Digital Skills Upgrade and Office Information Job Managers’ Performance
Chapter One
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between digital skills upgrade and office managers’ job performance in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt. The objectives of the study are as follows:
- To ascertain the extent to which advanced typesetting skills influence office managers’ job performance in terms of timely tasks completion in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
- To investigate the extent to which advanced typesetting skill influences office managers’ job performance in terms of effective records management in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
- To ascertain the extent to which trouble-shooting skills influences office managers’ job performance in terms of timely tasks completion in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
- To investigate the extent to which trouble-shooting skills influences office managers’ job performance in terms of effective records management in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
- To establish the extent to which cloud computing skill influences office managers’ job performance in terms of timely tasks completion in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
- To examine the extent to which cloud computing skill influences office managers’ job performance in terms of effective records management in manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
CONCEPT OF DIGITAL SKILL UPGRADE
Digital skills are consequently to be seen as the more practical and measurable outcomes of media, information or digital literacies. Martin and Madigan (2006) Digital skill is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyze and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this process. Digital skill can be develop by promoting society events, via social media, presenting as part of internship and website admin for a society or club social media page.
Although digital skill has been viewed as important since 1960, it is still an underdeveloped and under conceptualized concept and its theorization still needs the illumination of sound research. This need has also been voiced by others: the discourse on this important subject has been practice-oriented, and lacks a sound integrative framework and theoretical foundation (Aviram and Eshet-Alkalai, 2006). As a result there is an absence of a precise and generally accepted definition of the term.
As digital technology becomes ubiquitous, workers will increasingly need an appropriate set of digital skills to access and process information using digital systems and tools. These skills will become as important as the ability to drive a car (Bawden, 2008). The prevalence of digital technology which gave people access to a vast amount of largely unfiltered information created a need for a set of skills to access, manage, integrate and evaluate information. The increasing use of digital technology to perform routine cognitive and manual tasks caused a fundamental shift in workers roles in the production of goods and services to tasks requiring more complex information processing, critical thinking and decision making that cannot be attributed to computers (Levy and Murnane, 2009). The information literacy concept grew out of this need for processing vast amount of information effectively and efficiently. The review of literature indicated that information literacy has been used in the literature since 1980, and gained widespread acceptance in 1990.
A systematic review of literature, ranging from 1980 to 1998, conducted to identify terminology used for describing the skills needed to use digital systems and tools revealed that the most frequently used term was computer literacy. Several terms are currently being used interchangeably by different authors and audiences (Junge and Hadjivassiliou, 2007) to define these skills although they may take different meanings in different contexts. The most common ones are: IT literacy, ICT literacy, digital skill, digital competence, ICT fluency, computer literacy, ICT skills, e-Skills, technological literacy, media literacy, information literacy, illiteracy, generic skills, 21st century skills, multiliteracies, and new literacies.
In the world of work, digital skills not only qualify us for jobs in conventional sectors, but also open doors to participate in emerging sectors and even to start our own businesses. People with more advanced digital skills can take advantage of an even wider range of opportunities brought about by ongoing advances in digital technologies, platforms, and devices. Digital skills are particularly important when considering the changing nature of the work environment, including the sharp growth in the use of freelancers and people participating in the gig economy, as well as broader structural changes that will profoundly impact the jobs of the future Others (Jones, Kavalier and Flannigan, 2006) attributed the difference in terminology and the redundancies among the terms and their definitions to the newness of the phenomenon and to the paucity of research in digital skill.
Digital skill has evolved from the convergence of several concepts, including library literacy, information literacy and media (Bawden, 2008). Digital skill also draws its roots from the earlier conception of computer or ICT literacy. Over the years, digital skills have evolved towards greater emphasis on reflective rather than technical competence (Calvani, Fini and Ranieri, 2008).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This section describes the method that was applied in carrying out the study. It details the research design, target population, sampling technique, instrument of data collection and data analysis.
Research Design
A research design is a presentation of the plan, structure, or strategy of investigation, which seeks to obtain or answer various research questions (Shuttleworth, 2008; Lesage, 2009; Fubara & Freshwater, 2006). Borg, Meredith and Gall (2008) define research design as a detailed plan for how the research will be conducted. Donald (2006) notes that a research design is the structure of the research, it is the ‘glue’ that holds all the elements in a research project together. According to Gall and Gall (2009), a research design is a plan for collecting and utilizing data so that desired information can be obtained with sufficient precision or so that a hypothesis can be tested properly. It is a framework that guides the collection and analysis of data. Cooper and Schindler (2008) describe the research design as a plan and structure of investigation formed to provide answers to research questions. Mugenda and Mugenda (2008), describe a research design as a conceptual structure within which a research is conducted.
