CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
All human interactions are form of
communication. In world business today, nothing can be achieved without
good communication with employers, employees, clients, suppliers, and
even customers. Looking at the most successful business people in the
world, one will see people who have mastered the art of communication.
Business all over the world today is very challenging. To stay
profitable in the highly challenging and competitive global market
economy all factors at production (i.e. men, machine and materials),
should be wisely managed. Among the factors of production, human
resource constitutes the biggest challenge because unlike inputs,
employee management demands skilful handling of thoughts, feelings and
emotions to secure highest productivity.
Communication has crucial impacts or
among work groups in that organizational communication is a channel to
pass information and policies. Organizational communication can be
broadly defined as communication with one another in the context of an
organization. This type of communication, in turn, includes activities
of sending and receiving message through various layers of authority,
using various message systems, and discussing various topics of interest
to the group we belong to or the company we work for. Organizational
communication research has mainly been conducted both in the business
management field and in the communication field; however, researchers in
the public administration field have provided little knowledge about
organizational communication and its roles and effects.
Communication applied to all phases of
management process. It is the process of transferring information from
sender to receiver, who interprets the information in order to achieve
organizational objectives. Information, according to Miller, (2002,
Roll, 2004) is simply the vehicle by which we attempt to provoke or
evoke a human response. Information on its own is quite static and
lifeless. It simply exists waiting to be interpreted and have meaning
attached by people. In the view of Nabeth et al (2002) information needs
interpretation by people knowledge workers in an organization.
Knowledge could be associated to objects that can be identified,
separated from their initial context and handled in information system.
Information system management is largely under a new label Information
Technology (Wilson, 2002).
It is a public secret that no two people
can ever have the same perception about an event. What one will deduce
from a particular scenario is very different from what others can
deduce. This is why even in exams, students respond differently though
the same teacher taught them. This is a major communication barrier in
the workplace. What the management can convey or try to put across to
their employees will be based on their perception and
how they understand it. What the employee can deduce from the message
might be different from what was intended. This will cause
misunderstandings and if a conflict of views were to arise, this could
lower the levels of productivity in the workplace. The style and
effectiveness of communication will influence the way employees
communicate. For example, the extent to which they explain detail, how
they interact with others when they talk and so on. All this will
determine the level of communication in the workplace and the lower the
effectiveness, the lower the productivity in the work place.
Nevertheless, what is important about
communication is that the receiver must understand the message that has
been sent across by asking certain questions; it may be possible to find
out if the receiver has actually understood the message. This makes
communication to be a two way process in a sense that it prevents the
development of psychologically negative attitude among the personnel in
an organization. Therefore, a feedback mechanism must be included into a
communication process. There is need to avoid an excessive amount of
one way communication. (Uwakwe, 2004). It is important to say that
communication has been characterized as the stronghold of any
organization. Without communication, organizations do not achieve its
desired goals. The purpose of communication in an organization is to
effect change to influence action towards the welfare of the enterprise.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Many organizations in
Nigeria have been faced with an array of problems that seem to be an
impediment to the growth of any organization such as, mismanagement of
funds and resources, low level of real income, and poor infrastructural
facilities to mention but a few. In the view of Okoye (2004),
psychologically transmission goes beyond reception of information but
understanding and feedback. According to Chudi Oji (2013). In spite of
the roles of effective communication in improving organizational
performances, it is a pity that some faculties pay lip service to the
maintenance of effective communication systems. Change is a gradual and
continuous process, giving room for inputs and adjustments. The new
innovations, e-classroom, ICT awareness and appraisal methods are good
in itself but the medium and level of communication is problematic. It
is in this context that this study examined the effect of communication
barriers on the productivity and performance of employees.
1.3 Research Questions
The following are some of the questions which this study intends to answer:
i) what are the ways by which communication barriers affect the productivity and performance of employees?
ii) what is the relationship between communication barriers and the productivity and performance of employees?
iii) what can be done to ensure better communication among employees in any organisation?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study was to
examine the effect of communication barriers on the productivity and
performance of employees. The specific objective included:
i) to ascertain the ways by which communication barriers affect the productivity and performance of employees
ii) to identify the
relationship between communication barriers and the productivity and
performance of employees
iii) to survey what can be done to ensure better communication among employees in any organisation
1.5 Research Hypothesis
The research hypotheses to be tested include:
i) there is a significant relationship between communication barriers and employees’ productivity
ii) communication techniques enhance staff performance in an organisation
iii) there is a significant correlation between communication gap and administrative procedure in an organisation
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study investigated the the effect
of communication barriers on the productivity and performance of
employees and therefore would benefit managers and board of directors
of organizations in the course of improving their knowledge will find
this study useful in that they will not want to fall into the same
unfortunate situation before implementing the solution proffered by this
study. It will add to academic knowledge in the area of management
sciences.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study covered workers of different
organisations both private and public organizations. However, this study
went a little further to discuss communication in some details.
1.8 Limitation of the study
The attitudes of some workers in
different organizations visited partially affected this project and its
quality. The issue of not on seat, come back tomorrow and the likes,
contributed to the delay of this project. Also, the issue of finance
contributed to the delay of this project too.
1.9 Definitions of Terms
The following terms were used in the course of this study:
Barrier: obstacle that prevents movement or access.
Communication: the imparting or exchanging of information or news.
Employee: a person employed for wages or salary, especially at nonexecutive level.
Performance: the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Productivity: the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input