The Role of Communication Skills in Improving the Job Performance of Teaching Staff at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah - Sultanate of Oman

Communication is considered one of the basics for the continuation of any activity within the educational institution, the objectives of this activity cannot be achieved without it. Hence, it was necessary to train workers in this institution to master various communication skills to improve their job performance through certain standards. The study problem lies in the insufficiency of methods to enhance the communication skills possessed by university professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah - Sultanate of Oman to improve and develop their job performance, given that the university is an educational institution works hard to produce and develop knowledge. The study aimed to evaluate the important communication skills that must be available in professors at the University and adopting performance standards to evaluate their performance and find sufficient ways to enhance their communication skills to improve their job performance in the university. The study used the descriptive analytical approach, and the questionnaire was used as a tool for the study to achieve the objectives of study through the problem posed by the study. The questionnaire was distributed to study sample, and their responses was analyzed. The results are the existence of individual differences between the communication skills possessed by professors, and that the skills of thinking and persuasion are among the most approved skills they have compared to the skills of speaking and writing, and that these skills can to be applied to improve the job and behavioral performance of professors at the university.


Introduction
There have been major developments and radical changes in the global community.All of these changes and developments are occurring quickly and suddenly at all levels, whether Vol 14, Issue 6, (2024) E- ISSN: 2222-6990 To Link this Article: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v14-i6/21861DOI:10.6007/IJARBSS/v14-i6/21861 Published Date: 12 June 2024 social, economic, cultural, or political, as a result of the outcomes of globalization in its various manifestations in various areas of life.In addition to the extensive use of information and communications technology in all fields (Makkawi and Al-Sayed, 2017).Communication is considered the basis of communication and the most important organizational elements for completing any activity within the organization, whether productive, service, educational, or economic.Physiological tools can be used to study the productivity of people (Alsharif et al., 2021a;2021b;2021c) The goals of this activity cannot be achieved without the presence of communication.Rather, the success of individuals has become linked to their ability and the extent of their skills to communicate with others as a result of the coordination they do.For businesses and activities within it, as well as the dissemination and distribution of various information and data, and from here the studies concerned with this field have multiplied, diversified, and indepth in terms of studying its forms, skills, and means, and increasing its effectiveness to achieve its functions in a way that ensures continuity and success and removes all obstacles that hinder it (Saghayri and Bouafia, 2020;Ahmed et al., 2022;Alsharif et al., 2023).
University educational institutions strive to develop knowledge and produce knowledge, qualifications and abilities, through a qualified staff of teachers that perform their function to the fullest extent.In order to improve the efficiency of the teaching staff, especially with developments and changes in the educational system, it is necessary to provide a communication network that facilitates the progress of this process.It works on its success and continuity (Al-Ahmari, 2018).
In order to achieve communication goals, those in charge of educational institutions must provide communication skills, which are among the most important basics of the university professor's success in his educational career.Through which he conveys ideas, meanings, and information in the form of oral or written messages through various means of communication, whether for students, teachers, or administrative staff (Saleh, 2017).Communication skills therefore contribute to develop the university professor's job performance, which is considered one of the most important indicators that measure the quality of higher education in the educational institution.
The university professor is required to continuously develop communication skills to meet the challenges of the times and the rapid changes and developments that require accuracy, speed, and effective planning.These changes conveying various messages to various levels, whether administrative for the sake of workflow or in delivering teaching lectures to students.He must be familiar with all the obstacles and problems that hinder and limit his ability to accomplish the tasks assigned to him.Al-Aqil (2011) considering that communication is an important means in the process of sending and receiving messages, ideas, knowledge and information to the recipient.Therefore, the problem of the study focuses on the insufficiency of methods for enhancing communication skills among university professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman.
Through which the study seeks to Know the role of communication skills in improving the university professor's job performance so that he is able to improve his job performance and carry out his tasks, duties and obligations to the fullest extent, whether those related to teaching tasks or administrative organization.This study also seeks to motivate the university teacher to master the skills of motivational and effective communication between him as a missionary and others.As recipients, this is what was explained in the master's thesis by Saghayri and Bouafia (2020), which completed a field study to determine the role of communication skills in improving the job performance of university professors.
This had been done by studying and analyzing the responses of sample members from the Faculty of Economic and Commercial Sciences and Facilitation Sciences at the University of May 1945, Galma, Algeria.and knowing their level of awareness.The college's need for communication skills and the need to improve the job performance of university professors in light of the reality of rapid change and development in the world.
The importance of research in improving the job performance of university professors through communication skills can be summarized by proving that communication skills are the ideal means by which an individual achieves his goals and objectives.The importance of study also is demonstrating of necessary communication skills that university professors must have at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman.Highlighting the role of communication skills in improving the job performance of university professors in order to achieve the tasks of university professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman.Therefore, identifying methods for evaluating the job performance of university professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman, which will benefit.
Including professors at the university in improving their job performance and improving their relationship with their colleagues, students, and the educational institution in which they work.This will result in raising the level of the educational process and increasing the efficiency and performance of professors at the university.
Through the questionnaire that was prepared, the objectives of the study revolved around evaluating the important communication skills that must be available to university professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman.Adopting performance standards to evaluate their performance, and then finding sufficient and appropriate ways to enhance their communication skills in order to improve their performance.career in their educational institution.

Methodology
In this study, the descriptive and analytical approach was followed, where the description was adopted with regard to the concepts of the study and the analytical approach was adopted with regard to discharging the information.
An electronic questionnaire form was designed as a tool for the study, relying on the Google forms website, which is one of the best sites for designing electronic forms used in making the questionnaire, counting and sorting the responses automatically.
The electronic form contained questions related to the subject of the study and centered around the objectives of the study and was distributed to the study sample who were randomly selected from the university's teaching staff.The 36 university professors out of 180 were selected as the study sample.The study was analyzed using SPSS version 26, as for the graphs, it was done using Excel, version 2019.
The research relied on the questionnaire tool, which is an electronic form that was designed using the Google forms website and contained questions centered around the research objectives.The link to the form was distributed to the study sample to answer it.The descriptive approach was adopted to determine the communication skills possessed by professors at the university and then to know the role of these skills in improving the job performance of professors in their educational institution.
The researcher also used SPSS version 26 and made graphs using Excel version 2019.Descriptive analysis functions were used to determine the frequency of responses and determine their percentage.Cronbach's alpha analysis was also used to demonstrate the validity and reliability of the questionnaire.
The University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman was chosen to be the research community and to be appropriate to the nature of the topic.The research sample was chosen by 20%, so that its number was 36 university professors, selected randomly from the total number of professors, whose number at the university is estimated at 180 university professors make up the teaching staff at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman.
The reason for their selection was in a random manner so that the confidence rate would be high and consistent with reality.The sample specifications included the university professor's gender, age, educational qualification, and years of experience.From Table 1, we notice that most of the sample members, which are 36 university professors, are male, making up 66.7%, while females make up 33.3%.This leads us to the fact that the percentage of males is twice the percentage of females, given that there are more job applications for males than for females in the University.From Table 2, it is clear to us that the percentage of professors who are under 30 years of age is 11.1%, which is a very small percentage compared to other ages.We also notice that half of the professors are between 30 and 40 years of age, and they constitute 50.0%, which is the largest percentage, while the percentage of 38.9% was for professors who were more than 40 years old.

Results
Therefore, it is clear that most of the teachers are of average age, and a similar percentage for those who are over 40 years old.This indicates the recent establishment of the university as well as the specializations that the university contains.Table 3 shows the distribution of the research sample according to the academic degree variable.from it, we notice that most professors constituted the highest percentage, which is 75%, while professors who hold the degree of professor constituted the lowest percentage, which is 8.3%.Through these percentages, it is clear that all members of the sample are from those who hold a doctorate degree, but most of them have the rank of assistant professor.From Table 4, it is clear that professors whose experience is less than 5 years constitute the largest percentage, which is 36.1%.This indicates that the majority of professors who work at the university have little professional experience, while those whose experience ranges from 5 to 10 years constitute the smallest percentage, as we note.
The professors whose experience ranged from 10 to 15 years and the professors with more than 15 years of experience constituted similar percentages, namely 25% and 27%, respectively.This indicates that the majority of the sample members have professional experience in the field of teaching..819081.9 % Table 5 shows analyzing the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and determine the percentage of reliability of the statements of the topics of the study.The topic of communication skills, the value of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.784 and the percentage of honesty and reliability was 78.4%.
The second topic, which is the focus of job performance, had a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.681 and a percentage of validity and reliability were 68.1%, and the value of Cronbach's alpha for the two topics of the questionnaire as a whole was 0.819, and the percentage of validity and reliability was 81.9%, which is a high percentage compared to the statistically acceptable percentage of 60%.
Hence, the measurement tool is considered valid for use, and it will give the same results if it is distributed to the same sample, and therefore the results will be honest and reliability.Table 6 shows the mean and standard deviation for the speaking skill statements.

