AN EVALUATION OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES AT OCEANIC BANK INTL PLC (CALABAR MAIN BRANCH) AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO HOW THE COMMUNICATION

PROCESS AND CULTURE CAN BE IMPROVED.

ADEWUSI ADEROGBA OLADIRAN

STUDENT ID NO: 15347961 A PROJECT REPORT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT LAUREATE ONLINE EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE MODULE: MANAGING PEOPLE

AND AWARD OF MASTERS DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL, UK JANUARY, 2009
CERTIFICATION

I certify that Adewusi Aderogba Oladiran carried out this research under my supervision, he has satisfied the necessary conditions necessary for the completion of the module Managing People in partial fulfillment of the degree of Masters of Business Administration in the department of Business Administration, School of Management, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.

________________________________ PAUL PFITZPATRICK (INSTRUCTOR) Managing People _________________________________ Date

Department Of Business Administration School Of Management University Of Liverpool United Kingdom.

DEDICATION

With utmost thankfulness, this project is dedicated to God who has given me the strength, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to complete this module, in Him alone will I trust.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My first thanks goes to God, the almighty that made everything possible, he is worthy of praise. I wish to say a big thank you to my wife Mrs. C.U. Aderogba Adewusi with whom I study both day and night. My sincere appreciation also goes to all my colleagues in Oceanic Bank International Plc where I work presently, my classmates in the University of Liverpool (managing people module) and to all my friends all over the world. You all have been an unforgettable part of my life especially in completing this project. My parents, brother and sisters are also appreciated for being there for me. Every other person that contributed to this project is hereby recognized as a substantial part of my life. May God be your help forever. (Amen)

ABSTRACT In the Calabar Main branch of Oceanic Bank International Plc, questionnaires were served to a cross section of all staff that can be

divided into the following groups: Marketing staff, Operations staff, Tellers, Bulk Tellers, Drivers, Security and Corps members. The questions raised focused on the communication processes at OCEANIC BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC, using Calabar Branch as a case study. Influences of types and forms of communication were analyzed through the responses of the various groups of staff of the bank. Questionnaire responses were later converted into percentages for further evaluation of communication processes at Oceanic Bank, Calabar Main Branch. The resulting data was also analyzed using the graphical representation as supported by Microsoft Excel worksheets. It was observed that various departments communicated differently using different set of forms of communication. Majority of the staff believes that Oceanic Bank Calabar Main branch could have a better communication processes than what it is right now.

LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 TABLE 2

USE OF MEMO HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE TABLE

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

UPWARD COMMUNICATION DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION BUSYNESS READINESS TO COMMUNICATE EMAIL PREFERENCE CHAT ENGINE PREFERENCE USE OF BANKS INTRAMAIL TIME WASTERS HOPE FOR BETTER COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION RATING FEEDBACK RATING

LIST OF GRAPHS GRAPH 1 GRAPH 2 GRAPH 3 GRAPH 4

USE OF MEMO HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION UPWARD COMMUNICATION DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION 6

GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH GRAPH

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

BUSYNESS READINESS TO COMMUNICATE EMAIL PREFERENCE CHAT ENGINE PREFERENCE USE OF BANKS INTRAMAIL TIME WASTERS HOPE FOR BETTER COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION RATING FEEDBACK RATING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page Certification. Dedication. Acknowledgement. Abstract.. Table of contents. List of Tables.. 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION.. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY.. CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS, DATA, AND GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS.. CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION.. CHAPTER SIX RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION.. REFERENCES. APPENDIX 1.0 2.0

9-10

11-13

14-15

16-31

32-38

39-43 44

KEYS.. SURVEY QUESTIONS.

45 46-53

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION OCEANIC BANK (Calabar Main Branch) Oceanic Bank International Plc is a Nigerian Bank that is rated as one of the best banks in Nigeria; its businesses have recorded massive and notable achievements in the financial industry. The bank has 379

branches in Nigeria, and also has some branches outside the shores of the country. Calabar Main is one of the regional branches of the south-south zone of the bank, as a case study it will provide a sample of the processes of communication inherent in the banks day to day activities. The regional branch situated in the heart of Calabar Metropolis has more than 100 staff members running its affairs. Considering the branchs business at the moment, it is a very profitable bank in the state, having a huge chunk of the public sector, private sector and retail banking funds. The branch also thrives well in Treasury and Finance Investments serving all microfinance banks in Cross River State and providing the services of a bankers bank for the smaller financial institutions and banks that cannot directly approach the Central bank for banking services. Oceanic bank has a vision which is think Banking, think Oceanic, the Bank has pursued this vision for a long time by using the popular mission statement To provide excellent and comprehensive services to all our customers in a friendly environment, using qualified personnel with appropriate technology COMMUNICATION Communication can be described as the art of passing an intended and encoded message through a medium to a receiver who will utilize the message for the achievement of the initial intent. It is also notable that communication is a cycle that can never be complete without a feedback. Thus we cant talk about communication without talking about the feedback. If communication is described as above, it can also be said that communication can be distorted if the right channels are not followed. The sender might not be successful in getting the receiver to do what he is supposed to do if there is a break down in communication. Feedback is very essential in communication; it can be in the form of a signal, an action, a gesture, a nod, a response or anything that signifies the understanding of the initially encoded message. In every organization there must be a feedback between employees and management, between superiors and subordinates, between colleagues and between the company and its customers. More levels of

communication exists in every corporation, this is a very vital point because no organization can survive without effective communication. Thus, this evaluation will look into the processes of communication in Oceanic Bank and how the processes can be improved to get the best in favor of the Bank, its businesses and its staff members. This will go a long way in maximizing the input of every staff and management for the generation of highly qualitative output. Since organizations are networks of people, these people need to communicate with each other to perform the tasks necessary for the realization of organizational goals, this is exactly the case here. Oceanic Bank is an organization that provides banking services to the general public through its resources, the human capital here needs to communicate in order to perform the banking tasks necessary for Oceanic Banks goal which is very explainable in its vision and mission statement above.

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 WHAT IS COMMUNICATION? There are many definitions of communication, these varies according to different authors; Veechio (2006) defined communication as the exchange of messages between persons for the purpose of constructing

10

common meanings, in the same book he described it as the creation of mental image in the mind of a receiver in exactly the same detail as intended by the sender. It is evident from his definition that before it can be said that communication took place, there must be a transfer of substance from one person to the other, the substance could be in the form of ideas, images, plans, instructions, requests and many more. It is a way of conveying what the sender wants to achieve to the second party who needs to achieve it. An open source of information (Wikipedia) describes communication as the process to impart information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium. It further explained that there are three necessary means of communication, they are: 1. Auditory which includes speaking, singing and sometimes tone of voice 2. Nonverbal which includes physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact 3. Writing which includes scribbling, writing, drawing etc Van der Molen H.T and Gramsbergen-Hoogland Y. (2005) stressed the need for the all the parties communicating to be actively involved; they showed that with the help of basic communication skills all different types of conversation can be held. Corroborating other sources, it was mentioned that communication process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. Without effective communication, there can never be collaboration and cooperation between staff members, it was noted from various works that communication does not only occur between persons, it also takes place within oneself. The care to communicate well starts with the initiator of the communication process and ends only when a feedback has been received in respect of the message conveyed. Same care extends to all the parties involved in any communication so that the required results alone will be achieved. 2.2 BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION There are various barriers that can act against effective communication, these barriers can be individual related or organization related. In his core concepts of Organizational behavior vecchio R.P made it clear that individual barriers and organization barriers to communication are made up of the following:

11

INDIVIDUAL BARRIERS Differences in status The credibility of the source Perceptual biases ORGANISATIONAL BARRIERS Information overload Time Pressures Organizational climate Technology Well explained, all the above itemized factors have been seen to affect effective communication in one way or the other. Many managers prefer to communicate with the supervisors of groups or teams, this is a big problem working against effective communication from subordinates to superiors. It is also a problem because communication should be a two way thing, from top to bottom and bottom to top. In the case where it is just from the superiors to the subordinate, it cannot bring effective change because it is one sided and there wont be proper feedback. Same is applicable when the credibility and perception of communication is not of good standing; the effect of the communication is already jeopardized at the initial stages, because of lack of trust, respect and faith in the source or origin of such communication. Information overload is a serious barrier to effective communication, this is a situation where more than necessary information that can be easily processed by an individual is being directed towards such persons in the organization, what comes out of this is that the person gets bored with the information and might not even have the urge to read and understand what information is meant to achieve. Information overload diminishes the significance of organizational communication and thus must be a point of concern for organizations that must do well. Time pressures and organizational climate are also barriers that hinder effective communication in organizations; employees may tend to respond to mails and memos without really understanding what they are supposed to do when they are under pressure to respond to many mails, memos and other inquiries. This is another area where the largeness of the organization might be of utmost significance. Very large organizations may find it difficult to communicate because of the size and number of employees involved in the communication process. It is

12

possible that information gets distorted before getting to the last employee. Vecchio (2006:306)

2.3 COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE There is no doubt that communication is necessary for effective productivity in any organization, this brings us to a significant term in communication. Communication Competence is a persons ability to identify appropriate communication patterns in a given situation and to achieve goals by applying that knowledge. Someone with high communication competence would be better than others at determining whether an email, telephone call, or personal visit would be the best approach to convey a message to an employee McShane and VonGlinow (2003) After reading various texts on Communication, one can summarize that Communication processes in organizations can be improved in following ways: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. By By By By By By using the appropriate language practicing empathic communication encouraging feedback developing a climate of trust using the appropriate media encouraging effective listening.

These areas will further be visited in the course of the project report to improve the communication processes of Oceanic Bank Intl Plc.

