ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION: 1978

With roots in social psychology, human relations, and organizational theory and behavior, the discipline of organizational communication has emerged in the last 25 years with its own content, methodology, and applications. Although one of the first major literature reviews of this field was produced about 15 years after much of the early foundation research had been completed (Guetzkow, 1965), the next major reviews were published in half the time (Porter & Roberts, 1972; Redding, 1972). As further evidence of the sheer quantity of research being completed in this new discipline, four additional reviews and syntheses were published during the next four years (Pietri et al., 1974; Goldhaber, 1975; Bernstein, 1976; Richetto, 1977). In fact, as Richetto closed his 1976 overview of the field, he predicted that there would “likely be continued attempts at integrating and synthesizing findings” (p. 336). Little did he realize that within two years, three additional reviews would appear (Dennis, Goldhaber, Yates, 1978; Farace, Taylor, Stewart, 1978; Monge, Edwards, Kirste, 1978). The present synthesis and review, with its emphasis on findings and implications, combines the results of recent North American and European research with those of the first 16 studies completed by the International Communication Association (1CA) Communication Audit. We have divided the review into three major sections: a historical overview of the major findings from both North America and Europe; major findings from the ICA Communication Audit; and implications of all major findings for future research.     

JOB STRESS,EMPLOYEE HEALTH,AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: A FACET ANALYSIS,MODEL, AND LITERATURE REVIEW1

Job stress (and more generally, employee health) has been a relatively neglected area of research among industrial/organizational psychologists. The empirical research that has been done is reviewed within the context of six facets (i.e., environmental, personal, process, human consequences, organizational consequences, and time) of a seven facet conceptualization of the job stress–employee health research domain. (The seventh facet, adaptive responses, is reviewed in the forthcoming second article of this series.) A general and a sequential model are proposed for tying the facets together. It is concluded that some of the major problems of the research in this area are: confusion in the use of terminology regarding the elements of job stress, relatively weak methodology within specific studies, the lack of systematic approaches in the research, the lack of interdisciplinary approaches, and the lack of attention to many elements of the specific facets.     

INVOLVEMENT IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKS AS A PREDICTOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

This study examines the relationship between involvement in a job-related communication network and organizational commitment. The findings indicate a complex relationship that is moderated by the degree of job involvement. For employees who are not involved in their jobs, involvement in the job-related communication network functions to foster commitment to the organization. Two major conclusions are drawn: (1) the impact of involvement in communication networks on employee attitudes and behaviors may occur only for individuals with certain characteristics; and (2) previous studies that have reported main effects for individual variables on organizational commitment may need reinterpretation in light of the disordinal interaction obtained here. The possibility that different commitment processes operate for different kinds of employees is explored, with special emphasis on those employees for whom communication is a potent factor in determining attitudes. Implications for future research on the relationship between communication network involvement and other employee responses are discussed.     

ATTITUDES AND EFFECTIVENESS: EXAMINING RELATIONS AT AN ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

Recent evidence has suggested that attitudes-organizational effectiveness relations may exist. Relations between employee attitudes, organizational unit performance, customer satisfaction, and turnover were examined at the branch level for a large automobile finance company. Using data from 142 branches in 2 consecutive years, several significant relations between attitude factors and performance were observed. In addition, causal analyses conducted at the branch level suggested that customer satisfaction led to employee attitudes, rather than the opposite. Additional analyses to explain this result suggested that economic conditions and related factors might be the causal mechanism at the aggregated level. Other potential interpretations of these findings and caveats about generalizing organizational-level findings to the individual level are discussed.     

ORGANIZATIONAL FRUSTRATION: A MODEL AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

A model that describes the effects of frustration on individual behavior in organizations is presented. Included is a discussion of the definitional problems with the frustration construct as well as a brief overview of laboratory research. This research is used to develop a model of organizational frustration and its behavioral effects, including increased and decreased job performance, organizational aggression (e.g., sabotage, strikes, work slowdowns, and stealing), absenteeism and turnover. Supporting evidence is supplied by the few studies which have investigated frustration in field and simulated organizational settings. Finally, frustration is shown to provide an alternative explanation to the effects of job dissatisfaction, inequity and participation in organizational change.     

THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR, AND TURNOVER ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: A UNIT-LEVEL, LONGITUDINAL STUDY

This study addresses the issue of whether positive employee attitudes and behaviors influence business outcomes or whether positive business outcomes influence positive employee attitudes and behaviors. We hypothesize that employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and employee turnover influence profitability and customer satisfaction. Data were gathered from the units of a regional restaurant chain via employee surveys, manager surveys, customer surveys, and organizational records. Cross-lagged regression analyses show that employee attitudes and behaviors at Time 1 are related to organizational effectiveness at Time 2. Additional cross-lagged regression analyses show no significant relationship between organizational effectiveness at Time 1 and the employee attitudes and behaviors at Time 2. These results add to the evidence that HR outcomes influence business outcomes, rather than the other way around.     

