All posts by umeshkumar4ijr

Research Paper

FISH PRODUCTION, POVERTY MITIGATION AND CO-OPERATIVE GOALS OF FAGAM CO-OPERATIVE FISH FARM IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA.

 

         M.A.Dambatta,1 O. A. Sogbesan,2 A.U.Fagge,1Suleiman I. Dutse,1A.U. Shuaibu3

Abstract:

 The effort was made to make this research project to become reality this was achieved by visiting (Fagam-farm) a case study area. With a view to explore how fish production mitigate poverty among the populace of Kano state and to identify the challenges facing the farmers  and marketing operation of fish produced, the socio-economic characteristic of the fish farmers of Fagam co-operative farm, the fish production form, marketing strategy and the co-operative  goals. Based on the above observation made, recommended that, female are not involves in the sector due to the religion purposes and the majority of the respondent are single within the age category of (8-25). Most of the respondents possess an educational certificate of secondary level were minority of them possess Qur’anic, primary and tertiary certificate. Also majority of the respondents are within the extended family and their family size are in the category of (5-10) where others are in the category of (11-15) it indicated that, all the respondents that interviewed in Fagam farm are purely Muslim in religion whereas no any Christian that work or employed in the farm. The highest numbers of pond that they use in Fagam farm are concrete ponds while others are earthen and plastic pond. Also the type of ponds size dimension are all largest size and the higher percentage of practical culture method they practice is mono-culture while the less percentage is poly culture and all the pounds were constructed manually. The type of feed they used is only imported and the majority type of farming management consider is intensive system while the minority is semi-intensive and the cost of feeding poor circle obtained is 100% high, because the farm has a big size and they practice intensive management system which consumes more capital than the other management system included in the farm.

KEY WORDS: POVERTY, MITIGATION, FAGAM, KANO STATE, COOPERATIVE.

 

 

 INTRODUCTION

Aquaculture continues to grow rapidly every day, and then became bigger industry every year. So, understanding the basic part behind aquatic production facilities is of increasing importance for all the working in this industry. Aqua-culture requires knowledge and skill of the many general aspects of production such as spawning, production of Nutrition etc (Anderson; 2004). Fisheries constitute an important sector in Nigeria agriculture providing valuable food and employment to millions of population and also serving as a source of livelihoods mainly for women. In coastal communities eg processing teenagers helps Sule and Raji (2011). Nigeria has a coastline of 3,122km (Earth trends, 2003) shared by 8 states (lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, River, Akwa-ibom and Cross-River respectively) out of total of 36 states in the country. Coastal fisheries are important and contributed at least 40% of fish production from all source. In Nigeria between 1995 and 2008 (FAO, 2010). According to the fisheries society of Nigeria, small scale fisheries provide more than 82% of the domestic fish supply, giving livelihood to one million fishers folks and up to 5.8 million fisher folks. In the secondary sector comprising processing preservation, marketing and distribution. The total contribution of fisheries to Nigeria’s gross domestic product is estimated at about $US 1 billion. According to estimates, Nigeria requires about 2.1 million metric tones (mm+) of fish/year but produce only 0.65 metric tons and imports over 990 metric tons/years at a value of US $800m to meet this short full (Ajiboso, 2009). Considering Nigerians has availability of water resources human capital and other natural endowments. The federal department of fisheries (FDF, 2004).

            OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

General objective

The broad objective of this study is to evaluate the fish production, poverty mitigation and co-operative goals of Fagam fish co-operative farm at Mariri, Kumbotso L.G Kano state, Nigeria.

            The specific objective includes:

  1. Identify the challenges facing the farmers and marketing operation fish production.
  2. describe the socio-economic characteristics of the fish farmers of Fagam co-operative farm
  • To study production demand and cost of feed in the production circle.

 

METHODOLOGY

 STUDY AREA

Kano state lies between latitude 130N (north) 110S (South); and longitude 80W in the (west) and 100E (east). Kano state is made up of fourty four (44) local government areas. E.G Albasu, Bunkure, Danbatta, Gaya, Wudil, Kumbotso, Doguwa, etc. The total land area of Kano state is 20,76059 kilometer with an average population of 9,383,682 (2006 census). Kano has mean height of about 472.45m above the sea level (Olofin and Tanko, 2002).  According to Kurawa (2003) the temperature of Kano state usually range between a maximum of 330c and a minimum of 15.80c although sometimes during the harmattan it falls down to a slow as 100c. Kano has two seasonal periods, which consist of 4-5 months of wet season and a long dry season lasting from October-April. The movement of the south-west maritime air masses originating from the Atlantic Ocean influences the wet season which starts from May and end in September. The commencement and length of wet season varies between northern and southern parts of Kano state. The average rainfall is between 63.3mmt to 48.2mmt in May and 133.4mmt, 59mmt in August, the wettest months. The movement of tropical maritime air masses from the south west to the north determines the weather of Kano state during the wet season. The air mass carries a lot of moisture from the Atlantic Ocean this moisture condenses when it is forced to rise by convection or over a barrier of high lands or air mass, it then fall back as rain. The period of the height occur when the sun passes over West Africa between March and June. The dry season starts from October and last till about April of the following years. Temperature are low during this period and because the sun is in the southern hemisphere and because of movement of the desiccating continental air mass, which originated from sahara area and  below from the north east carrying along with it then harming kano state(kurawa,2003). According to Kurawa (2003), the vegetation of Kano state is the semi-arid savannah. The sudan savannah to the sand witched by the sahel savannah in the north and the Guinea savannah in the south. The savannah has been described as the zone that provides opportunity for optimal human attainment. This is because it rich in faunal and floral resources, it is suitable for both cereals agriculture and livestock rearing and the environment is relatively easy for movement of natural resources and manufactured goods.

 

 

 DESCRIPTION OF FAGAM FARM

Fagam farm was opened in the year 2004 as a fish farm with seventy (70) employees/personnel. And they started by using earthen ponds, those were two hundred (200) in numbers and stocked five hundred thousand (500,000) fish in all ponds. In which each one out of ten ponds stocked four thousand, five hundred and fourty five (4,545) fishes. Only one pond stocked or contained four thousand, five hundred and fifty (4,550) fishes respectively.. And an additional pond for hatchery is up to twenty six (26) followed by eight (8) nursery ponds. The method of fish culture they practice is “Intensive fish culture”. And also Claries and tilapia are the type or species of fishes been cultured. In the year 2008 fagam re-employed additional thirty (30) employees/personnel. In the year 2013 they reduced the number of employees by three (3) people. Up to now 2014, the employees/personnel are (97) in number and all the descriptions above are still in progress.

MARKETING OF FISH IN FAGAM FARM

Harvesting of fish is carryout at every six (6) month when the fishes reach table size for consumptions patterns. The price of fish is N600/1kg; the fingerling is sells to the wholesaler at the price of N20-25 per 1 fingerling depending the amount which the producer needs. And the juvenile is also sale as wholesale at the price of N30-35 per 1 juvenile. The price depend upon the number or quantity of fish that a buyer buy or purchase i.e the higher the quantity the lower the price. Fagam farm is located at Kano east Maiduguri Road, yan-ice street in Dulo area in Kumbotso local government of kano state.

PROBEM MILITATING FAGAM FARM

  1. Insufficient power supply
  2. High cost of feed
  3. Inadequate found
  4. Lack of proper organization
  5. Lack of training personnel 6. Finance  7.Lack of proper storage/cool room

 

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The production and co-operative goals in fagam fish farm at Kano state, Kumbotso L.G.A was conducted irrespective of their socio-economic characteristics and demographic information e.g age, sex, marital status, educational attainment, employment, religion etc. questionnaire and interview were prepared to obtained the parameter of the respondents.

            DATA COLLECTION

The data include primary and secondary data. The primary data include 50 structure questionnaires. The secondary data include materials such as internet, journal and relevance text-book which can be used to analyze the data obtained in the study. Descriptive statistics tools used involve the use of tables, frequency distribution percentage etc.

 

 

 

 

 

               RESULT

In table 4.1 it shows that, all the respondent are male able bodies 50 (100%) whereas no female engage in the activities due to the Islam religion reason and un involvement in the Aquaculture practice. In table 4.2 it shows that, the generality of the respondents are within the age category of 18-25. This is because, most of the cooperative organization are mostly prefer to employ those that have young age for successful achievement of their goals which is tallying the finding of male C. (1985) in study of fish in Dadin kowa in Gombe state where stated that middle age are more better to be employed. In table 4.3 it shows that, majority of the respondent 40 (80%) are single, which revealed that they have the high percentage. While marriage are the surplus percentage up to 10 (20%). In table 4.4 the majority of the respondents 25 (50%) possess an educational certificate of secondary level and 18 (36%) with qur’anic, where 5 (10%) with primary certificate and 2 (4%) with tertiary certificate. The majority of the respondents possess secondary certificate, this is because they don’t have financial opportunity to proceed into tertiary. And qur’anic is the secondary educational level that the respondent have, its because qur’anic study require a few financial activities for governing it.Table 4.5 shows that the highest number that is 40 (80%) of the respondent are within the extended family, its because they do not have financial for getting marital partner. While only 10 (20%) of the respondents are in nuclear family. In table 4.6 it shows that, the family size of majority of the respondents 32 (64%) are within the category of (5-10), this is because they mainly having one wife while 18 (36%) of the respondents are within the family size category of (11-15) because they mainly having (2-3) wives. In table 4.7 indicated that majority of the respondents that interviewed  in Fagam farm are purely Muslims in religion which possess up to 50 (100%) whereas no any Christian that work or employed in the business. In table 4.8 it shows that, the highest number that is 30 (60%) of pond that they use is concrete pond, it’s because it retain water than the earthen pond and concrete pond is easy to manipulate and easy to care than the other types of pond, where 10 (20%) are earthen pond  and 10 (20%) are plastic pond. Table 4.9 shows that, the type of pond size dimensional that practice in the study area, up to 50 (100%) are largest pond in size this indicated that they contain large amount of stocking fish density. In table 4.10 it shows that, the high percentage of practical culture method they practice that is 40 (80%) is monoculture due to cannibalism and they don’t have good skill personnel those can avoid cannibalism while poly culture only 10 (20%) they practice.

Table 4.2.1 Indicated that, all the ponds were constructed manually that is 50 (100%) due to the lower cost as compare to mechanical method. In table 4.2.2 shows that, all the type of feed used that is (100%) is only imported, because it gives more good result than the others. Table 4.2.3 Indicated that, majority of type of farming management consider 40 (8%) is intensive system in order to get good farming result. The other management consider is semi intensive with 10 (20%) due to low production that the system gives as compare to intensive. In table 4.2.4 it shows that the cost of feeding per circle obtained is 50 (100%) that is its high, because the farm has a big size and they practice intensive management system which consumes more capital than the other management system included in the farm.

            SUMMARY

The research was conducted to asses how production of fish mitigates poverty among populace and to identify the challenges facing the farmers and marketing operation of the fish produced, the socio-economic characteristic of the fish farmers of Fagam co-operative farm and to study productive circle using Fagam fish farm as the research area. According to statistical analysis of data show that, all the respondents were male able bodies that is (100)% where as no female engaged in the activities. Although the generality of the respondents were within the age category of 18-25. And majority of the respondents that is (80%) were single while married were (20%). Also majority of the respondents that is (50%). Were secondary certificate owners where (36%) with Qur’anic and (10%) with primary certificate while (4%) with tertiary certificate.

The highest number that is (80%) of the respondents were within the extended family while only (20%) were in Nuclear family. The family size of majority off the respondents that is (64%) were within the  category of (5-10) where (36%) were in (11-15) family size category. All respondents in Fagam farm that is (100%) where Muslims where as no institution that work in the business. The highest number of pond that they use that is (60%) were concrete ponds while (20%) earthing ponds and (20%) plastic. The type of pond size dimension they use were (100%) largest. The practical culture method they practice is (80%) monoculture while only (20%) as polyculture. However, all the ponds that is (100%) were constructed manually where there was no mechanical construction. Then, the type of feed that use in Fagam farm is (100%) imported only. The type of management consider is (80%) intensive system where only (20%) is semi intensive system. The cost of feeding particle that they obtained was (100%) high.

 

            CONCLUSION

Conclusively, the result of this research revealed that all the respondents in Fagam farm were male and most of them were within age category of 18-25 which means they have yong age that enable them to do work in the farm hardly and properly than the above age. The study showed that majority of Fagam farm workers were single and majority of them possess. Secondary certificate. The study showed that the highest number of the respondents were within extended family and the family size were within the category of (5-10). And best of the research of showed that all the respondents were Muslim. The study showed the highest number of ponds that they use were concrete pond and the practical culture method that they practice was almost (8%) monoculture and the ponds were all constructed manually. The research indicated that, Fagam fam use only imported feed and the type of management consider that they practice were intensive system and particularly semi-intensive system according to the study, it showed that in Fagam farm the cost of feeding per circle was almost high.

REFERENCES

Anderson (2004) Invasion of Nigeria waters by water Hyacinth” Journal of West African Fisheries (1): Pp 4-14.

Federal Department of Fisheries (2004); Fishermen statistic of Nigeria. Federal Department of Fisheries Federal Ministry of Aquaculture Abuja.

Food and Agriculture Organization (1991) of United Nations. The state of world fisheries and Agriculture. FAO. Fisheries department, Rome Italy, Pp. 30.

Ibrahim A. Kurawa (2006); Geography and History of Kano state. Publications of the Research and Delimination Directorate Pp 16-19, ISBN-928-8092-09-08.

M.A Danbatta (2014) Socio-economic and profitability of fisheries enterprises in Kano state, Nigeria unpulished M. Tech thesis in Modibbo Adama university of Technology Yola, Adamawa State, Department of fisheries and   Aquaculture Pp 39-62.

Male. C (1985): Economic analysis of fish marketing in Dadin Kowa, Gombe state Unpublished Msc. thesis university of Maiduguri.

Olafin E.A and Tanko, A.I (2002); Metropolitant kano in Geographical perspective view. Bayero university press, kano Pp 14-45.

Sule O.D; Raji A. (2001) Involvement of fishermen children in fishing activities in Lake chad region. Journal of Arid zone fish Volume (1) 74-88. Pp 74-88.

                                                      APPENDIX

            SOCIO ECONOMIC CHRACTERISTIC OF THE RESPONDENTS

4.1       GENDER

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Male 50 100
Female – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.2       AGE

Variable Frequency Percentage %
18-25 23 46
26-30 20 40
31-35 3 6
36-40 4 8
Above 45yrs – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.3       Marital Status

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Single 40 80
Married 10 20
Widow – –
Widower – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.4       Educational Status

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Primary 5 10
Secondary 25 50
Tertiary 2 4
Qur’anic 18 36
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.5       Family types

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Nuclear family 10 20
Extended Family 40 80
Total 50 100

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.6       Family size

Variable Frequency Percentage %
5-10 32 64
11-15 18 36
16-20 – –
21-25 – –
26-30 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.7       Religion Practice

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Islam 50 100%
Christianity – –
Traditional – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

 

 

    FISH PRODUCTION FORM

4.8       POND CULTURE SYSTEM

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Concrete pond 30 60
Earthing pond 10 20
Plank or wood pond – –
Plastic tank pond 10 20
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.9       Pond size dimension

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Smallest – –
Largest 50 100
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.10     Practical culture method

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Monoculture 40 80
Poly-culture 10 20
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.2.1    Construction method

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Manual 50 100
Machine – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

 

 

 

 

4.2.2    Type of feed used

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Imported only 50 100%
Imported and local feed only – –
Local feed only – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.2.3    Level of management consider

Variable Frequency Percentage %
Intensive 40 80
Semi-intensive 10 20
Extensive – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

4.2.4    Estimate the cost of feeding per circle

Variable Frequency Percentage %
High 50 100%
Lower – –
Moderate – –
Total 50 100%

  Source: field survey, 2015

 

 

Advertisement
Research Paper

Documenting initiatives on urban transformation in South-East Europe

 

Florina Jerliu1 and Bujar Bajçinovci 1, *

 

 

Abstract

Rapid transformation of cities and urban spaces in South-East Europe (SEE) since 1990s is closely related to the common experience of post-socialist and/or post-war challenges in the region. Among pressing issues identified as a common challenge in the region is the trend of self-regulation or unchecked urban development, which contrasts the pre-1990s conventional central planning and development format. This has drawn the attention of a wider Europe, which resulted in a number of initiatives, both governmental and nongovernmental, been created to jointly initiate regional projects that aim at developing urban solutions. The emerging criticism developed by such initiatives has played and important role in raising the awareness about the complexity and the need to address the SEE context within the context of Europe as a whole. This paper introduces the nature of urban transformation in SEE through the example of capital cities; it further documents commonly identified urban development challenges by two regional initiatives, NALAS and Archis SEE Network, from the perspective of authors, the first being a member in both networks. Results suggest that the way forward is to foster national legal frameworks in SEE by taking into account the contextual inputs for urban interventions, in terms of both urban policy and case study projects, developed through regional and international cooperation.

Keywords: South East Europe, regional initiatives, urban transformation, self-regulation, unchecked development, urban intervention

1   Introduction

As of 1990s, former socialist countries that make the region of the Southeastern Europe (SEE), and especially those that emerged out of wars in the former Yugoslav Federation have gone through rapid political, social and economic transitions. The most visible effects of such changes are found in capital cities while most complex emerge those being subject to the operations of international processes carried out by the UN.[[1]] Despite contextual differences, the European agenda ranked high in newly formulated state policies, as it guarantees support in overcoming challenges of multiple transitions and investing in economic growth, social wellbeing, as well as acquiring the free movement within European Union countries. As alleged by the EU, all these countries “share the European perspective”,[[2]] which leads to the thought that with all SEE countries becoming candidate, and consequently, member states, the synonym of regional transition would nominally come to an end. However, the ever-growing regional cooperation and networking in SEE has disclosed the fact that the transitional period takes longer, and that the fulfillment of the EU accession criteria doesn’t guarantee the aspired linear, uniform, and successful transition from the former single communist party system and centrally managed state-owned economy, towards a democratic society and market based economy. [1] What is certain is that the development benchmarking and the EU support in this process is highly needed given the fact that the delay in overcoming transitions in SEE shall by default affect European agendas in issues which are crucial to the common institutional, physical and cultural environments.

 

Among challenges identified through networking initiatives in the region is the rapid transformation of physical environment. Descending practices in shaping urban areas, in many cases to the detriment of agricultural lands, and misuse of natural resources, remain a common denominator for the SEE, regardless of the EU membership status. More specifically, the unchecked urban development has been identified in almost all post-socialist and/or postwar countries in the region, and as such, it has drawn the attention of a wider Europe. Commitments that the SEE countries have taken in this respect, have been addressed and are gradually being met through model projects and initiatives coming from governments and the civil societies. Examples of such engagements are given in this paper in order to document findings and common challenges of urban transformations in SEE.

2   The context of urban transformation in SEE

Although the geographical division of the South-East Europe (SEE) itself is not formally defined by UN [*] [[3]] the term itself has been widely adopted to identify the project designation area by co-financing initiatives and regional networks as a substitute to the geographical and historical term for the Balkan, with the aim of coming closer to the united Europe’s cultural and political orientations. Despite of the number of countries (see: Figures 1-4) that do fall under this region, which commonly varies depending on the cooperation projects or networks, SEE shares rather common challenges in terms of urban regeneration and development issues.

 

Unchecked urban development has been identified as an issue in majority of SEE countries. The urban self-regulation, commonly referred to housing development without seeking building permit, has been associated with urban growth caused by massive migration of rural population to urban centers. In the case of Kosovo, it is estimated that only during the first two years of the post-war period (between 1999 and 2001) the percentage of urban population increased from 37% to 44%. [[4]] The increasing demands for land for housing in major cities have therefore subsequently affected their outskirts, landscapes and environment in a larger scheme.

