Organizational Communication Audit: UNCW's Communication Studies Department

Project Synopsis

I got the chance to dive deep into the culture of UNCW's Communication Studies department by interviewing students, alumni, and researching the brand on social media. This project is an in depth analysis of a communication audit of this department offering unbiased information and also including future recommendations.

Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to run a communication audit of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s Communication Studies Department. In this report, I focus on the strengths of the department and the areas where the department could improve. This report is to acknowledge the alignment of organizational culture and brand. Through my research, I found that the culture and brand for the Communication Studies department are aligned but could always improve. The organization is known for its professors and opportunities that give students real-world experience along with classroom knowledge. As a brand, the department is trying to betray that it wants its students to have different opportunities to excel after college and that is reinforced through the different clubs available for membership and practicum classes. My recommendations to continue with the alignment of culture and brand for my organization is creating a versatile logo or profile picture for social media accounts to increase brand recognition and also making the end of semester teacher evaluations more of a priority for teachers. These recommendations will benefit the brand as a whole focusing on both external and internal communication.

In this analysis, I interview Communication Studies current students along with Alumni to understand the culture of the department and how it differs from my perspective. Also obtaining narratives from a current UNCW student within a different major will show how the department is viewed on campus and give insight to a non-communication major’s view on the organization as a whole. I also collected a narrative of a Communication major from NC State to provide a differing opinion on the culture of a Communication Department as an overview versus UNCW’s Communication Studies Department. To ground my findings in research I chose three theories to explain my findings and offer insight.

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Theories

The theories I chose to conduct my Communication Audit are; Organizational Culture Theory, Constitutive View of Communication Theory, and the Social Capital Theory. With each theory, I analyzed the communication practices along with the culture of UNCW’s Communication Studies Department. The Organizational Culture Theory and the Constitutive View of Communication theory are both theories of organizing and structuring. With these two theories, I analyzed how the Communication Studies department is organized to be most productive and achieve goals. With the Social Capital Theory being an external stakeholder communication theory, I focused on the organization’s external communication and how it relates to group work.

Organizational Culture Theory gave me the basis for my second recommendation for the department which is, using teacher evaluations to create new classes and adapt to the student’s needs. This theory focuses on leaders curating positive culture in their workplace, focusing on the end of semester evaluations does this precisely. In an article on Organizational Culture by Tracy, a good cultural leader is described as, “charismatic, playing the roles of cheerleader, nurturer, and coach,” (Tracy, 2009). The roles of a professor fit into each of these descriptive roles which is why positive culture in the organization begins with the teachers. If the professors are taking seriously their roles of coach and cheerleader, they will take into account the feedback of their students to apply to their future classes making classes and classwork the most beneficial it can be to students.

My second Organizing and Structuring theory is the Constitutive View of Communication. This theory divulges the benefit of personal relationships in an organization. This can be related to the relationships between power structures such as professors and students or relationships between the institution and the community. In the article by Tracy it is stated, “An important implication of a constitutive view is that communication is assumed to be the basic building block for social entities, such as personal relationships and organizations,” (Nicotera, 2009). This theory is important when focusing on the interpersonal aspect of communication and within the Communication Studies Department. Group work is a building block in this department because it requires students to work collaboratively and be effective communicators. In these groups, students build relationships with one another and outside factors within the community to grow the department’s program.

The last theory I chose to analyze the Department of Communication Studies is the Social Capital Theory. This is an external stakeholder theory that theorizes group work and collaborative efforts in turn lead to better teamwork. This theory relies on teamwork to advance the organization as a whole but also individually. In an article by Oyvind Ihlen, Bourdieu is quoted with this definition of Social Capital, the response is, “This definition implies that social capital must be understood as having two components: the size of an individual’s network and the volume of the capital that the other parts of the network have, and to which the individual gains access,” (Ihlen, 2005). This definition relies on what each group can do for the other. For the Communication Studies Department, an example of this is the different organizations the department offers such as the Communication Studies Society, the honor society Lambda Pi Eta, and even Pier601. All of these sectors offer something to group members in return for a person to be a group member and grow the organization.

