Competency In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency: Explain how foundational communication theories can inform how communication professionals adapt to changing...

Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

• Explain how foundational communication theories can inform how communication professionals adapt to changing business needs

Scenario

You are a communications consultant, and you have been hired by Firm X to work with the organization to improve communications. Firm X is a major department store chain that operates in seventeen countries around the world. It targets shoppers under the age of 35. Firm X sells clothes, electronics, home furnishings, and, more recently, groceries and other household goods.

Recently, the human resources department at Firm X issued an employee survey due to reports of low employee morale, extensive employee theft, and prolonged employee absences from work. The employee base is diverse, as there are professional office employees, warehouse laborers, truck drivers, and office workers located at each distribution center across the world. The employee survey results indicate that communication is the number-one complaint from employees. Employees feel that information from upper management is not shared accurately, promptly, and effectively. In addition, employee feedback shares that communication in group meetings is ineffective, with little care and attention provided to diverse members in attendance.

As the complaints are respective to the current communication department and the upper management team, the CEO has hired you as an outside communications consultant to create a brief communication guidebook for upper management. Your guidebook will provide advice on communicating effectively and sharing information in different ways, across different demographics, and for different results. The CEO has asked that your approach be founded on sound principles and not just on opinion, as many members of his upper-management team have already begun to scoff at the idea of a communications consultant. As you consider your approach, you decide to use communication models and theories to ground your research and to explain basic communication to the team, as these foundations have been created based on strong scholarly research and the findings of communications professionals.

Directions

Your communications guidebook will be written for an audience of upper management at Firm X, and it is essential that you ground your research in major conceptual communication models and theories. You may organize the guidebook in whatever way you believe is most appropriate for your audience, but you must include a title page and table of contents along with the following:

Communications Guidebook: Part I

• Business Considerations: Begin your guidebook with a brief introduction as to why it is important to be an effective communicator in a business environment and the value of understanding conceptual communications models and theories as a strategy to be an effective communicator in a constantly changing world.

• Communications Models and Theories: Choose two conceptual communications models and theories to include in the first section of your guidebook. Selecttwoof following:
  1. Linear model of communication (such as Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric)
  2. Mathematical theory of communication (such as Shannon-Weaver)
  3. Schramm’s circular model of communication
  4. Structuration theory of communication
  5. Berlo’s model of communication
  6. Barnlund’s model of communication

Each of the selections should include the following:

• Definition and Description: Each conceptual communications model and theory should be clearly defined and described. Be sure to include the following:
  • Brief historyof who created it and when
  • Descriptionof the model and theory that supports it
  • Visual representation—such as an infographic, graph, or flowchart—when available and appropriate
  • Strengths and weaknessesof the model

• Theory in Practice: Along with each definition and description, include one practical example of how this theory may apply at Firm X. Recall that the Firm X employee base is diverse, as there are professional office employees, warehouse laborers, truck drivers, and office workers located at each distribution center across the world. The examples you choose can be peer-to-peer, management-to-employee, employee-to-management, and so on. Consider answering the following questions when creating your examples:
  • When would this model and theory be most effective in today’s world?
  • What is one specific example that may relate to Firm X?

Communications Guidebook: Part II

• Areas of Improvement: Firm X identified two specific areas of concern in addition to general communications challenges: group communication and intercultural communication.
  • Group Communication: Choose one theoretical approach to group communication. Selectoneof the following:
    1. Group and organizational structuration theory (Poole)
    2. Negotiation theory (Fisher)
    3. Functional group communication theory (Gouran-Hirokawa)
    • In this section,define and describethe conceptual communication model and theory with abrief history, avisual representationas appropriate, and asummary of strengths and weaknesses, then answer the following questions:
      • How might this theory help upper management at Firm X improve its group communication?
      • What is one real-world example that this theory could be applied to in a professional context?

• Intercultural Communication: Choose one theoretical approach to intercultural communication. Selectoneof the following:
  1. Cross-cultural adaptation theory
  2. Values theory
     • In this section,define and describethe conceptual communication model and theory with abrief history, avisual representationas appropriate, and asummary of strengths and weaknesses, then answer the following questions:
       • How might this theory help upper management at Firm X improve its intercultural communication?
       • What is one real-world example that this theory could be applied to in a professional context?

What to Submit

Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:

Communications Guidebook
You will submit a 1,250- to 1,750-word (excluding the cover page and table of contents) communications guidebook to the CEO of Firm X. It will be distributed to upper management and will define and describe four major communication models and theories with practical examples that meet the needs of Firm X.