MANAGING THE HUMAN RESOURCES OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS IN A DEPRESSED ECONOMY – A CASE STUDY OF MB ANAMMCO LTD EMENE ENUGU

ABSTRACT

Human Resources Management exists to help employees and organisations reach their numerous goals. In the course of doing this, they face many challenges arising from the demands of the employees, the organisations and the society. And, in a depressed economy like Nigeria, it takes an effective and efficient human resources manager to meet these challenges proactively. The purpose of human resources management is to improve the productive contribution of people in the organisation in way that are  strategically,  ethically  and  socially  responsible.  This  purpose guides the study and practice of human resources management. In line with the above, this research work investigated low productivity of workers as a basis for investigating the methodology adopted in managing human resources in MB-ANAMMCO Ltd. Emene Enugu. Chapter one looked at the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the objective of the study, hypotheses, the scope and limitations, the assumptions as well as the definition of terms. In chapter two, several literatures were reviewed. This assisted the researcher to investigate how to manage the human element at MB-ANAMMCO for effective result. In chapter three, research design and methodology were discussed, and  the  discussion included population for  the  study, sample size, as well as primary and secondary sources of data. Chapter four discussed the presentation and analysis of data. Mathematical and statistical tools were used in the analysis of these data. Special and technical words were clearly explained. Chapter    five    discussed   the    findings,   conclusion   and recommendations based on the analysed data.

CHAPTER ONE

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

An organisation exists when two or more people come together for the purpose of achieving certain objectives that ordinarily would be difficult for an individual to achieve. According to Akpala (1990:4), an organisation is a combination of people or individuals working together in pursuit of certain common purposes called organisational objectives. All organisations are purposive, which according to Nwachukwu (1992) means that all organisations whether profit seeking or non profit seeking, exist for some purpose. The goals may be profit making (Business organisations); training and educating

people (Schools); National defence (Army) and social satisfaction / affiliation (social clubs) etc.

Individuals in an organization work in order to help accomplish the organisational objectives. These individuals also wish to accomplish their own goals through the organization.

To achieve their goals, all organizations need to combine the  three main resources of men,  money and materials in pursuit of their goals using the process known as management (Ikeagwu 1992  P.  2).  Management has  been described by Glassman (1978) in Ikeagwu (1999) as the process through which organisations seek to utilize their resources to achieve their established objectives.

Nwachukwu (1992:P4), defined management as the coordination of all the resources of an organisation through the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling in order to attain organisational objective(s).

According  to  Ikeagwu  (1999),  an  organisations  three main resources of men, materials and money are coordinated for specific purposes in the process known as management.

With these different resources and different ways of combining and  utilizing them,  management can  be  said  to  be  an  all embracing process subsuming a number of sub processes. Thus one can think of sub process of managing money, the sub process  of  managing  materials  and  the  sub  process  of managing men (people) which is called Human resources management.

Some authors use the terms human resources management (HRM) and personnel management (PM) interchangeably  while  some  view  human  resources management as being somewhat different from the traditional personnel management on the grounds that personnel management appears to be more clerically oriented and narrower in scope than human resources management.

Personnel  management  is  defined  by  Fillipo  as  the

planning, organising, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of people for the purpose of contributing to organizational goals. Human resources management according

to Fisher et al (1990:P6) involves all management decisions and practices that directly affect or influence the people who work for  the organization. According to Ikeagwu (1999) the  two terms human resources management and personnel management are synonymous but personnel management is the  older  and  more  an  established  name  while  human resources management is the more up to date title for the field.

Some distinct features of human resources management include that while personnel management is work force oriented, deals with every problem exclusively and emphasises employees welfare; human resources management is management oriented, emphasises research and analysis, looks at the whole thing globally, goes into detail to get the root cause of the problem, aims at obtaining and retaining people for maximum performance by ensuring that the right person is selected for the job by using the right method of recruitment and selection.

The terms human resources management and systems have come to the fore in recent years. Their usage according to

Ikeagwu (1999:P73) reflects a growing concern for personnel system as distinct from compartmentalised personnel policies. In order words, there is a growing awareness by managers and personnel specialists that the organisation is an organic entity and that all its parts are so interdependent that a change cannot be introduced in one without affecting the total.

In tracing the historical antecedents of human resources models,  Ikeagwu  (1999:P75)  stated  that  the  theory  x  of Douglas McGregor preceded the human resources models. Theory x which implies an autocratic approach to management was widely accepted; and with few exceptions, universally practised before the human relations movement. The human relations   movement   slowly   began   to   undermine   the assumptions of theory x and by 1940s and 1950s, many managers and most theories of management no longer abide by the assumptions of theory x. Two factors that restructured practitioners’ thinking about the management of people are human relations theory and research. This rethinking is summarised in McGregor’s Theory y.

