Internal Marketing: A New HR Management System

The company must face the changes that occur in the environment where it is located and it must learn how to act to survive in it. Products and services become obsolete and must be renewed depending on the stage of their life cycle. And the same goes for employees, since they too are changing, evolving and transforming.

The company has the need to establish a concrete and perfectly planned social strategy that adapts to it and the environment where it operates: internal marketing. The latter objective is to enhance the productivity of the company by encouraging the motivation and integration of the human element in the purposes of the organization.

It should be remembered that the human factor is no longer conditioned by the obligatory compliance with social norms or the principles derived from the exercise of authority, but has evolved. The HR department will only make proper use of marketing if it takes into account the context where it is located.

1. IMPLICATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE COMPANY’S AREAS

The changes that occur in the environment cause the company to be forced to respond to the challenges that arise in adapting to the new requirements. Specifically, these changes can be seen in three areas:

1.1. LABOR RELATIONS

We want to show a new style of managing HR that is guided by the compass of "internal marketing" enunciated by Octavio Gelinier where Its main idea is based on the fact that the working person has to be treated as if he were a "client", an internal client who has some desires and needs that must be known and, ultimately, satisfied.

We must not forget that this approach includes managers, middle managers and other employees.

1.2. BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

The ways of organizing companies evolves. The new forms must be characterized, above all, by:

·  Decentralization and development of decision making.

·  More “flat”, flatter, directive structures that seek to eliminate hierarchical levels. The pyramid should flatten its angles.

·  The promotion of a more flexible workforce.

·  More projects, multi-functional initiatives and teamwork, which could be interpreted with the phrase: "One for all and all for one."

·  "Empowered" or enrichment instead of "command" structures.

García Echevarría and Val Núñez (1996) postulate that the new organizational requirements are developed around:

-  Lean Management: horizontal or flat organizations, oriented to the management of processes rather than functions.

-  Total Quality Management: quality orientation in resource management.

-  Process Re-engineering: which implies a clear orientation to teamwork and requires flexibility in human behavior.

1.3. THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

These systems refer to the way of management; at this point, it can be seen that the autocratic methods have transformed into participatory systems, whose objective is to achieve the "natural" collaboration of all members of the organization. 

2. AUTHORITY CRISIS IN LABOR RELATIONS

Let's stop at this point and make an assessment of the difference between power and authority, concepts that have often been used as synonyms.

POWER is the ability that a person has to make other people do something, or stop doing it, according to the will of the person who owns it.

AUTHORITY adds something very important: the legitimacy of power. In this sense, authority is a right that is acquired, among other ways, when someone demonstrates to others their ability to develop a job effectively.

Economic and social crises are always accompanied by a crisis of authority throughout society. That is, the principle of authority is put into question by rejecting the imposed command and propitiating the figure of the charismatic leader; this has absolutely visible effects on the labor relations of companies, such as stimulating and improving communication; consider mistakes as opportunities to learn; set realistic goals and share with your staff; involve and make staff commitment; and improve the work environment.

In this sense, the adoption of internal marketing techniques in the new management of labor relations becomes an absolutely necessary and essential instrument to make possible the sum of new business projects.

3. THE CURRENT PROBLEM OF COMPANIES

The current problem of companies can be summarized in the following aspects:

• Increase in information levels

The process of change is situated in a global framework and is based on information assimilated by people and organizations, that is, knowledge and know-how. Knowledge becomes the main factor of production. A knowledge-based organization requires the responsibility and participation of all. In this way, people integrated into a participatory and non-hierarchical organization can apply all their knowledge, knowing that, on the other hand, they must maintain and expand permanently.

• Deficiency of communication channels

Although we have more information, we also have a deficiency in communication channels.

• Lack of motivation

There is a correlation between communication and motivation. A person who knows the objectives of your company has an overview of the work that must be done: he knows what to do, how, when and where to execute it. This implication has a great positive effect on people, since it encourages and motivates them, while improving labor relations.

• Deficiency in management systems

Management systems must allow coordinated decisions with certain doses of originality (participatory management) to be taken, as this will encourage employees' motivation.

4. DEFINITION OF INTERNAL MARKETING

We could define internal marketing as the set of techniques that allow you to sell the idea of the company, with its objectives, strategies, structures, leaders and other components, to a market constituted by the employees – internal customers – that develop their activity in it, with the ultimate goal of increasing their motivation and, as a direct consequence, their productivity.

The similarities that can be established between the constituent components of internal marketing and those of marketing in general are shown below (table taken from Barranco's work, 1993):

We will explain these components:

1.  Client-Employee: the employee is the internal client of the company. This implies that we must know their desires, needs, desires and concerns, since it depends on avoiding the failure of the entire social strategy. It is important to know their defects and their weaknesses to turn them into advantages and opportunities.

With this interlocutor you have to negotiate and reach agreements. We must sell the idea that we have him/her for the future development of the company.

2.  Product-Company: The product offered to this internal customer is the company, whose objectives will be achieved with their help (involvement and participation) in the development of plans and policies to ensure their effectiveness.

The final characteristics of this product will be better working conditions, a better working environment, greater involvement and motivation and higher productivity. As a result of all this there will be an added value, whose benefit will have an impact on people.

3.  Sales Techniques: They are mainly based on internal communication techniques and participation techniques. In a company there can be no internal marketing if an internal communication plan is not established and information is issued at all levels.

4.  Sales Force: The answer to this point is found in the moral of the story that we include below:

“This is a fable about people called Everyone, Someone, Anybody and Nobody. An important job had to be done and Everyone was sure that Someone was going to do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Someone got angry about this, because it was Everyone's job. Everyone thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody found out that Everyone was not going to do it. Everyone blamed Someone, when Nobody did what Anybody could have done” (Gelinier, 1989).

It is only possible to integrate a human resources management from the point of view of marketing if there is a participatory management. Internal marketing is a management strategy. The main question is how to develop an interest in customers among employees. A current example of the need for internal marketing is related to the idea of ​​service guarantees. One means of attracting customers is to assure potential clients that the service will work, and that, if you do not do it as you should, appropriate corrective action will be taken.

5. Final Objective: Increase employee motivation in order to increase overall productivity.