This trend has been notable in almost all SEE capital cities. Variations derive depending on the inherited context, mainly being attributed to pre-socialist development level, and infrastructural capacities of cities to accommodate the needs of migration flux, as well as their latter institutional maturity to manage rapid urban changes.

 

 

From the left: unchecked development in the outskirts, and urban densification / unplanned construction of the inner-city

While the Adriatic coastline is experiencing new spatial metropolitan-rural interaction and the public space is suffering as a result of this development process, Tirana (Fig. 5) is struggled with consequences of newly formed informal settlements in public land, and Prishtina (Figure 6), Belgrade and Sofia with buildings erected without construction permit. On the other hand, Bucharest is challenged by collective dwellings built in the socialist times, which today are in a critical state in terms both of their structure and social function. Skopje, in the other hand, engaged in building of a new image of the city through an urban plan for city center which has been criticized for its improper neo-nationalistic character. Adding to this the issue of privatization of public space and facilities, which is shrinking and transforming the space in cities, SEE countries are kept in between anticipated modernization/Europeanization trends in one hand, and in the other hand, fragmental and unchecked transformation of urban spaces, which resulted in unsustainable development. Urban solutions therefore are needed for each local context, while looking at possibilities to replicate solutions in both, national and regional terms. In this context, initiatives to document the trends of urban transformation and research scenarios for improvement of urban situations in cities have proved to be helpful in the sense that they provide the ground for collaboration and transfer of knowledge among professionals and decision-makers throughout the region.

 

3   Regional Initiatives: ‘NALAS’ and ‘Archis SEE Network’

Among initiatives that involved in issues of urban transformation are those launched by the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe, NALAS [[5]], and the Archis SEE Network [[6]]. These two networks are discussed in this paper from the perspective of the member in both networks, which have made possible for the author to expand the initiated strategies for urban regeneration in Prishtina, capital of Kosovo (started in late 2006) resulting in formal cooperation with the city administration, as well as in dissemination about the process and practices, to the local authorities is SEE.

 

From the left: the map of NALAS member (source: http://nalas.eu/Members); the map of Archis SEE Network members (http://www.seenetwork.org)

3.1 Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS)

NALAS is a network which currently unites 16 full members from South-East Europe. At the heart of NALAS are the Task Forces which bring together experts from the region, competent association staff and professionals employed in the local government administration. The Task Force for Urban Planning tackles the issues common in the region, such is integration of informal settlements, inclusion of more stakeholders in the urban planning process and collection and analysis of the right parameters in what is known as ’urban economics‘ [[7]].

Common challenges identified by this Task Force during its meeting sessions since 2009 are generally associated with law enforcement. While urban planning legislation in NALAS member countries are drafted against the European legislation model, provisions that regulate instruments for implementation of urban plans and their management are still being devised. Hence, the identified ‘common challenges’ (Table 1) were analyzed against individual contexts and were used to lay the ground for common recommendations and model projects for the member associations.


Source: Working document: “Common Challenges” (2009) available online for members in NALAS Knowledge Tree (document management system)

 

As it may be noted from the table above, there are evident problems in urban planning and management issues in SEE countries, which require determination of the local authorities to address the gaps in respective legal frameworks and intervention instruments. In this endeavor, NALAS initiated comparative analysis in the different member associations and resulted with the publication entitled “The Legislation and analysis of the implementation of spatial and urban planning in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, BiH and Turkey as compares to the case of Denmark”, published in 2009.[[8]] Recommendations that were drawn through this initiative (Table 2) were used to develop specific recommendations for improving relevant national legislative frameworks.

 

Source: The table is a simplified form of presentation of general recommendations provided in the document NALAS (2009) “The Legislation and analysis of the implementation of spatial and urban planning in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, BiH and Turkey as compares to the case of Denmark, developed for the purpose of this paper

 

First two recommendations on the local government role suggest that countries must undertake intense reforms, especially in the area of spatial and urban planning, as they are obliged to provide conditions for sustainable development of communities. In other words, the ongoing decentralization process, including fiscal decentralization should generate mechanisms and means that would enable to meet the needs for the social and economic prosperity. The set of recommendations concerning legal framework on implementation of urban and spatial plans suggest complementation by new laws and by-laws that regulate ownership, illegal settlements and illegally built facilities, as well as protection of cultural heritage sites. The problem of ownership and illegal development has been commonly acknowledged by NALAS member associations as the most striking issues that need urgent attention and regulation. Another concern identified as to being problematic in maintaining proper planning and monitoring system is the frequent changes to the legislation concerning the type, content and direction of plans. The quality of plans and public participation in the planning process are also critical in many countries, as it is the quality of services delivered by the planning authorities. In this context, urgent need for fostering municipal capacities and creating competent planning authorities is addressed by NALAS members.

The NALAS cooperation projects have proven to be important as they directly involve local authorities, whose performance is crucial to the future planning systems. In this context, regional initiatives play an important role in creation of the grounds for faster and more equitable socio-economic development and securing improved standards of living in SEE.

 

3.2    Archis SEE Network

 

Activism and independent initiatives of architects, urbanists, artists, sociologists and other professionals from the civil society and academia has become quite noted in the region. The idea to bring together these initiatives within Archis SEE Network (created in 2008) has made possible the exchange of knowledge and best practices in coping with various political and social dimensions of the urban environment, as well as to integrate the issues discussed in international discourse on urbanism. About 27 local initiatives have made their projects available through this network, and have gained a wider audience in SEE and beyond. In doing so, local initiatives have maid possible the exposure of their findings about trends and challenges of urban transformation in local level, as well as their involvement in regional projects.

Figure 5. Study on Prishtina: prototypes of illegal buildings  – illegal buildings constructed after 1999 are indicated with red color. (Courtesy of: Archis Interventions /AI Prishtina)

 

The criticism about urban occurrences in SEE coming from the civil society plays and important role in relevant information exchange and in shaping opinions about the context of transition in SEE countries, and the challenges they deal with, in the process of internationalization. Furthermore, their active involvement in devising solutions for certain urban issues in local level that may apply in a wider regional context, have raised the awareness of developing agencies and professionals from other parts of Europe.

Among local initiatives that gained attention of the international discourse through documenting informal building trend in the post-war context and providing strategies and problem solutions, is based in Prishtina.  Projects that involve documentation of descending urban trend in the city were initiated in cooperation with European partners,[†] and were jointly developed with regional partners and the local administration in Prishtina. Urban analysis and strategies devised through the local initiative were adopted by the municipality of Prishtina and the model of intervention in Prishtina’s case was disseminated and considered by the SEE local administrations’ network.

The major contribution of this initiative was the launching of the process of legalization of buildings erected without building permit.  The process was based on the qualification of prototypes of uncontrolled construction (Fig. 5, Table 3), [[9],[10]] which later evolved into a set of minimal standards for legalization [[11]], later on incorporated in the Kosovo Law for Treatment of Constructions Without Permit.[[12]]

  1. Conclusion

The context of the post-socialist and post-war associated with unmanaged growth in which the built environment was shaping during the last decades in SEE, have negatively affected the cities’ structures, as well as the perception about their future prospect. This has been identified through documentation of local cases of urban transformations by regional initiatives such are NALAS and Archis SEE Network. Studies and recommendations produced through regional networking highlight the need for upgrading the legal framework and complementary implementation mechanisms. In order to achieve this objective, a fostered planning administration in SEE countries is strongly needed. Also, the institutional commitment and the public awareness to treat the existing illegal buildings and their surrounding by means of qualification and treatment must be firm. In this respect, attention should be given to local initiatives and their researches and projects that more often than not provide urban solutions which can be implementable in a specific context, but can also be replicable in the national or regional context. The illustrated case of initiatives in Prishtina, capital city of Kosovo, has shown that taking into account case study projects coming from the grassroots level may directly affect the fostering of national urban policies and legislation, and beyond.

 

References

[*] There is no formal recognized geographical division of the Southeaster Europe. The Division provided by the United Nations defines regions in Europe into Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern Europe. The division created in late 1990s is programmatic and is linked with development co-funding such is the EU initiative called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. The use of this term has grown and is gradually substituting the historical and geographical term of Balkan by the pretext of diminishing the negative connotation that has been generally associated with by the western European countries.

[†] The local NGO Archis Interventions/Prishtina was founded in 2005 as part of the Archis network, together with Archis Interventions/Amsterdam and Archis Interventions/Berlin. Author of the paper is a co-founder/manager of the Prishtina branch.

[[1]] F.E. Ian Hamilton, Natama Pichler-Milanovi, and Kaliopa Dimitrovska Andrews. (eds.). 2005. Transformation of cities in central and Eastern Europe: Towards globalization, United Nations University, p.11, 13

[[2]] South East Europe / Potential Candidates, in: http://www.southeast-europe.eu/eu-enlargement/potential-candidates.html

[[3]] Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. In: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#europe

[[4]] Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA), Report on Environmental state 2006–2007, p.20

[[5]] Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS), in: http://nalas.eu

[[6]] Archis SEE Network, in: http://www.seenetwork.org.

[[7]] NALAS / Urban Planning, In:  http://nalas.eu/knowledge-center/Task-Forces/Urban-Planning

[[8]] NALAS Task Force for Urban Planning (2009). The Legislation and analysis of the implementation of spatial and urban planning in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, BiH and Turkey as compares to the case of Denmark. In:

http://www.nalas.eu/up/legalanalysis/index.aspx#download

[[9]] V. Geci, F. Jerliu, et.al (2007). Archis Interventions The new Prishtina. Volume Magazine, edition 1. Amsterdam. p. 80-93

[[10]] Archis Interventions (2007). The New Prishtina, European Forum Alpbach, In: http://www.seenetwork.org/files/2010/11/16/2/Archis%20Interventions_The%20New%20Prishtina_2007.pdf

[[11]] Archis Interventions Prishtina (2009) Manual on Legalization. In: http://www.seenetwork.org/files/2010/11/16/3/Archis%20Interventions_Prishtina_Manual_2009.pdf

[[12]] Law for Treatment of Constructions Without Permit, Law No. 04/L-188, In:  www.kuvendikosoves.org/common/docs/ligjet/04-L-188%20a.pdf

 

Uncategorized

The Empirical Study of the Challenges of Information and Communication Technology on Confidential Secretaries in Nigerian Universities: Lessons from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State.

 Omisope Bankole Oluwaseun

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology is fast becoming one of the main drivers of change in organizations all over the world. ICT is said to improve the standard of living and enhance business operations as well as organizational efficiency. It has also transformed and changed the way people work and communicate in organization. It is on this note that this paper examined the challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. This was necessitated by the need to ensure improved productivity and performance of confidential secretaries in Nigerian universities. Primary and secondary sources of data were utilized for the study. The primary data were collected through structured questionnaires. Respondents were selected from confidential secretaries on CONTISS 05 – 13 in departments, institutes, faculties, units and directorates of the university, thus 50 respondents were sampled from the university. The questionnaires were administered using random sampling technique and analyzed using simple statistical technique such as frequency distribution and percentage secondary sources of data were generated from journals, textbooks, projects, internet sources etc. on the field of ICT and secretarial administration. The study revealed that there are many challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Nigeria Universities why aptly explains why there is low productivity and poor performance by confidential secretaries in the discharge of their duties. The study concluded that management of Nigeria Universities should procure the latest model of ICT facilities to enhance secretarial functions and create opportunity for training and re-training of the confidential secretaries to be abreast with the new changes and advancement in ICT.

 

 

Introduction

The world is changing and all that exists in it are changing along with it. ICT is fast becoming one of the main drivers of change in organizations all over the world. (Adebambo and Toyin, 2011). ICT has revolutionized all professions worldwide including the secretarial practice.

Jaiyeola (2007) argues that ICT is like an engine that could be used in so many ways, the same engine that makes the aircraft to move, could make a conveyor to convey finished product from production line to the storage location, the same could be used for automobile, grinding machine etc. It is an implement in the hands of confidential secretaries but enhances and improves its performance.

Buseni (2013) opines that information and communication technology is providing the tools that are revolutionizing the role of secretarial professionals from that on information recorders to business strategist making them much more critical to the success of any organization.

According to Uzoka (2002), information and communication technology is the harnessing of electronic technology in its various forms to improve the operations and profitability of the business as a whole.

The advent information and communication technology has posed many challenges to confidential secretaries in Nigerian universities which has led to poor performance and low productivity in their work place. It is on this note that this paper examines the challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are to

  1. review the concept of Information and Communication technology in Nigeria.
  2. identify the secretaries roles and responsibilities in contemporary organization.
  • assess the challenges of ICT to confidential secretaries in Nigerian Universities.

Literature Review

Concept of Information and Communication Technology

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become within a very short time, one of the basic building blocks of modern society. Many countries now regard understanding of ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part of the core education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy (Iwu and Nzeako, 2012). The rapid rate at which ICT has evolved since the mid-20th century, the convergence and pervasiveness of ICTs gave them a strong role in development and globalization (Nwagwu, 2006).

Iwu and Ike (2009) define ICT as the acquisition, processing storage and dissemination of vocals practice textual and numerical information by a micro-electronic based combination of computing and telecommunication. ICT simply means the use of computer process, store and transmit data. Asharafi and Murtaza (2008) describe ICT as any technology that enables communication and the electronic computing, processing and transmission of information. Herselman and Hay (2003) also refer to ICT as technologies that support the communication and cooperation of human beings and their organizations and the creation and exchange of knowledge. Yu (2010) considers ICT as a range of technologies that allow the gathering, exchange, retrieval, processing, analysis and transmission of information. In order words, ICT can be described as any tool that facilitates communication, process and transmit information and share knowledge through electronic means.

Okwuanaso and Obayi note that ICT has posed several challenges to secretaries in the execution of their duties. They stated further that any office staff of today that is lacking in ICT would find his/her unproductive.

The introduction of ICT has influenced the performance of confidential secretaries in delivery of information, accuracy and effectiveness at the work place. According to Buseni (2013), ICT is seen as a way to promote educational change, improve the skills of secretaries and prepare them for the global economy and information society. He states further that ICT tends to improve the understanding of the secretarial practice and functions, increase quality of secretaries work attitude thereby increase the impact of secretaries on the management of the office.

Confidential Secretaries Roles and Responsibilities in Contemporary Organization 

Scholars and researchers in the field of secretarial studies have identified roles and responsibilities of secretary. Ugiagbe (2009) refers to secretary as an assistant to an executive, possessing mastery of office skills and ability to assume responsibility without directly supervision, who displays initiative, exercises, judgment, and makes decisions within the scope of his/her authority.

Oyeyiola (2005) views a secretary as someone who has a sound general education and has passed through a prescribed programme of training with appropriate skills, attitudes and competencies required for assuming roles in an office.

He points out further that a secretary is an indispensable office worker whose services are essential to the success of a manager or a chief executive officer’s job. The job description may be both primary and secondary in nature. The primary aspect has to do with the general secretarial duties while the secondary aspect is usually to delegate functions and differ within the same job description or even for different job portfolios.

According to Association of Secretaries (1990), a secretary is a clerical worker, who takes and transcribes dictations, make appointment for the employer, meeting people employer, meeting people who call to see him and he is responsible for minor executive or supervisory duties.

A secretary thus, is someone who has a sound general education and has passed through a prescribed programme of training in secretaryship possessing demonstrable personal and business attributes; employable skill in shorthand, keyboarding, document processing, and has been actually employed as such in an organization or is in practice providing information and communication support services needed by clients.

Onifade (2009) opines that a secretary is on assistant to a manager. Apart from the traditional responsibilities, he comes out research, prepares the manager’s itinerary, makes travel bookings and hotel reservations, supervises the junior workers and makes some decisions using his initiatives.

Igbinedion (2010) identifies the secretary’s responsibilities to include; taking dictation and transcribing it into correspondence which is at once dispatched to its business destination. He highlights some forms of these correspondences to include: letters, memos, circulators, orders, quotations, acceptances, contractual terms and conditions, invitation etc.

Each of these items he claims will invoke a response from the addresses, who will perhaps order materials, proceed to manufacture, insure cargoes, book hotels or engage in some other expensive activity which forms part of the intricate network of business life.

Abolade (1999) lists some of the roles of a confidential secretary in either college of education or a university. They are:

  • Taking notes from the head of department;
  • Taking minutes of meetings;
  • Preparing the LPO;
  • Keeping accurate and up-to-date records of students;
  • Organizing current departmental information to make it easily retrievable;
  • Keeping secret departmental information;
  • Typing with accuracy;
  • Making and receiving telephone calls; and
  • Performing other duties as may be assigned by the head of the department.

Some of these functions may be delegated to her clerical staff working with the confidential secretaries in the educational institutions. The entire efficiency and success of the department rest on the organizational ability of the confidential secretary.

Challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Nigerian University

Adedire (2014) identifies the challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries. They include:

  1. Poor maintenance and repair culture
  2. Ignorance
  • Lack of support from management of institutions
  1. Illiteracy; and
  2. Lack of science and technology policy

Adegbenjo (2015) also identifies the problems of ICT on confidential secretaries. They are:

  1. It is time consuming
  2. Inadequate knowledge of computer

Francis (2012) states that to be able to cope with the challenges of ICT, every progressive confidential secretary must face the future while living the present fully. Some people wait for others to develop them and wait for years without having some opportunities. Confidential secretaries should no wait for other to move on a life (Ihionkhan, 2009).

Research Methodology

A total of 50 questionnaires were distributed to confidential secretaries on CONTISS 05 – 13 in departments, faculties units, Institutes and directorate of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife.

All hands were on deck to ensure that the accurate number distributed to respondents were collected accordingly.

Research Instruments

The research instrument used in this study was the “Licat” written scale type of questionnaires with its rating responses statement.

Method of Data Analysis

Data gathered through the questionnaires were interpreted through the use of descriptive statistical techniques such as simple percentage method and frequency distribution to determine the challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife of Osun State, Nigeria.


Table 1 above showed that 6% of the respondents were for the ages between 25 – 35, 34% of the respondents were for the ages between 36-45, 40% of the respondents were for the ages between 46-55 and 20% of the respondents were for the ages between 56-65. This shows that the highest respondent were from the ages between 46 – 55 while the least respondents were from the ages between 25-35.

Moreover, it was evident from the result of analysis on educational qualification that the highest respondents were secondary school certificate / RSA holders while the least respondents were the OND / NCE holders.

Furthermore, the result of the analysis on sex revealed that 44% were male while 56% were females. It is evident that the highest respondents were females while the lowest while lowest were males.

In addition, 10% of the respondents were single, 76% were married, 10% were divorced and 4% were widows / widowers. This implies that the highest were married while the least respondents were widow or widowers.

According to the results of the analysis on sections in the university showed that 44% were from departments, 20% were from faculties, 20% were from units, 6% were from institutes and 10% from directorates. The results indicate the staff of departments had to highest of respondents while staff of institutes had the least respondents.

Results from Table 2 shows that more than 65% of the respondents attest to the fact that challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Nigerian Universities include poor infrastructural facilities, lack of government policies, low level of education, cultural factors and corruption, ignorance about the importance of ICT, lack of proper guidance and training, sophistication and rapid changes in ICT etc.

Conclusion

The study assessed the challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. It reviewed literature on concept of ICT and roles and responsibilities of secretaries in contemporary organization.

It discovered that challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria include poor infrastructural facilities, lack of government policies, low level of education, cultural factors and corruption, ignorance about the importance of ICT lack of proper guidance and training, sophistication and rapid changes in ICT among others where more than 65% of the respondent supported the assertion.

