Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability www.jases.org e-ISSN 2360-8013 e-ISSN:2360-8013
Volume 2 Issue 4, 2016 Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability www.jases.org e-ISSN 2360-8013
Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability (JASES) Volume 2, Issue 4, is a Special Issue
Publication covering selected and revised papers after Peer-reviewed by Scientific Committee from The
International Conference on Science, Engineering, and the Social Sciences (ICSESS) convened at Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia in 2016 and also after Peer-reviewed by reviewers of JASES. The ICSESS served as an academic platform for championing the pursuit of excellence in various research areas basically from fields including Education and Management. Special thanks to the Chief Guest Editor and Guest Editors who have made this possible.
ii | P a g e
Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability www.jases.org e-ISSN 2360-8013
JASES Editorial Board
Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Ibraheem Dooba
Co-Editor
Prof. Dr. Malay Chaudhuri
Emeritus Professor, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia
Managing Editor
Dr. Augustine Chioma Affam
University College of Technology Sarawak, Malaysia
Technical Editor
Dr. Ahmed Abba Haruna
Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia
iii | P a g e
Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability www.jases.org e-ISSN 2360-8013
ICSESS Guest Editor-in-Chief:
Assoc Prof. Dr. Lee Chew Tin
ICSESS Guest Editors:
Aliyu-Isah Chikaji
Bala Salisu
Ernest Ituma Egba
Baba Adams Ndalai
Bruno Lot Tanko
iv | P a g e
Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability www.jases.org e-ISSN 2360-8013
CONTENTS Students’ Motivation on Learning EFL Writing Skills Through Inquiry Approach 1 - 16 Sitti Hamsina S, Ahmad Johari Sihes
Promoting Corporate Governance and Sustainability through Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture in Nigeria’s Banking Sector 17 - 30 Orji Sixtus Onyebuchi, Maisarah Mohamed Saat, Dewi Fariha Abdullah
HR Strategic Partner Role and Organizational Performance 31 - 43 Charles Amechi Uti, Choi Sang Long
Employability Skills Integration in University TVET Programmes: A Strategy for Reducing Unemployment Rate among Graduates in Nigeria 44 - 55
Dahiru Sale Mohammed, Sarimah Ismail
Treasury Single Account and Sustainable Public Expenditure in Nigeria 56 - 61 Lawal Ahmed Tanimu, Muhammad Sulaiman, Awaisu Rabiu,
Assessment of Appropriateness of Project Reports of Graduating Business Education Students in Tertiary Institutions in Ebonyi State, Nigeria 62 - 67
Augustina Chinweoke Anyigor-Ogah
Lifting the Veil on the Economic Activities of Muslim Females in Northern Nigeria 68 - 75
Tawa S. Tijjani, Ebi Shahrin Suleiman, Umar Haiyat Abdul Kohar
v | P a g e
Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability www.jases.org e-ISSN 2360-8013
Risk in Islamic Banks: A Literary Review 76 - 84
Muryani Arsal, Nik Intan Norhan Abd Hamid, Faizah Mohammed Bashir
Perspectives on the Inquiry Learning Approach (IlA) on English Language Proficiency in Indonesia 85 - 93
Sitti Hamsina S, Ahmad Johari Bin Sihes, Amamata Zakari
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Islamic Bank: A Conceptual paper 94 - 104 Umar Usman, Sany Sanuri Mohd Mokhtar, AU Alkali, Nur Naha Abu Mansoor
Properties and Classifications of Bamboo for Construction of Buildings 105 -114
Aisha Haladu Bornoma, Muhamed Faruq, Moveh Samuel
Perception of Project Time Overrun In Building Construction Industry in Nigeria 115 - 120
Anumah John James, Anumah Lesado, Daniel Abi Alice, Rasaki Olajide Samson
vi | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Students’ Motivation on Learning EFL Writing Skills Through Inquiry Approach
Sitti Hamsina S1., Ahmad Johari Sihes2 1Institut Parahikma Indonesia, Jl.Mustafa Dg. Bunga No. 191 Gowa Sulawesi Selatan Indonesia, Post Code 92113. 2Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t The purpose of the study is to find out the differences of students’ motivation Article history in learning writing skills between using inquiry learning and using traditional Received: 11/07/2016 methods. The study used post-test only research design in experimental-control Accepted: 04/09/2016 groups in quasi-experimental research. Its subject is twenty students of XI grade-science program in experimental group and twenty students of XI grade- science program in control group. The study conducted within 6 meetings in 3 weeks in High School in Makassar. Data obtained by using three scales in MSLQ as a post-test and analyzed by using SPSS. It is found that inquiry students’ motivation, learning, learning can create meaningful differences on students’ control of learning writing skills, inquiry learning beliefs. Besides, inquiry-learning procedure is also found to create meaningful differences on students’ self-efficacy in learning writing skills. However, inquiry learning is not found to create meaningful differences in the anxiety dimension. The recommendation of the study also discussed in this article.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Teaching and learning becomes central issue in curriculum and instruction. If teaching and learning process runs well, it tends to gain learning achievement as general learning objectives seem easy. This occurs to all subjects including learning English as a foreign language. So, all components in teaching and learning have to function well such as teaching methods and strategies, teaching media and aids, classroom facilities, syllabus, and lesson plan (Stern, 1992; Depdiknas KTSP, 2006). Teacher strategies in teaching and learning are necessary to be varied to gain learners’ motivation and achievement in learning. One of teaching strategies which involve students’ participation and engagement in the classroom is inquiry learning instruction. This instruction involves learners to learn on
1 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
their own ways although teachers have limited experience with using inquiry activities in their classrooms (Newman et al., 2004). Teachers definitely need to be well prepared and confident in their knowledge and understanding in order to properly direct, guide, focus, challenge and even negotiate with students as they guide them through the process. More specifically, teachers’ preparation in all subjects in curriculum is necessary including English language teaching and learning as a foreign language. It may determine students’ achievement in all language competence (such as listening, reading, speaking, and writing). One which teachers need to prepare is teaching strategies and to apply those strategies in front of the classroom. A strategic competence of English in school based curriculum is writing although teachers face big challenges in teaching and students have difficulties to explore the competence. This study would focus on developing students’ motivation in learning writing skills through inquiry approach in EFL. Inquiry approach wishes increasing students’ motivation. Students’ motivation involves in the study is control of beliefs, self-efficacy, and anxiety. The developing of them would be found by using inquiry based learning.
1.1 Motivation Some factors determine second or foreign language learning achievements such as aptitude, learner preferences, learner beliefs, age of acquisition, and motivation. among those factors, motivation gains widespread acknowledgement as the most influential. Thus, being able to conceptualize motivation as exactly as possible will, without a shred of doubt, be beneficial to all who related, like educationalists, psychologists, teachers and learners, to name a few. Donjey (2005) also agrees that motivation is guilty for shaping human behavior by energizing it and opening it solution. He said that motivation has been broadly received by teachers and researchers as a key among various factors that determine success or failure of second/foreign language learning, because motivation in learning may influence other environmental factors. Students’ motivation, as expressed by Wigfield (1997), is being influenced by the environment in which students find themselves. He discusses teacher control and few opportunities for student choice as factors that can actually decrease task value towards reading. If the environment is a large factor in motivating students to read, then educators should be particularly interested in finding ways to optimize literacy learning environments to support an increase in motivation. Some approaches to teaching reading may be more advantageous than others. Teachers, who make reading socially interactive, teach strategies to help students comprehend, and use a coaching style instead of a corrective style has been shown to increase reading motivation (Gambrell, 1996 & Pressley, 2006).
2 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Rusman’s study (2010) highlighted that teaching and learning process should support community wishes although teachers’ participation and students’ motivation in the process are low. Community members hoped students have learnt and practiced their ability in the classroom in order to use in social interaction in community. Teachers’ involvement and students’ motivation are crucial in practicing students’ ability in the classroom. One of teacher’s involvements in teaching and learning process is their competence of using various teaching techniques to activate students in learning. Sanjaya (2009) also concluded that students got low encouragement to increase their high order thinking ability because they only are focused on memorizing competence. Memorizing competence according to him was not connected to daily context. In this case, teachers are necessary to guide students in learning with various interesting teaching approaches. Low motivation in learning significantly correlated with motivation principles (attention, relevancy, confidence, and satisfactory). Students’ motivation in the classroom was effected by the interesting teaching and learning process such as learning materials and learning approaches (Sanjaya, 2006). It can be concluded that the higher motivation of students is effected by interesting ways of teachers in delivering their students to touch learning objectives. Student motivation, according to Kaylene & Caroline (2012) is impacted by five main ingredients. They are student, teacher, content, method/process, and environment. From this, it may be concluded that teacher and learning content as parts of learning context become two determinants to enrich student motivation. Teacher in teaching process has to use appropriate learning content such as learning materials, learning methods, and lesson plan on a consistent basis. What teacher implements in teaching is suitable with students’ context because students have complex needs and desires. The interesting point in this view is student. Student, according to Kaylene & Carolineis is an ingredient to motivate itself. It means motivation may come from inner (intrinsic) or outer (extrinsic) parts of students. Students can increase their motivation from intrinsic and extrinsic encouragement. Understanding student motivation including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation means understanding students’ potency to learn. From those studies (Rusman, 2010; Sanjaya, 2009; Sanjaya, 2006), it could be concluded that students’ motivation becomes a challenge for teachers in English teaching and learning as a foreign language. Teacher should solve this challenge by implementing teaching approach in the classroom. By implementing appropriate teaching approach, students have great potency to increase their motivation to learn. So, teacher has to understand the causes of which improve students’ motivation in the classroom. According to Pintrich et al. (1991), there are six components of motivation namely intrinsic orientation, extrinsic orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Three of them involve in the study as motivation scales are control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Control of learning beliefs focuses on students’ belief degree to support their efforts to study and hopefully bring about positive results. Self-efficacy focuses on the students’ performance expectations and
3 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
their confidence level in mastering tasks. Test anxiety focuses on how to measure students’ test anxiety in a course. This test anxiety also specifically measures the students’ pessimistic thoughts and emotional aspects of anxiety that undermine performance on an exam.
1.2 Writing Skill Writing is not a single attribute in language learning. It may be linked with orthography, written discourse, the act of writing, or literature (Silva & Matsuda, 2002). However, whatever meaning and understanding adopted, know about writing is integral part of other language skills. It makes writing always becomes a complex skill to master whether it is mother language or foreign language. Its development involves much more than accurate use of grammar and a good range of vocabulary, or joining together the written down words (Richards, 2002). Writing consists of some elements. They are organization, grammar, diction, cohesion, and unity. On the other hand, the writer is put in a place to anticipate the reader’s reactions (Olshtain, 1991), while the speaker and hearer can provide immediate feedback in oral communication. Besides, aspects such as linguistic accuracy, clarity of expression, organization of ideas, naturalness and spontaneity emerge as some of the basic additional factors to be taken into consideration in writing, apart from spoken interaction (Silva & Matsuda, 2002). Followings are some explanations and examples of writing as a difficult and complex skill to be solved in teaching and learning process. Rita and Rita (2011) stated that most high school teachers in Indonesia have been teaching English for years without taking care of their writing ability because they believed that writing skill is difficult. They were difficult to understand in detail and guided them step by step in teaching writing. So, teachers’ perception are necessary to be strengthened to understand steps of teaching writing to improve their students’ writing skill. Writing, according to them, is a skill which requires organization of ideas to be communicated in a text because writing entails many complex components such as grammar, spelling, vocabulary, mechanics, and more importantly, its unity, coherence and cohesion. It makes the importance of complexity of teaching ways in teaching and learning process. To develop EFL writing skills according to Alwasilah (2006), attention should be paid to the process rather than product, quantity rather than quality, and fluency rather than accuracy. Indonesian students failed to learn skills in English including writing skill. He concluded that it may happen because teacher failed to meet students’ needs including to implement those aspects to develop his syllabus and tend to use conventional approach of teaching such as lecturing, drills, translating, and summarizing. Teacher as a front person in the classroom should design curriculum in connection with the needs of students for developing academic writing and use various and appropriate approaches. Melanie’s finding in her study (2012) indicated that the majority of teachers had low self-efficacy in teaching writing. Giving appropriate instruction in teaching writing, according to her, needs high
4 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
teachers’ self-efficacy because they must guide students from organizing students’ ideas in their mind to producing them in their writing. Surely, these activities need a specific focus to encourage and guide students to do them. Teachers’ low self-efficacy may be avoided by training them with effective ways in instructing students to write. Mourtaga’s study (2011) showed that English instructors in Gaza misunderstood the nature of the writing process, their learners did not practice enough writing in English. This study also revealed that students had low competence in writing. From those cases, he suggested that to develop English writing competence, instructors are necessary to use innovative classroom techniques within the process approach and dealing with learners in a human fashion. One of classroom techniques which may fashion students’ activities is inquiry learning. Inquiry learning focuses on learning process which students may practice their skills more flexibly. From Buckingham’s study (2008) in Turkey, it could be concluded that learner strategies can be incorporated to develop writing skill with academic writing program. It also found that Turkish learners have difficult in developing writing skill specially in exploring their ideas in certain genre conventions, so he suggested for solving this writing difficulty, it needs to combine an appropriate approach with writing teaching sequences. It should refer to teachers’ competence to combine specific approach in teaching certain skills in language such as teaching writing. It means that writing skill is necessary in teaching and learning process because writing is a productive-process skill. Fathi Huwari & Noor Hashima (2011) stated that Jordanian students have lack of writing ability in English at schools or universities level because they do very little writing in English. They recommended that future research can be done on learners’ use of strategies to reduce their high level of writing apprehension by using qualitative method. This study also indicates that there is a positive relationship between age and socio-economic status with writing apprehension.
1.3 Inquiry Learning Inquiry, according to Colburn (2004), refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work. Inquiry also refers to the activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world. Inquiry-based instruction is a classroom creation where students are engaged in open-ended, student-centered, and hands-on activities. Guided inquiry learning incorporates the idea of learning being student centred rather than traditionally teacher directed. When students help to shape the direction of their learning, they are empowered and learning is taken to whole new level. Students take ownership for their own learning, which results in more effective learning (Brown, 2008). Throughout the study, as students were observed and
5 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
made field notes, always came back to the idea that never followed a cookbook recipe for a lab in the future. Students need to have the ability to discover their own answers, to lead their own inquiry. The students rose to the challenge and were motivated and engaged to direct their own learning or to be independent learners. In order to promote students’ independent learning, inquiry learning model is mostly helpful (Atkinson et al., 2008). Inquiry-guided learning includes a variety of teaching methods that may assist students in guiding students to learn, to assess, and to practice their skills in order to be independent learners. Besides, students also have low level of thinking skills. To increase these skills still become the main problem for teachers. Inquiry-guided learning, according to them, also may increase students’ high order thinking skills. It may concluded that students are still difficult to be independent and to have higher level thinking skills. Furthermore, Chan Hok On’s research (2010) shows that different teachers held diverse beliefs about inquiry-based learning. Those different beliefs of teachers were found to force on their implementation of inquiry-based learning. This study recommended that teachers’ reflection, arrangement of resources, preparation for teachers and students and in-services training are necessary to be related to curriculum development, local authority, and school administration. Those all are important to motivate students and maximally involve their strategies in teaching and learning process. So, to develop school curriculum, those recommendations require to be integrated in order to accommodate curriculum goals. Yet another issue is that students need both modelling in advance of and support while engaging in inquiry learning (Friedrichson & Meis, 2006). Students need to be taught how to conduct an inquiry activity, how to develop higher order thinking, and how to put the inquiry skills into practice. Another dilemma is limited resources. Finding the time to teach using this method, which generally tends to be more time consuming than traditional methods, may be a problem. Teachers must find a way to allocate the time to teach using this method, as well as, fitting in standard curriculum and assessments (Newman et al., 2004). Teachers are the vehicles through which students are able to make successful interactions with content material. The primary issue of an education that is founded on experience is to choose the kind of experiences or activities that are productive and lead to future fulfilling experiences (Dewey 1997). Inquiry Learning can provide those experiences. Haranda and Yoshina (2004) describe inquiry learning as having the ability to promote deeper levels of thinking and improve students’ motivation for the learning of science. Teaching English using inquiry learning involves designing or using a learning activity that allows for the promotion of student inquiry and is collaborative, student driven and open ended. When students are involved in an inquiry activity they are following their own line of questioning to solve a problem and
6 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
arrive at a solution. In the process they will have utilized higher order thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication and literacy skills and scientific process skills. White et al. (1999) stated that the role of the teacher in an inquiry-based classroom is quite different from that of a teacher in a conventional classroom. Instead of providing direct instruction to students, teachers help students generate their own content-related questions and guide the investigation that follows. Because of the role of the teacher in an inquiry-based classroom is unconventional, it is sometimes misunderstood. When teachers choose to use an inquiry-based approach, they commit to provide rich experiences that provoke students’ thinking and curiosity; to plan carefully-constructed questioning sequences; to manage multiple student investigations at the same time; to continuously assess the progress of each student as they work toward their solution or final product; and to respond in the moment to students’ emerging queries and discoveries.
2. Method The post-test only design is used to find out the differences of students’ motivation which taught by inquiry approach and which received instruction through traditional methods. The quasi-experimental research has been conducted on 6 meetings of teaching English within 3 weeks in Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 3 Makassar. Twenty students of XI grade-science program in experimental group and twenty of twenty two students of XI grade-science program in control group. They are all 40 students as study subject. Their age is between 16-18 years old. Both groups were randomly selected as experimental group and control group. As far as the procedures are concerned, inquiry was selected as teaching approach in order to motivate students to learn English writing skills. During the experimental study, both groups received the same writing materials although writing skills were not measured. The difference of students’ motivation would be measured between group received writing instruction with inquiry learning and group received writing instruction with traditional teaching methods. Motivation of both groups were measured by using Motivation Strategy Language Questionnaire (MSLQ) after 3 week-teaching and learning. MSLQ questionnaire used a 7 point likert scales from never true until always true. Its scales interpretation according to Pintrich et al. (1993) is that 1.00- 1.50 means exceptionally low, 1.51-2.50 means very low, 2.51-3.50 means low, 3.51-4.50 means moderate, 4.51-5.50 means high, 5.51-6.50 means very high, 6.51-7.00 means exceptional high. Motivation would be measured by three scales namely control of beliefs, self-efficacy, and anxiety. Those three scales have 18 items; 6 items of control of beliefs, 4 items of self-efficacy, and 8 items of anxiety. Before using MSLQ questionnaire, it was translated into Indonesian language (language of research subject) by using back translation technique and was validated by 3 experts in English language teaching from State University of Makassar. Reliability of the questionnaire was also measured by using cronbach alpha. The cronbach alpha of control of beliefs is 0.65, self-efficacy is 0.75, and anxiety is 0.79. The
7 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
cronbach alpha of three motivation scales showed consistent reliability and it means it can be used in the study. With regards of validate and reliability process, MSLQ questionnaire in Indonesian version, then, was distributed into both experimental and control group before and after treatment in order to collect data about students’ motivation. The treatment ran during 6 meetings by using inquiry approach in experimental group and by using traditional methods in control group. Data were analyzed by using one independent sample t Test.
3. Results and Discussion As regards of students’ motivation test result of control and experiment group, posttest only group design was used to find out the difference of students’ motivation between control and experiment group. Before presenting those differences, the following would be shown mean and standard deviation of each scale of motivation. Table 1 shows the mean and standard deviation of motivation scale.
Table 1: Comparison of Scale Mean Between Control and Experiment Group Scale Group N Mean SD
Belief Control 20 5.18 1.09
Experiment 20 5.76 0.60
Total 40 5.47 0.91
Self-Efficacy Control 20 5.14 0.60
Experiment 20 5.68 0.49
Total 40 5.41 0.60
Anxiety Control 20 4.99 0.95
Experiment 20 5.46 0.81
Total 40 5.22 0.90
Data analysis in Table 1 shows that three scales of motivation used in the study have higher mean score in experimental group than one in control group. Control of beliefs and self-efficacy in control group is in high level and in experimental group is in very high level. Both are different from anxiety. Anxiety in
8 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
both control and experimental group is in high level. It can be concluded that all three scales of motivation in experimental group with receiving inquiry learning have higher mean score of control of beliefs, self- efficacy, and anxiety than control group with receiving traditional learning approach in learning writing skills. Regarding to the result in table 1, it was found that among 6 items in measuring students’ control of beliefs, only item 6 [understanding the subject matter of this course is very important to me] is not consistently higher in experimental group. Mean score [4.50] of item 6 in control group is higher than its mean score [3.95] in experimental group (see Appendix A). Furthermore, from 3 of 4 items in self-efficacy have consistently higher mean score in experiment group than in control group and only item 3 is not consistent [if I try hard enough, then I will understand the course material]. Item 3 shows the same mean score between experiment group and control group (see Appendix B). In anxiety scale, from 8 items, only one item in experimental group shows lower mean score than in control group. It is item1 [I believe I will receive an excellent grade in this class]. And other seven items in experimental group shows higher than in control group (see appendix C). The difference between experimental group with learning writing through inquiry and control group with learning writing through traditional methods are shown in table 2. Independent t-test has been used to test the difference between posttest points in the experimental group and the control group.
Table 2: Difference of motivation scales between Control Group and Experimental Group
Sig. (2- Scale F Sig. T tailed)
Control of Equal variances assumed 5.737 .022 2.058 .047 Belief Equal variances not .048 assumed
Self-Efficacy Equal variances assumed 1.714 .198 3.082 .004
Equal variances not .004 assumed
Anxiety Equal variances assumed 3.026 .090 1.676 .102
Equal variances not .102 assumed
9 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Among motivation’s scale in the experimental group and the control group, t-values between the two groups have been analyzed respectively as, 2.058 in control of beliefs, 3.082 in self-efficacy, and 1.676 in anxiety. From t-values of three scales, two of them are control of beliefs revealed a significant difference at 0.05 level and the rest is anxiety did not reveal a significance difference at 0.05 level. It could be concluded that there was significant difference of control of beliefs and self-efficacy between experimental group with inquiry learning and control group with traditional learning methods. On the other hand, anxiety as one of motivation scales did not showed significant difference between experimental group with inquiry learning and control group with traditional learning methods.
Comparison of posttest points of the groups would be discussed in this stage in order to show students’ motivation in learning writing skills through inquiry. As stated before that motivation scales used in the study are control of beliefs, self-efficacy, and anxiety. All items in overall scales showed that they are in high and very high level in both groups. Although it showed the similarity, both experimental and control group have differences of three scales of motivation. Students which receiving writing instruction with inquiry approach had higher control of beliefs than ones which receiving writing instruction with traditional methods. It means that students receiving inquiry learning had high hope to use of English and high interest in content area and subject matter of English. They hoped they may use English after learning in the class. Despite of it, they feel that it is very important to continuously understand subject matter of English lesson. Based on Covington (1992), in order to maintain a sense of self-worth and self-control of learning, students need understanding the attributes of their failure and weaknesses. It means that when students may have controlled their learning beliefs, their success becomes more closed. In this study, students still faced difficulties and they know they have some weaknesses in learning writing skills, but this kind of understanding maintains their creativity to master writing skills. Because by using inquiry, students looked having high control of beliefs as an integral part of motivation. Furthermore, students’ self-efficacy in learning writing skills through inquiry consistently higher than one in learning writing skills through traditional methods. It may be concluded that although students feel very hard to shortly understand the materials, inquiry learning has potency to improve students’ self- efficacy. Its potency was shown by the appropriate ways of teacher, students’ understanding of their own fault, and students’ hard efforts in inquiry learning. The findings of this study supported Graham’s (2003) viewpoint of self-efficacy although this study specifies in learning EFL writing skills through inquiry. Graham, (2003) pointed that self-efficacy as an integral aspect of motivation influences individual reflects on learning. Bandura (1993) also stated that students' realistic perceptions of high self-efficacy attributed to an increase in their academic achievement that could surpass their academic ability. So, the high self-
10 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
efficacy in performing learning EFL writing skills in this study shows great potency to improve students’ writing skills. Besides, the higher students’ anxiety was also shown in inquiry learning. It is shown that inquiry learning has great potency to stabilize students’ anxiety in learning English writing skills. Although students believed that they did not received an excellent grade in English lesson, they still have certainty to understand all subject matters taught. Students also have high confidence to understand basic concepts although it is complex because they still believed that they can get an excellent job in the coming test in English writing skills. At the end, students hopefully mastered English writing skills with high motivation, of course, if they have an excellent teacher. The study also revealed the differences of motivation posttest points between experimental group and control group. It was indicated that there were significant differences of students’ control of beliefs and self-efficacy between experimental group and control group. On the other hand, there were no significant differences of students’ anxiety between experimental group and control group.
4. Conclusion The study purposed at finding out students’ motivation in learning writing skills through inquiry. One of the findings is that students’ control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy, and anxiety as integral parts of motivation are found higher on inquiry learning. However, from viewpoint of control of learning beliefs, it is still necessary to deepen students’ understanding the subject matter of English writing. To more develop their self-efficacy in learning and performing, students try to learn hard enough to understand the writing material. Furthermore, in viewpoint of students’ test anxiety, they still need to increase their belief that they will receive an excellent grade if they learn harder. Another finding is that inquiry learning is found to create meaningful differences on students’ control of learning beliefs. Besides, inquiry-learning procedure is also found to create meaningful differences on students’ self-efficacy in learning and performing in learning writing skills. However, inquiry learning is not found to create meaningful differences in the anxiety dimension. It might be concluded that inquiry learning has great potency to increase and, then, maintain students’ motivation as viewed from control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy in learning, and anxiety in learning EFL writing skills. It is recommended that to motivate students in learning EFL writing skills, teacher should include inquiry learning as an integral part of instructional teaching and learning procedures in syllabus and lesson plan. In terms of strengths and weaknesses of inquiry approach, it is also necessary to be varied with other interesting instructional methods, instead of being suitable with students’ needs and goals. Those kinds of syllabus and lesson plan as instructional parts of a curriculum can help students more independent and flexible in learning since they are used to govern overall learning process.
11 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Further studies on similar area should focus on exploring one dimension of motivation to have better understanding in one specific dimension. On the other hand, further studies also may expand on other dimensions of motivation, and then relate to other dimension of another construct. Teachers need to have knowledge of how to design syllabus and lesson plan on the exact level of students and recovery of various classroom circumstances. By including inquiry learning among other professional teaching strategies, classroom activities would be more creative and innovative.
References Alwasilah, A.C. (2006). From Local To Global: Reinventing Local Literature Through English Writing Classes. TEFLIN Journal, 17, 1.
Atkinson, Maxine P. Hunt, & Andrea N. (2008). Inquiry-Guided Learning in Sociology Teaching Sociology; 36, 1: 1-7.
Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28, 117-148.
Brown, Douglas H. (2008). Teaching by Principles; An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Second Edition, Longman Inc.
Buckingham, L. (2008). Development of English Academic Writing Competence by Turkish Scholars. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 3.
Colburn, A. (2004). An Inquiry Primer. Special Issue.1-4 Chan, Hok On. (2010). How do teachers’ beliefs affect the implementation of inquiry-based learning in the PGS Curriculum? A case study of two primary schools in Hong Kong. Durham theses. Durham University.
Covington, M. V. (1992). Making the grade: A self-worth perspective on motivation and school reform. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Depdiknas (2006). Pedoman Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan 2006. Jakarta: Depdiknas.
Dewey, J. (1997). Experience and education. New York: Touchstone.
Dornyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of The Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Fathi Huwari, Ibrahim & Noor Hashima Abd Aziz. (2011). Writing Apprehension in English Among Jordanian Postgraduate Students At Universiti Utara Malaysia. Academic Research International, 1.2.
Friedrichsen, P. & Meis. (2006). Brokering at the Boundary: A Prospective Science Teacher Engages Students in Inquiry. Science Education, 90: 522- 543.
Graham, S. (2003). Learner's metacognitive beliefs: A modern foreign language case study. Research in Education, 70: 9-20.
Harada, V. H., & Yoshina, J. M. (2004). Inquiry learning through librarian–teacher partnerships. Worthington, OH: Linworth Publishing.
12 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Kaylene C. Williams & Caroline C. Williams (2012). Five key ingredients for improving student motivation. Research in Higher Education Journal. 1-23.
Melanie M. Landon-Hays (2012). I Would Teach It If I Knew How: Inquiry, Modeling, Shared Writing, Collaborative Writing, and Independent Writing (IMSCI), a Model for Increasing Secondary Teacher Self- Efficacy in Integrating Writing Instruction in the Content Areas. Unpublished Ph.D Tesis. Utah State University: Logan.
Mourtaga, Kamal R. (2011). Poor Writing in English: A Case of the Palestinian EFL learners in Gaza Strip. Unpublished Paper. Islamic University of Gaza.
Newman, W. J., Jr.; Abell, S. & Hubbard, P. D. (2004). Dilemmas of Teaching Inquiry in Elementary Science Methods. Journal Science Teacher Education, 15: 257-279.
Olshtain, E. (1991). Functional Tasks for Mastering the Mechanics of Writing and Going Just Beyond. In Marianne Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (pp. 235-245). Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A. F., Garcia, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53: 801-813.
Richards, J. C. (2002). Theories of Teaching in Language Teaching. In Jack C. Richards & Willy A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current practice. (pp. 19-25). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rita Inderawati & Rita Hayati (2011). Short-Term Training Model of Academic Writingnto High School Teachers. US-China Foreign Language, 9, 8: 517-523
Silva, T., & Matsuda, P. K. (2002). Writing. In Schmitt, N. (Ed.), An Introduction to AppliedLinguistics. (pp. 251-267). New York: Arnold.
Stern, H. H. (1992) Issue and Options in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
White, Barbara, Todd A. Shimoda, and John R. Frederiksen. (1999). Enabling Students to Construct Theories of Collaborative Inquiry and Reflective Learning: Computer Support for Metacognitive Development. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 10: 151-182.
Acknowledgements:
Our unlimited thankfulness addressed to our colleagues and all staffs of Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Governor of South Sulawesi Indonesia.
APPENDIX Appendix A: Comparison of Mean and Standard Deviation of item in Control of Beliefs Item Control Group Experimental Group
N Mean SD N Mean SD
13 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
1 20 5.80 1.24 20 6.25 1.02
2 20 5.75 2.17 20 6.80 0.41
3 20 5.80 1.24 20 6.05 1.28
4 20 5.25 1.29 20 6.00 0.79
5 20 6.15 1.18 20 6.20 0.77
6 20 4.50 1.70 20 3.95 1.93
Appendix B: Comparison of Mean and Standard Deviation of item in Self-efficacy Item Control Group Experimental Group
N Mean SD N Mean SD
1 20 4.80 1.47 20 5.35 0.74
2 20 4.75 1.69 20 6.25 0.85
3 20 5.35 1.35 20 5.35 1.59
4 20 5.85 0.99 20 6.10 0.97
Appendix C: Comparison of Mean and Standard Deviation of item in Anxiety Item Control Group Experimental Group
N Mean SD N Mean SD
1 20 4.50 1.96 20 4.25 1.65
2 20 5.20 1.10 20 5.60 1.53
3 20 5.10 2.07 20 6.20 0.69
4 20 5.50 0.94 20 6.40 0.68
14 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
5 20 5.65 1.22 20 6.65 0.49
6 20 5.10 1.37 20 5.35 0.93
7 20 4.70 1.81 20 5.40 1.05
8 20 5.40 1.19 20 5.60 0.89
Item Control of Beliefs
1 I think I will be able to use what I learn in this course in other courses.
2 It is important for me to learn the course material in this class.
3 I am very interested in the content area of this course
4 I think the course material in this class is useful for me to learn.
5 I like the subject matter of this course.
6 Understanding the subject matter of this course is very important to me.
Item Self-Efficacy
1 If I study in appropriate ways, then I will be able to learn the material
in this course.