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY To evaluate the communication processes at Oceanic Bank intl plc (Calabar main branch), the workforce of the branch was divided into seven groups:

13

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Marketing Staff Operation Staff Tellers Bulk Tellers Drivers Security Corps Members

From each group described above, five (5) staff members were chosen at random to respond to structured questions making thirty five (35) respondents in all. The questions were administered in the form of questionnaires. The questionnaire focused on getting variable information from the respondents in respect of the following:a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m. Email Preference Chat Engine Preference Readiness to communicate Time wasters Hope for better communication Communication rating Feedback rating Horizontal communication Upward communication Downward communication Use of Intramail Use of Memos Busyness

14

The dependent and independent variables were carefully rated by the assigning figures to the significance or importance attached to questions answered by the respondents. After the data was generated, the resulting data was then converted into the form of percentages for better understanding while reporting. The data was analyzed using the graphical representation as supported by Microsoft excel sheets. Other processes of communication that were not captured by the questionnaire were also recorded by carefully observing them at Calabar Main Branch of Oceanic Bank. The results of the research carried out were summarized under the following types of communication: VERBAL NON VERBAL TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED OTHER RESULTS

CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS, DATA AND GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS 4.1 4.10 VERBAL COMMUNICATION USE OF MEMO

15

TABLE 1:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER TOTAL

USE OF MEMO
ALWAYS 0.00 80.00 0.00 0.00 60.00 20.00 0.00 22.86 OFTEN 20.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 20.00 80.00 20.00 25.71 RARELY 0.00 0.00 20.00 80.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 17.14 NEVER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 OTHER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 NONE 80.00 0.00 80.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 80.00 34.29 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

GRAPH 1
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG RP ER IO N IV E UR RK ET I

RATE

ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER NONE

RA T

DR

SE C

BU LK

O PE

GROUP

4.11 4.11.1

FACE TO FACE MEETINGS

Dates for branch meetings MONDAY: TUESDAY: WEDNESDAY: STRATEGIC BRANCH MEETING PRAYER MEETING PRAYER MEETING 7.00 7.45 7.30 7.45 7.15 7.45 16

M A

CO

THURSDAY: PRAYER MEETING 7.30 7.45 FRIDAY: KNOWLEDGE SHARING SESSION 7.00 7.45 Other meetings that are conducted in the branch include 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Departmental meetings Head of Department meetings General meetings Bank wide strategic sessions Occasional training sessions

4.11.2

HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

EVERY SECOND 40.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 60.00 20.00 28.57 EVERY MINUTE 20.00 0.00 60.00 0.00 40.00 20.00 60.00 28.57 EVERY HOUR 0.00 60.00 20.00 20.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 22.86 EVERY DAY 40.00 20.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 17.14 EVERY WEEK 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.86 OTHER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 2:
SECURITY DRIVER TELLER BULK TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER TOTAL

17

GRAPH 2
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG RP ER IO N IV E UR RK ET I

RATE

EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK OTHER

RA T

DR

SE C

BU LK

O PE

GROUP

4.11.3

UPWARD COMMUNICATION UPWARD COMMUNICATION

EVERY SECOND 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 60.00 20.00 17.14 EVERY MINUTE 40.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 22.86 EVERY HOUR 40.00 0.00 0.00 40.00 20.00 20.00 0.00 17.14 EVERY DAY 20.00 40.00 60.00 20.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 25.71 EVERY WEEK 0.00 0.00 40.00 20.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 17.14 OTHER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 3:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER TOTAL

M A

CO

18

GRAPH 3
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG RP ER IO N IV E UR RK ET I

RATE

EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK OTHER

DR

RA T

SE C

BU LK

O PE

GROUP

4.11.4

DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION

EVERY SECOND 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 20.00 40.00 0.00 11.43 EVERY MINUTE 40.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 20.00 14.29 EVERY HOUR 20.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 EVERY DAY 40.00 40.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 20.00 EVERY WEEK 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 OTHER 0.00 0.00 60.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 60.00 34.29 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 4:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER TOTAL

M A

CO

19

GRAPH 4
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG RP ER IO N IV E UR RK ET I

RATE

EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK OTHER

DR

RA T

SE C

BU LK

O PE

GROUP

4.12

TELEPHONE CONVERSATION TELEPHONE DURING WORK HOURS

4.12.1

NO OF TELEPHONES IN BRANCH: NITELE LINES = 2 INTERCOMS = 14

4.12.2 TELEPHONE AFTER WORK HOURS CELL PHONES IN BRANCH All staff possess cell phones 20

M A

CO

4.2 4.21

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION BUSYNESS BUSYNESS

ALWAYS 100.00 100.00 80.00 100.00 100.00 80.00 100.00 94.29 OFTEN 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 5.71 RARELY 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 NEVER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 OTHER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 NONE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 5:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER TOTAL

21

GRAPH 5
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG RP ER IO N IV E UR RK ET I

