TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page – – – – – – – – i
Declaration – – – – – – – – – ii
Certification – – – – – – – – – iii
Dedication – – – – – – – – – iv
Acknowledgements – – – – – – – – – v
Table of Contents – – – – – – – – –
Abstract – – – – – – – – – –
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study – – – – – – – –
Statement of the Problem – – – – – – – –
Objectives of the Study – – – – – – – –
Research Questions – – – – – – – – – Significance of the Study – – – – – – – –
Scope of the Study – – – – – – – – – Limitation of the Study – – – – – – – – Definition of Terms – – – – – – – – –
References – – – – – – – – – –
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Communication in Organisation – – – – – – –
2.1.1 Brief History of ICTs – – – – – – – –
2.1.2 The Concept of ICTs – – – – – – – –
2.1.3 Types of ICTs – – – – – – – – –
2.1.4 ICTs Application of Information Processing – – – –
2.1.5 The Computer – – – – – – – – –
2.1.6 The Internet – – – – – – – – –
2.1.7 How the Internet Communicate – – – – – –
2.1.8 The Electronic Mail (e-mail) – – – – – – –
2.1.9 The Impact of ICTs in the University Sector – – – –
2.1.10 Problems of ICTs in Nigerian Universities – – – –
2.2 Review of Study – – – – – – – – –
2.3 Theoretical Framework – – – – – – – –
References – – – – – – – – – –
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction – – – – – – – – – –
3.1 Research Design – – – – – – – – –
3.2 Population of the Study – – – – – – – 3.3 Sample size – – – – – – – – – –
3.4 Sampling Technique – – – – – – – –
3.5 Instrument for Data Collection – – – – – –
3.6 Validity and Research Instrument – – – – – – 3.7 Reliability of Study Instrument – – – – –
3.8 Method of Data Collection – – – – – –
3.9 Method of Data Presentation and Analysis – – – – –
References – – – – – – – – – –
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction – – – – – – – –
4.1 Data Presentation and Analysis – – – – –
4.2 Discussion of Findings – – – – – – –
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction – – – – – – – –
5.1 Summary of Findings – – – – – – –
5.2 Conclusion – – – – – – – –
5.3 Recommendations – – – – – – –
References – – – – – – – –
Appendix – – – – – – – –
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study:
Communication is what makes life meaningful in this information age. According to Eisenberg and Goodall (2001:25), communication is the bedrock of human existence. Without it, man would not have achieved anything in the society. However, it is on this note that Wilson (2006:23) noted that, “communication is the basis in which man establishes a relationship with himself and things in his environment.” In this modern society, man has employed technology to further facilitate communication. New technologies for communication have already proven to be exceptionally valuable tools, most especially in organisations and other areas.
Bryant and Thompson (2003:365), quoted Roger (1986) who noted that new communication technologies have been around for some time and such technologies includes; teletext, videotext, microcomputer, interactive cable television, communication satellites and teleconferencing. Other ones include; the Internet, E-mail, computers, answering machine, voice messaging and fax machine. These new communication technologies have brought efficiency to almost every aspect of business lifestyle and have facilitated job effectiveness. That is why Eisenberg and Goodall (2001:27) assert that implementing a new technology significantly affects work process, employee’s productivity, work life and the character of interpersonal and powerful relationships. Communication technologies have challenged our thinking on physical, geographical and industry boundaries, on distance, speed and communication on how we live, work, learn, and have emerged, as new types of entrepreneurship and new form of leadership.
According to Okunna (2004:20) whenever we think of information or communication technology, our minds fly to the world of computer, satellite fax machine, fibre optics, digital networks and ultimately the internet networks. The media performance is also enhanced with the use of information communication technologies because it has possesses greater speed, greater reach, clearer vision and capacity for two way flow of information.
