The 12th International Scientific Conference

eLearning and Software for Education

Bucharest, April 21-22, 2016
10.12753/2066-026X-16-173

COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE SCHOOL ORGANISATION -A FACTOR

RENDERING THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MORE DYNAMIC AND
EFFICIENT

Ramona-Cristina BALANESCU
Department for Teaching Career Training and Socio-Humanities, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest,
Splaiul Independenței, Bucharest, Romania
prc73ro@yahoo.com

Abstract: Human communication is a basic process, both in the individual’s personal and social life.
Furthermore, communication is one of the most important activities within an organization. At the
workplace, the communication phenomenon must be studied as an interhuman relationship, as a specific
form of interaction. The organization optimal operation is based on the establishment of effective
relations between individuals and groups. Thus, the internal communication becomes a dynamic factor
both for the professional satisfaction and the professional performance. This article proposes an
empirical exploratory study where in the internal communication is analyzed related to other elements
specific to the organizational flow in the school environment. The study participants are the result of a
non-probabilistic sampling, based on availability criteria. The final sample includes 413 teachers in the
pre-university educational system, evenly distributed geographically. The data collection was performed
through an on-lineself-administered questionnaire. The study shows that the participants consider the
internal communication plays a positive role in the performance of the human relations management
activities, in building an organizational climate supporting performance and increasing job satisfaction.
The prevalent opinion shows the profound importance the high-quality internal communication has in
the activity performance, efficiency-rising, and Employee-motivation, the absence thereof leading to
disastrous effects. The contrary statement, whereby communications only seen as a human resources
management tool, is rejected by most of the Respondents. As a counterweight, the Respondents have less
positive opinions regarding the realities defining the multidimensional communication within the
organization they work in. Related to nature of the organizational climate, mention is made of the
personal and professional valuation feeling the school organization the teachers work in give to the latter.
The research also explores the relationship between the internal communication quality and the teaching
staff’s attachment to the institution. In the end, the paper proposes a theoretical applied model for
rendering the internal communication more dynamic and analyses the opportunity of implementing the
same in relation to several organizational variables: horizontal communication, vertical communication,
attachment to the organization and human resources management activities.
Keywords: internal communication, school organization, human resources management.

I. INTRODUCTION
Although this is the 21st century, the concept of communication still is one of the debate items
for specialists in various scientific domains (communication sciences, journalism, psychology,
education sciences, legal sciences, general management, organisational management, etc.). Efficient
communication surely leads to efficiently performed activities. This is valid both as concerns the
interhuman communication, and the organisational communication. And communication is everything
to an organisation, according to Mihai Petru Craiovan, who defines the concept of organisational
communication as follows: a complex process whereby its members exchange messages by means of a
common system of symbols, signs or behaviours, in order to achieve certain individual and common
objectives and/or to change certain individual and/or group behaviours [3].

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 The specialised literature shows various types and forms of communication, valid in any
organisation, [see 6], so also in the school organisation [see 4]. By analysing them, two interdependent
perspectives stand out: the interpersonal communication one and the organisational communication one.
The latter, which is relevant for this article, includes he formal communication (on the vertical, be it top-
down or bottom-up, on the horizontal and on the diagonal or transversal, less present in the educational
system) and the informal communication.
Berger[1] uses the terms of internal communication (IC) and organisational communication
with the same meaning, representing the communication and interactions between the Employees or
members of an organisation. Other authors (Cutlip, Center& Broom, 2006) define the ICalso as internal
relations [apud 1] or internal public relations [Kennan & Hazleton, 2006; Kreps, 1989, apud 1].
This article aims at the problematics concerning the internal communication (IC) within the
school organisation by exploring the descriptive vectors of this phenomenon and assessing theIC
potential as a factor for increasing the quality of the abovementioned organisational environment and
for improving the educational system Employees’ welfare.

II. METHOD
The study core objective aims at analysing the quality and role of internal communication in
schools. In accordance with the stated purpose, an exploratory transversal design was preferred,
instrumented through the questionnaire method.
2.1 Participants
The Participants in this study are the result of a purposive sampling based on availability criteria
and on occupational status criteria (namely, that of educational system Employee). As regards the
sample geographical distribution, the presence of a wide segment of Bucharest-resident Employees is
noticed (26.1%), and approximately 84.8% of the sample volume is represented by Subjects residing in
county capital-cities. The distribution by the seniority groups is relatively balanced. The segments
weighing slightly more are the ones including Employees whose seniority is inferior to 10 years. The
selected sample includes in its structure 73% women, the difference consisting of male representatives.
The absolute majority of the subjects included in the sample are university graduates and
postgraduates. The age group structure of the sample (
Table 1) shows bigger weights for the 30 to 59 age segment. We reckon the sample provides a
robust age group structure in order to support a series of varied statistical analyses.

Table 1 Age group structure of the sample (N = 431)

Age groups Frequency

20 to 29 years old 24.6%
30 to 39 years old 38.4%
40 to 49 years old 19.7%
50 to 59 years old 15.1%
Over 60 years old 2.3%
1.1. Data Collection
In the context of this study, the educational system Employee was the selection unit. The data
collection was performed by means of an on-line self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire,
designed to investigate the quality and role of internal communication in schools includes items with
standardised answer choices,𝛼 = .92, 𝑁𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑖 = 32.The technique for collecting the data and, implicitly,
for administering the questionnaire is that of the WAPI interview (Web Assisted Personal Interviewing),
whereby the questionnaire is self-administered by the Respondent by means of a software application.

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 III. RESULTS
3.1. Opinions regarding the nature and strength of the relation between the IC and the
HRM
The specialised literature states the existence of, at least, three convergence areas in the internal
communication relation –Human Resources Management (HRM), related to the fact that the IC can be
seen as an HRM responsibility, since it is difficult to draw clear a line between the two fields from the
epistemological and action point of view. Furthermore, the optimal interaction between the two supports
a series of organisation strategic advantages. The internal communication appears to be a source-factor
for increasing the efficiency and developing the activity specific to the Human Resources Management.
In general, the internal communication is seen as factor activating the organisational relations,
meant to have a positive contribution to increasing the Employees’ motivation. The empirical data
support this conceptualisation. More than 85.4% of the interviewed persons are of the opinion that the
IC is the Employees’ motivation and satisfaction source.
The statistical assessment of the relation between the IC and the HRM as the Employees’
motivation and satisfaction source, respectively, as a factor increasing the efficiency and developing the
HRM shows the presence of correlation coefficients whose values are statistically significant in their
majority (
Table 2). Thus, the internal communication is more than a simple tool used by the HRM, it is
present in all the activities of the Human Resources Department contributing to rendering them more
efficient.

Table 2 Correlation matrix at the level of the IC characteristics (Kendall τ coefficient)

Source of IC as a motivation Low quality

IC just an IC indispensable
the HRM and satisfaction of IC affects
HRM tool to the HRM
quality source the HRM
Source of the HRM - -.160** .545** .440** .509**
quality
IC just an HRM tool -.160** - -.181** -0.074 -.143**
IC indispensible to .545** -.181** - .453** .467**
the HRM
IC as a motivation .440** -0.074 .453** - .402**
and satisfaction
source
Low quality of IC .509** -.143** .467** .402** -
affects the HRM
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The results of the performed research show that the main characteristic of the IC is the very
strong intrinsic relation to the HRM. In order to statistically test the importance of the IC in relation to
the HRM, a factor analysis was applied. The appropriateness of the factor analysis to these data is good,
as per the index result:𝐾𝑀𝑂 = 0,786. The fact that the items assessing the IC -HRMrelation make up
only one factor is strengthened by the high-intensity inter-correlations (almost all of them have𝑟 >
0,5), by the shape displayed by the scree plot (with a slope change after the first extracted factor), by
the fact that only the first eigenvalue exceeds the value of 1, as well as by the fact that together they
explain 49% of the common variance of the manifest variables. All the communalities exceed 0.4, so no
variable was excluded. Thus, the four variables are manifestations of one latent variable (Error!
Reference source not found.) whose positive values show a major importance granted to the internal
communication for the success of the human resources management in an organisation. The saturation
value shows that the main indicator influencing this latent variable is the belief that the HRM efficiency
source is the communication, so the personnel organisation efficiency is the main vector of the perceived
communication importance.

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 Table 3 Factor matrix
Factor Matrix
Factor
1
Item2:It is the source of the HRM quality 0.781
Item1Indispensible for the performance of all the HRM-specific activities 0.748
Item4:It is the Employees’ motivation and satisfaction source 0.652
Item3: Low quality of IC affects the HRM 0.621
Extraction Method: Principal Axis Factoring.
a. 1 factors extracted. 7 iterations required.

