CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Training, discipline and performance evaluation are some of the features of personnel management in a typical bureaucratic organization. Ubeku, (1975), sees human resources as the most valuable assets of an organization. If they are not properly managed, the attainment of organizational goals may be difficult. In order to enhance the quality of performance, the workers have to be trained on periodic basis. By so doing, they acquire new skills, ideas and information that are crucial to the effective and efficient performance of their duties. This was probably why Armstrong, (1982) posited that “there is a gap between what a worker can do and what he should be able to do”. Hence he suggested that training should be embarked upon to bridge this gap.
In another development, discipline is one of the pillars on which the success of an organization rests. In other words, discipline is meant to achieve the conformity of the behaviour of a worker to the norms of the organization. Therefore, discipline is geared towards the reduction, if not total elimination of phenomena that are harmful to the achievement of organizational goals (Encyclopedia of Professional Management, 1978). The absence of discipline may result in lawlessness, anarchy or even organizational decay.
Performance evaluation is the mirror with which the worker sees himself. His performance has to be assessed or evaluated periodically, so that his strength and weaknesses can be brought to a sharp focus. The worker knows the areas he is doing well and those in which his performance falls short of expectation. It is only an efficient performance evaluation system that will result in the achievement of the desired results of an organization.
This study focuses on training, discipline and performance evaluation, which are aspects of personnel management in a bureaucratic organization, Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), as a case study. It aims at the evaluation of the training programmes of Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), as well as the disciplinary and performance evaluation systems. The intention is also to make suggestions on the improvement of these aspects of personnel management in the public sector. Some of the issues that the study will deal with include the adequacy or inadequacy of training in the organization, the impact of performance evaluation on the morale of the officials and the relationship between discipline and productivity.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS