CHAPTER THREE
B. F. Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory
3.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY
Going by these scholastic analyses presented above, there are marked differences between the public administrative environments and procedures of the developed and developing societies.
Those of the developed societies have clearly defined forms and processes and are usually undaunted by factors extraneous to the individual and workplace environment unlike those of the developing societies. The individualistic nature of the society disallows any leeway for the political, socio-cultural, etc. subsystems to interfere with the administrative system or influence the ethical considerations and behaviour of the public administrator unlike in the developing societies where the communal and other group relations can significantly shape the public administrative content.
The comparison between the environments of public administration of the developed and developing nations provides clarifications as to why certain principles, practices and procedures that are workable in one public administrative environment may not be applicable in another.
The public administrative environments of the developed countries exhibit a high degree of task specialisation in which their political and administrative processes are separated and clearly defined. Unlike in those of the developing countries, there is professionalism in the conduct of government business akin to having square pegs in square holes. This is a function of ensuring that specialists and not generalists are given clearly defined roles and responsibilities with corresponding authority for which they must be accountable. Functions requiring less degrees of specialisation may be allowed to fall within the purview of the generalists.
Effective mobilisation and political socialisation for participation in decision-making and implementation evidences well sensitised civil societies that are conscious of the responsibilities of and their expectations from the government and vice versa. In these societies, it is
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commonplace for their views to be taken into consideration before the governments take major policy steps unlike in developing countries where the citizenry has the whims and caprices of their governments and ruling classes to contend with. Governments in these developing societies are normally politically unresponsive and socially unrepresentative of their citizens. They carry out policy formulation and implementation many times, without recourse to their societies but rather for the interest of particular groups or individuals. Public officials are rarely called to question and so would hardly account for actions taken while in office.
The application of modern technology implies that they have the requisite human and material capacity to constantly evolve, adopt and adapt their systems to meet new and demanding challenges. This does not ring true of developing countries. Many of them have public administrations which are forced to grapple with issues as low as archaic, obsolete machines and poor sanitary conditions around the office complexes, etc. At times, modern technology is introduced to bring the public sectors to minimally acceptable global standards but sometimes, there is a corresponding lack of know-how for their use and maintenance. So the government is seen as simply adopting and applying the ‘best practices’ to their societies that lack the relevant structures to contain them.
Several reforms, motivational tools and methods have been employed and applied by succeeding governments on Nigeria’s public bureaucratic system. Sadly, these have been unable to bring it to the standards that enable it fulfil its roles of engendering economic growth and national development. As a result, it has neither performed up to par nor been able to deliver on the expectations of the citizens that it is expected to serve. Being a federal system, these lacunas have reflected in the civil services of the states, Plateau state inclusive, which derive their legitimacy, forms and functions from what is obtainable at and determined by the centre.
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The presence of the ‘clects’, lack of strict adherence to formal rules and procedures, overlap of roles and activities resulting from the presence of non-administrative criteria as described in Riggs’ Prismatic societies and the attendant ripple effects of their existence are undeniable in the environment of Nigeria’s public administration. The Contingency theory further lends credence to the thrust of the research because of its position that decision making and administrative behaviour are not unidirectional but situational. Invariably, public administrators and their decisions are influenced by the environment and as such, the tendency for workers to be motivated differently and by different things in a variety of situations becomes more ardent. The postulations of the contingency theory may, alongside those of Riggs’ model, guide the provision of target-oriented and target-specific motivation for employees and thereby, encourage performance. The need for this arises in the face of the social forces and factorswith which they may contend in the course of carrying out their day-to-day activities. These indices which form the core of this research have been defined by Riggs’ (1961) as non-administrative criteria and exist outside the employees immediate work environment.
In spite of the divergent views that capture motivation as a function of different factors and situations, Jucius (1979) in his own analysis,evaluated motivation as entailing the weighing of situations to determine the needs of the workers and possible motivators. He went further to explain that motivation can be best achieved through designing a set of motivators, selecting and applying the motivators as required and as target-specifically as possible and finally determining the effectiveness of each motivator based on the quality of feedback. The approach of Jucius (1979) to motivation is more encompassing than most views on motivation. It does not necessarily take for granted that specific motivators including those listed within the content and process motivation theories will suffice in motivating workers. Neither does he see the
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motivators as a one-stop solution to enhancing the efforts of employees. Rather, he suggests the evaluation of situations, employee needs and possible motivators before a set of motivators can be designed. He further upheld the importance of quality feedback in enabling the determination of the level of effectiveness of the motivators.
Jucius’ perspective also providesa foothold for this research into the potency of the non- administrative criteria in influencing employee motivation in the Plateau State civil service.The research is further developed based on the research design and methodology contained in the next chapter. The methodology encompasses the population and area of the study, the sampling procedures and the formula applied in deriving a sample size that is appreciably representative of the entire staff population of the Plateau State civil service. The chapter also includes the procedures for data collection and analyses, ethical considerations of the research and a post- research section which evaluates the research methodology.
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CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the methodology that was adopted for this research. It describes the research design which in this case is quasi-experimental since the research reflects both quantitative and qualitative components of research in the social sciences. It gives an insight into the area and population of study including the formula and sampling techniques adopted for deriving the sample size. The data collection methods and instruments were designed based on the characteristics inherent in the key variables of the research (Nigeria’s public administrative ecology and employee motivation) as gleaned from the literature reviewed for the purpose in the preceding chapter. It also includes a specific guideline on the procedures and processes which the actual field research and pattern of data analyses will take. Furthermore, it describes the tests of validity and reliability that are relevant to the determination of the authenticity and generalizability of the research findings. The ethical issues taken into consideration with regard to the research were highlighted and a section that evaluates the research methodology was included to give a general overview of the actual research process including the high points and challenges encountered in the course of the research. The chapter concludes with a summary.