ABSTRACT
The study investigates communication
style as a correlate for teachers’ job performance. In doing this, the
researcher sort into the types of principal communication styles as related to
their workers. Hence, four research purposes, questions and hypotheses were
postulated. A descriptive research design was adopted in the study. The
population for the study comprised of all the 627 teachers the 108 Junior
Secondary Schools in Education District II of Lagos State. All the public
Junior Secondary schools were written in alphabetical order and 10 were
randomly selected and 10 teachers were selected using simple random sampling
technique. This gave a total of 100 teachers. A self-structured questionnaire
for teachers titled: “Communication style and teachers’ performance” (CSTP) was
form to elicit information and a face and content validity of the instrument
was tested by two experts in the department and the project supervisor. The
reliability of the study was tested using split half reliability method. The
result was confirmed has 0.76. Data collected were tested using PPMC
statistical tools at 0.05 significant levels. Therefore, hypothesis one which
says there is no significant relationship between aggressive communication
style and teachers job performance is rejected at r-tab of 0.195 against r-cal
of 0.214 as well as other hypotheses at
0.380, 0.325 and 0.389 respectively. Hence, the researcher suggests that
the Government should encourage principal to improve on the style of
communication with their staff thereby seeing them as colleague and not as
servant.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
Abstract vi
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study 1
Statement
of the Problem 7
Purpose
of the Study 8
Research
Questions 8
Research
Hypotheses 9
Significance
of the Study 9
Scope
of the Study 10
Limitations
10
Operational
Definition of Terms 10
CHAPTER
TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of Communication 13
Concept of Communication Styles 15
Types of Communication Styles 17
Aggressive Communication Styles 17
Assertive Communication Styles 19
Passive Communication Styles 20
Passive-aggressive Communication Styles 21
Empirical Review 22
Appraisal of literature review 34
CHAPTER
THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction 36
Research
Design 36
Population
of the Study 36
Sampling
and Sampling Techniques 36
Research
Instruments 37
Validity
of the Research Instrument 37
Reliability
of the Research Instrument 37
Method
of Data Collection 37
Method
of Data Analysis 37
CHAPTERFOUR:
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
Introduction
38
Demographic
Characteristics of Respondents 38
Answers
to Research Questions 39
Testing
of Research Hypotheses 43
Discussion
of Findings
45
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Introduction 48
Summary 48
Conclusion
49
Recommendations
50
REFERENCES 51
APPENDICES 62
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
Educational leadership in contemporary
time is witnessing dramatic changes, owing to various factors ranging from
social to political, technological and economic. The educational policy makers
and administrators are therefore faced with the challenge of ensuring
effectiveness in the delivery of qualitative education towards the attainment
of educational goals and objectives.
Educational production like other forms
of production demands human, material and financial resources. The effective leadership
of other resources is contingent upon the proper leadership of human resources,
which requires the establishment and maintenance of effective communication
system. The point to stress here is the importance of communication in the leadership
of human resources in school organisation, which has not been fully utilized
for effective human resource leadership.
Communication is particularly needed in
a school to establish and disseminate the goal of the school, to develop plan
for the achievement of the school objectives, to organise human and other
resources in the most effective and efficient way, to select, develop and
appraise members, to lead, direct, motivate and create a climate in which
people want to contribute and to control performance.
Communication covers all activities that
an individual does when he wants to make a transformation in someone else’s
mind. Organisations are social units that congregate for production, formed by
individuals who have different views and knowledge to reach a common goal. From
a wider perspective, organisations are not only in the efforts to provide
inter-organisational cooperation and common sense for production, they also try
to establish relationships with the external world and adapt dynamic,
competitive and uncertain conditions by strategizing the information they
gained from their environment and transferred to information processing centres
of the organisations.
According to Hindi, Miller, and Catt (2004)
organisational and administrative activities in and out of organisation require
effective and functional communication system. In this context, communication
is a vital part of organisations. Effective communication helps organisations
to strengthen the employees to reach organisational goals. Groups and
individuals are connected to an organisation with communication phenomenon.
Communication in today’s organisations
is not only complex and varied but more important to overall organisational
functioning and success. While research used to focus on understanding how organisational
communication varied by organisational type and structure, the emphasis has
increasingly turned to understanding how new communication technologies and capabilities
can help bring about new and more effective organisational forms and process
(Descantis & Fulk, 2009).
Communication
style on the other hand, is fundamental to social interaction. As
such, the study of communication is a huge area of research incorporating a
wide range of disciplines. An individual’s communication style can be
understood in several different ways. Some researchers, in attempting to
clarify what is meant by communication have proposed a tight but rather narrow
definition. For example, Hartley (2003) defines interpersonal communication as
a face-to-face meeting between two people. However, much of modern-day
communication, especially organisational communication, is neither face-to-face
nor confined to two people.
