case study on communication importance

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• 16 Feb 2024
• Research & Ideas

Is Your Workplace Biased Against Introverts?

Extroverts are more likely to express their passion outwardly, giving them a leg up when it comes to raises and promotions, according to research by Jon Jachimowicz. Introverts are just as motivated and excited about their work, but show it differently. How can managers challenge their assumptions?

• 06 Nov 2023

Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better

People who seem like they're paying attention often aren't—even when they're smiling and nodding toward the speaker. Research by Alison Wood Brooks, Hanne Collins, and colleagues reveals just how prone the mind is to wandering, and sheds light on ways to stay tuned in to the conversation.

• 31 Oct 2023

Checking Your Ethics: Would You Speak Up in These 3 Sticky Situations?

Would you complain about a client who verbally abuses their staff? Would you admit to cutting corners on your work? The answers aren't always clear, says David Fubini, who tackles tricky scenarios in a series of case studies and offers his advice from the field.

• 24 Jul 2023

Part-Time Employees Want More Hours. Can Companies Tap This ‘Hidden’ Talent Pool?

Businesses need more staff and employees need more work, so what's standing in the way? A report by Joseph Fuller and colleagues shows how algorithms and inflexibility prevent companies from accessing valuable talent in a long-term shortage.

• 23 Jun 2023

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

Dutch home health care organization Buurtzorg avoids middle management positions and instead empowers its nurses to care for patients as they see fit. Tatiana Sandino and Ethan Bernstein explore how removing organizational layers and allowing employees to make decisions can boost performance.

• 24 Jan 2023

Passion at Work Is a Good Thing—But Only If Bosses Know How to Manage It

Does showing passion mean doing whatever it takes to get the job done? Employees and managers often disagree, says research by Jon Jachimowicz. He offers four pieces of advice for leaders who yearn for more spirit and intensity at their companies.

• 10 Jan 2023

How to Live Happier in 2023: Diversify Your Social Circle

People need all kinds of relationships to thrive: partners, acquaintances, colleagues, and family. Research by Michael Norton and Alison Wood Brooks offers new reasons to pick up the phone and reconnect with that old friend from home.

• 15 Nov 2022

Why TikTok Is Beating YouTube for Eyeball Time (It’s Not Just the Dance Videos)

Quirky amateur video clips might draw people to TikTok, but its algorithm keeps them watching. John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld explore the factors that helped propel TikTok ahead of established social platforms, and where it might go next.

• 03 Nov 2022

Feeling Separation Anxiety at Your Startup? 5 Tips to Soothe These Growing Pains

As startups mature and introduce more managers, early employees may lose the easy closeness they once had with founders. However, with transparency and healthy boundaries, entrepreneurs can help employees weather this transition and build trust, says Julia Austin.

• 15 Sep 2022

Looking For a Job? Some LinkedIn Connections Matter More Than Others

Debating whether to connect on LinkedIn with that more senior executive you met at that conference? You should, says new research about professional networks by Iavor Bojinov and colleagues. That person just might help you land your next job.

• 08 Sep 2022

Gen Xers and Millennials, It’s Time To Lead. Are You Ready?

Generation X and Millennials—eagerly waiting to succeed Baby Boom leaders—have the opportunity to bring more collaboration and purpose to business. In the book True North: Emerging Leader Edition, Bill George offers advice for the next wave of CEOs.

• 05 Aug 2022

Why People Crave Feedback—and Why We’re Afraid to Give It

How am I doing? Research by Francesca Gino and colleagues shows just how badly employees want to know. Is it time for managers to get over their discomfort and get the conversation going at work?

• 23 Jun 2022

All Those Zoom Meetings May Boost Connection and Curb Loneliness

Zoom fatigue became a thing during the height of the pandemic, but research by Amit Goldenberg shows how virtual interactions can provide a salve for isolation. What does this mean for remote and hybrid workplaces?

• 13 Jun 2022

Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up and Listen

Extroverts may be the life of the party, but at work, they're often viewed as phony and self-centered, says research by Julian Zlatev and colleagues. Here's how extroverts can show others that they're listening, without muting themselves.

• 24 May 2022

Career Advice for Minorities and Women: Sharing Your Identity Can Open Doors

Women and people of color tend to minimize their identities in professional situations, but highlighting who they are often forces others to check their own biases. Research by Edward Chang and colleagues.

• 12 May 2022

Why Digital Is a State of Mind, Not Just a Skill Set

You don't have to be a machine learning expert to manage a successful digital transformation. In fact, you only need 30 percent fluency in a handful of technical topics, say Tsedal Neeley and Paul Leonardi in their book, The Digital Mindset.

• 08 Feb 2022

Silos That Work: How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Collaborate

A study of 360 billion emails shows how remote work isolated teams, but also led to more intense communication within siloed groups. Will these shifts outlast the pandemic? Research by Tiona Zuzul and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• Cold Call Podcast

What’s Next for Nigerian Production Studio EbonyLife Media?

After more than 20 years in the media industry in the UK and Nigeria, EbonyLife Media CEO Mo Abudu is considering several strategic changes for her media company’s future. Will her mission to tell authentic African stories to the world be advanced by distributing films and TV shows direct to customers? Or should EbonyLife instead distribute its content through third-party streaming services, like Netflix? Assistant Professor Andy Wu discusses Abudu’s plans for her company in his case, EbonyLife Media. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 11 Jan 2022

Feeling Seen: What to Say When Your Employees Are Not OK

Pandemic life continues to take its toll. Managers who let down their guard and acknowledge their employees' emotions can ease distress and build trust, says research by Julian Zlatev and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 04 Jan 2022

Scrap the Big New Year's Resolutions. Make 6 Simple Changes Instead.

Self-improvement doesn't need to be painful, especially during a pandemic. Rather than set yet another gym goal, look inward, retrain your brain, and get outside, says Hirotaka Takeuchi. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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Case Studies in Organizational Communication Ethical Perspectives and Practices

• Steve May - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
• Description

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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The course including ethical decision-making has to be reshuffled for now, but in the future I will definitely use the book as a source for supporting material.

Excellent supplement to text I'm using. Offers in depth case studies and addresses evaluation using critical thinking.

Is there any instructor material available?

This book provides an effective way to engage students into theory. The cases presented can also be further analysed using a plethora of approaches, which makes it a useful teaching tool.

This book will be particularly helpful for students who have an interest in communication. I will also use it to supplement my lectures with examples in class. The book is very well laid out, engaging in its detail with signposting to further material for those students who wish to read more.

Matched with course design- practical and applied pedagogy for studying ethical issues and communication in everyday life.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

• The Second Edition includes expanded coverage of the recent economic meltdown, globalization, new technologies, and corporate social responsibility.
• Eighteen new case studies on current workplace issues include companies such as BP, Google, Toyota, Gap, Wyeth, and Enron.

KEY FEATURES

• Emerging issues in the workplace, explored in several case studies, include work/family balance, sexual harassment, outsourcing, personal privacy, bribery, new technologies, social networking, corporate social responsibility, and other issues.
• International case studies examine the ethical behavior of non-American organizations, providing a more thorough understanding of ethics in a global business environment.
• The consistent case study structure allows instructors and students greater opportunity to compare and contrast cases on comparable terms.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Case Study 1

Case Study 3

For instructors

Select a purchasing option, related products.

This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge , the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial .

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Present or publish your research or creative activity, effective communication: case study, three types of communication.

Communicating with your audience is more than giving a handful of information, it is the use of clear language that is factual and logical to depict to the audience that the message is essential to their lives and their future.

The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.

Here is a video depicting why it is important to tailor to your audience's needs

Communicating to a Diverse Demographic Audience

This video depicts the importance of communication to different demographic audience members. Making sure that your presentation is understood by all individuals is a valuable communication tool

Remember that no matter the audience, everyone should understand and enjoy the information you are presenting.

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What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

• Nitin Nohria

Seven meta-skills that stick even if the cases fade from memory.

It’s been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students. This article explains the importance of seven such skills: preparation, discernment, bias recognition, judgement, collaboration, curiosity, and self-confidence.

During my decade as dean of Harvard Business School, I spent hundreds of hours talking with our alumni. To enliven these conversations, I relied on a favorite question: “What was the most important thing you learned from your time in our MBA program?”

• Nitin Nohria is the George F. Baker Jr. Professor at Harvard Business School and the former dean of HBS.

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• PMC10464255

Quality communication can improve patient-centred health outcomes among older patients: a rapid review

Samer h. sharkiya.

Faculty of Graduate Studies, Arab American University, 13 Zababdeh, P.O Box 240, Jenin, Palestine

Associated Data

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

Effective communication is a cornerstone of quality healthcare. Communication helps providers bond with patients, forming therapeutic relationships that benefit patient-centred outcomes. The information exchanged between the provider and patient can help in medical decision-making, such as better self-management. This rapid review investigated the effects of quality and effective communication on patient-centred outcomes among older patients.

Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched using keywords like “effective communication,“ “elderly,“ and “well-being.“ Studies published between 2000 and 2023 describing or investigating communication strategies between older patients (65 years and above) and providers in various healthcare settings were considered for selection. The quality of selected studies was assessed using the GRADE Tool.

The search strategy yielded seven studies. Five studies were qualitative (two phenomenological study, one ethnography, and two grounded theory studies), one was a cross-sectional observational study, and one was an experimental study. The studies investigated the effects of verbal and nonverbal communication strategies between patients and providers on various patient-centred outcomes, such as patient satisfaction, quality of care, quality of life, and physical and mental health. All the studies reported that various verbal and non-verbal communication strategies positively impacted all patient-centred outcomes.

Although the selected studies supported the positive impact of effective communication with older adults on patient-centred outcomes, they had various methodological setbacks that need to be bridged in the future. Future studies should utilize experimental approaches, generalizable samples, and specific effect size estimates.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-023-09869-8.

Introduction

Excellent communication is critical for all health professionals [ 1 , 2 ]. It affects the quality of healthcare output, impacts the patient’s health and satisfaction, and benefits both patients and providers [ 3 ]. Communication is a critical clinical competence because it establishes trust between providers and patients, creating a therapeutic relationship [ 4 ]. Physician-patient communication plays several functions, including making decisions, exchanging information, improving the physician-patient relationship, managing the patient’s doubts, addressing emotions, and enhancing self-management [ 5 ]. Features of effective or quality communication include involving patients in decisions, allowing patients to speak without interruptions, encouraging a patient to ask questions and answering the questions, using a language that the patient understands, paying attention to the patient and discussing the next steps [ 5 ]. This communication also includes listening, developing a good interpersonal relationship, and making patient-centred management plans.

The quality of patient-physician communication influences various patient-centred outcomes [ 6 ]. In this review, patient-centred outcomes refer to all the outcomes that contribute to the recovery or indicate the recovery of patients, as well as suggest positive experiences with the care process. For instance, effective communication is associated with enhanced patient satisfaction, regulating emotions, and increasing compliance, leading to improved health and better outcomes [ 7 , 8 ]. According to [ 9 ], quality communication enhances patients’ trust in their providers, making patients more satisfied with the treatment. A trusting provider-patient relationship causes individuals to believe they receive better care [ 10 ]. For instance, [ 11 ] report that effective provider-patient communication improves social, somatic, and psychological health. During communication, the provider may enhance positive motivations and involve the individual in treatment decisions. Communication helps patients to acknowledge their illnesses, the associated risks, and the advantages of consistent treatment [ 5 ]. note that mutual communication between providers and patients stimulates or strengthens patients’ perception of control over their health, the knowledge to discern symptoms and self-care and identify changes in their condition. Effective communication leads to improved perceived quality of health care [ 12 ]. report that physician-patient communication influences the perceived quality of healthcare services. All these outcomes that suggest or contribute to patient’s positive experiences or imply a positive recovery journey, such as shorter hospital stays, are considered patient-centred outcomes.

This rapid review aims to review studies that have previously investigated the influence of quality communication on patient-centred outcomes among older adults, such as psychological well-being, quality of health care, emotional well-being, cognitive well-being, individualised care, health status, patient satisfaction, and quality of life. The specific objectives include (a) exploring the strategies used to ensure quality and effective communication with older patients in various healthcare settings, (b) exploring the patient-centred health outcomes reported by previous studies investigating quality communication between providers and older patients, and (c) to link quality communication strategies with older patients to patient-centred health outcomes among older patients.

The primary rationale for conducting this rapid review is that although many studies have examined the relationship between quality communication and various patient-centred outcomes, few studies have used older patients as their participants. It is a significant research gap because older adults have unique communication needs, which, if not considered, their communication with healthcare providers could be ineffective [ 13 ]. For example, older adults experience age-related changes in cognition, perception, and sensation, which can interfere with the communication process [ 14 ]. As a result, more research is needed to the specific quality communication strategies that could improve patient-centred outcomes among older adults. To my knowledge, no systematic review has focused on this topic. Therefore, this is the first rapid review to explore quality communication and its impact on patient-centred health outcomes among older patients in various healthcare settings.

This rapid review’s findings could inform practitioners of the quality communication strategies they can use to improve patient-reported outcomes. Besides, the rapid review evaluates the quality of studies investigating this matter and makes informed recommendations for future research to advance knowledge on this subject.

This rapid review was conducted in conformity with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines [ 15 ]. The main difference between a systematic review and a rapid review is that the former strictly conforms to the PRISMA protocol, whereas the latter can miss a few elements of a typical systematic review. A rapid review was suitable because a single reviewer was involved in the study selection process, whereas at least two independent reviewers are recommended in typical systematic reviews [ 16 ].

Eligibility criteria

Table  1 below summarises the inclusion and exclusion criteria used to guide study selection in this rapid review. Also, justification is provided for each inclusion/exclusion criteria. The inclusion/exclusion criteria were drafted based on the target population, the intervention, the outcomes, year of publication, article language, and geographical location. This approach corresponds with the PICO (P – population, I – intervention, C – comparison, and O – outcomes) framework [ 17 ].

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Information sources

Four academic databases were searched: PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. These databases were used as sources of information because they publish studies in healthcare sciences on a wide range of topics, including communication and the health outcomes of various interventions. Additionally, Google Scholar was searched to supplement the databases because it indexes academic journal articles in all disciplines, including healthcare. Combining Google Scholar with these databases has been recommended for an optimal search strategy [ 18 ].

Search strategy

Various search terms related to the critical variables of this rapid review, namely quality communication, patient-centred health outcomes, and older patients, were combined using Boolean connectors (AND & OR). Regarding quality communication, some of the keywords that were used include “quality communication,“ “effective communication,“ “doctor-patient communication,“ and “patient-centred communication.“ The keywords that were used for patient-centred outcomes included “well-being,“ “patient satisfaction,“ “quality of care,“ “health status,“ and “quality of life.“ The search terms related to older patients included “nursing home residents,“ “older,“ and “elderly.“ Additionally, since most older patients are institutionalised, search terms like “nursing homes” and “assisted living facilities” were used in the search strategy. Table  2 below presents a sample search strategy executed on PubMed between September 2022 and July 2023. As shown in Table  2 , Mesh terms were used alongside regular keywords. Truncations on the three keywords, namely elderly, nursing homes, and geriatric were used to allow more of their variations to be captured in the search. The use of Mesh terms was only performed on PubMed – Mesh terms are only supported on PubMed and MEDLINE. The rest of the sources of information were searched using the search terms without specifying whether they are Mesh terms or not.

Study selection process

One reviewer (the author) was involved in screening the studies. The reviewer screened each record at least twice for confirmation purposes. Afterwards, an automation tool called ASReview which relies on machine learning to screen textual data was used as a second confirmation [ 19 ]. Research has shown that combining a machine learning tool and a single reviewer can significantly reduce the risk of missing relevant records [ 20 ]. This decision was reached based on previous research that has also demonstrated the good sensitivity of ASReview as a study selection tool in systematic reviews [ 19 ]. The software was trained on the eligibility criteria and the broader context of this study before it was used to screen the studies and confirm the reviewer’s decision. Therefore, if a record were retrieved, the author would screen for its eligibility the first time and confirm it the second time. For the third time confirmation, ASReview was employed. In case of disagreement between the author’s first and second attempts, a third attempt could be made to resolve it. In case of disagreement between the author’s first/second/third attempts and ASReview, a fourth attempt was made to resolve it.

Data collection process

One reviewer (the author) extracted data from the qualifying records. The reviewer could collect data from a given study in the first round, record them, and confirm them in the second round. In case of disagreement between the first and second rounds, the author would extract data from the record for the third time to resolve it. The data points on which data extraction was based include the country where the study was conducted, the study’s research design (if reported), the population and setting of the study, the characteristics of the intervention (communication), and outcomes. Also, the author remained keen to identify ways the studies defined quality or effective communication in the context of older patient care. Regarding the characteristics of the intervention, some of the data sought included the type of communication (e.g., verbal or non-verbal) and the specific communicative strategies, such as touch and active listening.

Regarding outcomes, ‘patient-centred outcomes’ was used as an umbrella term for several variables that relate to the patient’s subjective well-being. Such variables include perceptions of quality of care, quality of life, symptom management, physical health, mental health, health literacy, patient satisfaction, individualised care, and overall well-being, including social processes, self-actualisation, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and psychosocial well-being. If studies reported on the acceptance and usability of communicative strategies, it was also included as a patient-centred outcome because the patient accepts a specific intervention and acknowledges its usability.

Study quality assessment

The study quality assessment in this rapid review entailed the risk of bias and certainty assessments. Risk of bias assessment formed an essential aspect of certainty assessment. The risk of bias in qualitative studies was evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) Qualitative Checklist [ 21 ]; the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) tool was used for randomised studies [ 22 ]; and Risk of Bias in Non-Randomised Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) was used for cross-sectional observational studies [ 23 ]. The Grading for Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) tool was used to assess the certainty of the evidence for all study designs [ 24 ]. The risk of bias in each study design and its corresponding assessment tool was calculated as a percentage of the total points possible. For example, the CASP Qualitative Checklist has ten items; each awarded one point. If a study scored seven out of 10 possible points, its risk of bias would be rated as 70%. The GRADE Tool has five domains, namely risk of bias, inconsistency, indirectness, imprecision, and publication bias. The first domain, risk of bias, was populated using the findings of risk of bias assessment using the stated tools. The overall quality of a study was based upon all five domains of the GRADE Tool.

Synthesis methods

Both qualitative and quantitative studies were included in this review. The studies were highly heterogeneous in their research designs hence statistical methods like a meta-analysis synthesis were impossible [ 25 ]. Besides, the studies also had substantial heterogeneity in the study settings (some were conducted in primary care settings, but a majority were conducted in long-term care facilities/nursing homes) and outcomes. The studies measured different outcomes under the umbrella variable of patient-centred outcomes. As such, a narrative synthesis approach was considered the most suitable [ 26 ]. The narrative synthesis guidance by [ 27 ] was used. The first step based on the guidelines should be developing a theoretical model of how the interventions work, why, and for whom.

This rapid review’s explanation of how effective or quality communication leads to improved patient-centred outcomes in the introduction section formed the theoretical basis, that is, effective communication facilitates informational exchange between the patient and provider, leading to better decision-making, which positively influences patient outcomes The second step of a narrative synthesis entails organising findings from the included studies to describe patterns across the studies based on the direction of the effect size or effects [ 27 ]. The third step is to explore the relationship in the data by identifying the reasons for the direction of effects or effect size. This rapid review’s reasons were based on the theoretical notions outlined above in this paragraph. The final step is to provide insights into the generalizability of the findings to other populations, which, in the process, further research gaps can be outlined. The results are stated below.

Study selection

After running the search strategy, 40 articles were identified from PubMed, 13 from Google Scholar (records identified from websites (Fig.  1 )), 24 from Scopus, 18 from CINHAL, and 10 from PsycINFO based on the relevance of the titles. It was discovered that 26 were duplicated records between databases and Google Scholar, which reduced the number of identified records to 79. Further, the automation tool (ASReview) marked five records as ineligible based on their title considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These articles were excluded because the author confirmed in the fourth round that they were ineligible. After realising they did not focus on older adults, the author excluded three more records. Therefore, 71 records were screened using their abstracts with the help of ASReview (64 records from databases and 7 records from Google Scholar), whereby 44 were excluded (40 records from databases and 4 records from Google Scholar) for various reasons, such as being expert opinions and professional development based on field experiences (e.g., [ 28 ]) and did not have a methodology. The remaining 27 records (24 records from databases and 3 records from Google Scholar) were sought for retrieval, whereby one was excluded because its full text was inaccessible. The remaining 26 articles (23 records from databases and 3 records from Google Scholar) were assessed for eligibility with the help of ASReview, whereby eight records were excluded because they did not report their methodologies (e.g., [ 29 ]), another eight were secondary studies (e.g., [ 30 ]), and three were non-peer-reviewed preprints. Therefore, seven studies met the eligibility criteria for this rapid review.

PRISMA Flowchart summarising the study selection process

Study characteristics

Out of the seven studies, one was an experimental study [ 31 ], one was a cross-sectional observational study [ 32 ], and five were qualitative studies [ 33 – 37 ]. As shown in Table  3 , most of the studies (n = 4) were conducted in the United States. The following countries produced one study each: Australia, Cameroon, the Netherlands, and Hungary. Although all the studies utilised a sample of older patients, the characteristics of the patients differed from one study to another. The studies ranged from primary care settings [ 36 ] and adult medical wards [ 37 ] to long-term care facilities like nursing homes. Apart from [ 36 ], the rest of the studies investigated various non-verbal communication strategies with older adults and their impact on various types of patient-centred outcomes, ranging from health-related outcomes (e.g., smoking cessation) to patient-reported outcomes, such as patient satisfaction, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. These outcomes are within the broader umbrella category of patient-centred m outcomes.

Characteristics of included studies

Further, the studies used different types of communicative strategies that can be used to enhance or promote patient-centred outcomes. In this rapid review, they were categorised into seven, namely (a) touching, (b) smiling, (c) gaze, head nod, and eyebrow movement, (d) active listening, (e) close physical distance, and (f) use of visual aids, and (g) telephone communication. Table  4 summarises the various ways in which each study described its interventions.

Description of interventions used in studies

Quality assessment findings

All seven studies were of high quality based on the GRADE Tool-based Assessment. However, [ 31 ] conducted an experimental study, but they did not provide any details indicating whether there was concealment in participant allocation and blinding of participants and outcome assessors. Therefore, it has a high likelihood of risk of bias. However, they scored excellently in the other domains of the GRADE Tool. All five qualitative studies and the cross-sectional observational study also scored excellently in the domains of the GRADE Tool, apart from the imprecision domain where they could not be scored because none of them reported effect sizes (Table  5 ).

Quality assessment using the GRADE Tool

Results of individual studies

[ 31 ] was the only experimental study used in this rapid review investigating the effect of comfort touch on older patients’ perceptions of well-being, self-esteem, health status, social processes, life satisfaction, self-actualisation, and self-responsibility. The authors did not report the effect sizes but indicated that comforting touch had a statistically significant effect on each of the five variables. In summary, the authors suggested that comfort touch, characterised by a handshake or a pat on the shoulders, forearm, or hand, had a statistically significant positive impact on the various patient-centred outcomes reported in their study. For each variable, the authors used three groups, the first and second control groups and the third experimental group. After delivering the intervention, they investigated whether the scores of these variables changed between three-time points in each of the three groups. The first time point was the baseline data collected before intervention was initiated; the second was two weeks after baseline data; and the third was four weeks after baseline data. The authors found that in each of the five variables, the scores remained almost the same in the three-time points for the two control groups, but there were significant improvements in the experimental group (the one that received the intervention). For example, the self-esteem variable was measured using Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, with the highest attainable score of 40. In the first control group, the score remained 27.00, 27.27, and 27.13 for Time 1 (baseline), Time 2 (after two weeks), and Time 3 (after four weeks), respectively. The same trend was observed in the second control group. However, in the experimental group, the score improved from 29.17 at baseline to 36.00 at Time 2 and 37.47 at Time 3. These findings suggest that comfort touch was highly effective in improving self-esteem among older patients. The same significant improvements were evident for all the other variables (p.184).

While all the other studies focused on nonverbal communication cues, [ 36 ] focused on telephone communication. They aimed to investigate the effect of a tailored intervention on health behaviour change in older adults delivered through telephone communication. Therefore, the primary rationale for selecting this study for review is that it used a specific communicative strategy (telephone) to deliver the intervention, which is the primary purpose of effective communication in most healthcare settings. The older patients used as participants in this study lived with COPD. The nurses trained to administer the intervention made regular phone calls over 12 months. The intervention was delivered to 90 participants. Of these, 65 were invited for interviews at the end of 12 months. One of the most important outcomes relevant to this rapid review is that the participants reported “being listened to by a caring health professional.“ It means that regular telephone communication improved the patient’s perceptions of the quality of care. Other critical patient-centred outcomes that improved due to this intervention include many participants quitting smoking and increased awareness of COPD effects.

[ 34 ] also conducted a qualitative study but needed to specify the specific research design, which was generally non-experimental. The authors used formative evaluation and a participatory approach to develop a communicative intervention for older adults with limited health literacy. In other words, apart from literature reviews, the authors involved the target population in developing a curated story to improve their health literacy. They developed photo and video-based stories by incorporating narrative and social learning theories. The most important finding of this study was that the authors found the developed communicative strategy appealing and understandable. Such observations imply that the participants’ health literacy also likely improved even though the authors did not evaluate it.

Further, using a sample of 155 older patients, [ 32 ] investigated the relationship between the communication characteristics between nursing practitioners and the older patients and patients’ proximal outcomes, namely patient satisfaction and intention to adhere to the NPs’ recommendations, and patients’ long-term outcomes (presenting problems and physical and mental health). The proximal outcomes (satisfaction and intention to adhere) were measured after visits, whereas the long-term outcomes (presenting problems, mental health, and physical health) were measured at four weeks. The communication and relationship components observed include various non-verbal communication strategies: smile, gaze, touch, eyebrow movement, head nod, and handshakes. The authors recorded videos during patient-provider interactions. These communicative strategies were measured using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (independent variable).

In contrast, the other outcomes (dependent variables) outlined above were each measured separately with a validated tool or single-item instruments [ 32 ]. For example, presenting problems were measured with a single-item instrument, whereas the physical and mental health changes at four weeks were measured using the SF-12 Version 2 Health Survey. The authors found that verbal and nonverbal communication strategies focused on providing patients with biomedical and psychosocial information and positive talk characterised by receptivity and trust were associated with better patient outcomes, such as significant improvements in mental and physical health at four weeks. Although the study did not report effect sizes, the findings agree that effective and quality communication can improve patient-centred outcomes like patient satisfaction.

[ 35 ] conducted a qualitative study with focus groups (eight focus groups with a range of three to nine participants) of 15 older adults in a nursing home. The study used an ethnographic qualitative design. The nonverbal communication strategies observed in this study included active listening (including verbal responses) and touching. The authors found that the characteristics of the communication strategies that make communication quality and effective include mutual respect, equity, and addressing conflict. The patients perceived that their nursing aides gave them better-individualised care if their relationship and communication were characterised by mutual respect. Portraying mutual respect includes showing the patients that they are being listened to and heard, which can include calling them by their names and showing signs of active listening. Some residents (older patients) complained that some nursing aides had favouritism, whereby they liked some patients and not others. When such a perception emerges, the patients could perceive the treatment as unjust, compromising individualised care quality. Also, nursing aides must equip themselves with communicative strategies to address conflict rather than avoid it. For example, knowing about the patient’s history can help nursing aides understand their behaviour in the facility, improving prospects of providing better personalised or individualised care.

[ 33 ] also conducted a qualitative study utilising a sample of 17 older adults in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the United States. They aimed to identify the types and examples of nurse-aide-initiated communication with long-term care residents during mealtime assistance in the context of the residents’ responses. Using a naturalistic approach, the researchers observed communicative interactions between the nurse aides and the residents during mealtime assistance. Videos were recorded and transcribed and analysed using the grounded theory approach. They found that apart from emotional support, nonverbal communication strategies were used by nurse aides to address the residents, initiate and maintain personal conversations, and check-in. Although the authors did not provide statistical proof that these communication strategies improved well-being, their findings can inform future studies.

Finally, [ 37 ] conducted a qualitative, grounded theory study to develop a model for effective non-verbal communication between nurses and older patients. The authors conducted overt observations of patient-nurse interactions using a sample of eight older patients. They found that the nature of nonverbal communication to be employed depends on the context or environment, and certain external factors influence it. The factors influencing nonverbal communication include the nurses’ intrinsic factors, positive views of older adults, awareness of nonverbal communication, and possession of nonverbal communication skills. Patient factors that can also influence the effectiveness of nonverbal communication include positive moods, financial situations, and non-critical medical conditions. The model developed also emphasised that non-verbal communication, if carried out correctly considering context and environment, can lead to positive outcomes, such as increased adherence to providers’ recommendations, improved quality of care, and shorter hospital stays.

Results of syntheses

Four themes emerged from the narrative synthesis: nonverbal communication, verbal communication, communication strategies, and patient-centred outcomes. Table  6 summarises the subthemes that emerged under each theme. They are discussed below.

Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication was a critical theme that emerged in several studies. Five out of the seven studies investigated the effectiveness of touch on various patient-centred outcomes [ 31 ]. found that nonverbal communication strategies such as comfort touch, characterised by a handshake or a pat on the shoulders, forearm, or hand, had a statistically significant positive impact on patient-centred outcomes, such as well-being, self-esteem, health status, social processes, life satisfaction, self-actualisation, and self-responsibility [ 31 ]. implemented comfort touch exclusively without combining it with other nonverbal communication strategies. It means that comfort touch on its own can be effective in improving various patient-centred outcomes. As such, it can be hypothesised that if comfort touch is combined with other nonverbal communication strategies, such as active listening, eye gazing, smiling, maintaining a close distance, eyebrow movement, and nodding/shaking of the head can lead to even better results regarding patient-centred outcomes [ 32 , 33 , 35 , 37 ]. [ 35 ] identified active listening and touching as important nonverbal communication strategies that make communication quality and effective [ 33 ]. found that nurse-aide-initiated communication during mealtime assistance using nonverbal communication strategies, such as emotional support, smiling, laughing, touching, eye gazing, shaking hands, head nodding, leaning forward, and a soft tone were crucial in addressing the residents, initiating (and maintaining) personal conversations, and checking in. Finally, [ 37 ] developed a model that emphasised the importance of effective nonverbal communication in forming effective therapeutic relationships, promoting patient satisfaction, and improving the quality of care. An exhaustive list of the nonverbal communication approaches is shown in Table  6 .

In general, most studies, especially the qualitative ones, supported the utilisation of multiple non-verbal communication strategies in a single communicative episode. The studies also implied that it is the responsibility of healthcare providers to initiate and maintain effective nonverbal communication cues, such as those detailed in Table  6 . Additionally, it is important to note that it is only one study [ 31 ] that investigated the effectiveness of comfort touch on patient-centred outcomes. Therefore, the notion implied in qualitative studies that combining various nonverbal strategies could lead to a better improvement in patient-centred outcomes is subject to further empirical investigation. It was noted that there is a lack of empirical studies investigating how the combination of various non-verbal communication techniques or strategies can influence patient-centred outcomes, such as patient satisfaction and perceptions of quality of care.

Verbal communication

Four out of the seven studies implied that verbal communication improved patient-centred outcomes [ 32 , 34 – 36 ]. Effective and quality verbal communication was found to impact patient satisfaction positively [ 32 ], increased awareness of COPD effects [ 36 ], improved health literacy [ 34 ], presented problems [ 32 ], and mental and physical health [ 32 ]. It is worth noting that [ 32 ] used a cross-sectional survey approach and used regression analyses to investigate the relationship between communication and various patient-centred outcomes, such as patient satisfaction and mental and physical health. Also, it is important noting that the authors combined both verbal (e.g., more positive talk, greater trust, and receptivity) and non-verbal (e.g., smile, gazing, eyebrow movements, and interpersonal touches) in their study. Therefore, it can be a bit challenging to directly conclude that effective verbal communication alone without non-verbal communication is effective on its own in improving patient-centred outcomes. Similarly, [ 34 ] combined both narrative-based and picture-based communication strategies to give patients education about health literacy. Therefore, it can be challenging to know whether narratives comprising of verbal communication (and often non-verbal communication) can improve patient-centred outcomes on their own. The rest of the studies were qualitative [ 35 , 36 ], which means that their findings generally reflected the subjective experiences or opinions of their participants. Therefore, it can be said that although all the four studies supported verbal communication can effectively improve patient-centred outcomes, there is a need for future research to experimentally test its effectiveness without being combined with non-verbal communication strategies.

Moreover, two of the four studies implied that some conditions must be met for verbal communication to be effective [ 32 , 35 ]. some communication strategies, such as higher lifestyle discussion and rapport-building rates, were perceived as patronising and associated with poor outcomes [ 32 ]. Instead, the authors found that communication strategies like seeking and giving biomedical and psychosocial information were more effective in improving patient outcomes [ 32 ]. It implies that healthcare providers should be attentive and intentional of the topics they discuss with patients. Further, in their qualitative study, [ 35 ] found that effective verbal communication also requires mutual respect, equity, and addressing conflict. Indeed, it appears that certain communication strategies like lifestyle discussions can undermine the process of establishing trust, which is why they were associated with adverse patient outcomes. Also, unlike nonverbal communication, the studies that highlighted the effect of verbal communication on patient-centred outcomes did not provide rich descriptions of the specific verbal communication strategies that can be used in a face-to-face healthcare setting. The described strategies like using phone calls to regularly communicate with the patient without having to visit a healthcare facility and things to ensure when communicating with the older patient, such as mutual respect and avoiding too many discussions on lifestyle do not offer rich insights into the specific nature of the verbal communication strategies.

Communication strategies

In 3.5.2 above, it was shown that the sample of participants that [ 32 ] used in their study did not prefer discussions related with healthy lifestyles, which compromised patient-centred outcomes. Therefore, it was also important to determine the best approaches to formulate communication strategies that work. Two out of the seven studies implied how communication strategies can be formulated [ 34 , 36 ] [ 36 ]. found that a tailored intervention delivered through telephone communication improved patient perceptions of the quality of care. In this regard, the authors first identified the needs of the patients to guide the development of the tailored intervention, from which they might have obtained insights into the patients’ communication preferences [ 34 ]. found a participatory approach to developing a curated story that improves health literacy appealing and understandable. The findings emphasised the need for participatory approaches when developing communication interventions for patients with varied health and social needs. Although the studies did not compare or contrast the effectiveness of participatory-based communication strategies and non-participatory-based communication strategies, their findings provide useful insights into the significance of involving patients when developing them. From their findings, it can be anticipated that a participatory approach is more likely to yield better patient-centred outcomes than non-participatory-based communication strategies.

Patient-centred outcomes

All studies reviewed highlighted patient-centred outcomes as the goal of effective communication in older patients. Patient-centred outcomes included well-being, self-esteem, health status, social processes, life satisfaction, self-actualisation, and self-responsibility (Butt, 2001), as well as patient satisfaction [ 32 , 36 ], increased awareness of COPD effects [ 36 ], and improved health literacy [ 34 ]. Others included presenting problems, mental health, and physical health [ 32 ], as well as adherence to providers’ recommendations, improved quality of care, and shorter hospital stays [ 37 ]. All seven studies indicated that the various verbal and nonverbal communication approaches could improve these patient-centred outcomes. The consistency observed between the experimental study by [ 31 ], the qualitative studies, and other quantitative study designs implies the need to pay greater attention to verbal and non-verbal communication strategies used by healthcare professionals as they can directly influence numerous patient-centred outcomes. This consistency further implies that effective communication is the anchor of high-quality care, and its absence will always compromise patient-centred outcomes, such as satisfaction and health outcomes.

Discussion and conclusion

Discussion of findings.

In agreement with various studies and reviews conducted in younger populations [ 1 – 3 ], all the seven studies selected in this rapid review supported that effective communication is a cornerstone of improved patient-centred outcomes. Like [ 5 , 11 , 12 ], the studies reviewed in this rapid review also supported the idea that effective communication with older adults involves the combination of verbal and nonverbal communication cues. However, this rapid review went a step ahead to identify the specific conditions that must be present for effective verbal and nonverbal communication to take place, such as perceptions of equity, mutual respect, and addressing conflict instead of avoiding it. The qualitative studies used in this rapid review also offered rich descriptions of how providers use nonverbal communication strategies.