The study concluded that management of Nigeria Universities should procure the latest model of ICT facilities to enhance secretarial functions and create opportunity for training and re-training of the confidential secretaries to be abreast with the new changes and advancement in ICT

Recommendations

Having highlighted the challenges of ICT on confidential secretaries in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, this paper recommends as follows:

  • University authorities should make computers available to confidential secretaries in order for them to contribute to the growth and development of university.
  • University authorities should endeavor to organize training and development programmes that will further enhance the effective performance of confidential secretaries through acquisition of additional skills in ICT in order to achieve maximum output.
  • Confidential secretaries should always be ready and open-minded to acquire additional training /skills development, bearing in mind that changes occur frequently in the line of their chosen career.
  • Adequate funding should be provided by government in the ICT and infrastructural facilities such as electricity in order to ICT adoption by confidential secretaries in Nigerian Universities.

References

[1] Abolade, A. O. (1999) Computer Literacy in Secretary Practice in Nigeria: A Dipstick paper. Ilorin Journal of Education (IJE), Vol., 19, pp. 81-83.

[2]Adebambo, S. and Toyin, A. (2011) Analysis of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Usage on Logistics Activities of Manufacturing Companies in South Western Nigeria. Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences (JETEMS), 2(1), pp. 66-72.

[3] Adedire, F. B. (2014) The Influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the Office Technology and Management Profession: Unpublished Diploma Project submitted to Institute of Entrepreneurship and Development Studies Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

[4]Ashrafi, R. and Murtaza M. (2008) Use and Impact of ICT on SMEs in Oman, Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 125-138.

[5] Buseni, J. (2013) Effects of Information and Communication Technology on Secretaries’ performance in Contemporary organisations in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Information and Knowledge Management Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 87 – 93.

[6] Igbinedion, V. I. (2010). Knowing the Graduate Office Secretary. Ozean Journal of Social Sciences, No 3, pp. 116-120.

[7]Ihionkhan, C. E. (2009) Technological Skills Acquired in Secretarial Profession: Implications and Challenges for Business Educators and Secretaries. Journal for the Promotion and Advertisement of Office Management / Secretarial Profession. Vol. 4, pp. 149-153.

[8]Iwu, A. O. and Nzeako, R. C. (2012) ICT as a Viable Tool for Entrepreneurship Education. Journal of Educational and Social Research, Vol. 2, No 9, pp. 125-131.

[9]Iwu, A. O. and Ike G. A. (2009). Information and Communication Technology and Programme Instruction for the Attainment of Educational Goals in Nigeria’s Secondary Schools. Journal of the Nigeria Association for Educational Media and Technology 1, No. 1, pp. 10-18.

[10]Jaiyeola, R. (2007) Information Communication Technology as a Tool for Effective performance of Chartered. The Nigerian Accountant, Vol. 40, No.1, pp. 48-49.

[11]Okwuanaso, S. L. and Obayi, T. (2003) Element of Office Automation. Enugu: JTC Publishers.

[12]Onifade, A. (2009) The Third Millennium Secretary and Information and Communication Technology: Nigeria Experience. International Journal of Management and Information System, 13, No 2, pp. 39-48.

[13] Oyeyiola, O. A. (2005) Secretarial Duties and Human Relations. Journal of Secretarial Forum Vol. 4, No 1, pp. 141-150.

[14] Ugiagbe, F. E. S. (2002) An Analysis of Secretarial Office Automation and Word Ethics in National Development Akoka: DIC Company.

[15]Uzoka, F. M. (2002). Effect of Information Technology on Customers’ Satisfaction in Nigeria Financial Institutions. The Nigerian Accountant, Vol. 35, No 4, pp. 5 – 8.

[16] Yu, E. (2010) Information and Communication Technology in Food Assistance (online) Available http: /home.wfp.org / stellent / groups / public / documents/ newsroom / wfp 225972.pdf (July 26. 2013).

Research Paper

An Assessment of the Constraints of Qualitative Secretarial Education in Osun State Polytechnic Iree, Osun State, Nigeria  

Omisope1, B. O., Ajayi1, A., Olodude2, I. I. and Ajayi3, O. A

 Abstract

Secretarial education is an area of institution that has been in existence for several decades and it plays very significant role in economic development of any nation. It is a vocational education that is intended to provide the skills and the manpower for the office and other administrative services required by the society. Therefore, this study reviewed the problems of secretarial qualitative education in Nigeria with a view to identify the qualities and functions of a secretary and examine the constraints of secretarial education in Osun State Polytechnic Iree of Osun State, Nigeria. Both primary and secondary sources of data were utilized for the study. The primary data were collected through questionnaires in which 65 questionnaires were administered to the staff and students of department of secretarial studies of the polytechnic out of which only 50 questionnaires were completed and returned. The questionnaires were administered using simple random sampling techniques such as frequency distribution and percentage. Secondary sources of data were generated from internets sources, relevant textbooks and journal on the field of secretarial studies. The study revealed that there is plethora of problems militating against qualitative secretarial education in Nigeria. They include infrastructural challenges, ill-equipped school environment, admission policy and operational regulation, inadequate secretarial teachers and facilitators, lack of government commitment to secretarial education, low society value for secretarial education etc. The study concluded that graduates of secretarial education with second class upper should be employed as graduate assistants and be given further training in higher degree. Also, federal and state ministries of education should provide facilities for ICT in institutions of higher learning so that secretarial education graduates can be trained and equipped to face the challenges of modern business office.

Introduction

Secretarial Education

According to Okolo (2001), secretarial education provides students with adequate skills and information needed to function well in office occupation. Amoor and Magaji (2015) opine that secretarial education is a component of vocational education that provides knowledge and skills needed to perform efficiently and effectively in the world of work. They state further that secretarial education involves acquisition of skills, knowledge and competencies and makes the recipient proficient in secretarial profession.

Secretarial education is a tool for alleviating poverty. This means that a secretarial graduate that is well equipped with technological knowledge could be employed and be on his/her own as an employer of labour. Secretarial education is useful to modern business office in private organization (NGOs), governmental organization and Non-Governmental organization (NGOs) in terms of employment opportunity, job creation and self-reliance.

Despite the role of secretarial education in Nigeria, there are still many problems militating against its survival in Nigeria. It is on this note that this study assessed the constraints of qualitative secretarial education in Osun State Polytechnic Iree of Osun State, Nigeria.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of study are to

  1. examine the concept of secretarial education in Nigeria.
  2. identify the qualities and functions of a secretary
  • assess the constraints of qualitative secretarial education in Nigeria.

Literature Review

Concept of Secretarial Education

Secretarial education is a component of vocational education that provides knowledge and skills for would be secretaries to perform efficiently and in the world of work.

It also involves acquisition of skills, knowledge and competencies that make the recipient proficient in secretarial profession (Amoor, 2009).

Secretarial education is offered in Colleges of Education, Polytechnic and the Universities primarily to educate and train students to become competent professional secretaries (Aliyu, 2006).

National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) (1989) defined secretarial education as the type of education that equips students with vocational skills, effective work competencies and socio-psychological work skills essential for interpersonal relation.

Adelani (2006) described secretarial education as an area of instruction that plays very significant role in national development and a tool to combat unemployment crisis.

Secretarial education is an aspect of education which leads to the acquisition of practical and applied skills for employment in various fields of endeavor. Students of this programme are exposed to courses in the special areas as well as in general education.

In addition to acquisition of vocational skills in secretarial education, the students are equipped with effective work competencies and psychological work skills which are very essential in everyday interactions with others (Amoor, Ibid).

Qualities and Functions of a Secretary

Harrison (1979) gave the business qualities of a secretary as secretarial skills, organizing skills, efficiency, reliability, responsibility, discretion, initiative, tact, diplomacy and punctuality. Lauria (1972) highlighted the personal qualities of a secretary as adaptability, level-headedness, good observance, intuitiveness, flexibility, tact, friendliness, accuracy, thoroughness, fore-thoughtfulness, initiative, self-confidence, good listener, a good telephone personality and a good appearance. Egbokhare (2011) outlined qualities of a good secretary under two classifications of business and personal. Business qualities include secretarial and language skills, organizing punctuality, resilience among others. He stated further that the personal qualities include being smart, tactful, neat, friendly, helpful, well informed or knowledgeable, courteous, polite and observant among others.

According to Abolade (1999), a secretary in a polytechnic or in a university performs inter-alia the following functions.

These are:

  1. Taking notes from the head;
  2. Taking minutes of meeting;
  3. Preparing the LPO;
  4. Keeping accurate and up-to-date records of students;
  5. Organizing current departmental information to make it easily retrievable;
  6. Keeping secret departmental information;
  7. Typing with accuracy;
  8. Making and receiving telephone calls; and
  9. Performing other duties as may be assigned by the head of the department.

Adewale (2001) gave the following functions of a secretary. They include:

  • Setting up and administer systems and procedures for a department or unit.
  • Word processing text and information such as letters, reports, memos etc.
  • Composing correspondence, reports and memos.
  • Performing office duties and arranging meetings
  • Setting up and maintaining file systems.

Problems of Qualitative Secretarial Education in Nigeria

There are myriad of problems facing qualitative secretarial education in Nigeria. Adelani (2006) pointed out some of the problems militating against qualitative secretarial education. They include infrastructural challenges, ill-equipped school environment teachers /facilitators, lack of government commitment to secretarial education, low societal value for secretarial education.

Nwaokolo (1990) stated that secretarial education lacks basic instructional tools for effective and efficient skills training. He stated further that many institutions teaching secretarial education are without computer for instruction in lecturing rooms and offices.

Okoro (2005) remarked that lack of adequate funding is the bane of secretarial education. Schools, colleges and universities find it difficult to implement business education curriculum to its fullest due to lack of fund.

Okomanyin (2002) agreed with the above statement, he states further that secretarial education is capital intensive expenditure in terms of equipment, laboratory workshop as well as manpower training and retraining. Uzo (1998) also agreed that it would be a mere white wash for secretarial education to be included in a school curriculum without a studio equipped with different types of office machines.

Uzo (Ibid) pointed out that instructional materials are essential for secretarial education but many higher institutions teaching secretarial studies lack these materials for effective and dynamic instruction.

Alilaki (2012) opined admission policy is a great challenge to business education and secretarial education in particular. He asserted that entire qualification is compromised to accommodate frustrated candidates who choose to study office education as last resort. He pointed out further that when some of the alumni of colleges of education who major in secretarial education and wants to further their education to university level always have mathematics as a big obstacle militating them and therefore their admission seekers to switch to another field of endeavours.

Moreover, there is inadequate quality and quantity of secretarial teachers and facilators in Nigeria higher institutions. It is unusual for a secretarial graduate to wish to make a career out of teaching when he can conveniently secure a job as a secretary in oil companies, banks and telecommunication companies. This poses or compels higher institutions to employ sub-standard or half-baked graduates to fill existing vacancies. The effect of this is that the half-baked graduate cannot fit in to the world of work and be productive because he has not been put in his rightful place.

Amoor (2009) ascertained that the federal and state governments are not exonerated from the accusing fingers that are partly responsible for the collapsing foundation in Nigerian institutions. This is because its attention and priority is wholly focused on sciences thereby neglecting this aspect of education.

Usman (2008) concurred with the statement and stated that governments at all level must improve the status of secretarial education by giving it’s a high priority.

Lastly, Nigerian parents of today do not encouraged their wards to offer secretarial education at all levels. This is because the society does not place any significant value or dignity on the secretarial profession. In the support of the above statement, Clark (2002) said that secretarial education programs have been deprived of the prestige by the society because of their reluctant to expunge themselves of the colonial grammar education and white-collar jobs where secretarial education graduates are referred to as “typists” because the programme is associated with typing and shorthand.

Research Methodology     

The study was carried out in Osun State Polytechnic Iree of Osun State, Nigeria. Data survey method was used in selecting the respondents for the study. 65 questionnaires were administered to the staff members and students of department of secretarial studies of the polytechnic out of which only 50 questionnaires completed and returned. The questionnaires were administered using simply random sampling techniques such as frequency distribution and percentage. The analysis is based on the Yes or No option.

 

Result and Discussion    

Based on the data collected and the responses received the results of the analysis are presented and discussed below:

Table 1: Infrastructural Challenges

Responses Respondents Percentage %
Yes

No

 50

Nil

 100

Nil

 
Total 50 100%

Source: Field survey, 2016

Table above shows that the entire respondents are of the option that infrastructural challenges are qualitative secretarial education in Nigeria.

Table 2: Ill-equipped School Environment

Responses Respondents Percentage %
Yes

No

 40

10

 100

20

 
Total 50 100%

Source: Field Survey, 2016

Table 2 above clearly shows that 40 (80%) respondents agree that ill-equipped school environment is one of the constraints facing qualitative secretarial education in Nigeria tertiary institutions.

Table 3: Admission Policy and Operational Regulation

Responses Respondents Percentage %
Yes

No

 46

4

 92

8

 
Total 50 100%

Source: Field Survey, 2016

The table 3 above clearly shows that 46 (92%) respondents agree that one of the constraints of qualitative secretarial education is admission policy and operational regulation while only 4 (8%) disagree with this assertion. This shows that admission policy and operational regulation is one problems of secretarial education in Nigeria higher institutions.

Table 4: Inadequate Secretarial Teachers/Facilitators

Responses Respondents Percentage %
Yes

No

 50

Nil

 100%

Nil

 
Total 50 100%

Source: Field Survey, 2016

The data collected and presented in table 4 above shows that all the respondents agree that inadequate secretarial teachers and facilitators is one the factors militating against qualitative secretarial education in Nigerian higher institutions.

Table 5: Lack of Government Commitment to Secretarial Education

Responses Respondents Percentage %
Yes

No

 50

Nil

 100

Nil
Total 50 100%

Source: Field Survey, 2016

All the respondents attest to the fact that lack of government commitment to secretarial education is one of the problems of qualitative secretarial education in Nigerian higher institutions.

Table 6: Low Societal Value for Secretarial Education

Responses Respondents Percentage %
Yes

No

 44

6

 88

12

 
Total 50 100%

Source: Field Survey, 2016

According to table 6 above majority the respondents agree that low society is one of key challenges of secretarial education in Nigeria tertiary Institutions.

 

Conclusion

The study assessed the constraints of qualitative secretarial education in Osun State Polytechnic Iree of Osun State, Nigeria. It reviewed existing literature on concept of secretarial education qualities and function of a secretary and constraint facing secretarial education in Nigeria. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. It discovered that there are many constraints militating against qualitative secretarial education in Nigeria higher institutions such as infrastructural challenges, ill-equipped school environment, admission policy and operational regulation, inadequate secretarial teachers and facilitators, lack of government commitment to secretarial education, low societal value for secretarial education etc.

The study concluded that graduates of secretarial education with second class upper should be employed as graduate assistants and to give further training in higher degree.

Also, federal and state ministries of education should provide facilities for ICT in institutions of higher learning so that secretarial education graduates can be trained and equipped to face the challenges of modern business office.

Recommendations  

In line with the findings, it is recommended that the:

(1)        Seasoned business educators in tertiary institutions of learning and secretarial administrators in office occupation should consistently and persistently organize and sponsor mass media publicity on the importance of secretarial education and secretarial profession. This will certainly go a long way to create public awareness about secretarial education in tertiary institution of learning hence public awareness on the secretarial profession is very important.

(ii)        Secretarial education teachers should acquire new technologies in order to be able to teach secretarial students using relevant equipment.

(iii)       Federal and state ministries of education should provide adequate fund for the provision of equipment and facilities to higher institutions offering secretarial education in the institutions.

(iv)       Graduates of secretarial education with second class upper division should be employed as graduate assistants in order to solve the problems of acute shortage of secretarial lecturers in Nigerian higher institutions.

(v)        Government should review the admission policy through removing problem of mathematics as one of the requisite subjects for admission.

(vi)       Federal and state ministries of education should provide awareness of both the society and students on the benefits of secretarial education to the society and the practitioners with the intention to popularize the profession.

References

[1] Abolade, A. O. (1999) Computer literacy in Secretarial Practice in Nigeria. A Dipstic Paper.

Ilorin Journal of Education (IJE), Vol.  9, No 2, pp. 81-83.

[2]Adelani, O. (2006) Inhibitory factors to Qualitative Secretarial Education for National

Advancement in 21st Century. Journal of Vocational Technical and Business Education. Vol. 8,

No 2, pp. 20-30.

[3]Alikali, P. E. (2009) Problems of Office Education. Unpublished Seminar Paper Presentation

Faculty of Education, Vocational and Technical Education, Business Education Section August, 2009.

[4]Aliyu, M. M. (2006) Business Education in Nigeria: Trends and Issues. Offa: Tosten Print

Media Ltd.

[5]Amoor, S. S. (2009): Secretarial Education in Nigerian Secondary Schools. The Challenges

and Strategies. Journal of Vocational Studies. Vol. 3, No 1, pp. 7 – 11.

[6] Clark, A. O. (2002) Alleviating Poverty through sustainable Business Education. Research

Journal. Vol. 3, No 4, pp. 104-105.

[7] Egbokhare, F. O. (2011) Challenges of Secretarial Administration in a Globalized world. The

Professional Secretary. Journal of the University Secretarial Staff Association. Vol. 2, No 2, pp.

1-5.

[8] Harrison, J. (1979) Secretarial Duties. London: Pitman Publishing Limited.

[9] Lauria, M. (1972). How to be a Good Secretary. London: Pitman Publishing Limited

[10]National Board for Technical Education (1989) Current Curriculum and Course

Specifications for Higher National Diploma in Secretarial Studies. Kaduna: Atman Ltd.

[11] Nwaokolo, P. O. E. (1992): Training the Nigerian Youth for Business Occupations.

Business Education Journal. Vol. 2, No 3.

[11] Okolo, C. I. (2001) Teaching Business Education in Distance Education Programme:

Problems and Strategies for improvement. Business Education Journal.

[13] Okomanyin, O. A. (2002) Focus on Technical Education in Nigeria: Aspiration, Perception

and Realization and Refocusing Education. Benin: Dasylva Influence

[14] Usman, H. N. (2008) Business Education National Economic Reform Agenda. Journal of

Education Research and Development, Faculty of Education, ABU, Zaria, Vol. 2, pp. 289-290.

[15] Uzo, A. (1998) Methods of Teaching Business Education Course Aba: Musewall Publishing

Company Ltd. 

 

Research Paper

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY ON NIGERIA EDUCATIONAL SECTOR: AN ISSUE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ILIYA BAWA1, GARBA IBRAHIM2 AND HUSSAINI MOHAMMED NDAKWESU3

ABSTRACT

Within the first two decades of Independence in Nigeria Public Policies concerning education were made and there was rapid growth in educational sector in nearly every direction and at almost every level. As the sector operates in a changing environment it faces challenges such as: delays in disbursing funds, in effective management of education system. And shortages of learning resources resulted to poor quality of graduates. The data used for this study is based on secondary data, information from these sources are weighed and it was recommended that it is not possible to deliver effective education without some level of relevant resources and the resources must be drawn upon and put to judicious use to enable them increase wealth and public organizations including educational institutions should develop strategic plans as a means of enhancing results based management and efficiency in their operations.

 

Keywords: Education, public policy, resource, management, funds, sector.

  1. Introduction

Primary schools are the basic foundation of the educational pyramid in Nigeria (Fafunwa, 2001), meaning any serious endeavour for sustainable development in the educational sector as well as manpower training must start with the primary education. After the primary school, one is expected to pass through the secondary school. Efficient and well motivated teachers must be trained via colleges of education. Polytechnics produce technicians and technologist needed for direct employment in industries (FGN, 2000). They are to produce high and middle manpower, necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial and economic development. Universities on the other hand, are established to advance learning in diverse disciplines; promote the development of high level manpower to meet the needs of the Nigerian economy. They are also to generate information through research and disseminate such knowledge. Universities are also established to maintain and transform cultural heritage of the country (FGN, 2000).

When policies concerning education are defined or formulated, they are supposed to be rational, strategic, backed by state resources, and action, and pursued in the best interest of the country as a whole and not that of a small group of elites in the metropolis. Education, in this context, means not just the acquisition of literacy, and numerical skills, but also the ability to pass down knowledge from one generation to another. It is a process by which values are transmitted inter-and-intra generationally. It encompasses creative thinking and action that stimulates cultural change (Theodorson and Theodorson, 1969).

In Nigeria, within the first two decades of independence, there was rapid growth of educational sector in nearly every direction and at almost every level: primary, secondary, tertiary, science; technical; vocational; planning, administration and supervision; finance, infrastructure and educational aids; enrollment, reward and prestige. But the problem of imbalance between north and south, boys and girls, rural and urban access to education-remain persistent. The geographical imbalance in education produced its most intense competition of enrollment at all levels – primary, secondary and tertiary. This led to the rapid construction of schools and higher educational establishments. This vote for education in the first National Development Plan period (1962-1968) stood at 10.3 percent. It was among the top five targets of the plan (Ayo, 1988). But as physical structures increased, along with enrollment figures, the work force to deliver instruction and manage the institutions lagged behind. This lack of capacity made reliance on expatriate hands inevitable. This was more so for the northern Region than the rest of the country which could also not escape the temptation to hire the expatriate. The second National Development Plan (1970-1974) was to reflect the country’s growing economic confidence. It made bold declarations about building a strong and united country: a just and egalitarian society; a free and dynamic economy; a land of opportunity for all citizens; and a free and democratic society, these philosophical aspirations were declared under military rule. And education was made the numero uno on the social scale of the planned and actual public capital expenditure attracted 11.4 percent (Ayo, 1988).

By the time the Third National Development Plan (1975-1980) was launched, series of second generation universities were established. In addition, Polytechnic and Monotechnics also grew in number and spread. In just ten years Nigeria had introduced the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree which led to the establishmefnt of seven new universities (at Calabar, Jos, Benin, Ife, Ibadan, Lagos and Nsukka; and become one of the biggest recruiting countries of expatriate manpower in the world. The general manpower needs of the nation were so severe that…… anyone produced by the educational system at virtually any level of learning competence is immediately employed. Scholarship of all kinds and at all levels overseas are automatically taken up (Arnold, 1977).

The National Policy on Education, published for the first time a document in 1977, this document is currently in its fourth edition. Despite series of modification, the five main goals of the national policy on education remain intact. It declared Nigeria’s philosophy of education as one that believes that:-

  • Education is an instrument for national development
  • Education fosters the worth and development of the individual…
  • Every Nigeria child shall have a right to equal educational opportunities irrespective of any real or imagined disabilities…
  • There is need for functional education for the promotion of a progressive, united Nigeria…

These goals are amplified with the declaration that “…education is the most important instrument of change” and is therefore fundamental to any revolutionary “change in the intellectual and social outlook of any society”.

Though these policy statement suggest some key points of agreement on public policy on education in Nigeria. But the economic recession of the early 1980s and the SAP that was to follow in 1986, impacted negatively on the educational sector. The state, as part of its adjustment policy, withdrew subsidy from the social sector. And education took a direct hit. The recurrent financing per student in the University declined by more than 30% while student enrollment increased by 88%, revealing a wide gap between NUC budgetary expectation and federal government allocation to the University system. Moreover, 80% (i.e 320,000) of candidates seeking JAMB admission, out of about 400,000 applicants are unable to gain a place in the University system (Moja, 2000, as cited by Abdulkarim 2013) Abdulkarim (2013) noted that the number of public universities has grown from 6 in the 1960s to 73 as at 2000 and is rapidly increasing. In addition, new universities are being established by federal, state governments, private capital and voluntary agencies. There is also expansion in number of institutions, programmes and enrollment at the technical, vocational, college of education and polytechnic levels of education. Yet the demand for post-secondary education is not relenting-even as funding has failed to corresponding improve in real terms. It is not possible to deliver effective education without some level of relevant resources. The importance of resources in the management of education cannot be over emphasized.

  1. Statement of the Problem

The education sector in Nigeria operates in a changing environment and it faces challenges such as: delays in disbursing funds, lack of teachers’ motivation, ineffective management of education system, the decline of staff quality is a consequence of obsolete research facilities. Laboratories are not well-equipped or are practically non-existent. Most primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions offer computer science courses without computer laboratories, let alone internet connectivity. Libraries have become achieves of stale, archaic and irrelevant materials. They hold out-of-date collections. These shortage of learning resources resulted to poor quality of graduates.

The researchers of this study are of the view that curriculum planning and physical expansion in these schools without adequate and sustainable management of human and material resources would definitely fail to produce the desired results.

  • Research Methodology

The data used for this research work is based on secondary data. It examines educational sector in Nigeria. The study employed exploratory research design and explored published and electronic materials, journals, seminars papers and other materials related to the study. Information from these sources are weighed in relation to the topic from which Conclusion and Recommendation are made.

  1. Literature Review

The Concept of Resources

While resources have been defined in various ways to suit various purposes, almost all definitions accept that resources are necessary tools for the creation of wealth. According to Williams (2010), the word, “resource” developed out of the Latin phrase “re surgere” literarily interpreted as: again (re) to rise (surgere), or “to rise again.” “Re surgere” developed into the French word “resource” meaning “relief or recovery” which, in turn, developed into  the English word, “resource” defined as something that can be turned to for support or help; an available supply that can be drawn upon when needed; and/or means that can be used to an advantage. Hornby (2000:999) defines resource as something that a country, an organization or an individual has and can use, especially to increase wealth; a thing that gives help, support or comfort when needed. Lynch (2004) provides a more comprehensive and detailed approach to the word by defining it to include: Useful land or minerals such as coal, or oil that exists in a country and can be used to increase its wealth; All the money, property, skills, etc. that are available and can be used when needed; Personal qualities such as courage and determination that are necessary in dealing with a difficult situation; and Books, films, pictures, etc., use by teachers and students to provide information.

According to Ochuba (2001), Resources are the basic tools necessary in the effective performance of tasks and for the growth and development of human organizations. The constitution of a resource is determined by the uses to which it can be put.  Generally, a resource  is identified  by  its  ability  to  solve  problems,  and  yield  more  wealth  when  applied  to  economic  situations.

Martin (2005), resources are classified as visible when they exist and can be quantified in the form of human beings, land, money, property, books, pictures, and so on.  Resources  are invisible  when  they  exist  in  the  form  of  skills  and  physical dexterity and can only be measured in terms of productivity levels and quality of work. It is difficult to determine who has what skill and what level of physical dexterity if tasks are not assigned to human beings. The human beings who possess the skills and the physical dexterity constitute the class of resources known as human resources. The other types  of  visible  resources  that  can  be  applied  by  human  resources  in  the  production  process  constitute material resources.

Black (2003:213) separates human capital from other human and physical resources, by describing it as: The  present  discounted  value  of  the  additional  productivity,  over  and  above  the  product  of  unskilled labor, of people with skills and qualifications. Human capital may be acquired through explicit training or on-the-job experience. Like physical capital, it is liable to obsolescence through changes in technology or tastes. Unlike physical capital, it cannot be used as collateral for loans.

Human capital is therefore consciously created through education and training. While accepting the general economic definition of land as the factor of production supplied by nature, Begg et al. (2004) believe that the quality of land can be improved by the application of human expertise. Thus a farmer is able to produce better land by applying labour to extract weeds or fertilizer to improve soil balance. Similarly, in the field of education, professionals are required in the effective manipulation of educational resources to achieve the desired balance in the production of educated labor.

According  to  Black  (2003),  the  cost  of  creating  human  capital  falls  mostly  on  individuals  or  their  families, philanthropic institutions or the state. Financial capital is a significant resource often assumed to be a part of physical capital. It is actually the basis for the procurement, utilization and maintenance of all other types of resources. Without a strong financial base, it will be  difficult  to  produce  the  right  types  of  goods  and  services  in  desirable  quantity  and  quality.  Since the  human economy is a monetary economy, the availability of  funds in any organization or institution is vital to its productive process  and  the  quality  of  its  product  and  service. Defining  finance  as  the  science  of  controlling  money,  Ogbonna (2001)  expands  his  approach  by  citing  Reich (2002)  who  saw  finance  as  a  body  of  facts,  principles  and theories dealing with the raising and using of funds by individuals, business firms, educational institutions and governments.

Ogbonna (2001) rightly deduced from Pandit’s definition that finance is the process of raising, allocating, controlling and prudently managing funds for the purpose of achieving institutional objectives. The  foregoing  analysis  clearly  shows  that  resources are  assets  only  to  those  who  can  identify  them  and effectively  employ  them  for  the  purpose  of  achieving  clearly  defined  objectives.  This is because resources alone cannot yield additional wealth. They must be drawn upon and put to judicious use to enable them to increase wealth or productivity. Thus, the prudent management of education funds involves decisions on how to procure, expand, utilize and properly account for funds directed at the achievement of education objectives in general or institutional goals in particular.

Types of Educational Resources

According to Hadar and Ziderman (2010), that which constitutes a resource in education is determined by the level of education and the type of education to be provided. The standard resources for all education types and levels are prescribed by the federal government. These include  professionally  trained  teachers  and  qualified  teaching  staff  in  all  subject  areas,  government  approved curriculum,  teaching  aids,  school  buildings  and  furniture  and  the  right  caliber  of  administrators  to  ensure  effective school  management.  The  resources  necessary  for  the  provision  of  primary  and  secondary  education  in  Nigeria  are prescribed by the national policy on education (FME, 2004). At the tertiary level, the federal government works in collaboration  with  the  Nigerian  Universities  Commission,  the  National  Board  for  Technical  Education  and  the National Commission for Colleges of Education in ensuring the provision and maintenance of standard recommended resources.

Hadar and Ziderman (2010) opined that, educational resources have been classified into four groups and include (a) physical resources such as school plants,  classrooms,  offices,  recreational  facilities  and  the  entire  school  ground;  (b)  material  resources  including instructional aids, stationeries, education plans,  objectives and prescribed methodologies; (c) human  resources (both teaching and non-teaching staff); and (d) financial resources made up of all monetary input into the education system directed towards the achievement of specified educational objectives.

Time is a resource that is highly limited in supply and critical to education, but often taken for granted by the providers of educational resources.  Time  is  a  vital complementary  resource  that  is  indispensable  in  the  effective harnessing  and  utilization  of  the  physical,  material,  financial  and  human  resources  in  the  school  system.  Ebong (2007:13) defines time as “the continuum in which events succeed one another from the past through the present, to the future.” All school system activities are carried out within a time frame which may be limited to minutes, hours, days, months or even years.  Time  mismanagement  constrains the  effective  achievement  of  the  objective  for  which  a particular educational resource is required. Effective resource management will be difficult to achieve in any school where time is disregarded.

Information,  another  vital  resource  that  complements  the  use  of  other  resources  identified  in  this  work,  is critical  in  the  effective  management  of  any  organization. Information  is  defined  as  “facts  or  details  that  tell  you something  about  a  situation,  person  or  event”  (Lynch, 2004).  Specifically, information is a service facility for applying facts or news, and law; it is a numerical measure of uncertainty of an experimental outcome (William 2010). Adequate  information  and  its  proper  management  are  central  to  effective  decision  making  (Opeke  2004).  The relevance of information as an educational resource cannot be over-emphasized. It is believed that most educational management  problems  in  Nigeria  are  traceable  to  inadequate  information  and  a  general  lack  of  proper  information management techniques (Okorosaye-Orubite, 2008; Akinwumiju and Agabi, 2008).

In  light of  the  above  analysis,  two  classes  of  resources  can  be  identified.  The  first  consists  of  concrete resources  that  can  be  physically  quantified  and  their  effect  on  education  achievement  measured  in  terms  of  their quantity  and  quality.  In  this  class  of  resources  belong  human  resources,  school  plant  facilities,  funding  (financial resources), and instructional materials. The second class of resources (of equal importance), which consists of abstract resources  such  as  time  and  information,  can  only  be measured  in  terms  of  their  effect  on  job  performance.  Good knowledge  and  the  appropriate  utilization  of  these  major  classes  of  resources  are  vital  in  the  achievement  of effectiveness in resource management in the school system, especially in the present context of global economic crises and a consistent decrease in federal monetary allocation to education. The school manager must be well informed of the existence of education resources and know when to collect and use such resources. He/she should also be able to adopt a classificatory method that is suitable to the level of education at which he/she is operating.

The Role of Resources in Educational Management

The importance of resources in the management of education cannot be over emphasized. It is not possible to deliver effective education without some level of relevant resources. This has been highlighted by various education analysts and professionals. As observed by Nchor (2008), instructional resources provide a solid basis for conceptual thinking; increase the propensity of the brain to retain information; make learning more interesting; and take care of differences that may exist among learners. Finance, as a resource, plays a crucial role in the development of education (Kosemani, 2005).  This  supports  Fadipe’s  (2000)  opinion  that  proper  funding  and  a  good  supply  of  qualified  teachers  can greatly improve the facility index of a school.

Ochuba (2001) has a view that, in addition to all these benefits, it is important to note that the quality and quantity of resources available to any education system provides a basis for the assessment of the managerial abilities of an education manager. This is because  even  the  most  resourceful  manager  requires  a  resource  base  upon  which  to  exhibit  resourcefulness.  For instance,  a  school  principal  in  a  rural  school  with unfurnished  classrooms,  a  large  enrolment,  poor  supply  of instructional materials and a grossly inadequate number of trained teachers cannot be said to have a good resource base. His counter- part in a sub-urban area, who is managing a school with a similar teacher-pupil ratio, well- furnished classrooms,  and  a  regular  and  good  supply  of  instructional  materials,  has  a  better  resource  base.  Efforts at resourcefulness may yield better results for the latter because of an improved resource base.

 

Human Capital Theory

In the 1960s, social scientists became interested in the studies related to the economic value of investment in education. To have right doctors, engineers, good lecturers, teachers etc. government needs to invest more than its expenditure. This view was generated by the human capital theorists’ notion that the most productive course to national development of any society lies in the advancement of its population, which is its human capital (Scott, 2000).

From this view of Human Capital theory, an educated population is a productive population; education contributes directly to the growth of the national income of the society by enhancing the skills and productive ability of employees. Human capital theorists argue that economic growth and development should only take place when technology becomes more efficient and when societies utilize human resources in the use of technology. Human capital theorists assume that improved technology leads to greater production and that employees acquire the skills for the use of technology through formal education. Thus, when societies invest in education, they invest to increase the productivity of the population.

Hence, for the purpose of this research, the Human Capital theory is used. This is because if budget is being allocated and executed well on training students and staff, it will lead to greater productivity on employees, increased the skills in their areas of specialization and also lead to efficiency at work. This had consequently drastically reduced the quest for our Human and Intellectual capital to go abroad in search of better operational environment and its adverse consequences on the economy. This can only be achieved if the learning environment is good, with good infrastructures like good classrooms, good laboratories for practical purposes and research grants are given for further trainings.

  1. Conclusion and Recommendation

Education cannot operate in a vacuum. Its success depends on its context. A friendlier context is likely to impact positively on management of the sector, which in turn will return back to the society in the form of better products of a more efficiently managed educational system. It is not possible to deliver effective education without some level of relevant resources, because the most resourceful manager requires a resource base upon which to exhibit resourcefulness. And policy problems are products of felt needs. Such needs don’t necessarily have to be everyone’s desire. But they reflect competing demands and interest. Public policy and education in Nigeria produced its own dynamics of competing demands and interests. Resources alone cannot yields additional wealth, they must be drawn upon and put to judicious use to enable them to increase wealth or productivity. Thus, the product management of education funds involves decisions on how to procure, expand, utilize and properly account for funds directed at the achievement of education objectives.

Therefore, government, both federal and state, should as a matter of national urgency, provide adequate funds for the rehabilitation of student’s hostels, classrooms, laboratories, studies, engineering workshops, water and electricity supply, teaching facilities, and funds for building of new classrooms, teaching and research facilities in the schools.

Public organizations including all educational institutions should develop strategic plans as a means of enhancing results based management and efficiency in their operations. Resource are the basic tools necessary in the effective performance of tasks and for the growth and development of human organisation, measurement of performance in a school set-up should therefore include academic excellence, land infrastructure development, discipline and school culture, stakeholder satisfaction, financial stability and excellence in non-academic activities.


 

References

Abdulkarim, S.B. (2013) Public Policy and Education in Post Colonial Nigeria: An Analysis of some Salient Issues. Journal of Entrepreneurship Research Volume 3 number 1, February, 2013.

Akinwumiju, J. A. and Agabi, C. O. (2008).  Foundations of school management. Port- Harcourt, Nigeria:  University of Port Harcourt Press.

Ayo, E.J. (1988) Development Planning in Nigeria. Ibadan; University press Limited.

Black, J. (2003). Dictionary of economics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ebong, J. M. (2007).  Time  management  techniques  for the  avoidance  of  time  wasters  in  education.  Journal of Education in Developing Areas, X(1), 13-19.

Fadipe, J. O. (2000).  Utilizing  the  teaching  manpower  in  the  secondary  school  system:  A  necessary  administrative function  for  better  productivity. In S. U. Udoh & G. O.  Akpa (Eds.). Manpower for quality education in Nigeria (pp. 29-37).Ibadan: JOSL Ehindero Nig.

Fafunwa, A.B. (2001) Educational Management in Nigeria. In N.A. Nwagwu, E.T. Ehiametalor, M.A. Ogunu and N. Nwadiani (eds). Current issues in Educational Management in Nigeria (2-12). Benin city: Ambik Press.

Federal Ministry of Education Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja (2004). National Policy on Education (4th ed.). Lagos, Nigeria: NERDC Press.

FGN, (2000) Higher Education in the Nineties and Beyond: Report of the Commission on the Review of Higher Education in Nigeria: FGN.

Hadar, I. B. and Ziderman, A. (2010). A new model for equitable and efficient resource allocation to schools: The Israeli case.

Hadar, I. B. and Ziderman, A. (2010). A new model for equitable and efficient resource allocation to schools: The Israeli case.

 

Hornby, A. S. and Jonathan, C. (2000).Advanced learner’s dictionary of current English (Special price ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Kosemani, J. M. (2005). Education and National Character. In J. M. Kosemani (Ed.), Comparative  education: Emergent national system. Port Harcourt: Abe Publishers.

Lynch, T. D. (2004). Budget system approach. Public Administration Quarterly Journal, 13, 321–341.

Martin, L. (2005). Contracting out: A comparative analysis of local government practices. In T. D. Lynch and L. Martin (Ed.), Comparative public budgeting and financial management (pp. 225–239).New York: Dekker.

Nchor, A. N. (2008). Instructional materials and resources in Nigerian secondary schools: Problems and prospects. Akampa Journal of Education, 2, 37-42.

Ochuba, V. O. (2001). Strategies for improving the quality of education in Nigerian universities.

Ogbonna, F. C. (2001). Resourceful financial management: The way forward for the survival of university education in the 21st century. In A. U. Akubue and D. Enyi (Eds.) Crises and challenges in higher education in developing countries (pp. 26-34).Ibadan: Wisdom Publishers.

Okorosaye-Orubite, A. K. (2008).  From Universal Primary Education (UPE) to Universal Basic Education (UBE): What hope for Nigeria? In School of Graduate Studies Seminar Series, SGS Monograph No.1. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.

Opeke, R. O. (2004). Information consciousness as a factor in organizational decision making: The case of Ogun state ministry of education [Unpublished PhD Thesis]. University of Ibadan.

Reich, R. (2002). The work of nations. New York: Vintage Books.

Scott, J. (2000). A matter of record: Documentary sources in social research. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Thordorson, G.A and Theodorson, A.G. (1969). A modern dictionary of sociology, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

William, M. (2010). The American heritage dictionary of English language (New College ed.). Hopewell, New Jersey: Houghton Mifflin.

 

Research Paper

An Empirical Study on the application of Ergonomics Approach at Public Universities of Ethiopia with Special Reference to Adigrat University.

Tewelde Gebresslase

Abstract: It is obvious that either public or private institutions might be profit or service oriented in their nature and to achieve this; employee wellbeing should be primarily concerned. One move toward is to integrate the concepts of quality ergonomics which is the main human factors, and safety into such higher academic institutions experiences for all community that make the competitive in today’s working environments of the institutions. Literally speaking Ergonomics means the study or measurement of work therefore this paper focuses on the relationship between physical and logical environment setting and institutional performance with especial reference to Adigrat University. Hence, this paper is literature and personal observation based research article on the role of ergonomics approach of workplace in case of the stated University which is one of the third generation higher academic institutions in Ethiopia., the researcher tried to put a possible suggestions based on a practical observation on what is going practically. At the end with a proper plan of ergonomics approach the tangible and intangible costs due to unhealthy working condition could be reduced since the outcome of this paper could attract the attention of the management bodies in particular and community of the institution i.e Adigrat University in general.

 Key words: Professional safety, ergonomics, employees’ motivation, productivity, Adigrat University.

  1. Introduction:

Ergonomics is the study and means to enhance the compatibility between human beings and surrounding systems. Ergonomics satisfies some of the key needs of the operators including reduction of stress and fatigue, improvement in safety, comfort level and quality of the work life. It promotes the well-being of the operator by maintaining a safe, healthy and efficiency driven environment (Viraj Bakshi, 2016). Ergonomics is defined as the design of workplace, equipment, machine, tool, product, environment and system, taking into consideration the human’s physical, physiological, psychological capabilities and optimizing the effectiveness and productivity of work system while assuring the safety, health and wellbeing of the workers.rgonomics focuses on the work environment and items such as the design and function of workstations, controls, displays, safety devices and tools to fit the employee’s physical requirements, capabilities and limitations to ensure his/her health and well being.

Ergonomics is the study and means to enhance the compatibility between human beings and surrounding systems. Ergonomics satisfies some of the key needs of the operators including reduction of stress and fatigue, improvement in safety, comfort level and quality of the work life. It promotes the well-being of the operator by maintaining a safe, healthy and efficiency driven environment (Viraj Bakshi, 2016). Ergonomics is defined as the design of workplace, equipment, machine, tool, product, environment and system, taking into consideration the human’s physical, physiological, psychological capabilities and optimizing the effectiveness and productivity of work system while assuring the safety, health and wellbeing of the workers.

According to the collection literature for ergonomics concept the following are some of the definitions. Ergonomics is the scientific study of people and their working conditions, especially done in order to improve effectiveness (Cambridge dictionary). Ergonomics is the science of refining the design of products to optimize them for human use. (…) it is sometimes known as human factors engineering (whatis.com). Ergonomics is a science that deals with designing and arranging things so that people can use them easily and safely (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Ergonomics is an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely —called also biotechnology, human engineering, human factors (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Ergonomics is a study of capacities and limitations of mental and physical work in different settings. Ergonomics applies anatomical, physiological, and psychological knowledge (call human factors) to work and work environments in order to reduce or eliminate factors that cause pain or discomfort (business dictionary).

Although the term Ergonomics has many but mutually inclusive definitions, the following definition is taken from Peter Vink (2006) as operational meaning for this paper. Hence,   Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. Having this operational definition for Ergonomics, this paper is an empirical study on human and none human factors for unhealthy working condition and tried to put possible observations on how Ergonomics Approach for workplace could help as a solution for related problems at Public Universities of Ethiopia with Special Reference in Adigrat University.

  1. Research Rationality
S

ince human resources are the ultimate user of the workplace environment, therefore labor should consider designing and equipping the workplace setting to suit their comfort. In this case the physical and logical design of working environments has a direct impact on the healthy workplace vis-a-vise wellbeing of the workers. As Joan Burton cited in WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific; defines a healthy workplace as follows:

 “A healthy workplace is a place where everyone works together to achieve an agreed vision for the health and well-being of workers and the surrounding community. It provides all members of the workforce with physical, psychological, social and organizational conditions that protect and promote health and safety. It enables managers and workers to increase control over their own health and to improve it, and to become more energetic, positive and contented.”

Either knowingly or unknowingly the management of one organization could follow any leadership philosophy; whatever the response of the followers. Besides to this, the management body could ignore the humanitarian aspect to maximize the organizational performance. As a result the working environment could affect negatively since the relationship between the top and lower management level could badly affect. In this regard, “It is unethical and short-sighted business practice to compromise the health of workers for the wealth of enterprises.” Evelyn Kortum, WHO (2014).

A healthy workplace can be affected through two factors which are human and non human. In this case, human factors identify what employees are being asked to do, who is doing it, and where they’re working and Non human factors identify the tangible and intangible features of the environments. According Kerm Henrikse (2010) Human factors research applies knowledge about human strengths and limitations to the design of interactive systems of people, equipment, and their environment to ensure their effectiveness, safety, and ease of use.

As Peter V. (2006) cited in Vink, (2005), participatory ergonomics is the discipline that studies how different parties should be involved in a design process. Participatory ergonomics is the adaptation of the environment to the human (that is ergonomics) together with the proper persons in question (participants). Besides, different authors also argued that “good ergonomics is good economics”. However, the concepts of ergonomics are not implemented properly. It is known that there are a number of hidden reasons why the employees who are working in Adigrat University (where the author is working) are not well satisfied in their day to day working style. Thus, it is believed to have a careful observation what is going practically and assessing to what extent the Ergonomics approach (human factors) for workplace is implementation otherwise to forward possible alternative solution for healthy, conducive and productive working environment to Adigrat University.

  1. Research Questions
  • What are the human factors for institutional performance in the university?
  • How the physical or logical working environs could influence the institutional performance of Adigrat University?
  • What are the bottlenecks against practicing ergonomic approach of workplace?
  1. Research Objective
    • General Objective

The general objective of this article is to assess the factors affecting the healthy working environs and forwarding ways of practicing ergonomics approach for workplace in Adigrat University.

  • Specific Objective
  • To determine the human factors those affect the institutional performance of the university.
  • To examine the relationship between factors of the physical/logical environment towards institutional performance.
  • To point out the major bottlenecks for practicing ergonomic approach.
  1. Institutional System Analysis

Historically, the age of modern Education in Ethiopia is almost 108 years since Emperor Menelik II opened the first modern school at Addis Ababa in 1908. Next to this, according to Alemayehu Bishaw; another important event in the expansion of modern education was the advent of the late Emperor Haile Selassie I, as Regent and Heir to the throne in 1916. He was a graduate of the first school established in Menelik II‟s palace. This foundation of higher institution also started during Emperor Haile Selassie I, with his name Haile Selassie I University (now Addis Ababa University) in 1950.

Currently, Ethiopia becomes the owner of 33 (excluding the 11 new universities to be built in second GTP period of the nation) higher academic institutions and 59 accredited Non-Government Higher Education Institutions under its Ministry of Education. Adigrat University (3rd generation) is one of the public higher academic institutions which is established in 2011.

This academic year the University has 6 colleges and one institute, 41 departments with a regular student population of more than14000 and nearly 5000 continuing education students. The total number of its academic staff has reached nearly 1000 (more than 300 of them on their further study at home and abroad). The support staff is expected to reach 1500 this academic year (www.adu.edu.et retrieved at 15/8/16).

According to Higher Education Proclamation No. 650/2009 no. 17/3, every public institution shall exercise its autonomy in ways that, at the same time, ensure lawfulness, efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, fairness, and accountability. Through this the MoE gives autonomous power to the university. That’s why different universities of the country could not have consistent institutional structure. Most of them are indifferent on their institutional structure, way of students evaluation, payment policy in which the MoE should follow up and adjust. The following is the current institutional hierarchy of Adigrat University.

As one can understand from the next hierarchy, the two vice presidents are over loaded. The majority divisions under Academic, Research and community Service vice president are colored yellow and it shows it should divided in to at least two units for research and academic purpose.

 

Figure 1 Current institutional hierarchy of Adigrat University

It is due to over responsibility and centralized management in these vice presidents that the majority employees complain more on lack of good governance in different semi annual meetings.  These same is true in the purchasing unit of the university that requested teaching materials could not deliver on time. Even if the university has more than 5000 students in continuing education, there is no responsible unit to overcome related issues. Hence, it is better to have such productive divisions instead of having the current bureaucracy such as quality assurance at college level. It is a symptom for its weakness campus assistant administrator under basic service unit; significant numbers of personal and institutional properties were stolen by thefts.

It is also due to lack of having a close linkage with the external community that domestic and foreign staff are suffering badly by home thefts in the town. When we see about the management system, individuals are treated as they are member of local political party rather than their merit. It is an example for that; not only for Adigrat University but also for almost higher institutions, the presidents and vice presidents are assigned from the local society rather than from any ethnic group. Not only this, directors, deans and head of center institutes of the university are assigned as they are member of local political organizations rather than through merit. This is against to article 9.2/a, of the legislation on the requirements to hold a position in the University which states as follows.

The candidate must have excellent communication and interpersonal skill and proven ability to participate successfully in a complex, highly professional organization, with demonstrated competence in leadership, motivation, collaboration and working with teams, teaching, research and community service activities relevant to the position;

Although fast physical expansion is one of the positive sides of the University, the internal environment is not well equipped rather lack of staff cafeteria and discount students hotel and entertainment service, shortage of pure water, too late of staff’s condominium.

  1. Research Methodology

It is obvious any research paper has its own methodology; this paper is also casual and descriptive by nature and it is literature and observation based. The researcher develops conceptual framework which assumed relevant to ergonomic approach. Then, after the theoretical or literal concepts are analyzed, the authors tried to see to what extent they are practicing in Adigrat University. Since the author is a permanent academic staff of the university, it is good opportunity to identify every aspects of the human factor and lastly the paper will have its own significant in enhancing institutional performance through overcoming the de-motivational factors of employees.

  1. The Theory Versus the Practice

As far as their appropriateness Hierarchy of Needs theory (Abraham Maslow) and Alderfer’s ERG theory of motivation are taken as a conceptual framework.   In this case the researcher tried to assess either these theories are practicing in Adigrat University or not; because, it is believed that these theories involves human factors relationship (ergonomics) and otherwise, these factors can related to the physical design (internal and external environmental features) and logical design (policies, working system and management philosophy…) of the institution. As to these theories the employee demands the following needs from their home and from their working institutions.

According to Maslow, we seek first to satisfy the lowest level of needs. Once this is done, we seek to satisfy each higher level of need until we have satisfied all five needs. Thus, related factors are arranged as a concept and their necessity in this case institution.

Need Home Job In Adigrat University
Physiological food water shelter and cloth Heat, air, base salary Cafeteria service or center of entertainments (for staff and students), discount business, attractive dormitory and office, on time payments and fringe benefits, pure water
Safety freedom from war, poison, violence work safety, job security, health insurance Internal (Teaching material, transport service, pleasant physical infrastructure, campus community safety), external (free fear of war, peace and stability, home) free of theft or creating risk free compound.
Belongingness family, friends, clubs teams, departments, colleague, clients, supervisors, subordinates Participative decision, decentralized management philosophy, two way communication, meritocracy of positions, feeling of ownership
Esteem approval of family, friends, community recognition, high status, responsibilities Encouragements, recognitions and moral, letting competent for higher management, confidentiality, achievement, reduce employees turnover
self-actualization education, religion, hobbies, personal growth education, religion, hobbies, personal growth Short bureaucracy of promotion, workers educational opportunity, encouraging for innovation and creativity, investigation and freedom

Table 1: Hierarchy of Needs Theory (yellow column) and author’s view (green column)

As to the human expectation, either in group or individually, it is assumed that every employee of Adigrat University needs to acquire and to satisfy these needs. According to the connotations of the hierarchy of needs theory, individual employees must have their lower level needs met by, for instance, safe working conditions, adequate pay to take care of one’s self and one’s family, and job security before they will be motivated by increased job responsibilities, status, and challenging work assignments. Despite the simplicity of application of this theory to Adigrat University, the human factors as to the ergonomics approach is not practicing.

ERG theory, developed by Clayton Alderfer, is a modification of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Alderfer’s theory also categorized work force needs into three categories and the related factors to these categories are summarized as follows. As one can observe from the table 1 and table 2, these theories are powerful to maximize the performance of the institution if well practiced. As to the factors for employee’s motivation, the factors could affect the institutional performance positively; because, institutional performance is the sum of departmental or individual performance.

Needs Implication To Motivating the employees

 

 To enhance institutional performance
Existence needs Include all material and physiological desires Ø  Pay one time (load and overtime)

Ø  Avoiding bad noise and sounds

Ø  Minimize meetings

Ø  Prioritize institutional goals

 Ø  Keeping clean area

Ø  Keeping quality and clean buildings and classrooms

Ø  Prioritize institutional before political goals
Relatedness needs Encompass social and external esteem; relationships with significant others v  Trust and Delegate both power and authority

v  Giving recognition and respect

v  Two way communication

v  Activity review day and celebrate success

v  Avoiding destructive informal groups

Ø  Avoid political agendas

 v  Create transparency

v  Creating external relation (within outside the country)

v  Creating and encouraging social friendship among employees

v  Care about safety
·         Growth needs

 

 Internal esteem and self actualization; these impel a person to make creative or productive effects on himself and the environment ü  Give motivational challenges

ü  Encouraging human needs

ü  Keep employees, students and stockholders well informed

ü  Know what motivates the employees

ü  Letting trained and educated/career development

ü  Avoid unproductive follow up for academic staff

 ü  Encourage creativity and innovation

ü  Avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy of promotion

ü  Apply decentralized management philosophy

ü   Promote meritocracy

ü  Promote computation

Table 2: Alderfer’s theory of needs and author’s view (green column)

Literally speaking motivation is one of the forces that lead to performance. Motivation is defined as the desire to achieve a goal or a certain performance level, leading to goal-directed behavior. As the human factor affect the institutional performance, environmental factors such as having the resources, information, and support one needs to perform well are critical to determine the performance the University.

According to human resource approach for motivation people want to contribute to organizational effectiveness and are able to make genuine contributions. The organization’s responsibility is to create a work environment that makes full use of available human resources. ERG theory’s implications for managers are similar to those for the needs hierarchy; top level management of the university should focus on meeting employees’ existence, relatedness, and growth needs, though without necessarily applying the condition that, say, job-safety concerns necessarily take precedence over challenging and fulfilling job requirements. Is so, the ergonomics or human factor of the institution become realized. And it directly implies the  performance could enhance since the workplace (internal and external) become healthy and safe.

  1. Summery Suggestions

Like any changes (BPR, TQM, BSC and Kaizen) which have being implementing through time in the University, Ergonomics could also practiced. Relatively ergonomics approach for workplace highly focuses on human factor of employees. It is rational implication that if human factor of the institution got primary attention, the employees’ motivation, individual performance and then institutional performance could be maximized in Adigrt University. For this, the two theories of motivation with their respective factors are a good example which needs especial emphasize at any institutional level. For easily applicable it is summarized as follows.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory ERG theory Human Factors

(Direct impact)

 Institutional Factors

(Indirect impact)

 Ladder for

practicing

Ergonomics
Physiological Existence needs Ignoring humanitarian aspects Bad physical and logical design Audit Human and Institutional needs (Team work): move from individual to the overall institutional system
Safety Healthy workplace Weak security

Inside & out side

 Verify logical and physical human and institutional needs’ gap (Team work)
Belongingness Relatedness needs Push factors: Bad relations Deficiency of Pool factors Re-structuring and  system Validation  (Team work)
Esteem Internal Weakness of formal groups Centralized Decision making Externalize and communication (Bottom-up) (Team work)
External Growth needs Less external competition Internal &External Competitiveness Action Realization through human development (Team work)
Self-actualization Narrow minded: focusing on minor things… Have Practical  and long lasting Vision Empowerment of the long lasting Human and institutional Achievement

Table 3: comparative of the theory and the practice in Adigrat University

The goals of ergonomics are to provide a positive working environment in which the design of equipment, work layouts and work environment matches the capabilities of people so they can lead healthy and productive lives. Thus, this indicates the application of Ergonomics starts from individual, departments then in to the institution.

According to the literal analysis and practical observation, the researcher believes to develop an alternative institutions hierarchy that could be pleasant to practice ergonomic concept in workplace of the institution. Hence, through its autonomous power from MoE, these which are ranked as too broad working units should divide or restructure in to sub-systems. In general the author needs to forward the following suggestions accordingly.

  • Presidents and vice presidents of the university should assigned merit based from all over the nation and the world since it is a national institution. Because, due to lack of diversity in ethnicity in the higher positions, meritocracy is not practicing.
  • It is recommended that the management philosophy of the university should participatory and decentralized. Tasks should fairly distribute among the institutional divisions.
  • Campus community especially students needs orientation to keep classrooms clean.
  • Supportive office materials like photo copy, papers, desks and chairs should nearly available.
  • Discounted business firms like separate cafeterias for staffs, commodity shops, and pure water and clean dormitory are mandatory for students. To do this intake capacity of the university should as to its resources.
  • Since the institution is across the border, the federal government should care and as much as possible unnecessary sounds from training of the fighters should out of the campus community.
  • The human factors should consider as institutional factors because the institution living which could grow, die like human as the employees feel discomfort.
  • The internal and external threat of theft could avoid by practicing article 7.2.9/a/ viii, of the legislation which stated “Establish contacts with external bodies (city administration, city police, nearby administration, security, and other relevant offices) that help maintenance of peaceful teaching in the campus.”
  • It is better for the employees and the institution if Ergonomics Approach of workplace could executed in collaboration with other changes or independently.

Finally, after the above suggestions are taking in to consideration it is easy to practice Ergonomics approach then after the University become benefited in reducing its tangible and intangible costs, it could easily improves its performance, quality, employees participation and creates better safety culture and healthy workplace.

Reference

Adigrat University Senate Legislation (2004 E.C) Adigrat, Ethiopia.

Alemayehu Bishaw Education in Ethiopia: Past, Present and Future Prospects: African Nebula, Issue 5, 2012 available at http://nobleworld.biz/images/5-Lasser_s_paper.pdf

Alderfer, C., & Guzzo, R. (1979, September). Life experiences and adults’ enduring strength of desires in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(3), 347- 361. Retrieved from http://www2.johnson.cornell.edu/publications/asq/

Alderfer, Clayton P. (1972) Existence, Relatedness, and Growth: Human Needs in Organizational Settings. New York: Free Press; Available at: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Mar-No/Motivation-and-Motivation-Theory.html#ixzz4HTqkn5VC

Dickson, V., Fox C., Marshall K., Welch N., & Willis, J.(2014).”What really improves employee health and wellbeing”, International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 7.

Kerm Henrikse (…) Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses: available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2666/

Habtemariam Markos (1970)., Amharic as the medium of instruction in primary schools in Ethiopia.‟‟ In T.P. Gorman, (ed.), Language in Education in Eastern Africa. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.

Maslow, Abraham H. (1954) Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row;
Available at: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Mar-No/Motivation-and-Motivation-Theory.html#ixzz4HTqwCsrQ

Nour Eldin M. (2014) Role of Ergonomics on Sudanese higher education Institutions ICT class Rooms e-material available at http://www.ijaiem.org/Volume3Issue9/IJAIEM-2014-09-13-20.pdf

Viraj Bakshi (2016) Study to Implement Lean and Ergonomics Concepts in a Production Environment

Joan Burton (2010) WHO Healthy Workplace Framework and Model: Background Document and Supporting Literature and Practices. E-book available at http://www.who.int/occupational_health/healthy_workplace_framework.pdf

P.Vink, (2006) Positive outcomes of participatory ergonomics in terms of higher comfort and productivity

Additional visited websites

www.adu.edu.et official website of Adigrat University

www.businessdisctionary.com visited at 10/08/16

www.whatis.com visited at 12/08/16

www.Merriam-WebsterDictionary.com visited at 01/08/16

 

Research Paper

Tombstones Of The War Dead: A Spectacle of Epitaphs and Emblems

 

 Dr.H.Rasi,

            The Madras War Cemetery (1939-1945) is a celebration of war dead laid to rest in St. Thomas Mount in the border of Madras known for its history and heritage. The cemetery, one among the 34 of its kind in India, is meant to keep alive the memories of soldiers, sailors, and airmen–from Australia, Burma, Canada, India, New Zealand, Poland, the United Kingdom, and West Africa–who served in garrisons and died in India on their way to battle fields in far off places to fight in the Second World War on behalf of the (British) Commonwealth of Nations. They died “thousands of miles away from their hearth and home, leaving a void in their families and a trail of grief” but their mortal remains found a haven in the Madras War Cemetery.

