Analysis on the Role of Human Resources Management in Public Secondary School Effectiveness

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Success in business is a product of several elements, including the quality of human resources and infrastructure available to the organization’s administrators to organize the diverse resources and activities of the firm toward aim attainment via management. A effective coordination of institutional resources, including human capital and material resources, is marked by the formulation and implementation of strategic concepts to the process of management decision making. This necessitates the effective and efficient implementation of management objectives and functions, as well as the principles that underpin and promote the coordination and use of resources toward the achievement of an institution’s objectives and mission statement. Once leaders developed and were acknowledged as leaders by the rest of the group, they held power and authority over the rest of the group; this is a part of management, and it leads to the achievement of specified group objectives. Management is a dynamic process in human existence, whether in administration or in institutions.

According to Effiong (1995), management may be defined explicitly as the process of getting things done via people by planning, organizing, directing, co-coordinating, and regulating their actions for the aim of achieving objectives. Human resources are a crucial role in production, and because humans are unpredictable, there is a need for a manager(s) to offer direction and supervise all individuals in a business. Organizational effectiveness, or an organization’s ability to adapt, sustain itself, survive, and develop in the face of changing conditions, is heavily dependent on how successfully its workforce can be managed and employed. This is because an organization’s human resources, which include all persons, regardless of their function or rank, who are involved in any of the organization’s operations, are its most significant and valuable assets.

According to Health field (2014), human resources management (HRM) is the function inside an organization that focuses on the recruitment, management, and direction of the people who work in a company. Members of the HRM department offer the information, tools, training, administrative services, coaching, legal and management counsel, and talent management oversight that the rest of the business need for successful operation. They are given oversight duties to ensure that their organization builds teams correctly and empowers people. Tracey (2015) describes Human Resources as the individuals who staff and administer an organization, as opposed to the business’s financial and material resources. Human resources are people who work in jobs for a company. Human resources are seen as vital due to the fact that people are an organization’s most valuable resource. According to Tracey (2015), Human Resources is also the name of the department or functional area from which personnel deliver HR services to the rest of the firm. People are an advantage to every firm. Employees must be employed, pleased, motivated, developed, and kept. Human beings or individuals must be motivated or inspired to successfully implement an ideal method. To achieve organizational goals, most employees must be persuaded, managed, directed, or threatened with penalty. Thus, people have become a critical factor in the achievement of organizational goals because all organizational activities are determined by the people who make up the organization, whether willing or coerced to work, without which infrastructural facilities used in the organization are unproductive on their own except for human effort and direction, thus good organizational structure does not guarantee enhanced performance and increased productivity except with w

However, this applies to educational institutions and secondary school administration.Teachers play an important role in the educational setting as a teaching – learning institution. The quality of secondary school education is determined by teachers’ performance and work happiness. According to Afe (2021), teachers have been shown to have a significant influence on student academic performance as well as a critical role in the education set standards because the teacher is ultimately responsible for translating policy into action and principles based on practice during interactions with students. The responsibility of school administrators or managers in the area of human resource management includes various aspects of teacher matters such as appointment, promotion, retention, and successful planning to ensure that teachers are given opportunities for professional development to reflect on their job performance and service delivery. The success of school administration, like that of any other organization or institution, is founded on the construction of a suitable work environment aimed toward the improvement of workers’ productive capacities. To achieve the desired results, there should be a leader who will organize, control, and guide both human and nonhuman resources appropriate to the schools.

According to Effiong (2015), human resource management refers to those who hold leadership positions in a company. According to Olayote (2016), the most significant information regarding workers in a company is a verified assessment of his degree of job happiness and the process of inspiring him to freely do better in the pursuit of corporate objectives. School administrators should do all possible to ensure that instructors are content with their jobs since low motivation would undoubtedly affect students’ academic performance and achievements. Teachers must be motivated on the job in order to be committed and have a positive impact on the teaching learning process in schools, according to Nwogbo (2021).

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The notion of teachers’ job performance and productivity enhancement incorporates a mix of numerous aspects in the workplace that are dependent on and should be provided by the school administration. These various elements include factors such as a good working environment, infrastructural facilities, instructional material, teaching aids, job satisfaction, motivation, rewards, staff training and development programs, and so on, in order to ensure increased productivity and improve the quality of secondary school education standards. In general, Akindele (2022) stated that it is difficult to gratify every single teacher at work. However, outside of the monthly pay package or compensation, various incentives such as promotion, bonuses, prizes, and so on will serve to satisfy and inspire instructors, encouraging higher performance. The task for co-ordinating and administering an education program’s human capital and material resources falls entirely on the shoulders of school administration.

