Public Relations Review 31 (2005) 277–280

Paradigm shift of employee communication: The effect ofmanagement communication on trusting relationships

Samsup Joa,∗, Sung Wook Shimb,1

a Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Hyochangwon-Gil 52, Yongsan-Ku,Sookmyung Women’s University, 140-742 Seoul, South Korea

b Department of Advertising and Public Relations, College of Communication and Social Sciences,Hanyang University, Ansan, South Korea

Received 20 September 2004; received in revised form 24 December 2004; accepted 1 February 2005

Abstract

Even though normative contention suggests that a favorable organizational climate leads to efficient job perfor-mance, empirical research has not addressed the trusting relationship as a variable mediating organizational climateand job satisfaction or performance.

Supportive oral communication relates positively to individuals’ perceptions of management’s supportiveness andfriendliness. Perceived support creates trust that the organization will fulfill its exchange obligations by rewardingemployee efforts. The survey results indicated that trusting relationship was positively related to measures ofcommunication management, suggesting that those employees receiving positive communication are more likelyto be motivated to form trusting relationships with the management level.© 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords:Employee communication; Trusting relationships; Management communication

1. Introduction

Favorable employee communication has been shown to increase job satisfaction and employee per-formance (Ainspan & Dell, 2000) and result in organizational success (Baskin, Aronoff, & Lattimore,

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 710 9377/+82 10 6220 2358 (mobile); fax: +82 2 710 9731.E-mail addresses:josamsup@sookmyung.ac.kr (S. Jo), swsjah33@korea.com (S.W. Shim).

1 Tel.: +82 31 400 5428/+82 11 9631 9313 (mobile).

0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2005.02.012

278 S. Jo, S.W. Shim / Public Relations Review 31 (2005) 277–280

1996). In spite of its importance, employee communication has been discussed in the narrowly definedcontext of mediated communication, for instance, the impact of internal newsletters or specialized internalcommunication tactics. Interestingly,Cameron and McCollum (1993)found that employees tended toprefer direct interpersonal communication to mediated communication when they need more informationon ongoing issues of their organizations.

Given the emerging paradigm of public relations by relationship management, the terms of employeecommunication need to be redefined as part of building favorable relationship between management andemployees. There has been little research examining employee communication between managementand employees in terms of relationship building. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the effectof management communication on building trusting relationships between management and employees.

2. Method

A survey was administered to a group of full-time employees in South Korea in 2003. One hundredand sixty-eight individuals from four different corporations completed a battery of instruments from Mayto June 2003. The sample was drawn with a purposive sampling method from a variety of advertisingagencies, airline companies, and local banks.

The survey contains three management communication measurement scales: direction-giving,meaning-making communication (Sullivan, 1988), and a trusting relationship scale (Hon & Grunig,1999).

3. Results

The results revealed that the trusting relationship was positively related to measures of communicationmanagement, suggesting that those employees receiving positive communication are more likely to bemotivated to form trusting relationships with the management level.

The confirmatory factor analysis indicates that effective communication management is composed ofthese factors by giving direction communication (coefficient = .85), empathetic communication (coeffi-cient = .78), and meaning-making communication (coefficient = .73). As shown inFig. 1, results showthat communication management has a strong relationship to trusting relationships.

The results of the present investigation provide compelling evidence on the relationship betweenmanagement’s interpersonal communication and employees forming trusting attitudes.

Contrary to the notion of mediated communication, employees are more likely to receive useful infor-mation about their organizations from their immediate supervisors than from official channels, such ascompany publications. Thus, a mediated communication program is not enough for effective employeecommunication. Studies indicate that effective employee communication needs to adapt to environmen-tal change and needs to reexamine its accustomed practices in terms of relationship management. Forinstance, sudden structural changes such as downsizing and mergers are not surprising anymore. Given achange of external environment, employee communication should become more involved in interpersonalrelationship management.

This study’s results provide important support for the importance of building trusting relationshipsbetween management and employees in several ways.

S. Jo, S.W. Shim / Public Relations Review 31 (2005) 277–280 279

Fig. 1. Coefficient of communication management on trusting relationships.

First, employees perceive a trusting relationship when they experience interpersonal communicationabout the organization from their supervisors. The results suggest that useful instruction, helpful advice,and sharing organizational news with employees enhances management’s relationship with employees.

Second, interpersonal interaction between management and employees might be more important thanformal mediated channels in bringing organizational information to employees. Facilitating dialoguebetween management and employees reflects the new direction in public relations known asbuildingrelationships. In addition, management’s proactive engagement in building relationships echoes the nor-mative two-way symmetrical communication.

In light of the findings of this study, the growth of trusting relationships begins with management’sefforts to enhance the relationship and facilitate dialogue between two parties. Even when the public rela-tions executives believe internal communication is significantly important, most internal public relationsprograms still emphasize technical process, such as producing internal publications and disseminatinginformation (Wright, 1995).

The findings of this study demonstrate that management’s effort to enhance interpersonal relation-ships leads to positive between management and employees. Also, the findings of this study confirmthe impact of positive interpersonal communication on the trusting relationship. Trusting relationshipsderive from psychological interactions between two parties who make efforts to enhance the rela-tionships. As previous studies indicate, the mediated communication channel such as newsletter orvideo message is not as likely to affect the minds of employees as is the interpersonal communicationchannel.

We found that managers who communicate well and attentively to their subordinates perform betterin situations that involve nurturing and maintaining trusting relationships. The data show a very strongpositive relationship between relational communication and trusting relationships. This study adds supportto that literature by showing that certain characteristics of relational communication may help developpositive relationships.

Acknowledgement

The study was supported by research grant from the Sookmyung Women’s University.

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References

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