Human Resource Management is the efficient management of the people resources of an organization to facilitate the achievement of its goals. The challenge facing most organisations is how to get the optimal output from each of its employee. In the past, the human component in organisations was regarded as inconsequential, with very little attention in terms of organisational resources allocated to its development, until the mid-twentieth century when efficient human resource management started gaining importance as vital to the progress of organisations.

1. TRANSFORMING NIGERIAN
ORGANISATIONS: THE HUMAN RESOURCES
(HR) IMPERATIVE
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

2. BIOGRAPHY
NAME: UKWUEGBU, ANTHONY CHIJIOKE
D.O.B: SEPTEMBER 13, 1992.
ADDRESS: 7, SALAKO STR., IJAOLA ESTATE,
LEMODE-IJOKO ROAD, AGBADO
STATION, OGUN STATE.
TELEPHONE: 0818 212 0314
EMAIL: CHIJISTAR@GMAIL.COM
SCHOOL: UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

3. Abstract
Human Resource Management is the efficient management of the people resources of an
organization to facilitate the achievement of its goals. The challenge facing most organisations is
how to get the optimal output from each of its employee. In the past, the human component in
organisations was regarded as inconsequential, with very little attention in terms of organisational
resources allocated to its development, until the mid-twentieth century when efficient human
resource management started gaining importance as vital to the progress of organisations. Some
studies have shown direct linkage between Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
practices and firm performance (Edwards and Wright, 2001). Other studies, (Katou and Budhwar,
2006) argue that SHRM practices do not lead directly to business performance but influence
employee motivation, which ultimately influences their performance. Both studies show that firms’
performance depends on its employee. This literature, delves into the transformation of Nigerian
organisations beginning first with its most important asset- its Human Resources.
Nigeria is blessed with a population of about 150million people with 47.33million of these
gainfully employed (Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 2009 Statistical Bulletin). However, our
productivity level is just about 43%; this shows how the Nigerian worker is greatly under-utilised.
Overview of Nigerian Organisations
Nigerian organisations can be classified into three broad industries: Primary Industries,
Manufacturing and tertiary industries.
Primary industries consist of organisations involved in the exploration and, or extraction of
raw materials. Farming, fishing, mining, and oil exploration fall into this industry. At the subsistence
level, basic human skill is required and so everyone engages in production. In order to increase
output, humans specialise and upgrade their skills. An efficient aggregation of the varying skills is
crucial to maintaining the increased output. Take Songhai farms in Kwara as an example, it employs
Veterinary doctors, technicians and milkers. While the veterinary doctor is responsible for the health
of the cattle, the technician is in charge of maintaining all farm implements and the milker is
responsible for milking the cows. An efficient management of these skills has made Songhai farms
increase milk production fivefold compared to the subsistence level.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

4. The manufacturing sector is responsible for converting the semi-processed goods or raw
materials into finished goods for consumption. Nigerian organisations like Dangote cement,
Unilever, Nigerian refineries and Honeywell fall into this industry. Great skill is required to convert
groundnut oil, limestone and wheat to butter, cement and bread respectively. According to the
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian manufactures operate at 27% of their
installed capacity. While blame may be attributed to our government, a good part of it can be
attributed to the organisations themselves. Do they hire and retain the best talents? Does the work
environment give the employee the opportunity to maximise his/her fullest potential?
The tertiary sector on the other hand comprises all Nigerian organisations involved in
rendering services like banking (Guaranty Trust Bank and Wema Bank), hospitality (Sheraton Hotels
and Transcorp Hilton Hotels), Education (University of Lagos and Providence Schools), plumbing
and hairdressing to individuals and organisations. Because of the great deal of human interactions in
this industry, Nigerian organisations have invested in training programs that focuses on employee-
customer relations. Within the last ten years (2000-2010) this investment has paid-off. Telephone
users have grown from 400,000 to over 90million, Annual Air travellers has risen from 950,000 to
over 4million and foreign investors have become major players in our hospitality industry.
In order to maximise the opportunities around us, Nigerian organisations have to transform.
They have to re-jig their system in order to significantly increase flight traffic from 4million
passengers to the pool of 150 million other Nigerians not yet flying, they also have to retool their
factory in order to increase manufacturing capacity to over 70% and maximise primary output. No
other place can this transformation process start than the organisations people-its Human Resources.
The functions of HR
All organizations have people; they have Human Resources. Regardless of the size of an
organization or the extent of its wealth, the organization survives and thrives because of the
capabilities and performance of its people. The activities and functions to maximize these
capabilities and performances are necessary because members of an organization, regardless of its
size, will benefit from an effective Human Resource function. The HRM Function in an organization
plays the role of taking care of human capital. It is their responsibility that the organisation stays
competitive on the external market and is internally efficient. It includes a variety of activities some
of which include:
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

