Effects of Human Relations Policies on the Performance of Secretaries
Chapter One
Objective Of The Study
- To identify existing human relations policies at Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of human relations policy inimproving performance of secretaries.
- To find out if the human relations policies have impacted on secretary morale and the firm’s overall performance.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
Meaning of Human Relations
There is no one adequate definition of term “Human Relations” but different schools of thought, using different forms have more or less carried out the same conclusion.
According to Carevel (1975:2) stated that “human relations is the integration of people into work situations that motivates them to work together productivity, co-operatively and with economic, psychological and social satisfaction”.
Also, Boone and Kurtz (1981:267) defines human relations “as a process, which establishes and maintain cordial work climate, promotes harmony and enthusiasm, display sincere interest in assisting other employee”.
Furthermore, Onah (1981:116) is of the opinion that “Human relations are both an art and science, which can be learnt and if properly applied, should produce fruitful results”.
Going by the thrust of the definitions above we can therefore say that: human relations is all about the cordial relations of people in the place of work and at play. These people include the workers, members of the public and the employee. It is the friend lines and warmth of relations in the organization that ensure the efficiency if workers and thus, thus, the attainment of the objectives and goals of the organization.
Components of Good Human Relations
These are some factors that must be considered before an organization can be said to be practicing using good human relations.
Onah (1981:120) says that “human beings are important assess to any organization and so, deserve to be treated very fairly in order to contribute positively to the achievement of organizational goals”. He believes that for a good human relations practice, employee participation and motivation must be brought into consideration.
Onah further said that the managers ability to recognize what workers want, his ability to use his discretion, experience, intuition and the necessity understanding organization has a social system, that is made up of interdependent systems and the appreciation that execute skill in human relations can be developed, all constitute good human relations.
How to Practice Human Relations
According to Dibua, (1994:14) the following are the methods of making human relations to work in an organization.
The manager and the supervisor should make each other feel useful, important and wanted.
The sub-ordinates should be constantly informed of the changes in rules, schedules and polices.
The management should believe in people’s ability and allow sub-ordinates, to exercise control over routine affair.
The organization should be structured to enable each management of staff to his own role in the job and in the group in harmony with the norms and dictated by the environment.
Work Environment
According to Hardening (1985:18): “The office environment comprises of the working conditions, design and layout of the office and the effect which it has on the overall efficiency of an organization”.
Henner et al (1978:138) opines that: sound in the office environment can be good and bad, when sound like background music is soothing to workers and helping production, the sound is good, but when sound is imitating machines, it is bad.
Job Enrichment and Job Enlargement
Koontz, et al (1980:648) are of the opinion that “job enrichment can be distinguished from job enlargement while the latter attempts to make a job more varied by removing the dullness associated with performing repetitive operations, the former builds into a higher sense of challenge”.
He also state that the states the job enrichment is one systematic attempt to alter the work content of jobs in such a way as the increase the opportunity for motivation.
This is done by increasing the difficult or complexity of the job to provide more challenges, the utilization of more skills and ability and more opportunity for achievement and recognition. Importance and achievement. A job can be enriched by:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
A research design means the instrument aimed at identifying variable and third relationship of one another, this is used for the purpose of obtaining data.
For this study work, survey research design was adopted, couples of questionnaires were personally distributed to the respondents and the same method adopted to collect the completed copies of the questionnaire distributed.
Population of the Study
The target population of this study comprises 25 employees of Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state. The aggregate number of employees which formed the population of Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited consists of 25 employees. The population to be observed will cover entire employee of Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state.
Sample Size and Sampling Technique
Sample is the part of the population diocese for the study. Sampling Technique is referred to the process used in selecting participants for a research project. Thus, the sampling technique adopted in this study is the census sampling technique which is the process of taking a sample data of a population has equal chance of being selected without bias.
Reliability and Validity of Instrument
Reliability means the accuracy of precision of a measuring instrument while validity means the extent to which the research instrument measures what it is supposed to measure. In order to determine the reliability and validity of the study, the test-retest method was used. To have a valid instrument, the questions in the questionnaire will be free from ambiguity (i.e the questions will not be too complex). To have reliable instrument, the questionnaire will be followed with interview of sample of respondents to know their view on the subject.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
A total of 25 copies of the questionnaire were issued. Therefore, data contained in 25 copies of the instrument that were correctly completed were adopted.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
With respect to the objectives of this study, the following findings were revealed by the researcher.
Data collected revealed that Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state state started introducing its human relations policy at the time the company began its operations, till date. Most employees have had some form of training.
The research also revealed that the purpose of training and development activities at Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state is to achieve both individual and secretary performance. However the basic purpose of training as shown from the introduction is to improve the knowledge and skills of employees. It is also to change the attitudes and behavior of the employees for the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness of the organization as a whole and increase performance.
The rapid changes in technology also require that employees possess the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to handle the new processes and production techniques in order to be ahead of other competing organizations. Thus, there was the need to find out the major purposes for which Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state trains its employees because reasons may differ per organization.
According to the Human Resources Manager, employees at Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state are trained in order to improve their skills, knowledge, abilities, competencies, behavior and confidence. The ultimate objective however is to help improve both individual and secretary performance.
