The Influence of Strike Action on Employees’ Performance and Productivity

The Influence of Strike Action on Employees’ Performance and Productivity (A Case Study of University of Nigeria, Nsukka)

ABSTRACT

The influence of strike action on employee’s performance and productivity. A strike generally could be defined as the refusal to work by employees of an establishment to protest certain inadequacies in their conditions of service. The strike is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. To solve this research problem, the workers should be given their pride of place and be put in the “hall of fames” because the workers are the lighthouse of the world who should be given their salaries promptly, given incentives, make sure they are satisfied job-wise so as to be more dedicated thereby producing good giants who will uplift the tone of the nation within and outside the nation. Society itself could solve this contemporary problem of strikes; the financial gain is not coming in a thousand; workers from the citizenry are meeting frustration. The design of study used for this study was a survey design. The population put together is 12,000, and the sample size is 746.

The instrument used for data collection is the questionnaire and interview. The instrument for data analysis is the Chi-square method of testing hypotheses and simple percentages of analyzing the tables.

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

A strike generally could be defined as the refusal to work by employees of an establishment to protest for certain inadequacies in their conditions of service.

The strike is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances.

In most countries, they were quickly made illegal as factory owners had more political power than workers. Most Western countries partially legalized striking in the 19th or 20th centuries.

Strikes are sometimes used to put pressure on the government to change policies. It will also be noted that strike is not peculiar to universities alone but to other organizations or pressure groups such as:

1. Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
2. Nigeria Bar Association (NBA)
3. Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ)
4. Nigeria Medical Association (NMA)

Higher Institutions that are liable to embark on strike actions include:-

1. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUNU)
2. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)
3. The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP)
4. The Academic Staff Union of the College of Education etc

When a strike occurs in an organization, workers suffer the most, and in this way, the Nigeria working system has been thoroughly destroyed.

There is no way to remedy this situation apart from the individual employees standing up and demanding their rights.

Although, strikes may create temporary difficulties for workers in the sense that they will stop their work and without them, they won’t earn a living. this situation of our country Nigeria will not be fully developed because they will back off or less production because of the strike action management has not put its priorities right. it is in protest of these misplaced priorities and inadequacies that the management and Nigeria Union of Workers. ie the Nigeria labour congress (NLC).

In most cases, the employers and the employees would have explored all avenues for dialogue and strike becomes the last option for the settlement of disputes.

Before the introduction of the strike among Nigeria workers in the years 1963 by PA Imodu, the authorities have always worked in peace and harmony with their privilege to work as an employee in any organization because they always had great expectations for both the senior and the junior staff worked happily together as members of the same community and guided by a sense of mission to promote and preserve their working performance.

Today, the issue of strikes in our country has been so rampant that the government will have to do something urgently so as not to jeopardize the employees’ interest in improving their performance and productivity in their place of work. But before the emergence of unions, there had been spontaneous strikes and protests against poor conditions of work in several African countries.

In the strike that took place in sierra-leone in 1874. In Senegal, railroad workers frequently engaged in sporadic strikes against the dehumanizing conditions of work.

In practice, it has been difficult to separate strikes from other forms of expression of an industrial dispute as employers lock out workers and workers embank on strike action. it is used to view both phenomena as part and parcel of the conflict situation, not as opposite. rarely does a strike occur over a single issue for an obvious cause may be linked with several others issues that are not immediately apparent to the observation that has caused dis-satisfaction because solutions to them have been long in coming. The actual occurrence of a strike depends on several factors including prevailing circumstances. This also shows that few strikes occur spontaneously especially as there is no way of guaranteeing that a strike action instead of other forms of strike action would be decided upon by the workers involved.

1.2 BRIFY THE HISTORY OF THE CASE STUDY

The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to UNN, is a Federal University located in Nuskka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Founded in 1955 and formally opened on 7th October 1960, the University of Nigeria has four campuses-Nuskka, Enugu and Ituku-Ozalla-Located in Enugu State and one in Aba, Abia State Nigeria.

The University of Nigeria was the first full fledges indigenous and first autonomous educational system. it is the first land-grant university in Africa and one of the five elite universities in the country. The university has 15 faculties and 102 academic departments. The university offers 211 undergraduate programmers and 82 postgraduate programmers.

The University celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2010.

A law establishing a university in the Eastern Region of Nigeria was passed on May 18, 1955. That date marks the formal beginning of the history of the university of Nigeria, the enactment of this legislation by several Nigerian leaders, and inspired particularly by the then premier of the Eastern Region, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. One of the first steps taken by the Eastern Nigeria Government towards the implementation of its commitment was an invitation to both the United States of America and the United Kingdom to send advisers to help in the planning of physical structures and educational aspects of the proposed university.

Under the joint auspices of the inter overseas and the international Education Administration (now the United States Agency for international Development). J.W. Cook, Vice Chancellor of the University of Exeter, Dr. John A Hannah, President of Michigan state university and Dr. Glen L. Taggart, Dean of International programmers at the same university came to Nigeria in 1958. The team surveyed the site at Nsukka and extensively investigated a variety of factors pertinent to establishing a new university.

The result of their efforts was contained in a white paper issued by the Eastern Nigeria Government on 30 November 1958. They had recommended, “that the development of the University of Nigeria based upon the concept of service to problems and needs of Nigeria is a desirable project and one that should receive support from any source which could help to make it a sound Endeavour”.

They further recommended that a provisional council be established to “draw upon the technical and consultative Resource available throughout the world to help in planning the institution” the provisional council authorized by the Eastern Nigeria legislature, was appointed by the Governor in council in April 1959, and given necessary financial and administrative powers to build a sound university. it reflected the spirit of international cooperation which has given birth to the institution. it consisted of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Dr. T. Olawale Elias and Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani from the federation of Nigeria, J.S. Fulton from the United Kingdom, Dr. Marguerite Cartwright and Dr. Eldon Lee Johnson from the United State of America.

