Abstract
The quests for sound organizational management and efficient corporate governance have received more impetus in today's business environment. This is because it has been observed especially among large scale enterprises and multinational companies of incidences of wastage of human and material resources, inefficiency and sluggishness in the corporate decision making process at huge cost to the company on one hand and to shareholders on the other. In contemporary corporate setting especially in situations where huge sums are budgeted for information and communication technologies, large scale organisations tend to have more specialisation, departmentalisation, centralization, and regulation than small scale enterprises. Particularly, companies with wide variety of products often give preference to divisionalisation purposely to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the corporate decision-making process.
TopBackground
The quests for sound organizational management and efficient corporate governance have received more impetus in today’s business environment. This is because it has been observed especially among large scale enterprises and multinational companies of incidences of wastage of human and material resources, inefficiency and sluggishness in the corporate decision making process at huge cost to the company on one hand and to shareholders on the other. In contemporary corporate setting, large scale organisations tend to have more specialisation, departmentalisation, centralisation and regulation than small scale enterprises. Particularly, companies with wide variety of products often give preference to divisionalisation purposely to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the corporate decision making process. However, despite the adoption of divisionalised structure supported with effective communication and information technology, there are yet apprehensions that such practices oftentimes do not translate to good corporate governance characterised by growth, probity, accountability and return on investment. To build sound business management founded on good corporate governance that will guarantee sustainable development in Nigeria, there are tasks that must be accomplished.
According to Gbadamosi and Adebakin, (2006), organisations exist in a society and combine materials (technology) and human (personnel) resources for the attainment of corporate survival. The earlier conception of organizations described them as highly structured, hierarchical, restrictive and undemocratic ((Eisenberg and Goodall, 1993). Miller (1995) cited by Soola and Ayoade (2000, p.10) has characterized organizations using three different features. First, an organization includes two or more people who are seen as social collectivities that require some level of understanding, coordination and communication to act in concert. Second, an organization is structured in the pursuit of a goal or set of goals which direct the activities of the organization members and are equated with the purpose and goals of its members. Third, an organization involves coordination of activities which is a process by which organizational goals are achieved. Although organisations have been defined in various ways by different theorists, virtually all the definitions contained certain common features which Adolor (1985, p.63) summarised as follow:
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an interdependence, or interlocking activities;
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role specifications for members who occupy positions;
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a division of labour and varying degrees of job specification;
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status hierarchy which exists as a coordinating and controlling mechanism;
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a dynamic system which is in a constant state of change;
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a system of processing various ‘inputs’ to produce various ‘output’;
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a communication network, or more accurately, a network of networks, and;
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a combination of individuals and groups- a group of people.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Corporate Governance: This is the distribution of resources, rights and responsibilities among different participants in the corporation and description of the rules and procedures governing decision making on corporate affairs.
Organisation: Is a group of people who are seen as social collectivities that require some level of understanding, coordination and communication to act in concert.
Decision Making: It is an organisational concept referring to making choices among alternative courses of action.
Responsibility Accounting: Is defined as a method of accumulating and reporting both budgeted and actual costs as well as raising the level of revenues by divisional managers saddled with the responsibility.
Divisionalised Structure: Is defined as a segment within the organisation where the divisional Chief executive officer is responsible for most of the production and marketing activities of the segment and is accountable for profitability measure.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT): Is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems among others, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as video conferencing and distance learning.
Organisational Communication: For management purposes, communication is perceived as the process by which people working in organisations transmit information to one another and share meanings.