Download Communication Audits

COMMUNICATION AUDITS
Goldhaber and Rogers (1979) illustrate the need
for the use of a communication audit by using
two analogies;
1. Companies need financial audit and,
2. Individuals need physical check-ups.
Both types of check-up provide clients with
information necessary to ensure the health
status of the system, be it individual or
organizational. In the same way, communication
audits provide an organization with advance
information;
1. To prevent serious breakdown affecting
overall performance.
2. To restore and enhance current performance.
What is Communication Audits?
1. A Communication Audit (CA) is a study of
the effectiveness of communication within
an organization or externally among
organizations, employees, and the clients.
2. CA functioned as an assessment tool for
organization improvement.
3. The implementation of CA may involve
research on perceptions and attitudes; an
analysis of publications and archival data,
communication policies and procedures;
and/or a study of organization culture and
environment.
What is the Outcome of
Communication Audits?
Communications Audits present an objective
report on the effectiveness of internal and
external communications. An audit can be
widely focused, covering all stakeholder
groups, or more narrowly focused on one or
more groups such as customers, employees,
investors, the community, etc. It can also be
limited to one or more specific communication
programs.
Communication Audits Process
The communication audits process is not a
stand-alone process. It is all integrated,
involving;
1. Review of internal communication.
2. Research on employee communication.
3. Open discussion with senior managers.
Implementation of the process can be
monitored by;
1. Consultants (out source).
2. Own staffs (in-house).
Stages of audit process
1. Planning and Design
The planning and design stage defines
the audit's scope and goals, populations
involved, comms. and channels to be
audited, audit methods to be used,
timeframe and budget.
2. Research and Measurement
Research and measurement begins with
informal exploratory research and often
moves to formal, scientific methods of
gathering information.
Cont’d…
Depending on the audit's goals and design,
research and measurement of some or all
of the following may be involved:
i. Face-to-face communication and the
grapevine;
ii. Flow patterns among individuals,
departments, divisions and leadership;
iii. Publications in print, video and audio plus
other audiovisuals;
iv. Large group meetings and events;
v. Memos and written communications;
vi. Leadership communication;
vii. Electronic communication such as e-mail,
voice-mail, online bulletin boards, intranets;
viii. Feedback systems.
Cont’d…
3. Analysis and Reporting
The final phase is analysis and reporting.
After examining all the information
gathered in the research and
measurement phase, an analysis is
conducted to determine how well the
communications satisfy the needs of the
organization and the stakeholder groups
today and how well these
communications will serve changing
needs in the future operations.
Dimension of CA
1. CA assess the extent to which employees'
communication needs are being met. Not
only that, but good audits indicate
employees' assessment of a wide range of
communication variables.
2. Process of measuring of employee or
customer perceptions on the quality of
interactions with managers or key
representatives of the organizations.
3. Study of the effectiveness of communication
within an organization or externally among
organizations, employees, and the clients.
Reasons for CA
1. To establish communication effectiveness
and efficiency.
2. To evaluate the quality of communication
within the organization or between the
organizations and external parties.
3. To assess the quality and effectiveness of
internal communication management.
4. To identify the operational communications
networks and the impact of new technology.
5. To determine the communications problems
and bottlenecks.
6. To establish the cost-effectiveness of
communication channels used.
Reasons for CA
7. Communication failures are costly.
8. Adequate communication  results in
greater productivity.
9. Poor communication  lead to high
turn-over among good staff.
10. There will be no monopoly of ideas at
the top of organizations (avoid
“groupthink” situation).
11. During crisis staff are behind the
organization  high loyalty.
When to do CA?
Communication audits can be managed/
organized any time;
1. Prior to organization restructuring
exercise.
2. After organization restructuring exercise.
3. When there is a need to motivate
employees.
4. When customers have difficulty making
contact with organization  more
complaints than responses.
5. When telephone bills are increasing
rapidly.
Functions of CA
1. To identify the performance of communications
programs.
2. To diagnose current communication policy.
3. To diagnose current communication problem.
4. To assess the relationship of communications
to other organizational operations.
5. To develop communication budget.
6. To develop benchmark for future changes on
communication structure and policies.
7. To measure communication progress.
8. To restructure the communication function.
9. To provide background for developing formal
communication policies and plans.
Techniques of CA
1. Structured and unstructured interviews.
2. Questionnaires.
3. Group discussions.
4. Internal communication network analysis
(eg. circle, wheel, chain, Y shape, clique,
liaison, isolate).
5. Communication diaries.
6. Telephone calls logging/monitoring.
7. In-tray and out-tray analysis.
8. Checking and analysis of telephone bills.
9. Reviewing all printed matter/materials.
IMPACT OF CA
Maximize communication between organizational
resources and environments
for immediate and long-term advantages by;
1. Stimulating innovation and rapid response.
2. Gaining/maintaining a competitive advantage.
3. Strengthening motivation and commitment.
4. Anticipating and meet customer needs.
5. Retaining and expand a customer base.
6. Avoiding waste and redundancy.
7. Increasing cost-effectiveness.
8. Eliminating costly errors.
9. Securing cooperation.
Preparation for CA  Q to Answer
1. What is the reason for wanting an audit now?
Has there been a change in the competitive
environment or a recent change in the
strategy or structure of the organization?
2. What are the project directors' assumptions
about strengths and weaknesses of the
existing function's structure, strategies,
processes for coordination, and skills of staff?
3. How does this project fit into senior
management's agenda? Is there support to do
something about the results of the audit; for
example, would they consider a change in
reporting structure or requiring consistent
reporting of activities and results if that were
found to be important?
Preparation for CA  Q to Answer
4. What limitations exist? For example, are
there some aspects of structure or strategy
that will not be considered for change by
management?
5. What decisions would the project team like
to see made based on the results?
6. Is it important to compare internal views of
the situation with external perceptions
(e.g., through an analysis of existing
market research or through qualitative
research of key target segments and
audiences)?
Components of Information System Analysis in CA
1. Meeting with executives to determine the overall
communication goals and culture of the
organization.
2. Systematic content analysis of print, audiovisual
and online information to determine consistency of
message and the relevance of the data to actual
performance.
3. Behavior-setting analyses of key staff at their work
places to determine and observe how they use
information and communication tools.
4. An audit of communication "tools" (such as
newsletters, intranet, videoconferencing) and
"rules" (the templates or standards used to produce
the information)
5. Focus groups or small group interviews to
determine the needs and issues of key employee
groups.
Shortcomings of CA
1. They rely on opinions, which are often influenced by
what's known as the "demand effect." Respondents
to surveys or participants in focus groups often say
what they think is expected of them  and
generally, this means criticizing something about
communication, especially supervisory behaviors.
2. Participants often don't have much to compare their
current communication system to -- especially in
the case of employees with long tenure or new
hires.
3. Satisfaction measures are difficult, if not impossible,
to correlate to performance.
4. In today's mobile career environments, it's often less
important to focus on the communication
behaviors of people who may not be around very
long.