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THE IMPACT OF WORKERS' ATTITUDE TO WORK ON THE PERFORMANCE OF CIVIL SERVANTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background of the Study

Attitudes are the feelings and beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive their environment, commit themselves to intended actions, and ultimately behave. Attitudes form a mental set that affects how we view something else. It has an impact on how we view and judge our surroundings at work. Managers of   organizational behaviour are vitally interested in the nature of the attitudes of their employees toward their Jobs, toward their careers, and toward the organization itself. Job attitudes of the employees are most important to achieve the individual and organizational objectives through their performance.  Hence the present study is intended on job attitudes such as job involvement and satisfaction, and employee performance.

Employee involvement refers to the process of engaging employees in their work and increasing their participation in decision-making .In particular, employee involvement ensures that employees who are closet to the work have the power to control work methods, and are able to use their knowledge and skills to  improve work process (Lowler ,1992) This approach also attempts to move information and power downward in the organization, so that employees can work autonomously and regulate their own behaviors (Cummings and Worley, 1993). As a consequence, organizations that use this approach typically experience a flattening of the organizational hierarchy. Although there is no one theoretical basis for employee involvement, it is derived from a number of key human relations assumptions (Argyris, 1957). Specifically, it is assumed that when employees are given challenging work. and allowed to participate in decision-making, they will (a) become more motivated and willing to control their own behavior (b) become more involved in their work, (c) increase their commitment to organizational goals , and (d) use their skills and abilities to make valuable contributions to organizational goals.

Furthermore, a job satisfaction of employees within a scope of the organization is one of the determining factors to improve the performance of employee; someone tends to work energetically if a satisfaction can be gained from his work. A job satisfaction of employee is a key driver of morale, discipline, and work performance of employees in supporting the achievement of corporate objectives (Hasibuan, 2011). This has been proven by the study done by Susanty, et al. (2013), which describes that job satisfaction has a positive and significant influence on the performance of employee. Someone who is not satisfied with his work tends to make a withdrawal or avoidance of work situations both physically and psychologically. Conversely, if a person is satisfied with his job, he will try to do the best to realize and complete the task they are responsible for. Job satisfaction can be achieved when a person has a positive attitude towards his work. According to Carpeter, et al. (2009), a work attitude is the feeling we have towards different aspects of the work environment. How people behave in the workplace is often linked to how it feels to be in the workplace. Ahmad, et al. (2010) in his study concludes that a work attitude has a positive and significant influence toward job satisfaction but negative toward performance. The different outcomes expressed by Susanty, et al. (2013) who concludes the work attitude has a positive influence but not significant toward job satisfaction and performance of the employees. However, Riketta (2008) conducts a meta-analysis test to see the mutual influence between work attitudes and performance. The finding proves that the work attitude has a significant influence on the performance, otherwise the performance is not found to have a significant influence on work attitudes. Moreover, another factor that can influence the performance of human resources within an organization is the role of leadership. Hasibuan (2011) defines that leadership is the way of a leader to influence the behavior of the employees, in order to cooperate and work productively to achieve organizational goals. For that reason, a leader is required to have the ability to provide comfort to his employees in order to work properly. An effective leader will be able to run his function properly, not only shown from the power and control but also indicated also by his attention to well-being, satisfaction and enhancement of the quality of employees, especially nurturing attitude that is shown to boost human resources in carrying out their duties in order to achieve the organization's objectives.

Job satisfaction is a set of favorable or unfavorable feelings and emotions with which employees view their work. It is an affective attitude - a feeling of relative like or dislike toward some thing (Newstrom, and Davis, 2001) Job satisfaction studies focus on the various parts that are believed to be important, since these Job – related attitudes predispose an employee to behave in certain way (Hoppock, 1935, Hertzberg, 1957, Hulin and Smith, 1964).

Attitudes such as involvement and satisfaction contribute to increase the performance of the employees which is proved by various existing studies (Vroom, 1964, Lawler and Porter, 1967, Velnampy, 2006). Although various research have studied the issue of performance and satisfaction, and explored many facts there is no sufficient studies as a multiple focusing on the public sector organization in the district of Jaffna. In order to fill this gap this study tries to identify the relationship between attitudes and performance. 

1.2     Statement of the Problem

The challenges faced by organizations across both the private and public sectors today are increasing in the quality, quantity and relevance. The rapid environmental and technological changes increase the complexity faced by the organization. It brings the organization to the performance needs of employee in these organizations to fuel an increased productivity. Performance of civil servants for example is a very important issue to be studied in order to maintain and improve service delivery of government agencies and parastatals to ensure good governance. According to Mangkunagara (2009) the performance of the employee or job performance is the result of quantity and quality achieved by employees in carrying out their duties in accordance with the responsibilities assigned to them. There is a dearth of knowledge on the exact relationship between workers’ attitude towards work and their overall performance. There is need for studies in this area so as to characterize sufficiently this relationship.

1.3    Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to determine the impact of workers’ attitude to work on performance of civil servants in Ikeja LGA. Specific objectives include;

i.  To determine the attitudes of workers in public service that affects workers’ performance

ii.  To determine the factors that influences workers’ attitude to work in the public sector

iii.  To evaluate the relationship between the attitude of workers to work and their overall performance

iv.  To evaluate the impact of workers’ attitude on worker’s performance in public service

1.4     Research Questions

i.  What are the attitudes that affect workers’ performance in the public sector?

ii.  What are the factors that influence workers’ attitude in the public sector?

iii.  Is there a significant relationship between the attitude of workers to work and their overall work performance in the public sector?

iv.  Does the attitude of workers toward work have any significant impact on their work performance?

1.5     Research Hypotheses

Hypothesis I

H0:  There is no significant relationship between the attitude of workers to work and their overall work performance in the public sector

Hi:  There is a significant relationship between the attitude of workers to work and their overall work performance in the public sector

Hypothesis II

H0: The attitude of workers in the public sector does not have any significant impact on their work performance

Hi:  The attitude of workers in the public sector has a significant impact on their work performance. 

1.6    Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is to reveal the attitude of Nigerian workers in discharging their duties and its effects on productivity using power Holdings company of Nigeria as our case study. Its relevant research has disclosed the ill attitude of the company and thus has given a positive solution to them. This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.7    Scope of the Study

The study is limited to appraising the attitude to work of Nigerian workers and its impact on their work output. This study will be limited to uncovering the reasons for the negative attitude in the corporation, the importance of motivation and leadership towards attitude. Also, employee selection and placement procedures will be appraised while evaluating their impact on performance as well as finding solutions to these negative attitude and ways of increasing productivity at the Ministry of Education Ikeja LGA.

1.8       Limitations of the study

The demanding schedule of respondents at work made it very difficult getting the respondents to participate in the survey. As a result, retrieving copies of questionnaire in timely fashion was very challenging. Also, the researcher is a student and therefore has limited time as well as resources in covering extensive literature available in conducting this research. Information provided by the researcher may not hold true for all businesses or organizations but is restricted to the selected organization used as a study in this research especially in the locality where this study is being conducted. Finally, the researcher is restricted only to the evidence provided by the participants in the research and therefore cannot determine the reliability and accuracy of the information provided.

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8    Definition of Terms

Worker’s attitude: An attitude is a psychological state of mind. In the workplace, employees can have either a positive or negative attitude about specific work tasks, products or services, co-workers or management, or the company as a whole. Bad attitudes result in apathy to daily tasks.

Civil Servants: A member of the civil service.

Workers’ Performance: Work performance is how well an individual performs a job, role, task or responsibility. This includes tangible things such as revenue targets and intangible things such as communication.

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