However, the main shortcoming of the seven studies reviewed is that none aimed to define or describe what constitutes effective communication with older adults, apart from [ 37 ], who described a model of nonverbal communication with older adults. The study was qualitative and only formed a theoretical basis of how effective nonverbal communication with older adults could be shaped. The theory developed needs to be tested in an experimental setting so that its effect size in improving patient-centred outcomes, such as quality of care, quality of life, patient satisfaction, and emotional and cognitive well-being, can be documented unbiasedly and validly. Therefore, as much as the reviewed studies agreed with younger populations regarding the positive effect of effective and quality communication on patient-centred outcomes [ 9 , 10 ], the methodological rigour of studies with older patients needs to be improved.

Although the individual studies reviewed in this rapid review had low risk of bias apart from [ 31 ], the screening was based on the judgment of the individual research designs. Otherwise, if the assessment had been done from the perspective of the focus of this rapid review, the risk of bias in studies could have been high in predicting the influence of effective communication on patient-centred outcomes. First, apart from [ 31 ], none of the studies used a random sample. The qualitative studies used purposively obtained samples, which means the risk of bias from an interventional perspective was high. However, the studies provided in-depth insights into the characteristics and features of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that can be used to form and maintain provider-patient relationships.

Recommendations for practice and future research

The main recommendation for practice is that nurses and providers serving older patients must be aware of their verbal and non-verbal communication strategies. Besides, they should engage in continuous professional development to enhance their verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Combining a wide range of nonverbal communication, such as touching the patient on the shoulder or arm or even handshaking can help create strong bonds and relationships, which are key in an effective therapeutic relationship. The qualitative studies reviewed showed that nurses and other providers combine a wide range of nonverbal communication in a single interaction instance, such as eye gazing, nodding, touching, and eyebrow movement. Although studies on verbal communication were rare in this rapid review, some lessons learned from the few studies included (e.g., [ 36 ]) is that using telephones to communicate with older patients regularly is potentially effective in improving patient-centred outcomes like better self-management. The information shared by the nurse should be tailored to serve the specific health needs of older patients. For example, for COPD patients, a nurse can make regular calls to old patients to educate them about the importance of quitting smoking and alcohol to improve their health condition and better self-management. However, as [ 32 ] indicated, the nurse should be cautious about how to present the information to the client and be able to detect patronising discussions quickly. For example, the sample of adults used by [ 32 ] found that many lifestyle and rapport-building discussions with the nurse were patronising in ways that may be detrimental to patient-centred outcomes. Some of the strategies providers can employ to ensure that communication is not perceived as patronising by older patients include ensuring mutual respect (e.g., active listening as a sign of mutual respect), creating perceptions of equity rather than favouritism when communicating with multiple patients at a time, and solving conflicts rather than avoiding them, which entails extra efforts, such as understanding the patient’s behaviour in the past and present. Overall, although studies have not provided specific estimates of the effect sizes of effective communication on patient-centred outcomes among older adults, there is a general trend and consensus in studies that effective communication, nonverbal and verbal, is the cornerstone of high-quality healthcare.

Further, future research needs to address various gaps identified in this study. The first gap is that although [ 37 ] tried to develop a model of nonverbal communication with older adults, their study had some drawbacks that limited the comprehensiveness of the model. First, the authors used a sample of only eight older adults in two medical wards in Cameroon. Besides the small sample, the study was conducted in medical wards, which means its findings may not be generalisable to long-term care settings like nursing homes. More older adults who encounter healthcare professionals are admitted in long-term care facilities, calling for developing a more robust communication strategy. Second, [ 37 ] only focused on nonverbal communication, thereby providing limited practical applicability of the model since verbal and nonverbal communication co-exists in a single interactional instance. Therefore, there is a need to develop a model that provides a complete picture into what effective communication is like with older adults.

After developing a valid, reliable, and generalisable model for effective communication with older adults in various healthcare settings, future research should also focus on investigating the impact of such a model on patient-centred outcomes, such as quality of care, quality of life, patient satisfaction, and physical and mental health. More particularly, the developed model can be used to derive communication interventions, which can be applied and tested in various healthcare settings with older adults. That way, research on this subject matter will mature as more and more studies test the effectiveness of such a communication model in various settings and countries. All that is known in the literature is that effective verbal and nonverbal communication can help promote patient-centred outcomes among older adults.

Limitations

Although this rapid review was conducted rigorously by adhering to the PRISMA guidelines, the use of a single reviewer in the study selection process can undermine the quality of the review. When a single reviewer is involved, the probability of missing out relevant studies increases immensely. However, this limitation was mitigated in this review by using an automation tool in the study selection process. In was assumed that combining the automation tool with one independent reviewer could significantly reduce the probability of missing relevant studies.

Another possible limitation is that few studies have been conducted between 2000 and 2023 investigating the effect of effective communication on various patient-centred outcomes. Although the literature recognises the importance of effective communication, and there is a unanimous agreement between studies of various research designs that it is the cornerstone of quality of care, more studies need to be conducted examining how various communication strategies influence patient outcomes, both subjective and objective. For example, [ 31 ] investigated the effect of comfort touch. Other studies using empirical means (e.g., experiments) can also test the other strategies identified, such as eye gazing, head nodding, eyebrow movement, et cetera. In this way, a more specific and structured approach to communication in healthcare settings can be developed using the evidence base.

Moreover, I initially intended to review studies published within the past five years (2018–2023) but later learned there were insufficient studies meeting the eligibility criteria. Consequently, I adjusted the publication date to the past ten years (2013–2023). I also learned insufficient studies published within that period. Consequently, I chose the period of 2000–2023, which yielded seven studies. Thus, some of the studies included may not capture contemporary realities in healthcare settings, raising the need for more empirical studies on this topic.

This rapid review selected seven studies whose narrative synthesis demonstrated that effective verbal and non-verbal communication could improve patient-centred outcomes. However, the studies were mostly qualitative, and hence they only provided rich descriptions of how nurses and older patients communicate in various clinical settings. It is only one study (Butts, 2001) that was experimental. Still, its risk of bias was high since patients were not concealed to allocation, and participants and outcome assessors were not blinded. Future research needs to focus on deriving a valid, reliable, and generalisable communication model with older adults using a larger and more representative sample size of older patients. Such a model should encompass both verbal and nonverbal communication. After developing a robust model, the next phase of future studies is to derive interventions based on the model and then, through experimental research, test their effectiveness. In that way, a standard approach to communicating effectively and in quality will be achieved, which is yet to be achieved in the current studies.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Acknowledgements

I thank my wife and children for their patience and the great opportunity to devote a lot of time to doing the article in the best possible way.

Authors’ contributions

I am the primary and sole author of this article. My contribution to this article is a full contribution.

Data Availability

Declarations.

The authors declare no competing interests.

‘Not applicable’ for that section. The article is a rapid review type.

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Organizational Communication: How to Engage Internal Communication in a B2B Case Study

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• Helena Madeira 7 ,
• Amélia Brandão   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2751-7272 8 &
• Jorge Remondes   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5259-4379 9  

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 344))

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• International Conference on Marketing and Technologies

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Organizations need to evaluate and improve internal communication process to keep and leverage employee engagement. This investigation aims to understand the internal communication effectiveness in a B2B context. A qualitative approach was adopted, with semi-structured interviews targeting employees from different countries of an automotive B2B multinational company. The results enhance the consensus of the importance of internal communication to create employee brand engagement. Moreover, this research highlights how does employee engagement is related with employee branding. So, a conceptual organizational communication funnel framework model was developed. The focus was on (1) employee communication needs, (2) data-driven information, (3) transparent information to employees, and (4) new channel to improve employee engagement. Thus, concrete actions were suggested for managers to improve the communication effectiveness in an integrated and blended solutions. This paper is relevant for academia since it expands the knowledge on internal communication in the complex B2B market.

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This research has been financed by Portuguese public funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciênciae a Tecnologia, I.P., in the framework of the project with reference UIDB/04105/2020.

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Madeira, H., Brandão, A., Remondes, J. (2024). Organizational Communication: How to Engage Internal Communication in a B2B Case Study. In: Reis, J.L., Del Rio Araujo, M., Reis, L.P., dos Santos, J.P.M. (eds) Marketing and Smart Technologies. ICMarkTech 2022. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 344. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0333-7_20

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5 Internal Communication Case Studies and Best Practices To Follow

Alex Cleary

Apr 6, 2022

Internal Communications

From employee engagement to workplace culture to change management, businesses often face similar challenges to each other even if those businesses are radically different. While the specifics of these challenges may differ, how other businesses solve these challenges can give you new insights into addressing your own.

We’re always interested in how our customers use ContactMonkey to solve their internal communications challenges, which is why we publish customer case studies. Learn how other businesses solve their communication challenges and get inspiration on ways you can improve your business by using an internal communications tool .

Real-time analytics that get it right

Discover where your employees are clicking, the best times to engage them, and which content resonates best.

What is an Internal Communication Case Study?

An internal communication case study examines how a company addressed a specific problem facing their organization, or achieved a specific goal. Communication is crucial for every business, and communication challenges can manifest in all kinds of situations.

An effective internal communication case study will clearly outline the problem, solution, and result of the business’ efforts to reach their goal. An internal communication case study should also outline best practices that were developed in this process, and how those best practices serve the business going forward.

Why are internal communication case studies important?

A good internal communication case study should not only explain the circumstances around a specific business’ problems and solution. It should also help others develop new ways to approach their own internal communication challenges , and shed light on common communication pitfalls that face a majority of businesses.

Whenever you’re facing a particular communication problem at your workplace, we recommend searching out a relevant internal communication case study about businesses facing similar issues. Even though the particulars may be different, it’s always important to see how internal communications problems are solved .

Featured Resource: Internal Email Benchmark Report 2023

How do your internal email performance metrics compare to 20 key industries? 

5 Best Internal Communications Case Studies

We put together this list of our favourite ContactMonkey case studies that best demonstrate the many problems our internal communications software can be used to solve. If you want to learn more about any of these customers and see other case studies, check out our Customers page .

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1. Mettler Toledo Saves Days on their Internal Communications with ContactMonkey

When Kate Kraley began as Mettler Toledo’s Marketing Communications Specialist, she wanted to use internal communications to increase engagement and improve communication with employees.

But Mettler Toledo —a global manufacturer of precision instruments for various industries—had a confusing and ineffective array of internal communications channels . Here’s how Kate took charge of internal communications at Mettler Toledo with ContactMonkey.

Kate came to an internal communications department tasked with reaching employees through a number of channels. Email was the main focus of their approach, but this encompassed many forms of communication based on email like employee newsletters, eNews, and quarterly email updates.

Kate wanted to improve the quality of their internal communications. She used a variety of tools to create their newsletters, including using Mailchimp and online HTML template builder. But because Mailchimp is not for internal communications , Kate and her team found themselves spending over 8 hours a week building their internal communications:

“We faced challenges with Mailchimp. Since we had to leave Outlook to use Mailchimp, we found it was double the work to maintain distribution lists in both Outlook and Mailchimp. The HTML builder in Mailchimp was also difficult to use as it didn’t work well with older versions of Outlook, compromising the layout.”

Kate also needed a way to determine whether Mettler Toledo employees were actually reading her internal communications. She used Mailchimp to track open rate, but wanted more in-depth measures of engagement. That’s when she switched to ContactMonkey.

Kate found ContactMonkey via the IABC Hub in 2018, and began testing it out. ContactMonkey’s all-in-one internal communications software removed the need to switch from tool to tool. Using our email template builder , Kate now builds visually stunning email newsletters and templates without having to navigate away from Outlook:

She also now has access to her own analytics dashboard . Kate analyzes numerous email metrics like open rate, click-through rate, read time, opens by device and location, and more to see which communications are driving the most engagement. With this new centralized approach, Kate knew she had found the right solution:

“Once I started using ContactMonkey, I realized I was able to save 4 hours of work a week, which translated to 25 days saved per year! ContactMonkey has helped us understand what employees are interested in!”

2. BASF Manages Their Remote Workforce with ContactMonkey

Mark Kaplan is the Global Communications Manager at BASF’s Agricultural Group —a department of the German chemical company BASF SE. Because BASF has offices and production sites around the world, Mark coordinates with other internal communicators across the company to drive employee engagement.

With the success of any business comes new challenges, and BASF isn’t any different. While Mark knew he had to keep others informed of the latest news from the BASF Agricultural Group, he was aware employees would be receiving news from other parts of the company as well.

With many different departments sending their own internal communications, Mark faced a difficult task: keeping employees engaged while being careful not to overwhelm them with countless emails and updates.

“We try to be very strategic with what we’re sending out because people are already getting a lot.”

Not only did Mark have to find a solution that made his email communications more engaging, but he also had to prove the value of whatever solution he chose to management. How could Mark show that he was increasing employee engagement while avoiding tuning out from oversaturation?

Mark began using ContactMonkey to create better internal communications for BASF employees. Using our drag-and-drop email template builder, he designs emails that maximized communication and minimized distractions, keeping information to just what his recipients needed to know.

Mark uses ContactMonkey’s email template library to save time on his email design process. He also uses the easy drag-and-drop format of the email template builder to add multimedia into his email communications to save space and increase their effectiveness:

Mark uses the email analytics provided by ContactMonkey to determine the best times to send internal emails . Not only does email analytics help Mark increase engagement on his employee emails, but he now has hard data he can show management to prove the value of his internal communications.

“ContactMonkey has been great in that I can download a report, attach it to an email, and send it to our top leadership and say, ‘Oh, wow. 88% of the organization opened this in the last 24 hours, I think we should do more of this.’ It’s that little extra credibility.”

Best way to build engaging employee newsletters

3. alnylam drives remote employee engagement using contactmonkey.

Employee engagement is crucial for ongoing productivity and growth, and Alnylam’s Brendon Pires wanted to leverage their internal communications to increase engagement.

Brendon is an internal communications specialist at Alnylam —the world’s leading RNAi therapeutics company—and is tasked with keeping their 2000+ employees engaged and informed. But Brendon’s existing internal communications process was leading to issues all over the place.

Like many companies, Alnylam shifted to remote work when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Brendon knew that employees would be relying on his emails to stay up-to-date on the latest company news and announcements, but their existing internal communications tool wasn’t up to the task:

• Scheduled emails were prevented from being sent out.
• Email design was a chore with a difficult-to-use email builder.
• Intranet traffic was down and Brendon’s emails weren’t driving traffic to it.
• Email tracking was limited as many internal emails were being flagged by their tracking software’s firewall.

“We were having consistent issues and it had been going on for like a couple of months. It was one issue after the other, between emails not sending because they were getting caught in our firewall, and then tracking not being consistent. So at the end of the day it was kind of like that’s really important, you know? Obviously if I can’t send that email that’s a problem. So that’s what really drove us to look at other solutions like ContactMonkey”

Brendon and Alnylam use Outlook for their employee emails, so he began looking for alternatives to his current software. That’s when Brendon found ContactMonkey.

Right away Brendon had a much easier time creating internal emails using our email template builder. He can create stellar internal emails and email templates that drive more engagement.

Brendon also uses ContactMonkey’s embedded star ratings to let Alnylam employees rate the emails they’re receiving. This helps Brendon and his team zero-in on their most engaging email content. He also uses our email analytics to measure engagement via open rate and click-through rate. He maximizes his results on these metrics by using ContactMonkey’s scheduled email sending:

Using ContactMonkey, Brendon was able to increase email engagement and drive traffic to Alnylam’s internal intranet . He now sends emails without worry of encountering sending errors that can hinder engagement—like Outlook not rendering HTML emails .

“ContactMonkey is really easy to use and allows me to create really nice content. There’s enough customization so we can do what we really want and have some creative freedom.”

4. Travel Counsellors Ltd. Stays Connected with Remote Employees Using ContactMonkey

In an economy deeply impacted by COVID-19, countless companies had to adapt to new challenges. As Community Manager at Travel Counsellors , Dave Purcell experienced firsthand the effects on morale and engagement his over 1,900 partners experienced as result of the quarantine and resulting societal changes.

Dave wanted to regularly check-in on Travel Counsellors franchisees’ wellbeing, and measure their engagement over time. But Dave’s current method of checking-in on an audience of over 1,900 was not up to the task.

Using their existing email software, Dave encountered all sorts of problems when trying to gauge wellness and drive email engagement. He and his team were unable to create personalized internal communications , as they were told it just wasn’t possible with their existing “solution”. They also experienced numerous tracking issues, as they were receiving tracking numbers that didn’t make any sense.

“The stats we had previously were unusable and that’s the easiest way I can put it. I was getting 200% open rates, which was just impossible.”

Realizing that email tracking and personalization were must-have features for him and his team, Dave sought a new email software that could deliver what he was looking for.

With the aim of sending personalized emails and tracking wellness in his organization, Dave was immediately impressed by ContactMonkey. “I stumbled across ContactMonkey, and everything just screamed: ‘This is the right platform for us’. It’s pretty fantastic.”

Dave uses ContactMonkey’s merge tags to create personalized subject lines and body copy based on the recipient:

He also began using emoji reactions on his weekly employee newsletters , using them as a pulse check survey for his audience.

“Mindset and wellbeing have always been a big part of what we do. It’s even more so now. Our franchisees craved that personal interaction. ‘Welcome to a Brand New Week’ checks in with them on a Monday, sees how they’re feeling with emoji reactions. And we do the same on a Friday.”

In addition to customization and surveys, Dave uses our email template builder’s custom employer branding options to save time on creating his email newsletters. All of this is driven by email analytics that help Dave and his team determine which content is generating the greatest engagement.

“Our commercial team is looking at what people are engaging with in terms of link clicks and what they’re not engaging with and changing our tactic depending on that. We also send an update from our CEO and we can now track this more accurately. We’re getting a 90% open rate within two days.”

5. Exemplis Boosts Internal Communications Engagement with ContactMonkey

When Corey Kachigan arrived at Exemplis as Engagement and Communications Lead, she knew she had her work cut out for her. Exemplis—the largest volume manufacturer of office seating in North America—was experiencing rapid growth but did not have any sort of internal communications strategy . Corey knew if she wanted to properly manage Exemplis’ ongoing growth, she’d need to make internal communications an indispensable part of the business.