Unfortunately, the education system in Nigeria has been plagued by instability and constant change in educational programs, purposes, and objectives. As observed by Umar (2021), strikes and school closures have occurred as a result of the periodic changes in government. There is a rising scarcity of buildings, equipment, and instructional materials, and school enrollment in public secondary schools is fast outgrowing the management’s ability to govern it effectively and efficiently. Teachers are forced to labor in a deplorable and inhospitable educational atmosphere, therefore they appear dissatisfied, frustrated, uninspired, and unmotivated in their chosen professional field. However, the unsatisfactory state of Nigeria’s secondary school education system, particularly Bwari Area council has invariably resulted in mass failure of students in both internal and external examinations, unabated examination malpractice, and student cheating in examination halls. Constant strike actions by teachers, a high attrition rate, and a poor work attitude by instructors are other indicators of an unacceptable state of academic morale and a failing standard in the school system. Untimely school closures, examination malpractices, absenteeism, truancy, and high teacher turnover have been ascribed to poor and ineffective human resource management in most secondary schools owing to a lack of proper planning, directing, co-coordinating, and incentive and rewards. Therefore against this backdrop that this study seeks to analyze the role of human resources management in  public secondary school effectiveness

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general purpose of the study is to analyze the role of human resources management in  public secondary school effectiveness . However, the study specifically seeks to:-

i.           Examine the functions and roles of the school human resource management in public secondary schools.

ii.        Examine human resources management leadership styles and teachers’ productivity in secondary schools.

iii.      Assess ways through which human resources managers in schools can motivate teachers and the impact to enhancing quality education effectiveness in secondary schools.

 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i.          What are the functions of human resources management to ensure effectiveness of public secondary school system?

ii.        Does Leadership styles employed by the secondary school principals and vices, influence the productivity level of teachers performance in public secondary schools?

iii.      What are the various ways through which school principals motivates teachers in public secondary schools in enhancing quality education and secondary school effectiveness?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.

The study is conducted to shed light on the working conditions of teachers in public secondary schools in Lagos state. The findings of the study can be useful to both private and public school Managers. A public secondary school management that understands the importance of its human resources in the successful and productive running of the school will ensure that the teachers are well managed, sustained and most utilized. Moreover, it would benefit the government and its policy makers on education matters, recruitment, placement, training, welfare and development of teachers. There will be well defined structures in terms of responsibilities, functions and roles each individual plays towards the success of the school. with a good structure and system of management, areas of weakness can be easily identified corrected and improved upon. Finding from the study will be significant in terms of monitoring and assessing teachers’ professional conduct towards job description and satisfactory service delivery. The teachers will through this study be able to evaluate themselves, in terms of dedication, commitment, discipline and job performance, try to improve on areas of deficiencies.The general public and specifically parents will benefit from this study because of its contributions to quality education services.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The Study focused on the role of human resources management in  public secondary school effectiveness. The study covered selected  public secondary schools in education Bwari Area Council in FCT Abuja.

 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only public secondary schools in education Bwari Area Council in FCT Abuja.. Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other public secondary schools in other  States within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

 DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following terms are defined operationally

Human Resources management: function within an organization that focuses      on the recruitment of management of, and providing direction for the people who work in an organization.

Human Resource: the people that staff and operate an organization as contrasted with the financial and material resources of an organization.

Management: the process of getting things done through people by planning, organizing, directing, co-coordinating and controlling their activities for the purpose of accomplishing objectives.

System: it is the style or pattern adopted by school managers in carrying out their managerial functions.

Teachers: School academic staff who engage in the task of providing education for the students

Productivity is the average measure of the efficiency of teachers in their job performance.

Job Satisfaction: shows how satisfied and contended the teachers are with their job and welfare conditions

Motivation: the process of stimulating the desire and output of the teachers to be committed, continually interested on their job their job through rewards and incentives.

School Effectiveness: It constitutes peaceful environmental condition of the school, good students academic and behaviourial performance, staffs good attitude towards teaching, etc.