AN ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNICATION FACTORS ON BUSSINESS ENVIRONMENT CASE STUDY; MTN BUEA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the factors hindering effective communication between top management and employees at the MTN service center in Molyko, Buea Municipality of the South West Region of Cameroon. It aimed to determine the patterns of communication system in the Municipality, to analyze various challenges to effective communication and to suggest ways of improving communication system in this Municipality. The study used a descriptive design which was selected because of its suitability in describing the existing situation of the phenomena. The study also used qualitative approach because it emphasis on qualities of entities, processes and meaning that cannot be experimentally examined. This given the researcher an opportunity to obtained respondents views, perceptions, and opinions on the communication effectiveness in the MTN service center in Molyko. Data were gathered through questionnaires, documentary review and some structured interview. Respondents in this study were Top management, and employees in the MTN service center in Molyko. Top management was purposely selected while employees were randomly selected. The study used content method for data analysis and the findings indicated that
both top management and employees demonstrated low communication skills in communication thus hinders effective communication and interferes relations among them. It was found out that almost all of the interviewed respondents had low communication skills and these could affect relationships among themselves. On the other hand, most employees responded that they have little or low access to corporate information simply because there is inadequate openness from the top management lead to difficult access to information Due to these, it was suggested that training on communication has to be conducted to both management and employees so as to increase communication at work and behavioral changes.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to Study

Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another. It involves a sender transmitting an idea to a receiver. Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Many of the problems that occur in an organization are the direct result of people failing to communicate. Leaders of organizations who keep everything inside or cannot communicate a message leave individuals to their devices to try and figure out what they may, or may not, want. This is a failure of leadership and communication (Baldoni, 2003: 93). Faulty communication causes the most problems. It leads to confusion and can cause a good plan to fail. Communication is a big problem to many companies in the world including Cameroon. Communication problem are more often a symptoms of more deep rooted problem as a results it causes uncertainty about the direction of the organization (Koontz, 2001 :17). Person (1999 : 102) stated that communication problem does affect the work adversely and hinders the progression of the company and making the output of the whole system virtually impossible.

In Cameroon and with the  MTN being one of the organizations in the country facing various communication problems in their daily activities. It is common that most of the time there is ineffective adherence to formal channel of communication to both top management and employees resulting to inappropriate feedback and poor-employee’s relations at work place.

Lack or Inadequate effective communication in the company affects the employees, top management, customers and central government. These are the main stakeholders of the organization. These stakeholders are mostly affected because it is difficult to get clear and relevant information for implementation. Furthermore, it is difficult to communicate with other workers, municipals and other authorities due to unclear practice of communication system as well as inadequate feedback disseminated to the management. Ineffective communication is a problem at the MTN service center in Buea due to the fact that it is difficult to coordinate, mobilize and disseminate relevant message in order to meet the corporate objective. Also it is difficult to translate the corporate objective into organization and departments plants. Moreover, poor employee relations in the organization due to ineffective communication causes failure of the organization to achieve the corporate objective which lead to failure in achieving organizational goals.

In our business environment, offices, social networks, and neighborhoods, we all communicate with others on a daily basis. The process of transmitting a message through various means is known as communication.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s verbal or nonverbal, formal or casual, as long as it conveys a thought-provoking message. Understanding the importance and the factors that improve communication in efficient and professional business environment is crucial to the business environment and can contribute significantly to a company’s success (Boston and McGraw-Hill, 2010 : 117).

According to RadovicMarkovic(2011 :12), Communication is the key mechanism for achieving integration and coordination of the activities of specialized units at different levels in the organization. Communication is a part of human life. It cannot be avoided even for a minute because as social beings that we are, one cannot live without communicating, for even children have their own ways of passing across messages to their parents and such messages are understood within the context in which the communication is made, which can be sometimes surprising to some people.

Recent investigations have shown that business and management communication becomes a crucial and strategic partner in order for organizations to achieve their goals (Markaki, Damianios Chadjipantelis, 2013 :113).Communication, according to Keyton (2011: 12), is the act of exchanging knowledge and shared understanding from one person to another. Communication plays a major role in our lives by impacting us economically, socially, politically and even culturally.

In order to improve communication system at MTN service center in Buea, the researcher intends to find out the factors hindering effective communication between top management and employee relations and if possible find the solution to the problem. Coming up with these factors will help to strengthen the relations between employees, management and co-workers, improve operational efficiency and improve output performance. This thesis the researcher will try to find out the factors that improve communication in a professional and efficient business environment, taking a case study of MTN Cameroon, the Molyko service center.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Any organization has its own mission in which corporative objective is driven for better attainment and increase organization profitability. Thus organization requires skilled human resources to achieve the set corporate objective.

These human resources require clear, concise and complete information for better implementation and success of the business. Therefore, effective communication as a strategic tool for organization success. It emphasizes learning team work, safety ,innovation and develop quality of decision making . Also effective communication encourages formal channel of communication through the use of official letters, telephone, regular memos and training.

However, the  MTN service center in Buea like any other organization in the country has its own objective to be achieved. Thus employees required to communicate with each other within and outside the department in order to share ideas, experience and achieve the corporate goals at the optimal level.

But in the MTN service center in Buea is effective communication observed to be a big problem simply because both managers and employees do not follow formal channel of communication resulting to delivery of unclear, incomplete messages and delay of messages to the destination point. All these leads to poor relations at work place, difficult in implementation of the set objectives at the optimal level which aimed to enable its dwellers to raise their standard of living and reduce poverty. Moreover, the existing situation in the service center causes distress for managers,  employees and customers who often want more information than is usually provided thus resulted to failure in achieving the company’s goals.

1.3 Research Questions

1. What are the means of communication at the MTN service center in Buea.?
2. What are the main challenges to effective communication at the MTN service center in Buea.?

3. What are the basic methods to improve communication system within an organization?