ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of administrative functions on teachers’ work performance in secondary school in Mainland L.G.A, Lagos state, Nigeria. The study was guided by five research objectives. Study was based on descriptive survey design. The sample for the study was 31 principals and 88 teachers. Data for the study was collected by use of questionnaires. Data was analysed by use of descriptive statistics. Findings also revealed that 62.6 percent of the teachers were highly motivated with the principals’ performance of organisational leadership task, 62.6 percent of the teachers were highly motivated with the principals’ performance of organisational leadership task. The study also revealed that 33.3 percent of the teachers were highly motivated with the principals’ practices of instructional supervision task, 43.2 percent were moderately motivated with 23.4 were lowly motivated. It was also revealed that teachers were motivated by with the principals’ practice on decision making. Based on the findings the study concluded teachers were motivated with the planning tasks. Teachers were motivated with the principals’ decision making task with which teachers were motivated. The study recommended that principals should perform their planning task always and not sometimes as indicated by the study.The study therefore recommends that principals should perform the organisational leadership always so that teachers’ work performance can be improved. The study therefore recommends that principals should practice the delegation task always rather than sometimes as this would increase teachers’ work performance. The study also recommends that the principals should perform instructional supervision and decision making tasks always rather than sometimes so as to improve teachers’ work performance. Taking the limitations and delimitations of the study the researcher suggested that since the study was carried out in administrative Mainland L.G.A, Lagos state, a similar study should be conducted in other arears so that to compare the results. Since the study focussed on selected administrative tasks the study suggests that a study on other administrative tasks should be carried out to establish whether the tasks would have an influence of teacher’s motivation.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

The term ‘administration; is often used to mean ‘to execute; or ‘to enforce. However, the job of an administrator involves more than mere execution of plans and decisions made elsewhere. Accordingly, Onyene (2005) noted that where administrative function is reduced to execution, critical details are ignored. According to her, administration is a process of achieving organizational goals through frantic efforts directed towards putting to optimal use every available resource such as human, money, material and entrepreneurial skills. Perhaps it is in this operationally intricate sense that a school of thought reasoned that administration is more complex than management. This is because day-to-day school administration entails critical procedures through which one in a position of authority such as the head teacher or principal discharges his/her responsibilities using the combined efforts of other people. Administration uses organized method to ensure the achievement of the aims and objectives of the school or any organization. Thus, the school administrator such as the principal combines his or her conceptual, technical, and human skills in “performing a garmot of management functions like planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling, instructing, communicating, supervising, etc (Onyene 2000). Besides, in a private school situation, Onyene (2005) noted that administration is most tasking because it has to sometimes commence with fundamental issues in structural designing, asking and answering essential questions on enrolment and patronage such as customer relations, customer values and satisfaction, learning and curriculum repackaging and many more. This workload explains why effective school administration is often at crisis level.This is because investors in schools in a bid to break even in terms of cost-benefit employ unqualified persons to head their schools. Thus, the head teacher or principal may not possess those administrative skills which he or she can strategically use for achieving corporate excellence. In actual sense for a private school to attain organizational effectiveness, proper definition of tangible and non-tangible goals is expected. In order words, private school organizations must pursue in a very personal astute manner consciously defined goals and or purposes using the helm of affairs. Once these goals are attained both internal efficiency and “break-even”, normally follow using simple administrative maintenance tips.

Furthermore, the practice of administration is as old as humanity. It is the art and science of systematic and careful arrangement of resources (human, materials, funds) available to an organization for the achievement of its objectives (Onyene, 2000). Besides, industrial revolution heralded in a strong concern for how best to organize human and material resources to ensure maximum profits for the employers. But the Human Relations Movement (HRM) as a reaction to the scientific management of industrial revolution stressed how best to motivate persons to harness materials for maximum productivity and for individual worker’s satisfaction. This is a concern, earlier confined to business and industrial enterprise. Thus, the theory and practice of administration were regarded as the monopoly of business, industrial enterprises, and later the public service. This explains the greater popularity of such terms as “business administration and “pupils administration”. According to Nwankwo (1982), Educational Administration when fully emerged was perceived as a translation of the principles and processes used in business and public administration. This impression is fast fading with the growing realization that all human organizations whether they are business, industries, public, religious, educational or military, have equivalent and transferable factors and challenges which  demand identical theories and strategies coupled with the fact that all human problems emanates from administration (Onyene, 2005).

