Abstract
Communication is the lifeblood of an organization, and high profitability is the central goal of any company. Few researchers have attempted to examine the relationship between employee communication satisfaction and company profitability. This study attempted to explore further the linkage between communication and profitability. To accomplish this a modified version of the communication satisfaction questionnaire developed by Down and Hazen was used and administered to employees of electric appliance manufacturing companies in Taiwan, R.O.C. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in the level of company profitability based on employee satisfaction ratings of the eight communication dimensions, and to determine if there is a significant correlation between employee satisfaction ratings of communications in their company among companies rated high, medium, and low in profitability. This study employed descriptive and statistical methods of research to identify and measure the degree of satisfaction employees have with communication in the work environment and any relationship there may be between profitability and communication satisfaction. The population of this study included all member companies of the Taiwan Electric Appliance Manufactures Association (TEAMA), which totals 3,900. A usable sample of 350 respondents were needed in order to test for statistical significance at the 95% level of confidence. A communication satisfaction questionnaire was administered to randomly selected member companies of TEAMA. The study employed a stratified random sample TEAMA companies classified as high, medium, or low in terms of profitability. The total number of subjects returning questionnaires was 352, which satisfied the minimum required sample for 95% confidence. Statistical treatment of the data included Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks, and Spearman's rank order correlation. There were four major conclusions: (1) There appears to be close connection between employee communication satisfaction and company profitability. (2) The employees of the high and medium profitability companies had an "above average" satisfaction with company communication, but employees of the low profitability companies had "less than average" satisfaction with company communication. (3) The rank order of importance of communication satisfaction dimensions differed greatly between high profitability companies and medium and low profitability companies. (4) There were significant differences in their perception of the eight basic communication dimensions among the three categories of companies.