Communication has crucial impacts within or among workgroups in that organization
communication can be a channel to flow information, resources, and even policies. Given the
importance of organization communication and its managerial impacts, further research is
needed to explore this topic as it relates to the public administration field. To this end, this study
assesses the impacts of organizational communication on the perception of red tape by
comparing internal communication with external, especially client-oriented, communication in
both public and nonprofit organizations. This study is based on the questionnaire data from the
National Administration Studies Project (NASP)-III, closed in January 2006, gathered from a
survey of public and nonprofit managers in the states of Illinois and Georgia. Results show that
frequent communication with clients plays an important role in reducing perceived red tape, and
sector-based differences between public and nonprofit sectors influence the impact of
communication type on red tape perception. The analysis controls for the organizational
characteristics, job characteristics, and personal characteristics.