Transcript Assessing Organizational Communicaiton Ch. 3

Assessing Organizational
Communication:
Strategic Communication Audits
Chapter 3
Conducting Team Audits
Conducting Team Audits
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Consultants often conduct communication
audits alone or in pairs; communication
classes generally take a team approach to
auditing.
These teams become regular work units,
with all the pitfalls that befall any other
work organization.
The purpose of this discussion is to
facilitate the smooth operation of an audit
team.
Basic Considerations
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The word “team” as it applies to
communication audits implies individual
members coordinating their work together
toward a common goal.
In a team audit, the common goal is
predetermined: a valid review of the client
organization.
How the team performs in relation to this
goal is the single most important measure
of the team’s success.
Basic Considerations
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Being client-focused means putting
aside individual differences, working
together to provide the best possible
service for the client, and utilizing
each individual’s own special
qualities to produce a superior
communication audit.
Basic Considerations
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The team audit will fail if individual members
think they can work independently of one
another, or if they are very competitive with
one another, or if they think they can piece
the audit together at the end.
Being a team means working together in the
strictest sense – maximizing communication,
coordination, and collaboration – to produce
something greater than the sum of any
individual effort.
Steps of the Audit Process
Initiation Phase
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Focus Efforts Inward
It is important that the audit team be
intact prior to entering the
organization.
 The focus should be on how team
members are different from one
another rather than on who is more
skilled, knowledgeable, or qualified
to conduct the audit.
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Initiation Phase
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Focus Efforts Inward
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One element to focus on at this early stage is
individual member’s communication styles.
 Intuitors
 Doers
 Thinkers
 Feelers
To understand the organization, an audit
team must be familiar with its own history
and styles of communicating, and how these
elements may impact the audit process.
Initiation Phase
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Create a Vision for the Team
It is not uncommon for team members to
hold different perspectives on
organizations, to follow different agendas
in the audit process, and to have different
priorities regarding audit outcomes.
 The skillful audit team creates a team
vision that is client-focused. A clientcentered vision is based on a simple
standard: to provide superior service to the
client organization.
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Planning Phase
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Designate Team Roles
 The group should first appoint a
contact person who will serve as the
liaison to the organization.
 A scheduler also needs to be
designated to develop the interview
plan.
 A coordinator must be selected to be
in charge of the entire operation.
Planning Phase
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Publicize the Audit Team to the
Organization
When the organization publicizes the audit,
it shows the employees that company
management is backing the project.
 Advance publicity also allows interviewers
to spend less time building their own
credibility and more time gaining
information to benefit the process.
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Planning Phase
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Publicize the Audit Team to the
Organization
Summary resumes to key
management and perhaps to workers
 Management introduce the team
during a meeting or through voice
mail
 Audit team may produce an open
letter to the employees
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Planning Phase
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Create Mechanisms for Collaboration
 Designate a medium (e-mail)
through which team members can
openly collaborate and discuss
findings.
 Use a “filing cabinet” to store all
artifacts from the audit.
 Negotiate meeting times for the
team.
Planning Phase
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Assign Areas of Focus
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Individuals in an assessment team often have
particular interests and research skills that
determine how they want to participate on the
team.
Letting people select what they want to explore
can be highly motivating as teams develop
expertise in certain areas.
It is useful for each individual to be involved in
multiple focus areas so that he or she can
maintain an overall organizational perspective.
Planning Phase
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Determine Primary and Secondary
Roles
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Audit members should expect to get
involved with all aspects of the audit;
however, teams often designate primary
and secondary roles for each member
according to that person’s special
interest and expertise (e.g. quantitative
& qualitative).
Planning Phase
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Establish Collaborative Norms
Collaborative norms enhance
understanding and learning about the
organization. They help avoid “tunnel
vision.”
 By setting up norms of collaboration,
group processes encourage open
dialogues and resist groupthink.
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Data Collection Phase
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Collection procedures broadly fall into two
camps: quantitative and qualitative
methods.
Resist the temptation to have group
members work solely in one or the other
area.
Each team member should take a large,
primary role in one type of collection
procedure and a smaller, secondary role in
the other.
Data Collection Phase
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Generally, team members who are
involved in both types of data collection
procedure make better interpretations by
synthesizing all the data, and they
produce richer, more detailed final reports.
In addition, they are less likely to gloss
over contradictions between the two types
of data.
Data Collection Phase
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Systematize the Quantitative Data Collection
 Create a central location for coding data.
 Use a limited number of data coders.
 Determine guidelines for coding data.
 Verify the data.
 Conduct tests only after data have been
completely verified.
 Print two copies of the output
Data Collection Phase
 Summarize
Qualitative Data
Develop interview teams.
 Type written summaries
immediately after the interview.
 Determine how the data will be
synthesized.
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Interpretation Phase
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Making interpretations of the data in a
group context my be more difficult
because members must effectively
manage competing perspectives, radically
different interpretations, and individuals
who think they know the “truth” about the
organization.
Poorly managed audit teams usually fall
victim to either groupthink or destructive
conflict.
Interpretation Phase
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Some considerations in making
interpretations of the data:
 Communicate like crazy.
 Use focus groups to synthesize
team interpretations.
 Triangulate all data.
 Test your assumptions.
Final Report Phase
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Agree on Standard for Writing the Final
Report
 Determine verb tense.
 Determine how the results will be
reported.
 Make wise language choices.
 Organize consistently.
 Generate Charts.
Final Report Phase
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Develop a Plan for Report
Presentation
 The presentation must impress the
client with its benefits.
 Assign specific roles for the
presentation.
 Deal with client questions.
Special Instructions for Audit Classes
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The audit class is very different from the
average college course. Rarely does the
entire focus and learning of a class hinge
on the overall attitude and participation of
every class member
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Be client-focused
Share roles and responsibilities.
Be professional
Do not expect to be able to conduct an audit
using just regular class times.
Conclusion
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Conducting an audit with a team means
that one is not only auditing the
company’s communication, one is also
managing the audit team’s
communication.
As the audit team works together, its
members learn about the challenges of
communicating with each other as much
as they learn about communication in the
client company.
Assessing Organizational
Communication:
Strategic Communication Audits
Chapter 3
Conducting Team Audits
END