1. COMMUNICATION AUDITS Goldhaber and Rogers (1979) illustrate the need for the use of a communication audit by using two analogies; 1.Companies need financial audit and, 2.Individuals need physical check-ups. Both types of check-up provide clients with information necessary to ensure the health status of the system, be it individual or organizational. In the same way, communication audits provide an organization with advance information; 1.To prevent serious breakdown affecting overall performance. 2.To restore and enhance current performance.

2. What is Communication Audits? 1.A Communication Audit (CA) is a study of the effectiveness of communication within an organization or externally among organizations, employees, and the clients. 2.CA functioned as an assessment tool for organization improvement. 3.The implementation of CA may involve research on perceptions and attitudes; an analysis of publications and archival data, communication policies and procedures; and/or a study of organization culture and environment.

3. What is the Outcome of Communication Audits? Communications Audits present an objective report on the effectiveness of internal and external communications. An audit can be widely focused, covering all stakeholder groups, or more narrowly focused on one or more groups such as customers, employees, investors, the community, etc. It can also be limited to one or more specific communication programs.

4. Communication Audits Process The communication audits process is not a stand-alone process. It is all integrated, involving; 1. Review of internal communication. 2. Research on employee communication. 3. Open discussion with senior managers. Implementation of the process can be monitored by; 1. Consultants (out source). 2. Own staffs (in-house).

5. Stages of audit process 1.Planning and Design The planning and design stage defines the audit's scope and goals, populations involved, comms. and channels to be audited, audit methods to be used, timeframe and budget. 2. Research and Measurement Research and measurement begins with informal exploratory research and often moves to formal, scientific methods of gathering information.

6. Cont’d… Depending on the audit's goals and design, research and measurement of some or all of the following may be involved: i.Face-to-face communication and the grapevine; ii.Flow patterns among individuals, departments, divisions and leadership; iii.Publications in print, video and audio plus other audiovisuals; iv.Large group meetings and events; v.Memos and written communications; vi.Leadership communication; vii.Electronic communication such as e-mail, voice-mail, online bulletin boards, intranets; viii.Feedback systems.

7. Cont’d… 3. Analysis and Reporting The final phase is analysis and reporting. After examining all the information gathered in the research and measurement phase, an analysis is conducted to determine how well the communications satisfy the needs of the organization and the stakeholder groups today and how well these communications will serve changing needs in the future operations.

8. Dimension of CA 1.CA assess the extent to which employees' communication needs are being met. Not only that, but good audits indicate employees' assessment of a wide range of communication variables. 2.Process of measuring of employee or customer perceptions on the quality of interactions with managers or key representatives of the organizations. 3.Study of the effectiveness of communication within an organization or externally among organizations, employees, and the clients.

9. Reasons for CA 1.To establish communication effectiveness and efficiency. 2. To evaluate the quality of communication within the organization or between the organizations and external parties. 3. To assess the quality and effectiveness of internal communication management. 4. To identify the operational communications networks and the impact of new technology. 5.To determine the communications problems and bottlenecks. 6.To establish the cost-effectiveness of communication channels used.

10. Reasons for CA 7.Communication failures are costly. 8.Adequate communication  results in greater productivity. 9.Poor communication  lead to high turn-over among good staff. 10.There will be no monopoly of ideas at the top of organizations (avoid “groupthink” situation). 11.During crisis staff are behind the organization  high loyalty.

11. When to do CA? Communication audits can be managed/ organized any time; 1.Prior to organization restructuring exercise. 2. After organization restructuring exercise. 3. When there is a need to motivate employees. 4. When customers have difficulty making contact with organization  more complaints than responses. 5. When telephone bills are increasing rapidly.

12. Functions of CA 1.To identify the performance of communications programs. 2.To diagnose current communication policy. 3.To diagnose current communication problem. 4. To assess the relationship of communications to other organizational operations. 5. To develop communication budget. 6. To develop benchmark for future changes on communication structure and policies. 7. To measure communication progress. 8. To restructure the communication function. 9. To provide background for developing formal communication policies and plans.

13. Techniques of CA 1. Structured and unstructured interviews. 2. Questionnaires. 3. Group discussions. 4. Internal communication network analysis (eg. circle, wheel, chain, Y shape, clique, liaison, isolate). 5. Communication diaries. 6. Telephone calls logging/monitoring. 7. In-tray and out-tray analysis. 8. Checking and analysis of telephone bills. 9. Reviewing all printed matter/materials.

14. IMPACT OF CA Maximize communication between organizational resources and environments for immediate and long-term advantages by; 1. Stimulating innovation and rapid response. 2. Gaining/maintaining a competitive advantage. 3. Strengthening motivation and commitment. 4. Anticipating and meet customer needs. 5. Retaining and expand a customer base. 6. Avoiding waste and redundancy. 7. Increasing cost-effectiveness. 8. Eliminating costly errors. 9. Securing cooperation.

15. Preparation for CA  Q to Answer 1.What is the reason for wanting an audit now? Has there been a change in the competitive environment or a recent change in the strategy or structure of the organization? 2.What are the project directors' assumptions about strengths and weaknesses of the existing function's structure, strategies, processes for coordination, and skills of staff? 3.How does this project fit into senior management's agenda? Is there support to do something about the results of the audit; for example, would they consider a change in reporting structure or requiring consistent reporting of activities and results if that were found to be important?

16. Preparation for CA  Q to Answer 4.What limitations exist? For example, are there some aspects of structure or strategy that will not be considered for change by management? 5.What decisions would the project team like to see made based on the results? 6.Is it important to compare internal views of the situation with external perceptions (e.g., through an analysis of existing market research or through qualitative research of key target segments and audiences)?

17. Components of Information System Analysis in CA 1.Meeting with executives to determine the overall communication goals and culture of the organization. 2.Systematic content analysis of print, audiovisual and online information to determine consistency of message and the relevance of the data to actual performance. 3.Behavior-setting analyses of key staff at their work places to determine and observe how they use information and communication tools. 4.An audit of communication "tools" (such as newsletters, intranet, videoconferencing) and "rules" (the templates or standards used to produce the information) 5.Focus groups or small group interviews to determine the needs and issues of key employee groups.

18. Shortcomings of CA 1.They rely on opinions, which are often influenced by what's known as the "demand effect." Respondents to surveys or participants in focus groups often say what they think is expected of them  and generally, this means criticizing something about communication, especially supervisory behaviors. 2.Participants often don't have much to compare their current communication system to -- especially in the case of employees with long tenure or new hires. 3.Satisfaction measures are difficult, if not impossible, to correlate to performance. 4.In today's mobile career environments, it's often less important to focus on the communication behaviors of people who may not be around very long.