Example research essay topic: Englewood Cliffs Nj Organizational Communication - 1,917 words

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... t it does not seem harmful. In fact, it would be a mistake to not continue these activities, or perhaps even improve them. 1. Members need to devote a little more effort outwards to the public. Being a mens social fraternity, being more sociable with those outside their ranks would help them to better fulfill the definition of what they are. 2. Take time to consider growth options such as revisions on their recruitment, or member retention rate.

Since no negative effects were given, it would be the perfect time. Remember, if an organization is not growing, it is dying. 3. Emphasize the importance of the activities that the organization offers to its members. By the lack of mention in the OCP, it appears that many of the members dont benefit from the services that are available.

Data from the cultural part of the OCP indicate that the culture of the organization consists of four elements, most of which combine to reveal an organization dedicated to excellence, their inner organizational elements, active / upbeat practices, and their services for members education. Although these categories are based on responses from a somewhat small number of employees, they do reflect actual responses of the employees and should be taken seriously. The next instrument used in the systems analysis was network analysis questionnaire. In this questionnaire, I asked the same ten members of the organization from the previous analysis information, with whom did they talk about new ideas, new ways of doing things, and changing of policies. The results from this questionnaire, when drawn out into a communication pattern (FIGURE 2) show several different communication network roles present within the organization.

Those roles consisted of clique members, isolates, bridges, and opinion leader. Clique Member member of a group of individuals having at least half of their contacts with each other. No member of the group can be eliminated, and have the group break apart. Most cliques are formed by environmental circumstances, which permit contact, who like one another, and who find contacts of high immediacy satisfying. As a result, cliques consist of individuals who have both formal, positional reasons for making contacts as well as informal, interpersonal reasons. Isolates those members who have less frequent contact or no contact at all with other group members.

Characteristics of Isolates include: 1. Less secure in their self-concepts 3. Less willing to interact with others 4. Younger and less experienced with the system 5. Less often in positions of power in the organization 6. More inclined to withhold information than facilitate its flow 7.

Relatively more dissatisfied with the system 8. Concerned that the communication system is closed to them Bridges member of a clique who has large number of intra-group contacts and who also has contact with a member of another clique. A bridge serves as a direct contact between two groups in the organization. Too many of these can lead to distortion of messages.

Opinion Leader is an individual without a formal position who guides the opinions, and influences of the members. These individuals are people who others trust, and who keep on top of situations. Opinion leaders serve a key communication function by influencing opinion formation and attitude change. This section of the organization seems to have only one problem that is apparent. They simply need to be cautious of the bridges, and remember to include the isolate more. The bridges pose a threat of distorting any information that comes through them.

Since this fraternity has a very good communication to all of its members, this could cause some members to receive false information. This could cause inefficiency and turmoil in the fraternity. By leaving out the isolate the organization is losing out on valuable information. It has been said best that two heads are better than one. Having an isolate is leaving out an extra head (in other words, an extra thought). From within the members questioned, they all seemed to name each other.

This might have been partially due to the segregation of the ten during the questioning. It may have left them to feel as if they had to choose someone from within the ten. The group basically broke down into two small cliques; one opinion leader, two bridge members, and one isolate (SEE FIG. 2). Although the group had two separate cliques, they both seemed to turn to one person for their views. This was even found in the communication of the isolate. If more members of the organization were brought into this study, I feel that perhaps this group could even be considered to be a clique itself as a whole.

This instruments results support a conclusion stated earlier in another section. That being that most of the information within this network is spread well through the members. The isolate may only receive communication back from one person, but it is the opinion leader. Since there are only two bridges, there is not much room for distortion.

Overall, I feel that this network communicates in a very healthy, beneficial manner. COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRE The final instrument that was used in the systems analysis of Sigma Pi Fraternity was a communication satisfaction questionnaire originally developed by Cal W. Downs and Micha D. Hazen in 1977. Its job is to actually provide information to figure the different levels of satisfaction. This is done through a series of questions, which are answered by the members of the organization.

Different questions fall under different types of satisfaction. The numbers reported are then added together for the total. The total is then compared to a satisfaction range score list. This instrument breaks satisfaction down into eight types: 1. Relation With Subordinates: the extent to which superiors are open to ideas, the extent to which they listen, and the extent to which they offer guidance for solving job-related problems. 2. Media Quality: the extent to which individuals receive information about the immediate work environment. 3.

