The role of internal communication in the morale of staff and improvement of productivity : a case of the University of Venda

Abstract

This paper aimed to evaluate the role of internal communication in staff morale and improving institutional productivity at the University of Venda. A sample of 523 participants was chosen to fully represent the staff. The data was collected through both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The appropriate research methodology and techniques were identified and used to gain a further intuition into the role of internal communication in the morale of staff and improvement of productivity. The questionnaires were physically administered by the Researcher. The levels of communication were used in the paper. These levels of communication include upward, downward and lateral/horizontal. The results of the paper show that the internal communication system of an institution plays a vital role in the morale of staff and improvement of productivity which in turn contributes to the effective management and governance of an institution. The paper revealed that internal stakeholders are rarely consulted in decision-making processes, for them to support the policies. The paper also revealed that when internal stakeholders are poorly informed, they may lose confidence in the institution, particularly the executive leadership and that could negatively affect their morale more especially when they are not consulted on matters that affect them and the institution. The paper further revealed that poor bottom-up communication can result in employees failing to understand the expectations of the institutional leadership which could eventually lead to a communication vacuum. The paper recommends effective and constant communication with internal stakeholders. Keywords: Internal communication, Staff morale, Institutional productivity, Motivation, Governance, Management