EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS (A SURVEY OF SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN RIVERS STATE)

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INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

Employee performance is vital to all business enterprises in both developed and developing economies. The increase in the rate of business failure, closure and employees’ poor performance in terms of productivity in Nigeria is alarming. For organization to be sustained, employees have crucial roles to play in order to ensure that organizations attain competitive advantage over the competitors across the globe. The growth and survival of any organization in the competitive society lies in its ability to recruit sound employees and enlighten them on the organization’s mission and vision. For the organizations human resource to be creative, innovative and inventive the performance of these employees have to be reviewed and evaluated on a timely basis.

 Organizations in the past primarily focused on productions and sales but due to the dynamism and competition in the market place, organizations in this 21st century are looking forward to sustain a competitive advantage by combating the challenges of improving qualities of products, productivity and service delivery. This stance can only be attained through employee performance while the key of attaining and sustaining this is by selecting and retaining the right people for the right position in an organization. Organizations nowadays are more concentrating on acquiring appropriate human capital because the employees are the most valued and most precious assets of an organization. It is the individual performance of employees that will converge to form the overall performance of the organization. While recruiting the employees, organizations have to devise a strategy to carefully recruit the most suitable employees because they create the competitive advantage for the organizations.

A sound manpower plan programme logically follows a well drawn-up recruitment strategy. In fact, the quality of the organizational performance depends upon the quality of employees which is determined by recruitment policies and practices in the organization. Casio (2002) stated that recruitment and selection starts with a clear statement of objectives of the firm based on the types of knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics. Success of the enterprise is directly linked to the performance of those who work for that enterprise. under-achievement of target can be a result of failures in the workplace, hiring the wrong people or inability to anticipate fluctuations in hiring needs, it is important that mindful efforts are put into human resource planning in an organization Djabatey, (2012). It has also been argued that in order for the enterprise to build and sustain the competitive advantage, proper staffing is critical (Djabatey, 2012).

The more effectively organizations monitor employee performance, the more likely they are to retain satisfied employees. In addition, the effectiveness of an organization’s selection system can influence bottom-line business outcomes, such as productivity and financial performance” (Ekwoaba et. al 2015). That means that the effectiveness of organizations depend on the kind of staff they recruit and how these staff members are managed through performance. This can also show how competitive that organization will be. The banking sector happens to be a very competitive sector which requires a dedicated work force hence performance is key to its survival. This study seeks to ascertain how banks evaluate the performances of their workers and how these affect external competitiveness of these banks.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

In Nigeria, there has been increase in the rate of business failure, closure and poor organizational performance due to low productivity of employees and commercial globalization. Despite the conflict between the stakeholders and the employees, employees have critical roles to play in ensuring the organizations achieve competitive advantage over the competitors for the achievement of goals and objectives.

The performance of the banking sectors which is a key sector in Nigeria has been poor; it has witnessed relatively low performance when compared to their African counterpart South Africa. The recent retrenchment of workers across many banks and the death of many newly introduced banking products in Nigeria are the evidence of poor performance. The above problem motivated the researcher to examine employee performance and organizational competitiveness.

1.3     Objective of the Study

This study seeks to achieve the following objectives:

1.       Examine the relationship between employee performance and organizational effectiveness

2.       Ascertain the link between employee performance  and organizational effectiveness

3.       Find out the effect of supervision on employee efficiency

4.       Suggest ways of evaluating employee performance to enhance productivity

1.4     Research Questions

1.       What is the relationship between employee performance and organizational effectiveness?

2.       What is the link between employee performance  and organizational effectiveness?

3.       What is the effect of supervision on employee efficiency?

4.       How can employee performance  enhance organizational productivity?

1.5     Research Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant relationship between employee performance and organizational competitiveness.

H1: There is significant relationship between employee performance and organizational competitiveness.

1.6     Significance of the study

This study will contribute to future banking campaign by assessing the effect of employee performance  on organizational effectiveness. It will add to the body of knowledge available in the field of employee management suggesting new dimensions towards better management. It will also serve as a reference material for students and scholars alike who want to carry out similar study. The outcome of this research will serve as a guide to managers on the best way to relate with employees especially those working in the banking sector in order to enhance the growth of the organization (banks) and enhance healthy competition among banks.

1.7     Scope/Delimitation of the Study

This study seeks to examine employee performance  and organizational competitiveness using commercial banks in Port Harcourt metropolis as focal point. For manageability, this study will utilize Access bank and Ecobank in Port Harcourt metropolis as case studies. These banks were chosen as a result of their robust nature in the banking industry in Nigeria and Port Harcourt was chosen due to the number of banks present within its environment and also due to the fact that bank headquarters located there.

1.8     Limitation of the Study

The following are problems that were encountered during the research:

Time: Research is a time-consuming exercise for collection, analysis and preparation of its report. This kind of research takes time to plan and execute as it will be done alongside other academic works.

Cost: considering the serious nature of this research, planning and implementation will require enough finance in view of the fact that many research works require the use of human and other resources and considerable time for proper execution. A lot of money required to administer the questionnaire is also another consideration.

Exactness: It is impossible to predict human behavior and response with absolute exactness or accuracy thus getting their responses might be a bit challenging.

Unreliable Data: Some secondary data may be unreliable because they will be sourced online from unverifiable materials.

1.9     Definition of Terms

Banks: Is financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and create credit. 

Competitiveness: The ability to provide products and service as to more effectively and efficiently than the relevant competitors.

Employee: An employee is an individual who was hired by an employer to do a specific job.

Evaluation: Is a systematic determination of a subjects merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program and other initiative to assess any aim. 

Organization: Is a group of peoples who form a business, club etc, together in order to achieve a particular aim or objective. 

Performance: Manner of functioning, the manner in which something or someone behave or working effectiveness: the way in which someone does a job, judged buys lets effectiveness.

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