An Investigation into the Problems of Leadership in Tertiary Institutions

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS A STUDY OF FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, OKO.

The work “An investigation into the problems of leadership in Nigeria Tertiary Institutions has a critical look at the leader problems at with the Nigerian Tertiary Institutions are led using Federal Polytechnic Oko as a study.

Leadership as known is the act of directing people/group of persons so as to accomplish a stated objectives, determines the success and failure of an organization base on the style adopted.

The application of the problems of leadership in any organization, be it service of production should not through some numerous drives such as being wicked arrogant, rude, power fact of force and not appeal to legitimate right.

• LEADERSHIP DEFINITION

As the process of providing direction in group activities. The central concept of the definitions is influencing and stimulating others to become followers.

The leader is the individual who can persuade others to engage in certain behaviour or who has power to James Macgregor Burns. That it is a process in which numerous people participate not the activities of a mutual goals as the leader. He introduced the idea of mutual goals as the gold standard for leadership and he put forth a moral requirement in his frame work or where in one more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher level of motivation and morality.

John Gardner stated that leadership is a process of persuasion and example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers.

The common threat running through this definition is that leadership is a process whereby one individual exerts influence over other.

• LEADERSHIP PROBLEMS

The nature of leadership is very familiar to us. Most individuals use some leadership skills in their lives ailing. In leadership functions, objectives are determined plans are made activities are performed and results are evaluated.

Individuals could accomplish little without managing their activities, lack of leadership leads to lack of direction and coordination. Effective leadership on the land leads to purposeful coordination goal directed activity.

DEFINE THE PROBLEM: organizational planning is very important. There is a saying that “if you don’t know where you are going, no road will get you there”. One of leadership problem in tertiary institution is the lack of planning, many leaders has left the main topic and went into the summary which is not the actual purpose of being in organization.

Once leaders have developed a set of alternative, they must evaluate each on the basis of two key questions.

1. IS THESE ALTERNATIVES FEASIBLE: Does the institution have the money and other resources    needed to carry out this alternatives?

For example, replacing all obsolete equipment,    might be an idea solution, but is not feasible of        the organization is already near bankruptcy.

1. Is the ALTERNATIVES A SATISFACTORY SOLUTION: To answer leaders need to consider         two additional questions first, does the         alternative meet the decision objectives, and        second, does the alternative have an acceptable      chance of succeeding leaders should realize, to        that the definition of acceptable may differ from   organization to organization and from person to        person.

It is because that no best alternative has been selected, leaders are not ready to make plans and to cope with the requirements and problems that may be encountered on putting it into effect.

Also reliance on past experience plays larger parts than it deserves in decision making.

Some leaders usually believe often without realizing it that the things they have successfully accomplished and the mistakes they made furnish almost infallible guides to the future.

• PROBLEM CHARACTERISTICS

What I mean by problem characteristic centers on identifying and characteristic (special and peculiar point of character) or trait of leaders. Many studies are designed to determine the leaders intellectual, social, emotional, physical and personal make-up in order to discover if there existed any universal traits in effective leaders that would distinguish them from less effective leaders.

Keith Davis (1967) concluded that the major traits are intelligence, social maturity and breath, inner motivation, and a human relations oriented attitude.

But in a situation whereby a leader in an organization did not organize the work done in the organization because of lack of planning.

Corruption, ethnics and so on, you find out that the subordinates or the workers will undergoes so many problems been that the leaders will play some characters to the workers which will lead to ineffective and inefficiency of the organization.

The problem, characteristic includes anxiety, wickedness, hatred, racism, depression, greediness etc. which brings fall in organization, no development that will renovate the organization to come up to a good stand and.

• LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND BUREAUCRACY

Management is the process by which the elements of a group are integrated, coordinated and or utilized so as to effectively and efficiently achieve organization objective.

Leadership is the subset of management dealing with the human aspect of how a manager relates to and influence the member of his organization. The leader influences people to effectively plan, organize staff and control where as management encompasses.

BUREAUCRACY is used to represent the non leader. He is the care taker who maintains the organization, the leader is one who spurs  the group on to greater accomplishment, one attempts to maintain the current system while one or the other is concerned with it future.

• FUNCTIONS OF A LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

If enterprise manager could rely upon all subordinates to contribute towards group goals accomplishment with zeal and confidence there would be no need to develop the sort of leadership.

The function of leader is to induce or persuade all subordinate or power to contribute to organizational goals in capability for a business whether big or small to survive and grow of its human and non human resources.

