Staff Development Strategies and Effective Job Performance in Rivers State Universities

Abstract

Staff performance in Nigerian universities has been a great source of concern to the government and stakeholders in education. Despite improved academic and professional qualification of staff and massive government investment in educational sectors, the university education system has failed to produce people who can contribute in solving the problems of the 21st-century society. It is against this backdrop that this study was undertaken to examine the impact of staff development strategies on employees' job effectiveness in Rivers State universities. The scope of the study covered the two state-owned universities, namely, Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, from 2015-2020. The study was guided by four research objectives and four corresponding research questions. The research adopted the Human Capital theory. A descriptive research design was employed for the study. The population of this study consisted of 2700 teaching and non-teaching staff in Rivers State universities. A sample size of 350 was used for the study through the aid of the Taro Yamane formula.Data were obtained through primary and secondary sources. The secondary sources were obtained from journal publications, textbooks and university bulletins, while primary data were obtained from the researchers’ observation and study’s questionnaire titled ‘Staff Development Strategies for Effective Job Performance Questionnaire (SDSEJPQ)’. Data collected from the respondents were analysed using Percentages, Means and Standard Deviations. Some of the findings revealed that staff training on ICT, coaching, inservice training, and staff induction enhanced staff effective in Rivers State universities; there is no substitute for human resource development and training since it enhances job effectiveness and efficiency in the educational system. In fact, it would be unproductive to select the best employees with high qualifications without training them adequately because it will hinder the university from meeting its educational goals. The study performance recommended, among other things, that the universities leaderships should strengthen staff training on ICT, coaching, in-service training, and staff induction by formulating a robust policy to enhance employee development. This will enable the staff to handle challenges and become more competent in solving complicated office tasks that may arise.