COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS: A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE GROUP STRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATION

The past research clearly suggests that communication is a principal element which is intricately interwoven throughout all aspects of an organization's functioning. The results of recent research suggest the need for further empirical research utilizing objective measurement procedures to study the relationships between communication and relevant organizational outcome variables such as performance at the individual level of analysis.;Multiple dependent measures were utilized in this study. The individual communication measures consisted of assessment of direct reception, intra-group reception and the transmission of information. Each participant also received three performance measures. Specifically, observer ratings of eleven management abilities were factor analyzed resulting in two orthogonal factors labeled Management Ability I and II. The third performance measures was an error score based on each person's rank-ordering of fifteen survival items from the Lost on the Moon problem-solving task.;The discriminant analyses performed indicated that there were no differences between superiors and subordinates or the type of group structure on communication.;The factor loadings for each of the two management ability factors are described in detail. A conceptualization and possible interpretation of the two factors are presented. These findings appear consistent with current classifications of standard management abilities. The role of communication in each of the key management functions is also discussed.;The primary focus of the present research was to examine the relationships between communication as defined by the reception and transmission of information and several individual performance measures. A new, innovative methodology developed by Kaplan (1979) was utilized to measure communication. This methodology allows for the unobtrusive measurement of information flow in group settings. In addition, the possible effects of group structure on communication were explored by simulating two types of superior-subordinate arrangements in a group setting.;The canonical analyses conducted to explore the relationship between the communication measures and the performance measures indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between these two sets of variables. Examination of the canonical variates suggests that communication as defined by the transmission and reception of information is related to performance, as defined by management functions and task performance.;The simple correlations between the communication and performance measures demonstrate that intra-group reception is significantly correlated with Management Ability I, indicating a possible relationship between the ability to receive information and managerial skills.;Among the intercorrelations of the communication measures is the significant relationship between direct reception and intra-group reception. Another important finding was that reception is not correlated with transmission. This indicates that an individual who is an effective receiver of information is not necessarily a good transmitter of information.