INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA.

This study investigated the relationship between effective internal communication and employee performance in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Employing the survey research design, the study investigated the relationship between internal communication and employee performance, factors inhibiting effective internal communication, methods of eliminating constraints to effective internal communication, as well as choice of media channel in achieving effective internal communication in NOUN. The Taro Yemane sampling technique was employed to select a sample size of 362 staff of NOUN to whom the copies of questionnaire was administered at Abuja headquarters and two of the largest centers, Lagos and Port Harcourt, out of a population of 3,762 staff of NOUN across the country. While personal interview and focus group discussion (FGD) were subjected to interpretive analysis, the questionnaire was subjected to quantitative analysis and the test of hypothesis was done by means of chi square. The study found that employee performance of NOUN is directly proportional to the effectiveness or otherwise of internal communication in the system; and therefore recommended that NOUN management should ensure that the practice of internal communication in the institution is in line with laid down principles of effective communication.