"Internal communications was once considered a stepchild in public relations, but it is beginning to receive the attention it deserves," Neill said.
She conducted 22 hours of in-depth, recorded interviews with 30 senior executives representing multiple departments within four top US companies.
One hurdle communications professionals face at division-leadership level is "a lack of formal power", the study showed.
"We realised that our business leaders were listening to us, but we didn't have that ball all the way punched into the end zone," one corporate communications executive told Neill.
