Supervisory Communication and Performance in Urban Hospitals

The relationship between the communicative effectiveness of hospital supervisory personnel and their performance as perceived by subordinate workers was examined through use of questionnaire interview. Communicative effectiveness measures included (1) perceived communication behavior, (2) frequency and amount of communication between supervisors and subordinates, (3) employee knowledge of hospital policies and procedures, (4) perceived employee communication satisfaction and (5) perceived use of formal channels of communication by non-supervisory workers. Performance ratings included scales on human relations, administrative and technical skills. Hypotheses predicted positive correlations (1) between communication effectiveness and performance, (2) between amount (and frequency) of communication and performance, (3) between employees’ communication satisfaction and supervisor performance, (4) between employee knowledge of hospital policies (and procedures) and supervisor performance ratings, and (5) between amount of use (by employees) of formal channels of communication and supervisor performance ratings. With noted exceptions, the first three hypotheses were supported. Results are discussed in the context of related studies of supervisory communication and performance in hospitals and in industry.