Is what we teach about organizational communication what they practice in organizations?

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Abstract
This paper attempts to identify the link between what is taught in organizational communication classes and what is valued and effective in the workplace. In order to accomplish this goal, twelve recent textbooks from organizational and business communication perspectives were surveyed. The survey identified nine common communication themes that indicated important communication functions or results of good communication in an organization. To answer the research question of whether the same level of importance of these functions would be identified by employees in organizational settings, 170 subjects from a cross section of organizations and organizational positions completed a self‐administered questionnaire. The data were subjected to both descriptive frequency analysis and t‐tests. Significant differences (p<.010) in the relationship between a judgment of importance of a communication function and whether that function was a part of the performance appraisal process were identified with seven of the communication functions: transmitting creative ideas, seeking and gathering relevant information, explaining to others, managing conflict, persuading, cooperation, and decision‐making. The results suggest that employee's judgments of importance of the communication functions are influenced by whether the employees were evaluated on that function as part of the appraisal process.

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