Sheila O'Keefe has worked for a multinational organization in sales for the past four years. For the past two and a half years, everyone in her position has worked in a virtual office environ-ment which has led to many communication related problems. O'Keefe has a core office in Chi-cago, but the company believes that since she spends most of her time in a suburban territory O'Keefe should only be in the office once a week at most. O'Keefe averages about two trips every three weeks to Chicago. Only about twenty percent of her time is spent in the field with custom-ers. The remaining 80 percent of her work week is taken up with paperwork and administration, service issues, orders, and prospecting. O'Keefe spends this time alone in her home work space. Problem The first part of Sheila O'Keefe's communication problem relates to her inability to be sure about the specifics of many of the messages she receives. Messages are communicated to the field via messagel from the manager. There is no opportunity for immediate questioning of the message and the only way to get clarification is to leave an message back and then wait for the reply. It is an ineffective process if the managerial request is unclear, and needs to be acted on quickly. Many hours can pass before clarification is received. In addition to being ineffective, it is frustrating for the salespersons who are in the dark pending clarification. Weekly Zoom calls are designed to help reduce these problems but O'Keefe claims that the Zoom meetings are not very effective. The second part of the communication problem relates to a generally unproductive climate for communication that is a result of the isolation. The Zoom calls and rare face to face meet-ings turn into "gripe sessions" because of the frustrations of the job and the fact that regular venting during the work week is limited due to the virtual office environment. In any sales posi-tion, there will be an expected amount of negativity from customers. There is also the frustra-tion of feeling that you have to constantly "reinvent the wheel" to solve every problem because you can't quickly or easily ask if anyone else has dealt with it before. A good example occurred when O'Keefe spent hours trying to get a simple question answered that, unbeknownst to her, a coworker struggled with two days earlier and solved. O'Keefe considers the energy she expended to solve the problem a waste of time since, had she been in regular contact with the other salespeople, she would have easily been able to speak to her colleague and get the answer. This wrestling with already solved problems happens far too regularly not to damage morale. Sometimes, calls to other salespeople at home can help the situation, but, again, these conversa-tions tend to be opportunities to vent frustration rather than discuss more substantive matters.

What are the roots of O'Keefe's communication problems?

If you were O'Keefe, what steps would you take to communicate your concerns?

Can the culture of this organization be changed without structural changes to the communication networks?

Given the effects on COVID on organizational communication, are problems like this inevitable?

Assume you were brought in to change the culture of this organization.

What steps would you take to change the culture?