Background of the Study
Every organization performs its task with the help of resources from men, machine, materials and money. Other resources are non-living except manpower which is a live generating resource. Manpower utilizes other resources and gives output. If manpower is not available then other resources are useless and cannot produce anything. Out of all the factors of production, manpower has the highest priority and is the most significant factor of production and plays a pivotal role in the areas of productivity and quality.
Though lack of attention to the other factors may result in reduction of profitability to some extent, lack of attention to human resource will be very disastrous. In a country where human resource is abundant, it is a pity that they remain under-utilized. Technology alone, however, cannot bring about desired change in economic performance of the country unless human potential is fully utilized for production. Sheldon (1923) noted “No industry can be rendered efficient so long as the basic fact remains unrecognized that is human.” The people at work comprise a large number of individuals of different sex, age, socio-religious group and different educational or literacy standards. These individuals in their working place exhibit not only similar behavioral patterns and characteristics to a certain degree but also show much dissimilarity.
The human resource is critical and difficult to manage. It is because human behaviour is highly unpredictable. It differs not only from individual to individual but often on the part of same individual at different points of time. In spite of biological and cultural similarities, human beings not only differ in their appearance but also in their capabilities based on their background, training and experience. Therefore, there is need for management of any organization to fashion out the best method of handling human resources.
Management is the process of efficiently getting activities completed with and through people. The management process includes Planning, Organizing, Leading and controlling activities that take place to accomplish the goal. Personnel management which is a branch of management performs the same functions towards achieving the desired goal of the establishment. Different terms are used for personnel management. The different terms are labour management, labour administration, labour management relations, employee-employer relations, personnel administration, human assets management, human resources management etc. In simple sense, human resources management means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirements with a view to contribute to the goals of the organization, individual and the society (Manuguru, 2010). Staff Management is not a new trend in large cooporations especially in the banking and telecommunication industries where detailed staff workforce exists. The Government parastatal is no exception as it is very necessary to improve on the Staff documentation system through a computerized means for easy access to detailed and well documented Staff records.