Problem of internal communication at international school of business (ISB).pdf

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
-----------------------------
Cao Mai Anh
PROBLEM OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (ISB)
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
-----------------------------
Cao Mai Anh
PROBLEM OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (ISB)
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SUPERVISOR: Prof. Tran Ha Minh Quan
Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018

Acknowledgement
The final thesis in business administration is a valuable chance for me to consolidate,
improve and enhance my knowledge. Through this dissertation, I have been able to use
the academic knowledge that I have gain and acknowledge over the past three years in the
International School of Business (ISB). Therefore, I would like to express my great
gratitude to all wonderful people who have provided huge contribution through my
journey.
First of all, I would like to show my deepest thanks to Prof. Dr. Tran Ha Minh Quan, my
professor, my thesis supervisor. Without his advices, my paperwork never can be
accomplished. There is no word to describe how grateful I am, from the appropriate
structure to which theories should be used as well as how to contact with relevant staffs
for interviewing. Step by step, he not only formed my study but also provide such
catastrophic knowledge to me.
Secondly, I would hope to indicate my appreciation for all the ISB’s staffs who spent their
precious time for my interviews in being so proactive to deliver information more
honesty. The thesis would be less valuable and realistic without their helps.
Finally, I would like to express my profound and sincere thanks to all the students who
took part in this thesis by spending time to complete the first survey, answer the
questionnaires and provide such useful comments. The ideas from such small
conversations formed the basic stand for my idea of identifying symptoms.

Contents
Executive summary ..............................................................................................................2
Chapter 1: Introduction.........................................................................................................2
1.1 Background and problem statement .......................................................................2
1.2 Background information of ISB..............................................................................3
1.3 Survey objectives....................................................................................................3
1.4 Scope of survey.......................................................................................................3
Chapter 2: Survey design and findings.................................................................................4
2.1 Educational service quality.....................................................................................4
2.2 Survey design..........................................................................................................4
2.2.1 Determine scale for survey...................................................................................4
2.2.2 Scale adjustment ...................................................................................................6
2.2.3 Data collection......................................................................................................8
2.3 Data analysis and findings ......................................................................................8
2.3.1 Students’ characteristic information.....................................................................8
2.3.2 Descriptive statistics ...........................................................................................10
2.4 Chapter conclusion................................................................................................13
Chapter 3: Problem identification ......................................................................................14
3.1 Symptoms .............................................................................................................14
3.2 Initial cause – effect map ......................................................................................15
3.3 Problem identification...........................................................................................18
Chapter 4: Problem justification.........................................................................................21
4.2 Problem definition ................................................................................................21
4.2.1 Internal communication......................................................................................21
4.2.2 Internal communication measurement................................................................22
4.3 Problem existence .................................................................................................22
4.3 Problem importance..............................................................................................23
4.4 Causes validation ..................................................................................................25

4.4.1 Causes informed by the theory ...........................................................................25
4.4.2 Causes validation................................................................................................27
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation....................................................................31
5.1 Recommendation for the issue “Lack of Top management support”...................31
5.2 Recommendation for the issue “Poor internal communication channels” ...........33
References ..........................................................................................................................35
Appendices .........................................................................................................................37
Appendix 1: Survey.........................................................................................................37
Appendix 2: Interview guide to clarify symptoms..........................................................43
Appendix 3: Interview guide to draw initial cause-effect map.......................................45
Appendix 4: The consequences of “Internal communication” in the context of ISB.....46
Appendix 5: Causes validation .......................................................................................47

