Event Title

Communication Audit: Evaluating Communication Strategies for the INROADS Greater Lake Regions of Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee

Presenter Information

Brittany Alexander, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 253/4/5

Start Date

4-4-2011 9:00 AM

End Date

4-4-2011 10:30 AM

Student's Major

Mass Media

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

Kebba Darboe

Mentor's Department

Ethnic Studies

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description

Practically, this study sought to evaluate the relationship between various methods of communication and their levels of effectiveness within a community organization following an organizational merger. The use of a communication audit helped to identify organizational communication practices and their level of effectiveness within internal communication. With the state of the current economy, many community organizations have been forced into mergers which threaten the strength of their organization. From this study, I hoped to find out whether preferential methods of communication within the community organization INROADS, impacted the overall level of effectiveness and identify areas in which communication within the organization could be improved. INROADS is an internship organization that has a mission to develop and place talented minority youth into business and industrial environments as a means to prepare them for corporate and community leadership. The organization has recently merged its offices within the greater lakes regions. The participants of the study were INROADS employees of the Greater Lake Regions, selected for their participation by current employment status with the organization. A questionnaire was used to assess their methods of communication. The questionnaire included a combination of qualitative and quantitative questions. Participants were asked to indicate the method of communication that best represented those that were most commonly used within the organization as well as those they felt should be used, however were not currently being used. Higher scores indicated greater levels of agreement regarding areas for improvement.