Preface. EUGames Advisory report

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Preface

This advisory report is part of the graduation process for the study Sport, Management & Ondernemen (SM&O), Hogeschool van Amsterdam and is commissioned by the European Universities Games 2014.

As usual in a preface I am going to thank some people that were really helpful during my graduation process. I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Ronald Buijs, for his advice and help when needed. I would also like to thank my coach Paul Lammers as the second assessor. Besides that I really want to thank Gaby Dijkstra for all the help and advice she has given during the whole process. Of course I am also thankful to all the other people from the organisation of the EUGames 2014 that gave me the chance to ask for help and advices.

This report is not only a highlight in the period I am working for the EUGames 2014 but it is also one of the parts of my graduation process, which means that the end of my study period for SM&O is near. Now the only thing that I need to say is: enjoy reading this report.

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Summary

In this report advices are given to optimize the internal communication of the organisation of the European Universities Games 2014 (EUGames). The following question was leading for this report:

‘What strategy will fit best to optimize the internal communication before and during the EUGames 2014?

The EUGames 2014 is an event organised for students from all over Europe, who are heading to Rotterdam this summer (July/August 2014). Around 3000 students are

participating in ten different disciplines. To organise this event an organising committee of five people is appointed. Above the organising committee there is the foundation board. The whole event is organised under supervision of the European University Sports Association (EUSA). It is only the second time this event is organised and the first time this is going to be in the Netherlands.

This report is not only founded by desk research; surveys (within the team from the EUGames 2014) and interviews (organising committee and employees of comparable events) are also part of the methods of this report. All those methods were part of the research to optimize the internal communication.

The literature is telling that it doesn’t really matter in what field you are working; internal communication will always play a key role in a group of people who are working together. Good internal communication is one of the requirements for good external communication. There is a clear structure in the organising committee, which makes it clear for everyone what all the managers are doing and where they can go to with questions and to seek advice. The culture of an organisation is also really important with deciding a strategy. The culture of the organisation is described by employees as ‘island-culture’, or role-culture, formal within organising committee but informal within the different clusters. Within the organisation there is not much information or goals about internal communications that is written down. The organisation did think about it but it can be helpful to write it down to make a clear strategy. Vertical and horizontal communication flows are mostly used for the

EUGames 2014.

All results and conclusions (among other things above information) are collected and put together to form an advice for the organisation. The most important advices are to create a

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realistic, clear vision and goals for internal communication. Appoint someone to be

responsible for the internal communication and use short communication lines and a lot of personal contact. Solve matching problems together and set a certain day to meet up regularly with the whole team. Use vertical and horizontal communication flows as well as parallel communication, take care of an office were everyone can work together and make sure volunteers are well informed.

All those advices and conclusions finally should lead to optimization of the internal communication before and during the EUGames 2014.

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3.4VISION ON INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 19

3.5INTERNAL TARGET GROUPS 20

3.6COMMUNICATION FLOWS 21

3.7TYPES OF EMPLOYEES 22

3.8RESOURCES FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 23

3.9COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE 23 3.10CONCLUSION 23 4. SWOT 26 4.1STRENGTHS 27 4.2WEAKNESSES 27 4.3OPPORTUNITIES 28 4.4THREATS 28 4.5CONCLUSION 28

5. COMPARISON WITH OTHER EVENTS 30

5.1AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES 30

5.1.1 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 30

5.2EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC FESTIVAL UTRECHT (EYOF) 31

5.2.1 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 31

5.39THEUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS 32

5.3.1 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 32

5.4CONCLUSION 32

6. CONCLUSION AND ADVICE 34

6.1CONCLUSION 34

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7. REFERENCES 40

8. ATTACHMENTS 43

8.1ORGANISATIONAL CHART EUGAMES 2014 44

8.2INTERVIEW HENK SMIT 45

8.3INTERVIEW GABY DIJKSTRA 47

8.4QUESTIONNAIRES EMPLOYEES EUGAMES 2014 48

8.5INTERVIEW LIESBETH VAN BATENBURG 51

8.6INTERVIEW JORDAN MULLAN –AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY SPORT 52

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1. Introduction

From the 24th_{of July till the 8}th_{of August the 2}nd_{European Universities Games will take place}

in Rotterdam. It is the largest student multi-sport event in Europe. The European Universities Games (EUGames) will be held every two years. Two years ago the first edition of the European Universities Games was organised in Cordoba in Spain. The European

Universities Games will bring students together from all over Europe and let them play in ten different disciplines. The European Universities Games is organised with supervision of the European Universities Sports Association (EUSA).

The EUSA is founded in 1999 in Vienna, Austria. Since then EUSA, is busy with organising all kind of international sport events for students. In 2001 the first European student

championships were organised for the disciplines of basketball and volleyball. In the following years, the number of events increased to 17 events in 2012. The number of

participating countries is also increased from 25 in 1999 to 45 in 2014. Because of the rising interest in international sport events, the EUSA decided in 2012 to establish the first

EUGames. This first edition was already a big success with around 2500 participating athletes. Before the Games in Cordoba were even started, the EUSA pointed Rotterdam as the following organising city for the 2nd_{EUGames. (EUSA, 2014)}

The second European Universities Games 2014 will be held on an around the campus of Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the academic year 2013-2014 Erasmus University Rotterdam celebrates its 100-year anniversary. The theme of this 100 years anniversary is ‘100 years impact’. Erasmus University Rotterdam is proud of its impact and wants to bring that impact in during the celebration of the centenary with the European Universities Games 2014 as its sportive grand finale.

The mission of the organisation of the European Universities Games 2014 is:

‘Successfully organise the 2nd_{European Universities Games 2014 in Rotterdam to give a}

lasting impulse to university sport and to promote Rotterdam as Student City and City of Sports.’

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1.1 Motivation and statement

While organising a big event there is a lot to think about. The biggest workload for an organising company is before the event has even started. Of course that is why the event can go on without troubles and struggles. But how can you arrange that? What kind of things need to be done and how are we going to communicate about all the things that need to be done? Internal communication can be really important within an organisation. It doesn’t really matter in what field you’re working; internal communication will always play a key role in a group of people who are working together.

Definition of communication according to Doorn van, A. (2007): Communication is a

multifaceted, regular and complex process; in a communication process it is about subjects with a common or shared interest.

