Abstract:
The focal point of the study is the description of the
communication relationship between PASAR Corporation’s top
managers and their immediate subordinates as influenced by
privatization.
In order to establish such a study, the basic assumption
that the communication climate is influenced by environmental
factors such as radical organizational change, which in this case
was privatization, was taken into consideration. The kind of
communication climate that ensued out of it was further assumed
to form a specific communication relationship between superiors
and subordinates.
Through two forms of adapted surveys conducted on 31
employees, the Communication Climate Survey (from Pace and
Faules’ Communication Climate Inventory) and the Communication
Relationship Value Sample (from the International Communication
Association’s questionnaire on identifying communication
relationships), the following hypotheses were proven:
1. Investigations, forced resignations, hiring of new employees
the presence of “consultants”, and restructuring affect the
nature of the communication relationship between top
management and their immediate subordinates.
2. There is a climate of low levels of trust, participative
decision making, supportiveness, downward listening, upward
communication, and concern for high performance goals in the presence of investigations, forced resignations, hiring of new
employees, of “consultants”, and restructuring.
3. The communication climate determines the level of trust,
respect, and confidence of superiors and subordinates have for
each other in the higher part of the hierarchy.
4. The levels of openness, listening, supportiveness, sincerity,
honesty and tolerance for differences in opinions affect the
levels of subordinate trust, respect and confidence for their
immediate superiors in their communication relationship.
The information gathered from the interviews of five
selected top managers revealed that they try to cope with anxiety
over the consequences of privatization by fostering a positive
communication climate.
However, through the analyses of findings, it was found out
that the top managers as subordinates felt that the communication
climate was still lacking in trust, participative decision
making, supportiveness, downward listening, upward communication,
and concern for high performance goals. The communication
relationship that was present in effect was characterized by low
levels of trust, respect and confidence.
The study thus concludes that top managers as superiors
show more trust, respect and confidence towards their immediate
subordinates in their communication relationship. On the other
hand, as the subordinates, they need a more positive
communication climate in the face of the consequences of
privatization to foster on their part a communication
relationship filled with trust, respect and confidence for their
superiors. The study further recommends the following:
1. To study the element of time or working history together
as a factor influencing the nature of communication
relationships.
2. To study the influence of the kind of communication
relationship between top managers on the rest of the
communication relationships in the organization.
3. To Identify the contributions of the organizational
communication relationship or climate on the
communication relationship in the top hierarchy.
