v“..._- A STUDY OF ESSENTIAL COMMUNICATION SKILLSAND A COMMUNICATION ACTIVITY AT VARIOUS JOB LEVELS IN 1 AN ARCHITECT/ ENGINEER FIRM Dissertation fer the Degree of Ph. D. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY HENRY SAMUEL McKEOWN 1975 This is to certify that the thesis entitled A STUDY OF ESSENTIAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND COMMUNICATION ACTIVITY AT VARIOUS JOB LEVELS IN AN ARCHITECT/ ENGINEER FIRM presented by HENRY SAMUEL MCKECMN has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for PhD degree in Educat ion )1? Major professor Date Julz 24, 1975 0-7639 I ‘ .v. « - 7 ' "w ~ 1- " uzr.c:.x»u-. . / r , \~>\ ABSTRACT A STUDY OF THE ESSENTIAL OOIVMUNICATION SKILLS AND THE COMMUNICATION ACTIVITY OF TECHNICAL/ENGINEER EMPLOYEES IN AN ARCHITECT/ENGINEER FIRM by Henry Samuel MCKeown The purposes of this study were to: (1) identify the written and verbal communication skills needed by technical/ engineer employees at various levels of employment in an architect/engineer firm, and (2) define the relationship between job level and the frequency and kind of communications sent and received in a profit oriented, hierarchically structured organization. The population fbr the study was 1060 employees in eight job levels in an architect/engineer firm in Jackson, Michigan. The Employment Specialist of the firm stratified the population according to the most recent perfbrmance appraisal. The sample was selected from the "successful/promotable" category. The sample was 41 successful employees including five employees for job levels one to seven and six employees fOr level eight. The job levels from highest to lowest were executive, project manager, lead engineer, engineer, junior engineer, senior designer, senior draftSperson, and draftsperson/trainee. Henry Samuel McKeown The study was completed in two parts. In the first part, the 41 employees kept daily logs of their job related communication activity fOr five working days. The logs were returned to the researcher each day. The purpose of the log recording was to obtain information about the frequency of conmunication activity and the time used to plan and deliver various written and verbal communications. In the second.part, the employees completed a three-part questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered after all employees had recorded their daily communication activity. The questionnaire was designed to obtain infbrmation about the self-perceived importance of various conmunication activity for each job level. To test the linear relationship between job level and a variable, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed. The one-factor Analysis of Variance was used to test fbr signiificant between level differences when: (l) the hypothesis was concerned with a non—linear relationship, or (2) when r was not significant at the .05 alpha level. lThe t-test was used to see if a mean was significantly greater than zero for one hypothesis. The alpha level fer all tests of significance was .05. FINDINGS Significant linear relationships were fOund between job level and several variables. Higher levels had a higher frequency of communications sent and received, used.mpre different channels, communicated.more frequently with.people outside the firm, and used.more total time and time per message than lower levels. Higher levels rated the fbllowing variables higher than did the lower job Henry Samuel McKeown levels: overall importance of conmtmication skills; importance of their ability to plan and deliver persuasive, task, and human messages; importance of short memoranda, long memoranda, short reports, long reports, person-to-person, small groups, large groups, speech/presentations, and telephone. The findings indicated that there were wide within group variances for some of the variables but that the general linear relationship was high level and high frequency or rating for the above variables. The findings indicated that verbal conmunication methods were used for seventy-nine percent of the total messages sent and received for all job levels. Person-to-person, telephone conmuni- cation, and short memoranda accounted for eighty-six percent of all of the messages for all job levels. The higher job levels used more written conmunication methods, large groups, and speech/ presentations than did the lower levels. In general, the findings indicated that higher levels used a wider variety of communication methods to send more complex messages than lower levels used. CONCLUSIONS The findings provide information that should be used for making decisions about communication curricula for higher education technical/ engineering students. The two-yeartechnical graduate would be hired at job level eight, draftsperson/trainee, in this firm. The required conmunication courses for technical students who graduate with a two-year degree and seek employment in a firm similar to the one surveyed should include the following: (1) listening; (2) reading and comprehension; (3) verbal information Henry Samuel MCKeown giving and receiving using person-to-person, small group, and telephone communication methods; (4) written communication-~short memoranda that give infbrmation; (S) introduction to reports and letters; (6) employment skills-letter of application, resume', and personal interviewing; (7) role and importance of communication in organizations. The four to five year career development program fbr the two-year technical graduate should be designed so that the person will be ready to assume a great deal of responsibility fbr communicating with both higher and lower levels. He should develop expertise in writing short memoranda, long memoranda, short reports, and letters that include elements of infOrmation giving and persuasion. He should deve10p expertise in verbal communication skills as those skills relate to infbrmation giving, task, maintenance, and human.messages. He should also deve10p the ability to communicate effectively with people outside the firm. These long-range needs should be met within four to five years through company Sponsored seminars or additional classes in higher education institutions. The fbur-year engineering graduate would be hired at level five, junior engineer, in this company. The beginning engineer should be able to write short memoranda and letters that give infbrmation, and communicate verbally in person-to—person and small group situations within the firm. Within three to five years, the engineer may be promoted to a level at which he must be able to use a wide variety of communication methods to give information and persuade others. Henry Samuel MCKeown The findings indicate that the most essential learning experiences that would benefit the engineers who are seeking initial employment in a firm.similar to the one surveyed are those experiences that develop the engineer's ability to communicate with person-to- person, small group, telephone, and short memoranda.methods. Within three to five years, these basic methods should be complemented with higher level report writing, speaking, large group methods, and letter writing to give infbrmation and persuade. Since it will take at least three years befOre the engineer actually begins using these high level communication skills, perhaps the courses dealing with them could be postponed until the last year of a four year curriculum or only introduced during the feur years of college. In either case, the engineer should become involved in seminars relating to those skills during his first few years of employment so that when promotion time arrives he will be ready with recent experiences in the needed communication skills. A STUDY OF ESSENTIAL COVMUNICATION SKILLS AND (KIMRDUIMUTCMIAKHTVITY AT VARIOUS JOB LEVELS IN AN ARCHITECT/ENGINEER FIRM By Henry Samuel McKeown .A DISSERTATION Submitted to iMichigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements fer the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Higher Education 1975 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The assistance of many people made the completion of this endeavor possible. I extend appreciation to the following peOple: Tb my wife, Sharon, and.my children, Sheryl and Charlie, fer their understanding and encouragement. To my mother, Anna May, and Frank and Ethel Hankins for encouraging me to pursue my goals. Tb Harold V. Sheffer, President, and the Board of Trustees of Jackson Community College for granting me a sabbatical leave so that I could pursue graduate study. To Dr. William Sweetland who served as my advisor and dissertation director; his patience and guidance were a consistent source of encouragement. To Dr. John Schweitzer who provided invaluable assistance with the research design and analysis sections of the dissertation. To Dr. Gerald Miller, Department of Comnunication, who assisted with the design and analysis sections of the dissertation and served as my cognate advisor. To Dr. walter Johnson, College of Education, and Dr. James Pickering, Department of English, who served on my program conmittee. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. . . . LIST OF TABLES . . . ........ Chapter I. II. III. IV. INTRODUCTION ..... The Problem. . . . Statement of the Problem . . . Purposes ....... Research Questions . . . . . Hypotheses ......... Importance of the Study. . . . Limitations of the Study . . . Definition of Terms ...... Organization of the Dissertation ........ REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . Introduction ......... Communication Activity of Employees in Organizations . . . Communication Activity of Technical/Engineer Employees . Summary ............ RESEARCH.METHODOLOGY . . . . . Population ...... Sample . . . . . . . . : Z I : . Instrumentation. . . . Procedures ...... ANALYSIS OF RESULTS. Hypothesis 1 ........ Hypothesis 2 ........ : . Hypothesis 3 ...... . . . Hypothesis 4 . ........ Hypothesis 5 ......... Hypothesis 6 ......... Hypothesis 7 ......... iii OOOOOOOOOOOOOO Page ii I-‘ H r—u-a \) O‘T—‘KOOU'I-b-bNH NNI—‘I—A ONNOOV N 00 MLNLNUICNN LOCO-RNOLO A p-A 41 42 45 47 50 51 52 Page Hypothesis 8 . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . 54 Hypothesis 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Hypothesis 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Hypothesis ll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Hypothesis 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Hypothesis l3. . . . . . . ........ . . . . . . . . 71 Hypothesis l4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Hypothesis 15.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Summary of Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . 87 Summary ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Summary of Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Conclusions ........ . . . . . . . . . . 96 Job Level and Communication Activity . . . . . . . . . 96 Higher Education Technical/Engineer Curricula. . . . . . 100 Recommendations ........ . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Implications for Further Research. . . . . . . . . . . . 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 APPENDICES . . . . . ...... . . ..... . . . . . . . . . 113 APPENDIX A: Letter to Authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 APPENDIX B: Log Recording Form. . ...... . . . . . . 114 APPENDIX C: Questionnaire ....... . . . 115 APPENDIX D: Introductory Memoranda and Outline .of Presentation ..................... . 132 APPENDIX E: Memoranda--Log Recording. . . . . ...... 135 APPENDIX F: Memoranda--Introduction to Questionnaire. . . 138 APPENDIX C: Cover Memoranda--Part II of Questionnaire . . 139 iv Table 3.1 4.10 LIST OF TABLES JOB LEVEL IDENTIFICATION, NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN EACH JOB LEVEL, PERCENT OF EMPLOYEES PER JOB LEVEL IN SAMPLE . JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATING OF OVER-ALL COMMUNICATION SKILLS .............. t-TEST RESULTS OF COMPARING MEANS FOR EMPLOYEE SELECTION OF INCREASED COMMUNICATION WITH HIGHER AND LOWER LEVELS. JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF EMPLOYEE SELECTION OF INCREASED COMMUNICATION IN UPWARD, DOWNWARD, AND HORIZONTAL CHANNELS ........................ NUMBER OF COMMUNICATIONS SENT AND RECEIVED BY JOB LEVELS JOB LEVEL IMEANS FOR NUMBER OF COMIMUNICATION CHANNELS REGULARLY USED ..................... Page 31 42 43 44 46 48 JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF USING SIX DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION CHANNELS ........................ JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS SENT AND RECEIVED ...................... JOB LEVEL TOTALS AND MEANS OF MINUTES USED FOR COMVUNICA- TION ACTIVITY ...................... JOB LEVEL MEANS FOR MINUTES USED PER MESSAGE ...... TOTAL MESSAGES, TOTAL MINUTES, AND MINUTES USED PER MESSAGE BY JOB LEVEL .................. ANOVA FOR JOB LEVEL COMBINED TOTALS OF PERSON-TO-PERSON. JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF PERSON-TO-PEQSON, SIMALL GROUP, AND TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONS, PERCENT OF TOTAL MESSAGES ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE THREE METHODS ........... JOB LEVEL MEANS FOR FREQUENCY OF USING DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION METHODS .................. JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF USING FIVE DIFFERENT WRITTEN COMMUNICATION METHODS .................. JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF USING SIX DIFFERENT VERBAL CONNUNICATION METHODS .................. V 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 S8 59 Table Page 4.16 JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF USING NINETEEN DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION METHODS TO SEND WRITTEN AND VERBAL MESSAGES .......... 61 4.17 CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS FOR SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF TEN COMMUNICATION METHODS AND JOB LEVEL ....... 64 4.18 JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS FOR FIVE DIFFERENT WRITTEN COMMUNICATION METHODS ......... 66 4.19 JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF— PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS FOR FIVE DIFFERENT VERBAL COMMUNICATION METHODS... . . . . 66 4.20 CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS FOR DRAWING NOTES AND WRITING-GRAPHICS AND JOB LEVEL ......................... 67 4.21 JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS FOR DRAWING NOTES AND WRITING/GRAPHICS ............ 68 4.22 ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF EMPLOYEES' ABILITY TO PLAN AND DELIVER INFORMATION MESSAGES ........ 69 4.23 ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF EMPLOYEES' ABILITY TO PLAN AND DELIVER MAINTENANCE MESSAGES -------- 70 4.24 JOB LEVEL MEANS FOR SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF EMPLOYEES' ABILITY TO PLAN AND DELIVER INFORMATION AND MAINTENANCE MESSAGES ..................... 70 4.25 CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS FOR SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF EMPLOYEES' ABILITY TO PLAN AND DELIVER PERSUASIVE, TASK, AND HUMAN MESSAGES .................... 71 4.26 JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF EMPLOYEES' ABILITY TO PLAN AND DELIVER PERSUASIVE, TASK, AND HUMAN MESSAGES .................... . . 72 4.27 ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR WRITTEN COWMUNICATION- -ORGANIZATION .................. 74 4.28 ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION- -WRITING STYLE .................. 74 4.29 JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR FOUR DIFFERENT PHASES OF PLANNING AND DELIVERING WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS ........................ 76 4.30 ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR VERBAL COMMJNICATI ON- -ORGAN I ZATION .................. 7 7 vi Table 4.31 4.32 4.33 4.34 ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR VERBAL COMMUNICATION--DELIVERY .............. . . . . ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR VERBAL COMMUNICATION--CONTENT/COVERAGE .............. ANOVA FOR SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR.VERBAL COIWIUNICATION- -COLLECTING/ANALYZING DATA ---------- JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED ABILITY RATINGS FOR FOUR DIFFERENT PHASES OF PLANNING AND DELIVERING VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS vii Page 77 78 78 79 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction A portion of the curricula in higher education must be planned so that the skills and knowledge which students are exposed to are the skills and knowledge which they will need as employees in their Chosen careers. All career choices require technical skills and knowledge that are often unique to that career, and all career choices require related skills and knowledge that are common to a wide range of careers and.which complement the needed technical background. written and verbal communication knowledge and skill needs may be common fer many careers, and higher education curricula should reflect adequate emphasis in those areas. Mbst careers will require that employees be able to communicate with others within and outside the organization which employs them. To plan related curricula that will complement a graduate's technical skill and knowledge for various careers, educators need accurate infbrmation about the written and verbal communication skills which students will need fer initial employment and future promotions. Most educators seemed to have assumed that all students need the same communication curricula. Rather than simply to make such an assumption, research regarding the role of communication on the job should be done in many career areas in order to provide specific information that can be used for making curricular decisions. When each career area is accurately described, higher education personnel can plan curricula that reflect the actual on-the-job needs. Field research in organizations which employ higher education graduates is an important link between on-the-job needs and higher education curricula. Statement of the Problem There is a lack of specific information about the written and verbal communication skills needed by employees in the technical/engineer career area. Although the concept that these employees need to communicate has been generally accepted, the specific commmmication skills needed by technical/engineer employees have not been described. Employers and educators realize that written and verbal communication skill development should be an integral part of the technical/engineer curricula. In the 1972 Final Report: Engineering Technology Education by the American Society fOr Engineering Education, the authors discuss the need for attention to communication skills in all engineering technology curricula.1 In addition to the need for field research for curricular decisions, students of organizational communication are continually trying to identify relationships between job levels in various organizations and communication activity. Pettit states that additional research is needed to determine "the extent that the communication activities of one organization overlap to another and to determine the actual relationship between levels of an organization and the amount of infbrmation received at those levels."2 As research about different organizations is completed and the findings synthesized, the study of organizational communication will move closer to the development of theory . It is expected that a study of the written and verbal communication skills needed by technical/engineer employees in an architect/engineer firm will be of benefit to educators and others interested in the study of organizational communication. 