The Influence of Strategic Communication on the Effectiveness of Message Delivery

Strategic communication is a form of strategic action and very important for organisational development as it regarded as a major contributor to organisational efficiency. The main purpose of this study is to identify communications pattern used, to analyse the relationship between communications pattern and strategic communication as well as to analyse the strategic communication elements such as communication planning, top management support, targeted messages, selection and use of communication tools, on-going assessment and work culture that influence the effectiveness of message delivery among KTMB staff. The determination of these elements was based on Strategic Communication Model by Barret (2002). Barret's model has been modified by adding two more elements namely communication planning and work culture. For the purpose of this study, a total of 28 complaints about commuter services sent via email by KTMB customers were collected and analysed. Then, a survey was conducted on 200 respondents among commuter staff to identify the communication pattern used and how strategic communication was practiced in KTMB. The findings showed that customers often complaint to KTMB and most of the complaints are related to service management and work culture. At the same time, KTMB was practiced horizontal communication and external communication compared to vertical and diagonal communication patterns. Through correlation analysis, the study found that there is a positive relationship between communication patterns and strategic communication. Meanwhile, regression analysis showed that strategic communication elements had influence a total of 56 percent variant towards effectiveness of message delivery.