Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate in-service education needs of administrators in human resource management in colleges of education in South-South, Nigeria: The population of the study was 277 administrators of colleges of education in South-South, Nigeria. The study answered five (5) research questions and tested four (4) null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. A forty-three item questionnaire was developed. Mean ratings and standard deviation was used to answer research questions while t-test, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Post-hoc test were used to test the four null hypotheses formulated. The overall reliability of the entire instrument was 0.83. The major findings of the study showed among others: that the administrators of Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria do not possess adequate competency needed for human resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, appraisal, and compensation/motivation. The administrators agreed that they needed in-service education to enhance their competencies in human resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, appraisal; and compensation/motivation. The results of the study also revealed that college ownership (Federal or State), and gender of the administrators do not have any significant difference on the mean ratings of administrators on the in-service education needs for human resource management whereas, the administrator’s position/status and administrative experience has significant difference on their mean ratings on the in-service education needs for human resource management in Colleges of Education. It was concluded that colleges of education administrators need in-service education in human resource planning, recruitment, appraisal, compensation/ Motivation; College ownership (Federal or state) and gender of the administrators are not a significant factor on administrators in-service education needs for human resources management, rather administrator’s position/status and administrative experience are significant factors on administrator’s in-service education needs in human resources management. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended compulsory in-service education to administrative Staff, capacity building for administrators of colleges of education in human resource management skills and competencies, and that supervising agencies of ministry of education should provide funds for training of college of education administrators in human resource management.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The success of any enterprise depends solely upon its management, which encompasses the organization and coordination of men and materials within the enterprise in the most rational and efficient manner to achieve desired goals. According to Peretomode (2003), management is the social interactional and economic process involving a sequence of coordinated events such as planning, organizing, and the control of available resources to achieve desired outcomes. Management is considered effective if outlined objectives of an enterprise are to be accomplished and this can be done through careful and systematic arrangement and use of resources in a faster and efficient way. Resources as Ndiomu (2002) explained, embrace the penitent and invisible things as health, intelligence, sound memory, wisdom, knowledge, social harmony and power. Similarly, human labour, activities and skills which vary with time and location are resources. The explanation above indicates that resources could be material or human in nature. Zehinsky (2009) maintains that material resource refers to any substance or physical property that helps to satisfy human needs.
Human resources on the other hand, could be seen as the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organizations workforce as well as values and attitudes (Ankur 2009). It includes the
approaches, and beliefs of individuals involved in the affairs of the organization. Human resource is the sum total or aggregate of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills represented by the talents and aptitudes of the persons employed in the organization. Barmey (1995) and Onah (2003) agree on the fact that human resources include all the experiment skills, judgement, abilities, knowledge, contacts, risk-taking and wisdom of individuals and associates with an organization.
The human resources are multidimensional in nature. From the national point of view, human resources may be understood to mean the knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes obtained in a population. On the viewpoint of the institutional enterprise, human resources represent the total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as expamplified in the talents and aptitudes of the employee (O’Brien 2009). In this study, human resource shall be understood as the human population in an institution working towards achieving the goals of the institution. According to Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), the success of every education programme is hinged on proper planning, efficient administration and adequate financing. As noted by Towers (2007), efficient administration, planning and financing are a function of human resources management.
Human resource management has come to be recognized as an inherent part of management, which is concerned with human resources of an organization. Its objectives is the maintenance of better human relations in the
organization by the development, application and evaluation of policies, procedures and programmes relating to human resources to optimize their contribution towards the realization of organizational objectives (Ulrich, 1996). In other words, human resource management is concerned with getting better results with the collaboration of people or employee. DeGaff (2010) reported that human resource management is concerned with people at work and their relationship within the enterprise. DeGraff further explained that human resource management is the management of an organization’s work force, or human resources that is responsible for attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of employees.
Human resource management helps in attaining maximum individual development, desirable working relationship between employees and employers, employees and employees, and effective modeling of human resources as contrasted with physical resources. Onah (2003) asserted that human resource management involves a series of activities in which the job, the individual and the organization interact as each develops and changes. The author opined that human resource management is identifiable with the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources for an organization.
In a similar tone, Ojo (1997) observed that human resource management is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment, management, and provision of direction for the people who work in an
organization. Ojo contends that human resource management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organizational development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration and training. Okoh (1998) sees human resource management as a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and the workplace culture and environment.
