EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AS A TOOL FOR DETERMINING EMPLOYEE’S JOB PERFORMANCE
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the relationship between effective communication and employees’ job performance. The population of the study consisted of all non-academic staff members of University of Benin. Survey research design was adopted. The study used primary data collected via administrating questionnaires to some randomly selected members of non-academic staff in the university. A sample of 362 respondents was randomly selected for the study. Frequency distribution, percentages and bar charts were used to analyze the data. Also, the Ordered Probit and Logit Ordinary Least Squares technique were adopted to test our hypotheses.
The findings of the study showed that effective communication has a positive and significant effect on employees’ job performance. In a similar vein, non-verbal communication was found to be positive and significant in determining workers’ job performance. The results also revealed that poor communication has a negative and significant effect on workers’ job performances.
It was recommended that employers should ensure an effective communication processes and channels in their organizations so as to engender high work productivity and effective job performances of their workers. Also, employers should be mindful of the non-verbal communication channels at workplaces and ensure that written documents or directives, rules and regulations are well spelt out to avoid any form of ambiguity in the communication process. Again, employers should ensure that workers are adequately provided with reliable and consistent directives to enhance the communication process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background of the Study
1.2    Statement of the Problem
1.3    Objectives of the Study
1.4    Research Questions
1.5    Hypotheses of the Study
1.6    Significance of the Study
1.7    Scope of the Study
1.8    Limitations of the Study
1.9    Definitions of Terms
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1    Introduction
2.2    Conceptual Framework
2.3    Theoretical Review
2.3.1    Human Relations Theory
2.3.2    Systems Theory
2.4    Empirical Review
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1    Introduction
3.2    Research Design
3.3    Population and Sampling
3.4    Sampling Size and Sampling Technique
3.5    Measurement of Variables
3.6    Sources of Data
3.7    Research Instrument
3.8    Validity and Reliability of Instrument
3.9    Methods of Data Analysis
3.10    Model Specification
CHAPTER FOUR
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
4.1    Introduction
4.2    Descriptive Statistics
4.3    Presentation and Interpretation of Results
4.4    Test of Hypotheses
4.5    Policy Implications
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1    Summary of Findings
5.2    Recommendations
5.3    Conclusion
References
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
1.1    Background to the Study
Communication is one of the most dominant and important activities in organizations (Harris & Nelson, 2008).This is because communication is required for transmitting ideas and opinions, making plans, executing decisions, sending and fulfilling requests and cracking deals. When effective communication ceases to exist un-coordinated activities return to an organization. An effective communication helps individuals and groups coordinate activities to achieve goals. It plays a significant role in socializing, executing decisions, problem solving and change management processes. The basic requirement to function properly in the business environment is to have an effective communication system.
Accordingly, for organization and human as a social being, effective communication plays a role in all activities aimed at gaining organizational objectives. Attention has been given to the study of effective communication in organizational behaviour research as a result of the significance of this variable to organizational success. For instance, it has been found that effective communication improves job satisfaction (Holtzhausen, 2002) and which in turn improves productivity. Research has also shown that communication improves employee job performance (Goris, 2007), while poor communication results to low employee commitment to the organization.
 Communication is the human activity that links people together and creates relationship (Anchor, 2009). This means that individuals relate with each other by means of communication. It is the sinew that binds people together in an organization. Managers have traditionally spent the majority of their time communicating in one form or another such as face-to-face discussion, memos, notice boards, mass meeting, employees hand book and public lectures. Majority of workers finds out that an important aspect of their work is communication which is the mutual exchange of understanding, originating with the receiver that leads to effective and efficient work performance in an organization because it is the essence of management. The basic functions of management (planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling) cannot be performed well without effective communication. Different units exist in an organization and it is through effective communication that interaction takes place for the attainment of organizational goals.
At the present time, only sizeable modern age organisations have placed value on effective work place way of communicating. It is assumed by some management members that, communication is the simplest task for everyone to execute but research has shown that communication thus make and unmake the existence and success of an organisation. In most organisations, managers often leave that aspect of communication to the human resource department as their focus only reaches for the operational activities. As a result of this there becomes huge problem when managers within organisation always assume that they have had sufficient communications with their staff just by way of instructing them on their daily schedules. According to EisenbergerandStinglhamber (2011), two-way communication has positive impact on workers who perform profitably at work.
Puth (2002) opined that management within an organisation has resorted to use workplace journal or publication to dialogue with employees, nonetheless major related channels of communication are not used effectively. He mentioned that in-house publications may not have any strategic bearings to sustain an organisation rather, encouraging two-way communication does the thrill to dominate workforce. Puth (2002) perceived that performance within an organisation could be improved significantly by way of sharing information with employees and involving them in policy making. However, this recuperates general employee satisfaction and productivity within an organization. In some cases, the communication gap that exists between managers and employees makes them to generally sense not trustworthy, respected or valued to be responsible in their field of work. In his studies, it was argued that the largest valuable resources within an entity are the employees; therefore it is the responsibility of managers to encourage two-way flow of information to optimize organization’s performance as well as employee productivity. This makes effective communication very essential for all stakeholders as it assimilates most managerial purposes.
Ethically, effective communication is needed internally to initiate plans for expansion; to also consolidate resource in effective with less cost; to select, nurture and appraise members of an organization. Conversely, communication is needed externally to serve as awareness creation for management to do business with their stakeholders such as; suppliers, government agencies and many others. The essence of communication is very vital and cannot be left unattended; it is that king of mechanical system, which determines the growth of an organization in all aspect in this modern age. It is against this background that the study on effective communication on employees’ job performance is pertinent to ascertain the effects of effective communication system on workers’ performance.
1.2    Statement of the Problem
It should be noted that working environments differ in various respects as well as their culture, economic and social development. In this context, some organisations have cumbersome reporting lines, which are difficult for the employees to abide to; such as conflicting authorities, and obligations thereby making some subordinates become answerable more than a superior. Intra-communication facilities such as intercoms and memos are mostly ignored by some organization and this deprives subordinates from knowing the vision and mission of an organization.
Even with all advances in information technology that are available to managers, ineffective communication still continues to take place in organizations. Ineffective communication is detrimental for managers, employees and organizations. It can lead to poor performance, strained interpersonal relations, poor service and dissatisfied customers. For an organization to be effective and gain a competitive advantage, managers at all levels need to be good communicators (George, 2011).
The absence of an effective communication channel tends to under-utilize the expertise and vital information from the employees, which could be a critical input for formulating an effective communication strategy to reduce or eliminate apathy in performing their roles. To what extent do these communication gaps affect the work performance of employees and the organizational performance as a whole? The effect of poor communication on employees and the organization needs empirical evidence from the public sector. As a result of these problems,there is the need to ascertain the effects of effective communication on employees’ job performance.
1.3    Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between effective communication and employees’ job performance. Consequently, the specific objectives are to:
determine the effect of effective communication on employees’ job performance;
evaluate the effect of non-verbal communication on workers’ performance; and
examine the impact of poor communication on employees’ job performance.
1.4    Research Questions
The research questions for this study are as follows:
Does effective communication affect employees’ job performance?
Does non-verbal communication affect workers’ performance?
Does poor communication system affect employees’ performance?
1.5    Hypotheses of the Study
    The hypotheses of this study are stated as follows:
There is no relationship between effective communication and employees’ job performance.
There is no relationship between non-verbal communication and workers’ performance.
1.6    Significance of the Study
This study will provide meaningful information to the management of organizations about efficiency, credibility, and economy of their communications policies, practices, and programs. The study will enable managers to get awareness concerning the influence of effective communication and in what way ineffective communication can negatively affect employees’ performance and thus the study will suggest recommendations towards improving communication to boast up employee performance in organisations.
Also, the study would aid students studying management to understand the theoretical background of effective communication. It would empower students to takeoff well when establishing or managing an enterprise. The study would be beneficial to academia, as it would provide empirical findings on effects of effective communication system on employees’ job performance. It would therefore serve as a reference point for future study and at the same time, fill a research gap.
1.7    Scope of the Study
The scope of this study is restricted to examining the relationship betweeneffective communication and employees’ job performanceof the non-academic staff in University of Benin. Thepopulation consisted of all non-academic staff members of University of Benin. The study used primary data collected via administrating questionnaires to some randomly selected members of non-academic staff in the university.
1.8    Limitations of the Study
Due to practical constraints, this study could not provide a comprehensive assessment ofthe relationship between effective communication and job performance of employees in all the formal work establishments in Edo state. Thus, other work institutions such as financial institutions, healthcare centres, manufacturing outlets, and service providers were not considered in this study. Again, it is beyond the scope of this study to examine the relationship between effective communication and workers’ performance of the academic staff of University of Benin.
1.9    Definition of Terms
    For the purpose of this study, the following terms are defined as follows:
Communication – is a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback.
Effective communication –is a communication between two or more persons wherein the intended message is successfully delivered, received and understood.
Employee’s performance –the job related activities expected of a worker and how well those activities were executed.