PROBLEM OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT ISB 1
List of tables
Table 1 – List of scales used for measuring service quality.................................................5
Table 2 – Five dimensions of HEdPERF scale ....................................................................6
Table 3 – The scale for measuring educational services quality of ISB ..............................7
Table 4 – Students’ characteristic information.....................................................................9
Table 5 – Statistics of describing students’ perceptions about ISB services quality .........11
List of figures
Figure 1 – Main major of ISB students ................................................................................9
Figure 2 – MBA program pie chart ....................................................................................10
Figure 3 – ISB’s services quality elements ........................................................................12
List of diagrams
Diagram 1 – Initial cause-effect map .................................................................................17
Diagram 2 – Updated cause-effect map .............................................................................19
Diagram 3 – Final cause-effect map...................................................................................29

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT ISB 2
Executive summary
Nowadays, as the development of education industry, universities found graduating high
school students are struggling from the problem of selecting a post graduated institution.
The International School of Business (ISB) with its advantage of available brand of the
University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) has more and more confirmed
educational service quality in the industry. Hence, students’ demands about service
quality have been known as the decisive element that effect on students’ satisfaction as
well as the institution’s reputation. Recognizing and identifying the real problems that are
existing in the institution are the purpose and goal of this paperwork.
Through the results of a survey of ISB students’ satisfaction with MBA program and in-
depth interview with two staffs from Students Service Department, author found out most
of MBA students were not satisfied with ISB’s non-academic staffs, which came from
“internal communication”. Author continued to analyze the problem based on theory as
well as discussion with some ISB staffs to determine the real causes: “lack of top
management support” and “poor internal communication channels”. Finally, author
recommended simple actions so as to improve as much as possible the two causes
mentioned above.

Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter is designed to give the general introduction about the background of the
study as well as the reasons for choosing the research topic. The research problems,
research objectives will be clearly defined. The overview of research methodology will be
also introduced. Finally, the chapter will end up by explaining the scope of the research.
1.1 Background and problem statement
Higher education represents a critical factor in innovation and human capital development
and plays a central role in the success and sustainability of the knowledge economy [6].
Hence, higher education has become increasingly important on national agendas and has
undergone profound mutations and reforms worldwide over the past decades, as portrayed
in a recent OECD review of tertiary education policies [19]. Nowadays, universities
consider students as the center of their services, which will result in the satisfaction for
their “customers”. However, students’ demands are changing. Learners increasingly seek
courses that enable them to update their knowledge throughout their working lives. In
addition, as learners seek to acquire particular knowledge or skills to satisfy labor market
needs, more and more prefer to pick and choose courses from the most suitable providers,
rather than studying a traditional clearly defined program at one institution [19].
The pressure from the market and customers (parents and students) force universities
increasing not only their quality but also their reputation to attract new comers. In the case
of International school of business (ISB) – a new educational organization, school’s
leaderships have had to try hard to improve their service quality in order to create
competitive position in educational market. As a MBA student of ISB, I did this study
with the purposes of contributing to ISB’s development in the future as well as enhancing
ISB’s image and reputation in comparison with other universities.
With the objectives above, I conducted a survey with a purpose of evaluating current ISB
students’ perception about educational service quality which has supplied by institution
ISB. Thence, exploring the real problems existing in the process of supplying educational
services will help the institution perceive the limited aspects and improve them. The
institution’s image and reputation are enhanced if its degrees become more valuable.

1.2 Background information of ISB
International School of Business (ISB), known as a part of University of Economics Ho
Chi Minh City (UEH), was established in 2010 with the purpose of create a modern and
dynamic educational environment with English has been the main language. The
institution has not only experienced Vietnamese lecturers but also professors from many
famous universities around the world. Hence, they can support to students a range of
practical experiences.
Nowadays, the institution runs undergraduate as well as post-graduate programs. In
addition, ISB also has a closest relationship with several of international universities to
create opportunities for students can go abroad and receive international degrees.
1.3 Survey objectives
Specifically, the topic set out the following objectives:
i) Identify the real problems that existing in The International School of Business
(ISB) in the process of supplying educational services through the survey of students’
satisfaction with service quality of ISB’s MBA program.
ii) Recommendation potential solutions for each problem.
iii) Creating the action plan through cooperation with ISB.
1.4 Scope of survey
As mentioned above, the scope of the survey is the perception and satisfaction of MBA
students about ISB’s current educational service quality. Hence, the survey is aimed at
students in the 6th
and 7th
course of MBA program at ISB. This condition is more
appropriate with the research’s purpose compared to the other years as at the time of
registration, students already had enough information to make decision because they are
experiencing the MBA program. In addition, the survey was conducted in 2 different
systems of ISB’s MBA program: ISB-MBA and WSU-MBA in order to understand what
the different factors in students’ perception about ISB’s service quality.