Administration is a determinant of the level of organizational efficiency and or successes and failures. Three key elements to an organization’s success according to Onyene (2005) include effective leadership; effective human resources recruitment and management; and effective development of persons, programmes and activities. The level of administrative efficiency goes to determine whether the organization will level off for growth; become stagnated and decline, or blossom forth to achieve new heights and grow through expansion. Educational administration therefore involves the use of fundamental procedures consisting of both administrative and operative management techniques to attain the goal of education. Thus, administrative manager of a school is constantly planning, organizing, and controlling. In operative management as in school administration, the task consists of mainly supervising, motivating, and communicating on day-to-day basis.

In the secondary schools, it is the principals that are saddled with administrative functions (supervising, motivating and communication). It is therefore expected that principals should use their offices to mobilize the school personnel, especially the academic personnel to perform their teaching jobs effectively. It is against this expectation that this study attempts to examine the extent to which teachers’ performance in staff secondary schools in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area is influenced by administrative functions of the principals.

1.2     Statement of Problem

This study attempts to examine the extent to which secondary school principals have used their administrative functions to influence teachers’ work performance. It is predicated on the words of Ofoegbu, (2001) who noted that teachers in secondary schools are neither given the desired attention nor carried along by the school managers (principals) as they perform their administrative functions of motivating, supervising and communicating. This inadequate involvement of teachers in administrative activities by the principals is noted by Ofoegbu to be one of the major factors affecting the morale and job performance of teachers in Nigerian secondary schools.

1.3     Purpose of the study 

1.    To determine the influence of principal’ planning task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria

2.    To assess the influence of principals’ organizational leadership task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria

3.    To establish the influence of principals’ delegation task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria

4.    To establish the influence of principals’ instructional supervision task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria

5.    To find out the influence of principals’ decision making task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria

1.4     Research questions

For this study the following research questions were formulated

1.    What is the influence of principals’ planning task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria?

2.    What is the influence of principals’ organizational leadership task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria?

3.    What is the influence of principals’ delegation task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria?

4.    What is the influence of principals’ instructional supervision task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria?

5.    What is the influence of principals’ decision making task on teachers’ work performance in secondary schools in Mainland L.G.A, Nigeria?

1.5     Significance of the study 

This study focused on examining the relationship between administrative functions of principals and teachers’ work performance in staff secondary schools in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. It covered the three staff secondary schools (University of Lagos Staff School, Yaba College of Technology Staff School, and Federal College of Education (Tech) Staff School) in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State; involved only the teachers in these schools.

1.6     Scope of the study

This study focused on examining the relationship between administrative functions of principals and teachers’ work performance in staff secondary schools in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.

1.7     Limitations of the study

Limitation is an aspect of research that may influence the results negatively but over which the researcher has no control (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). Firstly the study will on respondents perceptions and views hence the quality of the data depended on them. There may be a possibility of some principals giving minimal cooperation, fearing that the study would detect their administrative incompetence. It is also possible that some teachers will not give honest information for fear that they would be exposing negative qualities of their principals. To avoid this researcher will assure them of confidentiality of their identity and held a discussion with them before the exercise.

1.8     Definition of significant terms

The following were significant terms used in the study:

Decision making task refers to the principals thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options

Delegation task refers to an act or process that the principal gives some tasks to the teachers do perform on his or her behalf

Instructional supervision task refers to the principles checking on the teaching and learning process in schools

Motivation refers to a cyclical process affecting the inner needs and drivers that energize channel and sustain behaviour.

Organizational leadership refers to a dual focused management approach that works towards what is best for individuals and what is best for a group as a whole simultaneously. It is also an attitude and a work ethic that empowers an individual in any role to lead from the top, middle, or bottom of an organization.

Planning task refers to the process through which the principals identifies the goals or objectives to be achieved, formulates strategies to achieve them, arranges or creates the means required, and implements, directs, and monitors all steps in their proper sequence.

Principal refers to the chief executive in secondary schools who spearheads all school programmes in order to achieve the desired goals in the schools.

1.9     Organization of the study

The study will be organized into five chapters. Chapter one  comprises of background  of the study, statement of the problem, purpose and objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, limitations and delimitations of the study, basic assumptions of the study and definitions of significant terms as used in the study. Chapter two consists of literature review. The chapter covers principals’ planning task and teachers job motivation , principals’ organisational leadership tasks and teachers job motivation , principals’ delegation task and teachers job motivation , principals’ instructional supervisory tasks and teachers job motivation and principals decision making task and teachers’ work performance. The chapter also presents the theoretical and conceptual framework. Chapter three  consists of the research methodology divided into: research design, target population, sampling and sampling procedures, research instrument, reliability and validity of the instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis techniques. Chapter four discusses data analysis and interpretation. Chapter five comprise of the summary of the study, conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further research. 

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