This year, the EUGames are organised in the Netherlands for the first time. The EUGames 2014 is a new event and that is why there is no certain strategy on the internal

communications. It can be very helpful to have a good overview of all the communication structures within an organisation. It can help the organisation to avoid problems with the communication process internally. Good internal communication is one of the requirements for good external communication. Internal communication can have a great impact on the planning and execution of a successful event. That is why the following question needs to be answered:

‘What strategy will fit best to optimize the internal communication before and during the EUGames 2014?

To find an answer on the question above the following supporting questions needs to be answered:

- What is the current situation of the internal communication within the organisation of the EUGames 2014?

- What communication channels are available within the organisation of the EUGames 2014?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the organisation of the EUGames 2014?

o What does this mean for the organisation?

This report focuses on the internal communication of the EUGames 2014 team and emphasizes the necessity of perfectly working communication within a team. Therefore

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external communications are not to be discussed in this report. However we approach volunteers also as part of the internal organisation because they are representing the EUGames 2014 organisation. That is why they need to know certain information and it is necessary to make sure that they are informed in the right ways.

1.2 Relevance

The European Universities Games are going to take place this summer in Rotterdam. As you have seen before, the mission from the organisation is to successfully organise the

EUGames 2014. To make sure that is going to happen, a good and critical view on the internal communication is needed to create a working internal communications plan/script.

1.3 Methods

For creating a good and working internal communications plan/script it is important to have a helicopter view of the organisation. For creating this view some knowledge is necessary. That is why at first desk research is really important. Besides that field research is also essential because it can give a lot of information about the organisation. The goal is to get as much information as possible about the organisation, being curious is essential to collect all the necessary knowledge. A good way to get well informed is to have a lot of conversations with all different people from the organisation.

1.4 Goals

In general there are four rules why good internal communication is important (Doorn van, 2007):

- Good internal communication is of the base for a good external image of an organisation.

- It also creates the flexibility to react fast when things change in an organisation. - It improves the effectiveness of an organisation.

- It helps creating the right ‘culture’ within an organisation.

The mission of the EUGames 2014 Organising Committee is to successfully prepare for and organise the EUGames 2014. Without good internal communication it is really difficult to successfully organise the 2nd_{European Universities Games. It is also important to}

communicate in an effective way to make sure the costs are as low as possible. That is especially an important goal because of the low budget EUGames 2014 is working with. This

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report will be the base of a communication script that will be used during the EUGames 2014 to make sure everyone knows how to communicate during the EUGames 2014.

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2. European Universities Games 2014

This chapter will create an overview from the organisation of the EUGames 2014. In this chapter an organisational chart is displayed and also the structure, culture and type of organisation are studied.

2.1 Organisation chart

In attachment 8.1, a chart of the EUGames 2014 organisation is showed.

The size of the organisation is important in internal communication. In organisations with complicated structures and a lot of employees it is more likely to have problems with the internal communication (Reijnders, E. 2006 blz. 39). The chance of more problems is higher just because there are more different links between people when the organisation is more complex. The organisation of the EUGames is working with a cluster program (Dijkstra, G. 2014). This program is a standard program that can be used for organising events and it is established by the Dutch Olympic Committee NOC*NSF. A lot of events are working with this program in the Netherlands. Of course it is important that an organisation is working with the cluster program in its own way, an organisation should apply the cluster structure in a way it will work for their event.

The EUGames 2014 is an organisation with a tight budget (Smit, H. 2014). That makes it hard to work with many professionals. Therefore the organisation is partly dependent from the work of students and volunteers.

As the organisation chart shows, there are a lot of volunteers needed for this event. The cluster facility is quite big if you compare it the other clusters. A lot of responsibilities are hidden in this cluster. All other clusters are just as important because everything is

supportive to each other. Besides the top-down structure within the organisation there is also a lot of communication between the different clusters. The communication between the clusters is important because with a lot of things the clusters are depending on each other.

2.2 Structure

The structure of an organisation is really determinative for how an organisation is working. Organisations can be described with different models for structures. As showed in the organisation chart above, the organisational team from the EUGames 2014 is quite

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clear structure within the organisation in who is responsible for who and what. If an organisation is structured like this we call it a line-staff structure. Erik Reijnders (2010) named the line-staff structure also as a pyramid organisation. A pyramid organisation means that there are different layers, which can make it difficult for quick decisions. That is also why a pyramid structure nowadays is not the same as the pyramid structure years ago. It is more important now to interact with your customers, to see what they want instead of only doing the things in the direction favourable to the organisation. When the organisation puts the customer first, it’s called a frontline organisation. People who are low in the pyramid probably have a lot of direct contact with the customers. That is why it can be really important to sometimes criticize the organisation structure. The organisation needs to answer the

questions: How do we want to achieve our goals and how are we going to make sure that all the customers are satisfied?

For the EUGames 2014 there is not such a concept as customers or clients as it is in the case of other organisations. The EUGames 2014 need to deal with athletes and referees. However, though the participants are not clients per say, their satisfaction is just as important. Since the participants pay to participate, they are entitled to have certain expectations.

2.3 Type of organisation

In general there are two types of organisation, the mechanistic organisation and the

organistic organisation. Most of the organisations are not fully mechanistic and also not fully organistic. The European Universities Games are also somewhere in between the two types of organisations. A mechanistic organisation can be described as an army organisation. There are strict structures and it is difficult to adjust quickly to certain situations. Hierarchy is important in organisations like this. There is a goal to reach and it is mostly top-down

structured. On the other hand there is the organistic organisation. This type of organisation resembles a sport team. The employees are flexible and they can adjust quickly. They can easily take over each other’s tasks if necessary and the people who are working for those types of organisation are feeling like they are part of a team and are loyal to each other. People who are working for an organisation like this, are not only motivated by external factors as money but also personally internal motivated to achieve goals and accept new challenges (van Doorn, A. 2007).

On the one hand the EUGames 2014 organisation is like a mechanistic organisation because there is a hierarchical structure. Most of the big decisions need to be discussed with the

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board or tournament director. On the other hand the EUGames organisation is really flexible because they need to work with small budgets and the staff is dedicated to the organisation. Everyone is working really hard for the organisation to create an unforgettable event.

Besides that the EUGames 2014 is not an organisation where everything can be decided without thinking of the clients, in this case the athletes. It is an event that is depending of the participation of student athletes. When the organisation doesn’t think of the needs and wishes of the athletes, it will affect the participation rate. If there are no participators, there won’t be an event. That is also why the EUGames 2014 is an organisation where not only hierarchy is important. It is a combination of both types, mechanistic and organistic.

2.4 Culture

There are four ways for classifying a culture within an organisation. (van Doorn, A. 2007) - Role culture, every employee has his own role and he stays close to his roles. - Task culture, the biggest goal is to complete the task. Rules are less important than

getting the job done.

- Power culture, the boss is really powerful, he says what the employees need to do. - People culture, the people are creating the organisation (especially in the consultancy

companies this culture is needed)

Tournament director Henk Smit describes the culture of the organisation as an ‘island culture’, the so called role culture. He prefers to see this different but unfortunately there is a bit of an island culture. What he means with this ‘island culture’ is that every cluster is working really hard for themselves but that sometimes the link between the clusters is missing. He states that this ‘island culture’ can be addressed by finding a place where all the people can work in the same office. Due to the number of people involved with organising the EUGames 2014, it is impossible to physically fit everyone in the small office in the Erasmus Sport Building at the Erasmus University Campus and that, according to Henk Smit is one of the reasons the ‘island culture’ exists.

Also marketing and communication manager Gaby Dijkstra claims that within the clusters everyone is working hard and that the relation between people is informal. However she also points out that within the Organisation Committee the culture is more formal and focused on decisions. Within the clusters everyone is trying to link all the information but within the Organisation Committee there is a lack of links between the different clusters. The marketing department, the department where Gaby Dijkstra is leading for, is less hierarchical structured and decisions are made faster.

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When comparing the opinions of the tournament director and marketing and communication manager with the four ways of classifying a culture, the role culture is the culture that fits best. Of course an organisation is not always only one of the four types and it probably depends on what parts of the organisation as well.

2.5 Ways of communication

Within the organisation of the EUGames 2014, most internal communication is arranged via email. There is also a team meeting every two weeks where everyone gets together to discuss the most important things that are going on at that moment. The tournament director keeps in touch with the advisory board by attending meetings that takes place every month. Within the organising committee there is also a lot of ad-hoc contact. They are emailing and calling a lot when necessary. Obviously the organising team also meets up when they need to discuss information.

Tournament director Henk Smit states that there is a lot of contact within the organising committee at certain times when there is something important taking place, but that the contact with the organising committee becomes more structural when the event gets closer and more things needs to be arranged. During the event there will also be contact via radiophones. It is important that the persons that are going to use the radiophones are familiar with the rules that come with working with radiophones. Training on forehand is really helpful so that everyone is aware of that they only need to discuss the most important things via the radiophones to avoid creating chaos.

2.6 Conclusion

From the above information the following statements can be formulated:

o There is a clear structure in the organising committee, which makes it clear for everyone what all the managers are doing and where they can go to with questions and advices.

o The structure of an organisation can delay the decision-making process. The fact that the structure of an organisation can delay the decision-making process will not necessarily say that this will definitely happen with the EUGames 2014.

o The EUGames 2014 organisation cannot be named mechanistic or organistic instead it is a mix of those two types of organisations.

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o The culture of the organisation is described by employees as ‘island-culture’, or role-culture, formal within the organising committee but informal within the different clusters.

o The organisation meets structural with the whole committee and also they stay connected with the board by meetings. Besides that a lot of communication goes via email or phone.

o There is not much information or goals about internal communications that is written down. The organisation did think about goals but it can be helpful to write the goals down to make a clear strategy.

This chapter answers the following two questions:

 What is the current situation of the internal communication within the organisation of the EUGames 2014?

 What communication channels are available within the organisation of the EUGames 2014?

To answer these questions all the above information needs to be taken into account. The organisation does have clear structures on how to communicate with each other. Email contact, phone calls and face-to-face meetings are used often or regularly. Meanwhile there is no certain strategy written down and there are no particular goals for the internal

communication. Since it is only a one-time event it is possible to work like this because small irritations or inefficiencies can be dealt with. The situation of internal communication is clear for everyone but not always as efficient as it can be. Everyone is working for his or her own cluster and that means that not always everyone is aware of the things that are going on in other clusters. Sometimes it is necessary to be and stay well informed about information from other clusters before taking decisions. During the event radiophones are also used to

communicate with each other. More information about the current situation of the internal communication can be found in the conclusion from chapter three.

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3. Theoretical Background

This chapter gives an overview of the information results from the desk research. Some theories and concepts will be explained. Besides that the theories and concepts are applied on the organisation of the EUGames 2014.

‘To win external, start internal’

The quote above is a common quote in the internal communication world. This quote is emphasizing the need for internal communication.

3.1 Importance of internal communication

In a company there are a few developments that emphasizes the importance of internal communication. According to Michel, W. (2013) the following points are important. First of all a lot of companies are working in the business service world. These kinds of services come about through collaboration between different employees and departments. Secondly it is important that an organisation can adapt quickly to all kind of social and technical

developments. Good internal communication makes it possible to inform all the employees on time about any changes. Thirdly there is a new trend ‘flex working’. Because of this trend, it is now more important than ever that internal communication in a company is good. It helps to create cohesion and involvement of the employees. Fourthly, internal communication that is arranged well can strengthen the culture in an organisation. When there is a stronger culture, talented people work longer for the same company and that will strengthen the position of the company on the labor market. A good culture within the company is also in direct relation with absenteeism. Fifth reason is that the employees are the people that create the image or reputation of the company. Finally a lot of researches show us that companies with good working internal communication and a high level of commitment are simply working better.

These arguments seem logical but a lot of companies are still underestimating the power of good working internal communication as a tool for good external communication and a good reputation (Dawkins, J. 2004). According to Michels, W. (2013) effects of bad internal communication can be tension and conflicts between employees. When people are not aware of each other’s goals and working patterns, it can lead to distrust. Years ago the problem with internal communication was that the communication level was too low,

nowadays the problem is more that there is too much communication especially emails can be an overload of communication for employees. It is important to select the right information

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and to skip unnecessary information to make sure the right information is going to the right employees.

