Organisational excellence stems from the dedicated commitment of peoplewho are motivated to work together and share similar values and visions about their results of their efforts. Organisational communication is linked to managerial effectiveness, the integration of work units across organisational levels and job communication satisfaction. The Department of Social Development can review their levels of communication and the interpersonal relationship in a bid to address their quality of productivity, satisfaction of employees, communication flow, and protocol and to bring changes in the life of the organisation. The success of an organisation is based on the communication levels, flow of information and how people interact. Communication systems within organisations, both human and technological, are responsible for creatively solving increasingly complex problems. The researcher has observed that lack of communication hampers service delivery and production in the Department of Social Development. The study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of employees about the nature of communication at the Department of Social Development in the North RandRegion. A qualitative research approach that was exploratory in nature was followed. The main aim of the study was to determine how the existing communication protocol and communication channels are utilised in the Department of Social Development. Asemi-structured interview schedule and questionnaire were used as research instruments. The methods of data collection were face-toface interviews with 10 participants and questionnaires consisting onlyof open-ended questions that were completed by eight individual respondents. The population for the study was employees of the Department of Social Development in the North Rand Region. The sample represented employees from top management, middle management, line management and junior staff who have been in the employment of the Department of Social Development for more than six months. The study revealed that there is a lack of understanding of relationship roles and that employees communicate without understanding and sometimes they do not seek clarity. All parties involved must be proactive, clear messages should be communicated to all employees, employees have first to seek understanding, allow questions and provide clarity and attempt to understand the relationship role between manager andsubordinate. However, misunderstanding and misinterpretation were identified as major contributing factors to effective communication.

This study approaches the study of organisational communication in the Australian public sector by focussing on the gendered nature of the organisation, and presenting results from the grass roots or 'native' level (Gregory, 1983). The theoretical framework of this study draws on a diverse range of philosophical viewpoints, ranging from organisational communication and culture approaches, sociological perspectives, public sector research, and uniquely Australian conceptualisations of gender within the public sphere. This study introduces a new way of conceiving feminist bureaucrats (femocrats), in terms of their relationships with 'natives' within public sector organisations. Difficulties in identifying a distinctly Australian organisational communication arena result from both the paucity of organisational communication, grass roots, and public sector research, and because of the problematic task of assimilating 'bits' of divergent theories, with often incompatible views to inform one comprehensive theoretical framework. The results of focus group and individual interviews suggest that a 'managerial' culture exists both within and externally to public sector organisations. This managerialism originates from within patriarchal and masculine organisational structures, and from a shift of workplace practices where a public service model has been replaced by a more private sector, bottom line, results orientation. While the 'natives' in this study are not representative of all public sector employees, their discourse provides a glimpse into the concerns of grass roots members of organisations, a view that is significant in its absence from organisational communication research, particularly in the Australian context.

Within the working environment, the attitudes and behaviours individuals display toward change are a fundamental part of whether change initiatives succeed or fail. In a growing world of computer-mediated communication, social networking sites are being incorporated into the corporate arena to better communication and functionality. Yet it still remains as a change initiative. This research report looked at whether readiness for organisational change, resistance toward organisational change and behavioural support for organisational change related to the perceptions and usage of a corporate SNS. Similarly demographic characteristics were also explored. Correlations, ANOVAs, a Chi squared, a Multiple Linear Regression and a Moderated Multiple Regression were conducted. The sample consisted of 118 participants of which, 65% were female, 59% were white, 49% were married and the 69% were under 49 years of age. The researcher found that readiness and behavioural support for organisational change related positively to the perceptions of the SNS whereas resistance to organisational change did not. Race significantly related to the perceptions of the SNS and SNS usage significantly related to the SNS uptake data categories. Conclusions and recommendations are also presented.