            The cemetery in St. Thomas Mount contains 856 Commonwealth burials. Each burial is commemorated with a tombstone–813 mm tall, 375 mm broad and 75 mm wide. C. Venkatesan, in a paper presented to the Tamil Nadu History Congress and published in its Proceedings, goes into raptures when he says: “Each headstone is a moving memorial, a mound of stone, a little mount, a miniature pyramid designed to last forever”.1 The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has ensured that on each stone is engraved “the national emblem or the service or regimental badge, followed by the rank, name, unit, date of death, age, and usually a religious emblem; and at the foot, in many cases, an inscription chosen by relatives”2–in short, a resume of the profile of the warrior.

            Walking across the lawns of the cemetery, I felt I was in the presence of angels. Brave men and women sleeping in silence and solitude, the headstones executed with  immaculate elegance, the regimental emblems sculpted with amazing precision, the epitaphs chosen mostly from sacred and secular literature of a bygone era, the lovely lawn resembling a green carpet of grass, the bronze sword representing the military character of the cemetery, the rain trees, the Rangoon creepers, the Indian laburnums, the west Indian jasmine, the roses, the shrubs, and the whole cemetery bound by a ledge of Madras thorn, white clouds floating in the blue sky of St. Thomas Mount make one  feel that he is wandering across an earthly paradise, an Elysium so to speak.

            The epitaphs and the emblems are the highlights of the tombstones; I was enthralled by the former, and excited by the latter.

            The epitaphs are expressions of love, of admiration, of gratitude, and, of course, of grief and sorrow; they are the family’s attempts to communicate with the dead. The dead have been so much a part of the living , have shared so much of their thoughts, have dreamt so many of their dreams that their sudden loss devastates them. The living open their hearts for the dead in exquisite prose and poetry – and we call it epitaphs. The epitaphs are usually not more than a couple of lines but carry the marvel of moving people to tears. Never in history has so much been said in so few words.

            The emblems are drawings of the banner under which the combatants fought their battles. They are like the royal insignia of the Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas of the Sangam age and the Pallava, Maratha and Vijayanagar kings of a later time. The emblems symbolise the traditions and values of the respective regiments, their weapons of war, their valour, the myths of their people, and the fauna and flora native to their land. The persons who sculpted the pictures in stone had imagination, were steeped in the knowledge of legend and literature, believed in the efficacy of the emblems to bless their countrymen with victory–the result is an exhibition of emblems of everlasting value.

            C.Venkatesan, a specialist in the study of cemeteries, especially war cemeteries, describes in his characteristic way the designs of the varied emblems in the Madras War Cemetery:

            Profiles of regimental symbols sculpted on the stones are lovely little pieces of art. Reliefs showing the Egyptian sphinx, fierce lions, antlers of reindeer, short swords of the Gurkhas, fast-footed couriers, gun carriages, prancing horses, flying eagles, and medieval castles have been carved with great care, understanding, and even feeling. I was particularly struck by the sculpture of the enigmatic sphinx having a lion’s body with a twisted tail and a woman’s head; only a sculptor steeped in the knowledge of Egyptian history and civilization could have created such splendid works of art.

            One tombstone carries the figure of a dragon; the representation is so frightening and it is doubtful whether the dragon known to mythology would have been this dreadful. Another shows a ram carrying a flag in its fore legs; I could see arrogance writ large in the ram’s face – arrogance arising out of the privilege given to it to carry the country’s flag. Yet another stone shows a courier running fast with what appears to be a coded message; I could see strength and stamina oozing out every inch of his muscle. Many a stone contain falcons in flight in search of prey with a beak sharper than a razor. Each of these of sculptures is a treasure, and worth a king’s ransom.

Rest in Peace:

            Many of the well wishers, as in civilian cemeteries of simple folks, are content with a recording of “Rest in Peace”3 on the epitaphs. This is prayer, this is seeking God’s intervention to grant them peace and quietitude in His kingdom. Dying is a journey into the unknown, and people are anxious that the dead should not meet with any harm in their new abode. On the surface “Rest in Peace” may appear to be simple in substance, but one can see hidden eloquence even in this unpretentious invocation: the dead should rest in silence and solitude, should rest in His arms free from the hue and cry of this turbulent and tumultuous world.

            The words Rest in Peace may have been allowed to stand alone: I find a tendency to prefix or suffix these words with some other wish. It looks as though that Rest in Peace is not given the focus that is its due.

In Memory of:

            Love is the bond between husbands and wives, sons and daughters and their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and among friends. When a warrior dies in war, his loved ones are drenched in a million tears, feel a void in their life, and after a period of mourning, inscribe on the headstones the trait, the quality, the feature that impressed them most. Love is the dominant motif behind the memories projected in these monuments. Different people have different perceptions of the memories of the dead. They are either “in memory of”4, or “in lasting memory of”5, or “in loving memory of”6, or “in ever loving memory of”7; a few speak of “beautiful memories”8 and “sweet memories”9; there is atleast one which refers to “grateful memory”10; references to “glorious memories”11, “proud memories”12, “precious memories”13, and “treasured memories”14 are seen here and there; there are a couple of solemn allusions to “sacred memories” 15and “divine memories”.16

            I would not like to see much of a difference between memories and lasting memories and loving memories and ever loving memories because love is there everywhere linking people like a human chain. It seems to be a manner of writing, and there is no need to distinguish between different shades of love.

            But I admit, though grudgingly, that there may be something in speaking of “grateful memories”, “glorious memories”, “proud memories”, “precious memories”, and “treasured memories”. Some act of kindness, some deed of courage, some showing of chivalry may have touched a chord in the living, and therefore they are going a little out of the beaten track. But specific references to special acts would have been helpful to appreciate the appropriateness of adjectives, but of course there are constrains of space.

            Allusions to “sacred memory” and “divine memory” appear to be somewhat awe-inspiring, but even here I don’t see any need to consider such references as “God-connected”, because there is a belief that all the dead, especially the war dead, go to the kingdom of God, “live” in his presence, and bask in the sunshine of his grace. In this context I don’t want to be misunderstood as denigrating the memory of those who fell dead in the Second World War. I am only looking at the whole scene with an open mind, a neutral platform as it were.

I shall Remember:

            Memories are the stuff of which history and heritage are made; they are the unwritten archives, the invisible artefacts of humanity’s long trek towards freedom and honour; if they are not renewed and remembered, if they are not refreshed and “revisited”, the memorials on which they are cut would cease to convey any meaning, and would not serve the purpose they were meant to serve. Those who have commissioned the memorials have assured in the short space of the stone slabs that the dead would be “ever remembered”17, or “always remembered”18, or “proudly remembered”19. A few have undertaken to cherish their memories “not just today, but everyday”20; some have recorded that though the dead are gone, they are not forgotten.21

            The most eloquent expression of remembrance is: “At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them”22. This is more or less a pledge, a promise to keep alive the memory of the dead. Man is at peace with himself, he is in union with god “at the going down of the sun” and “in the morning”, and these are the best moments for remembrance. But there is no need to insist that references to timings are references                     to sunset and sunrise; that kind of interpretation would be rather pedantic. The promoters of the epitaphs may have meant in all probability: everyday, preferably twice a day. A reference to 6 a.m to 6 p.m. may not have dictated their prescription.    Therefore neither time nor place need stand in the way of the living remembering the dead. What matters is the will to remember.

            Fortunately, there is no such direction regarding the place of remembrance. One need not visit a cemetery, a church, a darga to remember a dead person; one’s own home where the living and the dead lived and laughed, played together, worked and worshipped and shared whatever there was to share would do. What is required is a place where there is peace; the time recommended in the memorial is a time associated with peace.

            The discussion on remembrance can be rounded off with a reference to a remark that “God’s greatest gift is remembrance”23. By this the writer probably means that God has endowed the living with the power to remember, and among the several powers he has given him, that is the greatest gift. The faculty to remember is a faculty which can be exercised without physical strain, mental stress, paraphernalia of ritual, financial expenditure, guidance of a guru, and a host of similar constraints. This is simplicity personified and presented as a quotable quote. Though it is conceded that remembrances are reminders of the gratitude of the living to the dead, a query that calls for a response is how long remembrances shall continue. May be for a generation or two; society is in a state of flux, and the old order changeth yielding place to new; after some years the present becomes past, and fades from the thoughts of the future. The impermanence of human lives determines the impermanence of remembrances as well. The fact that remembrances cannot be carried on endlessly is brought home in the headstone of Sgt M.T. Jones of Royal Air Force: “as long as we live, we treasure his name”24. It is surprising that the question has been anticipated and answered.

God, King, and Country:

            It was in response to a call from “God, King, and Country”25 that men fought to defend freedom and honour, and it was a duty they performed with pride, and with no thoughts whether they would survive or perish in battle. The headstones inform us repeatedly that it was “duty nobly done”26, “duty fearlessly…  done”27, and “perilous path of duty”28; at least one headstone informs us that the warrior fell “a martyr to duty”29.

            The epitaphs contain evidences of supreme sacrifices: Warrant Officer J.B. Duggan of Royal Air Force and his brother Bertram,30 Gunner A. Knight of Royal Artillery and his brother William John,31 Gunner M.W. Upson of Royal Artillery and his brother Ronald Mervyn,32 Warrant Officer K. Webster of Royal Air Force and his brother Vincent,33 and Sgt A. Powrie of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and his son Ernest Peter34 all died on service. The death of two persons in the same family would make them grief stricken beyond words and consolation, and these are rare instances of supreme sacrifice in the chronicles of war anywhere in the world. The loss of Major A.C. Greene of Indian Medical Service35 whose feats of courage were mentioned in Despatches thrice should be treated as too big a tragedy for his family; there may be many more who have earned such honours and distinction. In all these cases, it is the call of duty that made them to lay their lives, and the thought of God, King and Country propelled them to new height of sacrifice.

Grief and Sorrow:

            The hurt and the pain of the loss of one whom they loved dearly, the sorrow that followed, was too much to bear for many. They were haunted by memories of “a happy face”36, “of a heart of gold”37, “of a loving smile”38. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters were troubled by the memories of the departed, and lamented: “to the world he was one, to us he was the world”39; he was a sun in the sky, the focus of their love and affection, the hope of their future, and his death left them rudderless.

            The call to battle was abrupt and sudden; there was no time for the warrior to say goodbye to his family and friends. “He bade no last farewell, the heaven’s gates were open, a loving voice said ‘Come’”40, and he went. “No loved ones stood around him to bid a last farewell”41. What is distressing is the cry: “without farewell he left as all”42, and “without farewell he fell asleep”43. These are all moving passages, and make our heart bleed for the departed.

            The death of the warriors is not to be viewed as ordinary death; they did not die of old age, of disease, of execution, at the hand of an assassin. They died fighting for their country, for their land and people, for their right to live in peace and liberty. Many of the epitaphs would want us to remember that “(they) died so that we might live”44, that “(they) gave their life that we may live forever”45, that “for our tomorrow (they) gave (their) today”46, that “they gave their life that you may live in peace”47. Dying so that others might live is the noblest death one can imagine.

Far away from home:

            Many grieved that the graves were “in India”48, they were “far away” from England49, that they “never shall see” 50 the graves, that the families and the graves were divided by “land and sea”51. A mother cries “A foreign grave is a painful thing to a mother’s aching heart”52.  One is angry that “no flowers can I place in the grave where you lie”53. The anguish of another that her son languishes alone in India reaches us across time and distance, and makes us feel sad.

            I wish to assure parents, husbands and wives, and siblings of the dead that their beloved are not alone in India, and the 1,239,450,000 million people of India keep vigil over their graves. We would preserve the grave as among our national treasures like the sculptures of Mamallapuram, the Taj Mahal, and the St.Mary’s church in Fort.St.George.

             Please tell us the occasion, we will lay a garland on the grave, we will lit a candle on the tomb, we will say a prayer in folded hands so that they will be reborn in your midst, We will treat the War Cemetery as a place of pilgrimage.

End notes

  1. Proceedings of Tamil Nadu History Congress
  2. Annual Report of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission 2000-2001.
  3. Grave Reference: 1.A.13, 1.A.10, 1.B.10, 1.B.4, 1.C.16, 1.C.8, 1.D.12, 1.D.2, 1.F.12, 1.F.11, 1.J.11, 1.J.3, 1.J.2, 4.A.18, 4.A.17, 4.A.15, 4.B.15, 4.D.15, 4.D.13, 4.D.2, 4.E.15, 4.F.7, 5.C.14, 5.D.17, 5.D.6, 5.F.18, 6.A.10, 6.B.2, 6.D.6, 7.A.6, 8.A.5, 8.B.6, 8.B.3, 8.E.6, 8.E.4, 8.E.2, 9.C.4, 9.D.15, 9.D.11, 9.E.10, 9.E.5.
  4. Grave Reference: 1.C.13, 1.H.16, 1.L.13, 4.D.16, 4.E.16, 8.E.10, 8.F.1, 9.E.7.
  5. Grave Reference: 7.A.9, 9.A.15.
  6. Grave Reference: 1.B.6, 1.D.15, 1.D.13, 1.D.11, 1.E.4, 1.F.5, 1.G.6, 1.H.18, 1.J.14, 1.J.6, 1.K.4, 4.E.13, 4.E.7, 4.E.1, 4.F.8, 5.C.6, 5.D.5, 5.D.2, 6.A.10, 6.B.16, 6.B.12, 6.B.4, 6.D.4, 6.D.9, 7.A.4, 7.B.9, 7.B.7, 7.A.13, 8.B.16, 8.C.18, 8.F.16, 9.B.9, 9.F.7, 9.F.4.
  7. Grave Reference: 1.E.14, 1.H.7, 1.J.8, 1.K.9, 4.D.14, 8.E.2, 9.E.10, 9.E.3.
  8. Grave Reference: 1.B.16, 1.H.17, 1.H.2, 1.K.5, 7.A.2, 8.B.5, 8.D.11, 9.F.16.
  9. Grave Reference: 1.A.16, 1.E.8, 4.E.2, 8.C.14, 9.C.1, 9.D.7.
  10. Grave Reference: 1.C.14.
  11. Grave Reference: 5.C.11.
  12. Grave Reference: 1.K.6, 4.B.17, 4.F.1, 9.C.5, 9.C.1.
  13. Grave Reference: 4.C.13, 4.E.1.
  14. Grave Reference: 4.B.9, 6.C.4, 7.F.10, 9.A.2, 9.E.6.
  15. Grave Reference: 8.C.3, 9.C.8.
  16. Grave Reference: 9.B.6.
  17. Grave Reference: 1.D.17, 1.G.1, 4.E.3.
  18. Grave Reference: 1.H.6, 4.B.13, 4.D.11, 6.D.8, 7.F.8, 8.D.14.
  19. Grave Reference: 9.D.17.
  20. Grave Reference: 1.D.10, 1.K.2, 6.B.1.
  21. Grave Reference: 1.A.7, 1.H.18, 1.J.6, 4.A.18, 6.B.15, 6.B.4, 7.B.1, 9.D.18.
  22. Grave Reference: 1.A.11, 1.B.18, 1.B.12, 1.H.14, 1.K.7, 4.A.10, 4.E.6, 5.C.8, 5.E.2, 5.F.3, 6.A.5, 6.B.11, 6.D.10, 7.F.16, 7.F.3, 7.F.2, 8.C.8, 8.D.7.
  23. Grave Reference: 8.E.12.
  24. Grave Reference: 4.D.16.
  25. Grave Reference: 1.D.17.
  26. Grave Reference: 4.A.2, 4.B.10, 4.C.7, 9.B.5.
  27. Grave Reference: 4.B.18
  28. Grave Reference: 1.L.1
  29. Grave Reference: 8.B.12.
  30. Grave Reference: 6.D.12.
  31. Grave Reference: 4.C.6.
  32. Grave Reference: 7.D.9.
  33. Grave Reference: 1.L.6
  34. Grave Reference: 9.D.7; Madras War Cemetery Register, p.50.
  35. Grave Reference: 7.F.5
  36. Grave Reference: 6.A.6.
  37. Grave Reference: 1.A.13.
  38. Grave Reference: 6.D.11.
  39. Grave Reference: 4.C.9, 4.E.9, 8.D.16, 9.D.6.
  40. Grave Reference: 9.E.8.
  41. Grave Reference: 7.A.3.
  42. Grave Reference: 6.C.14.
  43. Grave Reference: 6.B.9, 8.B.17, 9.C.15.
  44. Grave Reference: 1.L.4, 4.A.18, 4.F.12, 9.B.15, 9.C.1.
  45. Grave Reference: 8.C.17
  46. Grave Reference: 1.L.6, 7.E.4.
  47. Grave Reference: 4.F.17.
  48. Grave Reference: 6.D.4.
  49. Grave Reference: 4.B.9, 4.B.4.
  50. Grave Reference: 5.B.12.
  51. Grave Reference: 8.E.18.
  52. Grave Reference: 4.F.14.
  53. Grave Reference: 1.D.9.
Research Paper

A Study On Success Factors Towards Rural Marketing On Non Durable Products In Thanjavur District

Dr. N.Sumathi,

Mrs.M.Elampirai,

Introduction

 The success of any company depends on its customers. There is a wide range of opportunity to sell in rural areas by these companies due to the untapped markets in those areas. Factors like pricing; advertisement, product quality etc. are involved in the success of rural marketing. The companies can become successful if they concentrate on these factors and take marketing decisions based on these factors This study explains about the success factors towards rural marketing on non durable products in Thanjavur District.

Key Words: Rural Marketing, Success Factors, Non Durable Products

Research Methodology

Review of Literature

Ms.Deepti Srivastava, Faculty of IILM Institute of Higher Education, Gurgaon, Haryana has explained about the changing paradigm in rural India in her research paper “Marketing to Rural Indi: A changing Paradigm” , APJRBM Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2010.

Mr.B.Amarnath ,Associate Professor, Department of MBA, Sri Venkateswara University,Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh and G.Vijayudu, Research Scholar, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh have explained about consumer perceptions and attitudes towards branded packaged products in their research paper “ Rural Consumers’ Attitude towards Branded Packaged Food Products” in the  Asia Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Vol III(1),Jan-June 2011.

Mr.V.V.Devi Prasad Kotni, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, GVP College for Degree and PG Courses, Rushikonda, Endada, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh has done SWOT Analysis and found out the various opportunities and problems of rural markets in India in his research paper “Prospects and Problems of Indian Rural Markets” in the Zenith International Journal of Business Economics & Management Research Vol.2, Issue 3,March 2012.

Objectives of The Study

  1. To study the purchase behaviour of the rural consumers in Thanjavur District.
  2. To identify the success factors towards rural marketing on non durable products in Thanjavur District.
  3. To provide suggestions to the marketer for achieving success in the rural markets of Thanjavur District.

Sampling Methods

Sample Size: The sample size consists of 40 respondents.

Sampling Method: Simple Random Sampling is followed in this research.

Method of Data Collection:

Primary Data and Secondary data collection methods have been followed. Structured close ended Questionnaire with 22 questions has been used for this study. Secondary data has been collected from the government websites.

            Ten villages of Orathanadu Taluk, Thanjavur District namely Ambalapattu, Kannnanthangudi, Okkanadu, Paruthikottai, Pudur, Thekkur, Thelungankudikadu, Thennamanadu,Thenmandalakkottai and  Thirumangalakkottai have been selected randomly for data collection.