All the information above is also important for the organisation of the EUGames 2014. The organisation committee of the EUGames 2014 is working to organise an event for student athletes and it is working together with the EUSA. Within the organisation committee everyone is working in another office and are most of the time only busy with there own clusters. This is not a problem if the internal communication is good. It is important to stay involved and to create a good social work ambiance to build an amazing event. When the employees within the organisation are not satisfied or not working well together, the ‘clients’, in our case the athletes and NUSA’s, will notice the tension within the team and that is not good for the reputation of the EUGames 2014.

3.2 Interaction vision and action vision

There are two ways for an organisation to approach internal communication. The first approach is a top-down approach; this means that the communication goes via the higher management levels through the lower levels in the organisation. In the second approach the dialogue is more important. The first approach is called ‘the action vision’. In this action vision the main point is that it is all about delivering a message to the target group. Management in this kind of organisations is guiding and strict. Words that can be connected with this vision are story telling, explaining, clarifying and convincing. In the second vision, the interaction vision, the bottom-up approach is more important. Communication in this kind of

organisations is a process that is less registered. Employees in these organisations are more actors than target groups. Words that can be connected with this approach are dialogue, discussion, advising, organising and coaching (Reijnders, 2011).

In an organisation it is almost never just one of those approaches. Mostly the two

approaches are combined and that is also the ideal process. Dialogue and pursues need to be verified with each other. This also applies to the EUGames 2014. The board and

organising committee need to work together. The board can come with a suggestion then a dialogue follows with the organising committee. The suggestion can be changed and another dialogue follows. After that, the organisation starts working with this new idea. Feedback during and after dialogues is really important. It is good to think of what happens after the dialogue. Are the new ideas or angels used in the new suggestion and if not, why not?

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3.3 Corporate culture

Olsthoorn, A.C.J.M. & Velden van der, J.H. (2002) are stating that a certain type of corporate culture is determining for the choice of communication policies and strategies. Every

organisation has its own culture. A definition for culture is ‘norms and values, and human behaviour that is caused by those norms and values.’ Corporate culture is the way of thinking, feeling and acting of the members of the organisation. When there is knowledge of the corporate culture within an organisation it will increase the function of internal

communication. Culture in an organisation often determines on how employees are acting. Sometimes people within an organisation are acting more individualistic while others are more acting as a team, these habits are all part of the culture. Olsthoorn, A.C.J.M. & Velden van der, J.H. (2002) also mention that the corporate values are guidance for how things are done and how people are communicating with each other.

It is important to know the culture of a company when developing an internal communications plan. People who are well informed and motivated are more likely to reach the goals of the organisation and they work more efficient. However before people are motivated and well informed it is important to really understand the culture to create a good and working

communications plan that will motivate the employees. There are different points of view on how you can see the corporate culture. The organisation can be seen from the top

management but also from the employees’ side, it is good to make it one culture for all of them. However this will not say that not every level of a company can use the corporate culture in a different way. When the top management wants to achieve her goals with his employees they definitely need to know how the employees feel and see the culture in the company. Norms, values, rituals and symbols are important to understand. The picture below shows us that values and norms are the heart

of the organisation culture, it are the basic beliefs of the people within the organisation. The symbols are the things, words and proceedings that show the world what they want to be.

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For the EUGames 2014 a good overview from the culture of the organisation is also helpful. In a relatively short period of time there need to be a good working team that knows how to work with the whole team together. Knowledge of the norms and values, rituals, heroes and symbols of the team is necessary to create the correct spirit for the event.

3.4 Vision on internal communication

Michels, W. (2013) mentions there are a few different elements that can create a vision on internal communication. All these elements together can analyze the ways of internal communications. In the figure below you see the different elements.

To explain the figure the five elements will be discussed. First of all communication flows, in this element it is about what kind of flows are emphasized, vertical, horizontal, parallel or diagonal flows. The role of online media within the internal communication in comparison with the offline opportunities also needs to be discussed. Secondly the question is what are the normal communication rules. Is it all set down according to rules, or is it more informal and open? Thirdly is openness, can all the employees find all information or have average employees only limited access to important documents. In other words, how open is the communication within a company. Segmentation is about if everyone gets the same

information at the same time and in the same way. It is also possible that some target groups are approached in a different way with different communication tools than others. Lastly the so-called ‘we feeling’, the we-feeling is the feeling within a team that everyone is working together and that there is cohesion within the team. Not always this we-feeling is necessary but if it is necessary on what kind of level, with the whole company or only in certain

Internal communications ‘we’ feeling Segmentation Opennes (in) formal Communicati ons flows

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departments? All these questions can help with developing a vision on internal communication.

For the EUGames 2014 for example the ‘we feeling’ is important because the team members are working closely together and in a short period of time they need to organise a big event. For the EUGames 2014 the emphasis is not particularly on one communication flow but it is a combination of horizontal (between the different members of the Organising Committee (OC)), and vertical (between the board and the OC) communication. That also creates a difference in formal and informal communication. Between the different members of the OC most of the communication is informal and ad-hoc. Between the board and the OC it is more formal because of predetermined meetings. Not everyone in the organisation of the

EUGames 2014 can expect the same information at the same time. Members of the OC sometimes need to wait to hear from the tournament director instead of receiving their information directly from the board.

3.5 Internal target groups

Before the internal target groups will be discussed, the goals of internal communication will be explained. According to the communication escalator from Quirke, B. (2008) there are five goals of internal communication. The figure below shows the five goals. To create awareness email, newsletters and posters can be enough but to come to understanding a presentation can be necessary. For support seminars, training and e-learning are important and to become really involved, meetings and feedback/creative sessions are necessary. To really become committed to an organisation it is important to really face the problem together and try to solve it.

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Michels, W. (2013) states that there are six different internal target groups: board of directors, management, employees, interns and temporary employees, works council and commissioners. It is clear that not every organisation is exactly the same so the internal target groups for internal communications can differ. This also applies on the organisation of the EUGames 2014. The most important groups for the EUGames 2014 are the Foundation board and advisory board, the organisation committee, interns and other temporary

employees and of course volunteers. If the EUGames 2014 wants to achieve the five goals from the escalator from Quirke it is important to organise meetings and to really work together to solve problems, not only within the clusters but also in the whole organisation.

