ABSTRACT
Principals of schools of nursing are confronted with
situations that involve a lot of communication.The aim of the study therefore
was to assess the administrative communication skills of principals of schools
of nursing in the South East Zone of Nigeria. Five research questions and 10
null hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey was adopted for the
study and the 16 principals and 166 regular teachers in the 16 Schools of
Nursing in the zone were used for the study, hence, no sampling. The instrument
for data collection was questionnaire. The instrument was validated and found
reliable following the reliability test using Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Coefficient. The reliability co-efficient on the principals
questionnaire recorded 0.82 showing high internal consistency and that of the
teachers recorded 0.94. The instrument was administered to the respondents
directly. The data generated from the research questions were analysed using
mean, while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test. Major findings
include: the rating of the respondents indicated that the principals apply
listening communication skills to high extent, except for item five which they
apply to very high extent; the respondents believed that the principals apply
non-verbal communication skills to high extent; they also indicated that the
principals apply oral communication skills to high extent; the respondents
accepted that the principals apply written communication skills to high extent;
and, equally indicated that the principals apply feedback communication skills
to high extent. The principals and teachers did not differ significantly in
their assessment of the principals’ application of the listening and non-verbal
communication skills while they differed significantly in their application of
oral, written and feedback communication skills. There is significant
difference in the extent prnicipals in small and large schools apply listening,
non-verbal and written communication skills. Based on these findings and
implications of the study, recommendations and areas for further studies were
highlighted in this study.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
of the Study
Principals of
schools of nursing are confronted with situations that involve a lot of
communication. How effective they become depends largely on their ability to
apply the appropriate communication skills in their daily interaction with
people. Coordinating the efforts of people towards the achievement of
objectives and goals in any establishment has administrative communication
skills as its main trust. Without communication there will be no good
organization. According to Adewale (2001), organization requires understanding
if it should achieve its goal. The office of the principal as the nerve centre
of the establishment deals with communication extensively. The aim of
communication is much more than the mere transmission of ideas, it must result
in the transmission of meaning that leads to action/s. Communication is a
complex process as it involves all the senses, experiences, emotions and
intelligence of people ( Beniger & Gusek, 1995). In fact, it is the
totality of all the things that one person does to create understanding in the
mind of another person.
The primary aim in
school administration is the improvement of teaching and learning process.
Therefore, all the activities and efforts of the school must be tailored
towards employing adequate communication techniques. In order that the school
administrator achieves this, he or she must inevitably interact with various
groups and individuals within the school, community and with people outside the
school utilizing desired communication competence and skills. It is likely that
the rampant cases of unrest recorded in many schools of nursing in the South
East Zone may be blamed on the principals who may not have addressed
adequately, the various cases ranging from increased pressure for candidates
seeking for admission, to failure of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria
(N&MCN) to index all students presented to them. According to Obi (2003),
the principals must communicate effectively with their subbordinates and
students as well as the School Board ,and the appropriate State and National
Agencies. Chinweuba (2004) also asserts that the school administrator must work
with the Parents Teachers Association (P.T.A) and the Alumni so as to make
remarkable impact in the running of the school. The administrator’s programmes
and policies are often influenced by these people or group with whom he/she is in
constant interaction with just as his/her administrative decisions affect
them.They therefore need to be carried along.
For effective
administration of establishments, communication is central and a sine qua
non. Hence, in the absence of effective application of organisational
communication, a vagary of individualistic and personal goals may most likely
mar the organisational objectives. This will inevitably result to stagnation of
activities of the teaching-learning process and reduced school tone with
resultant poor academic performance of both the students and the school. Some
schools in the South East zone have been sanctioned by placing embago on their
students intake because they failed to communicate effectively the
accreditation requriements to their respective propriators and concerned
bodies.
Moris (1984) sees
the principal as one occupying a very important position in the school and who
most of the time, has his/her mind brimming over with ideas, questions,
solutions, directives and plans. For the principal to be able to communicate
these ideas, directives and solutions, she/he must be familiar with the basic
communication skills so as to interact meaningfuly with every body. Strother
(1983) and Walker (1990) maintain that communication skills of principals have
been well documented as key to their success as administrators.
