The Importance of Effective Communication in Achieving Organizational Goals and Objectives

The study has focused on the topic of how effective communication can be seen as a tool for achieving organizational goals and objectives. The specific objectives that have served as a roadmap for the pursuit of this knowledge included: to determine how effective communication provides guidance in achieving organizational goals and objectives; to examine how effective communication facilitates planning in achieving organizational goals and objectives; to investigate how effective communication motivates employees in achieving organizational goals and objectives; and to find out how effective communication helps organizations to evaluate performance so as to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

The paper reviewed several theories that contribute to the topic as well as other studies that have been done in the past on the topic. A descriptive design was used in exploring the topic where a total of 100 respondents were sampled using a simple random sampling from the people employed ins society. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data and then analyzed using SPSS. Results were displayed on tables, figures and text followed by an explanation of the same. Results were linked to reviewed theories and knowledge gained was used to make conclusions and inferences. It was established that communication affects planning, providing of guidance, motivation of employees, and performance evaluation which determine the level of achievement of goals and objectives. Recommendations were given for improvement as well as for other studios perhaps to be carried out in future.

Chapter One: Introduction

1.0 Brief Introduction

Organizational goals and objectives are the key pillars in any entity and they serve as road maps in the day to day operations (Golus̆in 2013, p.160). Management teams are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring appropriate coordination of activities to enhance improved performance, which is the main metric that is used to assess goal attainment or achievement of objectives (Bible and Bivins 2011, p.21). Regardless of the type of an entity, effective communication is always a critical aspect that needs to be implemented carefully in order to achieve desired results. In many instances, business organizations are run by people who act as stewards, meaning that they are not the owners, and therefore they have a duty of care and responsibility to the owners for the success or failure of a business (Locke and Latham 2013, p.316). The need for effective communication cannot be overstated because in circumstances where there is distortion or break-down in communication, many at times chances of chaos erupting are higher (Norton 2008, p.254).

Moreover, organizations are managed and run by people as the most important type of assets, who come from different backgrounds and who have divergent opinions, hence necessitating the need to have appropriate mechanisms of channeling different concerns as well as harmonizing them for the common objective of the organization. In doing so, individual goals should not be undermined but they should always never suppress those of the entity (Knights and Willmott 2007, p.391). Ideally, this requires effective and appropriate means of communication. Based on the importance of communicating effectively, this research will aim to investigate the impact of effective communication in attaining organizational goals and objectives. The study will help to synthesize existing theories and frameworks that try to elucidate the relevance of communication in management practices, by conducting reviews and obtaining people’s perceptions on the same.

1.1 Background Information

Organizational goals and objectives are achieved through a number of strategies and one of them is effective communication. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the nature of communication and need for goals and objectives in an entity.

1.1.1 Nature of Communication

Communication can broadly be categorized into written or oral means that an entity uses to achieve its desired outcomes (Guffey and Almonte 2009, p.4). Fundamentally, communication is an aspect that touches all spheres of life for every human being. It encompasses all the platforms used to disseminate information or express feelings, whether of frustration or success, in order to enhance understanding (Krizan 2011, p.54). For managers to be able to coordinate their personnel and activities well, communication is inevitable. In society, communication is actually one of the peculiarities among human beings since every individual revolves around it. Basically, it is a very important instrument of enhancing social interrelationships in society and promoting mutual understanding (Stuart, Sarow and Stuart 2010, p.10). Simply, it helps people to understand themselves, keeping in touch with others and being able to predict their responses to different situations, it acts as a means of acquiring power, and it is always sustained and exercised (Hartley and Bruckmann 2002, p.47).

Communication serves as a medium through which people are able to establish, maintain and extend relationships; as it offers an avenue on which people in business are able to make decisions, policies, and take management actions (Sengupta 2011, p.30). Furthermore, in industry or business, it helps in orienting employees toward work and also to each other, so that organizational goals can be achieved. Thus, this means that it is the platform on which such goals in an entity can be pursued; simply put that it facilitates the operations in an organization. As a matter of fact, “to communicate is to organize; hence no entity can exist without communication” (Uka 2014, p.168).

