WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEES PRODUCTIVITY IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR

Background to the Study: In the turbulent business environment, with changes in customer demands the main aim of every manufacturing organization is to improve its productivity but this can never be possible without the efficient performance of employees and one of the major challenges facing many countries has been the need to improve the performance of employees. Therefore, workplace management (PM) came into effect as a human resource management reform to address and redress concerns organizations had about performance (Amir, 2022). workplace management has been seen as a tool which focuses on managing the individual and work environment in such a manner that an individual or team can achieve set organizational goals (Esu & Inyang, 2019). However, workplace management has come to signify more than a list of singular practices aimed at measuring and adapting employee performance. Rather, it is seen as an integrated process in which managers’ work with their employees to set expectations, measure and review results and reward performance, in order to improve employee performance, with the ultimate aim of positively affecting organizational success (Mondy & Noe, 2018).

workplace management has been used as a tool to enhance employees productivity by managing their performance specifically, PM intends to improve accountability, performance, communication, efficiency and productivity among employees. Sheriff, Alibaba, and Aliyu (2022) gave an understanding to the concept of employee productivity that implies the level or degree of output achieved from a defined input, it is rather more serious as it has been found that it forms the core of achievement of corporate goals and objectives, production, market, and sustainability of organizations in the manufacturing industry. Effective utilization of workplace management is critical to enhance organizational performance, so as to achieve a competitive position in global marketplace. In the last 30 years, workplace management has remained a static process that consisted primarily of an annual appraisal. Today, workplace management is one of the principle tools executives, line managers, and employees are able to use to achieve their collective goals (Potgieter, 2016).The 1990’s saw widespread and rapid adoption of workplace management requirements in U.S. states. The adoption of these reforms continued through the 2000’s, albeit at a slower rate. By 2004, 33 states had workplace management statutes on the books, and the remaining 17states had administrative requirements (Melkers & Willoughby 2015). By 2008, a survey of the states found that 39 states had performance budgeting laws, and 6 other states had some sort of management requirement. The majority of such laws were adopted in the 1990s and 2000s. Many countries have experimented with workplace management initiatives but most of these were limited to the introduction of performance-oriented staff appraisal systems. These have not been very successful because in these systems promotions are linked to performance, while in many developing countries promotion is still linked to seniority or to relations (Waal, 2017).

Although workplace management is relatively unknown in many African countries, the interest in such an improvement tool is growing among African organizations and in specific African countries. Despite this growing awareness, workplace management is not widespread yet in Egypt, in South Africa, the term ‘workplace management’ is relatively new in the field of management (Motswiane, 2015), in Kenya, workplace management was traditionally defined as the process of financial control, in which the mission and strategy are translated into budgets, and subsequently results are compared with budgets (Malinga, 2004), in Ethiopia, there are some developments for the benefit of workplace management and in Uganda, there were inadequacies in setting performance targets and workplace management planning were hardly done (Amir, 2022). However, the overall lack of management skills and expertise often makes it not viable for developing countries to develop complex structures such as sophisticated workplace management systems (Waal, 2017). And the lack of precise definition and no consensus on an appropriate strategy for initiating and sustaining PM is a factor that sometimes militates against the unity of purpose required to make workplace management initiatives work in the public service in Africa.

Although there is a plethora of studies on the reasons why businesses failed, it was argued that most public sector businesses and industries have failed because of ineffective and inefficient implementation of workplace management (Esu, 2019).The performance of these businesses is predicated on several factors. Many businesses have failed to meet the objective or purpose of its formation. This has been the experience in all economies. It is more worrisome in the developing economics of the world where managers lack the requisite managerial skills in management. It is one thing to formulate individual and organizational objectives, and another thing is to achieve the set targets, sustain task-level and later improve on performance. The fact that most of the businesses (both large and small scale business) that we saw in our communities, states and country are no more in existence, means that something is wrong somewhere especially in the absence of workplace management which was determined to contribute to the high rate of business failures in Nigeria. Hence, the foregoing sets the pace for an understanding of the workplace management and employees productivity in the manufacturing sector in Lagos state.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

The issue of employee productivity has suffered from high level of neglect as indicated by Gerhart and Milkovich (2020) that the level of employee productivity in Nigerian organizations has been on the decline over the years and this could be ascribed to poor workplace management strategies put in place by these manufacturing firms. Watkins (2017) elucidates that some public sector business organizations like those in Delta State of Nigeria have not given adequate attention to workplace management review as a tool for improving performance even when recent studies suggest that performance reviews benefit organizational performance in both private and public sectors.

Aidah, (2017) opines that an employee may have the ability and determination, with the appropriate equipment and managerial support yet such employee may be underproductive. According to Adeniji (2018) the missing factor in most cases is the lack of adequate skills and knowledge, which are acquired through training and manpower development that brings about increase in absenteeism rate, low output, poor quality and results. The absence of these major variables of workplace management which have been proven to improve employee productivity may have resulted in low productivity in Nigerian companies as established by Esu (2019) who attributed failure of businesses to ineffective and inefficient workplace management. Therefore, in the light of these issues, could it then be said that the adoption of workplace management can actually improve employee productivity of manufacturing industries in Nigeria?

1.3       Objective of the Study

The main objective of the study is to examine workplace management and employees productivity in the manufacturing sector in Lagos State. Other specific objectives are to:

1. To determine the effect of performance appraisal on employee productivity of manufacturing firms in Lagos State;

2. To evaluate the effect of feedback on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State;

3. To investigate the effect of training on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State and

4. To ascertain the effect of compensation on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State.

1.4 Research Questions

The proposed study would answer the following research questions:

1. To what extent does performance appraisal affect employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State?

2. Does feedback affects employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State? 

3. Does training affect employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State?

4. What is the effect of compensation on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State?

1.5 Hypotheses

The following hypotheses have been formulated for the study

H01: Performance Appraisal has no significant effect on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State.

H02: Feedback has no significant effect on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The general understanding of this study would serve as a useful guide to management, human resource practitioners, executive corporate managers and administrators most especially in the manufacturing industries to understand how workplace management can enable organization in sensing any possible changes in the level of productivity; thereby figure out strategies for identifying, encouraging, measuring, evaluating, improving and rewarding employees ‘performance at work.

The findings of this study would also be helpful to the manufacturing industries when setting policies on their specific workplace management system in order to adopt PM practices that are consistent with the requirements of these policies and that best fit the nature of the work performed and the mission of the organization.

This study would also enable the government create better policies and regulations with regard to the research variables in a way that can create an enabling environment for companies to survive.

Finally, the study would be of immense benefits to the society by contributing to the body of knowledge and stimulate more researchers’ interest in this field of study.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study will determine the effect of performance appraisal on employee productivity of manufacturing firms in Lagos State. The study will also evaluate the effect of feedback on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State. The study will further investigate the effect of training on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State and lastly, the study will ascertain the effect of compensation on employee productivity of selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State. Hence, this study will be delimited to selected manufacturing firms in Lagos State.

1.8 Limitation Of The Study

Financial constraint

Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint

The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work

1.9 Operational Definition of Terms

workplace management: This is the performance appraisal, feedback, training and compensation process and techniques used by an organization to achieve work objectives or goals.

Employee Productivity: It is the degree at which work done brings about increase in performance of employee to achieve set goals.