Thesis Damen Shipyards

Transcription

1 Thesis Damen Shipyards The satisfaction with media used for internal communication Nicky de Lange ( ) Bachelor Thesis Lecturer: J.M.F. van Oosten University of Amsterdam June 2016 Word count: 7,993

2 Abstract The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of media types on the satisfaction with internal communication, the effect of the source of information and the media format were also taken into consideration. A survey at a maritime company was conducted to gain results. The results from 94 employees revealed no significant difference in the satisfaction score between the media categories lean, moderate and rich media. However, significant results were found for the variable source; employees want to receive significantly more information from top management than from their supervisor. Also for the variable media format a significant result was found; a significantly higher discrepancy score for online one-way written communication compared to hard copy one-way written communication was confirmed. This study adds valuable information to the literature of internal communication by doing research on an under-researched topic in a different environment. Introduction Organizations always try to find new ways to obtain growth, profitability, and competitiveness (Chmielecki, 2015). This has become difficult to achieve due to the increasing pressures of the globalized economy. Organizations use all sorts of ways to achieve growth such as mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Although building growth from within the organization is still hard to accomplish, organizations realize this is necessary as well. Internal communication can be seen as the strategic management of interactions and relationships between stakeholders at all levels within the organization, and is one of the aspects that is often underdeveloped (Welch & Jackson, 2007). However, numerous studies have shown the importance of internal communication (Verčič, Verčič, & Sriramesh, 2012; Chmielecki, 2015; Welch, 2012). According to Welch and Jackson (2007) good internal communication improves productivity. White, Vanc and Stafford (2010) add to this that internal communication is highly linked to job satisfaction and job performance. Furthermore employees can become an organization's most valuable ambassador when they are wellinformed and satisfied. Due to all above knowledge about its importance, internal communication is among the fastest growing specializations in public relations and communication management (Verčič et al., 2012). Despite the fact that more and more researchers acknowledge the importance of this topic, internal communication is still underdeveloped within companies (Welch & Jackson, 2

3 2007). Companies rather focus on external communication because it can directly increase their profits. The purpose of this study is to acquire more information on the satisfaction obtained by internal communication, with a specific focus on the effect of different media used as little empirical research is done on this specific topic. All information that is disseminated within a company uses one or more types of media. Previous research from Byrne and LeMay (2006) shows that the level of satisfaction about the internal communication highly divers per medium (e.g. face-to-face, , intranet). This is caused by the different levels of richness (e.g. the amount of data shared, non-verbal cues) of information and this level of richness affects the communication perceived. Even though a fair amount of research is done on the use of media in internal communication, it is still an under-researched topic. Most research on this topic proposes which media managers should use for different types of communication or the studies are done in different circumstances (Byrne & LeMay, 2006; Chmielecki, 2015; Hudcova, 2014). For example, the study of Chmielecki (2015) found that managers should use meetings more because employees rate this medium as highly important for the effectiveness of communication and Byrne & LeMay (2006) show that rich media can best be used to disseminate information about one's job. However, little research is done on the satisfaction of employees about the information received via different media. This study could fill this gap by executing empirical research on this topic. Secondly, previous studies are mostly based on single case studies using organizations within the IT-sector, because they are recognized as leading companies regarding technological improvements (Byrne & LeMay, 2006). This particular sector is different than other sectors in the way these companies function and especially in the way the internal communication is shaped. This study will conduct research in the maritime sector. This sector is often seen as traditional and lag behind concerning technological aspects. This study could add knowledge by researching a new sector and see if the result correspond with the earlier findings from the IT-sector. This study will not only contribute to existing academic literature, the results will also help improve the internal communication of Damen Shipyards. This study was conducted in cooperation with Damen Shipyards, from now on referred to as Damen. This is a worldwide operating company in the maritime sector that builds and repairs ships. Damen has grown tremendously over the last several years. The company has grown to employ over people. The bigger the company, the bigger the chance that factors disturb the internal communication, and therefore the increased importance of efficient communication 3

4 (Chmielecki, 2015). Insight on the level of satisfaction of employees regarding internal communication is important for the communication department to be able to professionalize the internal communication of the company. Besides, this study will not only be valuable to Damen, other fast growing companies could also learn from the findings and use them to improve their internal communication as well. This thesis will contribute to the academic literature in two different ways: By doing research on the satisfaction of employees about the information received via different media and by researching a new sector. The following research questions were formed: RQ1. To what extent is there a difference in satisfaction between different types of media? RQ2. Does the satisfaction about the internal communication also depend on the source (top management versus supervisor) and format (online versus hard copy) of information? RQ3. How is the satisfaction per media type correlated with satisfaction about internal communication and job satisfaction? A survey was conducted to gain knowledge. This study is divided into several parts. First, in the theoretical review, an overview will be provided on relevant existing literature. This will help the reader to understand what is known about internal communication so far. The section methods will present how this study was conducted and after this the results will be explained. Finally a conclusion and discussion will be given on all findings and the limitations and strengths of this study will be addressed. Theoretical review The focus of the present study was to examine the influence of internal communication through different media on the level of satisfaction about the organizational communication assessed by employees. Theories underlying the knowledge about internal communication will help to define the problem and create a framework to research further on this subject. Internal communication in an organization The perceived quality of internal communication within organizations is significantly linked to organizational performance and outcomes (Byrne & LeMay, 2006). More organizations acknowledge the growing importance of internal communication. Organizations need to understand that the internal audience is as important as the audience external to the organization (Dolphin, 2005). Although lots of research has been done in the field of internal communication, the definition still varies. According to Frank and Brownell (1989) internal 4

5 communication can be defined as transactions between individuals and groups in organizations at various levels and in different areas and specializations. Although this definition is widely used, Welch and Jackson (2007) state that this definition is about organizational communication and cannot be used in research on internal communication or employee communication. A better definition according to Welch and Jackson is: 'The professional management of interactions between all those with an interest or 'a stake' in a particular organization (Scholes, 1997).' This definition will be useful because it focuses on the stakeholders in internal communication as will be done in this study. A stakeholder can be defined as any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firm's objectives (Welch & Jackson, 2007). However, the definition of Scholes (1997) lacks in its exhaustiveness. Not only professional management of interaction but also informal communication often referred to as 'the grapevine', which means receiving information informally through gossip or rumor, is part of the internal communication. Finally Welch and Jackson (2007) suggest that internal communication can be understood as the strategic management of interactions and relationships between stakeholders at all levels within the organization suits best to this study. When internal communication is phrased as stated above, identification of the stakeholders is necessary. This might seem obvious but it is often seen that researchers who write about internal communication consider employees as a single entity (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Based on the assumptions of the stakeholder approach, managers are encouraged to recognize different groups with different stakes within an organization. Welch and Jackson (2007) created an internal communication matrix which can be used by academics and practitioners as an academic tool to study internal communication. This matrix contains four different dimensions of internal communication: Internal line management communication, internal corporate communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication. The first two mentioned above will be used in this study; this will later be explained. Current research on internal communication highly agrees on particular main findings (Chmielecki, 2015; Byrne & LeMay, 2006; Welch, 2012; White et al., 2010). For example several studies found that face-to-face communication is the most preferred form of communication and furthermore that employees like to receive information as directly from the top as possible. Although many similarities are found, the most recent studies differ in their approach. Most studies focus on the manager s perspective and measure the 5

6 effectiveness of the internal communication, where effectiveness is defined as the degree of which something is successful in producing a desired result (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Although communication within a company can be measured as effective, this does not directly relate to a higher perceived satisfaction among employees. Satisfaction is explained as fulfillment of one s wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). This explains the other perspective used in internal communication, namely the employee-centric perspective. This perspective focused on employees' point of view. In previous research on internal communication this perspective is used far less than the manager's perspective even though the employee-centric perspective is valuable as well. When employees are satisfied with internal communication, they will have a higher organizational commitment, will be more satisfied with their jobs and this will result in a higher productivity per employee (Byrne & LeMay, 2006). To gain more knowledge on the employee-centric perspective, the research questions of this study focus on this perspective by studying the satisfaction of employees regarding internal communication instead of measuring the effectiveness in producing certain desired results. The importance of the medium for satisfaction with internal communication Much research shows the importance of communication. It also shows that information may be understood differently depending on which medium was used to disseminate the information. One of the most known theories referring media communication is the media richness theory of Daft and Lengel (1984). This theory suggests that media communication can be divided into different categories. These categories are based on their capacity to transfer non-verbal cues, both visual (e.g. body language, eye contact, hand gestures) and audible (voice quality and volume, speed, speaking style). For example, s, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings differ in the amount of information they provide. Thus the richer the media the more data is shared in communication (Daft & Lengel, 1884). As mentioned earlier researchers agree on the fact that face-to-face communication is the most preferred medium (Byrne & LeMay, 2006; Chmielecki, 2015; Daft & Lengel, 1884). This is probably because face-to-face communication provides the most data in its communication. It includes visual cues, such as body language and hand gestures, and audible cues as tone, speed and volume which can all be observed at the same time. In opposition, written communication as newsletters do not provide any visual or audible cue, which results in less data collected by the receiver. Thus face-to-face communication is considered richer than 6

7 newsletters. The medium is often rated between phone-calls and hard copy newsletters. This medium is a fast communication channel and can become richer when it is used more interactive. However, communication by will never be as rich as face-to-face communication (Daft & Lengel, 1884) The media richness theory also proposes that different media should be chosen by different types of communication (Byrne & LeMay, 2006; Daft & Lengel, 1884). Although face-to-face is the most preferred medium, it will not be possible to only use this type of communication. The media richness theory suggests for example that routine messages, which are simple and straight forward, will be provided through lean media. Written communication (lean media) such as s or newsletters are better than verbal communication (rich media) when a lot of information has to be spread. Employees can decide when they want to read the information and they can re-read the information when it is not clear or forgotten. In this study it will be examined if employees are satisfied with the amount of information they receive through different media. The media richness theory can help to understand the obtained findings. Another theory which can be taken into consideration is the uses and gratification theory (Ruggiero, 2000). The uses and gratification theory is an audience-centered theory and in contrast to other media theories the uses and gratification theory gives the receiver power to decide which medium the receiver would like to use. This is not always taken into account in organizational communication. A lot of information is distributed via a particular type of media and the employee is not able to choose the media themselves. Therefore it is valuable to examine whether employees are satisfied with the medium used or if they rather receive their information through a different channel. Expected is that employees prefer rich media such as face-to-face communication and meetings over moderate and lean media because it gives the receiver a lot of information (Byrne & LeMay, 2006; White et al, 2010). Due to this knowledge, the first hypothesis states: The discrepancy score of rich media is significantly higher than the discrepancy scores of moderate and lean media. The source of information As explained earlier, Welch and Jackson (2007) created a matrix to study internal communication. Their study showed that the source varies among different dimensions of internal communication. Therefore it is important to take the effect of the source into consideration while doing research on the satisfaction with the different media categories. In 7