Table 6
The Mean and Standard Deviation for the speaking skill statements.

Discussion and Conclusion
Communication skills are considered one of the important basics in developing job performance.In this study, the most important skills possessed by professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Salalah -Sultanate of Oman, who were chosen as members of the study sample.The relationship of these skills to improving their job performance and their impact on students, were investigated.Designing an electronic questionnaire form for the sample members, through the answers of the research sample members, and after collecting the responses and analyzing them using the SPSS program.
It is clear from Table 6 that the mean for the speaking skill was 4.35, and the standard deviation was 0.373, and the direction of the skill was "strongly agree".This indicates that the sample members responded positively with the skill phrases.We also notice that the first phrase had mean of 4.42, higher among the means for the rest of the phrases, and it also had a standard deviation of 0.500, and the response to the phrase was "strongly agree".
The second statement also obtained a high mean of 4.36 and a standard deviation of 0.487, and most of the sample's direction was "strongly agree".As for the third statement obtained the lowest mean of 4.28 and a standard deviation of 0.659, and the direction of the statement was "strongly agree".This indicates that the professors prepare well for the lectures and use understandable terms with preserving time while talking to the students, which increases the students' understanding of the lectures.
It is clear from Table 7 that the mean for the writing skill was 4.25 and the standard deviation was 0.565, and the direction of the skill was "agree".This indicates that the sample members responded effectively with the skill statements.It is noted that the second statement had an mean of 4.33, the highest among the means for the rest of the statements, and it also had a standard deviation of 0.467, and the response to the statement was "strongly agree".
As for the third statement, it obtained the mean of 4.31, which is close to the second statement, with a standard deviation of 0.786, and most of the sample's direction was "agree."As for the first statement, it obtained the lowest mean of 4.14, with a high standard deviation of 1.046, and the direction of the statement was "agree."This indicates that professors use references, various materials, as well as publications for the lessons, to familiarize students with the content of the topics they teach.
It is clear from Table 8 that the mean for the thinking skill was 4.35 and the standard deviation was 0.484, and the direction of the skill was "strongly agree".This indicates that the sample members responded greatly and seriously to the skill statements.It is noted that the second statement had mean of 4.42, the highest among the means for the rest of the statements, and it also had a standard deviation of 0.604, and the response to the statement was "agree" and "strongly agree" equally.
As for the third statement, it obtained a lower mean of 4.31, which is close to the first statement, with a standard deviation of 0.668, and most of the sample's direction was "strongly agree."As for the first statement, it obtained the mean of 4.33 and a high standard deviation of 0.478, and the direction of the statement was "strongly agree".This indicates that professors ask clarifying questions and review scientific sources to understand the idea and develop thinking skills.
It is clear from Table 9 that the mean of the persuasion skill was 4.43 and the standard deviation was 0.412, and the direction of the skill was "agree".This indicates that the sample members responded positively to the skill statements.The third statement had mean of 4.47, higher among the mean for the rest of the statements and close to the mean of the second statement by a slight margin, and it also had a standard deviation of 0.560, and the direction to the statement was "agree." As for the first statement, it obtained a lower mean of 4.39 with a standard deviation of 0.549, and most of the sample's direction was "strongly agree."As for the second statement, it obtained the mean of 4.44 and a standard deviation of 0.843, and the direction of the statement was "agree."This indicates that professors have the ability to negotiate with Colleagues and choose appropriate expressions in educational meetings to reach common points of view.
It is clear from Table 10 that the mean of the quality standard was 4.46 and the standard deviation was 0.400, and the direction of the standard was "agree".This indicates that the sample members responded positively to the statements of the standard.The second statement had the highest mean of 4.50, which was close to the mean of the first statement with a slight difference, and it also had a standard deviation of 0.561, and the response to the statement was "agree." As for the third statement, it obtained a lower mean of 4.42 with a standard deviation of 0.649, and most of the sample's direction was "agree."As for the first statement, it obtained the mean of 4.47 and a standard deviation of 0.506, and the direction of the statement was "strongly agree."This indicates that the professors are keen to complete their work accurately and plan to complete scientific courses in an excellent manner and few of them use electronic media during teaching.