It is disheartening that some
principals lack the most essential skills that would make them effective
communicators. Such principals in the South East zone , hardly pay attention
when someone is speaking and are often impatient with people that have
difficulty expressing themselves. Hence, this category of principals draw
conclusion before thier interactant/s could land.This attitude is simply unacceptable
and is detastable to many people. The principals need to be aware of how they
are perceived by others. It is very necessary that the principals become aware
of their verbal and non-verbal communication and realize that their approach
towards communication should be situational holding others in contemplation
each time.
Adequate
application of communication skills are imperative for decision-making. The
administrator that worth his salt should be able to define problems, generate
and evaluate alternative courses of action, implement decisions, control and
evaluate results formatively and summatively using the right communication
skills. The principal is the Chief Executive of the nursing school and
according to Ezeocha (1990) the principal is defined as the man in the middle
because she/he has to interact with all and sundry on a daily basis-the staff,
students, parents, benefactors, community and the state, national and international officers of the
system in question. The principal also interacts with public and private
organizations as well as law enforcement agencies. In all these interactions,
the principal has to establish rapport with all to promote conducive atmospher
necessary for effective communication.
The principal is
expected to maintain a school climate conducive to students’ achievement and
learning, school growth, in addition to overseeing the enforcement of school
rules and regulations, as well as the meting out of disciplinary measures when
indicated (Ukeje, Nwagbara & Okorie,1992). Ani (1999) maintains that
students these days demand more careful handling while Akubue (1997) aptly
remarks that a good administrator should be able to communicate with the students
in any of their swinging moods. Each of the situations, he argues, will
necessitate the use of effective communication skills like selection of
adequate verbal or documented responses that can help defuse a tense
interaction or situation. The tone of voice set in each communication situation
goes a long way to establish the feeling for the entire institution and its
environment (Kelley, 1980). Some principals do not seem to realize that a
frustrated teacher who is having difficulty controlling his/her class will need
a different approach from an
irate parent who storms the office demanding an explanation why his/her
son/daughter has been suspended or expelled.
The principal
should always bear in mind that the school is part and parcel of the community
where it is located and so should endeavour to engender an amicable rapport
between the school and the community. The ugly incidence that took place in one
of the schools in Imo state betrays the principal’s poor rapport with the
locality. Communication with the Board of Governors, Academic Advisory Board,
P.T.A., Alumni and community leaders should be open and cordial if an
administrator wishes to make a significant impact in the school as a whole. The
activities of the indigens of one of the schools in Anambra state during the
accreditation exercise by N&MCN is rather commendable. The community came
to the assistance of the school because they are often carried along in most of
the happenings of the school.
Therefore, the principal’s
manner of transmitting information is of paramount importance. It matters a lot
not only what a principal says but how he/she says it (Akubue, 1997). In the
school, information transmission has been hampered by prejudice and bias
emanating from the manner of transmission. If a school administrator fails to
control his/her emotions, language becomes a vehicle of aggression and
vindictiveness leading to a highly charged atmosphere, which affects adversely
the teaching and learning process. Dimbleby and Burton, (1992) assert that the
need to control ones’ networks in school cannot be over emphasized. The
principal does not necessarily have to follow the bureaucratic chain of command
but can make use of the more effective methods or channels of communication for
a particular situation. Ikediugwu (2001) observes that the delay resulting from
towing the long line of bureaucratic chain leads to backdating of documents,
which unfortunately is prevalent in the educational system, and nursing
education cannot be an exception. In like manner, deadline is a common
reference and the existence of so many of them to be met by administrators,
teachers, and others create time pressures and constraints that affect
communication negatively (Middlemist & Hitt, 1981).
The number of
people to communicate with at a time will most likely determine the extent or
degree of use of the various communication skills. For instance, Meier (1996),
as if in favour of small group says that small school size encourages teacher
innovation and student participation, resulting in greater commitment for both
groups. However, some principals do not believe that number of students has anything
to do with effectiveness in application of communication skills. The alarming
rate with which they overshoot the approved quota per session betrays their
belief.
