Running head: COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

Communication skills in the management Name of author Institutional affiliation

Authors Note Please write according to your preferences

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Communication Skills in the Management ..................................................................................... 4 Purpose of the study .................................................................................................................... 5 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 6 Hypothesis generation ................................................................................................................. 6 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 7 Communication ........................................................................................................................... 7 Employee satisfaction ................................................................................................................. 9 Organizational productivity ........................................................................................................ 9 Theoretical framework .................................................................................................................. 10 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 11 Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 11 Questionnaire ............................................................................................................................ 11 Study Participants ...................................................................................................................... 11 Survey methodology ................................................................................................................. 11 Findings......................................................................................................................................... 12 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 13 References ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 16 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................... 17

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

Abstract This research study examined the relationship of organizational communication on the productivity of the organization. Literature showed that effective communication has a positive impact on the productivity of the organization because clarity of communication motivates employees and they are more inclined towards producing results. This relationship is however mediated by the presence of employee satisfaction that may have other antecedents, but only communication was to be studied here.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

Communication Skills in the Management Management plays a very strategic role in the accomplishment of the goals of a business, and not just management but an effective one. Each step of a managers role from execution of the planned strategies to their evaluation is decisive of how better the results would be, because it involves an intelligent utilization of each type of resources an organization has, and employees of an organization are one of them. Effective human resource management is not only importance for the better utilization of human resources but for the organizational goals as well. One of the biggest challenges in management has been the realization of effective human development strategies to improve organizational performance (Tourani & Rast, 2012). Communication is one of the essential elements of human resource management as it cannot be done efficiently without the employees been totally and clearly aware of the organizational goals, and objectives, having transparent feedback about their performance and empowerment. Tourani & Rast (2012) affirms that communication is essential for proficient management as it informs employees of the industrial challenges, workplace proceedings, and organizations strategic objectives. Communication skills are importance both for the organizational accomplishments through human resource management, and the employees. Communication is the core process of organizing (Weick 1979). Beyerlein et al. (2003) suggests that developing an effective communication channel by the management is not only essential for the goals accomplishments, but it is the right of the employees to be assisted in communicating their concerns and frustrations to the management. Employees are human beings with emotions, feelings and perceptions regarding each and every experience they have at workplace. If properly treated, their performance may exceed up to the optimum level of their capacity. Communication, here, plays a critical role because if the

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

objectives of the employees working in an organization, and their contribution in the accomplishment of those objectives, are not properly communicated they feel their presence as unrecognized and useless, may get de-motivated and lose interest in the organization. Therefore, it can be said that effective communication paves way for employee participation. It is an established notion in research that employee participation leads to employee satisfaction. Spector (1997) and Harris (1993) also affirm the relationship between employees participation and their job satisfaction and establish its importance as a comparative advantage for both organizational and individual performance. According to Ragusa (2010), production errors, deficit in services, and overall performance issues can be prevented if the network of employees in a process focuses on the employee commitment from top to the bottom of the workforce. A satisfied employee performs better than an unsatisfied employee (Chishti et al, 2010), improving the organizational productivity. Although, empirical researches have shown a direct and positive relationship between communication and employee satisfaction (King et al. 1988; Dolphin, 2005), communication and organizational productivity have never been under study directly, but always in context of mediating factors like employee motivation (Kitchen, 1997:Argenti, 1998), Perceived Organizational Support (De Ridder and Human, 2004) and employee satisfaction (Singh, 2000). Purpose of the study The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of organizational communication on employee satisfaction and to study the mediating factors that act as antecedents of employee satisfaction through effective communication on managements part. The study will also focus on the impact of organizational communication on productivity and the extent to which the variables under study i.e. organizational communication, employee satisfaction and productivity

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

are related. The research will also try to establish if there is any direct relationship between communication and productivity without any intervening variables. This research paper is meant to analyze the potential impact of effective communication skills on an employees satisfaction either towards the organization or job and in turn on the productivity of the organization. Problem Statement Communication holds a very important role in the management processes of an organization for the accomplishment of organizational goals. Researches have shown that effective communication helps in employee participation which leads to employee satisfaction. An employee when satisfied from his job performs better, having an increase in both employee and organization productivity. So the issue under study is to identify the positivity between communication and that of employee satisfaction and organizational productivity. Hypothesis generation The hypotheses designed for the study are: H1: Is there a relationship between the communication skills in the management and the productivity of the organization? H2: Is there a relationship between the communication skills in the management and employees' satisfaction?