1Final Report: Engineering Technology Education Study, American Society fbr Engineering Education, January 1972, pp. 343, 344, 350, 355, 367. 2John Pettit, "Guidelines and Suggestions for Research in Business Communication." Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1971, Vbl. 8, Number 4, p. 22. Purposes The study has two purposes: (1) to identify the written and verbal communication skills needed by successful technical/ engineer employees at various levels of employment in an architect/engineer firm; (2) to fUrther define the relationship between job level and the frequency and kind of communications sent and received in a profit-oriented, hierarchically structured organization. Research Questions Befbre educators plan certain programs and.curricula, it is essential that field research be conducted to describe the skills and knowledge which graduates will need on the job. The research questions relating to field research and higher education curricula which represent the primary fbcus of this study are as fellows: 1. What are the written and.verba1 communication skills needed by technical/engineer employees in various levels of employment? 2. HOW frequently do employees use various kinds of written and verbal communication skills at various levels of employment? 3. Which written and verbal communication skills are most important fer employees at various levels of employment? 4. What are the self-perceived strengths and weaknesses of employee's written and verbal communication skills? HYPOTHESES The written and verbal communication skill needs and the relationship between job level and communication activity of technical/engineer employees will be tested using a communication log and questionnaire. The following are the hypotheses that will be tested: Hypothesis 1: The employees' self-perceived importance ratings of over-all communication skills in their present position will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 2: Employees who indicate that increased communication could improve job efficiency will select an increase in communication with higher levels as the method for increasing job efficiency more frequently than they will select an increase in communication with lower levels. Hypothesis 3: The number of communications sent and received will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 4: The number of different communication channels regularly used will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 5: The frequency of external communications sent and received will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 6: The mean time used to communicate will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 7: The length of time used per message will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 8: The combined frequency of using person-to-person, small group, and telephone communication methods will not vary by job level. Hypothesis 9: The number of different communication methods used will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 10: The self-perceived importance ratings of short memorandum, long memorandum, short reports, long reports, letters, person-to-person, small groups, large groups, and telephone 'will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 11: The self-perceived.importance rating of drawing notes and writing/graphics will increase as job levels go down. Hypothesis 12: The self—perceived importance of employees' ability to plan and deliver information giving and maintenance messages will not vary by job level. Hypothesis 13: The self-perceived importance of employees' ability to plan and deliver persuasive, task, and human.messages will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 14: The self-perceived need for help ratings for four different phases of written communication will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 15: The self‘perceived need for help ratings for fbur different phases of verbal communication will increase as job levels go up. Importance of the Study This study is important because it will provide useful infbrmation which could be used when higher education personnel make curricula decisions fer technical/engineer programs. Both beginning and experienced technical/engineer employees need to continually deveIOp effective communication skills. Dixon and Nelson emphasized that "new practice oriented premises are needed fer engineering education."3 One of their premises emphasizes the idea that a major portion of the core of engineering curricula should be designed to develop an engineer's professional behaviors. One of the behaviors they emphasize is communication.4 3Jehn R. Dixon and Carl W. Nelson, "Practice-Directed Engineering Education," Engineering Education, October 1973, pp. 39 6 40. 41bid., p. 40. Specifically, this study is important because it should provide information about the communication skills needed by employees of an architect/engineer firm. .As curricula are planned for engineering students, the information gained from this study should help define the appropriate communication skills which need to be emphasized in the core curricula fer full-time technical/engineer students. Along with curricular implications for full-time students, this study should provide important infbrmation that can be used to make continuing education curricular decisions fer the continued professional deveIOpment of technical/engineer employees. The importance of continued development of communication skills by technical/engineer employees is emphasized by Marvin. He describes ten check-points which he considers as basic components of successful perfbrmance, one of which is communication skills. He goes on to Stress the idea that "an engineer's most important product is information which must be effectively communicated."5 If educators can identify the communication skills needed at different levels of employment, seminars and courses can be designed.to meet the specific needs of returning students. Little research has been completed that emphasizes communication activities of lower level employees in organizations.- Research in this area is important because most higher education graduates will begin careers SPhilipM’arvin, "The Professional Development of Professional Engineers," Engineering Education, February 1972, p. 451. in positions below the executive level. Pettit further emphasizes the importance of research in this area when he writes about the communication activity of individuals at high and low levels of employment.6 This study is important because it is concerned with various levels of employment and ought to provide infbrmation about the communication skill needs of technical/engineer employees. Furthermore, this study is important because it should add to knowledge about organizational communication. Specifically,the study may further define the relationship between levels of employment and the frequency, kind, and importance of written and verbal communications sent and received. Pettit emphasizes that "additional research should be conducted to determine the actual relationship between levels of an organization and the amount of infbrmation received at those levels."7 Goldhaber also supports its importance when he lists as part of his recommendations fer future research the question: "What is the relationship between levels of an organization and the amount of information received at those 1eve1s?"8 6John D. Pettit, et al., "Guidelines fer Research in Business Comnnmications," Journal of Business Commmication, Spring 1972, p. 50. 71bid., p. 47 8GeraldM. Goldhaber, Organizational Communication, Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, 1974, p. 286. In conclusion, Simonds summarizes the importance of this research. "The principle value of this kind of study is to distinguish the purpose fer which certain teaching is desirable. Courses in English composition or letter writing, accounting principles, Organization, human relations, psychology, and speech, for example, may be demanded because there is evidenCe that the knowledge or skill involved is widely used in business."9 Limitations of the Study The following is a list of limitations which affect this study. 1. There is difficulty in generalizing the results of a study done at one firm to other firms. The intent of this study is to identify the written and verbal communication activity of a group of employees in one firm which could be used as a data base fer higher education curricular decisions when combined with the findings of similar studies. 2. The sample is limited by the amount of money, in terms of'man-hours, which the participating firm was willing to invest. The researcher is limited to five employees per job level; therefore, the sample is not necessarily proportional to the number of employees in each job level. 9R. H. Simonds, "Skills Businessmen USe Mbst," Nations Business, Nevember 1960, p. 88. 10 3. All responses to the questionnaire and judgments when recording infbrmation in the communication logs will be based on employee self-perception. The reliance on self-perception may allow questions to arise because of employee's personal biases and ability to make certain judgments. 4. The sample will not be randomly selected from.the total population. Each participant was selected and screened before participating in the study. This procedure will be used to help assure c00peration of all participants. Cambell and Stanley discuss this limitation under the heading of "selection."10 5. The communication log recording is not a typical part of the participant's working day; therefbre, the reactive effects of the recording arrangements may cause employees to record.more messages than will actually be encountered or to ferget to record some messages because of the extra time it will take to complete the log. Campbell and Stanley discuss this limitation under the heading of "reactive arrangements."11 10Donald T. Cambell and Julian C. Stanley, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research, Chicago: RandTMcNally College PUblishing Company, 1963, p. 15. 11 Ibid., p. 20. 11 Definition of Terms communication log: a method fer employees to record job related written and verbal communications; the log pages include categories for the most commonly used communications, and the employee ‘makes check marks in appropriate boxes to describe each communication situation; space is provided to record feur messages per page; employees use more than one page per day. ‘written communication: the act of writing notes, memoranda reports, or letters to communicate job related information. written communication methods: a. short memorandum: 15-100 words long; less formal than a letter or report; used mostly for messages sent within an organization; "usually more straightfbrward without undue buildup and deliberate concern fer special nuances of courtesy that are considered essential in a letter or report written to an outsider."12 b. long memorandum: 101 words or more in length; see short memorandum. c. short report: 100-500 words in length; a report is usually a fbrmal communication characterized by careful attention to audience and formal report style, including headings, side-headings, and.fbrmat; reports are written to persuade and/or inform and.may be sent within or outside an organization; may include a letter of transmittal, abstract, bibliography, and appendix. 12Mary Robertson and W. E. Perkins, Practical Correspondence fer Colleges, 4th Edition, Cincinnati: South-western Publishing Company, 19 4, p. 179 12 d. long report: 501 or more words long; see short report. e. business letter: usually typed on organizational stationary and sent to someone outside the organization; writer usually uses fermal style and format and pays careful attention to courtesy. f. drawipg notes: written notes by the superior of a draftsperson; usually written directly on a drawing; usually for suggesting changes in the drawing. g. graphics: combination of writing and graphics usually occurs; a written communication complemented by graphs, charts, drawings, or other pictorial representations. verbal communication: the act of talking informally or formally about job related information in person-to-person or group situations. verbal communication methods: a. p§£§9p_pp_pe:§pp: dyadic experience; two peOple discussing job related infbrmation; could include open discussion, brainstorming, fermal speech/presentations. b. smpil_gzppp: 3-7 people; fermal or infbrmal discussion of job related information; could include Open discussion, brainstorming, fermal speech/presentations. c. large groups: 8 or more people; see small group. d. speech/presentation: verbal presentation of job related information; usually completed with charts, graphs, slides, or other graphic complements; could be given to other employees within 13 the same organization or to people outside an organization; could be information giving or persuasive or both. e- telephone conversation: verbal communication about job related information using a telephone as the method of transmission; could be internal or external communication. classification of messages: a. information giving/receiving: those messages intended to convey job related information with no attempt to persuade the receiver; an exChange of needed information. b. persuasive messages: those messages intended to convey job related infbrmation apd_persuade the receiver to accept the sender's position or point of view; the main Characteristic is that the message must be intended to change the receiver's mind about job related information. c. task messages: "those messages relating to the products, services, or activities of the organization-—for example, messages about improving sales, markets, quality of service and quality of products; task messages relate to giving the employees all the information necessary for them to efficiently handle their jobs; they include such activities as training, orientation, goal setting, prOblem.solving, and brain storming; task messages relate to the desired outputs of the system."13 13Goldhaber, Op. cit., p. 13. 14 d. maintenance messages: "those messages which help the organization remain alive, such as policy or regulation messages; maintenance messages include commands, dictates, procedures . . . . l4 fer company act1V1t1es, orders from superiors, etc." e. human messages: "those messages directed to a person's attitude, satisfaction, and fulfillment; human messages are concerned with feelings, interpersonal relationships, self-concepts, and morale; examples of human messages include superior's praise of SUbordinates, appraisal interviewing, and conflict-solving 15 sessions." internal communication: written or verbal communication between two or more people employed by the same organization. external communication: written or verbal communication between employees of an organization and people not employed by the same organization. channel pf communication: flow of messages in relation to an employee's job level; could be communications sent or received upward, downward, or horizontally. teChnical/engineer curricula: programs, courses, seminars designed to educate peOple to fUnction in jobs related to industrial technology and engineering; technical engineering graduates will "provide independently the support for engineering activities of a formulated or practical nature for which contingencies requiring 14Ibid., p. 13. 15Ibid.,p. 13. 15 decisions based upon full knowledge of the engineering design are uncommon";16 industrial technology education emphasizes the applied aspects of industrial processes and personal leadership; engineering curricula emphasizes increased math-science content 17 and utilization and increased conceptual activity and use of theory. self-perceived: in relation to questions on the questionnaire for this study, self-perceived refers to respondent's judgment when answering a question; reSpondent was not to weigh his decision with other's opinions. job-level identification of subjects (highest to lowest): l - executive 2 - project manager 3 - lead engineer/planner 4 - engineer/planner 5 - junior engineer/planner 6 - senior engineer/planner 7 - senior draftsperson 8 - draftsperson/trainee 16"Final Report: Engineering Technology Education Study," Engineering Education, January 1972, p. 349. 