COMMUNICATION GAP, ITS EFFECT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE (A CASE STUDY OF INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, (I.M.T), ENUGU

ABSTRACT

Communication subsist and impacts upon everything, that is an event or occurrence worth noting. It is this pervasiveness of communication that has, with the development of man, animal and the elements, developed it into a major area of study as well as formidable social force.  It is of pedestrian essence, an everyday thing (perhaps even an every moment thing) because it pervades our very existence, our very routine of living.

The researcher’s interest in this topic emanated from the above promise also as a student of communication would like to find out the effect of communication gap on organizational performance.

Questionnaires, personal interviews, personal observation, journals, textbooks, official records, etc, were used to gather primary and secondary data which were used to analyse using statistical techniques as percentage, ratios, means table and charts.

The population interest included, both senior and junior staff of I.M.T.  students were also taken into consideration.  This enabled the researcher arrive at a dependable result.

Random sample method was adopted to elicit the response.  The method adopted in information dissemination, the effect of communication gap whether their plan to improve on their communication system?  The importance of communication and if the management takes suggestion from other individual staff as it relates to organizational policies in the Institution were all examined and discussed.

However, the result of the survey revealed that the Institution agrees that communication is imperative in the successful operation of management.  The outcome of this research work will go a long way to portray the effect of communication gap in organizational performance.

In the light of this, some strong recommendations were made for those who care to know.

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION

1.1    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

• STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
• OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY
• RESEARCH QUESTION
• RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
• CONCEPTUAL AND OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

 

CHAPTER TWO

2.1    REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES

• PURPOSES OF COMMUNICATION
• THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
• COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
• DIRECTION OF COMMUNICATION
• THE SUMMARY OF LITERATURE

 

CHAPTER THREE

• RESEARCH METHOD
• RESEARCH DESIGN
• RESEARCH SAMPLE SIZE
• SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
• METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
• QUESTIONNAIRES
• INTERVIEW
• PERSONAL OBSERVATION
• SECONDARY DATA INFORMATION
• TECHNIQUES OF DATA ANALYSIS

 

CHAPTER FOUR

• ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

CHAPTER FIVE

• SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATION, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ON FUTURE STUDY
• RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE STUDIES
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

QUESTIONNAIRES

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

INTRODUCTION

Everyone needs to communicate with those around him to share experiences, jokes, frustration, hopes and fears.  By the time we reach our teens, we probably take the ability to communicate for granted as merely doing what comes naturally afterall each of us has been around for quite sometime and managed well enough at home, school, college or work, well, whether we realize it or not, each of us has learnt about language and communication by the time we become teenagers.

In early childhood, we learnt how to write and interpret numbers and diagrams, we even come to understand the silent language of communication expressd in false gestures and body movements – the body language of non-verbal – communication. This array of skills have helped us to be active members of the family, school and work groups.

It is only when people have come to know others, through work, play or study that they are prepared to open up and to trust others with a share of themselves, their inner thoughts, reactions or feelings.

According to Lee’ 1952 “without the means, the capacity and the will to communicate, what we know as business, government and community activities could not be (But is not enough for people to talk to each other….  They need to know hoe to talk with others too.  The first executive function according to Bernard 1960 is to maintain a system of communication.  Therefore, it is no exaggeration to assert that communication is fundamental to the existence of any human organization.  Communication is playing a more and more important part in the successful operation of our business….  We have more people to inform, more people to listen to and to help us solve our problems and more things to talk about.  Its function is the means by which social inputs are fed into social system or organizations, the means by which behaviour is modified, change is affected, information is made productive and goals are achieved, be it in business, the military, the government etc.  Every organization is set up to obtain some defined objectives.  Some business organizations are set up for profit making, by the production of goods and services of various kinds while organization like Institute of Management and Technology (I.M.T) is set u to improve the standard of education and render social services.  The corporate objective in this case is not that of making profit.

However, the defined objectives of any organization have been achieved through the instrumentality of individual persons who form the basic nucleus of any organization.  The people have to be managed effectively and efficiently in order to ensure their readiness to perform for the attainment of goals/objectives of the organization.

“Management” s defined by Denyer is concerned with the direction and control of an enterprise, and involves planning and the direction of the work of others.

These managerial functions cannot be successfully carried out in the absence of communication.  Communication is what all managers do.  It breeds life into planning, organizing, motivating, controlling and budgeting.  It is the way we get meaningful work accomplished by coordinating the efforts of other individuals and groups.

Communication as defined by Brown s the process of transmitting ideas or thoughts from one person to another for the purpose of creating understanding in the thinking of the person receiving the communication.

It is also the art of imparting information or the mutual exchange of information and understanding by the use of symbols, language and signs.  The goal of any communication is either to change behaviour, get action, get information or to persuade and ensure understanding.

Drucker whole discussing the importance of communication is management made the following assertions: The manager has a specific tool, information.  He does not “handle” people he, motivates, guides, organizes people to do their own work.  His tool – his only tool to do this is the spoken or written word or the language of numbers.  No matter whether the manager’s job is engineering, accounting, legislating or selling, his effectiveness depends on his ability to speak, read, listen and write.  Misunderstanding and distrust caused by lack of effective communication are among the greatest problems managers face in today’s competitive business world.  Skills are needed to get ideas and thoughts, across to other people as well as skill in finding out what other people are after, a kind of impulse feeling.  Drucker’s assertion implies that communication are needed to convey information necessary for ongoing operation and that communication can have an effect on the attitude of people in the organization and consequently on the general performances of the organization.

Managers spend a lot of their time in order to co-ordinate human and physical resources of an organization into effective, efficient and co-ordinated work unit.  It is only when the human and material elements of an organization is harnessed into a working whole that the objectives, goals of the organization can be achieved.

An average manager sends between 80 – 95 percent of his time communicating in one form or the other, interviewing applicants for positions, holding meetings, writing letters, memos and reports, telephoning clients, listening and reading.  Relevant information, facts, feelings and ideas must be communicated within all organization before any organizational decision can be made.  Communication in recent years has been regarded as a managerial function because of its indispensable importance in any organization coupled with the fact that it has been realized that communication is not in-born but has to be learnt and developed along the line.  Language, which is deemed the most important tool of communication in any organization have many features, which limit their accuracy in communication.

Researchers have proved that there are more than 280 different languages in Nigeria.  It was also observed that the organization (I.M.T) Enugu, which serves as case study for this research have workers from different ethnic groups with different languages, different social and cultural backgrounds.  This shows that effective communication in any organization cannot be predicted accurately.  As S. I. Hayakawe 1979 said, the meanings of words are not in the words.  They are in us.  And no word ever has exactly the same meaning.

 

1.1   HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

The Institute of Management and Technology Enugu came into existence under the then East Central State Edict No. 10 of 1973 promulgated by the Administrator of East Central State Ajie Ukpabi Asika.

Prior to the establishment of I.M.T. there existed uptill 1967 the college of technology which offered course in Engineering and Laboratory technology leading to the award of Ordinary National Diploma (OND) level, the Institute of Administration which provided short in-service training for civil servants of various grades, the co-operative inspector from the ministry.

The Institute of Administration was controlled by the ministry of establishment while the co-operative college was directly under the ministry of rural development.

All these Institutions were staffed by civil servant who were posted there from ministry and could be re-posted to other departments or ministries according to the needs of the civil service.

In 1970, there arose the need to establish a higher institution of learning by upgrading the training of our men and women in technology, managerial and engineering fields.  This need was pursued vigorously and in October 1971 the Ukpabi Asika’s Administration decided to merge the former college of technology with the institute of Administration.  To give effect to this decision both the Institute and college came under the unified control of the cabinet office on 1^st April 1972.

In October of the same yea, a provisional council was appointed by the Administration of East Central State.  This council was charged with determining and recommending to the government appropriate structure of an autonomous institution that would produce high quality technologist and technicians as well as professional and managerial man-power, in subject areas indicated by the state and national needs.

The council pursued its task with vigorously and imagination and submitted a report early in April 1973.  Thus on 31^st May 1973 the edict No. 10 of 1973 titled the Institute of Management and Technology (I.M.T) Enugu.

Dr. Ukwu I Ukwu became the 1^st chairman of council while professor M. O. Chijioke became the first Recotor.

 

ACADEMIC STRUCTURE

The I.M.T, Enugu has seven schools and 27 Academic Departments and five Administrative Divisions as follows:

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

The school has 4 Departments – Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Chemical Engineering Technology.

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

It has 4 departments viz: Science Technology, Building and Quantity, Surveying, Food Technology, System Science, Computer Science, Printing Technology.

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION ART

It has 2 departments namely; Mass Communication, Fine and Applied Arts.

SCHOOL OF FINANCIAL STUDIES

This school has the following departments:-

Accountancy, Banking, Finance and Insurance.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STUDIES

This school has the following departments:-

Marketing, Purchasing and Supply, Business Administration and Management, Co-operative Economics and Management, Secretarial Studies.

SCHOOL OF GENERAL STUDIES

This school has 4 departments:

Language Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities, Basic Sciences and Preliminary Studies.

SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL TEACHER EDUCATION

This school has the following departments:

Foundation Education, Science Education, Technical Education, Business Education and Art Education.

SCHOOL OF CONTINUING EDUCATION

The school is made up of the following departments:

Staff Development and Distance Education (UNIAIR Programme), Extra Moral Studies, Basic Studies Department, Prelim Programme and Part-Time Programmes.

The I.M.T has established a subsidiary institute, the industrial centre (I.M.T) limited to eradicate ignorance in skill acquisition and this restores confidence in practical ventures, translate concepts into realities and develop true entrepreneurial skills, industrial centre was established to act as industrial and practical training for the students of I.M.T.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

The Rectory, Registry, Bursary, Library, state and Works Medical Centre.

INSIGHT INTO I.M.T

I.M.T believes that technology cannot be transferred but developed indigenously.  However, through foreign aids in areas of books and equipment donation, indigenous talents could be developed to manufacture products which are relevant to Nigeria’s technology Development Administration through the British Council Enugu have been helping the Institute through donations of books and equipment offering technical training overseas and advice to some academic and administrative staff of the Institute under the four and three polytechnics projects.  Like the Oliver Twist the Institution will continue to ask for more bearing in mind the cost of maintaining these equipment.

 

• STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Misunderstanding and distrust caused by lack of effective communication are among the greatest problems Nigerian managers face in today’s competitive business world.  This is why the attention of many organizations today are focused on the task of improving communication.  List of obstacles to effective communication is almost endless.  Each failure can mean serious losses, errors, delays, bottlenecks and misunderstanding.

One needs not to overemphasize the simple fact that communication is the way  management get its job done.  The ability to communicate is the most important of all the skills a manager must develop and hence the most valuable ability administrators may exercise.

It is estimated that close to 70 percent of our communication efforts are likely to be misunderstood thereby creating communication gap within an organization or any human society.  There are several reasons for these; some of the reasons include lack of clarity of the message, receiver’s perception of the sender and the sender’s bias regarding the message.  Others may be due to lack of interest in the message, poor listening and inability to concentrate.

Therefore, it becomes imperative to undertake a study on how communication is handled coupled with communication problem in the institution.  In the light of this, the following format the statement of problems.

1. In what ways have the use of effective communication in Institute of Management and Technology contributed to the achievement of its objectives?
2. Has the achievement of the objective been encumbered due to lack of proper communication facilities?
3. Which process of communication does the management of the Institution adopt in passing down their messages?
4. Has this process been suitable enough to get thins done as at when expected or has it been a hindrance to work progress?

