Gauging the Effectiveness of Formal Communication Programs: A Search for the Communication- Productivity Link

Abstract

A review of communication-productivity research shows a noticeable lack in focus upon a possible connection between "formal communication" and productivity. The authors suggest that: (1) Pure influences of formal communication exist only indirectly through selected intervening variables. (2) Healthy informal channels of communication work in conjunction with carefully structured formal channels to affect employee productivity. (3) It may be necessary in future employee studies to distinguish between the Universe of Managerial Communication, informal communication, and formal communication. (4) For directors of communication who find themselves having to justify formal communication programs, attention to the intervening variables of information dissemination and goal clarifica tion as they affect employee performance may prove useful as evidence of program effectiveness.