The document discusses communication between an organization and its internal and external stakeholders. It begins by summarizing a colleague's post about their past employer's communication with internal stakeholders like employees and managers, and external stakeholders like customers and suppliers. The communication with internal stakeholders was informative and motivational, while external communication was more persuasive. The document then responds to the colleague's post. It discusses a press release by Walmart about their new ESG approach. While the issues addressed seem aimed at the external community stakeholder, the communication lacks persuasion and clear purpose. It could have been more effective in fulfilling the communication needs of different stakeholders by incorporating elements of persuasion and informativeness as needed. The document recommends formulating

1. Discussion 1: Reflection and Shared Practice: Know Your
Workplace Audience
Even with the sender and audience (receiver) clearly identified,
the flow of communication is rarely neat. The audience filters
the communication and reacts. Thus, if your message does not
factor in the audience’s perspective—including knowledge,
interests, needs, and expectations—you are less likely to
achieve the intended purpose of your communication. When the
purpose is to persuade or influence, you will undoubtedly have
to overcome objections.
Assignment:
Review & Respond to at least two (2) of your peers’ posts in the
following manner:
· Offer another stakeholder that relies on communications from
the organization, and explain how their needs may differ further
from what your peer identified and how you would suggest the
organization address that stakeholder’s needs.
· Compare your example of an external communication with
what your peer presented and explain what you learned about
stakeholder communications.
· Offer an additional best practice to your peer and explain why
you think it is a best practice for communication and in what
scenarios.
· 3 – 4 paragraph response per each colleagues
· No plagiarism
· APA citing

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1st Colleague – Natasha Mills
Natasha Mills
Know Your Workplace Audience
Top of Form
Communication is one of the key areas that drive the operations
of an organization. My past employer engaged in unending
communication with various audiences both within and outside
the organization. The internal stakeholders with which the
organization communicated included employees, managers,
investors, the board of directors, and the owners. The external
stakeholders, on the other hand, were the customers, suppliers,
the government, and the community. All these groups needed
constant and more frequent communication. However, the nature
of communication directed towards the internal stakeholders
came out as informative and motivational, while that with the
external stakeholders was considerably persuasive.
The communication needs of the audiences with which my past
employer communicated differed. For instance, communication
was significantly persuasive and followed the launch of a new
product or service when the audience was customers. In most
cases, it was always necessary to include a convincing tenet in
the communication needs of groups of external stakeholders.
The communication needs of the internal stakeholders were to
inform. As a result, such communication processes were often
laced with facts intended to motivate these audiences, such as
investors and the board of directors, for approval processes. It
is important to note that these communication processes used to
occur after the organization identified a communication
opportunity and determined its purpose (Quintanilla & Wahl,
2020).
Walmart recently posted a press release on the online platform

3. of MarketWatch to inform stakeholders about the new
environmental, social, and governance (ESG) approach they had
adopted. The primary audience for this press release is the
community or society. This assumption stems from the tone of
the communication, as well as the nature of issues included in
the press release, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate
change, and the murder of George Floyd (McLaughlin, 2021).
Hence, it is worth saying that the communication identified an
opportunity in these social issues and used it to serve the
purpose of its corporate social responsibility.
The issues that the press release addresses are relatively social,
which leads to the speculation that the key target audience is the
community or society within which Walmart operates. The
community presents an external stakeholder whose
communication needs are characterized by persuasion. On the
contrary, the communication is filled with facts and data that
make it more informative than persuasive. This prompts me to
question the importance of the approach used to fulfill the
communication needs of various stakeholders in any given
situation. Is it possible that there is no difference when it comes
to the communication needs of internal stakeholders and
external stakeholders? This is because the element of persuasion
can be used to fulfill the communication needs of internal
stakeholders just as the informative approach can be used to
communicate to external stakeholders, such as is evident in the
case of Walmart’s ESG press release. These concerns reaffirm
the recommendations by Cardwell et al. (2017) for the need to
establish how organizations manage internal and external
communication, particularly those regarding corporate social
responsibility (Cardwell et al., 2017).
Whereas the communication was effective, it should have
determined its clear purpose rather than just publishing facts
and data (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020). In other words, the press
release lacks a well thought and formulated purpose, leaving it
to the audience to decipher what the organization is trying to
communicate. Therefore, the organization is merely

4. communicating to inform the audience about the actions it has
taken on the issues identified, leaving out the persuasion aspect.
A recommendation to the organization would be to formulate a
specific purpose in the form of a declarative sentence about the
objective of the press release (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020).
One best practice for mass communication for external
stakeholder groups is to consider the medium of
communication. The medium of the message controls and shapes
the form and scale of human association and action with it
(Reddi, 2019). This best practice also applies to internal
communications significantly because internal stakeholder
groups also need to associate with a passed message and take
action. Another best practice is to incorporate ethos during mass
communication. This best practice requires those
communicating with external stakeholders to demonstrate
goodwill, trustworthiness, and competence to support the
credibility and believability of the information being shared
with the audience (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020). This aspect also
applies to internal communications to a great extent.
Cardwell, L. A., Williams, S., & Pyle, A. (2017). Corporate
public relations dynamics: Internal vs. external stakeholders and
the role of the practitioner. Public Relations Review, 43(1),
152-162.
McLaughlin, K. (2021, July 8). 2021 ESG Reporting Details
Meaningful Progress in Key Areas. MarketWatch. Retrieved
from https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/2021-esg-
reporting-details-meaningful-progress-in-key-areas-2021-07-
08?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts&tesla=y
Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and
professional communication: KEYS for workplace
excellence (4th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Reddi, C. N. (2019). Effective public relations and media
strategy. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
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Top of Form

5. Bottom of Form
2nd Colleague – Douglas Hayes
Douglas Hayes
RE: Discussion 1 - Week 4
COLLAPSE
Top of Form
My last employer was a head start organization, and we
communicated to internal departments and outside partners. Pre-
covid 19, we talked to our internal departments and partners by
either Email, conference call, or face-to-face communication
every month. After covid, it changed to just Email and virtual
meetings twice a month. I had problems presenting because I
started last January, and I met some of the partners I will be
working with. I was not able to establish what Business and
professional communication say as Ethos or credibility with
people. As an educator, I enjoy talking to people; however, it is
different in front of people instead of virtual communication. I
read people's verbal reactions but also nonverbal reactions to
what I am saying. Virtual communication has very little
nonverbal communication, and it is harder for me to
communicate in that way.
First were our internal departments, which communicated with
each other by Email and virtual meetings, and I felt like both
communication platforms were helpful to get information to
each department, training, and communicate to parents and the
administration. Using Email and virtual meetings were able to
get the information to each other; however, there were many
problems. The personability of doing training online does not
allow the trainee to get a personable experience. I was also not
able to make a connection with my parents because of their lack
of technology. We were dealing with low-income families, and
they did not have the technology to get onto Zoom.
Secondly, we communicated with our outside partners with
emails, virtual communication, and face-to-face communication.

6. These worked well in communicating the children's needs,
sharing data, and communicating the wants and needs of the
partners. For this, the platforms worked well, and we were able
to get the needed reports to our grant provider.
A concern with externally communicating with Zoom is "Zoom
fatigue." They use Zoom Fatigue because Zoom is the most used
virtual platform, but it could as quickly be known as virtual
communication fatigue. As CNN says, "that grid of faces
simulates an encounter where you're faced with a confrontation
in a small space. In similar situations, like an elevator, people
usually keep their eyes on the ground and avoid close
confrontation. But a Zoom call "smothers everyone with gaze,"
so thought they are just staring at a camera, it simulates a
confrontation and triggers your fight-or-flight instincts." (Mora,
2021) Most of us do back-to-back zoom calls, so we cannot get
out of this flight, or fight mode can cause significant problems.
Mentally we are not as creative as CNN describes it 'This can
limit our mental ability. We stay still so we do not leave the
frame, which causes our minds to act differently than when we
can move around. In fact, "people who are walking, even when
it is indoors, come up with more creative ideas than people who
are sitting." So video conferences stop us from thinking outside
of the box." (Mora, 2021) We are also hurt physically described
by Health essentials "During the fight or flight response your
body is trying to prioritize, so anything it does not need for
immediate survival is placed on the back burner. This means
that digestion, reproductive and growth hormone production,
and tissue repair are all temporarily halted." (Hollowc2, 2020)
Heath essentials also say that "Typically, it takes 20 to 30
minutes for your body to return to normal and to calm down."
(Hollowc2, 2020) CNN article recommends that you get up and
walk around after every meeting to calm your body, minimize
the zoom box, and schedule more phone call meetings if
possible.
References:

7. Hollowc2. (2020, September 15). What happens to your body
during the fight or flight
response? Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-happens-to-your-body-
during-the-fight-or-flight-response/.
Mora, D. (2021, March 13). How this year of working on zoom
has affected your BRAIN | CNN
BUSINESS. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/13/us/zoom-
fatigue-trnd/index.html.
Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and
Professional Communication (4th ed.). Sage publishing Ltd.
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