The Influence of Corporate Communication on Employee Job Satisfaction
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The objective of this study is to assess the corporate communication channels operating within some organizations in Nigeria: the oil and gas industry and some government establishments, the perception of the employees on these internal communication channels, how these internal communication channels affect employee job performance, the extent to which the internal communication operating in the organization influences employee job satisfaction and the challenges of corporate communication in relation to employee job satisfaction.
The premise for this study is also based on Blau’s social exchange theory which argues that obligations are generated through a series of interactions between parties who are in a state of reciprocal interdependence. The notion of reciprocal interdependence in the employment relationship is consistent with Robinson, Perryman, and Heyday (2004)’s, description of engagement as a two-way relationship between the employer and employee.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
Introduction
This chapter contains the conceptual layout of corporate communication as a field of study. It outlines the different channels of corporate communication utilized in different organizations and reviews literature on corporate communication relevant to this study. It compares the relationship between job satisfaction and employee performance. It also outlines the propositions of the theory against which this study is going to be examined.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Organizational Communication Concept and Importance
The concept of corporate communication suggests a communication that occurs within an organization. It has been defined differently by various scholars as, “… a process between an organization’s strategic managers and its internal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organization, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims” (Welch and Jackson, 2007:186); “…both the set of communication initiatives planned and carried out inside an organization, and the set of all interactions which occur among organizational members ( Invernizzi, Biraghi, and Romenti, 2012:154). Mehta and Xavier (2012), from the perspective of public relations, define internal communication as the public relations specialty dedicated to the building and maintenance of relationships with, and among employees. Reka and Borza (2012:3), in their study of internal and external communication within cultural organizations, viewed internal communication as “an essential process, in which the staff exchanges information, establishes relationships, forms a system of values, creates an organizational culture, harmonizes the activities, collaborates for the achievement of goals and develops formal and informal networks”.
Broadly speaking, internal communication represents the communication and the interactions among the members of an organization. It is a way of describing and explaining an organization. It targets the internal members of an organization, including the superiors, the collaborators and the subordinates. From the foregoing, internal communication is the two-sided exchange of information, ideas and feelings that results in positive dialogue and action throughout organizational ranks (Steyn, Steyn, and Mariéke van Rooyen (2011). Internal communication activities should ideally focus on informing and engaging in a better way, an organization’s workforce. This is because the information that is received and discussed among the employees definitely leads to action on their part, which ultimately impacts on business performance either positively or negatively. The onus thus lies on the communication managers or specialists to pay attention to the ‘How’ of message disseminated to the employees. Employees who opine that they are better informed about their organization become more personally involved in the business and usually give their best to the work. Good internal communication therefore, improves productivity; reduces absenteeism; increases levels of innovation, and there are fewer strikes and reduced costs. Internal communication is a discrete and continuing task at every level within an organization. Everyone from new recruits to the most senior director has a role to play in ‘the communication network’ of an organization. Communication is thus an ongoing function that needs to be directed consciously.
Scholars have employed alternative concepts for corporate communication. These include: corporate communication (Cornelissen, 2004:189, Verˇciˇca, Verˇciˇc, and Sriramesh, 2012:223), employee communication (Luss and Nyce, 2008), managerial communication (Dasgupta, Suar and Singh, 2013), internal marketing, (Yu-Chuan and Shinyi (2013), and organizational communication (Abugre, 2011). Internal communication is quite often equated with employee communication. This is evident in the data from Verˇciˇca et al’s (2012) who conducted a study in Delphi on the leaders of European associations and their internal communication approach. From their study, internal communication was simply defined as all forms of communication within the organization. That apart, respondents felt that internal communication should motivate employees and thus create value for the company.
Aligning the goals of individual employees to organizational goals was also seen in their study as a task for internal communication. Such alignment helps organizations build strong cultures. Internal communication therefore, is the aspiration (starting from the vision and proceeding to policy and mission statement and eventually to strategy) of achieving a systematic analysis and distribution of information at all strata simultaneously coordinated in the most possible and efficient way.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
The objective of this study was to assess the internal communication channels operating within the organizations of study, the perception of the employees on these internal communication channels, how these internal communication channels affect employee job performance, the extent to which the internal communication operating in the organization influences employee job satisfaction and the challenges of corporate communication in relation to employee job satisfaction. Hence, the methodology includes the following subheadings: study design, study population, sample size, sampling technique, and research instrument, method of data collection, validity and reliability of the instruments, ethical consideration and method of data analysis.
Study Design
The survey research method was used to carry out the study. This involved the use of questionnaire and in-depth interview. The study seeks to describe how corporate communication influences employee job satisfaction through the perception of some employees in the organizations under study. These comprise the management level, senior and junior level employee.
Study Population
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out to examine The influence of corporate communication on Employee job satisfaction. MTN Nigeria in South-West (Lagos and Ibadan) form the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Introduction
This chapter contains the analysis of the responses received from the copies of questionnaire which were administered on the junior and middle level employees and management level personnel of the organizations under study. It investigates how corporate communication affects employee job satisfaction and performance. The first part shows the demographic data of the respondents, while the second part reports the analysis of the responses to the questionnaire. It also shows the discussion of findings.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives a summary of the current research work. Conclusions are drawn based on the results gathered from the questionnaire administered on the junior and senior level employees to ascertain the influence of corporate communication on employee job satisfaction and performance as well as the results from the interview conducted to ascertain the challenges of internal communication in relation to employee job satisfaction.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
This study set out to investigate the influence of corporate communication on employee job satisfaction and performance in MTN Nigerian.
To achieve this study, the survey method was used to gather data; copies of the questionnaire were administered on junior and senior personnel of the selected organizations under study. Also in-depth interview was conducted with some management level personnel. Data were analyzed and presented in simple frequency tables and the responses were represented in frequency tables as percentages of the overall sample. Also the Pearson chi-square was employed to determine the relationship between variables for any significance.
Findings from the study show that the channels of corporate communication operational in the studied organizations are: face-to-face discussions, e-mails, intercom units, intranet, reports, messengers, memos, newsletters, official letters, bulletin boards, departmental/management meetings, group/team discussions, in-house training sessions, management/employee briefing sessions, labor union meetings, suggestion boxes, notices, closed unit groups (CUGs), and assemblies.
Findings from this study also show that most of the employees perceive corporate communication in their organizations as very effective, positive and a necessary organizational tool for employee job satisfaction.
Findings from the study also reveal that there is a significant relationship between corporate communication and employee job satisfaction hence corporate communication influences significantly employee job satisfaction.
Findings from the study further reveal that there is a significant relationship between corporate communication and employee job performance hence corporate communication influences employee job satisfaction which further enhances employee job performance.
Further findings from the study also reveal that organizations are faced with diverse internal communication challenges such as: distorted feedback, matching message content with appropriate packaging, inadequate information, uneven flow of information, messages with lack of clarity of purpose, inability to arrive at a homogeneous internal communication approach and complete communication breakdown. These challenges, when not properly tackled, can hinder many organizational processes, especially its efforts at achieving employee job satisfaction/performance and, ultimately, organizational success.
CONCLSION
From the study, it was discovered that the nature of communication within any organization determines the outcomes produced in such an organization. This is evidenced by a high rate of employee job satisfaction and increased productivity in organizations that work hard at their internal communication processes and gross dissatisfaction and low productivity in organizations whose internal communication networks are partially or completely broken down. Majority of the personnel in the selected organizations agree that corporate communication is the engine of organizational systems which significantly influences employee job satisfaction and further enhances performance.
So it could be established from this study that corporate communication plays a significant role in influencing employee job satisfaction which also significantly enhances employee job performance and ultimately, organizational success.
Observation: The author observed that the reality in most organizations in Nigeria is that there is a great measure of breakdown in their internal communication processes. It was discovered that employees in the organized private sector seem to have a taste of employee job satisfaction issuing from their organization’s positive orientation towards corporate communication. The employees in the federal government establishments have a different experience. For them, effective internal communication and employee job satisfaction are still struggling phenomena.
From these findings of the study, it could be concluded that corporate communication, as resourceful a phenomenon as it is in the realization of employees’ job satisfaction/performance, is yet in its embryonic stage in most Nigerian organizations.
RECOMMENDATIONS
corporate communication is an organizational communication concept which positively influences both employees and the organization at large. Organizations that want to successfully retain a satisfied workforce must be willing to employ a communication style that is more participative and employee-supportive. To achieve this, organizations should work hard at eliminating all the distortions in the feedback in their internal communication networks.
Organizations should ensure that their internal communication networks are coordinated by communication experts. They can achieve this by creating full-time jobs for people who have received training in the communication discipline. This way, their internal communication practices will be productive because they will be handled by people who are skilled in the art.
Future studies may carry out a comparative study on the influence of corporate communication on employee job satisfaction in organizations in the organized private sector and federal government establishments in Nigeria. Finally future studies can also focus on an industry-specific study of the influence of corporate communication on employee job satisfaction.
REFERENCES
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