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Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.
in Loveland, Co.
Hannah Toole
May 6, 2011
Introduction
2 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
In today’s industry organizations are continuously searching for ways to gain an edge
over their competitors and improve their bottom line. Research has recognized that
companies’ internal communications is the key to securing and maintaining that competitive
advantage.
A companies internal communication systems is crucial to success, however, this
critical area has often been overlooked by organizations. In this day and age, it is more
important than ever that, companies be conducting communication audits and regularly
monitoring their internal communication systems.
An internal communication audit is a thorough evaluation of a company’s ability to
transfer information. The purpose is to uncover strengths and weaknesses within the
company regarding the various ways information is transferred.
The importance of communication audits is outlined in William and Dozier’s study,
“Framing Communication Audits”. Their study sought to determine the real value of
communication audits for an organization. The most favored response from nationally
recognized communication audit consultants was that, a communication audit will help your
organization align its communication strategy with your organization strategy (William &
Dozier 2010). It is also noted that a communication audit provides advance information to
help prevent communication breakdown and provides reliable, factual information about
internal communication (William & Dozier).
When employees are more satisfied with communication within their organization
there is an increase in performance, productivity, profitability, and external customer
orientation (Koning & De Jong).
Communication is possibly the most important process in an organization.
“Employees spend tremendous amounts of time collecting and disseminating information
concerning such critical matters as company policy, placement, promotion, performance
feedback and so forth,” (Mount & Back 1993). According to Mount and Back’s study, “A
Factor-Analytic Study of Communication Satisfaction in the Lodging Industry,” researchers
have determined that there is positive relationship between communication satisfaction and
organizational effectiveness. “In fact that relationship has been shown to be fairly strong
when it comes to the relationship between communication satisfaction and job satisfaction
(William & Dozier).
In order to determine the relationship between communication and job satisfaction,
Downs and Hazen developed the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire [CSQ] (Downs
1977). The CSQ estimates communication satisfaction of employees by asking them
evaluative statements over eight communication factors. Respondents indicate their answers
on a seven point Likert Scale. This method, developed by Downs in 1977, provides great
qualitative data for assessing communication satisfaction.
CSQ has become the most popular method for determining communication
satisfaction of employees. However, few studies have been done regarding the advantages
and limitations of it.
In the study, “Measurement of Communication Satisfaction,” Kong and De Jong,
compared CSQ against the Critical Incident Technique (CIT), in order to gain insight into the
merits and restrictions of each communication analysis technique.
CIT, “focuses on positive and negative communication experiences, which are
assumed to affect or represent employees overall level of communication satisfaction”
4 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
(Koning & De Jong). Employees are asked to recall and describe in detail actual
communicative experiences. This method provides rich qualitative data and reveals issues
that the CSQ does not focus on.
Research has revealed that there is not just one method that is appropriate for a
reliable and valid communication audit. It is recommended that multiple techniques be used
together. For this reason, I am proposing an internal communication audit of JAX Mercantile
Co, which will include both the CSQ and CIT methods.
The focuses for this communication audit will be to assess the effectiveness of
communication within JAX Mercantile, determine the overall level of employee satisfaction,
and finally to gather employee recommendations regarding any improvements that can be
made within the company.
Through this study I hope to determine the internal communication strengths and
weakness within the company, levels of employee satisfaction, and if communication
supports the organizational objectives.
Method
Sample:
This research proposal sought to conduct an intensive study of all employees at the
JAX Mercantile store in Loveland, CO. The population for the study was relatively small, so
an intensive approach suited the purpose of this proposal in order to get the most reliable data
regarding communication practices within the company. A list of participants was selected
using a purposive sampling strategy, not a probability sampling technique.
The original sampling frame consists of 3 upper managers, 1 of which is a store
manager and the other 2 are assistant store managers. All 15 department managers and the
100 other store employees will be studied. Out of the 100 store employees, 2 participants
from each department, totaling 30 people, will volunteer themselves to participate in a series
of interviews. All employees involved in the study will have worked for JAX Mercantile for
at least 4 months.
One-on-one interviews will be conducted with the store manager, 2 assistant
managers, all department managers, and 30 sales staff (2 from each department). The sales
staff for the interviews will be selected through volunteer sampling. All store employees will
complete an online questionnaire. There will be separate questionnaires for department
managers and for sales staff.
Design:
This communication audit will be an intensive study involving correlations between
numerous sets of variables. Our ultimate criterion variable is the level of communication
satisfaction. Predictor variables responsible for estimating the criterion include: Job
satisfaction, organizational identification, organizational integrity, satisfaction with
supervisors, satisfaction with co-workers, quality of communication channels, recognition
levels, and performance and productivity levels.
The predictor variables will be operationalized through a series of intensive questions
for each category. They will be measured on a seven point Likert Scale, the interviewer will
interpret responses from the CIT interviews and a relevant scale will be developed.
The criterion variable will be operationalized after an extensive analysis of the CSQ
and CIT responses. From the data an overall level of employee communication satisfaction
will be determined.
6 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
Pretesting:
The questionnaire and interview questions will be pretested prior to the initial study.
Participants for the pretest will be from the JAX store in Fort Collins. Two sets of focus
groups, each with ten participants will be conducted. All of the participants will collectively
complete the questionnaire and as a group will discuss confusions and questions they had.
Following discussion of the questionnaire, interviewers will run through the interview
questions and discuss each question as they go along. The purpose of the pretest will be to
uncover any flaws in the questionnaire design or confusion in question wording. The pretest
will also help us discover any useful questions that had not been considered.
Procedures:
Orientation
One of the most important steps will be to orientate the employees of JAX to the
communication audit that they will be participating in. It is essential for employee
cooperation, participation, and patience to explain the importance of the communication
audit. Employees will be informed that participation in any of the communication audit
activities is voluntary, however it is strongly encouraged. We want them to understand that
their efforts and input will directly influence changes that will be made around the company
and that the intentions of this study are to make improvements that will increase their job
satisfaction.
Managers will explain that there will be a questionnaire for each employee to fill out,
and that there will also be a series of interviews involving upper management and any sales
employees that volunteer to participate. The managers will stress the confidentiality of the
questionnaires and interviews and ask that participants be completely honest with their
answers.
Employees will be introduced to the communication audit during one of the monthly
store meetings, in which attendance is required. It will be the responsibility of the store
manager to explain exactly what will be happening, how they will be affected, the purpose of
the study, and to answer any questions and concerns that employees may have.
Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire
A comprehensive communication survey will be administered to all store employees.
There will be a different survey for managers and for department sales staff. The survey will
be administered through an online program and will be completed at the store. The survey
will be confidential and results will not be accessible to any store employees or managers.
The purpose of the questionnaire as well as a reminder that participation is voluntary will be
outlined in the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, refer to appendix.
According to Relationship Between Communication Satisfaction and Organizational
Identification, the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), “remains the dominant
measure of communication satisfaction in applied and basic research. It has been confirmed
as having a high degree of validity and reliability across a number of organizations” (Nakra
2006).
Koning, K. H. and De Jong, M. D. measured the merits and restrictions of the
Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire. Their results determined that CSQ is one of the
most reliable and valid methods for measuring communication satisfaction and
communication issues within an organization (Konig & De Jong 2006).
8 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
For the above reasons, a modified version of the Communication Satisfaction
Questionnaire will be used to determine the communication satisfaction of JAX employees.
“This scale measures the employees perceptions about the communication occurring within
the organization and has eight distinct dimensions.” ( Nakra 2006).
There will be two separate versions of this questionnaire, one for all lower level
employees and the other for all supervisors and managers. Participants indicate on a 7-point
Likert Scale, how satisfied they are with the eight communication dimensions of the
company. These include communication climate, supervisory communication, organizational
communication, organizational integration, media quality, co-worker communication,
organizational perspective, personal feedback, and relationship with subordinates. The last
dimension, relationship with subordinates will only be included in the supervisor and
managers survey (Nakra 2006). Refer to appendix for survey.