8 this study only the first dimension, internal line management, and the last one, internal corporate communication, will be elaborated on. That is because top management and the immediate supervisor are the key sources of information and therefore the most important to the company (Byrne and LeMay, 2006). The first dimension explained is internal corporate communication, this covers the communication from top management to all employees (Welch & Jackson, 2007). This is mostly one-way communication such as presentations or s from the top management. However Grunig and Hunt (1984) found that two-way symmetrical communication such as face-to-face communication is the best way to communicate and important to successful internal communication. Therefore the dimension internal line management communication will also be studied. This embodies communication as s, face-to-face contact and phone calls from the line managers to the employees and is predominantly two-way (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Prior research shows that satisfaction in communication can differ depending on the source (Byrne & LeMay, 2006; White et al., 2010). For example, research shows that the satisfaction with communication from top management is rated as more reliable and valuable than information from the supervisor. Therefore it is expected that media sending information from the top management will show a greater discrepancy between the current and desired situation than media with information from the supervisor, because employees would like to receive more information from the top management. So the second hypothesis states: The discrepancy score of media sending information from the top management will be significantly higher than the discrepancy score media sending information from the supervisor. Online versus hard copy Written one-way communication can be distributed online or hard copy. This is another aspect that influences the level of satisfaction with respect to internal communication. Do employees still like to receive documents hard copy or do they rather receive an online version? Most employees prefer electronic formats nowadays (Welch, 2012). However, in line with the findings of White et al. (2010) there is still a variety of preferences among employees. Some employees prefer electronic formats but find that print copies should be available on request, other employees still prefer a printed version of the newsletter, however this is the smallest group of employees. Even though some employees still like to receive 8

9 information hard copy, this media format also causes a lot of negative responses. Employees mostly concern about the wasted resources but the financial costs are also an evident reason for employees to choose digital formats. This study of Welch (2012) was conducted among employees from a larger UK higher education organization. As mentioned in the conclusion of Welch (2012), the findings can be influenced by this one-case study design. Therefore, it will be valuable to look into this subject again but now in a different environment, namely a company in the maritime sector. Besides, the environment is changing in such a fast pace that insights regarding this topic are always valuable because the results are quickly outdated (Friedl & Verčič, 2011). Based on the result of Welch (2012), the third hypothesis is formed as followed: The discrepancy score between the current and desired situation with online oneway written communication is significantly higher than the discrepancy score with hard copy one-way written communication. This is because employees would rather receive one-way written communication via a digital format. In conclusion, the media (e.g. lean, moderate, rich), the source (e.g. top management versus immediate supervisor), and the format of written one-way communication (hard copy versus online) will be considered in this current study. Background variables Previous research shows that the following variables can influence the perception concerning satisfaction of employees regarding internal communication, namely the age, the employment length and the gender of the respondent. A growing part of the employee segment will be employees born after 1980 (Friedl & Verčič, 2011). This generation, referred to as digital natives, differs from former generations in the way they perceive and process information. Prior research shows that younger employee prefer more online forms of communication than older employees do (Friedl & Verčič, 2011). Another variable that could influence the findings is the employment length. In general, the longer someone works at a company the more they feel committed (Hargie & Tourish, 2009). Higher commitment often results in a higher urge to be well informed about the company, this would result in a lower satisfaction of employees who work longer at the company compared to employees just started at Damen. Lastly, the gender of the respondent will be taken into account. Prior research shows that women communicate more than men and that their communication is more text driven (Kimbrough, Guadagno, Muscanell & Dill, 2013). This suggests that women 9

10 will be more satisfied with written media than men. Therefore, it is suspected that women will be more satisfied with lean media than men. Methods Participants A total of 94 employees of Damen Shipyards Gorinchem completed this survey, this would suggest a response rate of 6.7 percent which is fairly low and this should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results. Damen is a maritime company that operates worldwide and employs over 10,000 people. Damen is involved in ship construction as well as in maintenance and repair activities. The headquarter is located in Gorinchem, the Netherlands. This survey was spread among employees working at the headquarter. The link to the online survey was distributed via by the head internal communications at Damen. Of the 94 respondents, 89.4 % completed the survey in Dutch, the other 10.6 % in English; 59.6 % was male and 40.4 % was female; zero respondents were younger than 20 years, 23.4 % was between 21 and 30 years old, 38.3 % between 31 and 40 years old, 24.5 % between 41 and 50 years old and 13.8 % was older than 50. Of all the respondents 80.9 % worked full-time and the other 19.1 % part-time. Most of the respondents, 57.4 % indicated they had been at Damen between 1 and 5 years. The departments Services (27.7%), Engineering (17%) and Sales (16%) generate 60.2 % of the respondents and will have the highest impact on the results. It was not possible to measure the population validity because Damen did not have information about characteristics of the respondents explained above. However, looking at the percentages of respondents of the three biggest departments; this is representative for the company (Organization chart, Intranet - Damen Plaza) The sample of employees at Damen Shipyards was chosen because of the ability to conduct a survey at this company. By performing a case study within one company there is a risk that the results might be biased by the respondents or that the sample might not represent the population. However the population for this thesis are other fast growing companies or companies in the maritime sector whereby the respondents will represent the population for the most part. Case studies always have a low external validity but the internal validity is often high. 10

