{"id":201,"date":"2019-02-08T18:58:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T18:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-communicationforprofessionals\/?post_type=chapter&p=201"},"modified":"2022-09-19T21:46:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T21:46:30","slug":"introduction-to-situational-analysis","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-communicationforprofessionals\/chapter\/introduction-to-situational-analysis\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction to Situational Analysis","rendered":"Introduction to Situational Analysis"},"content":{"raw":"\"\"A communicator within a professional organization has to deal with multiple variables that are both general (cultural background, age, etc.) and specific to the organization (role of the person in the organization, organizational atmosphere, etc.). You may be thinking, \"Phew! There are so many variables\u2014how does anyone ever become an effective communicator?\"\r\n\r\nRealize, first and foremost, that you don't have to be \"bombarded\" by communication variables. Instead, you can approach them systematically, gain control, and use them to your benefit in creating professional communications by doing an initial\u00a0situational analysis, or an evaluation of the variables in the impending communication situation. A situational analysis\u00a0might organize communication variables in the following way:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Communication Variables<\/caption>\r\n
Audience<\/th>\r\nall of the variables that deal with the backgrounds and current roles of your listeners or readers - their interests, cultural heritage, education, employment, age, understanding of your topics, role with the company, values, etc.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Purpose<\/th>\r\nthe reason why you are creating the communication; what you hope to have happen as a result of the communication<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Content<\/th>\r\nthe information that you want to send in the particular situation; your main idea<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Role<\/th>\r\nyour position in the communication (employee, manager, trainer, trainee, etc.)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Tone<\/th>\r\nthe way in which you want to communication to \"sound\" (straightforward, friendly, authoritative, etc.)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Organizational & Cultural Contexts<\/th>\r\nwhat characterizes the organization: its values, shared history, how communication flows, its level of formality or informality, its goals, etc.\u00a0 Also what characterizes the individual or group in terms of nationality, age, gender, etc.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Medium<\/th>\r\nthe way in which the communication is sent (e-mail, in-person discussion, memo, report, blog post, etc.)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Constraints<\/th>\r\nthe things over which you have no control (available time in which to create the communication, expectations for format, etc.)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nNote that a situational analysis identifies the type<\/strong> of information and characteristics<\/b> of the communication situation; it does not<\/b> provide the actual information or communication itself.\r\n\r\nFor example, the following situational analysis was done by a supervisor before writing an initial email to employees, letting them know that they needed to attend an in-person meeting about upcoming changes in office space.\u00a0 The supervisor\u2014but not the employees\u2014knew that the company made a decision to promote working remotely and provide employees with\u00a0laptops and cell phones.\u00a0 Concurrently, the plan is to\u00a0move everyone below the managerial level to cubicles when working in the office.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Sample Situational Analysis<\/caption>\r\n
Audience<\/th>\r\nall employees below the managerial level. There are more females than males.\u00a0 Most of the workers are in their 30s-40s, and many of them have been working at the company for over 5 years.\u00a0 They are a diverse group culturally. The company has always given them office space, and many rely on private space since there's increasingly a number of online meetings.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Purpose<\/th>\r\nto get affected employees to attend the meeting and to lay the groundwork to buy into upcoming changes<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Content<\/th>\r\nneed to attend a meeting about changes in\u00a0office space<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Role<\/th>\r\nsupervisor, adult, rational, supportive<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Tone<\/th>\r\ncalm, supportive, encouraging<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Organizational & Cultural Contexts<\/th>\r\ntraditional organizational top-down structure; diverse group of employees with many cultures represented<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Medium<\/th>\r\nemail<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Constraints<\/th>\r\nanticipating and dealing with unofficial grapevine communication, making sure everyone reads the email and attends<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

A situational analysis always<\/b> should be a very early step in creating professional communications. You need to consciously identify and understand the situation or context within which the communication will occur so that you can be aware of\u2014and thus effectively manipulate\u2014communication variables. Communication changes from person to person and from situation to situation. Effective communicators identify communication variables and make them work to their advantage.<\/p>\r\nIn the sample above, based on her analysis of the situation, the supervisor made a conscious choice to use\u00a0email to inform her audience of the \u00a0face-to-face meeting, as email\u00a0is the standard way her organization operates to announce meetings.\u00a0 She decided to defer delivering the specific news to a face-to-face meeting, since she knew\u00a0that news\u00a0would be met with mixed responses and would generate a lot of questions, which she could answer more efficiently to a group of the whole, to help ensure understanding.\u00a0 She decided to let her audience know the general topic of the meeting but not the particulars, because she did not want employees coming to the meeting upset.\u00a0 She identified that she needed to use\u00a0a very straightforward, business-as-usual\u00a0tone. Doing the situational analysis was an important first step in this case, as it is in all cases in which the communication is more than a simple yes<\/em> or no<\/em> response.\r\n\r\nThe video below, about the general concept of \"the rhetorical situation,\" enforces the concept of planning a communication that the situational analysis specifies.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QE0thkr6GPA[\/embed]\r\n\r\nThe following\u00a0video briefly touches on the situational analysis concepts of audience, tone, and medium in the context of workplace communication.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cW_FlltPV3c\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