This study adopted a descriptive research design. A descriptive research design ensures ease in understanding ideas about the problem (Good & Scates, 2013). Kothari (2006) defines a descriptive research as systematic gathering of information from a sample of respondents for the purpose of understanding and/or predicting some aspects of the behaviour of the population of interest. According to Creswell (2003), descriptive research designs are used to allow gathering of information, summarize, present data, and interpret it for the purpose of clarity. The study sought to assess the effect of training on performance of office information job managers in Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
Target Population
Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) describe population as the entire group of individuals or items under consideration in any field of inquiry and have a common attribute. The population of this study encompassed employees who are currently working in manufacturing companies in Port Harcourt. The study population targeted a section of office information job managers at manufacturing companies in Port Harcourt head office. According to IFC (2023), manufacturing companies in Port Harcourt has 13,000 employees, of these 8,543 are employed on a permanent basis or have a 3 year contract with the company and approximately 450 are in the headquarters. The study targeted 32 top level management, 194 middle management and 224 lower level staff of manufacturing companies in Port Harcourt.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter describes the processes, techniques and procedures applied to analyze, present and interpret data gathered using the questionnaires. The chapter explains quantitative data analysis, cross tabulation tables, percentages and means scores on the effect of training on performance of office information job managers in Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter provides the summary, conclusions and recommendations of the study based on the objectives of the study.
Summary
The study sought to determine the effect of digital skills upgrade on employee performance in Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt. The findings showed that majority indicated that digital skills upgrade affects the performance of office information job managers to a large extent. The study also found that training is appropriate when an organization is expected to gain more benefit from the training than it invested in its cost; and that training is effective to the extent that it directly contributes to the strategy, objectives, or outcomes central to organisational effectiveness. The study therefore infers that digital skills upgrade affects employee performance at Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt.
The study also aimed at determining the extent to which factors of digital skills upgrade notably: approaches and participation; knowledge, skills and abilities; and analysis of the person, task and organization and found that various techniques can be used to assess needs where interviews or surveys of essential people can be employed in the training process and reviewing pertinent regulations to identify needs. From the findings, inferences can be made that digital skills upgrade factors affect the performance of office information job managers in Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt to a large extent.
Further, the study sought to establish the effect of training contents and delivery approaches on employee performance in Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt Headquarters. From the findings, majority of the respondents indicated that training contents and delivery approaches affect employee performance to a large extent. These findings correspond other study findings that training should stimulate multiple senses such as visual and auditory depending on the required input rate of the material and should fit the individual needs of the participants. The study therefore infers that training contents and delivery approaches is a vital factor to employee performance.
The study sought to determine the extent to which factors of training contents notably; work commitment, professional skill enhancement, delivery techniques and instructional materials affect employee performance and revealed that all the factors of training contents and delivery approaches to a large extent affects employee performance. These findings were validated in that for a specific task, training contents are intended to communicate specific skills, knowledge, attitudinal or task information to trainees.
The study sought to assess how factors of training delivery approaches notably; team training, mentoring, simulation and seminars affect employee performance and revealed that all the factors of training delivery approaches to a large extent affects employee performance. These findings were validated in that training delivery approaches concentrates on the necessary skills, and gives trainees realistic opportunities for feedback.
Lastly, the study sought to determine the extent to which training evaluation affects employee performance in Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt by determining the extent to which factors of training evaluation notably; reaction, learning, behavior and results. From the findings, reaction, learning, behaviour and results all had a positive influence on employee performance. These findings corroborate with other research findings that training evaluation is designed to evaluate the success of the training process and how well training implementation procedures were followed and to evaluate the knowledge, skills, abilities, behavior change, and the satisfaction of the participants.
According to the regression equation established, all factors of training studied (digital skills upgrade, training contents and delivery, training evaluation) had a significant effect on employee performance.
Conclusions
The study concludes that digital skills upgrade affects the performance of office information job managers to a large extent as demonstrated by all the factors of digital skills upgrade to a large extent affects employee performance. This is because training is appropriate when an organization is expected to gain more benefit from the training than it invested in its cost. Also employee training is effective in that it directly contributes to the strategy, objectives, or outcomes central to organisational effectiveness.
Further the study concludes that training contents affect employee performance to a large extent as indicated by the majority of respondents thus making it a vital factor to employee performance. This is because training stimulates multiple senses such as visual and auditory depending on the required input rate of the material and should fit the individual needs of the participants.
The study also concludes that some training delivery approaches may be more effective than others because all training delivery approaches are capable and intended to communicate specific skills, knowledge, attitudinal or task information to trainees, so different training delivery approaches can be selected in order to deliver different training contents.
Lastly on training evaluation, the study concludes that Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt should seek to improve on the evaluation strategies. Therefore inferences can be made that training evaluation affects employee performance to a moderate extent.
Recommendations
The study recommends that during digital skills upgrade, various techniques can be used to assess needs where interviews or surveys of essential people can be employed in the training process and reviewing pertinent regulations to identify needs. The result of the needs assessment should be a description of the performance and/or regulatory compliance deficiencies of the intended audience. The study recommends that training approaches and participation of staff should be improved.
The study further recommends that on training contents, Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt should improve on employee work commitment while the other factors of training contents and delivery approaches namely professional skill enhancement, delivery techniques and instructional materials.
On training delivery approaches, which involves team training, mentoring, simulation and seminars, The study further recommends that Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt should give more focus on the delivery approaches not only because the training activities are so expensive but also because the effects of training are very important to organization and to the employee in the same time
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