CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1.Background to the StudyOf all the resources available to an organization, manpower (staff) remains the most important of them all. The staff coordinates other resources towards the actualization of organizational goals and objectives. To ensure that objectives and goals of an organization are achieved, adequate personnel recruitment program should be planned and adequate in-service training. Over the years, management of personnel or human resources in both public and private sector organizations has been a serious issue of concern not just to employees of labour but also the general public. The management of human resources has high priority not only because of the cost but also because human resources are agent of all government activities. Human resources management is the term used to describe a formal structure devised for the management of people within an organization.
Local government which is the third tier of government operates at the lowest level of society which is the grass root level, in order to bring governance close to the people at the local level and also touching their everyday life by providing basic social amenities that could be accessible. No other level of government be it state or national is as close to the people except the local government.
Historically, local government is older than the other level of government because governance began with the organization of people into small communities in a limited or defined area. However, the need to enhance efficiency and workability of the system led to the various reforms in local government administration in Nigeria. Unarguably, local government system has been disrupted in the field of human resources, capacity building as well as staff welfare. This has however contributed to the low morals in many workers resulting in low productivity, favouritism and corruption. In order to sanitize the system there is need to keep strictly to the rules in relation to proper staff placement in all departments in local government.
There have been significant changes in the way people are managed in the public sector over the last few years around the world. Just as public administration and government have been giving way to new public management and governance and as such personnel management is also giving way to human resources management (HRM). Etymologically, human resources management can be traced back to the early 1970s when the British pioneers made their first appearance in the field of human relations in industry. Sequel to this era, industrial and technological revolutions revealed that personnel management otherwise known as human resources management function was a critical one in the process of management. Onah (2004) observed that human resources management in Nigeria was modelled in line with the British system. Due to the fact that the British colonized Nigeria their system was introduced into Nigeria Civil Service. By the virtue of this formation, workers and labor force (employees) came to understand their relevance before their employers and began to agitate for the improvement of their conditions of service. However, this struggle continues as leaders of union clashed with expatriate managers and soon the need to set up personnel unit was recognized and it came into existence in order to deal with public reaction and workers welfare mattes.
An organizational structure outlines how job tasks are formally distributed, grouped and coordinated. While planning the organizational structure, managers need to report six key elements which are work specialization, departmentalization, and chain of command, span of control, centralization and decentralization as well as formalization. However, a good organizational structure does not guarantee enhanced performance and increased productivity rather it is guaranteed by a well manage personnel. At this juncture, personnel are therefore a critical factor in the attainment of organizational activities and the attainment of organizational activities are initiated and determined by the persons who make up that institution, plant, offices, computers, automated equipment etc. that modern firm uses are unproductive without human effort and direction. However, these abilities of the personnel to contribute significantly to the attainment of organizational goals have been hindered and hampered by some issues which are amenable.
The local government as an organization cannot be exempted therefore, the importance of personnel in the local government cannot be over-emphasized, at this point it is very essential that the personnel of the local government be judiciously managed in order to enable them achieve the goals of the local government. The general acceptance of the critical role of personnel in the achievement of organizational goals and the realization and appreciation of the various exogenous and endogenous variable which inform, determine, order and finally condition personnel administration, personnel management or human resources management in any viable organization (Okoli, 2000).
The increased sensitivity of personnel as a factor of production has convinced organizational management that they ought to understand the need, aspirations and the complaints of employees. It is on this background that the researcher tends to investigate how the employees are being managed in an organization with reference to recruitment and in-service training in Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.