3.2. The relational dynamics of the variables organisational climate and internal
communication
The Organisational Climate is one of the key elements for the development and success of an
organisation, being defined as recurring patterns of behaviour, attitudes, and feelings that characterise
life in the organisation [Ekval, 1990 apud 2].
In the school organisations, of various types and degrees, the communication and the climate
are very strongly correlates: a proper communication contributes to maintaining an appropriate climate
and, vice versa, a proper climate facilitates an effective communication [5]. Within the context of this
research, the Organisational Climate was defined though the following variables: Employees’ feeling
valued, support in increasing the performance, coordination, respect, Employees’ participation in the
decision-making process.

Table 4 The Organisational Climate. Descriptive Statistics

Min. Max. Average SD
I receive appreciation and acknowledgement from the Managers when I have 1 5 3.6 1.132
outstanding professional achievements
My Manager shows me how I can improve my performance 1 5 3.43 1.154
My Manager makes me feel valued for the work I do 1 5 3.49 1.183
The coordination within the working groups in the institution is good 1 5 3.56 1.064
All the working group members are involved in making the decisions 1 5 3.1 1.173
Within the institution there is a spirit of cooperation and respect for the others 1 5 3.52 1.121

A preliminary average analysis (Error! Reference source not found.) shows the presence
of a vulnerable area concerning the variable Respondents’ participation in the decision-making process
(𝑥̅ = 3,1, 𝑆𝐷 = 1,173). The percentages show that 35.4% of the interviewed Employees are not
involved in making the decisions within the working group they are a part of. The segment is numerous,
which can entail negative consequences on the Employees’ feeling valued, on the horizontal relations,
as well as on the convergence of the individual goals with the goals of the organisation. More than half
of the questionnaire respondents (61.5%) stated they receive appreciation and acknowledgement from
the School Managers when they have outstanding professional achievements, and 62.2% answered that
the Managers make them feel valued for the work they do. Approximately 65.4% of the Respondents
believe the School Managers make them feel valued.
The most appreciated Employees, as per their own statements, are those whose seniority at the
workplace is inferior to five years. 73% of them feel highly valued. This is an element holding potential
for making these Employees into Employees loyal to the institution they work for. The nature of the
Organisational Climate is also influenced by aspects related to the quality and quantity of the two-way
communication. As concerns this aspect, 88.5% of the interviewees state they frequently have the
opportunity to directly communicate to the Manager, while 73.3% of the Respondents admit that the
institution encouraged the two-way communication.
In order to provide a complete and complex picture of the vertical communication, we assessed
a series of attributes referring to the nature of communicati on, to volume of received information and
to the quality of the latter (Table 5).

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 Table 5 Attributes of the bottom-up communication (N = 431)

Characteristics Frequency
Agree Neutral Disagree
The communication with the Manager is honest 74.5% 14.5% 11%
The information sent by my Manager is clear 69.9% 17% 13.1%
My Manager listens to me when I wish to communicate some thing to him/her 77.8% 13% 9.2%
My Manager encourages the communication between the team members 68.6% 18.8% 12.6
The communication of the positive results with the Managers gives me 76% 16.1% 8,00%
satisfaction
My Manager takes my opinions into account 65% 19.2% 15.7%
My Manager encourages me in my efforts to achieve the objectives 66% 20.2% 13.9%