17Ibid. 16 Ogganization of the Dissertation This dissertation is organized into five chapters. Chapter One, THE PROBLEM, includes an introduction, statement of the problem, researCh questions, hypotheses, importance of study, limitations, definition of terms, and organization of the dissertation. Chapter Two, A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE, includes a review of the literature relating to job levels and communication activity in organizations, a review of literataure relating to the definition of communication skills needed by employees in various levels of employment, and a review of the literature relating to communication skill needs of technical/engineer employees. Chapter Three, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, includes the description of the focus of the study, the nature of the sample used, the procedures for collecting the data, rationale for using those procedures, and the analytic techniques used. Chapter Four, ANALYSIS OF RESULTS, includes a presentation of the infbrmation gathered as well as comments about its meaning and significance. Chapter Five, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS, contains a summary of the study, a discussion of the findings, and recommendations. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Introduction The literature relating to employee communication activity within organizations reveals varied approaches to defining that activity. HOwever, the literature can be divided into two basic perspectives. The macro perSpective provides a broad.picture and the micro perspective provides a more specific identification of communication activity of individuals in organizations. Much of the literature defines highly theoretical approaches which attempt to view organizations and communication activity from a macro perspective. These attempts to define communication activity include sociological viewpoints, social-psychological viewpoints, leadership matrices, administrative communication, communication psychology, management and information systems. Goldhaber provides an excellent review of approaches to defining communication activity from the macro perspective.1 The value of the macro approach 1GeraldM. Goldhaber, Organizational Communication, (Debuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown Company Publisherg), 1974, pp. 3-47. l7 18 is that it provides a perspective from which one can fUrther define specific communication activity. The micro approach to defining communication activity is concerned with how individuals interact with other individuals. This perspective includes the defining of specific written, verbal, and non-verbal communications as they are utilized to perform a particular job. The micro approach describes the skills and.methods being used and/or evaluates the effectiveness of those skills or methods. The micro approach includes suCh tOpics as the kind of written communication sent and received, the frequency of eaCh kind, the job levels in which peOple are most likely to send or receive different kinds of communication, the time used to communicate, and the equipment used. The importance of the micro approach as a complement to the macro approach is that it often leads to more specific information which can be utilized to make curricular decisions for communication courses in higher education. The review of the literature which follows will summarize some of the pertinent infbrmation concerned with the micro approach to defining communication activity of employees in organizations. Communication Activity of Employees in Organizations Research that defines communication activity of employees in various organizations and job levels has been reported and summarized by Pettit. He states that: ”An analysis of the insurance industry reveals that direct inquires, direct responses, refusals and short memo 19 reports are the commonest kinds of writing. Perhaps the writings in other businesses are equally specialized. Research in various industries will indicate what is actually being done and may lead to specialized training programs and textbooks. Davis found that executives at higher levels of an organization communicate more often with more people than executives at lower levels of the organization. Marting found that there existed little difference in management and non-management communication and that staff members transmit and receive communications no more often than line members. Burns conducted field research utilizing a self-reporting technique and found that his subjects spent an average of eighty-percent of their time in oral conversation."2 Although Burns' main purpose was to study individual preferences fer written or verbal communication, his findings point toward verbal communication skill needs. Malra Treece surveyed professional secretaries to detenmine the written communication skills utilized by employees at the secretarial level. The findings indicate the frequency with which various kinds of messages were sent and the difficulties the secretaries experienced in written communication.3 The significance of Treece's study is that it provides specific information that can be used when planning curricula for secretaries. zJohn Pettit, "Guidelines and Suggestions for Research in Business Communication," Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1971, V01. 8, Number 4, pp. 22 8 50. 3Malra Treece, "Business Communication Practices of Professional Secretaries," Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1972, V61. 9, Number 4, pp. 25132. 20 Heugli and Tschirgi investigated the communication skill needs at the job entry level of 100 students with accounting, finance, marketing, management, production, and engineering majors at Ohio University. Mailed questionnaires and fellow-up structured telephone interviews were used to collect the data. Along with identifying particular written and verbal communication skill needs of the respondents, the study compared the employee's responses with their supervisor's responses. The results of the study identified 13 communication skills used most frequently and indicated that the job entry level employees tended to over-evaluate their communication skill effectiveness.4 The results were not separated by subject najor areas of study. )Many studies have been completed which attempt to define communication skill needs of executives and managers. Belohov, P0pp, and Porte surveyed the attitudes of personnel officers of 250 large organizations concerning the need fer graduate level communication courses. The findings indicated that executives rated communication skills as the single most important function of management personnel. The respondents rated verbal, written and non-verbal skill needs and the importance of each fer course work, hiring, and promotion.5 The results of this study point to the importance of written, verbal, and 4Harvey D. Tschirgi 8 Jon Huegli, "The Entry-Level Job--A Neglected Target for Our Business Schools?" Collegiate News 8 Views, Winter 1974-75, V01. 28, NUmber 2, pp. 21-23. sJames Belohov, Paul P0pp, and Michael Porte, "Communication: A View from Inside Business," Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1974, V61. II, Number 4 pp. 53-59. 21 non-verbal communications but do not specifically define skill needs in each category. Rainey surveyed executives to determine the use of the written communication skill of proposal writing. The study surveyed 50 corporate executives of firms with $1 million minimum sales volume. In addition, the study surveyed professors in selected universities to determine the emphasis placed on pr0posal writing in their curricula. The findings of the survey indicated that over 50 percent of the corporate executives rated the importance of pr0posal writing as "great" or "crucial." The findings also indicated that little emphasis was placed on proposal writing in collegiate level communication courses.6 The findings of this study seem to indicate the importance of surveying people on the job to identify needed curricular changes. Business executives were surveyed by Simonds to identify the knowledge and skills being used. Although the survey was concerned with knowledge and skills offered by 62 different college courses, the findings indicated that the letter writing and public speaking communi- cation skills were very important to executives.7 The contexts or formats in which the communication skills were used were not reported. To summarize, the literature relating to communication skills needed by employees at particular levels of employment in different businesses was concerned with only a few levels and careers. Cbmmunica- tion skill needs have been defined for some job entry level business graduates, professional secretaries, executives, and managers. 6Bill G. Rainey, "Pr0posal Writing: .A Neglected Area of Instruction," Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1974, VOl. II, Number 4, pp. 30-39. 7Simonds, op. cit., p. 88. 22 Communication Activity of Technical/Engineer Employees The Final Report: Engineering Technology Education Study of the American Society for Engineering Education made recommendations for course work in engineering technology and outlined the differences between engineering and engineering/technology programs. various references to communication skill needs were made throughout the report, but the specific skills needed in either career area were not identified. Other than listing a recommended number of hours in English, the most definitive statement about communication skills was included in the definition of curricular areas. "Communication: subject matter content related to granmar, rhetoric, speech, technical writing, and other phases of language except literature."8 Ranous identifies the need for technical/engineer employees to develop communication skills when he writes that "teachers of engineering and most of the specialities are still finding their ...9 students lacking in fundamental language skills. . However, he does not go on to define the specific written or verbal skills needed. 8"Final Report: Engineering Technology Education Study," Engineering Education, January 1972, pp. 327-390. 9Charles Ranous, "In Memoriam.Freshman English," Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1971, V01. 8, Number 4, p. 4. 23 Holloran approached the communication skill needs of engineers 10 While his by emphasizing the value of the study of rhetoric. arguments seem logical, he did not define the specific kinds of written and verbal communication skills needed by engineers, nor did he define the contexts in which engineers would apply their knowledge of rhetoric to on-the—job performance. Holland and Stead examined the differences between scientists and engineers. They hypothesized that "the form of written communication used by scientists will be different from the form used by engineers."11 The findings indicated that "engineers' written communication differed in form (sentence completion, sentence length, number of . . 12 sentences used, and evaluat1ve word ch01ce).” While the study provided evidence about how the 14 engineers in the study wrote their responses, the information does not point toward specific curricular implications. Estrin surveyed engineering alumni and fifty engineering and business companies to identify writing problems. The findings emphasize the need for engineers to be able to write well. Estrin recommends a careful study of basic sentence structure, grammar, spelling, simplicity of form, and other basic language skills. The specific writing problems which business and industry respondents cited were 10StephenM. Holloran, "Classical Rhetoric for the Engineering Student," Journal pf_Technical Writing and Communication, January 1971, V01. 1, Numher 1, pp. 17-24. ll'Winford E. Holland and Bette A. Stead, "Exploring the Scientist-Engineer Conflict," Journal p£_Business Communication, Spring, 1972, V01. 9, Number 3, p. 28. 12 Ibid., p. 34. 24 lack of unity and logic, coherence, and adequate vocabulary. Ineffective sentence structure, improper punctuation, wordiness and repetition, and.poor Spelling were also cited as writing problems.13 The results of this study may be userl for making curricular decisions if used in conjunction with inf0rmation about the kind of written format that is used, such as letters and reports. Curricular recommendations for technical/engineering students are found in documents from the United States Department of Health, Education, and welfare; Office of Education; Bureau of Adult, Vocational, and Technical Education; Division of V0cationa1 and Technical Education. The documents reviewed suggested curricula for two-year post high school architectural and building technology14 15 These documents list the and agricultural equipment technology. study of communication in the General Course category and included a communication course outline. H0wever, the outline for suggested tOpics in the communication course for architectural and building construction technology seemed to be representative of the table of contents from any collegiate level freshman composition text. Such topics as orientation in use of school library, sentence structure, study of paragraph, improving reading efficiency, narration, description, 13HermanA. Estrin, "The Need for and the Improvement of Technical writing," Journal of_Technical'Writing and Communication, V01. 1, Number 1, January 1971, p. 61. 14Architectural and Building Construction Technology: A.Su ested 2;_ Year Post Hi‘h School Curriculum, UhitedTStates Department Ef'Healt , Education an welfare, Office Of Education, 1969, pp. 77-79. 15Agricultural Equipment Technology: A_Su ested Z-Year Post High School Curriculum, United States Department of HealEh, Education, an Welfare, Office of Education, 1970, pp. 64-66. 25 and exposition do not specifically define the communication skills needed by employees in the career area. The agricultural equipment technology course outline for communication skills was of the same general nature. In an attempt to determine the current state of research, the researcher surveyed by letter selected authorities in the field of technical/engineering education.* Nine of the ten responses to the letter indicated the lack of specific information about the communica— tion skill needs of technical/engineering graduates. David Smith, Director of Drexel University's Engineering Management Program stated in his reply to the letter that: "The Drexel Engineering Management Program is designed quite specifically to meet the needs of the engineer turned manager. One of the abilities he has to acquire is the ability to communicate to and motivate his doers. While we have not made formal surveys to establish this, the need for improved communication skill for engineers has come through loud and clear everytime we talk to employers."16 In summary, the literature relating to the communication skill needs of technical/engineer employees does not specifically define those *See Appendix A for the letter. 16David Smith, Letter dated February 28, 1975. 26 skills. Generally, the literature treats those needs in general categories of written and verbal communication which are typical of many beginning level collegiate textbooks in English or communication. Summapy The literature related to organizational communication activity can be divided into two categories, macro and micro perspectives. The macro approach provides a broad picture of organizational communication from the psychological, sociological, management science, information systems, systems management and other theoretical perspectives. The macro perspective is highly theoretical. The micro perSpective provides a more specific identification of communication skills as utilized by employees in various levels of employment in business and industry. The micro approach to defining suCh skills seems to provide more useful information for making curricular decisions. The most useful studies Upon which curricular decisions may be based are those that survey the employees who are on the job and their supervisors, for example those studies done on managers, professional secretaries, and executives. The review revealed a scarcity of literature relating to the specific communication skill needs of technical/engineer employees at different levels of employment. Goldhaber emphasizes that "noticeably missing from the organizational communication textbook market is an introductory textbook which emphasizes the kinds of communication behavior currently practiced 27 . . . 16 in most complex organizat1ons." Keyser further emphasizes the scarcity of literature relating to Specific communication activity. "A preliminary investigation of related literature revealed a noticeable dearth of research in the content area of business communication. .A major reason for this would be that business communications is a relatively new area in the field of business. In view of this, there would be many unanswered questions regarding the Specific course content and teaching methodology."17 Mager and Beach summarize that "the strategy of deve10ping effective instruction then, is one that calls for performance oriented rather than subject matter orientation. The strategy is to use the job as the basis for deciding what will be taught and in what order and depth, rather than simply to present as much subject matter as "18 The reviewed literature reveals that possible in the alotted time. there is a scarcity of research which specifically defines communication skill needs for jobs in many career areas, including the technical/ engineer area. 16Goldhaber, op. cit., p. ix. 17Marshall R. Keyser, "Business Communication: What Does It Include?" Journal of Business Communication, Summer 1972, V01. 9, Number 4, p. 34. 