Employee Coordination Practices and The Job Performance of Secretaries in Federal Universities in South-West, Nigeria

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INTRODUCTION
Job performance can be defined as the ability to successfully and efficiently perform the duties and tasks assigned to workers/ employees within an organisation 2 .It has also been argued that job performance is not just a matter of only what a group of employees (teams) or an individual employee achieves in regard to the set goals and targets, but it also has to do with how the employees or an individual employee is willing and motivated to uphold and promote the values of the organisation.Job performance is related to the extent to which secretaries are able to accomplish the task assigned to them and how the accomplished task contributes to the realisation of a university's goals, mission and vision.Top managers and directors are assigned with the duty of evaluating the job performance of each staff member on an annual or quarterly basis and identify gaps for improvement and they come up with strategies in collaboration with the employees on how they can work on the gaps 1 .
Job performance as a multi-dimensional idea, consists of many facets such as an employee's output (job result), employee mode of accomplishing his/her task (job behaviour) and the employee's attitude towards his/her job (personal traits).Job performance also refers to the extent to which an organisational member contributes to achieving the objectives of the organisation.Job performance has become one of the significant indicators in measuring organisational performance in many studies.Job performance is oftentimes determined by financial figures; it can also be measured through the combination of expected behaviour and task-related aspects 1 .
The profitability and effectiveness of any organisation, including tertiary institutions, has been significantly influenced by the extent of their job performance.One could argue that the level of work output produced by employees in the nation's various sectors mostly determines its economic strength.This is because job performance of employees could determine the productivity of various organisation ranging from tertiary institutions, manufacturing companies among others.
In the University institutions, secretary is a designatory roles assigned to an employee who is responsible for office correspondence, keeps records and makes arrangements and appointments for a particular member of staff in the university system.Job performance of secretaries depends on what they 'will-do' and 'can-do'.The former refers to individual's knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics required in performing certain jobs and the latter denotes the motivation level that individuals may have in performing their work.If a secretary lacks ability, the employer can provide training or replace the worker.If there is an environmental problem, the employer can also usually make adjustments to promote higher performance.But if motivation is the problem, the employer's task is more challenging.Individual behaviour is a complex phenomenon, and the employer may not be able to figure out why the secretary is not motivated and how to change the behaviour.Little attention has been given to job performance of secretaries in universities in Nigeria, and two major categories of job performance have been identified to include task performance and contextual performance 2 .Some of the problems of job performance are that, they may manifest in the form of decreased productivity, difficulty prioritizing tasks, committing errors in given tasks, or missing deadlines, turnover intentions among members of staff; among others.However, all these problems could make universities not to achieve their stated goals and objectives.Even though the ultimate expectation of every university is for its employees to achieve university's goals and objectives, they should also ensure that the job performance of their employees (secretaries) is at the optimum level.To this end, factors such as employee coordination practices could influence the job performance of secretaries 3 .
Employee coordination practices are the orderly arrangement of employee's determinations to maintain harmony among co-workers' efforts towards the accomplishment of common goals of an organisation.It is also instrumental in binding all the managerial functions.Internal coordination is all about establishing a relationship amongst all the managers, executives, departments, divisions, branches, and employees or workers.These relationships are established with a view to coordinating the activities of the organisation.The components of employee coordination practices are roles and responsibilities, decision making and transparency.
Job responsibilities refer to the duties and tasks of employees' particular role.This is sometimes referred to as job description, while roles refer to employees' position on a team in the organisation.Roles and responsibilities refer to the tasks that secretaries are expected to perform in the organisation.Defining role and responsibilities improves employee experience and supports the efficiency of the organisation which could in turn enhance the performance of the employees 4 .What an employer expects from its employees is to develop and represent a sense of responsibility towards organisation, but sometimes, an employer fails to provide a positive environment and neglects the features like delegating authority, responsibility and accountability appropriately.This could in turn impinge on the performance of the employees 4 .Another component of employees' coordination practice is participation in decision making.
Decision making is one fundamental part of every organisation and managers make decisions that affect the operations, quality and success of their organisation.Employee participation in decision making refers to giving employees and their representative opportunities to collaborate in matters that pertain to the management of the organisation especially where employees are directly concerned.When employees are allowed to participate in making decision in an organisation, they tend to be fully committed to their duties as this could in turn enhance their performance.Despite the fact that most of the time employees make most of the decision in an organisation, it is also important to involve employees in decision because it affects their performances which in turn reflect the effectiveness of an organisation.So, employee's participation in decision making is an important ingredient to strengthen an organisation and create sense of ownership and/or empowerment among serving an organisation which could in turn enhance their job performance 12 .
Print ISSN: 2517-276X Transparency is another component, it is a perception of employees' behaviours that reveal his or her true thoughts and feelings.Transparency is ultimately about information, and constructs such as truthfulness and honesty are more appropriately defined in reference to individual behaviour in an organisation.It is affirmed that transparency is required to ensure that information about organisational conduct can be used by employees to modify or adjust their behaviours which could make them to be more productive and in turn meet the organisational goals and objectives A study investigated the influence of employee coordination practices on job performance among employees in Germany.The study revealed that there was a significant influence of employee coordination practices on job performance.The author concluded that the ability of employees to comport and coordinate oneself in the office would enhance effective job performance 5 .
Another similar study was conducted on the impact of employee coordination practices on job performance and its relationship with organisational process using the descriptive design and purposive technique in selecting 85 employees.Result showed that employee coordination practices had positive significant impact on job performance 6 .In order employees to function properly, they must be given all the authority to carry out the tasks.Another study examined the influence of employee coordination practices on job performance among employees in US using the cross-sectional design and convenient sampling.Results showed that there was a significant relationship between employee coordination practices and job performance 7 .Another study examined the effects of employee coordination practices on organisational performance among employees in Finland.The findings revealed that there was a significant positive effect of employee coordination practices on job performance among employees in Finland.
From the backdrop, it can be deduced that employee coordination practices could improve job performance of secretaries thus, the study.Regardless of the fact that studies have been done on other factors that could enhance job performance of employees, there are dearth studies on influence of employee coordination practices on job performance, thus the study investigated influence of employee coordination practices on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.

