1.1 Introduction
Organizational Memory can be viewed as abstract or concrete (Murray & Lorne, 2002). It is comprised of unstructured concepts and information that exist in the organization's culture and the minds of its members and that can be partially represented by concrete/ physical memory aids such as databases (Murray & Lorne, 2002). It is also comprised of structured concepts and information that can be exactly represented by computerized records and files (Murray & Lorne, 2002). Sandoe and Olfman (1992) and Representation presents just the facts (or knowledge or expertise) for a given context or situation. Interpretation promotes adaptation and learning by providing frames of reference, procedures, guidelines, or a means to synthesize past information for application to new situations.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Organizational are social entities as social entity, they interact continuously with environment where they gain idea, experience and knowledge from both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances. These knowledge, experience and idea gained are stored into the memory of organization that thus sharpen how they respond to future occurrences. Similarly, organizations that experience amnesia may not function effectively in an ever-dynamic business domain. OMM has attracted innumerable definition by writers in several fields. OMM deals with gathering of organizational knowledge and then redistributing the knowledge amongst organizational staffs (Toulabi, Dehghani & Taha, 2013).
The organizations use information systems to store the individual experiences that are constantly requested and shared to understand and anticipate the events. According to Croasdell, (2001) “all new knowledge generates a disturbance in the system” and memory influences the individual behaviour because it provides insight for solving problems and decision-making. It serves as a reference for understanding human activities, since it is associated with collective memory (one of the factors that help create the model for an automatic memory system). Accordingly, this whole system helps in the recollection of the applicability of knowledge and this, in the creation of efficiency and productivity. Machado-da-Silva, Fonseca and Fernandes (2000) highlight that the process of solving problems may not necessarily occur according to environmental experiences, the accumulation of difficulty, repetition of errors or the event of serious problems may lead to radical contestation of the paradigm, generating changes of a fundamental nature. The organizational memory is a generic concept that describes storage, representation and sharing of knowledge, culture, power, practices and policy within an organization. Its purpose is to reduce the costs of transaction, the speed of access to past practices and solutions, help in decision- making, share of knowledge among the working members and teams and the reduction of the dependency of the organization in relation to individuals (in case of turnover). If this memory is easily lost or almost useless, it will not help the organization to seek competitive advantages, develop the organization learning concept and increase autonomy and competencies for sudden changes in the market (Croasdell, 2001). Hodge, Anthony and Gales (1996) highlight that for the information management systems, two factors are critical in organizations: validity and reliability. The authors added that the organizations are basically information processors used for decision-making on what and how to do or not to do things.
Davar (2002) believes that appraisal of the employee is undoubtedly necessary at a time of his employment. However, an appraisal on continuing basis during the working life of such an employee is also very desirable and useful. Actually evaluation is constantly being done although at an unconscious level. Employees appraise supervisors, fellow colleagues, and subordinates. What is needed to generate proper control is a formal procedure for evaluating personnel within the organization. Such appraisals are at times as ratings where one individual after comparison with the other is ranked excellent, normal, or average. Such merit rating is usually used for ascertaining an employee's eligibility in fixing the qualities and characteristics to be rated in determining the person who should make such appraisal as well ·as by prescribing the appropriate procedure. Performance appraisal can be used for basically three purposes of which one is for promotions, salary increases and a basis for reward allocation. Secondly for identifying areas where development efforts are needed and lastly can be used as a criterion against which selection devices and development programs are validated.
Performance appraisal can enhance the benefits for the organization, but apparently it is not delivering the benefits in many cases (John Mooney, 2009). Most of the organizations usually include performance appraisal they cannot take the benefits from that because there lay a huge difference between the anticipations and experiences in the present system (Elverfeldt, 2005).
Therefore, in Rivers State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to examine the Organizational Memory and Employee Productivity.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed the problem facing many oil and gas firms become more worrisome considering the high influence of top global plays in other countries. As such, gaining higher competitive advantage has become paramount for firms in the industry. Inability to compete favourably will result in low returns, poor profitability, reduced patronage, low resilience ability and ultimately liquidation. Companies that has weak competitive capacity to compete with rivalries fizzle out of business. It is worthy of note that when a firm stop operating as a result of poor competitiveness, such intensify unemployment, reduce the gross domestic product of the nation, reduces economic activities.
It has been observed that majority of workers m the manufacturing sector are daily exposed to diverse occupational health and safety hazards. This has impaired their health status and adversely affected their productive capacity. In the same vein, their prunes to industrial accidents had equally incapacitated physically some of the factory workers, which in turn had caused a decline in their level of productivity.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Organizational Memory and Employee Productivity in Some Selected Organization in Rivers State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To assess the relevance of Management and Employee's Memory in Some Selected Organization in Rivers State
- To examine the relationship between Organizational Memory and Personal Memory of Employee in PSD Oil & Gas Limited and Wesham oil & Gas Services Limited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
- To evaluate the factors affecting the Productivity of Employee in Some Selected Organization in Rivers State
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Is there any relationship between Organizational Memory and Personal Memory of Employee in PSD Oil & Gas Limited and Wesham oil & Gas Services Limited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State?
- What are the relevance of Management and Employee's Memory in Rivers State?
- What are the factors affecting the Productivity of Employee in Some Selected Organization in Rivers State?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
- H0: There is no significant relationship between Organizational Memory and Personal Memory of Employee in PSD Oil & Gas Limited and Wesham oil & Gas Services Limited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
- H1: There is a significant relationship between Organizational Memory and Personal Memory of Employee in PSD Oil & Gas Limited and Wesham oil & Gas Services Limited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
1.7 Significance of Study
The significance of the study will be of great importance to organizations and researchers and would enable the organizations to improve on the ways of increasing productivity. Employee Performance appraisal is a critical management function which helps significantly in boosting employee morale and resulting to improved employee productivity. The result of the study will be of immense benefit to management practitioners, scholars, policy-makers, students and the public who will increase their understanding of the concept and applicability of this concept in various workplace situations. Specifically, the study will:
- Help managers learn and understand the role of performance appraisal in regard to employee productivity.
- Use the findings for proper and strategic decision-making.
- Add to the existing literature and knowledge on performance appraisal and serve as a basis for further research.
1.8 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Organizational Memory and Employee Productivity in Some Selected Organization in Rivers State. The Organization selected are PSD Oil & Gas Limited and Wesham oil & Gas Services Limited in Port Harcourt, River State, Nigeria.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Workers performance: Employee Performance Definition. Employee performance refers to how your workers behave in the workplace and how well they perform the job duties you’ve obligated to them
Wages: Wages a fixed regular payment earned for work or services, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis
