House organ

For musical organs installed in people's houses, see residence organ.

A house organ (also variously known as an in-house magazine, in-house publication, house journal, shop paper, plant paper, or employee magazine) is a magazine or periodical published by a company for its customers or its employees. This name derives from the use of "organ" as referring to a periodical for a special interest group.

House organs come in two types, internal and external. An internal house organ is meant for consumption by the employees of the company as a channel of communication for the management. An external house organ is meant for consumption by the customers of the company, and may be either a free regular newsletter, or an actual commercial product in its own right.

An example of a commercial house organ is the Avalon Hill General. This had no outside advertising (usually a major portion of a magazine's budget). It featured news, strategy articles, variants, and essays on game design—all about Avalon Hill games.

Further reading

• Employee magazines in the United States. Studies in industrial relations problems. 110. National Industrial Conference Board. 1925. 
• Shel Holtz (2004). "Types of Employee Communications". Corporate conversations: a guide to crafting effective and appropriate internal communications. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. pp. 84–86. ISBN 9780814407707. 
• Hayes, Elinor (November 1922). "The Employees' Publication". University Journal of Business (The University of Chicago Press) 1 (1): 81–94. JSTOR 2354751. 
• Peter Francis O'Shea (1920). Employees' Magazines for Factories, Offices, and Business Organizations. H.W. Wilson. http://lccn.loc.gov/20026978. 
• JoAnne Yates (1993). Control through communication: the rise of system in American management. Studies in Industry and Society. 6. JHU Press. pp. 17,74–77. ISBN 9780801846137. 
• Elspeth H. Brown (2008). The Corporate Eye: Photography and the Rationalization of American Commercial Culture, 1884–1929. JHU Press. pp. 137–143. ISBN 9780801889707. 
• Anthony Slide (1985). "In-House Journals". International film, radio, and television journals. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313237591. 
• Anthony F. Deyes (1994). "The Place of In-House Journals in Business Interaction: A Case Study". In Leila Barbara, Mike Scott, and Antonieta Celani. Reflections on language learning. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853592577. 
• Jenny McKay (2006). The magazines handbook (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. pp. 191. ISBN 9780415371377. 
• Sandra Cleary (2008). Communication: a hands-on approach. Juta and Company Ltd. pp. 289–290. ISBN 9780702177149. 
• Arthur Judson Brewster and Herbert Hall Palmer (2001). Introduction to Advertising. The Minerva Group, Inc.. pp. 252–253. ISBN 9780898755060. 
• George Frederick Wilson (1915). The house organ: how to make it produce results. Washington Park Publishing. 
• Robert E. Ramsay (1920). Effective house organs: the principles and practice of editing and publishing successful house organs. D. Appleton and company. 

• Communication Through House Journals - a research study ,authored by Dr.A.SreekumarMenon published in a book of Readings 'Emerging Challenges in Management' edited by Dr.A.S.Menon and Dr.K.Shyamanna C.B.H. Publications, Trivandrum, KeralaState, India , 1990 ,pages175-182