INFLUENCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON LECTURERS’ JOB PRODUCTIVITY IN UNIVERSITIES OF LAGOS AND OGUN STATES

- The problem of lecturers’ job productivity is a long -standing one, with the outcome of this seen in the product of the university not measuring up to the employer’s standard. The study investigated the influence of some human resource management practices on the lecturers’ job productivity in Universities in Lagos and Ogun states. The research adopted a descriptive research design on a population of four thousand three hundred and ninety-two (4,392) of which nine hundred and thirty-five (935) lecturers were selected from lecturers in Federal, state, and private Universities in Lagos and Ogun States. Four instruments were revalidated and adapted for this study. The result revealed that the human resource management variables of participatory management, performance appraisal, and organizational commitment made no significant joint contribution to Federal university (F 3,310 = 2.519; p>.05), State University (F 3,343 = 0.361; p>.05) and Private University (F 3,282 = 0.369;p>.05) lecturers’ job productivity. Based on the findings, other human resource management practices could be investigated as influencing lecturers’ job productivity. The research recommended that the university management should improve their welfare packages to enhance lecturers’ job productivity .


INTRODUCTION
The problem of University lecturers' job productivity in Nigeria is enormous and was an issue of concern in this research. Although, many studies have been carried out in relation to this variable but most of these, focused on universities in United Kingdom, some African nations and very few on Nigerian universities. Among those noted on Nigerian universities were the studies carried out by [1], [2] and [3] which absorbed on different variables ranging from ICT competence, performance appraisal and leadership styles influence on job productivity of lecturers. Ensuring job productivity of lecturers is an arduous task for the universities, as many problems have been identified as causes of poor productivity by many researchers, these include; lack of rich collection of up -to -date books and journals in the libraries, lack of functional laboratories, lack of bustling seminars, lack of research grants, excessive workload, lack of input in decision making, wanting new challenges, teaching out of field, insufficient autonomy, poor salary and personal circumstances and the likes [4]; [5]; [6].
Performance appraisal is the periodic evaluation of an employee's performance measured against the job's stated or presumed requirements. Performance appraisal is part of the process of guiding and managing career development in both private and public sectors. It involves the task of obtaining, analysing and recording information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization [7]. As noted by [8] a performance appraisal is often the link between additional pay and rewards that employees receive and their job performance. If used effectively, performance appraisal can improve motivation and performance, but if used inappropriately, it can have disastrous effects [9]. For performance appraisal system to be effective, it must of necessity be anchored on the performance criteria that have been outlined for the job. [10] describes performance criteria as one of the products of a detailed job analysis which spell out the specific elements of a job and make it easier to develop the means of assessing levels of successful or unsuccessful job performance. It can thus be inferred that any appraisal system not hinged on these all-important criteria, can neither be appropriate nor fair, particularly to the employee, whose performance is being evaluated. In fact, some key points in the arguments of those opposed to performance appraisal is that, most of the time, wrong things are rated and the wrong methods used [11]. Concerning academics, the standards used in evaluating the lecturers in Nigerian tertiary institutions today have failed to enhance the quality of performance and credibility of these educators. This is because such standards tend to give low priority to teaching [12]. Also, the quality of teaching in Nigeria was described as apparently poor and was attributed to the fact that teaching performance was never a recognized criterion when considering university teachers for promotion or reward. Emphasis was rather placed on research publications [13]. It is the interest of this research to establish if there is moderating influence of university type on participatory management, performance appraisal system, organizational commitment and lecturers' job productivity in universities in Lagos and Ogun States.

Concept of Job productivity
The assessment of job productivity is never easy as this is a function of many indicators, [14] buttressed that measurement of academic achievement of students or staff productivity is challenging since it is a product of socioeconomic, psychological and environmental factors [15] posited that academic staff productivity could be measured based on defined responsibilities which are teaching (transmission of knowledge), research (advancement of knowledge) and community service (application of knowledge). However, they acknowledged that within much of the academy, a value hierarchy exists in which research and scholarships are at the top of the pyramid, followed by teaching and then community service. [16] found that faculty members perceived research to be the outstanding component. In his statement, research is deemed to be twice as important as teaching and five times more important than community service. Many believe that university professors face a distinct trade-off between producing empirical research and providing quality instruction in the classroom. However, it is interesting to note that [17] found faculty staff with the greatest early success as productive researchers who demonstrated a more even balance among teaching, research and collegial networking.

