Assessing the van Ruler Communication Strategy

Document Type : Research Article (with quantitative approaches)

Author
omid mahdieh
Department of Management and Accounting, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan
10.48308/jpap.2021.101954
Abstract
Purpose: The importance of communication for organizations has resulted in a wide variety of perspectives being proposed and investigated. This study was conducted to assess the validity and generalizability of van Ruler’s model, or grid, of communication.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The present research has been done descriptively (survey) and in the form of quantitative approach. After creating a scale based on van Ruler’s model, we administered it to two samples of employees in Iranian workplace settings.
Research Findings: Results of confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses (CFAs and EFAs, respectively) failed to support the communication strategies proposed by van Ruler in that there was lack of model fit in CFAs, and in initial EFAs further disconfirmation of the model occurred because there were only two factors in the data for both samples. Refined follow-up EFAs challenged the model still further because both sample’s data comprised a single factor.
Limitations & Consequences: 
Because the initial questionnaire was designed based on content analysis, other researchers may extract different dimensions for organizational communication based on van Ruler’s model. The present study was conducted on two Iranian organizations and caution should be exercised in generalizing the findings.
Practical Consequences: After canvassing explanations for the results, we conclude that compartmentalized conceptions concerning organizational communication might be useful in some contexts but are not necessarily perceived as being compartmentalized by recipients of the communication, nor are they necessarily generalizable across contexts.
Innovation or value of the Article: The present study, for the first time, designed and tested a scale for measuring organizational communication based on the van Ruler’s model. In designing communication models, cultural values and differences must be taken into account
Paper Type: Research Paper
Keywords
Organizational Communication
Van Ruler
Communication Grid
Communication Strategy
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