Since time immemorial, communication has existed although it has undergone tremendous developments due to technological advancements in the society. For instance, in the ancient times, there were no computers hence no telephones and emails among other platforms which are used in the modern business environment (Cenere 2015, p.50). But with the help of computerization, many avenues have been discovered that have helped sending of messages to become much easier than before (Cao 2017, p.205). With modernity, people are able to call each other irrespective of the distances, send text messages, send electronic mails (emails), send memos within an organization, video call each other on platforms such as Skype, and many more. Further, external communication can be achieved via social media platforms which include but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others for purposes of marketing and enhancing online presence. Additionally, it has become almost mandatory for companies to use websites to communicate to the outside world about their products and services (Martino 2012, p.303).

Generally, communication as far as organizational performance is concerned can be looked at from two perspectives; intra and extra, implying internal and external communications respectively (Zgheib 2015, p.89). On one hand, internal communication is concerned with organizing various activities and promoting managerial functions such as; recruiting and staffing, planning, controlling, leading, and motivating among other roles. In this regard, it is simply the process of ensuring that everything runs as anticipated, right from knowing that there is availability of resources to the point of allocation and production. On the other hand, external communication is involved with network building, branding, customer attraction, informing, persuading, reminding, and showcasing the superiority of services and products offered by an entity with an aim of improving competitiveness in the market (Morreale and Terplan 2001, p.187).

From this assertions, it ca be said that communication helps to link the internal processes in an organization to external or outside world. The ultimate goal of a business entity is to serve the market by offering services or products (Martino 2012, p.303). If a firm produces goods and it is unable to convince the consumers to use the products, it will not have business of existing. The main business of an entity is business; hence it must be able to communicate effectively to consumers as much as it does to other stakeholders (Guffey and Almonte 2009, p.4). For communication to be effective, it must also be able to achieve desired outcomes. For instance, if an individual sends a message to another, it should be received and feedback offered. In this case, effective communication is said to be one with all the elements that make it complete which are; sender of information, information or message itself, an appropriate channel of communication, receiver of the message, message that is not ambiguous i.e. well understood, and feedback respectively (Morreale and Terplan 2001, p.187). The kind of association that exists in this arrangement is that the person communicating should ensure message is received as intended without distortion for it to be meaningful.

Despite the fact that communication is important in management, sometimes it is rendered ineffective due to a number of barriers such as; emotional barriers, lack of interest or attention, distractions, use of inappropriate channels, physical barriers, noise, differences in perceptions and views, superiority and inferiority complexes, language use, among others (Uka 2014, p.168). It is therefore imperative that communication objectives are well understood and aligned to overall organization objectives while minimizing any potential barriers. Use of formal language is one of the techniques that can be employed to ensure communication is kept simple for it to be objective and to be understood by everyone (Sengupta 2011, p.30).

1.1.2 Need for Organizational Goal and Objectives

Goals and objectives in an organization as already mentioned are of significant importance. The two terms are more often used interchangeably, but they have a thin line of separation. A goal can be said to be the ultimate destination and the objectives therefore becomes the specific achievements that can help attain the long-term aim (Burns 2012, p.71). Nonetheless, setting of organizational objectives and goals is important as it is linked to a number of merits. Firstly, goals serve as a guideline of employees’ efforts in the sense that they provide a direction that should be followed (Reider 2002, p.75). It is important to appreciate that a company’s personnel have different personal aims and therefore there is need to ensure each understands where an entity is and where it intends to go. Secondly, goals are important because they enhance motivation as they provide benchmarks on which individual and departmental performances can be measured against. Thirdly, they serve as a justification of a company’s existence and activities. Fourthly, they are the basis of constraints in pursuing any goals which are irrelevant as they practically provide standards that define performance (Puckett 2004, p.101)

