EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AS A TOOL FOR ENHANCING JOB PERFORMANCE

INTRODUCTION
Effective communication as a strategy for enhancing organizational performance. The word communication is derived from the Latin word communis meaning “Common” the communicator seeks to establish “commonness” with a receiver. Hence we define communication as the transmission of information and understanding through the use of common symbols, the common symbols may be verbal or non verbal. Gibson, Ivancevich, and Donnelly (2004).According to Hoy and Miskel (2001): they see communication as simply the process of transmitting, information from one person to another. Also, According to GRIFFIN (2003) communication is the sharing of message idea or attitudes that provide a degree of understanding between a sender and a receiver. A more accurate definition of communication can be found by looking at its original meaning. The oxford English dictionary lists the Latin root of communicate as communicare, which means. To make common to many shares according to this definition, when people communicate they express their ideas to make common to many shares. According to this definition, when people communicate they express their ideas and feelings in a way that is understandable (Common) to each of them they share information with each other person has a direct effect on the other and on subsequent comments therefore communication is the process of people sharing thoughts ideas and feelings with each other in commonly understandable ways Hamilton and Parker (2004). Jones and George (2003) stated that communication is the sharing of information between two or more individuals or groups to reach
a common understanding.

1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Communication could be described as a process of passing information and understanding to one or more persons. It is a means by which behaviour is modified, change is affected, and information is made productive in order to achieve objectives and goals of organizations. In an organization, there are different units performing various functions. Thus, communication serves as a linking process by which parts of a system are tied together. Communication provides the links, which bind an organization together in order to evolve common understanding. (Rogers et al 2002)

Communication in an organization relates to the deliberate, intentional application of physical symbol complexes, with a view to elicit specific meanings in the mind of another individual (Stewart, 2002). In his view, Chester, (1938) says that communication is the means by which people are linked together in an organization to achieve a common purpose.Communication is also defined as the transfer of information, ideas, emotional feelings or views by one person to another in an understandable way, through the use of meaningful words, signs, letters or symbols for the purpose of entertainment or influencing the behaviour of the other (Umoh, 2000).
Weihrich and Koontz, (2005) say that communication is the transfer of information from a sender to a receiver, with the information being understood by the receiver, which stoner and Freeman, (2005) define communication as the process by which people attempt to share meaning via the transmission of symbolic messages.
Communication applied to all phases of management process. It is the process of transferring information from sender to receiver, who interprets the information in order to achieve organizational objectives. Information, according to Miller, (2002, Roll, 2004) “is simply the vehicle by which we attempt to provoke- or evoke- a human response. Information on it own is quite static and lifeless. It simply exists… waiting to be interpreted and have meaning attached by people.” In the view of Nabeth et al (2002) information needs interpretation by people – knowledge workers in an organization. Knowledge he said, could be assimilated to objects that can be identified, separated from their initial context and handled in information system. Information system management is largely under a new label “Information Technology” (IT) (Wilson, 2002)

The above definition forms the essential elements of effective communication in an organization namely:
• A message sender
• The message
• Message vehicle (noise)
• Message receiver (or listener)
• An understood message and feedback
Both the sender and receiver of any message share a common responsibility. The sender should ensure that his message is such that could be understood. A message could be in the form of an instruction or information. An instruction in the sense that the receiver is told the definite things he is expected to accomplish. Information could take two forms namely; information proper and news. Information proper guides the receiver on what decision to make while news is of no value for decision making.

However, what is important about communication is that the receiver must understand the message that has been sent across by asking certain questions; it may be possible to find out if the receiver has actually understood the message. This makes communication to be a two way process in a sense that it prevents the development of psychologically negative attitude among the personnel in an organization. Thus, a feedback mechanism should be built into a communication process. There is need therefore to avoid an excessive amount of one-way communication. (Uwakwe, 2004)

It is pertinent to say that communication has been characterized as the life wire of any organization. Without communication, organizations don’t achieve goals. The purpose of communication in an organization is to effect change – to influence action toward the welfare of the enterprise. Communication is essential for the internal functioning of enterprises because it integrates the managerial functions. (Weihrich et al 2005). Especially communication is needed of an organization:

i. To establish and disseminate the goals of an organization
ii. To develop plans for their achievement
iii. To organize human and other resources in the most effective and efficient way
iv. To select, develop and apprise members of the organization
v. To lead, direct, motivate and create a climate in which people want to contribute and
vi. To control performance
Generally, in the opinion of Efimova, (2004) much of the work of finding, interpreting and connecting relevant pieces of information, negotiating meanings and eliciting knowledge in conversations with others, creating new ideas and using them to come up with a final product, happens as part of communication in organizations.