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

Literature Review Communication Communication is a much broadened term having diverse and expanded meanings in any context it is used. Generally, communication is defined as the sending and receiving of oral and non verbal messages within the managerial framework (Roebuck, 2001; Ober, 2001; Murphy, Hildebrandt, & Thomas, 1997). A wider definition is given by Hanna and Wilson (1998) representing that it is the method of message, generation, transmission reception, and interpretation in interpersonal, group, community and mass community orally or in written. Communication, in general is defined as a way to receive and send messages. It is the diffusion of both verbal and non-verbal meanings from one person to the other or to more. [Barrett, 2006 (cited by Matin et al. 2010)]. In managerial context it is used in a more diverse and broadened terms. In business, communication is not just sending or receiving messages, but also is measured in terms of how effectively there are being done. This is because effective communication leads to effective managerial implementations from planning to leading to organizing, to controlling in every formal or informal way (Hynes, 2005). Effective communication is not only important in management but in every operational activity of the business and according to Argenti (2007), in more than half of the organizations, activities related to communication such as media relationships, marketing, online communications, product/brand advertising, special promotional events, internal communications, advertising and social relationships are supervised by the heads of communication departments. Communication skills are also considered an essential complementary part of an employees portfolio besides the ability to perform the job well (Cardon, 2010). Employees rarely work in isolation at workplace and most of the times they have to interact with others in one way or the other e.g. with

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT customers, peers, and administration, therefore employers seek communication skills to be vital for cognitive decision making, customer relationship management and problem solving (Tate, 2008, Mastering Interpersonal Communication Skills, para. 7). Magnus (2009) strengthens this notion by suggesting that without effective communication skills on mart of the management, the organizational goals are faded away by individualistic/personal goals of the employees. Communication has been acting as a tool of expression for the corporate management in the past in the form of meetings, electronic interactions, employee feedback etc, today is has also turned important for the employees as well. Till the start of 1900s, communication in small organizations was highly informal, but with the growth in size, communication has actually gained importance as a strategic issue in management (Baker, 2002). Although, the importance of communication has been established while collaborating, for development, handling challenges, providing support, goal sharing and understanding, it must be effective both speaking and listening (Eisenberg & Goodall, 2004; Sias, 2005). In words of Myers and Myers (1982: xv) organizational communication is the central binding force that permits coordination among people and thus allows for organized behavior. It is seen as a foundation for modern organizations (organizations (Grenier and Metes 1992; DAprix 1996; Witherspoon 1997; von Krogh et al. 2000). How specifically, communication is important for the employees, is another wide topic of discussion. Ragusa (2010), has asserted that effective communication leads to employee motivation and empowerment, which has in turn been linked to job satisfaction as more the employees are aware of what is going on in the organization, what place do they exactly hold in all those happenings and how valuable their place is been seen, makes employees more interested in and committed to job (Ragusa, 2010). From these studies it is evident, that

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

communication has been considered the backbone of an organization by researchers, not only just because it facilitates collaboration but also contributes in employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction Employee satisfaction is the degree of an employees positive emotions towards the organization (Davies & Chun, 2002). Locke (1976) defines job satisfaction as an emotional condition occurring through the experiences an employee has at work place. Effective communication can keep employee satisfaction level high (George & Berry, 1981). Many researchers however have identified certain gaps in the link between communication and employee satisfaction by suggested other intervening variables that may effect the relationship e.g. communication design and the way it is delivered (Hardaker & Fill, 2005), organizational strategies (Forman & Argenti, 2005), organizational structure, reward system and resource allocation (Galbraith and Nathanson, 1978; Lorange, 1982) also effect the relationship between communication and employee satisfaction. Organizational productivity Organizational productivity is another construct that has been frequently linked to job satisfaction often in measured of employee performance, organizational outcomes and results etc. Qureshi et al (2011) have suggested various standards for measuring employee performance such as higher socioeconomic status, use of communication technology for internal communication in the workplace, younger employees, permanent employees, employees in larger firms, and employees in foreign-owned firms. Linking communication with productivity Qureshi et al (2011) suggests that employees are more satisfied with their organizations and produce desired results when they are aware of what organization expects of them and are also

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

10

provided with the required resources for accomplishing the expectations and that job satisfaction leads to productivity through employee recognition by the management. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are strongly linked to each other and are key factors in an organizations performance and success. (H.Westover, R.Westover & Alen Westover, 2010). According to various sources regarding business organizations, communication skills are decisive to career achievements and a considerable contributor to organizational

accomplishments (Du-Babcock, 2006; Roebuck, 2001; Certo, 2000; Dilenschneider, 1992; Rushkoff, 1999). Through the literature survey, it is evident that effective organizational communication leads to organizational productivity but in the presence of employee satisfaction. Unless the employee is satisfied with the level of transparency from the management, the optimum level of performance from him cannot be gained. For establishing the relationship between communication skills and productivity in this study, other intervening variables such as employee empowerment, competence and intention to leave have been ignored, as suggested by previous researchers (Light. J, 2004; Bandura, 1989; Bowen & Lawyer, 1995; Brossiot, 2000; Lashley, 1999; Osborne, 2002). There may be other factors antecedents of job satisfaction but the only variable under study here is communication. Theoretical framework Organizational Communication Productivity

Independent Variable

Employee Satisfaction

Dependent Variable

Mediating Variable

Methodology

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

11

Methodology Research Design The purpose of this research study is hypothesis testing which has been developed through a broad review of the previously available literature on the same or related topics on the issue. Through these hypotheses, this study will be testing the relationship between communication skills in management and organizational productivity in the presence of intervening variable i.e. employee satisfaction. The type of study is correlation because the purpose is to identify the relationship between dependent variable (organizational productivity) and the independent variable (communication), and to check the effect of mediating variable (employee satisfaction). The study setting is non-contrived. Questionnaire The tool of investigation is questionnaire developed from available researched questionnaires. For the purpose two questionnaires, each depicting the relationship of communication with productivity and other identifying employee satisfaction were prepared. Study Participants The data was collected from a random sample of 170 employees and managers from randomly selected organizations. Survey methodology To find out the results of the study, the questionnaires were distributed among the sample of study. Out of 170 questionnaires, 152 were received back after responding. The data was then analyzed by conducting the regression and correlation analysis of the data and then evaluated in SPSS.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

12

Findings Out of 152 questionnaires, that were received back, 70 were received from employees from managerial positions and the rest 82 were from employees with other functional positions. The overall result of the findings proved that effective communication on the managements part greatly influences the productivity of employees due to the trust, sense of value and importance that he perceives from the organization. Hence the hypothesis H1 was proved. H1: Is there a relationship between the communication skills in the management and the productivity of the organization? The results regarding the employee satisfaction were not received very clearly but the answers from questions in the questionnaire were perceived to be supporting the above relationship, as most of the employees responded that they feel motivated and inclined to give their best results when they are properly aware of the managements intentions and their expectations from them.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

13

Summary Effective organizational communication is perceived to be an influential factor for employee productivity but to what extent it has an effect is not clear as many other factors also affect productivity such as reward system, employee empowerment, benefits etc. Besides employee satisfaction is proven to be directly affecting productivity. The issue under study was tom see whether communication alone affects productivity or is there any role of employee satisfaction in this relationship. For the purpose, a wide study was examined using previous works from researchers and then a survey was conducted with the help of questionnaires filled in by 152 employee sample. The findings of the survey showed that communication has a positive effect on organizational productivity but employee satisfaction also matters.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

14

References

Ann Gilley, J. W. (2009). Organizational Change: Motivation, Communication, and Leadership Effectiveness. Performance Improvement Quarterly Journal Volume 21, Number 4 / 2009 , 7 5 9 4. Arons, P. A. (2010). MIDDLE MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTION PRACTICES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND MOTIVATION. United States: UMI Dissertation Publishing. Bataineh, M. T. (2011). The effects of job satisfactionon productivity: Orange telecommunication company on jordan: Case study. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business . Cardon. (2012). A measured approach to adopting new media in the business communication classroom. Business Communication Quarterly , 73(4),434. David Conrad, R. N. (2011). 24 Business Communication Skills: Attitudes of Human Resource Managers versus Business Educators. American Communication Journal (Volume 13, Issue1) . Ferreira, A. D. (Mar. 2009). Effect of online social networking on employee productivity. South African Journal of Information Management, Vol. 11(1), Mar. 2009 . Gilley, J. (2001). Change agent's philosophy:Embracing employee development and motivation. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Pub.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

15

Hassan Zarei Matin, G. J. (2010). Relationship between Interpersonal Communication Skills and Organizational Commitment (Case Study: Jahad Keshavarzi and University of Qom, Iran). European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 13, Number 3 . Light, J. N. (2004). THE RELATIONSHIP AND EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE INVLOVEMENT, EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT, AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION BY JOB-TYPE IN A LARGE MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT. Capella University. Tuleja. (2008). Communicating across the currculum in an undergraduate busienss program: Management 100-leadership and communication in groups. Business Communication Quarterly , 71(1),27.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

16

Appendix A Workplace Communication Survey 1. At work I am inclined to let other people start conversations. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

2. I want to understand other peoples viewpoints and emotions. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

3. Effectively expressing my opinions at work is not essential. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

4. I generally rely on others at the office to keep conversations going. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

5. I take personal responsibility for making my coworkers feel valued and supported. 1 = Strongly disagree agree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly

6. Adapting my communication behavior to meet coworkers expectations is important to me. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

7. I want to be seen as a good listener by my coworkers. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

8. It is not important to me that I effectively communicate. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

9. It is crucial for me to identify with my coworkers by listening to their viewpoints. 1 = Strongly disagree agree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly

10. It is not important to me that people at work perceive me as a good communicator. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

Source: Pamela Armstrong Arons (2010), Middle Management Communication and Interaction Practices and Their Influence on Employee Satisfaction and Motivation.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

17

Appendix B Employee performance and productivity survey 1. I perform at high quality levels. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

2. I perform at high quantity levels. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

3. I have a high level of performance. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

4. Overall, I would rate my job performance as: 1 = Outstanding 2 = Very Good 3 = Good 4 = I could perform better

5. Overall, I meet my performance objectives. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

6. I believe that my manager provides a high quality of communication. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

7. I believe that my manager prefers to speak rather than listen to my coworkers and myself. 1 = Strongly disagree agree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly

8. I believe that my manager prefers to leave voice mail messages and/or email messages rather than talk directly to me and my coworkers. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

9. I believe that my manager is seen as a good listener by my coworkers and myself. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

10. I believe that my manager makes the effort to interact with my coworkers and myself. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

11. I believe that my manager works to interact with me frequently. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE MANAGEMENT

18

12. I believe that interaction with my manager influences my satisfaction with my job. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

13. I believe that my communication with my manager influences my personal work motivation. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

14. I view my manager as my most valuable source of information about the organization. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

15. I see my manager as my most value resource regarding my work position. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

16. I believe that I am motivated to do my work well. 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly agree

17. I believe that I am motivated by: 1 = Myself 2 = My manager 3 = The work culture 4 = Other If Other, please identify: ____________________________________________

Source: Pamela Armstrong Arons (2010), Middle Management Communication and Interaction Practices and Their Influence on Employee Satisfaction and Motivation.