Many management scholars and practitioners believe and maintain that leader success business depends on effective adoption of the following function of management.

1. PLANNING: According to Henry Fayol, planning involves selecting objectives and the strategies, policies programmed and procedures for achieving the objectives of an organization. It is futuristic in nature.
2. ORGANIZING: According to L.C Ezeaka, it involves setting up organizational structure that will enable to identify grouping of trails, definition and delegation of responsibility and authority in a way that makes for effective control and coordination.
3. COORDINATION: This is the task of harmonizing the activities of individual and groups within the organization which will inevitably have different ideas about their own goal should be.
4. COMMUNICATION: It is the transmission of information. It may be horizontal or vertical and even diagonal.
5. CONTROLLING: This is the task of measuring the correcting the activities of individual groups, to ensure that their performance is in accordance with the plan.
6. BUDGETING: This is a quantitative expression of a plan of action and an aid to the coordination if implementation.

• TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS AND FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC

It will not be completed on this topic of problems leadership in tertiary institutions without knowing that tertiary institutions and Federal Polytechnics means. The what is tertiary institutions, it referred to as third stage, third level and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing secondary education, such as high school. Tertiary institution is taken to include undergraduate and post graduate education, while vocational education is known as further education in the United Kingdom or continuing education in the United States. It is the colleges, universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics are the man institutions that provide tertiary institution. Tertiary institution generally culminates in the receipt of certificates, diplomas or academic.

WHAT IS POLYTECHNICS

Polytechnic is a high institution set up primarily to produce higher and lower technical manpower fro the national economy. Polytechnic is divided into two; they are academic and administrative polytechnics.

Looking into Federal Polytechnic Oko as a tertiary institution.

1979        _      College Arts and Science

1985        _      Anambra State Polytechnic

1993        _      Federal Polytechnic, Oko.

In this institution, there are;

1. Rector
2. Deputy Rector

• Registrar

1. Bursar
2. Librarian

These were the principal officer in Federal Polytechnic, Oko.

There are also the directors of service units, dean of schools, head of academic Departments administrators of school and others such as public relations officer, chief security officer and chief hostel warden.

These were the workers that make up the organization, most especially the principal officers which they seen as the leaders in the institution. Any downfall might come from them because of their ineffectiveness in inefficiency in the schools.

• TECHNIQUES OF LEADERSHIP

Harold Knootz and Cycrile Donnel hold the view each manager can and should assume a predominately authproratic, democratic or laises fair attitude depending on its appropriateness in a given situation. leaders should choose the most effective means for him to achieve organizational objectives.

• THEORIES AND APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP PROBLEMS

       A decision making approach

Victor, Vroom and Philip W. Yelton have developed a recent approach to a leadership that relates style to the particular problems to be solved.

This mode assumed that the properties of the problems establish the appropriate form or amount of participation.

The variable that determines the desired degree of participation are as follows;

1. The importance of the quality of the decision
2. The extent to which the leader posses sufficient information.
3. The extent to which subordinates taken collectively have the necessary information to generate to high quality decision.
4. The extent to which acceptance or commitment on the part of subordinates is critical to the effective implementation of the decision.
5. The prior probability that the leaders autocratic decision will receive acceptance by subordinate.
6. The extent to which subordinates are likely to be in disagreement over preferred solution.
7. The extent to which subordinates are motivated be attain the organizational goal.

A MOTIVATIONAL APPROACH

Robert A. House and other have developed the path goals. Under this, the strategic function of the leaders are as follows;

1. Recognizing and for arousing subordinates need for outcomes over which the leader has some control.
2. Increasing personal payoffs to subordinates for work goals attainment.
3. Reducing frustrating barriers personal satisfaction contingent on effective performance.

MC GREGORY’S THEORY X AND Y

Mc Gregory has some basis assumption regarding human behaviour.

An understanding of this assumption is important for leader in directing human beings. These are classified into X and Y theory.

Theory X, the basic assumption is:

1. Work, if not downright distasteful in an onerous to be performance in order to survive.
2. The average human being has an inherent dislike of work, most people must be coerced, controlled, direct and threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort towards the achievement of organizational objectives.
3. The average human beings prepares to be directed wishes to avoid responsibility has relative ambitions, wants security above all.

Theory Y –The postulates of theory are:

1. The expenditure of physical energy and mental efforts in work is as natural as play or rest.
2. Commitment of objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.
3. Man will exercise self-direction and self control in the service of objectives to which he is committed.

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