Det svenska skolväsendet har sedan 2000-talet fått övergripande stöd från regeringen för att utveckla den digitaliserade undervisningsformen. Trots detta har upprepande årsrapporter kring IT-användning i skolan visat på brister inom användarkunskap och IT-kompetens utvecklingsmöjligheter. Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga hur digitala lärplattformar används och varför den digitala kommunikationen mellan lärare och elever inte uppnått förväntade resultat. Följande forskningsfrågor har varit relevanta i detta sammanhang: Hur ser användandet av lärplattformar på gymnasieskolan ut idag? Varför har digitalisering ännu inte slagit igenom som ett effektivt verktyg i undervisningen? Studien är baserad på en empirisk undersökning där data insamlats från intervjuer med rektorer och lärare från sex gymnasieskolor i Gävle och Uppsala. Ett slumpmässigt urval av 80 elever har även svarat på en enkät med mål att representera den generella inställningen till skolans digitala kommunikationssystem för delning av undervisnings-och studiematerial. Vidare har en litteraturgenomgång utförts där problemområden och brister inom forskningsområdet presenteras. Dels är informationen hämtad från forskare inom kommunikation och teknologi, men även från Skolverket och Skolinspektionen. Resultatet visar på att skolans lärplattformar används som verktyg för informationsöverföring där information överförs i vertikal riktning från lärare till elever. I nuläget används lärplattformar främst på grund av krav från ledningen och inte som en kanal för dubbelriktad kommunikation, där lärare och elever kan diskutera lösningar på uppgifter och problem, få feedback samt tips och råd. Resultatet påvisar även att lärare upplever tekniska brister i delar av lärplattformen och att de saknar systematiska arbetsrutiner för effektiv användning. Detta utgör ett hinder som begränsar kommunikationens effektivitet med avseende till kunskapsutveckling genom lärplattformer. / The Swedish school system has since the 2000s, received overall support from the government to develop digitized teaching methods. Despite this, repetitive annual reports on IT usage in schools revealed shortcomings in user knowledge and development of IT-skills. The purpose of this study is to identify how digital learning platforms are used and why digitized communication between teachers and students in high schools have not achieved the expected results. The following research questions were relevant in the study: How is the use of learning platforms in secondary schools today? Why has the digitization not yet been seen as an effective tool in teaching? The study is based on empirical data, where data is collected from interviews with principals and teachers from six different high schools in Gävle and Uppsala. A random sample of 80 students also completed a questionnaire with the aim to represent the general attitude to the school’s digital communications system for sharing of learning material. Furthermore, a literature review helped to evaluate problem areas and gaps in the research presented. The results show that the schools’ learning platforms are used as tools for information sharing, where the information is transferred in a vertical direction from teachers to students. Today the teaching platform is mainly used due to demands from the school management, and not as a channel for bidirectional communication, where teachers and students can discuss solutions to the tasks and problems, or to get feedback and advice. The result also shows that teachers are experiencing technical defects in parts of the learning platform and that lack of systematic work procedures prevent it from effective use. This is a barrier that limits the effectiveness of communication with regard to the development of knowledge through learning platforms.

Leadership development is an area which is a top priority for organisations. While communication has historically been viewed as one of many leadership activities, it has recently been suggested to be more central to, even constitutive of, leadership. It has also been put forth that communication researchers may provide a means to develop new theoretical frameworks from which to develop leadership. The purpose of this thesis is to further the theoretical understanding of communicative leadership development, specifically in the form of training efforts. Furthermore, the goal is to provide a new understanding to practitioners who are working with the development of communicative leadership. This is a compilation thesis that consists of three papers. An initial literature review shows that the development of leadership communication receives interest from fields related to health, for instance, from nursing teams, businesses, the military and construction. On the other hand, the subject doesn’t receive as much attention from the field of communication studies. The results of the thesis are based on interviews with managers and communication professionals in two organisations. The findings show several benefits from having communication professionals take on a role as communication trainers, such as increased visibility of the communication department within the organisation and the opportunity to continue to support the leaders after the trainings. Additionally, a framework of adult learning is used to analyse the interviews, which highlights several points of adult learning that are relevant to the development of leadership communication. Based on the empirical data and the literature review, a model of communicative leadership development is suggested. This model is an amalgamation of what was learned from the three papers and summarises the understanding that was gained. Moreover, the model should provide practitioners with a basis for developing communicative leadership trainings as well as for developing the theory of communicative leadership. / En av de högsta prioriteringarna i organisationer idag är ledarskapsutveckling. Historiskt sett har kommunikation betraktats som en sekundär funktion av ledarskap, men på senare år har forskare argumenterat för att kommunikation är mer centralt än så, möjligen det som konstituerar ledarskap. Det har dessutom föreslagits att kommunikationsfältet kan bidra till nya teoretiska ramverk för ledarskapsutveckling. Syftet med denna avhandling är att utöka den teoretiska kunskapen kring kommunikativ ledarskapsutveckling. Vidare, är målet att bidra med ny kunskap till praktiker som arbetar med att utveckla kommunikativt ledarskap. Avhandlingen är en sammanläggning som består av tre artiklar. Den första artikeln är en litteraturstudie, de andra två är kvalitativa studier som är baserade på intervjuer. I artikel 1 undersöks artiklar som publicerat empiriska studier av ledarskapsprogram som syftar till att förbättra kommunikationen. Resultaten visar att forskare inom hälsorelaterade fält, gällande exempelvis team inom kirurgi och sjukskötersketeam, studerar möjliga sätt att förbättra kommunikationen. Å andra sidan verkar kommunikationsfältet inte studera ämnet i samma utsträckning. Artikel 2 fokuserar på den nya rollen som tränare som kommunikatörer har antagit. Flera fördelar med att använda interna tränare hittas, bland annat att de blir synligare i organisationerna och kan stötta ledarna även efter träningen. I artikel tre undersöks en organisations kommunikationsträningsprogram genom ett ramverk baserat på teorier kring vuxet lärande. Denna teoribildning visar sig kunna bidra till insikter kring träningsprogram i kommunikativt ledarskap, men vissa anpassningar till organisationskontexter behövs. Sammanfattningsvis ger de tre artiklarna en grund för en modell i kommunikativ ledarskapsutveckling. Modellen är ett resultat av lärdomar från alla tre artiklarna och summerar aktuell forskning. Vidare bör modellen kunna användas som en grund för praktiker som vill utveckla kommunikativt ledarskap.

