Final Project Report

October 30, 2018

Adam Lorimer, Cam Armstrong, Lindsey Nuss
Matt Etherington, Omar Cordova

Contact: ainotinkso@email.arizona.edu
Table of Contents
Executive Summary........................................................................................................................................... 3
Project Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 4
Situation .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Primary Research............................................................................................................................................... 4
Department Head Meeting ............................................................................................................................ 4
Marketing Team Meeting ..................................................................................................................... 5
Employee Meeting.................................................................................................................... 5
Secondary Research .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Self-Efficacy ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Goal-Setting ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Meaningfulness ......................................................................................................................... 6
Analysis.................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Lack of Motivation ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Absence of Accountability ................................................................................................................... 7
Cross Departmental Collaboration Challenges ............................................................. 7
Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Front Desk and Marketing Communication Department Merge.................................................... 8
Expanded Role of Marketing Communication Department ................................................... 9
Response ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Merge Front Desk and Marketing Communications Department.................................................. 9
Hire Communications Intern............................................................................................................10
Works Cited .........................................................................................................................................................11
Executive Summary
Throughout this report, our group has addressed the opportunity to improve internal communication
within the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Through primary and secondary research, we have
created recommendations to improve internal communication. Our group will address the
analyzation of research and discuss the implementation of recommendations.

As addressed by the CEO of the Tucson Jewish Community Center (TJCC), Todd Rockoff, the main
issue within the organization is the internal communication strategies. The purpose of the project is
to provide the company with a better communication plan to best improve efficiency inside the
organization. Through extensive research and meetings, our team has identified issues within the
main issue to best implement detailed solutions for the TJCC.

During our first meeting with Todd, he had discussed the main internal communication plan as well
as the background of the organization and structure of the company. Following the initial meeting
with Todd, our group met with the eleven department heads, the marketing team, and the staff
members on three different occasions. In these meetings we questioned employees the willingness to
sacrifice extra time out of the month, the source or lack of motivation towards the organization, as
well as their awareness of the internal communication problems.

Through conducting various primary and secondary research, besides lack of motivation, the absence
of accountability and cross departmental collaboration challenges were also areas of issue that our
group had identified. We concluded that one key component regarding overall success of the
organization is that the front desk staff are among some of the most important employees at the
TJCC. The front desk staff faces motivational challenges with communication and marketing of the
TJCC, which is detrimental to the organization as they communicate with each member as they walk
in the door.

From department to department, there is also an absence of accountability as there is no system in

place for departments to communicate what important events are going on. Creating a sense of
accountability for departments could best improve internal communication. And because of the
accountability absence, this makes it difficult for the departments to collaborate with each other.

Through analyzing problems within the TJCC, our team has focused on recommendations to best
tackle this internal communication problem. Our first recommendation is to move the front desk staff
to be a part of the marketing and communications department. This would allow the front desk to
create more meaning into their job and motivate them to learn and understand what is going on
throughout the TJCC.

Our second recommendation is to expand the role of the marketing and communication department.
It would be beneficial for the marketing team to relay information to staff across the TJCC. Having a
member of the marketing and communications department be responsible for attending other
department meetings could help break the communication barrier of information.

Our last recommendation would be to alter the event booklet kept at the front desk. Creating a
booklet easy for the front desk to interpret and find information, would be beneficial in giving
information to members at the TJCC. With an improved booklet, things would be easier to
understand for the front desk staff. The booklet should also be electronic and easy to access and
efficient to use.
Project Overview
This report addresses the opportunity to improve internal communication at the Tucson Jewish
Community Center. After conducting primary and secondary research, our team has created
recommendations for the TJCC to implement to improve the internal communication. This report
will readdress the opportunity at hand, state the primary and secondary research conducted,
analyze the research, recommend how to improve the internal communication, and provide ways
to implement the recommendations.

Situation
The main issue within the Tucson Jewish Community Center as addressed by the CEO, Todd
Rockoff, is the internal communication strategies within the organization. The purpose of this
project is to provide the company with a better communication plan, so that they can improve
organization and find a way to get information from top management all the way to the
consumers. Through extensive research and meetings, our team has identified a few main issues
within the TJCC that we will provide detailed solutions for later in this document. By
implementing these recommendations, the Tucson Jewish Community Center has the
opportunity to create better communication throughout the company.