Most of the Respondents are characterised by a positive attitude towards the attribute concerning
the honest communication with the Boss. Indirectly, we can consider that these opinions also validate
the existence of a high level of Employee trust in the institution management, which is a factor favouring
the construction of an Organisational Climate supporting the Employees’ positive motivation.
Another attribute of interest is the clarity of the sent information, in which case the same positive
attitude from the Respondents can be noticed. Approximately 70% of the sample volume expressed their
agreement to the fact that, within the organisations they operate in, clear information is sent.
The bottom-up communication or the salaried communication plays a very important role in
what regards fuelling and supporting the interpersonal relations between the Employee and the Boss,
the issue-settlement and the conflict diffusion. In order for such type of communication to work, an
empathetic attitude and active listening on behalf of the Boss are required. The research results show
that a significant majority of the Employees declare themselves to be happy as concerns the Boss’s
capacity of actively listening to them.
The questions regarding the vertical communication and the Organisational Climate concern
correlative aspects and we shall approach them together. By synthesising, on an average, 58% of the
employees agree that there is a positive climate in the organisation they work in, the superiors
collaborate with the Employees, whom they treat with appreciation and respect, the communication is
direct and bidirectional. 22% of the Respondents are undecided, and the remaining 20% are discontent
with the communication between various hierarchical levels.
The factor analysis (strongly adequate to the data, as per the index result:𝐾𝑀𝑂 = 0.944)
confirms the fact that all the items associated to the Organisational Climate variable – ten in total –
belong to a single factor (the scree plot shape, only the first eigenvalue exceeds 1), and the
communalities (over 0.4) and the explained version (58%) have a satisfactory level. The main vectors
making up this satisfaction factor in relation to the vertical communication in the organisation are the
expression of the School Managers’ appreciation for the Employees and the bidirectional nature of the
communication (both from the Manager to the Employee, and from the Employee to the Manager) – see
Table 6.
Table 6 Factor matrix
Factor Maftrixa
Factor
1
My Manager makes me feel valued for the work I do .814
The two-way communication (Manager-Employee, but also Employee-Manager) .808
I receive appreciation and acknowledgement from the Managerswhen I have outstanding
.804
professionalachievements
Within the organisation there is a spirit of cooperation and respect for the others .799
My Manager shows me how I can improve my performance .793
In the group I work in, everyone’s opinion is listened to .791
The coordinationwithin the working groups in the institution is good: .756
In the event of a conflict between two Employees, the Manager discuses with each of them .707
All the working group members are involved in making the decisions .698
I frequently have the opportunity to directly communicatewith the Manager .626

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 Factor Maftrixa
Factor
1
ExtractionMethod: Principal Axis Factoring.
a. 1 factorsextracted. 3 iterationsrequired.
3.3. The Employees’ Work Satisfaction
The professional satisfaction can be made to become reality through several behaviours and
attitudes. Within the context of this work, we consider the Employees’ attachment and loyalty to the
organisation to be the core of professional satisfaction.
As regards the level of satisfaction in relation to the held position, 73.1% of the Respondents
declared themselves to be content, whilst only 4.9% expressed an opinion to the contrary. The degree
of satisfaction regarding the held position in and important indicator based on which the future personnel
fluctuation can be anticipated.
The performed research shows the Employees’ tendency to consider the internal communication
to be the source of professional satisfaction. Moreover, we can infer the role the IC plays in increasing
the institutional attachment, thus contributing to higher professional performances.
The attachment to the organisation can also be made to become reality through the Employees’
availability to contribute to the organisation success by actively involving in settling the issues or the
crisis situations. Approximately 80% of the Respondents show their firm intention to make efforts to
ensure the organisation success.
This last investigated dimension refers both to everyone’s attachment to the organisation
(interest in the organisation to be successful, identification with the organisation, availability to work
more), and to the benefits brought by the organisations to the Employees (chances of promotion,
involvement in the decision-making process, merit recognition). 56% of the Respondents are rather
attached to the organisation they work in, 21% are undecided and 23% are less attached to it.
Although they are a part of two matrix-questions, the eight tested questions are loaded on only
one factor, according to the scree plot test and to the eigenvalues. The data are strongly adequate to the
factor analysis (KMO = 0.910). The communalities exceed 0.3 (except for SATISF_ANG2.4, with a
communality of 0.24, which we shall however keep in the analysis for theoretical reasons). 52% of the
common variation of the eight variables is explained by the first factor.
As regards the saturations, one can notice that the communication, the offering of chances for
promotion and the involvement in the decision-making processes are the main variables influencing the
attachment to the employing institution (Table 7).

Table 7 Factor matrix

Factor Matrixa
Factor
1
The institution encourages the Employees to participate in making decisions .820
I am currently content with the promotion chances within the institution .817
The institution tries to keep its Employees for the long term by rendering the institution -
.813
Employee communication more efficient
The merits of my work in successfully managing an activity are acknowledged .807
The Human Resources Department contributes to strengthening the organisation-employee
.719
relation
I am currently content with the position I hold .692
I consider the issues the institution deals with as being my own: .673
I am willing to make efforts to contribute to the organisation success: .617
I am willing to undertake new responsibilities in order to hold on to my job .487
Extraction Method: Principal Axis Factoring.
a. 1 factors extracted. 4 iterations required.
Through the factor analysis method, we reduced the number of variables and we tested the
unidimensionality of each latent variable- importance of communication, importance of the human