Employees will have a three-week period to fill out the survey, which will not take
more than a half hour to complete. Store managers and department managers will be
responsible for reminding employees to complete the survey on time. Reminder e-mails will
also be sent out to each employee twice a week until they have submitted their answers.
Participants will fill out the survey while they are on the clock, on a store computer.
Critical Incident Technique Interviews
A series of in depth interviews will also be conducted for this study. The interviews
will involve: the store manager, assistant store managers, department managers, and thirty
sales-level employees (two from each department).
The focus will be to get a greater in-depth understanding of communication within
the organization and obtain valuable information from employees regarding suggestions they
have for the company. The employees will volunteer themselves for the interviews. This
method is used in hopes that employees with the greatest opinions, concerns, and ideas that
they want to share will come forward.
The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) will be used to obtain in-depth information
from participants in the interviews. The CIT method focuses on positive or negative
communication incidents that have occurred within the organization. Participants are asked to
describe in detail, specific events regarding communication in the organization that they had
strong positive or negative feelings about. They will describe the experience, explaining
exactly what happened, who was involved, and what affects the experience had on them
(Koning, K. H. and De Jong 2006).
The article Measurement of Communication Satisfaction states, “earlier studies have
shown that this technique provides detailed insight in the nature of the communication
process within the organization. It gives insight in the extent to which information is
exchanged adequately, the way decisions are made and what communication channels are
used to communicate important organizational issues to employees” (Koning, K. H. and De
Jong 2006).
The interviews will also be used to gather ideas, suggestions, and comments for
improvement from employees. We hope that any concerns they may have with the company
will be brought up within the interviews.
All of the interviews will be administered at the store during paid company time in
the staff meeting room. With the permission of each employee, the interviews will be
10 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
recorded for purposes of analysis. All interviews will be kept confidential and only those
conducting the communication audit will have access to them. Interviewers will once again
explain to participants that the purpose of the interview and explain that participation is
completely voluntary. See appendix for Critical Incident Form.
Interviewers will be trained beforehand through a series of mock interviews. In
training they will practice using the critical incident technique. Interviewers will practice
asking open questions which allow for elaborate answers, getting participants to describe
what led up to each incident, details about the actual experience, and the outcome of the
incident, and getting information regarding how participants dealt with incident and how it
could have been avoided. All questions and possible answers will be covered in the training
sessions. They will become comfortable with carrying the interview in different directions
and coming up with their own questions if important, interesting information is brought up.
They will also go through training to eliminate interviewer bias, which will include voice
training, body language training, and word choice training.
The only equipment needed for the interviews is a voice recorder that will be supplied
by the communication audit team. Refreshments and snacks will also be provided as
incentive during the interviews.
Data Analysis
Data will be collected using an online survey, with an embedded link sent to each
participant. Results will be confidential and upper management will not have access to
individual questionnaires. Data will be downloaded from the online survey and transferred
into a data file for statistical analysis, SPSS 11 for Macs.
One of the first steps in the data analysis of the CSQ will be to preform a reliability
test by running an alpha test. A Chi-Square test will be ran to test proportions of the data.
This test will help us determine if; 1. The frequencies of all the categories are the same and 2.
Are two sets of categories independent of one another or related? Other correlation tests will
also be ran for the different types of data gathered.
For quantitative data we will arrange data in a frequency distribution, ordering data
according to magnitude and frequency. Central tendency summary statistics will then be used
to make data even more manageable.
Examples of variables that will be measured include; Job satisfaction vs. level of
satisfaction with co-workers and supervisors, organizational identification and amount of
time spent working for JAX, satisfaction with supervisors and the communication between
supervisors and subordinates, job satisfaction and recognition, productivity and effective
communication, attitude towards the organization and knowledge of company goals and
objectives. All variables will be measured against each other.
All of the interviews will be transcribed verbatim. All initial ideas and findings will
be gathered and formulated into categories. Data analysis will be conducted using emergent
coding. The category system will be based on common factors or themes that emerge from
the data. The data will categorize the answers according to central questions and produce an
importance weighting for each. The categories will be given frequencies of occurrence. There
will also be a noted insight between facts/insights and potential/recommendations. (Hettlage
& Steinlin 2006).
Data will be examined by defining the categories with the highest frequencies. The
most reoccurring categories will be presented to management. The subjects presented
12 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
depending on the data may either outline issues where there is room for improvement or
suggest communication efforts that the company is doing well on. A summative evaluation of
all the answers will be presented to upper management for discussion. All the information
will be presented however, there will be an emphasis on categories with the highest
frequencies.
In order to achieve intercoder reliability there will be three separate coders. Each
individually will analyze the data developing their own category system. The three coders
then will meet to review and discuss each of the category systems. A final category system
will be put together and the three coders will work together to cohesively decide what
category each incident belongs in.
Discussion
By preforming a communication audit of JAX Mercantile, we will be able to identify
problems and issues regarding their internal communication process. With this information
they will be able to make organizational changes that will benefit the success of the
company, improve employee satisfaction, and prevent future crises and issues that may arise.
The CIT gives valuable insight into employees’ perspective of strengths and
weaknesses within the company, as does the CSQ. Both methods offer rich information and
when combined they make for a valid and reliable communication audit. For communication
audits it is not recommended that any single method or technique be the sole analysis for a
study. Numerous studies have deemed the CIT and CSQ methods as effective instruments for
measuring aspects of communication satisfaction. The combination of both techniques for
this study helps eliminate limitations and issues with validity.
CSQ covers eight categories of communication satisfaction and provides us with
great quantitative data. For a communication audit, it is important that we are also provided
with rich, qualitative data. The CIT method does exactly that, giving us insight of specific
issues within the organization. The CIT method also uncovers categories and issues that the
CSQ does not. Therefor, the combination of the two methods provides us with incredibly
reliable and valid data.
With that said, there are a few limitations to this study. The first limitation is a matter
of finances. In the long run the communication audit will save the organization a great deal
of money and wasted time trying to fix problems that could have been prevented. However,
the issue we face is that this organization is incredibly frugal with their finances and is
hesitant to spend so much on a communication audit when they believe that the company is
doing well, with no foreseeable problems. Due to the lack of effective communication within
the organization, they are unaware of numerous ground level problems. They also believe
that there are more important things to be dealt with before a communication audit is
considered. The duration of the audit will also take up a decent amount of time, which is a
limitation to the study.
Another limitation is that respondents often provide answers that they believe
interviewers are searching for. This would make the study less valid. Correlation analysis
will be done on the CSQ, which presents another limitation, since we cannot make causal
conclusions from correlation findings because we cannot rule out alternative explanations.
The size of the study is also small enough that it can create false-positive results or
provide us with inaccurately represented results. Our last limitation is the exclusion of the
home office and the other JAX locations from the study. Because of this we are limited to
14 [Internal Employee Communication Audit of JAX Mercantile Co.]
issues only within the one location and are not able to determine issues that may corporate
wide or stem from the head office.
Threats to validity in this study may include a few different factors. For internal
validity, an issue with history may arise. If extremely positive or negative communication
events happen just prior to the study or during it, then respondents answers will be biased and
will not truly reflect the general communication satisfaction levels within the company.
Instrumentation may also be a threat to validity. Extensive sets of interviews are being
conducted for this study. If the interviewer grows tired over the course of the day, or is not
well trained and knowledgeable of the subject at hand, then the results will not be valid.
Sample selection is also an issue. For the interviews we hope to have two sales staff from
each department, however since the interviews are voluntary, it is possible that there will be a
clumping in specific departments, making the study less generalizable. There will be an issue
with external validity if the sample is not representative of the entire store.
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