Assessing Organizational Communication: Strategic Communication Audits

by Cal W. Downs Phd, Allyson D. Adrian PhD

Overview

This essential guide offers a detailed framework for assessing communication processes within an organization and using the results to develop improved organizational strategies. Presented in clear, accessible prose are the "tools of the trade" for planning and initiating audits, gathering data using a wide variety of methodologies, analyzing the findings, and preparing effective reports. Throughout, practical examples drawn from the authors' influential work in the field help readers understand the real-world applications of the concepts discussed and gain skills for creative problem solving. A successor volume to Cal Downs's popular Communication Audits, the book has been extensively rewritten with many new topics and two entirely new chapters reflecting today's critical issues and best practices. It will serve as both an authoritative primer for human resource and management consultants and a comprehensive text for undergraduate and graduate students in organizational communication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462506606
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	04/16/2012
Series:	The Guilford Communication Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	292
Sales rank:	925,037
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Cal W. Downs, PhD, is Professor of Organizational Communication at the University of Kansas.

Allyson D. Adrian, PhD, is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Management at the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.

Read an Excerpt

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Initiating and Planning an Assessment
3. Conducting Team Audits
4. Choosing Focal Areas to Assess
5. The Interview: Most Basic Assessment Technology
6. Diagnosis through Questionnaires
7. The International Communication Association Survey
8. Downs/Hazen Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire
9. Critical Communication Experience
10. ECCO Analysis
11. Diagnosing Communication Networks
12. Focus Groups
13. Final Analysis and Interpretation
14. The Final Report
References
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Authors

Table of Contents

1. Communication Audits as Organizational Development
2. Initiating and Planning an Assessment
3. Conducting Team Audits, David Cook, James Patterson, and Cal W. Downs
4. Choosing Focal Areas to Assess
5. The Interview: The Most Basic Assessment Technology
6. Diagnosis through Questionnaires
7. The International Communication Association Survey
8. Downs-Hazen Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, Phillip G. Clampitt
and Cal W. Downs
9. Critical Communication Experience Survey
10. ECCO Analysis
11. Diagnosing Communication Networks,
D. Thomas Porter and Allyson D. Adrian
12. Focus Group Interviews
13. Final Analysis and Interpretation
14. The Final Report

Interviews

Human resource and management consultants; students and instructors in organizational communication. Serves as a text for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses within communication departments and business and management programs.

Editorial Reviews

"The ultimate book on this subject. Comprehensive and brilliantly written, it is a complete guide to planning, implementing, and interpreting the results from communication assessments. It will be indispensable reading for professionals seeking a 'how to' guide, for students in management communication courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and for anyone interested in organizational communication more widely. The authors have made a major contribution to scholarship in this aspect of our discipline."—Dennis Tourish, Aberdeen Business School, Scotland

"My students and I have been eagerly awaiting the follow up to Downs's groundbreaking Communication Audits, and the current volume meets all our expectations. Communication, the essence of organizational functioning, is all too often overlooked in the complex world of contemporary business. This book provides the background and the strategies for understanding and assessing communication in a range of organizational contexts. Written in a straightforward, commonsense style, this is an outstanding text for researchers, students and practicing managers at all levels, and a 'must have' for serious management and communication scholars."—Bill Ticehurst PhD, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; past president, Australian Communication Association

"Assessing communication patterns in organizations has a long legacy in the field of organizational communication, a legacy to which this volume makes a significant contribution. The volume synthesizes knowledge about how auditors can build comparative knowledge about organizational problems, tailor assessment tools to particular organizations, and improve the diagnosis of problems through the use of multiple methods. As a text, it is particularly valuable for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level classes that focus on field methods, diagnostic processes, and training and consulting in organizational communication."—Linda L. Putnam, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University
 

From the Publisher