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Assessing Organizational
Communication:
Strategic Communication Audits
Chapter 1
Communication Audits as
Organizational Development
Communication Audits as
Organizational Development
A common tendency is to take
communication for granted until
there is some problem.
 Periodic monitoring can overcome
this tendency to ignore
communication until there is a
problem.

Communication Audits as
Organizational Development

At the most fundamental level,
organizations need to monitor how
well employees communicate
because the organization’s very
survival often depends on workers’
abilities to exchange and coordinate
information.
Communication Audits as
Organizational Development


Globalization demands that people from
different national cultures work together,
sharing information and interacting in
ways that are not common in some
cultures.
What is taught as standard
communication procedures in U.S.
schools of business simply does not work
in other cultures.
Communication In The Work
Organization
Downs Total Environment
Communication Model
Total Environment
 Encoding and Decoding
 Filtering
 Feedback

Downs Total Environment
Communication Model

Auditors also commonly pay attention to
how communication processes can be
linked to organizational results:
 Commitment
 Satisfaction
 Productivity
 Effectiveness of change/innovation
 Financial Stability
Nature of Communication
Assessments


An audit is merely a process of exploring,
examining, monitoring, and evaluating
something.
The idea of conducting a communication
audit may be new to many organizations,
but it follows a long tradition of
management trying to obtain feedback
about the current state of the organization.
Nature of Communication
Assessments
A communication audit takes a
communication perspective on the
organization.
 When we conduct a communication
audit we assume that how workers
communicate messages determines
how they work and interact with each
other.

Nature of Communication
Assessments

Communication provides the
framework for getting things done,
rather than being just a side concern.
We conduct each audit with a
process perspective on
communication, and that, in turn,
enables us to relate communication
to other organizational processes.
Nature of Communication
Assessments

Therefore, communication audits
differ from other assessments only in
that they focus primarily on
communication.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Characteristics
 Independence
 Professionalism
 Diagnostic Thoroughness
 Skilled Evaluation
 Tailored Design
 Current Time Frame
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Independence
 The investigation should be conducted
by independent assessors with training
that qualifies them to make the
investigation.
 Outside independent auditors can
collect information that employees
simply would not reveal to an insider.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Professionalism
 The investigation needs to be
conducted by professionals who
understand the intricacies of
organizational dynamics and who also
have expertise both in the analysis of
communication and in the general
processes of consultation.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Diagnostic Thoroughness
 The diagnostic design should
provide for systematic
observations to be made about all
areas of communication that are
considered important.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Diagnostic Thoroughness
 Because a common tendency for many
researchers and consultants is to define
problems according to the solutions
that they have available, it is very
important that the initial diagnosis not
be bound just by whatever solutions an
auditor would like to implement.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Skilled Evaluation
 Implied in every assessment is a
comparison of what is to what
ought to be.
 Evaluation requires the
identification of some criteria to be
used in judging the adequacy of
current communication.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Skilled Evaluation
 While anyone may collect information
about communication in the
organization, it takes persons with
special expertise and insights to
determine what kinds of information will
be helpful and then to make practical,
usable sense of that information to
identify strengths and weaknesses.
Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Skilled Evaluation
Observations must always be put into
some context historically,
organizationally, industrially, or
economically.
 Credible auditors will have developed
norms or a body of knowledge against
which they can interpret the data
obtained in an assessment.

Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Tailored Design
Both the audit methodologies and the
criteria for evaluation must be tailored
to the specific organization.
 This is not to say that one cannot profit
from experiences in auditing other
organizations, for not all audits start
from square one.

Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Tailored Design
Usually a combination of measures of
organizational communication is
desirable to avoid inadequacies that
can occur from over reliance on one
instrument.
 Triangulation refers to the collecting of
data about the same phenomena using
several different methods or
approaches to data collection.

Characteristics of Communication
Assessments

Current Time Frame
Even though an assessment usually
involves weeks of study, it still takes a
time-bound snapshot of an organization
over a particular time period.
 The assessment can be useful and
practical, but generalizations to be made
from it may be limited to that particular
time frame because of the dynamic
environments in which many organizations
work.

Management Rationale for Audits

Functional Benefits
 Strategic Planning Benefit
 Verification Benefit
 Data Generating Benefit
 Feedback Benefit
 Benchmark Benefit
 Communication Benefit
 Training Benefit
 Participation Benefit
Strategic Communication Audits

Six Phases
1.
Initiation
2.
Planning
3.
Diagnosis
4.
Analysis
5.
Evaluation
6.
Feedback
Assessing Organizational
Communication:
Strategic Communication Audits
Chapter 1
Communication Audits as
Organizational Development
END