CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Man wherever he is, be it at home, school or even the company he keeps is always influenced by his internal environment. The reason being that he is easily assimilated into the totality of his environment.

Generally,non-financial refers to one’s immediate surroundings including water, air, land in which one lives that influence one’s life. But for the purpose of this research, internal environment here shall be referred to as elements within the work environment, such as working environment, management style, inter- relationship amongst staff and motivational factors - incentives, salary increase and opportunity to develop oneself. These have effects on the overall performance of an employee.

An improved work environment will result in a reduction in a number of complaints and absenteeism and will bring an increase in productivity, Roelofson (2002).

Employee makes critical difference between success and failure. The effectiveness with which organizations manage,

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develop, motivate and engage the willing contribution of the employees will enable them to capitalize on their expertise most efficiently. There is a link between people management and business performance. According to Roelofson one of the fundamental human requirements is work environment that allows people to perform their work optimally under comfortable condition.

People are beginning to be conscious of the fact that to be happy and cheerful in one’s work place, some conditions must be present even with little pay. For example, not withstanding whatever is provided for a seamstress for her job, if there is no machine, all that is provided comes to naught. Again, when a librarian is provided for a noisy environment, he will not carry out his work effectively because the environment suitable for effective library function is quietness and orderliness. Similarly, an Accountant who deals with figures will be annoyed if he is sharing a calculator with four staff members. Also, the secretary is looked upon as human machine, trained with the responsibility of taking note of what others may regard as minor and making suggestions based on records

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available. To effectively carry out these and other functions, the secretary needs a ‘hightech’ office where some electronic machines will complement his/her human ability.

In an employment situation, the employee promises to live up to expectation. The employer expects nothing less. But the point is: has the employer provided a work environment that will facilitate the effective discharge of the employees’ assigned duties? Most employers keep complaining of poor returns from employee without taking out time to find out why the new employer has not performed beyond what the former one was able to do.

If an organization provides its employees with better work and most conducive working environment they can perform exceptionally well, and companies can capitalize on their enhanced productivity in the shape of cost reduction, which will ultimately contribute awards rich profits. The relationship between employee attitudes and company performance, as suggested by Patterson et’ al., (1997), is highly correlated. They suggested that managers of organizations who are eager to promote productivity and

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Profitability should pay close attention to the attitudes of

their employees in order to make them more positive.

THE EFFECTS OF INTERNAL ENVIROMENT ON EMPLOYEE

AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

The internal environment has the biggest effect on employee performance and productivity. As a result of that, businesses are taking a more strategic approach to environmental management to enhance their productivity through improving the performance level of the employees. Govindarajulu (2004)

It is evident in the research findings of Patterson et’al, (2004) that the more satisfied workers are with their internal environment the better the company is likely to perform in terms of subsequent profitability and productivity and vice versa.

Many managers and supervisors labour under the mistaken impression that the level of employee performance on the job is only proportional to the size of the employee’s pay packet. Although this may be true in a minority of cases. Numerous employee surveys have shown by and large this

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to be untrue. In fact, salary increases and bonuses for performance in many instances, have a very limited short-term effect. The extra money soon comes to be regarded not as an incentive but as an “entitlement”.

There are other factors that when combined provide a positive effect on employee performance and productivity. When these other factors are missing or diluted, the employee comes to work only for a paycheck. In this case, the employee is present at work in body only, leaving their mind outside the gate. Business Performance Pty Ltd (2006)

The key factors and how each can be utilized by supervisors and managers to boost performance are:

Goal- setting

Employees should be involved in setting meaningful goals and performance measures for their work. This can be done informally between the employee and their immediate supervisor or as part of an organization’s formal performance management process. Here each employee is

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actively engaged in the goal-setting process and takes ownership of the final agreed goal and measures.

Performance feedback

Employees should be regularly given feedback on how they are performing. This should consist of both positive feedback on what the employee is doing right as well as feedback on what requires improvement. The feedback needs to be as objective as possible and delivered with the appropriate interpersonal and conflict resulting skills. It can be a mix of both informal feedback delivered as part of a formal performance management cycle.

Role congruity

The role the employee is required to perform should consistent with their expectations on joining the organization and any subsequent training. The organization’s role expectations are typically reflected in formal documents’ such as job Description and Role specifications. These expectations should be consistent with tasks allocation to employees.

Incentives

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What motivates employees in particular should be determined and also set up formal and informal structures for rewarding employees that behave in the way required.

Supervisor support

Supervisor should act as advocates for employees, gathering and distributing the resources needed by them in order for them to do a good job. Immediate supervisor and managers need to display the interpersonal skills required to engage employees and enhance their self-confidence. This includes providing positive encouragement for a job well done.

Resource availability

Adequate maternal resources need to be available to enable employees perform to the best of their ability. It will help them work easier and help minimize error rate and customer dissatisfaction by supplying job aids. These can include templates, guides, models and checklists.

1.2  A BRIEF HISTORY OF CADBURY NIGERIA PLC

The origins of Cadbury Nigeria Plc. date back to the 1950s when the business was founded as an operation to source cocoa beans from Nigeria and as a precursor to enable the company’s founders to tap opportunities for serving the local consumer-market with world-famous, Cadbury-branded products.In the early 1960s, an initial operation was established to re-pack imported bulk products. This packing operation grew rapidly into a fully-fledged manufacturing operation and resulted in the incorporation of Cadbury Nigeria Limited in January 1965. In 1976, the firm became a publicly listed company with shares traded locally on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.Cadbury Nigeria has grown to become a household name providing consumers with much-loved brands and revenue of N35.7b in 2013.

Introduced in 1960, Cadbury Bournvita, the company’s flagship brand, was initially imported and re-packed locally on the current site at Agidingbi, Ikeja Lagos. Having consolidated the Food Drinks market in Nigeria, Cadbury Bournvita became in 1965 the first Food Drink to be locally manufactured. Cadbury Bournvitawas re-launched in a World Class, Environmentally Friendly Polypropylene Jar in 2011 and remains today a market leader in the Food Drinks category. In 2013, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN) endorsed Cadbury Bournvita as a Food Drink rich in energy and essential micronutrients, the only Food Drink Brand to be so endorsed.

Cadbury Nigeria also developed other product-categories, most notably Candy. Introduced in 1970, TomTom–the big, black and white sweet for soothing relief which has sustained market leadership for over 40 years–remains the most iconic brand in the Nigerian Candy market. It now comes in three variants: Classic, HoneyLemon and Strawberry. The other brand in the company’s Candy portfolio is Trebor Buttermint, the delicious sweet with the double pleasure of butter and mint. In 2012, the company expanded its product categories in Nigeria when it launched Tang, the global leader in powdered beverages.

Cadbury Nigeria owned 99.66% equity in Stanmark Cocoa Processing Company Limited, located in Ondo Town in Ondo State, Nigeria. The Company provides all the cocoa powder required for manufacturing Cadbury Bournvita. Stanmark Cocoa Processing Company Limited processed cocoa beans into several high quality cocoa by-products (such as cocoa butter, cocoa powder, cocoa cake and cocoa liquor) for local and export markets. In April 2013, Cadbury Nigeria acquired the majority equity-interests in Stanmark Cocoa Processing Company Limited, becoming part of the enlarged Cadbury Nigeria family and now known as Cadbury Nigeria Plc Cocoa Processing Plant.We have the right people who help make Cadbury Nigeria a great place to work. From our initial staff-strength of 200 in 1965, Cadbury Nigeria currently employs about 1,000 people who have chosen to build their careers with the company.Mondelez International has a majority equity-interest of 74.97% in Cadbury Nigeria through its holding in Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited. The remaining 25.03% equity-ownership is held by a diverse group of Nigerian individuals and institutional shareholders

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

As has been suggested, the average business firms place more premiums on profit, especially in a capitalist economy as ours. Employers believe they can hire and fire at any time, as far as there is someone willing to do the job even at a lower pay with this unfortunate state of affairs, internal environment are not given proper attention.

This disturbing tread in Cadbury Nigeria plc has coursed the company to lose its staff who leave in search of a better internal environment in terms of better promotion policy, better remuneration, good and better working conditions. On this note, this work attempts to find out the extent to which the internal environment such as works environment, motivation feeds like salary increase in Cadbury Nigeria Plc has affected the job performance and productivity of its employees.

1.4    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The study is aimed at ascertaining whether there is a casual relationship between the conditions available in the manufacturing environment of Cadbury Nigeria plc and the staff performance. The work will also investigate whether

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perceived promotional opportunities will make employees stay with the company and whether money is the main motivating factor. Furthermore, the following objectives will also be considered:

•      To find out whether incentives such as bonus performance allowances, etc is an attractive inducement to workers.

•      To find out whether salaries paid to the Cadbury Nigeria Plc employees are considered attractive when compared to other manufacturing companies.

Finally, this work will seek to suggest to managers, supervisors, administrations and others who have workers under their control, a workable policy and strategy to providing a conducive zeal and enhance the job

1.5  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will explore the effect of internal environment on employee performance and the make-up of what constitutes a good internal environment in the company used as a case study. It is intended to be of interest to the top management

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in the manufacturing companies who would find the study very essential as a guide in structuring the internal environment and make it a better place, putting all the necessary facilities in place to enhance efficiency and also increase the level of job performance.

1.6  SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is not designed to cover the manufacturing companies in Nigeria but it is limited to Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Aba office. Efforts have been specifically devoted to find out how the effect of internal environment affects the job performance of staff of Cadbury Nigeria Plc for this purpose, the study covers both the junior and middle level management staff.