HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN GWAGWALADA AREA COUNCIL

Abstract

This study focused on Human Resources management and employee performance in Gwagwalada area council. A descriptive survey design was adopted in carrying out the study. A purposive sampling technique was employed to 136 respondents to partake in the study. Data was analyzed quantitatively using SPSS version 23 showing Means and Standard Deviations.  It was established that HRM  practices such as diverse training and development programmes, appraisal practices, career planning and employee participation practices, rewards and compensation policies significantly enhance the performance of  staff. The study concluded that the key challenges of the Human Resource Management practices were high labor turnover, lack of incentives and benefits, inadequate retirement benefit, skill gap, null occupational health and safety practices. The study, therefore, recommended that competitive compensation facilities should be provided for employees, and higher employee performance should be linked with higher salary and compensational facilities. This system of incentive could enhance the commitment level of the employees.

 

 CHAPTER ONE:

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

 1.1    Introduction

Organizations are established with the aim of effectively utilizing various available human and non-human resource to achieve certain objective. Among these resources in human, which is commonly seen as the most valuable asset an organization could use to earn competitive advantage and achieve its objective, hence the need for human resources management to ensure optimum employee performance and organizational continuous existence.

Human resource has been tagged the most valued asset of any organization. Its strategic approach emphasized a “tight fit” between individual needs, rights, ambitions, and goals within the organization which make compensation system central in the affairs of emerging students, scholars and Human Resource Management (HRM) practitioners in the world over. The emergence of human resource management posed great threat to the conventional personnel management and industrial relation because it evolved from the core approach or organization relationship. It is an asset that should be invested upon so as to provide long-term commitment and high performance in an organization. As organizations strive to achieve one or more objectives through exhaustive utilization of human capital, so also, the employee aim toward achieving individual purpose (objective) while working for the organization.

In today’s modern competitive environment, organizations particularly local government administrations are facing emerging challenges in the form of acquisition and optimization of human resource. In the bid to surmount these challenges, there has generally been the need for a comprehensive Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to translate organization’s human resources into a sustainable performance. The success of most, if not all, organizations depend largely on its human resource. According to Khan (2010) in a dynamic working atmosphere like Nigeria, for organizations to achieve better performance, there is the need for an articulate approach to implement HRM practices.

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization.

Existing literatures have greatly elicited the tremendous contributions of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices on local governments’ performances (Ahmed and Schroeder, 2003; Schuler and Jackson, 2007; and Agyapomaa, 2011). Moreover, Edgar and Geare (2005) vehemently posited that the relationship between Human Resource Management practices and staff performance is an increasingly researched topic in human resource management. More specifically, HRM is hypothesized to fulfill employees’ needs which enhances favorable attitudes, and subsequently improves local governments’ performance (Edgar and Geare, 2005; Kuvaas, 2008). Whether in fact Human Resources Management (HRM) practices is negatively or positively related to local government performance is an issue that remained opened to empirical studies. Thus, this study seeks to critically examine the impact of human resources management on employee performance in Gwagwalada Area Council.

1.2. Statement of Research Problem

In most  organization today, employee performance of workers is far below expectation, business many organization incur a lot of lost as a form of wastage caused by management of the organization. Work environments are complex and dynamic. Rapid changes occur in the external and internal environments, impacting on the local government administration and its certain segments of the labour force are rendered redundant.

According to Anuboli, (2016) HRM practices maximizes employee’s‟ contributions in order to achieve optimal employee performance and effectiveness, while at the same time achieving the objectives of individual employees and those of the society; supporting the development of firm-specific knowledge and skills that are the result of organizational learning processes; and enhancing motivation, job engagement and commitment by introducing policies and processes that ensure that people are valued and rewarded for what they do and achieve and for the levels of skill and competence they reach.  Thus, the implication of the foregoing is that human resources management  in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja is basically ineffective in the management of change. Human resources managers and specialists with adequate training, technical erudition, experience that will be able to provide management with functional and line managers in the council area is apparently lacking not only in the council but in Nigeria generally. More so, human resources management occupies a crucial position in organizational growth as previous studies have shown its influence on employee performance.

Hence, this thesis focused on Human Resources management and employee performance in Gwagwalada Area council.

1.3 Basic Research Questions

This study focused on the following basic research questions.

1. To what extent does Gwagwalada Area Council engage in  Human Resource Management practices?
2. To what extent does Human Resource Management practice enhance employee performance in Gwagwalada Area Council?
3. What are some of the challenges the council encountered while they practice HRM?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

This study has both general and specific objectives.

1.4.1 General Objective of the Study

Ultimately, this study focused on Human Resources management and employee performance in Gwagwalada Area council, Abuja.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives of the Study

In specific terms, this study tried to:

• Assess the practices of Human Resource Management in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria.
• Determine the extent to which Human Resource Management practice enhance employee performance in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.
• Identify some of the challenges facing the council  in line with Human Resource Management practices.

 

 

1.5      Significance Of Study

From management perspective, this study will show HR professionals the importance of HRM practices to employee performance and challenges various organizations encounter in implementing HRM practices. This, in turn, will help to take the corrective actions. Again, for the  managers, it will orient to focus on the work force and plan to minimize the challenges that they face.

Moreover, it will be a useful material for the upcoming student that want to embark on the relevant project topic.

Finally, it is the researcher’s faith that this study will contribute its share as the starting point and reference for other studies to be conducted in the field.

 

1.6       Scope and Limitation of the Study

This research work  focused on Human Resources management and employee performance in Gwagwalada area council. The study covers selected staff of Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN GWAGWALADA AREA COUNCIL

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