Coorientation Through Written Communication: A case study from the print industry

Abstract

The print industry in Canada has experienced great change over the last decade with continual adjustment necessary to accommodate changing client needs and demands. In order for organizations to survive they must adapt their internal organizational structure to provide more for less. Email communication has become a significant and important tool in the print industry allowing employees to reach multiple stakeholders at once; however it can also lead to detrimental breakdowns in communication. This study reviews James R. Taylor’s model of coorientation and how it can be applied to the print industry to both identify communication breakdowns and provide a framework to improve efficiencies. A case study of one print industry company, and specifically one completed print project, was performed through a document analysis and found that Taylor’s model provides a structured and pragmatic means of identifying the interaction between stakeholders involved in each project on both departmental and individual levels.