Federico Varona

Federico Varona is an American Communication scholar, academic and author. He is an Emeritus Professor of Communication Studies at San José State University.

Varona has conducted work focused on appreciative intervention, organizational communication, business communication, communication satisfaction, organizational commitment, and communication climate. He is an author of El Círculo de la Comunicación, Multicultural management. La comunicación en la era de la globalización y su impacto en la empresa, La Intervención Apreciativa, La Intervención Apreciativa: Un nuevo paradigma para el cambio positivo en las organizaciones para profesores, estudiantes universitarios, consultores y gerentes, and Pedagogía y Educación de la Fe. Varona has been an invited speaker and presenter at conferences in different countries.

Education In 1964 he moved to Guatemala and got the High School Teaching Credential from the Normal School in Antigua Guatemala City (1967). After completing his studies in Psychology and Theology from Guatemala, at the San Carlos University and Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Varona moved to Spain in 1974 and received his Diplomatura degree in Psychology, and Licenciatura degree in Theology from Pontifical University of Salamanca in 1976. He then moved to France in 1977 and received his diploma certificate in Audiovisual Communication from Center AudioVisuel Recherche and Communication. For further studies, in 1986, he moved to the United States, as a Fulbright Scholar. He attended University of Kansas and received his Master’s degree in Organizational Communication in 1988, and his Doctoral degree in 1991.

Appreciative Intervention In his work regarding appreciative intervention, Varona focused on Appreciative Theory, stages of the appreciative intervention process, and conditions of its success. He also studied challenges of Appreciative Theory, attributes of positive thinking, and affirmative competence. In his paper published in 2010, he explored the credibility, theoretical and empirical bases of appreciative intervention. He also discussed the ingredients necessary for the usage of appreciative intervention.

The 2nd Edition of the book La Intervención Apreciativa was published in 2020.

Organizational Communication Varona’s research on organizational communication focused on organizational communication audits. He discussed the significant aspects of communication audits including the process of analysis, the method of interpretation, and conclusion development. He also proposed possible constraints of the work such as the perspective ethnocentric form conceived during the process. He investigated several challenges of internal communication in organizations, and focused on organizational culture, management, Internal communication channels, and approaches of internal communication.

Varona conducted a comparative analysis of the Superior Communication Style between Finnish and Mexican Employees. His study indicated the variation of communication styles in the context of different cultures, and the validity of “post hoc” cultural explanation of communication behaviors in theorizing the influence of culture on communication.

Communication Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment In his research work, Varona examined the relationship between organizational communication satisfaction and organizational commitment in the context of Guatemalan organizations. Results of his study indicated a positive relationship between communication satisfaction and employees' organizational commitment, and a higher level of commitment among supervisors as compared to their subordinates in terms of communication practices. He also focused on the conceptualization of employees and supervisors regarding organizational commitment and communication satisfaction in Guatemalan organizations.