Internal Communication and Team Performance at Australian Hotels
Abstract
The thesis research proposal focuses on the relationship between internal communication and team performance in event management at Australian Hotels. The proposal constitutes the introduction part, literature review, objective, methodology, results, and conclusion. The research shows that internal communication that is effective has increased overall performance with factors such as employees, rewards, values, and organizational policies determining it. An effective organized communication has teamwork players. During the survey, the researcher uses a survey company to conduct and collect filled questionnaires from the target respondent hotel. The methodology for the study entailed the quantitative research method whereby quantitative data was collected and questionnaires developed for the targeted respondents. From the study, the survey established that effective team communication influenced the working environment. also, effective communication enabled the working staff to adhere to set work ethics and rules, focus on service delivery, accountable, measure the achievement and progress of their colleagues as well as celebrate team success
Introduction
Recently, research students who are Master of Business want to apply for upgrades to the Ph.D. degree. Since then the importance of effective internal communication for enhancing team performance has been extensively reviewed. With regards to communication and team performance in event hotel management, the literature review has identified various gaps following the recent research studies. Previous studies have dwelt on public sector businesses without concentrating upon both internal communication systems and effectiveness of the team (BECA, 2015). Motivation, leadership, and team performance have been evaluated as factors influencing the internal communication systems. Despite differences in the structure of the team and employees’ needs, the studies have not been industry specific as well as not focusing on the models that define the relationship between the internal communication and team performance. It is, therefore, essential to understand the relationship between team performance and internal communication from the hotel event management perspective (Acas, 2017).
The reviewed literature outlined several gaps like having inadequate information on the impact of internal communication systems on the motivation of the team and leadership in the management sector. As part of the requirement for the master’s program, quantitative study involving the collection and analysis of an online survey of 345 participants have been conducted from several hotels in Australia. Non-managerial team members led the research work by use of questionnaires while the qualitative research approach used the semi-structured interviews with top event personnel management to help realize an insight about the impact and relationship between internal communication system, leadership, and motivation (Acas, 2017).
Research Objectives and Approach
- To explore the role of internal communication in different departments of the hotel.
- To explore the relationship between internal communication on team performance.
- To establish how the team communication influences the team-working environment,
Research Questions
The research questions that were addressed in this research study include:
- How does team communication influence the team working environment?
- How does team communication influence teamwork effectiveness?
- How does team role clarity influence problem-solving and decision-making processes?
- How does team communication affect interdepartmental working?
- How does role clarity affect interdepartmental working?
- How does team performance affect the business result of the hotel?
- How does internal communication affect the success of the company?
Literature Review
Over the past years, there has been a rapid growth of Australian event industries that has attracted more business investment yearly thus generating more revenue in the hospitality sector. The 2013-2014 Australian financial year received $23.1billion from events as depicted by the Business Events Study that was released in 2015, February. Also, in 2014 the Association of Australian Convention Bureau stated the need to support the hotel industry to increase international competition (Bharadwaj, 2014). In order to accomplish the organizational goals, team performance in business events was highly valued as well as understanding its relationship with the internal communication. However, based on the Australian context of hotels, there is no evidence that demonstrates the relationship between team performance and internal communication (BECA, 2015).
The business events that have contributed towards the Australian economy include:
Event management- it is similar to project management, and it entails audience recognition, brand study, logistics planning, and technical coordination before event launch. The catering manager manages internal event operations and other business events ranging from sports events, cultural, and festival. Several approaches and platforms have been created to advertise events on internets to boost global business events in Australia. It is realised that having better connection of communication among hotel department ensures efficient and effective transmission of information (Berg & Holtbrügge, 2010).
Teamwork- managers in global businesses strive to structure their work to be done as a team to realize more long-term results. Teamwork enhances learning and skill development among members due to their interaction with the environment towards achieving a common goal. The team members are required to be flexible to adapt to operating environments for the realization of a common goal (Bayrak & Adan, 2015). Teamwork creates organizational cohesion, effective communication, learning, and good problem-solving abilities. Also, teamwork improvises product quality and increases the business competitiveness of an organization as it improves the business productivity and embraces any technological advancement opportunities (Barrows et al., 2012).
Team performance- it is measured by factors like the working environment, support of the employer, and the organizational culture. Team performance alters the effectiveness of a given group such that those teams that have agreeable and extrovert members perform effectively and efficiently than those having poor levels of performance. Team performance is essential to all levels of the organization as it determines the outcome of the event being organized (Baines et al., 2004). Factors that determine team performance are level of training, skills of the employees, organizational communication, existing culture, and organizational planning. Australian hotels have used models like the input-process-output (IPO) model to strengthen their social relationship and illustrate the members’ roles. Interdependence helps the Australian hotels to realize team performance and achieve a significant fiscal measure (Bakanauskienė et al., 2015).
Internal communication- it involves exchanging of ideas, information, and feelings to achieve a common objective. It is through communication that meaning is created and conveyed to various groups. Lack of effective communication channels creates ambiguity causing unfavorable business organization and job dissatisfaction (Allen et al., 2012). Internal communication in a team impact its members’ performance, and it varies depending on the individual position in an organization. Internal communication should not hinder the organization performance in any manner, but instead, it should lead to good interrelation and creation of more organization links. The internal organization aims at uniting the knowledge and experience of managers and hotel employees to deal with a common problem at a specified time (Aubke et al., 2014).
The active internal communication for cumulative the economic and complete routine of a business organization can be represented as below:
The importance of effective internal communication can be illustrated using the “Hierarchy of Effective Communication” as shown below:
Methodology
In this field of research, quantitative research method was employed whereby quantitative data collection was administered, and research questionnaires developed. Before finalizing and administering the research survey during quantitative data collection, it was necessary to obtain the CQU Human Research ethics. During the research, creating awareness of the purpose of the study to all respondents while maintaining the confidentiality of the research conduct was of primary concern. In the research, an online third-party Web Survey company was used to distribute questionnaires to five-star Australian hotels. During the selection of the hotels, certain criteria considered included that the hotels must have at least 100 guests’ rooms and the hotels should have events (like conferences, weddings, and meetings) organized. The research targets large hotels because more people can complete a large number of questionnaires. Administration of questionnaires was not done directly by the researchers instead a survey company was used to obtain permission to conduct the study by first writing a formal letter containing introduction of the research study and addressing it to the HR department and senior management of the hotels under study. Upon acceptance by the hotels to participate in the survey, the survey company sends an email link to the HR department of each hotel who then forwarded it to all employees and departmental managers. The filled questionnaires were then sent back to the survey company who then forwarded it to the researchers for analysis.
During the development of the questionnaire, the survey research information was defined precisely from 25 participants across various hotels of English speaking countries in Australia. The internal communication questionnaire had survey instruments distributed to event team participants during March-May 2016. Various degree of agreements was used for survey responses based on internal dimensions such as communication mode/channel, team communication, and role clarity. The dimensions were important in such a way that people were understood on how they communicated and contributed to the flow of information. In team performance questionnaire, aspects considered during the formulation of the questionnaires were a team working environment, teamwork effectiveness, problem-solving and decision making, and interdepartmental working. Also, demographic questions were included in the survey whereby the respondents were asked about their gender, age, education level, and nature of their employment (Bhatia & Bremner, 2014).
Current work and preliminary result
Questionnaire response rate of targeted respondents was as shown below:
The response rate to the online survey
Respondents Targeted Percentage Targeted responses 516 100% Obtained responses 345 66.8% Refused to participate 140 27.1% Invalid responses 31 6.0% The demographic profile of respondents surveyed had 57.8% female and 42.2% male respondents, education level, 6.1% of respondents possessed an advanced diploma, 48.7% were bachelor degree holders, 37.1% had graduated with a certificate while the rest 7.2% were masters graduate (Allen et al., 2010).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is depicted that effective team communication influenced the working environment of employees such that it builds interrelation and increased the employee’s skills. It is was also realized that teamwork promoted increased productivity and long-term results of an organization such that the group members demonstrated good problem-solving skills and were motivated towards achieving a common goal. Teamwork increased members confidence as well as making them adhere to the company’s ethics. The study also discovered that when the employees have clearly defined roles and responsibility they understand each other’s duties and can resolve internal differences without blames and make effective decisions by involving appropriate people in the process. Therefore, from the study the objectives were achieved such that the role of internal communication in relation to team performance and team working environment was realized.
Reference
Acas 2017, Teamwork: Success through people. [Online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/g/7/B14_1.pdf
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Baines, P, Egan, J & Jefkins, F 2004, Public relations: Contemporary issues and techniques, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
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Barrows, CW, Powers, T & Reynolds, D 2012, Introduction to the Hospitality Industry, New Jersey, Hoboken.
Bayrak, G.Ö. and Adan, Ö., 2015. Significance of internal marketing communications in destinations, International Journal of Strategic Innovation Marketing, vol. 2, no. 1, p.293-298.
Berg, N & Holtbrügge, D 2010, ‘Global teams: A network analysis’, Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 16, no. 3/4, pp. 187-211.
Bharadwaj, A., 2014. Planning internal communication profile for organizational effectiveness, IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 183-192.
Bhatia, V & Bremner, S 2014, The Routledge Handbook of Language and Professional Communication, Routledge.Board of Studies NSW 2014, Employability skills in tourism, travel and events, Sydney, Board of Studies NSW.
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Business Events Council of Australia 2015, The value of business events to Australia, Ernst & Young, Australia.
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