Ntombizandile Victoria Sineke, Nobubele Potwana, Felix Chikosha. "Understanding Effective Communication as a Catalyst for Employee Performance in Selected Municipalities in KZN, SA" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 77-86, 2022.
Communication is the adhesive that binds people, irrespective of their backgrounds, through the skill of passing information from one person to another. However, effective communication requires understanding emotions and intentions behind the shared information; therefore, managers in leadership positions need to comprehend how best-effort can be obtained from the workforce, with communication systems management reviewed constantly to ensure effectiveness. The study aimed to establish whether communicating effectively with employees could improve performance in a municipality, including: the extent to which idea sharing creates openness among municipal employees; whether regular feedback contributes to improved municipal employee performance; open communication channels mitigate misunderstandings; and recognizing employee opinions increases performance. A mixed method research approach was used, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, with data collected quantitatively by questionnaire, from a sample drawn through simple random sampling from the uBuhlebezwe Municipality. For the qualitative research, a focus group discussion with employees selected by convenience sampling, was held at the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality. Results from both methods showed effective communication was the best tool to change municipal employee performance, acting as a catalyst, which mostly depends on communication channel effectiveness and availability. Main recommendations to municipal managers and heads of departments are to use effective communication as a strategic tool, appreciate all employee opinions, regardless of their positions, and involve employees in decision-making, most importantly during policy formulation, while municipal employees are provided with sufficient resources to perform day-to-day duties. Providing employees with regular and honest feedback regarding their strengths and weaknesses could additionally improve employee performance and increase productivity. Conversely, lack of communication could lead to misunderstandings and incorrect interpretation of information messages by employees.
[1] Agarwal, O. P. (2010). Effective Communication. New Delhi Himalaya Publishing House.
[2] Ajjawi, R., Molloy, E. K., Bearman, M., Rees, C. E. (2017). Contextual influences on feedback practices: An ecological perspective. In Carless, D.,
Bridges, S.M., Chan, C.K.Y. and Glofeheski, R. (Eds), Scaling up Assessment for Learning in Higher Education (pp. 129-143), DOI: 10.1007/978-981-
10-3045-1. Springer: Singapore.
[3] Bormann, E. G. (1972). Fantasy and rhetorical vision: The rhetorical criticism of social reality. Quarterly Journal of speech, 58(4): 396-407.
[4] Brian, A. (2016). How to Delegate the Right Tasks to the Right people: Effective Management Skills for Leadership Success. Retrieved from
http://www.braintracy.com/blog/leadership-success/how-to-delegate-the-right-tasks-to-the-right-people--effective-management-skills-for-leadershipsuccess
[5] Brown, J. (2013). Attitude and Experiences of Teachers and Students Towards Life Orientation: A Case Study of a State-funded in Eldorado Park.
Masters, University of Witwatersrand.
[6] Cacciattolo, K. (2015). Defining Organizational Communication. European Scientific Journal, 11(20): 79-84.
[7] de Kadt, D. and Lieberman, E. (2017). Replication Data for: Nuanced Accountability: Voter Responses to Service Delivery in Southern Africa, Harvard
Data verse, V1, doi:10.7910/DVN/OTEWG2.
[8] Eisenberger, R. and Stinglhamber, F. (2011). Perceived organizational support: Fostering enthusiastic and productive employees. Washington, DC, US:
American Psychological Association, https://doi.org/10.1037/12318-000.
[9] Fielding, M. (2014). Effective Business Communication in Organization and Preparing Messages that Communicate. 4th ed. Cape Town: Juta &
Company.
[10] Flaherty, K., Lam, S. K., Lee, N., Mulki, J. P. and Dixon, A. L. (2012). Social network theory and the sales manager role: engineering the right
relationship flows. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32(1): 29-40.
[11] Greenberg, J. (2011). Organizational justice: The Dynamics of Fairness in the Workplace. Washington DC, US: American Psychological Association.
[12] Hellriegel, D., Slocum, J., Jackson, S. E., Louw, L., Staude, G., Amos, T., Klopper, H. B., Louw, M., Oosthuizen, T., Perks, S. and Zindiye, S. (2012).
Management. 4th SA ed. Cape Town: Oxford University.
[13] Hilman, H. (2015). Creating Winning SMEs and Surviving in the Midst of Crisis: A Conceptual Framework. Advances in Global Business Research V,
1(1): 387-415.
[14] Islam, G. (2013). Recognizing employees: Reification, dignity and promoting care in management. Cross-Cultural Management: An International
Journal, 20(2): 235-250.
