Relationship between participation in a self-directed work group and employee communication competence and apprehension: An exploratory study
Self-directed work groups are a new innovation in the workplace involving small group interaction. A by-product of working in a group environment is often increased communication between group members. This study investigated members' perceptions of their own communication competence and communication apprehension as a result of self-directed work group involvement. Surveys were given to employees participating in self-directed work groups and a comparable group not participating in work groups at a government defense contractor. Results of the study indicated no statistical differences between groups for perceived communication competence and communication apprehension, although the scores were in the predicted direction. A strong negative correlation was found for measures of competence and apprehension, indicating that as competence rises, apprehension lowers for both groups. Factors limiting the study included the relatively short time since the work groups were introduced and the government institution within which the experiment was conducted.
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