- BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
It is a common knowledge that in public establishments government work is no man’s work and government work can never finish, hence workers handled their jobs in slippery manner. They demonstrate these by showing little or no seriousness in performing their jobs. Such general believe lead to poor attitude to work which can affect the performance of public organization thereby leading to their inefficiency and low productivity.
Productivity, is a measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, system, in converting inputs into useful output.(www.businessdictionary.com). It can be expressed as the ratio of output to input used in the production process. When all outputs are included in the productivity measure it is called total productivity. However for workers to fully put in his best he need to be satisfy on the job his is doing. According to Victor Harold Vroom (work and motivation 1964), assert that the more a worker is satisfied with the type of job he does, the more energy he exert on its performance and willingness to remain on the job.
Human beings are not like machines; therefore, adequate attention should be given to them to encourage them to make them happy. The rise in the interest and moral of workers produces efficiency. Effective performance on the part of employee is essential for the success of any organization. An understanding of what motivate the individual is needed to reveal how abilities and skills are activated including their potentials.
The term low productivity refers to the inability of our public organization to produce up to installed capacity. It is when the organization produces up to installed capacity or something nearer that one can say that such public organization is doing well. Nigeria is blessed with fiscal and human resources necessary for industrial development and buoyant economy. It has a large expanding market as well as an emerging and aggressive group capable of exploiting opportunities in both domestic and foreign market.
But it is a pity that low productivity in our public organizations dominate discussion in many circles in Nigeria today. They have continued to witness increase in low productivity in recent time. Nigeria public organizations have failed to achieve their over-all objectives and targets as organizations. In Nigeria there seems to be high level of lackadaisical attitude among government employees and corruption is also very high. Governments have introduced various reforms aimed at improving the performance of public organization in Nigeria, but to no avail.
The Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) is a government owned research center primarily dealing with palm trees and also research in other economic crops mostly coconut for farmers in Nigeria and other countries. Despite federal government support to this institute, the performances still remain very low. But it is a pity that Low productivity in our Public organization dominates discussion in many circles in Nigeria today. They have continue to witness increase low productivity in recent time. Nigeria public organizations have failed to achieve their over-all objectives and targets as organizations. In Nigeria there seems to be a high level of lacalaxical attitude among government employees and corruption is also very high. Governments have introduced various reforms aimed at improving the performance of public organization in Nigeria, but to no avail.
Nevertheless, the success of any organization depends upon the behavior and interest of employees. The goal of any organization is achieved through the right direction of human behavior in a desired manner. Where these are not properly managed can lead to poor performance of workers in organization. For the past many decades, Nigeria Government recorded and experienced poor attitude from both private and public corporations. This sad experience took a mounting turn to nowadays. Government has done a lot in their effort to revive this culture but all was to no avail. There is a wide spread interest in improving the level of poor attitude to work in organizations. Apart from the economic benefits of better preparing workers for unprecedented demands of modern workplace, there are also social benefits tied to improving performance and access for larger number of workers to post-organizational learning, training and development opportunities and laying stronger foundation to skills for life –long learning. Guerreror and Sire,(2000) if the worker have negative attitude towards work, the consequence can create problem in applying the prescribed job design, which means there will be failure in accomplishing organizational goals. The good thing in raising the level of attitude has led to a focus on identifying the range of causes that shape poor attitude as well as understanding how these causes operate to limit or enhance the performance of workers.
The role of worker attitude is to lay the foundation for further performance and if a good foundation is laid at workers level there is likely to be improvement at other level. However different organizations at different times have passed the blame of poor attitude in organization to the workers, because of their low achievement, low motivation and the likes. DeSimione and Harris (1998) concurred that the possible influences on worker’s behavior are internal factors such as motivation, ability ,attitude, knowledge and skills. Morakinyo (2003) stated that fallen level of workers performance is attributable to owner’s none-use of supervisory strategies.
It is obvious that if Nigeria society must survive, people must work. The working culture however, varies from society to society and also from organization to organization. Long et al.(2012) suggested that people are seeking many ways of live that is meaningful and less complicated and this new lifestyle actually has an impact on how employee must be motivated and managed. Due to importance of work productivity, so many literatures have been written with regards to different aspects of expectations from production. Workers no matter the organization or establishment, have their expectation ranging from the issues of getting adequate payment from whatever they are doing, being secured in their place of work, being placed and recognized as significant in the organization, equipped with necessary tools, skill and equipment for the accomplishment of organization’s goals. While we see these conditions as vital for every worker, some scholars tend to see them as necessary only for managerial cadre of an organization. If the managers are well equipped with the above factors, they will be able to run their organization successfully. Consequence of this work stress, worker productivity will be affected and as we know productivity is money, in order to avoid this unhealthy situation happen, we should provide a comfortable and appropriate working environment facilities that suits to humans needs ( Asmui et.al 2012).
Moreover, where the work is quite difficult workers have their expectations in terms of reward, if this is not met, the tendency for the workers to develop negative attitude to their work is high. The general position here is that the socio-economic systems that are operating in organizations today goes to a great extent to determining workers attitude. The logic is that the system determines the working place environment itself. Thus the workers response to his work is the definition of situation he found himself. Employees today are dealing with more complicated work tasks, often work long hours, and work in teams (Lee, 2004).
Therefore this study focused on the performance of Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Benin City Edo state, in realizing its over-all objectives.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Base on the background, this study is to examine the performance of Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Benin City in Edo state. Nigeria Institute For oil Palm Research has the mandate of breeding high quality palm seedlings, considering the present economic importance of the product to the country. It is very important to look at the factors that militate against the low production of high quality palm seedlings by Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) and suggest a way of controlling them. In line with this analysis, the researcher proposed the following research questions.
- What are the factors responsible for low performance in Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin City?
- Has corruption led to inefficiency in Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Benin City?
- How does poor attitude of workers in Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research Benin City affect its performance?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The general objective of this study is to examine the low performance of Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Benin City in Edo state Nigeria. While the specific objectives are:
- To investigate factors responsible for low performance in Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Benin City Edo state.
- To find out whether corruption is responsible for Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research inefficiency.
- To examine the extent to which workers attitude affects performance of Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study has both theoretical and practical contribution. Theoretically, it will add to existing knowledge of public administration and management. In other words it will improve the existing literature and policies that can lead to high organizational performance and efficiency. Also it will provide valuable information to students doing research work on performance of public organization especially on Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin City.
Among the practical significance of this study, the findings of this study will help management of Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research to be aware of the challenges responsible for her low performance. Also it will help other stakeholders in management to adhere to solution provided from this study on how to improve performance in organization through motivations.
           Finally, it is expected that when the findings are enforced the workers moral in organizations will increase and will improve their performance, high productivity and harmony among individual staff.