RATE

ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER NONE

RA T

DR

SE C

BU LK

O PE

GROUP

4.22

READINESS TO COMMUNICATE READINESS TO COMMUNICATE

EXCELLENT 100.00 60.00 60.00 100.00 80.00 100.00 100.00 85.71 VERY GOOD 0.00 40.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 14.29 GOOD 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 GRAPH 6 0.00 0.00 0.00 FAIR 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 BAD 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 OTHER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 6:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
UR

RATE

M A

CO

EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD

IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG RP ER

FAIR BAD OTHER

IO N RA T

IV E

RK ET I M A

DR

SE C

BU LK

O PE

CO

22

GROUP

4.23

BODY LANGUAGE

Observed eye contact amongst staff Security Driver Teller Bulk Teller= Operations Marketing Corper = Good = Good = Not good enough Not good enough = Not good enough = Good = Good

23

4.3 4.31

TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED COMMUNICATION EMAIL PREFERENCE EMAIL PREFERENCE

INTRAMAIL 100.00 60.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 100.00 40.00 77.14 YAHOO HOTMAIL 0.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 GRAPH 7 0.00 60.00 0.00 22.86 0.00 OTHERS 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
INTRAMAIL YAHOO HOTMAIL OTHERS
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG AR KE TI RP ER CO

TABLE 7:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
UR

RATE

SE C

BU LK

O PE

RA T

DR

IO N

IV E

24

GROUP

4.32

CHAT ENGINE PREFERENCE CHAT ENGINE PREFERENCE

COMMUNICATOR 100.00 60.00 40.00 100.00 80.00 100.00 20.00 71.43 YAHOO MESSENGER 0.00 40.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 60.00 22.86 HOTMAIL 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 2.86 OTHERS 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.86 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 8:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER

GRAPH 8

120 100 80 60 40 20 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG UR AR KE TI RP ER IO N IV E

RATE (%)

COMMUNICATOR YAHOO MESSENGER HOTMAIL OTHERS

RA T

DR

SE C

CO

BU LK

O PE

GROUP

25

4.33

USE OF BANKS INTARMAIL USE OF BANKS INTRAMAIL

ALWAYS 0.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 60.00 0.00 25.71 OFTEN 0.00 0.00 0.00 60.00 40.00 40.00 20.00 22.86 RARELY 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 40.00 8.57 NEVER 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 OTHER 100.00 100.00 60.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 40.00 42.86 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

TABLE 9:
SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER TOTAL

GRAPH 9

120 100 80 60 40 20 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG UR RK ET I RP ER IO N IV E

RATE (%)

ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER

RA T DR

SE C

BU LK

O PE

M A

CO

26

GROUP

4.4 4.41

OTHERS TIME WASTERS

TABLE 10: TIME WASTERS

SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
IT Y R UR IV E

YES 100.00 40.00 40.00 100.00 100.00 40.00 60.00 68.57

GRAPH 10

NO 0.00 60.00 60.00 0.00 0.00 60.00 40.00 31.43

TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

YES NO

RATE (%)

TE LL ER

TE LL ER

NG

RK ET I

DR

RA T

SE C

BU LK

O PE

M A

CO

RP ER

IO N

27

GROUP

4.42 HOPE FOR BETTER COMMIUNICATION TABLE 11:

SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER

HOPE FOR BETTER COMMUNICATION

YES 100.00 100.00 100.00 80.00 100.00 80.00 100.00 94.29 NO 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 5.71 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

GRAPH 11

120 100 80 60 40 20 0
IT Y R LL ER S TE LL ER NG UR AR KE TI RP ER IO N IV E

RATE (%)

YES NO

RA T

DR

TE

SE C

BU LK

O PE

CO

28

GROUP

4.43 COMMUNICATION RATING TABLE 12:

SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER

COMMUNICATION RATING
VERY GOOD GOOD 80.00 0.00 0.00 80.00 0.00 40.00 40.00 40.00 20.00 60.00 20.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 28.57 GRAPH 12 31.43 FAIR 0.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 8.57 BAD 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 5.71 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

EXCELLENT 20.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 80.00 20.00 25.71

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
IT Y R TE LL ER S TE LL ER NG UR AR KE TI RP ER IO N IV E

RATE (%)

EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD FAIR BAD

DR RA T

SE C

BU LK

O PE

CO

29

GROUP

4.44 FEEDBACK RATING TABLE 13:

SECURITY DRIVER BULK TELLER TELLER OPERATIONS MARKETING CORPER

FEEDBACK RATING
VERY GOOD 80.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 40.00 60.00 40.00 31.43 GOOD 0.00 80.00 20.00 80.00 40.00 0.00 0.00 GRAPH 13 31.43 FAIR 0.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 40.00 14.29 BAD 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 5.71 TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

EXCELLENT 20.00 0.00 40.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 0.00 17.14

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
IT Y R

RATE (%)

EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD

TE LL ER TE LL ER NG AR KE TI RP ER IO N IV E

FAIR BAD

UR

DR

RA T

SE C

BU LK

O PE

CO

30

GROUP

CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION VERBAL COMMUNICATION 5.1.1 Use of Memo The graphical analysis of data showed that more drivers, operations staff and marketing staff utilized memo for communication. From the graph it is very evident that the drivers generates more memos on paper than every other group, one would have expected that drivers will use less memos in communication since they are on lower levels of educational background and even lower grades in the office. This peculiarity may have come from the following: 1. They must always justify repairs and maintenance of their vehicles 2. They do not have intra-mails like operations and marketing staff 3. They receive more queries which they have to respond to 5.1

31

The security men, corpers and bulk tellers generate the least memos in the branch compared with the tellers. This can easily be understood because apart from operations and marketing staff, tellers were also provided with intra-mail logon ids for easy online communication.

