INFLUENCE OF OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY ON THE CAREER PROSPECT OF OTM GRADUATE

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Office technology and management is the art of acquiring the necessary skills needed to perform the duties of an office technologist/manager in any organization.

The office technologist/manager profession or career is remarkable for its appeal to both men and women; it provides a challenging job after graduation and few other profession offers to graduates so wide a variety of occupational areas in which to work.

Therefore, academic achievement of graduates of office technology and management are the grades and skills acquired at the end of tier academic pursuit in a particular institution. Example of these are Ordinary National Diploma (OND), Higher National Diploma (HND) with grades like Distinction, upper credit, Lower Credit e.t.c. and the skills are shorthand, typewriting, people's communication skill, career development, information and communication technology with the introduction of M.S Word, Excel, Desktop publishing, Web page design, Entrepreneurship among others.

However, the term “career opportunity or opportunities” may be defined as activities faced or directed to goals beyond enjoyment of the activities itself. Career opportunities for office technologies/manager are employed virtually at every working setting. The role of an office technologist is numerous and indispensable in any organization, all meetings, conferences, seminars and workshops which are attended by people from all walks of life cannot take off effectively without the secure of an office technologist. The technical improvement of the organization is also done by an office technologist.

In fact, the importance of office technologist in the economy of any nation cannot be over-emphasized. The office technologist can be seen as the influence of an organization.

Also, the duties of an office technologist are to read through any piece of work that is assigned to him/her and edit or correct for good hard copies presentations. Office technologist also has to improve the management and arrangement of his/her boss office, before work and father the days' work. An office technologist does not need to need to rush/hurry out of office after closing hours, but should rather wait to make sure that everything is in their right order, that is why the profession is termed to be a necessary in the job market.

Career is the sequence of occupations, jobs, and attitude of graduates towards any chosen discipline and in positions occupied during the course of a person's the subsequent achievement attained in the field. Many working life (Super, 1974; Vroom, 1974). Career is tied to graduates fail because of an apparently unsuitable occupation, which in turn is defined as one's work selection of the course of study (Singh, 1968). This may activities (Achebe, 1983). largely be due to the fact that a child's attitude is likely to Career choice plays an important role in shaping the be affected by hisinterest in a particular discipline and which in turn may affect his performance (von Mizener and Williams, 2009). If graduates are interested in a field, they are more likely to be successful in that field because interest in a field may produce high motivation.

According to Hewitt (2010), factors influencing career choice can either be intrinsic or extrinsic or both. It has been shown from literature that three areas of graduates' life affect the career choices they make: environment, opportunity, and personality. All three play varying roles in career outcomes (Borchert, 2002). Some of the main factors among others in deciding career choice include career opportunities (Pawelczyk et al., 2007), prestige (Senf et al., 2003), interest in the course and parental guidance /family influence (Olszewski-Kubilius and Yasumoto, 1994; Oloyede, 1995; Mauldin et al., 2000; Kim et al., 2002; Schnabel et al., 2002; Edwards and Quinter, 2011; Uyar et al., 2011; Reynolds, 2012; Odia and Ogiedu, 2013).

In educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance (Bell, 2013), which generally refers to how well a graduate is accomplishing his or her tasks and studies (Sharm, 2012) or how well a graduate meets standards set out by the institution itself (Bell, 2013). Academic performance is the best indicator of potential for success in life; it reflects one's abilities and the qualities it takes to have an excellent academic performance are those required to be successful in life, which include consistency, determination and focus (Abiola, 2012). However, factors such as grades, attendance, standardized tests, and extra-curricular activities can determine the level and quality of graduates' academic performance (Sharm, 2012).

Office Technology and Management, the study of microorganisms, has a major impact on health and environment and provides useful models for many of the life processes all organisms' experience (Willey et al., 2011; Brooks et al., 2013).

As a result, the field of Office Technology and Management has virtually unlimited potential and the need for qualified graduates continues to grow, both for basic research and practical applications.

The primary objective of Office Technology and Management program is to produce successful graduates who possess substantial knowledge of Office Technology and Management, with the required skills and capabilities demanded by employers. This is usually measured by the academic performance of graduates. However, it was observed that, there has been decline in the academic performance of Office Technology and Management graduates as indicated by their low cumulative grade point average (CGPA) scores and many carry over courses seen in the Semester results (Personal observation).

This development is a source of concern because in order to meet the demands of employers, Office Technology and Management programs must graduate the best and brightest students with high aptitudes, but decreasing quality may mean the inability to meet the demands of the job market. This study was therefore conducted to determine the effect of the choice of Office Technology and Management as a career on the academic performance of Office Technology and Management graduates in order to proffer solution to the general observed failure rate and provide further thoughts that would eventually lead to more thorough investigation in the same area.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

Investigation reveals the following problems of the existing Influence of Occupational Mobility on the Career Prospect of OTM Graduate research work;

1. Insufficient information of academic achievements on career advancement prospect of OTM Graduate.
2. Lack of proper investigation of academic achievement on the career opportunities of Office Technology and Management graduates.
3. Low productivity of some organization could be as a result of poor performances of OTM Graduate which can be from a poor academic performance.

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1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this research work includes:

1. To highlight the impact of academic achievements on career advancement prospect of OTM Graduate.
2. To examine the impact of academic achievement on the career opportunities of Office Technology and Management graduates.
3. To examine the significant difference in terms of performance between transferred and non-transferred students.
4. The effect of parents' awareness of Office Technology and Management as a discipline prior to admission on students' academic achievement.

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1.4 Research Questions

• What is the impact of academic achievements on career advancement prospect of OTM Graduate?
• What is the impact of academic achievement on the career opportunities of Office Technology and Management graduates?
• What is the significant difference in terms of performance between transferred and non-transferred students?
• What is the effect of parents' awareness of Office Technology and Management as a discipline prior to admission on students' academic achievement?

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1.5 Research Hypothesis

To focus on the direction of the study, the following Null hypotheses (Ho) were stated for testing:

Hypothesis One

H0: Academic achievement does not affect the career opportunities of Office Technology and Management graduates.

H1: Academic achievement affects the career opportunities of Office Technology and Management graduates.

Hypothesis Two

H0: There is no significant difference in terms of performance between transferred and non-transferred students.

H1: There is a significant difference in terms of performance between transferred and non-transferred students.

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1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will no doubt be considering the importance to the office technology and management graduates, organizations, future researchers and the general public.

The aim of this study therefore lies on the fact that many people do not know much about the profession and fail to realize that the role of an office technologist is supreme and indispensable.

The study is now carried out in order to acquaint the public on the qualification, duties, opportunities and the qualities of an office technologist and to also look at how essential is it for an office technology and management graduates to be employed.

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1.7 Scope of the Study

The study focuses on the influence of occupational mobility on the career prospective of office technology and management (OTM) graduates working in Lagos State.

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1.8 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. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.