Theory y implies humanistic and supportive approach to managing  people.  While  theory  x  approach  preceded  the human relations theory and practice of management, theory y marks the point of departure for the human resources management model.  Ikeagwu  (1999:P76) stressed  that  the basic assumptions of the human resources approach are similar to those of theory y but that it goes beyond theory y by stating what the actual implementation for the practice of management and the expectation of managers and workers will be. These policies are:-

1.     The managers´ basic task is to make use of untapped human resources.

2.     He must create an environment in which all members may contribute to the limits of their ability.

3.     He must encourage full participation on important maters and

continually broadening subordinates self direction and control.

It is expected that these policies will yield some results such as:-

a.     Expanding subordinates influence, self direction and self control which will lead to direct improvement in operating efficiency

b.     Work satisfaction may improve as a by-product of subordinates making full use of their resources.

In summary, the manager in human resources model goes beyond human relations approach by having a real understanding of the complexities of human motivation, proper understanding of learning theories and behaviour modification, psychological process and personality theory, proper understanding of dynamics of individual differences, group dynamics and other social considerations. The human resources manager also undertakes an in-depth analytical study of these factors and backs them up by research findings.

Economic situation of a country or the financial condition of an organisation or a firm, affects the activities of the human resources manager to a great extent. To his effect, organisations tend to expand their human resources management activities when the economy booms or flourishes i.e.  at  time  of  prosperity;  and  contract  or  shrinks  during

adverse periods i.e. at times of recession or economic depression.  According  to  Ikeagwu  (1999:P59),  the management of Nigerian economy in the 1980s and 1990s during the military era (rule), caused thousands of graduates and others unemployed inflation at its highest level, Naira was unable to compete effectively with other currencies and prices of goods and services erratic (erratic market prices).

Nigeria of today is yet to attain balance of trade surplus with other countries of the world. With galloping inflation and high  unemployment  level  and  low  standard  of  living,  the poverty alleviation policy of the federal government of Nigeria is yet to make an impact. These and other economics indices, point  to  the  fact  that  Nigerian  economy  is  depressed and erratic. And unless something strategic is done to reverse the trends, history will always be reminding us  of what Udeze (2000:P v1) called the golden moments in Nigeria. A period of oil boom 1973 – 1979; when it was crowed in many quarters that the street of Nigeria were paved with gold.

It  should  be  noted  that  the  cardinal  essence  of  the human resources management is to increase the productivity of the organisations human assets. This idea is usually frustrated by economic crisis or enhanced by economic fortune a nation experiences at a given period. Such economic crisis like depression or recession as seen in Nigerian economic environment has reduced opportunities for gainful and productive employment for an increasingly large proportion of the Nigerian population.

Notwithstanding   the   economic   crisis,   the   human

resources management and  or  the  personnel functions still have to be carried out for the existence and possible growth of the organisations. Though, the effects of the crisis bite hard enough on managerial decisions of the people – dimension  of the  management there  is  need  to  make  the  possible  best productivity out of the little available (human, money and material) resources. Hence, managing the human resources of business organisations under such economic environment and the  need to fill  human resources management activities or

practices to the organisation and nation’s economy in which they are embedded in order to achieve the strategic business objectives of enhancing performance and productivity,   form the background of this study.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Frequently, organisations in Nigeria face protracted and severe crises that often hamper the attainment of set goals. However, with a dedicated workforce, these much desired goals are usually achieved. This supports the saying that, the success of any business organisation depends largely on the performance of its people (i.e. the management and the subordinates). For this success to be attained and sustained over a period of time, the managers should aim at managing the subordinates and other resources in such a way that the people would contribute their best to the achievement of the organisational objectives.

For quite some time, the Nigerian economy has been under serious   pressure as a result of prolonged economic

depression. In the face of the gloomy picture however, our organisations still need to stay afloat.

The problem of the human element in Nigerian organisations has been that their take home pay is eaten up by inflation.

They have several needs that are grossly difficult to achieve. The low demand of outputs of organisations is affecting their willingness to empower their workers by way of training and development. The possibility of displacement by efficient machines ( computers, robots etc) is affecting the psyche of the workers. The resultant effects of all these led to the following:

i.      Inadequate motivation and compensation of workers.

ii.     Non provision of suitable welfare packages to the workers. iii.     Inadequate training and development of workers.

iv.    Poor financial status of the organisation. v.     Poor supervision of workers.