11 Procedure To generate data a survey was conducted among employees of Damen working at the headquarter in Gorinchem. The main advantage of using a survey over, for example, a focus group or interviews, is the high number of respondents that can answer a survey. Furthermore statistical tests can be done using the dataset generated by the survey. On the other hand there are some disadvantages. Items which are unclear to respondents cannot be further explained and the researcher is not there when the survey is completed so the researcher cannot examine the situation in which the survey was conducted. The program Qualtrics was used to conduct the survey. This is an online program that creates a dataset after all the surveys are filled out. This saves time because answers do not need to be entered manually. A disadvantage is that people without internet access are not able to complete the online survey, but the chance that this will occur is close to zero. To motivate the employees of Damen to fill in the questionnaire, respondents could win an apple pie from a well-known restaurant in Gorinchem. Also, the purpose of the survey and the value to the participants themselves was explained. The link to the survey was sent to the employees together with an information letter. This information letter explained the subject and purpose of the survey. It also explained that the survey was produced under responsibility of the ASCoR, part of the University of Amsterdam. Furthermore, every respondent had to sign a informed consent saying they agreed to participating in this survey, which can be found in Appendix II. Measures A single survey was conducted in this study. This was an adaption of the ICA (International Communication Association) Audit Survey. Internal reliability scores in previous research for each section were consistently high, with an overall Cronbach's alpha value of.84 (Hargie & Tourish, 2009). Some questions about the validity of the instrument and the utility of the discrepancy scores have been raised. However, this instrument is still one of the boldest and most comprehensive attempts to measure all aspects of an organization's communication system. The questionnaire used in this study can be found in Appendix I. Independent variable The independent variable of this study was the medium category through which information is communicated to employees. The following types of media were measured in the survey: face-to-face contact, telephone contact, s, meetings, intranet, notice boards, 11

12 Damen Nieuws, Insight Magazine, Damen Magazine. These media were categorized into three different levels of richness on Daft and Lengel's (1984) classification: lean, moderate and rich media. Written, non-interactive routine messages such as messages on notice boards or department newsletters were seen as lean media. Messages that were more interactive but lack in the ability to exchange non-verbal cues like s (between employee and supervisor) or intranet were considerate moderate media. Interactive media with the ability to exchange non-verbal cues such as meetings or face-to-face contact were considered rich media. Respondents rated all the items on a scale from (1) very little information to (5) very much information. This was done for the current and the desired situation. The discrepancy score had to be calculated to get the satisfaction per media. So first, the discrepancy score was made for every variable (the desired score was subtracted from the current score). In the dataset, the Dutch and the English version of the survey had their own variables, therefore the Dutch and English discrepancy scores were summed up per medium (Someone who had a score on the Dutch item always had a zero on the English item and vice versa, therefore the items could be summed up). This score was positive or negative, this depended on if the respondent rather received more or less information through a particular medium. To make it easier to analyze the results, a new variable was made in which all the scores were made positive, by taking squaring the score and then taking the square root. In this thesis the direction was not the most valuable, more whether there was a difference between the desired and obtained information (i.e. satisfaction) and whether this differed for different media. Moreover, almost all scores were already negative, which means that people think they do not receive enough information through a certain medium. Because of the reasons mentioned above, the new variable (with positive scores) was made and used in the rest of this thesis. Finally, the mean score of all satisfaction scores of the items for lean media was made, the same was done for the moderate and rich media to create one score per media category. Beforehand was known which items belonged to which category, therefore a factor analysis per category (lean, moderate, rich) could be conducted. First the factor analysis for lean media was conducted. Lean media is media in which no non-verbal cues are shared. The satisfaction scores of the following media were used in the lean media factor analysis: s from top management, notice boards, Damen Nieuws hard copy, Damen Nieuws online, Damen Insight hard copy, Damen Insight online, Damen Magazine hard copy, Damen Magazine online. The principle component analysis showed that the eight items formed a two-dimensional scale: two of the components had an eigen value above 1, namely 4.18 and 12

13 1.08. All items correlated positively on the first component apart from the item 'notice boards'. Therefore, this item was removed from the scale to be able to create a scale forming one component. A new factor analysis without the item 'notice boards' was conducted. The seven items formed an one dimensional scale with an eigen value of The explained variance of the scale is 57.28%. The scale is reliable, Chronbach's Alpha is.86, which indicates that this variables measured the satisfaction with lean media. The higher the discrepancy score the less satisfied the employees are with lean media (M = 0.39, SD = 0.54). Secondly a factor analysis was conducted for moderate media, these media do not provide non-verbal cues such as rich media do, but provide more interaction and a higher speed than lean media. The satisfaction score of ' s between me and my supervisor' and 'Intranet - Damen Plaza' were used in this analysis. The analysis showed that the two items formed an one-dimensional scale. One component had an eigen value higher than one, namely The component matrix shows that both items have a factor load higher than.45 and that they are positively correlated. The explained variance of the scale is 52.16%. The items s between me and my supervisor and Intranet do not correlate (r =.04) and there is no curved relationship visible in de scatterplot. Despite the low correlation, this scale will be formed because prior research shows that these items belong to the moderate media category of Daft and Lengel's classification. The higher the discrepancy score the less satisfied the employees are with moderate media (M = 0.46, SD = 0.59). Lastly the factor analysis for the rich media was conducted, which is media that provides verbal and non-verbal cues. The satisfaction scores of the following items were used: face-to-face contact between me and top management, face-to-face contact between me and my supervisor, telephone calls between me and my supervisor and meetings. These four items formed an one-dimensional scale with one component having an eigen value higher than 1, namely The component matrix showed that all items had a factor load higher than.45 and that they were positively correlated. The explained variance of the scale was 46.75% and the Cronbach's Alpha of the scale was.59. This suggest that the scale is not internal consistent. The reliability of the scale will not improve tremendously by deleting one item, therefore the scale is formed with the four items mentioned above. The higher the discrepancy score the less satisfied the employees are with rich media (M = 0.55, SD = 0.52). 13

14 Dependent variables The dependent variables are the level of satisfaction with internal communication in general and the job satisfaction. To measure the level of satisfaction with internal communication in general an one-item scale was used. The instructions of this item were: 'On a scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), how satisfied are you with the internal communication at Damen in general?' The higher respondents scored on this scale the more satisfied they were with internal communication (M = 3.91, SD = 0.91). Job satisfaction was also measured on an one-item scale. Respondents provided rating along a 5 point scale, in which 1 was very dissatisfied and 5 very satisfied. Instructions included 'On a scale from 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your job?'. The higher respondents scored on this scale the more satisfied they were with their job (M = 3.88, SD = 0.82). Moderating variables Two moderating variables were used in this research, the source (top management versus supervisor) of the information shared and the media format (hard copy versus online) for written one-way communication. To measure the impact of the variable source, the ratings of items such as 'Face-to-face contact between me and top management' and 'Face-to-face contact between me and my supervisor' were compared. The same was done for the moderator media format. Here, 6 items were compared, for example the difference between the level of satisfaction of Damen Nieuws hard copy and Damen Nieuws online. To be able to create the new variables concerning source and media format a factor analysis was conducted. First a factor analysis for the variable source was conducted. The analysis showed that two dimensions could be distinguished (eigen value > 1), namely items with information from top management (face-to-face contact between me and top management, s from top management) and items with information from the supervisor (face-to-face contact between me and my supervisor, telephone calls between me and s between me and my supervisor). Together, these factors measure 69.08% of the explained variance. The variable measuring the information from the top management had a Pearson Correlation of.24, which indicates a weak positive relationship between face-to-face contact between me and top management and s from top management (M = 0.76, SD = 0,64). Prior research showed that this variable measured the satisfaction with information from the supervisor and therefore the variable is formed (Byrne & LeMay, 2006). The variable measuring information from the supervisor had a Chronbach's Alpha of.81 and is reliable (M = 0.37, SD = 0.61). 14

15 Finally, a factor analysis for the variable hard copy versus online written one-way communication was conducted. A one-dimensional scale was formed, however two dimensions should be formed. The formation of one dimension is explainable, because all items measure the satisfaction with written one-way communication. Beforehand, it was known which items belonged to which variable, therefore it is allowed to perform two separate factor analyses. The factor analysis concerning the hard copy written one-way communication including the items Damen Nieuws hard copy, Damen Insight hard copy and Damen Magazine hard copy formed one dimension with an eigen value of The component matrix showed that all items had a factor load higher than.45 and that they are positively correlated. The explained variance of the scale is 79.13%. This scale had a Chronbach's Alpha of.86, which indicated that the scale was reliable and measured the satisfaction with hard copy magazines (M = 0.24, SD = 0.54). The factor analysis concerning the online written one-way communication including the items Damen Nieuws online, Damen Insight online and Damen Magazine online also formed one dimension with an eigen value of The component matrix shows that all items had a factor load higher than 0.45 and that they are positively correlated. The explained variance of the scale is 77.11% and the scale had a Chronbach's Alpha of.85 (M = 0.48, SD = 0.75). Results Difference in satisfaction per media category A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test if the discrepancy scores differed between the media categories; this way the discrepancy is analyzed as 'repeated measure'. The first hypothesis is formulated as follow: the discrepancy score of rich media is significantly higher than the discrepancy scores of moderate and lean media (N = 94). Thus, people are less satisfied with rich media because they would like to receive more information through rich communication channels. The Mauchly's test of Sphericity showed that there was no significant difference between the different time periods, in this case the media types and, because the time period is not useful for the analysis of this thesis, this is not taken into consideration. The results of the ANOVA do not indicate a significant effect of medium, Wilks' Lambda = 0.96, F(2, 92) = 1,87, p =.159, 2 =.04. Hence, there is no evidence that there is a significant difference in satisfaction between lean (M = 0.39, SD = 0.54), moderate (M = 0.46, SD = 0.59) and rich (M = 0.55, SD = 0.52) media. Looking at the table of Pairwise Comparisons, no significant result between lean and 15