Primary Research
During our first meeting with Todd, the JCC’s main internal communication issue was discussed,
as well as a main background of the organization and their company structure. Following this
meeting, our team gathered primary research by meeting and interviewing the organization’s
department heads, marketing team, and lower level employees. Given the different level of
employees, these meetings allowed us to view the issue from multiple perspectives within the
organization.

Department Head Meeting

During this meeting, it became apparent that the TJCC struggles with cross-departmental
collaboration. Many of the department heads stated that they felt as if they had been running
their own individual company for years. It was at this meeting that our team handed out a survey
to each of the department heads.

This pie chart to the right answers the survey

question of whether or not department heads would
be willing to take extra time each month to attend
more meetings. As seen, many people said they
would be somewhat willing, whereas only a few said
they would be very willing.
The chart to the right answers the survey question of
whether or not taking time each month to attend
more meetings would affect the day to day tasks for
a department head. Many people said it would
somewhat affect their tasks, whereas few said it
would not affect it and few said it would affect it.

At the meeting, the department heads emphasized

that there have been many strategies the company
has worked with in the past that have failed. Some
of these include companywide email domains, cell
phone communication, as well as simple face to face interactions. Despite their efforts, none of
these communication platforms lead to successful organization within the company.

Marketing Team Meeting

A lack of motivation within the company became a clear issue in the meeting held with the
marketing communications department. It was noted by Nicole, marketing director, that the front
desk staff has the least amount of motivation within the company. She specifically noted that
there have been instances where she has seen members enter the facility and not even be greeted
with a “hello”. According to Vision Monday and a research study they conducted on medical
patients, 96% had made complaints based on their experience at the front desk or the waiting
room, rather than with the actual doctor themselves. Despite the fact that the TJCC is clearly not
a medical institution, these strongly relate in that the front desk at any company serves the same
purpose.

Employee Meeting
The next thing that made it apparent there is a lack
of motivation within the organization is the main
staff’s failure to notice an issue with internal
communication. This was noted during the third
meeting we hosted at the TJCC with some members
of the main staff. They felt that their walkie talkies
and word of mouth were enough communication as
is. According to Credit Union Times, “Most change
efforts fail because of a lack of understanding of the
dynamics of organizational change”. In other words,
before lower level employees will be motivated to
make changes with internal communication, they
will first need to have a better understanding of the
general issue at hand.

Secondary Research
One of the key areas of background research for the project is motivation and how motivation
can be used to improve the TJCC’s internal communication. Through many studies from the
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes journal, Cohen-Carash and Spector
found that there is a strong positive correlation between motivation and task performance (2002).
Therefore, increasing motivation results in an increase in task performance, and in the case of
this project the task at hand is internal communication, proving the importance of motivation
among employees. Three key areas to improve motivation among employees is through self-
efficacy, goal setting, and meaningfulness.

Self-Efficacy
One key source of intrinsic motivation is self-efficacy. Gist and Mitchell, of the Academy of
Management Review, define self-efficacy as “A person’s estimate of his or her capacity to
orchestrate performance on a specific task,” or in other words a person’s belief that they can
accomplish a task (1992). High levels of self-efficacy result in higher levels of motivation among
employees. Building off this, self-efficacy can be developed in four main ways: personal
attainments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological arousal (Gist &
Mitchell, 1992). Personal attainments are previous goals and tasks
that the employee accomplished, whereas vicarious experiences
are seeing other employees’ complete tasks. Both of these result in
higher levels of self-efficacy.

Goal Setting
Personal attainments and vicarious experiences are also tied
closely to the goal setting theory. The goal setting theory was
created by Locke and Latham and at its simplest states that setting
goals and achieving them are the main source of motivation (1990). These goals must be both
challenging but still attainable. Goal setting is also tied very tightly to self-efficacy, as high
levels of self-efficacy can lead to more challenging goals that then lead to higher motivation
levels (Locke & Latham, 1990).

