Student Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Case Notes
Chapter 12: Organizational Communication
Case 12.1: What’s App-ening?
Case Description
Carla Jennison, head of Human Resources at a division of a hospital care corporation, found that
e-mail and websites were not effective means of communicating with employees on HR issues.
After exploring recommendations and products, Carla had decided the one most intriguing to her
was by Katora, Inc., in which employees get a cell phone app that lets them learn about new
benefits, receive benefit related news, and even manage and make changes to their benefits. For
those employees who do not have phones that use apps or tablets, there is also a web-based
option. The app was rolled out over a six-month time frame at the 12 different hospitals during
Learning Objectives:
12.1: Describe the communication process, and discuss sources of noise in the process.
12.2: Identify how communication apprehension affects the communication process.
Question & Answers
1. What kind of communication would you say these apps would be?
Ans: Would expect electronic, downward for the original app from Katora, and upward and
2. What problems do you see with using an app for upward communication? For using an
app for formal organization communication?
Ans: There may be concerns about effective communication (the temptation to send ideas in text
3. Do you have any concerns with the employees using their own cell phones or tablets to
run the company apps? Why, or why not?
Ans: This question is to bring in a more managerial style of thought—using apps on their own
phones means the phones are not locked down and thus employees can easily be reaching for
4. What do you think a company should look for in terms of functionality for employee
engagement and two-way communication? Explain your thoughts.
Note:
In this guide, some suggested answers are provided. Most of these questions are there to make
students think and interrelate concepts from the current and previous chapters and, hopefully, to