Frågeställning: Hur kommunicerar och skapar mellanchefer mening under kris? Syfte: Vi vill skapa en större förståelse för hur mellanchefer arbetar med intern kommunikation och sensemaking under kris. Vi vill även undersöka på vilka sätt social distansering påverkar mellanchefers arbete med sensemaking och intern kommunikation under kris.   Metod: En kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie har genomförts utifrån en deduktiv forskningsansats.  Resultat & Slutsats: Den viktigaste upptäckten är att mellanchefer tar på sig rollen som ett kommunikationsfilter i sensegiving processen, vilket kan leda till att medarbetarna inte får samma information i slutändan, vilket i sin tur ökar mängden informell kommunikation (ryktesspridning). Om den informella kommunikationen blir större än den formella kommunikationen kan det minska förtroendet för mellancheferna och i värsta fall resultera i intern kommunikationskris. Vi fann också att social distansering till följd av Folkhälsomyndighetens begränsningar kan öka risken för intern kommunikationskris på grund av bristande kontroll gällande den informella kommunikationen samt försvagat förtroende för ledarskapet. Slutligen framträder sensegiving och sensemaking som viktiga verktyg för mellanchefen i arbetet med att förebygga och förhindra psykisk ohälsa under krisen. Nyckelord: Sensemaking, sensegiving, internal communication, internal communication crisis, crisis management och crisis leadership / This study aims to examine how the middle manager creates meaning and communicates during an exceptional crisis. The purpose of the study is to raise awareness, and create a greater understanding of the importance, of the middle manager during a crisis, like Covid-19, in terms of sensemaking and internal communication. Our research question is: How does middle managers communicate and create meaning during a crisis?  To investigate the phenomenon, a cross-sectional study was used to provide a wider picture and enable comparisons between organisations. The study was done through a deductive research approach, and empirical data was obtained through a qualitative strategy.  The most important finding, is that middle managers take on the role of a communication filter in the sensegiving-process. This role, may result in employees not getting the same information, which in turn raises the amount of informal communication (spreading rumors). Moreover, if the informal communication becomes greater than the formal communication, it may threaten leadership confidence, which may result in an internal communication crisis.  We also found, that sensegiving and sensemaking become important tools for the middle manager to prevent mental illness, during social distancing and its restrictions, enforced by the Public Health Authority.   Finally, we present a theoretical contribution to increase understanding of the phenomenon.   Keywords: Sensemaking, sensegiving, internal communication, internal communication crisis, crisis management and crisis leadership

My diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of internal communication in Česká spořitelna. The first part of my work is focused on theory, emphasizing the importance of good functioning internal communication and the consequences of its deficiencies. I also apply this knowledge in the practical part, which is supplemented by the characteristics of Česká spořitelna and the important milestones of the origin of internal communication in the company. In the analytical part, I investigate the employees' satisfaction with the current situation. The paper presents proposals on how to simplify message sharing and avoid the overloading of information that is not relevant to all employees.

The thesis describes the role of public relations and communication in the health sector and points at its specifications and differences if compared to the profitable sectors. The thesis analyses the current level of the issue in the Czech Republic, including legal and ethical perspectives of a health institution. The first part of the thesis explains the theory of the public relations and communicaiton sectors and includes a concise description of the health sector. The second part deals with internal, external and crisis communication of individual hospitals and institutions and analyses them through the method of qualitative research. Aside from other aspects, I describe pratical operation of public relations, usage of media communication tools in practice at individual health institutions. In addition to this, target audience, the public and the importance of a good reputation of a hospital have been defined in this part.