Chapter 2: Survey design and findings
This chapter is designed to give the literature reviews of service quality in education.
After that, a survey questionnaire was studied and designed based on the last research in
order to identify the problems of the institution. It can be said that this chapter is very
important because it helps to clearly identify the latent problem of the organization and
plays a role of a prerequisite for finding causes as well as solving them in the following
chapters.
2.1 Educational service quality
According to research of Parasuraman (1985) in [1], service quality was known as the
result of comparison that customers make between their expectations about a service and
their perception of the way the service has been performed.
In the sector of education, [13] defined educational service quality as a student’s overall
evaluation of services received as part of their educational experience. This mean students
were clients who were to be given a service and whose needs were to be met [11].
2.2 Survey design
2.2.1 Determine scale for survey
Quantitative method was used to gather data which measured the ISB students’
satisfaction about service quality of the institution’s ISB-MBA program in order to find
out the abnormal points.
The scale used for measuring educational service quality is quite important because it will
reflect the students’ satisfaction, attitudes with the service supported by the institution.
The data were collected on the web database such as Emerald, Science Direct, by
searching “scales for service quality of higher education” or “scales for service quality of
MBA program” in the topic field. The results were shown in the table below:

Table 1 – List of scales used for measuring service quality
Scale Author Dimension Objects
SERVQUAL
Parasuraman
et all (1988)
Q (service quality) = P (service performance)
– E (client’s expectation)
 Include 5 dimensions: “Reliability”,
“Responsiveness”, “Assurance”,
“Empathy”, “Tangibles”.
Several sectors:
Business economics,
Computer Science,
Information science
library science, social
science, engineering,
educational research….
SERVPERF
Cronin and
Taylor
(1992)
Q (service quality) = P (performance)
 Based on SERVQUAL
 Include 5 dimensions: “Reliability”,
“Responsiveness”, “Assurance”,
“Empathy”, “Tangibles”.
Several sectors:
Business economics,
Computer science,
Engineering,
educational research…
HEdPERF
Abdullah
(2005)
Q (service quality) = P (performance)
 Based on SERVPERF
 Include 5 dimensions: “Non-academic
aspects”, “Academic aspects”,
“Reputation”, “Access”, “Programme
issues”.
Higher education
HEDQUAL
Icli and Anil
(2014)
 Based on HEdPERF
 Include 5 dimensions: “Academic
quality”, “Administrative services quality”,
“Library services quality”, “Supportive
services quality”, “Quality of providing
career opportunities”
MBA programs
Source: Author’s synthesis
SERVQUAL and SERVPEF were known as 2 scales used in varieties of previous
researches in several sectors, including educational researches. However, these scales
revealed a mismatch in the context of measuring students’ satisfaction with MBA
programs because they did not adequately reflect the students’ expectations with the
quality of the educational services provided by the institution.
HEDQUAL was developed based on HEdPERF with its’ target in MBA programs.
However, the scale did not suitable with this research. Indeed, the survey is aimed at
current MBA students at ISB, which means students haven’t graduated yet. Therefore, the
dimension of “Quality of providing career opportunities” from HEDQUAL is
inappropriate.