Statement of the problem
Job performance of secretaries in Nigerian universities has become worrisome to university management and researchers.It is observed that the level of job performance among secretaries in most public universities in Nigeria is perceived to be very low compared to what is obtainable among other employees of the same educational sector.This low level of job performance could lead to some problems in the organisation such as low productivity, not meeting the organisation set goals and objectives, down-sizing, retrenchment, among others.Some university secretaries may not be allowed to participate in decision-making since doing so might prevent them from being honest with their employer.The problem that could ensue from this is that secretaries might have a tendency to put off the responsibilities that have been assigned to them, which could lead to subpar work output.Researchers have worked on motivational factors, work situation as variables that could improve job performance of non-academic staff in the universities but the problem of job performance of secretaries persists, there seems to be dearth of research on employee coordination practices as variable that can improve job performance of the secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.

Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of employee coordination practices on the job performance among secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.The objectives of the study are to: i.
identify the level of job performance of secretaries in federal universities in Southwest, Nigeria; ii.
examine employee coordination practices existing among secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.iii.examine the influence of employee coordination practices on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria;

Research Questions
The following research questions were answered in this study: i.What is the level of job performance of secretaries in federal universities in Southwest, Nigeria? ii.
What are the employee coordination practices existing among secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria?Hypothesis H01: There is no significant influence of employee coordination practices on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria .

METHODOLOGY
The study employed for the descriptive survey research design.It was useful in collecting data on phenomena that cannot be directly observed on employee coordination practices and job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.The population comprised 500 secretaries in the six federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.These universities are: University of Ibadan, Ibadn, Oyo State, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State and Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State.A sample size of 217 secretaries were used out of the total population of 500 for the study using stratified proportionate sampling technique.Questionnaires title Job Performance Questionnaire (JPQ) and Employee Coordination Practices Questionnire (ECP) was used to collect the data and the instruments yielded 0.87 and 0.95 reliability coefficient.The research questions were analysed using simple percentage, frequent count, mean and standard deviation while the hypothesis was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation at 0.05 level of significant.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Research question 1: What is the level of job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria?  ) respondents agreed that they always take the minutes of meetings in their department, while 31 (14.4%)disagreed.Similarly, 206 (95.9%) agreed that they retrieved and reviewed all correspondence for their boss, while 9 (4.2%) disagreed.A total of 213 (99.0%) agreed that they keep confidential files, diary or documents of future activities, while 2 (1.0%) disagreed.Furthermore, 170 (79.1%) agreed that they prepared annual reports of activities for their department, while 45 (20.9%) disagreed.Again, 166 (77.2%) agreed that they are responsible to all committees' correspondence in their department, while 49 (22.8%)disagreed.
Also, 163 (75.8%) agreed that they are involved in important decisions that affect the institution, while 52 (24.2%) disagreed.The sum of 170 (79.0%) respondents agreed that decisions are arrived at with consultations with members of the department, while 45 (20.9%) disagreed.A total number of 189 (87.9%) agreed that they have the opportunity to solve problems connected with their work, while 26 (12.1%) disagreed.Again, 181 (84.2%) agreed that they give critical considerations to decisions that affect the institution, while 34 (15.8%)disagreed.Furthermore, 180 (83.8%) agreed that their participation in decision making in this institution improve their performance, while 35 (16.3%) disagreed.In addition, 195 (90.7%) agreed that they are opened to all members of staff of their institution, while 20 (9.3%) disagreed.Whereas 185 (86.1%) agreed that people in their institution should know what they do and why they do it, 30 (14.0%) disagreed.Again, 184 (85.5%) agreed that they are accountable to people in their institutions for their actions, while 31 (14.4%)disagreed.A total of 175 (81.4%) agreed that they try to understand how the institution's decisions affect people like them while 40 (18.6%)disagreed.Again, 208 (96.7%) agreed that they provide useful information to people for making informed decisions, while 7 (3.3%)disagreed.The weighted mean is 2.42, thus, it could be inferred from the decision rule that, roles and responsibilities, participation in decision making and transparency are the employee coordination practices that exist among secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.
H01: There is no significant influence of employee coordination practices on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria   10b and 4.10c show the influence of employee coordination practices on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.The most potent measure of employee coordination practices was decision making (Beta = .448,t= 5.038, p<0.05) followed by roles and responsibilities (Beta = .244,t= 3.177, p<0.05) while transparency (Beta = .594,t= .740,p>0.05) was not significant.This implies that decision making and roles and responsibilities tend to increase the quality of job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria by 44.8% and 24.4% respectively.It was also revealed that the three measures of employee coordination practice combined accounted for 48.2% (Adj.R 2 = .482)variance in the prediction of job performance.The result from the regression analysis shows that there was a significant influence of the independent variable (employee's coordination practices) on job performance, F (3, 211) = 67.476,P<0.05.This implies that employee coordination had significant influence on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.Therefore, Ho1 is rejected.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
The results from research question one showed that the level of job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria was moderate.This means that secretaries put in their best at work to ensure that the goals of their various institutions are met.However, the management of the institutions need to put some measures in place such as prompt payment of salary, remuneration, leave as and when due, promotion among others as all these could make the job performance of secretaries to be high.The finding goes in line with the study that found that the responsibility of university management to provide the necessary atmosphere to increase the performance of secretaries will affect organisational performance and ultimately profitability of the firm 7 .The increase in secretaries' job performance will make them utilise their talents in a way that they will have fulfillment and self-actualisation which will in essence lead to the achievement of the organisation's goals 8 .The finding also supports the study that found out that job satisfaction, job involvement, and organisational commitment were positively related to job performance among employees in public sector and that it was also revealed that there was moderate job performance among employees.It was also affirmed that when job performance of employees is high, it means that the goals and objectives of the orgnaisation could be achieved.Also, a literature also affirmed the relationship between organisational culture and job performance among employees in banking industry.It was revealed that a strong organisational culture was positively related to job performance and that there was a moderate level of job performance among employees.It was further reiterated that for employees to be in their acme of performance, management of the organisation should intensify their effort to provide a conducive environment for employees and as well give them incentives that would make them to be at their best so as to meet and achieve the goals of the organisaton 9. Result from hypothesis one showed clearly that there was a significant influence of employee coordination practices on job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.This means that being transparent and the ability to coordinate oneself in an institution tend to have an influence on job performance.The finding corroborates a study that investigated the influence of employee coordination practices on job performance among employees in Germany and reported that there was a significant influence of employee coordination practices on job performance.The author concluded that the ability of employees to comport and coordinate oneself in the office would enhance effective job performance 10 .The finding also validates a study that was conducted on the influence of employee coordination practices on employee performance in The Netherlands and reported that employee coordination practices influenced employee performance.The author concluded that the ability of employees to coordinate themselves without any distraction tends to improve their overall job performance.The authors therefore recommended that employers of labour should ensure that they motivate their employees as this would make them to concentrate and also put in their best in meeting the organisational goals 12 .

CONCLUSION
From the study, it was concluded that employee coordination practices contribute significantly to job performance of secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.Based on the findings of the study, it could be concluded that when employee coordination practices are well practiced in an organisation coupled with the fact that if the culture of the organisation suits both the secretaries and employers of labour, it is expected that the job performance of secretaries could be heightened as this would make the federal universities in South-west, Nigeria to achieve their mission and vision statements.

Table 1 : Level of Job Performance of Secretaries in Federal Universities in South-west, Nigeria
have high ability to separate official issues from side issues at work while 2 (1.0%) stated a low response rate.Furthermore, 214 (99.5%) stated that they have high ability to keep their job skills up-to-date, while 1 (0.5%) rated low response.Also, 213 (99.0%) stated that they have high ability to effectively manage office facilities and equipment while 2 (1.0%) reported low ability.

Table 4 .
7 reveals the employee coordination practices existing among secretaries in federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.Results show that 184 (85.6%