 

 

• OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Without the means, the capacity and the will to communicate, what we know as business government and community activities could not be (But it is not enough for) people to talk with others.  They need to know how to talk with others too.  Inability to achieve organizational set objectives might not be unconnected with managers lack of vision to communicate effectively the goals or objective of the organization to its publics.

Be it as it may, this creates communication gap and it has a negative effect on the organizational performance.  Institute of Management and Technology is set up to improve the technological part of Education to standard to and it is human beings who manage this institution as such need communication as a basic ingredient to succeed.  It is basic to institution’s existence.  It will help in panning, organizing, motivating, controlling and budgeting.  It is the way we get meaningful work accomplished by co-ordinating the efforts of both human and physical elements of an Institution into an effective working unit.

The following therefore, formed the objective of this study.

• The cardinal focus of this study is to x-ray and examine the resultant effect of communication gap in Institute of Management and Technology with a view to finding a panacea to the problem.
• To highlight the scope and importance of communication process function in the Institution.
• To develop a model of the communication process and identify barriers in communication.
• To review the communication method in Institution of Management and Technology and find out the most appropriate for better performance in the Institution of its nature and status.
• To suggest appropriate guides and techniques to improve communicate in (I.M.T).

 

• SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY

Communication has remained an essential and an indispensable aspect of any organization as far as administration and management are concerned.  Although most managers do not share the same view however, it is imperative that we spot out any gap thereto and find a good solution to such problems.  The significance of this study could also be seen from another viewpoint.

The researcher is a potential graduate of mass communication with a bias in public relations, presently, she share her experience with others who are eager to know as regards the effect of communication gap.  The resultant misunderstanding and distrust caused by lack of effective communication are among the greatest problems managers face in today’s competitive world.  This is why this work will focus on the task of providing a milieu for improving communication in I.M.T.

It is also expected that the organization used as a case study and other organizations whether private or government-owned, individual association in fact, every human society will benefit immensely from this study.  finally, it is expected to provide a basis on which further research work could be conducted in future.

 

• RESEARCH QUESTION

(a)    Do the employees of I.M.T enjoy and have ample opportunity to communicate?

(b)    Does the present communication level in your Institution contribute effectively in achieving its aims?

(c)    What method is adopted in information transmission in the Institution?

(d)    Do the employees of I.M.T often experience communication gap?

(e)    Are there presently any plans to improve your communication process?

(f)     Does adequate communication result to good management?

(g)    What direction does communication take in your Institution?

 

• RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

In view of the hypothetical questions, the researcher proved beyond all reasonable doubts that the Institution has downward communication pattern of which the superior alone are in a position to direct the subordinates on how best to perform a particular duty.

In other words, the subordinates have little or no say in terms of contribution, to the overall policy.  In another vein, since the superior communicate among themselves and the trend is horizontal and in such a case that the tendency brings about an obvious gap in communication.  Thus all the communication elements are not utilized and this effect the overall performance of the Institution.

 

• CONCEPTUAL AND OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Communication: The art of imparting information or the mutual exchange of information and understanding by the use of symbols, language and signs.
2. Information: Informing, telling, thing told, knowledge, items of knowledge, news.
3. Motivation: The difference between what employees can do and what they actually do in a given situation. It is forced that influence human behaviour.
4. Public: A section of the community grouped because of a common interest or activity, employees and the people the organization conducts business with.
5. Organization: A business or administrative concern united and constructed for a particular end.
6. Feedback: Process of bringing a response to the original speaker/sender or source. It is the ultimate judge of effectiveness of communication.
7. Gap: Break, incompleteness, unwholesome.

 

• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Communication is such a wide area of study that an in-depth study on it will be time consuming in terms of resources such as money, time, data and personnel.

To support this point, communication is said to have grown with man, developing in stride with his intellect.

Some people even surmise that communication has become the master of man, seeming to develop faster than man’s other endeavours with this in mind, this study is limited to the communication gap and its effects on organizational performance – a case study of Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu.

In view of this the researcher cannot claim to have done a 100% job or to have consulted all the works done by numerous other researchers in this field.

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