Five dimensions of HEdPERF were used to develop the scales of measuring students’
satisfaction with educational service quality of ISB. Specific observations were measured
on a 7- point Likert scale, which 1 was “Strongly disagree” and 7 was “Strongly agree”.
The decription of HEdPERF scale was defined in the table 2 below.
Table 2 – Five dimensions of HEdPERF scale
Dimensions Decription
1. Academic aspects
This aspects show the instructors’ responsibility such as
knowledge, experience, teaching methods, problem solving in
learning, the instructors’ communicative attitude to the learner.
2. Non-academic aspects
These are essential elements to help students fulfill their
educational obligations, such as service delivery procedures,
academic/career counseling, etc… These activities are the
responsibility of ISB non-academic staffs.
3. Reputation
“Items that suggest the importance of higher education
institutions in projecting a professional image”
4. Access
“Items related to accessibility, ease of contact, availability, and
convenience”
5. Programme issue
“Items that emphasize the importance of providing a wide range
of programs that are reputable and have flexible structures and
study plans”
Source: [20] & Author’s synthesis
2.2.2 Scale adjustment
In this part, author set up an in-depth interview with 2 ISB students who were
experiencing the educational services at institution with the aim at reflecting accurately
the contents of each aspect in HEdPERF scale. After that, supplying and adjusting the
scale were essential to perfect the survey’s questionnaires. The questionnaire guides for
in-depth interview were shown in Appendix 1.
After about 30 minutes for discussion, the scale was modified as follow:
 Academic aspects:
The results of discussions showed that students had been interested in group discussion in
classes. They expected the discussion in group be more exciting and much more diverse
topics for them to practice. Therefore, a statement was added in Academic aspects: “The
teaching staff creates inspiration for students to join the group discussion”.

 Reputation:
These 2 students confirmed that they didn’t need the recreational facilities. Their target
was completing the MBA program as soon as possible, which was a difference between
students’ perceive from under graduation and higher education. Therefore, the statement
“The recreational facilities are adequate and necessary” was cut from the
questionnaire guide.
The statement “The institution’s graduated students are easily employable” did not
explicitly evoke the university’s image in the students’ mind. It leads student to think
about the practical function that university’s training service offers students after
graduation. Therefore, this statement was also cut on the questionnaire guide.
 Programme issues:
These 2 students from in-depth interview confirmed that they didn’t need the health care
services because they only take about 2 or 3 hours a day for studying at institution, which
was too short time for experiencing every services not related to their education.
Therefore, the statement “The health care services provided by the institution are
adequate and necessary” was also cut on the questionnaire guide.
The results of scale adjustment were expressed in the table 3 below:
Table 3 – The scale for measuring educational services quality of ISB
Academic aspects
1.
The teaching staff is knowledgeable for answering my questions regarding course
syllabus
2. The teaching staff assists me in a careful and polite manner
3. The teaching staff is never to busy to refuse my requests for assistance
4. When I have a problem, the teaching staff is sincerely interested in solving it
5. The teaching staff has a positive attitude towards students
6. The teaching staff communicates well in the classroom
7. The teaching staff is highly qualified and experienced in its respective field of knowledge
8. The teaching staff creates inspiration for students to join the group discussion
Non-academic aspects
9. When I have a problem, the institution's clerical staff is sincerely interested in solving it
10. The institution's clerical staff provides individual attention
11. Questions and complaints are dealt with quickly and effectively

12. The clerical staff is never to busy to take my requests for assistance
13. When the clerical staff promises to do something within a certain time, they do it
14. The working hours of administrative services are convenient
15. The clerical staff has a positive attitude towards their work and the students
16. The clerical staff communicates well with the students
17. The clerical staff is knowledgeable of its systems and/or procedures
18. I feel secure in my relationships with this institution
19. The institution provides services within the expected deadlines
Reputation
20. The institution has a professional appearance and/or image
21. The academic facilities are adequate and necessary
22. The institution executes programs of excellent quality
23. The sizes of groups allow personal classroom assistance
Access
24. The students are treated equally and respectfully by the institution
25. The students are free to express their opinions
26. The clerical staff respects the confidentiality of information I disclose to them
27. It is easy to contact the clerical staff by telephone
28.
The institution appreciates feedback from students in order to improve the delivery of
services
29. The institution has a standardized and simple procedure for providing services
Programme issues
30. The institution provides programs with flexible structures and study plans
31. The institution provides an excellent counseling service
2.2.3 Data collection
Questionnaires were used to collect primary data in order to conduct this research. The
plan is to hand-out the questionnaires to 100 students in both ISB-MBA and WSU-MBA
programs so as to reach the target of 60 to 70 valid candidates. The questionnaires were
designed in Google form and would be sent through email. After all the necessary data
was available, the author will apply Excel software to collect the findings.
2.3 Data analysis and findings
2.3.1 Students’ characteristic information
There were 100 questionnaires sent through email. However, there were only 59
questionnaires returned and analyzed. Demographic information included students’ main

majors, their MBA programs and genders. Achieved result was presented in the table
below:
Table 4 – Students’ characteristic information
Frequency
(students)
%
Main Major
1. Accounting 10 16.95%
2. Business Administration 22 37.29%
3. Business Law 1 1.69%
4. Engineering 4 6.78%
5. Finance - Banking 15 25.42%
6. Foreign Trade 3 5.08%
7. Information Technology 2 3.39%
8. Professional Communication 1 1.69%
9. Rural Development 1 1.69%
MBA program
1. ISB-MBA 42 71.19%
2. WSU-MBA 17 28.81%
Gender
1. Male 24 40.68%
2. Female 35 59.32%
Total 59 100.00%
Source: Author’s calculation
Figure 1 – Main major of ISB students

Table 4 showed that among the 59 students interviewed, there was an existence of
majority of students’ majors related to economic sector with 27.29% students in Business
Administration, 25.42% students in Finance – Banking and 16.95% students in
Accounting sector. Students from Engineering with 6.78% and other sectors ranked for
negligible proportion. This means not only students from economics sectors but also other
sectors have paid attention on MBA programs.
Figure 2 – MBA program pie chart
2.3.2 Descriptive statistics
The next data analysis refers to descriptive statistics on 5 factors, including academic
aspects, non-academic aspects, reputation, access and programme issues. The author
would like to use a rule of thumb which is provided by Sekaran (2006) whether if mean
value is higher than 6.9, the respondents have high agreeing level with the statement; if
mean value is between 4.9 and 6.8, the respondents have slightly agreeing with the
statement; if mean value is between 3.9 and 4.8, the respondents have neutral attitude
with the statement; if mean value is from 2.0 to 3.8, the respondents have slightly disagree
with the statement; and if mean value is lower than 2.0, the respondents have high
disagreeing level with the statement.
Table 8 showed the description of ISB services quality. The variables of academic
aspects, reputation, access and programme issues were known as good services quality
with the mean values in turn of 5.5, 5.24, 5.36 and 5. Meanwhile, the remaining factor –

non-academic aspects – though reaching a high value of 4.7 (neutral), was lower than
other aspects. Obviously, this factor needed to be paid more attention.
Table 5 – Statistics of describing students’ perceptions about ISB services quality
Mean
Standard
deviation
Academic aspects 5.500
1.
The teaching staff is knowledgeable for answering my questions
regarding course syllabus
5.814 0.880
2. The teaching staff assists me in a careful and polite manner 5.492 1.006
3.
The teaching staff is never to busy to refuse my requests for
assistance
5.424 1.037
4.
When I have a problem, the teaching staff is sincerely interested
in solving it
5.153 1.014
5. The teaching staff has a positive attitude towards students 5.695 0.895
6. The teaching staff communicates well in the classroom 5.627 0.889
7.
The teaching staff is highly qualified and experienced in its
respective field of knowledge
5.729 0.868
8.
The teaching staff creates inspiration for students to join the
group discussion
5.068 0.962
Non-academic aspects 4.700
9.
When I have a problem, the institution's clerical staff is
sincerely interested in solving it
4.932 1.298
10. The institution's clerical staff provides individual attention 4.593 1.261
11. Questions and complaints are dealt with quickly and effectively 4.373 1.564
12.
The clerical staff is never to busy to take my requests for
assistance
5.017 1.320
13.
When the clerical staff promises to do something within a
certain time, they do it
4.153 1.659
14. The working hours of administrative services are convenient 4.424 1.354
15.
The clerical staff has a positive attitude towards their work and
the students
4.797 1.229
16. The clerical staff communicates well with the students 4.814 1.345
17.
The clerical staff is knowledgeable of its systems and/or
procedures
4.831 1.354
18. I feel secure in my relationships with this institution 5.153 1.297
19. The institution provides services within the expected deadlines 4.610 1.260
Reputation 5.242
20. The institution has a professional appearance and/or image 5.169 1.220
21. The academic facilities are adequate and necessary 5.169 1.085
22. The institution executes programs of excellent quality 5.254 0.958
23. The sizes of groups allow personal classroom assistance 5.373 1.097
Access 5.364
24. The students are treated equally and respectfully by the 5.593 1.002

institution
25. The students are free to express their opinions 5.797 0.943
26.
The clerical staff respects the confidentiality of information I
disclose to them
5.424 0.951
27. It is easy to contact the clerical staff by telephone 5.203 1.270
28.
The institution appreciates feedback from students in order to
improve the delivery of services
5.119 1.176
29.
The institution has a standardized and simple procedure for
providing services
5.051 1.238
Programme issues 5.000
30.
The institution provides programs with flexible structures and
study plans
4.898 1.185
31. The institution provides an excellent counseling service 5.102 1.199
Figure 3 – ISB’s services quality elements
In the factor of non-academic aspects, most observational variables had a mean value of
less than 5, except that “The clerical staff is never to busy to take my requests for
assistance” and “I feel secure in my relationships with this institution”. It was clear
that there were existence of lowest score value of three statements that related to non-
academic staffs: “When the clerical staff promises to do something within a certain
time, they do it” with the mean value of 4.1, “Questions and complaints are dealt with
quickly and effectively” with the mean value of 4.3, “The working hours of
administrative services are convenient” with the mean value of 4.4.

The results of descriptive statistics showed that all the issues related to non-academic
aspects need to pay more attention, especially non-academic staffs of ISB. However,
the mean value of non-academic aspects was 4.7, which was neutral. Therefore, I
would continue to conduct an in-depth interview with some people who have done
this survey with the purposes of deep down their thought about this issues and
understanding their dissatisfaction with non-academic staffs.
2.4 Chapter conclusion
To cut the story short, the results of the survey about measuring the ISB students’
satisfaction with the institution’s services quality showed the existence of non-academic
issues that related on non-academic staffs of ISB. There is undeniable that non-academic
staffs are professional employees who contribute very significantly to the success of an
institution, including ISB. Indeed, non-academic staffs are known as assistances to the
institution in the processes of supporting institutional knowledge, providing essential
resources, working alongside of academic staffs or professors, especially administrating
in realizing the institution’s mission.
In the purpose of contributing on improving ISB services quality in the future, non-
academic issues was essential problem that ISB’s leaders should pay more attention to
solve these issues as soon as possible so as to provide students better and more
professional services quality.