18Robert F. Mager and Kenneth M. Beach, Jr. , Deve10ping vocational Instruction, (Palo Alto, California: Fearson Publishers), 1967, p. 3. CHAPTER III RESEARCHIMETHODOLOGY The research methodology of this study was designed to: (1) obtain information about the written and verbal communication skill needs of successful technical/engineer employees at various levels of employment and (2) obtain information which would further define the relationship between job levels and communication activity in organizations. Selltiz stated that "research purposes in the social sciences may be categorized into four broad groupings: l) to gain familiarity with a phenomenon, often in order to formulate more precise research problems or to deve10p hypotheses: 2) to portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation, or group: 3) to determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else: 4) to test a hypothesis of causal relationship between variables. Studies related to the first purpose are generally termed 'f0rmative' or 'exploratory.' Studies related to the second or third.purposes are generally termed 'descriptive.‘ Studies related to the fourth purpose are generally termed 'experimental.' "1 1Claire Selltiz, et al, Research Methods in Social Relations (NGW'YOTki Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966). p. 50. 28 29 The purposes of this study relate to both 2 and 3 above; therefore, the research design is descriptive in nature. Population The pepulation for the study was the approximately 1060 technical/engineer employees of an architect/engineer firm in Jackson, Michigan. The secretarial/clerical employees in the firm were omitted from the study because their job duties did not correspond with the technical/engineer career area. It is important that a community college identify and meet the needs of the people in its geographical area. The population for this study was chosen because the firm hires many community college and other higher education graduates and is, therefore, an important part of the geographical area of the community college. In order to identify and meet the needs within its geographical area, community college personnel should continually interact with business and other agencies in the community. The pOpulation for this study was such that it provided f0r positive interaction between higher education personnel and an employer of a large number of higher education graduates. In addition, the firm was a logical choice because it is one of the largest employers in the Jackson area. The size of the firm helped assure that the range of job levels and duties for technical/engineer employees would be representative of jobs in which higher education graduates would find initial employment and advancement. .Also, the large size of the firm helped assure that the job levels were represent- ative of profit oriented, hierarchically structured organizations. 30 In relation to the architect/engineer industry, the firm was ranked number one for 1973 billings by Engineering News Record.2 ngple The sample for this study was 41 successful technical/engineer employees of an architect/engineer firm in Jackson, Michigan. The 1060 technical/engineer employees of the firm were stratified according to job levels by the Employment Specialist of the firm. There were eight job levels beginning with job level one, executive, and going down to job level eight, draftsperson/trainee. Within each job level, the Employment Specialist further stratified the employees into two categories according to their most recent performance rating; the employees were defined as ”successful/promotable" or "marginal/unsuccesstl" in their present position. The ”successful" employees in each job level were then screened by the Employment Specialist and their immediate supervisor. For each potential participant, the Employment Specialist and the supervisor subjectively decided.whether or not the person would c00perate in the study. .After this step, each potential participant was personally contacted.by the same two people and asked if he would participate in the study. If the employee did not agree to participate, another employee on the same level was selected as outlined above until five pe0ple for j0b levels 1-7 and six people for job level 8 were selected as participants. 2"The ENR 500," Engineering News Record, May 16, 1974, p. 57. 31 Table 3.1 shows the job level identification, the total number of employees in each job level, and the percent of employees for each job level in the sample for this study. .At the time of the study there were 35 executives, 25 project managers, 57 lead engineers, 192 engineers, 361 junior engineers, 67 senior designers, 132 senior draftspersons, and 191 draftsperson/trainees in the firm, Of the total in each job level, five employees for job levels 1-7 and six employees for job level 8 were the sample for the communication log recording and questionnaire response. In percentages, the sample included 14% of the executives; 20% of the project managers; 8% of the lead engineers; 2.6% of the engineers; 1.3% of the junior engineers; 7.5% of the senior designers; 3.7% of the senior draftspersons; and 2.6% of the draftSperson/ trainees. TABLE 3.1 JOB LEVEL IDENTIFICATION, NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN EACH JOB LEVEL, PERCENT OF EMPLOYEES PER JOB LEVEL AS SAMPLE Job Level Number of Employees Percent of Employees Identification In Job Level In Sample l-Executive 35 14. % 2-Project Manager 25 20.0% 3-Lead Engineer/Planner 57 8.0% 4-Engineer/Planner 192 2. % S-Junior Engineer/Planner 361 1. % 6-Senior Designer 67 7.5% 7-Senior Draftsman 132 3.7% 8-Draftsman/Trainee 191 2.6% 32 Instrumentation Two instruments, a communication log recording procedure and a three-part questionnaire, were developed by the researcher for collecting the data for this study. The communication log recording form was deve10ped in five steps. Step one included the identification, through a review of literature and interviews, of the most commonly used written and verbal communications and other communication activity pertinent to the researCh. For step two, a first draft of the log f0rm containing the list of communication activities was designed by the researcher and reviewed by six experts. The review experts for the log f0rm included a community college speech teadher, a community college English teacher, a community college vice president, a management consultant, the Employment Specialist of the participating firm, and a professor of communication at Michigan State university. The experts recommended changes in the layout and design of the log f0rm. The form was changed so that participants would not have to read the complete check list for each message; the original list of communication activity categories was reorganized so that the participants answered only nine basic questions with sub-questions. The participants would record four messages per log page rather than the original eight. Based on the experts' comments, the log form was redesigned and reviewed by the same experts for steps three and four. In step five, the log form was refined and printed in final form.* *See Appendix B for the log form. 33 The researcher developed the questionnaire in four steps. The first step included a review of literature and interviews to identify a list of communication activities pertinent to this research. The second step included writing the questionnaire items and printing the first draft of the questionnaire. The third step included a review of the questionnaire by experts. The experts who reviewed the questionnaire included the same experts who reviewed the log form and five additional people. The additional experts included the chairman of a community college business department, a technical assistant and the Personnel Assistant from the participating firm, an assistant administrator of a city police department, and the director of research consultation athichigan State University. The changes made in the questionnaire based on the experts' responses included changes in layout and design, wording of questions, and response f0rmat for each question. The changes in layout and design included the addition of spacing between questions, fewer questions per page, and dividing the questionnaire into three parts. The first two changes were made f0r ease of reading the questionnaire items; the third change in layout was made because the questionnaire was too long if administered as one part. The changes in wording included the elimination of redundant sub-questions and adding better descriptors in the directions and some questions. The changes in response f0rmat included the addition of a five-point scale for all responses on the questionnaire. This latter change was important because it provided the respondents with a consistent answer format f0r all three parts of the questionnaire. 34 The fourth step in the development of the questionnaire included revision of the questionnaire items and final printing. In general, Part I of the questionnaire was designed to gather information about the over-all importance of communication skills and the importance of various kinds of written and verbal communications sent and received. Part II was designed to obtain information about an employee's self-perceived ability to complete various planning and delivery stages of written messages. Part III of the questionnaire was designed to Obtain information about an employee's self-perceived ability to complete various planning and delivery stages of verbal messages. .A five-point scale with word descriptors at the extremes of the scale was used for all items on the three-part questionnaire; the middle variances between the extremes were indicated by numbers only. On the page of directions for each of the three parts, the participants were reminded about the five-point scale, the word descriptors, and the middle variances on the scale.* Procedures .After the researcher's initial contact.with the participating finm's Training Coordinator, the participating employees were involved in several communication situations before they recorded data. Each participant received a memorandum sent by the Employment Specialist of the firmehich introduced the researcher and the study. Next, each participant received a memorandum from the Employment Specialist which *The questionnaire is Appendix C. 35 told them about an information meeting which the researcher and the Training Coordinator conducted to explain the study. The meeting was held on the Wednesday before the Monday on which the employees were to begin keeping their communication logs. Of the 41 study participants, 23 attended the meeting. The other 18 participants received the same information in personal interviews conducted by the researcher before information was recorded in the communication logs.* The communication log recording, which was designed to obtain information about the frequency of various communication activity and the time used to plan and deliver various written and verbal communica- tions, took place first. The participants were given a two-pocket folder containing log f0rmS,four return envelopes addressed to the researcher, a page of directions, and a list of message definitions which was glued to the inside of the folder. The participants were instructed to record all of their job related communications in their communication log for five working days beginning the Monday following the inf0rmation meeting and continu- ing until Friday. If an employee missed a working day because of illness, vacation, or other personal business, he was instructed to record information during the next week until he had recorded information for five working days. The log sheets were returned to the researcher each day. To help the participants keep the data recording Up to date, the researCher designed several communications which were sent to the *Appendix D includes the memoranda and an outline of the meeting presentation. 36 participants during the week they were keeping the logs. The first communication, which the participants received on Monday morning, reviewed the directions f0r completing the logs and reminded the participants about the researcher's telephone extension and office at the firm. The second communication was received by the participants on TUesday morning. It reminded them to complete certain parts of the log form. The third communication was received by the participants on wednesday morning. It was designed to compliment them for their cooperation, and it reminded them about the researcher's office and telephone extension. The fourth communication was received by the participants on Friday morning. It reminded them to return their log folders and introduced the f0llow-up questionnaire.* In addition to the above written communications, each participant was called on the telephone by the researcher on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning of the week during which they were Completing the logs. The objective of the call was to encourage the participants to keep their logs up to date; also, participants' questions were answered during the calls. The participants were instructed that the researcher's calls and memoranda were not to be recorded in their communication logs. During the week that the participants were recording their communication logs, the researcher reviewed each log sheet as the sheets were returned. If a category was not checked, the researcher called the participant to get the omitted inf0rmation. This follow-up procedure was important because it helped assure that all messages were recorded as accurately as possible. *See Appendix E f0r the memoranda. 37 The administration of the questionnaire, which was designed to obtain additional information about the self-perceived importance of various communication activity, was the second phase of the research. The questionnaire was sent to the same 41 participants who completed the commmicat ion logs . TWO days bef0re Part I of the questionnaire was sent, a memorandum was sent to all participants. The memorandum reminded the participants that the questionnaire was important, urged accurate completion of the questionnaire, and reminded them about the researcher's office and telephone extension at the firm.* The questionnaire was sent out in three different stages with the first part being sent out three weeks after the communication logs were completed. Parts 11 and III of the questionnaire were sent out after each participant returned the preceding part. Part II was completed two times by 32 of the 41 participants. This was necessary because the employee identification numbers were omitted from Part II when it was mailed the first time; therefore, when the first responses to Part II were returned, it was impossible to identify the employee who completed the questionnaire. Eight employees who did not complete Part II the second time had signed their name or put some other identifying mark on the first response to Part 11. When Part II was mailed the second time, a cover memorandum was attached which explained the error; the other parts of the questionnaire were identical to the first mailing of Part II.* *See Appendix F f0r the memorandum. *See Appendix G f0r the cover memorandum. 38 When the questionnaires were returned to the researcher, they were checked for completeness. If an item was not completed, the researcher called the participant on the telephone and solicited a verbal response which was recorded on the questionnaire by the researcher. For the statistical analysis of the questionnaire items, a total of 41 returned questionnaires were used for Part I; for Parts 11 and III, a total of 40 returned questionnaires were used because one participant did not respond to either Part II or III. Hypotheses The written and verbal communication skill needs and the relationship between job level and communication activity of technical/ engineer employees was tested using a communication log and questionnaire. The following was hypothesized: Hypothesis 1: The employees' self-perceived importance . ratings of over-all communication skills in their present position w1ll increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 2: Employees who indicate that increased communi- cation could improve job efficiency will select an increase in communi- cation with higher levels as the nethod f0r increasing job efficiency more frequently that they will select an increase in communication with lower levels. Hypothesis 3: The number of communications sent and received will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 4: The number of different communication channels regularly used will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 5: The frequency of external communications sent and received will increase as job levels go up. 39 Hypothesis 6: The mean time used to communicate will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 7: The length of time used per message will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 8: The combined frequency of using person-to- person, small group, and telephone communication methods will not vary by job level. Hypothesis 9: The number of different communication methods used will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 10: The self-perceived importance ratings of short memorandum, long memorandum, short reports, long reports, letters, person-to-person, small groups, large groups, and telephone will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 11: The self-perceived importance rating of drawing notes and writing/graphics will increase as job levels go down. Hypothesis 12: The self-perceived importance of employees' ability to plan and deliver information giving and maintenance messages will not vary by job level. Hypothesis 13: The self-perceived importance of employees' ability to plan and deliver persuasive, task, and human messages will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 14: The self-perceived need for help ratings for four different phases of written communication will increase as job levels go up. Hypothesis 15: The self-perceived need for help ratings for four different phases of verbal communication will increase as job levels go up. Analysis The appropriate statistical analyses were recommended by Dr. John Schweitzer, Acting Director, Office of Research Consultation, Michigan State University. To test the linear relationship between job level and a variable, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed. The one-factor Analysis of Variance was 40 used to test for significant between job level differences when: (1) the hypothesis was concerned with a non-linear