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Communication Audit

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Submitted By diva24
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A Communication Audit
August 15, 2012

A Communication Audit Organizational communication as an academic discipline embraces the study of symbols, messages, media, interactions, relationships, networks, persuasive campaigns, and broader discourses within an organization (Cheney 2004). However, organizational communication could also be used as a general term to cover public relations, public affairs, investor relations, labor market communication, corporate advertising, environmental communication and internal communication (Van Riel 1995).The issue of communication and its integration in all aspects of the organization, as well as its contribution to the achievement of organizational strategy, has become a major focus point in many discussions as indicated by some examples of the proponents of integrated communication such as Gayeski and Woodward (1996), Jones (1999), Wightman (1999), Duncan and Moriarty’s (1998), Reukert and Walker (1987), Moenaert, Souder, DeMeyer and Deschoolmeester (1994), Clark and Fujimoto (1991) and Sriram, Krapfel and Spekman (1992). According to Leahy (2003a:3) management expects to measure effects which simply means that management expects result in all aspects of the organization including communication. However the issue of contribution and more specifically the precise value of what communication contributes, or the impact it has on the success of an organization, are seldom clear and the effect of communication is often times not tangible. The impact that communication has, according to Wallace (1993:14), be seen as fundamental to the organization since it can be argued that it plays an active role in determining the way in which the organization operates. Communication plays an active role in establishing what the nature of an organization is in terms of for example the internal environment, ( the organizational culture

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