Description
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every needs to communicate with those around him to share experience, jokes, furniture, hopes and ideas. By the time we read our teens, we probably take the ability to communicate for granted as merely doing what comes naturally. Whether we realize it or not, each of us has learn about language and communication by the time we become teenagers. In early childhood, we learnt how to write and interprete numbers and digrames. We even come to understand the silent language of communication expressed in false gestures and body movement which is the body language of non verbal communication. This army of skills has helped us to be active members of the family, school, work group and society at large.
Communication occurs when a person transmits meaning understanding message to another person or group. Having known this, it is of require goo communication since it is regarded as the foundation upon which an organization system must be developed and maintained to get an idea passed to others in order to bring intended performance. Without the process of communication the various part of organization would not be bound together and the organization would not exist. In other to be successful, the organization needs people who can communicate effectively and efficiency. Communication is very important tool in every organization.
John MP Fiffner saw communication as a galaxy of connotation each of which is valuable and useful for its particular context. It is indeed common that the mere mention of the world communication conjure s pictures of the letters, telegram, radio, cable, telephone etc. in the mind of the people in the street. The word communication came from a Latin word ÒcommunicationÓ, meaning to share. It is a way of sharing ideas, thought, feeling, message or information by speech, visual signals writing or behaviour.
According to Lee (2011) without the means, the capacity and the will to communicate, what we knew as business government and community activities could not be but is not enough for people to talk with each other, they need to know how to talk with others too. The first executive fixation according to Bernard (1990) is to maintain a system of communication. It is only when people have come to know others work, play or study that they are prepared to open up and to trust others with their secrets communication is the meaningful exchange of information between two or more living creatures, hence animal language. It can be act by which human pass information, knowledge etc.
According to Uzozie Raphael (1992 : pg 10) he says that communication is all the possible method of conveying or passing information, idea, feeling etc from one source to another, in a systematic way (sentence formation ways) using channel which are recognized and accepted by all the participant in the communication gap.
Uwadiegwu (2010 : pg 155) defines communication as a process of giving peoples information through the means of previews agreed symbols, signs, signals, or patterns.
Mbiti (1987) sees communication as the transfer of information from one person to the other, information sent out all supposed to be understood and react to it with the desired response. in the same vein, Graham et al (1992) state that communication must include facts, intention and attitude. The chief purpose of communication is to make the receiver of the message to understand what is in the mind of the sender. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to assert that communication is playing operation of our business. We have more people to inform more people to listen to and more people to help us solve our problem and more things to talk about. Its function is the means by which social inputs are fed into social system or organization, the means by which behaviour is modified, changed is effected, information is made productive and goal are achieved, be it in business, the military, the government etc. very organization is get up to obtain same defined objective. Some business organization like Nnewi North Local Government Area Secretariat is set up to improve the standard of education and render social service. The co-operative in this case is not that of making profit.
However, the objective of any organization has 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 and objective of organization.
ÒManagementÓ is defined by Denyer (1972: pg 46) is concerted with the direction and control of an enterprise and involves planning and direction of the work of other. These managerial functions cannot successfully carry out in the absence of 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 effort of their individual and groups.
Communication as defined by Brown (1950:pg 16) is the process of transmitting ideas or thought from one person to another for the purpose of creating understanding in the thinking of the person receiving the communication. It is also the act of imparting information or the mutual exchange of information and understanding by the use of symbols, language and signs. The goals of any communication his either to change behaviours, get actions, get information or to persuade and ensure understanding.
Drucker (1954:pg 12) while discussing the importance of communication said: The managers has a specific tool which is information. He does not handle people, he motivate, guides, organize people to do their own work and to do this, is the spoken and written word or the language of numbers. No matter whether the managers job is engine accounting, legislating or selling, his effectiveness depends on his ability caused by the lack of effective communication are among the greatest problem managers faces in todayÕs competitive business world. Skill are needed to get ideas and thoughts across other people as well as skill in finding out what other people are after, a kind of impulse feeling. Drucker assertion implies that communication are needed to convey information necessary for on going operation and that communication can have an effect on the attitude of people in the organization and consequently on the general performance 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-ordinate work unit. It is only through this, the human and material elements of an organization can be achieved.