However, the
increasing number of students seeking enrolment into schools of nursing
presently, compels some erring principals in the South East zone to admit as
many as 500 to 700 students in a class despite the N&MCN’s (N&MCN,
2004) stipulation of 50 students per session. Most of these students end up
spending six to seven years in the school because the Nursing Council indexes
only 50 students per school per session. The above situations obviously breed
discontent and could make it difficult for the principals to reach every
section of the school and interact on one to one basis with all. The principals
in such a situation find it difficult to pay attention when subbordinates or
visitors are speaking, respond in a more cautious ways to issues and give
feedbacks based on content and context of the subject under discussion. This is
compounded by the general observation that some principals in the schools of
nursing in the South East zone lack the competence to organize their thoughts
accurately and succinctly and to select appropriate alternative courses of
action, implement decisions, control and evaluate results formatively and
summatively.
There is
also the problem of students’ poor acquisition of the expected skills when the
number of students is such that supervision and control at clinical
demonstration is difficult owing to inadequate space to accommodate the
alarming number. A reasonable school size would make that application easier.
This goes to agree with the opinion of Bedeian (1980) and Betts (1981) that the
larger the organization, the less the likelihood of effective application of
communication skills owing to large number of teachers, students and others to
be reached. The problem with the above situation is that with utter disregard
to the policy on students’ intake, inexperienced principals may be so deluged
with pressure being mounted on them for admissions, mis-information and data
that they can neither absorb, reason nor respond to all objectively, and so
they simply screen out majority of the messages and consequently attend to them
half-harzardly. Nevertheless, some of the experienced schools of nursing
administrators in the zone have developed over the years good and stable
communication skills, thereby being able to confront difficult people and
problem situations in a more positive and constructive manner (Hendricks,
1989).
The administrator
should be able to define feelings of happiness, anger, displeasure, confidence
and fear (Moorhead & Griff, 2001). This is only possible where the
principals are able to apply communication skills appropriately and as
situation demands. A Problem ensues if the school head fails to know that she
is communicating principally for information sharing through which the
institutional goals are defined and members given sense of purpose and
direction (Dostal, 2007).
Adequate assessment
of the principals’ application of communicative behaviours is imperative in
this study. Assessment according to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary is an
opinion or a judgement about something that has been thought about very
carefully. According to Dossey, Guzzette and Kenner (1992), assessment is a
logical, systematic and ordered collection of data used to evaluate a given
phenomenon. Watson (2005) asserts that assessment underpins the traditional
careful planning approach of any process. All good implementation starts with
assessment which is a continuous process of collection of data about peoples’
responses and concerns. In assessing, the ACSP of nursing schools in the South
East zone, the researcher was very objective, noting things the
way they are and checking their relevance to the entire study aimed at
fulfilling the vital need of the study.
Statement
of the Problem
In any organization, like educational institution, where
poor communication exists, a lot of problems are generated for the
administrator and the entire system as a whole (Betts, 1981 & Obi, 1997).
The principal, to reach his/her audience, is ideally expected to be competent
and skilful in communication as he/she relates with all levels of groups and individuals.
Unfortunately, some principals exercise authoritarian type of leadership more
often, such principals tend to engage only in downward process of
communication; taking decisions alone, disregarding subordinates’ viewpoints
and scaring people away by their aloofness and superior airs which militates
against effective application of communication skills. When effective
communication is absent, the institutional goals and objectives would be
reduced to individualistic and personal goals governed by undue sentiments and
individual whims and caprices, characterized by poor feedback mechanism which
makes coordination of peoples’ efforts towards achieving organizational goal
and objectives, an uphill task.
The above
inevitably results to stagnation of activities of the teaching-learning process
with reduced school tone as the principals become too authoritarian. They
utilize classical mode of administration and so arrange schedules that mandate
who is supposed to be where and doing what. They ensure tight control over
financial supply and dictate the curricula, goals and means (Barth, 1991).
According to Okeke (2004), most principals fall short of the desired competence
and skills and so communication gap of one form or the other is created. In a
situation where neither the teachers nor the students are carried along, there
is bound to be disorder and chaos. The principals stay in their offices
flouting the super-ordinates directives, for instance, some principals exceed
the admission quota by having as many as 500-700 students per session thereby
neglecting organisational regulations. It becomes impossible for such
principals to interact with the students effectively. Such principals are
rather said to be scaring people with their superior airs, dictating and
circulating programme of events and even the time table without involving those
earlier assigned with those responsibilities. The above action/s would
invariably result to negative attitudinal changes
of many of the staff which quickly spreads over to the students.
In such a scenario,
some staff members may decide to sabotage the efforts of the principal.
Supervision and control of staff and students would be in jeopardy and there
would be gross ineffectiveness, reduced school tone with resultant lawlessness
and poor school performance. This kind of situation easily creates gullible gap
and gives room to click formation by the staff members leading to unwholesome
behaviour of one form or the other as have been recorded in some schools of
nursing within the South East zone. This could have been the reason for the
numerous cases of quarels, petitions and counter pertitions between the tutors,
students, parents, communities , and their principals.
Hence, the problem
of this study is, to what extent do principals of nursing schools apply the
various communication skills in thier schools? Therefore, the need to assess
the application of the administrative communication skills of principals
of schools of nursing became imperative so as to find out the real situation in
the communication skills applied by the principals by ascertaining their level
of listening skills, if they are able to resist dominating discussion with
others, pay attention when someone is speaking, centre attention on the content
of speech, exercise patience and give fair hearing to all parties. Again,
whether they observe non-verbal cues of others, give non-verbal messages/ signs
that can be easily understood. To determine if they are able to choose suitable
environment when addressing subordinates with well articulated ideas and
feelings, concisely and briefly, choosing words naturally followed with a
summary. In addition, to ascertain whether they apply adequate writing
skills-by collecting needed information, reviewing draft for style, purpose and
audience before writing, organize routine for working on incoming
correspondence, prepare agenda and circulate minutes of meeting to paticipants
with well outlined ideas. Lastly, to observe their feedback skills, such as
insisting on feedback on circulated memos, working with deadlines, assuring
others that their inputs are valued and so encourage participants through
questioning without responding untactfully to emotion ladden situations but
acknowledges and respond to feedbacks positively, giving corrections to others
constructively before drawing conclusion/s, write reports to parents about
their wards for necessary recommendations and for improved communication by the
school principals.
Purpose
of the Study
The main purpose of
this study was to assess the administrative communication skills applied by the
principals of nursing schools in the South East zone of Nigeria. Specifically,
the study was designed to achieve the understated objectives:
1.
ascertain the extent of the
application of listening communication skills by principals of Nursing Schools
in the South East Zone of Nigeria;
2.
determine the extent of application
of non-verbal communication skills by principals of Nursing Schools;
3.
ascertain the extent to which
principals of Nursing Schools in the South East zone apply oral communication
skills;
4.
determine the extent to which
principals of Nursing Schools apply written communication skills;
5.
determine the extent of application
of feedback communication skills by principals of Nursing Schools;
6.
ascertain whether
principals’application of administrative communication skills differ due to the
status of the respondents; and
7.
ascertain whether application of
administrative communication skills by the principals differ due to the school
size.
Significance
of the Study
The study on the
assessment of the administrative communication skills of principals will
generally benefit many persons and groups of people. These include principals
of schools, supervisors, Management Boards, N&MCN, other health
institutions, staff and student nurses at large.
The result of this
study will help generate valid data for adequate assessment of the principals.
The feedback value of the administrative communication skills for principals
will help them in making modifications where they are deficient for improved
performance via quality interaction with all and sundry. The implications of
the study will serve as a guide for self-monitoring of both the principals and
prospective administrators of nursing schools in the South East zone and those
in Nigeria as a whole.
The study will
inform in-service training of principals at state, zonal and national levels of
the N&MCN so that the incumbent and prospective principals can learn and
imbibe the skills even before assuming office. From the result of this study, the Council’s
officials will be able to see how far the Council’s directive on adequate
communication competence has been adhered to by principals of nursing schools.