Hartley also claims that interpersonal
communication does not simply mean the exchange of messages between two people.
Instead, he focuses on the exchange and creation of meaning. This highlights a
potential problem arising from the structural properties of e-mail
communication. Section 1.3e examines the question of whether e-mail
communication can ever be classed as conversation (in Hartley’s sense of
creating shared meaning) or whether it is limited to the mere exchange of
messages. However, it may be that Hartley’s emphasis on the joint creation of
meaning, even in face-to-face meetings is a rather idealised notion of a
conversation. It must be recognised that the exchange and creation of meaning
may be entirely one-sided, especially when there are differences in status and
power between the communicators. In order to fully understand interpersonal
communication it is necessary to first take a much broader view. Psychological
approaches to communication tend to start with the distinction between verbal
and non-verbal communication (e.g. Cappella and Palmer, 2003).
Learning to identify the different
communication styles - and recognising which one we use most often in our daily
interactions with friends, family and colleagues - is essential if we want to
develop effective, assertive communication skills. But how can we tell the
difference between the styles, and is there a time and place for each one in
certain situations?
Being assertive means respecting
yourself and other people. It is the ability to clearly express your thoughts
and feelings through open, honest and direct communication.
Becoming more assertive does not mean
that you will always get what you want but, it can help you achieve a
compromise. And even if you don't get the outcome you want, you will have the
satisfaction of knowing that you handled the situation well, and that there are
no ill feelings between you and the other person or people involved in the
discussion. There is various communication styles, an administrator can use in
an organisation. Some of these are passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive and
assertive styles.
Passive communication is a style in
which an administrator developed a pattern of avoiding expressing his opinions
or feelings, protecting his rights and identifying and meeting his needs. As a
result, passive individuals do not respond overtly to harmful or anger
–inducing situations. He allows others
to deliberately of inadvertently infringe on their rights.
Aggressive communication style is a
style in which an administrator expressed his feelings and opinions and his
needs in a way that violates the rights of others. Aggressive communicators
will often try to dominate others.
Passive-aggressive communication is a
style in which the administrators appear passive on surface but are really acting
out anger in subtle, indirect, or behind the scenes way. Passive aggressive
communicators will often use sarcasm appear cooperative while purposely doing
things to annoy and disrupt.
Assertive communication is a style in
which the administrators clearly state their opinions and feelings, and firmly
advocate for their rights and needs without violating the rights of others.
Teachers' job performance according to
various literature reviewed is measured through both curricular and
co-curricular activities which include punctuality and absence, teaching mode,
classroom leadership, students achievement in external examinations,
contribution to school life and interpersonal relations. It is believed that
employees would be motivated to perform, if they are aware that their
performance would bring benefits such as pay, promotion, praise, recognition
etc. The waves of protests and strikes coupled with low morale exhibited by
teachers can best be managed if their salaries and other conditions of service
are favourable enough to meet individual needs. Improvement of teachers'
salaries and other conditions of service are a promising way of increasing
teachers' morale, making the profession more attractive enhancing retention of
teachers and improving quality of teaching and learning.
Performance is something, a single
person does. Performance of the teachers in schools is highly affected by
motivation. Teachers are when motivated their performance automatically reached
towards high level. In schools teacher’s performance can be mapped well through
arranging training programs for the teachers and they will get motivated and
their confidences will also increases. Motivation has a direct and positive
effect on job performance when we properly account for effort. Effort has a
positive effect on job performance. It was difficult to obtain support for the view
that motivation has a significant effect on job performance. Teachers’
Performance Dessler, Griffin (2005) explored that the performance of a
teachers’ is determined by three factors i.e. motivation, work environment and
ability to do work.
According to Chandrasekar (2011)
examined that the workplace environment impacts on teachers’ morale,
productivity and job performance both positively and negatively. If the work
place environment is not liked by the teachers’ so they get de-motivated and
their performance also affected. Poorly designed work timings, unsuitable
authorities or duties, lack of appreciation, and lack of personal decision
making opportunity. People working in such environment are not satisfied they
feel stress on themselves and it impacts on employee’s job performance.
Performance of teachers in all education system, the performance of teachers is
one of the handfuls of factors determining school effectiveness and learning
outcomes. Mohanty (2000) explains that teacher performance as the most crucial
input in the field of education. Teachers are perhaps the most critical
component of any system of education.
