DETERMINANTS OF WORK PERFORMANCE OF SEAFARERS IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

The sea-borne transportation shoulders over 90 per cent of global trade and is booming in recent decades (UNCTAD, 2016). In Southeast Asia, the seafarers’ labor market of countries/regions such as Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan developed rapidly in the 1970s and thus had supported a quick development of their shipping industry in these countries. When the economies of these countries regions improved, young people did not join the seafaring career just same as what happened in the developed countries such as UK, Japan, France, etc. However, seafarers are always important to the shipping industry but are in serious shortage in the developed countries. In recent years, the increasing number of fleets around the world has made it difficult for shipping companies to find capable seafarers and. As a consequence, the major source of seafarers has shifted from developed countries to less developed countries, and then to underdeveloped countries (BIMCO/ISF, 2005; Glen, 2007; Lane, 2000).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

In the recent decades, the shipping industries of Taiwan have been developing and expanding very fast. This has led to the shortage of seafarers become reality which in turn has pushed up the salary level of seafarers and forced the market players to hire seafarers from the “third world” countries. Most shipping companies have resorted to countries aboard to find enough seafarers to operate their ships. One may say that it is not hard to find seafarers but to find well-trained (skillful and experienced) seafarers and to keep them loyal to the company is the real challenges. Because the shipping companies of Taiwan have started hiring seafarers from the third-world countries 20 years ago, a lot of problems have arisen, recently.

Human beings are the pivot of work in the productive venture. This explains why organization and nations take good steps to ensure the effectiveness of individual. Human beings provide ideas, innovations, invention and thereby wealth for the benefit of both employers and Seafarer, (Sussman 2006). This cannot be achieved if workers are not properly trained. Hence, training has always been recognized as an important factor that contributes to improved performance of an Seafarers right from the days of Fredrick Taylor of Scientific Management Fame (Maduabum, 2000:183, in Laff 2006).

Training can be viewed as the acquisition of skills, knowledge and abilities to enable one function effectively in the performance of one’s job. Training of workers is very important to the development and growth of any country most especially the organization. Training is meant for increasing the usefulness of the worker at the work place. The need for training workers in any organization is to develop and use their abilities for the achievement of organizational goals and the fulfillment of individual job satisfaction. Hence, Kirkpatrick (2005), state Seafarer, in most cases, are the largest investment a company will ever make. A commitment to investing in their training and development is a prudent strategic move that will not only enhance productivity, but also increase Seafarers satisfaction.

According to Sugrue (2003) in-service training provides an effective and efficient way to satisfy the demand for skill in organizations characterized by continuous change in technology and competition. First, it allows new Seafarer to acquire firm-specific skills and knowledge that are hard to obtain in the market, while allowing incumbent Seafarer to stay abreast of changes in technical systems and product offerings. Second, it may be more effective than classroom training because Seafarer learn through continuous, context-situated learning initiatives, rather than via infrequent or isolated training activities. Okokon and Benteke (2005) argued along side Sugrue 2003) which affirms in their studies that in-service training is less costly because it reduces productivity loss associated with time away from work and it saves expenditures associated with training specialists and materials. Because it can be integrated into daily work schedules, it also provides greater flexibility than traditional, off-the-job training. In sum, on-the job training can yield substantial economic pay-offs to companies through the on-going skill acquisition of Seafarer.

Training and retraining is like sharpening an existing skill in order to reflect the trends in technology and other social–cultural environmental changes of an organization and good Seafarers training models include training for collaborative management, in addition to career management and skill enhancement training (Seldman and Thomas-Williams, 2005). Productivity is the goal of today’s competitive business world and training can be a spring board to enhance productivity. The main objective of training and development in service organization is to increase efficiency of Seafarer with the resulting increase in corporate productivity. This accounts for why a large number of fund and time is expected by organization at one period or the order in the improvement of the skills of their Seafarer at various levels. The principal intention of training and retraining according to Akpan (2001:128) is to equip people with the knowledge required to qualify them for a particular position of employment or to improve their skills and efficiency in the position they already hold.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Determinants of Work Performance of Seafarers in Nigeria.

1.3 Statement of Problem

Despite the increasing effects on Training and retraining on worker performance in an organization, there is still limited literature on human resource development issues in developing countries (Debrah & Ofori 2006, 440) and increasing concerns from organization towards Seafarers performance LGA.

It is further worth noting that while much is known about the economics of training in the developed world, studies of issues associated with training and retraining in less-developed countries are rarely found. The existing studies in this relation (Harvey 2002; Harvey, Matt & Milord 2002; Jackson 2002; Kamoche 2002; Kamoche, Debrah, Hortwiz & Muuka 2004; Kraak 2005) have taken a on Seafarers performance general human resource management (HRM) focus creating a gap on issues such as the effect of training and retraining.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to determine the Work Performance of Seafarers in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To find out the impact of seminar as training and retraining programme of seafarers on the reduction marine accidents and ship collision.
2. To find out the impact of workshop as training and retraining programme of seafarers on the reduction marine accidents and ship collision.
3. To find out the impact of off the job training as training and retraining programme of seafarers on the reduction marine accidents and ship collision.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What is the impact of seminar as training and retraining programme of seafarers on the reduction marine accidents and ship collision?
• How does workshop as training and retraining programme of seafarers reduce marine accidents and ship collision?
• How does off the job training as training and retraining programme of seafarers reduce marine accidents and ship collision?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant impact on the Work Performance of Seafarers in Nigeria
• H1: There is significant impact on the Work Performance of Seafarers in Nigeria

1.7 Significance of Study

The research will be beneficial to all management team in shipping company in Nigeria. Service and workers as it emphasized the need and encourage the establishment of policy guidelines on the workers commitment as a resultant effect of effective training and retraining porgramme. It will also help managers of various organizations to generate ideas and solution to problems based on the best way to organize in-service training programme for the workers in order to achieve desired goals and objectives.

The findings of the study will equally be useful to small scale business, large corporations and to the government. It will also help future researchers as a frame work to their studies. Finally, it will be of great value to students as a point of reference and will equally form the basis for lecturers in this field of study.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of this research is focuses on the Determinants of Work Performance of Seafarers in Nigeria.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).