In broad terms, there are two types of goals in organizations; operative and official. On one hand, official goals denote to the actual aims prescribed in an entity’s public information or statements which include annual statements and public charters (Daft, Murphy and Willmott 2010, p.57). They are simply responsible for maintaining an organization’s reputation and public image respectively. On the other hand, operative goals are the real or actual aims which are the ingredients of defining the main purpose of an entity (Brody 2005, p.58). They are the specified steps or concrete measures that are to be employed in achieving the overall or official goals. Setting goals is an important step in ensuring that aimed performance will be achieved. More importantly, both operative and official goals should complement each other as they should not be parallel. Entities employ different strategies such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, Market Research, Benchmarking, and others to formulate their goals (Daft, Murphy and Willmott 2010, p.57). Irrespective of the strategy used, the goals set should have certain characteristics which are organized into an acronym ”SMART” that stands for ”Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound” respectively. Moreover, the specific considerations to be highlighted include the time frame of the goals, the activities that will need to be done and their priority, resources needed, responsibilities for various stakeholders, and desired outcomes (Burke 2008, p.139).

Precisely, goals and objectives can be said to differ from each other on principle based on the following aspects. In terms of scope, goals are broad while objectives are narrow. Secondly, goals are intentions that are general but objectives are those aims which are specific (Alvord 2012, p.101). Thirdly, goals can be said to intangible while objectives are tangible. Fourthly, goals are described as being abstract in nature while objectives are concrete. Fifthly, goals cannot be validated easily while objectives are easily validated. Sixthly, as echoed goals are the end results while objectives are the means to the end (goal). Finally, goals are the entire (whole) but objectives are part of the entire (part of the whole). Meaning goals are simply long-term but objectives are short-term efforts to help attain the long-term aim (Matthews and Matthews 2013, p.44).

1.1.3 Communication and Organizational Goals/Objectives

The main convergence point between communication and an entity’s goals or objectives is founded on the premise that they are planned actions which must be made known to all team members (Gillis 2006, p.85). Further, an understanding that each person in an organization has personal beliefs, perceptions, or attitudes implies that a need to harmonize them into one is paramount. For purposes of avoiding confusion, ambiguity, chaos, and irrelevance, all stakeholders should be made aware of the current organizational state and the future aspirations (Milosević 2003, p.253). In this regard, for organizations to attain the ends that are desired to them, they must engage human resources through clear communication of their goals. There are many avenues to make sure that these goals are communicated. While it is recommended to adopt formal channels in propagating the intended intentions, the most suitable, direct and effective way of doing so is the use of employees’ supervisors. Such a strategy enables managers to formulate SMART goals because of the input of the employees, in a move of workers’ involvement in decision making. The main aim is to ensure that personal goals are not superior to firm goals and that they are properly realigned (Rumelt 2017, p.13).

1.2 Problem Statement

In the context of work management universalization, communication is of unquestionable significance and concern. Moreover, communication continues to undergo improvements based on technology advancements hence necessitating the need for continuous learning and improvement (Sievert and Bell 2010, p.76). Although there is sufficient knowledge and theories supporting the fact that communication is essential in the attainment of organizational objectives and goals, many organizations still find themselves in difficult situations pertaining elaborative communication of goals. Whether this is a matter of principle or not is a matter of investigation. Different managers have different beliefs, attitudes, leadership styles, and personalities; all these need to be understood clearly how they can be harmonized in order to promote organizational aims. In the modern business environment, there are more platforms of sending and receiving information both from internal and external sources respectively (Kolbaek 2018, p.146).

