Appraisal of personnel management practices of secondary education management boards

Project Abstract

<p> The study was conducted to appraise the personnel management practices of the Abia StateSecondary Education Management Board. The study was guided by five research questions with<br>five corresponding null hypotheses formulated. Literatures relevant to the study were reviewed.<br>A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study<br>consisted of 692 staff of the Secondary Education Management Board. The population was all<br>the 264 senior Secondary Principals, all the 241 Junior Secondary Principals and all the 187<br>Senior administrative staff of the Board No sampling was made as the entire population of 692<br>was used for the study because it was manageable. A structured questionnaire was used for the<br>study. The instrument was face validated by three experts from the Faculty of Education,<br>University of Nigeria, Nsukka and trial tested at Okigwe Education Zone of Imo State. The<br>internal consistency of the instrument was established using Kuder-Richardson and Cronbach<br>alpha reliability coefficient methods. The overall coefficient value of 0.93 was obtained. 692<br>copies of the questionnaire were distributed and returned with the assistance of three research<br>assistants. Data collected were analyzed using mean scores and standard deviations for the<br>research questions while t-test statistics was used for the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of<br>significance. The results indicated that the Abia State Secondary Education Management Board<br>comply to a very great extent with Personnel Management Manual on recruitment and posting of<br>staff, staff development and training to a very great extent, staff welfare services to a great<br>extent, staff discipline to great extent and staff appraisal to a great extent. Other results included<br>that there is significant difference between the mean scores of secondary school principals and<br>senior administrative staff of the Board on staff recruitment and posting, there is also a<br>significant difference on staff development and training, there is significant difference on welfare<br>services provided for personnel, there is significant difference on staff discipline and there is also<br>significant difference on appraisal of staff by the Board. The five null hypotheses were therefore<br>rejected. Based on the findings it was concluded that both the principals of secondary schools<br>and the senior administrative officer of the SEMB of Abia State are at variance in compliance<br>with approved guideline on personnel management practices. The educational implications of the<br>finding were also outlined. The researcher recommended, among others, that the secondary<br>education management board should ensure that issues relating to staff recruitment, development<br>and training, welfare services, discipline, appraisal and promotion are taken seriously in<br>conjunction with the principals, the Board should regularly organize seminars and workshops to<br>improve staff skills and competence, the Board should also establish standardized procedures for<br>the recruitment of staff, teachers should be encouraged to go for further training for effective and<br>efficient delivery and achievement of educational goals and objectives. <br></p>

Project Overview

<p> </p><p><strong>INTRODUCTION</strong><br><strong>Background of the Study</strong><br>Personnel management is one of the most important and challenging functions of<br>any organization because it constitutes the ultimate basis for the creation and utilization<br>of the wealth of a nation. Okafor and Udu (2008) perceive management as a set of<br>activities (planning, decision making, organizing, leading and controlling) directed at an<br>organization’s resources (human, financial and physical) with the aim of achieving<br>organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner. Personnel management is the<br>acquisition of personnel or human resources and co-ordination of their performance<br>within the organization. Riches and Morgan in Uche (2009) explain that human resource<br>management in any organization (education or otherwise) is part of the process of<br>management in general that focuses on the people aspect of management, ensuring that<br>the objective of the organization is met. In order words, personnel management is the<br>effective utilization of people at work to achieve the aims and objectives of the<br>organization.</p><p>It is in line with the above assertion that Peretomode (2004) asserted that,<br>personnel management acts as the wheel of progress in the realization of educational<br>goals and objectives. It means that without an effective personnel management, an<br>organization may find it difficult to achieve its set goals and objectives. Nwachukwu<br>(2000), argues that for an organization to attain its desired objectives, it must seek to<br>obtain the co-operation of the personnel working under it. It is clear that personnel<br>management is challenging in every organization but far more challenging in educational<br>institutions. This is because most of the activities in education deal with human beings.<br>The management of educational institutions is faced with not only the complexities of<br>characters and behaviour of the staff, but also with those of the students and parents<br>(Okoro, 2006). This means that the way and manner these chains of human elements are<br>managed could affect the success of educational institutions.</p> <br><p></p>