CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
An
organization implements the performance system to allocate rewards for
the employee, provide development advice as well as to obtain their
perspectives, and justice perception about their jobs, department,
managers, and organization. Prior studies reveal that employee
perception is a significant factor in employee acceptance and
satisfaction of job. A good perception will create a positive working
environment in the organization, while a negative perception will affect
the company performance. These perceptions depend on the manager or
supervisor’s actions and behaviors toward the employee. If the
organizations are perceived as unfair, therefore, the benefits can
diminish rather than enhance employee’s positive attitudes and
performance.
Perception strengthens the
relationship between performance and the expectation of a satisfactory
outcome through a better understanding of what the desired outcomes are
and how they can be achieved as well as directs the energies of
employees/work group towards the goals and objectives of the
organization. Commitment to organizational goals may result from the
sense of ownership or
Proprietary rights achieved through employee’s perception.
Specifically,
the perceptions of procedural unfairness can adversely affect employee’s
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, trust in management,
performance as well as their work related stress, organization
citizenship behavior, theft, and inclination to litigate against their
employer. During the last ten years, the number of studies which
examined the effect of perception on employee had increased. In a study,
revealed that there was a direct relationship between employee
perception and employee outcomes, which is mostly job satisfaction among
employees.
Employee’s perception can
affect organizational productivity positively when they are willing and
committed to organizational goals. Willingness and commitment can be
exhibited by employees towards their job if they are perception are
taken into consideration in decision making in the organization. Thus,
for management to win the commitment of employees to get their job done
properly, individual employees should not be treated in isolation, but
must be involved in matters concerning them and the organization. When
employee’s perceptions are considered, staff absenteeism is reduced,
there’s greater organizational commitment, improved performance, reduced
turnover and greater job satisfaction.
Employees’
perception has been widely recommended as one of the means of improving
the quality of work life. The implied goal is to provide an environment
where an individual will have the freedom and autonomy to make choices
which are related to his work environment and to improve the fit between
his personality and the job demands as well as between his work and
non-work domains.
This study is
conducted with the aim to explore the relationship that exists between
employee’s perception and their work outcomes, in the form of work
performance affective commitment and turnover intention, which is
specifically conducted to address the problems faced by working
individuals in Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Abuja because
one of the factors that affect employees’ work outcomes is their
perception towards the practice of the organization. Therefore, Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, Abuja can realize the current state of
the employee outcomes and create strategies to improve work performance
and affective organizational commitment, thus reducing employees’
turnover.
Thus, the
present study attempts to examine the perception of the employees of
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Abuja towards the various
aspects of the organization and its impact on their work outcomes.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
If employees
are satisfied on the implementation of programmes in the organization,
they will perceive well and exert every possible effort to carry out
their responsibilities and duties assigned to them efficiently and
effectively thus will make the organization to which they belong more
productive and successful. For instance, in order to positively
influence employee behavior & future development it has been
frequently argued that, employee must experience positive reactions in
the practice of the organization. Having these; differences in
perceptions of employee about the existing organization system practice
based on their perception of fairness is a big question in NNPC, Abuja.
Currently, most employees of the organization are discussing about the
issue informally, but a due attention was not taken to examine the
perception of employees toward their complaints and their reactions
(positive or negative) to the organization; due to this problem
employees of the organization will not satisfied and their contribution
throughout their employment will be reduced. This study is therefore,
seeks to investigate the employee perception toward the organization and
outcomes by analyzing; What potential consequences will be happened in
the area of work performance, affective commitment and turn over
intentions as result of employees’ different perception of practice in
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
General Objective
The general objective of this
study is to investigate the effect of employees’ perception on
organization performance and development.
Specific Objectives
Based on the general objective of the study the following specific objectives are developed.
- To assess employees’ perception about practice of the organization.
- To assess the level of employees’ work performance, affective
organizational commitment and their intention to leave due to neglecting
of their perception.
- To examine the relationship between employees perception on organization performance and development.
- To examine the relationship between employees perception and organizational behavior
- To assess the level of employees’ work outcomes in the form of work
performance, affective commitment and turnover intention in associated
with their perception of the current operating system.
1.4 Statement of Hypothesis
For the purpose of the study, the following hypotheses were formulated:
H1: There is a significant relationship between employee perception and performance.
H0: There is no significant relationship between employee perception and performance.
H1: That employee perception has a positive effect on the organizational performance and development.
H0: That employee perception has a negative effect on the organizational performance and development.
H1: That Employee perception in an organization motivate an employee
H0: That Employee perception in an organization does not motivate an employee.
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The research
is conducted at Nigeria National petroleum Corporation in Abuja This
study emphasized on one independent variable employees’ perception and
three dependent variables work performance, affective organizational
commitment, and turn over intention. Other variables being affecting and
affected by the perception of employees is not addressed.
In the process of putting up
this research, a number of factors serves as impediments, barriers and
restrictions from different areas which affect the effectiveness of this
work, these includes:
- Human beings are tending to hide what they really feel from within
due to different reasons, respondents might reluctant to provide their
true feelings as a result conclusions of the findings might be affected.
Some participants may tease whiling responding.
- Lack of experience was also affected the research work. Absence of empirical studies conducted is another limitation.
- Since the organization has branches at zonal levels, it is limited
only to NNPC, Abuja as a result the generalization to the whole
organization is difficult.
- Time factor: The project work have to be carried out within a
semester in combination with class works, assignment, mid-test and
examination of which within stipulated time the work must be completed.
This becomes a task that must be completed by the researcher.
1.6 Definitions of Operational Terms
Affective commitment: The tendency of employee to stay with an organization that is based on an emotional attachment
Perception: The process by which an individual gives meaning to the environment.
Turn over intention: is a measurement of whether an organization’s employees plan to leave their positions.
Work Performance: an accomplishment of assigned tasks to achieving an organization’s goal.
1.7 Plan of the study
The research is to examine the
effect of perception on organization performance and productivity in
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Abuja. The study includes five
major chapters.
The first chapter is
introductory part which consists of back ground of the study, statement
of the problem, objectives of the study, Hypothesis of the study,
theoretical framework, scope and limitation of the study, operational
definitions, and plan of the study.
The second chapter contains
literature review, in this section, theoretical and empirical finding of
previous studies related to the topic are reviewed.
The third chapter includes the
research design& Methodology, Source of data, sampling design,
method of data analysis tools employed are included under this section.
The fourth chapter deals with data analysis and discussion and testing of hypothesis.
The fifth chapter deals with summary, conclusion & recommendation.