Research Tool: Simple Percentage Analysis has been used for this research study.

Limitations of the Study

  1. The study is conducted in the villages in and around Orathanadu Taluk, Thanjavur District.
  2. The sample size is only 40.
  3. The time taken to conduct the study is one month only.
  4. There may be bias in understanding the questionnaire by the respondents

Findings

Attributes Not preferred by rural consumers of Thanjavur District

Number of Respondents Percentage
Advertisement 2 5
Credit Facility 14 35
Discount Offer 0 0
Friends and Relatives 2 5
Brand Image 2 5
Convenience 6 15
Influence of Dealers and Agents 14 35
Total 40 100

From the above table it is found that 35% of the respondents do not prefer credit facilities provided by the shops and 35% of the respondents do not prefer the influence of dealers and agents while purchasing non durable products.

Mode of Purchase of non durable products

  Purchase at Town Purchase at Nearby Shop Purchase through agents Purchase at abroad Purchase through online shopping Total
Food Items 30 10 – – – 40
Fruits& Vegetables 28 10 2 – – 40
Toiletaries 20 18 – 2 – 40
Edible Oil 24 16 – – – 40
Beverages 14 22 4 – – 40

From the above table it is found that majority of the respondents purchase food items, fruits and vegetables, toiletaries and edible oil at town. Majority 22% of the respondents purchase beverages at nearby shop.

Brand is not a concern

  Number of Respondents Percentage
Food Items 12 30
Toiletaries 04 10
Edible Oil 02 05
Footwear 08 20
Brand is important 14 35
Total 40 100

From the above table it is found that majority 35% of the respondents give importance to brand for all the non durable products they purchase. 30% of the respondents do not give importance to food items they purchase.

Reasons for switching the brand

  Number of Respondents Percentage
Price 06 15
Change in the Market Trend 06 15
Habit 04 10
Promotional Strategies by companies 06 15
Non Availability of the product 14 35
Others 04 10
Total 40 100

35% of the respondents feel that they switch their brand due to non availability of the product.

Affordability per month

  <500 500-1000 1001-2000 >2000 Total
Food Items 30 10 – – 40
Fruits& Vegetables 28 10 2 – 40
Toiletaries 20 18 – 2 40
Edible Oil 24 16 – – 40
Beverages 14 22 4 – 40

From the above table it is found that the respondents spend Rs. 500 per month for product food items, fruits and vegetables, toiletaries and  edible oil . Majority 22% of the respondents spend between Rs.500 and Rs.1000 for beverages per month.

Bargaining by Consumers

  Number of Respondents Percentage
Bargain 34 85
Do not Bargain 06 15
Total 40 100

              From the above table it is found that 85% of the respondents bargain while purchasing non durable goods.

Best Advertising Technique

  Number of Respondents Percentage
Shop Display 10 25
TV Ad 22 55
Ad in Cinema Theatres – –
Pamplet – –
Wall Painting – –
Newspaper 08 20
Total 34 100

              From the above table it is found that majority 55% of the respondents feel that advertising in Television is the best advertising technique and 25% of the respondents feel that shop display is the best advertising technique.

Recommendation of non durable goods to friends

  Number of Respondents Percentage
Definitely not 04 10
Probably not – –
Not sure 02 05
Probably 18 45
Definitely 16 40
Total 40 100

              From the above table it is found that majority 45% of the respondents probably recommend and 40% of the respondents definitely recommend the non durable products they use to their friends.

 

Suggestions

 

 

  • From the research it is found that the respondents do not prefer credit facilities and influence of dealers and agents while purchasing non durable products. Hence the marketer can do direct selling instead of selling their products through dealers and agents.
  • It is found that majority of the respondents purchase the non durable goods in town. They do not prefer nearby shops for these purchases. The main reason for their preference in town is due availability of quality products and reduction of cost due to their bulk purchase in town. Hence if the marketer introduce new markets in the rural villages and provide the same facilities like town he can become successful.
  • Majority 35% of the respondents say that brand is very important. Hence brand is an important factor to be successful in the rural markets of Thanjavur District.
  • Majority 35% of the respondents say that they switch their brands due to non availability of the products. Hence we can conclude that these rural customers are more loyal to the brand they use. Hence creating loyalty among rural customers and making sure that the non durable products are available regularly to them.
  • Majority of the respondents afford Rs. 500 and less than Rs. 500 per month for food items, fruits and vegetables, toiletaries and edible oil. Hence packaging is an important factor for the success of the company. The company can be successful in selling the products through small packets and sachets.
  • Majority 85% of the respondents bargain while purchasing their products. Majority 35% of them always bargain and 35% of them bargain depending upon the shop they purchase. Therefore the marketer has to take steps to overcome this problem to be successful in the rural market.
  • Majority 55% of the respondents feel that Advertisement in Television is the best way of advertising. Advertisment in cinema theatres, providing pamphlets and wall painting advertisements are not preferred by the respondents. Hence the companies can reduce the expenditure towards advertising in cinema theatres, providing pamphlets and wall painting and give more importance to advertise in television.
  • Majority 45% of the respondents recommend the non durable products to their friends. Hence if the companies concentrate on satisfying the rural consumers and take steps to retain them. These satisfied consumers may recommend the non durable products to their friends.

Conclusion

         The rural consumers are influenced by various factors like quality of the products, selling and distribution techniques, packaging, branding and advertisements etc. If these factors are identified and take necessary steps the companies can become successful in selling and achieving profits.

References                      

 

  • S.G. Krishnamacharulu, Lalitha Ramkrishnan, Rural marketing- Text and Cases , PE Singapore , 2003.
  • Golden, S. A. R., & Regi, S. B. (2015). Satisfaction of Customers towards User Friendly Technological Services offered by Public and Private Sector banks at Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli District.International Journal of Research, 2(3), 775-787.
  • Neelamegham S, Marketing in India (Cases and Readings), Third edition, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 2000
  • Regi, S. B. S, ARG (2014).“.A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE ROLE OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR IN PRODUCT PURCHASING”. Indian Streams Research Journal, 3.
  • Regi, S. B. S, ARG (2014).“.A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE ROLE OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR IN PRODUCT PURCHASING”. Indian Streams Research Journal, 3.
  • Regi, S. B., & Golden, S. A. R. (2014). A Study On Attitude Of Employee Towards Working Environment With Special Reference To RR Pvt Ltd.Review Of Research, 2 (2), 1,5.
  • Regi, S. B., Golden, S. A. R., & Franco, C. E. (2014). A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE PROSPECTS OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA.Golden Research Thoughts, 3 (9), 1, 7.
  • Regi, S. B., Golden, S. A. R., & Franco, C. E. (2014). A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE PROSPECTS OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA.Golden Research Thoughts, 3 (9), 1, 7.
  • Kotler, Philip, Keller, Lane “Marketing Management”, Prentice Hall, (2005)
  • http:/www.populationcomission.nic.in
  • http://www.mbauniverse.com/ruralmarket.php
  • http://zenithresearch.org.in/
  • http://www.indiainfoline.com
  • http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/107364/9/09_chapter%201.pdf
  • ijarcsse.com
Research Paper

Awareness Among Consumers About Green Marketing In Tanjore District

 

 Dr M. Mary Anbunathy

  ABSTRACT

             According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising.  The movement of green marketing has been expanding rapidly in the world, no exception to India particularly in Tamilnadu. Consumers’ awareness and motivational champion are the driving force in the market, they go for green marketing. Now a day the environment has been changed and the mindset of the consumers also changed go for green marketing. When compare to other countries in India, the level of awareness is lower about the green marketing like organic food and eco friendly products ect.  The Indian consumer has much less awareness of global warming issues. Initiatives from industry and the government are still ice blue. Green is slowly and steadily becoming the symbolic color of eco-consciousness in India. The growing consumer awareness about the origin of products and the concern over impending global environmental crisis there are increasing opportunities to marketers to convince consumers. With this background data have been collected to know the level of awareness’ of the consumers in Tanjore town. For the purpose of the study both primary data and secondary data have been collected and chi square test is used for testing the hypothesis. The study reveals that there is a relationship between the educational qualification and their income level of the consumers in Tanjore town.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY Green marketing definitions can be a little confusing, since green marketing can refer to anything from greening product development to the actual advertising campaign itself. Going by alternative names such as sustainable marketing, environmental marketing, green advertising, eco marketing, organic marketing, all of which point to similar concepts though perhaps in a more specific fashion, green marketing is essentially a marketing message in order to capture more of the market and services that are better for the environment. There are many environmental issues impacted by the production of goods and rendering of services, and therefore there are also many ways a company can market their eco-friendly offerings. Green marketing can appeal to a wide variety of these issues such as the items can save water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut toxic pollution, clean indoor air, and be easily recyclable. Now a day there is awareness among the consumers about the green products. With this back ground the study is considered as an important one.

Review of Literature

  • Merilänen, S., Moisander, J. & Personen, S. (2000). The Masculine Mindset of Environmental Management and Green Marketing. Business Strategy and the Environment, 9(3), pp. 151-162. Environmental management systems and green marketing programmes have gained increasing popularity in western market economies.  They are viewed as cost-efficient, effective and just means of tackling problems associated with the impact of economic activity on the environment.  It is argued in this article, however, that these optimistic views are based on a number of ideas, images and metaphors that retain many and centric and inadequate assumptions about self, society and nature that may be incompatible with long-term environmental protection goals.
  • Prothero, A. & Fitchett, J.A. (2000). Greening Capitalism: Opportunities for Green Community. Journal of Macromarketing, 20(1), pp. 46-56. In this paper, the authors argue that greater ecological enlightenment can be secured through capitalism by using the characteristics of commodity culture to further progress environmental goals.  The authors reject both naive ecological romanticism and revolutionary idealism on the grounds that they fail to offer any pragmatic basis by which greater environmental responsibility can be achieved.  Drawing on the now well-established theoretical tradition of post-Marxist cultural criticism, the authors offer a conceptual justification for the development and implementation of a green commodity discourse.  For this to be achieved and implemented, prevailing paradigms regarding the structure, nature, and characteristics of capitalism must be revised.  Marketing not only has the potential to contribute to the establishment of more sustainable forms of society but, as a principle agent in the operation and proliferation of commodity discourse, also has a considerable responsibility to do so.
  • Oyewole, P. (2001). Social Costs of Environmental Justice Associated with the Practice of Green Marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 29(3), Feb, pp. 239-252. This paper presents a conceptual link among green marketing, environmental justice, and industrial ecology.  It argues for greater awareness of environmental justice in the practice for green marketing.  In contrast with the type of costs commonly discussed in the literature, the paper identified another type of costs, termed ‘costs with positive results,’ that may be associated with the presence of environmental justice in green marketing.  A research agenda is finally suggested to determine consumers’ awareness of environmental justice, and their willingness to bear the costs associated with it.

Objectives of the study

  1. To know the evaluation of green marketing
  2. To know the contribution of companies towards the green marketing
  3. To know the challenges for green marketing
  4. To know the level of awareness of consumers about the green marketing
  5. To know the attitude among the consumers towards green products.

Methodology of the study   For the purpose of the study, both secondary and primary data have been collected and analyzed. The secondary data have been collected from articles, reports and professional information concerning green marketing studies in general using the internet and academic databases.  The primary data was collected through questionnaire. The statistical methods used for the analysis are percentage analysis and chi square test

Hypotheses for the study

  • There is no significant relationship between the Income and Awareness about the green products
  • There is no significant relationship between the occupation and Awareness about the green products.
  • There is no significant relationship between the educational level and Awareness about the green products.

Evolution of Green Marketing Green marketing term was first discussed in a seminar on ―Ecological Marketing‖ organized by American Marketing Association (AMA) in 1975 and took its place in the literature. The term green marketing came into prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first wave of green marketing occurred in the 1980s. The tangible milestone for the first wave of green marketing came in the form of published books, both of which were called Green Marketing. They were by Ken Pattie (1992) in the United Kingdom and by Jacquelyn Ottman (1993) in the United States of America. According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of green marketing has three phases.

  • First phase was termed as “Ecological” green marketing, and during this period all marketing activities were concerned to help environmental problems and provide remedies for environmental problems.
  • Second phase was “Environmental” green marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues.
  • Third phase was “Sustainable” green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000concerned with developing good quality products which can meet consumers need by focusing on the quality, performance, pricing and convenience in an environment friendly way.

Characteristics of Green Products

  1. Products those are originally grown.
  2. Products those are recyclable, reusable and biodegradable.
  3. Products with natural ingredients.
  4. Products containing recycled contents and non toxic chemical.
  5. Products contents under approved chemicals.
  6. Products that do not harm or pollute the environment.
  7. Products that will not be tested on animals.
  8. Products that have eco-friendly packaging i.e. reusable, refillable containers etc.

Initiatives Taken Up By Business Organizations’ towards Green Marketing

  • Going Green: Tata’s New Mantra Tata Motors is setting up an eco-friendly showroom using natural building material for its flooring and energy efficient lights. The Indian Hotels Company, which runs the Taj chain, is in the process of creating Eco rooms which will have energy efficient mini bars, organic bed linen and napkins made from recycled paper. And when it comes to illumination, the rooms will have CFLs or LEDs. and Paper Sector. The initiatives undertaken by this top green firm in India includes two Clean Development Mechanism projects and a wind farm project that helped generate 2,30,323 Carbon Emission Reductions earning Rs. 17.40 Crore.
  • Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC) India’s largest oil producer, ONGC, is all set to lead the list of top 10 green Indian companies with energy-efficient, green crematoriums that will soon replace the traditional wooden pyre across the country. ONGC’s Mokshada Green Cremation initiative will save 60 to 70% of wood and a fourth of the burning time per cremation.
  • Wipro Green It. Wipro can do for you in your quest for a sustainable tomorrow- reduce costs, reduce your carbon footprints and become more efficient – all while saving the environment.
  • Wipro’s Green Machines (In India Only) Wipro Infotech was India’s first company to launch environment friendly computer peripherals. For the Indian market, Wipro has launched a new range of desktops and laptops called Wipro Greenware. These products are RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant thus reducing e-waste in the environment.
  • India’s 1st Green Stadium The Thyagaraja Stadium stands tall in the quiet residential colony behind the Capital’s famous INA Market. It was jointly dedicated by Union Sports Minister MS Gill and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday Dikshit said that the stadium is going to be the first green stadium in India, which has taken a series of steps to ensure energy conservation and this stadium has been constructed as per the green building concept with eco-friendly materials.
  • Suzlon Energy The world’s fourth largest wind-turbine maker is among the greenest and best Indian companies in India. Tulsi Tanti, the visionary behind Suzlon, convinced the world that wind is the energy of the future and built his factory in Pondicherry to run entirely on wind power. Suzlon’s corporate building is the most energy-efficient building ever built in India.
  • Tata Metaliks Limited (TML) Every day is Environment Day at TML, one of the top green firms in India. A practical example that made everyone sit up and take notice is the company’s policy to discourage working on Saturdays at the corporate office. Lights are also switched off during the day with the entire office depending on sunlight.
  • Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) Adjudged the best performer in the 2009-2010 Green Business Survey, TNPL was awarded the Green Business Leadership Award in the Pulp soon replace the traditional wooden pyre across the country. ONGC’s Mokshada Green Cremation initiative will save 60 to 70% of wood and a fourth of the burning time per cremation.
  • IndusInd Bank Green banking has been catching up as among the top Indian green initiatives ever since IndusInd opened the country’s first solar-powered ATM and pioneered an eco-savvy change in the Indian banking sector.

Present trends in Green Marketing in India  Governmental Bodies are forcing Firms to become more responsible. In most cases the government forces the firm to adopt policy which protects the interests of the consumers. Competitors’ Environmental Activities pressure the firms to change their Environmental Marketing Activities.

The Future of Green Marketing There are many lessons to be learned to avoid green marketing myopia, the short version of all this is that effective green marketing requires applying good marketing principles to make green products desirable for consumers. Evidence indicates that successful green products have avoided green marketing myopia by following three important principles

  1. Consumer Value Positioning
  • Design environmental products to perform as well as (or better than) alternatives.
  • Promote and deliver the consumer desired value of environmental products and target relevant consumer market segments.
  • Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling consumer desired value into environmental products.
  1. Calibration of Consumer Knowledge
  • Educate consumers with marketing messages that connect environmental attributes with desired consumer values.
  • Frame environmental product attributes as “solutions” for consumer needs.
  • Create engaging and educational internet sites about environmental products desired consumer value.
  1. Credibility of Product Claim
  • Employ environmental product and consumer benefit claims that are specific and meaningful.
  • Procure product endorsements or eco-certifications from trustworthy third parties

Challenges of Green Marketing Implementing green marketing is not going to be an easy job. The firm has to face many problems while trading products of green marketing. Challenges which have to be faced are listed under

  • Green marketing encourages green products / services, green technology, green power / energy.
  • The firm ensures that they convince the customer about their green product, by implementing
  • Eco labeling schemes. Eco labeling schemes offer its “approval” to “Environmentally harmless” products and they are very popular in Japan and Europe. Convincing the Indian customer’s is a great challenge.
  • The profits will be very low since renewable and recyclable products and green technologies are more expensive. Green marketing will be successful only in long run.
  • Many customers may not be willing to pay higher price for green products which may affect the sales of the company.

Analysis of Primary Data

       The following table gives the socio economic back ground of the respondent those who are purchasing the green products for their use in Tiruchirapalli district.

TABLE – 2  DEMOGRAPHICAL   PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS
Particulars No. of the Respondent % of the respondent
Age of the respondent Up to 25yrs 18 18
  25-35yrs 39 39
  35-45yrs 17 17
  45-55yrs 15 15
  Above 55 years 11 11
  Total 100 100
Gender of the respondent Male 53 53
  Female 47 47
  Total 100 100
Education  level of the respondent Up to 12th std 12 12
  Graduate 36 36
  PG 41 41
  Professional 7 7
  Others  4  4
  Total 100 100
Marital status of the respondent Married 72 72
  Unmarried 28 28
  Total 100 100
Occupation of the respondent Student 6 6
  Housewife 27 27
  Employed 38 38
  Entrepreneur 26 26
Retired persons 3 3
Total 100 100
Monthly income of the respondent No income 4 4
  Below Rs.10000 22 22
  10001-20000 34 34
  20001-30000 27 27
  Above30000 13 13
  Total 100 100

Sources primary data

        With the help of the above table it is observed that 39% of the respondents are from the age group of 25 – 35. 53 percent of the respondents are male. 41 percent of the respondent have been completed their post graduation.72 of them are married. 38 of them are working people, of which majority of them are in private sector institutions. Majority of them are getting a monthly salary of Rs more than 10000 and less than 20000 per month.

 

TABLE – 2

SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE GREEN PRODUCTS

Sl.No Particulars No. of Respondent % of Respondent
1 Friends and Relatives 36 36
2 News paper and Magazines 22 22
3 Television and Radio 9 9
4 Internet 26 26
5 others sources 7 7
  Total 100 100

              Sources primary data

       With the help of the above table, it is observed that 36 of the respondent have got the information about the green products from their friends and relatives. The major media of spreading the awareness is ward of mouth.  The web site is another media among the youngsters for getting information.

 

TABLE -3

 AMOUNT SPEND FOR A MONTH FOR PURCHASING THE GREEN PRODUCTS

                                                                                                          Rs in Hundreds

Sl.No Particulars No. of Respondent % of Respondent
1 Below 500 18 18
2 500 -750 27 27
3 750 – 1000 32 32
4 1000-1250 14 14
5 above 1250 9 9
  Total 100 100

             Sources primary data

With the help of the above table, it is observed that 32 percent of the respondent spending up to 1000 for their monthly purchase of green products.

TABLE -4

NATURE OFGREEN PRODUCTS PURCHASED IN A MONTH

Sl.No Particulars No. of Respondent % of Respondent
1 Organic Food items like Vegetables, Rice, Fruits etc 34 34
2 Cosmetics(soap, Shampoo ect) 47 47
3 Toiletries 9 9
4 Electricals 6 6
5 others 4 4
  Total 100 100

               Sources primary data

               With help of the above table 4 shows the purchase of type of Eco friendly products. 34% of respondents purchase organic food items like rice, vegetables, and fruits only. 47% of the respondent purchased cosmetic items and minority of them are purchased toiletries, electrical and others.

Testing of Hypotheses

  • There is no significant relationship between the Income and Awareness about the green products
  • There is no significant relationship between the occupation and Awareness about the green products.
  • There is no significant relationship between the educational level and Awareness about the green products.

 

                Factors                  Method Calculated value Table value(5% level significance, 12 Degree of freedom) Result
Income Awareness about the green products   42.47 21.026 Rejected
Occupation Awareness about the green products 38.96 21.026 Rejected
Educational level Awareness about the green products 28.96 21.026 Rejected

 

FINDINGS The findings of the study were summarizes and presented.

  • 39% of the respondents are from the age group of 25 – 35
  • 53 percent of the respondents are male.
  • 41 percent of the respondent have been completed their post graduation.
  • 72 of them are married
  • 38 of them are working people, of which majority of them are in private sector institutions.
  • Majority of them are getting a monthly salary of Rs more than 10000 and less than 20000 per month.
  • 36 of the respondent have got the information about the green products from their friends and relatives. The major media of spreading the awareness is ward of mouth. The web site is another media among the youngsters for getting information.
  • 32 percent of the respondent spending up to 1000 for their monthly purchase of green products.
  • There is a significant relationship between the Income and Awareness about the green products
  • There is a significant relationship between the occupation and Awareness about the green products.
  • There is a significant relationship between the educational level and Awareness about the green products.

Suggestions

  • Manufactures’ should concentrate to produce recyclable products, reuse of packaging and they can use energy saving equipments for production and other purpose.
  • More green products should be offered to the retailer, and then they can sell green products to the consumers.
  • Government should offer subsidies for purchasing the equipments and machinery helping in keeping environment green. The manufacturers can be offer loans from the banks to install the equipments at lower rate of interest.
  • Word of mouth and internet (social networks face book, whats app) play a vital role in promoting the awareness about the green products and the advantages of green products. The advertisement should be modified and explain in detail about the green products and then it will reach the consumers.
  • Government should make necessary for creating the awareness about the benefit of green products.

Conclusion

                   The current low levels of consumer awareness about global warming, environmental pollution the Government of India, manufacturers, and retailers need to help raise consumer consciousness. Indian manufacturers have yet to find a market for green products, even as consumers have a low awareness of them because of the insufficient efforts made by the marketers.  Overall, it is clear that the Indian consumers especially Tanjore consumers are having less awareness about the usage of green products. Now a day consumers are spending lesser amount to purchase green products. But they ready to pay more prices for the products which are causing less environmental pollution. They also prefer promotional campaign which protects the environment, and distribution channels which are not causing environmental pollution. Government, companies, consumers and other stockholders have to join hands to come out of the situation. The opinion of the retailers is green products are liked by consumers but because of poor awareness and high prices have not been fully adopted by them. As far as consumers are concerned the awareness level is increasing and has started implementing them in their normal life.  The intermediaries should include consumer’s attitude measurement programme in their marketing plan and adopt all aspects of green marketing, then only they can achieve their goal and fulfill the social responsibility of their business concern. There is a need in this situation to save our earth is  joint hands actions from Government, NGOs, Manufactures’, retailers regulators, scientific community and environmental education groups should create an awareness programmes among the consumers at regular intervals for reviving, maintaining and safeguarding the earth’s eco system.

RERFERENCES

  • Ina landau (2008) – “Gaining Competitive Advantage through Customer Satisfaction, Trust and Confidence in Consideration of the Influence of Green Marketing “Master Thesis- University of Gavle
  • Kanupriya Gupta and Rohini Somanathan (2011), – “Consumers Responses to Incentives to reduce plastic bag use: Evidence from a field experiment in Urban India” – Thesis – Delhi school of Economies., Delhi – 110 007
  • Merilänen, S., Moisander, J. & Personen, S. (2000). The Masculine Mindset of Environmental Management and Green Marketing. Business Strategy and the Environment, 9(3), pp. 151-162.
  • Oyewole, P. (2001). Social Costs of Environmental Justice Associated with the Practice of Green Marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 29(3), Feb, pp. 239-252.
  • Polonsky, Michael Jay. 1994. “An Introduction to Green marketing” – Electronic Green Journal, 1(2)-Article 3 (1994) – Pg2
  • Prothero, A. & Fitchett, J.A. (2000). Greening Capitalism: Opportunities for Green Community. Journal of Macromarketing, 20(1), pp. 46-56
  • Regi, S. B., Golden, S. A. R., & Franco, C. E. (2014). A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE PROSPECTS OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA.Golden Research Thoughts, 3 (9), 1, 7.
  • Renee Wever (2009) – “Thinking about the Box – A holistic approach to a sustainable design engineering of packing for Durable consumer goods “–Thesis– Delft University of Technology – Delft, Netherland.
  • Soren Bohne and Rikke Thomson (2011) – “Influencing consumer perception of and attitudes towards CO2 neutral and biodegradable carrier bags“ – Thesis – Department of Business administration – Aarhus University.
Research Paper

Challenges Faced By The Select Urban Public Sector Bank Customer’s While Using Atm/ Debit Card –

A Descriptive Analysis

* S.Bulomine Regi.,

ABSTRACT

“Banking is essential, banks are not”. It is noted that, traditional bank branches (bricks and mortar) are going to vanish through innovative banking services i.e. electronic banking and plastic cards which continue to attract new users. The main objective focused in this paper is to measure the challenges faced by the customers’ using ATM/Debit Card offered by selected public sector banks i.e. State Bank of India and Canara Bank. 360 respondents were selected using purposive stratified random sampling. This paper mainly focused on the challenges faced by the customers using ATM/Debit card.

KEYWORDS: ATM, Debit Card, ATM user, Challenges, Public Sector Banks

INTRODUCTION

ATMs are now a routine part of banking transactions but when they were introduced in 1960s, they were the high- tech technology. The Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is now such a normal part of daily life that it’s strange to think it was ever cutting-edge technology. But in 1960s, when the first cash-dispensing ATM was installed at a branch of Barclays Bank in London, it was innovative and revolutionary. What’s more, over the decades, ATMs have become much more than just cash dispensers. They also allow customers to carry out a range of banking activities, including deposits and mobile phone top-ups. Given that the ATM is such a prominent feature in people’s lives, it’s important to understand its background, technical development and its capabilities. Here’s a quick introduction to the ATM and its global significance.

While the first card-accepting ATM was introduced by Barclays in London in 1968, this was not in fact the very first incarnation of the automated teller. CitiBank, then known as First National City Bank, launched a version of the ATM called the Bankograph in American branches in 1960. This machine did not let customers withdraw money but instead allowed them to pay bills without the assistance of bank staff. Moreover, Barclays’ 1968 addition was not foolproof and cards were regularly swallowed by these early ATMs.

Following these early developments, growth in North America and Western Europe was rapid. In 1969, the first machine to use magnetically encoded plastic was installed at Chemical Bank in New York, although initial take-up was slow as the running costs for these machines, known as Docutellers, outstripped the cost of hiring a human teller. However, as the modified Total Teller was introduced in the early 1970s, ATMs began spreading in banks across the two continents.

Today, ATMs have been popularised across the globe. Experts estimate that developed countries like the USA, Canada, the UK and Japan have a high concentration of ATMs per capita, while steady economic growth in India and China has meant that the number of bank machines in these countries has been growing in the last decade. However, it’s not just the number of ATMs throughout the world that has increased but also its functions. As well as withdrawing and depositing cash, modern ATMs also allow you to put credit on a mobile phone just by entering your phone number of the keypad. What’s more, some machines will let pay money into a beneficiary’s account, while others will print mini bank statements of your last few transactions.

However, as software changes, it does concern over ATM security. Today’s biggest worry for ATM industry professionals is how to maintain the security of global systems beyond the traditional advice to consumers to keep their PIN secret. The development of chip cards and Chip and Pin technology has helped to combat ATM fraud but there are still advances to be made.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

            Nowadays majority of the customers are using ATMs to withdraw cash from their account. The debit cards are used in very occasion for payments made through online, payments for purchases in shopping mall and so on. The use of ATM is increasing day-by-day, it is important to study the challenges towards use of ATM services. The customers were facing different types of problems with which ATM is directly related. Machine complexity, machine breakdown, poor quality notes, network failure, unsuitable location, forgot ATM pin number, High frequency of use, safety and security are the major problems of ATM users. Customers do not like ATMs because of impersonality, vision problem, fear of technology and reluctance to change and adopt new mode of delivery of service.

 

 

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of the study:

  1. To study the socio-economic conditions of the respondents using ATM/Debit Card from select public sector banks in Tirunelveli District.
  2. To identify the challenges faced by the customers while using ATM/Debit Card from select public sector banks in Tirunelveli District.
  3. To give suggestions for the improvement of using ATM/Debit Card.

METHODOLOGY

Research design

A  research  design  is  a  plan  of  the  research  project  to  investigate  and  obtain answers  to research questions. Three types of research designs identified from the literature are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory design.[1] In  the  beginning  of  the  study, an  exploratory research  was  undertaken by an  in-depth review of literature in order to identify the research  problem,  constructs  and  to formulate hypotheses. Descriptive  research design  was  used  in  the  next  stage  of  the research for the purpose of describing the profile of the respondents and to determine the frequencies,  percentages, mean and standard  deviation  of  the  measures  and constructs used  in  the  study. Descriptive research could not explain the relationship among the variables [2] and therefore, to establish relationship and association between variables used in the study, explanatory research was used.

Survey  method  using  a  pre-structured  interview schedule was  used  for  collecting  primary data from the respondents because it offers more accurate means of evaluating information about  the  sample  and  enables  the  researcher  to  draw  inferences about  generalising  the findings  from  a  sample  to  the  population.[3]  The study  also  made  use  of secondary  data  collected  from  published  sources  such  as  records  and  reports of RBI and IRDBT, books, bank official websites, bank magazines, reports, newspapers, journals and websites.

Two banks were selected for the study and 180 customers were selected from each bank purposively those who are using innovative banking services namely ATM/Debit Card, Credit Card, Internet Banking and Mobile Banking. Two banks were selected based on IBA Banking Technology Awards 2014-2015.[4] The select banks are State Bank of India and Canara Bank which are public sector.

Sample design

Details of customers using innovative banking services (IBS) could not be obtained from the banks due to banks’ privacy issues and topic sensitivity. Therefore, the researcher decided to contact the respondents from ATM outlets of the select banks and other urban ATM outlets in the district. Simple random sampling method was adopted to select the ATM outlets and purposive sampling method was adopted to select the respondents. Customers who are using innovative banking services (IBS) visiting ATM outlets on the days of survey were selected as sample respondents. The respondents were selected after having ensured that they have account with any of the two banks and they are using all the two selected IBS. It was also ensured that the respondents have been using IBS for a minimum period of two years.

 Determination of Sample Size

Where

         Z       =       Standardized value corresponding to a confidence level of 95% = 1.96

         S       =       Sample SD from Pilot study of 60 sample = 0.484

         E       =       Acceptable Error =5% = 0.05

         Hence, Sample size = n = (ZS/E) 2

                                                = (1.96*0.484/0.05)2

                                                = 359.96

Hence, Sample Size n= 360

360 respondents who were selected for the study out of those 180 respondents are from State Bank of India and 180 respondents are from Canara Bank. The collected data were analysed with the help of SPSS 21 and AMOS. In order to obtain the score of the attitude of customers Likert Five Point Scaling Technique was used.

Results of Reliability Test Using Cronbach’s Alpha

Variables No. of Items Cronbach’s Alpha
Measuring  level of attitude of  the customers’ towards IBS 28 0.892

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Each research work is subjected to certain limitations and this study is also not an exception. The present study has the following limitations:

  • The responses for the study have been solicited from the District of Tirunelveli in Tamilnadu alone. The expectation and attitude of the customers in Tirunelveli may vary from those of the rest of the Districts in Tamilnadu and other states in India.
  • The study may suffer from the element of biasness.
  • The customers of two banks were selected for the study to study the attitude towards IBS. As a result, the generalisation of the findings of the present research has to be done with utmost care.
  • Furthermore, the sample was restricted to commercial banks. The other major banks like private, co-operative banks and foreign banks are excluded from the study.
  • The analysis of innovative banking services offered to corporate banking customers are excluded from the study.
  • No published data were available on number of customers availing all the four select services and no banks provided much data.
  • As regard users of card, no categorisation has been done such as users of classic, platinum and alike.
  • The study was restricted to urban customers only.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

MILIEU OF THE RESPONDENTS- A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

  • Majority (61.4%) of the customers using innovative banking services (IBS) are male.
  • Majority (31.7%) of the respondents using innovative banking services (IBS) belongs to the age group of 31-35.
  • Majority (75.3%) of the customers using innovative banking services (IBS) are married.
  • Majority (45.8) of the IBS users are graduates.
  • Majority (44.7) of the respondents are employed.
  • In public sector, customers using innovative banking services (IBS) are earning above
  • Overall 78.3 per cent of the respondents are having savings account.
  • Majority (47.2%) of the respondents are having account with the bank between 2-5 years.

 

Problems faced by the customers while using ATM/Debit Card

         Customers are using maximum ATM/Debit Card service at the maximum in their day to day transactions. It is evident that, majority of the customers are using Debit Card up to 5 times. While using ATM/Debit Card customers are facing problems in performing their task. The below table shows the major problems faced by the customers while accessing ATM/Debit Card.

Table No. 1

Mean of Problems Faced by the Respondents while using ATM/Debit Card

ATM/DEBIT CARD Public Sector of Bank
Poor network 2.05
Lack of infrastructure 1.99
Long waiting queue 3.40
Machine out of service 2.52
Out of cash 1.81
Limited ATM centres 2.52
Unable to print statement 2.41
Letters printed in the statement disappear after few days 3.62
Card blocked 2.58
Misuse of card and frauds 2.27
Lack of confidence 2.18
Swiping is difficult 1.86
ATM centre doors are always open 3.67
Without security guards 3.44
Non-availability of CCTV  (Inside and Outside ATM centre) 2.37
Damaged Currency 2.23
Reduction of balance without cash disposal 2.36
Over/Under value of withdrawal amount 2.29
Location of ATM centre  is safety 2.56
No proper Air Conditioner 1.74
No parking  facilities in front of ATM centres 3.60
2 or more people in a single machine 3.57
Not giving proper intimation about charges 3.54
Magnetic Strip easily damaged 1.89
If misplaced, blocking card is difficult 2.29
Prompt service to get new card and PIN 3.12
Time Consuming 2.29
ATM premises are full of Receipts on the floor. 3.17
Shoppers also charging for using card 2.76

    Source: Primary Data

            Based on the mean score, public sector customers using ATM/Debit Card services are facing problems like ATM outlet doors are always open (3.67), letters in printed statement disappear after few days (3.62), no parking facilities in front of ATM outlets (3.60), two or more people tend to use a machine at a time (3.57), banks are not giving proper intimation about charges (3.54), lack of security guards (3.44) in the ATM outlets and long waiting in queue (3.40).

Inference: It is inferred that, public sector customers are facing the similar problems i.e. lack of infrastructure facilities and not proper maintenance of ATM outlets. It is evidence that, urban ATM outlets in the study area are accurately having these types of problems cited by the sample respondents.

SUGGESTIONS

  • Nowadays, there is sufficient number of ATMs but no proper facilities to access the ATM outlets like parking, shed to stay in queue, paper free ATM center, Air Conditioner, Security guards and CCTV camera in and out of ATM outlets to avoid physical attack and theft occurred in the place of ATM outlet. So, proper care should be given to maintain ATM outlets.
  • The banks should instruct the outsourcing agents to put quality paper for printing receipt. Because, the letter in the printed receipt disappear after few days.
  • The customers should follow the security guidelines given by the banks while accessing ATM/Debit Card.
  • The customers should not disclose the PIN to anybody.
  • The customers should avail ATM/Debit Card with utmost care.

CONCLUSION

Banking sector plays a vital role in the growth of economic development in India. Banking is still under evolutionary stage as it is adopting new technologies to facilitate further the customer convenience in the secured environment. IBS is becoming popular amongst customers who are familiar with the technology up graduation but it is gradually spreading to mass especially at metropolitan and urban cities. Few banks have taken an early lead by introducing technology based banking services. The study on the customers’ attitude towards innovative banking services (IBS) in banking sector reveals that customers are satisfied in some aspects and they want to continue with their respective banks. The shift from cutomerised service to personalized services is highly essential to satisfy all groups of customers. The findings of the study stress upon the importance of the security and safety expected by the customers especially in the case of innovative banking services (IBS) like ATM/Debit Card. The future of internet banking lies in offering personalized internet based services that are not only valued by their customers but are also unique to them. This would help distinguish themselves in the crowd. This would also help them evolve continuously to meet customers’ needs, capitalizing on new technology to build stronger customer relationship.

REFERENCES

  1. Eugine, F. D. C. & Regi, S. B., “Advantages and Challenges of E-Commerce Customers and Businesses: In Indian Perspective” International Journal of Research–Granthaalayah,4(3), 7-13.
  2. Golden, S. A. R. (2015). Regional Imbalance affecting quality of e-banking services with special reference to Tuticorin District-An Analysis.International Journal of Research, 2(3), 788-798.
  3. Golden, S. A. R., & Regi, S. B. (2014). Attitude of Rural People Towards Technology Inclusion In Banking Services At Tirunelveli District, IGJAE – Indo Global Journal Of Applied Management Science, 2(2).
  4. Golden, S. A. R., & Regi, S. B. (2014). Customer Preference Towards E- Channels Provided By State Of Bank Of India, Kongunadu College Of Arts And Science, Special Edition 1(1).
  5. Golden, S. A. R., & Regi, S. B. (2015). Satisfaction of Customers towards User Friendly Technological Services offered by Public and Private Sector banks at Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli District.International Journal of Research, 2(3), 775-787.
  1. http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Brief-Introduction-to-the-Automated-Teller-Machine&id=5397483
  2. http://worldwidejournals.com/paripex/file.php?val=July_2013_1374047900_e453d_54.pdf
  1. Regi, S. B., & C. Eugine Franco, “MEASURING CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS INNOVATIVE BANKING SERVICES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT” International Journal of Research – Granthaalayah, Vol. 4, No. 5: SE (2016): 58-66.
  2. Regi, S. B., & Golden, S. A. R. (2014). Customer Preference Towards Innovative Banking Practices Available In State Bank Of India At Palayamkottai.Sankhya International Journal Of Management And Technology, 3 (11 (A)), 31, 33.
  3. Regi, S. B., & Golden, S. A. R. (2014). Customer Preference Towards E-Channels Provided By State Of Bank Of India.
  4. Regi, S. B., and Dr.C. Eugine Franco, “MEASURING CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS INNOVATIVE BANKING SERVICES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT” International Journal of Research – Granthaalayah, Vol. 4, No. 5: SE (2016): 58-66.
  5. Regi, S. B., Golden, S. A. R., & Franco, C. E. (2014). ROLE OF COMMERCIAL BANK IN THE GROWTH OF MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES.Golden Research Thoughts, 3 (7), 1, 5.

[1] Cooper, D.R. and Schindler, P.S. (2001).  Business Research Methods (7th edition). Singapore: McGraw-Hill- Irwin.

[2] Zikmund, W.G. (2000).  Business Research Methods (6th edition). Chicago: The Dryden Press.

[3] Creswell,J.W.  (1994). Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication

[4] http://www.iba.org.in/Documents/FINAL_AWARDS.pdf dated 10/04/2015 time 23.59 p.m