INDUSTRIAL ACTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AMONG ACADEMIC STAFF OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effect of industrial action on organizational productivity among academic staff of federal universities in South East, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of down-tooling on incidence of student dropout, ascertain the effect of picketing on the ability of academic staff to cover course content, and examine the effect of temporary schools’ closure on students’ performance judging from the students’ scripts graded by the lecturers. Three The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study is 4,525 academic staff of federal universities in South East, Nigeria. The sample size was 350 academic staff determined using Freund and Williams’s statistical formula. The study also adopted stratified sampling technique to arrive at the sample size. The instrument for data collection was titled: “Effect of industrial action on organizational productivity questionnaire (EIAOPQ)” validated by experts. Test-re-test analysis was used to test the reliability of the instrument, of which the results were more than 70%. The primary data collected were subjected to statistical test using ordinal logistic regression analysis. Findings revealed that down-tooling has a significant effect on incidences of student dropout, picketing significantly affected the ability of academic staff to cover course content, and temporary schools’ closure had a significant effect on students’ performance judging from the students’ scripts graded by the lecturers. The study therefore concluded that industrial action had a significant effect on organizational productivity of federal universities in South East Nigeria. It was recommended, among others, that university management should implement proactive measures such as improved communication and timely payment of staff benefits to reduce instances of down-tooling.