It is clear from Table 11 that the mean of the time standard was 4.20 and the standard deviation was 0.581, and the direction of the standard was "agree".This indicates that the sample members responded positively to the statements of the standard.The second statement had the highest mean equal to 4.53 and also had a standard deviation of 0.609 and the response to the statement was "agree".
As for the first statement, it had a lower mean of 3.94, with a standard deviation of 0.924, and the direction of sample was "agree" and "neutral" in the same proportion.This indicates that the respondents did not know the intent of the question or that they had reservations about the question.As for the third statement, it obtained a mean of 4.14 and a standard deviation of 0.961, and the direction of the statement was "strongly agree".This indicates that teachers take less time to complete educational and teaching work and often complete it on time.
It is clear from Table 12 that the mean of the procedure standard was 4.37 and the standard deviation was 0.662, and the direction of the standard was "agree".This indicates that the sample members responded positively to the statements of the standard.The first statement had the highest mean equal to 4.44 and it also had a standard deviation of 0.773 and the response to the statement was "agree".
As for the second statement, it obtained a lower mean of 4.33 with a standard deviation of 0.894, and the direction of the sample was "agree".It does not differ from the third statement which obtained mean of 4.36 and a standard deviation of 0.899, and the direction of the statement was "agree".This indicates that most professors help in formulating work procedures and are keen to adopt strict applications and have flexibility in dealing with procedures in their educational institution.
From the previous results, we can conclude that most teachers prefer to use the skill of speaking and communicating with students by preparing them for lectures and using concepts and terminology that are understood by students.This enhances their understanding of the lessons.This is what was shown by study of Al-Khatria (2019), which focused on the role of electronic meetings in developing administrative communication skills between the school administration and the general directorates of education.The highest rating was for the skill of speaking, and there were highly statistically significant differences in the estimates of the study sample.
Regarding the writing skill, it is noted that most university professors do not care about it as much as they care about the skill of speaking, because writing takes up a lot of time during lectures and lessons.This leads us that students may not care about writing as much as they care about listening and communicating directly with the professor.However, there are ways to develop these two skills, mentioned by study of Al-Tayeb (2016) in his book "Effective Communication Skills", where he stated that the greater the speaking and writing skills, the greater the social communication between the receiver and the respondent.
Regarding the skills of thinking and persuasion, it has been shown that they are among the skills most relied upon by university professors compared to the skills of writing and speaking.This is similar to what was mentioned by Hamaimi and Tabali (2013), which showed that there are individual differences in the communication skills possessed by high school teachers, given that university education is an extension of Secondary education.Where in schools and high school teachers do not differ significantly from university professors with regard to communication skills.
Regarding the role that communication skills play in improving the job performance of professors at the university.It is clear from the sample's answers to the performance standards and linking them to the communication skills they possess that communication skills can be applied to improve the performance of professors and students alike.This is what was proven by study of Talebi (2023) and the study of (Fila and Abdel Majeed, 2005).
As Sheniti and Abdullah (2016) mentioned in their thesis, organizational communication skills have a significant impact on improving the employee's job and behavioral performance, which increases his production and work positively.In general, we can say that the communication skills possessed by the sample members of this study, who are professors at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, are highly efficient and have good performance.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Sample distribution as per gender variable.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Sample distribution as per age variable.

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Sample distribution as per the academic degree variable.

Figure 4 :
Figure 4: Sample distribution as per the professional experience variable.

Table 1
Sample distribution as per gender variable.

Table 2
Sample distribution as per age variable.

Table 3
Sample distribution as per the academic degree variable.

Table 4
Sample distribution as per the professional experience variable.

Table 5
Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the research axes.

Table 7
Mean and Standard Deviation for the Writing Skill statements.

Table 8
Mean and Standard Deviation for the Thinking skill statements.

Table 9
Mean and Standard Deviation for the Persuasion Skill statements.

Table 11
Mean and Standard Deviation for the Time standard statements.

Table 12
Mean and Standard Deviation for Procedures standard statements.