PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AS A TOOL FOR ENHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In any evaluation of the condition necessary for the growth and survival of an organization, the role of performance appraisal is a strategic factor. It is believed that both the individual and the organization need to know how well actual performance is contributing to the accomplishment of the job plans, the staffing plan, and ultimately the overall strategic plan of the organization. In addition, the individual employee requires feedback relative to his or her own goals development, as well as that relative to management’s expectations.

Performance appraisal is a formal and systematic assessment of an employee to determine the degree to which the employee is performing his/her job effectively. It is usually made in a prescribed manner of specific intervals such as quarterly, bi-annually or even annually. Each employee at one time or the other wants his immediate boss or more still his employer to assess his on-the-job performance, and where necessary give him guidelines or advice for improving his efficiency.

An effective performance review system serves these general purposes. In other words, as Nwachukwu (1985) puts it, “the essence of performance appraisal is to give information for the promotion, demotion, transfer, pay increase, training and development and discharge of an employee”.

Secondly, it provides employees with constructive on how they are performing in their jobs as viewed by their managers, thus leading to increased productivity.

Therefore, in any organization, manpower remains the most prominent and the most valuable assets among other factors of production. It is this reason performance appraisal is given recognition as a tool to improve organizational activities.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Since the study seeks to examine performance appraisal as management tool for increased productivity in Union Bank Nig Plc. It therefore attempts to identify various employee appraising techniques, some common appraisal problems and how proper performance appraisal can enhance increased productivity in Union Bank Nig Plc.

1.3    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The purpose of writing this project is to investigate into how performance appraisal can enhance increased productivity in Union Bank Nig Plc. The study will among other things try:

                 i.            To find out the various performance appraisal techniques used.

               ii.            To examine the implications of performance and productivity.

             iii.            To provide bases for reward employees in relations to their contribution to the organization.

             iv.            To identify some common appraisal problems of employees and how proper appraisal can enhance increased productivity.

               v.            To make some used recommendations to management.

1.4    STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

A hypothesis is a conjectural statement of relationship between two or more variables. They are always in declarative sentence form, and they relate either generally or specifically, variable or variables. They are particularly necessary in the studies of this nature where cause and effect relationships are to be discovered.

H1:    Performance appraisal techniques provide formal management procedure used in the evaluation of work performance in the organization.

H0:    Performance appraisal techniques do not provide formal management procedure used in the evaluation of work performance in the organization.

1.5    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

              i)              The study is of vital importance to organization’s effectiveness, hence the result will be useful to the organization in developing effective and efficient performance appraisal plans and programmes to aid the organization in its goals attainment.

             ii)             The importance of this study therefore is to research into those benefits that performance appraisal could bring to the organization, employer and the employees alike.

            iii)            The study could also be valuable as source of reference to students of management studies who mighty carry out similar or further research in this area.

             iv)             The study will help the researcher to fulfill the requirement for the award of HND in management studies.

1.6    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study would squarely concentrate in analyzing performance appraisal techniques in Union Bank Nig Plc. The researcher has related the study only to the areas that are related to the topic such areas are: performance appraisal, techniques for performance appraisal.

1.7    LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

In a developing country like Nigeria, students are normally faced with grave shortage of relevant facts necessary for their research work and mine is not an exception.

However, confidence and ability are best assets every human being must possess. The following are some of the constraints encountered during this project work.

1.           Insufficient Textbooks and High Price Tags: In Nigeria nowadays, in purchase good and comprehensive textbooks for reading to further research on a typical issues. It will cost an average of three thousand naira and an average student cannot lay their hand on it as a result of the economic situation.

2.           Time Factor: In this part of the country and due to classroom lecturers, it often hinders someone to concentrate more one it project writing because part of the time are used in classrooms and to further participate in classroom group discussion and assignments.

3.           Finance: This project work involves huge financial expenses such as photocopy, typing and movement from one point to another to gather information. The financial problems not only hindered movement but also discourse ones enthusiasm in learning.

4.           Personal Limitations: Personal time available for recreation resting and washing are partly engulfed by this study in attempt to beat the expiration time for submission.

1.8    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY

Union Bank is one of the five leading banks in Nigeria, ranking with the First Bank Plc, UBA Plc, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank before and after recapitalization of banking industry. Union bank plc is a commercial bank that has been existing from 1917 as the then Barclays bank DCO, New Union Bank of Nigeria Plc came into the country. Barclays bank is a subsidiary of Barclays International was incorporated in Nigeria when the banking decree of 1969 was promulgated. It changed its name to Union Bank of Nigeria Limited in March 1972, when the indigenization decree came into existence.

The federal government held 52% of the banks share 40% for the Barclays international which sold 30% of its share to Nigerian in 1979, ten years later they sold the remaining 20% to Nigerian making it a wholly indigenes bank.

When the banking reforms introduced by Central Bank Governor Prof. Charles Soludo, that all banks operating in Nigeria to shore up their shareholders funds by sum 1150 percent from N2 billion to N25 billion (equivalent of 192 million dollars) before December 2005, the Union bank go into merger and acquisition with the following banks for consolidation. The bank merged and acquired Broad Bank Plc, where the capital base rose over N25 billion.

The staff strength of the bank is about 1000 people of various professional backgrounds well trained and carefully selected to attend to customers need with the highest standard of personal attention, confidentially and competence.

Union Bank is active in all Commercial Corporation and investment banking as well as international transaction. The bank operations are varied with specialized products for different aspects of banking. The bank also involve within the same industry. The stock in which the bank trade in is banking services and currency as its major raw materials.

The bank has a tradition for responsive and quick decision making her service delivery is backed with the latest technology including computer system and software are constantly updated to ensure that all transactions are handled with speed and efficiency.

The corporate vision of Union Bank Nigeria Plc is to be the most strong and reliable bank and most profitable banking the commercial bank and most profitable bank in the commercial industry.

These dreams are already being unmanifested through volume of assets, merger and acquisition of various commercial banks that cannot meet the mandatory N25 billion capital base laid down by the Apex bank (CBN). Her impact on the economy and society in general employment roll have felt nationwide.

1.9    DEFINITION OF TERMS

Ø    Performance Appraisal: It is a process or series of formalized discussions with an employee about performance over a specified period of time.

Ø    Manager: A person with the task of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating and controlling organization’s resources to attain the objectives of the organization.

Ø    Productivity: It is the “quantity or volume of the product or service that an organization provides” (Decenzo and Robbins, 1989).

Ø    Effectiveness: This is concerned with the art of getting the right things done, in the right way, at the right time and for the right purpose.

Ø    Efficiency: It is concerned with achieving an objective or producing product at the least cost to enhance organization achieves the main objective.

Ø    Organization: An enterprise established by a person or group of individuals; government in order to provide goods and services for the satisfaction of human needs.

Ø    Management: This is the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling both human and non-human resources effectively and efficiently towards the attainment of organizational goal.