Communication and Knowledge Management Strategies

This assignment delves into the realm of workplace communication challenges, examining the complexities of employee inquiries and applicable solutions. It also touches on corporate communication, knowledge management at SMEs, managing information quality, social network theory, strategic knowledge management, and internal communication. The assignment aims to provide a thorough understanding of these concepts and their practical applications in real-world scenarios.

MANAGING
COMMUNICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ACTIVITY 1....................................................................................................................................1
Analysis of key information and knowledge requirements for a range of stakeholders in
different organisations............................................................................................................1
Systems used for communicating this information and knowledge.......................................2
Potential barriers to effective workplace communication......................................................3
Ways in which communication is being influenced by values and cultural factors...............3
Use of technology to both benefit and hinder the process of communication.......................4
Ways in which policies and procedures can impact the communication procedures.............4
ACTIVITY 2....................................................................................................................................5
Findings from the communication audit.................................................................................5
Evidence for communications audit, execution of such an audit and methods for improvement
................................................................................................................................................5
Organizational communication theories.................................................................................9
Plan to improve communication in the organization............................................................11
Different measures to evaluate the success through the plan...............................................11
ACTIVITY 3..................................................................................................................................12
Effectiveness of interpersonal communication skills...........................................................12
Application of interpersonal theories...................................................................................12
Asking for feedbacks from others........................................................................................13
Plan on personal development..............................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INDEX OF TABLES
Table 1: Development Plan..............................................................................................................6

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Attraction - Selection - Attrition framework.............................................................2
Illustration 2: Weak ties and strong ties...........................................................................................3
Illustration 3: Duration of objectives...............................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Communication is not only specified to be a crucial requirement in an individual’s life
but it also depicts to be a necessary consideration of almost all sort of business firms and
organisations. It is irrespective of the nature and size of their business where managing an active
communication reflects to be an equal concern of all. An effective communication is not only
apparent to result in a smooth functioning of work but is also evident to provide successful
business outcomes at the end (Beckett, 2003). The present report is also based upon a similar
consideration of managing communication in such efficient way that ultimately leads to a
successful accomplishment of targeted business objectives. For this purpose, this report has
exemplified the instances of a renowned retail based entity named Sainsbury to specify ways in
which the information and knowledge is being communicated to the associated organisational
bodies. Also, it has together focussed on scrutinizing the factors that greatly influences
workplace communication.
ACTIVITY 1
Analysis of key information and knowledge requirements for a range of stakeholders in different
organisations
There exists a wide range of stakeholders in an organisation where they are liable to work
at different organisational levels. This generally involves the employees, employers as well
as the customers associated with an enterprise and are responsible to undertake varied
business-related decisions. It however necessitates them to make a proper usage of several
key information by together considering the required set of data for taking effective
decisions. It includes-
1. Strategical decisions- This reflects some primary set of decisions to be taken up
by the organisations with the help of their related stakeholders such as financial
consultants and business proprietor, etc., (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). It will also
involve the decisions regarding the carried performance of the company by
analysing its fiscal information, sales figures and regional differences, etc. Such
type of decisions will also require the participation of board members,
shareholders, investors and directors, etc.
2. Managerial decisions- This is yet another important level of managerial decisions
that will include discussing upon the staff members and their availability in terms
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of their numbers. Also, wages are reflected to be yet another important
consideration over here with appropriate information about their appraisals and
training needs along with CPD requirements as well. Such type of decisions are
required to be taken up by the upper level managers by together involving other
administrative bodies of human resource department.
3. Tactical decisions- This type of decision includes the scrutinization of product
knowledge to further analyse the components required at the time of production
(Kebede, 2010). This reflects a foremost involvement of operatives as
stakeholders to take some prompt decisions regarding the roles to be carried out
by the professionals by together considering the specialised knowledge of all
about the bases of expertise.