relationship, and (2) when r was not significant at the .05 alpha level. The t-test was used to see if a mean was significantly greater than zero for one hypothesis. The alpha level for all tests of significance was .05. The responses to the log form and the three-part question- naire were keypunched into computer cards. The statistical analyses were computed by the CDC 6500 at Michigan State University. Use of the Michigan State University computing facilities was made possible through support, in part, from the National Science Foundation. CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF RESULTS The results of the study are presented in this chapter. The statistical test results, further analyses, and discussion are presented for each hypothesis. Hypotheses relating to overall communication activity are presented first and are followed by a presentation of the hypotheses relating to more specific communication activity by job level. When the correlation coefficients were computed, the highest job level was level one and the highest rating was a five on a five-point scale. Theref0re, the correlation coefficient between high job level and high ratings were designated with a minus sign. Hypothesis 1 The employees' self-perceived importance ratings of over-all communication skills in their present position will increase as job levels go up. The correlation between job level and importance rating was -4.03. This is significant at the .05 alpha level with 39 degrees of freedom. Hypothesis 1 was supported by the data. Table 4.1 shows the mean importance rating by job level. The mean importance ratings indicate that all job levels rated over-all importance 41 42 either 4 or 5 on a S-point scale. Since a rating of 5 is the ”very important" or highest rating, all employees perceived over-all communication skills as important in their present position. The highest j0b levels tended to perceive it as more important than the lower job levels even though the ratings lacked wide distribution. TABLE 4.1 JOB LEVEL MEANS OF SELF-PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE RATINGS OF OVER-ALL COMMUN I CATI ON SKI LLS Mean Importance Job Level Rating DONOW-bCNNv—I bb-b-b-bb-bm VAN-150000000 Hypothesis 2 Employees who indicate that increased communication could improve job efficiency will select an increase in communication with higher levels as the method for increasing j0b efficiency more frequently than they will select an increase in communication with lower levels. This hypothesis was tested by using a t-test to see if the difference between the selection of increased communication with higher and lower levels was significantly greater than zero. Table 4.2 shows the results of the t-test. Although the mean difference was positive, indicating a tendency towards more frequent selection of increased 43 communication with higher levels, the mean difference was not significantly greater than zero. Hypothesis 2 was not supported by the data. TABLE 4.2 t-TEST RESULTS OF COMPARING MEANS FOR EMPLOYEE SELECTION OF INCREASED COMMUNICATION WITH HIGHER.AND LOWER LEVELS Mean Difference Standard t of the Significance Deviation Mean Of The Mean .636 1.940 1.538 .139 In order to examine the frequency with which each job level selected the need for increased communication with higher and lower job levels, the job level responses were divided into 14 channels; Table 4.3 shows this breakdown. Thirty of the 41 respondents indicated that increased communication could improve job efficiency, and all 30 indicated the need for increased communication with both higher and lower levels. Each respondent could indicate the need for increased communication sent to or received from higher levels six times; of the 180 possible responses, 80 indicated the need to communicate more with higher levels. Forty-nine indicated the need to receive more communication from higher levels and 31 indicated the need to send more communications to higher levels. The respondents could also select increased communication with lower levels six times for a total Of 180 possible reSponseS. Of the 180, 64 indicated the need to Communicate more with lower levels. Thirty-four indicated the need TABLE 4.3 JOB LEVEL FREQUENCIES OF EMPLOYEE SELECTION OF INCREASED C(MVUNICATION IN UPWARD, IDWNWARD, AND HORIZONTAL CHANNELS FROM FROM FROM T0 T0 T0 LEVEL LEVEL SAME LEVEL LEVEL SAME JOB TOTAL UP DOWN LEVEL UP IDWN LEVEL LEVEL "YES" 1 2 3 l 2 3 O l 2 3 l 2 3 0 1 N=5 4 3 3 3 1 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 N=5 S 5 2 3 2 4 4 1 0 4 3 1 5 3 N=5 3 2 1 3 2 3 2 O 0 3 2 2 3 4 N=5 4 3 1 4 3 3 1 O 0 3 1 1 2 5 N=5 3 2 2 l 0 3 3 3 0 2 1 1 3 6 N=S 3 2 3 l 2 1 l 1 0 l 1 l l 7 N=5 5 4 2 0 0 2 3 3 1 0 0 0 1 8 N= 3 3 2 1 0 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 TOTALS 30 24 l6 16 10 21 19 10 2 16 8 6 18 45 to receive more from, 30 indicated the need to send more to lower levels. Seventy-five percent of the 41 respondents indicated that increased communication with higher job levels could improve job efficiency. When the need f0r increased communication with higher or lower levels was compared, increased communication With higher levels was selected 20% more often than increased communication with lower levels. In general, the respondents indicated that they perceived the need for more communication with higher job levels more frequently than the need for communication with lower levels. H0wever, job levels three and four indicated the need for more communication with lower levels more frequently than the need for more communication with higher levels. Hypothesis 3 The number of communications sent and received will increase as job levels go up. The correlation between job level and the number of communications sent and received was -.342. This was significant at the .05 alpha level with 39 degrees of freedom. Hypothesis 3 was supported by the data. 46 Table 4.4 shows the number of communications sent and received by job level. While the significant correlation coefficient indicates a linear relationship, the job level frequencies in Table 4.4 indicate that that relationship is not perfect because job levels three, four and six have higher frequencies than the other job levels. The top two job level frequencies are deflated because employees in these two job levels indicated by notes or calls during the time that they were recording the log data that they were not recording "a great portion" of the incoming mail that they received each day because of time pressures. The high frequency of communication activity at job level six indicates that the frequency of communication activity cannot always be predicted by job level only. TABLE 4.4 NUMBER OF COMMUNICATIONS SENT AND RECEIVED BY JOB LEVELS Number of Communications Job Level Sent and Received 489 543 674 502 300 706 180 274 mVOM-thI-d 47 Hypothesis 4 The number of different communication channels regularly used will increase with job level. The correlation between job level and the number of different communication channels regularly used was -.464. This was significant at the .05 alpha level with 39 degrees of freedom. Hypothesis 4 was supported by the data. Table 4.5 shows the means of the channels used by job level. There were six possible channels; a channel had to be used at least six times by an individual bef0re it was considered "regularly used.” J0b levels three and four regularly used 5 channels; job levels one, two, and six regularly used at least 4.2 channels; job levels five, seven, and eight regularly used 3 or fewer channels. Some of the variance in the means can be accounted for by simple logic; the highest job levels do not have too many personnel above them, so that channel would not be used too often. The lowest job levels do not have too many personnel below them, so that channel would not be used too often. The middle job levels have more opportunities to communicate both above and below their levels. The means support this logic in that, except f0r job level five, the means of the middle job levels are higher than the highest and lowest job levels. 48 TABLE 4.5 JOB LEVEL MEANS FOR NUMBER OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS REGULARY USED Mean Job Level Channels Used mVG‘J'l-P-(NNI—I NN-RLN'J'I'JT-I>-b MOOOOCN-b Table 4.6 shows the frequency with which each of the six channels were used by job level. These frequencies support the logic presented in relation to the means of channels used and provide the Opportunity for further analyses. HOrizontal communication occurred more frequently in relation to the frequency with which other channels were used in job levels f0ur and five. Job level four had 26% of the communication activity in the horizontal channel compared with 30% for job level five. The percentages for horizontal communication for the other six jOb levels were between 13% and 19%. Generally, these data indicate that the horizontal channel is used.more often in the middle job levels than it is in the highest and lowest job levels. Five of the eight job levels (1,4 8 6) sent more communication downward than they sent upward; three job levels (5, 7, 8 8) sent more communications upward than they did downward. The total messages sent Hem new moo mum mooa mam mHmHOH 49 Hm HH mmH cm 5 on w my w mm AH ea om n we mam ova cc mmm wva c we NN moa mm mm mm m we «CH em no 00H mm v we mam em me mew me m mm ocH ow Ho mNH em N em mom Hm ow 55H em H deem seam Mozoq 50am segue: seam eswm pcow nosed ucom Rogue: ucom Ho>oq po>fiouom oo>aooom po>wooom non o Hoocmgu m Hoocmsu e Hoocmcu m Hmccmco N Homemau H Homewau mqmzz<$u ZOHHmq mom c.v mqmHooom one pcom HmHOH oceanoHoe macaw HHmEm common Ho>OH now mowmmmoz HmuoH oocHnEou -ou-:omhom Ho ucooaom maozhmz mummk >m mom amhzzouu< mmum4 mow NH.¢ mHm .u 00 N N H \l \l ‘3‘ to (A (N (A .9 .n -> <3 <3 ~u as no 0\ \J o~perceived importance ratings of overall communication skills by job level. It was hypothesized that the importance rating would increase as jOb levels went up. This hypothesis was supported.by the data. Results indicated that all job levels rated the importance of over- all communication skills 4.0 or higher on a five-point scale, but the higher levels tended to give a higher importance rating than the lower levels. Hypothesis 2 was concerned with the self-perceived need for more communication with higher and lower levels to increase jOb efficiency. It was hypothesized that employees who indicated 90 that increased communication could improve their job efficiency would select increased communication with higher levels more frequently than they would select increased communication with lower levels. Thirty of the 41 respondents indicated that increased communication could improve job efficiency. The hypothesis was not supported by the t—test results even though the data indicated that employees perceived the need for increased communication with higher levels 20% more frequently than the need fbr increased communication with lower levels. JOb levels three and four were the only ones that more frequently indicated the need fOr increased communication with lower levels than the need for increased communication with higher levels. Hypothesis 3 was concerned with the number of communications sent and.received by job levels. It was hypothesized that the number of communications sent and received would increase as levels went up. A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was feund between the two variables. Hypothesis 3 was supported by the data. The data also indicated that the relationship was not perfect because job level six sent and received.more communications than any other job level. While higher jOb levels, in general, sent and received.more communication than lower levels, the frequency of communication activity cannot always be predicted by jOb level only. The rank order of job levels by frequency of communications sent and received was 6, 3, 2, 4, l, 5, 8, 7. 91 Hypothesis 4 was concerned with the frequency with which employees regularly used different communication channels. It was hypothesized that higher job levels would regularly use more communication channels than lower levels. A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was fOund between the two variables. Hypothesis 4 was supported by the data. A channel had to be used six times befbre it was considered "regularly used." The mean of the channels used by the top four job levels was 4.65 compared to 2.97 fer the lower four levels. A total of six channels was possible. Hypothesis 5 was concerned with the frequency of external communications sent and received by job levels. It was hypothesized that higher levels would have a higher frequency of external communication activity. A.Significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was fOund between the two variables. Hypothesis 5 was supported by the data. The top four levels averaged 17.25 percent of their total communication activity for external communication; the lower four levels, 7 percent. Job levels two and three had the highest frequency of external communication. Hypothesis 6 was concerned with the job level means of the time used fbr communication. It was hypothesized that higher levels would use more time fOr communication activity than lower levels. A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was f6und between the two variables. Hypothesis 6 was supported by the data. Hewever, job level six had a high mean which indicates that in some situations lower job levels will also use a great deal 92 of time fOr communication activities. The mean of the time used by the top fbur levels was at least two times greater than the mean of the lower four levels. The rank order of levels by the means of the minutes used to communicate was 1, 3, 2, 6, 4, S, 7, 8. Hypothesis 7 compared the mean time used per message and job level. It was hypothesized that the higher job levels would use more time per message than lower levels. .A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was fOund between the two variables. Hypothesis 7 was supported by the data. The mean for the t0p f6ur job levels was 13.5 minutes per message; the mean fbr the lower four levels was 10.0 minutes per message. Job level seven had the third highest mean. The rank order of levels by mean time used per message was 1, 2, 7, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8. Large within level variances were found which suggests that the time used.per message may be related more to specific jobs than to job level. Hypothesis 8 was concerned with the use of three verbal communication methods: person-to-person, small group, and telephone. It was hypothesized that the combined frequency of using these three methods would not vary by job level. No significant difference was feund between levels. Hypothesis 8 was supported by the data. These three methods accounted fOr an average of 80% of the total messages sent and received by all job levels. The lowest percentage, 67%, was found in level one; the highest percentage, 90%, was found in level four. Hypothesis 9 was concerned with the number of different 93 communication methods used by job levels. It was hypothesized that higher levels would use more methods than the lower ones. A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was found between the two variables. Hypothesis 9 was supported by the data. Levels one to fbur used an average of 6.7 methods; levels five to eight used an average of 4.8 methods. The rank order of job levels by the means of the methods used was 1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 5, 7, 8. There were 11 different written and verbal methods surveyed. Verbal methods were used almost fOur times more frequently than written ‘methods. The total frequency of three methods, short memoranda, person-to-person, and telephone, accounted for 86% of all the messages sent and received by all levels. Hypothesis 10 was concerned with the self-perceived importance ratings of ten different communication methods by job level. It was hypothesized that the mean importance rating for each method would increase as levels went up. .A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was fOund between the importance rating for each method and job level. Hypothesis 10 was supported by the data. The ten methods were short memoranda, long memoranda, short report, long report, business letter, person-to-person, small group, large group, speech/presentations, and telephone. A rating of five was the highest possible rating. Levels one to f0ur rated all ten methods 3.7 or higher; the lower four job levels rated three methods 3.7 or higher. 