A FIELD STUDY OF INTERNAL, INTERFACING, AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION IN A SUB-SYSTEM OF A PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCY

This study evolved from the writer's observation of the internal communication of a public agency, which is experiencing expansion of its objectives and a structural reorganization. The problem which the researcher explored focused on the structure and operation of a sub-system of the organization in an effort to determine its relationship to the internal, interfacing, and external communication needs of the total organization.; The researcher's intent was to: (1) develop a paradigm which might be useful for analysis of the task, maintenance, and human communication functions of organizations in other fields of human endeavor; (2) identify and describe the role and interface of the Reception Area/Information Services sub-system as it contributes to the Denver Headquarrters' operation of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and further to identify whether it is symptomatic of the Headquarters' and total Division's communication; and (3) analyze and diagnose the specific communication functions of the organization's Denver Headquarters.; Communication audit techniques used for data gathering included applications of observations, interviews, content analysis and diagnosis.; A new tool the COMMUNICATION NETWORK DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT, was developed for classifying the data by combining existing organizational typologies and traditional communication theories with organizational specific categories and supplemental original material.; The conclusions of the study are: (1) The Communication Network Diagnostic Instrument is an improvement over current audit tools for several reasons: (a) it has been modified to shorten the process, increase the scope, and minimize the costs, but (b) the modifications do not reduce the quality or amount of information gathered. Additionally, the instrument gives an overview of the organization's communication process, therefore having implications as a highly useful and versatile diagnostic tool for practitioners, researchers, and organizations. (2) Implications of the observational data suggest that the study impacts several areas. One significant result was the development of a system whereby classification of the observational data into the instrument format can provide a profile of the actual status of the organization's communication and identify areas which are functioning effectively or ineffectively. (3) Use of this field study/audit methodology provided the opportunity to add to the existing body of knowledge about organizational communication within specific organizations. (4) Another result of significance was the development of a highly functional method of journal-keeping.