CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Decision making has been observed to be the heart of administrative process and leadership in schools. The principals and Academic staff in Nigerian schools are faced with myriads of challenges in both teaching and administrative activities which seem to have consistently hampered the realization of the objectives of the school. These problems require unified effort from the principals and the Academic staff for quality and effective administration. It has been observed that Academic staff are central in the management of schools and their involvement in decision making process is such a sensitive issue in schools that neglect of it by the principals could cause a lot of rift, conflict, misgiving and hindrance to the realization of the objectives of the school goals. The success or failure of any school is largely dependent upon the groups that make it up and effective utilization of the intellectual abilities of these group or human resources helps the development of such an organization or school. Udo and Akpa (2007) asserted that where there Academic staff involved in decision making process, there would be commitment and adequate support with the principal and the realization of school goal will be easy, apathy and opposition within the school will be minimized. Glew et al. (1995) called the system participative decision making and defined it as “higher level individual’s effort to provide those at a lower level with a greater voice in organizational performance. The definition makes it clear that in the intelligence quotient literature, participative decision making represents a deliberate change from traditional management in which minority of upper-level management employees make all of the decisions regarding organizational policies and functioning. Jewell (1998) summed up participative decision making as an effort to avoid the “nobody asked” syndrome. He further explained it to mean soliciting employee’s idea for turning the situation in an organization around. He further opined that along with the expectation that asking, will improve the quality of organizational decision making, it is an expectation that people who participate in decisions that affect them will understand the issues better and accept the decisions more readily. Ndu and Anogbov (2007) noted that where Academic staff are not involved in governance, result to Academic staff behaving as if they are strangers within the school environment. Thus, most Academic staff do not put in their best to have full sense of commitment and dedication to the school Mullins (2005) is of the opinion that many people believed that staff participation in decision making leads to higher performance and which is necessary for survival in an increasingly competitive world. Welfson (1998) reiterated that boredom and frustration at work is often the result of an employee’s lack of involvement in decision making processes with the organization’s goals and a feeling that their ideas are not wanted or listened to. He further expantiated that staff turnover increases as employee’s walkout of the door for more interesting jobs. Wilkinson (1999) corroborated this fact and saw involvement of employees in decision making as empowerment while a neglect of employees in decision making was seen as an assumption that workers are untapped resources with knowledge and experience and an interest in becoming involved, employers need to provide opportunities and structures for their involvement. He also assumed that participative decision making is likely to lead to job satisfaction and better quality decisions and that gains are available both to employers (increased efficiency) and workers (job satisfaction), in short an everyone-wins scenario.
1.2. STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL PROBLEM
The issue of decision making is paramount in schools, it is something that no one can do without, it is required in our day to day running of the institution. The question is who then is capable or should take decisions? It is assumed that managers take decisions along with their staff and pass it down the line for implementations. In a school setting, the principal normally holds meetings with their members of staff and during this process decisions are made. In some cases, the principals only hold meetings with some matured members of staff of their choice and sometimes with professionals everything depends on the method the head chooses to use. However, this difference in approach is not certain that decisions made could affect performance. Unless the members of today’s well educated work force are treated as equals and shown that they are appreciated, they simply will not produce that which they are capable of producing, organizations often fail to improve because managers who have the authority to make changes are sometimes unaware of the problems, while people on the front line (Academic staff) who know what the problem are, have little or no authority in decision making process.
1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major aim of the study is to examine the effect of academic staff in decision making processes in educational institutions. other specific objectives of the study include;
1. To examine the importance of inclusive decision making processes.
2. To assess the level of academic staff involvement in decision making process in Nigerian educational institutions.
3. To recommend ways of improving academic staff involvement of academic staff in decision making processes of educational institutions.
1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is the effect of involvement of academic staff in decision making process in educational institutions?
2. What is the importance of inclusive decision making processes?
3. What is the level of academic staff involvement in decision making process in Nigerian educational institutions?
4. What are the ways of improving academic staff involvement of academic staff in decision making processes of educational institutions?
1.5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
H0: There is no significant effect of academic staff involvement in decision making processes in educational institutions.
H1: There is a significant effect of academic staff involvement in decision making processes in educational institutions.
1.6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study would be of immense importance to the administrators of tertiary institutions across the country as it would reveal the effect of academic staff involvement in decision making process in educational institutions. the study would also benefit students, researchers and scholars who are interested in developing a further study on the subject matter.
1.7. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The study is restricted to the effect of involvement of academic staff in decision making processes in educational institutions using the university of mkar,Benue state as the case study.
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