INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The term communication is as old as man himself. It is believed that as soon as a child is born into the world, he starts communicating by crying (Amadihe Ezugu: 1999, P.Z). it is a word, that so many people give different meaning to depending on how one looks at it. Meaning can include the equipment used in passing of information like telegram, telephone, television, radio etc.
Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving of information. According to Amadihe Ezugu (1992, p. 17), it is an act or process of transmitting or exchanging intelligible information (knowledge, instruction, feelings, ideals, facts opinions, NECOs, intelligence, advice, message etc) between individuals through accepted systems of signs, symbols, words or behaviour and through well destined medium or channel of communication.
With the advent of industrial revolution in the 19th century, man started putting materials into use to achieve or produce tangible goods which are very vital to man’s existence. To work out these, it became necessary to establish firms or organizations where man and materials are merged together to attain this vital goals.
Therefore, for these goals to be achieved there should be people who are supposed to put these materials into use and thus, come in the managers who are supposed to manage and control these workers. The management team must have to exercise some level of control on these workers. Thus, for there to be success in any business, there must be effective communication system irrespective of whether an individual is in the management cadre or in the operative cadre as the case may be (Uche Aniagolu: 2000, p. 217).
Communication is so fundamental to the practice of management and without it, organizations and firms would not exist! This is because if managers do not communicate with employees, they cannot inform them of the work they want done and when it should be done. Managers would not be able to motivate the workers, practice human relationship or exercise the functions of leadership. In other words, organization can do absolutely nothing without communication. (Erinma C. Nwandu et al: 2003, p. 162).
Bernard (1960) stated that the first executive function is to develop and maintain a system of communication through which information, facts, feelings, ideas etc. must be communicated before meaningful organizational decisions can be made. It must continue if the objectives of the said organization are to be reached efficiently.
There are different ways of communicating such as oral, writing, systematic, aroma, sound, signs, firm making etc. They all require different technical skills but are similar because they may be addressed to some person(s). Communication involves transmitting and understanding of information between two or more people. It always involves a sender and a receiver.
People communicate in order to inform, persuade and entertain but a school of thought believes that these three functions are not usually separated in the mind and as such, communication is basically persuasive. According to this school of taught, this is the reason responses sought to every remark and to even if you say – “how do you do” you expect a response in a like manner.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1THE ORIGIN OF THE SUBJECT MATTER
The P.Z. Industries Nigeria Plc organization is known as one of the most successful and leading conglomerate in the country.
It has its various production branches/zones in various production parts of the country in which Enugu is one of the states.
The company is known for the production of good and highly qualitative products that tends to meet the stipulated needs of the various consumers of its various products.
Over the years, because of the highly efficient and effective means of running the various firms located at various branches, it has been observed that the company’s products thrives very well an are usually having demands quite above the demands for the products of its competitors.
In recent times, however, it has been observed that of all the firms located in the various branches of the county, the Enugu branch seem to be the poorest in terms of performance. It has been observed that the demand level of the various company’s product is relatively low in the Enugu metropolis thus causing a decline in the sales target that has already been set and a decline to the growth of the company and the general well being of the organization as a whole unit.
Research, however has shown that the major cause of this ineffectiveness of communication amongst the managers and the employees of the P.Z. Industries Nigeria Plc, Emene, Enugu State.
Basically, the employees complain that they right communication channel and at the right time. Also, the managers have been observed to be using ambiguous words when communicating with employees instead of telling them what to do in the simplest of words to aid proper understanding.
Again, service conditions, safety, health, welfare, rules and regulations have become difficult thus making it impossible for employees to cooperate and hence the setback.
CONCEPTS OF COMMUNICATION AND ITS PROCESS
The first factor in directing is communication and it is the key factor in any organization, without it, there could be no organization, or firm (Belasco:1981). In most enterprises, communication is clearly a dynamic and vital process for good decision making. The existence of the need for a leader to pilot the affairs of any goal orientated group, to ensure the optimum achievement of the set goal, leads to the necessity for information to flow between the subordinates and their leaders. This is to facilitate adequate flow of command, ideas, directives and instructions within the firm. This information flow is called communication and it is basic to an organization’s existence.
A manager spends up to ninety five percent (95%) of his time communicating good communication is necessary to co-ordinate human and physical element of the organization into an efficient and effective working writs. If not so, the objectives of the organization remain unborn.
Many authors agree to the necessity attached to communication and its importance in the existence of any organization but there had not been a general agreement on a single definition to be given to it. Bernard (1960) defined it as “the first executive function”. O’Donnel (1968) defines it as “the transfer of information from the sender to the receiver if only the information is been understood by the receiver”. Again, Newman and Summer Jr. (1972) defined it as exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons. Thus, communication itself is endless as it continues to expand as more and more authors are being consulted.
According to the Oxford Advance Dictionary, communication is the process of exchanging information ideas, news, thoughts, instructions etc. from one person to another. It is therefore the giving of understanding the message and acting accordingly.