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Organizational Rules on Communicating: How Employees Are - and Are Not- Learning the Ropes

California State University - Long Beach

This research explored how employees perceived and articulated organizational "rules " in describing specific communication problem incidents. The research elicited and analyzed 560 short narratives from MBA students describing an actual on-the-job communication problem caused by another organization member's weak understanding of "how we communicate here." Respondents cited many more unwritten than written sources of guidance, naming 22 different means by which organizations conveyed guidance on "how we communicate here." Categorizing types of communication problems showed that about 20 percent could have been prevented or solved by communication policy guide lines ; other kinds of managerial intervention are recommended for those owing more to bad individual judgment, poor managerial oversight, or dearth or inappropriateness of cues from corporate culture. Organizations with some written policy on communicating may have thought more about "how we com municate here" and how to convey that information to employees. Respondents' cost estimates suggest that communication problems are a drain on profitability and effectiveness. Most organizations should examine how employees learn the communication rules at present and should introduce measures that reduce uncertainty. If employees can make sense of their work environments sooner and more accurately, errors are likely to diminish.

Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 35, No. 2, 173-201 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/002194369803500201


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