a cost-effective method for getting the university’s
message across to employees would be important in the long run.
He called for an internal communication vehicle—one that would
communicate university news to faculty and staff of widely divergent
educational levels and interests. The Office of External Affairs
was charged with creating an internal news vehicle that would do
the job. After researching the audience’s needs and the resources
available, the team created the HSC News web page and redesigned
the HSC News newsletter. The web site and newsletter work
together to provide a mix of items of interest to all segments of
the campus population. Each provides easily accessible information
in a slick package that appeals to both scientists and non-technical
readers. The web site and newsletter connect employees throughout
the Health Science Center while promoting a spirit of camaraderie
and pride across all institutional lines.
Empire@work,
Empire BlueCross BlueShield
The headquarters for Empire BlueCross BlueShield, a regional health
insurer, was destroyed on September 11, 2001. The event displaced
more than 1,100 employees in New York City and complicated the process
of communicating with staff. In addition, Empire was converting
to a publicly traded company. Senior management wanted a cost-effective
way of communicating with employees and developed an electronic
version of Empire@work (E@w) to be produced every
two weeks. E@w was established to push information about
corporate developments to employees’ desktops, boost morale
by spotlighting the successes of employees, enhance staff knowledge
of the health insurance industry and Empire’s operations,
implement a content-management system that would allow the internal
communication staff to maintain maximum control over content, promote
usage of Empire’s external web site and the company Intranet,
and to provide information on employee benefits, health topics,
how to work smarter and work-life issues.
WHAM—MasterCard’s
Employee Communication, MasterCard International
In 2002, MasterCard articulated its vision to become the global
payments leader. Soon after, it embarked on that plan by merging
with Europay International to form the MasterCard Europe Region.
The launching of the vision created the need to enlighten and rally
employees. The company’s activities on the path to growth
required uniting disparate cultures into the MasterCard fold and
bringing them on in support of their ambitious plans. What’s
Happening at MasterCard (WHAM) is a daily electronic
newsletter published for the global employee population of MasterCard
International. The goal of WHAM is to educate and motivate
employees about MasterCard’s business objectives, important
issues, best practices and to build a sense of community. The WHAM
team seized the opportunity to engage and inspire the larger employee
population with new features to build knowledge, satisfaction and
commitment to achieve far-reaching goals. WHAM also enhanced
the global aura of the publication in showcasing news and experiences
of its new constituents while developing the means to offer content
pertaining to local audiences.
nCite
Online, JPMorgan Chase
In late 2000, JPMorgan Chase reorganized various disparate businesses
into its Retail & Middle Market Financial Services (RMM) unit.
RMM, one of five business units within JPMorgan Chase, is now the
consumer banking arm of the firm. RMM needed a vehicle that could
reach across its different businesses and keep them informed of
changes within the new organization. In 2001, the communication
team created nCite (pronounced “insight”),
a monthly online newsletter to help connect and engage employees
to the strategies driving RMM’s growth. While 2001 established
nCite as a viable source of information, 2002 presented
the opportunity to develop nCite into a credible communication
resource that could quickly distribute news on complex issues to
all employees. Financial pressures, technical issues and organizational
changes were all hurdles to overcome. However, through a commitment
to measuring, tracking and evaluating employees’ communication
needs, nCite was able to accomplish more with less and
to triple its readership.
THRIP
Annual Report, Words’worth Publishing Consultants
THRIP is a research and development initiative funded by the Department
of Trade and Industry, which challenges industries to match government
funding for research projects in various fields. As such, it operates
on a very lean budget, and the annual report is one of few projects
to which a budget is allocated each year. Besides communicating
the annual financial statements of THRIP, the report provides an
ideal opportunity to market the unit and its activities to all its
stakeholders and program participants, as well as industry and academia
in South Africa. It meets the need to give public recognition to
outstanding achievers within the program. In 2002, the report was
used to underscore the unit’s use of technology in all aspects
of its operations and to encourage all program participants to adopt
electronic communication mediums in their work. For the first time
ever, the report combined traditional full-color print and electronic
formats to create a product that reflected the innovative, effective
and highly successful nature of THRIP’s activities.
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