Information technology is simply the application of digital technology to the process of communication. According to Nwabueze and Nwabueze (2007:172) information and communication technologies are simply communication gadgets, hardware, equipment or facilities that have modernised, improved and eased exchange of ideas and information of various kinds between and among people within or across distant boundaries/frontiers. Nwodu (2003:5) in the same vein describes information and communication technologies as a generic name used to refer to a number of communication hardware adopted in ensuring instantaneous dissemination of information and social values across the globe.
According to Turnage (1999:171), there are three main areas in which organisation are affected by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and these are communication, information management, and security. For communication, ICTs have brought a number of benefits to organisations such as: Cost savings by using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) instead of conventional telephone, email/instant messaging instead of posting letters, video conferencing instead of travelling to meetings, and e-commerce web site instead of sales catalogues. Websites can be seen from all part of the world and others can be taken wherever there is compatible banking system to process payment.
For instance, credit/debit card, pay pal, bank transfer facility. More so, the benefits of ICTs for communication in organisations will provide better customer relations, an improved supply chain for goods and services, faster development of new products to meet a new opportunity, etc.
Organisations can benefit from using ICTs for communication. For example, data mining of customer information to produce lists for targeted advertising, improved stock control, resulting in less wastage, better cash flow, etc. Managers are better informed and will have more reliable and up-to-date information on which to base their decisions. ICTs allow people who work in a team to communicate via multiple channels, thereby improving the dissemination of information in the organisation and promoting team members involvement.
The use of ICTs can bring its own security issues; and it can as well solve or reduce some security problems. Encryption methods can keep data safe from unauthorised people, both while it is been stored or while data is been sent to electronically. ICTs enable physical security systems such as fingerprint or facial recognition. This is important for reasons such as data protection legislation or commercial secrecy, although these are not always secure. From the foregoing, it is however clear that new communication technology are adopted by organization so as to further improve communication and work life thereby facilitating proper communication efficiency. Hence, it would be a worthwhile experience to evaluate ICTs application and efficiency in Akwa Ibom State University.
Akwa Ibom State University is among every other organisation in the world. It was established in May 2008 by the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council that approved the establishment of a conventional multi-campus State University. However, the Obio Akpa Campus of the Akwa Ibom State University inherited some staff, students, academic programmes and the entire facilities of the erstwhile Akwa Ibom State College of Agriculture. Akwa Ibom State University is an organisation that runs its daily activities on administrative, lecturing, data collections, transferring and storage information of students and staff. Every department that makes up the University is linked together and therefore operates interdependently. Thus, every success, failure and mistakes of one single department in terms of information exchange via new communication technology medium can affect the entire department.
Statement of the problem
The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs), have caused changes in almost every aspect of human lives. However, ICTs has created a severely altered communication in organisations. For instance, the use of e-mail/instant messaging instead of posting letters, video conferencing instead of travelling to meetings, and e-commerce web site instead of sales catalogues. Such efficiency has to do with providing credible and standard means for better information flow, administration, learning, collection, processing, storage and transferring of data or documents of individuals or group of individuals within the organisation.
In the case of Akwa Ibom State University, it is not yet known if the application of ICTs has helped in making communication effective for the smooth running of the day-to-day activities such as administration function, information flow in the Akwa Ibom State University, learning, collection of data, processing of information, storage and transferring of data or documents of staff and students in the university environment. The question now is; has the application of ICTs helped in making communication efficient in the Akwa Ibom State University?
Objectives of the study
In this study, the objectives are to:
Find out the type of ICTs used for communication in the Akwa Ibom State University.
Ascertain if the use of these ICTs have any effect on communication in the Akwa Ibom State University.
Determine the extent to which the use of ICTs influences effective communication in the Akwa Ibom State University.
Find out the challenges encountered in the use of these ICTs in the Akwa Ibom State University.
Research Questions
What are the types of ICTs used for communication in the Akwa Ibom State University?
Does the use of ICTs have any effect on communication in the Akwa Ibom State University?
To what extent does ICTs influence effective communication in the Akwa Ibom State University?
What are the challenges encountered with the use of these ICTs in the Akwa Ibom State University?