Based on the findings, they may deem it necessary to put more machinery in
motion to ensure that principals exhibit the desired communicative behaviour
patterns. Hence, the effect of job experience and population of students on the
principals’ responses on the items of the administrative communication skills
(ACS) will guide the N&MCN on how to develop, structure and organize
administrative communication skills workshop programs in order to derive
maximum benefit for the various categories of school principals in Nigeria.
More importantly, given the findings of the study, the N&MCN will be
compelled to increase students’ intake per school per session by 50%/1oo%.
The result of the
study on administrative communication skills will be used by Board of
Management during recruitment and selection of potential principals. The Board
of Governors and all relevant authorities in the institutions could use the
reliable information resulting from the study in taking decision about
principals who will be promoted or need in-service training to update their
communicative and professional skills.
The result
of the study could serve as a dependable and valid yard-stick for assessing
principals of nursing schools by supervisors and also form a measuring guide
for assessing the principals’ credibility and ability to exhibit the necessary
communication competence expected of their cadre.
The result
of this study will also sensitize the teachers and students of Educational
Management and Policy who are prospective education managers on the need to
ensure adequate communication competence in their day to day running of schools
for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
The result
of this study will be useful to other health institutions such as schools of
midwifery, psychiatric nursing and all post-basic nursing schools/colleges. The
prospective and current students will benefit immensely from the findings of
the study in the sense that all educational endeavours are aimed at enhancing
meaningful learning among the students. The improved manner of passing and
obtaining information from the students will surely affect them positively.
They will improve in their manner of interaction with colleagues,
clients/patients subsequently thereby improving the image of the profession.
Consequently, the
respective parents/guardians of these students will benefit when their wards
are given quality communicative treatment. Invariably,there will be
satisfactory academic standard in the schools with consequent elevation of
professional and academic competence of the products of the schools. This
situation will obviously go a long way in improving on the services rendered
tohealthcare consumers and the general public as improved communication
seriously promotes the ability to establish rapport with clients and patients,
and enhances professional image of the nurses to a greater extent.
Scope
of the Study
The study focused
on the assessment of administrative communication skills of principals of
schools of nursing in the South East zone of Nigeria. The study is delimited to
five aspects of communication skills, namely: oral communication skills;
non-verbal communication skills; written communication skills; listening
communication skills, and, feedback communication skills. Hughes and Ubben
(1994) opine that effective communication embraces all the above aspects. The
scope of the study also covers the school size.
Research
Questions
The
following research questions guided the study:
1)
To what extent do principals of
nursing schools apply listening communication skills?
2)
To what extent do the principals
apply non-verbal communication skills in nursing schools?
3)
What is the extent of the
application of oral communication skills by principals of nursing schools?
4)
To what extent do principals apply
written communication skills in nursing schools?
5)
To what extent do principals of
nursing schools apply feedback skills in their communication?
Hypotheses
The
following hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance:
1.
There is no significant difference
in the mean scores of principals and teachers on the extent nursing school
principals apply listening communication skills.
2.
The mean scores of principals and
teachers do not differ significantly on the extent nursing school principals
apply non-verbal communication skills.
3.
There is no significant difference
in the mean scores of principals and teachers on the extent nursing school
principals apply oral communication skills.
4.
There is no significant difference
in the mean scores of principals and teachers on the extent nursing school
principals apply written communication skills.
5.
The mean scores of principals and
teachers on the extent nursing school principals apply feedback communication
skills do not differ significantly.
6.
The mean scores of the respondents
on the extent nursing school principals apply listening communication skills do
not differ significantly based on school size.
7.
The mean scores of the respondents
from small and large schools do not differ significantly on the extent
principals apply non-verbal communication skills.
8.
There is no significant difference
in the mean scores of the respondents on the extent nursing school principals
apply oral communication skills based on school size.
9.
The mean scores of the respondents
from small and large nursing schools do not differ significantly on the extent
principals apply written communication skills.
10.
There is no significant difference
in the mean scores of the respondents from small and large nursing schools on
the extent principals apply feedback communication skills.
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