[15] Khoza, B. (2019), Investigating the factors influencing job satisfaction: a case study of Ethekwini Municipality parks department employees. Retrieved
from https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/17840
[16] Ko, W. (2015). Constructing a professional competence scale for foodservice research and development employees from an industry. International
Journal of Hospitality Management, 49: 66-72.
[17] Král, P. and Králová, V. (2016). Approaches to changing the organizational structure: The effect of drivers and communication. Journal of Business
Research, 69(11): 5169-5174.
[18] Kreitner, R. and Kiniki, A. (2013). Organizational behavior, 10th ed. Arizona state University.
[19] Krylova, K. O., Jolly, P. M. and Philips, J. S. (2017). Followers' moral judgments and leaders' integrity-based transgression: a synthesis of the literature.
The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1): 195-209.
[20] Levenson, J. S. (2017). Trauma-informed social work practice. Social Work, 62(2), 105-113. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sw/swx001
[21] Lovari, A, Valentini, C. (2019). Public sector communication and social media: opportunities and limits of current policies, activities and practices. In:
Luoma-aho, V, Canel, MJ eds. The Handbook of Public Sector Communication. Wiley Blackwell.
[22] Makki, B. I., Salleh, R., Memon, M. A. and Harun, H. (2015). The relationship between work readiness skills, career self-efficacy and career exploration
among engineering graduates: A proposed framework. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering, and Technology, 10(9): 1007-1011.
[23] Malhotra, K. N. (2010). Marketing research: an applied orientation. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education, pp. 287-372.
[24] Muller, M. E., Bezuidenhout, M. C. & Jooste, K. (2006). Healthcare Service Management. Cape Town: Juta.
[25] Nzimakwe, T. I. & Ntshakala, T. E. (2016). Implementing performance management in local governance in South Africa. A case study of West Rand
District Municipality. African Journal of Public Affairs, 9(1): 111-121.
[26] Obiageli, O. L., Uzochukwu, O. C. and Ngozi, C. D. (2015). Work-life balance and employee performance in selected commercial banks in Lagos State.
European Journal of Research and Reflection in Management Sciences, 3(4): 66-77.
[27] Odine, M. (2015). Communication Problems in Management: Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB), 4(2). An
Online international Research Journal (ISSN: 2306-368X).
[28] Ramukumba, T. (2014). Overcoming SMEs Challenges Through Critical Success Factors: A Case of SMEs in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Economic and Business Review for Central and South-Eastern Europe, 16(1): 19-38.
[29] SA Government. (2018). Government Communication Policy. Retrieved from https://www.gcis.gov.za
[30] Sadia, A., Salleh, M. B., Kadir, A. Z. and Sanif, S. (2016). The Relationship between Organizational Communication and Employees Productivity with
New Dimensions of Effective Communication Flow. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, 2(2) 34-39.
[31] Saleem, S. and Amin, S. (2013). The Impact of Organizational support for career development and supervisory support on employee performance: An
empirical study from Pakistani academic sector. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(5): 194-207.
[32] Salie, S & Schlechter, A (2012). A formative evaluation of a staff reward and recognition programme. SA Journal of Human Resource Management,
10(3): 1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v10i3.422
[33] Soeker, S., Matimba, T., Msimango, H., Moswaane, B. and Tom, S. (2016). The challenges that employees who abuse substances experience when
returning to work after completion of employee assistance program (EAP). Work, 53(3): 569-584.
[34] Tessema, M. T., Ready, K. J. and Embaye, A. B. (2013). The Effects of Employee Recognition, Pay and Benefits on Job Satisfaction: Cross Country
Evidence. Journal of Business and Economics, 4(1): 1-12.
[35] Tregidga, H., Milne, M. J. and Kearins, K. (2018). Ramping up resistance: Corporate sustainable development and academic research. Business &
Society, 57(2): 292-334.
[36] Waiyaki, E. W. (2017). Effect of Motivation on Employee Performance: A case of Pam Golding Properties Limited, Nairobi. United States International
University. Kenya: Nairobi.
[37] Willkomm, A. (2018). 6 Barriers to Effective Communication. Retrieved from https://drexel.edu/goodwin/professional-studiesblog/overview/2018/July/6-barriers-to-effective-communicationWorku, Z. (2020). A Critical Evaluation of The Quality of Municipal Services in
Tshwane JCR. Volume 7, Issue-3: 218-223.
[38] Wuim-Pam, B. (2014). Employee Core Competencies for Effective Talent Management. Human Resource Management Research, 4(3): 49- 55.
[39] Yukl, G., Mahsud, R., Hassan, S. and Prussia, G. E. (2013). An Improved Measure of Ethical Leadership. Journal of leadership & organizational
studies, 20(1): 38-48.
Effective Communication; Strategic tool, Performance, Municipality