Longwood University
December 6, 2012
Courtney Carnevale
Team Leader
Katee Locke
Team Manager
Abby Glascock
Interview Coordinator
Catherine Marrin
Creative Designer
Tori Spooner
Survey Coordinator
Meghan Roan
Team Assistance
Coordinator
Brief Overview
Communication Strengths
Opportunities for Improvement
Recommendations
Conclusion and Questions
Observations: 3 separate observation days
and times.
 Interviews: 6 interviews with key members of
the department
 Survey: 17 total respondents and 12 finished
surveys


Communication with the Dean and
Coworkers

Employees knowing their primary
objective and goals and being satisfied
with their personal productivity

“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.

“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).
“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”
How Satisfied am I...With my
personal productivity within my
organization
Very dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Somewhat dissatisfied
Indifferent
Somewhat satisfied
Satisfied
Very satisfied
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.

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).
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.


“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 little
Too little
About right
Too much
Amount of information
NEEDED to recieve...Through
meeting minutes
Way too little
Too little
About right
Too much

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.

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).
 Summary
 Client’s
 Thank
future communication
You Admissions

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.