ABSTRACT
The study determined the human resource management practices of federal, state and private universities in the six states in the south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria. It adopted a descriptive survey design and was guided by nine research questions and nine null hypotheses. A total of 268 staff from federal universities, 238 staff from state universities and 145 staff from the private universities of the six states in the south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria were used as sample for the study. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to draw 50 percent of both the academic and administrative heads of the eighteen universities with a population of 1302. The research instrument for this study was the Human Resource Management Practices of Universities Questionnaire (HRMPUQ). The internal consistency reliability estimates for clusters A-1 were .94, 91, .79, .94, .90, .91, .93, .90 and .74 respectively. The overall reliability estimate was .96. The research instrument was face validated by three experts and their reports used in restructuring the instrument. The questionnaires were administered by the researcher and research assistants to the respondents using the direct delivery technique. The research questions stated for the study were answered using mean and standard deviations while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics. Where there was a significant difference, scheffe test was used to determine the direction of the significant difference. The major findings of the study were that there is difference among the federal, state and private universities on the staff recruitment practices adopted in the south-south geo-political zone; difference exists among federal, state and private universities in procedure for staff discipline; staff appraisal and promotion practices; management information system practices; time management practices, remuneration and welfare practices; what constitute problems to effective human resource management and the strategies that promote human resource management practices. A major educational implication of the findings was the need for uniformity in minimum standard in the human resource management practices of the federal, state and private universities in Nigeria. It was thus recommended among others that there should be uniformity in minimum standards in the staff recruitment practices, procedure for staff discipline, staff appraisal and promotion practices, remuneration and welfare practices.