5.1.2

Face to Face

5.1.2.1 Branch Meetings The branch was observed to be involved in face to face communication in the following ways through meetings where every member of staff see themselves and information can be passed quickly amongst staff about any new development in the branch, bank or even in any other applicable areas. All the staff of Oceanic Bank, Calabar Main branch meets briefly on daily basis before the days job commences, the Monday and Friday meetings are very compulsory. Other meetings are also observed in cases of emergencies. This made it possible for the staff members to discuss problem or opportunity areas in order to proffer solutions to them. The only problem here is that meetings have to be concluded within a short while, the reason been that staff needs to quickly go back to work to attend to issues. Sometimes certain key staff are observed to leave meetings because the meeting was still on and they need to go and open the branch or to attend to other customer issues. This area needs to be improved upon so that some staff members will not wake up one day to accuse the branch management of not properly carrying them along on vital issues 5.1.2.2 Horizontal Communication

Communication between colleagues is more amongst the marketing staff than every other group of staff. This can be explained from the angle that they have more time to be in meetings than every other group, operations staff might not have time to communicate amongst themselves because they are always busy responding to the requests of customers and certain operational instructions from head office.

32

The security men also communicated well amongst themselves, and can be explained with the need for them to constantly exchange information on security issues that occur in the branch. From the general picture it is evident that communication is highly necessary amongst colleagues, since every group communicated regularly, only the bulk tellers were seen to communicate amongst themselves at a reduced rate. 5.1.2.3 Upward Communication Subordinates to superior communication occurs most with the marketing staff while corpers, security men and drivers followed fairly. One would believe that bulk tellers, tellers and operations staff will communicate more with their superiors but this variation can be based on the fact that operational job functions are rarely new, the staff could upgrade himself to a point where he can take certain decisions on the job without taking permissions from his superior. This is not the case in security departments where others are dished out and feedbacks must always go to the superiors.

5.1.2.4

Downward communication

The rate of communication from superiors to the subordinates is also observed from the graph to be very minimal in the branch compared to what one would expect. Though this can mean a lot of things but it can be explained that 1. The number of superiors that might need to give instructions are minimal and they communicate with the supervisors rather than the subordinates themselves, this will surely reduce the rate of communication to subordinates 2. The Bulk tellers, Tellers and Corpers do not have subordinates; they can only communicate amongst themselves or to their superiors. Sometimes this three groups sees the security men and drivers as their subordinates because of the prestigious positions they assume, this is a wrong notion and must be corrected so as to avoid perceptual biases in the organization

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Marketing staff, operation staff and the security men received more instructions and communication from their superiors than all other groups

5.1.3

TELEPHONE CONVERSATION TELEPHONE DURING WORK HOURS

5.1.3.1

The observation of the Calabar Branch of Oceanic Bank showed that Telephone is a great way to communicate even after mails have been sent. It was discovered that the branch suffers from lack of many facilities because they need to follow up on certain requests made to Head office. The branch have only two NITEL lines, the service on the two lines have been so epileptic that they dont work more than a few days in a month, the problem can be linked to the inefficiency of the national telecommunication provider NITEL at providing an excellent services to its subscribers. Intercoms are also part of the facilities that make telephone calls easily assessable to staff members, it was discovered that not all tables had intercoms; this means that some staff might have to stand up to receive calls from other desks, most times the intercoms at the security gate was reported faulty, staff members sometimes show lackadaisical attitude towards phone call at times. It was observed that staff members resolved to use their personal cell phones for communication during the work hours so that work can go on effectively. The reason behind this is that branch management focuses so much on the bills to be paid every month, the bill generates a lot of controversies in the Monday meetings almost at all times. 5.1.3.2 TELEPHONE AFTER WORK HOURS

All staff of the Calabar main branch of Oceanic Bank possesses personal cell phones which they can use to communicate. The bills of the cell phones are paid by individual staff members and thus might not have call credit all the time, except for the branch manager whose bills are paid by the branch. The supervisors take it upon themselves to have all

34

the numbers of their subordinates and vice versa, this enhances after work communication amongst staff members. Tellers and Bulk Tellers are not allowed to receive calls during working hours because the bank management believes that the use of phones might distract them, this is not well understood by the concerned staff because they feel that management has not explained to them properly the reasons for this an that their rights are being usurped. 5.2 NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION

5.2.1 BUSYNESS The graph here shows with all data agreeing that every member of staff working in the bank is always busy; the only groups of staff that has ample time to play with are the bulk tellers and the marketers. From my knowledge of the branch it is true that all staff are always busy, this might have a serious negative effect on communication because of various needs to meet deadlines because of work and time pressures. 5.2.2 READINESS TO COMMUNICATE This graph also shows a perception that every member of staff in Oceanic Bank is ready to communicate, the opinion of groups showed that even though all staff is willing to get new information and work with them, the operations staff, bulk tellers and drivers are a little behind. This may be because of work pressure and perceived stress of the groups. 5.2.3 BODY LANGUAGE It was observed that eye to eye communication between operations staff of the branch and other staff and customers was not good enough. Eye contact which is necessary for effective communication is also not good enough amongst Tellers, Bulk Tellers because they were observed to be very busy during the day, while responding to various requests from customer they do not have time to properly listen to what other colleagues might have to say to them. Sometimes the multiple requests of customers who want to be urgently attended to sometimes mare the proper communication of operations staff with their various customers.

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Marketers, security men and other groups were also seen to face the same situation at a lesser rate than the operations staff members. TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED COMMUNICATION 5.3.1 EMAIL PREFERENCE

5.3

The graphical analysis of staff members opinion about intramail showed that every majority of the staff of Oceanic Bank, Calabar main prefers to have the bank intramail services rather than yahoo, hotmail and other email service providers. This is saying to management that there should be a way to improving the number of staff members that are created on the service so that more information can be exchanged by staff members. The only problem here is that at times staff members were observed to send junk mails and thereby clog the network. This problem can be solved with a punishment policy directed towards any staff that clogs the network with unnecessary unofficial mails. ` 5.3.2 CHAT ENGINE PREFERENCE It was also analysed that majority of staff members prefer to use the bank designed chatting software known as communicator, if the bank can make this software available to all staff members, it will go a long way in helping every staff members to identify with the organization. Presently the software is created for only Tellers, operations staff and marketing staff. The other groups do not enjoy the benefit of this communication innovation. Chatting has been seen to improve the branch productivity in a great way. This is because problems are solved online with the use of chatting software 5.3.3 USE OF BANKS INTRAMAIL

The analysis of data showed that only core staff members ie operations and marketing staff utilize the intramail services most, this is because they are superiors and have more time to read and send emails compared to the other group that are subordinate to them.

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This is showing a sort of imbalance because if superiors send or read more mails than the subordinates, the knowledge gap will continue to increase. The superiors might have a problem of information overload whereas the subordinates do not acquire up to the necessary information to stay competitive in the industry

5.4

OTHERS

5.4.1 TIME WASTERS Data analysis showed that most staff agreed to wasting time on doing other things other than what they are employed to do during the office hours. The security, Tellers, Operations staff and Marketing staff unanimously agreed to the fact that despite the busy schedule they still do other things like reading the newspapers, fun magazines etc. Though few staff signified that they do not waste management time, the number of time wasters is highly significant in the Bank and may affect the communication effectiveness of the branch.

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5.4.2 HOPE FOR BETTER COMMUNICATION The members of staff of Oceanic Bank unanimously agreed that they hope for a better communication in the bank, this also points to the fact that even though they might all agree that the intramail and chatting software of the branch is better placed when compared with other software like Yahoo mail and Yahoo messenger, Hotmail, and Msn chat. They still aspire to see some improvements in the banks communication processes 5.4.3 COMMUNICATION RATING The communication rating of the bank is above average according to results from survey, only a very few percentage of the corpers and bulk tellers rated the bank below average. This shows that there is room for improvement, the bank can work on man and that the bank has not exploited all the areas of excellent communication as known by its staff members. 5.4.4 FEEDBACK RATING

The feedback of Oceanic is not excellent, it was a uninanimous decision amongst staff that feedback in Oceanic Bank is not excellent. This has further proved beyond all doubts that there is need for a drastic step to be taken in favour of implementing changes in the communication processes of Oceanic Bank.

CHAPTER SIX RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION After analyzing and discussing the findings of the project, it is not concluded until a recommendation is made, the bank has to be advised on what areas to improve upon or remove so as to better its communication processes. Knowing fully well that communication process does not just talk about verbal communication amongst staff alone, in Oceanic Bank it encompasses the totality of processes that allows exchange of information and instructions between staff and staff as well as between staff and customers.

