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IMPACT OF COMMUNICATION ON OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY OF ORGANIZATIONS

A CASE STUDY OF UGANDA REVENUE AUTHORITY

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the background of the study, the statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions and the significance of the study.

1.0 Background of the study

The world communication has been derived from the Latin word “communis”, which means common. Communication, therefore, refers to the sharing of ideas, facts, opinions, information and understanding. It is the transfer or transmission of some information and understanding from one person to another. Although the word “communication” is used often, there is no consensus amongst communication experts regarding its definition. In general, it is defined as the process by which information is exchanged between individuals. The process uses written messages, spoken words and gestures. Communication can be defined as process of transmitting information, thoughts, opinions, messages, facts, ideas or emotions and understanding from one person, place or things to another person, place or thing. Organizational Behaviour seeks to examine the impact of communication on the behaviour of employees within organizations (Kramer, 2019).

According to Parasuraman, (2017) Communication is a two-way process in which participants not only exchange ideas, feelings and information but also create and share meaning for reaching mutual understanding. It is the exchange of ideas, thoughts, messages, or the like, by speech, signals or writing. It is to express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood. It is a process of conveying information from the sender to the receiver with the use of the media in which the communicated information is understood.

The rise of globalization developments in political, social, economic, technological areas crucially affects communal and organizational lives of individuals in the society. In parallel with these developments organization management are obliged to develop new management techniques to struggle even harder competition conditions. These modern management techniques to a large extent aim to raise employees‟ performance by using the power of communication (Erogluer, 2011). The beginning of the universe was the beginning of communications. There was no beginning which was devoid of communication. Thus, communication facilitates transformation of the human society. Communication is a many-sided phenomenon that means different things to different people. It is a process of a means of access to the mind or thought of another. According to Wilson (2017), communication can also be seen as a reduction of uncertainty, thus, communication enables organizations to achieve their goals.

Communication connects people and places. Thus, it is clear to understand that communication allows people to exchange their thoughts and ideas through speech, signals, writing, or behaviour. Basically, communication is shared feelings/shared understanding. People have always communicated, but the process of communication became the subject of study in the 20th Century. The serious study of communication was triggered by the development of technologies (Baron, 2015)

Communication is a two-way process in which participants not only exchange ideas, feelings and information but also create and share meaning for reaching mutual understanding. It is the exchange of ideas, thoughts, messages, or the like, by speech, signals or writing. It is to express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood (Kelvin, 2016).

Accordingly, for organization and human as a social being, communication has a vital importance, whether pros or cons are an inseparable piece of life and also it has an important role on all activities aimed at gaining organizational objectives (Ada et al., 2008). Attention has been given to the study of organizational communication in organizational behaviour research as a result of the significance of this variable to organizational effectiveness. For instance, it has been found that effective communication improves job satisfaction (Holtzhausen, 2002) and which in turn improves productivity (Litterst & Eyo, 2019). Research has also shown that communication improves employee job performance (Goris, 2007), while poor communication results to poor operational performance.

to URA, (2015) URA has made great strides in improving operational performance through the adoption of information systems, this has been through introduction of electronic methods like electronic declaration of customs transactions, electronic registration, online payment, in addition to that in 2010, to offer personalised services to taxpayers, the organization created taxpayer-centric Portal to enable the provision of services without hindrance and electronic service delivery, anytime, anywhere with quick & high quality electronic services and greater degree of transparency to taxpayers.

Since the establishment of URA in 1991, the organization has tried to ensure better operational efficiency so as to enable the organization achieve its goals in many spears however there has been many challenges with the organization as a result the organization has failed to achieve its targets it’s against this Background that this study intends to investigate into Impact of communication on operational efficiency of organizations.

1.2 Problem statement

Operational efficiency of the organization is very important so as the company can be able to achieve its both short term and long term ambitions. However unlike other organization Uganda revenue authority has failed to achieve its goals and objectives and this has therefore raised questions on its operational efficiency. Gaalya (2017) further reports that poor operational performance has led to the failure by Uganda revenue authority in meeting the revenue collection target as shown by the increased deficits. In 2016/17, URA collected Shs12.7 trillion about 14 per cent of Gross Domestic Product against a target of Shs13.1 trillion, more to that URA also made revenue loss of Shs404billion in the financial year 2015/2016and a deficit of 2.6 trillion in financial year 2017/2018. These challenges faced by URA therefore warrants examining the impact of communication on operational efficiency of organizations with specific reference to Uganda Revenue Authority.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The study seeks to establish the impact of communication on operational efficiency of organizations with specific reference to Uganda Revenue Authority.

1.4 Objectives of the study

1. To investigate the various forms of communication used in organizations.
2. To examine the strategies used in communication by organizations.

• To assess the strategies how operational efficiency can be used

1.5 Research questions

1. What are the various forms of communication used in organizations?
2. What are the strategies used in communication by organizations?

• What are the strategies how operational efficiency can be used ?

1.6 Scope of the study

This section will include the content, geographical, time scope.

1.7 Content scope

The study will concentrate; the various forms of communication used in organizations, the strategies used in communication by organizations and the strategies how operational efficiency can be used.

1.7.1 Geographical scope

The study will be carried out from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

17.2 Time scope

The period of data to considered be from Uganda Revenue Authority will be from 2018 to 2020

1.8 Significance of the study

Future scholars may get information regarding forms of communication in URA.

The study may also provide more literature to academicians about the effects of communication types at URA.

The study might also enable policy makers to have information on how to finance Information system to enable better performance.

The findings of the study may also enable the policy makers to have information on how to train the employees to enable them provide better performance of government agencies.

The study would also enable the policy makers to understand the different ways of enhancing better performance of government agencies.