AN APPRAISAL OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION MANAGEMENT BOARDS IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to appraise the personnel management practices of the Abia State
Secondary Education Management Board. The study was guided by five research questions with
five corresponding null hypotheses formulated. Literatures relevant to the study were reviewed.
A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study
consisted of 692 staff of the Secondary Education Management Board. The population was all
the 264 senior Secondary Principals, all the 241 Junior Secondary Principals and all the 187
Senior administrative staff of the Board No sampling was made as the entire population of 692
was used for the study because it was manageable. A structured questionnaire was used for the
study. The instrument was face validated by three experts from the Faculty of Education,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka and trial tested at Okigwe Education Zone of Imo State. The
internal consistency of the instrument was established using Kuder-Richardson and Cronbach
alpha reliability coefficient methods. The overall coefficient value of 0.93 was obtained. 692
copies of the questionnaire were distributed and returned with the assistance of three research
assistants. Data collected were analyzed using mean scores and standard deviations for the
research questions while t-test statistics was used for the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of
significance. The results indicated that the Abia State Secondary Education Management Board
comply to a very great extent with Personnel Management Manual on recruitment and posting of
staff, staff development and training to a very great extent, staff welfare services to a great
extent, staff discipline to great extent and staff appraisal to a great extent. Other results included
that there is significant difference between the mean scores of secondary school principals and
senior administrative staff of the Board on staff recruitment and posting, there is also a
significant difference on staff development and training, there is significant difference on welfare
services provided for personnel, there is significant difference on staff discipline and there is also
significant difference on appraisal of staff by the Board. The five null hypotheses were therefore
rejected. Based on the findings it was concluded that both the principals of secondary schools
and the senior administrative officer of the SEMB of Abia State are at variance in compliance
with approved guideline on personnel management practices. The educational implications of the
finding were also outlined. The researcher recommended, among others, that the secondary
education management board should ensure that issues relating to staff recruitment, development
and training, welfare services, discipline, appraisal and promotion are taken seriously in
conjunction with the principals, the Board should regularly organize seminars and workshops to
improve staff skills and competence, the Board should also establish standardized procedures for
the recruitment of staff, teachers should be encouraged to go for further training for effective and
efficient delivery and achievement of educational goals and objectives.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Personnel management is one of the most important and challenging functions of
any organization because it constitutes the ultimate basis for the creation and utilization
of the wealth of a nation. Okafor and Udu (2008) perceive management as a set of
activities (planning, decision making, organizing, leading and controlling) directed at an
organization’s resources (human, financial and physical) with the aim of achieving
organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner. Personnel management is the
acquisition of personnel or human resources and co-ordination of their performance
within the organization. Riches and Morgan in Uche (2009) explain that human resource
management in any organization (education or otherwise) is part of the process of
management in general that focuses on the people aspect of management, ensuring that
the objective of the organization is met. In order words, personnel management is the
effective utilization of people at work to achieve the aims and objectives of the
organization.
It is in line with the above assertion that Peretomode (2004) asserted that,
personnel management acts as the wheel of progress in the realization of educational
goals and objectives. It means that without an effective personnel management, an
organization may find it difficult to achieve its set goals and objectives. Nwachukwu
(2000), argues that for an organization to attain its desired objectives, it must seek to
obtain the co-operation of the personnel working under it. It is clear that personnel
management is challenging in every organization but far more challenging in educational
institutions. This is because most of the activities in education deal with human beings.
The management of educational institutions is faced with not only the complexities of
characters and behaviour of the staff, but also with those of the students and parents
(Okoro, 2006). This means that the way and manner these chains of human elements are
managed could affect the success of educational institutions.