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Introduction

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington has a well-known Communication Studies department for undergraduate students and more recently, graduate students. In this organization, students learn about Communication Studies in general but also how it relates to business, the media, marketing, and organizationally. In this report, I analyzed the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s Communication Studies department to get a sense of the organization’s culture and communication. I chose this organization because I have great insights into the organization as a whole because of my relationship with the department. To begin the report and provide insight into the brand, I conducted a brand analysis to determine how well the communication practices were functioning and where improvements were needed.

The brand analysis that I created shows the offerings of the Communication Studies Department which are, opportunities for growth and real-world experience through classes, internships, and projects. When analyzing the department, a reoccurring message that I found was the focus on personal growth through real-world experience, which the department strives to do. Classes consist of semester-long projects that focus on collaborating with groupmates, and many times working with outside organizations that lead to connections and boosting portfolios. Taking into account the competitive landscape, this organization must compete with the other majors and departments that are on UNCW’s campus. Although this department has its niche offerings, it must compete for outside organizations to work with because Wilmington as a city does not have an infinite amount of companies to do work for. As a whole, this department is one of the largest that UNCW offers so that is a benefit when looking at the competitive landscape. The key audience of the department is the current UNCW students and prospective ones. When using social media, the organization must advertise their major in the best light so that they are able to recruit new members and retain the current.

Moving on to the messaging aspect of the Communication Studies Department, I have analyzed the brand message the organization portrays as well as its brand image through interviews and researching the websites of the organization. I started by looking at the profile pictures of each Instagram account the department has such as Pier601, COMMEDIA, the official COM account, and the Communication Studies Society page. In my preliminary search, I noticed that each account had a different theme with their colors and none had the same logo or similar picture. This is what sparked my research into the brand message the department is wanting to convey and how they are doing so. Looking at the messaging, communication, and positioning, I created a SWOT analysis to focus on what the Communication Studies department is doing well and the recommendations I could make to better the brand.

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths: The size of the program at the university is a strength, because with a larger amount of students, the department can have a variety of classes and organizations.

Weakness: Having a large number of students can also be a downfall because the number of opportunities may be limited making the competition harder.

Opportunities: Creating a unified brand image for all sectors of the Communication Studies department will allow for more recognition of the department and better brand representation.

Threats: An immediate threat to the department is the number of other majors at the university, specifically the larger ones such as Business, Education, and Nursing. All of these majors have a strong brand image and a large number of students which can be enticing for young and prospective students picking a major.

From this analysis, I have proposed recommendations for the Communication Studies Department that will benefit the brand. First, will be to create a comprehensive logo/ profile picture for each social media account related to the department. In doing this, the picture will become more recognizable to the brand and create a sense of identity from the department to students. My second recommendation for increasing positive change in communication from each power level is to show growth from teacher evaluations. Students are encouraged to fill out teacher recommendations at the end of the semester to point out the strengths and weaknesses of their classes. With this, there is a great opportunity for benefiting from these evaluations and create an understanding and developing culture in the classroom. If professors are asked to have a department meeting or even one on one meetings discussing their evaluations, they will start being held accountable for the good and bad things their classes are offering. As a whole, the department will learn what works best for their students and what will turn them into the best communicators before it is their time to leave UNCW.

The brand mantra for the Communication Studies department is, “Eat, Sleep, Breathe, Communication.” I was reminded of this mantra through one of my interviews. A Communication Studies professor for an introductory course says this each semester to his students so they are prepared for what they are getting into. Communication Studies is more than a major and at the risk of sounding cliché, it is a lifestyle for these students and also professors.

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Methodology

For my project, the research instruments I used were interviews and observations. The research methods I have chosen will be qualitative methods for aligning culture and brand. The interviews I conducted were from current students, alumni, and also outside sources. The six people I interviewed were Ashley Sinclair, Tori Demshick, Whitney Greene, Hannah Lewis, Samantha Lawrence, and Cameron Addertion. The first three names listed are alumni of the UNCW Communication Studies department whereas the fourth name is a current student. Samantha Lawrence was a UNCW student but was in the Cameron School of Business which would be the COM department’s biggest competitor because of the similar classes and community outreach. The last name, Cameron Addertion, is a current student at North Carolina State University majoring in Communication. She provides a look into a different department and how the culture of a Communication Studies Department compares and contrasts to UNCW.

I opted for interviews to develop my research because as stated in a chapter from Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communication, “interviews are flexible and allow you to develop an understanding of the perspectives of interviewees,” (Daymon & Holloway, 2010). They are also an evolving conversation that can be steered with any direction one is trying to go when collecting research. Using people’s personal experiences along with their observations is very telling in the overall analysis of brand and culture. Having students who were a part of the Communication Studies Department of interest will provide great insight as to if my recommendations will help improve the brand and the culture. With my interviews, I used the total population sampling tactic because most all of my interviewees have a factor in common and are in the same population which is the Communication Studies Department. I have two outliers in my sampling pool, the student from NC State and the student in the Cameron School of Business.

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Audit Diary

For the auditing portion of my project, I focused on both the external and internal communication of the organization. The external communication practices entail the logos of the clubs that are establishing a brand image among students and the relationship the department has with outside sources to provide opportunities. Secondly, I looked at the internal communication practices which are end of semester professor evaluations and organized clubs. In these practices, I wanted to get a sense of the culture, consistency, effectiveness, and inclusivity as a means to represent the brand.

Starting with culture, I analyzed the classroom environment from my own perspective as a student along with collecting interviews. I observed how the department communicates with its employees and also how it communicates with its students. This was as simple as seeing what the overall attitude was like in the classroom and how students felt about attending class and working with their peers. Group work was a big factor of culture because in almost every class students are asked to collaborate in groups and if there is not a positive environment revolving around group work, students are going to be less inclined to grow collaboratively. The Communication Studies classes are known for group work so students tend to come in with a positive attitude knowing what they have signed up for. Group work is also a big factor in preparing people for the workforce. It provides opportunities for students to learn how best to work in groups, delegate, and learn other communication styles.

Looking for consistency, I observed the social media webpages related to the Communication Studies department to see if the brand message is portrayed consistently on each platform. This is where I found the need for an overall similar or the same, profile picture for each account so that the organization appears constant. This sets a solid foundation for being professional and also provides brand recognition for the followers. I also observed the official webpage for the department and looked through each tab that was offered. This included things like study abroad programs, enrichment activities, internships, and clubs to join. Each page was consistent with the theme of offering opportunities to students. Knowing that the brand message and the content produced was my intended goal with my observations. I also wanted to make sure that when a person goes to the website pages or a social media site, that UNCW is represented as a whole and not just the Communication Studies program. I did find that each time the department, as well as UNCW, were both depicted accurately and in cohesion.

The effectiveness of the department was measured through student interviews and course evaluations. In the interview’s I looked to see if the interviewee had been ready to go into the real-world upon graduation and how the Communication Studies Department set them up for that. I asked about each person’s personal experience in the Communication Studies Department and what opportunities they seized such as clubs, classes, internships, or projects. A monthly newsletter circulates from the department head that brings new opportunities for students consistently. These newsletters tie into effectiveness because it does its job to show students new opportunities and also places many Communication Studies students in these roles. Another observation for effectiveness is the use of commenting on social media pages. The department is able to interact with followers to ensure they are getting the most from the posts and having their questions answered. The last practice for effectiveness is the end of semester course evaluations. This part is crucial for the effectiveness because it lays out the pros and cons of Communication classes and leaves room for improvement. This sparked one of my brand recommendations which are to heavily use the evaluations to create and monitor classes so students are getting the most out of their education.

Lastly, for inclusivity, I analyzed the interviews from my interviewees to see if each student was given the same level of education and chance for opportunities. From this, I proved that the organization is inclusive in the opportunities it gives to students because the brand wants Communication Studies students to succeed. I gathered opinions and feedback from my interviewees on my brand recommendations and on some they had in mind. This will also allow for the relationship made between professors and students to show and have positive impacts on the class. Next for inclusivity, I looked at the pictures on the website and social media account to see if all demographics are represented just as gender, race, and age. I think this is crucial when working on the brand image because it is important to show prospective students that each person has a place in this organization no matter the circumstance.

Tying in all of these factors, I think my two brand recommendations will be very beneficial to the organization because they focus on external and internal communication practices. Utilizing professor course evaluations and creating a more cohesive brand image on social media; each will prove to be effective for the brand as well as consistent and inclusive. Both of my recommendations are also ethically grounded because they deal with the bettering of the department.

