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THE USE OF STAFF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AS MEASURE FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Peacock Paints Limited at Ikot Ekan in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The company was incorporated as a private limited liability company in November, 1989 with the principal objective of producing and marketing paints and allied products. The principal sponsors of the company were MIS investment Trust Company Limited, S. Druup and Co. of Copenhagen Industrialization Fund for Developing Countries (I.F.U). Denmark and Nigerian Business. The Company started production in 1984 and was officially ‘commissioned in April, 1986, it has an installed capacity of 3.0 million liters of paint per annum. Armed with the state of arts equipment and modern paint production facilities coupled with highly qualified and dedicated technical and administrative staff Peacock Paints Limited consistently produce some of the best paints in the high quality of the company’s produce some of the best paints in the high quality of the company’s product Peacock Paints has been specified and used by various governments and government agencies major construction and oil companies including the defunct P. T. F, E.T.F, Nigeria Air Force, Nigerian Police, Mobil Producing, Nigeria Unlimited, Costain (West Africa) Limited, ANAMCO, ALSCON, etc. To the company’s credit are projects like the Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo (painted since 1992). Governor’s Office Complex, Ibom Hall, Hill Top Mansion, Local Government Party Secretariats, (all in Akwa Ibom State), Ibom Towers, Abuja.

The company operates a network of depots with distributors all over Nigeria through whom enquiries may be made. They are located at Abuja, Calabar, Kano, Lagos, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Uyo with Head office at Ikot Ekan in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The success of the company greatly depends on the productivity of the workers which of course is better known through annual performance appraisal exercise. This research study discuss the use of staff performance appraisal as a measure for increased productivity in Peacock Paints Limited in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Employee performance cannot be divorced from compensation. Employers constantly have to develop ways to improve performance, identify training needs and assess potentiality for promotion of employees in the organizations.

Performance appraisal according to (Inyang, 2012) may be defined as a systematic, period and as far as humanly possible, an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in matter pertaining to his present job and to the potentiality for a better job. It may also be considered as the method by which thorough observation by the appraiser, the individual worker’s efficiency in performing his duties and responsibilities during a given period, evaluated on the basis of predetermined performance standard or established goals mutually set by employee and his supervisor.

Due to the importance of performance appraisal exercise in business organization, policies are made to check on morale, in part by watching for and investigating suggestions of low morale and in part by undertaking special duties of current moral at regular intervals. Managers who indeed seek to maintain high morale are likely to be concerned about any evidence of employee dissatisfaction and in feeling. Work stoppage, slowdown, unusually high levels of absenteeism or tardiness, or of labour turnover and restriction of output are among the frequently mentioned symptoms of negative morale. Performance appraisal exercise is a vital management tool used to evaluate employees efficiency or inefficiency. Higher  productivity by the staff is expected by the management of the company. This study will therefore vigorously highlights on the various ways in which performance appraisal can be used as a measure for increased productivity.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is a false argument to say that Peacock Paint Limited is free from problems arising from low productivity and lack of adequate performance appraisal of workers.  There are lots of problems confronting the work force due to poor performance appraisal. There is lack of interest in the job which often led to industrial unrest. Promotion in the organization cannot be said to be totally free from nepotism, tribalism and sentiment. One of the problems could be the introduction of office politics during the period of performance appraisal exercise, people could be promoted beyond their professional competence as a result of office politics, bias, external influences e.g. quota system, federal character, godfather syndrome. All these factors have made annual performance appraisal of staff rating, to become irrelevant political appointment does not help matter with all these problems having effective staff rating, there is also problems of productivity. No matter what the company is producing today, the production based on a fair and adequate appraisal and reward to all workers equally according to their morale. The truth remains that there is feeling of maltreatment by some staff, marginalization, deprivation, negligence and frustration. Low morale of workers may be caused as a result of poor performance appraisal. Looking at the above problems the researcher is therefore prompted to conduct the study on the use of staff performance appraisal as a measure for increased productivity.

1.3   THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are as follows:

. To find out how performance appraisal can be used to measure productivity

to also find out the importance of performance appraisal in an organization

. To examine the problems associated with the performance appraisal exercise.

1.4   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is expected that the study would be of great significance to the company, the public and other researchers. The study would provide useful information to the company in making vital decision with regards to good and effective performance appraisal exercise, through the application of the information provided in this research work. This will enhance increased productivity, improved performances, management training and development, performance measurement, identifying potentials through performance appraisal. It is also expected that the government who owns part of the company would also benefit from the study and thereby reducing or minimizing too much influence on top management during staff evaluation exercise programme. This project would also be useful to management of the company in conducting further study. Students in higher institutions would find the work to be very useful n their academic work.

1.5   HYPOTHESIS

HO – A good performance appraisal helps the organization to evaluate the recent attitude and job performance of an employee.

H1 – A good performance appraisal does not help the organization to evaluate the recent attitude and job performance of an employee.

H0 – Performance appraisal exercise provides a systematic judgment to breakup salary increase and promotion.

H0 – There is a major problem encountered by a superior when appraising his subordinates

H1 – There is no major problem encountered by a superior when appraising his subordinates

1.6   THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Having known that the term performance appraisals refers to all the formal procedures used in working organizations to evaluate the personalities and contributions and potential of group members. It is  therefore pertinent to know the items that is commonly found in an appraisal system. Inyang 1999:62-63 has written intensively on the contents of an appraisal system, he stated that managers have a responsibility to determine the contents or critical factors or variables to be evaluated in an appraisal system. The nature of the job and the contents of the work to be done by the employee and his job responsibilities are usually determined through job analysis.

According to P.S. Roa and V. S. P. Roa. Personnel and Human Resources Management: Text Cases and Game  element or attributes to be appraised may be in the form of contributions to organizational objectives like higher production, cost saving’s return on capital etc. other measures are based on:

objective which measure observable physical actions and result.

Objectives which measures job related result like amount of sales recorded, amount of deposits mobilized

1.7   DEFINITION OF THE KEY CONCEPTS

There is need to define some of the terms used in this research work for easy understanding by those who will read it.

Performance Appraisal: Staff performance appraisal can be defined in the context of this research work as a formalized and recorded review of the way an employee performs his duties during a given period of time monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually.

Productivity: This can be defined as the measure of how well resources are brought together in organizations and utilized for accomplishing a set of results. It is reaching the highest level of performance with the least expenditure of resources (Nwachukwu 2014).

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