Statement
of the Problem
Communication is a powerful tool in the
operations of any organisation. It is also important to note that the way information
is translated to a receiver could also play a significant role in determining
the effectiveness of such information. Ayatse (2005) in his study ‘observed
that communication is needed to establish and disseminate the goals of the
enterprise. It is because the competencies and skills they possess will enable
them to exhibit work behaviours appropriate and relevant to the performance of
the job. Researchers such as Aarya Nijat and Jennifer Murtazashvili (2015) propound
that most of school administrators assumed position of authorities not because
of their professional training but by virtue of their years of service, gender,
relationships with higher authority, among others.
In these regard it is obvious that such
school administrator will adopt “seat-of-the-pant” style in disseminating
information to their subordinates as against the professional style of
communication. In such situations subordinate are always disenchanted with the
general administrative style of the administrator.
Some schools of thought are of the
opinion that being assertive in communicating with subordinate would make the
organisation to function well. Some other schools of thought also believe that
aggressive style, passive, manipulative styles, etc if better used could be the
magic wanted that would take the organisation to the berth of success.
One begins to wonder whether there is
any best style of communication. To what extent could any style of
communication facilitate staff performance in secondary schools? All these are
the thrust of this study.
Purpose
of the Study
1.
To determine the relationship between
assertive communication style and teachers’ job performance in secondary
school.
2.
To find out whether aggressive
communication style and teachers’ job performance are significantly related.
3.
To ascertain if passive communication
style has any significant relationship with teachers’ jobs performance.
4.
To establish the relationship between passive-aggressive
communication style and teachers’ job performance.
Research
Question
The following questions were raised to
guide the study:
1.
Is there any relationship between
assertive communication style and teachers job performance in secondary school?
2.
Is there any significant relationship
between aggressive communication style and teachers job performance?
3.
What is the nature of relationship
between passive communication style and teachers job performance?
4.
Is there any significant relationship
between passive-aggressive communication style and job performance?
Research
Hypotheses
The following questions were developed
to guide the study:
H01: There is no significant relationship
between aggressive communication style and teachers job performance?
Ho2: There is no significant relationship
between assertive communication style and teachers job performance?
Ho3: There is no significant relationship
between passive communication style and teachers job performance?
Ho4: There is no significant relationship
between passive-aggressive communication style and teachers job performance?
Significance
of the Study
The findings of this study would be
useful in the following areas:
The study reflected the assessment of
the relationship between communication styles and teachers’
job performance and to identify possible
area where such communication styles could be more effective. It would go a
long way to help future researchers and students alike. The study would be of
benefit to the teachers in the aspect of staff development
because of the crucial role they play in the educational industry.
The study would also be of benefit to
school managers and policy makers as it would help them to improve on communication
style and job satisfaction among teachers.
The study would be of benefit to all
stakeholders in educational industry because understanding the relationship
between communication at work and improved performance would enable cordial
relationship with teachers to increase productivity.
It would also help the government to see
the need for adequate financial provision, to provide necessary communication
medium that would help to foster ease passage of information to motivate
teachers in the industry. Knowing the importance of communication on teachers’ productivity would encourage
teachers for in-service programme to improve their skills thereby be of great
benefit to students’ learning and their professional growth.
The
recommendations of this study would also assist in no small way, the employers
of labour like the Federal/State Ministry of Education and other agencies in
their administration to achieve greater performance and efficiency. In
addition, it is hope that it would serve as a useful addition to the existing
literature, especially for other researchers who intend to investigate on
similar topic. They would find the outcome of this study a reference point.
Scope
of the Study
This study covered all the Junior
Secondary Schools in Somolu Local Government Area under the District II of Lagos
state. Somolu local government was chose suitable for this study because of the
number of junior secondary schools situated around somolu axis that would
enhance collection of necessary data for the study. This study focused on the
various communication styles like: aggressive, assertive, permissive and
manipulative communication style.
Limitation
of the Study
The study would be faced with the
following challenges:
·
Insufficient fund to carry out the study
in large size
·
Time frame allocated for the study
·
Materials accessible for the study among
others
Definition
of Important Terms
The following were operationally
defined:
Communication:
this is the exchange of information, ideas and facts between two or more
people.
Staff:
these are all the employees in the schools system.
Organisational
Structure: this is a process of logically grouping activities,
delineating authority and responsibility and establishing work relationships
will enable both the organisation and members to realize their mutual
objectives.
Assertive
style: is a style in which the administrators clearly state
the opinion and feeling and firmly advocate for their right and needs without
violating the right of others.
Passive
style: this style allows others to deliberately infringe
on their right.
Passive-aggressive
style: this style use sarcasm appears cooperative why
purposely doing thing to annoy and disrupt.
Aggressive
style: this is a style in which the administrator tries to
dominate others.
Performance:
is a systematic and purposeful quantification of work outcomes over a period of
time.
Leadership:
is the quality or responsibility of leading a group of people to achieve a
specific goal.
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