MULTIPLE ASSESSMENT OF MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS: INTERRATER AGREEMENT AND CONSENSUS IN EFFECTIVENESS MODELS

Research has consistently identified poor interrater agreement among multiple assessments of managerial performance. Three alternative sources of dissensus in the effectiveness ratings were examined: rating errors, selective perceptions, and variations in criteria type or weight. As the available empirical evidence and theoretical analysis show, all three causes provide plausible reasons—though in varying degrees—for the low agreement coefficient. However, an empirical study designed to test three specific hypotheses on criterion type and criterion weights found consensus in the effectiveness models of superiors, subordinates, and peers. Consensus among different raters was high on both the role behaviors and on the personal traits of the managers as criteria for effectiveness. While these findings supported Biddle's role theory (1979), disagreement on the relative weights of these criteria was evident. These observations underscore the need for further conceptualization on the preference functions of raters as a primary source of the low convergent validity coefficients among multiple raters. Further research is also desirable on contextual and cognitive factors that may lead to shifts in criterion type and criterion weight, as well as on actual rating error tendencies among different raters.     

COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND BEHAVIOR: APPLYING A MULTIPLE ACT CRITERIA1

Operating from a model derived from research on the attitude-behavior relationship, a conceptualization is presented which indicts current attempts to select a specific behavior and examine its relationship with a personality characteristic relevant to the field of communication. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the characteristic should predict well a multiple act criteria but not a single act criterion. In addition, an empirical distinction is predicted between apprehension and attitude and a comparison is made between three self-report measures of apprehension.     

SELF-INTEREST,CREDIBILITY, AND MESSAGE SELECTION IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION: A RESEARCH NOTE

This paper reports the findings of a recent survey to determine the effectiveness of efforts by the Library of Congress to communicate with its employees about the Library's Affirmative Action program. Results indicated relatively low levels of employee information about the program. While the perceived credibility of the source was positively correlated with the amount of information absorbed, perceived self-interest in the Affirmative Action program was not.     

PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK INFORMATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION: EVIDENCE OF CONCEPTUAL CONVERGENCE

This study investigates the degree to which performance feedback information can be conceptually housed within an existing theoretical framework of organizational communication. If one's job can be conceptualized as a work information environment, then logically there should be some communality between organizational communication and performance feedback information. In this study 213 faculty members at Iowa State University completed a questionnaire addressing patterns of organizational communication within their respective academic departments and feedback on their own job performance provided them by multiple sources. In order to uncover any underlying congruence between the communication and feedback constructs, the data were subjected to canonical correlation analysis. The results revealed that the type of feedback, source of feedback, and perceived reliability of feedback sources were all found to interact in logical patterns with selected dimensions of organizational communication.     

GROUP COMMUNICATION AND PROBLEM-SOLVING EFFECTIVENESS: AN INVESTIGATION OF GROUP PHASES

The present study sought to determine whether “successful” problem-solving groups can be distinguished from “unsuccessful” problem-solving groups on the basis of the phases that characterize their problem-solving discussion. The results, while based on a limited sample of nine groups, provide strong evidence to indicate that no single uniform sequence of phases is necessarily associated with either “successful” or “un-successful” group problem-solving. Rather, the study found that both “successful” and “unsuccessful” groups take their own unique “paths” to solving their problems, perhaps depending on the conditions and circumstances present at critical points in the problem-solving process. Interestingly, however, while the study discovered that there are several different sequences of phases associated with both “successful” and “unsuccessful” group problem-solving, a comparison of those different sequences revealed one general difference. Specifically, it was discovered that “successful” groups tend to begin their discussion by attempting to analyze the problem before attempting to search for a viable solution to it, while “unsuccessful” groups tend to begin the discussion by immediately attempting to search for a viable solution to the problem before attempting to analyze the problem.     

ON COMMUNICATION RULES FROM A SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

The paper addresses some of the assumptions and criticisms of rule-governed approaches to interpersonal communication research and theory. A definition of rules is first outlined which does not require sole reliance on interpersonal actors’ statements about their behavior or assumptions of communicator self-awareness. Then the paper addresses the intercultural and developmental criticisms directed by Miller (1978) against rules studies. With regard to the former, it is suggested that communications researchers account for (1) the behavior patterns of individuals interacting intraculturally, (2) the culturally patterned attitudes and behavior manifest in intercultural exchanges, and (3) the rule-governed strategies for negotiation. While the paper does not deny the existence of some idiosyncratic behavior, it is suggested that researchers consider rules-based concomitants of relationship developments which are socially patterned in lieu of focusing on relationship-specific (unique) behavior.     

