Date Approved

5-12-2000

Embargo Period

6-23-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in Public Relations

Department

Public Relations & Advertising

College

Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts

Advisor

Bagin, Don

Subject(s)

Communication in personnel management; Electronic mail messages; Publishers and publishing--Employees

Disciplines

Public Relations and Advertising

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine how employees in the publishing industry prefer to receive information from their managers and whether face-to-face communication is still valued in today's technology-focused society.

Using a mail survey, developed after a Lexis-Nexis literature review at Rowan University, the author polled 163 employees from three Philadelphia-area publishing companies regarding the channels through which they preferred to receive messages from their managers. The author hand-coded the survey results, analyzed the data and developed conclusions and recommendations.

The study found that employees (72.1%) preferred to receive messages through face-to-face communication. Men (8.3%) were more likely to prefer a paper memo than women (4.0%) while women (21.5%) were more likely to prefer e-mail than men (17.2%). More than 25% of 18 to 25 year-old respondents, 21.0% of 26 to 34 year-old respondents, 21.1% of 35 to 49 year-old respondents and 17% of respondents 50 years and older preferred e-mail communication. The number of years experience did not significantly impact preference for one channel over another.

Overall, men tended to prefer more traditional forms of communication (paper memo, face-to-face) than women. Young employees were more likely to prefer e-mail communication than older employees. Regardless of age, gender and experience, respondents most often chose face-to-face communication as their preferred method of receiving information from managers.

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