Dell delivers global engagement

How to tackle the challenge of communicating with a far-flung global work force.

Communicating across borders—whether internally with employees or externally with stakeholders—is one of the most relevant topics in the public relations industry, and with good reason. As large, multinational companies expand to increasingly far-flung corners of the world, they face a complex litany of communication challenges.

Take Dell as an example.

With a diverse work force stretched across six continents and plans to add thousands of employees in the next few years, Dell must communicate across cultures, languages, time zones and local preferences and regulations—not to mention more traditional work force divisions in function, level and specialization.

Add to that some obstinate technical quirks in the consistent delivery of information across borders—despite the tremendous advances of online and mobile communications—and you have a sense of the obstacles to providing timely, relevant and coordinated communications to all employees. If the initial challenge is making sure communication reaches everyone, the second is trying to make the messages understandable and resonant.