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Results

As stated in the methodology section, I chose to conduct my research through observations and interviews. This led me to the best results, using personal opinions and experiences to examine the brand. Using narratives from people within the department as well as outside, provided me with an umbrella view of the brand.

Starting with my observations, I examined the official Communication Studies Department’s website for their undergraduate and graduate program. For the undergraduate program there is a more comprehensive view of the program, what it provides for students, and opportunities for members. This could be because the undergraduate program has been established longer than the graduate program which was recently enacted. Both websites demonstrate the culture that the department is surrounded with by including statements from the department chair on diversity, student testimonials and pictures of students taking advantage of their opportunities. The diversity statements are also a sign of the inclusivity of the programs because it shows the department is accepting to every type of person and background. This is crucial for a department in general but in this age of 2020, people want to be know they are valued, accepted, and wanted, and UNCW does a great job of making that known. For the Communication Studies Department’s brand, it revolves around opening up doors for student’s. This could be internships, new classes, and even pursing a Master’s degree. Looking at the website’s the department is very effective in an effort to provide more for their student’s beyond the classroom. And because the department is so adamant about making students well-rounded, the students themselves are more inclined to do so. Lastly, looking at consistency, both website’s continue to show their need for diversity, and continue pushing students to do more. In module 5 of this course, I created a definition for consistency and it reads, “a continual patter of actions in the workplace to promote a positive outcome.” The Communication Studies Department abides perfectly by this definition. Continually promoting diversity, and opportunities for students is something the department does consistently in an effort to create a better department and better students.

Diving into my interviews, I have explained my reasons behind choosing each interviewee. I wanted to first start off with Hannah Lewis because she is deeply intertwined in the Communication Studies Department at UNCW. Hannah is a recent 2020 graduate who is now pursuing her Master’s Degree with the department. While in undergrad, Hannah was involved in several Communication Studies programs such as Pier601, Communication Studies Society, and served on the executive board of Lambda Pi Eta- the Communication Studies Honor Society. In my interview with Hannah, we talked about our time in the Communication Studies department as an undergraduate student and then discussed our views of the department from the outside looking in. Hannah stated that she feels like, “Because I was so intertwined in the Department, I was fully prepared for the next step of my life, thinking it would be a job but turns out to be graduate school. The culture for the graduate versus undergraduate program is still the same for me, but it is a new environment that I am having to explore coming from such a close connected graduating class.” Her response reveals that the culture for both programs is the same although there are certain new hoops to jump through.

My next interview was with an alumnus, Ashley Sinclair, who also graduated May of 2020. Going into college Ashley had no idea which path she wanted to take upon graduation. When ending up in a Communication Studies introductory class, Ashley quickly realized she had found her major. One thing in particular that stuck out to Ashley was, “how different each student was in this major but also so tight knit.” This backs up my claim that the department thrives on diversity and inclusivity. When creating definitions in this module, my inclusivity definition stated, “accepting all members of a group on any term.” In this scenario, the group is the Communication Studies Department and the members and the students. Having such a tight knit group shows that the students are receiving of each other and each person’s background.

Alumnus, Tori Demshick, graduated in 2019 and was another choice for my interviewees because as a student Tori excelled in her classes but was not involved in clubs or practicum courses. I wanted to interview her and see what factored into her decision to focus solely on her course work and not expand outside of the classroom. In the interview I asked her, “Do you think UNCW’s Communication Studies Department pushes student to engage in extracurriculars, and if so do you think they are beneficial to your education?” Her response validated my claim that the Department does push students to engage in their studies outside the classroom. Tori said, “I remember in my first course with Dr. Weber that to succeed in COM students must eat, sleep, breathe, Communication.” This is a prime example, going back to my statement that the department pushes opportunities, because in the first introductory course students are told to make their major a lifestyle. This demonstrates the consistency of pushing the brand message to “expand your horizons” outside of the classroom. As for Tori and why she chose to focus on her school work and not take the opportunities that were in front of her, she said “I focused mainly on my course work and the connections I made with my peers. I thought that in a major such as Communication Studies, it would be very beneficial to build relationships with my teachers and classmates because we are constantly working in groups.” Along with the consistency theme, group work in Communication classes was so important and so common that studies were constantly learning and growing in their skills to work collaboratively.

