A STUDY OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING WORKERS PRODUCTIVITY IN OWAN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

A STUDY OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING WORKERS PRODUCTIVITY IN OWAN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The issue of productivity in any sector or organization is critical in the growth and development process. This assertion was corroborated by Udabah (2000) who noted that an increase in productivity depends on the capability of the workers or the employees. Although there is no universal definition of the term productivity, the most common definition is the ratio of output of an organization to the inputs of all the factor of production. Consequently, organizations are concerned with how to minimize production costs (inputs) so as to attain the greatest outputs of goods and services.

According to Koontz and Donnell (1983) all organized effort is undertaken to achieve enterprise or organizational objectives, and in general, the objective according to them is to produce and make available some kind of goods and services. This effort is by no means restricted to business activity; it also applies to schools, hospitals, charitable associations and government. It is obvious that while the enterprise objectives may be primary in these various organizations, the need and objectives that are important to them and if not met, might go a long way to affect their productivity as which will also affect the overall organizational productivity. It is then through the function of leading that managers help people see that they can satisfy their own needs, and utilize their potentials for effective productivity, while at the same time contributing to the aims of the organization.

Happy employees are productive employees. An employee with a positive attitude usually enjoys the work that they do and feels empowered and recognized for their contributions said Henning (2011). An employee that is complacent and does not really enjoy their works, but is simply there for a paycheck usually does not produce at a high level, develops a bad attitude and generally drags a team down.

The concept of need as put forward by various schools of thought, among who is Abraham Maslow, is the major key to understanding workers productivity as thee needs could affect individuals and organizational productivity. Man is not always self sufficient and thus have a pyramid of needs be it personal or organizational which he seeks to satisfy and in the event of not been able to meet their needs, productivity is bound to drop. No wonder, the productivity of workers (teachers) in Owan West Local Government Area in particular has dropped over the years because of lack of adequate care by the managers in the educational sector.

The drastic economy woes in our country today brought about by the series of bad leadership, which we have had over time, even to this present time, have seriously affected the teaching profession, for example, the teachers salaries are not increasing proportionately as on going inflation in the country. To this end success in this direction would only be achieved if the government would readily rise and fight relentlessly against rising inflation which is capable of inhibiting the productivity of the workers more especially those of the teaching profession. This is a very serious issue in our nation Nigeria as the dream of the country for development and advancement lies in the hands of the workers (teachers), and teachers are really the root and foundation of development of any great country.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

        If the high economic condition of the country is partly associated with the perceived poor attitude of the teachers to work, it follows that in order ot reverse the present trend, it will be necessary to determine the expectation of the public secondary school teachers in order to fully utilize their potentials it is hoped that if the knowledge of these school teachers’ expectation is gained, it will be possible, other things being equal to motivate him for greater efficiency, which leads to high productivity.

This attitude on the part of government have been responsible for the poor standard that crop up in the Nigerian educational sector, poor salary and delay in salary, fringe benefits, irregular and delayed promotion, unconducive environment for learning and teaching, delay in pension benefit, status symbols and also the absence of basic facilities. Without which we teacher’s job cannot be adequately exercised. While working in exchange for pay, the teacher thinks of this contribution to the job, time, previous job experience and what he receives for working. The conditions surrounding the job must be adequate before a person is motivated to work but other factors are necessary to produce that motivation. This includes a sense of achievement, recognition, economic and social advancement, enjoyment of the work itself and a sense of responsibility.

In light of this therefore, certain question readily come to mind.

  1. Is there any relationship between teacher’s’ educational qualification and their productivity?
  2. Is there any relationship between teachers’ motivation and their productivity?
  3. Does teachers’ salary play any role in their level of productivity?
  4. Is there any relationship between teachers’ harmonious social relation and their productivity?

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY

The general assumption that goes with motivation is that workers output improves when they are adequately motivated. This assumption affects the teachers (workers). And the fact that teachers whose needs are satisfied, will bring out his/her best for the academic environment.

Finally, the purpose of this study is to examine the factors that affects workers (secondary school teachers) productivity in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State.

1.4 HYPOTHESIS

The following hypothesis were raised based on the research questions above

  1. There is no significant relationship between public secondary school teachers’ periodic in-service training and their productivity.
  2. There is no significant relationship between teachers improved allowances, pension scheme and their productivity.
  3. There is no significant relationship between teachers’ salary grade level and their productivity.
  4. There is no significant relationship between teachers social and harmonious environment and their productivity.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

A study of this nature is supposed to cover all the public secondary school in Owan West Local Government Area, but considering the problems, which will be faced, the researcher has decided to choose 20 selected secondary schools in the local government area as a representative sample for all the public secondary schools in the area. The reason for this delimitation is to promote a high degree of competence including the variables involved.

1.6 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The researcher encountered certain problems during the period of study. Although there was the problem of time and finance, some others also reduced the effectiveness of the study. These are: confidentiality; the respondents at first lost confidence in the ability of the researcher to keep their responses secret. For this reasons, some respondents refused to provide answers to the questionnaire. Secondly, some respondents were careless with the questionnaire to the extent that the researcher could not retrieve them from these groups of respondents. This also affected the researcher effort. Thirdly, the nature of the public school administration.

Most teachers in public schools were never on their duty post. This made the researcher to make many repeated calls and this practices on the part of the teachers towards this research almost led to frustration of the research efforts.

1.7 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS 

The main basic assumption that guides the study are as follows:

  1. Lack of in-service training for secondary school teachers in public schools bring down their level of productivity.
  2. There will be negative effect on teachers’ productivity if there is no proper pension scheme and improved allowances for them.
  3. Lack of good modality for regular payment of salaries and other benefit will lower productivity of teachers.
  4. The improved productivity on the side of the teacher, the principle of motivation must be embarrassed by the government.

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