Systems used for communicating this information and knowledge
This section has discoursed upon the systems that are required to be used for the purpose
of communicating the above identified data to respective stakeholders depending upon the
agenda of communication. Herein, information and knowledge both are referred to play a
significant role in contemporary organisations where it is expected to resolve any complex
situation of business (Desouza and Awazu, 2006). However, it together necessitates the firms to
possess expertise people with high level of skills and knowledge to satisfy the changing demands
of the market by quickly respond to any sort of change. It is also referred to be a dependent
outlook where a skilled workforce is likely to take sustainable decisions with instant solutions to
resolve any concerning issues related to work.
It is therefore on considering the above information’s categorised as strategical, managerial
and tactical, the organisations can hereby make an effective use of meetings to brief out the
undertaken decisions to the entire staff for its further implementation. Also, presentations can be
used to effectively explain the accepted business-related decisions by the employers to their
subordinates (Pfeffermann and Hulsmann, 2011). Email to disseminate the information to other
related stakeholders such as investors, shareholders and creditors, etc., can also be used as a way
of conveying message. Whereas, newsletters as a more formal approach can be used for the
consumers to transmit any requisite data to them. Lastly, training sessions also reflects an
immense importance for the employees to clearly understand any modified or intruded work-
related norms, etc.
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Potential barriers to effective workplace communication
Barriers in communication are directly referred as some leading obstacles in workplace
that ultimately leads to the prevention of an effective idea sharing among the organisational
bodies. Such type of barriers causing deterrence in sharing of thoughts leads to strain and
pressure among the workers where they often start performing in a defective manner (Bambacas
and Patrickson, 2008). This in turn leads to create a demotivated workforce that relatively
hampers the entire work based agenda of the enterprises resulting into no accomplishment of
their targeted aims and objectives. It is thus important to prevent such barriers that discourages
an effective communication at the workplace. For this purpose, one should primarily get a clear
idea of such potential barriers as discussed below-
o Oral communication- This is on assessing the verbal communication taking place
among the workers, it is important to present a message in clear tone with full
focus on clarity to help listeners in precisely understand the conveyed message.
o Clarity of written communication- It is stated to be yet another potential barrier
in effective communication at workplace where often the language used by the
transmitter does not reflects quality making it difficult for others to understand.
This in turn necessitates the sender to use simple language with a clear tone to
present the message which is also readable for others (Conrad, 2014).
o Technical skills- This indicates poor network at the workplace with an unsuitable
usage of available tools and methods of communication. It is thereby important to
prevent any such negative occurrence at the workplace with a smooth flow of
message among the respective organisational bodies.
Ways in which communication is being influenced by values and cultural factors
In an organisation, communication can easily get influenced due to a number of factors
where values and cultures of different workers belonging to distinct socio- cultural background
tends to differ in several ways. These factors are as delineated below-
 Language- This is mainly due to a diversified set of employees working in an
organisation who belongs to different communities and face issues in interacting
through a primarily accepted language (Eppler, 2006). It hereby indicates a principal
responsibility of the HR to understand such concerning differences and take
necessary steps to value the recognised socio- cultural differences of each of the
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communities. For this purpose, they can hereby refer to conduct diversity training
program by which, all can value one other’s distinct set of thoughts.
 Saving face- It is mainly in context to the theory of cross cultural communication
where it directly influences the communication process to a great extent. It is
specially in case of facing any of the following situations where either a worker is
admitting something impossible and asking for assistance or extra time in it, etc. It is
therefore to avoid such situation which can be seen in many Asian nations where it is
embarrassing for someone to say no to any work.
Use of technology to both benefit and hinder the process of communication
Technology is an utmost requirement of almost all sort of organisations where it is mostly
used to achieve the targeted organisational goals on time. In today’s progressive world, it has
clearly changed the way of working by reducing the human errors to a great extent (López-
Nicolás and Meroño-Cerdán, 2011). However, there together exists some major detrimental
aspects of technology, as specified below-
o Benefits of technology-
 It is with the help of an effective source of technology, companies can
now make an easy interaction with their customers with the help of
various social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter, etc.
 Using digital networks is referred to be yet another potential use of
technology that can easily beat the situation of bad weather, etc. Herein,
video conferring can serve as a best medium for the businesses to conduct
meetings, etc.
o Hindrance of technology- Privacy issue is referred to hinder the entire process of
communication to a great extent. This reason often leads to create a sense of
insecurity in customers where they avoid exchanging any of their information
with that to the business.
Ways in which policies and procedures can impact the communication procedures
There exists certain policies and procedures that directly impacts upon the undertaken
procedure of communication in business entities. These are mainly influenced by various
legislative acts, charters and codes of practice, etc. It is however to prevent an improper use of
technology hindering into an effective process of communication (Tofanelli, 2012). For this
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purpose, the companies must follow some considerable laws based upon the norms of Equality
Act, 2010 comes under diversity legislation law, Privacy and data protection act, etc. However,
there together exists yet another potential custom of communication charter to effectively
maintain the interactions taking place among the organisational stakeholders. It is further
influenced by Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and Communication Act,
2003.
ACTIVITY 2
Findings from the communication audit
Communication audit refers to the evaluation of an organisation’s ability with respect to
send, receive and share information with people within the enterprise. It is a vital measure to
assess the strength and weakness of the communication tactics adopted by the company, based
on which some corrective actions are needed to be adopted (Rossetto, 2013). Sainsbury's
communication audit was performed where data from staff and stakeholders was collected with
respect to the communication process, strategies, procedures and practices followed by them. On
whose basis, following findings have been ascertained:
 Feedbacks were collected from the internal audience which showed that they have clear
vision with respect to the communication strategies adopted by the company.
 Most of the people working in the organization are satisfied with the communication
process and want to continue with the same as they find it effective.
 Majority of the communication is done through mails in order to maintain effectiveness
and storing the information electronically as well.
 The company promotes both informal and formal communication practice.
 Various communication channels are used which includes, meetings, letters, circulars,
publications etc.
 It ensures that appropriate channel is used in order to eliminate misunderstandings and
communication gap between the parties.
Evidence for communications audit, execution of such an audit and methods for improvement
A 5-step procedure of communication audit was followed by Sainsbury which is as
specified below-
Undertaken steps of audit Generated results
1. Analysed the communication  This indicated the first step where the
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measures dispersed to
Sainsbury’s targeted set of
audience.
adopted methods of communication
including press releases, blog, newsletters,
company’s website and social media
strategy was accumulated for further
scrutinization of its usefulness.
 This indicated a major involvement of
external audience like the regular
customers and other targeted consumers of
Sainsbury.
 Herein, a chief requirement was to
evaluate the aforesaid methods of
communication by ensuring a smooth
distribution of key messages to the
targeted set of audience by also addressing
any loopholes in it.
2. Received feedback from all
internal set of audiences in
Sainsbury who were asked to
participate in the process of
communication audit.
 This showed a leading involvement of the
internal audiences like the staff members
and other related stakeholders of
Sainsbury.
 It involved a one on one interview with
the employees where they were asked
about their own set of ideas for an ideal
communication strategy.
 Herein, they were also asked to give their
valuable views on staff’s role in the
internal procedure of communication
adopted by Sainsbury.
3. Gathered information about the
way in which the external
audiences observe Sainsbury.
 This exhibited some concerns related to
the observation of the external audiences
of Sainsbury by assessing the use of
traditional communication methods.
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 Also, the use of social media by the cited
firm was discussed over here to know the
factual thoughts of the external audiences
towards Sainsbury.
4. Carried out a SWOT analysis to
identify the strengths and
weaknesses of the undertaken
strategies by together comparing
the findings with that to the
ascertained threats and
opportunities.
 This section includes some evidences
based on the appropriateness of applied
communication methods in Sainsbury.
 This session has together addressed some
unsuitable measures that are uncertain for
the attainment of organisational goals.
 Also, the internal audiences were asked to
present their factual concerns and
discourse upon the opportunities for
improving the efforts to make an effective
communication with both external and
internal set of audience.
 Lastly, on considering the above identified
opportunities, some possible threats were
also being discussed for further scheming
of such precautionary steps that will help
in the avoidance of any risky situation.
5. Proposed relevant changes in the
currently adopted plan of
communication based on the
above assembled detections.
