An Evaluation of the Relevance of Communication as a Tool for Effective Management

An Evaluation of the Relevance of Communication as a Tool for Effective Management

ABSTRACT

The theme of the study is an evaluation of the relevance of communication as a tool for effective management (A Case Study of NNPC Abuja, Abuja Territorial Office). From the study there are five chapters, chapter one deals with the introduction, background of the study, problems, purpose of the study, significance of the study and scope and limitation of the study. Chapter two tries to review the relevant literature, while chapter three is about the methodology. Description research, method was used and both questionnaire and library books and journals were used in data collection. In chapter four, the data collected in chapter three were analyzed, the researcher found it necessary to have an efficient and effective community in a given organization.  Finally, chapter five, gives a general discussion of the findings, makes recommendations for further studies and recommendations for further studies and concluded the project. Having carried out the surveys the researcher came to a conclusion that it is vital to have a free flow of communication in the organization where the employees are feedback with what they need and at the time they need it which breads motivation and high morale that leads to increase in productivity. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Communication, an important interdisciplinary science, is a dynamic process which in corporate both the situational factors and the changing processes in the environment. In case participants choose to ignore the important of this process and proceed according to their whims and wishes, they would realize much to their dismay, their inability to transmit their ideas effectively and consequent failure to achieve their objectives.

Today communication has become an integral part of our life. Inability to communicate effectively and efficiently can jeopardize our interests in business and other managerial functions, especially controlling and organizing. Be it inter-personal or interpersonal relationships, the role of communication can be ganged by the fact that whenever there are impediments in the communications process, the flow of activities loses its momentum and misunderstandings may crop up resulting in failure of relationships and situational breakdown. The phenomenon of interaction is a function of some internal and external factors which need to be studied in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the interactant, that is, his manner of presentation, intention, etc.

1.2     THE HISTORY AND ACTIVITIES OF NNPC PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY.

Petroleum is as of now, the bedrock of the Nigeria economy. It provides 80% of the nations revenue and 90% of its foreign exchange with a production rate of two million barrels a day, the country is Africa largest exporter of crude oil and among the  top ten oil producing countries in the world  of today in the world. Ever since the oil boom era of 1970s, the Federal Government has depended on the income generated has depended on the income generated from petroleum to develop and sustain the nation and its people. As such the petroleum industry is a entree of attraction for all Nigerians.

Oil  prospecting in Nigeria began as far back as 1908 by the German company, Nigeria Bitumen corporation in the Araromi areas of the present Ondo state in western  Nigeria, but is was not until 1956 that the shell followed by the first oil exports two years later, ever since then, news on petroleum exploration drilling and marketing have become indications as to how buoyant and stable the Nigeria  economy is every interest of this nation for these activities to continue smoothly. So far this has not been the case as these oil related activities have been constantly disrupted in the past four to six years. This  is the  major reason why the interest has manifested into the research world developed.

There are oil-producing companies in Nigeria who have licenses to explore, drill and market petroleum jointly with the Nigeria national petroleum corporation (NNPC). The NNPC is the federal government representative which implement governments polices and directives and at the same time controls and supervises the activates of the oil- producing companies.

Petroleum which sustain Nigeria is derived from the lands and territorial  waters of Nigeria. The people from these oil prosodic  areas claim ownership of this mineral since it derived from their soil. In this light these communities demand royalties for petroleum drilled for their land, compensation for any environmental damage such as oil spillage and pollution as well as kind rents and other levels.

In the past the oil companies paid royalties, compensation and land rent to the communities where petroleum was explored  and drilled. But with the coming of the 1979 constitution the situation changed section 40, such section 3 f eh constitution states that “ the entire property in and control of all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in under or upon any land in Nigeria or in under or upon the territorial waters

Signs & Symbols:

Man possesses the ability to communicate which is much more than a mere composition of certain physical attributes such as vocal folds, articulators etc. he has the ability to symbolize or to understand concepts in terms of images or symbols. It is this which helps him in effective communication. Communication then is not merely an understanding of the words which are spoken, but also the symbols and the gestures that accompany the spoken words.