Whitney Greene was a member of the Communication Studies Department and graduated in the Spring of 2019. Unlike Tori, Whitney was very involved in extracurriculars because she believed that having outside experience would benefit her the most in her future endeavors. My interview with Whitney strengthens my argument that the department is very effective in creating well-rounded students because it pushes for them to have opportunities. Whitney stated that she had a job upon graduation and when she entered that job she felt like she was giving every skill she needed through her college experience. Whitney said, “pushing for students to take internships and enroll in harder classes is only beneficial to them, the professors are not pushing it for their health.” This was a crucial part in the interview because it shows how the department cares for their students and wants them to be ready for whatever life throws at them. And because they are effective at communicating this with their students, both the department and students benefit.

Moving on to my interviewees that are not integrated into the Communication Studies Department, I interviewed Sammi Lawrence who is a UNCW 2020 graduate from the Cameron School of Business. I thought this would be a fitting interview to get an outside perspective of the Communication Studies Department. The first question I asked her was her thoughts on how the department represented itself on campus. She replied, “My only exposure to the Communication Department on campus was through the first introductory class my freshman year. Other than that I knew about the program through some of my friends but firsthand did not have that much exposure.” Because of this answer, I knew I needed to suggest a brand recommendation that dealt with the social media presence so there would be a larger range of exposure to students. My recommendation to create more cohesive social media accounts will help in gaining exposure because the different accounts reach different groups of people. But if they are all centered and recognizable as the Communication Studies Department, there will be more traffic on the sites.

My last interview was with a Communication Studies major at NC State named Cameron Addertion. I wanted an outside perspective on UNCW’s Communication Studies Department but also a perspective from someone who knows the field. When talking to Cameron I was informed at her University, when majoring in Communication Studies, student’s must pick a concentration. This was interesting o me because at UNCW you may pick a cluster to really dive into, but there will not be a cluster or concentration that will be seen on your diploma. Cameron said, “it is very different that UNCW gives you the opportunity to learn from all different clusters and you are not confined to only one.” This ties into the inclusivity that the Communication Studies Department is trying to promote. Students are able to attend any class in their major and explore beyond their comfort zone.

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Conclusion & Recommendations

As a whole, the Communication Studies Department at UNCW is has a positive culture that is promoting great work from its students inside and outside of the classroom. As Tori Demshick said, “Just being in Leutze, there is an energetic and feeling, all of the classroom look very engaged as well as students looking excited.” This quote encapsulates the culture in the Communication Studies Department perfectly, students as well as professors excited about learning and working with one another.

For my recommendations, I focused on internal and external communication to get an overall view of the organization. When focusing on the external communication, I realized the organization needed a more well-rounded social media presence to make the department more well known. In an effort to grow brand recognition, having all related social media pages look similar will help. It will also give a more professional look for employer’s to see when looking at their job candidate’s undergraduate school. Prospective students will also value this because when picking a major they are going to look for one that is professional and established.

My second recommendation was for internal communication practices in the organization. I suggested that the organization put more visible use to end of semester course evaluations. This can be done by department meetings, one on one meetings with the department chair, or even going over feedback in the class. This recommendation will let students know their feedback is taken seriously and also a way to evolve the classes to be effective for student’s learning styles.

This project was overall very interesting to conduct because the Communication Studies Department has been a huge part of my life and left a huge impact on me. Being able to analyze the department and get opinions from peers only solidified my first thoughts that this department has a positive culture and produces positive outcomes. No person I interviewed had a negative thing to say about the department which shows a lot about the brand and how it is represented.

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References:

Daymon, C., & Holloway, I. (2010). Qualitative research methods in public relations and marketing communications. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Ihlen, Oyvind., (2005)."Social Capital Theory," Page 494. Public Relations Review 31, 492 - 496.

Nicotera, Anne Maydan., (2009). "Constitutive View of Communication,"Page 2. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage).

Tracy, Sarah J., (2009). "Organizational Culture,"Page 3. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage).