Problems of Internal Communication at the International School of Business

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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

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
-----------------------------
Cao Mai Anh
PROBLEM OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SUPERVISOR: Prof. Tran Ha Minh Quan

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
Several sectors:
Q (service quality) = P (service performance) Business economics,
Parasuraman
– E (client’s expectation) Computer Science,
SERVQUAL  Include 5 dimensions: “Reliability”, Information science
et all (1988)
“Responsiveness”, “Assurance”, library science, social
“Empathy”, “Tangibles”. science, engineering,
educational research….
Q (service quality) = P (performance) Several sectors:
Cronin and  Based on SERVQUAL Business economics,
SERVPERF Taylor  Include 5 dimensions: “Reliability”, Computer science,
(1992) “Responsiveness”, “Assurance”, Engineering,
“Empathy”, “Tangibles”. educational research…
Q (service quality) = P (performance)
 Based on SERVPERF
HEdPERF
Abdullah  Include 5 dimensions: “Non-academic
Higher education
(2005) aspects”, “Academic aspects”,
“Reputation”, “Access”, “Programme
issues”.
 Based on HEdPERF
Icli and Anil
 Include 5 dimensions: “Academic
HEDQUAL quality”, “Administrative services quality”, MBA programs
(2014) “Library services quality”, “Supportive
services quality”, “Quality of providing
career opportunities”
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
This aspects show the instructors’ responsibility such as
1. Academic aspects knowledge, experience, teaching methods, problem solving in
learning, the instructors’ communicative attitude to the learner.
These are essential elements to help students fulfill their
2. Non-academic aspects
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”
“Items that emphasize the importance of providing a wide range
5. Programme issue 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
5.814 0.880
regarding course syllabus
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
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
5.492 1.006
5.424 1.037
5.153 1.014
5.695 0.895
5.627 0.889
5.729 0.868
5.068 0.962
Non-academic aspects 4.700
9.
When I have a problem, the institution's clerical staff is
4.932 1.298
sincerely interested in solving it
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
15. The clerical staff has a positive attitude towards their work and the
students
17. The clerical staff is knowledgeable of its systems and/or
procedures
4.593 1.261
4.373 1.564
5.017 1.320
4.153 1.659
4.424 1.354
4.797 1.229
4.814 1.345
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

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT ISB
institution
26. The clerical staff respects the confidentiality of information I disclose
to them
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
12
5.797 0.943
5.424 0.951
5.203 1.270
5.119 1.176
5.051 1.238
Programme issues
30. The institution provides programs with flexible structures and study
plans
5.000
4.898 1.185
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.

Diagram 2 – Updated cause-effect map

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.

4.2.2 Internal communication measurement
According to Hargie & Tourish (2004), Johnson (2001) in [22]; there were 4 main
elements to measure internal communication within organizations: “Measuring
employees with regards to their needs and preferences”, “Measuring the communication
department and its outputs with the desired/expected outcome to justify the investment on
maintaining it”, “Tracking the communication channels utilized in the organization and
their use”, “Looking at the content and whether it has been received, understood and has
promoted action to its receivers”. Internal communication is effective when there is an
existence of deep understanding of all staffs and taking place in a rhythmic manner of
action.
4.3 Problem existence
In the case of ISB institution, internal communication was known as personal interaction
between staffs and staffs, departments as well as staffs and departments. This mean the
efficient co-operation in any stages of process can lead the work tardiness.
In the interview with an ISB-MBA managerial staff about the students’ complaints with
late responses as well as not accurate solutions from staffs, she said that she only replied
the basic issues available in the operating regulations of ISB. With other requirements,
her department had had to ask relevant departments. In some cases, students’ problems
had related to more than one department. The problem solving, therefore, was depended
on responses from relevant departments.
In the discussion with the institution’s Student Services Manager, there was an existence
of the issue related to the interaction of departments. For instance, there were complaints
of students about the facilities of the institution, her department had to annunciate to
management department of UEH (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City) instead of
making decision immediately because of not jurisdiction. Indeed, most of ISB’s decisions
have had to be approved by UEH because the institution is a member of this university.
Any problems in this process, therefore, can reduce the performance of ISB’s problem
solving. Thence, students had not be satisfied with the institution because of ISB late
responses to their requirements.