1.3   THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Mercedes – Benz ANAMMCO Ltd a joint venture between the federal government of Nigeria and Daimler-Benz A.G./Mercedes Benz A.G. of Germany.

MB – ANAMMCO Ltd manufactures commercial vehicles

and leads in commercial vehicle market in Nigeria with five tons payload and above. Incorporated in January 1977, the objectives of establishing the multi-million naira MB ANAMMCO Ltd include:

a.     To carry  out the  business of manufacturing and marketing Mercedes – Benz Trucks, buses and vehicles to meet Nigeria’s increasing demand for commercial vehicles.

b.     To  assist  in  manpower  development  through  technological training.

c.     To alleviate the transport problem in the country i.e. in Nigeria. d.     To help reduce unemployment in the country.

Regrettably however, most of the objectives listed above cannot be achieved. Specifically, it was reported that improper management of the workers at MB – ANAMMCO Ltd was responsible for the non achievement of the objectives stated

above; hence this study. Therefore, the objectives of this study are:

1.   To examine the effects of inadequate motivation and compensation of workers so as to highlight their relationships on productivity of the workers.

2.     To  assess  the  effects  of  non  provision of  suitable  welfare packages on the productivity of the workers.

3.     To examine the effects of inadequate training and development of workers so as to determine their relationships on productivity of the workers.

4.     To  evaluate  the  impact  of  poor  financial  status  of  the organisation so as to determine their effects on productivity of the workers.

5.     To verify the impact of poor supervision of workers on their productivity.

1.4   HYPOTHESES

1.     There is  evidence to  show  that inadequate motivation and compensation of workers affect their productivity.

2.     There  is  evidence  to  prove  that  non  provision  of  suitable welfare packages to the workers contribute to low productivity of the workers.

3.     There  is  evidence  to  show  that  inadequate  training  and

development of workers contribute to low productivity of the workers.

4.     There is evidence to prove that poor financial status of the organisation affects the productivity of the workers.

5.     There is evidence to prove that poor supervision of workers contributes to low productivity of the workers.

1.5   THE SCOPE AND THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In this study, factors or causes which affect high productivity of the workers will be investigated. Equally the study will consider some other aspects of human resources management like recruitment, selection, transfer, promotion, demotion, compensation, training and development.

However,  the  study  will  not  consider  problems  on financial management because of lack of time and financial

resources. The greatest constraint the researcher of this project faced in course of this work time. The next was the bottle-neck and apparent problem associated with getting information.

1.6   THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1.     The   findings   of   this   study   will   enable   management appreciate better the need for effective manpower planning, training and development programmes in the organisation.

2.     This  study  reveals  how  human  resources  management relates to the corporate purpose and objectives of an organisation.

3.     Equally,  it  shows  how  an  organisation can  develop  and

maintain a good workforce that will ensure or enhance organisation’s effectiveness and increased productiveness and increased productivity through effective manpower planning and development.

4.     The  findings  of  this  study  would  highlight the  need  for managers and trainers to design the content of their training and development programmes to reflect the needs of the

employees and the organisation. In other words, managers and trainers of business organisations will find the research findings very useful.

5.     The study will enable me to contribute my views and ideas

on managing human resources of business organisations.

6.     The study will be of immense help to other people and students who might wish to carry out other researches in other business organisations.

1.7   ASSUMPTIONS

The following assumptions were made:

1.     The line managers and the human resources manager of the MB – ANAMMCO Ltd are well trained and experienced in their jobs.

2.     The MB – ANAMMCO Ltd has adequate equipment that can ensure and sustain high productivity.

3.     The work environment in the MB – ANAMMCO Ltd is very conducive for manufacturing of vehicles.

4.     The workers are matured and physically fit for the job.

1.8   DEFINITION OF TERMS

Some words, terms or concepts used in this study were explained in this section for clarity.

1.     Document study:   Ikeagwu (1998, P. 209), a document

study  refers  to  the  study  of  any  written  materials  that contain information about the happening that are studied.

2.     Validity of instrument: This is concerned with the worth of the instrument in providing measures that are appropriate indicators of the criteria of interest.

3.     Reliability of instrument: This is defined as the degree of

consistency present on a measuring instrument.

4.     Compensation: This is defined as what employees receive in exchange for their contribution to the organisation.

5.     Organisational    citizenship:    This    is    defined    as discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organisation.

6.     Job Satisfaction: This is defined as the difference between the amount of rewards workers receive and the amount they believe they should receive.

7.     Training: This can be defined as an induction course given

to employees to enable them to effectively perform their present jobs.

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