In light of the above, it can be said that the best part of each workday is spent on communication. In fact, recent studies show that managers spend between sixty and eighty per cent of their time communicating with superiors, subordinates, peers and outside constituents (Lewis, Goodman & Fandt, 2001:381).
Considering the above mentioned, the most common phrase used in times of crisis at organisations is "It's A Communications Problem!", which highlights a multitude of management and organisational inefficiencies, of which will be addressed in this investigation. .
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Lakhani (1994:24-26) adds that, If one is unable to communicate - and one is a manager or leader - it is easier to put the responsibility for the failure on the people one is trying to communicate with, rather than accept that one is less than efficient. After all, as leader, its one responsibility to make sure communication if efficient (Lakhani,1994).
Without communication there is no organisation (Lakhani K. 1994:24-26). This also means that an inefficient communications process will impact likewise on the organisational performance.
Literature Review.
Communications is a broad topic of discussion and entails countless articles, journals and books. Listed are a few reviews of publications regarding organisational communications, multiculturism and productivity based on effective communication methods. .
Mc Dargh(2000) emphasizes the significance of communications and its impact on productivity in the workplace. The focus is more on the miscommunication and poor communications within organisations which result in lower productivity. Some of these problems are:.
I. Tasks having to be repeated frequently because of unclear instructions.
II. Not being able to understand each others communications methods .
III. Ignorance by management to these problems.
The author also provides solutions for improving current conditions by recommending a communication audit.