5.  Human Resource Planning (Job Design and Analysis)
 Staffing (Recruitment, Selection, Placement and Induction)
 Compensation Management
 Performance appraisal
 Training and Development
 Welfare Administration
 Discipline Administration
 Grievance handling and Labour relations
Human Resource Planning (Job Design and Job Analysis): This is the systematic forecasting of an
organization’s future requirements for different types of workers in terms of skills acquisition,
utilization and improvement, employee cost control, retention and supply.
Staffing (Recruitment, Selection, Placement and Induction): This entails the systematic search for
suitable candidates to do a job and the provision of resources that will lead to a successful job
performance of the hired candidate.
Compensation management: This function deals with the development and maintenance of a good
and competitive salary and wage system.
Performance Appraisal: A regular systematic and objective assessment of an employee’s
performance in order to review whether his/her performance matches the expected performance
levels. The finding determines the training needs of the employee.
Training and Development: While training is the process by which employees are taught new skills
and knowledge for successful job performance, development is helping employees acquire the
attitude and experience that will enable him/her undertake greater and more demanding roles and
responsibilities in the future.
Welfare Administration: This is the provision of other facilities, apart from wages and salaries, to the
employee by the employer, to increase employees comfort. The facilities could include medical
facilities, loan facilities, housing facilities, canteen facilities, etc.
Discipline Administration: Like every social situation, humans usually tend to manifest unpleasant
behaviour. This makes it important to control the performance and behaviour of the employees
according to organisational rules.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

6. Labour relations and grievance handling: As a result of stress, workplace dissatisfaction or a feeling
of unfair remuneration, tension could develop in the work place. Efficient grievance handling
requires stemming this tension before it boils over.
People are thus central to an organisations progress and an effective managerial system could
greatly transform the organisation.
Transforming Nigerian Organisations
Every Nigerian organization contains different mix of people – dark people, fair people, tall
people, slim people, Muslims, Christians and so on. Even within each category we would observe
enormous individual differences. While some would be clever, others not so clever; some are wholly
committed to their jobs, others are partly committed. “The point is that these differences demand
attention so that each person can maximize his or her potential, so that organizations can maximise
their effectiveness and the society as a whole can make the wisest use of human resources.” (Cascio)
The challenge facing organisations today is recognizing talent and nurturing it carefully in
order to achieve significant productivity gains over a period of time. The organisation is nothing but
people. The economic recession, globalisation and technological innovation have changed the
business landscape dramatically. Given this scenario, organizations with similar set of resources gain
competitive advantage only through effective and efficient use of human resources (Dessler). In
service industries like financial services and hospitality discourteous employee response have ruined
relationship with customers. Machines are fast replacing humans in production. It is the HR
professional’s task to help the organisation in training its people for these emerging new roles.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

7. The HR transformation Model developed by Bath Consultancy Group
In order to better understand how the HR can transform Nigerian organisations, we take a cue
from The HR Transformation model developed by Bath Consultancy Group. As Strategic Partner,
HR leaders need to be engaging others on future issues and opportunities, which face the business.
They need to be facilitating the process and raising the challenge of how to deal with these.
HR as a solutions provider takes an organization from its current and already known state into
an unknown future. To do this the HR broadens the conversation with Strategic Business Units
(SBU) around ways of meeting the core needs of the organization in the future. During the
conversation, it asks questions like “How will the dynamic business environment affect our future
sourcing of talents? How can we keep our employees skills relevant to our future organizational
needs?”
To effectively solve this task, HR will need to communicate its plans effectively across
Strategic Business Units. It has to work on the mind of the employees to prevent them from closing
their mind to innovation. This could be done by first improving the relationship it has with the people
and building their self confidence. This will put them at ease. Also the tone and language with which
it puts the message across is important.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

8. As HR transforms the organization, it must make sure that it challenges the culture and style
of management. It needs to find the culture and styles of management that increases employee
contribution to organizational goals while balancing the delicate work-family demands. By
developing mutual trusts, HR would be able to lead the organization into the future, forming a
welcome strategic partnership.
To successfully transform any Nigerian organization, its HR should ask itself these three
questions:
I. Are we hiring the best candidate?
II. Are our organizational policies good enough that it motivates the worker to stay with
our organization and perform more?
III. Do we constantly improve the skill and competence of our employee?
Are we hiring the best candidate? As Nigerian organizations aim to be global competitors, this is one
of the biggest challenges they will face. Identifying candidates who can be more successful or
effective with the least amount of support depends on well written job descriptions. Individual
differences and what motivates that particular candidate should also be taken into consideration
during the entire staffing process as this will be crucial in the transformation of the Nigerian
organization. At times, however, the most qualified candidate is usually not the best candidate.
Are our organizational policies good enough that it motivates the worker to stay with our
organization and perform more? Once the best candidate has been employed, the next thing on the
HR’s managers’ mind should be “How do we keep this employee with the organization and prevent
him or her from being poached by other organizations?” In fact, most Nigerian organizations find it
difficult retaining their best talent especially when mouth-watering offers are made by multi-
nationals. To transform an organization, the HR manager has to be able to hold-on to its prized
talents long enough for them to have a lasting legacy in that organization. Football clubs like
Manchester United and Barcelona who have learnt how to hold on to their best talents go about
winning trophies, while clubs that can’t hold on to their best talents, like Arsenal, end up with
virtually no silverware. A fair and objective remuneration structure could retain the employee. So
also will benefits attached to the job (like credit, housing and medical facilities), the grievance
handling procedures, job promotion and work place culture all play a crucial role in the employees
mind should another offer come. An effective interplay of these factors will better retain employees.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

