Organizational Communication

Jessica Gordon-Project ManagerSydney Thomas Ware-Graphics Specialist

Josh Smith-Research AnalystKaren Citroen-Writing Specialist

Brigid Kapfhammer- Writing SpecialistDarlene Purvis-Presentation Specialist

How the Slippery Rock Rocket works:

The Rocket employs 12 students who are on the permanent staff who are required to work approximately 12

hours per week. There are also about one or two students per section who are contributors to The Rocket but are

not part of the permanent staff who work at least six hours a week. Dr. Harry, who has extensive newspaper

experience, is the current advisor for The Rocket. He is has no formal power over the paper, but his job is to

simply advise the students. All stories and pictures for the Rocket are due Thursday night so that the paper can

be produced every Friday morning. The permanent positions at the Rocket are as follows:

Editor in Chief Photo Editor News Editor Focus Editor Sports Editor Assistant Editor for each section Web editor Copy editor Full-time news reporter

Current Situation:

The Rocket is currently in the process of training the new staff for next school year. Dr. Zeltner will be taking

over as the advisor.

New Staff Selection Process:

Recruitment

Slippery Rock Rocket hires a new staff every year at the beginning of April. The new staff shadows the old

members for a week and then produces the paper on the last Thursday of the semester. The editor in chief posts

applications outside of The Rocket office for prospective members. The editor will also bring different section

editors to communication classes to do a short presentation on The Rocket. To recruit contributing writers,

emails are sent out to organizations and incoming freshmen, specifically those in FYRST seminar classes.

Interviewing Process

All applicants that turn in a completed application are granted an interview. Interviews take place in The Rocket

office with all members and advisors present. During the interview, the editor in chief asks the main questions.

Depending on the applicant, the specific section editors may ask questions as well. After all interviews have

been concluded, a voting process takes place two weeks later. The names of the candidates are placed on the

white board and then discussed by the staff. After discussions are over, voting takes place. The editor then

collects the ballots and all staff members are asked to leave the room while the editor counts the votes.

Contacting the New Staff

The new editor in chief contacts the staff to coordinate meeting times for the new staff to shadow the old staff.

After the interview process has been concluded, emails are sent out to those who were not hired to encourage

contributions and to apply for positions for the next year.

Assessment of the Organization:

The following part of the paper will assess the Rocket according to the eight characteristics of highly effective

teams. This section is based on surveys administered among both the new and old Rocket staff, as well as

interviews with the new and old advisor.

#1: Clear Elevating Goal

In an interview with Dr. Harry about the mission statement, constitution and bylaws of the Rocket, he

mentioned that he believes that all of the documents are still adequate. The Rocket has a constitution that is filed

with the SGA to make sure that their actions are kept in the right and they don’t cross any lines. These

documents have been in place since 2006, but have not been changed since then. Dr. Harry says that the reasons

for this are that no one thought to review them and the fact that they are generally accepted.

Dr. Harry was drafted for this position out of desperation since the previous advisor left in the middle of the

year. Because of this, he said he had no goals going into the school year because he hadn’t expected the

position. He did say, however, that he definitely wanted to adhere to the Rocket’s mission statement.

Unfortunately, no one seemed to know what the mission statement was and it was unable to be found. Kacie

Peterson, The Rocket’s editor in chief, said that although she cannot recall the mission statement off of the top

of her head, she still has set goals for the paper. “I’d like to think that our goals include working cooperatively

and efficiently to produce a respectable and high quality newspaper for the student and university body of

SRU,” she said.

#2: Results-Driven Structure

The Rocket has a 12 person staff with an adviser. It is a pyramidal structure with the power operating from the

top down. The structure of the organization has mainly remained the same over the past years. Peterson said that

it isn’t necessary to make changes in the structure. According to the editor in chief, this current structure is

effective because there is always someone that someone else has to report to. “Even though each staff member

has a different title, they all get along and work well together and those titles are kind of forgotten about in

terms of someone out ranking another,” she said. The only change in structure occurred three years ago when

Dr. Harry pushed for a full-time news reporter on the staff. One of the copy-editing positions was cut to make

room in the budget for this full-time news reporter.

