The recently launched Organizational Communication Research Center offers over 27 categories of research focused on employee engagement, internal communications and organizational behavior.

The featured study, "The Link Between Leadership Style, Communicator Competence, and Employee Satisfaction", examines the impact of a supervisor's communication competence and leadership style on employee satisfaction.

A supervisors' communication competence, including listening and interpersonal communication, is the greatest predictor of employee satisfaction. The study shows that a relational leadership style, or a more personal and inclusive style, was found to positively influence employee communication satisfaction, but not employee job satisfaction.

More studies like this can be found in the Organization Communication Research Center.  What does this study mean to you and your organization?

Educating for Complexity

By Frank Ovaitt, Institute for Public Relations

At the PRSA International Conference in San Francisco, the Commission on Public Relations Education unveils its new report,"Standards for a Master's Degree in Public Relations: Educating for Complexity."

Development and dissemination of these research-based standards were funded by the PRSA Foundation and the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations.  The standards seek to give public relations students and their future employers a competitive edge by ensuring that master's graduates have developed knowledge and skills in these areas:               

*             Strategic public relations management

*             Basic business principles and processes

*             Communication/public relations theory and research methods

*             Global influences on the practice of public relations

*             Ethics             

The Commission brings together 15 professional organizations - including the Institute for Public Relations.  Since 1975, it has produced standards for education in public relations which have been adopted by colleges and universities throughout the United States.

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