94 Hypothesis 11 was concerned with the self-perceived importance rating of two written communication methods, drawing notes and writing/graphics. It was hypothesized that the importance rating for those two methods would increase as job levels went down. The test results indicated a significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized between the variables. Hypothesis 11 was supported by the data. The mean of the importance ratings for drawing notes was 4.5 fbr the lowest three levels; the mean for the tOp three levels was 3.0. For writing/graphics, the mean of the importance ratings for the lowest three levels was 4.3; fbr the t0p three levels, the mean was 3.3. It was important to note that six of the eight job levels rated.writing/graphics 4.0 or higher. The high rating from levels three to five may have been caused by respondents' confusion with the definition of the term. Hypothesis 12 was concerned with the employees' self- perceived importance of their ability to plan and deliver information giving and.maintenance messages. It was hypothesized that the self-perceived importance ratings would not vary by job level fer these two kinds of messages. No significant between level difference was fbund for information messages. Infbrmation messages were rated 3.8 or higher by levels one to seven. .A significant difference was found between job levels fOr maintenance messages. Maintenance messages were rated 3.8 or higher by levels one to four, six and seven. The correlation between level and rating for maintenance messages indicated that the relationship was non-linear. It was 95 concluded that the importance ratings for information messages did not vary by job level but that the ratings for maintenance messages did vary in a non-linear fashion. Hypothesis 13 related to the self-perceived.importance of an employee's ability to plan and deliver persuasive, task, and human messages. It was hypothesized that the means of the importance ratings would increase as levels went up. A significant linear relationship in the direction hypothesized was f6und between the means of the importance ratings fOr each kind of message and job level. The mean for the top four levels fbr persuasive messages was 4.5; the mean fOr the lower fOur levels was 3.1. For task messages, the mean fOr the highest four levels was 4.5; fer the lower fbur, the mean was 3.1. For human messages, the mean for the t0p four levels was 4.2; fer the lower four, the mean was 3.2. These three kinds of messages are more likely to be sent by upper level employees. Very few lower level employees will be involved in sending persuasive messages. Task messages relate to giving employees the infbrmation necessary for them to do their job; therefOre, higher level employees will be sending more task messages to lower level employees. Human.messages relate to morale, and higher level employees are more likely to send those messages downward than lower level personnel are to send human messages upward. The means of the importance ratings for the three kinds of messages supported this logic. Hypothesis 14 related to the self-perceived need for help ratings fbr four different phases of planning and delivering 96 written communications. It was hypothesized that since higher level employees use written methods more often than lower levels, their need for help ratings would be higher. The job level means for the fbur phases were very similar; all of the ratings tended to be on the "no need for help" end of the rating scale for all levels. No significant relationship was feund between level and ratings to support this hypothesis. Hypgthesis 15 related to the selfeperceived.need for help ratings fOr feur different phases of planning and delivering verbal communications. It was hypothesized that the ratings fOr higher levels would be higher than those for lower levels. Since the means of the ratings fOr all job levels were at the "no need for help" end of the rating scale, no significant relationship between the ratings and jOb level were found to support this hypothesis. Conclusions This part is divided into two sections. First, the conclusions about the relationship between job levels in an organization and communication activity will be presented. Second, the relationship between the findings of this study and.higher education curricula will be presented. Conclusions--Job Level and Communication Activity Several over-all relationships between job levels and communication activity in a hierarchically structured, architect/ engineer firm were found. 97 In relation to the self-perceived importance of overall communication skills, all employees in this study indicated a high importance rating, but higher level employees tended to give higher importance ratings. Employees recognize the importance of communication skills at all levels in this firm. It has been stated in the literature relating to employee perception of message flow that employees generally perceive the need for more communication with higher level employees and that messages generally flow downward more frequently than upward in most organizations. The findings of this study support the generalization that employees perceive the need for increased communication with higher level personnel. The findings of this study also indicated that that generalization has exceptions because two job levels in this firm perceived the need for increased communication with lower level employees more frequently than the need for increased communication with higher levels. The findings of this study support the generalization that messages tend to flow downward more frequently than upward, although the difference was only 10%. IMessages sent downward and received from higher totaled 1728 while messages sent higher or received from lower totaled 1395. In percentages, 55% of the messages in this firm involved downward communication while 45% involved upward commication. Another question raised in the literature related to the frequency of sending and receiving messages by different job levels. The combined frequency of messages sent and received by levels in this firm.indicates that the frequency of sending and receiving 98 communications cannot always be predicted by job level. When the frequency of messages sent was analyzed,‘the findings indicated that the t0p six levels sent more messages than they received. The top four job levels sent 30% more messages than the lower fbur job levels. In general, the frequency of sending and receiving messages seems to be more related to specific jobs than to job levels, but the frequency of sending messages is higher in the top job levels. Channels used by different job levels are often investigated in the study of organizational communication activity. It has been generalized that upper level personnel will communicate with more people than lower level personnel. This generalization was supported by the findings of this study because higher level personnel used more communication channels than lower level personnel, and higher level personnel communicated more often with people outside the firm- In relation to the use of the horizontal channel, it can be concluded that the channel is not used too often by most job levels in this firm. Only the middle two job levels used it for a high percentage of total communication activity. The findings also indicate that employees perceive the need fOr increased communication in the horizontal channel. Total time used fOr communication activity in organizations is often investigated. The findings of this study indicate that the 41 participants used 643.6 hours for communication activity which is an average of 16 hours per employee per week. The average time for the top four levels was 22 hours per week while the average for the lowest four levels was 10. The range of time used was 6 hours 99 per week for level eight to 27.3 hours per week for executives. Although there were some variations, it can be concluded that higher levels tend to use more time for communication activities than lower levels. In relation to time used per message, it can be concluded that looking at job level is not always a sure method of predicting how much time employees will use for each message. Although the higher job levels tended to use more time per message, there was a wide variance within job levels. The range of time used.per message was 18.16 minutes for level one to 9.2 minutes fbr level eight. Questions about the use of verbal and written methods are often raised by researchers of organizational communication. It can be concluded from the findings of this study that verbal communication was used more often than written communication. Verbal methods accounted for 79% of the total messages sent or received. In terms of percent of total messages, verbal methods accounted for 67% of the messages for job level one and 90% of the messages for job level fOur; the percentage figure for the other six levels was between those two percentages. The person-to-person verbal method was used at least four times more frequently than any other written or verbal method. Of the eleven written and verbal methods surveyed, four were used often by all levels: short memoranda, person-to-person, small groups, and telephone. Only the top three levels and level six frequently used long memoranda, short reports, long reports, business letters that persuade, large groups, and speech/presentations. 100 Conclusions--Higher Education Technical/Engineer Curricula The findings of this study provide information that should be used fbr making decisions about appropriate communication curricula for full-time higher education technical/engineering students as well as returning students. The employment specialist of the firm identified job level eight, draftsperson/trainee, as the level at which two-year college graduates would be hired in this firm. The findings Of this study indicate that these graduates should be prepared to use several communication skills. Two-thirds of the communication activity at the job-entry level will be receiving messages. Person-to-person messages will be communicated most often and will involve information relating directly to the job. Therefore, listening skills should be deve10ped. Also, the graduate at job-entry level will find that there is frequent use of small groups, so the principles of group dynamics should be mastered. The job-entry level employee may send some written communication in the fbrm of short memoranda within the firm with an occasional long memoranda. Consequently, the student's ability to convey job related information in short memoranda should be developed. The graduate will not have to write reports and letters until he is promoted to job level six, which will take about five years in this firm. Therefore, rather than use time in report writing courses, the time could better be spent deve10ping verbal communication skills, with only a brief introduction to reports and letters. 101 Along with on-the-job communication activities, the Employment Specialist of the firm indicated the need for graduates to be prepared to write good letters of application and a resume', and to be prepared to participate in job interviews for initial hiring and later promotions. The required communication courses fer technical students who are going to graduate with a two-year degree and seek employment in a firm similar to the one surveyed should include the following topics: (1) listening; (2) reading and comprehension skills: (3) verbal information giving and receiving using small group and person-to-person methods; (4) written communication—-short memoranda that give infermation and an introduction to reports and letters; (5) employment skills--letter of application, resume', and personal interviewing; (6) role and importance of communication in organizations; (7) telephone usage. The four-five year career development plan for the employee with a two-year technical degree should include the refinement of other written and verbal communication skills. As the Employment Specialist of this firm pointed out, it will take a beginning technical graduate about five years to reach level six, which is Senior Designer. When the employee reaches that level, the communication skills needed are substantial. By the time a person is ready for promotion to job level six, the following communication skills must be refined in addition to those mentioned for initial employment: (1) written communication-- internal long memoranda and short reports; external letters and long 102 memoranda; (2) verbal communication—-person-to-person and small group methods fer information and persuasive messages. In general, the employee promoted to this level will use almost one-half of his working time for communication both within and outside the firm. He will be sending communications almost as frequently as he will be receiving communications. In addition, his communication activity will be involved with both higher and lower level employees, so it is important that the employee develop the ability to synthesize job related information and clearly convey that infermation to people above and below his job level. At level six in this firm, the employee will also become involved in some forms of supervision, which means that the kind of messages he will be sending will also change. Rather than dealing only with information, the employee will begin sending maintenance and human messages to his subordinates. These messages include organizational policy and regulation infermation and employee morale messages. Therefore, the employee should develop a keen awareness of the skills needed for persuasion as it relates to maintenance and human relations messages. The person will also become involved in performance rating and appraisal interviews on a limuted basis. This added responsibility indicates the need to refine the communication skills relating to conducting personal interviews. In general, the four-five year career development program for two-year technical graduates should be designed so that the employee can assume a great deal of responsibility for conmunicating 103 with both higher and lower levels. He should develop expertise in writing short memoranda, long memoranda, short reports, and letters that include elements of information giving and persuasion. He should develop expertise in verbal communication skills as those skills relate to information giving, task, maintenance, and human messages. He should also develop the ability to effectively communicate with people outside the firm. These long-range needs should be met within four-five years through company sponsored seminars or additional classes in higher education institutions. The above related to a two-year graduate with a technical degree. The following will relate to a four-year technical/engineer graduate who seeks initial employment in a firm similar to the one surveyed in this study. The Employment Specialist of the firm indicated that a four-year engineering graduate would be hired at job level five, Junior Engineer/Planner, and that he would be promoted to job level feur within five years. The highest possible promotion within the first five years would be to job level three, Lead Engineer. The beginning engineer in this firm will need written and verbal communication skills. The writing skills relate primarily to short memoranda that give information within the firm and business letters that give information. The findings indicate that only rarely will the beginning engineer be responsible fer preparing reports, rather he will be assisting others in preparing reports. The verbal communication skills needed relate to information messages both within and outside the firm. The methods used most 104 frequently are person-to-person, small groups, and telephone. ‘Within this job level, however, communication skill needs will increase as the engineer gains experience with the firm. The findings indicate that a beginning engineer must have the ability to write short memoranda and business letters that give information. The beginning engineer must also be able to communicate effectively in person-to-person, small group, and telephone situations. He will be giving or receiving information. In addition, he must be aware of the importance of overall comunication activity and develop keen reading comprehension and listening skills because he will be receiving a great deal of information. hfithin 3-5 years the engineer in this firm should be prepared to use a wide range of written and verbal commmication Skills to give information, persuade, and supervise. When the engineer is promoted to level feur, Engineer/Planner, his job responsibilities greatly expand. At that level, he must be able to use all of the communication skills surveyed in this study. (He will use written communications (memoranda, reports, and letters) both within and outside the company to give infermation and persuade. He will use verbal communication (person-to-person, small groups, large groups, speech/presentations, and telephone) within and outside the firm to give infermation and.persuade others. Also, the engineer at this level in this firm will be supervising. Therefore, it is important that his human relations skills be deve10ped so that he can effectively relate to subordinates in performance 105 appraisals and other essential supervising roles. The findings of this study indicate that a beginning engineer must be able to write short memoranda and letters that give information, and communicate verbally in person-to-person and small group situations within the firm. Within 3-5 years the engineer may be promoted to a level at which he must be able to use a wide variety of communication methods to give information and persuade. These findings indicate that the most essential learning experiences that would benefit the engineers who are seeking initial employment in a firm similar to the one surveyed are those experiences that develop the engineer's ability to communicate effectively with person-to-person, small group, telephone, and short memoranda methods. These basic methods should be combined with higher level report writing, speaking, large group methods, and letter writing to give information and persuade. Since it will take at least three years before the engineer actually begins using these high level communication skills, perhaps the courses dealing with them could be postponed until the last year of a feur year curriculum or only introduced during the four years of college. In either case, the engineer should become involved in seminars relating to those skills during his first few years of employment so that when promotion time arrives he will be ready with recent experiences in the needed communication skills. 106 Recommendations l. Verbal communication in person-to-person and small group situations should be emphasized in both two-year and four—year . teChnical/engineering programs because beginning level employees in these career areas will be using those methods fer at least 80% of their communication activity. Required or core courses should be designed so that students are given the Opportunity to deve10p techniques that will help them effectively give and receive infermation in those verbal communication situations. 2. During the first 3-4 years, graduates will be receiving infermation more often than they will be giving infermation. Listening and reading skills should be developed so that graduates can decode communications and synthesize the infermation. The messages will contain technical specifications and.descriptions, so the content of the material used in the classroom should be geared to that kind of information. 