Before Corey arrived, Exemplis’ existing internal communications consisted only of random announcements and update emails. They had no defined approach for sending internal communications, which lead to emails that can cause employees to tune out.

“Our receptionist would email: ‘Hey, whoever left their coffee mug in the sink, please clean it and take it back to your desk.’ And it’s like, okay, that just went to 200 people.”

Corey and her team knew they had to harness their email resources better, and wanted a way to measure what employees actually wanted to see.

“We need some metrics to gauge whether this is working or not. We’re rolling out all these things, but we can’t tell if employees are even clicking these emails. Our team is inundated with hundreds of emails a day. How do we know they are reading these and how do we know they find it valuable? We have no idea.”

They also wanted to use emails to align their ever-growing employee base with Exemplis’ core values and vision. Using Mailchimp—an external marketing email tool—resulted in more problems than solutions. Corey experienced issues with importing and tracking emails within Outlook. She realized that Mailchimp is not for internal communications , and set out to find a new solution to power her employee emails.

So Corey began searching for a new email software for internal communications. Creating a definite approach to internal communications was just one priority of hers; she also wanted to prove the value of internal communications to management using hard data.

What first stood out to Corey about ContactMonkey was the crisp layout and that it worked with Exemplis’ existing Outlook system. ContactMonkey uses your company’s existing email services, and this meant Corey would no longer encounter internal email problems caused by an external tool like Mailchimp.

Corey now uses email metrics and employee feedback to inform her internal communications approach. She features pulse surveys on her internal emails, and uses the results in combination with email metrics to pinpoint what Exemplis employees want to see.

With ContactMonkey’s email analytics, Corey can point to real engagement data to back up her internal communications objectives.

“The thing I love about ContactMonkey is that it allows us to communicate more consistently with our team, but also be able to have the data to back it up. When we used to send out newsletters, we didn’t really have a way to see who did or didn’t open it, who clicked what and they couldn’t interact with the communication besides reply to me, which was super cumbersome.”

Turn emails into engaging conversations

Gauge employee satisfaction with embedded pulse surveys in your emails.

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Achieve Your Internal Communications Goals with ContactMonkey

Although internal communications is a common aspect of all businesses, everyone approaches it differently. Finding out the best email practices that work for your employees is a crucial step in the quest for increased engagement.

Read even one internal communication case study and you’ll see how ContactMonkey stands out among other internal communications tools. You can create, send, and track internal emails, and collect employee feedback and email metrics to develop innovative internal communication tactics . Whether you’re a seasoned internal communicator or new to the field, ContactMonkey can turn your internal communications into a powerful driver of productivity and growth at your organization.

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Want to see ContactMonkey in action? Book a free demo to see how our internal communications software can transform your employee emails:

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Master of Advanced Studies in INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Case Studies in Intercultural Communication

Welcome to the MIC Case Studies page.

Here you will find more than fifty different case studies, developed by our former participants from the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication. The richness of this material is that it contains real-life experiences in intercultural communication problems in various settings, such as war, family, negotiations, inter-religious conflicts, business, workplace, and others. 

Cases also include renowned organizations and global institutions, such as the United Nations, Multinationals companies, Non-Governmental Organisations, Worldwide Events, European, African, Asian and North and South America Governments and others.

Intercultural situations are characterized by encounters, mutual respect and the valorization of diversity by individuals or groups of individuals identifying with different cultures. By making the most of the cultural differences, we can improve intercultural communication in civil society, in public institutions and the business world.

How can these Case Studies help you?

These case studies were made during the classes at the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication. Therefore, they used the most updated skills, tools, theories and best practices available.   They were created by participants working in the field of public administration; international organizations; non-governmental organizations; development and cooperation organizations; the business world (production, trade, tourism, etc.); the media; educational institutions; and religious institutions. Through these case studies, you will be able to learn through real-life stories, how practitioners apply intercultural communication skills in multicultural situations.

Why are we opening our "Treasure Chest" for you?

We believe that Intercultural Communication has a growing role in the lives of organizations, companies and governments relationship with the public, between and within organizations. There are many advanced tools available to access, analyze and practice intercultural communication at a professional level.  Moreover, professionals are demanded to have an advanced cross-cultural background or experience to deal efficiently with their environment. International organizations are requiring workers who are competent, flexible, and able to adjust and apply their skills with the tact and sensitivity that will enhance business success internationally. Intercultural communication means the sharing of information across diverse cultures and social groups, comprising individuals with distinct religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. It attempts to understand the differences in how people from a diversity of cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them. For this reason, we are sharing our knowledge chest with you, to improve and enlarge intercultural communication practice, awareness, and education.

We promise you that our case studies, which are now also yours, will delight, entertain, teach, and amaze you. It will reinforce or change the way you see intercultural communication practice, and how it can be part of your life today. Take your time to read them; you don't need to read all at once, they are rather small and very easy to read. The cases will always be here waiting for you. Therefore, we wish you an insightful and pleasant reading.

These cases represent the raw material developed by the students as part of their certification project. MIC master students are coming from all over the world and often had to write the case in a non-native language. No material can be reproduced without permission. ©   Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication , Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland.

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If you want to receive our last updated case studies or news about the program, leave us your email, and you will know in first-hand about intercultural communication education and cutting-edge research in the intercultural field.

Interdepartmental Communication: Best Strategies and a Case Study

By Andre Wyatt on January 26, 2023 — 10 minutes to read

• Why is Interdepartmental Communication Important?   Part 1
• Interdepartmental Communication Issues   Part 2
• How to Improve Interdepartmental Communication?   Part 3
• Case Study on Interdepartmental Communication   Part 4

Why Interdepartmental Communication Matters

What is interdepartmental relationship.

Interdepartmental relationship is the exchange of information and collaboration between different departments within an organization. It is essential for effective communication and the successful completion of tasks. This relationship enables departments to share information, resources, and expertise in order to achieve goals and objectives that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to achieve.

What is the importance of interdepartmental relationship?

There are two types of internal communication: intradepartmental (within the same department) and interdepartmental (between two different departments). The benefits of cultivating strong interdepartmental communication are obvious. Like the British relay race team, interdepartmental communication ensures the company as a whole is powering toward its goals. . Good handoffs make everyone’s performance stronger, whether it’s Sales providing contest details to Customer Service weeks before launch so they can confidently answer queries, or Engineering sitting down with Marketing to ensure the new ad campaign is true to the product’s technical strengths. . Proactive cross-departmental communication also contributes to business efficiency and customer responsiveness. If Marketing can immediately alert Legal and Customer Service to a customer complaint on social media, then the company has more time to assess the risks and respond appropriately.

What is the difference between interdepartmental and intradepartmental communication?

Interdepartmental communication is the process of exchanging information between two or more departments within an organization. This type of communication is essential for coordinating efforts and ensuring effective collaboration. On the other hand, intradepartmental communication is the exchange of information within a single department. This type of communication is important for enabling clear instructions, setting expectations, and streamlining operations. Both interdepartmental and intradepartmental communication are necessary for organizations to achieve their goals and objectives.

What is an interdepartmental team?

An interdepartmental team is a group of employees from different departments within an organization that comes together to collaborate and solve complex problems. This type of team allows for different perspectives and skills to be brought together in order to create innovative solutions and improve communication between departments.

It takes lots of practice to get interdepartmental communication right, and there’s a lot of obstacles in the way.

What are the channels of interdepartmental communication?

To ensure efficient and effective communication between departments, it is important to establish channels that allow for the exchange of information and resources. Interdepartmental communication include: email,

• phone calls,
• video conferencing,
• group chats,
• face-to-face meetings.

The best channels of interdepartmental communication will depend on the situation and the needs of the organization.

Interdepartmental Communication Issues

5 roadblocks to effective interdepartmental communication, what are the interdepartmental communication issues here are some reasons why cross-departmental communication breaks down:, the absence of an established communication framework., work pressure. most companies set team and individual kpis., personal conflict., physical separation..

Ironically, as a result, one of the best ways to relieve work pressure, defuse personal conflict, and break down silos and negative stereotypes is through positive interdepartmental communication. So how do we get there, and what does it look like?

How to improve interdepartmental communication?

How do you build interdepartmental relationships.

• Building strong relationships between departments means taking the time to invest in the relationships between departments, developing a shared understanding of the different departments’ goals and objectives and encouraging open lines of communication.
• Creating a safe environment where employees feel comfortable discussing their work and actively engaging in conversations can help in building positive interdepartmental relationships.
• It is important to create a culture of transparency and open communication between departments, as well as providing channels for departments to communicate with one another.
• Departments need to develop a shared understanding of their goals and objectives in order to ensure that their efforts are aligned.
• Utilizing tools such as internal messaging platforms, videoconferencing, and project management software can help streamline communication and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

How do you collaborate effectively with other departments?

To collaborate effectively with other departments, it is important to establish a common understanding of objectives and expectations. Regular meetings between departments can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and can provide opportunities to brainstorm ideas and develop strategies. Using a shared platform such as an online collaboration tool can facilitate communication and help ensure that everyone is informed of updates in a timely manner.

What techniques can be used to improve interdepartmental communication?

Techniques such as regular meetings, a shared intranet platform, and setting clear expectations can help foster communication between departments. Investing in team building activities and utilizing technology such as video conferencing can also help employees build relationships across departments.

4 Strategies to Strengthen Interdepartmental Communication and Collaboration

Identify the information needed by other departments and design appropriate workflows:, encourage departments to generally share information:, document information and make it easily accessible:, encourage regular cross-departmental meetings:, case study – the boundaryless organization.

Here’s an example of what a powerful interdepartmental meeting can look like. First, some history. In 1990, CEO Jack Welch of General Electric became convinced that globalization and technological innovation required faster decision-making, active employee engagement , and robust teamwork. He conceptualized and also advocated for a ‘boundaryless organization’, cutting red tape, and breaking down the walls between each group of employees.

The ‘GE Work-Out’ was born.

The GE Work-Out is a carefully designed, focused, multiple-day event where representatives of different departments involved in a particular project or challenge gather to analyze the matter together and develop solutions to address the tasks or problem. This process has not only helped facilitate change management within General Electric, it has been adopted by many other organizations around the world. . By planning and also designing for interdepartmental communication, the GE Work-Out has helped organizations streamline existing processes, eliminate unnecessary tasks, identify business initiatives and empower teams. It has also helped companies to break down their silos, paving the way for more efficient and fruitful interdepartmental communication.

Cross-train employees and managers:

Create an environment where your employees can socialize and bond with each other:.

In the 2004 Olympics, the American men’s relay team shocked the crowd for all the wrong reasons. With an average 100-meter sprint time of 9.89 seconds each, they were one of the fastest relay teams ever. Everyone thought they were a sure bet to win gold that year. But they didn’t.

The team individually were so confident in their speed that they only ever practiced handing-off the baton together twice. A fumble during the race meant that the slower British men’s team, who at that point had not won a single medal at that Olympics, pulled ahead and beat them by only one hundredth of a second. How? Teamwork.

The athletes in the British team had suffered baton fumbles before in the 1996 Olympics and 1999 World Championships. They knew that the smoothness of the handover and communication between themselves was just as important as their speed. So they’d practiced their communication and drilled the handover again and again. That’s what won them the gold. That’s what made them the better team. And that’s why interdepartmental communication matters.

We often talk about the importance of finding and nurturing the best employees and creating the strongest teams. But as the American relay race team in 2004 shows, finding the best individuals is only half the battle. The other half is developing the communication between them and also coordinating each unit into a more powerful whole. So think of the time you spend strategically strengthening your cross-departmental communication as reinforcing the seams of your company. As a result, if you do, you’ll put yourself in a better position to reach your company’s gold.

• Upward Communication & Downward Communication (Full Guide)
• 7 Actionable Techniques to Improve Internal Communication
• Why Asynchronous Communication Is the Future? Best Practices
• 4 Main Types of Organizational Communication [Pros and Cons]
• What is Formal and Informal Communication? (Complete Guide)
• 5 Methods of Workspace Communication Improvement

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1.10 Case Studies: The Cost of Poor Communication

This chapter is adapted from Technical Writing Essentials – H5P Edition by Suzan Last licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Learning Objectives

• Apply your understanding of context, purpose, audience, and channel in case studies.

No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions.  In 2017, Josh Bernoff claimed that the cost of poor communication was nearly $4 billion per year: “American workers spend 22 percent of their work time reading; higher compensated workers read more… America is spending 6 percent of total wages on time wasted attempting to get meaning out of poorly written material. Every company, every manager, every professional pays this tax, which consumes $396 billion of our national income” (Meier, 2017).

Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. In one tragic case, a lack of communication between contractors and engineers resulted in a walkway collapse that killed 114 people at the Hyatt Regency .

The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.

The following cases show how poor communications can have real world costs and consequences.

A .  Read “Case 1: The Unaccepted Current Regulator Proposal”. Then, answer the 5 questions in the quiz set.

CASE 1:  Acme Electric Company

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more cheaply, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a 120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that their regulators be installed at all company plants.

The first 87 pages of the proposal were devoted to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind the new regulator, and the next 32 pages to descriptions of a new assembly line to produce regulators quickly. Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance with present models and a poorly drawn graph showed how much the dollar savings would be.

Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

B .  In small groups, examine one of the following cases and complete the following :

• Define the rhetorical situation : Who is communicating to whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
• Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
• Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
• Identify possible solution s or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Present your findings in a brief, informal presentation to the class.

CASE 2: Petro-chemical company report

Cameron (he/him), a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and computer printouts of toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Cameron’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Cameron’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Cameron had since left the company because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.

CASE 3: Novaware instruction manual

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Novaware, Inc. had built a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that Novaware felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented, Novaware asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual. The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the program’s operation.

When Novaware began marketing its new word processor, cries for help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted.

Novaware eventually put out a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Novaware $350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use business software.

CASE 4: Policy memo

Nhi (they/them) supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary overtime, they issued this one-sentence memo to their staff:

After the 36 copies were sent out, Nhi’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10 people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the new policy.

CASE 5: “Nerds gone wild”

The following excerpt is from Carl Sagan’s book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, itself both a plea for and an excellent example of clear scientific communication:

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent — a worst of both worlds outcome. But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” — which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

CASE 6: Same topic, different genres

Rowan (she/her) was simultaneously enrolled in a university writing course and working as a co-op student at the New Minas Boat Manufacturing plant. As part of her co-op work experience, Rowan shadowed her supervisor/mentor on a safety inspection of the plant, and was asked to write up the results of the inspection in a compliance memo . In the same week, Rowan’s writing instructor assigned the class to write a narrative essay based on some personal experience. Rowan, trying to be efficient, thought that the plant visit experience could provide the basis for her essay assignment as well.

She wrote the essay first because she was used to writing essays and was pretty good at it. She had never even seen a compliance memo, much less written one, so was not as confident about that task. She began the essay like this:

On June 1, 2018, I conducted a safety audit of the New Minas Boat Manufacturing plant. The purpose of the audit was to ensure that all processes and activities in the plant adhere to safety and handling rules and policies outlined in the Workplace Safety Handbook and relevant government regulations. I was escorted on a 3-hour tour of the facility by…

Rowan finished the essay and submitted it to her writing instructor. She then revised the essay slightly, keeping the introduction the same, and submitted it to her co-op supervisor. She “aced” the essay, getting an A grade, but her co-op supervisor told her that the report was unacceptable and would have to be rewritten – especially the beginning, which should have clearly indicated whether or not the plant was in compliance with safety regulations. Rowan was aghast! She had never heard of putting the “conclusion” at the beginning . She missed the company softball game that Saturday so she could rewrite the report to the satisfaction of her supervisor.

Meier, C. (2017, January 14). The Exorbitant Cost of Poor Writing (About $400 Billion). Medium . https://medium.com/@MeierMarketing/the-exorbitant-cost-of-poor-writing-about-400-billion-973b5a4f0096

Sagan, C. (1995). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Random House.

Exercises adapted from T.M Georges’ Analytical Writing for Science and Technology. T.M. Goerges (1996), Analytical Writing for Science and Technology [Online], Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/96822930/Analytical-Writing

1.10 Case Studies: The Cost of Poor Communication Copyright © 2021 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Effective Communication Case Study Analysis

Introduction Johnson & Johnson is one of the world’s biggest health care companies.

In the early eighties, the company faced a challenging task of responding to public relation crises. These crises were grave to an extent that they could spell the company collapse were they not handled with utmost care and creativity. Public relation and effective communication play a pivotal role in handling crises not only in companies but also in other organisations. The Johnson & Johnson Tylenol crisis case presents the real impact of public relation and effective communication in solving and changing public perception. Public perception is very important in maintaining customer loyalty on product as well as marketing.

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Effectiveness of Communication Effective communication is very important in running an organisation (Fielding, 2005). It involves sending of relevant information to the required person without any problem. There are several benefits of effective communication. These benefits include good relationship and good understanding among others. In an organisation, communication is critical in many ways. For instance, effective communication is used to motivate employees, change the public perception concerning a given product.

In the case of Johnson and Johnson , effective communication made it possible to regain the tarnished image of the company, which resulted out of Tylenol product death. The company used effective communication to explain what happed and to convince the public that it was not their mistake. In addition, effective communication made the public convinced by the company’s concern, which was done through advertisements that were designed to warn the public not to use the product until the cause of death was determined. This strategy actually worked to the best interest of the company. Different Public Targeted by the Company The different public involved were internal and external.

Johnson & Johnson had an obligation of convincing both the internal and external audience regarding the situation of where its original product, extra-strength Tylenol, had been allegedly used as a weapon to kill three people. Internal and External Public The recognition of the role of employees as stakeholders, with hom to communicate corporate crises, should be emphasized in any company. It should be noted that this can cause enormous pressure and ambivalence for any affected company and its staff. In order to avoid rumors, false information and public statements made without proof, all external and internal public have to be communicated with. Companies should never underestimate the role of effective communication during crisis (Daniela, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2011). This is because companies which ignore the importance of employee normally bear substantial economic damage due to the lack of trust, low morale, and the eventual loss of dedicated workforce.

The changing landscape in people’s management has called for the initiation and implementation of effective communication strategies aimed at increasing the levels of organizational performance (Armstrong, 2007). The role of people as a key ingredient in the realization of organizational goals forms the main reason behind their valued importance. A dissection of literature on HRM and effective communication shows that several companies employ various perspectives to achieve higher levels of employee satisfaction. Employees’ satisfaction is very important, more so during crisis. Impact of the Communication The communication by the company clarified the allegation which was made without investigation. In addition, effective communication helped in regaining public trust on the use of the product.

Moreover, effective communication was used to market the company despite the crisis. How the Communication was Handled by the Company The company did a very good job and provided a benchmark on how to handle public relation crisis. However, the message could have been communicated effectively The types of key tools available to carry out the public relations function include: Media Relations The company management led by its chairman Burke appeared on TV and radio, and explained the crisis of newspapers. In addition, media was given freedom to access the company premises and investigate the situation on the ground. This media relation played a bigger role in coming out of the crisis.

Media is quite important is creating a positive or negative impression, and therefore, the company’s good mediaa relation helped it in creating a positive impression on the public (Lordan, 2003). Media Tours The company also gave media an opportunity to tour its production plants and investigate any information concerning the crisis. Re-launch The company organized for a new package and re-launch of the product. The re-launch made the product have a new look with improved security feature for safety. This was significantly designed not only to gain the public trust but also to reinforce the message that contamination could have been the cause of the product poisoning.

Sponsorships The company decided to invite the investigative news program 60 Minutes to film its management strategy sessions for the new launch. This enhanced the company’s image among the people. Among the other public relations tools are: Newsletters The company also could produce newsletters explaining their goals, values, and the other relevant information targeted to enhance its positive image to the publicSpecial Events The company could also organize tournaments, family retreat, and free medical camp for the community to enhance its public relation program. Speaking Engagements The company could also directly engage the public through debates and speaking engagement. This is important in hearing the first hand information on consumers’ expectation and perception. Employee Relations Community Relations and Philanthropy.

The company had an opportunity of involving in community projects as well as taking part in philanthropic activities. This is a powerful move to create a great public relation. The activities can be in the form of a corporate social responsibility. In conclusion, Johnsons & Johnson managed the crisis very well and offered a great lesson to other businesses insightful information of how to handle effective communication and public relation subject.

Related posts:

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• Case Study on Barriers to Effective Communication
• Effective Communication Stratospheric Case Study
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1. WHAT IS TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION?

1.4 Case Study: The Cost of Poor Communication

No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions.  In fact, a recent estimate claims that the cost in the U.S. alone are close to $4 billion annually! [1] Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. The problem is that these costs aren’t usually included on the corporate balance sheet at the end of each year; if they are not properly or clearly defined, the problems remain unsolved.

You may have seen the Project Management Tree Cartoon before ( Figure 1.4.1 ); it has been used and adapted widely to illustrate the perils of poor communication during a project.

The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse or a flood. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.

The following “case studies” show how poor communications can have real world costs and consequences. For example, consider the “ Comma Quirk ” in the Rogers Contract that cost $2 million. [3]   A small error in spelling a company name cost £8.8 million. [4]   Examine Edward Tufte’s discussion of the failed PowerPoint presentation that attempted to prevent the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. [5] The failure of project managers and engineers to communicate effectively resulted in the deadly Hyatt Regency walkway collapse. [6]   The case studies below offer a few more examples that might be less extreme, but much more common.

In small groups, examine each “case” and determine the following:

• Define the rhetorical situation : Who is communicating to whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
• Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
• Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
• Identify possible solution s or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Present your findings in a brief, informal presentation to the class.

Exercises adapted from T.M Georges’ Analytical Writing for Science and Technology. [7]

CASE 1: The promising chemist who buried his results

Bruce, a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and data from toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly safe and effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Bruce’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.

CASE 2: The rejected current regulator proposal

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more affordably, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a 120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that the new Acme regulators be installed at all company plants.

She devoted the first 87 pages of the proposal to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind his new regulator, and the next 32 to descriptions of the new assembly line she planned to set up to produce regulators quickly. Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance with present models, and a poorly drawn graph showed the potential cost savings over 3 years.

The proposals did not receive any response. Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

CASE 3: The instruction manual the scared customers away

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Sagatec Software, Inc. had built a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that Sagatec felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented, Sagatec asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual. The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the program’s operation.

When Sagatec began marketing its new word processor, cries for help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted.

Sagatec eventually put out a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Sagatec $350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use business software.

CASE 4: One garbled memo – 26 baffled phone calls

Joanne supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary overtime, she issued this one-sentence memo to her staff:

After the 36 copies were sent out, Joanne’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10 people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the new policy.

CASE 5: Big science — Little rhetoric

The following excerpt is from Carl Sagan’s book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, [8] itself both a plea for and an excellent example of clear scientific communication:

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent — a worst of both worlds outcome. But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” — which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

CASE 6: The co-op student who mixed up genres

Chris was simultaneously enrolled in a university writing course and working as a co-op student at the Widget Manufacturing plant. As part of his co-op work experience, Chris shadowed his supervisor/mentor on a safety inspection of the plant, and was asked to write up the results of the inspection in a compliance memo . In the same week, Chris’s writing instructor assigned the class to write a narrative essay based on some personal experience. Chris, trying to be efficient, thought that the plant visit experience could provide the basis for his essay assignment as well.

He wrote the essay first, because he was used to writing essays and was pretty good at it. He had never even seen a compliance memo, much less written one, so was not as confident about that task. He began the essay like this:

On June 1, 2018, I conducted a safety audit of the Widget Manufacturing plant in New City. The purpose of the audit was to ensure that all processes and activities in the plant adhere to safety and handling rules and policies outlined in the Workplace Safety Handbook and relevant government regulations. I was escorted on a 3-hour tour of the facility by…

Chris finished the essay and submitted it to his writing instructor. He then revised the essay slightly, keeping the introduction the same, and submitted it to his co-op supervisor. He “aced” the essay, getting an A grade, but his supervisor told him that the report was unacceptable and would have to be rewritten – especially the beginning, which should have clearly indicated whether or not the plant was in compliance with safety regulations. Chris was aghast! He had never heard of putting the “conclusion” at the beginning . He missed the company softball game that Saturday so he could rewrite the report to the satisfaction of his supervisor.

• J. Bernoff, "Bad writing costs business billions," Daily Beast , Oct. 16, 2016 [Online]. Available:  https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-writing-costs-businesses-billions?ref=scroll ↵
• J. Reiter, "The 'Project Cartoon' root cause," Medium, 2 July 2019. Available: https://medium.com/@thx2001r/the-project-cartoon-root-cause-5e82e404ec8a ↵
• G. Robertson, “Comma quirk irks Rogers,” Globe and Mail , Aug. 6, 2006 [Online]. Available: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/comma-quirk-irks-rogers/article1101686/ ↵
• “The £8.8m typo: How one mistake killed a family business,” (28 Jan. 2015). The Guardian [online]. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/law/shortcuts/2015/jan/28/typo-how-one-mistake-killed-a-family-business-taylor-and-sons ↵
• E. Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint , 2001 [Online]. Available: https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/tufte-powerpoint.pdf ↵
• C. McFadden, "Understanding the tragic Hyatt Regency walkway collapse," Interesting Engineering , July 4, 2017 [Online]: https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse ↵
• T.M. Goerges (1996), Analytical Writing for Science and Technology [Online], Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/96822930/Analytical-Writing ↵
• C. Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, New York, NY: Random House, 1995. ↵

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © 2019 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Published: 22 April 2024

Do AI models produce better weather forecasts than physics-based models? A quantitative evaluation case study of Storm Ciarán

• Andrew J. Charlton-Perez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8179-6220 1 ,
• Helen F. Dacre   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4328-9126 1 ,
• Simon Driscoll 1 , 2 ,
• Suzanne L. Gray   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8658-362X 1 ,
• Ben Harvey   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6510-8181 1 , 3 ,
• Natalie J. Harvey 1 ,
• Kieran M. R. Hunt   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1480-3755 1 , 3 ,
• Robert W. Lee   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1946-5559 1 ,
• Ranjini Swaminathan 1 , 2 ,
• Remy Vandaele 1 , 2 &
• Ambrogio Volonté   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0278-952X 1 , 3  

npj Climate and Atmospheric Science volume  7 , Article number:  93 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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There has been huge recent interest in the potential of making operational weather forecasts using machine learning techniques. As they become a part of the weather forecasting toolbox, there is a pressing need to understand how well current machine learning models can simulate high-impact weather events. We compare short to medium-range forecasts of Storm Ciarán, a European windstorm that caused sixteen deaths and extensive damage in Northern Europe, made by machine learning and numerical weather prediction models. The four machine learning models considered (FourCastNet, Pangu-Weather, GraphCast and FourCastNet-v2) produce forecasts that accurately capture the synoptic-scale structure of the cyclone including the position of the cloud head, shape of the warm sector and location of the warm conveyor belt jet, and the large-scale dynamical drivers important for the rapid storm development such as the position of the storm relative to the upper-level jet exit. However, their ability to resolve the more detailed structures important for issuing weather warnings is more mixed. All of the machine learning models underestimate the peak amplitude of winds associated with the storm, only some machine learning models resolve the warm core seclusion and none of the machine learning models capture the sharp bent-back warm frontal gradient. Our study shows there is a great deal about the performance and properties of machine learning weather forecasts that can be derived from case studies of high-impact weather events such as Storm Ciarán.

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Over the last two years, machine learning (ML) techniques, a subset of the rapidly developing field of artificial intelligence (AI), have begun to be applied to the weather prediction problem in earnest. Whilst ML has had applications in climate science for many decades 2 , 3 , 4 , with these communities aware of its potential 5 , and is increasingly used for post-processing weather forecasts 6 , 7 , recent advances in ML and advancements in GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), have enabled the beginning of a ‘new dawn’ in the application of ML and AI techniques to weather and climate prediction 8 .

The publication of the WeatherBench dataset 9 and the 10-year roadmap for ML use by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 10 , amongst other developments, stimulated interest and investment in the development of ML models for weather forecasting. During 2022 and 2023, four ML models were developed by major technology companies to address the short to medium-range (0–10 day) forecasting problem. These models have all been shown to produce skillful 0–10 day forecasts of the 500 hPa geopotential height field, based on the widely used Anomaly Correlation Coefficient metric 11 . All four models use an encode-process-decode framework but with differing architectures:

FourCastNet 12 , developed by NVIDIA and based on Fourier Neural Operators (FNO) with a vision transformer architecture;

FourCastNet version 2 13 , which builds on FourCastNet by using spherical FNOs;

Pangu-Weather 14 , developed by Huawei and based on a three-dimensional Earth-specific transformer and hierarchical temporal aggregation; and

GraphCast 15 , developed by Google DeepMind and based on graph neural networks.

Similar techniques have been used to develop models for other forecast tasks (e.g., MetNet-3 for 12-h precipitation forecasts in the contiguous United States and 27 European countries 16 ). At the present time, ML models primarily produce deterministic forecasts, but rapid progress is being made in producing fully probabilistic forecasts 17 , 18 , 19 . All four ML models are extremely efficient when run on GPU or TPU (tensor processing unit) devices, typically producing 10-day forecasts in a few minutes.

Given the infancy of ML model weather prediction, to the author’s knowledge, there are no prior studies that compare how the four ML-models and NWP models capture individual, impactful weather events. Examination of individual weather events available from the papers that describe the ML models is limited to qualitative comparisons of the simulation of tropical cyclones and atmospheric rivers by FourCastNet 12 and quantitative assessment of the tracking error of tropical cyclones by Pangu-Weather 14 and GraphCast 15 . There are no published studies that examine ML model forecasts of extratropical windstorms 20 , despite their potential to cause multi-billion dollar damages 21 and increasing severity under climate and population change 22 .

In this study, we, therefore, seek to advance knowledge of the comparative performance of ML and NWP models by comparing their forecasts of Storm Ciarán, which affected several European countries during November 2023. This is a valuable out-of-sample test for the ML models because their training datasets all end before the beginning of 2023. We compare the ability of the models to capture the detailed physical structure of the storm and its impacts at two lead times over which operational weather forecasters were actively engaged in issuing weather warnings to the public. An accurate description of the physical structure of this, or any other, storm is a key component of forecasting its compound impact 23 and in constructing plausible storylines for end-users 24 .

Storm Ciarán and its associated impacts

Storm Ciarán was first seen as a low-pressure weather system south of Newfoundland at about 00 UTC on 31 October 2023. Based on surface analysis charts issued by the UK Met Office, it then tracked quickly across the North Atlantic, undergoing explosive deepening from 988 hPa at 00 UTC on 1 November to 954 hPa at 00 UTC on 2 November at which time it was located to the northeast of France. This deepening rate, 34 hPa in 24 h means that Ciarán was an extratropical cyclone “bomb” 25 . The lowest pressure recorded, 953 hPa at 06 UTC on 2 November, is a record low pressure for a November storm observed in England 26 . Figure 1 shows surface observations of the 10-m wind speed, cloud cover and mean sea level pressure (MSLP). The cyclonic circulation around the storm centre (with the lowest MSLP observed on the English south coast near the Isle of Wight) has a maximum wind speed of 65 knots on the Normandy coast in France.

The observations are shown as simplified station circles using conventional notation 54 . Circle shading indicates cloud cover in octas, wind barbs and feathers indicate wind speed in knots with the wind direction towards the circle, and numbers are the last three digits, including a decimal place, of the MSLP (in hPa) e.g., 543 equates to 954.3 hPa. Some thinning of observations has been performed for clarity and note that two ships both reported at 51.1 o N, 1.7 o E with different wind speeds and directions.

Although Storm Ciaran was not a classic Shapiro-Keyser cyclone 27 , clear banding in the vicinity of the tip of the cloud as it encircles the storm centre to the poleward side (called the cloud head) could be seen in satellite imagery before it made landfall in northern France. This banding suggests that a sting jet may have been present in Storm Ciarán 28 , however its identification requires methodologies beyond the scope of this study. Gusts of over 100 knots (51 m s -1 ) were reported in several locations in Brittany 29 , with a maximum of 111.7 knots (57.5 m s -1 ) recorded at Pointe du Raz at approximately 0200 UTC on 2 November 30 .

Across Northern Europe, at least 16 people were killed 31 . All flights were cancelled from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and there were numerous cancellations from Spanish airports. An estimated 1.2 million households in northern France were left without electricity 32 and more than 1 million residents were cut off from the mobile telephone network. Brest and Quimper Airports were also shut and there was disruption to Eurostar operations 33 .

Approximately 10,000 homes in Cornwall were left without power, hundreds of schools were closed and many train services were disrupted by fallen trees. Gusts in Channel Islands ranged from 70-90 knots (36-46 m s -1 ) 32 with a maximum gust of 90 knots (46 ms -1 ) recorded in Alderney at approximately 08 UTC on 2 November 34 . Jersey also experienced a T6 tornado with estimated winds in the region of 161-186 mph (71–83 m s -1 ). Its 8-km track left a trail of destruction and tens of people needed to leave their homes. It is likely that this is the strongest tornado reported in the British Isles since the Gunnersbury tornado in December 1954 35 .

The 10-m wind speed and MSLP structure of Ciarán are shown in Fig. 2a, b at the times when it impacted the land: 00 and 06 UTC 2 November 2023. State-of-the-art model analyses, such as the IFS analysis used in this figure, represent the best three-dimensional estimates of the actual atmospheric state. The low-pressure centre of the storm tracked along the southern UK coast and the strongest winds (turning cyclonically) occurred in an arc in the southwest quadrant of the storm when the strong winds impacted Brittany and later more directly to the south of the low centre when they impacted the Channel Islands. The 10-m winds weakened significantly over land due to surface friction, no longer reaching the threshold for shading in the figure. They also weakened between the two times shown, with the peak winds falling by about 6 ms -1 , likely due to a combination of the storm making landfall and having already reached its mature stage. The observed wind speeds, shown by the overplotted colour-filled circles, are consistent with the analysed fields, away from the coastlines but exceed those analysed in some locations, notably some coastal locations and at the narrowest point of the English channel. The winds in these locations will be influenced by local mesoscale processes and so these exceedances are not unexpected given the resolution of the IFS model. The track of the storm, defined as the locations of its minimum MSLP according to IFS analyses, is shown by the black symbols joined by lines in panel (c). Ciarán had its genesis in the western North Atlantic around the time of the first track point shown (06 UTC 31 October) and travelled rapidly eastwards across the North Atlantic. The contours shown illustrate the MSLP and 250-hPa wind speed (i.e., the upper-level jet) at the start, middle and end times of the tracks and show how Ciarán evolved from a weak disturbance (with central MSLP exceeding 995 hPa) to a record-breaking deep storm as it crossed from the equatorward to the poleward side of the jet at about 06 UTC 1 November.

a , b Maps of 10-m wind speed (shading) and MSLP (contours) at a 00 UTC and b 06 UTC 2 November 2023 from the IFS analysis. Synoptic wind observations above 20 m s –1 are shown as coloured dots. c Six-hourly track points from the IFS analysis (blacks squares joined by lines) and the IFS HRES forecasts and AI models (coloured symbols as in Fig. 3a , b ) from 06 UTC 31 October to 06 UTC 06 UTC 2nd November 2023 (left to right) together with partial MSLP (grey contours in hPa) and 250-hPa wind speed (colour-filled contours) from the IFS analysis at 06 UTC on 31 October, 1 November and 2 November (left to right). The locations of the jet maxima at the longitude points of the MSLP minima at each time are indicated by the cyan squares connected by lines.

Track, intensification and wind impacts of Storm Ciarán

Ciarán’s track was well forecast by both the IFS HRES and ML-models (I. 2(c)) initialised at 00UTC on 31 October, although small differences in the location of the storm centre, and associated wind field, were critical for the accurate predictions of weather warnings along the southern English coast. Two days before Ciarán began to impact land and well before the start of its fast intensification, the spread in the position of the storm in ML models and NWP models is similar.

The evolution of the minimum mean sea pressure (MSLP) at the centre of the developing storm and its associated maximum 10-m wind speed are shown in Fig. 3 for the IFS analysis, IFS HRES forecast and ML model forecasts in panels (a, c), and for the ERA5 reanalysis, forecasts based on the ERA5 system, and the control (unperturbed) ensemble members of four NWP models in panels (b, d). Considering first the minimum (MSLP) evolution, all the forecasts closely follow both analysis products, capturing both the rapid deepening phase of the storm and its maximum intensity depth. The minimum MSLP at the end of the forecast (06 UTC 2 November) is 954 hPa in both the IFS analysis and ERA5. This value varies between 951 and 955 hPa for the ML models and between 950 and 953 hPa for the six NWP models (including the IFS HRES). In contrast, the spread in the maximum wind speed evolution is far greater. At the time of peak wind speed in both analyses, 00 UTC 2 November (48-h lead time), the value in the IFS analysis is 34 m s -1 . The IFS HRES forecast predicts this well (36 m s -1 ), while the other, generally slightly coarser resolution, NWP models mostly forecast slightly weaker winds (30-37 m s -1 ) with the NCEP model being a clear outlier, predicting winds of 40 m s -1 . The wind speeds forecast by the ML models are far too weak (25–26 m s -1 ), even in comparison with the analysis from ERA5 (30 m s -1 ). The ML models failed to capture the rapid intensification of the winds after about 06 UTC on 1 November (30-h lead time). Forecasts made using the ERA5 analysis system do not suffer from this low wind bias and so the underestimation is unlikely to be the result of training the ML models on the ERA5 data. The economic loss resulting from strong surface winds is often assumed to scale as the cube of normalised wind gust speed over a threshold (such as the 98 th percentile value) 36 , so even a small underestimation in predicted wind speed can be significant in terms of the subsequent losses.

a , c minimum MSLP and b , d maximum 10-m wind speed. a , b IFS analysis, IFS HRES forecast and forecasts from the four ML models. a , d ERA5, forecasts made from the ERA5 system and forecasts from control members of the ensemble forecasts from IFS (IFS ens_cntl), the Met Office (UKMO ens_cntl), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA ens_cntl) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP ens_cntl). Note that the ECMWF HRES and IFS control members use the same model and resolution but are not bit-identical for technical computational reasons.

The differences in maximum 10-m wind speed are explored further in Fig. 4 which shows maps of the 10-m wind speed and MSLP for ERA5, the IFS HRES forecast and the four ML-models valid at 00 UTC 2 November, the time of peak wind speed in both analyses and when the strong winds made landfall in France. All the forecasts were initialised 48 h prior to this time (as for the data shown in Fig. 3 ). These maps can be compared directly with the IFS analysis fields shown in Fig. 2a . The region of strong winds is located in an arc in the region of the tight MSLP gradient in the southwest quadrant of the Ciarán in all seven maps. However, the ML models fail to predict the strongest winds in a band following the isobars (contours of constant MSLP) in the region of the tightest MSLP gradient, as is seen in the IFS HRES forecast, ERA5 and the IFS analysis. It is notable that, despite all the ML models being trained on ERA5, they fail to capture the structure and magnitude of the winds in ERA5 (including in forecasts made using the ERA5 system, as shown in Supp. Fig. 1a ) for this storm, implying that the far weaker winds found for the ML models compared to the NWP forecasts and IFS analysis are not simply a consequence of them being trained on a coarser resolution dataset. Note the NWP models used in Fig. 2 have a similar resolution to ERA5 (equivalent grid spacings of ERA5 ~ 31 km, Met Office ~20 km, JMA ~ 27 km, NCEP ~ 25 km) with the exception of the IFS ( ~ 9 km).

Maps of 10-m wind speed (shading) and MSLP (contours) from a ERA5 and b – f forecasts, initialised at 00 UTC 31 October 2023, from the b IFS HRES model and c – f ML models, as labelled.

Dynamical structure of Storm Ciarán

In this section, we evaluate the dynamics of Storm Ciarán during the final stage of its rapid development with a focus on the formation of strong winds at low altitudes. We compare the predictive capability of the ML models by comparing with the IFS HRES forecast and ERA5. The ML models are all trained on ERA5 and have the same resolution as the output provided for ERA5, allowing a fair comparison of model performance. The forecasts are all initialised at 00 UTC on 1 November, during the onset of Ciarán’s rapid intensification phase (Fig. 3a ). They were evaluated 18 h later (Fig. 5 ) and 24 h later (Fig. 6 ), when Storm Ciarán’s peak wind speeds were observed. By shifting the focus to these short lead times from the previous section, the aim is to highlight both the similarities in and differences between, the NWP and ML forecasts on timescales relevant for refining hazard warnings. To aid the reader, some key parts of the storm structure are labelled in Fig. 5a .

Maps show wind speed at 850 hPa (shading), wind speed at 250 hPa (65 ms –1 , cyan contour with high values in the bottom left of the panels), the wet-bulb potential temperature at 850 hPa (dark blue, light blue, light red and dark red contours indicating values increasing every 2.5 K from 280 K to 287.5 K), MSLP (thin grey contours), relative humidity with respect to water at 700 hPa (grey shading encircling regions above 80%, not shown for FourCastNet ( e ) as not available), the vertical component of relative vorticity at 850 hPa (light-to-dark green shading, from 3 × 10 −4 s –1 and then every 2 × 10 −4 s –1 ). a shows the structure in ERA5 while b – f show the structure from forecasts initialised at 00 UTC 1 November 2023. Note that the range of the wind speed colour bars in Figs. 5 and 6 is different to that in Figs. 2 and 4 . The main features of the cyclone described in the text are annotated in ( a ).

Contours of wind speed at 250 hPa and some of the contours of wet-bulb potential temperature at 850 hPa are not present as the associated values are not reached in the maps shown.

On 1 November 2023, Ciarán underwent significant intensification beneath the left exit region of an upper-level jet streak (Fig. 2c ). All the ML models captured the position and extent of the upper-level jet streak accurately with the minimum MSLP associated with Ciarán beneath the left exit region at 18 UTC (Fig. 5a–f ), a critical aspect of Storm Ciarán’s dynamics.

There is also consensus among the ML models concerning the general shape of the cyclone. Figure 5a–f shows the position of the selected moist isentropes, chosen to indicate the frontal locations and, by their separation, the frontal strengths. The position of the warm sector, identified as the region inside the 285 K moist isentrope, is characterised as a hooked feature in ERA5. The shape of the warm sector is well captured by all the ML models. The cloud head, represented by 700-hPa relative humidity above 80% (grey shading), is seen wrapping around the poleward side of the cyclone centre in ERA5. The IFS HRES, Graphcast and PanguWeather forecasts accurately depict the shape of the cloud head; however, the cloud head in FourCastNet v2 appears less curved than the other forecasts. FourCastNet forecast does not output a humidity variable at 700 hPa.

Despite capturing the general shape of Storm Ciarán, there are noticeable differences in the strength of frontal structures, indicated by the gradient in wet-bulb potential temperature (how close together moist isentropes are). This is true for the cold front, denoted by the 285-K and 287.5-K moist isentropes to the southeast of the cyclone centre and also for the “bent-back front”, i.e., the gradient between the 282.5-K and 285-K moist isentropes that wrap around the cyclone centre on its northwestern side. To the southwest of the low centre the moist isentropes indicate the bent-back front diverge, and this is known as the frontal-fracture region. While all the ML forecasts include a frontal-fracture region, they struggle to resolve the sharp across-front temperature gradient to the west and southwest of the low centre.

Cross-frontal wind shear is another indicator of frontal strength, and the values of the vertical component of 850-hPa relative vorticity (green shading in Fig. 5a–f ) near the bent-back front provide further evidence of the difficulties that the ML models have in simulating the frontal structures in the region. The hook-shaped narrow strip of high relative vorticity aligned with the bent-back warm front that is present in both IFS HRES and ERA5 (with maximum values up to 9 x 10 -4  s -1 and 7 x 10 -4  s -1 , respectively) becomes broader and weaker in the ML models. The discrepancy between the ERA5 (and also the forecasts based on the ERA5 system, see Supp. Fig. 1b ) and ML models in representing the sharpness of the bent-back front indicates that this shortcoming of the ML models is not solely due to model resolution.

This difference in frontal strength is particularly significant since it directly relates to the environment that can be conducive to the descent of a sting jet. Sting jets are coherent air flows that descend over a few hours from inside the tip of the cloud head at mid-tropospheric levels leading to a distinct mesoscale (perhaps 50–100 km across) region of near-surface stronger winds, and particularly gusts 37 . Among the models presented in this study, only the IFS forecasts and analysis have the necessary resolution to resolve a sting jet. It is crucial to recognise that the ML models, trained on coarse resolution data, are not equipped to discern features such as the presence of mesoscale jets. This limitation highlights the importance of using models with adequate resolution when predicting high-impact weather phenomena occurring at small spatial scales. However, our analysis suggests that the ML models struggle to represent frontal structures conducive to mesoscale high-impact features even when compared against NWP models with similar resolution, such as that used to generate ERA5.

The lack of sharpness of the bent-back warm front and cold front in the ML models impacts the strength of the wind speed maxima, as can be seen by turning the focus of evaluation to the region of strong winds. Figure 5a–f shows the 850-hPa wind speed (filled contours) to give an indication of the lower-tropospheric storm structure that is less influenced by the presence of land below than the 10-m winds shown previously; consequently, winds at this pressure level, roughly a km above the ground, are normally stronger than those nearer the surface. All the ML models consistently identify two regions of strong winds: one in the frontal-fracture region and another in the warm sector. The strong winds situated in the frontal-fracture region are associated with the tight pressure gradient near the tip of the bent-back warm front, the associated descent and acceleration where the moist isentropes spread out, and the alignment with the direction of propagation of the storm (with a possible local enhancement due to sting-jet descent in the IFS HRES, see the small-scale areas above 46 ms -1 ). The strong winds mostly in the core of the warm sector (enclosed by the 287.5-K moist isentropes) are associated with a broad jet, known as the warm conveyor belt jet, which ascends through the depth of the atmosphere from the top of the atmospheric boundary layer. The ability of the ML models to identify both the frontal-fracture and warm conveyor belt wind maxima (albeit with differences in the spatial structure and intensity of the latter) underscores their ability to accurately capture the general structure of extratropical cyclones. However, maximum wind speeds are weaker in the ML models than in ERA5, where they exceed 46 m s -1 (and even 48 m s -1 in the forecast based on the ERA5 system) in a broad region at the entrance of the frontal fracture. While Graphcast and FourCastNet display a small deficit of around 2 m s -1 , PanguWeather and FourCastNetv2 are roughly 4 m s -1 and 6 m s -1 lower, respectively.

We now turn our attention to the forecasts valid 6 h later, at 00UTC on 2 November 2023 (Fig. 6a–f ), the time of peak ERA5 wind speeds. At this stage of Ciarán’s evolution, analysis of the frontal-fracture region and the warm sector reveals several interesting features. ERA5 exhibits a region of warm air at the centre of the storm, which is separated from the main warm sector, a process known as warm core seclusion. Warm core seclusion occurs during the mature stage of extratropical cyclone development when cold air wraps around the low centre and cuts it off from the warm subtropical airmass. Relative vorticity starts decreasing along the bent-back front and generally increases near the cyclone centre as the front wraps around it. While the general evolution is captured by all models, the degree of clarity in the presence of a well-defined warm seclusion varies noticeably among the ML-models.

Focusing on the maximum winds in the frontal-fracture region, now compounded by the arrival of the cold conveyor belt (the main low-level jet in the cold sector, behind the cold front, of an extratropical cyclone), reveals that the ERA5, the forecast based on the ERA5 system (Supp. Fig. 1c ) and the IFS forecast all have peak 850-hPa wind speeds between 48-50 m s -1 . GraphCast and FourCastNet exhibit peak wind speeds 4–6 m s -1 lower. PanguWeather and FourCastNet-v2 have a larger weak bias, with wind speeds underestimated by 6-8 m s -1 . Wind maxima are consistently underestimated in the ML models when compared to the benchmarks provided by the ERA5 (and its forecast) and the IFS forecast. This discrepancy in predicting wind maxima at the time of peak winds and as they approach land is crucial for assessing the potential impact of Storm Ciaran’s surface winds and associated gusts.

By inspection, the structures of the MSLP fields in Figs. 5 and 6 are similar for the different models despite the differences in the wind speed structure and magnitude. This raises a further interesting question, is the discrepancy between the wind maxima in the conventional NWP and ML because the ML models do not reproduce the dynamical balances between the wind and pressure fields inherent in the conventional NWP models? This question is examined in detail in the Supplementary Material (and included Supp. Figs. 2 – 8 ) and a short summary is included here.

While the calculation of the geostrophic wind field (resulting from the balance of the pressure gradient and Coriolis forces) is relatively straightforward, calculating the more accurate gradient wind field (with the further inclusion of the centrifugal force associated with the curvature of a parcel trajectory) is more complex. Since both calculations require the evaluation of horizontal gradients in the geopotential field, an unphysical lack of smoothness on the smallest scales in all of the ML models becomes easily apparent and should be further investigated. Note that while the gradient wind should provide a better approximation to the frictionless large-scale flow (where that flow is curved) than the geostrophic wind, the flow can still differ from gradient wind balance due to unbalanced motions which may be physically realistic, particularly in high-resolution model output (and reality).

Smoothed geostrophic and gradient wind fields have physically plausible structures in both NWP and ML model outputs. While the strongest full winds are found in the NWP model outputs even after smoothing, the strongest gradient winds are not clearly different between the ML and NWP models. The differences between the smoothed full and gradient wind fields for the NWP and ML models have similar characteristic structures and magnitudes in strong wind regions of the storm. Within the limitations of the accuracy of our calculations, we cannot conclude that the weak winds in the ML model forecasts are the result of an inability to resolve the proper dynamical balances, but are likely to instead be related to inadequacies in the geopotential field, i.e., in the gradient and curvature of the geopotential contours.

In summary, the ML models represent the large-scale dynamical drivers key to the development of Storm Ciarán well, including the position of the storm relative to the upper-level jet exit. They also accurately capture the larger synoptic-scale structure of the cyclone such as the position of the cloud head, the shape of the warm sector and the location of the warm conveyor belt jet. The ability of the ML models to resolve the more detailed structure of the storm is more mixed. Only some ML models correctly resolve the warm core seclusion and none of them capture the sharp bent-back warm frontal gradient. ML models underestimate the magnitude of the strongest winds at the surface and in the free atmosphere (above the boundary layer), particularly in the frontal-fracture region near the end of the bent-back front. Note that this underestimation of the strongest wind speeds is not a consequence of the resolution of the output of the ML models or their training data, since it also applies when comparing against the ERA5 (and forecasts based on the ERA5 system) and NWP models with resolution similar to ERA5.

The contrasting ability of the four ML models considered to accurately forecast the large-scale dynamical properties of Storm Ciarán and its damaging winds serve to highlight the need for a more comprehensive assessment of this new and potentially transformative forecasting tool. More than 48 h before Storm Ciarán affected communities surrounding the English Channel, forecasts of the rapid MSLP deepening and track of the storms produced by the ML models were essentially indistinguishable from forecasts from an ensemble of conventional NWP models. Our analysis shows that the ML models were able to reproduce the upper-level flow that steered the developing storm into the left exit region of the jet and led to its rapid intensification. Many of the important dynamical features of the storm including the position of the cloud head, the shape of the warm sector and the location of cold and warm conveyor belt jets were also well captured by the ML models. The ML models do not seem to have been limited by the fact that a storm of comparable central pressure has never previously been observed over England during November. However, even in the relatively short ERA5 record, storms developing in a similar way with similar dynamical drivers (such as the upper-level jet) are common throughout winter and the ability of ML models to forecast more dynamically unusual storms, such as small-scale storms that develop rapidly from waves on pre-existing fronts, is an open question.

In contrast, when considering the damaging winds associated with Storm Ciarán in detail, forecasts from the ML models had significant errors and poorer performance than conventional NWP models. All four ML models failed to produce the narrow band of very strong winds at the surface that led to the most severe impacts, The ML models also failed to represent the strength of the cross-front thermal gradient in the bent-back front (a feature also dynamically linked to strong winds) and had variable success in producing the warm seclusion of air that formed in the centre of the storm in its mature stage.

Much further work, considering other storms, is needed to assess if the biases apparent in the simulation of Storm Ciarán are a systematic feature of this first generation of ML models. Increased scrutiny of the models is likely to lead to the identification of target areas for model improvement, as it has done for NWP models. Since the ML models are available to all through public repositories, this scrutiny is likely to enable rapid model improvement. Detailed documentation of the performance of ML models will also be critical to weather forecasters seeking to make greater use of the ML models as part of the forecasting process. Forecasting centres like ECMWF are already beginning to develop and test alpha versions of ML models that complement their existing capabilities 38 .

Based on a single case study, it would be premature to draw conclusions about the relative abilities of the four different approaches to ML weather forecasting exemplified by the different models. In particular, given we only had access to the ‘small’ version of the FourCastNet-v2 model it might be expected that this model would have a limited ability to produce the detailed properties of Storm Ciarán. Nonetheless, studies like ours are useful for identifying knowledge gaps in ML model development for forecasting, particularly in their ability to capture the structure of extreme weather patterns. This can be direct, such as the inclusion of necessary output variables (a 700-hPa humidity variable to identify the shape of the cloud head missing from the FourCastNet model), or through the formulation of more nuanced hypotheses for investigation. For instance, PanguWeather’s ability to capture the vertical component of the 850-hPa relative vorticity could be due to the model integrating height information across levels. Similarly, GraphCast’s ability to simulate the warm core seclusion better may be due to its multi-mesh representation rather than the spatial mixing used in the other models. All the ML models failed to capture the intense winds at the surface associated with Ciarán. As shown in the supplementary figures, wind errors in the lower troposphere are smaller. This may indicate that future models could benefit from including variables and the relationships across these variables that better characterise the planetary boundary layer in their training datasets. Most importantly, our analysis makes a strong case for a more robust evaluation of the forecasts from the ML models across all relevant spatio-temporal features of the physical phenomenon considered instead of isolated error metrics on individual variables.

The rapid acceleration of the forecasting capabilities of ML models as exemplified by our study of Storm Ciarán poses many new challenges and opportunities for atmospheric science 39 . Explainable AI (xAI) techniques 40 , 41 could be powerfully combined with the ML models we have considered to develop a deeper understanding of the reasons that they were able to produce skillful forecasts of Storm Ciarán in line with other attempts to unify ML and causal discovery methods 42 . The development of general-purpose, foundational models 43 could add further to the set of tools available to both forecast and understand high-impact weather events.

In this study, we compare forecasts produced by four different models based on machine learning methods. All are initialised from the same operational ECMWF analysis allowing a direct comparison with the current operational forecast of the ECMWF high-resolution model (CY48R1). The ML model forecasts are produced using the ai-models toolbox developed by ECMWF ( https://github.com/ecmwf-lab/ai-models ).

All four models considered are data-driven Deep Learning models and originally trained on a few ( ~ 4) decades worth of atmospheric and surface variables from the ERA5 dataset 44 at a resolution of 0.25°x 0.25° ( ~ 30 km resolution at the equator), which translates to 720 x 1440 grid cells. The ML models are all autoregressive, which means model output from a given time step can be used to predict output at the next time step. Model differences arise chiefly from the individual architectures, the selection of variables, parameterisations and training schemes briefly summarised in the technical details below:

FourCastNet 12 , uses the vision transformer (ViT) architecture with an Adaptive Fourier Neural Operator (AFNO) 45 . The AFNO enables dependencies across spatial and channel dimensions to be modelled efficiently at high resolutions where spatial token (feature) mixing occurs as a global convolution in the Fourier domain with FFTs. The model has a pre-training step where the AFNO is trained ahead on the ERA5 data with 20 different surface and atmospheric variables and then used for inference. The pre-training step learns mappings between X ( t ) and X ( t  + Δ t ) where t is a time step, Δ t is a time increment (set to 6 h) and X is a tensor of features called patches. In the second fine-tuning or inference step, the pre-trained model is used to produce inferences from a defined state X ( t ), first for X ( t + Δ t ) and this output from the models is itself then used to generate X ( t  + 2* Δ t ) or the output for the second time step. Thus, while the training of the model is resource intensive, it is a one-time cost and the inference step is very fast.

FourCastNet v2 13 is a development of the original FourCastNet model that uses Spherical Harmonics Neural Operators for modelling non-linear chaotic and dynamical systems on a sphere as opposed to flat Euclidean spaces. The model is trained with ERA5 data in a two-step process similar to FourCastNet—a single autoregressive step followed by fine-tuning. By learning global convolutions in computationally efficient manners, Fourier Neural Operators (such as those used in FourCastNet) are capable of accurately simulating long-range dependencies in spatio-temporal data. However, the Discrete Fourier Transform that FNOs rely on assumes a flat geometry, resulting in dissipation together with visual and spectral artefacts. The Spectral Fourier Neural Operators (SFNO), forming the basis for the FourCastNet v2 model architecture in its update from the FourCastNet model, in addition to having the desirable properties of FNOs also have translational or rotational equivariance. FourCastNet v2 is trained on a 73-channel subset of the ERA5 reanalysis dataset on single levels and pressure levels.

Pangu-Weather 14 consists of four deep neural networks with different lead times (time between input and output) of 1 h, 3 h, 6 h and 24 h. 5 upper atmosphere and 4 surface variables at 13 different pressure levels were used to train the model with a combined total of 256 million parameters. The overall deep network architecture is called 3DEST or 3D-Earth-specific Transformer that integrates height information into a new dimension thus capturing relationships between atmospheric variables across pressure levels, unlike similar transformer-based models such as FourCastNet. Data is fed into the neural network and a process called patch embedding is used to downsample the input data from individual grid cells into a 3D cube. This cube is then put through an encoder-decoder based on a ViT called the Swin transformer 25 with 16 blocks. The positional bias in the Swin transformer is replaced with an Earth-specific positional bias to reflect the fact that in a 2D projection of a sphere, distances between neighbouring points are not the same across all latitudes. The decoder is symmetric to the encoder. Although the transformer-based neural network has a large training time similar to FourCastNet, this is partially improved in Pangu-Weather by the use of a hierarchical temporal aggregation scheme that reduces cumulative forecast errors and also the forecast generation time. This is done by employing the neural network with the largest lead time iteratively for a forecast so that neural networks with shorter lead times are used closer to the forecast. The height integration and aggregated forecast schemes are also considered improvements over other transformer-based architectures.

GraphCast 15 is based on Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) 46 with around 36.7 million parameters. The model is trained with 5 surface and 6 atmospheric variables at 37 pressure levels resulting in 227 variables for every data point or grid cell. In the first step, the Encoder maps information from individual grid cells to nodes in a multi-mesh representation. The multi-mesh is derived as icosahedral meshes of increasing resolution from coarse (12 nodes) to fine (40,962 nodes). The second step has Processors using 16 GNN layers to propagate local and long-range information across the nodes on the multi-mesh through message passing. Finally, the decoder uses a single GNN layer to map the final processor layer’s multi-mesh representation back to the grid cells. GraphCast thus avoids the use of transformers and the associated scaling issues with higher resolutions that could result in large training times.

Numerical weather prediction model forecasts and analysis products

The ML model forecasts are compared to a set of forecasts from conventional numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to assess both systematic differences in the capabilities of the NWP and ML models and how the spread in the forecasts from the two architectures compare. Forecasts from the IFS HRES forecast and forecasts based on the ERA5 system (see below for a description of ERA5) were obtained from ECMWF and control (unperturbed) members of the ensemble forecasts for four models (the IFS 47 , the Met Office 48 , the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) 49 , and the National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) 50 ) were downloaded from the TIGGE archive 51 of operational global ensemble weather forecasts out to the medium range. The models chosen differ in their design and the resolution of the numerical model grid. Cycle 48r1 of the IFS was operational at the time of Storm Ciarán. Following the upgrade to this cycle in June 2023, the HRES and ensemble forecasts have the same resolution, equivalent to 9 km grid spacing. The Met Office, JMA and NCEP ensembles have grid spacings of approximately 20 km, 27 km and 25 km, respectively. The data for the four control ensemble members were all obtained regridded to a regular latitude-longitude grid of 0.5 degrees.

Analysis products

Both sets of models are compared to two analysis products (optimal blends of short-range forecasts and observations): the operational IFS analysis and ERA5 44 . The operational IFS analysis is produced using the IFS HRES forecast and has a resolution equivalent to 9 km grid spacing, ERA5 has a resolution equivalent to 31 km grid spacing. The IFS analysis and ERA5 were regridded to a regular latitude-longitude grid of 0.25 degrees.

ERA5 is used as an additional measure of forecasts ‘truth’ because the ML models all used ERA5 as their training data. Hence comparison with ERA5 indicates the skilfulness of these models relative to the best possible forecast given their training data. It is to be expected that the IFS analysis will include smaller-scale and higher amplitude weather features than ERA5 due to the use of a higher resolution model, despite being regridded to the same grid. It is also expected that the IFS analysis will be closer to the “truth” due to the use of higher resolution and an upgraded modelling system.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

Apart from the Python packages referenced in the Acknowledgements, the underlying code for this study is not publicly available but may be made available to qualified researchers on reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ECMWF labs team for building the publicly available ai-models library which enabled us to produce and compare forecasts from the four ML models. This library can be accessed at https://github.com/ecmwf-lab/ai-models . We also thank the modelling groups who made the code for the ML models publicly available through the following repositories: • FourCastNet https://github.com/NVlabs/FourCastNet . • PanguWeather https://github.com/198808xc/Pangu-Weather . • GraphCast https://github.com/google-deepmind/graphcast . This work is partly based on TIGGE data. TIGGE (The International Grand Global Ensemble) is an initiative of the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP). We are also grateful to ECMWF for providing access to operational analysis products to members of the research team through national research accounts held through the Met Office. The work is partly funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (UKRI-NERC) through several grants held by contributors and by the Schmidt Futures Foundation. BH is funded by the UKRI-NERC CANARI programme (NE/W004984/1). NJH is funded by UKRI-NERC UMBRELLA (NE/X018555/1). KMRH is funded by a UKRI-NERC Independent Research Fellowship (MITRE; NE/W007924/1). RS is funded by UKRI-NERC TerraFIRMA (NE/W004895/1). AV is funded by UKRI-NERC Arctic Summer-time cyclones (NE/T006773/1). SD is funded and supported by the Schmidt Futures Foundation.

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Contributions

A.J.C.P. conceived the analysis and produced ML forecasts and initial characterisation of their performance. S.D., K.M.R.H., R.S. and R.V. contributed to the analysis and description of the ML models. N.J.H. led analysis of the properties of Storm Ciarán and its impacts. H.D., S.G., B.H. and A.V. produced the detailed dynamical analysis of the properties of Storm Ciarán in the forecasts including collecting NWP data and producing all figures. All authors contributed to discussions, writing, proofreading and editing the manuscript. All authors should be considered co-first authors as the work was completed collaboratively. The funders played no role in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or the writing of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andrew J. Charlton-Perez .

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Charlton-Perez, A.J., Dacre, H.F., Driscoll, S. et al. Do AI models produce better weather forecasts than physics-based models? A quantitative evaluation case study of Storm Ciarán. npj Clim Atmos Sci 7 , 93 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00638-w

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The influence of maternal prepregnancy weight and gestational weight gain on the umbilical cord blood metabolome: a case–control study

• Xianxian Yuan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8762-8471 1 ,
• Yuru Ma 1 ,
• Jia Wang 2 ,
• Yan Zhao 1 ,
• Wei Zheng 1 ,
• Ruihua Yang 1 ,
• Lirui Zhang 1 ,
• Xin Yan 1 &
• Guanghui Li   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2290-1515 1  

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth volume  24 , Article number:  297 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Maternal overweight/obesity and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) are frequently reported to be risk factors for obesity and other metabolic disorders in offspring. Cord blood metabolites provide information on fetal nutritional and metabolic health and could provide an early window of detection of potential health issues among newborns. The aim of the study was to explore the impact of maternal prepregnancy overweight/obesity and excessive GWG on cord blood metabolic profiles.

A case control study including 33 pairs of mothers with prepregnancy overweight/obesity and their neonates, 30 pairs of mothers with excessive GWG and their neonates, and 32 control mother-neonate pairs. Untargeted metabolomic profiling of umbilical cord blood samples were performed using UHPLC‒MS/MS.

Forty-six metabolites exhibited a significant increase and 60 metabolites exhibited a significant reduction in umbilical cord blood from overweight and obese mothers compared with mothers with normal body weight. Steroid hormone biosynthesis and neuroactive ligand‒receptor interactions were the two top-ranking pathways enriched with these metabolites ( P  = 0.01 and 0.03, respectively). Compared with mothers with normal GWG, in mothers with excessive GWG, the levels of 63 metabolites were increased and those of 46 metabolites were decreased in umbilical cord blood. Biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids was the most altered pathway enriched with these metabolites ( P  < 0.01).

Conclusions

Prepregnancy overweight and obesity affected the fetal steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway, while excessive GWG affected fetal fatty acid metabolism. This emphasizes the importance of preconception weight loss and maintaining an appropriate GWG, which are beneficial for the long-term metabolic health of offspring.

Peer Review reports

The obesity epidemic is an important public health problem in developed and developing countries [ 1 ] and is associated with the emergence of chronic noncommunicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, cardiovascular disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and cancer [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Maternal obesity is the most common metabolic disturbance in pregnancy, and the prevalence of obesity among women of childbearing age is 7.1% ~ 31.9% in some countries [ 5 ]. In China, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has also increased rapidly in the past four decades. Based on Chinese criteria, the latest national prevalence estimates for 2015–2019 were 34.3% for overweight and 16.4% for obesity in adults (≥ 18 years of age) [ 6 ].

Increasing evidence implicates overnutrition in utero as a major determinant of the health of offspring during childhood and adulthood, which is compatible with the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) framework [ 7 ]. Maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) are important risk factors for several adverse maternal outcomes, including gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders, fetal death, and preterm birth [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. More importantly, they have negative implications for offspring, both perinatally and later in life. Evidence from cohort studies focusing on offspring development confirms the relationship between maternal obesity/excessive GWG and offspring obesity programming [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Currently, there is no unified mechanism to explain the adverse outcomes associated with maternal obesity and excessive GWG, which may be the independent and interactive effects of the obese maternal phenotype itself and the diet associated with this phenotype. In addition to genetic and environmental factors, metabolic programming may also lead to the intergenerational transmission of obesity through epigenetic mechanisms.

Metabolomics, which reflects the metabolic phenotype of human subjects and animals, is the profiling of metabolites in biofluids, cells and tissues using high-throughput platforms, such as mass spectrometry. It has unique potential in identifying biomarkers for predicting occurrence, severity, and progression of diseases, as well as exploring underlying mechanistic abnormalities [ 14 , 15 ]. Umbilical cord metabolites can provide information about fetal nutritional and metabolic health, and may provide an early window for detection of potential health issues in newborns [ 16 ]. Previous studies have reported differences in umbilical cord metabolite profiles associated with maternal obesity [ 17 , 18 ]. However, the results were inconsistent due to differences in sample sizes, ethnicity and region, and mass spectrometry. In addition, most studies have not considered the difference in the effects of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and GWG on cord blood metabolites.

To investigate the relationship between early metabolic programming and the increased incidence of metabolic diseases in offspring, we studied the associations between elevated prepregnancy BMI/excessive GWG and umbilical cord metabolic profiles. Another purpose of this study was to explore whether there were differences in the effects of prepregnancy overweight/obesity and excessive GWG on cord blood metabolites.

Study population

This was a hospital-based, case control study that included singleton pregnant women who received prenatal care and delivered vaginally at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, from January 2022 to March 2022. We selected 33 pregnant women with a prepregnancy BMI ≥ 24.0 kg/m 2 regardless of their gestational weight gain as the overweight/obese group, 30 pregnant women with a prepregnancy BMI of 18.5–23.9 kg/m 2 and a GWG > 14.0 kg as the excessive GWG group, and 32 pregnant women with a BMI of 18.5–23.9 kg/m 2 and a GWG of 8.0–14.0 kg as the control group. The ages of the three groups were matched (± 1.0 years), and the prepregnancy BMIs of the excessive GWG and control groups were matched (± 1.0 kg/m 2 ).

The inclusion criteria were women with singleton pregnancies, those aged between 20 and 45 years, those with full-term delivery (gestational age ≥ 37 weeks), those with a prepregnancy BMI ≥ 18.5 kg/m 2 , those without prepregnancy diabetes mellitus (DM) or hypertension, and those without gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The exclusion criteria were women with multiple pregnancies, those less than 20 years or more than 45 years old, those with a prepregnancy BMI < 18.5 kg/m 2 , those with prepregnancy DM, hypertension or GDM, and those without cord blood samples.

We classified pregnant women into BMI categories based on Chinese guidelines [ 19 ]: normal weight (prepregnancy BMI 18.5–23.9 kg/m 2 ), overweight (prepregnancy BMI 24.0–27.9 kg/m 2 ), and obese (prepregnancy BMI ≥ 28.0 kg/m 2 ). GWG guideline concordance was defined by the 2021 Chinese Nutrition Society recommendations according to prepregnancy BMI. The upper limits of GWG for normal weight, overweight, and obesity were 14.0 kg, 11.0 kg, and 9.0 kg, respectively.

Ethical approval and written informed consent were obtained from all participants. The study has been performed according to the Declaration of Helsinki, and the procedures have been approved by the ethics committees of Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University (2021-KY-037).

Sample and data collection

Maternal and neonatal clinical data were collected from the electronic medical records system of Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. Maternal clinical characteristics included age, height, prepregnancy and predelivery weight, education level, smoking and drinking status during pregnancy, parity, conception method, comorbidities and complications of pregnancy, family history of DM and hypertension, gestational age, mode of delivery, and biochemical results during pregnancy. Prepregnancy BMI was calculated as prepregnancy weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. GWG was determined by subtracting the prepregnancy weight in kilograms from the predelivery weight in kilograms. GDM was defined using the IAPDSG’s diagnostic criteria at 24 to 28 +6  weeks gestation and the fasting glucose and 1- and 2-h glucose concentrations at the time of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Neonatal clinical characteristics included sex, birth weight and length. Macrosomia was defined as a birth weight of 4,000 g or more [ 20 ]. Low birth weight (LBW) was defined as a birth weight less than 2,500 g [ 21 ].

Umbilical cord blood samples were obtained by trained midwives after clamping the cord at delivery. Whole blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes, refrigerated for < 24 h, and centrifuged at 2,000 r.p.m. at 4 ℃ for 10 min. Plasma aliquots were stored at -80 ℃ until shipment on dry ice to Novogene, Inc. (Beijing, China) for untargeted metabolomic analysis.

Untargeted metabolomic analyses

Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC‒MS/MS) analyses were performed using a Vanquish UHPLC system (Thermo Fisher, Germany) coupled with an Orbitrap Q Exactive™ HF mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher, Germany) at Novogene Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China). Detailed descriptions of the sample preparation, mass spectrometry and automated metabolite identification procedures are described in the Supplementary materials .

Statistical analysis

Clinical data statistical analysis.

Quantitative data are shown as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) or median (interquartile range), and categorical data are presented as percentages. The Mann‒Whitney U test, chi-square test, and general linear repeated-measures model were used to assess the differences between the control and study groups when appropriate. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All analyses were performed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 25.0 (SPSS 25.0) for Windows (SPSS Inc).

Umbilical cord metabolome statistical analysis

These metabolites were annotated using the Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) ( https://hmdb.ca/metabolites ), LIPIDMaps database ( http://www.lipidmaps.org/ ), and Kyoto Encylopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database ( https://www.genome.jp/kegg/pathway.html ). Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were performed at metaX. We applied univariate analysis ( T test) to calculate the statistical significance ( P value). Metabolites with a variable importance for the projection (VIP) > 1, a P value < 0.05 and a fold change (FC) ≥ 2 or FC ≤ 0.5 were considered to be differential metabolites. A false discovery rate (FDR) control was implemented to correct for multiple comparisons. The q -value in the FDR control was defined as the FDR analog of the P -value. In this study, the q -value was set at 0.2. For clustering heatmaps, the data were normalized using z scores of the intensity areas of differential metabolites and were plotted by the Pheatmap package in R language.

