CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Communication is a means of bringing about change. It is the mainstream of any organization growth. There is need form interaction and understanding of management-employee relations this will bring about increased performance of all parties involved in the communication process or chain.

According to Banihashemi (2011), viewed communication as a medium, a means to performance ends, or as constitutive, as the end in itself. Communication is a process of transmitting information from one person to another. According to Stephen (2011), communication is a critical factor in directing and mobilizing the workforce towards the accomplishment of the organizational goals or objectives. By creating understanding it enhances co-operation and promote effective performance.

According to Williams (2007) smart managers understand that the end effective, straight forward communication between managers and employees is essential for success According to Mckinney et al. (2004) communication is essential to effective team performance and communications for any organization is like blood flow in the human body. Therefore any organization that understands the importance of communication uses it in their organizational environment. Since, it ensures coordination of factors of production and most importantly material and human elements of organization as an efficient network of change and advancement.

According to Snavely (2001) communication process is initialed through the following means the sender-encoding-the message-the channel decoding-the receiver- noise and feedback. It is estimated that managers spend over 80% of their day communicating with others. Since most of the basic management process- planning, organizing, leading and controlling cannot be performed without effective communication. Moreover, the relevance of communication keeps advancing as the world becomes a Global village.

The need to become visible to the world has made many organizations to embrace new technology that would increase organizational objectives. There are also many issues affecting communication ranging from difference in sex, role of silence, inference of government and cross- cultural inference. One of such organization is the Akwa Ibom state University, as it explores the e-learning and e- training to empower its staff and student in the use of the internet in communicating policies, lectures, staff development and lot more. This would stand as a mile stone for the university as a whole networked for effective communication and performance. Therefore it becomes important to emphasize on innovation and effective use of communication medium or channel to bring about high performance rate. Hence any breakdown in communication process or chain can have serious adverse effects on organizational objectives. Furthermore knowing fully that poor communication rank as the single most important reason that people do not advance in their career as stated by Lepsinger & Luacia (1997) it becomes necessary that the Governing Council of Akwa Ibom State University determines the best “channel” in transmitting “messages” to their staff or student for effective and positive feedback. There are many barriers to communication; filtering, selective perception, information overload, personal bias, language and communication apprehension. Hence management must try to address these barriers for effective result. Therefore, the aim of the study is to identify the roles played by management in transmitting and managing information to increase the performance of its staff.

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Communication is very importance in our day-to-day activities. However most organization have a very poor communication strategies and this lead to  many industrial disputes in such organizations. Hence it is important to stress that in communication, emotions, environment, psychological and technical characteristics of the medium is relevance to enhance the organizational performance. In the view of Okoye (2004), psychologically transmission goes beyond reception of information but understanding and feedback. Most organizational conflicts have been traced to breakage in communication as asserted by (Lee, 2003; Scott, 2004). According to Oji (2013), in spite of the laudable roles of effective communication in improving organizational performances, it is regrettable 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. Furthermore, the constant delay in accessing information by staff seems to limit their academic performance, which could create maladministration in the co-ordination of organizational activities. Therefore, performance of employees in relation with their duties and responsibility seems to raise questions about their communication techniques in terms of performance in the University. Exposure of staff to the innovations in the university in terms of communication channels have experienced shortcoming which if not adequately addressed may lead to poor performance of the university in the stream of affairs among other universities in the country. These problems mentioned above, have posed questions that be tackled in the study and thereby enhancing quality of effective communication in the Akwa Ibom State University

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The generalobjective of this study is to examine effective communication and achievements of organizational objectives. The specific objectives of the study are:

1.  To determine the relationship between effective communication and the achievements of organizational objectives in Akwa Ibom state University
2. To determine the importance of effective communication in Akwa Ibom state University
3. To investigate the factors affecting effective communication and the achievements of organizational objectives in Akwa Ibom state University

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS                            

The research questions are as follows:

1. What is the relationship between effective communication and the achievements of organizational objectives in Akwa Ibom state University?
2. What is the importance of effective communication in Akwa Ibom state University?
3. What are the factors affecting effective communication and the achievements of organizational objectives in Akwa Ibom state University?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study would be of immense benefit to the Akwa Ibom State University. The study will also serve as a repository of information to other researchers and students that desire to carry out similar research on the above study. Finally the study would contribute to the body of existing literature on effective communication and achievements of organizational objectives

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

 The study would examine effective communication and achievements of organizational objectives with focus on Akwa Ibom state University.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: Effective communication is defined as verbal speech or other methods of relaying information that get a point across. An example of effective communication is when the person who you are talking to listens actively, absorbs your point and understands it.

ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES: Organizational objectives are short-term and medium-term goals that an organization seeks to accomplish. An organization's objectives will play a large part in developing organizational policies and determining the allocation of organizational resources.

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