KELLY C. LOCKHART DODSONCOHORT 11

Establishing Effective Communication with External

Stakeholders: The Impact of Training

Introduction

My school and school system were splattered all over the evening news and all the newspapers in Middle Tennessee for something that happened in a nearby school system.

Accreditation team recommended that the school system being studied implement a system-wide communication plan. (AdvancED, 2008)

Research Questions

Guiding Question: What is the effect of the designed system-wide communication plan and professional development training on school administrators’ competencies and attitudes related to communicating with external stakeholders, especially the media?

Research Questions

Specific Research Question #1: How does the designed system-wide communication plan and professional development impact administrators’ knowledge of communication models and theories, planning and implementation of a complementary school-level communication plan, crisis communication management skills, and media relations skills.

Research Questions

Specific Research Question #2: How does the designed system-wide communication plan and professional development impact administrators’ application of communication models and theories, planning and implementation of a complementary school-level communication plan, crisis communication management skills, and media relations skills.

Research Questions

Specific Research Question #3: How does the designed system-wide communication plan and professional development training impact administrators’ attitude toward school public relations initiatives?

Specific Research Question #4: What impact do critical incidents with media have on administrators’ attitude toward school public relations initiatives?

Review of Professional Literature

Communicating with external stakeholders, especially the media, is a standard for school administrators. (ISSLC, 2008)

Public perception of public schools is diminishing, as accountability and market competiveness increases. (Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, 2009)

Public perception and public support of public schools may increase through building relationships with external stakeholders, especially the media. (Bagin & Gallagher, 2001)

Review of Professional Literature

Establishing two-way symmetric communication is said to build mutual understanding between a formal organization and its “mass” or external stakeholders. (Grunig & Hunt, 1984)

The media is the primary external stakeholder through which all the rest of internal and external school and district stakeholders may be reached. (Pawlas, 1995)

Review of Professional Literature

Public education was once a cornerstone of American Democracy, allowing it to have a once-noble brand position. That is no longer the case. (Carr, 2006)

As with other studies, perceptions of schools vary depending on the polled person’s relationship to a public school. Parents of public school children connect differently with their schools than Americans who do not have children in school. (Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, 2008)

Review of Professional Literature

Perceptions of school quality vary significantly when Americans consider “their” public schools versus the public schools depicted in the media.

The problem is that the majority of people, even on a local level, do not have a direct connection to the schools through a child (Bagin & Gallagher, 2001; http://www.tennessee.gov.tacir/CountyProfile/cheathamprofile.htm).

Review of Professional Literature

Newspapers are becoming more reader-oriented and market-driven. (McManus, 1994; Underwood and Stamm, 1992; Bagdikian, 1985; Kwitney, 1990; Reisinger, 1983; Vergobbi, 1992; Briles, 1991; Mauro, 1987; Associated Press Managing Editors, 1990)

Market-driven or market-oriented journalism continues to change the culture of U.S. daily newspaper newsrooms. (American Journalism Review, 2000)

A strong market orientation implies that the organization will “aggressively seek to determine the kinds of information that readers or viewers say that they want or need and will provide it.” (Beam, 2000)

Review of Professional Literature

Traditional media are suffering financially. Annual print and online advertising are off $10 billion from 2006. (Colvin, 2009)

Newspaper ad revenues have fallen 23% in the last two years. (Rosenthal, 2009)

The journalists who are left are Twittering, blogging and filing updates directly to their news organizations’ websites, in addition to writing print stories. (Colvin, 2009)

Review of Professional Literature

In local television, news staffs are being cut at “unprecedented” rates; revenues fell by 7% in 2008, an election year, and ratings are flat across the schedule. (Rosenthal, 2009, p. 3)

At the same time, the audience migration to the internet was accelerating. The number of Americans who regularly go online for news jumped 19% in the last two years. Web traffic to the top 50 news sites rose 27% in two years. (Rosenthal, 2009)

Review of Professional Literature

Partly due to cut costs and to make up for lost or more narrowly focused content and to remain relevant, news organizations are beginning to join forces with institutions they once saw as rivals. (Rosenthal, 2009)

Newspapers and partnering with television stations, and newspapers are partnering with online platforms, such as Yahoo! (Rosenthal, 2009)

Review of Professional Literature

Crisis management research shows the need to cultivate pre-crisis relationships with stakeholders. (Birch, 1994; Couretas, 1985; Fearn-Banks, 1996; Seitel, 1983).

Crisis researcher Coombs (1999a) perhaps says it best: “A favorable pre-crisis relationship reflects a favorable organizational relationship. A reputation is derived from experiences with the organization, the relationship history with stakeholders.” (p. 51) Organizations build favorable relationship histories by meeting and exceeding stakeholder expectations. (Coombs, 1999b)

Review of Professional Literature

Training is a demonstrated way to increase knowledge, skills, and abilities, and also the application of new knowledge, skills, and abilities. (Tannenbaum & Yukl, 1992; Salas & Cannon-Bowers, 2001)

Attributes of trainees, including motivation, attitude, and expectations, can influence training effectiveness. (Tannenbaum & Yukl, 1992; Wexley & Latham, 1991; Noe, 1986)

Review of Professional Literature

The two studies found regarding school public relations training did not discuss the impact of the training but the need for training. (Calvin & Stark, 2003; Graham, 1997)

Attitude is related to involvement. If one is “involved,” one is ready or motivated to receive and to respond to messages, issues, and objects. Attitude is defined also as increased attentional capacity or as increased cognitive activation.

(Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984; Cameron, 1993)

Attitude signifies arousal, interest, and motivation. (Slater in Dillard & Pfau, 2002)

Attitude can acts as a filter also. (Slater in Dillard & Pfau, 2002)

Review of Professional Literature

Relevance is an antecedent to involvement. (Zaichkowsky, 1986)

Critical Incident Technique is used by different training bodies as a reflective tool in leadership training. In communication training, the type of communication critical incidents and a leaders’ response to the communication critical incident have been studied in order to train leaders how to better respond in future incidents. (Konig & De Jong, 2004)

Methodology

Population= 128 administrators from three suburban school districts near a large urban district in Tennessee.

75 administrators made up the population for the control group. The control group population came from two of three school districts which do not have a designated full-time public relations professional.

43 administrators from the county with the smallest Average Daily Membership made up the population for the experimental group. They, too, serve a school district without a designated full-time public relations professional.

Methodology

Sample=For the control group, the sample included willing administrators who took the pre- and posttest. 44 administrators from two school suburban school districts comprised the control group sample.

For the experimental group, the sample included 30 school administrators from the same suburban school district who took the pre- and posttest and also participated in one of two identical one-half day, three-hour professional development training sessions.

Radomization was not required because the population for both groups is below 100.

Methodology

Data gathering began with a review of literature. The researcher obtained permission to conduct a

study in the three suburban school systems and permission to conduct research with human subjects by Trevecca’s Institutional Review Board in summer 2009.

The researcher consulted an array of professionals in order to design training materials, the system-wide strategic communication plan, and the pretest/posttest. This process began in summer 2008 and continued for one year.

The pretest/posttest was pilot tested in fall 2009.

Methodology

Pretest responses were collected from the control and experimental groups starting in January 2010. Survey Monkey, mail surveys, and in-person visits were utilized to gather test responses.

In May 2010, the designed intervention was conducted for the experimental group. Directly after the seminar, posttest data was gathered from the experimental group.

Starting in early May and continuing through June 2010, posttest results from the control group were amassed via Survey Monkey, mail surveys, and in-person visits.

Starting in late May 2010, the researcher interviewed five participants of the study using the Critical Incident Technique in order to answer Research Question #4.

Methodology

InstrumentThe pretest/posttest was created by the

researcher based on a compilation of published communication tests. 58 multiple choice questions gauged knowledge and application (Research Questions 1 and 2.)

Attitude (Research Question 3) was assessed using the Personal Involvement Inventory, a semantic differential scale that is well published.

The Critical Incident Technique was used to answer Research Question 4.

Findings/Conclusions

Research Question #1: A multiple regression was run to investigate the relationship and predictive ability of two variables (School System and Pre Communication Knowledge) on administrators’ communication knowledge posttest scores. The overall model was significant, F (2, 50) = 72.66, p < .001, showing that the two variables can significantly predict posttest knowledge scores. The R2 = .74, which indicated that 74% of the variability in the posttest scores could be attributed to these two variables. Additionally, both of the individual predictors showed a significant relationship to the dependent variable (School System: b = 8.019, t = 6.5, p < .001; and Pre Communication Knowledge: b = .809, t = 10.1, p < .001.) The regression coefficient indicates that the experimental group scored 8.02 points better than the control group on the posttest while accounting for the pretest.

Findings/Conclusions

Research Question #2: In order to discover the relationship and predictive ability of two variables (School System and Pre Communication Application) on administrators’ communication application posttest scores, a multiple regression was run. The R was .820 and was significant, F (2, 50) = 51.43, p < .001, illustrating that posttest application scores are significantly predicted by the two variables. The R2 = .67 which indicates that 67% of the variability in the posttest scores could be accounted for by these two variables. Also, both of the individual predictors showed a significant relationship to the dependent variable (School System: b = 4.072, t = 7.37, p < .001; and Pre Communication Application: b = .705, t = 7.71, p < .001.) While accounting for the pretest, the regression coefficient denotes that the experimental group scored 4.07 points better than the control group on the posttest.

Findings/Conclusions

Research Question #3: Multiple regression was used to explore the relationship and predictive ability of two variables (School System and Pre Personal Involvement) on administrators’ personal involvement posttest scores. The R was .771 and was significant, F (2, 49) = 35.85, p < .001, showing that this combination of variables can significantly predict personal involvement posttest scores. Additionally, R2

= .59, showing that 59% of the variability in the posttest scores for involvement can be accounted for by these two variables. Both of the individual predictors showed a significant relationship to the dependent variable (School System: b = 7.106, t = 3.35, p < .01; and Pre Personal Involvement: b = .583, t = 8.04, p < .001). What the regression coefficient shows is that the experimental group scored 7.106 points better than the control group on the posttest while accounting for the pretest.

Findings/Conclusions

Research Question #4: Administrators’ attitudes toward school public relations initiatives, as measured by the Personal Involvement Inventory, were compared with their responses to question #92 regarding an unpleasant incident with the media as a school administrator. The result was significant. Administrators who said they experienced an unpleasant incident with the media as an administrator scored significantly “less involved” or had a poorer attitude toward school public relations initiatives than administrators who had not experienced an unpleasant incident, t (71) = 2.009, p < .05. Administrators’ scores on the knowledge and application portions of the pre/posttest were not significantly related to an unpleasant incident with the media as a school administrator, however, when statistically analyzed using an independent samples t test.

Findings/Conclusions

Research Question #4: The researcher also interviewed five administrators who participated in the study. Responses were recorded verbatim. Content analysis was performed to organize data for further explanation. Two of the critical incidents with the media were deemed negative. The remaining three critical incidents with the media were deemed positive. 20 of 31 negative words or phrases came from the two critical incidents deemed negative. 25 of 36 positive words or phrases came from the three critical incidents deemed positive. Positive words included: “relationship,” “proactive,” “positive,” “trust,” and “very pleased.”

Findings/Conclusions

Other findings: In response to Question #91 on the pretest/posttest, “Did you receive college instruction about communicating with the media as part of your schooling for your current job title?,” 30 experimental and 44 control group participants responded. 16.6% of the experimental group responded “yes”; whereas, 16 participants, or 36.3%, of the control group responded affirmatively. The majority of the study participants had not received college instruction about communicating with the media (N=53 or 71.6%).

Findings/Conclusions

An independent samples t test was run between the respondents’ answer to Question #91 and the pretest scores on all three sections of the pretest (knowledge, application, and attitude). Study participants who received college instruction on communicating with the media indicated significantly more involvement or better attitudes toward school public relations initiatives on the pretest, t (71) =-2.102, p < .05. College instruction did not significantly impact knowledge or application scores.

Discussion

Significant posttest data supported the positive impact of training materials and professional development training on knowledge and application of skills needed to communication with external stakeholders, especially the media, and also administrators’ attitudes toward school public relations initiatives.

Pretest attitudes toward school public relations initiatives were also significantly impacted by previous college-level instruction and upon “unpleasant” critical incidents with media.

Discussion

The findings are in keeping with previous research on training which show that learning and transfer will occur only when trainees have both the ability and volition to acquire and apply new skills. (Tannenbaum & Yukl, 1992; Wexley & Latham, 1991; Noe, 1986)

The researcher recommends the following:1. College-level communication courses for administrators as

part of their school administration licensure programs2. Communication training on individual school system level3. Further utilization of Critical Incident Technique in order for

school administrators to reflect fully on incidents with the media.

4. Further use of the Personal Involvement Inventory in educational settings

5. Further study of school public relations, especially within the area of relationship building