Good Communication in Banking Industry Affects Employee Morale, Ethics, and Performance - Research Paper

Introduction

Communication is a crucial aspect of human life, as it allows one to express him/herself, and to build healthy relationships with others. In management, communication makes planning, organizing, leading, and controlling possible. For example, it helps managers inform, clarify, and advise employees on the tasks to perform. Also, communication improves individual attitude towards work, thereby boosting motivation. Communication serves as a source of information; therefore, it helps managers and their employees to make quality decisions. Communication promotes socializing, thus encouraging teamwork. As a result, it optimizes employee performance. In different levels of hierarchy, communication helps to enforce various guidelines, principles, and policies. Therefore, it makes the management process easier, thus increasing job efficiency (Juneja, 2015). The communication process is similarly vital in organizations, as it improves performance, adaptability to changes, and profitability (Winarso, 2018). The process enables various parties within an organization to obtain information, interpreted it, and uses it to facilitate their operations (Winarso, 2018). Therefore, just like other businesses, banks can benefit from adopting effective communication.

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The communication process can use different means and channels. The most common methods used in the banking sector are emails, reports, presentations, telephoned meetings, and face to face communication. For sufficient flow of operations, bank managers should take advantage of the techniques, and communicate to their employees regularly and adequately. Consequently, workers in the banking industry will be more productive, as they will embrace teamwork and confidence in operations (Nwata & Edwinah, 2016). According to Baltezarevic, V., Baltezarevic, R., and Jovanovic (2016), modern technology has affected the role of traditional management in the banking industry, which has resulted in minimal effective communication (Baltezarevic, V., Baltezarevic, R., & Jovanovic, 2016).Unlike traditional models, businesses are becoming more virtual; teams work across organizational boundaries with the help of modern technology. The past decades, computers and the internet have changed how bank leaders communicate with the teams, which has resulted in minimal face-to-face communication. However, electronic means also requires practical communication skills to enable members to understand their roles and how the team should function (Shrestha, Parajuli, & Paudel, 2019). Baltezarevic, V., Baltezarevic, R., and Jovanovic (2016) argued that establishing social relationships between managers and leaders is not possible without physical contact. On the contrary, most institutions rely on written and electronic messages for communication (Shrestha, Parajuli, & Paudel, 2019). Leaders are continually facing challenges due to communication failures despite the extensive use of information technology.

Foundation of the StudyEffective communication is essential for quality leadership and employee management. It is the tool through which leaders communicate instructions, motivate their workers, and oversee organizational operations. Therefore, effective communication and leadership are integral.

This study is designed to investigate the impacts of effective communication by leaders on employee outcomes. Qualitative and quantitative analyses are done in this paper to test the hypothesis, which is, senior leaders' failure to communicate effectively impacts the morale and ethics of how employees in the banking industry complete assigned tasks. While most managers are aware of the importance of timely, accurate, and transparent information, some are not keen on quality and quantity (Winarso, 2018). If this problem is not solved, it is likely to affect leadership in the banking industry adversely. This study aims to discover the impacts of ineffective communication between leaders and employees in the banking industry and how they can overcome the challenges to grow in the current competitive environment.

Background of the Problem

Effective communication between leaders and their subordinates is essential for proper management. It is the key means leaders can use to solve problems, convey ideas, directions, negotiate, and motivate their employees. Moreover, through communication, an employer has a significant impact on the employees' behavior (Susworo, 2019). Hence, inadequate or inefficient communication can have detrimental effects on work output, conduct, and morale. A study by Shrestha, Parajuli, and Paudel (2019) revealed that in the banking industry, effective communication strengthens interpersonal relationships with workers, which in turn improves the quality of service and customer satisfaction and retention. While most banks strive for optimal performance and profitability, some are held back by ineffective communication due to organizational, personal, and job barriers. Personal barriers include gender differences, temperament, and culture. The job barriers are job monotony and personal-personal-work life balance, while the organizational ones are physical separation, internal politics, technology, and existing communication approaches. Other factors include failure to give sufficient details or background information and using an inappropriate communication medium (Shrestha, Parajuli, & Paudel, 2019). Conclusively, these factors can result in adverse effects on employee productivity and business performance. While most researchers agree that ineffective communication can have detrimental effects on a business, the actual implication of the problem on the employees in the banking sector remains an understudied area. Researchers such as Zeb (2019), Rubel, Rimi, and Walters (2017) identify communication as an essential aspect of human resource management. However, none analyzes it deeper to determine its implications on employee performance. This study aims to narrow this gap and to provide a framework for future related works.