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resources management activity, horizontal communication, vertical communication, institutional
attachment. The analyses were separate, and the method had an exploratory character. In order to
validate the factor analysis results we turned to the structural equation modelling (SEM). Thus, what
was discovered in the exploratory analyses is to be retested, while mentioning the items loaded on which
factors and setting all the other possible relations also to 0 (for instance, between item 1.1 and the
institution attachment factor), so that any relation between two indicators each of which belonging to a
different factor may be modelled as a relation between factors and not between the variables per se.
Should this model prove to the adequate to the data, then the entire system (figure 1) imagined in the
hypotheses can be considered to be valid.
The adequateness tests (Goodness-of-Fit) are as follows: the square chi test shows the value
2278 with 395 degrees of freedom, showing that the model is not perfectly adequate; the values of the
indices GFI, RFI and TLI range between 0.85 and 0.95 showing a satisfactory adequateness level, and
the RMSEA value amounts to 0.064, close to 0.05 showing an good match [7]. The solidity of the factors
can be strengthened by the high values of the communalities. All the correlations are statistically positive
and significant (𝑝 < 0.01). The strongest correlation between the estimations made by the AMOS
software is the one between the factors: vertical communication and attachment to the institution (𝑟 =
0.89). In other words, the stronger appreciated the vertical relations are (bidirectional, respectful,
intense communications), the higher the attachment to the institution is. A causality relation cannot be
deduced from these figures, and it is a co-dependence one: the communication quality depends on the
attachment and vice versa.

Figure 1 Results of structural equation analysis

The second strongest correlation is that between the vertical communication quality and the
horizontal communication quality (𝑟 = 0.76). The school organisations where the Employees have
positive relations with the Managers tend to also show positive relations between colleagues, and the
school organisations where one of them is lacking tend to be short as regards the other communicational
flow, as well.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

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 This research aimed at investigating the extent to which the internal communication an turn into
a factor rendering the professional activity of the Employees in the school organisation more dynamic.
The research exploratory nature led to relating the concept of internal communication to aspects
regarding the human resources management activity, the Organisational Climate and the Employees’
professional satisfaction.
Within the previous section, our analyses and interpretations followed an atomised perspective,
rather oriented towards discussing the main variables of interest: horizontal communication, vertical
communication, human resources management, Organisational Climate, and professional satisfaction.
For conclusion purposes, we propose to change the analysis perspective and focus the discussion
on the five factors, which are also the core concepts of the work: the importance of internal
communication, the importance of the HRM, the vertical communication, the horizontal communication
and the attachment to the institution.
As regards the factor scores calculated for the previously mentioned factors, significant
differences also appear depending on the gender. For almost all the items, the women granted higher
scores than the men. This is particularly the case of the importance of internal communication, but also
that of the role the human resources specialists play in rendering the work place climate into a
harmonious one. To a lesser extent, the women also show a more positive assessment to the relations
with the hierarchical superiors, and show a stronger attachment to the institution. The only item showing
no significant differences is the assessment of communication between colleagues, where the men and
women granted the same score, on an average.
As regards the age, no major differences are found, most of them being insignificant. In general,
the youth and the elderly assess the vertical communication and the horizontal communication similarly.
The Respondents aged over 40 are, to a larger extent compared to the ones aged under 30, convinced of
the importance the internal communication plays in the organisation. The employees aged over 50 are
more attached to the institution they work in compared to the ones aged under 40, the long time spent
within the organisation being a determining factor for it.
We conclude by stating the nodal role the internal communication plays in increasing the
organisational performance and we highlight the need to qualitatively invest in the multidirectional
communicational flows in the school organisations.
Nowadays, many specialists [1] agree with the statement of Harris and Nelson (2008, p. 95):
the internal communication is an essential aspect of organisational changes-itis “the key variable in
almost all change efforts, diversity initiatives and motivation”. Some (Gay, Mahoney & Graves, 2005,
p. 11) would state that the internal communication itself is the most “fundamental driver of business
performance” [apud 1].
Thus, the internal communication is a dynamic factor of professional satisfaction and of
professional performance.

Reference Text and Citations

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[2] Constantin, T. 2008. „Analysis of the Organisational Climate”InManagerial Organisational Psychology. Current Trends),
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[3] Craiovan, Mihai, Petru, 2006. Basics of Human Resources Psychology, Bucharest,Universitara Publishing House, p.74-75
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permission.