To cut story short, the efficiency of interpersonal interaction is the main issue lead
to problems about non-academic aspect in institution ISB.
4.3 Problem importance
Besides consequences mentioned above on the map, some other consequences of the
problem “Lack of internal communication” were indicated based on literature with the
purposes of determining the level of problem’s importance. The summary of
validation for problem consequences in ISB was shown in Appendix 4. By theory,
“Lack of internal communication” affected on:
(1) Job satisfaction
Gray & Laidlaw (2002), Bartoo & Sias (2004) in [9] recommended that there was a link
between internal communication and the degree to which employees are informed to job
satisfaction and performance. An effective communication express not only from the
obvious benefits of employee satisfaction and productivity, but also from the positive
contributions that well-informed employees can make to a company’s external public
relations efforts.
In the interview with 3 non-academic staffs from ISB, they confirmed that although they
have met some difficulties in interacting with other departments through working, they
still satisfied with working environment of ISB because of flexible in time and almost no
existing of working pressures. Therefore, they were quite satisfied with their job.
(2) Employees’ commitment
According to Allen & Meyer(1990, 1996), Meyer & Allen (1991, 1997), Meyer &
Herscovitch (2001) in [4], there were 3 forms of commitment. First of all, “affective
commitment” (AC) which represented the idea that one’s commitment to the organization
was driven simply by an emotional attachment to and identification with the organization.
Secondly, “normative commitment” (NC) was known as a feeling of perceived or moral
obligation to stay with a particular course of actions. Finally, “continuance commitment”
(CC) was known as an attachment based on the perceived costs of not continuing with a
course of action. In the case of organization, it was that what would be given up if one
left the organization.

According to Gallicano (2008) in [4], internal communication could help draw people
into an organization as well as motivated them to stay in the organization. Jo & Shim
(2005) in [4] also found that effective internal communication created trust in
management and managers’ efforts to enhance interpersonal relationships with the
purpose of contributing significantly to organizational trust.
An ISB non-academic staffs confirmed that the continuous staffs’ change in recent
years also made the internal communication become more difficult. The staffs changed
job because they found another the same working environment but better salaries or
promotion. In addition, they were not interested in this job because of the weak
interaction in the workplace.
Therefore, the consequence of “reducing employees’ commitment” was happened in the
cases of ISB.
(3) Organization’s reputation
According to Howard (1998) in [7], “Employees can be an organization’s best
ambassadors or loudest critics, depending whether and how they get information”.
Effective internal communication could enhance corporate reputation and credibility
because employees were viewed as particularly credible sources by external
stakeholders [7].
Morgan (2004) in [7] also found that the relationship between employees’ perceptions
with company and organizational image was both symbiotic and self-perpetuating. On the
other hand, working for a company with a positive reputation could enhance the self-
concepts of organizational members; and in turn, positive employees’ perceptions helped
preserve a company’s good public standing as workers share their positive workplace
stories with outsiders. On the contrary, employees whose self-concept suffers from
association with a poor organizational image were more likely to convey negative stories.
A non-academic staff of ISB said that in general, ISB was an institution with convenient
working environment. In addition, ISB is known as a member of a famous university –
UEH, where many people wanted to approach this working environment. Therefore,
some issues in internal could not effect on its reputation.

4.4 Causes validation
4.4.1 Causes informed by the theory
(1) Poor organizational culture
According to Needle (2004) in [22], organizational culture was defined as the
underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to the
unique social and psychological environment of an organization. Organizational culture
also included the organization’s vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language,
assumptions, beliefs, and habits.
According to [22], “organizational culture has significant influence on internal crisis
communication”. Indeed, each organization had its own culture which in essence could
have influence on the ways organizations react to internal crisis communication. This
mean when organizational vision, values… are not conveyed in clear way, the
efficiency of communication within organizations will be reduced.
(2) Lack of Top management support
Schein (2000), Tourish & Robbon (2003) in [22] recommended that top managers had set
the tone for internal communication. This means top managers played an important role
to create strong personal influence in their relationships with employees and to effect on
employees’ attitudes, job satisfaction, and consequently how they thought and spoke
about the organization to external stakeholders.
According to [22], internal corporate communication occurred when top management
communicated about “the goals of the company to all employees, the organizations
objectives, new developments that affect the working of employees, activities and
achievements of the organization/individuals within the organization”. In addition, “the
ability of an organization’s top management to entice and improve its human resources as
well as promoting culture of commitment will drastically increase employee performance
at all level of its operations” [22]. This means employees’ performance has been affected
directly on the way the top management communicated with. Therefore, lacking of top
management support will causes the ambiguity of institution strategy, which can leads
not rhythmic of coordination between departments within an organization.