2.2
Participatory Management [18] defined participation in decision making as the inclusion of the employees in the decision-making process of the organization. Participatory management also reduces some managerial problems such as absenteeism, low motivation level, employees' turnover rate and other organizational ailments .This is evident in the words of [19] that, when employees are involved in decision making, staff absenteeism is reduced, there are greater organizational commitment, improved performance, reduced turnover and greater job satisfaction. [20] and [21] also agreed that several strategies can be used to increase productivity and organizational development; and one of such suitable strategies is participatory management.

Performance Appraisal
According to [22] performance appraisal can be described as a systematic attempt to distinguish the more efficient workers from the less efficient workers and to discriminate among strengths and weaknesses an individual has across many job elements. In short, performance appraisal is a measurement of how well someone performs job-relevant tasks. These measurements are normally done by the direct supervisor of the ratee and can serve different organisational purposes; examples are employee selection, disciplinary action, feedback, promotion, training and personnel planning [23].Attesting to this, [24] rates performance appraisal among the most important HR practices because of its ability to provide valuable performance information for a number of HR activities such as allocation of rewards, promotion, assessment of training needs and feedback on development. Consequently, they enable organisations to retain, motivate and develop productive employees. Based on [25] the fundamental objective of performance appraisal system is to facilitate management in carrying out administrative decisions relating to promotions, firings/lay-offs and pay increases. For example, the present job performance of an employee is often the most significant consideration for determining whether or not to promote the person. Managers must recognize that an employee's development is a continuous cycle of setting performance goals, providing training necessary to achieve the goals, assessing performance as to the accomplishment of the goals and then setting new, and higher goals. A performance improvement plan consists of the following components: a. Where are we now? The answer to this question is found in the performance appraisal process. b. Where do we want to be? This requires the evaluator and the person being evaluated to mutually agree on the areas that can and should be improved.
c. How does the employee get from where he or she is now to where he or she wants to be? This step is critical to the performance improvement plan. The appraiser and appraisee must have mutual consensus on the specific steps to be taken. These steps may include training the employee so as to improve his or her performance. It should also contain the mechanism adopted by the appraiser to assist employees in the achievement of performance goal [26].

2.4
Organisational Commitment [27] emphasised that commitment of employees is an important issue because it may be used to predict employees' performance, absenteeism, and other behaviours. [28] reiterated that job satisfaction has the highest impact on employees' commitment and productivity.
In another view, [29] expressed that there are two main forms of commitment, rational and emotional commitments. Rational commitment is the degree to which a job serves an employee's financial, developmental, or professional selfinterest. Emotional on the other hand, concerns the degree to which a job serves as employees' values, enjoyment and belief in what they do. These enlighten further that, many organisations measure employees' commitment to improve productivity and gain insight about potential turnover concerns.

Studies on participatory management and job productivity
Research on administrative motivation, participatory decision making and academic staff management as correlates of productivity of tertiary institutions' lecturers in Delta state, Nigeria with a sample of 2,014 extracted from a population of4780 lecturers using stratified random sampling techniques reported a significant relationship among the variables [30].
In another research carried out by [31] titled 'Does participative decision-making affect lecturers' performance in higher institution" carried out on lecturers in Yogyakarta province in Indonesia with 347 participants. The result of finding indicated that participative decision making, and academic rank have significant effect on lecturers' performance. This finding implied that involving lecturers in educational decision making would be useful to improve not only lecturers' performance but also organizational performance. In addition, among all demographic variables considered, only academic ranking was reported significantly affected lecturers' performance.

Studies on performance appraisal system and job productivity
In a research study carried out by [32] on the influence of performance appraisal on employees' productivity in organizations: a case study of selected WHO offices in East Africa comprising a sample size of 105 staff, the study found that performance appraisal influence employees' productivity with 52% of the respondents indicating that employees achieve their goals after receiving feedback on performance appraisal. The study's findings also reflected that 68% of the respondents indicated that 360 0 performance appraisal influences work performance to a very great extent. While 32% of respondents indicated that 360 0 performance appraisal influences work in an organization to a great extent when adopted as an employee's appraisal system.

Studies on Organisational Commitment and Job Productivity
The study on leadership styles, work climate and organisational commitment enhancing the job performance of university lecturers, on a sample size of 339 lecturers in public universities in Malaysia using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS -25) to analyse the hypotheses concluded that the three constructs could predict job performance of lecturers [33].
In similar research carried out by [34] on employees' commitment and its impact on sustained productivity in Indian Auto-component industry, the research hypothesis tested, which stated that employees' commitment (NC, CC and AC) does not influence sustained productivity was rejected. The quantitative data was collected through questionnaires which were tested on the sample population of 50-line managers. The finding showed there is a strong relationship between the independent and dependent variables with the value of Pearson coefficient for AC and SP is 0.859, for CC and SP is 0.866 and NC and SP is 0.764. These values as reported were near to +1 which showed strong correlation. This was reported to mean that changes in one variable, strongly correlated with changes in the second variable.

Studies on university type and Job productivity
In research on Gender, Academic rank, Employment status, University type and Job stress among University Academic staff: A Comparison between Malaysia and Indonesia context, carried out on 343 universities academic staff from Pahang, Malaysia and 337 academic staff from Jogjakarta, Indonesia, found that academic staff that work in the private university have the higher job stress level than academic staff that work in the public university. Also, gender variable has influence on job stress, in which women academic staff have a higher job stress level than male academic staff [35].
With regards to the university type, [36] reporting an empirical study on organisational commitment and job satisfaction in higher education institution in Kenya using 829 academic and 785 administrative employees from three public and three private universities, with a response rate of 54% (446 academic employees) and 62% (486 administrative employees) found the independent variables (i.e. personal characteristics, job and role-related factors, professional commitment and HR practices) gave stronger predictors of organisational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions for academics than for the administrative employees. The study also revealed that employees from private universities were more committed to their universities and satisfied with their jobs than employees from public universities. He also reported that age, education, professional commitment, role overload, supervisory support, job security, promotional opportunities, distributive justice and participation in decision making were the most important predictors of organisational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions among employees in Kenyan universities. Likewise, Good working condition, satisfaction at work, organizational commitment, opportunity for advancement, recognition for advancement and good economic reward system, participatory management, personal and professional development; performance appraisal, flexible working hours and extra time for research activities have been identified to be interrelated to lecturer's job productivity [37] [38]; [39].These studies affirmed that people will work more willingly and better, if their working conditions are agreeable with their psychological attachment to their work.

HYPOTHESIS
Ho1 : Participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment will not significantly jointly contribute to federal university lecturers' job productivity. Ho2 : There is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment to state university lecturers' job productivity. Ho3 : Participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment will not significantly jointly contribute to private university lecturers' job productivity.

