Recontextualising communication

Abstract

Communication is the process of creating and ascribing meaning (Fatimayin, 2018). It is the interaction and sharing of ideas among individuals or group members. Many of us communicate with people every day, whether in person or on the countless digital platforms available to us. But how much of our communication actually reaches the intended audience or person the way we hoped, is a different story. Being an effective communicator in one’s professional and personal lives involves learning the skills to exchange information with clarity, empathy, and understanding. For communication to be effective, it must take into consideration the 5 C’s of communication namely clarity, correctness, completeness, conciseness, and compassion, though these may vary depending on different factors. Effective communication thus requires that we exchange ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, and data in a way that will allow for the message to be received and understood with clarity and purpose (Ekanjume 2012). When we communicate effectively, both the sender and receiver feel satisfied. While the effectiveness of communication can be difficult to measure, its impact is hard to deny. According to one study, surveyed companies in the United States and United Kingdom with at least 100,000 employees lost $62.4 million per year on average due to poor communication. On the flip side, companies led by effective communicators had nearly 50 percent higher total returns to shareholders over companies with less effective communicators at the helm (Holmes Report, 2011). The benefits of communication effectiveness can be witnessed in the workplace, in an educational setting, and in the lives of individuals. Learning how to communicate well can be a boon in each of these areas. In the workplace for instance, effective communication can help in managing employees and building teams, grow the institution more rapidly, retain employees, benefit from enhanced creativity and innovation, and build strong relationships that attract more opportunities for the institution. In the area of personal life, effective communication can lead to improved social, emotional, and mental health, deeper existing connections, new bonds based on trust and transparency, and better problem–solving and conflict resolution skills. Despite these facts, communication is facing challenges in recent times with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and various social media platforms. The AI and social media have brought in a new wave of complexity and irregularities in communication which sometimes leaves much to be desired. This is even more complex when it comes to institutions of higher learning. Nowadays, information and communication technologies in general, and Web 2.0 technologies in particular, have become the first concern of young people as well as adults, notably in the university milieu. Social networks have taken the lead in terms of number of users on all continents. Their use is often associated with the exchange and sharing of different content, with Internet users. Since 2010, the African continent has recorded an explosion in the use of mobile phones, gravitating around 65% according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, 2018). The mobile phone has thus become an essential tool for Internet users who wish to have access to technological innovations, communicate with their friends, and share diverse contents. Despite this, in the field of digitalisation and the acceptance of technologies, African universities are seriously behind the movement of their counterparts in Europe, the USA, and Asia (Mogaji et al, 2020). This is supported by Altbach, et al (2019) who argue that European and American universities are widely in the lead in terms of marketing strategies and communication via social media and that African universities are lagging behind. Social media has taken over the academic world and education for more than a decade. Some universities, institutes, and training centres have created some kinds of social media intending to simplify communication, better-coordinating exchanges and learning, with relevant stakeholders (Gachago & Ivala, 2012; Watat, Wamba, & Kamdjoug, 2018). As Junco et al (2011) put it, social media has demonstrated its strengths in connecting several stakeholders, including students to each other, teachers to themselves, students and teachers, all the entities in the university, as well as external actors. Despite these facts, very few African universities have communication strategies and are present on social media, whereas Africa has one of the highest rates of social media use, given that young people are strongly represented. Research has revealed that social media is exponentially invading many parts of African society, and education is the most affected sector. For many African institutions, social media is limited to entertainment and friendly exchanges. The ‘strategic communication’ aspect is strongly neglected.