CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study

The art of communication is as old as civilization. The art of communication, in fact, is older than the written word or even the spoken word. Man learnt to communicate even before he learnt to speak, read and write. And communication is not unique to human beings alone. The art of communication has, however, evolved over the years. From sounds, grunts, actions, gestures and gesticulations to the spoken word and thereafter to the world of reading, writing and modern and sophisticated methods of communication, it has been a long yet fascinating and rewarding journey. Man learnt to interpret sounds, understand actions and use gesticulations. Messages were conveyed through sound, shouts and drumbeats. As man progressed, communication evolved further. The invention of printing, as we all know, revolutionized the process of communication. In terms of its reach, the written word took a quantum leap. Side by side, various inventions made possible the recording of the spoken word and its transmission irrespective of time and distance. Gradually, the emergence of new media added new dimensions to the world communication (Garg, 2012).

Communication is an inevitable aspect of organizational functioning. The functions and importance of communication for organizations have been examined by researchers in various ways. This study explores the effect of communication on the performance of support staff in The University of Bamenda.  Specifically, it looks at the patterns of communication in enhancing employees’ performance and commitment. Every organization exists to be successful in achieving its vision, mission, values and strategy. Clearly, organizations that communicate more effectively have more successful projects. Findings show that high performers are more effective communicators (Project Management Institute, 2013). Organizations must develop a communication style that resonates with its employees. Organizations today, in an effort to change and be competitive, must not only consider different leadership styles, but must ultimately adopt a style that will aid in effective communication allowing for organizational and employee success (Martinez, 2012). Communication and shared understandings play an important role in the implementation process. In particular, when vertical communication is frequent, strategic consensus (shared understanding about strategic priorities) is enhanced and an organizations performance improves. They explore vertical communication linkages as a means by which strategic consensus and performance can be enhanced (Rapert et al., 2002).

The concept of communication is immeasurable in modern management, and it seeks to give a clear understanding between management and the employees.  It is in fact the exchange and clear provision of information, commands and directions between management and employees with the purpose of rendering the organization effective and enabling employee performance by ensuring that the latter are well aware about their responsibilities and duties (Frankline,2012).

Communication is a very challenging issue all over the world to the extent that various studies had been conducted to keep in places its role and importance towards the employees and organization respectively. For example the research conducted in Central and Eastern Europe by the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (Boyaci at el., 1996) reveals that the flow of information from government information offices is too slow. Also collide has been associated with a typical habit of lower ranking or local public servants to seek out head of department to answer the questions and provide information. According to (Mckinney, Barker, Smith and Davis, 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.

 In Africa, communication towards organizational performance and employee performance is also a challenging subject. The collapse of East African Community (1977) has been associated with communication failure among partner states, lack of common language which would organize East African countries to focus on the progress of their organization instead of considering the success of each country as an individual. When there is no communication, employees are not clear about their everyday jobs, management cannot get reliable and needed information and group leaders and executives cannot lead and direct their employees. Through communication we can better understand each other’s feelings, opinion, beliefs and principles. Communication makes it possible for the organizations to perform their daily management functions e.g. organizing, planning, controlling and leading. Coordination is an essential element to carry out the organizations‟ activities and lack of an effective internal communication, will invariably lead to low productivity and low performance in the organization. According to Argenti (2007),  today’s employees are well educated and have higher expectations of what they would get out of their careers and want to understand more the companies they work for.

Frankline, (2012) stated that, employees need to understand what they are doing and how they are supposed to do what they do; but if information is poorly communicated to them or they lack the capacity to communicate themselves, they would definitely not properly and completely perform the tasks for which they have been assigned to. In certain situations there seem to be little real understanding between management and the employees. So when there is the occurrence of a problem, there is general acknowledgement that the issue is a communication problem. Little understanding of interaction between management and employees will hence lead to low employee performance. Communication thus plays a vital role in enabling organizations design responsibilities, regulations, terms of reference/job specifications and presenting them to the members of the organisation (Frankline,2012).

Mangkunegara, (2009:67) defined performance in work (work achievement) as result of work qualitatively and quantitatively that has been achieved by an employee in working on his or her task based on the responsibility given. Communication is not only able to influence employee’s performance through motivation, but it gives a direct impact on employee’s performance (Haris, Sopiah and  Elfia, 2018). Merely communicating with employees and transmitting information and messages to them does not necessarily mean they will perform their jobs and roles well. Rather, implementing a sound internal communication policy will inherently be instrumental to improving the accuracy and speed with which employees perform their tasks, coupled with improvements in structures that will facilitate the ease of access and flow of communication, thereby having as end result highly focused employees disposed to carry out their jobs well( Robert, George and Patricia, 1957).

Few higher education institutions possess and maintain a comprehensive strategic communication plan designed to communicate critical information about their sustainable practice (Beveridge, MacKenzie, Vaughter, and Wright, 2015; Vaughter, Wright, McKenzie, and Lidstone, 2013).   Over the last years, universities have greatly developed their communication system by massively employing modern technologies in order to meet the ever evolving knowledge needs on the market, mainly because “fulfilling their mission and objectives largely depends on achieving communication objectives”. Communication stands at the head of the relationship between productivity and factors of production. How effective factors of production are being utilized is as a result of employee communication.  Chen et al. (2006) pointed out that research is lacking in examining employee satisfaction with communication process. There is therefore the need to explore the relationship between communication and workers performance, in this case, Support staff of The University of Bamenda.

• Statement of The Problem

In order to accomplish tasks and achieve the organizational goals, every individual of an organization communicates with others about the various types of work in the organization. Superiors deliver tasks to the subordinate; subordinates report results or make proposals to the supervisors; members of a group discuss how to achieve the group goal; and so forth. However, there are also times when employees within the organization, no matter what positions they hold, talk informally and on subjects not related to work. The non-work related topics may relate to their personal lives, feelings, interests, thoughts, beliefs, fantasies, personal goals, and backgrounds. They may also be about other colleagues’ personal life. Moreover, researchers have found that when the relationship among people is closer, it is more likely that they talk about their feelings regarding the relationship and how much they care about this relationship (Madlock and Booth-Butterfield, 2008; Sias and Cahill, etc.).

Communication at work place is a central tool in coordinating various tasks relating to the achievement of organisational goals. It generates sense of direction to the workers as they know what to achieve in specified timeframe to reflect mutual understanding of the community both internal and external surroundings. Communication recognizes organizational commitment as well as employees’ commitment to its stakeholders, employees’ ethics and encourages proper feedback in information handling (Salah, 2015).  Communication is always practiced in public sectors in the establishment and dissemination of the organization objectives. Through communication organizations can plan their goals and the way to achieve them. Systemic communication in many public organizations is very challenging due to the fact that its impact probably leads to poor performance of the job, interpersonal conflict and interdepartmental conflict, ineffective team management, work delay in feed-backing and thought of wrong information.

The University of Bamenda is a fast growing University that is why it is termed The University of the future. This higher institution of learning is faced with the day to day administrative duties, which involves the interaction and sharing of information among different persons some of whom are a category of employees called Support staff of the University. They include Administrative assistants, Secretaries, drivers, nurses, sanitation agents, campus police etc. Communication among this group of individuals is the key for their effective and efficient functioning. It can either make or mare their performance (output).

According to Abugre (2011), communication is very essential in all dimensions of the organization’s performance. Thus, when communication in the University of Bamenda is effective, then the performance of employees, in this case, support staff will increase. Consequently, the University of Bamenda can play their role in the effective provision of quality services to the community, the nation and to the economy at large. Therefore, it is important to examine the role of communication on the performance of support staff in the University of Bamenda. Given that, support staff comprises people of varying levels, educational background, and who perform diverse duties or functions though all geared towards the same objective of The University, it can be very difficult without a sound and effective communication strategy which takes into account the composition of these differences among the support staff. This raises the problem of what actually is the communication pattern towards The University of Bamenda support staff and whether or not it is effective.

• Research Questions
  • Main Research Question

The main research question for the study is as follows;

What are the effects of communication on the performance of support staff in The University of Bamenda?

1.3.2 Specific Research Questions

The specific research questions include:

1. What is the communication pattern with support staff in The University of Bamenda?
2. How does the communication pattern adopted affect the performance of support staff in The University of Bamenda?
3. What is the level of usage of ICTs in communicating with support staff, and its impact on their performance in The University of Bamenda?

1.4.Objectives of the Study

1.4.1.       Main Objective

The main objective of the study is to examine the effects of communication on the performance of support staff in The University of Bamenda.

1.4.2.      Specific Objectives

The study specifically seeks to:

1. Investigate the communication pattern with support staff in The University of Bamenda
2. Evaluate how the communication patterns affect the performance of support staff in The University of Bamenda.
3. Assess the level of usage of ICTs in communicating with support staff and its impact on their performance in The University of Bamenda