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Therefore to be able to discuss the recommendations properly, some highlights were made and they include: HIGHLIGHTED PROBLEM AREAS 1. Follow up on short meetings 2. Lower cadre staff should be encouraged to say their minds since they might add value too. 3. Once in a while Senior management should communicate directly with lower cadre staff to boost their morale. 4. The telephone lines should be attended to regularly a. All tables must have intercoms b. Each department should have a direct line c. Branch should not focus too much on telephone bills d. Staff to be encouraged to pick up phone calls before the third ring e. Staff should be allowed to use their phones during office hours so that they dont feel like slaves but they must be trained on how to use it without disturbing the primary goal for which they are in the organization 5. More staff to be employed to ease the work pressure 6. Crowd control mechanisms must be adopted 7. Email addresses and chat logons should be created for all the branch staff to enhance a better sense of belonging

FOLLOW UP ON SHORT MEETINGS Looking at the short time of having face to face discussions and meetings in the bank, it is essential for the bank to arrange for consistent follow up on all action points that were discussed in the meeting. This will help the branch to have a complete communication and feedback process because issues already discussed will not bother the meetings again once they have been concluded. Another way to improve on the short meetings is by having more meetings fixed at intervals when staff member will not need to hurry out. This could be a bi-weekly, monthly or yearly thing.

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LOWER CADRE STAFF SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO SAY THEIR MINDS SINCE THEY MIGHT ADD VALUE TOO. It is good to encourage the lower cadre of staff to say their minds in the meetings, this in its own is a way of training them for the future responsibilities and a way of allowing the branch to exploit new ideas that could come from new Banking minds of such staff. If they are always allowed to keep quiet while the seniors continually disagree to agree without any input from the younger generation of bankers, it might lead to a catastrophe where the branch will be acting on outdated information. ONCE IN A WHILE SENIOR MANAGEMENT SHOULD COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH LOWER CADRE STAFF TO BOOST THEIR MORALE This is a very important thing in communication, it is not good enough for management to instruct or converse with the superiors alone, the lower cadre staff members will work better and with greater zeal especially when they receive a Merry Christmas or thank you call from the MD, Regional Managers, Branch Managers and other supervisors. This is also a way to improve readiness to communicate because it will break down the believe that management does not recognize the efforts of lower staff.

THE TELEPHONE LINES SHOULD BE ATTENDED TO REGULARLY ALL TABLES MUST HAVE INTERCOMS It has become imperative to provide intercoms for all the tables in the branch; this will ease communication in all ramification. Staff members will not need to rush to a general table to receive calls when customers are in their front. EACH DEPARTMENT SHOULD HAVE A DIRECT LINE Many times branch to branch communication is impaired because when a call comes into the branch, on staff might be answering a call already

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and the line is engaged, sometimes the two NITEL lines might be faulty, this is not good enough. All departments should have direct lines that will help with communication so that in case of external information on emergences, there is no barrier to communication.

BRANCH SHOULD NOT FOCUS TOO MUCH ON TELEPHONE BILLS The branch should change the attitude of always complaining about phone bills, instead mechanisms should be put in place to curb staff from using official lines for personal calls. Businesses need to call and receive calls from its customers, anything contrary to this is customer unfriendly and can result in haphazard communication between the inter-bank and intra-bank communities. It is not good to be penny wise and pound foolish. STAFF TO BE ENCOURAGED TO PICK UP PHONE CALLS BEFORE THE THIRD RING Picking up ringing phones early enough speaks a lot about the receiver, doing otherwise irritates the caller/sender. If staff can pick up there phones before the third ring, it will ease communication in a great way because the initiator and the receiver will both be happy after the feedback has occurred. Not picking calls on time can result in infighting, it is even bad business manners. USE OF CELL PHONES IN THE BANK Staff should be allowed to use their cell phones during office hours so that they dont feel like slaves but they must be trained on how to use it without disturbing the primary goal for which they are in the organization. If staff members are disturbed from using their personal calls, they might tend to look for other ways to communicate with the outside world and thus might not focus on their job or any other communication thats necessary to move the job forward. MORE STAFF TO BE EMPLOYED TO EASE THE WORK PRESSURE

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Time pressure is an organizational barrier to communication where there is always too much to do, this can hinder communication in a great way, one of the ways to improve on this is by employing more qualified hands as the branch grows. Leaving same staff that handles the work when its less to do it when it increases in a hundred fold will be disastrous. It must be noted that too much pressure will result in bad communication because there are too many things to be communicated. CROWD CONTROL MECHANISMS MUST BE ADOPTED The bank became crowded due to its growing business and good perception amongst Nigerians. An uncontrolled crowd makes it difficult for staff to attend to a customer on a one to one basis. The branch should encourage management to build more branches in Calabar while the crowd that remains are managed to get to each available staff one after the other. EMAIL ADDRESSES AND CHAT LOGONS SHOULD BE CREATED FOR ALL THE BRANCH STAFF TO ENHANCE A BETTER SENSE OF BELONGING This cannot be overemphasized, every staff whether Driver, Security, Corper, Bulk Teller, Teller, Operations and Marketing needs to have a sense of belonging by being allowed to enjoy the benefits of having the bank email ids (intramail) and chat ids. This can reduce the amount of paper being wasted in the generation of memos especially now that the Branch is always talking about cutting cost. Paperless banking is a way of reducing cost in a great way. Conclusively, it is very good to increase the sense of belonging of every member of staff. This will make staff members to see the reason why they should communicate constructively. The branch should desist from intimidating its staff with the fact that telephone bills are expensive, instead there should be an arrangement with the telephone services providers to reduce the tariffs by introducing one of their numerous rate reduced packages.