Drawing on extant literature, a direct relationship between organisational communication and commitment factors has been demonstrated. This study was conducted to examine the trust climate involved in observed relations between organisational communication practices and organisational commitment. A cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire survey approach was adopted to gather data in three State-owned and two Joint-venture organisations located in the city of Nanjing, China. Using non-proportional stratified sampling, 1300 employee participants were chosen, and 757 responded with a usable response rate of 58%. Statistical software Predictive Analytics Software (PASW) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) were utilised to analyse the data. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analyses revealed that relations between employees‟ perspectives on organisational communication and their affective and normative commitment were mediated by trust in the workplace. The results showed that the 77% total effect of supervisory communication to commitment is mediated by the compound effort of trust in supervisor and trust in organisation. Additionally, trust in the organisation has been demonstrated as the mediator of trust in co-workers and organisational communication. The study recommends that Chinese organisations should; train managers to be good communicators, which could enhance employees‟ sense of belonging to the organisation and creating a trusting climate that increases the employees‟ commitment to the organisation. These could lead to more communication channels that would facilitate information sharing. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed and limitations are identified at the end of the research.

In the business world facilitation of corporate communication through the use of a single language has become almost a standard procedure. There is little knowledge, however, regarding how working in a language other than the mother tongue affects our thought processes and functionality at work. This study is an attempt to clear some issues around the subject.   The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the corporate language, English, on managers’ communication within the organisation.  The target group includes Finnish and Swedish managers working at a Nordic IT corporation, TietoEnator. The study was conducted by combining theoretical material on communication, language and culture with the empirical results of 7 qualitative interviews.   The results show us that using a shared corporate language has both advantages and disadvantages. English helps in company internationalisation and in creating a sense of belonging, but also complicates everyday communication. The main disadvantage that English has caused is the lack of social communication between members of different nations in an unofficial level.   The main conclusion is that the corporate language is not at all times sufficient fulfil the social needs of the members of the organisation. Through this lack of socialisation it is possible that the functionality of the organisation loses some of its competitive advantage in the business markets.

The retention of highly motivated, skilled and committed employees is a major concern by organisations to achieve a competitive advantage. The turnover intentions of human capital are of interest to managers, employees, and organisations today. This study explores a theoretical model of turnover intentions that included three proximal variables, job satisfaction, affective and continuance commitment, the distal variables of subordinate communication, horizontal communication, personal feedback, media quality, communication climate, supervisor communication, job-related communication, and management communication, with turnover intentions. A questionnaire was completed by 101 participants of a rental firm in New Zealand. Job satisfaction, affective commitment, continuance commitment, subordinate communication, horizontal communication, personal feedback, media quality, communication climate, supervisor communication, job-related communication, and management communication correlated with turnover intentions. The results of the mediated regression analysis indicated that job satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment are significant mediators between the eight distal (organisational communication) variables, with turnover intentions. This study highlights the necessity for managers to develop good quality relationships with their employees to improve the quality of their communication, to foster job satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment to reduce turnover intentions. The conclusion of this study discusses the practical implications for managers, and organisations and the direction for future research.