The correlations among differential metabolites were analyzed by cor () in R language (method = Pearson). Statistically significant correlations among differential metabolites were calculated by cor.mtest () in R language. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant, and correlation plots were plotted by the corrplot package in R language. The functions of these metabolites and metabolic pathways were studied using the KEGG database. The metabolic pathway enrichment analysis of differential metabolites was performed when the ratio was satisfied by x/n > y/N, and the metabolic pathway was considered significantly enriched when P  < 0.05.

Demographic characteristics of study participants

The demographic and clinical characteristics of the three population groups enrolled in the study are summarized in Table  1 . Mothers had no significant difference regarding their ages or gestational ages. Compared to the mothers in the excessive GWG and control groups, those in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group had a significantly higher prepregnancy BMI (25.6 (24.5, 27.2) kg/m 2 ). However, there was no significant difference in prepregnancy BMI between mothers in the excessive GWG group (20.3 ± 1.2 kg/m 2 ) and mothers in the control group (20.6 ± 1.5 kg/m 2 ). Mothers in the excessive GWG group had the highest GWG (17.0 (15.5, 19.1) kg) among the three groups. The mean GWG of the mothers in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group was 12.9 ± 3.8 kg, which was similar to that of the control group (11.8 ± 1.5 kg). It was noteworthy that among the 33 prepregnancy overweight/obese pregnant women, 20 of them had appropriate GWG, 1 had insufficient GWG, and 12 had excessive GWG. The proportion of mothers who underwent invitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group (15.2%) was significantly higher than that in the excessive GWG and control groups. There were no statistically significant differences in the proportions of pregnancy outcomes among the three groups, including preeclampsia, premature rupture of membranes, postpartum hemorrhage, macrosomia, and LBW. The babies in the three groups showed no significant difference regarding their birth weights or lengths.

The biochemical parameters of the mothers during pregnancy are shown in Table  2 . The levels of triglyceride (TG) and uric acid (UA) of mothers in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group were significantly higher than those of the mothers in the excessive GWG and control groups in the first trimester. However, there was no significant difference in the blood glucose and lipid levels in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy among the three groups.

PCA and PLS-DA analysis of cord blood metabolites

Functional and taxonomic annotations of the identified metabolites included the HMDB classification annotations, LIPID MAPS classification annotations, and KEGG pathway annotations. Those cord blood metabolites included lipids and lipid-like molecules, organic acids and their derivatives, and organoheterocyclic compounds, which were mainly involved in metabolism. To better understand the structure of the cord blood metabolome in cases versus controls, we used unsupervised PCA to identify metabolites contributing the most to observed differences in the dataset. PCA did not clearly separate the three groups. We next used PLS-DA to identify metabolites that were predictive of case versus control status. PLS-DA clearly distinguished the cases from the controls (Fig.  1 ), the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group vs. the control group (R2Y = 0.82, Q2Y = 0.37; R2Y = 0.77, Q2Y = 0.13, respectively) (Fig.  1 A), and the excessive GWG group vs. the control group (R2Y = 0.76, Q2Y = 0.16; R2Y = 0.81, Q2Y = 0.41) (Fig.  1 B).

PLS-DA of identified cord blood metabolites. A the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group vs. the control group; B the excessive GWG group vs. the control group. (a) PLS-DA score. The horizontal coordinates are the score of the sample on the first principal component; the longitudinal coordinates are the score of the sample on the second principal component; R2Y represents the interpretation rate of the model, and Q2Y is used to evaluate the predictive ability of the PLS-DA model, and when R2Y is greater than Q2Y, it means that the model is well established. (b) PLS-DA valid. Horizontal coordinates represent the correlation between randomly grouped Y and the original group Y, and vertical coordinates represent the scores of R2 and Q2. (1) POS, positive metabolites; (2) NEG, negative metabolites

Maternal prepregnancy overweight/obesity

Screening differential metabolites according to a PLS-DA VIP > 1.0, a FC > 1.2 or < 0.833 and a P value < 0.05, a total of 106 cord blood metabolites (77 positive metabolites and 29 negative metabolites) differed between the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group and the control group. Compared with those in the control group, the levels of 46 metabolites (19 positive metabolites and 27 negative metabolites) were increased in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group, among which octopamine was the metabolite with the largest increase, followed by (2S)-4-Oxo-2-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-chromen-7-yl beta-D-glucopyranoside, N-tetradecanamide, stearamide, and methanandamide (Fig.  2 A). Compared with the control group, in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group, there were 60 metabolites (58 positive metabolites and 2 negative metabolites) with reduced concentrations, among which senecionine was the metabolite with the largest decrease, followed by 3-(methylsulfonyl)-2H-chromen-2-one, methyl EudesMate, cuminaldehyde, and 2-(tert-butyl)-1,3-thiazolane-4-carboxylic acid (Fig.  2 A).

Stem plots of differential cord blood metabolites. A the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group vs. the control group; B the excessive GWG group vs. the control group. (1) positive metabolites; (2) negative metabolites. Notes: The color of the dot in the stem plots represents the upward and lower adjustment, the blue represents downward, and the red represents upward. The length of the rod represents the size of log2 (FC), and the size of the dot represents the size of the VIP value

A hierarchical analysis of the two groups of differential metabolites obtained was carried out, and the difference in metabolic expression patterns between the two groups and within the same comparison was obtained, which is shown in Fig.  3 . KEGG pathway analysis of differential cord blood metabolites associated with the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group versus the control group is shown in Table  3 and Fig.  4 A. The metabolite enrichment analysis revealed that steroid hormone biosynthesis ( P value = 0.01) and neuroactive ligand‒receptor interactions ( P value = 0.03) were the two pathways that were most altered between the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group and the control group. 19 metabolites were distributed in the pathway of steroid hormone biosynthesis, and 4 metabolites were distributed in the pathway of neuroactive ligand‒receptor interactions. In the steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway, the levels of corticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, cortisol, testosterone, and 7α-hydroxytestosterone were decreased in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group relative to those in the control group. In the neuroactive ligand‒receptor interaction pathway, the level of cortisol was decreased and the levels of trace amines were increased in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group relative to the control group.

Clustering heat maps of differential cord blood metabolites of the three groups. A positive metabolites; B negative metabolites. Notes: Longitudinal clustering of samples and trans-verse clustering of metabolites. The shorter the clustering branches, the higher the similarity. Through horizontal comparison, we can see the relationship between groups of metabolite content clustering

KEGG enrichment scatterplots (a) and net (b) of differential cord blood metabolites. A the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group vs. the control group; B the excessive GWG group vs. the control group. (1) positive metabolites; (2) negative metabolites. Notes: (a) The horizontal co-ordinates in the figure are x/y (the number of differential metabolites in the corresponding metabolic pathway/the total number of total metabolites identified in this pathway). The value represents the enrichment degree of differential metabolites in the pathway. The color of the point rep-resents the P -value of the hypergeometric test, and the size of the point represents the number of differential metabolites in the corresponding pathway. (b) The red dot represents a metabolic pathway, the yellow dot represents a substance-related regulatory enzyme information, the green dot represents the background substance of a metabolic pathway, the purple dot represents the molecular module information of a class of substances, the blue dot represents a substance chemical reaction, and the green square represents the differential substance obtained by this comparison

Maternal excessive GWG

A total of 109 cord blood metabolites (52 positive metabolites and 57 negative metabolites) differed between the excessive GWG group and the control group. Compared with the control group, in the excessive GWG group, there were 63 metabolites (15 positive metabolites and 48 negative metabolites) with increased concentrations, among which 2-thio-acetyl MAGE was the metabolite with the largest increase, followed by PC (7:0/8:0), lysopc 16:2 (2 N isomer), MGMG (18:2), and thromboxane B2 (Fig.  2 B). Compared with the levels in the control group, the levels of 46 metabolites (37 positive metabolites and 9 negative metabolites) in the excessive GWG group were reduced, among which hippuric acid had the largest decrease, followed by 8-hydroxyquinoline, gamithromycin, 2-phenylglycine, and cefmetazole (Fig.  2 B).

A hierarchical analysis of differential metabolites obtained in the two groups was carried out, and the difference in metabolic expression patterns between the two groups and within the same comparison was obtained, which is shown in Fig.  3 . KEGG pathway analysis of the cord blood metabolites associated with the excessive GWG group versus the control group is shown in Table  4 and Fig.  4 B. The metabolite enrichment analysis revealed that biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids was the most altered pathway between the excessive GWG and control groups ( P value < 0.01). There were 13 metabolites distributed in the enriched pathway. The levels of docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), arachidonic acid, adrenic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, behenic acid, lignoceric acid, and erucic acid were increased in the excessive GWG group relative to those in the control group.

Our present study found that both maternal prepregnancy overweight/obesity and excessive GWG could affect umbilical cord blood metabolites, and they had different effects on these metabolites. Regardless of their gestational weight gain, the umbilical cord blood of prepregnancy overweight and obese mothers had 46 metabolites increased and 60 metabolites decreased compared with the umbilical cord blood of mothers with normal body weight and appropriate GWG. Steroid hormone biosynthesis and neuroactive ligand‒receptor interactions were the two top-ranking pathways enriched with these metabolites. Compared with mothers with normal prepregnancy BMI and appropriate GWG, in mothers with normal prepregnancy BMI but excessive GWG, the levels of 63 metabolites were increased and those of 46 metabolites were decreased in umbilical cord blood. Biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids was the most altered pathway enriched with these metabolites.

There were many differential metabolites in the cord blood between the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group and the control group and between the excessive GWG group and the control group. However, the roles of most of these differential metabolites are unknown. The levels of stearamide and methanandamide were increased in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group. Stearamide, also known as octadecanamide or kemamide S, belongs to the class of organic compounds known as carboximidic acids. Stearamide, which is increased in the serum of patients with hepatic cirrhosis and sepsis, may be associated with the systemic inflammatory state [ 22 , 23 ]. Methanandamide is a stable analog of anandamide that participates in energy balance mainly by activating cannabinoid receptors. Methanandamide dose-dependently inhibits and excites tension-sensitive gastric vagal afferents (GVAs), which play a role in appetite regulation [ 24 ]. In mice fed a high-fat diet, only an inhibitory effect of methanandamide was observed, and GVA responses to tension were dampened [ 24 , 25 ]. These changes may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of obesity. Moreover, methanandamide can produce dose-related hypothermia and attenuate cocaine-induced hyperthermia by a cannabinoid 1-dopamine D2 receptor mechanism [ 26 ].

Metabolomic pathway analysis of the cord blood metabolite features in the prepregnancy overweight and obesity group identified two filtered significant pathways: steroid hormone biosynthesis and neuroactive ligand‒receptor interaction pathways. In the steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway, the levels of several glucocorticoids (including corticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, cortisol, testosterone, and 7α-hydroxytestosterone) were decreased in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group. In addition to the physiological role of glucocorticoids in the healthy neuroendocrine development and maturation of fetuses and babies, glucocorticoids are essential to human health by regulating different physiological events in mature organs and tissues, such as glucose metabolism, lipid biosynthesis and distribution, food intake, thermogenesis, and mood and learning patterns [ 27 ]. Glucocorticoids have been considered as a link between adverse early-life conditions and the development of metabolic disorders in later life [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. However, there is still much controversy regarding the role of maternal obesity in the fetal–steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway. Studies of maternal obesity animal models showed that corticosterone and cortisol levels were increased in the offspring of obese mothers [ 31 , 32 ]. A study reported by Satu M Kumpulainen et al. showed that young adults born to mothers with higher early pregnancy BMIs show lower average levels of diurnal cortisol, especially in the morning [ 33 ]. Laura I. Stirrat et al. found that increased maternal BMI was associated with lower maternal cortisol, corticosterone, and 11-dehydrocorticosterone levels. However, there were no associations between maternal BMI and glucocorticoid levels in the cord blood [ 34 ]. The differences in the study protocols of these previous studies may explain the mixed findings, such as cortisol measured from peripheral blood, cord blood or saliva; variation in measurement time points; the number of samples. Although the effect of maternal obesity on fetal steroid hormone levels is controversial, dysregulation of glucocorticoids may be a plausible mechanism by which maternal obesity can increase the risk of metabolic disorders and mental health disorders in offspring.

The effect of excessive GWG on umbilical cord blood metabolites is different from that of maternal overweight and obesity. Compared with the control group, in the excessive GWG group, the level of thromboxane B2 was increased and the level of hippuric acid was decreased. Thromboxane B2, which is important in the platelet release reaction, is a stable, physiologically active compound formed in vivo from prostaglandin endoperoxides. Hippuric acid is an acyl glycine formed from the conjugation of benzoic acid with glycine. Several studies have confirmed that both thromboxane B2 and hippuric acid levels are associated with diet. Dietary fatty acids affect platelet thromboxane production [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. In our study, several fatty acids (e.g., palmitic acid, stearic acid, behenic acid, and lignoceric acid) in the excessive GWG group were also increased, which may have led to the increase in thromboxane B2 levels. Hippuric acid can be detected after the consumption of whole grains and anthocyanin-rich bilberries [ 38 , 39 ]. A healthy diet intervention increased the signals for hippuric acid to incorporate polyunsaturated fatty acids [ 38 ], and the low level of hippuric acid was associated with lower fruit-vegetable intakes [ 39 ]. Maternal overnutrition and unhealthy dietary patterns are the main reasons for excessive GWG [ 40 , 41 ]. Therefore, we speculated that the differences in thromboxane B2 and hippuric acid between the excessive GWG and control groups were associated with maternal diet during pregnancy. The effect of these differential metabolites on the long-term metabolic health of offspring after birth needs further study.

Metabolomic pathway analysis of the cord blood metabolite features in the excessive GWG group identified that biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids was the filtered significant pathway. The levels of several fatty acids in this pathway were increased in the excessive GWG group, including long-chain saturated fatty acids (e.g., palmitic acid (C 16:0), stearic acid (C 18:0), behenic acid (C 22:0), and lignoceric acid (C 23:0)), monounsaturated fatty acids (erucic acid), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (e.g., DPA, DHA, arachidonic acid, and adrenic acid). Because perinatal fatty acid status can be influenced by maternal dietary modifications or supplementation [ 42 ], we speculated that maternal diet during pregnancy caused the difference in umbilical cord blood fatty acids between the excessive GWG and control groups. A large body of evidence from mechanistic studies supports the potential of fatty acids to influence later obesity. However, the possible mechanisms and observed relationships are complex and related to the types and patterns of fatty acids [ 43 , 44 ]. Maternal dietary fatty acids have been found to induce hypothalamic inflammation, cause epigenetic changes, and alter the mechanisms of energy control in offspring [ 43 ]. Evidence from cell culture and rodent studies showed that polyunsaturated fatty acids might serve several complex roles in fetuses, including the stimulation and/or inhibition regulation of adipocyte differentiation [ 44 ]. The questions of whether lower n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid levels or higher n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid levels are of more relevance and whether the long-term effects differ with different offspring ages remain [ 44 ]. Although there is a biologically plausible case for the relevance of perinatal fatty acid status in later obesity risk, available data in humans suggest that the influence of achievable modification of perinatal n-3/n-6 status is not sufficient to influence offspring obesity risk in the general population [ 45 ]. Further studies seem justified to clarify the reasons.

The advantage of our present study is that we simultaneously analyzed the effects of prepregnancy overweight/obesity and excessive GWG on cord blood metabolites and explored their differences. In addition, to exclude the effect of hyperglycemia on cord blood metabolites, both women with prepregnancy diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes mellitus were excluded from our study. The limitation of our study is that it was a single-center study with a small sample, especially in the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group. In the future, we can expand the sample size and conduct a subgroup analysis of the prepregnancy overweight/obesity group and analyze the differences in the effects of different degrees of obesity on cord blood metabolites. The prepregnancy overweight/obesity group can be further divided into an appropriate GWG group and an excessive GWG group, and the differences in the effects of these two groups on umbilical cord blood metabolites can be analyzed. Moreover, the dietary pattern of the pregnant woman could affect the production of cord blood metabolites. We did not investigate the dietary patterns of the mothers in this study, which is another limitation of this study. In future studies, we should investigate maternal dietary patterns as a very important confounding variable.

In conclusion, our present study confirmed that both prepregnancy overweight/obesity and excessive GWG could affect umbilical cord blood metabolites, and they had different effects on these metabolites. Prepregnancy overweight and obesity affected the fetal steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway, while normal prepregnancy body weight but excessive GWG affected fetal fatty acid metabolism. This emphasizes the importance of preconception weight loss and maintaining an appropriate GWG, which are beneficial for the long-term metabolic health of offspring.

Availability of data and materials

Data sets generated during the current study are not publicly available but will be available from the corresponding author at a reasonable request. Responses to the request for the raw data will be judged by a committee including XXY and GHL.

Abbreviations

Excessive gestational weight gain

Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

The developmental origins of health and disease

Body mass index

Diabetes mellitus

Gestational diabetes mellitus

Oral glucose tolerance test

Low birth weight

Standard deviation

The Human Metabolome Database

Kyoto Encylopaedia of Genes and Genomes

Principal component analysis

Partial least-squares discriminant analysis

Importance for the projection

Fold change

Invitro fertilization and embryo transfer

Triglyceride

Docosapentaenoic acid

Docosahexaenoic acid

Gastric vagal afferents

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the study participants for their involvement and research assistants for their help conducting the study.

This research was funded by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, grant number 7214231.

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Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Obstetrics, Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, No. 251, Yaojiayuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100026, China

Xianxian Yuan, Yuru Ma, Yan Zhao, Wei Zheng, Ruihua Yang, Lirui Zhang, Xin Yan & Guanghui Li

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, Jilin, China

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XXY designed the study. XXY, WZ, LRZ and XY analyzed the data. YRM, JW, YZ and RHY took part in data collection and management. XXY wrote the manuscript. XXY and GHL reviewed the manuscript and contributed to manuscript revision. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guanghui Li .

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This study has been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and has been approved by the ethics committee of Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University (2021-KY-037). Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study to publish this paper. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations in the declaration.

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Yuan, X., Ma, Y., Wang, J. et al. The influence of maternal prepregnancy weight and gestational weight gain on the umbilical cord blood metabolome: a case–control study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 24 , 297 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-024-06507-x

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Received : 30 September 2023

Accepted : 11 April 2024

Published : 22 April 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-024-06507-x

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• Maternal obesity
• Gestational weight gain
• Offspring health
• Metabolites
• Umbilical cord blood

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