The university was formally opened on 7th October 1960, as the Celebrations in the Eastern Region. her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent, represent HER Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11 at the Nigeria independence celebrations performed the opening ceremonies and laid the foundation stone of one of the university`s early buildings.

Classes began on 17 October 1960 with an enrollment of 220 students and 13 academic staff members. Other opening convocation addresses were delivered by the chairman of the provisional council, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, the first president of the Federation of Nigeria, and Dr John A. Hannah, president of Michigan State University, U.S.A.

The university was fully autonomous, with the power to grant its own degree technology speaking, therefore, it became the first fully-fledged university in Nigeria since Ibadan was still at that time a university. It also became the first university established by the Nigeria Regional Government.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Influence of strike action on employee performance and productivity poses serious problems both for management and the lecturer and those problems sought to be solved by the end of this research study and include, the causes of strike action, how workers’ performance and productivity could be increased, ways in

which strike actions could be eradicated and dose strike action demoralize workers or motivate them.

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The issue of strikes by organizations has been so rampant that the government will have to do something urgently about this situation, so as not to jeopardise the organisation’s existence.

Therefore, the objective of this study includes the following:-

1. To find out whether strikes influence employee performance in an organization.
2. To determine whether the delay in paying employees’ salaries is the major cause of stroke in an organization.
3. To find out how government reach towards the cause of strike in an organization.
4. To find out how the organization, employers and employees respond either positively or negatively to strikes.
5. To prefer practical solutions to problems.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This empirical study will be important to the researcher since it is a partial requirement for the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management award. Also, this research work will be done at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. it will also benefit other universities within Nigeria and potential and future researchers on the issue of strike action in employee productivity and performance.

The study will identify how to make management rethink or reconsider their plea. How to strike action is carried out to increase the welfare or pay of workers and how employees embark on strike to gain grounds in the organization.

1.6. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study focuses on the influence of strike action on employee‟s performance and productivity, the cause of strike action and the necessary measure to reduce or avoid strike action. In this scope, we will be able to search and find out how the strike action affects the performance and productivity of workers at the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The research was also limited by time and financial constraints, as the researcher was also affected by the restriction of movement by the institution’s authority. The researcher did not also use so many books meant to be in the library because there are not enough books related to any topic in the library.

1.8 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research question is based on the influence of strike action on employees’ performance and productivity.

1. To what extent does strike action influence employee performance and productivity in an organization?
2. To what extent does delay on paying workers’ salaries cause strikes in an organization?
3. To what extent do the management employer and employee respond to strike action?
4. To what extent does the government respond to the demands for strike actions
5. What is the practical solution to the problem of strikes at the University of Nigeria Nsukka?

1.9 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

1. There is a significant influence of strike action on employee performance and productivity at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
2. Strike action erupts as a result of a delay in payment of workers’ salaries and other entitlements.
3. There is a significant Influence of strike action on the reactions of the government.

1.10 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Strike generally could be defined as the refusal to work by employees of an establishment to protect against certain inadequacies in their conditions of services. A strike usually takes place in response to an employee‟s grievance. We have different theories in strike and they are unitary perspectives, classical perspective, integrationist perspective and pluralistic perspective all those are involutes in the strike theories but the pluralistic perspective it say “if one however accepts the views of the social writer and the idea of a pluralistic approach to work organization, then conflict among competing subgroups will be seen as an inherent feature of the structure of the organization. The pluralistic manager is more likely to accept that conflict in an organization requires careful handling and attempts to reconcile rival interests.

1.10 DEFINITION OF TERMS

STRIKE: An organized refusal to work by employees of a company.

INFLUENCE: The power to produce effects, especially Indirectly or through an intermediary, the condition of being affected power to change a person`s way of life.

JOB SATISFACTION: Remuneration is a reward. It is better payment and fringe benefits. The chief characteristics of workers were economic self-interest. Michael white (1980) discovered that remuneration (money) is a good and an incentive. Remuneration is a source of satisfaction and is a standard companion. so remuneration is a source of material goods stimulus to greater production.

References

Adeyemi, (1995) workers are victims of a prolonged closure of organization, by A.D. Ayo, vanguard, January 15, (10)

Asobie and Liman (1996). Federal government news to sack all striking university Teachers and gives them seven days September, 16, vol. 24

Assible Asobie, (1996) the Crisis that led to strike is not yet over, Vanguard, January 27 Bedeian (1987)

Collins, Gem (1981) English Dictionary New Edition: London: Collins and Glasgow publishers.

Egbere, E(2004). The impact of Employee participation in Decision making and organization productivity. Unpublished B.sc Project. Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu

Hook, S (1970). Education for modern men: N.Y.D. Publisher. http. IIem. Wikipedia.Drg/Wiki/Strike

Iyoricha, A. (1994). The university is the conscience of any nation: Education Today, vol 7

Jucius, M.J. (1975) Personnel management: New York MC Graw –Hill

Lillis, J.C. (1958) Management practice: New York MC Graw-Hill.

Massie, Joseph. (1996) Essentials of management (4th Edition) Prentice-Hall, Inc.m New Delhi

Moore, Franklin G. (1964) management, New York Harper and Row, Publisher.

Oladele, J. O. (1987). The concept of education London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Publisher.

Ubeku, A.K. (1975) personnel management in Nigeria Benin City: Ethiope publishing corporation.

Woolman, M. (1987) Technology in Education: Encyclopedia of education vol.9, the Macmillan co & the free press. WWW. opm. Gov/perform/wppdf/handbook. pdf (c) 2011 notes. com, INC, All Rights Reserved.