(3) Poor leadership styles
The leaders are known as persons who are guiding force within groups or organizations.
Therefore, how they communicate with their subordinates is as important as to how they
lead. According to [4], “a leadership style that resonates with followers will allow the
leader to achieve greater employee productivity. Conversely, poor leadership styles lead
to poor communication and can have negative effects on workers performance and in
turn productivity”. When leaders clearly and persuasively communicated a vision, they
gained the confidence of followers (cited by Holladays,1993 in [4]).
According to Northouse (2010) in [4], leadership was a process in which a group was
influenced by an individual to achieve common target. Transformational leaders could
make their subordinates aware of importance and value of work and also encouraged
them to think beyond well interest at all. Chuang (2009) in [4] also explained that an
excellent leader not only inspired their subordinates and gave them the potential to work
efficiency, but also met their subordinates’ requirements in the process of achieving
organizational goals.
(4) Workforce diversity
Although diversity in the workplace is known as an asset to a company, it brings
challenge of communication among people with different cultural communication
styles. This means any simple exchanges between these two communication styles can
easily lead to bad feeling and poor communication.
Indeed, according to [8], the increasingly diverse workforce brought communication
challenges, including skills, traditions, backgrounds, experiences, outlooks, and attitudes
toward work, which can effect on internal communication. Lieber (2009) in [8] also said
that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had showed more than 80,000
lawsuits related to diversity issues as organizations that ignore diversity are more likely
to face lawsuits, negative feelings, and lowered morale.
(5) Outdated technologies
Nowadays, technology which known as “a commonly tool on the internet finds its way
onto intranets” [10] become more and more important in organizations. It can “add to the

company strengths, primarily by putting the power to share knowledge and information
into the hands of employees themselves. These tools engage employees, put them in touch
with one another, reward knowledge sharing, foster collaboration and encourage
innovation” [10] This means the technologies can help the organizations be more
competitive, ultimately and profitable.
However, in some organizations, technologies was not updated normally some
reasons, especially company’s leaders viewed them as nothing more than diversions.
(6) Lack of internal communication channels
It cannot deny that nowadays, technology advances the world is getting smaller. [22]
confirmed that “the introduction of more advanced technology and advancing of existing
ones introduces organizations to different channels of internal communication, spanning
both time and geographical distance”. Nowadays, there are various kinds of
communication channels but there are 4 basic channels that were showed by [22]:
“Face-to-fact meetings”; “Telephone exchanges”; “Video conferences” and “Computer-
based text transfers”.
People within organizations can use many kinds of internal communication channels to
interact with each other. People will select suitable one to keep contact with each other
during discussions or projects depending on the real cases.
Poor internal communication channels within organizations can be known as a large
barrier for people to convey fully and accurately information to their project teams, which
cause poor performance of employees as well as the fail of institution’s targets.
4.4.2 Causes validation
Through an in-depth interview with a staff from control department, there was an
existence of 3 issues which had been occurring in ISB:
(1) Poor organizational culture
Organizational culture includes attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values within an
organization. It is known as a set of values and rules that are shared between people and
groups within an organization, which controls how members interact with each other and
stakeholders. Organizational values are beliefs as well as concepts related to the goals that

members need to pursue and perceive the standards of conduct that each member need to
use to achieve the organization’s goals. This will evolve into rules, guidelines and
expectations that require employees to perform in specific situations and control the
behavior of employees against each other.
In the case of ISB, most of administrative processes or rules have been depended on
managing university – UEH (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City). This mean
ISB has to be observed to UEH about rules, guidelines, as well as goals instead of full
autonomy. Furthermore, the particularly mechanism of ISB’s operation is different
from UEH, which has led to retardation of projects or responses to students. In addition,
not grasping deeply the responsibilities of all departments from UEH has made a big
barrier for ISB’s staffs to communicate as well as exchange necessary information.
However, it cannot deny that ISB’s culture has been barrier for ISB, the ISB’s managers
cannot change it because of dependent mechanism. Hence, the cause “poor
organizational culture” was not known as the potential cause of ISB problem by author.
The author believed that it could surmount a part of the problem through ISB’s top
management support.
(2) Lack of top management support
Unclear job description of staffs
Job description of each department as well as non-academic staff haven’t been clear and
coherent, especially new staffs. They haven’t been trained before working, which led to
slowly adapt to work environment as well as loose association with other departments.
This mean when they have met a problem, they have mystified in finding someone or
departments for troubleshooting because of their not deep grasping about each institution
member’s responsibilities. Furthermore, system of functions and duties of each individual
within ISB has not completed, which caused the reducing of staffs’ performance.
Lack of leadership team for each department
Up to now, there is an existence of lacking of leaders for some departments. This mean
the senior executive has been the person who has directly managed most of staffs’ tasks
without any intermediate communicator known as leaders. Hence, the workload has been