The banking industry is facing several challenges that must be overcome under good leadership. In the modern era, the banking industry is undergoing radical shifts caused by changes in technology, changing business models, competition from financial management startups, changing regulations, and compliance pressures. A study by Sharma (2019) revealed that with the current advancements in technology, more customers are shifting to internet banking. Therefore, the traditional banking sector is under intense pressure to evolve to counter the competition from financial technologies (FinTech) for optimal customer satisfaction (Sharma, 2019). FinTech has minimized physical banking facilities' necessity, leading to the closing of many branches in the world. According to Rootman and Cupp (2016), the competitive pressure from new innovations is making it hard for banks to gain strategic advantage through their existing products. Banks have modified their models and products to achieve their goals in a dynamic environment (Rootman & Cupp, 2016). The industry needs effective leadership and strategic communication more than ever to adapt to the changes mentioned above.

The Problem

The general problem to be addressed in this study is ineffective communication between managers and their subordinates, which results in reduced employee outcomes. According to Mohanty, A., and Mohanty, S. (2018), communication is not only important as a way of passing information, but also a tool that managers can use to promote teamwork, and motivate workers to achieve the organizational goals. Unmotivated workers are likely to perform poorly, leading to lower profitability. Nevertheless, most bank managers lack effective strategies to motivate and communicate with their workers (Wade, 2019). Lim and Lau (2017) stated that the primary cause of this problem is the actual power distance in many sectors, which affects the employees' behavior and business culture significantly. The specific problem addressed in this study is the failure by leaders to communicate effectively with their employees in the banking industry in developing countries, resulting in low morale and affecting the ethics of how they perform assigned tasks.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to expand the existing knowledge of the impacts of communication on employee performance in the banking industry. The research will seek to determine whether poor communication by leaders with employees results in low morale and performance in completing assigned tasks. The investigation is conducted through a mixed approach, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data from primary research articles have been used to support the study.

Research QuestionsThe questions selected in this study aim to investigate ineffective communication among leaders, its impacts, and how one can mitigate the problem. The qualitative questions are open-ended to ensure that the respondents give a variety of answers. The quantitative questions will be used in statistical analysis to understand the nature of the problem, and the magnitude of its impacts.

Qualitative Research Questions

• How do leaders fail to communicate effectively with their subordinates?
• What leadership practices can promote communication between leaders and workers?
• What leadership practices discourage communication between employees and leaders?
• What personal, organizational, and job-related factors minimize effective communication in the banking industry?
• How do these factors manifest themselves?
• What ways can curb the challenges associated with the factors?
• What is the most appropriate way to deal with the problem?
• How do the organizational structure and the diversifying nature of commercial banks limit effective communication?

Quantitative Research Questions

• What is the relationship between leadership style and employee motivation?
• How does the organizational structure affect communication between leaders and their subordinates?
• How does this problem affect employee performance, morale, and abidance to ethics?

Nature of the Study

Research Paradigm. A scientific study can use the positivist, interpretivist, or critical research paradigms. Through the positivist approach, a researcher aims to understand a given aspect through observation, experimentation, and reasoning based on experience (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). The interpretivist or constructivist paradigm focuses on understanding human experience by analyzing a v...