Directors’ and Permanent Secretaries Appraisal of Office Technology and Management Graduates’ Work Performance in Imo State Civil Service, Nigeria (Published)
The study was designed to determine Directors’ and Permanent Secretaries appraisal of adequacy of work performance of office technology and management graduates’ employees in Imo State Civil Service South East Nigeria. Three research questions were raised to guide the study while one null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The entire population of 166 Directors and Permanent Secretaries who supervise secretaries in Imo state civil service were used for the study. Data were collected for the study through the administration of validated questionnaire on the respondents. Test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. The mean statistics was used to answer the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the hypothesis. The result of this study revealed that the work performance of OTM graduates employees in Imo state civil service is adequate in terms of records management, human relations and information and communication technology functions. It was therefore recommended among others that academic board of various polytechnics in Nigeria should ensure that the quality of training and education in Office Technology and Management programme is sustained so that the quality of graduates produced do not fall below the required standard specified by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and expected by employers of labour and that NBTE should continue to emphasize on adequacy of physical facilities and equipment in office technology and management programme.
Keywords: Directors and Permanent Secretaries Appraisal, Office Technology and Management Graduates, Work Performance
Sources and Effects of Stress on Work Performance, and Coping Strategies among Nurses at University of Cape Coast Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana (Published)
Stress is part of our everyday life and affects all aspects of our activities. In professions, where encountering hundreds of people is a routine could be very stressful. This is the nature of the nursing profession, with its attendant effects on the physical and psychological wellbeing of the nurse. This study set out to find the sources and effects of stress on work performance among nurses at the University of Cape Coast Hospital, and the coping strategies they adopt. Questionnaire was used to solicit data from the respondents. Using the multi-stage sampling technique, fifty nine nurses were sampled for the study. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated, and answered and tested respectively. Independent t-tests, Analysis of Variance, and means were used in analyzing the data collected. No statistically significant differences were found between the ages of nurses and the type of stress experienced, by gender with respect to how they coping strategies toward stress, and among the various ranks of nurses and the effect of stress on their performance. It was concluded that, nurses in the University of Cape Coast Hospital were aware of the sources of stress among nurses, aware of the effects of stress on their performance, and had devised their strategies for coping with stress.It was therefore recommended that management of the Directorate of University Health Services (UCC) organizes seminars, workshops, forum, among others on incidence of stress and stress management strategies for the nurses. This would help the nurses to be abreast with stress coping strategies thereby alleviating stress on them. It was also recommended that counsellors were brought on to put in techniques that would assist nurses who are going through stressful conditions, which are likely to affect their performance on the work.
Keywords: Cape Coast, Coast Hospital, Coping, Ghana, Nurses University of Cape, Sources and Effects, Strategies., Stress, Work Performance