Chapter 3: Problem identification
This chapter showed clearly about all the symptoms of the institution ISB based on the
findings from the last chapter as well as information from one more in-depth interview
with some students who finished the survey. After that, an in-depth interview with some
staffs in the department of student services was conducted in order to identify potential
problem. Finally, potential causes were pointed out through theory and validation.
3.1 Symptoms
Although the results of descriptive statistics from Chapter 2 showed that all the issues
related to non-academic aspects need to pay more attention. However, non-academic
aspects with their mean value 4.7 was also high in the Likert scale 7. Therefore,
author continued to effectuate another in-depth interview with 5 MBA students (1
student of WSU-MBA and 4 students of ISB-MBA) who represent for 3 different
years of work experience groups, respectively named of 1-5 years, 6-10 years and
more than 10 years so as to have more objective view about these issues.
The in-depth interview aimed at their first expectation of studying MBA program at
ISB, the reasons why they chose this institution for their master degree and their
evaluation about ISB services in order to explore the differences in thinking as well
as expectations between 3 groups of work experiences. Thence, identifying symptoms
became easier.
The interview results showed the 3 main symptoms that students complained the
most. First of all, “unprofessional attitude of staffs” was complained with the staffs’
expression of lacking of enthusiasm, not deep grasping students’ needs as well as
lacking of matter knowledge to help students. Secondly, “late responses” was pointed
out through staffs’ late responses to students’ questions or problems, inconvenient
working hour of non-academic staffs, which was difficult for students and staffs can
met and discuss together about their problem. Finally, “not accurate solutions from
staffs” was expressed in the inconclusive ways staffs responded to students.
The details of in-depth interview with students were shown in Appendix 2.

3.2 Initial cause – effect map
The author continued to conduct another in-depth interview with ISB Student Services
Manager based on available symptoms that pointed out from previous parts to make the
initial cause – effect map. There was an existence of 3 main symptoms that led students’
satisfaction with non-academic staffs:
(1) Unprofessional attitude of staffs
First of all, students complained that ISB non-academic staffs had had unprofessional
attitude in process of supporting students. They had not deep understood students’ needs
as well as lacked of knowledge about students’ issues, which led to their late responses as
well as their unconvincing answers. In the case of ISB, most of issues would be sent
through email by students; therefore, there were an existence of lacking of
communication face to face between students and non-academic staffs, which led to not
grasp clearly the students’ needs. In some cases, inconvenient working hours of
administrative services also the reason of difficulties in communication with students.
This mean all Master classes were hold in evening or in weekends that were not working
hours of non-academic staffs. Therefore, it was difficult for students can meet staffs for
their issues.
(2) Late responses
There were various reasons that led to late responses of non-academic staffs. It could not
deny that lacking of communication with students as well as inconvenient working hours
of staffs caused their late. In addition, lacking of internal communication made the staffs
had not had enough knowledge and information to response to students convincingly
because of late responses from relevant departments.
In addition, the institution has not had an system of potential problems that may occur
during supporting service to customers. Hence, it is difficult for administrative staffs to
solve quickly and efficiently all the problems that students’ complains or students’ needs.
In the results, late responses have made students feel dissatisfied with non-academic
staffs.
(3) Not accurate solutions from staffs

All of the symptoms mentioned above led to not accurate solutions from non-academic
staffs. This mean all the issues related to inconvenient working hours of administrative
services, lacking of internal communication as well as lacking of communication between
staffs and students effected directly or indirectly to staffs’ convincing answers.
The initial cause-effect map was shown in the diagram below:

