Organizational Communication Analysis Part II – Interpersonal and Intercultural Paper Organizational Communication Analysis Part II – Interpersonal and Intercultural Paper BSCOM/485 Kierra Brown Claudia Newton April 6th , 2020 Organizational Communication Analysis Part II – Interpersonal and Intercultural Paper Northwest Valley Community College There is no organization that wants to be put at risk and exposed as vulnerable to cyber-attacks; Northwest Valley Community College is not the exception to the rule. What will separate one organization from another is how the organization handles the crisis. How Northwest Valley Community College communicates issues to their employees and their customers will determine the continued success of the school. Breach Northwest Valley Community College has just experienced a massive data breach where student’s information has become vulnerable to hackers. Northwest Valley Community College’s financial information as well as personal student and faculty information has been attacked. Regard faculty information that has put at risk includes their social security numbers, health information, and salary information that has been exposed. This data breach has caused a massive amount of distrust among students and faculty as there is no way to know how far the information has gone and what will be done with it. This shake-up has caused the cohesiveness of the faculty and students to be challenged due to the breach. “Group cohesiveness possess the kind of bonds that foster trust, openness, and the ability to manage conflicting views productively” (Beebe & Masterson, 2015). In order to restore cohesiveness among faculty and students, the administration will need to be forthcoming with information regarding the impact of the breach. Perceptions Since the breach occurred, some of the students and faculty members are waiting to see how the administration staff handles the communication efforts. So far, administration has been open and mostly forthcoming with information regarding the specifics of the information that was leaked what they know so far. The administration staff has taken an informative approach with faculty by “providing needed information to personnel so they can do their jobs in an effective and efficient manner” (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). By advising faculty and students on the status of the breach, they can attempt to move forward in their daily activities. Administration has found that they have to employ some of the persuasive function regarding the staff and students, advising them that the administrative staff is working towards a resolution and influencing them to continue being productive (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). Communication The administration staff at Northwest Valley Community College has to have a level of optimism and realism during this crisis. “We cannot be genuinely optimistic in conflict without also being realistic and realism without optimism is .

1. Organizational Communication Analysis Part II – Interpersonal
and Intercultural Paper
Organizational Communication Analysis Part II – Interpersonal
and Intercultural Paper
BSCOM/485
Kierra Brown
Claudia Newton
April 6th , 2020
Organizational Communication Analysis Part II – Interpersonal
and Intercultural Paper
Northwest Valley Community College
There is no organization that wants to be put at risk and
exposed as vulnerable to cyber-attacks; Northwest Valley
Community College is not the exception to the rule. What will
separate one organization from another is how the organization
handles the crisis. How Northwest Valley Community College
communicates issues to their employees and their customers
will determine the continued success of the school.
Breach
Northwest Valley Community College has just experienced
a massive data breach where student’s information has become
vulnerable to hackers. Northwest Valley Community College’s
financial information as well as personal student and faculty
information has been attacked. Regard faculty information that
has put at risk includes their social security numbers, health
information, and salary information that has been exposed. This
data breach has caused a massive amount of distrust among
students and faculty as there is no way to know how far the
information has gone and what will be done with it. This shake-
up has caused the cohesiveness of the faculty and students to be

2. challenged due to the breach. “Group cohesiveness possess the
kind of bonds that foster trust, openness, and the ability to
manage conflicting views productively” (Beebe & Masterson,
2015). In order to restore cohesiveness among faculty and
students, the administration will need to be forthcoming with
information regarding the impact of the breach.
Perceptions
Since the breach occurred, some of the students and
faculty members are waiting to see how the administration staff
handles the communication efforts. So far, administration has
been open and mostly forthcoming with information regarding
the specifics of the information that was leaked what they know
so far. The administration staff has taken an informative
approach with faculty by “providing needed information to
personnel so they can do their jobs in an effective and efficient
manner” (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). By advising
faculty and students on the status of the breach, they can
attempt to move forward in their daily activities. Administration
has found that they have to employ some of the persuasive
function regarding the staff and students, advising them that the
administrative staff is working towards a resolution and
influencing them to continue being productive (Richmond,
McCroskey, & Powell, 2013).
Communication
The administration staff at Northwest Valley Community
College has to have a level of optimism and realism during this
crisis. “We cannot be genuinely optimistic in conflict without
also being realistic and realism without optimism is not truly
realistic. How we integrate these two attitudes is emblematic of
the emotional, intellectual, and ethical challenge we face in
conflict” (Mayer, 2015). The administration staff must be
realistic in their expectations of how faculty and students will
react to the news of the breach. The administration staff will
have to understand that the students and faculty will have a

3. level of hesitation and distrust in the technical department at the
college because of this breach. However, the students and
faculty can begin to be optimistic in the fact that first, the
administrative staff alerted them right away of the breach.
Secondly, faculty and students can begin to be hopeful that a
situation such as this one will not occur again as Northwest
Valley Community College will be sure to put in the appropriate
measures for prevention.
In addition to managing the story of the breach effectively,
Northwest Community College will have to communicate
efficiently with the public, faculty, and students. A few ways
the college can communicate with on-campus and satellite
students is by immediately informing students and faculty with
automatic calls, emailing enrollees, and making posts on the
school intranet. Northwest Valley Community College also can
have face-to-face conversations with their students for on-
campus students and faculty. These conversations can come in
the form of town meetings as well as auditorium gatherings
announcing what has happened.
Theories
Regarding different theories that relate to the climate at
Northwest Valley Community College, one that comes to mind
is the Agenda Setting theory. The Agenda Setting theory states
that, “In choosing and displaying news, editors, newsroom staff,
and broadcasters play an important part in shaping social and
political reality” (West & Turner, 2014). While Northwest
Valley Community College is not a mass media outlet, there is
still a story to be controlled. In light of the breach, it is known
that since Northwest Valley Community College is pivotal in
the Kelsey community, the public would eventually find out
what happened. If Northwest Valley Community College can
control the narrative and get ahead of the story, Northwest
Valley Community College can shape the perception of the
audience. The college will have to first let their audience
[faculty and students] know what has happened. Secondly,
Northwest Valley Community College will have to reassure the

4. public that they are taking every measure to ensure their privacy
and protection has been restored.
Northwest Valley Community College being able to
control stories that come from the organization is what would
be in the best interest of the school. The security breach that
Northwest Valley Community College experienced is not the
first crisis that the school has encountered. While the security
breach certainly won’t be the last crisis Northwest Valley
Community College has to deal with, managing the story
effectively will increase the trust the students, public, and
faculty has in the school.
Conclusion
Security breaches are never a fun thing to deal with as there is
so much sensitive information that has been divulged to people
who only want to cause harm. Although it may not be a
possibility to leave the situation unscathed, there is the
opportunity for an organization to ramp up their communication
efforts with their customers. It is better to alert the customer of
what has happened than to let them find out on their own.
Getting ahead of the story is in the best interest of the
organization and effectively communication the recovery efforts
is key.
References
Beebe, S. A., & Masterson, J. T. (2015). Communicating in
Small Groups: Principles and Practices. Boston: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Mayer, B. (2015). The Conflict Paradox: Seven Dilemmas at the
Core of Disputes. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Richmond, V. P., McCroskey, J. C., & Powell, L. (2013).
Organizational Communication for Survival. New Jersey:
Pearson Education.
West, R., & Turner, L. (2014). Introducing Communication
Theory: Analysis and Application. New York: McGraw-Hill
Education.

5. Running Head: COMMUNICATION TRAINING PLAN
1
COMMUNICATION TRAINING PLAN
6
Communication Training Plan
Kierra Brown
Institutional Affiliations
Company Culture and Communication Obstacle
Northwest Valley Community College has a culture of providing
the best learning environment to its students and ensuring that
school staff communicates effectively without experiencing
unauthorized access to their data and information. Also, its
culture is ingrained in ensuring its students are working in an
environment that is healthy and safe. The management of

6. Northwest Community understands the importance of having a
healthy learning environment and effective communication
network inside and outside the school premises. As such, Kelsey
Elementary school is setting up measures to implement a
detailed communication training plan for staff and students to
gain information safety skills.
This plan will be developed by a strategic communication team
selected by the school. This plan will be designed in a way that
it provides a framework to manage and coordinate
communication among the students, instructors and parents. The
plan will identify efficient communication channels, standards,
appropriate audience, and frequency. This plan will require a
shared responsibility among management, students,
communication team and students. After the implementation of
this communication plan, the team will measure its
effectiveness to ensure it meets the expected objectives and
goals.
Needs and Tasks Analysis
Northwest Valley Community College communication team will
conduct a needs and analysis task to determine the training
needs. The management will be able to know who needs the
training and the kind of training required. The following are the
steps the company will use to conduct training needs analysis.
· Organizational Analysis: The school management should work
with the teachers to identify the priorities of student training. In
this case, the management will conduct an evaluation to ensure
the training goes hand-in-hand with the school’s goals and
objectives.
· Secondly, the management will list specific types of
communication channels to be utilized within the school
environment. Also, they will specify the skills and
competencies needed by employees to ensure they clearly
understand how to utilize these communication channels. By
doing this, they will have a solid foundation on who should
conduct the training and how it should be conducted. (Liaw,
2014)