SYSTEMS THEORY AND RESEARCH IN THE STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION: THE CORRESPONDENCE PROBLEM

The principle of correspondence specifies that a necessary condition for the acquistion of valid scientific knowledge is that correctly applied analytic techniques be inherently capable of revealing the theoretical properties under examination. The problem raised in the present paper is whether traditional analytic techniques are capable of providing evidence for or against systems hypotheses, no matter how well they are employed. Traditional univariate as well as multivariate and structural equation analytic techniques are examined to determine the extent to which they are capable of revealing two selected properties: feedback and holism. The general problem of correspondence is discussed and recommendations are offered for correspondence analysis for (1) other conceptualizations of systems, (2) other systems properties, and (3) other analytical techniques.     

THE INFLUENCE OF TRAINEE ATTITUDES ON TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS: TEST OF A MODEL

Studies of the influence of trainee characteristics on training effectiveness have focused on the ability level necessary to learn program content. Motivational and environmental influences on training effectiveness have received little attention. The purpose of this study was to test an exploratory model describing the influence on trainee career and job attitudes on training outcomes (learning, behavior change, performance improvement). Results of the study suggest that job involvement and career planning are antecedents of learning and behavior change. Future research directions and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

A COMMUNICATION MODEL OF PERSONAL SPACE VIOLATIONS: EXPLICATION AND AN INITIAL TEST

An earlier model of personal space expectations and their violations is expanded through specification of primitive terms, constitutive definitions, and the prepositional logic underlying the model. Five sample hypotheses are deduced and experimentally tested. Results generally support the model: violations by rewarding communicators produced more positive outcomes than violations by punishing communicators, and the relationships between distance and communication outcomes for each type of communicator were curvilinear.     

PREDICTING NAVY EFFECTIVENESS: EXPECTATIONS, MOTIVATION, PERSONALITY, APTITUDE, AND BACKGROUND VARIABLES

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of performance within seven Navy occupational groups. Life history, expectations, motivation, personality, and aptitude variables were used as predictors of a 2-year effectiveness criterion for 7,923 enlisted Navy men and women. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that the most powerful predictors included: years of schooling, school expulsions and suspensions, the two Comrey Personality Scales of Social Conformity and Orderliness, arrests, age, General Classification Test (aptitude), and Peer Cohesion (expectations). Comparisons across groups indicated that the development of separate equations for each occupation was not supported. Recommendations were made to improve selection procedures and to change several aspects of the organization, suggestions which would be expected to increase rates of effective performance.     

EFFECTIVENESS OF FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING WITH AND WITHOUT EXTINCTION AND PUNISHMENT: A SUMMARY OF 21 INPATIENT CASES

Functional communication training (FCT) is a frequently used treatment for reducing problem behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities. Once the operant function of problem behavior is identified by a functional analysis, the client is taught to emit an appropriate communicative response to obtain the reinforcer that is responsible for behavioral maintenance. Studies on FCT have typically used small numbers of participants, have reported primarily on clients for whom FCT was successful, and have varied with respect to their use of other treatment components. The main purposes of the present study were to evaluate the efficacy of FCT for treating severe problem behavior in a relatively large sample of individuals with mental retardation (N = 21) and to determine the contribution of extinction and punishment components to FCT treatment packages. FCT with extinction was effective in reducing problem behavior for the majority of clients and resulted in at least a 90% reduction in problem behavior in nearly half the applications. However, when demand or delay-to-reinforcement fading was added to FCT with extinction, treatment efficacy was reduced in about one half of the applications. FCT with punishment (both with and without fading) resulted in at least a 90% reduction in problem behavior for every case in which it was applied.     

EMPLOYEES THAT THINK AND ACT LIKE OWNERS: EFFECTS OF OWNERSHIP BELIEFS AND BEHAVIORS ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

A model of the psychological experience of employee ownership in work groups was developed to investigate antecedents (participation in a 401 (k) program and a climate of self-determination) and consequences (employee attitudes and financial performance) of psychological ownership. Based on data from a large retail organization, results showed that working in a climate supporting self-determination and 401(k) participation were positively related to the level of ownership beliefs in the 204 work groups studied. Ownership beliefs were positively related to ownership behaviors and employees' attitudes toward the organization, whereas ownership behaviors were positively related to financial performance. Implications of psychological ownership for organizational behavior and performance are discussed.