3.6 Communication flows

According to Michels, W. (2013) communication flows in an organisation are really determining for how everyone in an organisation get their information. The following communication flows for internal communication can be distinguished: vertical communication, horizontal communication, diagonal communication and parallel communication. Informal communication is also important in an organisation but is not directly one of the formal communication flows.

Vertical communication is about top-down or bottom-up communication; it is information that goes from management to employees and from employees to management. There are a few problems with vertical communication, which are that the management team is dependent of the team leader and their communication skills. The other way around is hard for employees to tell negative information to their team leaders and for team leaders it is hard to tell that negative information to the management team because then their position needs to be discussed. Horizontal information is the exchange of information between employees with the same position in the organisation. Horizontal information is mostly between people whose functions are in close relation with each other. Meetings and online communication are tools for promoting horizontal communication. Diagonal communication is communication between different levels in an organisation, which is not going through horizontal or vertical communication. An example of this is the event employee in a discussion with the

communication manager about a promotion action. Parallel communication is when all the employees are informed at the same time. This communication flow is mostly used to share information on goals, norms and values of an organisation. This way of communication is often used as a tool to create a common flow and focus.

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The EUGames 2014 also has to deal with all these different kind of communication flows. It is good to be aware of the possibilities with this communication flows. Who is available for who and when. But also is it acceptable to communicate from the bottom parts of the

organisation to the top of the organisation. Within the EUGames the organisation chart gives an overview from the hierarchical structure. This is not an image of how the communication flows are but it can help to give structure. The most used communication flows for the

EUGames 2014 are the vertical and horizontal flows. Parallel flows are also used sometimes but that is only in exceptional situations. This parallel communication flows can be seen as a chance for the organisation to create a common flow within the whole team.

3.7 Types of employees

Humans are never the same but usually humans like to work with patterns. That is one of the reasons why it is sometimes difficult to create new working methods in an organisation. Michels, W. (2013) explains five types of employees. First of all the innovators, these are people who are looking for changes but that is also why they are quickly bored and they are always looking for new challenges. Secondly the early adaptor, this group of people is quickly convinced through initiators and they are willing to work enthusiastic with changes. Thirdly there is the early majority they are more thoughtful. At first they are waiting on what is going to happen but finally they will work with new changes. Fourthly there is the late

majority; they are more sceptical on changes and new habits. Only when most of the people are convinced, they will follow. Finally there are the laggards. These people are more traditional. Principally they are against every change and they want to keep everything like it was before. The only reason why they would change is when the old situation became impossible to work with.

The different types of people affect the organisation in their own way. Within an organisation it is helpful to mix the enthusiastic people with the laggards and the late majority. This will help to create broad support for new ideas and changes. For the EUGames 2014 it is also necessary to work with people who can handle changes. It is an event that is organised for the first time in the Netherlands that means that a lot of things are changed often. A flexible organisation is important then to make sure the event can go through. As an organisation it is good to be aware of what kind of people you have in your team. It can help to approach the employees in a way that fits best for them.

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3.8 Resources for internal communication

In a big organisation it is important to create a standard package for resources for internal communication. Mostly this standard package exists for example of meetings with

management and departments, intranet and newsletters (Michels, W. 2013). For the EUGames 2014 this standard package is not really addressed because it is organised only once in Rotterdam. That means that the organisation is also temporary and that a lot of resources for internal communication are not really interesting for the EUGames 2014 because it is too expensive or too time consuming. For the organisation of the EUGames 2014 it is important to select the right methods that are efficient but not too big to set up for a short period of time. Intranet for example is not something that will work for the EUGames 2014. However regular meetings are a good resource for the internal communication of the EUGames 2014.

3.9 Communication structure

According to Olsthoorn, A.C.J.M & van der Velden, J.H. (2002) a company with more layers requires more formal communication than a more flat company. When designing a new communication strategy it is important to think of the culture of a company, organisation structure and organisation strategies. The new communication strategy needs to fit with the organisation otherwise it will never work. The following subjects are part of a communication structure: channels, networks and resources. For a manager it is important that he can use all available communication channels to create a new and working strategy.

3.10 Conclusion

From the information above the following statements can be formulated:

 In general internal communication is really important for companies for different reasons. This also applies for the EUGames 2014 because it is an organisation that sometimes needs to change fast, doesn’t have an office were everyone could work together. That makes it necessary to have good internal communication to make sure the organisation stays up to date and well organised.

 The EUGames 2014 is working with a combination of both interaction vision and action vision. This applies to most organisations. It is important that dialogues are accepted and the feedback must be taken seriously.

 It is important to understand the corporate culture of a company before you can develop a communication plan or other big strategies.

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 There are five different visions on internal communication. It is good to ask yourself as an organisation what vision will fit best and how can I combine them to create our own vision on internal communication.

 Quirke’s escalator has five goals of internal communication. These goals need to be reached by the different target groups. Every organisation can formulate its own target groups from the standard internal target groups. For the

EUGames 2014 it is important to really work together to achieve the goals from the organisation.

 Vertical and horizontal communication flows are mostly used for the

EUGames. Parallel communication flows are sometimes used to inform the whole organisation at the same time. The hierarchical structure within the organisation also says something about the communication flows for the EUGames 2014.

 It is important to know your people and what kind of employees they are. This will help to communicate and create solidarity for the company.

 A good package of resources for internal communication can help to make it easier to communicate within the organisation. For the EUGames 2014 it is important that his package is efficient and relatively cheap because this is only a one-time event in Rotterdam with this organisation committee.

 A communication strategy needs to fit with the organisation. It needs to take the culture and habits into account.

This chapter answers the following question:

 What is the current situation of the internal communication within the organisation of the EUGames 2014?

As come out before in chapter three there is not really an internal communication strategy decided for the EUGames 2014. As evidenced by the above theoretical research there are many factors to think of with determining a certain strategy. For the EUGames 2014 a lot of decisions are made in the daily routine. There are different paths of communication within the organisation, horizontal and vertical communication flows are used most. Internal

communication is important for the organisation because it is an organisation where a lot of things change fast and a flexible attitude is necessary. At this moment there is not one vision on internal communication determined. Everyone in the organisation sees that

communication is really important with an event like this where all clusters are also depending on each other. In general we can state that everyone in the organisation is

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communicating with each other and that there are determined moments, and different ways for communicating with the whole committee. Meanwhile there is not a written down strategy, which makes it sometimes hard to create an overview from everything that is going on in the organisation.