Diagram 1 – Initial cause-effect map

3.3 Problem identification
Besides all the symptoms that mentioned in initial cause – effect map above, author
continued to collect more symptoms to complete clearly and fully the map based on
literatures:
(1) Workplace conflict
According to the study of [18] about “Workplace conflict, bullying, and
counterproductive behaviors”, “a breakdown in communication can quickly lead to
conflict, when in fact, the only issue may be a misunderstanding of another party’s
expectations”. We can have an example of collaborative efforts, when the team leader had
not defined the roles, missed deadlines, fingered pointing and blamed to their
subordinates, there would experience conflict between team leader and other members.
Furthermore, the workplace conflict has also occurred when a department fails to
coordinate with another department on a major project, the result could be a degree of
miscommunication that not only derailed progress but also led to infighting.
Indeed, the workplace conflict can make employees feel stress with working environment,
which affects on their performance as well as organization’s success.
(2) Reducing employees’ innovation
According to [22], ineffective internal communication would result in decreased
employees’ innovation levels, loss of productivity, absenteeism, sabotage…, which
reduced employees’ performance or turnover.
(3) Poor performance of staffs
Workplace conflict and reducing staffs’ innovation could result the poor staffs’
performance, which led to the demotivation in the business. According to [22], with poor
performance of staffs, bad decisions could occur which result the customers’
dissatisfaction as well as organizational reputation.
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Diagram 2 – Updated cause-effect map
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Potential central problem
(1) Lack of internal communication
The updated cause – effect map shown most of the symptoms that led to students’
dissatisfaction with non-academic staffs related to the problem of “ineffective internal
communication”. Besides, in the in-depth interview with ISB Student Service Manager
and two ISB staffs from Student Service Department, they have admitted that there was
an existence of weak interaction of departments in the institution. That mean they have
met some difficulties in contacting with other departments because of the distribution of
place. Indeed, ISB has 3 places and of course ISB’s staffs have also distributed in many
places, which was difficult for them to contact others as fast as possible to solve
problems. In addition, in some cases, they had to contact with UEH to ask about their
problems but they did not the persons who was responsible for their related issues.
Therefore, the issue “lack of internal communication” was essential problem that the
institution ISB should pay more attention to solve as soon as possible so as to provide
students better and more professional services quality.
(2) Lack of communication between staffs and students
In the in-depth interview with ISB Student Service Manager and two ISB staffs from
Student Service Department, they have also admitted that there was an existence of
lacking the interaction between staffs and students, that led to their inability to deep
understanding what students needed because of the difference between their working
hours and students’ learning hours. However, the working hours of ISB are stable. That
mean changing this issue was difficult for them.
However, in the map, solving the problem “ineffective internal communication” also help
the institution avoid the issue related to “lack of communication between non-academic
staffs and students”. Indeed, in the case of ISB, many students complained about
unprofessional attitude, late responses and not accurate solutions from non-academic
staffs, which will be improved if ISB has the efficient internal communication.
Summary, the inefficiency of internal communication is the potential central problem that
led to issues about non-academic aspect in institution ISB.

Chapter 4: Problem justification
4.2 Problem definition
4.2.1 Internal communication
In the study of [22] about Internal communication challenges and issues, internal
communication was defined as communication within an organization and it is the
lifeblood of all organizations. “It includes official and unofficial communication. Official
communication in an organization can be in the form of policies and procedures,
Communiques, Reports, bulletins and newsletters and others. Unofficial communication
is the form where employees exchange messages with one another within an organization
in all departments”. Indeed, nowadays internal communication has been recognized as a
strategic focus for business of organizations. Therefore, strong internal communication
cultures promoted a shared identity among staffs, so they breeded loyally and motivation
as well as transformed place of work into place of collaboration and connection [22]. On
the contrary, lacking of internal communication was a major concern for organizations
since it resulted in workplace inefficiency [18].
According to Postmes & Tannis (2001) in [22], the most popular types of internal
communication were horizontal communication which related to the informal
interpersonal and socio-emotional interaction with colleagues in the organization who are
at the same level; and vertical communication which referred to communications between
managers and their subordinates.
[22] also pointed out that internal communication’s function included 4 dimensions. First
of all, “internal line management”, which occurred in the team of briefings and appraisals,
was communication between supervisors and their subordinates. Secondly, “internal team
peer communication”, which occurred in team discussions, was kind of communication
between team colleagues. Next, “internal project peer communication” was
communication which occurred between employees in a project. Finally, “internal
corporate communication” was the way that top management communicated with all
employees within organizations.
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Problem of internal communication at international school of business (ISB).pdf

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