hard for CEO to control at the same time. This has been another barrier of ISB in solving
possible problems.
In conclusion, author suggested that the issue “lack of top management support”
was known as one of the potential cause that led to “internal communication”.
(3) Lack of internal communication channels
Nowadays, communication channels within organizations become more and more
important in the process of project actions. In recent year, ISB’s managers have aware
about the essential role of communication tools, therefore, the suppleness of the software
named EGOV has contributed to simplify as well as shorten the process of
administrative activities. This means most of academic texts as well as important notices
have been uploaded to this software so that all members of ISB included managers,
leaders and staffs can update the news.
However, ISB’s staffs rarely use this software for conveying information because of not
deep grasping of how to use it as well as their thinking about not really necessary of it. In
addition, there has not been synchronization software for the project groups. This means
in a project, relevant departments have created into a group whose members have
coordinated with each other to take an action program. When a member meet a problem
in the process of creating program, he/she still has to contact with relevant people or
departments to discuss as well as solve this issue individually instead of announcing to all
the members in group. The asynchrony in solving problems can lead to inflexible and
rhythmic interaction between members in group, which causes imperfect results as well
as time consuming. Therefore, not having synchronization software for project groups is
known as one of potential cause of “ineffective internal communication” within
organization that ISB’s managers should pay more attention.
The final cause – effect map was shown in the diagram below:
Diagram 3 – Final cause-effect map

Symptoms Validated
Students’
Consequences
dissatisfaction with
Low performance
non-academic staffs
of staffs
Potential Causes
Reducing staffs’
innovation
Lack of Top
Reducing staffs’
management support
commitment
Validated Problem
Poor internal
Lack of internal Workplace
communication
communication conflict
channels
To cut the story short, author pointed out 2 causes led to problem “ineffective internal
communication” through validating their existence in the institution. Besides, old
researches also indicated the similar causes. Therefore, the potential causes of the
institution’s issue “ineffective internal communication” are lacking of top
management support and internal communication channels for project groups. The
next chapter will discuss about solutions and action plan design.

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation
In summary, the responsibilities of leaders in departments are quite important in the
process of implementing plans. Therefore, enhancing the influences of team leader to
team members has to occur through team building or regularly team meetings in order to
communicate during the team meetings to find out what is really happen, provide clear
visions and plan for each employees in their career path. In additions, work allocation
needs to be reasonable and understandable. Furthermore, leaders update regularly on
employees' performance and job's expectation so as to prevent conflict between
members. Besides, leaders should show their supports as well as rewards and awards as
well as punishments if necessary.
Besides the supports from the institution’s managers, the communication channels within
organization are quite important. This means they was known as support tools to improve
as well as make the interaction between individuals become efficiency; thence,
enhancing the individuals and organizations performance.
Some recommendations which mentioned bellow are suggestions simple and easy to
implement. The institution can use them to improve the problem “Internal
communication” day bay day without costs.
5.1 Recommendation for the issue “Lack of Top management support”
According to Shim & Rhee (2011) in [15], there were two general internal
communication strategies that lead to positive outcomes – symmetrical and transparent
communication. Symmetrical communication, known as both a communication
worldview and strategy, had been consistently found to predict positive employee
outcomes such as job satisfaction, identification, loyalty, relationship. Transparent
communication had also been suggested to build employee trust, organizational
credibility, and employee engagement. In other words, symmetrical communication
oriented at nurturing mutual understanding, collaboration, and reciprocity encourages
transparent communication practice. In the case of ISB:
Top management support in business vision and strategic:

(1) Communicating and disseminating the goals, vision and strategies of the
organization yearly
Employees’ job satisfaction is very essential for the organization’s performance. The
institution with top management support should regularly masses communication to
inform and spread out the vision, responsibility and strategies of the organization yearly
to all employees with the purposes of understanding clearly the institution’s direction as
well as improving employees’ self-motivation. As a result, the institution provides
substantial, complete, timely, accurate, balanced, and unequivocal information to
employees, which leads to employees’ positive attitudes toward the organization.
(2) Building strategies year by year for each department which base on the
available strategies of the organization
Each department with the leadership of team leader sets out its specific tasks, objectives
as well as strategies to achieve yearly on the basis of the available goals and strategies of
the organization with the purposes of all employees’ deep understanding about the
general goals and direction of the organization.
Top management support in staff training about functions and duties:
In the case of ISB, most of staffs and departments have not have clear job description and
specific functions. This made the ineffective performance of the organization. Therefore,
building a clear job description for each individuals as well as specific functions and duties
for each department which are suitable with the organization’s situation is essential.
Furthermore, all staffs in the institution should be trained about their job every year with the
purposes of deep grasping their job descriptions and each department’s functions and duties
in order to work smoothly when having problems. In detail:
(1) For current staffs:
 Purposes: Staffs can deep understand their job descriptions and their
department’s functions and duties.

 Participants: staffs in departments with ISB.

 Training time: 5 days, including 4 days for training and 1 day for doing test.

 Training form: Internal training within each department with the supervision
of leader.

(2) For new staffs:
In the case of recruiting more people, the process of training is the same with training for
current staffs. This training can be performed in the same time with current staffs’
training. However in some cases, the departments’ leaders can do own training for the
new ones with the purposes of making sure that their new subordinates can understand
the institution’s goals, visions, strategies, working processes,… In addition, leaders can
become a bridge for new ones to connect with colleagues and adapt with working
environment.
5.2 Recommendation for the issue “Poor internal communication channels”
Face-to-face
Through the briefings at the beginning of each week, department leaders receive and
transmit the news as well as weekly tasks to their subordinates so that all employees in
the organization can catch the business results and performance of the last week, update
duties and set up plan for this week. Thence, the process of performing weekly duties of
each department will take place in a more rhythmic way.
Team building
An organization with more activities for employees’ contributions known as team building
will create a closet connection between staffs to understand each other characteristic as well
as their responsibilities in organization. In addition, through team building, some prizes such
as rewards, awards for successors, out-standing employees are known as mental catalyst will
encourage and promote their will to contribute to the organization performance. In addition,
staffs’ attitude, opinions and aspiration can be shown in this case, which make them feel
more satisfied with the listening of top managers. Indeed, [15] also confirmed that “when
organizations advocate a symmetrical communication system where employee voices are
heard, interests are addressed (rather than manipulated and controlled), different opinions are
encouraged, and a balance of power is emphasized, communication in the organization is
most likely to be transparent”.

Project team
In a project, the establishment a project team which includes related individuals and
departments may very essential with the purposes of the discrete of ideas and poor
interaction of related departments. Each member will be assigned and responsible for
one or several specific tasks of the project under the supervision of the team leader. The
team’s meetings will take place periodically depending on the progress of the project in
order to address, solve the difficulties and obstacles as well as promote the active
participation from all members.
Intranet channels
ISB with the software named EGOV can help all staffs catch the news easier. According
to them, they rarely use this software for conveying information because of not deep
grasping of how to use it and not really necessary. Indeed, it cannot deny that ISB is only
a new and small organization; furthermore, most of the institution’s projects had been
also small and simple. However, utilizing the available resources of ISB included EGOV
makes the personal interaction within the organization become easier and more effective.
Thence, an essential action of ISB’s managers now is set up an used guide as well as
policies for this software with the purposes of making the implement become more
regularly with all the individuals within organization. This information conveys can be
shown through email or direct method such as face-to-face meetings, team building…
The perceptions of all staffs about the benefits of the software brings to their work will
create their goodwill and willingness to use it.
Nowadays, there are other various free applied software available for smartphone such as
Zalo, Viber, Skype, etc…, which can help the interaction between individuals in the
organization, especially project team become more efficiency. With this communication
channel, members in the team can update the project’s process and performance to others
day by day in order to make sure all the individuals can catch all the project’s news,
obstacles… Therefore, the problem occurs will be discussed online, especially be solved
by the individuals who are responsible for the tasks related to that problem.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: Survey
1.1 Qualitative questionnaire
Introduction
Hi! I am conducting a survey about “Students’ expectation with MBA program – Case of International
School of Business (ISB)”. Please do me a favor to answer the questionnaire; it would take you less
than 30 minutes. I guarantee to use this information only for studying purpose and keep all the data
private especially your personal information.
Background information
Interview Start Time: 9:30 am
Interview End Time: 10:00 am
Meeting place for interview: The coffee shop
Month/date/year: August 12th
, 2018
Interview questions
Q1: Do you know what the term "educational services quality" includes through your MBA program
at International School of Business (ISB)?
Q2: How do you evaluate the educational services quality provided by ISB?
Q3: These statements relate to your university – ISB. Please let me know:
 Do you understand all the statements? If no, why?