2 It is my own fault if I don’t learn the material in this course.
3 If I try hard enough, then I will understand the course material.
4 If I don’t understand the course material, it is because I didn’t try hard enough.
Item Anxiety
1 I believe I will receive an excellent grade in this class.
2 I am certain I can understand the most difficult material presented in
15 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 1-16, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
the readings for this course.
3 I am confident I can understand the basic concepts taught in this course.
4 I am confident I can understand the most complex material presented
by the instructor in this course.
5 I am confident I can do an excellent job on the assignments and tests in this course.
6 I expect to do well in this class.
7 I am certain I can master the skills being taught in this class.
8 Considering the difficulty of this course, the teacher, and my skills, I
think I will do well in this class.
16 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Promoting Corporate Governance and Sustainability through Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture in Nigeria’s Banking Sector Orji Sixtus Onyebuchi*, Maisarah Mohamed Saat, Dewi Fariha Abdullah
Department of Human Resource Development, Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia *Corresponding Author: [email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t Corporate governance has been recognized as very essential factor for any Article history organization and corporate sustainability which is of benefits to shareholders Received: 11/07/2016 and society. However, the recurrence of corporate failures in Nigerian banking Accepted: 04/09/2016 sector has become major concern to the society. This paper discusses corporate governance, ethical leadership and organizational culture as factors that can influence corporate sustainability in Nigerian banking sector. The aim is to demonstrate that corporate governance sustainability is fundamental to the continuing existence of any organization especially the banking sector. Till Corporate governance, date, previous literature has noted ethical dimension compliance as veritable Sustainability, Ethical mechanism for corporate sustainability. This paper proposes a framework for Leadership, Organizational corporate sustainability that includes corporate governance, ethical leadership Culture and organizational culture in the banking industry. The article concludes that ensuring ethical compliance culture will guarantee trust and accountability. It also suggests that ethical leadership and organizational culture roles are imperative in creating a culture of ethical compliance that guarantee corporate sustainability which benefits both stakeholders and society. The implication is to increase the understanding of the vital components of corporate sustainability.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Promotion of corporate sustainability through good governance in the banking sector is very essential to any country because of crucial role banks play in stimulation of economy. This necessitates the need to enhance good business environment through ethical leadership that will create organizational culture of ethical compliance. The concept of corporate governance has in recent years attracted enormous attention due to
17 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
failures of many world known companies in America and Europe such as WorldCom, Anderson, Enron and others (Arjoon, 2005, Ruth, 2005, Aras and Crowther, 2008, Seto´-Pamies and Papaoikonomou, 2015) which caused serious economic crises. The economic crises observed in 2007-2009 in Europe and America had a rippled effect on economies of Africa and Nigeria in particular with many of the banks faced with liquidity crisis (Sanusi, 2010). The mass corporate failures witnessed has led various governments around the world to take different legislative measures to prevent society from future recurrence. The crises have been attributed to lack of transparency and good governance by managers of these companies (Okeahalam, 2004, Opara and Wyne, 2008). Accordingly, researchers have undertaken study on wide range of problems with corporate behaviour which have led to prominence of concepts like corporate social responsibility, corporate governance and sustainability etc., (Boele et al., 2001, Knox and Maklan, 2004, Aras and Crowther, 2008, Achua, 2008, Seto´-Pamies and Papaoikonomou, 2015). In response to observed consequences of corporate failures recorded in Europe and America in 2007- 2009 and Asia in 1990s visa-vis the rippled effects, Nigeria took proactive measures. The measures includes introduction and adoption of corporate governance national reports (Code of Corporate Governance in Nigeria, 2003). The code aimed to define how the relationship between corporate governance and business ethics is being perceived by stakeholders. The banking sector in Nigeria has particularly had a fair share of corporate failures arising from unethical behavior and lack of corporate governance (Sanusi, 2010; Bello, 2012). The Nigerian banking sector nosedived in 2009 leading to intervention of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). According to Sanusi (2010) the failures of Nigeria’s banks is a monumental fraud and deliberate act of prestidigitation. The major factors attributed to the banking sector crisis in 2009 in Nigeria are failures in corporate governance in many of the banks, inadequate disclosure and transparency about financial position of banks, critical gaps in regulatory framework and regulations, uneven supervision and enforcement, unstructured governance and management processes at the CBN/Weaknesses within the CBN (Sanusi, 2010; Bello, 2012). In recognition of the observed inadequacies the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) moved aftermath of the crisis to strengthen its supervision on the banks. The CBN in 2011 sacked management and boards of some banks such as bank PHB, Afri bank PLC, Spring PLC, Intercontinental bank PLC and Oceanic bank PLC. The CBN also adopted other regulatory measures aimed at promoting corporate governance. A major factor that has necessitated a shift to corporate governance in the financial sector as well as other sectors of economy in line with changing trend is the quest for greater accountability of companies to their shareholders, employees, investors and customers (Bushman and Smith, 2001). The shift to corporate governance and need for sustainability of ethical corporate culture in the banking industry has made it crucial to distinguish between institutional and ethical compliance mechanisms. Experience has shown that institutional measures are not enough to ensure corporate sustainability (Arjoon, 2005, Rossouw, 2005
18 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Achua, 2008). There is indeed flaws in paying much attention to institutional or legal approach in ensuring corporate governance. The inability of legal institutions to regulate behaviours of industry practitioners has necessitated the need to focus on ethical compliance mechanisms rather than on legal compliance (Arjoon (2005). In line with this, Seto´-Pamies and Papaoikonomou (2015) opined that institutional approach emphasis responsibility and consequences such as fines or punishment which does not change attitudes. It is a fact that institutional mechanism do not ensure a change in people’s attitudes and mentality. The ethical dimension of corporate compliance changes people’s attitude to corporate issues. This is because the real thinking and culture of a people are actions display when no one is watching. An ethical oriented compliance promotes business sustainability. Several researchers have observed the importance of corporate governance in promoting corporate sustainability (Crowther and Aras, 2008, Arjoon, 2005). However, the failure to consider effective leadership style as necessary factor for fostering ethical culture compliance necessitates a framework that includes ethical leadership and organizational culture components as factors influencing corporate governance and sustainability. There is need to consider ethical leadership and organizational culture as a driving force of corporate governance and sustainability. The idealized influence of ethical leadership makes it an effective leadership style needed in promotion of culture of ethical compliance (Brown et al, 2005, Bello, 2012), which can enhance good governance and corporate sustainability. In as much as institutional compliance mechanism is vital, good corporate governance and sustainability depends largely on ethical characters of industry workers and all stakeholders. Therefore, laying much emphasis on institutional mechanisms may lead to substituting accountability for responsibility which may result to an aberration of legislating morality. The fact is that the much recorded corporate banking failures in Nigeria is not only consequences of lack of institutional compliance but more of failures of industry practitioners to ensure that appropriate conduct and ethical culture are entrenched in the industry. This paper discusses the definitions as well as importance of corporate governance and sustainability. It also discuss the meaning and relationship of ethical leadership and organizational culture as influencing factors of corporate sustainability.
2. Corporate Governance The concept of corporate governance implies relationship of an organization to its shareholders and society that includes transparency, accountability, fairness and adherence to rules and regulations. It includes rules that govern managers and other necessary actions consistent with the interests of key stakeholders of the organization. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has succinctly define corporate governance as an established system of control and direction of business corporations. The established corporate governance structure that stipulates the rights and responsibilities among stakeholders
19 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
of a company such as the board and managers. The aim of corporate governance is to ensure that organizational power is not misused but used in a way that bring satisfaction to all stakeholders. This was agreed by Licht (2002) observation that corporate governance implies rules and structures for exercise of power over other people’s interests. The fundamental issues of corporate governance are transparency and accountability, legal and regulatory environment, appropriate risk management measures, information flows and the responsibility of senior management and the board of directors. By the definitions corporate governance can be seen as a mechanism that prevents abuse of power by corporate leaders. It creates organizational culture where individuals’ attitudes to compliance are positive with corporate sustainability. This culture encourages creativity, engenders sustainable innovation and provides solutions that do not work against societal expectations (Seyfang and Smith 2007; Boyce 2008, Seto´-Pamies and Papaoikonomou (2015). Corporate governance offers a business environment of trust, ethics, moral values, confidence and provides opportunity for interactions among government; the general public, professional/service providers, and the corporate sector. The devastating consequences of irresponsible actions of organizations such as banks has necessitated increasing concern for corporate governance (Hermalin, 2005) and need to do the right things in organizations. The lessons learnt by not doing the appropriate things in business environment has brought the concept of corporate governance through ethical means to centre stage. The ethical dimension of corporate governance basically involves questions concerning relationships and building trust by organizational leaders (Arjoon, 2005). The banking business is about trust therefore, culture of good governance which upholds ethical values should permeate all facets of banking sector and be displayed in all actions and decisions of the leadership.
3. Corporate Sustainability
The issues of corporate sustainability has become prominent in management discourse because of the recognition that corporate entities existence is a social contract. By social contract every other stakeholders that have an interest in the activities of organization is believe to possess a significant level of influence over the shaping of firm’s activities and conducts (Crowther and Aras, 2008, Aguilera, 2005, Craig and Cartwright, 2006). The World Commission on Environment and Sustainable Development (1987, p. 43) succinctly define sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This implies that sustainability involves actions which pursues current business objectives or development while preserving the environment and society for long-term growth. More so, it is concerned with ensuring that the business decisions of today on resource utilization do not impede the future choices (Crowther and Aras, 2008). The term sustainability has been used by Bai and Sarkis (2014), Fergus and Rowney (2005) to incorporate economic, environmental, and
20 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
social sustainability. A good corporate culture seeks performance of organization today which also safeguards environment for investment in the future.
The ethical dimension of sustainability of corporate governance therefore, can be define as the ability of organizational leaders to communicate and influence ethical decisions and conducts which ensures that utilization of all facets of firm’s resources today serves to preserve organization’s future. This implies that creation of values by corporate leaders must be encompassing and should not negate constituent components of well-being such as emotional, spiritual and social welfare (Aras and Crowther, 2008). In other words, this requires a simultaneous good financial performance and development of ethical culture dimension that will lead to a better performance of organization visa-vis the entire industry and society. The drive toward corporate governance and sustainability are necessitated by wide-ranging recognition by stakeholders that ethical compliance is important to economic success of organizations as well as long term survival (Armstrong, 2003). It is widely accepted that corporate governance can in reality improve organizational culture and reputation of the banks which in turn can attract customer loyalty as well as investors. Additionally, it is also seen as a prevention of corruption and unethical business conducts that has characterized banking practices in Nigeria.
The main ethical issues of corporate governance and sustainability as enumerated by the OECD are:
A. Protection of shareholders’ rights.
B. Safeguarding the equitable treatment of all shareholders, including minority and foreign shareholders. All shareholders should have the opportunity to obtain redress for violation of their rights.
C. Ensuring that timely and accurate disclosure is made on all material matters regarding the corporation, including the financial situation, performance, ownership and governance of the company.
D. Identification of the rights of stakeholders as established by law and encourage active co- operation between corporations and stakeholders in creating wealth, jobs, and the sustainability of financially sound enterprises.
E. Protection of the strategic guidance of the company, the effective monitoring of management by the board, and the board’s accountability to the company and the shareholders. The issues as highlighted above recognized management obligations to shareholders as well as to the society. From the above also, two important models of corporate governance can be recognized. They include the model based on the maximization of shareholder value and the model of social responsibility.
21 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
The first model emphasis maximizing shareholders interest based on stipulated time already determined by shareholders. The second model focuses on wealth creation determined through management ethical stance. To ensure sustainability ideal practical situation in banking sector is for management and shareholders to adopt conservative and more common form of ethical stance known as Corporate Citizenship (Wood and Logsdon, 2002). This approach recognize the interests of shareholders as principal objective, with focus on the society where the firm exists with related clearly stated commercial considerations.
The constant relationships between business and society and exchanges that exists between them bestow on organizations the obligation to be responsible corporate citizen. Consequently, ethical dimension of corporate governance is a demand for organizations to at all times operate in an economically and environmentally friendly manner while at the same time, recognizing the interest of stakeholders (Carrol, 1991). The success of any organization depends on its values and its ethical orientation (Arjoon, 2005, Rossouw, 2005). In other words, sustainability of corporate governance must be anchored on organizational behaviour which is determined by prevailing organizational culture that agrees with societal expectations.
The observable important aspects of corporate governance sustainability are:
(i) Societal influence, in terms of measure of the impact which society brings to bear upon the corporation in relation to social contract and stakeholder influence. (ii) Environmental impact, define in terms of effect of the actions of the organization upon its operating social-milieu. (iii) Organizational culture, which is define in relationship between the organization and its internal factors such as employees, and all aspects of such relationship. (iv) Investment returns, which is describe as satisfactory return for the amount of risk undertaken.
3.1 Ethical Leadership
The idealized influence and moral character of ethical leadership makes it effective leadership style for corporate governance sustainability. According to Brown et al., (2005, p 120) ethical leadership is……
“The demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and, decision-making.
The ability of ethical leadership to inspire and reward performance makes it consistent with ethical compliance mechanism. When it comes to legal and ethical characteristics compliance mechanisms for
22 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
corporate governance, ethical leadership traits are consistent with policies and actions that promotes organizational culture because of its fairness, treatment of employees and openness in communication of ethics (Trevino et al., 1999). The traits such as trustworthiness, integrity, honesty and cognitive trust and exercise of care in a work place associated with ethical leadership makes it a suitable leadership style that can ensure corporate governance and sustainability (Brown and Trevino, 2006). This supports the study of character traits of effective organizational leadership by Collins (2001) which found that leaders with integrity and conscience put the interest of their stakeholders and employees ahead of their own self- interest. The leaders’ demonstration of traits of enthusiasm and workman diligence drives organization for success.
The practical nature of ethical leadership to inspire subordinates’ behaviour and work for the interest of all stakeholders reflects its moral character. According to Trevino et al., (2003, 2006) a moral manager makes ethics clearly part of his/her leadership program by communicating moral values and ethical ideals and by apparently and intentionally role modelling ethical behaviour. By serving as agent of change and role model to employees as well as shareholders ethical leadership creates organizational culture which places prominence on integrity and trust. The changes in attitudes reduces the shareholders mindedness on bottom- line as a definition of organizational performance and promotes employees, customers and community interests (Arjoon, 2005). This leadership redirection of business approach creates a sense of fairness, readjustment of expectation in that shareholders and management at all times set a realistic target on returns for the organization and attempt to achieve legitimate success in a competitive business environment.
3.2 Relating Ethical Leadership with Corporate Sustainability The banking business is a highly regulated industry. Thus, it is a way of ensuring compliance to rules and regulations aimed at meeting societal and ethical expectations. The regulatory agencies subject every activity of banking industry to control such as, behavioural parameters, enforcement of ethical standards and handling of deviants (Biu, 2004, Adeniyi, 2004a, Achua, 2008). However, regulatory inadequacies make regulation of ethical behaviour ineffective. So, there is the need for ethical dimension of ensuring standard and corporate governance. In view of the observed institutional ineptitudes and inherent problems associated with regulating agencies in managing banks from legal and paper position, it is imperative to ensure appropriate behaviour and enabling social change desirable directions through an effective ethical leadership that promotes self-regulation (Adeniyi, 2004a, Achua, 2008). The ethical leader understands that the ability to provide a professional service can only take place in an environment which guarantees increasing tendency towards individual accountability that benefits globalizing society (Van Beek and Solomon, 2004). To ensure quality service and corporate sustainability ethical leadership enhances available resources which encourages corporate governance including provision of guidance on reporting
23 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
and accountability (Khan et al., 2015). The ethical leadership approach reduces bank officials increasing focus on “beneficial bottom- line” rather lay more emphasis on how and way to get “there” (Hamburg, 2004). The ethical actions of the leadership builds an organizational culture of integrity that is consistent with moral obligation. The ethical leadership principle of accountability promotes corporate governance ethical compliance that focus on achieving both economic and noneconomic goals.
The ethical leadership approach focuses more on ethical considerations which allows people to reason, form personal opinion and take personal responsibility (Longstaff, 1986). The banking system in Nigeria is characterized by low ethical standards, unprofessional conduct and irresponsive corporate governance as well as apparent lack of honesty on part of most operators (Cookey, 2004). This could be attributed to overemphasis on institutional compliance mechanism. On this note, Seidman (2004) noted that lack of corporate governance have shown to be not only failures of legal compliance, but more of strongly and essentially failures to ensure ethical conduct; resulting to the environment loss of ethical standing. The importance of ethical leadership role in promoting self-regulation cannot be overemphasis. The Central Bank of Nigeria has in 2004 introduced “Corporate Governance Code for Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria” as a self-regulatory measure. Similarly, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued an international supervisory guideline aimed at fostering safe and sound banking practices with objective of reinforcing the importance of corporate governance and control principles as issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Salimon, 2006). The responsible business behaviour drives organizational culture which emphasis growth through legitimate means. The actions of ethical leadership shapes attitudes and conducts of organizations towards corporate sustainability.
3.3 Relating Organizational Culture to Corporate Sustainability Organizational culture consists of collective body of individuals who possess values, beliefs and norms which are transmitted to the individual members of an organization. According to Wallach (1983) organizational culture is the collective acceptance of beliefs, values, norms and philosophies of how things work. In this respect, an organizational culture that has shared values, beliefs which are commonly held creates a sense of affirmation, connection which differentiates one organization to another (O’ Reilly et al., 1989; Chen, 2004). The overall objective of any corporate culture is to promote effective running of business. The effectiveness of organizational culture in influencing compliance was highlighted by Hansen (2004) observation that very explicit recognition of the role of culture in a business may be helpful since the challenge is to ascertain whether a corporation’s compliance program is just a paper program or whether it was designed and implemented in an effective manner. The role of ethical leadership in redirecting
24 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
organizational business approach establishes a cultural norm which consistently supports the importance of ethical compliance mechanism. An ethical culture is against unorthodox means of achieving organizational results. In Nigeria lack of organizational culture that is consistent with ethical practices has resulted to adoption of unconventional means in conducting banking business. For example, according to Okeke (2004), Mayowa (2005) and Achua (2008) there have been allegations that some banks in an effort to dominate market encourage female staff to do “anything possible” to meet set deposit targets and it has been reported that some female bank officials have been sexually harassed while there is also allegation of female bank officials being employed by consideration of physical appearance, romantic association with directors or senior management. Whereas men employees are meant to pay money before employment is considered as well as other patronage other than merit. Unfortunately, the desire of microfinance banks to achieve result and operate big as commercial banks have also seen these acts of corporate prostitution replicated in the subsector. These are serious ethical issues that must be re-examined by ethical leadership. The fundamental question that must be resolved in corporate sustainability is whether the essence and nature of business is for organizational leaders to function to serve the overall interests of all stakeholders such as employees’ customers, community and shareholders (Arjoon, 2005). The importance of ethical compliance principle in corporate governance is its ability to influence organizational culture which guarantees good business environment and decent results.
Furthermore, an organizational culture which supports ethical compliance also promotes principles of institutional or legal compliance. The organizational culture that upholds ethical principles such as responsibility, fairness, transparency and accountability also promotes legal compliance mechanisms such as corporate ethics programs, codes of conduct, mission statements, and good accounting reporting (Arjoon, 2005, Crowther and Aras, 2008). The character of ethical leadership as a moral transactional manager builds an organizational culture that goes beyond just legal compliance but more importantly establish business environment which provides an excellent opportunity to all stakeholders (Arjoon, 2005, Crowther and Aras, 2008, Achua, 2008). Ensuring self-regulation and ethical compliance culture supports the objectives of the United Nation Global Compact that was launched at the Economic Forum in 1999, which has been known as triple bottom-line (that is, make profit, care for the environment and uphold social justice). This principles aims to reinforce the free and open market system with stable and just societies. Indeed, ethical leadership behaviour can institutionalize organizational culture which encourages ethical behaviour that can go a long way in ensuring sustainability of corporate governance. The ability of any organization to sustainably upheld ethical corporate governance, abide by institutional stipulated rules regarding corporate governance and remain a responsible corporate entity largely depends
25 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
on internal organizational factors such as leadership and prevailing organizational culture. Hence, this paper proposes corporate governance, ethical leadership and organizational culture components as stated in figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Components of sustainability
4. Conclusion Corporate governance is the only way to ensure corporate sustainability especially in the banking industry. An effective corporate governance founded on core values of integrity, trust and fairness will provide banks with a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent as well as creating positive reactions in the marketplace which guarantees the future. Any bank that has good reputation for ethical behaviour in today’s market will certainly stimulate customer’s and employee’s loyalty. An obvious corporate governance can
26 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
only be realized by adopting a set of ethical principles and best practices which emphasis returns through legitimate process and definition of performance in terms both economic and noneconomic parameters. The banking system is the support base of socio-economic development of Nigeria. Therefore, its actions or inactions affect all facets of the economy. The identified self-induced vices, regulatory slackness and discouraging business environment of the banking sector can not only be attributed to lack of institutional measures but to absence of ethical behaviour on the part of operators. It is necessary that any effective institutional regulation must be combined with conscious ethical compliance. It is equally very essential that organizational leaders should rise to serve as role models as a way of sustaining best practices, good conducts and social responsibility for their employees to emulate. Finally, an appropriate corporate strategy for sustainability must include noneconomic goals. The personal values and ethical aspirations of organizational leaders are also implicit in all strategic decisions. The organizational leaders must bear in mind that economic strategy is humanized and made achievable in an existing organization by decisive character of the organization such as the values it promotes, and its relationships to its customers, employees, communities, and shareholders.
References Achua, J., K., (2008). Corporate social responsibility in Nigerian banking system. Society and Business Review (3): 57-71.
Achua, J.K. (2004). Privatization and national development in Nigeria. Multidisciplinary Journal of Research Development, Vol. 33, pp. 29-33.
Adeniyi, O. (2004a). “Who will save the CBN? (1). This Day, Thursday, January 15-16; Friday, pp. 45 and 60.
Adeniyi, O. (2004b). “Who’ll save the CBN? (2)”. This Day, January 22-Friday 23, pp. 45 and 60.
Armstrong, P. (2003). Status report on corporate governance reform in Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa: Pan-African Consultative Forum on Corporate Governance. Commonwealth Association for Corporate Governance. (1999). Principles for corporate governance in the Commonwealth. Havelock, NZ:
Aras G., and Crowther, D. (2009). Making sustainable development sustainable. Management Decision 47:6, 975-988. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF.
Aras, G., and Crowther, D., (2008). Governance and sustainability: An investigation into the relationship between corporate governance and corporate sustainability Management Decision (46): 433-448.
Biu, O. (2004). “Re: who’ll save the CBN (1 and 2)”, This Day, Thursday, February 5, pp. 45 and 60.
Bai, C., Sarkis, J., and Dou, Y. (2015). Corporate sustainability development in China: review and analysis. Industrial Management and Data Systems (115): 5-40.
27 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Bai, C., Dhavale, D. and Sarkis, J. (2014). Integrating Fuzzy C-Means and TOPSIS for performance evaluation: an application and comparative analysis. Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 41 No. 9, pp. 4186-4196.
Bello, S., M. (2012). Impact of Ethical Leadership on Employee Job Performance. International Journal of Business and Social Science (3):228-236.
Boele, R., Fabig, H. and Wheeler, D. (2001). Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni. A study in unsustainable development: II. Corporate social responsibility and ‘stakeholder management’ versus a rights-based approach to sustainable development. Sustainable Development, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 121-35.
Brown M. E., Trevino, L., L and Harrison, D., A. (2005). Ethical Leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes 97(2):117- 134.
Boyce, G. (2008). The social relevance of ethics education in a globalizing era: From individual dilemmas to systemic crises. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 19 (2), 255–290.
Bushman, R.M. and Smith, A.J. (2001). Financial accounting information and corporate governance. Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 32, pp. 237-333.
Byrne, J.: (2002). How to Fix Corporate Governance. Business Week 6(May), pp. 69–78.
Carrol, A.B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizon, (34): 39-48.
Cartwright, W., and Craig, J., L. (2006). Sustainability: aligning corporate governance, strategy and operations with the planet. Business Process Management Journal (12): 741-750.
CBN (2004). Small and medium equity investment scheme. July, 2004 Report, Central Bank of Nigeria – CBN, Abuja.
Code of Corporate Governance in Nigeria (2003).
Collins, J.: (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t. HarperCollins Publishers, New York.
Cookey, P. (2004). Universal banking: CBN plans tougher regulations. Financial Standard, Vol. 5 No. 19, p. 3.
Ezeoha, A.E. (2005). Regulating internet banking in Nigeria: problems and challenges – Part 1”, Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, Vol. 10 No. 3, available at: www.arraydev. Com/commerce/jibc.
Fergus, A. and Rowney, J. (2005). Sustainable development: lost meaning and opportunity. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 60 No. 1, pp. 17-27.
Hamburg, J., E. (2004). A European regulation for social responsibility of banks? Learning the lessons from US community reinvestment act”, Banking and Social Cohesion, available at: www.covalence.ch/docs/10960.htm (accessed May 28, 2004).
28 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Hansen, J. (2004). Business Ethics: Platitude or Commitment?’ Ethics Matters, February, Centre for Business Ethics, Bentley College, MA.
Hermalin, B.E. (2005), “Trends in corporate governance”, Journal of Finance, Vol. 60 No. 5, pp. 2351-84.
Khan, M., Serafeim, G. and Yoon, A. (2015). Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality. Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2575912.
Knox, S. and Maklan, S. (2004), “Corporate social responsibility: moving beyond investment towards measuring outcomes”, European Management Journal, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 508-16.
Longstaff, S. (1986). The ethical dimension of Corporate Governance, http://www.ethics.org.
Mayowa, O. (2005), Women as bait for fund mobilization”, Business Times, March.
Okeahalam C., C. (2004). Corporate governance and disclosure in Africa: Issues and challenges. Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance. (12): 359–370.
Okeke, M. (2004). “Banking prostitution and other matters”, The Guardian, June 8.
Okpara, J., O. and Wynn, P. (2008). The impact of ethical climate on job satisfaction, and commitment in Nigeria Implications for management development. Journal of Management Development (27): 935-950.
O’reilly, C., A., Chattman, J. and Caldwell, D., F. (1989). People and Organizational Culture: A Profile Comparison Approach to Assessing Person-Organization Fit. Academy of Management Journal (34:34): 87-516.
Rossouw G., J. (2005). Business Ethics and Corporate Governance in Africa. Business and Society. (44): 94-106 Doi 10.1177/0007650305274851.
Ruth V. Aguilera (2005). Corporate Governance and Director Accountability: an Institutional Comparative Perspective. British Journal of Management (16):39–53.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (2010). “The Nigerian Banking Industry: what went wrong and the way forward. Lecture delivered to mark Annual Convocation of Bayero University, Kano, on Friday 26 February, 2010.
Salimon, A. (2005), “Options to ways and means financing”, Business Times, June 27-July 2, p. 40.
Salimon, A. (2006), “Depositors protection: how safe are the depositors?” Financial Standard. November 27, pp. 19 and 21.
Seidman, D. (2004). ‘The Essential Union of Law and Ethics’, Ethics Matters, August, Center for Business Ethics, Bentley College, MA.
Seto´-Pamies, D. and Papaoikonomou, E (2015). A Multi-level Perspective for the Integration of Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability (ECSRS) in Management Education. Springer Science and Business Media Dordrecht.
Seyfang, G., and Smith, A. (2007). Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: Towards a new research and policy agenda. Environmental Politics, 16(4), 584–603.
29 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 17 - 30, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Trevino, L., G., Weaver, D. Givson and B. Toffler (1999). Managing Ethics and Legal Compliance: What Works and What Hurts. California Management Review 41(2).
Van Beek, C. and D. Solomon: (2004). ‘The New Management Dualism: The Power of Ethics in a Global Organization’, Ethics Matters, February, Center for Business Ethics, Bentley College, MA.131–151.
Waddock, S.A. and Graves, S.B. (1997). The corporate social performance-financial performance link”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 303-19.
Wallach, E., J. (1983). Individuals and organizations: The cultural match. Training and Development Journal, Vol 37(2): 28-36.
Wood, D. and Logsdon, J.M. (2002), “Business citizenship: from individuals to organizations”, Society for Business Ethics, Ethics and Entrepreneurship: Ruffin Series No. 3, pp. 59-94.
World Commission on Environment and Sustainable Development (1987). Our Common Future (The Brundtland Report), Oxford University Press, Oxford Bungay, Suffolk.
World Bank (2004). World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
30 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
HR Strategic Partner Role and Organizational Performance Charles Amechi Uti*, Choi Sang Long
Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia Corresponding Author: [email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t Background: A number of studies have described why it is essential for human Article history resources (HR) to start performing the strategic partner role that will add value Received: 11/07/2016 to companies. Various variations in HR techniques and framework have been Accepted: 04/09/2016 motivated to improve its understanding and potential to performing the strategic partner role expected of it. Researchers suggest that HR’s capability to perform the strategic partner role is a little of its capability to efficiently perform both transactional solutions and amazing ideal opinions. The need for HR to stabilize its incorporated solutions and efficiency in assisting HR, Strategic Partner Role, organizations is necessary. Strategically, HR needs to deal with the complex Organizational Performance problems in its features by developing information within associates as well as rotating their workers. Several important connections are available concerning the company of HR and the amount of the strategic partner role it plays. Therefore, the addition of associates, especially the profession of the mixed line-HR associates for the enhancement of HR companies and techniques are completely connected with the strategic partnership of HR. The findings of this study certainly show the possible techniques by which HR is able to play the strategic partner role, which is interesting by itself with enhancing HR companies that maintains the efficiency of the strategy the company has used. This paper is therefore an attempt to determine these developments and how the strategic partner role can add value to organizational performance. This paper describes the strategic revolution in HR practice as obtained from the reviewed literature.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Several researchers have advocated for an enhanced understanding of the process through which the practice of HR can influence organizational performance (Becker & Huselid, 1998; Long, 2008; Ulrich et al,. 2008). Though several models have been recommended (Becker & Huselid, 1998; Long, 2008; Ulrich et al., 2008), yet empirical examinations of the links between these multiple potentials have been negligible.
31 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Ulrich (1997) opined that the role development for HR professionals are viewed conventionally in a transition form, which include; operational to strategic; quantitative to qualitative; policing to partnering; short term to long term; administrative to consultative; functionally oriented to business oriented, etc. To enable them to add value and provide results, HR professionals are expected to commence by defining the deliverables of their work and not by concentrating on the behaviours of HRM since deliverables guarantee the effect of HRM functions. According to Bhatnagar and Sharma, (2005), the key HR roles of strategic partner, functional expert, employee advocate, strategic partner and leader must be fulfilled by HR professionals in terms of deliverables, if their strategic partnership prospect with their organizations must be realized. A number of forces have teamed up in support of this concept that human resources (HR) ought to play more strategic partner role that add value to organizations. Currently in the business milieu, organizations are undergoing vibrant transformations with substantial effects in relation to the approach by which HR are managed (Younger et al., 2011). Possibly, dominant among of these transformations is the prompt application of information technology as well as the increasing dimensions of expertise job that organizations implement. The swiftly changing business environment and the developing complexity of modern organizations are also of vital significance. According to Abdullah and Sentosa (2012), these momentous transformations have engendered an increasing unity to the fact that efficient and effective human capital management is imperious to the growth of an organization. Though, this situation has provoked the need to probe into how human capital should be managed as well as the essential responsibilities that HR is expected to perform in relation to human capital management, and as a result, in what way should the HR function be organized to ensure it adds value to the swift changing corporate milieu. Traditionally, HR has predominantly focused on the managerial facades of human resources management, however, through the development of information technology (IT), the corporate workforce of HR started losing prominence in this field of work, since most of its administrative tasks could be easily performed with the use of self-service information technology solutions that organizations could host themselves or that were outsourceable (Aitchison, 2007). The responsibility of HR is speedily increasing and undeniably its impact is exceptional in the development of organizations with the necessary labour force that is adept of accomplishing the organizations designated functions that ensures the realization of its business strategy (Caldwell, 2010). This human resource is realized through the development of competency models as well as focusing on the recruitment, staffing, and the improvement of workers. While information technology (IT) is regarded as a critical instrument in the management of personnel and the development of capabilities, these rudimentary HR activities as well as its ancillary methods are adequately created and implemented by professionals well proficient in matters relating to the organizations’ business and strategy. Besides, the various decisions,
32 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
vibrant, and implicit facades of this study reveal the fact that HR’s critical role in adding value to their organization will remain momentous in this area of management (De Alwis, 2012). Lee et al., (2010), argues that the evolving rate of talent dearth and constrained flexibility of organizations in the use of inadequate human capital to diverse prospects limit organizations strategic options. Since human capital is important in the proficiency of an organizations strategy formulation, it makes reasonable sense for HR to be alleged to be a critical part of an organization's strategic development. As a result, the only way HR could add value to the organization is to contribute to corporate strategy development and implementation. Nevertheless, this is evidence that HR has the proficiency of adding value to organizations through the design of strategies that allow essential talents to provide diverse strategies and strategic ingenuities that are showcased in the leadership quality they exhibit as they support organizations in developing required capabilities that will ratify the strategies initiated, as well as contributing immensely to the application and transformation management (Bates, 2011). Chandra (2009), argues that the failure of several strategies is not because of insignificant thinking, but as a result of insignificant application. They argue that failures in the application of strategies are typical because they refuse to recognize and acquire the necessary skills and organizational competencies that will ensure their acceptance by the workers, as well as sustain the organizational transformations and knowledge needed to perform the new tasks anticipated of them. Kim and Sung-Choon (2011) among several researchers have conducted studies and revealed the possibility of HR playing a strategic partner role that is capable of adding value to their function as well as give their organizations competitive edge. The study reveals that there is a significant relationship between HR practices and organizational performance. It further reveals that the organizations that are more focused on HR practices as well as emphasize on performance are the ones with the maximum selling value per worker. The researchers also emphasized that HR practices may be crucial to defining the value for market establishments, stressing the enhancement in HR practices as having the capacity of growing market values significantly (Kim and Sung-Choon, 2011).
2. Literature Review
2.1 Performing the Strategic Partner Role De Alwis (2010) in his study argues that for HR to play the anticipated strategic partner role, a collection of elements that would be seen in the organizations, showing that HR is playing the strategic partner role as revealed in various studies. Conversely, Hertog et al., (2010) argue, that for organizations to improve the HR value adding strategy, the following strategic elements are necessary as specified in the subsequent essential steps:
33 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
1. Underscoring the capability and skills necessary for business strategy. 2. Intensifying the concept and purpose of HR potentials beyond improvement process and effectiveness, but to involve attention on strategic analyses capable of turning data into valuable strategic resources. 3. Raising the HR effort on planning, organizational development and design. 4. HR Managers must possess the requisite experience that will enable them to play the strategic partner role. 5. Expand HR professional knowledge of business as well as their relationship with the organization.
2.2 The Strategic Partner Role of HR Al-Taee and Alwaely, (2012) argues that the strategic partnership role of HR in an organization may be partly determined by the specific business model the organization uses in relation to its expectation of achieving a competitive advantage. It is palpable that amidst the organizations that rely on their skilled workforce in order to realize competitive advantage, the need for HR to strategically add value to the organization will be high (Bourne and Franco-Santos, 2010). Almamun (2009) however, argues that when organizations begin to initiate strategies that are knowledge and information centered, HR will definitely begin to play the strategic partner role. The researcher emphasized that knowledge and information strategies certainly stimulates human capital development, adding that the extent to which an organization acquires the knowledge and information it requires for the implementation of strategy, consequently enables HR to play strategic partner role in the organization. The strategic partner role of HR reflects a significant relationship when quality and speed is strategically focused. According to Long and Khairuzzaman (2010), the development of quality and speed within an organization normally demands significant transformations in the way human capital is improved and applied. The researchers argue that the quality of programmes of most organizations lay emphasis on training, the development of employees and a transformation in various systems as well as features in the designs of the organization. The researchers noted that HR plays more strategic partner role when this item becomes an essential agenda in organizations (Long and Khairuzzaman, 2010). Yuliza, (2012) argues that transformation centered on competency and knowledge management, will provoke a greater achievement of the strategic partner role of HR. The researcher further argues that the effects of transformation prospects relate to the outcomes for strategic efforts, stressing that competency and knowledge management should be viewed as a critical HR function. Consequently, Krishna and Prasad (2012) argue that for any organization to enhance competency and knowledge, they would depend on HR for the implementation of the strategy. The researchers stressed further that for HR to influence strategy, competency and knowledge transformation concept is critical. They also argue that it is vital for HR to
34 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
show that competency and knowledge transformation concepts have the capacity of enhancing strategic service delivery and organizational performance (Krishna and Prasad, 2012).
2.3 Human Resource Information Systems and HR Strategic Partner Role The need to save time in the operation of organizations is key in the relationship between HR information systems and the strategic partner role of HR. De Alwis (2010) argues that the introduction of electronic HR operating systems for human resource transactions is imperative, asserting that most of the HR transactional functions will engender self-service operations, which will ensure the efficient utilization of information technology that will strengthen the strategic partner role of HR in adding value to organizations. Consequently, the application of HRIS affords HR the ease of strategic data gathering and analysis that will ensure their contribution to developing and implementing organizational strategies (De Alwis, 2010). In their study, Uya and Deniz (2012) underscores the relationship existing between the application of HR information systems with the level at which HR plays a strategic partner role. The researchers argue that the strategic partner role of HR will become efficient when a totally integrated HRIS becomes operational. The researchers, however, stressed that the existence of a totally integrated HRIS will not guarantee an HR strategic partner role. They also indicated that in most of the organizations with totally integrated HR information systems that HR was yet to play a strategic partner role. They further argue that results from their study show that HR have not been able to play any strategic partner role, even among the 18 percent of the organizations that have a totally integrated HRIS, but equally added that HR believes it is playing strategic partner role in various organizations that are partly automated (Uya and Deniz, 2012).
2.4 Proficiency of HR Several studies (Ulrich et al., 2009; Lemmergaard, 2009 and Yuliza, 2012) have revealed that a significant relationship exists between HR strategic partner role the proficiency of HR organizations. These studies measured the proficiency of HR organizations using questionnaires to evaluate various areas of HR efficiency. Results from the surveys consistently showed that HR’s strategic partner role is linked to its efficiency in performing requisite HR functions. They also added that the proficiency of HR in the development of organizational strategies is also associated with its strategic partner role. The researchers further argue that perceptibly, it will be difficult for HR to be efficient in the development of organizational strategy if not allowed to play a strategic partner role. Consequently, HR’s efficient performance in the development of organizational skills and capabilities, as well as transformation management are dependent on its strategic partnership role (Amstrong, 2009). If HR is not given the opportunity to play a strategic partner role, they may not have access to the information that will ensure they influence decisions that are
35 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
credible regarding the development of capabilities, skills as well as transformation in an organization (Younger et al., 2011). In organizations where HR is playing strategic partner roles, it has become easy to efficiently adapt HR practices to suit corporate needs that help structure sustainable service relationships (Kim and Sung-Choon, 2011). Remarkably, HR’s ability to provide efficient services, as well as championing the cause of employees, underpinning the fact that conventional HR efforts are rarely positioned as an organization as well as playing the strategic partner roles. This fact supports previous results, which show the organizational methods as distinct to strategic partner role, nevertheless this may free up funds to operate other strategic activities (Krishna and Prasad, 2012).
2.5 Progression in HR Strategic Partner Role To determine the progress of HR strategic partner role in organizations, the need to consider the amount of time invested in the delivery of diverse activities of the HR function is vital (Long and Khairuzzaman, 2010). Obviously, to play a strategic partner role, the functions of HR need to be more than just service delivery, records keeping, assessment, appraisal and benefits, HR must contribute in making management decisions, engaging in strategic HR planning, contributing to organizational design, development of strategies, as well as being involved in strategic transformation (Lemmergaard, 2009). In spite of HR’s prodigious desire in the transformation of its function within an organization, as well as its level of visible transformation in a corporate environment, it is amazing to discover that not much has been done in achieving this earnest desire of management (Uya and Deniz, 2012). However, the anticipated advancement in the strategic partnership role of HR is not replicated in the literature. It therefore appears that rather than reacting to the demands for transformation, the situation remains the same (Bates, 2011). Nevertheless, the obvious fact remains that HR are being requested to partake in more strategic discussions as well as playing strategic partner roles in organizations, except that the situation occurs without adequate transformations in the general distribution of time in the HR function that enables them play this expected role adequately (Abdullah and Sentosa, 2012). From literature, HR organization's strategic partner role suggests that there is amply opportunity for development with regards to the improvement of HR organizations as strategic partners (Almamun, 2009).
36 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Strategic Organizational
Partner Performance
Role
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework
2.6 The Relationship between Strategic Partner Role and Organizational Performance According to Wright et al., (2005), the weak relationship existing between strategic partner role and organizational performance has been attributed to the gap between intended and implemented HR strategies by researchers. The integration of HR functions into strategic management can proceed through two phases they emphasized; strategy formulation and implementation. They stressed that for strategy formulation, HR functions should provide insight into the type of employee knowledge, skills and abilities that can be mobilized to create competitive advantage, while for the implementing a strategy, HR functions should organize and manage HR competencies and behaviours in alignment with the strategy (Kim & Sung-Choon, 2011). Bhatnagar and Sharma, (2005) also argued that only few specific studies have tried to elucidate how the HR roles operate in achieving organizational performance improvement. In the views of Wright et al., (2001) researchers in the area of strategic human resource management (SHRM) have progressively trusted on the resource-based view (RBV) of the organization in explaining the role of HR practices in organizational performance. Menefee, Parnell, and Ziemnowicz (2006) in their study discovered evidence for the hypothesis that HR strategies are significantly related to organizational performance. Consequently, Som (2002) in an investigation conducted on fifty-four organizations in India report that HR department’s role is positively correlated with organizational performance, and that the HR department plays a significant role in adopting ‘best practices’ in organizations. However, Robinson (2007) argued that when in the strategic partnership role, consultant partners with the organization's leaders define, design, and implement people initiatives that optimize organization capacity and business results. Bharnagar and Sharma (2005) in their study attempted to examine whether a positive relationship existed amid strategic partner role and organizational learning. Which is the predictor of organizational performance. The researchers employed Ulrich’s HR role model in the study and discovered that strategic human resource roles and the capability of organizational learning were related positively, and that HR business partner role also related positively with capability of learning among the samples. However, in Becker et al., (2001) theory of HR competencies, which corresponds to Ulrich’s (1998), Ulrich and
37 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Brockbank (2005) strategic partner role, proposed that specific business-related HR competencies as enablers of alignment had the greatest performance impact followed by professional HR competencies.
2.7 Impediments of HR Strategic Partnership Contribution to Organizational Performance Greenberg et al., (2011) argues that the fundamental challenges underling HR’s strategic partnership inefficiency in contributing to organizational performance are based on their inability to discover and realize the prospects of what seems to be the glitches on their way to becoming reliable strategic partners. Undeniably, the fundamental challenges that HR faces in the process of changing the existing mind set in their organizations could be discussed as follows:
3.0 Lack of Creativity Researchers (Reilly, 2012; Greenberg et al., 2011) argue that as long as HR continues to carry out their responsibilities in the same manner they will continue to ignore the opportunities that are out of your focus. They emphasized that HR can only see the opportunities by shifting their perspectives from the traditional HR activities, thereby transforming the issues in a creative way. Reilly (2012)also argues that organization’s chief executives perceive HR as a police or astonishingly implements and not as strategic partners that manage the organization's most critical assets, which is their human capital. However, HR leaders must change the prescription in the lenses of their own glasses, so as to grasp the opportunities. These opportunities Greenberg et at., (2011) noted can only be observed by changing the lenses and the assumptions through which HR experience that which organization executives view their function. Consequently, organization CEO’s encounter exactly the same challenge in the discovery and realization of opportunities that are far away from their focus, as such, they initially appear as glitches, which reveals that both HR and organization executive’s have a significant fundamentally related issues. Reilly, (2012) added that while HR may view organization chief executives as challenges, chief executives may not even perceive HR to be in the role of a strategic partner. However, an understanding of this challenge will help in the empowerment of HR in navigating through their functions.
3.1 Leading and Influencing Up According to Porter and Kramer (2011), part of the challenges HR also encounters in the discharge of their function is that of leading and influencing organization executives, in relation to: Coaching the leadership in their organization to understand the concept that executives are human capital, a vital asset and why, Communicating in financial terms and metrics, the value of the organization's executive assets, which is its human capital.
38 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
This scenario, they argue entails the development of HR’s ability in communicating the regional and global economics of the talent crunch, which is determined by the dramatic changes in the demographics of the population and the transformation taking place in the information economy, which is limiting the life of meaningful knowledge. However, they added, that since knowledge is rapidly changing, information has become progressively delicate. Thus, Srikant Datar et al., (2010) opines that continuous education has become imperative, otherwise executives' knowledge will become obsolete and irrelevant. Stressing that at the same time, business challenges are increasing in their intricacy and hence there is a need for executives to develop their competencies in handling intricacies, if the organizations must be competitive. When organization executives understand these fundamentals, they will more readily perceive the role of HR as a strategic partner (Srikant Datar et al., 2010).
3.2 Lack of Confidence HR must perceive itself as a partner, thinking about the business challenges the organization encounters from the perspective of total and complete responsibility as a partner will do (Hansen, 2002). If HR can not take on the part or even perceive of itself in the desired role, no one else will, nor will HR be able to thrive in it.
3.3 Poor Credibility Researchers (Yusliza, 2012; Reilly, 2012; Younger et al., 2011, Ulrich et al., 2009) argue that in the face of the economic milieu, HR must prepare itself for business partnerships, preparing themselves to be credible in that role of strategic partnerships by developing the quality of HR’s own thoughts as well as their business thinking ability. There are three aspects of this area of challenge as postulated by SrikantDatar et al (2010) and Reilly, (2012):
HR requires deep understanding of not merely the organization's business, but also the broad regional and global business environment. The need for the study of psychology, human dynamics, organizational development and liberal arts in MBA programs, as well as the need for HR executives obtaining MBAs is vital, though costly and often out of reach for many, yet the degree is not the necessity but rather it is the learning that is requisite. Cross disciplines are truly needed in executives, if a business must compete globally. The development of the habit of /discipline of continuous education is requisite for growth. To do this, one must develop a reading discipline and one that includes: Respected business publications such as the Economist Leading business school periodicals and journals such as those from, Wharton, Harvard and other respected institutions.
39 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Loading books on business, not only those focused on HR or OD issues. The websites of think tanks such as national centers for strategy and international studies and those of great academic institutions worldwide. Learning about the topics that are under discussion and being current with every publication on the latest issues.
The internet delivers to us the library of the world and access to courses from all over the globe. Since 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been putting all of their courses on the internet for free! The challenge is no longer about access; it is whether we will use the resources that has been made available (SrikantDatar et al., 2010). HR needs to practice wearing the thinking hats of CEO's, board members', shareholders' and other stakeholders'. They need to put it on and review the issues from those perspectives, literally, playing the role in your mind. Ruminating on how the developments and issues will affect their organization's future, in each of its various business channels, and in the short, medium and longer terms (Reilly, 2012).
3.4 Communication Hertog et al., (2010) emphasized the need for HR to learn to prepare itself for the partnership role as well as begin to communicate their newly gained depth of understanding and insight to the organization executives, stating that HR undoubtedly would have gained confidence along the way. They argue that the challenge will be that of staying alert for opportunities, especially those moments in which they could make a contribution with a quality thought or insight, whether in meetings or at at the corridors. They stressed that once HR finds those opportunities, their colleagues and the top executives will begin to notice the quality of their thoughts and the depth of your understanding, as such,their credibility will begin to take hold and their CEO’s will possibly be able to hear them better because they would have learned his language. Then HR will be in a position from which coaching up can really be effective (Hertog et al., 2010).
3.5 Performance Another challenge facing HR, may be that of getting enough time with their CEO’s to communicate their proficiency (Hansen, 2002), he however argues that this being the case, the need for HR to build credibility with and the coaching of those around them is imperative, adding that the moment HR and the organization executives have established both ways that HR is proficient, and they begin to view them as strategic partners, their organization may begin to experience an unbeatable competitive advantage. Conversely, Porter and Kramer, (2011) argues that there is no guarantee that organization executives will change their mindset to the expectation of HR, nevertheless, HR would have developed their personal impact and credibility and built a reputation with others in the organization as being prepared for the
40 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
strategic business partner role. The researchers opine that after coaching, influencing and leading up, if the organization executives are not up to leading a collaborative intelligent learning organization, then HR may decide to look further into joining other organizations where they can indeed make a difference. Especially where their capabilities will be much sought after (This reference is not listed >> Porter and Kramer, 2011).
4. Methodology Dube and Pare (2003) principles of the inductive categorization technique were adopted in this study to ensure a systematic analysis of the relevant literature that were reviewed from prior studies as retrieved from online databases. We therefore observed the following processes: Careful assortment of the articles that are relevant to the area of research from online databases, which includes: Science Direct, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Proquest, Scopus, and Emerald. An identification of relevant keywords in the relevant publications for review. Classification of the selected articles for review. Evaluation of the relevant articles based on the classification. The current trend in the area of study. The development of the findings.
5. Conclusion In this literature, the social data is utilized to collect women and children data with less complexity but with high accuracy. In order to perform Advocacy monitoring, a search based approach is used for efficient gathering of women and children health data from the social media (Facebook and Twitter using API). These data are classified using Decision tree C4.5 and SVM for better performance. The data are then utilized to compile statistical report on women and children health in the selected region. Experimental results show that the SVM based technique has efficient performance than the Decision tree algorithm C4.5 in terms of accuracy, precision and recall.
The concord in the literature of human resources shows HR departments that are of most efficiency as the ones that have added value to their organizations by playing a strategic partner role. Results reveal that the highest profits of HR functions transpire when HR plays a strategic partner role in its total participation in developing and implementing organizational strategies.
Adding Knowledge economy, to the proliferated corporations which depend on competitive policies that are knowledge based, provides HR departments the prospect of basically modifying their role in the organization that will enable them to play a strategic partner role that adds value to their organization. The improvement in technology has the capacity to ease transactional responsibilities, and releasing HR
41 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
professionals to perform more roles that add value. Significantly, technological advancement has provided HR the prospects of a systematic process of gathering and analyzing data that produces knowledge concerning the efficiency of diverse methods of HR as well as the practicality of the numerous routes strategic given to organizations human capital.
Enhancing the HR strategic partner role entails that more concentration on strategic planning, organization designs, and improvement in the HR function. More organizational methodology is needed where results have revealed that the imposition of line managers over HR administration has the capability of hindering HR’s strategic partnership role. Consequently, it is obvious that strategic HR function requires the input of great minds; and we believe that HR is capable of delivering that function, as the relevance of HR is determined by the amount of strategic partner role it plays in the addition of value to its organization to achieving competitive advantage.
References
Abdullah, A.H., & I. Sentosa (2012). Human Resource Competency Models: Changing Evolutionary Trends. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business, 1(11), 11-25.
Aitchison, D (2007). HR Transformation: Myth or Reality. HROA Europe and Sharedpertise Forums in Association with TPI. Survey reports January 2007.
Bates, S. (2011). HR Executive Corner: HR May Not Get a Seat at the Table, But Someone Will. Bates Communications. Retrieved from http://www.bates communications.com/articles and- newsletters.
Bhatnagar, J., & A. Sharma (2005). The Indian Perspective of Strategic HR Roles and Organisational Learning Capacity. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(9), 1711-1739.
Becker, B.E., Huselid, M.A., & Ulrich, D. (2001). The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy, and Performance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Caldwell, R. (2010). Are HR business partner competency models effective? Applied H.R.M. Research, 12(1), 40-58.
Chandra, N. (2009). Performance Measures: An Application of Economic Value Added. International Journal of Business and Management, 4(7), 739-752.
De Alwis, A.C. (2010). The Impact of Electronic Human Resource Management on the Role of Human Resource Managers. Ekonomika A Management. 4, 47-60.
Dube, L and Pare, G 2003, Rigor in Information Systems Positivist Case Research: Current Practices, Trends, and Recommendations. Mis Quarterly, pp. 597-636
Kim, H., & K. Sung-Choon (2011). Strategic HR Functions and Firm Performance: The Moderating Effects of High-Involvement Work Practice. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 30(1), 91-113.
42 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 31 - 43, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Lee, F., T. Lee, & W. Wu (2010). The Relationship Between Human Resource Management Practices, Business Strategy and Firm Performance: Evidence from Steel Industry in Taiwan; The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(9), 1351-1372.
Long, C. S. (2008). Examining Human Resource Competencies and Their Relationship to the Success Factors of HR Profession, J. Serv. Sci. & Management, 1, 259-265.
Long, C. S., & Wan Khairuzzaman, W.I. (2010). Readiness of Malaysian Human Resource Professionals to be a Strategic Partner. Intangible Capital, 6(1), 26-50.
Menefee, M., Parnell. J., Power, E., & Ziemnowicz, C. (2006). The Role of Human Resources in the Success of New Becker, B.E., & M.A. ((This must be another reference >> Huselid (1998). High- Performance Work System and Firm Performance: A Synthesis of Research and Managerial Implications. In Ferris, G.R. (ed.) Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, 16. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Businesses. Southern Business Reviews, 32(1), 23.
Ulrich, D. (1997). Human Resource Champions: The next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivering Results. Harvard Business School Press. Retrieved May 17, 2013, from World Wide Web: www.gowerpub.com/pdf/HR_Business_Partner_Ch1.pdf
Ulrich, D., W. Brockbank, D. Johnson, K. Sandholtz, & J. Younger (2008). HR Competencies: Master at the Intersection of People and Business, The RBL Institute, The Society for HRM.
Wright, P.M., Dunford, B., & Snell, S. (2001). Human Resources and the Resource Based View of the Firm. Journal of Management, 27, 701-721.
Wright, P.M., Snell, S.A., & Dyer, L. (2005). New Models of Strategic HRM in a Global Context, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16 (6), 875-881.
Younger, J., A. Younger, & N. Thompson (2011). Developing the skills of HR partnership: consulting and change management. Strategic HR Review. 10 (1), 6-14.
43 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Employability Skills Integration in University TVET Programmes: A Strategy for Reducing Unemployment Rate among Graduates in Nigeria
Dahiru Sale Mohammed1, Sarimah Ismail 2*
1 Faculty of Education, Northwest University Kano, PMB 3220, Kano, State, Nigeria
2*Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Johor Bahru, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author email: [email protected] and [email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t Current Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum Article history of Universities in Nigeria has been criticized for not Reducing Unemployment. Received: 11/07/2016 The curriculum gives less emphasis to employability skills due to lack of Accepted: 04/09/2016 conceptual understanding of the integration of employability skills in TVET curriculum that can guide its empirical studies and implementation. Consequently, TVET graduates in Nigeria were not armed with the employability skills needed by industries and therefore are not equipped to contest for labour at worldwide market. Hence, this study aimed to develop Employability skills, Reducing conceptual understanding as the strategies for the integration of employability Unemployment in Nigeria, skills in TVET curriculum. The research was designed to determine the types Technical Vocational of employability skills and their respective elements. The data were collected Education and Training from secondary sources of books and journal publications and analyzed through understanding and synthesizing the literature. This study found three major elements of employability skills which include core TVET skills, generic skills and personal attribute skills. The implications of these findings include the needs for conducting practical research on employability skills integration in TVET curriculum, feasibility studies and implementation of finding in the school settings. It is recommended that employability skills courses should be included in TVET curriculum of Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education (Technical), Universities in Nigeria, so that the graduates may likely possessed employability skills to enhance their chances for obtaining employment, sustaining the job and prospering in the employment at the international market.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
44 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
1. Introduction Education-to-work transition of new graduates and the extent to which they are readily employable has been the concerned to government and researchers in USA (SCANS, 2001; Shivpuri and Kim, 2004 and ABET, 2009), UK (Association of Graduates Recruiters, 1995; Council for Industry and Higher Education, 1996 and Hillarge and Polard, 1998, Higher Education Funding Council for England, 2001), Australia (Mayer Committee, 1992; NCVER, 2003, NCVER, 2004 and Down, 2012), Malaysia (Zaharim, 2010a; Kamsah and Talib, 2014; Wye and Lim, 2014 and Shahri, Rahman and Husain, 2014), Indonisia (Setian and Kurnia, 2014), Canada (Conference Board of Canada, 1996) and graduates survey of nine OECD counties (Lindberg, 2007).
The concept of employability skills is new in Nigeria and has not been integrated into tertiary education system of the country (Oresanya, et al., 2014). There are needs for employability skills to be included at graduate levels in Nigeria (Akinyemi, Ofem and Ikuenomere, 2012). There is need for TVET institutions in Nigeria to focus and equip the students with the employability skills (Idris and Rajuddin, 2012). For instance, Mohammed and Ismail (2014) and Ismail and Mohammed (2015) conducted analytical review of Electrical Technology Education curriculum of Nigeria Federal Universities of Technology. The findings revealed that the ETE curriculum was theoretical based rather than practical based consisting of 57 courses (80.28%) theoretical while 14 courses (19.72%) practical courses.
2. Methodology
The research was designed to determine the types of employability skills and their respective elements. The data were collected from secondary sources of books and journal publications and analyzed through understanding and synthesizing the literature.
3. Literature Review
Skill acquisitions in TVET formal systems are acquired through training which are replicated from the policies to practices. In Nigeria, formal TVET skills acquisitions are acquired in universities of technology, polytechnics, colleges of education (technical), technical colleges and presently at senior secondary schools as well as in skills acquisition centers of various states governments in Nigeria (FGN, 2004, National Education Research and Development Council, NERDC, 2008).
The National Policy on Education, Nigeria has changed the education system from British Grammar School System to Comprehensive School System which introduced compulsory vocational subjects at Basic Education level and Senior Secondary Schools and industrial training programmes for undergraduate which 45 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
led to the establishment of Industrial Training Fund in 1977 (NERDC, 2008). The Nigeria Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system is shown in figure 1:
Senior Secondary Schools University
Technical Colleges Polytechnics /College Basic Education (Primary and or Special of Education Junior Secondary School) Vocational Schools (Technical)
.
Figure 1: Nigeria TVET System (Source: Ekereo, et al, 2009)
It also introduced number of Technical Colleges and Polytechnics for the productions of artisans and supervisory technical personnel respectively, some Federal Colleges of Educations (Technical) for the production of TVET teachers for basic education level, and five Federal Universities of Technology for the production of high TVET personnel for employment generation and other economic development in Nigeria. The policy was implemented since late 1970’s and early 1980’s (FGN, 2004; Fafunwa, 2004).
The Nigeria National Policy on Education has linked the skills developments in TVET with employment when it stated that, it is expected that trainees completing technical college programmes in Nigeria shall improve the economy through the following three national policy options:
a) Secured employment in privates or governments organization; b) Set up their own business, become self-reliant and employ others. c) Pursue further education in advance craft or technical programs in polytechnics, colleges of education (technical) and Universities of technology (FGN, 2004). Paradoxically, TVET skills developments are being taught at various educational levels in Nigeria since late 1970’s and early 1980’s to date but unemployment is increasing annually among the citizens as shown in Table
46 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Table 1: Relationship between Employed Labour Force and Unemployed Labour Force in Nigeria (2000- 2013)
GDP Increment of Labour Increment of Employed Unemployed GDP Force Labour Force Labour Force Labour Force
2000 120600.0 6.7 50.3 0.3 14.1 36.2
2001 125720.0 4.2 51.7 0.3 14.5 37.2
2002 129820.0 3.3 53.0 0.3 0.15 52.9
2003 136460.0 5.1 54.5 0.3 15.3 39.2
2004 145380.0 6.5 56.1 0.3 6.60 49.5
2005 561931.4 4.5 56.3 0.3 6.70 49.6
2006 595821.6 6.0 56.5 0.3 1.60 54.9
2007 634251.1 6.4 56.7 0.3 3.30 53.4
2008 672202.6 6.0 56.9 0.3 2.80 54.1
2009 716949.7 7.0 57.0 0.3 2.80 54.2
2010 761931.4 4.5 57.3 0.3 2.4 54.9
2011 795821.6 6.0 57.5 0.3 2.0 55.5
2012 834251.1 6.4 57.7 0.3 1.9 55.8
2013 872202.6 6.0 57.9 0.3 2.1 55.8
(Source: Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, 2013; Adawo, Essien and Ekpo 2012)
47 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Figure 1: Relationship between Employed and Unemployed Labour Force in Nigeria (2000-2013)
Table 1 indicates the steady increments of unemployment rate of Nigeria from 36.2 in 2000 to 55.8 in 2013 while the employed labour force decreases annually from 14.1 in 2000 to 2.0 in 2013. In 2000, out of 50.3% labour force in the country which increases annually up to 10 years by 0.3, only 14.1% were employed and left 36.2% unemployed. And in 2009, out of 57.0% labour forces in the country only 2.80% were employed while 54.2% were unemployed. This description revealed that Nigeria experiences unemployment growth.
Employment generations in the developing countries can improve the economies of their citizens. The idea is based on the linkage between income and employment (Boateng, 2004). Unemployment generates no income or low income which results in poor living. Unemployed labours are lost human capitals (Mankiw, 1994). Unemployed labours have the potential to contribute to national income but are not doing so because they are unemployed. Reduction of unemployment is a main concern of each responsible government across the world. However, given free market economies, zero unemployment cannot be guaranteed. Friction in the labour market will always be there (Adawo, Essien and Ekpo, 2012).
Skills development is an essential element in improving the employability and potential productivity of the working poor and can be an important tool for the creation of employment opportunities. Education and
48 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
skills can enable the persons in rural communities, persons with disabilities, or disadvantaged youth to jobs with high wages (ILO, 2014).
Ideally, an undergraduate education ought to provide current university students and recent graduates with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and values critical to navigate the dynamic complexities of the changing workplace. Universities are continually asked: what are students learning and what will they be able to do upon graduation from university? One response from universities focus on a developmental approach (Donald, 1990), which turns its attention to how the curriculum is organized enabling students to develop several general employability skill areas such as communication, analysis and problem solving.
In 2006, UNESCO Institute of Statistics assessed global TVET data about provision of knowledge and skills using 30 countries including seven African countries. Findings indicate that TVET can solve youth unemployment (Oketch, 2007 and UNESCO-UNIVOC, 2006). In this century, there are necessary skills especially in new services and processes that are available in TVET institutions which are not available in general education institutions mostly in developing countries. This is the reason why TVET is seen as a solution to unemployment problems (UNESCO Institutes of Statistics, 2007).
Table 2: Unemployment Rate by Educational Level, Sector and Gender in Nigeria
Educational Male Female Both
Level Sexes
Below 21.5 23.7 22.7
Primary
Primary 15.6 21.9 18.7
JSS 19.5 24.2 21.7
Vocational/ 15.2 22.4 18.7
49 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Commercial
SSS 21.2 23.4 22.1
NCE/OND/ 21.9 22.7 22.2
NURSING
BA/BSc/Bed/HND 22.6 28.8 24.6
MSC/MA/MAdm 12.6 17.5 13.7
(Source: NBS, 2012)
Table 2 indicates that unemployment rate of university bachelor degree and equivalent polytechnics HND graduates was (24.6%) higher than those who do not attend primary education (22.7%) in Nigeria in 2010.
Research findings have indicated numerous causes of universities graduates’ unemployment in Nigeria. Among the causes of unemployment in Nigeria are the lack of possessing the necessary employability skills (Oladele et al, 2011and Uddin and Uddin, 2013); mismatch between the graduates turnout and the labour market, the mismatch between the graduates employee skills and those skills required for the performance in modern workplace (Samuel, et. Al., 2012) and lack of integration of employability skills in the Nigeria university system (Oresanya, 2014).
The existing gaps in the findings indicate that Employability Skills has not been integrated in Nigeria TVET system which led to the production of half backed graduates that are not employable and self-reliant for the country.
Employability skills are set of skills, knowledge and attributes that make individual likely to gain, maintain, obtain new employment if required and move between roles within the same organization (Hillage and Pollard, 1998 and National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education, 2009). There are three branches of Employability Skills namely Core skills, Generic Skills and personal attributes.
50 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
i. Core skills are technical competencies that comprise specific knowledge and capabilities to perform related specialized tasks with the use of equipment and tools efficiently (Medina, 2010 and MDNasir, 2011). For instance, electrical technology, Automobile technology and other specialized subject skills. ii. Generic Skills are key competencies found within and across different occupations that help individual to obtain positive social relationships and contributes to the work environment (Kearns, 2001; Caleb and Udofia, 2013). For instance, communication skills, problem solving skills and computer skills. iii. Personal attributes are good attitudes and traits of an individual that are used to get, maintain and succeed in employment (Zaharim, et al., 2010). For instance, integrity skills and ethics skills. Employability skills have played significant roles in graduate employments (Shivpuri and Kim, 2004).
Employers in UK, USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and European Union have considered the importance acquisition of employability skills at undergraduate level (Zaharim, et al, 2010; Common Wealth of Australia, 2002). The common belief of industrial employers is that higher education institutions especially universities should equip graduates with the necessary employability skills to achieve success in the place of work (Robinson and Garton, 2007).
4. Implication and Recommendations
The implications of these findings include the needs for conducting empirical research on employability skills integration in TVET curriculum as well as feasibility studies and implementation of finding in the school settings. It is recommended that employability skills courses should be included in TVET curriculum of Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education (Technical), Universities in Nigeria, so that the graduates may likely possessed employability skills to enhance their chances for obtaining employment, sustaining the job and prospering in the employment at the international market.
5. Conclusion
Despite the good expectations of Nigeria National Policy on Education that linked the skills developments in university TVET programmes with employments (FGN, 2004), Nigerian graduates are presently have the highest unemployment rate of 24.6% in comparison to all educational level; even higher than those who do not attend primary education (22.7%) (NBS, 2012). This might be due to lack of integration of employability skills in the higher education system (Oresanya, et al., 2014). Employability skills refer to
51 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
necessary skills, knowledge and attributes for securing, maintaining and excelling in employment (Hillarge and Pollard, 1998). This study found three major elements of employability skills which include core TVET skills, generic skills and personal attribute skills. Core skills are technical competencies that comprise specific knowledge and capabilities to perform related specialized tasks with the use of equipment and tools efficiently (Medina, 2010 and MD Nasir et al., 2011). Generic Skills refers to non-technical courses skills that help graduates to obtain positive social relationships and contributes to the work environment (Kearns, 2001; Caleb and Udofia, 2013). Personal attribute skills refer to good attitudes and traits courses for getting, maintaining and excelling in employment in the field (Shivpuri and Kim, 2004; Down, 2012; Buntat, et al., 2013).
References
ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology). (2009). 530 Criteria for accrediting engineering programs: Effective for evaluations during the 2009–2010 accreditation cycle. http://www.abet.org.
Adawo M.A., Essien, E.B. and Ekpo, N.U. (2012). Is Nigeria’s Unemployment Problem Unsolvable? Current Research Journal of Social Sciences, 4(6), p. 389-395, ISSN: 2041-3246.
Boateng, K. (2004). Youth and ICT Skills in African labour market with particular reference to Ghana. 3rd International Conference Proceedings Organized by African Youth Foundation at Frankfurt Germany.
Buntat, Y., Jabor, M. K., Saud, M. S., Mansor, S. M. S. S. and Mustaffa, N. H. (2013). Employability Skills Element's: Difference Perspective between Teaching Staff and Employers Industrial in Malaysia. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 1531-1535. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.077
Caleb, E.C. and Udofia, A.E. (2013). Generic Skills and Employability of Electrical Installation Students in Technical Colleges of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Research and Method in Education 1(2), p. 59-67.
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. (2014). Central Bank of Nigeria, Statistical Bulletin, vol. 2, February, 2014. Pp.106 - 108.
52 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Common Wealth of Australia, (2002). Employability Skills for Small and Medium Size Enterprises: Common Wealth of Australia
Conference Board of Canada. (1996). Employability Skills 2000+: The Skills You Need to Enter, Stay in, and Progress in the World of Work—Whether You Work on Your Own or as a Part of a Team. Ottawa: The Conference Board
Down, C. (2012). Employability Skills: Revisiting the Key Competencies or a New Way Forward? Retrieved on 16/06/2012 from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/52545372/Employability- Skills-Revisiting- the-Key-Competencies-or-a-new
Ekereou, C; Ekwe, E; Ikediashi, L; Omo, E. (2009). Introductory Technology for Schools and Colleges. Lagos: Macmilan Publisher.
Fafunwa, A.B (2004). History of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN. (2004) shell. National Policy on Education (4thed). Lagos: Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council Publishers. ISBN-978- 054-7.
Hillage, J. and Pollard, E. (1998). Employability: developing a framework for policy analysis. Research Brief 85, London: Department for Education and Employment.
Idris, A. and Rajuddin, M. R. (2012). An Assessment of Employability Skills among Technical and Vocational Education Students in Nigeria. Archives Des Science 65(7), p. 392-400.
Kearns, P. (2001). Generic Skills for the New Economy. Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research.
Lindberg, M. (2007). At the frontier of graduate surveys’: Assessing participation and employability of graduates with masters’ degrees in nine European countries. Higher Education 53, 623–44.
Mankiw, N.G. (1994). Macroeconomics (2nd ed.). New Yocke: Worth Publications.
53 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
MdNasir, A. N., Ali, D. F., Noordin, M. K., Noordin, M. S. (2011). Technical skills and non-technical skills: predefinition concept. Proceedings of the IETEC’11 Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. (2012). Poverty Profile of Nigeria. Abuja: NBS Publication, Available at www. Nigeriastat.gov.ng.
National Education Research and Development Council, NERDC. (2008). The New Schools Curriculum Structure, Abuja, Nigeria.
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). (2009). Job Outlook, National Association of Colleges and Employers, Bethlehem, PA.
Oketch, M. O. (2007). To Vocationalise or Not to Vocationalise? Perspective on Current Trends and Issues in Technical and Vocational and Training (TVET) in Africa, International Journal of Development 27 (2007), P.220-234.
Oresanya, T.O., Omudewa, O. S. Kolade, T.T. and Fashedemi, A. O. (2014). Vocational Education and Employability: The Nigerian Situation. Journal of Poverty, Investment and Development- An Open Access International Journal, Volume 3, p. 158- 160.
Robinson, J.S. and Garton, B.L. (2007). An Assessment of the Employability Skills needed by Graduates in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. Journal of Agricultural Education, 49(4), p. 96-105.
Setian, A and Kurnia, D. (2014). Transferrable Skills as Integrated Part of Professional Profile of TVET Outcome, Conference proceedings of the 4th World Congress on TVET 2014, held at Equatorial Hotel, Melacca, Malaysia on 5th and 6th December.
Shivpuri, S and Kim, B. (2004). Do employers and colleges see eye-to-eye? National Association of Colleges and employers, 37-44.
UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2007). Participation in Formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training Programmes Worldwide: An Initial Statistical Study. Montreal, Canada.
54 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 44 -55, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
UNESCO-UNEVOC. (2006). Participation in Formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training Programmes Worldwide: An Initial Statistical Study. Bonn, Germany. UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
Zaharim, A., Yusoff, Y.M., Muhammed, A., Omar, M. Z., Muhammad, N. and Mustapha R. (2010). Practical Framework of Employability skill for Engineering Graduate in Malaysia. IEE EDUCON Education Engineering 2010 – the Future of Global Learning Engineering Education, Madrid Spain on April 14-16, 2010 P.921 – 927, 978-1-42 44-6571-2/10/828.00@2010IEEE
55 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 56 - 61, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Treasury Single Account and Sustainable Public Expenditure in Nigeria
Lawal Ahmed Tanimu1*, Muhammad Sulaiman2, Awaisu Rabiu3,
1*Department of Business Administration and Management Federal Polytechnic Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State, Nigeria.
2Department of Economics Federal College of Education Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria.
3Registery unit Federal College of Education Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria.
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t This paper assesses the role of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in blocking Article history financial leakages in Nigeria’s public sector and as a strategy for effective Received: 11/07/2016 utilisation of the funds for governance to improve citizens’ welfare and attain Accepted: 04/09/2016 some levels of development in the country. It further shows that, TSA initiative lacks infrastructure and skilled personnel necessary to achieve the desired Treasury Single Account, goals. This is due to the lack of capacity development of personnel in government, public sector, government to handle technical requirements for efficient and successful operation of treasury single account (TSA). The paper recommends the need financial leakages. for government to address the challenges and policy implementation problems in other to achieve the desired result.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Nigeria is a country where the method of managing government income and expenditure by means of banking organisations is fragment. Living cash lying thoughtless for long period in many bank accounts owned by ministries department and agencies (MDA), at the same time the government continue to obtain loan to execute it is budgetary plan. This brings about inefficient apportioning of resources and unstable business cycles. An essential resource for efficient public financial management is a single entity of government banking. Certain unified banking arrangement ought to be created to minimise the burden of government borrowing and maximise the alternative forgone of cash resources (Ocheni, 2016). It is based on these that Treasury Single Account (TSA) was introduced in other to guarantee accountability for
56 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 56 - 61, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
government income, greater transparency and abstain misplacement of people’s money. To Othman, (2016) the functioning of Treasury Single Account (TSA) helps to guarantee appropriate cash management by abrogating lying cash mainly left with different commercial banks and in a way to improve the process of matching revenue received and payments made by government. Implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) by government will help improve cash management and control. It will as well make easier fiscal and monetary policy coordination also a friendly fiscal and a banking data which on the other hand enhance the quality of fiscal knowledge. Moreover, establishment of an operative TSA will reduce the debt maintenance cost and above all eradicate financial misappropriations in public sector.
2. Methodology
The paper seeks to assess the role of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in blocking financial leakages in Nigeria’s public sector, and argues that Treasury Single Account (TSA) should be given a strong preference in any public financial management reform agenda. The study heavily relied on secondary data where data were collected from journals, government records, newspapers, seminar papers and articles.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. The concept of Treasury Single Account (TSA)
Treasury Single Account (TSA) is defined by Yusuf and Chiejina, (2015) as” a unified structure of government bank account enabling consolidation and optimal utilisation of government cash resources”. Based on the principle of unity of cash and the unity of treasury, TSA is a unified structure of government bank accounts that gives a consolidated view of government cash resources. A TSA is a bank account or a set of linked accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments (Sailender and Isreal, 2010). Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), (2016) sees the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as a set of linked accounts for ALL Government payments and receipts. Moreover, it is the operation of a unified structure of Government Bank Accounts.
3.2 Objectives of Treasury Single Account
The TSA is primarily designed to bring ALL Government funds in bank accounts within the effective control and operational purview of the treasury, in order to: Enthrone centralized, transparent and accountable revenue management; facilitate effective cash management; ensure cash availability; promote efficient management of domestic borrowing at minimal cost; allow optimal investment of idle cash; block loopholes in revenue management; establish an efficient disbursement and collection mechanism for Government funds; improve liquidity reserve; and eliminate operational inefficiency and costs associated with maintaining multiple accounts across multiple financial institutions.
57 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 56 - 61, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
The specific objectives are as follows:
• To ensure transparency in the Public Financial Management (PFM);
• To provide transparency in the management of the public debt; and national financing need.
• To multiply treasury savings (less transaction charges, more revenues);
• To enhance the financial markets operations;
• To give the desired and more accurate accounting and improved reporting
3.3 Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Public Expenditure
The role of TSA is to enhance the overall effect of financial management system. TSA will also improve transparency and will help in ensuring compliance with the 1999 constitution of federal republic of Nigeria section162 and section 80(1). White, (2006) opined that” TSA will introduce economy and efficiency into overall management of public finances and this will in the long run lead to effectiveness of government spending since it places the government in a better position to realize overall policy goals”. According to Garbade, John and Paul, (2004) The existence of uncertainty regarding whether the treasury will have sufficient funds to finance programmed expenditures may lead to sub-optimal behavior by budget entities, but when the treasury has full information about cash resources, it can plan and implement budget execution in an efficient, transparent, and reliable manner, Thereby, removing the possibility of exaggerating their estimates for cash needs. In a guide line issued in September, 2015. by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF). It noted that Treasury Single Account (TSA) is part and parcel of the Public Financial Management (PFM) reform initiatives under the Economic Reform and Governance (EFG) project. PFM reform are part of the 3 pillar of National Strategy for Public Service Reform (NSPSR) toward attainment of vision 20:2020 and it was created to mitigate the hindrance to operative cash management. Ocheli, (2016) said” the approval of the cash management policy document by the Federal Executive Council for implementation will strengthen Federal Government cash management for better budget implementation and service delivery”. Therefore, the effectiveness and efficiency of TSA can be achieved if the following cash management policy documents are strictly implemented and monitored: Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). The overall objective is to implement an efficient, effective and user-friendly computerised financial management information system to increase the ability of the Federal Government to undertake central control and monitoring of expenditure and receipts in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The purpose is to enhance greater accountability and transparency across ministries and agencies. GIFMIS is an IT mode of budget, management and accountability that is been executed by federal government to developed public expenditure management.
