Introduction
A charitable organization is an organization whose main aim is not to earn profit but to work hand in hand with other entities in order to serve the society (Munshi 2005). Charitable organizations are of help mostly to the less privileged people in the society. Unlike other organizations which aim at maximizing profits, charitable organizations aim at maximizing the welfare of the people in the society.
There are many charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia. The main aim of these organizations is to provide free services to the less privileged in the country. The major beneficiaries of these organizations are the poor people. They are provided with basic commodities, mostly food. Apart from this, they are provided with education and medical services (Campbell 2007).
Most of the employees of the charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia are volunteers. They have volunteered to help the less privileged in the society. Although the charitable organizations have tried much to provide helpful services to the poor people in Saudi Arabia, this has not always been smooth. The reason for this is that there are many gaps created by the problem of communication in these organizations (Ortiz 2011).
This study is of much importance since most of the employees in the charitable organizations lack communications skills. This is caused by many aspects that must be addressed in this study. Apart from lack of communication skills, there are poor organizational structures in the charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia. The people responsible for this are the management, which is involved in making structural decisions in the organization (Zorn 2007). A study on communication in these organizations matters a lot since there is need to improve the lives of the poor people in Saudi Arabia. For this to be achieved, communication in these organizations needs to be improved.
This study will have a great significance in the charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia. It will show how poor communication skills have affected the operations of these organizations. It will also show how the communication gaps have affected the provision of services by the employees of these organizations. Apart from communication within these organizations, there has been poor communication between these organizations and the external environment.
The employees of these charitable organizations face certain challenges that are not addressed due to communication barriers within the organization. More so, they don’t know who to talk to. They end up remaining with their problems and this lowers the morale to work efficiently for the organization. There are differences in communication skills in these organizations due to differences in culture. Differences in culture may also bring language barriers in the organization that hinders effective communication (Munshi 2005).
Some of the charitable organizations have not been able to reach some targeted groups due to poor communication. Some poor and less privileged people are not even aware of the location of the charitable organizations since they have little or no information about them. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the workers of the organization to find better ways of creating awareness to these people. Another problem in this organization is that creation of awareness to the needy people has not been very effective due to poor communication skills and poor organizational structures (Ortiz 2001). Improving communication in the internal and external environment of the charitable organizations will not only benefit the employees, but also the needy and the less privileged.
This paper consists of various sections that are going to address various agendas. The first section will talk about a review of available knowledge regarding communication in organizations. The study will show the various literatures that have made arguments on communication. This will involve both empirical as well as theoretical literature. Empirical literature is a review of literature based on facts. On the other hand, theoretical literature is a review of literature based on theories.
After literature review, the study is going to show the major strengths of the literature review. Apart from this, the study will show the any weaknesses that are associated with the reviewed literature. Another section of this study will show any knowledge gap created by authors of the literature reviewed. It will also show how the study intends to bridge this gap. More so, it is going to show how the weaknesses of the available knowledge can be transformed into strengths.
This study will cover a section of research questions that are relevant in organizational communication. Research questions are questions that are formulated by a researcher to express a certain problem that needs to be solved. The research questions help in formulating the objectives of the research. This is because the research objectives are based on the research questions.
The last section of this study will show the proposed methods to be used to carry out research. This will include the various methods that will be used to collect data and also to analyze data. This section mostly consists of the research methodology that will be relevant for this study. It will also show the type of data that will be collected and the various methods of data collection that will be used.
Literature Review
There are many authors who have tried to create arguments on organizational communication. The ideas of most authors are identical, although there are certain aspects that create differences in their arguments. This section is going to review literature from all over the world as well as any available specific literature. This section will show the various contributions made by various authors in the world.
Communication is the key to development of organizations, as argued by many authors. Without communication, there would be no development in companies in the world. Most of the people in organizations do not understand the meaning of communication. Communication is the exchange of information from one person to another through a medium (Campbell 2007). Effective communication is important in planning and coordinating of activities in an organization.
There are various reasons why there are problems in communication in organizations. Some managers think that the employees have adequate information needed in the organization (Cheney 2011). Apart from this, there might be poor relationships between the managers and the employees. The employees fear that speaking out their problems may make the managers to think of eliminating them from office. Sometimes the managers are too busy to find time to communicate with the employees. This is especially in the organizations in which managers are highly involved in external meetings. This leaves the employees with inadequate information that would be required to provide quality service (Cheney 2010).