#3: Competent Team Members

The advisor has zero control on making sure the staff stays productive. This responsibility of staying productive

and working together is entirely on The Rocket staff. “I think the editors work well together,” said Peterson.

“I’ve spent the year observing their personalities and how everyone ticks. By doing so, it makes it easier to spot

potential problems and recognize how to respond to situations depending on the individual. Luckily, I haven’t

had to do that as much as I thought might be needed,” she said.

The section editors have the brunt of the work because it is their responsibility that everything turns out

factually correct and accurate. Peterson said that the assistants serve as support for the section editors. They

often write even more articles than the section editor and also do the work that the section editors do not have

time for. Because of this, Peterson is proud to say that all of the members of The Rocket are truly competent.

#4: Unified Commitment

In any organization, you’ll have people who are committed and people who aren’t. “Most of the Rocket staff is

committed,” said Dr. Harry in his interview. “It’s the staff who that isn’t paid that sometimes lacks

commitment,” he said. Both he and Kacie believe that there is great unified commitment as far as the permanent

staff is concerned, however. The permanent staff signs on for a nine-month contract and it’s generally not

broken.

It’s the responsibility of the editors to come up with a story budget every week and send it to the editor in chief.

The editors generally assign different stories to contributors. However, there are a lot of issues about not having

enough contributors for the sections. The Sports section is has the most writers and recruits the most people, so

people are very committed to that. News is definitely the hardest to get people to write for, so it is hard to find

committed contributors. Peterson said that it is kind of hard to keep writers continually contributing and

committed because it is on a volunteer basis. It is up to the writer to decide if they can commit that week or not.

#5: Collaborative Climate

According to our surveys issued to the new Rocket staff, they expect to be working in a collaborative climate

with solid communication while maintaining somewhat of a relaxed atmosphere. There is also an expectancy of

a high level of journalistic standards.  Organization and Leadership are other key elements expected to be in the

climate of The Rocket because of the Communication Department’s high standards.

The staff seems to always be in the office. Someone is usually there throughout the day, regardless of their

position. The editors are mostly available, depending on what their class schedule allows. The advisor is around

when his office hours are scheduled, as well. In the past, issues have arisen between staffers, but it’s the job of

the editor in chief to see that things are resolved. “Our whole team really does work well together,” Peterson

said. “We haven’t had a lot of issues, but I know that if one were to occur everyone would work really well

together to get it resolved,” she said. Depending on the situation, the advisor will intervene. The change of

advisors isn’t necessarily looked down upon, but Peterson thinks that a frequent changing of advisors would

affect the climate of The Rocket.

#6: Standards of Excellence

When new staff members are hired, they are required to have certain qualifications. Those

standards/qualifications depend on the position. For the copy editing position, members have to pass a written

test. In order to ensure the excellence of articles, a finished story goes through a series of edits. The story is sent

to the section editor then to the copy editor and then to the editor in chief who does the final edit. At any point,

the story can be edited for content, revised, added or deleted. These standards are set by the code of journalism

ethics. Most of the articles written for the paper are written by staff members. In order to avoid incidents with

incorrect stories, like an event in the past, all stories written for reporting classes can only be printed in The

Rocket after they have been graded by Dr. Harry and are submitted for use by the student who wrote the piece.

Most of the time, if an article is not up to Rocket standards, the author is contacted. Sometimes the article

doesn’t run the week it was expected because of this and the editor will give feedback to the author with tips on

how to improve the story so it can run the following week. This ensures that The Rocket only produces top-

notch, quality work.

#7: External Support and Recognition

The Rocket does not really have any external support and recognition. This is not because other organizations

do not like them. It’s because a journalism organization like a newspaper is very unique. They are one of the

only ones who report the truth, warts and all. A newspaper’s mission is to talk about reality. The Rocket does

not promote any businesses because they have to take an objective view on all topics. This is a huge reason why

Rocket doesn’t have external support. The Rocket applies to several contests with different categories in order

to be recognized and win awards. Staff members aren’t recognized in an “employee of the week” kind of thing,

though Peterson thinks that it would be interesting to see if it would be successful.