3. The writing experiences should be geared so that students learn to write short, infermative paragraphs. The basics of sentence structure and expository writing should be emphasized with only an.introduction to longer reports in the core courses. The content should be geared to technical specifications and descriptions. 4. .A great deal of the writing done by beginning level technical/engineering employees will be handwritten. Students should develop legible handwriting. The importance of neatness in their handwritten communications should be emphasized. 107 5. Employment information and techniques of getting a job should be thoroughly mastered by both two-year and four-year graduates. One of the most important communication situations that the graduate will encounter will be getting a job. Writing a letter of application and a resume' and participating in employment interviews should be emphasized in core courses. 6. The four-year engineer graduate should be given the experience of writing informative business letters. This experience should include an overview of letter style and format and thorough development of effective paragraph structure for letters. 7. Effective telephone usage should be emphasized for calls both within and outside the firm. 8. For long range career develOpment of both two-year and four-year technical/engineer graduates, experience in sending and receiving more complex messages with more complex methods should be deve10ped. It will take at least five years before graduates encounter complete responsibility for reports, speeches, and large group participation. The two-year technical student should gain skill in those areas after he is on the job through company seminars or additional classes in higher education institutions. The four-year engineering student may benefit by course work in these areas if it is postponed until the last year of his study. 9. The importance of overall communication skills and the role of different kinds of conmunication activity should be emphasized as part of core courses fer both types of students. The 108 content of such study should include such tOpics as the use of communication channels, the role of verbal, non—verbal, and written communications as they apply to organizations in which the graduate might be employed. This study should be a relatively small portion of the first communication course. 10. English teachers should carefully review the rationale fer requiring long papers (300 words or more) as the primary assignment in composition courses in two-year colleges, especially the courses designed fer terminal degree students. Mest graduates, including the technical students, will not write anything that long for 3-5 years after graduation and then the content, style, and format will be governed by company policies. The experience of writing longer communications might be more beneficial to the student if that experience were provided through specialized seminars fer those students who recognize the need. Implications for Further Research l. Self—perceived ability ratings for planning and delivering written and verbal communications do not appear to indicate accurate descriptions of employees' on-the-job performance. Further research should compare self>perceived ability ratings with supervisor's ratings or an analysis of communications planned and delivered by the employees. 2. Daily recording of employee communication activity apparently provides an accurate description of the frequency of communication activity if (1) a fellow-up procedure is used to assure 109 that all important communication activity occurred during the recording time, and (2) an efficient procedure is used so that employees can record routine, frequently occuring messages. Further study of efficient methods of recording communication is needed. 3. Further research comparing successful and.marginal employees is needed. The comparison may indicate whether or not effective communication skills are a major consideration in employee performance appraisals. Also, the comparison may indicate those subject areas that should be changed to help graduates become successful. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Agricultural Equipment and Technology. U. S. Department of Health Education and Welfare, Office of Education, 1970. Andrews, Clarence A. Technical and Business Writing. (Boston: HoughtonflMifflifi‘Cempany), 1975. Architectural and Building Construction Technology. U. S. Department Of'Health, Education and Welfare, Office of Education, 1969. Belohov, James; Popp, Paul; and Porte, Michael. "Communication: A ‘View from Inside Business," Journal of Business Communication,‘ Vel. II, No. 4, Summer 1974. Bennett, James C. "The Communication Needs of Business Executives," Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 8, No. 3, Spring 1971. Campbell, Donald T. and Stanley, Julian C. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Resea—Eh. (Chicago: RandchNally College PubliShing Company), 1963. Contributions of Research To Business Education. National Business Education Yearbook, No. 9., Editors, Calfrey C. Calhoun and Mildred Hillestad. (washington, D.C.: National Business Education Association), 1971. Carroll, Jehn B. "The Nature of the Data, or HOw to Choose A Correlation Coefficient," Psychometricka, Vol. 26, No. 4, December 1961. Dixon, John R. and Nelson, Carl W. "Practice-Directed Engineering Education," Engineering Education, October, 1973. "The ENR 500," Engineering News Record, May 16, 1974, P. 57. Estrin, Herman.A. "The Need for and The Improvement of Technical ‘Writing," Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, V01. 1, No. 1, January 1971. "Final Report: Engineering Technology Education Study," Engineering» Education, V01. 63, No. 2, January, 1972. Fleet, Ellamaye Van. "Determining the Content of a Collegiate Report-writing Course," Journal of Business Communication, V61. 8, No. 3, Spring 1971. Goldhaber, Gerald.M. Organizational Communication. (Dubuque, Iowa: mm. C. Brown Company Publishers), 1974. 110 111 Haney, William.V. Communication and Organizational Behavior. (Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc;), Third Edition, 1973. Holland, Winfbrd E. and Stead, Bette A. "Exploring the Scientist- Engineer Conflict," Journal of Business Communication, Vo1. 9, No. 3, Spring 1972. Hblloran, Stephen M. "Classical Rhetoric fer the Engineering Student," Journal of Technical writing and Communication, V01. 1, No. 1, January, 1971. Janis, J. Harold. writing and Communicating In Business, Second Edition (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.), 1973. Keyser, Marshall R. "Business Cbmmunication: What Does It Include?" Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 9, No. 4, Summer 1972. Lasikar, Raymond V} Business Communication: Theory and Application, Revised edition, (Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc.), 1972. Liberal Learningngr the Engineer: An Evaluation Five Years Later, .A Report of the Humanities-Social Sciences Project of the American Society for Engineering Education, Ju1y 23, 1974. Liberal Learning fer the Engineer: A Report of the American Society for Engineering Education. Humanistic-Social Research Project, 1968. Mager, Robert F. Preparing Instructional Objectives. (Palo Alto, Calif.: Fearon Publishers), 1962. Mager, Robert F. and Beach, Kenneth M. Jr., Developing_VOcational Instruction, (Palo Alto, Calif.: Fearon Publishers), 1967. Marvin, Philip, "The Professional Development of Professional Engineers," Engineering Education, February, 1972. Perrow, Charles. Organizational Analysis: A Sociological View, (Belmont, CalifT: Broahe/Cale Pfiblishing Company), 1970. Pettit, Jehn, "Guidelines and Suggestions fer Research in Business Communication," Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 8, No. 4, Summer l97ll . "Guidelines and Suggestions for Research in Business Communication," Journal of Business Communication, Vbl. 9, No. 3, Spring 1972. Rainey, Bill G. "Proposal Writing: .A Neglected Area of Instruction," Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 2, No. 4, Summer 1974. Ranous, Charles. "In Memorian Freshman English," Journal of Business Communication, Vbl. 8, No. 4, Summer 1971, 112 Robertson, Mary and Perkins, W. E. Practical Correspondence for Colleges, 4th Edition, (Cincinnati: South-Western PubliShing Company , 1974. Selltiz, Claire, et al., Research Methods in Social Relations. (New York: Helt Rinehart and Winston), 1966. Simonds, Rollin. "Skills Businessman Use Most," Nation's Business, November 1960. Smith, Henry Clay and wakeley, John. Psychology of Industrial Behavior. (New York: MtGraw-Hill Book Company), Third Edition, 1972. Treece, Malra. "Business Communication Practices of Professional Secretaries," Journal of Business Communication, V61. 9, No. 4, Summer 1972. Tschirgi, Harvey D. and John M. Huegli. "The Entry-Level JobeA Neglected Target for Our Business Schools," Collegiate News and Views, V01. XXVIII, No. 2, Winter 1974-75. APPENDICES APPENDIX.A Letter to Authorities 113 APPENDIX A Jackson Gommwzify Golleqe JACKSON. MICHIGAN 4920! Perhaps you would help me locate information about the written and oral communication skills needed by technical and engineer employees at various levels of employment. Specifically, I am interested in finding out what studies have been completed and the methods used to identify the written and oral communication skills needed by technical and engineer employees . As part of my dissertation at Michigan State University, I am completing an in-depth study of 51 employees of a large architect/engineer firm. The purposes of my study are to identify the communication skills needed by those employees and to study the relationship between job level and communica- tion activity. The employees are in 10 different levels of employment from entry level to vice president. Hopefully, my study will help define the curricula needed for preparing technical and engineer students in the area of communication . To date, I have not been able to locate any previous research, formal or informal, which attempted to identify specific communication skills needed by technical and engineer employees. Perhaps you could help me locate such studies or related information. I would appreciate your suggestions, information and comments. Very truly yours , Henry S. McKeown . Associate Professor, English APPENDIX B Log Recording Form . 114 DATE DAY” PAGE NAME """"—————‘:================:::::::::=:‘ Complete one column for each message. Place a check mark or a name in the appropriate box for each message sent or received. Message Message Message Message INTERNAL COMMUNICATION a EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION b Information Giving Message a Persuasive Message b TASK Message 8 MAINTENANCE Message b HUMAN Message SENT to/higher job classification 4L SENT to/lower job classification b o 1’ SENT to/same level c “‘ REC'D. from/higher job classification a ._A REC'D. from/lower job classification b REC'D from/same level c WRITTEN COMMUNICATION Short Memo (IS-100 st.) ‘1” Long Memo (101-or more wds.) h _ Short Report (100-500 wds.) Long Report (501 or more wds.) Business Letter ORAL COMMUNICATION Person to person Small Group (3-7 people) Lagge Group (8 or more people) Spgech/Presentation (3-10 minutes) Speech/Presentation (11 min. and up) Telephone Conversation EStimate time used for planning and .1 execution 0. Comments: APPENDIX C Questionnaire 115 P A R T I - - COMMUNICATION QUESTIONNAIRE Respond to the following questions by placing an "X" in the box which best reflects your answer. Some questions will require more than one "X" to answer; the directions will indicate specifics. You will be responding, in most cases, on a five-point scale which represents degrees of difference between "No Importance" and "Very Important." The scale is numbered from 1 to S, with five being "Very Important." You are to respond by checking box 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. There are no word descriptors for numbers 2, 3, 4; use those numbers for variances between the extremes of 1 and 5. When you complete the questionnaire, return it to H. McKeown, Personnel. Please return this questionnaire on Tuesday, March 4, 1975. You may call me on extention 2676 if you have any questions, or you may visit my office on the first floor. Thank you for your cooperation. 116 Page 2 The following questions ask you to rate your ability to write various kinds of messages. Your rating is a five point scale ranging from “Need Lots of Help Here,” (1), to ”No Help Needed, ' (5). Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are variances between the two extremes. Be sure to consider each line carefully, then place an 'x' in the box which best reflects your rating. You should mark only one "x" for each line. The definitions for the various kinds of messages are below. You might want to refer to them for answering parts of question i 14. DEFINITIONS INFORMATION giving/receiving--Those messages intended to convey job related information with no attempt to persuade the receiver; an exchange of needed job related information. PERSUASIVE--Those messages intended to persuade the receiver to accept the sender's position or point of view; could be used in combination with many other kinds of messages; main characteristic-that the message must be intended to change the receiver's mind about job related information. 117 1. When you were hired by CAI, how important do you think that your job-related written and oral communication skills were to the person hiring you? 1 2 3 I I4 5 No Importance Very Important 2. If you have received a merit increase or promotion since working for CAI, how important were your job-related written and oral communication skills to the person making the decision about the increase or promotion? (If no increase or promotion, go directly to question 3). - l [2 3 4 J 5 I No importance Very Important 3. Rate the importance or your ability to use written and oral communication skills in your present position. 1L». 3 4|5J No Importance Very Important 4. If you wanted to communicate about your job related activities from your present position, at which level (5) would you feel free to communicate? (You may check more than one box). l jOb level upward ------------ 2 job levels upward ----------- 3 job levels upward ----------- 1 job level downward ---------- 2 job levels downward --------- 3 job levels downward --------- m S. 118 In your present position, how important is your ABILITY TO WRITE the following kinds of communications? Please check only one box per line. No Importance short memo (15-100 words) within CAI-------~--- Vgry Important short memo (10—100 words) outside CAI--------- long memo (101 wds. or more) within CAI ------ -‘ logg memo (101 wds. or more) outside CAI short report (100-500 words) within CAI------41 short report (loo-500 words) outside CAI ----- -‘ long report (501 words or more) within CAI----r long report (501 words or more) outside CAI---fi drawing notes combination-writing/grsphics letters that persuade letters that give information Other: specify and rate 1 5 1 5 h' ‘ L, j I l i i ,__....l.." . . 1 -i ' 1 A I I b 1 5 Could you specifically describe the written and oral communication skills needed for a person to successfully perform at the following job levels in relation to your present position? 1 job level 2 job levels 3 job levels 1 job level 2 job levels 3 job levels 119 7. In your present position, how important is YOUR ability to speak/discuss in the following ORAL COMMUNICATION situations? (Please check only one box per line). No Very Importance Important 1 2 3 4 5 person to person (within CAI) person to person (outside CAI) small group (3-7 people) within CAI small group (3-7 people) outside CAI large group (8 or more people) within CAI large group (8 or more people) outside CAI speech/presentation--within CAI speech presentation--outside CAI telephone conversation Other: (specify and rate) BE SURE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE DEFINITIONS ON PAGE 2 BEFORE YOU RESPOND TO QUESTIONS 8 and 9. 8. Using the definitions on page 2, rate the importance of your ability to be able to SEND the following kinds of messages within and outside CAI. No Importance Very Important 4 5 Information giving (within CAI) Information giving (outside CAI) Persuasive (within CAI) Persuasive (outside CAI) Task (within CAI) Task (outside CAI) Human (within CAI) Human (outside CAI) Maintenance (within CAI) 9. 10. 11. 120 Using the definitions on page 2, rate the importance of your ability to be able to R E C E I V E the following kinds of messages. No Importance Very Important Information receiving (from within CAI) Information receiving (from outside CAI) Persuasive (from within CAI) Persuasive (from outside CAI) Task (from within CAI) Task (from outside CAI) Human (from within CAI) Human (from outside CAI) Maintenance (from within CAI) Do you think that increased communication could help you do your present 10b more effectively? ' ""f YES NO, It yes, complete question 11; if no, you have finished Part I. Which of the following communication channels should be used more frequently to help improve your job efficiency? You may check more than one box). increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase increase communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication communication FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM SENT SENT SENT SENT SENT SENT SENT next level up’ two levels up three or more levels up next level d‘"n two levels down three or more levels downe- ------- ...