Campus Connection is an information hub located in the Sorensen Center at Utah Valley University. Campus Connection offers a variety of services for students, staff, and faculty: student lost and found center, bulletin board and banner signage overseers, event ticket providers, post office workers, UTA pass providers, and its most time consuming job, student ID creators.
Campus Connection provides approximately 15 student jobs and is overseen by Supervisor UVU employee Dawn Burgess. Campus Connection has undergone a series of organizational structure changes throughout the past two years. It has a newly appointed assistant supervisor position, has introduced shift leads, has become the monitor of all physical signage around campus due to the free speech policy, and now produces UTA bus passes and student IDs.
While speaking with fellow students at Campus Connection, Kenzie observed that communication-as with every other organization-is a common frustration that they have. Problems arise at times when employees need to switch schedules at the last minute, when policies and procedures change-interrupting the flow of the common workplace, and during the summer when employees are working 12-15 hour shifts to create student IDs for incoming freshman. We have decided to look further into the communication problems of Campus Connection to better understand the root of its communication issues and provide solutions for the employees and the management.
In order to find the root of the communication issues at Campus Connection, we are going to focus our efforts on gathering primary data.
First, we will be issuing an anonymous Qualtrics survey to all employees and managers to understand the individual frustrations and see if any correlations exist.
Second, after analyzing the results of the anonymous survey, we will conduct one-on-one interviews with the two groups: managers and employees under those managers.
After completing and gathering the information from all interviews, we, as a group, will look for frustrations in comparison to communication theories. Secondary sources that we will be using include Glassdoor and The Best Colleges To Work For survey.
We decided to divide the steps into "sprints" to give another layer of grouping and completion.
SPRINT 1: Primary Data Preparation. Complete steps 1-5 by June 21.
Step 1: We will study and review communication theories to interpret data and make recommendations in the future.
Due: June 9
Step 2: An anonymous Qualtrics survey will be prepared for campus connection employees.
Due: June 9
Step 3: Group members will “secret shop” or observe employee actions during a typical work day.
Due: June 16
Step 4: The anonymous surveys will be distributed to the employees.
Due: June 21
Step 5: Group members will schedule interviews with those in each group category.
Due: June 21
SPRINT 2: Primary Data Collection and Analysis. Complete steps 6-10 by July 14.
Step 6: One-on-one interviews with those in supervisor position will take place.
Due: July 6
Step 7: One-on-one interviews with employees or subordinates will take place.
Due: July 6
Step 8: The group will compare data from the anonymous survey to answers from the one-on-one interviews.
Due: July 7
Step 9: Based off of the primary data and studied theories the group will come up with recommendations and solutions to the communication issues.
Due: July 14
Step 10: The first drafting of our findings and documentation content will be done.
Due: July 14
SPRINT 3: Summary of Findings. Complete steps 11-14 by August 1.
Step 11: The draft content will be reviewed.
Due: July 21
Step 12: Designing of the artifact will take place.
Due: July 21
Step 13: The final review of the final artifact draft will be conducted.
Due: July 28
Step 14: Distribute closing survey about findings and receive feedback
Delegation of Responsibilities by Steps
Step 1: Everyone: The entire group will read and discuss communication issues to understand the criteria for the project.
Step 2: Alex/Kenzie: Alex and Kenzie will create an unbiased survey for the employees and supervisors that will help us find their frustrations.
Step 3: Merrill/Isaiah: Merrill and Isaiah will observe Campus Connection activities to find examples of communication issues.
Step 4: Kenzie/Austin: Kenzie and Austin will distribute and collect the survey, ensuring all employees and supervisors have an opportunity to take it.
Step 5: Alex/Michael: Alex and Michael will schedule one-on-one interviews with all employees and supervisors.
Step 6: Kenzie/Isaiah: Kenzie and Isaiah will conduct the interviews of all supervisors.
Step 7: Merrill/Austin: Merrill and Austin will conduct the interviews of all employees.
Step 8: Everyone: We will have a group meeting to compare and interpret all data collected.
Step 9: Everyone: We will have a group meeting where we discuss recommendations and solutions that each member has come up with.
Step 10: Isaiah/Michael: Isaiah and Michael will draft the our findings with documentation provided.
Step 11: Austin/Isaiah: Austin and Isaiah will review the draft for for errors and make corrections.
Step 12: Alex: Alex will design the Artifact on the ePortfoilio page.
Step 13: Michael/Merrill: Michael and Merrill will do a final review of the Artifact.
Step 14: Kenzie: Kenzie will conduct a closing survey of the employees and supervisors to determine effectiveness of proposed solutions.