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4. SWOT

This chapter will give an overview from the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as regards the current status of the internal communication. The different points are based on a short survey within the organisation but also on previous information that is analysed. First there is a short diagram that summarizes all points. Further down all the points are discussed.

SWOT Positive Negative

Intern Strengths

- Organisation based on volunteers - A lot of students are part of the

organisation.

- Cooperation with strong partners. - Structure within the organisation. - Creativity and innovation. Working

with a small budget and still have a good program.

- Expertise and knowledge of board. - Rotterdam is a sport city.

- Small team with short internal lines and a good ambiance.

- Everyone knows his or her responsibilities and everyone is reachable via email.

- Enthusiastic organisation committee.

Weaknesses

- Not many professionals are working for the EUGames 2014. - Event for participants and not for

supporters.

- Low occupation, high pressure. - Not many contact moments with

organisation committee. - Small organisation, less

experience.

- Speed of decision taking procedures.

- No central working place/office.

Extern Opportunities

- Chance to promote student sport in the Netherlands

- Big network via partners.

- Via SSN and EUR indirect a good relation with a lot of students, possibly volunteers.

- Creative marketing can arrange more awareness in Rotterdam and surroundings.

Threats

- Not enough volunteers - Not enough budget

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- More meetings with the whole team together.

4.1 Strengths

In this part the strengths of the organisation are going to be discussed. One of the strengths of the organisation is that the organisation is based on a small professional team and

besides that volunteers or interns. This is strong point because the budget for the EUGames 2014 is small and because of the high level of volunteers and interns the level of employee costs is lower. The organisation of the EUGames is working with a lot of student interns. They are part of the target market so they really understand and know what students want.

The good cooperation with the partners Rotterdam Topsport, EUSA, SSN, Erasmus

University Rotterdam and Erasmus Sport is also important for the EUGames 2014. They can use the big networks of all those partners. With these contacts for example ex-professional athletes can be approached for masterclasses and other side events. Within the organisation there is a clear structure. The organisation is working with the cluster model of NOC*NSF. This structure already proved to be valuable in other organisations and it gives a clear idea of what everyone needs to know and do. The organisation is working with a small team that makes internal communication quite direct and with short lines. Within the team there is a good ambiance. Everyone is enthusiastic and is accessible via email. The foundation board of the EUGames 2014 has great expertise and knowledge that is helpful with organising this event.

The fact that there is a small budget is forcing the employees to be creative and innovative. They need to set down a good program with a limited amount of money. The city Rotterdam is known as a sport city with great locations and a good sport climate. This is helpful to organise compact games.

4.2 Weaknesses

This part is going to discuss the weaknesses of the organisation. The organisation of the EUGames 2014 is fewer professionals and more interns or volunteers. On the one hand this is a strong point because it is a low-budget way to create a good committee, but on the other hand that means that there is a lot of professional knowledge and experience missing. This also means that there is a lot of pressure on the professionals in the organisation. Besides that it is an event organised mostly for the participants and not for the supporters. This can make it difficult to find sponsors. Sponsors are necessary to increase the budget.

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If we look at the internal communication there are not much contact moments with the whole organising committee. It can be very helpful to keep everyone (also interns) up to date. Secondly there is no central working place where everyone can work together. This can increase the speed of communication. Also the speed of decision taking is sometimes low, almost everything first needs to go the board then to the tournament director and then a decision is made. Sometimes this takes too long and the managers are waiting before they can start arranging what they need to do.

4.3 Opportunities

Here the opportunities for the organisation of the EUGames 2014 are going to be discussed. The EUGames 2014 is a good chance to promote student sport in Rotterdam and the

Netherlands. The big network of the partners of the EUGames 2014 can also be an

opportunity to get in contact with lots of people who can be helpful for the games. Also there is indirectly a good relationship via the Dutch Student Sport Association SSN and the

Erasmus University Rotterdam with a lot of students, possibly volunteers. This is an important point because there are a lot of volunteers needed. If the organisation wants to create more awareness in the city of Rotterdam creative marketing can be a chance to achieve that goal. Organising more meetings within the organising committee and interns is an opportunity to build a strong and close team.

4.4 Threats

In this fourth part the threats are going to be discussed. First of all, the budget. EUGames 2014 has a relatively small budget for everything they need to organise. Besides that there are more reasons why it is difficult to find sponsors so the chances to increase the budget are small. Secondly there are a lot of volunteers needed; a serious threat for the organisation is that they cannot find enough volunteers.

4.5 Conclusion

But what does all those points mean for the organisation? Not everything what has come out of the survey is directly interesting for the internal communication (which doesn’t mean that it is not interesting at all). From the research that has been done in the previous chapters and the surveys it is clear that another working place is almost necessary. It can improve the internal communication because people are working closer together then. One central office also improves the way of how everyone is informed. Arranging meetings and stay up to date

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is easier when everyone is close around you. It also comes out that the knowledge and experiences of the board and the professionals is really valuable within the organisation and that in general everyone is really good accessible via email or phone. Using all partners and their networks is a good chance to search for more volunteers. The threats are pretty serious because when there are not enough volunteers that means that more pressure is on the professional team and their interns. This is also the case for the missing budget; the professional team needs to work with the budget so it can influence the organisation a lot. Within the team there are short lines as regards internal communication but they can

sometimes be used more efficient. A lot of things need to be approved by higher levels in the organisation. It can be really helpful to create a good and fast way to make those lines faster. The outcomes of this study can be taken serious by the organisation because it all came from the employees and other close research.

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5. Comparison with other events

In this chapter some other events are studied to become wiser and learn from other organisations. These events are compared to the EUGames 2014 and the important or outstanding points are highlighted.

First a short description of the different events is given to give an idea on how the events can be compared with the EUGames 2014.