__.. __ h——41 r__ same level in to next level up to two levels up three or more levels up to next level down to two levels down to three or more levels down ------ 11.1.1-1 to same level 121 PART II - - COMMUNICATION QUESTIONNAIRE Part I of the questionnaire was designed to gather information about the importance of over-all communications. Part II is designed to gather information about how you perceive various writing skills. Part II begins our close look at employee writing skills. Part III will deal with verbal communication skills. Please be sure to complete each item accurately. The accuracy of the results of the study depend on your continued c00peration. Your answers will, of course, be kept confidential with H. McKeown; the final report will give information in group averages only. You may call me, Extension 2676, or visit my office on the first floor if you have questions. Please complete Part II and return it to me within two days. Thank you for your cooperation. H. McKeown Communication Consultant 122 If you had to do each of the following as part of your present position, place an 'X' in the box which best describes your ability to do each statement. The statements refer to letters, reports, memos, and other job related communications WHICH YOU WRITE. (Mark an 'x' in only one box per statement). Need Lotst No Help ORGANIZATION of Help Here ’Needed 2 4 5 Organizing report contents into sections ----- . Planning different types of written comm.----d Self-discipline in getting started Getting time to write —— Meeting due dates for reports, letters, etc.,* - Stating problem clearly, briefly; getting problem focused in my mind ------- Need Lore T— No Help WRITING STYLE OR QUALITY of Help Here ’Nmedmd ' 1, 2 3 4 Writing briefly; writing concisely Writing good sentences (not dull or monotonous)— Writing grammatically correct sentences ------- - Expression--word choice Writing clear sentences — =— Fluency--able to turn out drafts quickly-------t Sentence/paragraph unity (stick to one subject at a time) Sentence/paragraph coherence (ideas flow smoothly and logically from one to another ----- Ability to identify various backgrounds of readers--- ....... Ability to write for readers of varied backgrounds Making meaning clear ------------ — _ _ Paragraph construction(logical organization)--- Using correct format(headings, side headings)-- COLLECTING 8 ANALYZING DATA A. 123 Organizing previous research findings or “‘1“ correspondence so as to analyze current writing problem ....... Need Lots of Help Here r No Help ,Needed Deciding where to obtain necessary back- ground information ------ Assembling the new data .................... Constructing tables or graphics to complement your writing --------- q Deciding whether or not to use tables or graphs to complement writing---- Arriving at conclusions ------------------- .‘ Making recommendations based on data presented ................. ‘ Eliminating irrelevant details ............ q Presenting data in narrative form ---------- 124 4. If you had to do each of the following as part of your present position, place an "x" in the box which best describes your ability to do each statement. The statements refer to letters, reports, memos, and other job related communications WHICH YOU WRITE. (Mark an 'x' in only one box per statement). Need Lots CONTENT on COVERAGE of Kelp Here A. Deciding what information to include or exclud ---- B. Determining what readers expect---- C. Satisfying superiors; getting communica- tion through the ”mill'--- D.. Getting my point across without offending my reader ------ E. Writing good introductions ----- F. Writing summaries or abstracts --------- G- Writing conclusions----- ------- H. Writing recommendations in reports, etc.---- I. Explaining incomplete analysis or degree of accuracy in results J. Proper emphasis; able to distinguish important and unimportant details-- K. Consideration of reader's interests and needs ----------- L. Relating current writing to overall pro- grams, projects, and objectives--- M. Deciding who to send message No Help. Needed c 125 Place an “x" in the box which best describes YOUR ABILITY TO PREPARE AND DELIVER the communications listed even if you don't prepare them as a part of your present position. (Only one 'x' per line). No Help Needed Wm Need Lots of Help Here A. Short memo (ls-100 words) 3. Long memo 101 or more words)---- C. Short report (110-500 words) D. Long Report (501 or more words) E. Drawing notes—---—----- ----- P. Oombination--writing/graphi G. Letters that persuade-~- H. Letters that give informa 6. Need Lots (No Help ORAL COMMUNICATION of Help Here +Needed 2 4 S A. person-to-person (information giving)----—d B. person-to-person (Persuasive)------------—J C. telephone conversation — = — a D. small group (3-7. peOple/I give informa- tion) E. small groups (3-7 people/I persuade people- F. large groups (8 or more people/I give information)------ G. large groups (8 or more people/I persuade people)----1* H. Speech/presentation (3 or more minutes/I give information) ---------- q I. Speech/presentation (3 minutes or more/I persuade peOple) ------ a J0 TASK MESSAGES ----------------------------- 4' K. MAINTENANCE MESSAGES ---------------------- 4 L. HUMAN MESSAGES ---------------------------- 4 126 PART III - - COMMUNICATION QUESTIONNAIRE This is the last part of the three-part questionnaire. Parts I and II dealt with the over-all importance of communi- cation and your written communication skills. Part III is designed to gather information about your oral communication skills and problems you encounter with messages which you receive. As before, your responses will be kept confidential. For the oral communication part, you will be responding to the same five-point scale as you did on Part II. The scale will range from l—-"NEED Lots of Help Here" to 5--”No Help Needed." For the last two questions, the fiveepoint scale will be designed to gather information about frequencies. The scale will be l--”Seldom" to S--"Frequently." Be sure to mark only one ”X" per line. Please make any general comments, suggestions, etc., which you would like to on the last page. You might relate your comments to communication skills, Career Development seminars or whatever. Perhaps there are some topics relating to communication which I did not cover in this study; please feel free to question or discuss those topics. Ybu may use additional pages if needed. As before, you may call me, Extension 2676, or visit me in my office. Please return the questionnaire within two days. Thank you for your cooperation. Henry S. McKeown Communication Consultant l 127 .- ALL OF THE STATEMENTS BELOW RELATE TO VERBAL COMMUNICATION. J JZ Rate YOUR ABILITY TO DO each of the statements related to verbal communication eyen if you 993' t use the 53111 as part of ygg; present position. Need Lots Help VERBAL--ORGANIZATION of Help Here eeded Ability to plan different types of oral communications. (speeches, telephone, group presentations)-- Getting time to communicate orally --------- Getting topics clearly focused in my Self discipline in getting started-~- DiViding tOpic into sections --------------- Need Lots DELIVERY of Help Here Help ed Maintaining good tone of voice -------------- Speaking clearly (enunciation) -------------- Maintaining other's interest ------------- Making my meaning clear ------------------ Emphasizing major ideas when presenting ----- Speaking with people with varied back- grounds ------- Expressing Ideas--word choice for particular audience ---------- Speaking too fast or too slow ---------- Using charts, graphs, etc., for emphasis ----- Wandering to unrelated subjects -------------- Delivering introduction ---------------- Delivering conclusion- ----------------------- Delivering recommendations --------------- Delivering body of message -------------- 128 I ALL OF THE §TATEMENTS BELOW RELATE TO VERBAL COMMUNICATION.| 92. Rate YOUR ABILITY TO DO each of the statements emn if you don't use the skill as part of your present pgsition. Need Lots CONTENT or covsmss 0‘- Help Here Deciding what to include or excl Waste time with too much social talk before getting to point Difficulty analyzing audience/recei Getting point across/not offending receiver Preper emhpasis; able to distinguish between important & unimportant details--- Gearing talk to listener's interest a needs Relating current communication to overall programs, projects or objectives Preparing introductions for oral communica Preparing conclusions for oral COLLECTINGZPREPARING/ Need Lots> ANALYZING A of Help Here Deciding where to get background informa- Gnu-u--- Help Obtaining background information Deciding whether or not to use supporting graphics --------- 1 Making tables & graphs to complement oral comm. -------- 4 Interpreting Data ............ . Arriving at conclusions-- -— Arriving at recommendations -------- 129 ‘i; Which of the following problems do you encounter in the ' job related written and verbal communications which you m eo le in positions W or on the SAME LEVEL. (Place an “X” in one box for each statement). Se Frequently A. Poorly organized ------------------------ B. Inadequate vocabulary; lacks clari C. Poor sentence structure; ideas confus D. Lack of adequate, accurate technical E. Poor grammar—== . -- F. Lack of brevity or conciseness ------- G. Sloppy typing, format, style, appear H. Communication not getting out on I. Data contain technical errors -------- J. Not geared to receiver's needs or interests ----- K. Ineffective introductory statements L. Ineffective concluding statements---- M. Main ideas not properly emphasized ......... N. Writing/talking lacks unity (wanders from one idea to another) ................ O. Writing/talking lacks coherence (ideas don't smoothly or logically flow from one to another) ---------------- P. Inadequate support for conclusions --------- Q. Inadequate support for recommendations ----- R. Inadequate support for various para- graphs or sections ............ 8. Failure to relate current communication to overall programs, projects, or objectives-- - T. unneeded communication (not relevant to me or my project, objectives, etc.) OTHER: (Specify a Rate) ’7! T. OTHER: (Specify a Rate) ' 130 Which of the following problems do you encounter in the job related We; communications which you so le sitions BE W ou. (Place an Ex" in one box for each statementi. Seldoml ' l 'Frequently Poorly organized Inadequate vocabulary; lacks clarity ------ Poor sentence structure; ideas confusing-- Lack of adequate, accurate technical data-- Poor grammar -- __ Lack of brevity or conciseness=— Sloppy typing, format, style, appearance-- Cbmmunication not getting out on time ----- . Data contain technical errors Not geared to receiver's needs or interests——— - Ineffective introductory statements -------- Ineffective concluding statements--—- ------- Main ideas not properly emphasized ---------- ‘ Writing/talking lacks unity (wanders from one idea to another) ---— Writing/talking lacks coherence (ideas don't tsmoothly or logically flow from one to anothev.) Inadequate support for conclusions -------- . Inadequate support for recommendations ----- Inadequate BuPPOrt for various para- graphs or sections h — — Failure to relate current communication to overall programs, projects, or objectives-- Unneeded communication (not relevant to me or my project, objectives, etc.) ------ 131 COMMENTS: APPENDIX D Introductory Memoranda and Outline of Presentation 132 APPENDIX D Introductory Mbmoranda 12/30/74 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT Starting MideJanuary, Mr. Henry McKeown, Associate Professor at Jackson Community College, will be conducting a study at . The purpose is to deve10p a communications profile of our organization. we expect the study to assist us in selecting fUIure courses and seminars fOr our Career DeveIOpment Programs. iMr. MtKeown is an Associate Professor of English at Jackson Community College and is nearing completion of his Ph.D. in Education at Michigan State University. In the next few weeks, some of you may be asked to participate directly in the study or to have one or more of your subordinates participate. Thank you for your continuing cooperation and assistance. 1/14/75 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: ORIENTATION MEETING FOR COMIMNICATIONS STUDY DATE: WCdnesday, January 15, 1975 TIME: 5 PM PLACE: New auditorium (1D) 133 APPENDIX D Outline of Presentation OUTLINE OF INFORMATION MEETING/PERSONAL CONFERENCES I. Purposes of Project A. To identify the critical written and verbal communication skills needed by employees in various job levels To gain infOrmation that will be useful fer making decisions related to the Career Development program 1. communication profile of various job levels 2. information base for selecting future courses and seminars fer the Career Development Program 11. Design of Project A. TWO-part study 1. 2. communication log f0110w-up questionnaire B. Purposes of Communication log 1. 3. to survey the frequency of job related written and verbal communication activity to survey the kinds of messages sent and received to survey the channels that are used C. Purposes of Follow-Up Questionnaire 1. to determine the importance of various communication activity fer each job level to survey the self-perceived abilities to plan and deliver different communications 134 III. Procedures A. Communication Logs 1. review each category of log fOrm 2. review mechanics of using log form 3. set dates fOr recording in logs 4. review examples of communication B. Questionnaire 1. review general categories of items 2. review mechanics of completing and returning questionnaires 3. set tentative dates fOr completing questionnaire C. Consultant's Role 1. give office location and telephone extension 2. encourage calls and visits if questions arise IV. Conclusion A. Review purposes of project B. Stress importance of individual participation C. Questions from participants APPENDIX E Memoranda--Log Recording 13S DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING YOUR C O M”M U N I C A T I O N L O G (January 20-24) Familiarize yourself with the categories and definitions. This will make it quicker for you to record communications during the week. Keep the log with you at all times so that you can record communications a§_soon as possible after the situation. Don't wait until the end of the day and try to remember all of your communications. Complete one column for each communication situation you experiencE—during the weeR. Record only those communications which are related to your work-~do not record personal, social conversations. Record four message situations on each page of the log. After you record four messages, tear the sheet off and put it in the left-hand pocket of your fo1der until the end of each day. Be sure to complete the infbrmation at the top of the log page. Don't forget to record names in categories 4 and 5 and the time in category 8. At the end of each day, place all of your log pages fOr that day in the envelope provided and.mail to me, Henry MtKeown, Personnel. At the end of the day on Friday, return the entire folder to me along with Friday's log pages. If you have any questions, please call me on Ext. 2676 or visit me on the first floor, Section B, across from the personnel office. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. 136 APPENDIX E Memoranda-Log Recording January 21, 1975 TO: COMMUNICATION SURVEY PARTICIPANTS FROM: Henry MCKeown, Communication Consultant SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION LOGS I have received most of your log sheets from the first day of recording; all of you seem to be doing a thorough job. With three more days of the same conscientious effort, the survey will surely give us accurate infbrmation about your job-related communication activities. Be sure to call me, Ext. 2676, if you have questions or need more forms January 21, 1975 TO: COMMJNICATION SURVEY PARTICIPANTS FROM: Henry McKeown, Communication Consultant SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION LOGS Please be sure to check Categories 2 and 3 on your log form. You need to have a check mark in at least one box in Category 2 AND in at least one box in Category 3. .Also, please be sure to put names in boxes fOr internal communications Categories 4 and S. 137 TO: COIVNUNICATION SURVEY PARTICIPANTS 1/ 23/ 75 FROM: Henry McKeown, Communication Consultant SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION STUDY If you have kept your communication log fer five days by Friday, January 24, please return your folder to me along with Friday's log sheets. If you don't have five days, please carry over until next week. A follow-up, confidential questionnaire will be sent to you soon. As soon as the infbrmation from the questionnaire and communication logs is analyzed, it will be communicated to you. APPENDIX F Memoranda--Introduction to Questionnaire 138 APPENDIX F Memoranda--Introduction to Questionnaire February 27, 1975 TO: All Communication Study Participants FROM: J. J. Farr Henry McKeown, Communication Consultant SUBJECT: Communication Questionnaire In a few days you will receive the first part of a three-part questionnaire. The questionnaire is designed to collect further details about the communication skills which you use to do your daily work. Please be sure to complete each section of the questionnaire completely and carefully. The accuracy of the results will depend on your c00peration. The questionnaires are number coded, so your answers will be kept confidential between you and H. McKeown. The final data will be presented as group averages. H. MCKeown will be available in his office on the first floor. Please feel free to visit or call him (Ext. 2676) if you have questions. APPENDIX G Cover Memoranda--Part II of Questionnaire 139 APPENDIX G Cover Memorandum-Part II of Questionnaire IMarch 11, 1975 TO: Communication Study Participants FROM: Henry MCKeown SUBJECT: PART II OF QUESTIONNAIRE There are "laws" that help explain events in any situation; the fbllowing is apprOpriate for an existing problem: Murphy's First Law: If anything can possibly go wrong-- it will. First Corollary: When things are going well, something will go wrong. Because of a clerical oversight, Part II of the questionnaire was mailed to you without a means for me to combine it with your Part I. Therefore, I ask your cooperation by completing Part II of the ' questionnaire again, and I apologize fer the inconvience. I realize that you are busy, but your careful attention to Part II for the second time would be appreciated. Please be sure to respond to all statements on the questionnaire. Thank you for helping to solve this problem. IIHIHIIIWIIHIH 145 5508 31293 03 S“ "I H N" I I Em " H II“ H u