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Having said all these, I agree with most of Oceanic Bank Calabar staff that a lot can still improve in the branchs communication processes, this can be achieved if all the above are put into existence.

REFERENCES McShane S. L and Von Glinow M. A (2003), Organizational behaviour Emerging Realities for the Workplace Revolution ISBN 0-07-247008-9, 2nd edition, Boston, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Vecchio R.P. (2006), Organizational Behaviour core concepts ISBN 13:978-0-324-32249-1, 6th edition, UK, Thompson South Western

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Emerald Insight Staff, (2004), Communication strategies ISBN 9781846632693, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd [Online], Available from: The University Of Liverpool online Library, Accessed on: 30th November 2008 Hartley Peter (1999), Interpersonal Communication ISBN 9780415181075, Routledge [Online], Available from: The University Of Liverpool online Library, Accessed on: 30th November 2008 Van der Molen H.T and Gramsbergen-Hoogland Y. (2005), Communication in organizations: basic skills and conversation models ISBN10 : 0-203-00829-4, New York, NY : Psychology Press [Online], Available from: The University of Liverpool online Library, Accessed on 10th December, 2008 Wikipedia(n.d), Communcation [Online] Available from: th http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication, Accessed: 9 December 2008.

APPENDICES 1.0 KEYS

The key used for assigning figures to the responses from the questionnaire is below:
KEY

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RESPONSE EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD FAIR BAD RESPONSE EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK RESPONSE ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER RESPONSE IMMEDIATELY 24 HOURS NEXT DAY NEXT WEEK NEVER

ASSIGNED 5 4 3 2 1 ASSIGNED 5 4 3 2 1 ASSIGNED 5 4 3 2 1 ASSIGNED 5 4 3 2 1

2.0 SURVEY QUESTIONS (QUESTIONNAIRE) QUESTIONNAIRE Note: This questionnaire is served to you by a student of the University of Liverpool, to research on various communication systems available and adopted by corporate organizations. All information given are used only for analytical and research purposes. Please be very sincere so that research can be effective.

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PLEASE TICK AS APPROPRIATE 1. Are you a staff of Oceanic Bank? Yes No

2. If yes what department are you? ____________________________________________________ __________ 3. If No, Which branch are you? ____________________________________________________ __________ 4. What is your grade level? CONTRACT PIT AO ASSISTANT MGR MANAGER

OFFICER

DEPUTY MGR

SENIOR MANAGER AND ABOVE 5. What tribe are you? HAUSA IBO YORUBA 6. How often do you communicate with your colleagues EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE 46

EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK OTHERS (PLEASE SPECIFY) 7. How often do you communicate with your subordinates EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK OTHERS (PLEASE SPECIFY) 8. How often do you communicate with your superiors EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY EVERY WEEK 9. How do you communicate EMAIL CHAT MEMO TELEPHONE

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FACE TO FACE OTHERS (PLEASE SPECIFY) 10. Do you have a Personal Computer to work with? YES 11. NO

How often do you use the bank chat software ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY)

12.

How often do you use the banks intramail ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY)

13.

How often do you respond or initiate memos to other

branches ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER

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OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 14. Describe how busy you are in the office ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 15. Which of these do you prefer? Oceanic Bank Intramail service Yahoo, Hotmail or other free email service Other (Please Specify) 16. Which of this do you prefer Bank Communicator Yahoo Chat MSN Chat Skype Chat 17. What is your reaction when a new mail comes in? READ IT IMMEDIATELY READ IT LATER READ IF AFTER TODAY NEVER READ IT DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY

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18.

Do you respond to unnecessary mails Yes No

19.

How many superiors do you report to directly 1 2 3 3 10

MORE THAN 10 20. How many subordinates report to you directly 1 2 3 3 10

MORE THAN 10 21. How many superiors does your direct boss report to 1 2 3 3 10

MORE THAN 10 22. Do you get mails directly from Head Office

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Yes 23. 24.

No

How often does your direct boss shout at you Have you ever shouted at your boss Yes No

25.

How often do you shout at your boss ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY)

26.

How often does your boss shout at you ALWAYS OFTEN RARELY NEVER OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY)

27.

How early do you respond to emails Immediately After 1-24 hrs The next day The next week Never

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28.

Do you read magazines, newspapers or other sources of

information Yes 29. If yes, Specify the No magazine, Newspaper, or other

informational material you enjoy reading. _______________________________________________________ __________ 30. Do you Read in the office Yes No

31.

If No, Where do you read? (Please specify)

_______________________________________________________ __________ 32. Do you like the present state of communication facilities

available to you presently Yes 33. Do you think No Oceanic Bank can have a better

communication system Yes 34. No

How can the communication system in Oceanic Bank be

improved. (Please write your suggestion)

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_______________________________________________________ __________ 35. Rate the communication in Oceanic Bank EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD FAIR BAD 36. Rate Feedback in Oceanic Bank EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD FAIR BAD

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