16 moderate media, MD =.05, p = 1.000, or moderate and rich media is shown, MD =.08, p =.607. Furthermore no significant result is shown between lean and rich media, MD =.14, p =.185. This is in contrast to the prior expectations in which was suspected that respondents would be less satisfied, thus having a higher discrepancy score with rich over moderate and lean media. Therefore the hypothesis is rejected. 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 hypothesis 1 Lean media moderate media rich media hypothesis 1 Figure 1: the means of the one-way repeated measures ANOVA Hypothesis 2 was tested performing an one-way repeated measures ANOVA in which the discrepancy of source was analyzed as 'repeated measures' (N = 94). Hypothesis 2 was formulated as, the discrepancy score of media sending information from top management will be significantly higher than the discrepancy score of media sending information from the supervisor. The results show a significant effect from source, Wilks' Lambda = 0.78, F(1, 93) = 26,87, p <.001, 2 =.22. Thus, there is a significant evidence that there is a difference in satisfaction between media with information from top management (M = 0.76, SD = 0,64) and media with information from the supervisor (M = 0.37, SD = 0.61). The hypothesis suggesting that media sending information from top management would have a higher discrepancy score is confirmed. The employees would rather receive more information from top management than from their supervisor. 16

17 0,8 hypothesis 2 0,6 0,4 0,2 hypothesis 2 0 media top management media supervisor Figure 2: the means of the one-way repeated measures ANOVA concerning source The third hypothesis was formulated as, the discrepancy score with online one-way written communication is significantly higher than the discrepancy score with hard copy oneway written communication. To test this hypothesis an one-way repeated measures ANOVA was used, in which the discrepancy of media formats was analyzed as 'repeated measures' (N = 94). The variable age was used as a between-subjects factor. The results of the ANOVA indicate a significant effect of media format, Wilks' Lambda = 0.88, F(1, 90) = 12,88, p <.01, 2 =.13. Thus, there is a difference in satisfaction between online (M = 0.48, SD = 0.75) and hard copy (M = 0.24, SD = 0.54) media formats. The hypothesis that there is a significantly higher discrepancy score for online one-way written communication is confirmed. Besides a higher discrepancy score for online media was expected, an interaction effect of the variable age on the variable media format was expected. Prior research showed that younger people prefer more online communication than older people (Welch, 2012). It was expected that younger employees would have a significantly higher discrepancy score for online media than older employees. However, this is not confirmed, F(3, 90) = 1.05, p =.375. Consequently, there is no significant difference found between the discrepancy scores of younger and older people concerning the satisfaction with online and hard copy one-way written communication. 17

18 hypothesis 3 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 online one-way written commumunication hard copy one-way written communication hypothesis 3 Figure 3: the means of the one-way repeated measures ANOVA concerning media format Effect medium on satisfaction internal communication and job satisfaction To answer the third question of this thesis a multiple regression analysis was conducted. The first dependent variable is satisfaction with internal communication in general. The independent variable is the satisfaction with the three media classification levels lean, moderate and rich media (N = 89). This variable was earlier, in the one-way repeated measures ANOVA, the dependent variable. In this regression it will be analyzed as the predictor of the overall satisfaction with internal communication. Furthermore the variables gender, age and employment length were included as control variables. Despite the explorative character, a main effect of media category on the satisfaction with internal communication was expected. It was expected that rich media had a higher impact on satisfaction with internal communication than moderate or lean media because rich media was best valued in prior research (Byrne & LeMay; White et al, 2010). The results found in the regression model are insignificant, F(6, 82) = 1.13, p =.351. The regression model is therefore not useful as an indicator for the satisfaction with internal communication. The adjusted R square shows that 0.9 percent of the satisfaction with the internal communication of Damen can be explained by satisfaction with the different media including the control variables. The variable moderate media, B =.27, SE B =.18, b* = 0.18, t = 1.50, p =.151, had a weak correlation with internal communication while, lean and rich media have an extremely weak to no correlation with internal communication. This is in contrast to the expectations that rich media would have the highest correlation with internal communication. The variable moderate media has the highest Bèta which assumes that this variable has the biggest effect on the dependent variable satisfaction with internal communication. Furthermore, the control variable gender, B = -0.28, SE B = 0.20, b* = -0.15, t = -1.37, p = 18

19 0.175 has a negative Bèta, this would suggest that when someone is a male the satisfaction with internal communication goes down with.15. Lastly, a multiple regression analysis was performed with overall job satisfaction as dependent variable and satisfaction with the different media categories as independent variable (N = 89). Furthermore the variables gender, age and employment length were included as control variables. The results found in the regression model are significant, F(6,82) = 6.69, p <.001. This indicates that this model is useful to predict the job satisfaction among the employees of Damen Shipyards. 28 percent of the variable job satisfaction can be explained by the satisfaction with different media types and the control variables. The Bèta of the variable rich media, B = , SE B = 0.15, b* = -.59, t = -6.02, p <.001, is the highest, which suggest that the effect of the variable rich media on job satisfaction is the biggest. The Bèta is negative which means that when respondents have a higher discrepancy score concerning rich media, their job satisfaction goes down with 0.59 per point. This is as assumed in the hypothesis; the higher the discrepancy score the lower the job satisfaction. However in contrast to what was expected, the Bèta's of the categories lean, B = 0.08, SE B = 0.15, b* = 0.05, t = 0.54, p =.503 and moderate, B = 0.31, SE B = 0.14, b* = 0.23, t = 2.22, p <.05 media are positive. Conclusion and discussion The first question of this thesis aimed to answer to what extent a difference in satisfaction between different types of media categories exists. The results showed no significant evidence for differences in satisfaction between lean, moderate and rich media. These findings are in contrast to prior research, where satisfaction with rich communication channels was highest. An explanation for the lack of evidence could be the fact that this study does not control for the purpose of the communication. As mentioned in the introduction, different media are chosen for different forms of communication. Routine messages and messages that disseminate a lot or difficult information are preferred to be received through written media. Therefore, respondents might be satisfied receiving information through lean media as well. On the other hand, we saw that lean media had the lowest discrepancy between the current and desired situation. Moderate media showed the middle score and rich media showed the highest discrepancy. This shows us that there is an increase in discrepancy among the different levels of richness as which is in line with previous research. However, the differences found in this study were statistically insignificant. 19

20 The second question this paper aimed to answer was if the satisfaction about internal communication depended on the source (top management versus supervisor) and format (online versus hard copy) of information. Our results support research that media disseminating information from top management have a higher discrepancy score than media disseminating information from direct supervisors. This suggest that employees want to receive significantly more information from top management than from their supervisor, compared to what they currently receive, which is in line with the findings of White et al. (2010). The third question was whether the discrepancy score of online written one-way communication is higher than that of hard copy written one-way communication. The data supports the idea that the online discrepancy score is higher, which is in line with current literature. This suggests that employees rather receive online communication instead of hard copy, because this is better for the environment and because costs are lower (Friedl & Vercic, 2010; Welch, 2010). From these findings, it can be concluded that, even though the maritime sector is a traditional sector, the findings about the effect of the source and the media format correspond with the findings from the IT-sector. However, the hypothesis that there would be differences between different age groups was not confirmed. This could be due to the relatively small number of respondents. The last question of this thesis was: 'How is the satisfaction per media category correlated with satisfaction about internal communication and job satisfaction?' The results from the regression analysis concerning the dependent variable satisfaction with internal communication did not show any significant results. When looking into the results, the moderate medium category has the biggest coefficient, albeit insignificant. This is in contrast with the expectations that rich media would have the biggest influence. These unexpected findings could be due to the fact that the variable moderate media was not reliable and therefore does not generate the right results. Furthermore the variable gender had a negative correlation with the satisfaction with internal communication. This suggests that men are less satisfied with the current internal communication than women, which would confirm our hypothesis and would be in line with the findings of Kimbrough et al. (2013). Men rather receive information through rich media and will be less satisfied because most information is disseminated through lean media. In contrast to the first regression analysis, the second analysis concerning the effect on job satisfaction showed significant results. It can be concluded that employees who have 20

21 higher discrepancy scores and therefore are more dissatisfied with the amount of information received through rich media, score lower on the variable job satisfaction. However, this correlation was found for the category rich media, whereas the correlation for moderate en lean media was positive. This could be due to the cross-sectional nature of the study. The correlational design does not prove the direction of the relationship. Therefore, the correlation could also be the other way around. This suggests that it could be that employees who score higher on job satisfaction are also more committed to the company and therefore want to receive even more information through media channels, in this case lean and moderate media. Limitations and strengths This thesis had several limitations that should be considered when interpreting the results. First of all, this study was a case study and therefore external validity is low and the results are hard to generalize to other companies. However, the results say much about internal communication of Damen and about similar maritime companies. Damen is a large company that uses a lot of different media channels for internal communication, so this study has a complete coverage of media channels. This is helpful when the results are applied to other companies. Besides, the internal validity of a case study is high and because the survey was specifically made for Damen: it only included questions that were suitable to this company. Another point of discussion was the scale used, this was an adaption of the ICA Audit Survey, a scale that is used often and one of the boldest and most comprehensive attempts to measure internal communication. However, looking at the result, it seems that not all respondents understood the way the scale had to be used. A fair amount of respondents had a discrepancy score of zero on all the media channels including the variables controlling for source and media format. The survey asked the respondent to rate, on a scale from 1 (very little information) to 5 (very much information) the amount of information they received in the current situation and how much information they would like to receive in the desired situation through a particular medium. It looks like respondents thought this score had to be the same or that the score itself already gave enough information. It is hard to believe that the respondents were satisfied with every single media channel. In further research this could be solved by separating the question into two parts, one part with referring to the current situation and one part only referring to the desired situation. That way respondents do not see 21

