Communication roles as predictors of motivation toward productivity under the conditions of groupness and organizationness.

Abstract

The rationale for this investigation suggests the dispersion of communication roles, ranging from the highly undispersed (organizationness) to the highly dispersed (groupness), may be distinguished in organizations. Ten sets of expectations, derived from the rationale, project the groupness/organizationness tendencies of three organizations (a small business firm, a military unit and a church) associated with worker motivation and productivity.

The data analysis suggested groupness and organizationness can be measured. As predicted the small business firm was significantly greater in groupness than the church and military unit. Person communication tended to be positively related to intrinsic motivation while inversely related to extrinsic motivation. Task communication roles tended to be positively related to extrinsic motivation, while inversely related to intrinsic motivation. Task communication tended to be the primary predictor of productivity in the military sample, while person communication tended to be the primary predictor of productivity in the church sample. Both task and person communication roles were significant predictors of productivity in the small business firm.