Research Design
This study adopted the descriptive research design. The study covered two states; Lagos and Ogun states, all the 4,392 Lecturers of the ten universities; federal, state and private universities in existence as of 2005 were enlisted in the population of the study. These ranged from Professors, Associate Professors, Senior lecturers, Lecturers I, Lecturers II, Assistant lecturers and Graduate Assistants. The years of establishment of these universities have been considered as benchmark, and which included the universities existing over ten years ago, assumed to have attained stability.
The study employed multi-stage sampling approach. The sample consisted of 1,026 Lecturers randomly selected from federal, state and private universities established since 2005 in Lagos and Ogun states. First, the researcher selected the institutions using stratified random sampling technique which entails classifying the institutions into three categories of federal, state and private. Second, with the population of each university defined, the sample size for the study was drawn using 25% proportional sampling technique and simple random sampling with due consideration of each university's academic staff strength. The 25% proportional sampling technique trickled down on the samples picked in each faculty and department. The academic cadres and gender representation based on 25% proportional technique was considered as well. Although, the number of questionnaires returned was 1,026, some were not properly filled.
Hence, the number found to be properly filled were 935 and these were used for the analysis. The demographic data inventory and four adopted instruments were used to sieve information from respondents. The instruments are; Performance Appraisal System Scale for Lecturers (PASSL), Participatory Management Scale for Lecturers (PMSL) Organizational Commitment Scale for Lecturers (OCSL), Job Productivity Scale for Lecturer (JPSL). Drafts of the research instruments were subjected to face and content validity.
The reliability of research instrument was done using a test re-test technique to determine the reliability co-efficient of the instrument at 0.05 degree of significance. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to describe the sample and the data. The postulated null hypotheses were tested using Canonical analysis. All the null hypotheses were tested for significance at 0.05 significance level.  Table 2 showed the mean and standard deviation scores of participatory managements, performance appraisal system, organisational commitment and lecturers' job productivity of lecturers in Lagos and Ogun federal universities. The mean performance appraisal score in federal universities was 137.83 with standard deviation score of 38.814. Participatory management is 50.01 mean score (std. deviation= 12.511) with an organisational commitment mean score of 78.62 (std. deviation=16.566). Lecturers' job retention and job productivity mean scores was 81.07 (Std. deviation= 12.799) and 34.76 (Std. deviation= 3.545) respectively.  Table 3 showed the mean and standard deviation scores of participatory managements, performance appraisal system, organisational commitment and lecturers' job productivity of lecturers in Lagos and Ogun state owned universities. The mean performance appraisal score in state universities was 144.06 with standard deviation score of 33.478. Participatory management is 53.98 mean score (std. deviation= 13.574) with an organisational commitment mean score of 78.67 (std. deviation=16.629). Lecturers' job retention and job productivity mean scores was 79.41 (Std. deviation= 13.861) and 33.92 (Std. deviation= 4.715) respectively.  Table 4 showed the mean and standard deviation scores of participatory managements, performance appraisal system, organisational commitment and lecturers' job productivity of lecturers in Lagos and Ogun private universities. The mean performance appraisal score in private universities was 153.85 with standard deviation score of 27.108. Participatory management is 54.18 mean score (std. deviation= 10.942) with an organisational commitment mean score of 81.05 (std. deviation=16.136). Lecturers' job productivity mean scores were 35.06 (Std. deviation= 5.980).

Hypothesis One
Ho1: There is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment on federal university lecturers' job productivity.  Table 5 showed the composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment on federal university lecturers' job productivity in Lagos and Ogun State universities, Nigeria. The combined regression analysis model revealed that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment had no significant composite contribution on federal university lecturers' job productivity, F (3,310) = 2.519, p > .05. The regression model further indicated that the multiple correlation coefficient, R= .622 while the adjusted R 2 = .233 suggesting that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment jointly accounted for 23.3% of the variance in job productivity of federal university lecturers. This means that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment insignificantly contributed to job productivity of federal university lecturers in Lagos and Ogun State universities.

Hypothesis Two
Ho2: There is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment on state university lecturers' job productivity.  Table 6 showed the composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment on state university lecturers' job productivity in Lagos and Ogun State universities, Nigeria. The combined regression analysis model revealed that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment had no significant composite contribution on state university lecturers' job productivity, F (3,343) = .361, p > .05. The regression model further indicated that the multiple correlation coefficient, R= .176 while the adjusted R 2 = .055 suggesting that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment jointly accounted for 5.5% of the variance in job productivity of state university lecturers. This means that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment insignificantly contributed to job productivity of state university lecturers in Lagos and Ogun State universities.

Hypothesis Three
Ho3: There is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment on private university lecturers' job productivity.  Table 7 shows the composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment on private university lecturers' job productivity in Lagos and Ogun State universities, Nigeria. The combined regression analysis model revealed that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment had no significant composite contribution on private university lecturers' job productivity, F (3,282) = .369, p > .05. The regression model further indicated that the multiple correlation coefficient, R= .192 while the adjusted R 2 = .063 suggesting that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment jointly accounted for 6.3% of the variance in job productivity of private university lecturers. This means that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organisational commitment insignificantly contributed to job productivity of private university lecturers in Lagos and Ogun State universities.

