1.1 Introduction
Communication is a key component of sustainable development. Mobilizing community members for community development purpose is important but members of communities can only be mobilized when communication is effective. Effective communication will help in the move of people from individual centered deficit model of learning, behaviour development and change to a collective and community-focused model of participation, appreciation and equity. Communication is to be used to collect and exchange information among all those concerned in planning a development initiative with the aim of reaching an agreement on the problems facing development issue and seeking options for their solutions. Communication will help engage citizens in development (Sarvaes and Liu 2007).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The history of union bank of Nigeria plc started with the opening of the colonial bank offices in Lagos, Jos, and Port Harcourt in 1917, in 1925, the bank was acquired by Barclays bank and its name was changed to Barclays bank Doc-Dominion colonial and overseas. The bank developed and grew rapidly over the years. By 1957, branches had been opened in almost all part of the country. For instant Kano, Zaria, Ibadan and Ebuta meta branch were opened in 1988, Aba branch opened in 1926, Ijebuode in 1931, Bida in 1953, Katsina in 1955, Sapele in 1957, Calabar branch was opened in 1958, while Ogoja branch was opened 1973.
In compliance with the directive as government in 1968, that all companies including Banks, must be incorporated locally in Nigeria. In Barclays bank Dco was incorporated in Nigeria in 1969 and it name was consequently change to Barclays bank of Nigeria limited with registered head office at 40 marina Lagos. As a result of Nigeria enterprises promotion Degree (NEPA) of 1972 and 1977, the federal government of Nigeria acquired 52% of the bank share leaving 40% for the Barclays bank international limited (now Barclay bank Plc) while the remaining 8% were taken by Nigeria citizens. Barclays bank Plc 50% of its shares to Nigeria in 1979 reducing 90% following this development the bank name was changed to union bank of Nigeria limited to reflect the new ownership structure that is federal government of Nigeria 52% private Nigeria investors 28% Barclays bank Plc 20%.
With this new name, union bank became an indigenous bank and no longer a subsidiary of Barclays bank Plc. Although, Barclay bank Plc continued to offer technical and correspondent service as in the past. In 1989, Barclays bank plc sold the remaining 20% of his share to Nigeria and the new structure since then is federal government of Nigeria 52% and private investors 48%. Today, the bank has well over branches spread throughout the country and a branch in the city of London as five training centers in Yaba, Jos, Zaira, Port Harcourt with a staff strength of well over 11,600 employees.
Effective communication is a two-way communication, it should not be a one way dissemination of information, nor should it consist of telling people what they should or should not do. It should not be viewed as a way to motivate people to participate in activities in which they did not have input. Communication is expected to be used to facilitate community participation in a development initiative. When communication is used for community development purpose, it is based on the one hand on participating process and on the other hand on media and interpersonal communication which facilitates a dialogue among different stakeholders around a common development goal, with the objective of developing and implementing a set of activities to contribute to its solution, or its realization and which supports and accompanies this initiative.
The single largest communication initiative on arsenic comes from Bangladesh. A multi-media, multi-level communication strategy was launched by the national government, with UNICEF assistance, in four rural areas in late 1999. An initial evaluation indicates that the strategy is raising awareness and villagers are switching to safe sources of water. Until more results are available, the Bangladesh example offers communicators with some ‘best practices’ for designing and implementing a large-scale communication strategy. Limited experiences from other countries also provide insights into ways of communicating effectively about the arsenic problem.
Therefore, in Union Bank of Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Organisational Communication in Banks.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the responsibilities of the management of union bank are enormous and paramount that only the right persons or group of persons can be vested with these responsibilities. This therefore necessitates the choice of language used in an organization with needs expert knowledge because it can be either affect badly or enhance productivity. This complexity made the researcher to examine whether the communication flow chart that exists in the union bank of Sapele branch has been able to enhance the bank to achieve its efficiency.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the impact of Organisational Communication in Banks. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the importance of communication to the success of an organization;
- To determine the effective communication in Union Bank of Nigeria workplace;
- To evaluate the communication role played by bank staff in the achievement of organizational goals; and
- To explore how banker’s experiences affect banking communication in commercial banks that enhances their understanding level.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- How does banker’s experience affect banking communication in commercial banks that enhances their understanding level?
- What is the importance of communication to the success of an organization?
- What is the effective communication in Union Bank of Nigeria workplace?
- What is the communication role played by bank staff in the achievement of organizational goals?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant communication role played by bank staff in the achievement of organizational goals
- H1: There is significant communication role played by bank staff in the achievement of organizational goals
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no significance relationship between communication and organization success
- H1: There is a significance relationship between communication and organizational success
1.7 Significance of Study
The findings of this study may help the bank management and staff members of the Institution to understand the importance of effective communication as a public relations tool in their institution hence able to take it seriously. Not only will this study help this institution but also other organizations to understand challenges facing communication and possible solutions to the problem.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Organisational Communication in Banks using Union Bank of Nigeria as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Communication: It is the act of giving, receiving, and sharing information in other words, talking or writing, and listening or reading.
Organisation: This is the frame work by means of which the work of a business, managerial and other wise is performed; it provides the required channels, points, or origin and flow of management direction and controls.
Organization Structure: This is determines and specification of appropriate operational and functional roles and the resulting relationships,
Leader (Manager): A leader work with and through other people of every level in an organization showing toward achievement of goals.