This study is primarily concerned with organisational communication in a large Canberra Licensed Club. Through a case study approach, it explores how effectively the Canberra Southern Cross Club communicates with its staff and its membership within the framework of its own unique culture. At the same time the Club is exposed to social, economic and technological changes which all have an impact on the Club's culture. Using historical research and interview and survey data, the author shows how the Club's unique sense of place and definition has set it apart from other Licensed Clubs in the significant emphasis it places on community assistance and involvement, and the strong commitment to female and family membership. The nature of the organisational culture is such that the staff have responded to the needs of the Club culture in attaining high performance standards. The membership is the highest of any Licensed Club in Canberra. Members interviewed in the study expressed a sense of belonging to the Southern Cross Club, so important in an environment where there is evidence of break down of social cohesiveness at the local community level. This is due to the social interaction of the Club's social and sports groups which act as informal communications networks for the Club members. The Club has also developed the characteristic of remaining close to the members in learning what they want and of catering to them with the result that it has enjoyed productivity, profitability and stability over a long period of time. The culture of the Club has been influenced by various changes, particularly since the late 1970s. Flow-on benefits have occurred for members in the way the Club has managed these changes which has resulted in the adoption of a more commercial and innovative approach. This has enabled the Southern Cross Club to keep pace with other large Licensed Clubs in the industry. However, it has not compromised the Club's attitude towards the family and the dignity of the individual. Its strong commitment to providing opportunities for social interaction is a facet of club life not always appreciated by the wider community.

The realm of research into the various aspects of organisations is wide-ranging, offering any researcher immense freedom to investigate those area(s) which are of particular interest to him/her. While there are set theoretical parameters for studying organisations, eg. various theories looking at organisational communication, structure and networks, the only real limitation lies in the mind of the researcher. That is the beauty and nature of organisations, they do not have to wholly conform to any set ideal, rather they have the opportunity to be unique and diverse depending upon the organisation's purpose. It seems that most investigations of organisations are one dimensional, ie. reporting on what actually happens or how efficient processes are or attempting to define aspects of culture. However, in this thesis a second dimension has been added�intercultural aspects of communication. Hence, the research evaluates the intersection of the intercultural communication which exists within an organisation. For this two dimensional approach, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) was chosen. As with most bureaucratic organisations, due to the size and complexity it is not practicable to look at an entire organisation For this thesis, a case study of one of ATSIC's twenty-seven regional offices was undertaken. Details of this follow in the paper; however, the two main reasons for choosing to complete a case study of ATSIC are 1) because the author is full-time employee with access to people, facts and inside information that might otherwise not be available and 2) ATSIC is not a typical bureaucracy; rather it is atypical due to its structure and purpose, which is to further the economic, social and cultural diversity of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. While part of the Commonwealth Government, ATSIC is founded upon, and is committed to, furthering both intercultural concepts and the economic status of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. This is accomplished by ATSIC being the major advisory body to Government; attending national and international policy forums; raising awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and in providing supplementary funding (through both grant and loan initiatives) which supports other funding that is given to indigenous people or organisations through Government mainstream programs (health, housing, education, social welfare etc.). To further limit the scope of this research, the communication which has been analysed is that relating to grant administration. As ATSIC plays a major role in providing grant funding to indigenous people, this area of evaluation is highly important, as it shows how ATSIC (represented by one regional office) carries out its functions and business: providing services and assistance to its clients�the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. The case study includes comments gleaned from both questionnaires and interviews from staff and managers within the chosen regional office. This also includes views of indigenous and non-indigenous people as well as views from the elected community representatives of that region. It is envisaged that by incorporating the views of those mentioned above, that the data is as complete, valid and reliable as possible As with any traditional group of people, there are different norms and cultures which permeate their social and working lives. The information presented in this thesis is based on views of a non-indigenous person who has collected data from one specific region and it is not valid to generalise these findings to other regions in Australia. Communication in ATSIC is highly complex and difficult to explain to those outside the organisation. A main reason for this is that there are many requirements that both the Government and the indigenous communities place on ATSIC, and unfortunately they are often diametrically opposed. This creates quite an ironic and disharmonious situation for all parties concerned�a bureaucracy versus intercultural perspectives. These situations are discussed throughout the thesis. It is important for readers to note that the ideas which are conveyed in this thesis are the author's own and are not necessarily those of ATSIC, the Government or indigenous people. This research experience is one which has been extremely beneficial for the author. While the author's personal views may not be aligned with others, I challenge those people to read not only this thesis, but other work like it so that they may be in a position to make their own informed decisions about controversial issues such as Aboriginal affairs.