DISCUSSION
i.
That participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment jointly made no significant contribution to job productivity of federal university lecturers.
ii. That participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment jointly made no significant contribution to job productivity of state university lecturers.
iii. That participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment jointly made no significant contribution to job productivity of private university lecturers.
The first hypothesis stated that there is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment on federal university lecturers' job productivity. The findings of the research accepted the null hypothesis, as it revealed that there is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment on Federal university lecturers' job productivity.
The result of regression analysis presents that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment could not jointly combine to influence federal university lecturers' job productivity (R=.622; R 2 = .233; F (3.15) = 2.519 p > .05). The implication is that since the three variables; participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment could not jointly influence federal university lecturers' job productivity, it could be assumed that their job productivity may be a function of other variables which were not covered in this study. [14] affirmed that measuring of academic staff productivity is challenging since it is a product of socio-economic psychological and environmental factors. This suggested that many factors beyond the scope of this work could be attributed to influence the job productivity of lecturers.
The second hypothesis stated that there is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system on State University lecturers' job productivity. The result of the finding upheld the null hypothesis as it revealed that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment has no significant composite contribution on state university lecturers' job productivity.
The result of regression analysis presented that participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment could not jointly combine to influence state university lecturers' job productivity (R=.176; R 2 = .055; F (3.37) = .361 p > .05). These variables could only jointly account for 5.5% of the variance in job productivity of state university lecturers. By implication, other factors as submitted by researchers such as [37]; [38]; [39]; include, good working condition, satisfaction at work, flexible working hour and extra-time for research which are beyond the scope of this study could be assumed to contribute to the job productivity of lecturers in universities in Lagos and Ogun states.
The third hypothesis stated that there is no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment on Private University lecturers' job productivity. The result of the research accepted the null hypothesis, as it showed no significant composite contribution of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment on Private University lecturers' job productivity.
The combined regression analysis revealed that the three variables could not jointly contribute significantly (R= .192; R 2 =.063; F (3.32) =.369, p>.05) to influence private university lecturers' job productivity. They only contributed jointly 6.3% of the variance in job productivity of private university lecturers. This implied that other factors outside the coverage of this study may have stronger influence on private university lecturers' job productivity. This finding contradicted the research work of [36], where he submitted that employees from private universities were more committed to their universities and satisfied with their jobs than employees from public universities. Good working condition, satisfaction at work, organizational commitment opportunity for advancement, recognition for advancement and good economic reward system, participatory management, personal and professional development, performance appraisal, flexible working and extra time for research activities have been identified to be interrelated to lecturers' job productivity [37]; [38]; [39].

SUGGESTION
The following recommendations are suggested to help improve lecturers' job retention and productivity in the university. The government, university administrators and human resource managers in our universities need to work on both intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can ensure better working conditions for lecturers in the universities. This should entail reviewing of edicts and conditions of service of academic staff and the extant rules governing the practices in the universities.
University management and the government should improve the take home packages of academics and other benefits accruing to them which are functions of commitment. In doing these lecturers would not need to consider other options within or outside the shores of Nigeria and thus foster their job retention and productivity.
Academic staff should be provided more avenues for participation in decision making; this will enable them to voice out their opinions on policies and goals of the organization, thereby preventing issues from escalating to industrial action. Encouraging participatory management in the universities will enable the management to identify issues affecting academic staff and thus, provide timely intervention which will promote staff retention and productivity.
The university management and human resource department need to ensure that the performance appraisal system of the academic staff is developed on the principles of objectivity, allowing for inputs from lecturers in the construction of such appraisal instruments. Universities should endeavour to run a fair performance appraisal system, in order to encourage lecturers' retention decision and productivity.
In order for university management to manage their institutions effectively, periodic evaluation of the administrative practices in the institution should be carried out. This would help them to assess what lecturers want and what factors are hindering their effectiveness on the job, thereby developing strategies to enhance their job retention and productivity.
University management could endorse different exchange programmes to facilitate participation of lecturers from other institutions in their activities. This could be a strategy in ensuring that lecturers see no reasons in changing jobs, thus they get committed and are productive.

CONCLUSION
The research investigated the influence of participatory management, performance appraisal system and organizational commitment on university lecturers' job productivity in Lagos and Ogun states with particular reference to influence of university type.
Also, it has been confirmed based on the research findings that performance appraisal contributed relatively more than participatory management and organizational commitment on their influence on lecturers' job productivity.
While it was revealed as well that participatory management, performance appraisal and organizational commitment influenced federal university lecturers' job productivity more compared to state and private where their effects was very insignificant.