5.1 Australian University Games

The Australian University Games is organised since 1993 and it is the largest multi sport student event in Australia. Every September/October the Games are held somewhere in Australia. It is a tournament with a competitive environment but also with room for fun and enjoyment. Every year this event is attracting over 6000 student athletes to participate. Besides the sport competition there is a weeklong social program organised to enhance the event experience for the students. More than 30 individual and team sports are part of the Games. This year the Australian University Games will take place in Sydney from 28 September to 3 October 2014. The Australian University Games have a reputation as a not to be missed event among students.

5.1.1 Internal communication

The Australian University Games (AUGs) are organised under the regulations of Australian University Sport. The core business of this organisation is organising events like the AUGs but they are also doing other tasks. The AUGs exist in three regional University Games throughout Australia, Eastern-, Western- and Southern University Games. Every event has it’s own organising committee. Australian University Sport supports those committees. For organising events like the AUGs with 6000 to 8000 participants there is an organising committee from around 10 people. Besides that they are using around 300 volunteers, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. This depends on the location of the event because in some situations it is not possible to use volunteers in more positions during the week because of the big distances between locations.

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Communication channels that are used often within the team for the AUGs are face-to-face meetings, email contact and phone calls. Visits to different departments in the country are also part of the internal communication. According to Jordan Mullan (2014) the internal communication within the organisation is great. There is an open culture and everyone is fairly interested in each other and the organisation. The AUGs organisation is an

organisation where it is about developing as a team but also personally. Within the project team there is someone responsible for the communication. Not only external but also internal communication. This person is held to a communication guideline.

5.2 European Youth Olympic Festival Utrecht (EYOF)

EYOF is an event especially for youth athletes. EYOF is a festival where the participants feel like they are participating with the Olympic Games. The first time the European Youth

Olympic Festival was organised in 1991 in Brussel. Every two years there is a summer and winter Olympic festival. Last July the summer edition took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Around 2300 young athletes were participating in Utrecht. There were nine different

disciplines available at EYOF. According to tournament director Pieter van den Hoogenband (2013) it is the place for young athletes to get infected with the Olympic Virus. It is a festival were young athletes can see how it is to participate in a big tournament with the best people of the world.

5.2.1 Internal communication

The organisation team of EYOF 2013 existed of 15 persons. Besides that there was a Foundation Board of five persons. EYOF belongs to the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and is organised on behalf of the EOC, which has the exclusive rights to the event. Volunteers are called festival makers at EYOF. The organisation used around 600 festival makers to create a successful event.

Communication channels that are often used are regular meetings, newsletters and within the team emails and phone calls. The organisation did not use intranet for internal

communication. When the festival makers came across, the HR department from Randstad did most of the communication with the festival makers. At least every month there was a meeting where everyone (the team) and especially the CEO were kept up to date. Besides the professional organisation committee also interns were part of the organisation.

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EYOF was working with the same cluster structure as the EUGames 2014 team is doing. According to Henk Smit (2014) also within the EYOF team there was kind of an ‘island culture’. Liesbeth van Batenburg (2014) states that there was a real enthusiastic culture and spirit within the team. She says that the mix of older more experienced people and the young maybe less experienced people works really well together. One of the reasons why there sometimes was a lack of professionals within the organisation was because there was a limited budget. Within the organisation of EYOF there were also some problems. Liesbeth van Batenburg is wondering if those problems were easier to solve if there was someone particular responsible for the internal communication because some of these problems were deeper than only communication. As said before, there was no one in particular responsible for the internal communication.

5.3 9

th

European universities badminton championships

The 9th_{edition of the European Universities Badminton Championship was held in Uppsala,}

Sweden. More than 130 participants were participating from 29 universities and 13 different countries. Besides that also 15 teams from 10 countries participated with the tournament. This championship took place in May 2013.

5.3.1 Internal communication

The 9th_{European Universities Badminton Championship can’t be compared with the}

EUGames 2014 if you think of the number of participants but it is also an international tournament which means that you have to keep in mind that not everyone’s culture, habits and values etc. are the same. For the organisation of this championship the organisation used around 50 volunteers. The organising committee exists of seven people and eight people in an operational group and one project manager. Before and during this

championship there was one-person responsible for the external and internal

communication. Facebook, website and daily bulletins were used for communication,

especially the daily bulletins were important for the internal communications. This was one of the demands of the EUSA but they thought it was kind of outdated and it created a lot of extra work. An efficient working meeting or text messages and communication via Facebook were according to the organisation more helpful.

5.4 Conclusion

All the events described in this chapter are different from the EUGames 2014. One is bigger, one smaller and the other one has a bigger budget. The fact that those events are bigger

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does not mean that we cannot compare them with each other. Internal communication is not only depending on the size or budget of an event. As we see all the events are using email and phone calls to communicate but they are also pointing out that face-to-face contact is really important as well. As it also is within the EUGames 2014 team there is not always someone particularly responsible for the internal communication within the other event teams. Only with the AUGs there is a communication guideline were the responsible

communication employee need to work with. However this person is not only responsible for the internal communication but more for the communication in general, internal

communication is part of that. A striking point is that everyone agrees with the statement that internal communication is important, but that most of the time in an event organisation there is no special attention for internal communication. What we can learn from those other events is that it is important to have regular meetings with the whole team where everyone is updated about the situation. It is also wise to write important agreements down to have something to come back to in emergency situations. A good ambiance and an open culture make it easier to communicate with each other.

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6. Conclusion and advice

In this chapter the question statement will be answered and together with all above

information it will be transformed to an advice for the EUGames 2014. Every chapter ended with a conclusion and the most interesting points from that chapter. Together with an overall view this is the base of the conclusion and the advice.

‘What strategy will fit best to optimize the internal communication before and during the EUGames 2014?’

6.1 Conclusion

As we have learned from theoretical research it is important that before we can decide a strategy it is necessary to know what kind of people your are working with and what corporate culture you are dealing with. For the EUGames 2014 that means that they are working with a lot of people that are enthusiastic but sometimes dedicated to their own cluster. All the people are able to handle changes and to deal with it. That is really important in the organisation. The importance of good working internal communication seems logical but still people are sometimes totally not aware of the influence of internal communication. An organisation with good working internal communication simply works better and that is important for their reputation and attitude to the outside world.