#8: Principled Leadership

College Media Advisers is the organization for all college newspaper advisors. They have national advising

standards that the advisers follow. “I support decisions that are made,” said Dr. Harry. “It is my job to keep out

of everything as much as possible so that the students can thrive, or fail in some cases.” Peterson said she would

rate the editors as leaders with an overall B. “Some of the editors have really stepped up to the plate this year

and helped out others who have struggled along the way,” she said. “Others haven’t put forth as much effort as I

know they were capable of. That’s disappointing, but it’s what happens.” Peterson also said that she’s tried to

improve this throughout the year, but sometimes it’s not up to her. It comes down to the moral of the staff and

the work ethic of the individual. In her interview, she rated the adviser at a B as well. “I think the adviser did a

strong job of motivating the staff and providing advice, but there’s always room for improvement,” she said.

Peterson also said that contributors have the chance to be leaders if they help the section editors come up with

stories or if they continually donate their time to writing articles. When a contributor demonstrates that

dedication to being a part of the newspaper, it gives them a leg up should they want to be on staff the following

year.

Suggestions for Improvement:

Our suggestions for improvement are based on the interviews and surveys done among the old and new staff, as

well as suggestions provided by our group members. The suggestions are divided into two different sections; a

general section with various topics and a section with Larson and LaFasto’s eight characteristics of highly

effective teams.

Suggestions for New Staff Selection Process:

Recruitment:

-Using Social Media such as Face book and Twitter

-Posting flyers

-Recruiting English majors

-Encourage section editors to have a certain number of contributors to always have fresh ideas and stories

When the survey participants from the new staff were asked how they found out about The Rocket’s job

opportunity, four answered that they heard through Rocket members. One participant answered that they heard

about it in The Rocket itself, and seven answered from classes such as News Writing and Mass Media who were

taught by Dr. Harry and Dr. Seltzer. Our suggestion is that The Rocket really needs to advertise outside of the

classroom more.  It makes sense that the advisors recommend people to apply, but people outside the classroom

do not have the opportunity to hear about the staff positions available.  We feel that The Rocket is missing

opportunities to reach out to the Art Department, English Department, or any other majors on campus.  The

Rocket needs to reach a larger demographic of people outside of the Communication Department.  This will

provide with a more diverse background of applicants.

Interviewing Process

Group interviewing to make it easier to remember each applicant

o Then individual interviews of those who make it out of the first round of votes

o Have applicants submit a photo because there are so many interviewees

Have another staff member or advisor present at the counting of the votes

Contacting the New Staff

Send out emails thanking everyone who applied and ask them to become contributors if not hired

Send out critiques of what areas to improve and ask them to re-apply next year, as opposed to simply

Asking them to apply for next year

Ten out of the 12 new staff members experienced the interviewing process as intimidating and two out of 12

said that it was effective. This poses a problem. The photography staff found the process much easier and states

that because they were prepared for the interview with a portfolio that the interviews provided. The 10 that

found it intimidating were overwhelmed with the amount of interviewers at one time and the overall climate.

One comment was that an interviewer was in the position that he couldn’t address everyone properly due to the

sheer amount of people. As we found earlier, the expectations out of the Rocket are that it would be a more

open, relaxed communicative climate. Having a lot of interviewers in one place seems to counteract this

expectation. A more relaxed environment would enhance their vision of openness in the organization.

Suggestions for the Eight Characteristics of Highly Effective Teams:

#1: Clear, Elevating Goal

According to the survey, the old members feel that they are very familiar with the goals, but through our

research with the editor in chief and advisors, nobody could give us an answer of what the mission statement

actually was. Perhaps there is a mutual understanding of what is basically expected. We suggest at least some

kind of education of the actual goals and mission of The Rocket to ensure that every member does indeed have

a proper understanding of what is expected.

#2: Results-Driven Structure

Through our research of finding out what people expect out of the Rocket, we found that people want openness

in communication in the workplace. The Rocket needs to ensure that they are able to keep a consistent balance

between enforcing deadlines and journalistic integrity while also maintaining a positive educational atmosphere.

