An examination of communication satisfaction and communication competence in three professional technical organizations

The study had two purposes: (1) examine the responses of three professional technical organizations on measures of communication satisfaction and supervisory communication competence, and (2) examine the relationship between communication satisfaction and communication competence. Data were collected from three professional engineering firms using the Downs and Hazen (1990) Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire and (2) Snavely and Walters (1983) Other Perceived Competency Scale and (3) a set of demographic questions. The questionnaires were distributed to all 487 employees of the three organizations and 339 usable responses were obtained.;The following conclusions were made: (1) the factors of employee satisfaction and perceptions of supervisor communication competence are directly related; (2) employee perceptions of empathic behavior by supervisors has the strongest impact on overall communication satisfaction; (3) type of industry does not appear to influence reports of organizational communication satisfaction; (4) the COMSAT Questionnaire is an effective instrument for detecting differences between technical organizations; (5) demographic variables have little explanatory power with regard to communication satisfaction levels; (6) perceptions of Self Disclosive behaviors are not considered in evaluations of supervisor competence; (7) interpersonal models of communication competence fail to account for critical factors used by employees in evaluations of supervisors; (8) the greatest corporate communication needs are issues related to Top Management and Interdepartmental Communication; (9) improving the effectiveness of supervisory communication would include satisfying communication task needs, active listening, and demonstrating empathic behaviors.