Meaningfulness
The last source of motivation researched for the project is meaningfulness. Meaningfulness is the
belief that one’s work is actually important (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990). Who and what it is
important for is determined by the employee experiencing the meaningfulness. For example, the
employee may feel meaningfulness to the organization if they believe their work is benefiting the
organization, but they may also experience meaningfulness to the community if they believe
their work is helping the community around them (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990).

Analysis
Through all the research we have conducted, our team has identified a few main issues within the
Tucson Jewish Community Center. There are three main themes that really stood out throughout
each method of research. These include a lack of motivation, absence of accountability, and
cross departmental collaboration challenges.
Lack of Motivation
As previously stated, there is a strong positive correlation between motivation and task
performance, and in the case of our project the task is internal communication. The first step in
this is utilizing the goal setting theory. Setting goals and giving specific tasks to employees will
result in higher levels of motivation. These goals can then be used to raise self-efficacy through
personal attainment and vicarious experiences. Additionally, ensuring the employees have a high
level of meaningfulness to their work will also increase motivation.

Based on research from the Marketing Communication and department head meetings, our team
has concluded that the front desk staff is a key component to the overall success of the
organization. The front desk staff is the only section of the TJCC staff that communicates with
every member, therefore their low levels of motivation to communicate and market the TJCC
during these opportunities are detrimental to the organization.

Absence of Accountability
In addition to the lack of motivation within the company, there is also an absence of
accountability among the employees. This was apparent when different department heads
expressed that there is no system in place to require employees to stay updated with news and
events taking place at the TJCC. By not placing a system of accountability on employees, the
TJCC is missing out on cross marketing between departments. A prime example of this being an
issue is when Nicole the head of Marketing/Communications explained that the front desk is
provided a booklet with every event taking place, but because there is no accountability placed
on them, they fail to relay that information to members.

Creating a sense of accountability for employees is a crucial component for improving internal
communication at the TJCC. According to the article Communication Briefings there are three
ways in which the TJCC can increase employee accountability. The most important of the three
is that the TJCC must be consistent with their rule-making. They can accomplish this by setting
concrete rules, holding everyone responsible, and enforcing them consistently.

Cross Departmental Collaboration Challenges

As mentioned in the meeting, it seems that the
organization’s department heads find it difficult to
communicate between one another. Based on our
meeting with the departments heads, this issue is a
result of multiple factors like poor communication
channels and cross marketing. According to Todd, a
contributing factor to this issue is the TJCC’s building
structure. He mentioned how it discouraged
employees from physically communicating with
others on the opposite side of their work area. While the organization has intended to improve
their communications through online platforms like Trello and their website calendar, it has not
been successful. With this we are able to think about countermeasures for inefficiencies in
technological communication given their previous experiences with Trello and other online
programs.

Through our department heads survey, our group was also able to conclude that a majority of
them were willing to change. Although most of these employees had agreed to implementing
extra meetings, the data also concluded that it would also affect their current work schedule and
tasks. This issue highlights their limitations on their general availability.

Recommendations
Our group recommends that the TJCC moves the front desk staff into the marketing
communication department and expand the role of the marketing communication department to
attend every department meeting.

Front Desk and Marketing Communication Department Merge

The first improvement to the TJCC’s internal communication can be made by adding the front
desk staff to the marketing communication department. As proved by our research, the current
front desk staff is a weak spot of the TJCC, failing to market the TJCC to members even though
they are the only employees to communicate with every member. A key reason for this is the
current staff’s lack of motivation and adding them to the marketing communication department
will begin to change that.

First, this combination will lead to higher levels of meaningfulness in the front desk’s work.
Having the front desk staff have the mindset of being in a marketing department and sitting in
marketing meetings will show the front desk the importance of their job will create more
meaning to their work, leading to higher levels of motivation. Additionally, the front desk staff
will now have specific marketing goals set by the marketing communication department, aiding
in the goal setting theory as a way to increase motivation.