 Do you want to change the statements to easier to understand?

 Do you want to add any more statements?
1. The teaching staff is knowledgeable for answering my questions regarding course syllabus
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
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
9. When I have a problem, the institution's clerical staff is sincerely interested in solving it

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
15. The clerical staff has a positive attitude towards their work and 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
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
26. The clerical staff respects the confidentiality of information I disclose to them
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
30. The institution provides programs with flexible structures and study plans
Conclusion
We would like to express our respectfulness to your sharing today. Wish you have a nice day. Thank you
very much!

1.2 Quantitative questionnaire
SURVEY OF STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION WITH MBA PROGRAM – THE CASE OF
Hi! I am a student from International School of Business (ISB). I am conducting a survey about “Students’
satisfaction with MBA program – Case of International School of Business (ISB)”.
Please do me a favor to fill in below questionnaire; it would take you less than 10 minutes. I guarantee
to use this information only for studying purpose and keep all the data private especially your personal
information.
Sincerely thank you for all your time.
These statements relate to your university – ISB. Please answer them by circling a number in each
line. These numbers indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree, in which 1 corresponds to
“Strongly disagree” and 7 corresponds to “Strongly agree”.
1
The teaching staff is knowledgeable for answering my questions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
regarding course syllabus
2 The teaching staff assists me in a careful and polite manner 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3
The teaching staff is never to busy to refuse my requests for
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
assistance
4
When I have a problem, the teaching staff is sincerely interested in
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
solving it
5 The teaching staff has a positive attitude towards students 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 The teaching staff communicates well in the classroom 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7
The teaching staff is highly qualified and experienced in its
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
respective field of knowledge
8
The teaching staff creates inspiration for students to join the group
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
discussion
9
When I have a problem, the institution's clerical staff is sincerely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
interested in solving it
10 The institution's clerical staff provides individual attention 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11 Questions and complaints are dealt with quickly and effectively 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
12 The clerical staff is never to busy to take my requests for assistance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13
When the clerical staff promises to do something within a certain
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
time, they do it
14 The working hours of administrative services are convenient 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
15
The clerical staff has a positive attitude towards their work and the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
students
16 The clerical staff communicates well with the students 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
17
The clerical staff is knowledgeable of its systems and/or
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
procedures
18 I feel secure in my relationships with this institution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
19 The institution provides services within the expected deadlines 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
20 The institution has a professional appearance and/or image 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
21 The academic facilities are adequate and necessary 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
22 The institution executes programs of excellent quality 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
23 The sizes of groups allow personal classroom assistance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

24 The students are treated equally and respectfully by the institution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
25 The students are free to express their opinions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
26
The clerical staff respects the confidentiality of information I
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
disclose to them
27 It is easy to contact the clerical staff by telephone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
28
The institution appreciates feedback from students in order to
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
improve the delivery of services
29
The institution has a standardized and simple procedure for
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
providing services
30
The institution provides programs with flexible structures and
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
study plans
31 The institution provides an excellent counseling service 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Demographic information:
Gender:  Male  Female
Your major in university (not ISB):………………………………………………..
Your Master program at ISB:  ISB-MBA  WSU-MBA

