COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
CHAPTERS: Chapter 1-5
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Rightsizing is the Human Resource Management function of manpower planning and staffing. Institutions are established to accomplish specific goals. To achieve these goals, the human resource is one of the crucial factors, without which the goals are unattainable. The human resource is the engine room of ideas and production. It is the human resource that organizes, plans, controls and directs other resources. For example, while other factors of production like technology, financial and material resources may be in abundant supply, they have to be coordinated by a human being, who because he has a will, personal desires and preferences, can direct them to accomplish desired objectives. Thus, the need to maintain the right quality and quantity of staff with the right knowledge, techniques and skills, as well as the right frame of mind and attitude to contribute optimally to organizational goals and objectives. (African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development Workshop, October 2000). According to Olowo and Ademolekun (2005), it is becoming more essential to secure and manage competent human resource as the most valuable resource of any organization because of the need for effective and efficient service delivery.
In the past few decades, all over the world, organizations and environment have undergone rapid and tremendous changes largely due to globalization. Globalization has resulted in the huge advances in the area of technology. This has completely reshaped the landscape of formal organizations all over the world, the less sighted organizations operating in the same environment lost their fortunes and in some cases, were faced with virtual extinction as a result of the inability to anticipate and adapt their operations to changes brought about by the latent forces of globalization in the society (Onyeonoru, 2005). Change is a process that requires action and which ever way workers react to it, has implicit or explicit implications for realization or non realization of organizational goals and objectives. Nigerian work organizations are not insulated from changes emanating from globalization forces. And since globalization presently appears irreversible, every organization in both public and private sectors must prepare its workforce adequately to cope with the frequent changes associated with globalization.
Consequently, the Federal Government has since 2004, commence various reform programmes aimed at making its institutions work more efficiently and effectively. One of such programmes adopted in its on-going reform, is rightsizing. The underlying philosophy is transformation. The overall vision is a Nigerian public sector that works efficiently and effectively for the people. Rightsizing may be defined as the process through which organizations determine and maintain a level of employment “right” for its requirements or the continuous and pro-active assessment of mission-critical work and its staffing requirements. It is an on-going planning process to determine the optimal number of employees in every area of the organization. Therefore, for an organization to realize its goals and objectives, appropriate rightsizing techniques such as, the maintenance of accurate personnel records and regular personnel audit, human resource planning, employee training and development, employee retention strategies and employee regular evaluation are sine-qua-non for enhancing efficiency.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The study became imperative when viewed against the backdrop of the observed inefficiency and monumental waste arising from huge personnel cost in the public sector institutions, largely due to poor human resource management practices. The following were common features: Organizations are either understaffed or overstaffed; overbloating workforce with redundant staff performing overlapping and duplicating functions; reported cases of ghost workers and staff with fake certificates symptomatic of poor personnel records and irregular or absence of personnel audit resulting in organizations inability to ascertain accurately at any point in time, the number of staff in its employment; employee recruitment and selection processes based on considerations other than merit; aging workforce without proper succession plan; prevalence of unskilled workforce; absence of well tailored training and development programmes to improve the employees skill and build capacity; underfunded public institutions lacking the capacity to make optimal use of technological changes to modernize and adapt to global changes; lack of adequate incentives and appropriate reward systems to create job satisfaction, motivate and retain skilled/ experienced employees; ineffective and biased employee performance appraisal processes resulting in highly demotivated workforce and rapid employee turnover. (Bureau of Public Service Reforms Report, 2008).
The resultant effect is the glaring inefficiency in realizing the objectives for which the organizations were set-up and huge personnel costs which the government constantly complains constitutes a major source of drain on its lean financial resources. Consequently, the federal government recently commenced various reform programmes aimed at returning the public sector organizations to the part of effectiveness and efficiency. One of the policies adopted in the reform programmes is ‘Rightsizing’. Incidentally, the operating officers seem to be at difficulty in implementing this important policy reform of the federal government. Consequently, the organizations are either overstaffed or understaffed. In either case, productivity suffers. The study therefore sought to find out the various techniques the federal government has been adopting to rightsize its workforce and how effective they have been in achieving efficiency.
The study therefore seeks to find out the various measures adopted by the Federal Government to rightsize its workforce and its impact on efficiency. That is, maintenance of optimum result oriented workforce resulting in the reduction of huge personal costs, wastage as well as timely realization of set objectives.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
This study aims at assessing the impact of rightsizing on efficiency in the public sector organizations. The specific objectives are:
1] To find out the impact of maintaining accurate personnel records and regular personnel audit as a rightsizing technique on efficiency in the public sector organizations.
2] To determine the impact of human resource planning as a rightsizing technique on efficiency in the public sector organizations.
3] To ascertain the impact of employee training and development as a rightsizing technique on efficiency.
4] To evaluate the impact of employee retention strategies as a rightsizing technique on efficiency in the public sector organizations.
5] To determine the impact of regular employee evaluation as a rightsizing technique on efficiency in the public sector organizations.
1.4 Research Questions
- Does the maintenance of accurate personnel records and regular personnel audit as a rightsizing technique have any impact on efficiency of your organization?
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Does human resource planning as a rightsizing technique have any impact on efficiency of your organization?
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Does employee training and development as a rightsizing technique have any impact on efficiency of your organization?
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Does employee retention strategy have any impact on efficiency of your organization?
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Does regular employee evaluation as a rightsizing technique have any impact on efficiency of your organization?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses are hereby formulated to guide the study.
H1: The maintenance of accurate personnel records and regular personnel audit as a rightsizing technique has a significant impact on efficiency of your organization.
H2: Human resource planning as a rightsizing technique has a significant impact on efficiency of your organization.
H3: Employee training and development as a rightsizing technique has a significant impact on efficiency of your organization.
H4: Employee retention strategies as a rightsizing technique has a significant impact on efficiency of your organisation.
H5: Regular employee evaluation as a rightsizing technique has a significant impact on efficiency of your organization.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The findings and recommendations of this study will be beneficial to so many stakeholders in the public sector. The significance of the study can therefore be summarized as follows:
- The Administrators of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Parastatals will benefit from the study because it will enable them:
§ Determine the optimal staff requirement and maintain proper personnel record to eliminate “ghost workers” syndrome.
§ Persistently review their organizational structure to determine appropriate and manageable structure.
§ Persistently conduct skills gap analysis to identify the organization’s training needs, and
§ Apply the various rightsizing techniques to trim down and streamline their workforce to enhance performance and conveniently adapt to changes occasioned by globalization.
- The Government will benefit from the study because it will be better informed on the maintenance of only organizations, structures and personnel that are “right” and actually needed for the efficient execution of its polices and implementation of its programmes; streamline organizations with overlapping and duplicating functions to eliminate redundancy and make them productive; maintain optimal and vibrant workforce that are not only qualified but skilled to minimize waste and enhance efficiency..