Organizational Integration: the extent to which communication in the organization motivates and stimulates workers to meet organizational goals to identify with the organization. 4. Communication Climate: the extent to which meetings are well organized, written directives are short and clear, and the amount of communication in the organization is about right. 5. Horizontal Communication: the extent to which the grapevine is active and horizontal communication is accurate and free flowing. 6. Corporate Perspective: the extent to which information about the organization as a whole is adequate. 7. Relation With Supervisor: the extent to which subordinates are responsive to downward communication and anticipate supervisors needs. 8. Personal Feedback: the extent to which workers feel that they know how they are being judged and how their performance is being appraised.

The following are the results averaged from the communication satisfaction questionnaire taken by the analysis subjects of Sigma Pi Fraternity. The fraternity appears to be fairly pleased with communication between their executive council and all of the other members of the group. This is an important statistic especially because as stated earlier, this whole analysis had its data gathered from Sigma Pis executive council. The fraternity might want to make sure that this view is same with all members. The organizations members at first werent quite sure if this section even applied to them, but upon slight explanation by the facilitator of the questionnaire (myself) the group realized that all of their media was produced on a national basis, and most of it is directed toward their alumni. Further they realized that even when parts which were beneficial to them, the media was only available four times a year.

It provides very little if any benefit to the active members of the fraternity. The suggestion to be made here is two-part: (1) Produce their own local media to fit their needs; and (2) Contact the editors of the national media being produced, and voice their concerns. This section of the questionnaire relates back to earlier found information about the organization. It looks back at the fact that Sigma Pi feels that they are very goal directed, and achieve all goal which they set.

Once again this information is found in earlier studies. Here shows the same; that the organization is well organized, and that the amount of communication is sufficient. This section shows the group to be somewhat unhappy with the level of communication occurring on the same level within the fraternity. This was made somewhat apparent earlier by the network analysis. Due to the cliques and only two bridges between them, it seems that communication has a hard time reaching other brothers. To help remedy this problem, I would suggest that the organization try to incorporate the cliques together in any way possible.

This section of the communication satisfaction seemed a little hard for the members to answer. Most of the questions that fit under this section dealt with corporations, instead of fraternities. The members did seem pleased with the information that they have about their financial standing, and the successes and failures of the organization. The reason for such an indecisive number here is due to the misunderstanding of the questions involving unions, and government action. My recommendation would be for the members of Sigma Pi to better understand their fraternity's business aspects.

It seems that in many cases, such as government actions, they are indecisive due to ignorance of the subject matter. As with the above section dealing with the subordinates, the members also are very satisfied with the relations to the supervisor. This data might be slightly biased due to the subjects questioned (the executive council of the fraternity), but along with the other information provided earlier, I highly doubt it. The members again find satisfaction in another section of communication. They feel very sure on how they are being judged by other members and what defines a job well done. Within this systems analysis, there have been four separate instruments used to bring in data about Sigma Pi Fraternity.

Through the use of the CCI, the OCP, the Network Analysis, and the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, I have come up with several recommendations to help Sigma Pi improve their communication system. These recommendations were: 1. Members need to devote a little more effort outwards to the public. Being a mens social fraternity, being more sociable with those outside their ranks would help them to better fulfill the definition of what they are. 2. Take time to consider growth options such as revisions on their recruitment, or member retention rate.

Remember, if an organization is not growing, it is dying. 3. Emphasize the importance of the activities that the organization offers to its members. 4. Members should be more supportive to each other. 5. Be cautious of the bridges, and remember to include the isolate more. 6. Better understand the fraternity's business aspects. 7. Incorporate cliques together in any way possible. 8.

Produce own local media to fit needs. 9. Contact the editors of the national media being produced, and voice concerns. If Sigma Pi follows the suggestions made in this organizational communication system analysis, it is my prediction that they will be able to take their organization to a higher level. They will be taking something good, and making it better. 1. Organizational Communication, 3 rd edition; Pace R.

Wayne, Faules Don F. ; 1994; Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Bibliography: REFERENCES 1. Organizational Communication, 3 rd edition; Pace R. Wayne, Faules Don F. ; 1994; Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

Research essay sample on Englewood Cliffs Nj Organizational Communication