KHẢO SÁT MỨC ĐỘ HÀI LÒNG CỦA SINH VIÊN VỚI CHẤT LƯỢNG ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI
HỌC - TRƯỜNG HỢP VIỆN ĐÀO TẠO QUỐC TẾ (ISB)
Xin chào! Tôi là sinh viên của Viện đào tạo quốc tế (ISB). Tôi đang tiến hành một cuộc khảo sát về
mức độ hài lòng của sinh viên ISB đối với chương trình đào tạo thạc sĩ của trường.
Mong bạn dành một ít thời gian để điền vào phiếu khảo sát này. Tôi xin cam đoan chỉ sử dụng kết quả của
khảo sát cho mục đích nghiên cứu và tất cả dữ liệu riêng tư, đặc biệt là thông tin cá nhân của bạn sẽ được
giữ bí mật. Chân thành cảm ơn.
Những tuyên bố này liên quan đến ISB. Vui lòng trả lời chúng bằng cách khoanh tròn một số trong mỗi
dòng. Những con số này cho biết mức độ bạn đồng ý hoặc không đồng ý với mức độ từ 1 đến 7, 1 tương
đương với “Hoàn toàn không đồng ý” và 7 tương đương với “Hoàn toàn đồng ý”.
1
Giảng viên có kiến thức để trả lời các câu hỏi của tôi về giáo trình khóa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
học
2 Giảng viên hỗ trợ tôi một cách lịch sự và tỉ mỉ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 Giảng viên không bao giờ từ chối việc giúp đỡ tôi trong quá trình học 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 Khi tôi gặp vấn đề, giảng viên quan tâm và cùng tôi giải quyết 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 Đội ngũ giảng viên có thái độ tích cực đối với sinh viên 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 Giảng viên giao tiếp tốt với sinh viên trong lớp học 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7
Đội ngũ giảng viên có trình độ cao và giàu kinh nghiệm trong lĩnh vực
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
kiến thức tương ứng
8
Giảng viên tạo cảm hứng cho sinh viên tích cực tham gia thảo luận
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
nhóm
9
Nhân viên hành chính của ISB rất quan tâm đến việc hỗ trợ sinh viên
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
giải quyết các vấn đề gặp phải
10 Nhân viên hành chính của ISB luôn quan tâm đến sinh viên 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11
Các câu hỏi và khiếu nại được nhân viên hành chính của ISB giải quyết
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
nhanh chóng và hiệu quả
12
Nhân viên hành chính của ISB không bao giờ từ chối yêu cầu giúp đỡ
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
của sinh viên
13
Khi nhân viên hành chính của ISB hứa sẽ thực hiện điều gì đó trong
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
một thời gian nhất định, họ sẽ làm điều đó
14 Giờ làm việc của các dịch vụ hành chính thuận tiện 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
15
Các nhân viên hành chính của ISB có một thái độ tích cực đối với công
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
việc của họ và các sinh viên
16 Các nhân viên hành chính của ISB giao tiếp tốt với các sinh viên 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
17 Các nhân viên hành chính của ISB có kiến thức về thủ tục của trường 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
18 Tôi cảm thấy an toàn trong mối quan hệ của tôi với tổ chức này 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
19 ISB cung cấp dịch vụ trong thời gian dự kiến 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
20 ISB là một tổ chức có hình ảnh chuyên nghiệp 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
21 Các cơ sở học tập của ISB đầy đủ và cần thiết 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
22 ISB thực hiện các chương trình có chất lượng tốt 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
23
Số lượng sinh viên của các nhóm dễ dàng cho việc giảng viên có thể
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
hỗ trợ từng cá nhân
24 Các sinh viên được đối xử công bằng và tôn trọng 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
25 Sinh viên được tự do trình bày ý kiến cá nhân 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
26 Các nhân viên hành chính của ISB tôn trọng tính bảo mật thông tin cá 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

nhân của sinh viên
27 Việc liên lạc qua điện thoại với nhân viên hành chính dễ dàng 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
28
ISB đánh giá cao phản hồi từ sinh viên để cải thiện việc cung cấp dịch
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
vụ
29 ISB có quy trình cung cấp dịch vụ đơn giản 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
30
ISB cung cấp các chương trình nghiên cứu với cấu trúc và kế hoạch
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
linh hoạt
31 ISB cung cấp dịch vụ tư vấn tốt cho sinh viên 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Xin bạn cho biết một số thông tin cá nhân dưới đây:
Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ
Chuyên ngành chính của bạn (chuyên ngành đã học tại trường đại học của bạn): …………………………
…………………………………………………………
Chương trình thạc sĩ của bạn tại ISB:  ISB-MBA  WSU-MBA

