Internal Communication and Employee Relations Management for Effective Staff Performance in Nigeria Customs Service

: In the contemporary global landscape, organizations have transitioned from conventional approaches to communication towards developing comprehensive communication strategies that center around employee motivation and engagement. This shift emphasizes the pivotal role of strategic internal communication, a relatively nascent but increasingly vital subject of study and application in the business world. The contemporary corporate environment observes a shift in employee roles, with employees increasingly undertaking responsibilities traditionally associated with public relations. Expectations of roles are pivotal in comprehending this transformation in PR practice, as expectations and norms greatly influence communication behavior and, consequently, organizational performance. Within this context, a content analysis of secondary data was done for the interpretation of the data. This allowed for the evaluation of existing knowledge for the purpose of relevance, consistency, replication and refutation. The paper argues that internal communication practices within paramilitary agencies, such as the Nigeria Customs Service, diverge from conventional corporate organizational models. This divergence is particularly pronounced given the agency's multifaceted role in revenue generation, the suppression of smuggling, trade facilitation, and other functions. The paper concludes that employee participation and job satisfaction played a mediating role in the relationship between internal communication and the job performance of the employees.


I. Introduction
In the contemporary global landscape, organizations have transitioned from conventional approaches to communication towards developing comprehensive communication strategies that center around employee motivation and engagement.This shift emphasizes the pivotal role of strategic internal communication, a relatively nascent but increasingly vital subject of study and application in the business world.Strategic internal communication entails the deliberate and specialized use of communication by management to inspire employees to uphold shared values and organizational goals.It also serves as a pivotal connector within an organization, empowering employees to take initiative, make informed decisions, and execute them effectively.This, in turn, leads to the achievement of targeted outcomes set by the organization for a given period.
The concept of internal communication, often referred to as communication within an organization, represents a purposeful process of sharing job-related information among staff members (Adetipe, 2020).In the realm of economic activities, organizations continually strive to attain their objectives within the constraints of limited resources.This pursuit of goals, The inception of Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays into corporate Public Relations in the United States during the early 1920s marked the beginning of organizations recognizing PR as an integral aspect of their corporate identity.Whether practised consciously or integrated into marketing strategies, PR has become an indispensable part of organizations' efforts to achieve their corporate objectives.Nevertheless, it's worth noting that the amalgamation of internal communication and employee relationships for effective staff performance is a relatively underexplored territory within the domain of public relations (Wang, 2022).However, as Yue et al. (2021) assert, PR not only serves as a conflict resolution tool but is also a means of cultivating mutual trust.In the contemporary world, the management of image, perception, and impression has assumed a significance perhaps surpassing the intrinsic qualities of products, ideas, and individuals.
Internal communication, as a subset of public relations, represents a strategic management function designed to facilitate the exchange of information among members of an organization with the aim of fostering mutual understanding.It functions as a conduit for information dissemination, nurtures a sense of community within an organization, aligns employees with the organization's objectives, and ultimately forges robust relationships.Internal communication is the bridge between an organization and its employees, capable of nurturing trust and engagement among the workforce (Heide & Simonsson, 2016).This dynamic role of internal communication extends to influencing organizational performance, enhancing job awareness, and fostering employee commitment (Holland et al., 2016).
The tools employed for internal communication within organizations are broadly categorized into traditional and modern methods (Falkheimer et al., 2017).Traditional methods encompass means such as notice boards, telephones, and various forms of meetings, including seminars and workshops.In contrast, modern tools include email, intranet platforms, wikis, digital signage, in-house social networks, chat applications, and social media.The proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) worldwide has expanded the use of digital communication techniques within organizations, allowing employees to share information and communicate within their work environments seamlessly.
As noted by Bekmeier-Feuerhahn et al. (2017), people have diverse preferences regarding how they receive organizational information.Consequently, a multitude of options for internal employee communication is available globally.This evolution in internal communication practices is partially attributed to the growing recognition of employees not merely as the workforce but as invaluable communication assets in an increasingly interconnected, digitized, and transparent world.As internal stakeholders, employees are viewed as trustworthy sources of information for external audiences.