Effective human resource management enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall direction and accomplishment of an organization’s goals and objectives. In relation to the above, Mathis and Jackson in Onah (2003) posit that human resource management is the design of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent to accomplish organizational goals. Armstrong (2001) sees human resources as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization most valued assets, the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.
In this study, human resource management is explained as the set of organizational activities directed at effective and efficient use of human talent to accomplish institutional goals. There organizational activities include human resource planning, recruitment, and selection, training and development, appraisal, compensation and motivation.
It might be pertinent to indicate that from the above classifications, human resource planning appears to be very important category interaction for the administrator. This is because the administrators while performing their administrative functions has to forecast the human resource needs and develop steps to be taken to meet them. They have to set and implement goals and actions needed to ensure that the right number and type of individuals are available at the appropriate time and place to fill the organization’s needs. Human resource planning dictates that the administrator should have thorough knowledge of the entire personnel that they are expected to serve in the organization. The administrators should be able to plan for staff expansions and adjustments in the existing workforce.
Besides human resource planning, there is also need for recruitment and selection as specified in the job description and job specifications of the organization. Recruitment is the process of searching both inside and outside the organization for suitable candidate to fill vacant positions, while selection is assessing the candidate by various means, making a choice and finally making an offer of employment. Effective recruitment and selection not only attracts individuals to the organization, but also increase the chances of retaining them once they are hired.
After recruitment and selection exercise, training and development programme have to be embarked on to broaden the knowledge and skills of the employees so that they will be prepared to take on new responsibilities and
other challenges in the job. Training and development programmes are designed to provide professional improvement for serving employees, enhance the ability of the poorly trained, provide training for the untrained and improve the experiences of the trained. This could inform of workshops, seminars, short-refresher course etc.
Similarly, when employees are trained and settle into their jobs, one of the administrator’s next concerns is their performance appraisal. Performance appraisal is the on-going process of evaluating and managing both the behaviour and outcome in the workforce. This involves setting work standards, assessing the employee standards and providing feedback to the employee with the aim of motivating the employee to eliminate performance deficiencies. Employee performance appraisal should be evaluated regularly for obvious reasons as Griffins in Onah (2003) puts, for validating selection devices or assessing the impact of training programmes, to aid in making decisions about pay rise, promotion and training, to provide feedback to employees to help them improve their present performance and future careers.
Another task area of leadership is compensation and motivation of human resource. This involves how employee are compensated and motivated in accordance with their value to an organization. It is concern with both financial and non-financial rewards. The major responsibility placed on administrator is to ensure that wages, salaries and other benefits paid in the colleges compared with those paid to staff in other colleges of comparable size.
The administrator is also expected to ensure that salaries and other entitlements are paid as when due.
In educational institutions such as universities and colleges of education, the human resources include the staff and students. These human population need to be efficiently and adequately managed so as to attain the set goals of the institution. Human resource management is an important aspect of the college management which is concerned with the process of planning, selecting, coordinating and utilizing the human workforce. It is concerned with the handling of formal systems for the management of staff within the institution until and after their retirement.
The management of colleges of education programmes and staff (teaching and non-teaching) rests in the hands of the college administrators, classified as principal officers, Deans of schools/faculties and heads of academic and non-academic departments. Specifically, the principal officers is comprised of the Provost, Deputy Provost, Registrar, Bursar, Librarian, Directors of Units and Planning officer (National Commission for Colleges of Education 2004). They direct and coordinate the human, materials and financial resources of the college towards meeting the college set objectives.
A critical examination of the scope of human resource management of colleges of education show that the task of management is much and requires the application of current and contemporary administrative competencies for efficient use of the human resources in the colleges. Presently, Okorie (2003)
reports that the management of higher institutions (including Colleges of Education) in Nigeria is characterized by obsolete traditional mode of personnel administration which are increasingly outsourced. The author stressed that if values are to be added to the strategic utilization of employees in higher institutions, there was the need to update the management competencies of the institutions’ administrators through in-service education. Olusola (1992) pointed out that technology explosions in the present age demands that school administrators be properly equipped with knowledge of modern technologies for them to face the challenges posed by it, through effective in-service training.
In the educational institutions, in-service training has remained a mechanism through which administrators and other school personnel upgrade and update their knowledge and skills. In-service education is seen as the principal means by which the education service itself can be improved upon (Oteh, 2005). Some researchers (Hellriegel, Jackson and Socum, 2002; Nnabuo, 1996) among others reported that in-service training of any kind is designed to expose administrators or institutions’ personnel to current and contemporary approved techniques, knowledge and skills for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness, and improved performance of public officers. Specifically, in-service education affords administrators the opportunities to reflect on the appropriateness of their practices thereby increasing their perception of roles. In-service education, as used in this work
connotes the continual education and training of administrators in colleges of education while on the job for effective and efficient human resource management of the colleges.
As reported by Johnson and Scholes (2002), the explosion in staff strength in colleges of education as a result of introduction of newer programmes, and the advent of information and communication technologies in all facets of human activities calls for a re-examination of the human resource management competencies of the administrators in colleges of education in Nigeria. To do this, the human resource management competencies possessed by the administrators need to be identified and compared with those required for efficient human resource management in order to determine the gaps to be filled through in-service education. In this study, the gaps to be filled through in-service education constitute the in-service education needs of administrators in human resource management in colleges of education.
In consideration of the in-service education needs of the administrators in human resource management in colleges of education, certain variables deserve attention; namely, ownership of the colleges, gender of the administrators, years of management experience of the administrator, educational qualification of the administrator, and job status/position of the administrator.
A considerable literature documents differences in the management styles of women in contrast to those of men. For example, Gibson (1995),
Rosener (1990) found women to be more attentive than men to human side of an enterprise. According to them, female leaders tend to base judgements more on intuitions and emotions than on rational calculations of the relationship between means and ends. This implied that women’s management styles are more democratic and participatory than those adopted by men. Mertz and McNeedy,( 1997). suggests that male administrators in colleges of education are likely to have more need for in-service education than the female counterparts. This study sought to extend the literature by providing an understanding of the contribution gender can make to the in-service education needs of administrators in human resource management in colleges of education.
The relevance of working experience on the in-service education needs of the administrators is a variable to be verified in this study. Tyack and Cuban (1997) posits that basing judgements on years of trial-and-error, the experienced administrators may be more likely than newer administrators to engage in management of human resources. The less experienced administrator are more responsive to pressures for change than the more experienced ones (Murphy, 2003). This tends to suggest the likelihood that less experienced administrators might be more supportive of in-service education needs than their more experienced administrators. Equally, research finding by Reiman and Theisprinthall, (1998) has shown that in-service education needs of beginning administrators are indeed different from those of
experienced administrators. In this study, the influence of working experience of the college of education administrators in human resource management will be investigated, as literature has indicated inconsistencies in findings.
The position of an individual in an organization has also been suggested to influence the individual’s management in-service needs. For instance, Fagenson (1990) reports that the position one holds in an organizational hierarchy influence his/her in-service education needs. Similarly, study by Watson, (2004) has indicated that organizational structure variables such as position or status may be an important contributor in determination of the training needs of officers. The trend of the relationship of administrator’s position and the human resource in-service education needs has seemed not to have been investigated.
Again, research on the influence of institutional ownership on strategic decisions has been an integral part of the scholarly agenda in institutional management. Researchers have studied the role that institutional owners play in directing the in-service education needs of administrators towards attaining the goals of the institutions (Ryan & Schneider, 2002). Few studies, however, have examined the influence of college of education ownership (Federal or State) on the in-service education needs of the administrators in human resource management. The increasing role of college ownership on the various management decisions suggest that ownership may be a variable in the
determination of the in-service education needs of the administrators in human resource management.
On the basis of the objectives of ensuring effective utilization and maximum development of human resources, there is the need to carry out a study on in-service education needs of administrators in human resource management in colleges of education.
Statement of the Problem
In South-South zone of Nigeria, the management of Colleges of Education are characterized by obsolete traditional personnel administration style. Some of the college administrators are non-professionals in educational administration or management and are usually appointed on the basis of number of years in service or political inclination. Similarly the continual, changes in educational policies coupled with technological innovations tend to render most of college administrators incompetent in respect of human resource management.
If value is to be added to the strategic utilization of employees in educational institutions towards achieving the institutional goals, there is the need to update the human resource management competencies of the administrators, possibly, through in-service education. The problem of the study therefore put in question form is: what are the inservice education needs of administrators in human resource management for colleges of education improvement in South-South of Nigeria?
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to investigate the in-service education needs of administrators in human resource management in colleges of education in South-South zone of Nigeria. Specifically, the study intends to:
1. determine the in-service needs of administrators in Colleges of
Education in human resource planning;
2. find out the in-service needs of administrators in Colleges of Education in human resource recruitment and selection;
3. ascertain the in-service needs of administrators in Colleges of Education in human resource training and development;
4. investigate the in-service needs of administrators in Colleges of
Education in human resource appraisal;
5. determine the in-service needs of administrators in Colleges of Education in human resource compensation/motivation in South-South zone;
Significance of the Study
The study will be useful to the administrators of Colleges of Education, the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE); the Governing Councils of the Colleges of Education; the staff of colleges of education; and future researchers. It should also have theoretical significance.
Administrators in colleges of education will benefit from the findings of the study. It should determine the competency gaps of the administrators in
human resource planning; human resource recruitment and selection; human resource training and development; human resource appraisal; and human resource compensation/motivation and thus expose where in-service education is needed to fill such gaps. When an administrator is aware of competency gaps in human resource planning; human resource recruitment and selection, human resource training and development, human resource appraisal and human resource compensation/motivation, then effort will be made to improve on such inadequacies for greater output.
The findings of the study will also be beneficial to governing councils of the Colleges of Education. The information generated should highlight the in- service needs of college administrators in human resource planning, human resource recruitment and selection, human resource training and development, human resource appraisal, human resource compensation and motivation. This will provide useful guide to the governing council on the modality for approval of in-service education programmes for administrators of the colleges.
Further, the finding will be useful to the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE). The findings should highlight data on areas of inadequacies in human resource planning, human resource recruitment and selection, human resource training and development, human resource appraisal, human resource compensation and motivation by college administrators. This will guide the commission to make policies towards redirecting the situation.
The finding of the study will further be beneficial to staff (teaching and non-teaching) of the Colleges of Education. The need for their in-service education should be highlighted in the study and this may pave way for enriching their professional status through in-service education.
Moreover, future researchers in the same or related discipline will benefit from the finding of the study. The data should serve as source of information on the in-service education needs of administrators in human resource planning, human resource recruitment and selection, human resource training and development, human resource appraisal, human resource compensation and motivation in Colleges of Education to which future researchers will make reference.
Finally, the finding of the study should contribute to theory on human resource planning, human resource recruitment and selection, human resource training and development, human resource appraisal, human resource compensation and motivation. This should add to the pool of existing knowledge on the in-service needs of administrators in Colleges of Education. Scope of the Study
The study was delimited to in-service education needs of administrators in human resource management in Colleges of Education in South-South of Nigeria. The study was also delimited to some aspects of human resource management such as human resource planning; human resource recruitment and selection; human resource training and development; human resource
appraisal; and human resource compensation/motivation. Also, included in delimitation of the study was the gender of the administrators, status/position of the administrators, years of experience of the administrators and ownership of colleges of education. The population scope include the administrators in Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
Research Questions
The study was guided by the following research questions.
1. What are the in-service education needs of administrators of Colleges of
Education for human resource planning in South-South zone of Nigeria?
2. What are the in-service education needs of administrators for human resource recruitment and selection in colleges of education in South- South of Nigeria?
3. What are the in-service education needs of administrators for human resource training and development in Colleges of Education in South- South Nigeria?
4. What are the in-service education needs of administrators for human resource appraisal in Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria?
5. What are the in-service education needs of administrators for human resource compensation and motivation in Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria?
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. They were tested at P<0.05 level of significance.
1. There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of administrators in Federal and State colleges of education on their in- service education needs for human resource management.
2. There is be no significant difference between the mean ratings of male and female administrators on their in-service education needs for human resource management.
3. Administrator’s years of management experience is not a significant factor in the mean ratings of administrators on in-service needs for human resource management.
4. Administrators’ position/status is not a significant factor in the mean ratings of the administrators in their in-service education needs for human resource management in Colleges of Education.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
IN-SERVICE EDUCATION NEEDS OF ADMINISTRATORS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA
PROJECTOPICS.com Support Team Are Always (24/7) Online To Help You With Your Project
Chat Us on WhatsApp » 07035244445
DO YOU NEED CLARIFICATION? CALL OUR HELP DESK:
07035244445 (Country Code: +234)YOU CAN REACH OUR SUPPORT TEAM VIA MAIL: [email protected]