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Articles on Communication
Evaluating Communication Programs::..
How do we know whether a communication program is working?

There are two types of measurements for employee communication: attitude surveys and communication audits. The attitude survey focuses on communication, but is also broader in scope, telling us what the climate and perception of employees are, and what can be done to improve them. An employee attitude survey can measure a wide range of subjects, including job climate, security, satisfaction, opportunities for communication, management, compensation and benefits.

A communication survey measures:

• communication philosophy
• topics which are important to employees
• whether employees feel sufficiently informed
• employees' preferred sources of information
• the readership levels for corporate publications
• communication method credibility and usefulness
• managers' communication skills
• awareness by employees of the company's mission, vision and values.

Communication audits model how the communication process is working in the organization, based on the stated goals, the resources committed and the perceptions of the employees. The audit can determine the credibility of management and the effectiveness of supervisory communications. Audits can measure employee attitudes and their knowledge of the company, the effectiveness of feedback programs, and the impact of corporate media.

Techniques used in communication audits may include:

Focus groups: small groups of people representing various demographics of employee groups. Focus groups provide qualitative information, which means that they show not only employees' opinions, but also the context of those opinions.

Management climate assessment: usually a series of interviews with top management and key unit managers used to determine the culture and values of the organization communication. This assessment can be used to identify the effects of individual personalities and define the content of jobs and roles.

Content evaluation of published material: looks at the subject matter of memos, policies, forms, and newsletters that a corporation uses to determine what is important based on what is written down and maintained.

Surveys: provide a means to let everyone in the organization get involved in the audit process. Surveys allow people to participate anonymously. This data is more quantitative than qualitative.

Network analysis: looks at the interaction among people in an organization to discover the communication nodes or bottlenecks. The theory is that the more people interact, the more successful an organization is.

An attitude survey or organization audit is normally used when there has been some major change in the organization, such as realignment, downsizing or reengineering.