7. · The last step will involve the identification of staff members
who need to undergo communication training. However, since it
is a learning institution, every staff member and students will
be subject to training.
Research Technique
Northwest Valley management has decided to implement an
external training program to address the training plan.
Therefore, they need to identify and understand the
organization’s communication training needs. As such, they
should start by hiring an external specialist who will help
address different perspectives of the problem. Also, the
specialist will provide the management with ideas and skills
that would have been unintentionally left out. The external
specialist will train the supervisors who will then transfer the
skills to other staff members.
Mentorship and apprenticeship technique will be employed for
the school’s communication training. In this case, the mentor
will be the external specialist who will offer guidance, skill
management and guidance to the students and staff. Also, the
specialist will offer relevant information and advice to the
individuals under training on show to effectively use the
identified communication channels (Hargie, 2016). The training
will start with a lecture method to help the trainees understand
the reasons behind the training. They will be given skills
evaluation tests after every training session to ensure they are in
line with the training objectives. Also, the supervisors will be
trained and evaluated separately and assigned to channel the
skills to other trainees.
ROI For Training in Crisis
While Northwest Valley management has been able to retain its
staff for years, it has lost some as a result of miscommunication
and misinformation. If this happens after the training activity,
the management will be forced to employ other staff members
and put them under safety training. If this happens, the school
has to spend finances on the training process. However, with a
RIO in place, it can be easy to manage the occurrence of the

8. mentioned crises.
To handle the crisis, the management will ensure they spend
little on training new staff members and new students. This is
done by sharing the training cost with the newly hired teachers.
Also, the company ensures the teachers sign a contract
guaranteeing their stay at the institution later after being
trained. This is because some workers have in the past left the
institution after receiving different training (Hargie, 2016).
However, doing this guarantees the school’s management that
they won’t spend their finances to train a person who plans to
exit the firm shortly after the training process.
Training Facilitator
Northwest Valley has decided to adopt the Aspyre program to
be used in the training of its employees and the students. This
was agreed after the school management discussed and sought
recommendations from the trainers and other learning
institutions. Currently, Aspyre is one of the best programs used
by organizations in order to implement recommended practices
and requirements. Furthermore, Aspyre is renowned for having
competent and skilled trainers with a wide range of skill set
(Kaskutas, 2013). Its was the best choice because Aspyre offers
a range of programs regarding communication channels among
organizations and learning institutions.
Assessment of Training Effectiveness
Northwest Valley College will use the Kirkpatrick level 3
method in the evaluation of the teachers and supervisors. This
technique will give insight on whether or not the training was
effective. Also, it will allow the management to understand the
effectiveness of skills transfer from the supervisors to students
and staff members.
First of all, the assessment will start by looking if the ensemble
room, the PC room, and media focus are completely equipped
with the tools and equipment for communication. It is expected
that after the training, all devices are stocked and available for
use by students and staff members. The project supervisors
should use a checklist to ensure everything is in place. Also, the

9. supervisors should check to ensure the school’s Information
Technology management maintains accurate paperwork (Liaw,
2014). After making observations, the supervisors are expected
to write a report to inform the management on the progress.
Occasionally, the management will be conducting random audits
to confirm that the supervisors are conducting time to time
checks on the IT equipment. This will confirm whether the
supervisor’s skills were transferred to the students and staff.
Learning Objectives
· The supervisor is expected to check and ensure that every
communication channel are working and protected. Since they
have undergone training, the supervisor should have knowledge
on how to operate the equipment. Every communication
equipment should be checked to ensure none is faulty.
· The supervisors are entitled to have complete information
about the project requirements. Also, they are expected to keep
track of every information communicated between the students
and teachers.
· The supervisor is entitled to ensuring that every system user
has access to passwords or login information.
· Also, the students and staff should be trained on how to use
the communication systems in place. With the right training and
information, students and teachers will be able to effectively
use these channels without compromise.
Short and Long-Term Goals
Northwest Valley considers effective communication as a factor
of success inside and outside the institution. Therefore,
investing in effective channels for communication is not only
good for the institution, but beneficial to the students and
parents. By training the staff and students on how to effectively
use the available channels of communication, they will promote
effective communication and entire operations within the
institution (Hargie, 2016). By conducting the training, the
company expects to accomplish some goals, some which are
short-term and others long-term.
Short term goals include the following;

10. · Students and teachers can effectively communicate regarding
school work
· Parents will have insight of events happening inside the walls
of the institution
· Students will witness upsurge of their performance
· There shall be a decrease in cases of unauthorized access of
shared information.
· Teachers will be equipped with tools to effectively protect
student information.
Long-term goals include the following;
· The company will eliminate unauthorized information access
problems.
· There will see a reduction in finances used for risk mitigation
purposes
· The school will not spend finances on staff training in the
future.
References
Hargie, O., Dickson, D., Boohan, M., & Hughes, K. (2016). A
survey of communication skills training in UK schools of
medicine: present practices and prospective proposals. Medical
education, 32(1), 25-34.
Kaskutas, V., Dale, A. M., Lipscomb, H., & Evanoff, B. (2013).
Fall prevention and safety communication training for foremen:
Report of a pilot project designed to improve residential
construction safety. Journal of safety research, 44, 111-118.
Liaw, S. Y., Zhou, W. T., Lau, T. C., Siau, C., & Chan, S. W.
C. (2014). An interprofessional communication training using
simulation to enhance safe care for a deteriorating
patient. Nurse Education Today, 34(2), 259-264.