Concerning the second objective of this study, the following findings were made:
It is very essential that the employees who undergo the training know the objectives for each human relations policy they undertake. Employees’ knowledge of the reason for which they undergo training will help them be focused and enable them appreciate the program. It will in the long-run also reflect in the growth of the organization through the profits, reduced time periods on the job among others. The organization however is also certain and confident of a strong employee base who are ready to work under changes in the Power sector sector that may occur and also replace the experienced employees who may retire or leave the business. The Human Resources Management manager stated that the objective for which their employees undergo training is to help them improve on their performance, acquire more skills, meet the required standards in the organization, as refresher courses to learn their processes and procedures so they become more efficient. The respondents also affirmed this, all the respondents said the objectives are to improve on their performance an also enable them acquire new skills. Some out of the 25 also added that the human relations policies are to enable them work on a higher task based on a promotion; learn a new advancement in the industry and also an opportunity for them to brainstorm in order to develop strategies for the organization.
Effects of Training on performance of secretaries
Employees are motivated to work better on the job if they are made to feel their employers think of their well-being. Training is one strategy that employers can however adapt to make employees feel this way. When employers put in place human relations policies for their employees, they become aware of the desire of their employers to see them improve, thus will be motivated to work better. Therefore, the study sought the opinion of the respondents whether they are motivated and satisfied with the human relations policy of the organization.
The results shows that, majority of respondents are motivated and satisfied with the human relations policies provided by the organization. It is very important that the employees are motivated and satisfied with the human relations policies put in place by the organization. This is because being motivated will boost their morale thus enabling them to work hard to achieve the corporate goals and mission of the organization and help them live up to the institutions corporate values.
It is vital in accessing the effectiveness of the human relations policies provided by the organization to not only obtain the perspective of management but the trainees (employees) as well. The data revealed that employees were able to identify specific improvements to their development as a result of the training they have obtained and were also able to clearly state that the training provided over the years has been beneficial to them in terms of the improvement as well as the acquisition of new skills and knowledge, improved efficiency and also believed that training had enabled them contribute to the growth of the institution. Their ability to clearly identify these things highlights the effectiveness of the training provided. Labour is a major input in the operations of any entity. Efficient labour has a direct impact on the output of the firm and productivity of the firm. Analysis of productivity can be simplified by accessing the output per unit of input. The more output per unit of input the more productive a firm is. The main focus of this study is on human relation policy and development and the impact of such skills, knowledge, efficiency and performance on the performance and productivity of the individual employees. This is based on the basis that employees do not perform well until they have become aware of what they are to do and how to do it.
It is therefore essential to note that it is the knowledge, skills and efficiency gained that will make the individual employees more effective. The data revealed that training results in improvement of Skills, Knowledge, Efficiency, and Performance.
It is interesting to note that De Cenzo and Robbins (2001), stated that “training is basically a learning experience, which seeks a relatively permanent change in an individual’s skills, knowledge, attitudes or social behavior.” The elements they highlighted seems to be similar to the aspects of the employee the human relations policy provided by the firm seems to have tackled.
The difficulty has always been the basis for evaluating the impact of human relation policy on the performance of the firm. The initial approach was to use the productivity approach by evaluating the contribution of each unit of labor to the company’s profit. If each unit of labor was contributing more to profit over time then one could conclude that labor was more efficient and could thus connect it to training. However, the non-availability of information on labor makes this approach difficult to utilize. Thus the new approach to be adopted though not the most efficient but the most expedient based on available information would be to analyze the growth of profit. If profit has indeed grown then we go further to analyze the basis. This could either be an increase in income or decrease in expenditure. I analyzed income per unit invested in the company. If every unit invested is resulting in more income then we can conclude an improvement in efficiency. Since the entity’s main input is labor then we can go further to conclude that labor is thus contributing more to the performance of their firm and then also go further to state the contribution training would definitely have made.
CONCLUSION
Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state has human relations policies for its employees.. All employees no matter their qualification, age or rank consistently go through training. Training has been effective with its core objective being to improve individual and secretary performance as can be seen from the improvement in returns per unit invested in expenditure as well a consistent increase in income and profit. The human relations policy is structured, planned and systematic and has resulted in improvement in skills, efficiency and performance as well as the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. Training has had an effect on the performance of the firm with increased profits and income as well as an increase in income per unit of expenditure invested. Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited, Enugu state however, should consider the possibility of other human relations policies besides
Since it was discovered that not all employees were motivated with the current human relations policies an increasing of available options can help to tackle this. Competition in the organizations in Nigeria continues to increase with the continuous emergence of new players. Thus, it is important for organizations to invest if they intend to stay ahead of their competitors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited current in-house human relations policy is effective but the company should also consider enabling employees to further their studies to improve their qualifications.
- Emenite and Amah Breweries Limited should also continue with its training with periodic analysis of the program to ascertain its effectiveness, the certainty that the program caters to the specific needs of its employees and that program is in line with developments of the time.
- Emenite and Amah Breweries Limitedshould increase transparency to let the public know their contribution to the Nigerian system at large
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