Longwood Admissions Office Communication Audit

Presented by Acadia Communications

Longwood UniversityDecember 6, 2012

About UsCourtney Carnevale

Team Leader

Abby Glascock Interview Coordinator

Tori SpoonerSurvey Coordinator

Katee Locke Team Manager

Catherine Marrin Creative Designer

Meghan RoanTeam Assistance

Coordinator

Agenda

Brief Overview

Communication Strengths

Opportunities for Improvement

Recommendations

Conclusion and Questions

Research Overview

Observations: 3 separate observation days and times.

Interviews: 6 interviews with key members of the department

Survey: 17 total respondents and 12 finished surveys

Strengths

Communication with the Dean and Coworkers

Employees knowing their primary objective and goals and being satisfied with their personal productivity

Communication with the Dean and coworkers

“Informal communication with the Dean, even within meetings everything is easy going, everyone feels free to communicate their ideas, beliefs, and concerns”

The first interaction we saw happened between a supervisor and an Admissions Counselor. The Admissions Counselor was in the supervisors office having a conversation. The non-verbal seemed open and positive towards the two. The Admissions Counselor was standing at the front of the supervisors desk asking a question.  They were using face-to-face communication.

Communication between employees

“Pollock, Whitbred, and Contractor (1996) found that employee satisfaction was predicted by the satisfaction of people in their communication networks. The satisfaction of their communication linkages was more important even than the job characteristics or employee dispositions” (Downs p. 190).

Goals and Productivity

“The big goal for the office is to get prospective students here, to tour the campus, want to make sure the student feel like they fit here, try to get students information about Longwood. Get students where they feel comfortable”

One of the recruiters came in and thanked one of the receptionists for giving him a heads up about the location of a school and how to get inside without having

problems.

How Satisfied am I...With my personal productivity within my organization

Very dissatisfiedDissatisfiedSomewhat dissat-isfiedIndifferentSomewhat satisfiedSatisfiedVery satisfied

What employees are saying 5 communication functions:

› task/ work, › social/ maintenance› motivation› integration› innovation

“Taken in combination these five communication functions characterize a healthy organization. Although auditors differentiate among them for analytic purposes, none of them really stands alone” (Downs p. 62).

Areas for Improvement

Employees want more information through newsletters, telephone, and meeting minutes

Information that needs to be received by employees about promotion and advancement opportunities as well as how organization decisions are made that affect their jobs.

Information through newsletters, telephone, and meeting minutes

“In writing, no formality of minutes in the office, University communication with the Dean is more formal than within the Admissions office”

Amount of information NEEDED to receive...Through

newsletters Way too littleToo littleAbout rightToo muchWay too much

Amount of information NEEDED to recieve...Through

meeting minutes Way too littleToo littleAbout rightToo muchWay too much

How to Convey your message Media Richness Theory: Channels and Ambiguity

Adler and Elmhorst (2010) describe the telephone as a communication channel that could be a very helpful tool for the organization, “ When using the telephone as a way to communicate, it can lack in the rich visual feedback because it often discloses how a message is getting across, vocal signals, tone of voice, pauses, interruptions, pitch and rate.” Even though face-to-face communication is always a good first choice to communicate important messages, the telephone can be a way to communicate with people who are across the state or even the country.

Recommendation Weekly Newsletter

› Examples include: Elsie Angus weekly e-mail to students Cormier Honors College Monday Memo Week @ Glance in Organizations

Communication Networks: Strength of Ties› “Fulk and Boyd (1991) found that the more cohesive

(stronger) ties positively affects employee attitudes and use of e-mail systems. Fulk (1993) explained the importance of cohesive ties by arguing that when strong ties are present employees give greater support and assistance using technology” (Downs p. 190).

Conclusion

Summary

Client’s future communication

Thank You Admissions

Works Cited Adler, R., & Elmhorst, J. (2010). Communicating at work: principles

and practices for business and the professions. (10th ed., pp. 23-25).

Downs, C. W. & Adrian, A. D. (2004). Assessing organizational communication. New York: The Gilford Press.

Fulk, J. & Boyd, B. (1991). Emerging theories of communication in organizations. Journal of Management, 17(2), 407-446.

Pollock, T., Whitbred, R., & Contractor, N. (1996, February). Social information processing, job characteristics and disposition: A test and integration of competing theories of job satisfaction. Paper presented at the Sunbelt XVI International Social Network Conference, Charleston, SC.

Questions