In order to create good communication in organizations, the managers should train their employees on good communication skills. Good communication skills involve proper listening and speaking. In addition, the employees should ask questions where they feel the manager has not been clear. Feedback is also important in communication. Therefore, the employees should give feedback to the information received by the managers. The feedback also involves suggestions and any recommendations made to the manager’s information (Cheney 2011). The managers should also try to maintain good relationships with the employees to improve the flow of information within the organization.
In order to provide efficient communication within the organization, the managers should improve the medium for communication. This means that managers should improve the way they communicate to their employees to pass on the information effectively. The managers should hold regular meetings with the employees in order to update them on any new information in the organization. Holding regular meetings will also give the employees a chance to express their problems to the management (Ortiz 2011).
The major strengths of the literature reviewed above are that they have shown why communication is important in organizations. Some of the literatures have come up with solutions of solving the problems of communication in major organizations. The major weakness of most of these literatures is that they have not shown how poor communication skills have affected the welfare of the employees and overall performance of the company in terms of profitability and provision of services to the external environment.
From the literatures reviewed above, we get to know that generally communication is important in all organizations in the world. We also know the sources of problems of communication organizations. What we don’t know is how the various organizations value internal communication. We also don’t know how lack of good communication skills has affected the welfare of the employees as well as the operations of the company. This is the knowledge gap that this study intends to bridge.
From the literature reviewed above, we get to know why we should study this concept. One reason is that studying this concept will help us to know how problems in communication lower the morale of the employees in a firm. More so, studying this concept more will help us to know how productivity can be increased through improvement in communication skills. More studying of the concept will also help to know how communication can be harmonized in the charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia.
Research Questions
This section involves questions that will act as a guide in the research. These questions also show the problems that should be solved in the research.
1. What are the major causes of differences in communication among the various employees of charitable organizations?
2. How has poor communication skills affected the provision of services by the employees of charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia?
3. How has communication problems affected the welfare of the employees of charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia?
4. How can these problems be solved?
Research Methodologies
The areas to be studied are the areas in Saudi Arabia in which charitable organizations have been established. Since there are many charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia, only two charitable organizations will be surveyed. This is because studying all the charitable organizations will be tedious and uneconomical. The type of data to be collected is primary and secondary data. Primary data will be collected through observation and interviewing. Observation will involve visiting the offices of the chosen charitable organizations and observing the communication between employees and managers.
Interviews will be done on the employees of the charitable organizations because they are likely to give information on all the problems they face in the organizations. Asking of the participant’s name will be avoided so as to protect their identities. This will also prevent victimization by managers. Data will be recorded in note books. No videos will be taken. Secondary data will be collected from books and journals that have adequate information on charitable organizations.
The main challenge that is likely to be encountered in this study is lack of cooperation by the correspondents. Assessing the employees will not be easy since most of them are very busy. Therefore, one will have to find the best time to interview these employees. More so, the time available to conduct this study may not be enough.
Conclusion
This study is of much importance to the employees of the charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia. It will help to create awareness on these employees by helping them to improve their communication skills. More so, their welfare will be improved and this will improve their provision of services to the less privileged. It is therefore notable that this study will be of help in the internal as well as the external environment. Finally, this study will also be helpful to other organizations since it is going to expand the existing knowledge regarding organizational communication.
References:
Cheney, George, 2010. Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalisation. New York. Waveland Press.
Cheney, George, 2011 Encountering communication ethics in the contemporary world. Liverpool. Routledge.
Ortiz, Erin 2011, How should corporate social responsibility address labor migration in light of market globalization? Liverpool. Routledge.
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Bardhan, Nilanja, 2011. Public Relations in Global Cultural Contexts. Liverpool. Routledge.
Campbell, Nittaya, 2007. Frustration at the enrolment office: New Zealand: Pearson Education.
Bentley, Rosie, 2007. Management Communication. New Zealand: Pearson Education.
Zorn, Theodore, 2007. Sustainable Business and Management Fashion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cheney, George, 2007. The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility, New York: Oxford University Press.
Munshi, Debashish, 2005. International and Multicultural Organizational Communication. Carolina: Hampton.
