CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Human Resources is crucial to organizational survival and it has been acclaimed as the most important resource available to any organization. In discussing human resources in any culture or environment, human resources are the major wealth of any nation. People are the greatest asset of any organization we live in a people’s world. People are the backbone of any organization.
According to Banjoko (1996: 142), every organization advocates effective results and maximum individual employee as crucial to the organization growth and survival Performance standards or goals are established and all employees are enjoined to strive individually and collectively towards corporate goal attainment.
Obisi (1996:114) opines that in our today’s competitive economy characterized by risk taking organization must survive and the key to such survival is a revitalized human resources. Neither billions of naira nor the state of art, technology and machine can do the miracle if human resource is neglected and forgotten. This can be achieved if an organization nurtures, nourishes and develops its human resources through performance appraisal. More than anything else, competition, global trends and other issues have brought up human Resources Management and especially performance as the surest way of coping with competition. Thus, such activities as recruitment, selection, placement, rewards are all strategies of improving performance in order to cope with world happenings and megatrends.
Ovadje (1998:3 1) is also of the opinion, that is today’s highly competitive and chaotic environment, if organizations are to survive, they must attract and retain people who are able and willing to perform and even go beyond what is required. He went further to say that people are key in organizations, they are precious, problematic, unpredictable and productive. Nothing can be done in organization without people.
However, human beings are the most frustrating out of all the production elements for managers since they constitute the most difficult variable to control and predict. Performance appraisal is difficult to objectively and effectively implement because of the human element involved, yet it is crucial to individual and organizational growth.
Also on the part of Managers, there exists that reluctance to objectively appraise the work of those who report to them. In an activity important as managing, there should be no reluctance in measuring performance as effectively as we can, nor in having superior managers appraise the work of those who report to them.
However, the problem of “Praying God” also exists in a culture where individual performance has been rated, from the time the person enters kindergarten and though his school and university life. In almost forms of groups, performance has been rated in some way.
According to Walks (1989:210), “the guarantee of all organization measured by performance.” That is why emphasis is placed performance in most organization. To make performance appraisal effective in organizations, performance standards or goals must established and employee performance should be evaluated against such established goals or specific sets of expected behaviour.
The modern human resource system is divided into four parts acquisition of human resources (recruitment and selection), training and development, motivation and compensation. Performance appraisal involved in all four parts and services to tie them together by providing feedback information for all of the other parts. Performance appraisal has been called one of the most important tools for managing human resources in an organization.
According to Yodor and Staudohar (1982:101), the importance of performance appraisal seems from the importance of performance itself. Performance is the umbilical cord linking partners in the industrial relation system, that is the employers and the employees.
According to Moorhead and Griffin (1989:604), performance appraisal or evaluation is the process by which a manager:
- Evaluates an employee’s work behaviours by measurement and comparison with previously established standards;
- Records the results;
- Communicates them to the employee.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
According to Kellogy (1969:21), it is difficult for many managers to make their judgment explicit. It takes a rare combination of courage and tact to come right out and say what we feel especially when personal judgment and interpretation to influence our decisions in areas of crucial importance to an employee.
Performance appraisal system in most conglomerates are thought to be subjective, and favoritism is prevalent.
According to Banjoko (1996:142), some superior officers strongly believe in the “Coker is my cousin” syndrome, ie. There is an element of godfatherism. In view of these criticism, there is a need to put in place performance appraisal system that is objective as humanly possible. Performance appraisal system that is dynamic that produces continuous advances progress. Forward movement both for the organization and its people. The belief or contention is that if the performance appraisal systems are objective, they will enhance employee’s performance and ultimately aid the attainment of organization goals and objectives.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to find out the role of the performance appraisal system in Human Resources Management and how it is utilized.
The study also attempts to look at sub- objectives :