9. Do we constantly improve the skill and competence of our employee? This is the same as asking,
How good is our training and developmental program? With Nigerian organizations being in a
dynamic environment, the need to keep the employee skill and knowledge abreast with this
dynamism has become imperative. HR should develop training and developmental strategies that
prevent employee skills from going obsolete while also increasing their abilities to handle greater
task and responsibility. An effective training regime takes into consideration individual strengths and
weaknesses, in terms of their skills or technical abilities, competencies, flexibility etc., and relating it
with present and planned job tasks and organizational goals. Human Resources Development is a
continuous combination of training and education that ensures the continual improvement and
growth of the individual, the organization, and the national human resourcefulness. Adam Smith
states, “The capacities of individuals depended on their access to education”. As Nigerian
organizations aim to become global players, they will need to assess their employee capacity
(through performance appraisal) with the anticipated requirements and come up with training and
developmental schedules on how to bridge the gap. This is the task of the Human Resource
department. Human Resources Development is a series of organized processes, “with a specific
learning objective” (Nadler, 1984).
Guaranty Trust Bank and Wema Bank: A case study of two banks from
their Human Resource policies.
Guaranty Trust and Wema are both indigenous commercial banks with Wema bank (Wema)
founded in 1945 while Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) was founded in 1990. With 66years of banking
experience, one would expect Wema to be a major player in the Nigerian financial market. But this is
a far cry from what operates in reality. GTBank boast of an asset base in excess of N1,066 billion
(GTBank, 2010 Annual Report). Wema has a little over N205 billion in its asset portfolio (Wema
bank, 2010 Annual Report). Wema was reportedly alleged to being one of the 10 Nigerian banks in
need of recapitalization. While Wema is only visible in the South-Western part of the country, GTB
has become an International bank with branches across Africa-The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Ghana, and Europe. GTB shares are listed on both the Nigerian and London Stock exchanges
and it possesses the highest rating given to any Nigerian bank on its debt of BB- by Standard &
Poor's and AA- by Fitch Ratings. A number of human resource policies have been the bedrock of
GTB success, some of which are:
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

10. Employee training program: Yearly, GTB goes to university campuses scouting for talents to hire.
These new recruits are made to undergo a three month period of rigorous and elaborate training
before they are hired. During the training, the GTB superior work ethic is imbibed into the employee,
creating a platform for successful job performance. Wema on the other hand has a very lax
recruitment process. It’s training schedule last for just two months and most times bypassed. GTB’s
training doesn’t just end once the employee is employed, it begins there. Most times employees are
rotated across departments and sent overseas for refresher courses.
Wage Structure: The entry level pay at GTB is about N3,000,000 per annum while at Wema it is a
little over N1,000,000. Research has shown that salary has a way of allocating talent across
organisations. The best talents tend to go to places where they are compensated the most, leaving
others to organisations with lesser compensation packages. With a larger pool of top quality talent
than Wema, it follows that in the long run GTB will continue to do better especially when this talent
mature in the organisation.
The work environment: GTB emphasises on its people as central to its success and ensures it engages
in policies that bring out the best in them. Its aesthetically well designed branches, the level of
autonomy given to its employee, employee-employee relationship, the multi-ethnic composition of
its workforce all create a sense of distinction and comradeship among the employees. The employees
pass on this feeling by delivering superior services. Wema has largely lagged behind its peers in this
area, its branches are built with little or no regard for aesthetics, the employees’ attachment to the
Wema brand is weak, and the workforce tilts towards one ethnic group frustrating people from other
ethnic group to leaving even if they possess unique talent.
Organizations willing to gain the comparative advantage in the dynamic Nigerian business
environment should take a cue from GTB and invest properly in its people and it will definitely reap
the benefits overtime.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

11. Conclusion
In a nutshell, Human resources describes’ the individuals who make up the workforce of an
organization. With people being the ones who coordinate all the functions of the organizations,
transforming an organization should start from them. Human Resources Development is simply
developing the most important section of any business, its human resource, by attaining or upgrading
employee skills and attitudes at all levels to maximize enterprise effectiveness. GTBank has shown
that once employee skills and attitude are developed, organisational goals will be attained and the
firm will be better transformed to achieve its organisational goals.
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Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

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Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or 0818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.