In the current economic climate, organisations need to be very aware of what their employees, suppliers, distributors, online communities and the external communities are saying about them and how they respond to these opinions. As clients and customers look for ever better service delivery, incorporating stakeholder feedback into an organisation is vital. Companies should develop and maintain a relationship with stakeholders which ensures the company is both changing and adapting to their desires and needs.

Research has shown that open organisations tend to be the most effective and successful. In order for an organisation to be truly open it must be aware of its external environments. This means it must act on feedback gained through surveys, interviews, questionnaires, community event and various forms of social media from its clients. This is where PR comes in, as not only should the PR team be raising the profile of an organisation, they should also be monitoring relevant external audiences and suggest organisational changes to reflect the mood of the external stakeholders.

A PR practitioner’s role is to manage these exchanges to build a mutual understanding between the different stakeholder groups. An open approach can also help position an organisation’s image in the eyes of both stakeholders and its environment, and in communicating this image.

A good example of an open organisation that has built its entire business on the grounds of what customers want is the global online fashion and beauty retailer ASOS plc (ASOS). Not only did ASOS take into account the changing habits of society by launching in 2001 as an online only store, but ASOS has continued to evolve according to the demands of their customers. From launching an online catwalk in 2006 so that customers could see products on models before buying, to the launch of Marketplace in 2010 where customers can buy and sell their own wardrobes in these harder economic times, the company continues to change according to customers’ needs. ASOS call this two-way communication a “transactional commoditised relationship” achieved through initiatives such as the introduction of ASOS Life and the online blog ASOS Today. This continual evolution would not have been possible without the research and feedback the PR team at ASOS will have provided, demonstrating how important this environmental evaluation is for the success of an organisation.

An open organisation can also limit crises by encouraging the organisation to anticipate difficulties and take early corrective action via environmental scanning which becomes a natural part of building a relationship with all stakeholders. Through the analysis of both the external and internal environments, organisations become aware of the wider environmental issues and therefore should be able to spot the early warning of issues that may lead to future risk and crises for organisations. In light of emerging issues identified through the monitoring of wider environments, organisations can adapt actions and strategies in order to avoid a crisis.

Open organisations should foster longstanding, two-way relationships with the external and internal audiences and act on this feedback in order to improve products, services, employee morale and the reputation of the organisation. It is only through effective communication that this can be achieved.