COMMUNICATION AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN PLASTICS MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study examined communication and employee performance in plastics manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. In this study, two measures of communication such as downward communication and upward communication were explored to determine the relationship with employee performance. The reachable population size for this study was 102 selected workers from 5 carefully chosen plastics manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt. The researcher applied survey research design and convenience sampling technique to aid business decision. The sample size for the study was 85 revealed through Taro Yamane’s formula. Copies of questionnaire were distributed to collect data useful in answering research questions. Primary data was collected from structured questionnaire while the secondary data was information received from human resource data of various selected plastics manufacturing firms. The validity of the research instrument was successful through contributions from management intellectuals and professionals. Reliability instrument was illustrated through Cronbach’s alpha test. Statistical instrument used for this study was Spearman correlation coefficient to test the relationship between the variables. The findings disclosed that downward communication has positive significant relationship with employee performance, together with upward communication has positive association with employee performance. The researcher concluded, an increase in effective communication may lead to more employee performance. Thus, it was recommended that plastics manufacturing firms should have effective upward communication which the subordinates may use to express their performance and grievances on job related issues like poor working conditions and painful salary.