Criteria for Evaluation of Organizational Communication Effectiveness: Review and Synthesis

Abstract

This paper contains a discussion of 21 potential criteria for assessing the effectiveness of communication in organizations. The criteria are derived from a systematic, computer-based search of the literature in communication, management, organizational behavior, and allied fields. The criteria are grouped under the general heading of communication rules, since the formal and informal rule structure of the organization provides the framework within which individual criteria operate. Five categories of criteria are described: structure, messages, media, communicator, and potpourri. The media category is omitted for brevity purposes from the present paper.For each criterion, the major literature identified by the authors is summarized, and a discussion is given of the conditions under which the criterion can exemplify more or less effective communication. The set of criteria, while not exhaustive, offers a focus for a continuing attempt to transform the multifaceted notion of “communication effectiveness” into more operational terms that have both theoretic and practical utility. The paper concludes with a brief outline of the next steps involved in developing this initial effort—the derivation of propositions or assertions, operationalization and measurement, and research that will yield empirical evidence about the criteria (their reliability, validity, and value).