Journal of Education and Social Sciences, Vol. 8, Issue 1, (October) ISSN 2289-1552 2017 83 CONSTRAINTS MILITATING AGAINST ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN A MULTI-CAMPUS UNIVERSITY Charles Campion ABSTRACT Despite the important roles communication plays in the development of every institution, communication in the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) is perceived as being poor resulting in a gulf in information flow and delay or distortion, noticeable on the composite/satellite campuses. This situation could have effect on employees’ motivation, morale and work performance. This study examined the challenges militating against organizational communication in UEW, a multi-campus University. Multistage sampling technique was used to select a sample of 313 staff using Krejcie and Morgan Table from a population of 1,739. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics in the form of percentages, means, factor analysis and chi-square were used to analyse the data. The results revealed a good perception of the communication in the University with five point likert scale resulting to a grand mean value of 3.86, though bureaucracy and red-tape were pervasive. The most serious constraints millitating against communication flow in the University were inexperience of some staff, inadequate qualified human resource, distance to offices/ laboratories, unclear organisational structure leading to role conflict, lack of supervision, and lack of communication skills among others. For a University to have good organisaional communication and effective administrative performance, the bottlenecks hindering communication performance must be done away with. This research revealed a tall list of communication challenges in UEW which were classified into four main constraints (human, systems, administrative and structural). Appropriate recommendations including the need to communicate effectively to motivate staff put up their best and avoid misinterpretation and misunderstanding, ensure speed in information flow and feedback and adopting more than one means of communication to reach recipients were made to management of UEW. Key words: Constraints, Multi-Campus University, Organisaional Communication, Staff INTRODUCTION Paradoxically, effective communication flow takes place to enhance administrative performance between staff members and management of any work setting and indeed among humans. According to Aderetiet al. (2006), it is when data have been put into a meaningful and useful context that one can say communication has taken place with another and a decision is made. Communication allows organizations to exploit the value that information has for their proper functioning, effective and efficient performance, competitiveness and continued success. Communication in every organization is, therefore, a critical resource for performance. Samuel (2001) indicated that information on the other hand is data for decision-making collected as a resource and passed on as acquired and used in order to make an informed decision. Consequently, accessing communication is implicit across organisations, while disseminating information is explicit to staff. Cramton (2001) indicated that management of knowledge resources for knowledge workers in different locations is often more difficult than management of centralized knowledge workers. This implies that communication could constitute a great asset to organizations if the appropriate quantity and quality of information obtained is seriously considered. Shoveller (1987) posited several reasons for distortion in organizational communication resulting in communication dissatisfaction which includes: individuals failing to accept the responsibility to communicate and the lack of interest on the part of the receiver as well as non-convergent in meaning of what are being communicated. For instance, in some organizations with dispersed centers or branches, members often face difficulty or inability to create and maintain mutual knowledge and understanding about work-related issues. This may thus cause misunderstanding, distrust or even frustration among staff of the organisation. In a typical multi-campus institution, its mission drives the policies, practices, services, and organisational structure at each campus. Holland and Sullivan (2005) indicated that a multi-campus institution most often has a complex and challenging administrative perspective. Campuses that are part of a large University system generally have diverse student populations, including those from senior secondary schools, moving through a four-year program, or mature students who are much older and employed. In addition, individual campuses and their schools/faculties, typically develop business processes at different times using a variety of systems. For instance, different tuition and fee, academic year calendars, human resource policies and communication issues vary too. These differences could result in a large diverse constituency that takes into consideration uniformity in communication and general implementation of activities. Yingxian-Zou (2011) in a related study, pointed out the disadvantages of multi-campus University in China to include: less exchange between teachers and students, the time wasted on the way for teachers, the additional traffic costs for the universities and the environmental pollution caused by additional traffic caused among campuses. The role of communication in modern organisations, therefore, emphasizes its importance in human interaction, of which this research focuses that true communication is difficult to achieve since the communication process faces numerous potential obstacles (Appelbaumet al., 2000) and may lead to “confusion or distortion”, “misunderstanding or different interpretations”. Effective communication in an organisation should involve free transfer of information from the executive to subordinate and the vice versa. However, as organisation becomes bigger and more complex, communication also becomes more difficult