As average manager spend between 80 to 95 percent of his time communicating in one form or the other, interviewing applicants for position, holding meeting, writing letters, memos and repots, telephoning clients, listening and reading. Relevant information, facts, feeling and ideas must be communicated within an organization before any organizational decision can be made. Communication in recent years has been regarded as a managerial function because of its indispensable important in any organization coupled with the fact that it has been realized that communication is need in born but has to e learnt and developed along line.
Language, which is deemed the most important tools of communication. Researchers have proved that there are more than 280 languages in Nigeria. It was also observed that the organization Nnewi North Local Government Area Secretariat which serves as a study for this research have worker 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 Hayakawa (1979:pg 1) said Òthe meaning of words are not in the wordÓ. They are in its and no word ever has exactly the meaning.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Misunderstanding and distrust caused by lack of effective communication are among the greatest problems Nigerian managers face todayÕs competitive business world. This is why the attention of many organization today and focused on the task of improving communication. List of obstacles of effective communication is almost unless each failure can mean serious losses, errors, delays, bottlenecks and misunderstanding.
One need not to emphasize on the simple fact that communication is the way management gets it job done. The ability to communicate is the most important of all the skill a manager must develop and when the most valuable ability administration may exercise.
It is estimated that close to 70 percent of our communication efforts are likely to be misunderstood thereby any human society. There are several reason for these, some of the reasons include lack of clarity of the message, receiverÕs perception of the sender and the senderÕs bias regarding the message. Other 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 organization.
1. In the light of this, the following formats are the statement of problems. In what ways have the use of effective communication in Nnewi North Local Government Areas Secretariat contributed to the achievement of its objectives?
2. Has the achievement of the objectives been encumbered due to lack of proper communication facilities?
3. Which process of communication does the management of the organization adopt in passing down their message?
4. Has this process been suitable enough to get done at when expected or has it been a hindrance to work progress?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of this study are:
1. To examine whether there is resultant effects of communication gap in Nnewi North Local Government Area Secretariat.
2. To find out the process and identify barriers in communication.
3. To find out the most appropriate communication method for better organizational performance.
4. To investigate whether there is any communication gap between the employees and the management.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Is there any resultant effects of communication gap in Nnwei North Local Government Area Secretariat?
2. Do communication gap exist between the employees and the management?
3. Is there any appropriate communication method for better organizational performance?
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research topic limited its study to Nnwei north local government area secretariat to communication gap in respect to its effect on organization performance with special attention. Nnwei north local government area secretariat comprises of female and male staff who are involved in various work. There are also student who are doing industrial training. The study also covers the role of communication in organizational mobilization in Nnewi north local government area secretariat.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 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 I spot out any gap in communication and to find a good solution to such problems. The worked will also focus on the task of providing a milieu for improving communication in Nnwei north local government area secretariat or government owned, individual association infact, every human society will benefit immensely from this study. Finally, it is expected to provide a basis which further research work covered be conducted in future. This study will highlight the important of communication as a vehicle organizational mobilization in a transition era.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. COMMUNICATION: The act of impacting information or the mutual exchange of information and understanding by the use of symbols language and signs. It is a social transaction which involves getting ones ideas across in a way a person can be understand by the other person of whom the message is been addressed.
2. INFORMATION: Information knowledge, items of knowledge news.
3. MOTIVATION; It is a force that influence human behaviour. In other word, it is a force that drives individual towards communication or acting in a particular way.
4. PUBLIC: A section of the community grouped because of a common interest or activity. It can also refer to employee and the group of people, the organization conduct business with.
5. ORGANISATION: A business 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 and unwholesome.