 This referred the last stage of this auditing
process in which productive proposals
were made by the participant audience
such as the employees and other staff
members as internal stakeholders.
 It has been done on analysing the above
acquired findings that were focussed on
the strengths, etc.
 Herein, the opportunities were also
considered and on whose basis, further
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plans for decreasing the weakness and
removing threats were designed.
Evidence gathered from the above conducted communication audit
 Both internal and external communication reflects a principal concern of Sainsbury
where their internal communication is being regarded by their senior managerial bodies
and is one of the most intrinsic concern for achieving success.
 Considering the same, the above conducted audit together aimed at developing an
effective strategy for internal communication by together assessing their present adopted
strategies.
 Below are the specific concerns presented by the participant bodies of the audit towards
the both external and internal tactics of communication.
o An appropriate utilisation of email and electronic information storage.
o Sharing of data all across the enterprise.
o Existent ability of managers to communicate with professional skills.
o Efficiency of key channels of communication that are presently undertaken by
Sainsbury.
Based on the above discussed concerns, below are some suggested measures to make an
improved communication strategy at both internal and external set of audiences-
 Development of an effective electronic communication’s plan which will serve the
purpose of improving the frequency of electronic messaging by reducing the quantity of
needless emails. This is also expected to improve the use of chief mailing groups.
 Improvement in existing publications of Sainsbury where its improved newsletter will
lead to te sharing of best information and practices.
 Developing a precise set of guidelines for communication to support all organisational
bodies such as employees, managers and superintendents, etc. This is expected to lead
into an effective delivery of information to one another at the workplace with an
increased level of efficiency to interact with the external stakeholders.
Organizational communication theories
There are various communication theories that can be adopted by an entity in order to
accomplish effective communication strategy. Some theories are mentioned below:
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 Attraction – Selection – Attrition framework: This is a common model that is used by
most of the entities to promote appropriate organizational culture at the workplace. It
shows that the core objectives of an employee should match with that of organization's
culture (Verčič, Verčič and Sriramesh, 2012). The individuals who gets attracted towards
the organization have similar personality, values and interest to that of employees that are
already working in the enterprise. Recruitment is performed based on the possession of
individual's knowledge, skills and interest matching to existing employees. Moreover, if
any employees do not fit to the culture overtime then he is laid off from the organization.
Adoption of this framework helps in making the communication process aligned and
effective.
(Source: Picking Your Guildies: The Role of Attraction, Selection, and Attrition, 2010)
 Contingency theory: According to this theory, there are no set principles that can be
adopted by the organization while making decisions as the ultimately course of action is
linked to prevailing internal and external situations (Contingencies theories, 2017).
Hence, an appropriate method of communication is selected by the leader is selected
based on the circumstances. In order to avoid these types of situation, Sainsbury choose
this type of communication practice that is aligned to the objective and serve its purpose
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Illustration 1: Attraction - Selection - Attrition framework

to the best. This is because, different situations call for diverse course of actions that is
best fit in a particular condition.
 Group think theory: A group of people tend to take incorrect decisions due to pressure
created by various group members deteriorating their thinking abilities of taking prudent
decisions (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). They are brain washed in such a manner that it
questions their moral judgement and reality testing capabilities of decisiveness. There are
various symptoms of group thinking such as:
◦ Opting for excessive optimism that allows them to take extreme risks in a particular
area leading to take inappropriate decision (Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger, 2013)
◦ Pressure from the peers to not express the correct argument.
◦ Doubts and deviations are not communicated by members of the group.
It results in deviation in the appropriate decision which leads to failure of the project as
well. Sainsbury adopt this theory in such a way that it prepares groups for decision making
taking group thinking into consideration so that actual decisions can be promoted which are
linked to the core objectives.
 Social network theory: It helps in assessing the methods in which employee in the entity
tend to make communicate with other people within the network (Cornelissen and
Cornelissen, 2017). It consists of two parties, referred as nodes, which can be individuals,
organizations or companies. It plays an important role in analysing the methods in which
people interact with each other. It ascertains weak and strong ties in the communication
process as well.
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(Source: Liu and et.al., 2017)
Plan to improve communication in the organization
There are various methods that can be suggested to Sainsbury in order to improve
communication process within the organization. Some of them are listed below:
 Conduct deeper analysis of the current communication process and find out the areas
which requires corrective actions.
 The new process or area adopted must be with the consensus of all the employees
working in the entity as they are the people who have to adopt the new practice.
 A survey can be conducted among the employees and top-level management to assess the
deviations for better practice
 If any new process is adopted it is important to provide training to the employees for its
smooth functioning.
 Evaluation of feedback based on the experience of employees after the adoption of new
practice and take appropriate measures.
Different measures to evaluate the success through the plan
It is important to assess that whether the adopted plan have proved to be fruitful for
Sainsbury or not. In order to evaluate this, various measures can be considered, such as,
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Illustration 2: Weak ties and strong ties

 The entity can compare the sales figures after adopting changes with respect to the
previous years. The main objective of any company is to generate higher sales revenue
and any measure is adopted to attain this objective. Hence, it is an important measure to
assess if the plan is productive or not.
 Increase in staff retention and decease in staff turnover will help in evaluating that
whether the employees are comfortable enough with the new technique adopted in the
organization. It also helps in finding out the satisfaction level among the staff.
 Increase in motivation of employees leads to greater productivity. Adoption of new
technique can cause increase or decrease in motivation level of staff members which will
affect their productivity in positive or negative manner.
ACTIVITY 3
Effectiveness of interpersonal communication skills
Interpersonal communication skills are the process of evaluating once own verbal and
non-verbal skills of communication (Bloom and et.al., 2014). I, being an active participant in
meetings and seminars have been able to learn how to communicate formally and informally.
Listening is the best practice that can be used to improve communication skills. Moreover, I was
clear and concise in the meetings so that it can be communicated well to the listeners. Moreover,
expressions, attentiveness, body language also plays an important role in conveying the message
effectively. Hence, I try to communicate in the most effective manner so that the ultimate task
can be performed in right manner at the workplace as well. Another important factor of
communication is writing skills of a person. I try to communicate the important tasks in written
format so that it can be understood and revised properly. It does not hamper the task if the
listener was not attentive at the time of oral communication practice. Moreover, Information and
communication technology is another important way to communicate which includes, audio
visual systems, telephone, computer soft wares etc. It makes the communication process easy
and effective as it is an appropriate way to accelerate growth and ensure productivity in a
particular task.
Application of interpersonal theories
There are various theories of interpersonal communication that which includes:
 Attribution theory: It is concerned to the way I which people interpret a particular event
is totally dependent on one's thinking and behaviour. The interpretation may change due
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to the reflection of a particular situation in which a person is dwelling in (Attribution
theory, 2017). Hence, I can improve my interpersonal communication skill using this
theory by keeping myself motivated and calm so that information transfer process can be
handled diligently.
 Expectancy value model: The theory is concerned to the expectations and belief one
carries to complete the tasks. It is directly related to the behaviour and choices they make
in completing a particular job. It is important that I carry a positive attitude towards the
task so that it can reach to goal as per the belief. The perceived probability will be higher
in that case.
 Uncertainty reduction model: It is concerned to the initial interaction between the two
parties. As people are not aware about each other, it motivates them to reduce the
uncertainty by attempting to gather information. It can be adopted by me as it will help in
developing relationship with the other party and ascertain that if the person is interested
in a particular deal by observing his / her body language and gestures.
 Social network theory: This theory can be adopted to make strong and weak ties with
the employees within the organization. Appropriate method will allow me to make strong
ties with the other party and complete the task in effective way.
Asking for feedbacks from others
Feedback is the process which helps in assessing that whether any improved have been
experienced in the individual or not. It will allow me ascertain the improvement made in
interpersonal communication skill. Feedbacks can be taken in oral or written format. Oral format
will include taking assessment through conversation and written can be in survey format. I
adopted for written format where questionnaire was filled by a sample of 20 people.
It can be performed in formal or informal manner where it has been experienced that
informal format tend to reveal genuine assessment. Taking feedback in informal manner do not
reveal certain deviation due to hesitation of people in revealing the truth. Based on the
feedbacks, I got to know that I need to make certain improvements in communication skill. It
includes:
 Improvement in pitch of the voice
 Gestures contains no feature which reduce the impact of information
 Improvement in choice of words
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 Eye contact
Plan on personal development
Below are the SMART objectives that can be prepared for personal development:
Table 1: Development Plan
Activities Duration Measuring criteria
Control in voice pitch 2 weeks Feedbacks from others
Improvement in
gestures 3 weeks Feedbacks from others
Improvement in choice
of words 4 weeks By assessing the number of new words and
phrases used everyday
Eye contact 2 weeks Feedbacks from others
Moreover, apart from the above improvement I will try to indulge in different
presentations and meetings in order to improve my communication skills. I will take help from
reading material to improve choice of words and usage of effective phrases. Formal and informal
14
Control in voice pitch
Improvement in gestures
Improvement in choice of words
Eye contact
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Duration in weeks
Illustration 3: Duration of objectives

meetings require use of different gesture, body language and words which is required to be
pondered on. Further, after the adoption of all the methods, timely feedback will be taken from
managers and colleagues to inculcate further improvements.
CONCLUSION
Based on the above report, it can be concluded that, it is important to follow effective
communication process to ensure productivity in the organization. Technology plays an
important role to achieve the organizational goal as it helps in faster and accurate transfer of
information. Further, there are various theories that can be applied to improve communication
process, such as, contingency theory, group think theory, social network theory etc. In the end, a
development plan of 4 weeks has been created to overcome the barriers of interpersonal
communication.
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REFERENCES
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Managing Effective Communication Campaigns(Vol. 10). Routledge.
Bambacas, M., and Patrickson, M., 2008. Interpersonal communication skills that enhance
organisational commitment. Journal of Communication Management. 12(1). pp.51-72.
Beckett, R., 2003. Communication ethics: Principle and practice. Journal of Communication
Management. 8(1). pp.41 – 52.
Bloom, N. and et.al., 2014. The distinct effects of information technology and communication
technology on firm organization. Management Science. 60(12). pp.2859-2885.
Conrad, D., 2014. Workplace communication problems: Inquiries by employees and applicable
solutions. Journal of business studies quarterly. 5(4). pp.105.
Cornelissen, J. and Cornelissen, J. P., 2017. Corporate communication: A guide to theory and
practice. Sage.
Desouza, K. C. and Awazu, Y., 2006. Knowledge management at SMEs: five peculiarities.
Journal of knowledge management. 10(1). pp.32-43.
Eppler, M. J., 2006. Managing information quality: Increasing the value of information in
knowledge-intensive products and processes. Springer Science & Business Media.
Kebede, G., 2010. Knowledge management: An information science perspective. International
Journal of Information Management. 30(5). pp.416-424.
Liu, W. and et.al., 2017. Social network theory. The International Encyclopedia of Media
Effects.
López-Nicolás, C. and Meroño-Cerdán, Á.L., 2011. Strategic knowledge management,
innovation and performance. International journal of information management. 31(6).
pp.502-509.
Pfeffermann, N. and Hulsmann, M., 2011. Strategies and Communications for Innovations: An
Integrative Management View for Companies and Networks. Springer Science &
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Rossetto, K. R., 2013. Relational coping during deployment: Managing communication and
connection in relationships. Personal Relationships.20(3). pp.568-586.
Tofanelli, D., 2012. Communication in Organizations. AuthorHouse.
Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T. L. and Seeger, M. W., 2013. Effective crisis communication: Moving
from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications.
Verčič, A. T., Verčič, D. and Sriramesh, K., 2012. Internal communication: Definition,
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Online
Attribution theory. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/communication-theories/sorted-by-cluster/
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Contingencies theories. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/communication-theories/sorted-by-cluster/
Organizational%20Communication/Contingency_Theories/>. [Accessed on 7th
September 2017].
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Picking Your Guildies: The Role of Attraction, Selection, and Attrition. 2010. [Online]. Available
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of-attraction-selection-and-attrition/>. [Accessed on 7th September 2017].
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