The survey participants were generally comfortable with the current management structure of The Rocket.

#3: Competent Team Members

Everyone seems to have worked very well together, some even commenting that they were “like a family.”  The

Rocket seems to be doing very well in this category, but as our research has also found that a lot of applicants

heard of the opening through friends and classes. Again, it is limiting to The Rocket to only expose themselves

to the Communication department.  It is understandable that there will be common ground between the students,

but perhaps without any input outside the Communication department it may lead to becoming stagnant of new

ideas.  Working well is important, but conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

#4: Unified Commitment

we asked the survey participants where The Rocket falls in their list of priorities. The general consensus is that

The Rocket is second in most of the staff’s priority lists, behind class work. This is good, especially since there

were some comments about being listed above another paid job. Commitment is imperative with a job at a

newspaper.  Staff members must adhere to deadlines every week and make sure that their work is at its best.  It

is completely understandable to put The Rocket behind school, but it should also be understood that The Rocket

also provides them with opportunities to further their education and career.

#5: Collaborative Climate

when the new staff members were asked how many hours they expected to work for the Rocket, the results

showed there was a gap between the answers. Some thought to work many hours while others only expected to

work a few hours per week. The Rocket needs to be clear on what is required of each individual upfront. With

The Rocket being a paid position with a binding contract, the commitment to fulfill their obligations must be

emphasized before hiring new members.

#6: Standards of Excellence

all of those surveyed agreed that The Rocket upholds proper journalistic standards. Our suggestion is that The

Rocket needs to keep enforcing good journalism in the paper.  The standards that are used at The Rocket will

act as a foundation for possible journalism careers.

#7: External Support and Recognition

the staff seems to feel much appreciated at The Rocket.  There seems to be a mutual respect that each employee

has for one another.  This respect is a crucial part to any newspaper.  If the staff does not feel appreciated in

their efforts, then there will be a possibility for a lack of motivation. Our suggestion is that The Rocket needs to

stay consistent in their efforts to ensure that each member of the staff feels accepted as part of the organization.

The Editor in Chief mentioned that there are several different contests that employees may take part in to earn

awards.  Small contests like these can serve as great incentives for the staff to work harder to write the best

article they can.

#8: Principled Leadership

In the survey, we asked the old staff to evaluate the editor in chief in terms of openness to new ideas. The range

of responses leads us to believe that there is a communication breakdown with some of the staff members.

While some people believe that The Rocket is open to new ideas, it is clear that an equal amount sees it

differently. Participants were also asked to evaluate the editor in chief on the willingness to share information.

The Rocket staff seems to agree that the editor in chief has a good track record of sharing information. Sharing

information is an important trait for a supervisor position. The Rocket needs to maintain this consistency in

being able to share information. The next point of evaluation was the ability to explain what he or she expects

from you, the audience. The results show that the staff seems to have a firm grasp on what the editor in chief

expects from them. Our suggestion is that the staff generally should know what their jobs and roles are at The

Rocket. The editor in chief should be sure to reinforce these expectations every now and then to keep the staff

in check. The last aspect the participants were asked to evaluate was the ability to coordinate the work in your

department. High remarks were given in the category.  It seems that the coordination of everything falls mostly

on the separate departments themselves with the editor in chief acting as a supervisor to ensure smooth

operations. Our suggestion is that the editor in chief does not need to be completely involved with everything,

but must have a consistent presence.

Conclusion:

After conducting various interviews and issuing two surveys, we have concluded that The Rocket is a great

organization to work for. However, like Editor in Chief Kacie Peterson said, there is always room for

improvement. Our detailed analysis helped us come up with many improvements that we feel could really

benefit The Rocket, and we hope that they will consider them so that Slippery Rock University can have an

even more “rock solid” newspaper in the years to come.

Sources Cited

Dr. Joseph Harry

Dr. Zeltner

Editor in Chief, Kacie Peterson

Larson, Carl E. and LaFasto, Frank M.J. Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong.