THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MESSAGE DISTORTION AND JOB SATISFACTION—A Field Study

This paper reports the results of a field study investigating the relationship between perceived message distortion and job satisfaction. A single hypothesis was tested: There is a positive correlation between a superior’s job satisfaction and the extent to which he perceives messages from his sub-ordinates as accurate. Both the hypothesis and interpretation of data are discussed in terms of communication as the sine qua non of any organization. WITHIN THE PAST DECADE the number of studies concerned with or-ganizational communication have expanded at an ever-increasing rate. Although a number of explanations could be proposed to ac-count for this increase, the most likely explanation is that researchers are beginning to realize that communication is the sine qua non of any organization. ’ Thus, by studying communication processes with-in the organization we are at the same time studying the essential characteristics o f the organization. Given the importance of communication to organizational per