Since the fundamental focus of public relations is to safeguard an organization's goodwill and reputation, it has become evident that effective internal communication fosters a favorable environment where cordiality and positive interactions prevail.Bachrach et al. (2016) identify six overarching activities encompassed within internal communication, all aligned with an organization's objectives concerning its employees.These activities involve fulfilling legal obligations to communicate with employees, supporting significant organizational changes, nurturing collaboration and a sense of community in the workplace, encouraging employees to serve as advocates for the organization, retaining valuable employees, and ensuring employees understand their roles and how to accomplish them.In light of these developments and insights, this paper aims to assess the internal communication and employee relations management strategies within the Nigeria Customs Service.This assessment is directed toward enhancing staff performance and, by extension, the overall effectiveness of the organization.

Problem Statement
In an ever-evolving, dynamic, and complex world, the field of public relations has taken on a transformative role in shaping our society.As human civilization progresses, community connections become increasingly important, fostering enlightenment and awareness.Consequently, public relations strategies of every organization must encompass community relations as a crucial element.The sustenance and success of any organization hinge on the level of goodwill it cultivates and the ongoing support it garners.A company that does not align its policies with the needs and aspirations of its workforce risks facing significant backlash.Thus, the establishment and maintenance of environmentally responsible programs and initiatives that benefit not only the organization but also its employees and the broader community have become imperative (Nweke, 2001).
Previous studies conducted by Rim-Rukeh et al. (2008), have delved into community relations and its impact on the corporate image of organizations.These studies sought to understand the strategies employed by organizations to enhance their corporate image.Similarly, scholars like Plaskoff (2017) and Olaolu (2012) have explored the practice of community relations within specific organizations.Samuel (2014) emphasizes that there exists a consensus among public relations scholars regarding the importance of preparedness and effective handling of conflicts.Igben (2008) describes proactive public relations, highlighting the significance of taking preemptive actions.Plaskoff (2017) further asserts that public relations professionals widely endorse proactive conflict management as a strategic approach.Furthermore, Walden and Westerman (2018) recognize one of the principal objectives of public relations: facilitating communication channels for the exchange of ideas concerning policies and programs.
On a global scale, the discourse on internal communication has shifted its focus towards employee engagement through the cultivation of a communication culture that encourages two-way communication.This approach aims to shape an organizational culture conducive to enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and the ultimate achievement of organizational objectives.As previously mentioned, this study seeks to amalgamate internal communication and the challenges associated with employee engagement, which often give rise to internal and external issues that impact the organization's ability to achieve its objectives.However, the context of internal communication practices within paramilitary agencies, such as the Nigeria Customs Service, diverges from conventional corporate organizational models.This divergence is particularly pronounced given the agency's multifaceted role in revenue generation, the suppression of smuggling, trade facilitation, and other functions.Consequently, there exists a substantial gap in the literature regarding internal communication and employee relations management within the Nigeria Customs Service.Prior studies have inadequately addressed this fundamental issue, leading to a significant knowledge gap that necessitates the initiation of this study.

Objectives of the Study
a. To interrogate the concept of internal communication b.To examine internal communication and employee performance c.To explore employee relations management and performance

II. Review of Literature
This paper is exploratory in nature, as it utilizes, the descriptive research method whereby relevant literature, documents, and records were consulted and analyzed based on the existing literature on internal communication and employee relations management for effective staff performance in Nigeria Customs Service.The paper is predominantly based on information derived from the qualitative data using secondary sources, such as relevant texts, journals, official publications, historical documents, and the Internet, which served as tangible sources of insight into the analysis based on thematic areas.A content analysis of secondary data was done for the interpretation of the data.This allowed for the evaluation of existing knowledge for the purpose of relevance, consistency, replication and refutation.

Theoretical Framework
This study espouses the postulation of the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS).The STOPS as proposed by Grunig in 2002 forms the basis of most public relations research and practice today.It builds on the concept of 'publics', defined by Dewey as being issue groups that form around problems that the people involved in them are directly affected by (Grunig, 2005).It provides measures for the identification and segmentation of these publics.The Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) is a theory of communication developed to explain people's motivated communicative actions when they encounter problematic life situations.Tam et al., (2022) theorized the STOPS as a continuation of its parent theory, the Situational Theory of Publics (STP), which started from James Grunig's original situational theory about the role of information during human decision situations.
The theory is built on the assumption that decision makers have perfect knowledge, and information is available freely and sufficiently for decision makers.In reality, however, people make decisions with imperfect knowledge or in a lack of relevant information and thus as decision makers tend to face the risks of their choices and decisional consequences.People become motivated to seek more information about their decisions as the risks or the opportunity costs associated with those decisions increase.James Grunig originally set human communication as a purposeful action related to the problems that one identifies.This conceptual transition is an important theoretical landmark for the development of both situational theories (i.e., STP and STOPS).Specifically, the situational theories posit that a) communication behaviors increase and decrease across people's decision situations, b) communication could better be understood as a variable (vs. a constant) and better be a dependent variable, c) motivators of communicative behaviors could vary across situations, as one's personal perceptions about problem significance, connection, and obstacles in doing something about the problematic situation vary.As such, the situational theory upset the common assumptions (i.e., the perfect knowledge assumption and the sender-based view of communication) to the notion of communication being an activity through which people to cope with their problematic life situations within the constraints of one's internal and external conditions.
Another notable generalization of the STOPS from the STP is in its communicationbased dependent variable.In the STP, the dependent variables are information seeking and information attending.These dependent variables limit the scope of communication to information consumption, and have often been criticized as a limitation.The STOPS then addresses this limitation by acknowledging that publics display other communication behaviors that are pertinent to public relations.The CAPS model has a second-order factor structure with six first-order factors.The six sub-variables of the CAPS model represent a more general view of information behaviors of problem solvers or members of publics.They are divided into three categories or domains-information acquisition, information transmission and information selection, each with a proactive dimension and a reactive or passive dimension.The main goal of the STOPS is to describe and explain communicative aspects of human problem solving by conceptualizing perceptual and cognitive processes and epistemic motivation that rise and fall in our life situations.(Grunig, 2005).
Therefore, based on the lacuna in the literature, most of the studies presented earlier have one or more gaps to be filled by the current research.The gaps relate to the limited scope of some of them, different geographical locations, structure of the study and concepts examined.Many of them focused on different aspect of internal communication without sufficient consideration to existing strata and application to champion organizational culture for ultimate achievement of the organizational objectives.Besides, the gap between the period when some of the studies were conducted and now makes their findings inapplicable because of certain intervening variables that might have created distortions in internal communication practice.
Specifically, there is paucity of research on internal communication in government agencies and specifically in paramilitary for the strengthening of theories and methods in the area.Thus, the current study will demonstrate empirical strength over previous ones because of the pragmatic approach of the quantitative and qualitative methods that will be adopted in this study for data gathering, since its significant focus on internal communication practices in Nigeria Customs Service.

Understanding the Concept of Internal Communication
One of the functions of Internal Communication (IC) is to influence how communication is done within an organization, not really to communicate on behalf of the organization.Maintaining an effective and satisfied workforce is the job of internal relations.Public relations professionals who specialize in internal relations have the primary responsibility of communicating with the interorganizational publics, executives, management, administrative staff, and labour.
It is on this premise that Kent (2021) posited that internal communications is a branch of public relations that deals with communication within a business or organization.It's a form of PR that happens internally.It's used to inform, engage and motivate employees and ensure everyone in the organization is 'singing from the same hymn sheet.'Internal communications should be part of overall PR strategy and should reflect on brand promise, values and business goals in exactly the same way as external communications.Just like external PR strategy, the consistency of message, the frequency of message and the channel use are key to organizational success.
