ABSTRACT
It is an undisputable fact that the world is changing at a very fast pace. It therefore requires a change if every organization and institution are to respond to these changes. It is for these reasons that organizations need to initiate orientation to their employees to prepare and equip them with current skills and knowledge. This study was conducted to find out the effects of employee orientation on performance in Nigeria Education Service (NES) – Lagos. The methodology that was used in collecting the research data was a survey design that used a purposive random sampling technique where questionnaires were distributed. The results indicated that the organization needs quality orientation programmes for its employees. It also pointed out that an orientation practice in the institution is facing many problems. However, there are certain factors that affect orientation practices in the Nigeria Education Service. Based on the findings, a number of recommendations have been made. Among these include, frequent orientation programme with improved quality should be organized for NES employees alongside the provision of suitable working environment and motivation such as promotion for high performance should be used to enhance effectiveness of the programmes on employee performance in the Nigeria Education Service to adopt a more comprehensive approach to orientation; and the Nigeria Education Service should provide information in a way that can be engrossed, helpful and retained. In the same way, NES can use the orientation program to enhance employee performance and to develop a team atmosphere, and to ensure that orientation is effectively and efficiently carried out and managed for the realization of the purpose and objectives of Nigeria Education Service.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Information orientation is absolutely necessary for new employees in any organization. Without information orientation many things can and do take place that have risky and negative impact on the company and the new employee. It is essential to comprehend and recognize that orientation and training is not the same thing with each having a different purpose and hence playing a different role in an organization; orientation is the process of communicating to a new employee the duties of the job and how to accomplish them. Training on the other hand is the process of building specific skills necessary to carry out the job duties explained in the orientation (Outlaw, 1998).
The growth of enterprise information systems that provide extraordinarily data to managers on customers, suppliers, and employees, means that managers no longer operate in a fog of confusion but instead have instant access to the important information they need to make accurate and timely decisions that influence organization performance.
According to Mathias (1994), orientation is the planned introduction of new employees to their jobs, their coworkers, and culture of the organization. Most organizations offer an employee orientation programme coordinated by the Human Resource Department (Blackwell, 1997). Human Resources have played an important role in the economic development in most developed countries such as the United States of America, Britain, and Japan among others. It can therefore be concluded that a developing country like Nigeria, with its rich natural wealth and the necessary monetary support can also experience such economic success if the appropriate attention is given to the development and training of her human resource (Laing, 2009).
In order to manage and run an organization, whether large or small, it is necessary to recruit competent personnel. The formal educational system in Nigeria does not adequately teach specific job skills for a position in a particular organization. Few employees have the requisite skills, knowledge, abilities and competencies (SKAC) needed to execute a job. As a result, many require extensive training to acquire the necessary SKAC to be able to make substantive contributions towards the organization’s growth (Laing, 2009).
The new recruit or new employee orientations serve many purposes and have many meanings from both an organizational and employee perspective. Researchers have found that successful new employee orientation programmes help new employees become well-known or familiar with their organizational environment and help them understand and appreciate their responsibilities (Robinson, 1998).
Most organizations meet their needs for orientation through ad hoc, chaotic, and haphazard methods while other organizations set about identifying their actual needs for orientation and then designing programs in a rational manner in order to address their employee needs.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
It is worrying that big organizations and institutions in this country have problems with orientation programmes, and so does the Nigeria Education Service. Some organizations as well as some leaders of institutions still consider orientation to be a waste of organizational resources. A significant problem that continues to confront our institutions in Nigeria is the provisions of adequate information orientation for employees to enable them deliver their optimum.
In most cases, new employees are being influenced or affected by certain factors in the institution.
This includes vision, mission, values, organizational/institutional culture and structure, policies of the organization and others. As a staff of NES, it was observed that the performance of workers leaves much to be desired. The appraisal showed some workers did not always finish assigned jobs within time and do not report to work on time. Also, the orientation NES provides for their new employee appears to be overloaded with too many details and irrelevant introduction which makes the orientation process ineffective.
Although, it is an undeniable truth that problems exist everywhere, especially where there are human interactions and activities, there is the need for the NES to orient its staff on ways to circumvent these problems. As much as it can be said that orientation affects or impacts on employee performance, the question is ‘to what extent can orientation affect performance?’ This research is therefore intended to find out the effect of employee information orientation on performance at the Nigeria Education Service.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study is to examine manager need of information orientation for improved organization productivity
The specific objectives of the study were:
- To identify the characteristics of employee orientation policy in the NES.
- To find out the effect of employee orientation on employee performance in the NES.
- To find out the challenges that go with employee orientation of the NES
1.4 Research Questions
The questions that guided the study were:
- What are the characteristics of employee orientation policies in the NES?
- Does employee orientation have any effect on performance at the NES?
- What are the challenges that go with employee orientation of the NES?
1.5 Significance of study
The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the area of effect of employee orientation on performance in the Nigeria education service. It brings to light the challenges of employee orientation in organizations. The findings and recommendations of the study are useful for employers in designing employee orientation programmes. Insights from the study informs on how to improve work output. In addition, the research brings to the fore questions to expose gaps that would require further investigation.
1.6 Scope of study
The study focused on employee orientation and took an in-depth look into the Nigeria Education Service, with the focus on how orientation affects the performance of employees in the Nigeria Education Service. The Nigeria Education Service, Lagos State is selected as case study since this will enable an in-depth investigation in order to unearth the challenges and problems, and also seek to provide a tailored-made solution for this institution.
With the scope of the study narrowed to employee orientation and its impact on performance, the researcher looked at the effect of employees’ orientation on performance in the above named institution. Employees in this institution drawn from various units or departments were the subjects whose responses were used to attain the objectives of this study.
1.7 Limitation of the study
Research on orientation is an extensive area of study, therefore the researcher concentrated on the Nigeria Education Service, Lagos State. Due to time constraint and lack of other resources the student researcher used a fairly limited sample size from NES. There were challenges in the administration of questionnaire because respondents were unwilling to respond to the questionnaire on time.
Organization of the study
The first chapter focused on the introduction, research background, and statement of the problem, specific objectives, and research questions, relevance of the study, limitation and the organization of the Study. Chapter two dealt with a review of related literature, such as definition of employee orientation, the model of employee orientation, organizational performance, performance measures, effect of employee orientation on organizational performance, the relationship between employee orientation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance, and conceptual framework. The third chapter formed the Methodology of the study. This chapter gave details of how the research was conducted; the tools and the research design used the sampling procedure, data collection and procedures adopted. Chapter four gave details of the presentation of analysis and the discussion of data collected. Chapter five also dealt with the summary, conclusion and recommendation of what came out of the study which focused on possible interpretations which would be useful to the Nigeria Education Service, corporate organizations as well as policy makers.
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