1.0. Introduction
1.1. Background of the Study
Personnel management is an important element of the broader subject of human resources management, although in practice the two terms are frequently used interchangeably — emphasizing the facts that the people employed in a company are resources which are at least as important as financial and material resources and must be given careful and expert attention.
According to Floppo (1980), “Personnel Management refers to the procurement, development and utilization of an organization's human resources”. Personnel management is that part of management concerned with people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise. It's aim is to bring together and develop into effective organization the men and women who make up an enterprise and having regard for the well-being of the individual and of working groups, to enable them to make their contribution to its success.
Effective managers achieve high level of performance with available resources. For too long, many organizations have paid only lip services to the importance of their employees and sadly, attitude survey conducted among employees especially under the government owned establishments have revealed that the claims of chief executives to value and respect them are not borne out further down the line.
Managers have to be realistic and hard hearted to survive and succeed especially in today's competitive climate, and they need to be convinced of the importance of practicing good human resources management. For any organization to grow rapidly, the welfare of the employee must be taken care of and this can only be done through the personnel management department who see to it that the employees do their duties and are rewarded as at when due.
Most organizations now employ specialists, although the nature of their work and their titles can be very enormous. The institution of Personnel Management advises that, “Personnel Management forms part of every manager's job, but it is the special concern of those employed as specialists in the management team”. It is therefore the sole responsibility of the personnel management department of an organization to ensure that its human resources are met”. (Beach 1975).
In a situation were the organization either fails to equip the personnel departments with the necessary things needed to carry out their assignment or they fail to leave to them everything that concern their work and allow them take care of it, this may result into so many problems which will definitely affect the employees and bring about a decline in the growth of that organization.
Many organization have collapsed due to lack of proper management of the welfare of the employees and also consistent intruding in the affairs of the personnel management by the managers or directors of the organization.
If the organization has to survive or grow, it must design programmes to develop its human resources to their fullest capabilities and maintain the commitment of the workers — which is the work of the personnel department in any organization.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The central problem area of this study is to examine the causes and factors that bring about the challenges encountered by personnel management in government owned establishment. Most government establishments have closed down or are in a bad shape today due to bad management and lack of committed management to look into the welfare of the employees.
We will also look into the extent to which these challenges affect the employee performance and confidence in carrying out his assignment and hopefully find a solution to these challenges and help the government build a better structure that will improve the well living of the masses. Also we will look into how the expertise of personnel department can be improved in other for them to carry out their work effectively without any complain from the employees of the organization.
A good growing organization is seen in the performance of its employees and this is ascertained with a good and workable administration structure that looks into the well being of the employees. As the end of this research, we hope to find a good worker-able structure to replace the lapses in the personnel department of government owned establishment in other to improve the government establishments and make them more attractive.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
There is a general view that, ‘the success and productivity of any workforce in an organization is greatly influenced by the duties of the personnel unit of that organization' (Maggin 1981). With this in mind, the purpose of this research project is to find out the problems faced by the personnel management of government owned establishments using Imo state government establishments as a case study and this can also be achieved through the responses collected from staff of various governments establishments in other to find a solution.
1.4 Research Questions
These questions necessitated this research topic, state owned establishment have been looked down upon due to their low performance when compared to private establishment. The question is;
- Does these establishment have a management who seeks for the good of its workers?
- Are the workers' felt needs well provided for that they can fully work without any reservations?
- Are the workers satisfied with the management in charge of the affairs?
- The low performance is it as a result of influence or is it as a result of poor management or lack of zeal to perform a work by the workers?
- Does the workers have system that train them to improve on their working capacities?
- These question will be answered at the end of this research?
1.5 Significant of the Study
Government owned establishment has been seen as one of the poorest and non-productive establishment due of the poor management of resources and a provision of a free hand, good personnel management who will over see and find out the challenges faced by the employees and also to speak on their behalf of the government.
This study hoped to find out these problems or challenges faced by these establishment and their employees in other to find a lasting solution and to bring about a rapid improvement in the working condition of the employees.
It's a well known fact that most government establishments are in a bad condition while others have been sold out to private owners due to the government and other factors interference and lasses-four nature to work.
1.6 Scope of the Study
Personnel Management itself is a very wide area of study and any effort to write on is generally will be very wide and too much. For the purpose of this study, the researcher has been confined to the problems of the personnel management in government owned establishment. The research is to review some of the constraints hindering the performance of the personnel department and its effect on the employees' confidence on the management of the personnel department.
The research also review the functional areas of the personnel management which include; training, recruitment and interview, planning, organization, directing, controlling, compensation and benefits, training and development, employee relations among other things.
In Imo state, one of the state establishment — Imo Transport Company was used due to the fact that the others had no personnel department.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
In this research work, challenges were also encountered as some staffs were not willing to give the needed information while others felt the researcher had to get a written note from the director before they can assist.
Also some vital information that were needed were not easy to get as one had to travel to different libraries to gather some review.
1.8 Definition of Terms
For better understanding, it is deemed fit to give the operational definition of some terms used in the study;
Performance:
The action of performing something. The action or an act of performing (character) in a play.
Productivity:
Is the ration between output and all the resources (input) used in production.
Efficiency:
Measurement of the way an organization is currently using the resources at its disposal.
Effectiveness:
Compares present achievement with what could be done if resources were managed more effectively.
Management:
These are individuals responsible for the guideline, direction, influence, and control of actions of others in the attainment of desired objectives.
Workers:
A person who workers. A person who works hard. A person who achieves a specified thing.
Employee:
A person employed for wages or salary.