Communication and organizational goals are more often linked to organizational culture, which shapes the manner in which people communicate. Culture is important because it determines people’s attitudes, beliefs, opinions, views, and work motivation. Further, it is important to ascertain how individual workers and employees perceive communication in promoting their performance, job satisfaction, and overall output and contribution towards the achievement of goals and objectivities in an entity. As such, this study seeks to fill the gap of this knowledge by exploring the specific perceptions that people have with regard to effective communication as a tool for achieving organizational goal and objectives.

1.3 Research Objectives

For purposes of carrying out a clear and objective inquiry, is imperative to narrow down the broad scope into manageable and attainable objectives. As such, the objectives will be stated in two categories which involves major and specific ones.

1.3.1 General Objective

Main objective of the goal of the study is to research on effective communication as a tool for achieving organizational goal and objectives.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

In order to achieve the overall goal as stated above, precise objectives will be pursued which will serve as means of achieving the overall aim. The precise and desired objectives of this conduct include the following;

(i) To determine how effective communication provides guidance in achieving organizational goals and objectives.

(ii) To examine how effective communication facilitates planning in achieving organizational goals and objectives.

(iii) To investigate how effective communication motivates employees in achieving organizational goals and objectives.

(iv) To find out how effective communication helps organizations to evaluate performance so as to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

1.3.3 Research Questions

Below are the questions which are formulated from above precise objectives to serve as a guide for the entire research work.

(i) How does effective communication provide guidance in achieving organizational goals and objectives?

(ii) How does effective communication facilitate planning in achieving organizational goals and objectives?

(iii) How does effective communication effective communication motivate employees in achieving organizational goals and objectives?

(iv) How does effective communication help organizations to evaluate performance so as to achieve organizational goals and objectives?

1.4 Rationale for the Study

A rationale in research work is basically the reasons are supportive facts why a specific inquiry must be carried out. Ideally, one of the functions of management is planning, which is basically strategy formulation in terms of short-term and long-term aims (objectives and goals) respectively. Nevertheless, statistics as provided by researchers indicate that, ”90% of companies fail to execute their strategies, only 25% of managers have incentives which are linked to strategy, only 5% of the work force understand the strategy, 85% of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing about strategy, and 60% or organizations do not link budget to strategy” (Kaplan and Norton 2001, p.159). Following these assertions, it is imperative to undertake a study that focuses on communication as the main tool in trying to find out if it plays an integral role for poor goal and objectives setting though strategy formulation process. Therefore, the entire paper will provide incredible source of knowledge and opportunity to critically examine the existing literature and provide a framework that can be relied upon in examining the relationship between communication and strategy formulation.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The conduct of this inquiry will be of paramount significance to various groups such as managers of organizations, employees, business owners, policy formulators in economic field, business strategic consultants, researchers, and academicians respectively. Management teams will benefit because they will be able to have insights of how important communication is towards goal attainment. Employees in a similar way will be able to appreciate the need of communicating effectively amongst themselves and to their seniors or managers in order to enhance attainment of objectives. Thirdly, outcomes will benefit owners of businesses as main stakeholders in understanding the need to provide appropriate channels for communication for their entities to operate well and be successful. Fourthly, findings will be relevant to economic or commerce policy formulators in identifying the need for effective communication policies in organizations that takes into considerations the needs and concerns of all parties involved. Fifthly, business consultants in strategic management will gain knowledge that can be disseminated to their clients by advising them why they should promote communication among their members. Researchers and academicians will also benefit because they will be able to critically examine the applicability of theoretical foundations and any other gaps that may need to be filled in future studies. In this case, the pursuit of this knowledge is of incredible value to society at large.