\"\"A communicator within a professional organization has to deal with multiple variables that are both general (cultural background, age, etc.) and specific to the organization (role of the person in the organization, organizational atmosphere, etc.). You may be thinking, “Phew! There are so many variables\u2014how does anyone ever become an effective communicator?”<\/p>\n

Realize, first and foremost, that you don’t have to be “bombarded” by communication variables. Instead, you can approach them systematically, gain control, and use them to your benefit in creating professional communications by doing an initial\u00a0situational analysis, or an evaluation of the variables in the impending communication situation. A situational analysis\u00a0might organize communication variables in the following way:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Communication Variables<\/caption>\n
Audience<\/th>\nall of the variables that deal with the backgrounds and current roles of your listeners or readers – their interests, cultural heritage, education, employment, age, understanding of your topics, role with the company, values, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Purpose<\/th>\nthe reason why you are creating the communication; what you hope to have happen as a result of the communication<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Content<\/th>\nthe information that you want to send in the particular situation; your main idea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Role<\/th>\nyour position in the communication (employee, manager, trainer, trainee, etc.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tone<\/th>\nthe way in which you want to communication to “sound” (straightforward, friendly, authoritative, etc.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Organizational & Cultural Contexts<\/th>\nwhat characterizes the organization: its values, shared history, how communication flows, its level of formality or informality, its goals, etc.\u00a0 Also what characterizes the individual or group in terms of nationality, age, gender, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medium<\/th>\nthe way in which the communication is sent (e-mail, in-person discussion, memo, report, blog post, etc.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Constraints<\/th>\nthe things over which you have no control (available time in which to create the communication, expectations for format, etc.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Note that a situational analysis identifies the type<\/strong> of information and characteristics<\/b> of the communication situation; it does not<\/b> provide the actual information or communication itself.<\/p>\n

For example, the following situational analysis was done by a supervisor before writing an initial email to employees, letting them know that they needed to attend an in-person meeting about upcoming changes in office space.\u00a0 The supervisor\u2014but not the employees\u2014knew that the company made a decision to promote working remotely and provide employees with\u00a0laptops and cell phones.\u00a0 Concurrently, the plan is to\u00a0move everyone below the managerial level to cubicles when working in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sample Situational Analysis<\/caption>\n
Audience<\/th>\nall employees below the managerial level. There are more females than males.\u00a0 Most of the workers are in their 30s-40s, and many of them have been working at the company for over 5 years.\u00a0 They are a diverse group culturally. The company has always given them office space, and many rely on private space since there’s increasingly a number of online meetings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Purpose<\/th>\nto get affected employees to attend the meeting and to lay the groundwork to buy into upcoming changes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Content<\/th>\nneed to attend a meeting about changes in\u00a0office space<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Role<\/th>\nsupervisor, adult, rational, supportive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tone<\/th>\ncalm, supportive, encouraging<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Organizational & Cultural Contexts<\/th>\ntraditional organizational top-down structure; diverse group of employees with many cultures represented<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medium<\/th>\nemail<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Constraints<\/th>\nanticipating and dealing with unofficial grapevine communication, making sure everyone reads the email and attends<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A situational analysis always<\/b> should be a very early step in creating professional communications. You need to consciously identify and understand the situation or context within which the communication will occur so that you can be aware of\u2014and thus effectively manipulate\u2014communication variables. Communication changes from person to person and from situation to situation. Effective communicators identify communication variables and make them work to their advantage.<\/p>\n

In the sample above, based on her analysis of the situation, the supervisor made a conscious choice to use\u00a0email to inform her audience of the \u00a0face-to-face meeting, as email\u00a0is the standard way her organization operates to announce meetings.\u00a0 She decided to defer delivering the specific news to a face-to-face meeting, since she knew\u00a0that news\u00a0would be met with mixed responses and would generate a lot of questions, which she could answer more efficiently to a group of the whole, to help ensure understanding.\u00a0 She decided to let her audience know the general topic of the meeting but not the particulars, because she did not want employees coming to the meeting upset.\u00a0 She identified that she needed to use\u00a0a very straightforward, business-as-usual\u00a0tone. Doing the situational analysis was an important first step in this case, as it is in all cases in which the communication is more than a simple yes<\/em> or no<\/em> response.<\/p>\n

The video below, about the general concept of “the rhetorical situation,” enforces the concept of planning a communication that the situational analysis specifies.<\/p>\n