Appendix 2: Interview guide to clarify symptoms
2.1 Questionnaire guide
Method
Data for the study were collected using in-depth interview and unstructured interview guide that allowed
for open-ended responses. Probes were used to elicit further information from respondents.
Informants
4 students from ISB-MBA and 1 student WSU-MBA.
Participants would be asked about the symptoms of ISB’s issue “non-academic staffs” which pointed out
in the last survey results. The interview was noted by interviewer and then transcribed for analysis.
Method of analysis
The author analyzed the data after dividing people into 3 category of working experience: 1-5 years, 6-10
years and more than 10 year.
Interview questions:
Q1: What is your expectation of joining MBA programs?
Q2: Why did you choose MBA program of ISB?
Q3: How do you evaluate the non-academic services provided by ISB?
 (Probe): Could you explain more about “unprofessional non-academic staffs”?

 (Probe): Which expressions did make you think they are not professional?

 (Probe): Which expressions did make you think non-academic staffs didn’t keep their promises?

 (Probe): Did your problems be solved? Why?

 (Probe): Did you satisfied with the way they solve your problems? Why?
2.2 Summary of transcript
1-5 years of experience
6-10 years of More than 10 years of
experience work experience
- Improve English skill
- Improve professional
skills to solve
problems
- Improve English skill - Applying the
1. What is - Collect more knowledge and practical knowledge
your experience from lecturers to - Improve English skill (marketing,
expectation of solve real problems in - Learn business and management, HR ...)
joining MBA business. management to apply in business
program? - Finding suitable job. environment
- Good environment
and opportunities to
build relationships
with many people from
different areas

- Have opportunities of
promotion in work.
- Reputation of UEH
- ISB’s commitment
about lectures (50%
- Qualification of ISB is - Reputation of UEH
2. Why did native lecturers and
valuable. (University of
you choose 50% foreign lecturers).
- Reasonable tuition compared Economics HCM City)
MBA program - Reasonable tuition
to other educational - Qualification of ISB
of ISB? compared to other
institutions is valuable.
educational institutions
- Attractive advertisings
- Attractive advertisings
Non-academic staffs’ styles
haven’t been professional:
- They are not too enthusiastic
and does not quickly
recognize to help students
solve problems
- They don’t keep their Non-academic staffs’
3. How do you
promises: late responses; the styles haven’t been - Enthusiasm of non-
way they answer weren’t professional academic staffs.
evaluate the
persuasive. - They didn’t deep - Non-academic staffs’
non-academic
- Ex: “In the second semester, understand our needs styles haven’t been
services
the institution only opened 1 and problems. professional
provided by
class for all students. I said - “Their responses - Slowly in solve
ISB?
that I cannot join this class weren’t something that I problems for students.
and if they can consider to need”.
open another class in other
day, they said if I couldn’t
join this class, I should
delayed this subject and
joined its’class in the next
semester!”

Appendix 3: Interview guide to draw initial cause-effect map
Method
Data for the study were collected using in-depth interview and unstructured interview guide that allowed
for open-ended responses. Probes were used to elicit further information from respondents.
Informants
A non-academic staff from ISB’s Student Services Department
ISB’s Student Services Manager.
Participants would be asked some issues related to the symptoms that students complained in the survey
results and the last in-depth interview with 5 students. The interview was noted by interviewer and then
transcribed for analysis.
Interview questions:
Q1: What do you think about ISB’s staffs’ attitude?
 (Probe): Do you really understand the requirements of students? Explain.

 (Probe): Are you confident that you have enough knowledge to answer them quickly? Explain?
Q2: Some students complained about your staffs’ not enthusiasm with them because of their
inconclusive answers or solutions. Have you ever known about that? Do you think why?
Q3: What do you think about some students complained about your institution’s inconvenient working
hours made them difficult to meet and present their problem to administrative staffs? Explain.
 (Probe): Difficulty for students can meet administrative staffs made them feel your staffs were not
professional, enthusiasm and friendly. What solutions for these problems?
Q4: Do you think your department have enough information to help students solve all their requirements?
Explain?
 (Probe): Do you think the connection with relevant departments is easy? Explain.

 (Prompt): What are the difficulty for your department in process of serving students when you
have had to depend on UEH? Explain.

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