Multidisciplinary by nature, internal communication can be positioned between public relations, human resources management and (internal) marketing.However, in practice, it is public relations and strategic communication practitioners that have the best understanding of internal stakeholders.Internal stakeholders, predominantly employees, are active players in the internal communication process, who co-construct meaning with the organization and cocreate the relationship as opposed to being merely passive message receivers (Yue et al., 2021).Yue et al. (2021) also suggest that internal communication is both a management function and public relations specialization.It is strategic in nature which aims to achieve specific internal communication goals that contribute to organizational effectiveness.Hence, internal communication can be more appropriately coined as "strategic internal communication," which is distinct from a similar but easily confused term, organizational communication.As a well-established field of study, organizational communication is concerned with studying all communication phenomenon's inside the organization (e.g., persons and their characteristics or motivations, organizations, structure, teams, networks, discursive resources, discourse, interpretation, representation, construction of meaning, processes, etc.) Traditionally, perceived as a function of information exchange, a fundamental role of internal communication is to keep employees informed and updated regarding their job roles, the organization, market, environment and each other (Yue et al., 2021).Since communication should not be a one-way street.As a strategic management function, internal communication involves listening to gather employee feedback, views, perspectives, and ideas.Symmetrical internal communication which highlights listening, feedback, reciprocity and an employeecentered approach has been recognized as an important characteristic for excellent public relations.Hume and Leonard (2014) emphasize the importance of incorporating the views of internal stakeholders in organizational strategy development.Active listening constitutes twoway communication, promotes dialogue where meanings can be co-created and mutual understanding can be achieved and also breeds innovation as employee voices and constructive feedback can serve as the source of innovative ideas and entrepreneurship.As indicated, building relationships is a fundamental function of internal communication.To that end, employees need to feel connected inside the organization with the company, with the leader, and with one another.A deeper level of connection goes beyond an employeremployee exchange relationship.Rather, employee minds, hearts, and souls are bonded with the organization.Employees are committed, identified, and engaged.Such outcomes can only be achieved over time via effective and systematic internal communication incorporating various players at different levels in the organization.
Internal communication helps employees make sense of the organization, including its mission, vision, values, beliefs, and purpose (Men & Bowen, 2017).By communicating, interpreting, and instilling the values and beliefs among employees, internal communication helps acculturate employees and create a shared identity inside the organization.Culture not only represents the personality and character of the organization, but also serves as the glue that binds employees.Culture is intertwined with internal communication.While culture provides a context and climate for internal practice, culture is created, reinforced, preserved, and transformed via internal communication.Internal communication exerted at both organizational and leadership levels influences the way employees think and act, which is an important manifest of culture.An organization's internal communication, especially from the leadership communication perspective, plays an essential role in motivating employees.To motivate is to create a desire to stimulate employee efforts and performance which connects strategies to action and drives goal attainment.

Internal Communication and Employee Performance
Internal communication focuses on the processes of interactions and relationships between organizational members (Lee & Yue, 2020).Operating as a system, internal communication facilitates communicative interaction and meaning-making among employees within an organization.Internal communication, therefore is the basis of organizational processes (Mcphee & Zaug, 2001).Successful organizations use an internal communication system to distribute information about the organizational objectives to all organizational members and to support cooperation.This paper focuses on manager-subordinate communication as the main element of internal communication because it aligns with the research objective of understanding how manager-subordinate communication influences the subordinates developing strategic cognition, affect, and behaviours within an organizational context.Employees expect their organizations to provide information so they can perform their job well.Mcphee and Zaug (2001) argue that internal manager-subordinate communication helps employees to understand the organizational strategies and how their work fits with the organizational goals.Internal manager-subordinate communication has a vital role to enable employees to actively search or interpret information and spread information ultimately about resources that are important for the organizational performance.Mazzei, (2014) argues that internal manager-subordinate communication is more than a message-targeting function and has a role in promoting knowledge and active communication behaviours among the employees that contribute to the organization's success.Welch and Jackson (2007) view quality internal manager-subordinate communication as the communication that leads to the understanding of the organizational strategic direction amongst the employees.If employees are not able to comprehend the organizational direction, they would not be committed to it and even worse they might become reluctant to believe the organizational direction because they do not understand and identify with the goal of their organization.Mazzei, ( 2014) describe effective internal communication as the communication that is frequent, honest, and transparent which supports employees to feel a sense of belonging and shared mission with their employers.Internal manager-subordinate communication builds employees' trust and a sense of commitment to their work roles that enhances engagement level with their work roles at their organization.The clarity of content of manager-subordinate communication and the way manager-subordinate communication is provided from an employer that fulfils employees' needs mean the employees will understand how their work relates to the organization's vision.