The culture within in the organisation of the EUGames 2014 is pretty much best described as an ‘island’ culture. Everyone within the clusters is working well together and the

communication level is high. Between different clusters the level of communication can be used more efficient so that everyone can go to each other for help and advice. The literature that is studied is saying that a written down strategy is really important and that it is good to really think about the way of organising internal communication. However the organisation of the EUGames 2014 didn’t write goals or a vision down about internal communication, which sometimes makes it difficult to keep a helicopter view on the organisation regarding to internal communication. There is a lot of email contact but not always as efficient as it can be. In the past the problem with internal communication was that there wasn’t enough

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communication, nowadays it is more a case of too much communication. Regular meetings can help to avoid an abundance of email traffic.

There are a lot of different ways of communicating with each other. The different

communication flows can help to organise the different types of information. Not always everyone needs to know everything. Within the organisation of the EUGames 2014 there is a clear organisational structure which helps with organising communication as well. Mostly the horizontal and vertical communication flows are used within the team. This is good because it is important that everyone knows all the relevant stuff about the other clusters as well. A missing point is the parallel communication; this is communication whereby everyone gets informed at the same time. This may contribute to the so-called we-feeling. Another working place where everyone can work close together will make it easier to use this parallel

communication flows.

The outcomes of the SWOT analysis are interesting for the organisation because it is based on suggestions from their own employees and theoretical research. The most outstanding things were the lack of volunteers and the small budget. Those two points are both really important and affect the internal communication.

The comparison with other events taught us that regular meetings and a good ambiance within the team are really important. Of course the EUGames 2014 is another event so the different ways of communication from the different events need to be adapted to the EUGames 2014 situation.

6.2 Advice

In this paragraph advices are given to the organisation of the EUGames 2014 regarding to the internal communication.

Create a realistic, clear vision and goals for internal communication and write it down. As it is with a lot of business processes it is a good thing to write down goals and a vision. Also internal communication gets more the attention that it deserves when there is a real plan. Goals can create more awareness within a team and organise the we-feeling. When the team is working well together this is working through till the outside of the organisation. People are probably not even aware of the term internal communication because it is

something that goes by itself, in a good or bad way. That doesn’t mean that a bit of control is unnecessary. When employees are thinking about internal communication more specific it

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can come to new insights for them. They become more aware of the impact of internal communication. It is helpful for the managers and tournament director to set up a meeting to talk about the goals and vision for internal communication. It is good to have a

communication specialist involved in this meeting as well. This can be a (communication) student or a real specialist. After this meeting the conclusion need to be documented and a new meeting with the board, managers, interns and other internal stakeholders need to be set up to discuss and inform everyone about the goals on internal communication within the organisation. A good way to set up goals for internal communication is to think about the overall mission and vision of the organisation, what you want to show to the outside world and what kind of internal communication suits that image, mission and vision.

Appoint someone to be responsible for the internal communication

When someone is appointed to be responsible for the internal communication it is easier to create a plan. The responsible person will feel responsible if something is going wrong with the internal communication and that makes him want to control and fix it. When no one is responsible, no one will feel responsible and nothing will be done when problems are detected. This advice goes hand in hand with the previous advice. The person that is

responsible for the internal communication can arrange and lead the meetings and can write down the outcomes of the meeting. This person is also responsible to make sure everyone knows about the goals for internal communication, for example via the meetings, and can keep an eye on if the goals and vision are lived up to. As said before a communication student can be a good solution to have a relatively cheap specialist in the team to watch and direct the internal communication.

Use short communication lines and a lot of personal contact

As we have learned from the desk research the bigger the organisation, the bigger chances of problems with the internal communication. The organisation of the EUGames 2014 is not even that big but there are still enough communication flows where it can go wrong with the communication. It is important to use short communication lines to make sure all information is coming through correct and fast. Personal contact can help with passing through correct information because questions can be asked immediately and there is less chance of misinterpretation. Of course it is also important to write important decisions down to make sure everyone agreed with the same thing. To create this short communication lines it is useful to have an office where everyone can work together. Also it is important that everyone knows what everyone is doing and where everyone is responsible for within the organisation. This makes it easier to go directly to the right person. Spreading out a short overview with

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names, tasks and clusters can help to be better informed about the function of the rest of the team.

Set a certain day to meet up regularly with the whole team

A weekly meeting with the whole team can take care of the information provision for the whole team. When there is a weekly meeting with the whole team everyone stays up to date and knows what is going within the organisation. This meeting structure is not only good for the whole organisation committee but also within the clusters this can be really useful. Information that is discussed during the meeting with the organisation committee can be discussed further during the meetings within the cluster teams. At first sight this looks like a time consuming solution but when the team stays well informed other things can be

processed faster. For the EUGames 2014 a good set up can be that the tournament director becomes the leading person for the meetings. A set up can be that every Tuesday morning 10am there will be a meeting with the organising committee, including the interns that are also big part of the organisation. During this meetings most important things can be

discussed or told. This creates cohesion and a broader knowledge within the organisation. It can make it easier to solve your own struggles if you are aware of everything that is going on in other clusters. After this meeting the different departments can decide if it is necessary to continue the meeting within the cluster or not. When everyone knows what is going on it is also easier to set up shorter communication lines because they know where to go with their questions or advices.

Solve matching problems together with everyone who is involved

When some problems are matching with other problems it is good to combine the knowledge and power of two people or clusters to solve these problems. You can learn from each other’s successes, thoughts and mistakes. If the same thing is going wrong in the

communication cluster and in the facility cluster it is almost needless to say that it is easier if you can solve the problem together. Nevertheless this is not as obvious as it seems because before you can solve problems together both clusters need to be aware of each other’s problems. The weekly meetings can help to get aware of similar problems within other clusters. Daily scrum meetings can also be really successful. A scrum meeting is a short daily meeting were the employees answer three questions; what are you planning on doing today? What have you done since the last scrum? Is there anything in your way of doing your job? If an employee sees that there is someone else that struggled with the same kind of subject, he can go to that particular person after the meeting to ask what his solution was. With this procedure it is important that everyone gets only a few minutes to summarize his proceedings and then the meetings will be short but valuable.

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Use besides vertical and horizontal communication flows also more parallel communication. As we have learned in chapter three vertical communication is about top-down or bottom-up communication. Horizontal communication is the exchange of information