Lastly, this change will eventually lead to higher levels of self-efficacy among the front desk
staff. After completing some of their goals and seeing the changes in their job, they will begin to
believe that they can do more and more, resulting in greater motivation. Changing the marketing
communication department to include the front desk staff will result in higher levels of
motivation, thus increasing the front desk’s task performance.
Expanded Role of Marketing Communication Department
In addition to adding the front desk staff to the marketing communication department we also
propose to have a member of the marketing communication department attend each of the
individual department meetings. On top of attending the meetings, they will also be responsible
for giving a brief overview of each of the other departments during the meetings. Currently, the
staff of each department does not have a strong understanding of what is going on in other
departments, so this brief overview will inform the entire staff of current events in the TJCC.
Additionally, our research found that adding more time to attend meetings to department heads
would have an impact on their work, so they should not be the ones attending the meetings.
Adding this responsibility to the marketing communication department will allow the entire staff
to better understand the TJCC’s current operations.

Response
While these two recommended changes to the marketing and communication department seem
intimidating, following a simple plan to implement the changes will add to the ease of transition.

Merge the Front Desk and Marketing Communication Department

Merging the front desk staff and marketing communication department will require a three-step
plan to ensure a smooth transition. The steps are a meeting explaining the change, a meeting to
train the new staff, and implementing the actual merge.

The first meeting is explaining to the newly combined marketing and communication department
the changes being made. The importance of how the merge is communicated to the employees
cannot be understated. The purpose of this merge is to add meaningfulness to the work of the
front desk staff as well as add goals to the front desk staff to result in higher levels of self-
efficacy. The head of the department will explain why the changes are being made and how it
will help the TJCC’s overall marketing. The head will have to effectively communicate the
importance of why talking to the members as they walk in and taking that time to market events
at the TJCC to the member is imperative to the TJCC’s overall marketing plan. Effectively
communicating this and ensuring the entire staff is on board will result in more meaningfulness
in the front desk’s work.

The second meeting requires training and explaining to the new staff the changes being made to
their work. The head of the department will teach and explain how the front desk should be
greeting members and how they can use the fact page of the members as they enter to market the
TJCC. Additionally, at this meeting goals will be set for the front desk staff in regard to how they
market the TJCC. These goals should be attainable for the staff to reach but still challenge the
staff to do their job well. Examples of potential goals include the following:
1. Greet every member upon their entrance
2. Recommend at least 10 events per shift
 3. Have at least 2 signups for a recommended event per shift
Setting these goals will not only show the new front desk staff their new role, but also motivate
them to perform well in this role. As more and more goals are hit, it will lead to higher levels of
self-efficacy among the staff as they begin to see their work pay off. After the new marketing
and communication staff is fully trained and motivated, the TJCC will be ready to officially
merge the two groups.

Hire a Communications Intern

The next part of expanding the marketing and communications department is to hire a
communications intern within the company. This intern is responsible for the majority of
communication between departments. With this, they will attend each of the eleven department
meetings every month and give an “around the room” presentation of the other departments to
provide that department with all necessary information from the others. Furthermore, it was
addressed that the marketing and communications department is already stressed out by the
workload that is put on them. Another role of this intern would be to handle some of the basic
tasks within this department in order to take some of the weight off the shoulders of this group.

We are confident that these recommendations will provide a good starting point for improving
internal communication within the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Increasing motivation
among the front desk staff and improving interdepartmental communication will result in a
stronger internal communication plan. Combining the marketing communication department and
front desk staff will result in higher motivation levels, while hiring an intern to aid the marketing
communication department will result in stronger cross department communication.
 Works Cited

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analysis: Erratum. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 89(2), 1215.
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Gist, M. E., & Mitchell, T. B. (1992). Self-Efficacy: A Theoretical Analysis of Its Determinants
and Malleability. Academy of Management Review, 17(2), 183–211. https://doi-
org.ezproxy4.library.arizona.edu/10.5465/AMR.1992.4279530

Increase employee accountability. (2018). Communication Briefings, 37(6), 7. Retrieved from

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Levine, S. (2017). Why Is Implementing Change So Hard? Credit Union Times, 28(28), 12.
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Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2013). Goal setting theory, 1990. In E. A. Locke & G. P. Latham
(Eds.), New developments in goal setting and task performance. (pp. 3–15). New York, NY:
Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from
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Patients’ pass:[#]1 Complaint? Front Desk Staff, New Study Says. (2016). Vision Monday,
30(7), 22. Retrieved from
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Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive Elements of Empowerment: An

“Interpretive” Model of Intrinsic Task Motivation. Academy of Management Review,
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