1.6 Assumptions of the Study

The author makes a few assumptions in the conduct of this inquiry. Firstly, it is assumed that the entire research work will be completed within the time frame planned and in accordance to the available and limited budget. Secondly, it is assumed that the methodologies to be adopted will guarantee an objective inquiry. Thirdly, it is assumed that respondents will be collaborative and that they will provide honest responses which can help to make the entire work be relied upon and be valid. Finally, it is believed that results to be obtained will answer the raised question and achieve the desired definite objectives.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

Limitations are the factors which affect the conduct and success of a scholarly work and yet the scholar does not have any influence or control over them (Phelps 2005, p.63). Among the envisaged limitations for this analysis will be the nature of responses that will be given by key informants as researcher has no influence to determine the perceptions of the people to be interviewed. Secondly, the impact of methodological techniques to be used on data analysis and presentation are also not within the control of the researcher and hence deemed as part of the limitations. Thirdly, the findings and conclusions of secondary sources that will be reviewed in literature review are also outcomes based on scientific inquiries and as such beyond the scope of the researcher. Finally, scholar anticipates that other aspects of methodology such as sample size, lack of available information can be limitations, in addition to researcher limitations such as longitudinal effects, access, bias, culture and language fluency can influence results.

1.8 Delimitations of the Study

Contrary to limitations, these are those factors that although they can influence outcomes, scholars have an opportunity to manipulate or control them (Phelps 2005, p.63). In a similar way for the limitations, it is important to disclose both of them because this provides an opportunity to suggest what future scholars should focus so as to improve their findings further from the current study. Precisely, the envisaged current delimitations include time, and this researcher will ensure it does not affect the conduct by having in a place a time frame in form of a Gantt Chart that will guide each of the steps. Secondly, financial constraint is a potential delimitation but researcher will ensure there is a budget which should be limited to the available funds, and ensure most of the activities are carried out by researcher at a free cost. The only area to spend funds should be on materials such as printed out instruments for collecting relevant data. Finally, another delimitation can be the use of outdated literature which can mislead the current study. However, the investigator will ensure that any material studied and published past 2010 will not be involved in literature review section in order to utilize up-to-date materials only. The efforts will basically ensure that objectivity is maintained throughout the process in order to improve the accuracy of the conclusions.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Definition if terms simply sets the context in which certain term are used in the paper which is not necessarily dictionary meaning and it is meant to contextualize the inquiry process as explained below.

1.9.1 Communication

Refers to the process of sending and receiving of information through a pre-determined medium or channel of communicating (Guffey and Almonte 2009, p.4).

1.9.2 Effective Communication

Refers to the process of communication where elements of good communication are available such as sender, message, channel, receiver and feedback. Is one where there is no ambiguity of message and information is not distorted (Guffey and Almonte 2009, p.4).

1.9.3 Goal

A goal is a general aim that is long-term in nature, broad, abstract, not easily validated, and end results in a strategic planning process (Matthews and Matthews 2009, p.44).

1.9.4 Objectives

Contrary to goals, objectives are specific, short-term in nature, narrower, concrete, easily validated, and a means or pathways to the end results (Matthews and Matthews 2009, p.44).

1.9.5 Planning

Planning is the process by which organizational goal and objectives are formulated, taking into considerations the required resources, time frame, intentions and skills (Roussel et al. 2016, p.215).

1.9.6 Motivating

Motivating is the process by which organization’s staff members or personnel are inspired towards the process of pursuing goals in a mutual benefit and effort (Roussel et al. 2006, p.125).

1.9.7 Performance

Performance is the overall result of strategies and efforts in a bid to achieve set objectives and goal, hence it is the outcome (Cardy and Leonard 2011, p.10).

1.9.8 Evaluating

Evaluating is the process of critically analyzing the planned actions in comparison with the actual actions yielding results which should also be compared to intended goal and objectives (Brown and Seidner 2012, p.56).

1.10 Chapter Summary and Research Outline

Chapter one has covered in detail the background setting of the study by formulating objectives and questions which serves as guiding principles in the overall exercise. The entire dissertation will be organized into five specific chapters, covering introduction (which is already covered here), the second section gives review of literature, the third section provides methodological adoptions, the fourth will provide responses and results, and the fifth chapter will detail the conclusions as well as the recommendations.

Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

The section will highlight the empirical and theoretical foundations on the topic. Specifically,