22 the scales next to each other and will be less influenced completing the second scale, the one of the desired situation. The low correlation of the items for the moderate media variable can also be seen as a limitation because it likely influenced the results of the regression analysis measuring the satisfaction with internal communication. Moderate media is media that does not provide nonverbal cues, but is more interactive than lean media. For example conversations can be seen as moderate media. This media category is interpreted differently in several studies, which makes it hard to formulate one right definition. In this study Intranet - Damen Plaza and ing between me and my supervisor measured moderate media. It could be that Intranet is seen as a lean medium by the employees because it contains a lot of one-way communication. However, it also creates the ability to interact with other employees and was therefore seen as moderate media. It could be that respondents interpreted this differently and therefore this item did not correlate with the item ing contact between me and my supervisor. Although this study had some limitations, the findings still make a valuable contribution. Much research on internal communication has already been done, but very few studies research the satisfaction of employees about information received through different media. Therefore this study adds knowledge to fill this gap in internal communication literature. Furthermore, this study used quantitative research whereas most previous research concerning internal communication used qualitative research. This different approach adds new valuable information to the field. Lastly, this study was conducted at a company in de maritime sector whereas the previous studies were mostly done in the IT-sector, creating worthwhile information to other businesses. 22

23 References Byrne, Z. S., & LeMay, E. (2006). Different media for organizational communication: perceptions of quality and satisfaction. Journal of Business and Psychology, 21(2), doi: /s Chmielecki, M. (2015). Factors influencing effectiveness of internal communication. Management and Business Administration, 23(2), doi: /mba.ce Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1983). Information richness: A new approach to managerial behavior and organization design. Dolphin, R.R. (2005). Internal Communications: Today s strategic imperative. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(3): doi: / Frank, A., & Brownell, J. (1989) Organizational communication and behaviour: communicating to improve performance. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Friedl, J., & Verčič, A. T. (2011). Media preferences of digital natives internal communication: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 37(1), doi: /j.pubrev Grunig, J.E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers Hargie, O., & Tourish, D. (2009). Auditing Organizational Communication. (2nd print) Cornwall: TJ Internaltional. Hudcova, S. (2014). Tools of Internal Communication from Knowledge Transfer Perspective. Journal of Competitiveness, 1(6), doi: /joc Kimbrough, A. M., Guadagno, R. E., Muscanell, N. L., & Dill, J. (2013). Gender differences in mediated communication: Women connect more than do men. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3),

24 Organization chart Damen Shipyards Gorinchem. (2016). Retrieved from Intranet - Damen Plaza Oxford University Press. (2016). Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved from Ruck, K., & Welch, M. (2012). Valuing internal communication; management and employee perspectives. Public Relations Review, 38(2), doi: /j.pubrev Ruggiero, T. E. (2000). Uses and gratifications theory in the 21st century. Mass communication & society, 3(1), doi: /S MCS0301_02 Scholes, E. (1997). Handbook of Internal Communication. Gower: Aldershot. Verčič, A. T., Verčič, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2012). Internal communication: Definition, parameters, and the future. Public relations review, 38(2), doi: /j.pubrev Welch, M. (2012). Appropriateness and acceptability: Employee perspectives of internal communication. Public Relations Review, 38(2), doi: /j.pubrev Welch, M., & Jackson, P. R. (2007). Rethinking internal communication: a stakeholder approach. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 12(2), doi: / White, C., Vanc, A., & Stafford, G. (2010). Internal communication, information satisfaction, and sense of community: The effect of personal influence. Journal of Public Relations Research, 22(1), doi: /

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35 Appendix II: Information letter and informed consent Beste Damen-medewerker, Hierbij wil ik je uitnodigen om deel te nemen aan een onderzoek dat wordt uitgevoerd onder verantwoordelijkheid van de College School of Communication 1, onderdeel van de Universiteit van Amsterdam in samenwerking met Damen Shipyards Gorinchem. Het onderzoek waar ik je medewerking voor wil vragen is getiteld Interne communicatie Damen. Deze vragenlijst is opgesteld om te achterhalen in hoeverre je tevreden bent met de interne communicatie van Damen, enigszins toegespitst op interne communicatiemiddelen. Deze vragenlijst is geheel vertrouwelijk en het doel van dit onderzoek is om je de kans te bieden open en eerlijk te vertellen wat je vindt van de informatie die wordt verstrekt door de afdeling Communications en of je tevreden bent met de gebruikte middelen waarmee informatie wordt verspreid. Het onderzoek duurt maximaal 10 minuten. Onder de deelnemers zal willekeurig een winnaar worden geselecteerd die kans maakt op een heerlijke appeltaart, huisgemaakt door de lokale traiteur ''Oud Vuren''. Ik hoop je hiermee voldoende te hebben geïnformeerd en dank je bij voorbaat hartelijk voor je deelname aan dit onderzoek. De uitkomsten van dit onderzoek gebruik ik voor mijn afstudeeropdracht en worden tevens gebruikt door Damen voor het verbeteren van de interne communicatie. Voor meer informatie over dit onderzoek en de uitnodiging tot deelname kun je altijd met mij contact opnemen. (tel: ; Met vriendelijke groet, Nicky de Lange Student communication science Klik op de onderstaande link om het onderzoek te starten (De vragenlijst kan ook op de mobiele telefoon worden ingevuld) : The survey is also available in English 35