In case there is a dichotomy between the presenter’s and receiver’s mode of thinking and mental image formation, we have instances of ineffective communication difference, an attempts should be made by the interantants to understand each other viewpoints from the same perspective in order to minimize the element of misunderstanding.

Symbols which were used by the pre- historic man to communication message continue to be used by the modern man as a tool of communication even today of course, complexity has crept in and different issues. Communication is related to meanings or signs that are used to make the concepts explicit.

The three elements related to a study of sign are: –

1.     What is sign

2.     What it refers to

3.     The users of this sign

A sign is something physical which can be perceived by our senses. It connotation is based on our perception. If we were to pieces up word and try to understand it in terms of its reference, probably, the connotations would be different let us take the word “Heat” for example, if two people belonging to different regions were to react to the word, probably, their reactions too would be different. One would associate it with warmth and comfort while the other would associate it with discomfort. In this case, both are speaking the same language, both are viewing reality at the same time, but their concepts are different and hence their perception too are different. It is not the language has been learnt differently by them through the signs in a given set of conditions and the quantum and manner of absorption of the signs are what make their perceptions different. In other words, the different lies in the understanding of the concept of heat which links the word to reality. Just as language gives a man his unique status in nature, communication provides him his unique place in the society. Communication then, by means of language is man’s destructive ability.

Criteria for Effective Communication

For any communication between two persons to be effective it must be:

1.     Clear: The meaning of the message must be clearly stated. That is to say the encoder must be able to understand the message clearly.

2.     Compute: The purpose of the message should be stated. The message becomes useless without a particular purpose in mind.

3.     Correct: The content of the message should be true, it should be a reality.

4.     Saves Time: The message should be concrete, and not beating about the bush.

5.     Build Good Will: Every communication should be able to achieve a purpose to enhance both the sender and the received welfare.

Growth of Communication

Communication is a science as old as mentioned. Right from the time of inception, man felt the need to communicate initially; he made use of signs and symbols to transmit his message. With the passage of time signs and symbols were replaced by words, and languages. Gradually the effect of communication was felt in a big way and extension research was carried out by experts in this field. Finally in the early 40’s and 50’s communication as an interdisciplinary subject began to gain ground, in the initial phase’s communication revolved round public.

Speaking, in which non-verbal as well as the verbal cues were studied and effectiveness of communication was evaluated with persuasion as the main goal. At this time various scholars began a study of communication in a manner which extended beyond their own particular discipline. For example, in anthropology the study of body gesture in different culture came under this scrutiny of anthropologists. In psychology, the emphasis was laid on persuasion altitude, social changes, behaviour and its impact on communication, sociologists and political scientists, studies the voting behaviour and other facets of life. Studies in rhetoric and speech at this time focused interest on oral presentation, interpretation, voice, diction, debate, the physiology of speech and speech pathology. In general, the study of communications received a great impetus and with the incorporation of data from other discipline a number of models were proposed, each an

Although some concepts of communication have undergone a radical transformation, there are certain other concepts which have stood the test of time. Primary among them is the role of a sender which demands the some degree of transformation be brought about in the receiver by virtue of a message. The second concept is the idea initially posited that the message sent is never equal to the message received that is, there is a variance between the data imparted and the information received. While the basic ideas of a sender and a message remained unchanged, certain other components were added to the model of communication in order to present a cleaner and more comprehensive picture of communication. Effective management is defined as the process of combining and utilizing or of allocation an organizations input by planning, organizing, directing and controlling for the purpose of producing inputs desired by the customers so that the organizational objectives are accomplished.

         

It is the combination and co-ordination of both huma and material resources for the production of a desire objective decision making is impossible without communication.   Effectiveness of communication in any organization breads motivation and high morale on employees with its attendant increase in productivity and profitability which is always the objective of many businesses.

       

From all indications, communication is of paramount importance in decline with human factor throughout his stay in the organization from recruitment to retirement.

         

Communication integrates the managerial function and relates it to both internal and external environment. Every system must have interaction and cohesiveness between its sub-system if the complex is to accomplish its’ objectives. Communication is then binding factor between these sub-systems and provide information that simultaneously guide the systems towards organizational goal accomplishment.

         

NNPC – Nigeria National Petroleum Company is an arm of the Federal Ministry of petroleum and was established in Nigeria. As an arm of the Federal petroleum, their aim was to serve the general public in the area of receiving and delivery of petroleum products and other crude oil products. NNPC Abuja Territorial District which is situated at Herbart Macurly way, Central Business District, Garki Abuja is the headquarter of Nigeria chapter. It also has other services centre within Niger Delta states metropolis from where they carry out their services respectively.

         

NNPC, like other courier services like SHELL., SHELVRON, MOBILE, TEXACO, etc is an old long means of delivery services. There services are unique in the sense that they have established their subsidiary offices in every nocks and crannies of Nigeria Metropolis even in the most remote areas of the country.       

Every organization has its loope holes; Individual background, ethic, social and cultural backgrounds which have the ability of acting as a barrier to effective communication is one of the problems being faced by NNPC Abuja. Mechanical inefficiency could also be the cause of the problem in the organization. This is advanced in the sense that they stem from lack of proper facilities or means of communication like telephones, telex, telegraphs etc. these tools are used for receiving or sending urgent, business information. When any of these equipments does not function properly, information flow is distorted and these not often to the interest of the organization.

          Targeted goods for the post in general includes inter-alia:

       i.            To anticipate and respond to the need of the numerous customers world –wide integrity that is based on sound fiscal and operational policies.

     ii.            To effectively be responsible to all employees in term of career opportunities working conditions, compensation so as to enhance option performance.

  iii.            To give maximum service to the general public.

          The accomplishment of objectiveness personal and organizational is impossible without communication and could only be partially achieved by chance if communication is ineffective. This among others necessitated on carrying a research on this topic. “An evaluation of the relevance of communication as tool for effective management: A case study of NIPOST, Enugu Territorial Office. Therefore there is the need to evaluate the relevance of communication as a tool for effective management in an organization.

1.3     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Information is a life wire behind the survival of a business. Distortion may be noise in transmission or it may result from inadequacy of the words in carrying the precise ideas tot eh sender. If an accountant submits a report on costs to an economist, distortion may result because of differences in the meaning of the word cost.

         

In the same vein, filtering as a problem to communication when the sender intentionally shifts the information so tat the receiver will look favourably on the message.

         

Experience has shown that delays in communication procedures endanger management effectiveness. As a result of this, conflicts usually arise between management and different department in the organization. NNPC, since its inception has been tormented by some problems among which are: –

1.           Poor communication facilities due to inability to procure modern communication equipments like computer, telephones, telegraph, fax machines etc.

2.             Lack of skilled personnel to handle modern communication equipment where the employees lack training on the use of these modern facilities.

3.     Poor conditions of service also affect the communication in an organization since the works are not provided with the working needs.

1.4     PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

          The main purpose of this study is to evaluation the relevance of communication as a tool for effective management. Specifically the study seeks to:

1.     Assess the important of communication as a tool for effectiveness management.

2.     Find out whether delays in communication procedure endanger managerial effectiveness.

3.     Determine the various problems militating against effective communication at different levels in an organization.

4.     Outlay some difficulties encountered in implementing an effective communication in NNPC.

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.

The consequence or important of this research is to access the important of communication to NNPC Abuja Territorial Office and recommend area of improvement. That is to say to evaluate the relevance of communication as a tool for effective management.

         

This study will also help prospective businessmen to know the causes and reasons for communication problems in business organization.

         

It will help the educators who train and educate students in business studies; this will also expose them to other areas of communication.

         

Also it helps policy makers in bid to restructure the communication system in their various organizations.

         

Finally, the students of management studies will also benefit from this study, this is because it will expand their knowledge and scope of understanding of communication.

1.6     RESEARCH QUESTIONS 

For the purpose of this, study, the following questions are put forward to guide the study:

1.     Does delay in communication procedure endanger management effectiveness?

2.     How does communication act as a tool for effectiveness management?

3.     What are the problems militating against effective communication at different levels in an organization.

4.     What are the difficulties encountered in implementing an effective communication NNPC?