The way to describe communication is by saying it is a transmission, exchange or sharing of information, with the aim to persuade and influence.In communication the creation and transmission of a message reaches the receiver, the process seems very linear and foreseeable.Thus, communication may sound very simple, but as most people know, it is not always true that what is said is what is perceived.In addition, effective communication, where the sender of the information achieves intended outcome is very crucial for a company that wants to be successful (Ruben & Gigliotti, 2017).
Internal communication is an important social phenomenon occurring between employees and managers internally within the organization, followed by the efficiency of the company and for every individual to understand and feel secure in their task and motivated to perform.In addition, technical advances have led to more complex business environment with more information available through many communication tools (Ruben & Gigliotti, 2017).With internal communication, there are also different methods for the employees to share information.
According to Bishop (2010), employee performance involves enabling people to perform their work to the best of their ability and meeting and perhaps exceeding targets and standards.For a successful employee performance, a culture of collective and individual responsibility for the continuing improvement of business processes needs to be established and individual skills and contributions need to be encouraged and nurtured.Where organizations are concerned, employee performance is usually seen as company performance and it is monitored through the business appraisal.Bishop (2010) defined employee performance as a strategic and integrated approach to increasing the effectiveness of organizations by improving the performance of the people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors.
It is the development of individuals with competence and commitment working towards the achievement of shared meaningful objectives within an organization that supports and encourages their achievements.Duthler and Dhanesh (2018) see employee performance as an important function of human resource management.Employees mainly perform tasks like production, storage, manufacturing, transportation, marketing, purchasing, distribution, promotion of business, finance and accounting, human resource, research, and public relations.All these activities are inter-related to achieve set targets and when performed properly has a great impact on the total production, sales, profit, progress and market position of the organization (Maiwada et al., 2023).
The importance of employees' performance must be understood by the management and sincere efforts must be put in that direction.Duthler and Dhanesh (2018) conclude that an organization can take the lead in the market by getting an advantage over its competitors through its talented and dedicated employees.The contribution of employees on the job is the most important factor for development and excellence in business because the performance of employees on different job functions in close coordination is needed for the success of the unit.
Employee performance can be explained as an employee's behavior when performing a job or task.It is the product or outcome resulted by the employees in the organization.Employee performance embraces the employee's achievement in line with the regulations, expectations, and requirements of the organization.The set of abilities, efforts, and perceptions of tasks from employees can produce employee performance.In terms of organizational context, employee performance is the degree of contribution of an organizational member in achieving the organizational goals.Elving (2005) referred to employee performance as the passion that employees harbor for their jobs and their employer, which result in emotional and intellectual commitment to their organization.Duthler and Dhanesh (2018) described as an impetus for an employee to employ his/her discretionary efforts, experience, and energy, which engender generating creative solutions that, in turn, directly benefit the employers without any explicit assurance of personal gain."Performance ultimately comes down to people's desire and willingness to give discretionary effort" to their jobs.Chong (2007) pointed out that employees have high degrees of involvement and attachment to their employers and/or organizations.Employee performance "seeks to increase members' input into decisions that affect the organization performance and employee well-being."Four key elements associated with employee performance include "power…, information…, knowledge and skills… and…rewards".Walden and Westerman (2018) argued that the definition of employee engagement overlaps with well-established constructs such as organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior.Thelen (2021) acknowledged that there is a myriad of dimensions or constructs associated with employee engagement because the concept of employee engagement emanates from interactions of unique individuals under diverse work conditions.This breadth necessitates the need for focusing on only a few key dimensions or constructs.Thelen (2021) proposed the following dimensions for employee performance: alignment with the organization, management effectiveness, salary and compensation, communication, and opportunity for development and recognition.Elving (2005) pointed out that a formalized definition of employee performance remains elusive.Several studies however have attempted to both define employee performance and understand the cause and effects of employee performance.These studies can be used to deduce a fairly well-grounded understanding of employee performance.Elving (2005) categorized these needs as compensation package, job satisfaction, and employability potential.Furthermore, he highlighted that vertical and horizontal communication is a key facet of employee performance.Employee feels for his or her organization that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work.Elving (2005)concluded that eight drivers of employee performance include: trust and integrity, nature of the job, line of sight between employee performance and company performance, career growth opportunities, pride about the company, coworkers/team members, employee development, and relationship with one's manager.

Employee Relations Management and Performance
Employee relations are now a key component in improving an organization's performance and productivity.The cornerstone for ensuring organizational survival is now the management and coordination of human activities.This accomplishment makes it easier to safeguard employees' wellbeing and interests in order to prevent tense interactions between the employer and the employee.The management of the relationship between employers and employees is the emphasis of employee relations in order to increase employees' commitment, passion, performance loyalty, productivity, and motivation (Arubayi et al. (2020).
Employee relations primarily focus on avoiding conflicts and finding solutions to concerns at work.When managers adjust performances that fall short of expectations, certain issues can occur at work.This is why human resource managers should offer progressive disciplinary approaches and make sure that humane procedures are followed when resolving conflicts and employee grievances.Additionally, good employee relations make sure that staff members have the essential training and information to support the organization's procedures, programs, philosophies, and policies (Kim, 2021).
Additionally, it guarantees that workers are informed about their legal rights and are given assistance in dealing with concerns related to their subpar performance or workplace misconduct.Employee relations strategies can be used in a variety of workplace settings, but they deteriorate when workers believe they are underpaid or have little to no control over business operations.Lack of recognition, a lack of worker involvement in decision-making, a rigid bureaucratic structure, a poor organizational climate, a poor management style, a nonsupportive environment, pay inequality, and inadequate mentoring programs are just a few of the causes of poor employee relations strategies used by employers of labour (Ibelegbu & Abanyam, 2022).
The notion of Employee Relationship Management (ERM) is relatively new in the management world.A broad definition thus recognizes ERM as techniques to successfully manage how organizations relate to current, former, and potential employees.Although customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERM) have many similarities, CRM is easier to understand.Human resource management has a particular subfield called ERM.Accepting various methods and procedures to manage connections between employees and employers enables the business to achieve its goal.Worlu et al., (2016) described ERM as a method of handling the relationship between knowledge workers and corporations.Positive employee relationship enhances the accomplishment of organizational goals.Worlu et al., (2016) discoursed that ERM fosters loyalty, enthusiasm, and trust inside the association.Additionally, it aids in improving working conditions, regulating human resource practices, and fostering friendly relationships among staff members.
Employee relations refer to creating and maintaining effective working connections between a company and its employees.The culture ingrained in such an institution determines the level of employee relations.The CEOs and other management teams are in charge of fostering a positive work environment for all employees by implementing procedures that facilitate the execution of the rules in a realistic, open, and equitable way, hence the requirement for employee training.Employee training is a technique that focuses on enhancing employees' abilities, expertise, and attitudes in order to achieve corporate objectives.The performances of LMDBs can be enhanced by regularly offering activities like workshops, seminars, and more on how to foster a positive work and organizational culture (Ibelegbu & Abanyam, 2022).
Performance includes both what has been accomplished and how it was done.There are several methods for evaluating a company's performance.The most frequently utilized KPIs, however, are those that relate to output or financial outcomes (profitability).Employees have a critical part in an organization's success.In order to achieve corporate goals and gain a competitive edge, organizations need highly performing personnel.The execution of routine activities with excellence could potentially be a source of joy for the employee.For an organization to succeed, managing employee performance is crucial.Measurement of an employee's competency should be a component of an organization's all-inclusive plan.

IV. Conclusion
Based on the direction of the literature, it is clear that internal communication, as a subset of public relations, represents a strategic management function designed to facilitate the exchange of information among members of an organization with the aim of fostering mutual understanding.It functions as a conduit for information dissemination, nurtures a sense of community within an organization, aligns employees with the organization's objectives, and ultimately forges robust relationships.Internal communication is the bridge between an organization and its employees, capable of nurturing trust and engagement among the workforce.Internal communication significantly impacts the ability of strategic managers to engage employees in achieving organizational objectives.