58 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 56 - 61, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
3.4 Treasury Single Account (TSA) Implementation and Public Expenditure
It was in Aprils, 2012 the federal Government operated a pilot scheme for a single account using 217 MDAs. The implementation of TSA begins with the e-Payment system. The Federal was reported to saved Nigeria about N500 billion. Despite this success, the immediate past government could not continue with the policy due to weak regulations and high level of corruption of several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of that era. When present government of Muhammadu Buhari came on board, the mandate of the government is to principally fight corruption and move the country towards economic development and poverty eradication. Among the first steps of President Buhari’s government was the directive of the government in the circular OAGF/CAD/026/V.1/253 of 19th march, 2015 that all revenues should be remitted to TSA is in compliance with the provision of 1999 Nigerian Constitution, Section 80 (1) and Section 162. In addition to that, Office of the Accountant -General of the Federation (OAGF) in the circular HCSF/428/S.1/120 of August 7, 2015 directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government yet to comply with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to embrace the policy not later than 15th September 2015. By implication, the MDAs were directed to close all the revenue accounts they maintain in different Banks in the country and transfer the proceeds to the TSA. The implementation of TSA brings about fiscal discipline, efficiency and accountability on the part of government. In fact, TSA policy has certainly blocked government’s revenue diversion and looting. President Buhari, 2016 during his meeting with Nigerian community in the United Kingdom stated that, as at February 2016 TSA Policy mopped more than 2.2 Trillion which was used through the bureaucracy system to raise voucher and sign cheques so that they do not go into the next budget. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has claimed that the implementation of the TSA rule would, improve the processing of collection of revenue as well as engender prompt settlement of matured government commitments and thereby facilitate project completion and service delivery on schedule; afford a clear view of overall government finances at any time and so reduce borrowing with the attendant costs, eliminate avenues for corrupt self-enrichment by public officials; and increase accountability and transparency (The Guardian, Editorial Board, 2016).
3.5 Challenges to Treasury Single Account (TSA)
In spite of the benefits of TSA policy in Nigeria, it brought about some negative implications especially on the banking sector. Being the fact that public sector constitutes the larger commercial banks funds’ deposit, (especially fixed deposits), which in turn helps the commercial banks to invests and earn huge amount of dividends, the mopping of the public sector funds at the beginning of the first quarter of 2016 which amounts to N2.2 trillion has negatively impacted the banking industry by leading to lay off of workers, closure of some branches.
59 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 56 - 61, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
The engagement of SystemSpecs – Remita as consultants and facilitators of the TSA imposes also a set back to its proper implementation, in that N25 billion which represents 1% of the N2.5 trillion mopped up from commercial banks and passed through Remita, violated Section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2007.
Weak infrastructure, poor ICT services, lack of skilled personnel and corrupt policy implementers who manipulate policies for their personal benefits led to delay in smooth operation of the TSA policy and its sustainability in Nigeria.
4. Conclusion The study assesses the role of TSA in blocking financial leakages in Nigeria public sector. It was found that TSA is paramount in the nation’s financial management system, since it promotes transparency and facilitates compliance with the constitution of 1999 Section 80 (1) and Section 162. But the study found that a TSA lacks necessary infrastructure and skills personnel to achieve the desired goals. This is due to the fact that the personnel in government to handle technical requirement for efficient and successful operation of TSA lack capacity development. The mopping of the public sector funds at the beginning of the first quarter of 2016 which amounts to N2.2 trillion has negatively impacted the banking industry by leading to lay off of workers, closure of some branches. The engagement of Remita as consultants and facilitators of the TSA imposes a setback to by violation of Section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2007. The study concludes that there is a need for government at all levels to come up with appropriate measures to address these challenges of TSA. Also, the legislators must bring and enact appropriate laws that will create an enabling atmosphere for smooth operation of the TSA policy in the country.
Reference
Central Bank of Nigeria (2016). Guidelines for the Operation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) By State Governments in Nigeria. Garbade K, John CP, and Paul JS. (2004). Recent Innovations in Treasury Cash Management:Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Vol. 10, No. 11 (November).
Ocheni S. (2016). Treasury Single Account: A Catalyst for Public Financial Management in Nigeria. 2016 January 25 [cited 2016 March 25] Available from: http://www.accountantng.com/2016/01/treasury-single- account-a-catalyst-for-public-financial-management-in-nigeria#.VwZijqOBDIU
60 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 56 - 61, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Othman MK. (2016). Treasury Single Account: Buhari’s Bold Step and the Journey So Far. 2016 March 4 [cited 2016 April 2] Available from: http://leadership.ng/features/506332/treasury-single-account-buharis- bold-step-journey-far
Sailendra P, and Israel F. (2010). Treasury Single Account: Concept, Design, and Implementation Issues. IMF Working Paper. 2010. WP/10/143.
Treasury Single Account: Matters Arising (2016). The Guardian, Editorial [Internet]. 2016 February 18 [cited 2016 March 4]. Available from: http://guardian.ng/opinion/treasury-single-account-matters-arising/
White LH. (2006). Payments System Innovations in the United States since 1945 and their Implications for Monetary Policy. Chapter 1 in Institutional Change in the Payment System and Monetary Policy, ed. by Stefan W. Schmitz and Geoffrey E. Wood (Routledge).
Yusuf IA, and Chiejina N. (2016). Anti-graft War: One Economy, One Account. Sunday Nation, 2016 August 16. Pp 9 – 10 and 71.
61 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, 2 (4) 62 - 67, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Assessment of Appropriateness of Project Reports of Graduating Business Education Students in Tertiary Institutions in Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Augustina Chinweoke Anyigor-Ogah
Department of Business Education, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. PMB 53, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t The main purpose of this paper is to establish the appropriateness of project Article history report of graduating business education students in Ebonyi State tertiary Received: 11/07/2016 institutions. Three research questions and three hypotheses were raised to Accepted: 04/09/2016 guide the study. The study adopted survey research design. 200 empirical project reports of graduating business education students were randomly selected from three higher institutions in Ebonyi State. A 15-item rating scale project report, business was developed by the researcher. The assessment rating scale for project report Education, graduating in business education was used to collect the required data. The data collected Students was analysed using mean and standard deviation. From the analysed data, it was found that project reports of graduating business education students in tertiary institutions in Ebony State are suitable in problem articulation, but lack suitability in review of literature, and data analysis. Based on the findings, it was recommended that project supervisors should adhere tenaciously to research ethics.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction A project report is an essential component of most tertiary institution programmes including business education. It is designed to deepen students’ research capabilities for research understanding in business education (Bepsu, 2013; Ilo & Ifijeh, 2010). The programme which is typically carried out at the final year of the study, presents the opportunity for students to undertake some considerable pieces of independent research. The project consolidates the students understanding of research methodologies and helps them to develop deeper approach to research, and also to allow them to interact with examples of the practical problem that always occur during research work. Through project research, students acquire transferable skills which would be of benefits to them in the course of their study and in their later life in terms of
62 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, 2 (4) 62 - 67, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
problem solving, project skills, analytical and evaluative skills (Kay, 2006; Abonyi et al, 2006; Asika, 2009; Kothari & Garge, 2014).
Despite the obvious benefits offered by project research to business education students, certain problem limits some of them from producing worthwhile quality pieces of work. According to Iyiogwe & Awoke (2000), Goyal (2013), and Barlow (1983), major problems associated with poor research reports include unclear introduction, ambiguous research questions, inadequate review of related literature, inappropriate citations, inadequately defined sample, unclear statistical techniques, poor conceptualization among others. In addition, Singh (2006), and Pierson (2004) identified poor style of writing, lack of innovativeness, inability to keep pace with advances in relevant research areas as problems associated with presentation of research papers. Also, common deficiencies in the methods, results and discussion section of any research work can affect its quality (Pierson, 2004). It was also observed that more serious are the fundamental defects in the study design which can doom the study.
Many student-related and supervisor-related factors have been identified as reasons for the variations in quality of undergraduate research reports including project report in business education. Opie (2006) said that some students conduct their research on their own, others resort to copying other persons work verbatim while some others use self-generated data for analysis. Lack of commitment to course of study can adversely affect the students’ performance in the application of research procedure and the result thereafter (Lacey, 2007). Also, most students depend entirely on their colleagues for writing, collection of data, analysis and interpretation of results; whereas students are supposed to be acquainted with the requisite research and produce valid and dependable findings that can impact meaningfully on the society.
Aside from the student-related problem, research supervisors also share in the blame for poor quality report. By observation, most supervisors show little interest and commitment towards research supervision, some others sometimes appoint postgraduate students to supervise undergraduate research. This may be as a result of supervisors having too many students to supervise. This has implications for the quality of research to be produced. While evidence abound on the poor quality of research output from tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The researcher is worried that there is little or no evidence of improved research report particularly among graduating business education student in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. This study is therefore
63 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, 2 (4) 62 - 67, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
concerned with the review of the content of project report in business education with particular focus on the suitability in problem articulation, review of literature and data analysis.
2. Methodology The area of the study was three tertiary institution in Ebonyi State of Nigeria; namely, Ebonyi State University Abakaliki, Federal Polytechnic Uwana, and Ikwo college of education. The population of the study was all undergraduate research projects in business education conducted in the three tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State from 2014/2015 to 2015/2016 academic session.
Stratified random sampling techniques was used in selecting the sample of study. 100 samples were drawn from Ebonyi State University Abakaliki, EBSU, 50 samples from UWANA, and 50 samples from Ikwo College of Education. This gave a total of 200 samples. A 15 items assessment rating scale for project reports in business education was developed by the researcher with the assistance of three experts; two from measurement and evaluation and one from business education in tertiary institution in Ebonyi State. A five- point rating scale of Very Appropriate (VA), Appropriate (A), Somewhat Appropriate (SA), Inappropriate (I) and Very Inappropriate (VI) was used. The data collected was analysed using mean and standard deviation. The decision rule for the mean statistics was 3.0. A statement item with a mean of 3.0 and above was considered appropriate, while a statement item of a mean below 3.0 was considered inappropriate.
3. Results and Discussion The mean rating and standard deviation results of the suitability of project report of graduating business education students in problem articulation, review of literature and data analysis are shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The results show that for suitability in problem articulation, the study title, the scope of the study, and the consistency of the specific objective to the study title are appropriate, while the clarity of the problem statement and contribution of the study to body of knowledge are not appropriate. Also, for suitability in review of literature, the sequence of citation is appropriate, while adequacy of the review in line to the specific objectives, use of empirical studies, use of theoretical source, and summary of the literature are inappropriate. Furthermore, for suitability in data analysis, tabulation of results, and use of decision rule are appropriate, while the choice of statistical technique, application of statistical method, and interpretation of results are
64 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, 2 (4) 62 - 67, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
inappropriate. Generally, the findings show that project reports of graduating business education students in tertiary institutions in Ebony State are suitable in problem articulation, but lack suitability in review of literature, and data analysis.
Table 1. Mean rating and standard deviations of suitability of project reports in problem articulation S/N Item Statements SD Remarks
1 Appropriateness of study title 3.54 1.28 Appropriate 2 Clarity of problem statement 2.84 1.07 Inappropriate 3 Adequacy of the scope 3.39 1.14 Appropriate 4 Consistency of the objectives with the title 3.14 1.20 Appropriate 5 Contribution of the study to body of knowledge 2.91 0.97 Inappropriate
Grand mean 3.16 Appropriate
Table 2. Mean rating and standard deviations of suitability of project reports in review of literature S/N Item Statements SD Remarks
1 Review in line with specific objectives 2.44 1.41 Inappropriate 2 Appropriate sequence of citation 3.05 0.83 Appropriate 3 Use of empirical studies 2.81 1.09 Inappropriate 4 Use of theoretical source 2.26 0.95 Inappropriate 5 Appropriate presentation of summary 2.63 0.86 Inappropriate
Grand mean 2.64 Inappropriate
Table 3. Mean rating and standard deviations of suitability of project reports in data analysis S/N Item Statements SD Remarks
1 Choice of statistical techniques 2.66 1.05 Inappropriate 2 Application of statistical method 2.87 1.12 Inappropriate 3 Tabulation of results 3.12 1.36 Appropriate 4 Interpretation of results 2.10 0.92 Inappropriate 5 Use of decision rules 3.26 1.02 Appropriate
Grand mean 2.80 Inappropriate
In addition, the findings indicate that although, there is suitability of the project reports in problem articulation, the project reports lack appropriateness in clarity of problem statement, and contribution to the body of knowledge. The implication of the finding is that the project reports may not be competent enough 65 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, 2 (4) 62 - 67, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
to add the required values to the academic and scientific body of knowledge. The finding supports Kupfersmind and Wonderly (1994), who noted that crating a strong empirical paper that contribute to academic and scientific knowledge requires organized and thorough planning at each stage of the research and writing process.
4. Conclusion This paper assessed the suitability of project reports of graduating business education students based on research problem articulation, review of literature, and research data analysis criteria. A 15 items assessment rating scale for project reports in business education that was developed by the researcher with the assistance of three experts was used for the study. The results indicate that the quality of project reports from tertiary institution in Ebonyi State is averagely appropriate in terms of problem articulation. On the Other hand, the findings reveal below average appropriateness of the project reports in business education in terms of literature review and data analysis. Accordingly, the study recommends that project supervisors in Ebonyi State tertiary institutions should ensure that students adhere tenaciously to research ethics.
References
Abonyi, O. S., Okerke, S. C., Omebe, C. A., and Anugwo, M. (2006). Foundations of educational research and statistics. Emene: Fred-ogah Publishers.
Asika, N. (2009). Research methodology in the behavioural science. Ikeja: Longman Nigeria Plc.
Barlow, K. M. (1983). Manuscripts faults and review board recommendations: lethal and non- lethal errors. In American Psychological association, committee on women in psychology and women programs office, understanding the manuscript review process. Washington DC: American Psychological association.
Bepsu, U. S. B. (2013). Understanding seminar presentation. Kantung: Ted Publishers. Goyal, R. C. (2013). Research methodology for health professionals: Including proposal, thesis and article writing. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers.
66 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, 2 (4) 62 - 67, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Ilo, D. I., and Ifijeh, G. I. (2010). Impact of the Internet on Final Year Students' Research: A Case Study of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. Library Philosophy and Practice.
Iyiogwe, S. O., and Awoke, U. (2010). Research methodology: A practical approach to project report writing for Nigeria n University. Abakaliki: Folsun Technologies.
Kay, M. K. (2006). Supervising undergraduate using online and peer supervisor. In M Huba (ed) 7th International Virtual University Conference, Bratislava on 14-15 December 2006. Technical University Bratislava: Bratislava.
Kothari, C. R., and Garge, G. (2014). Research methodology methods and techniques. New Delhi: New age international publishers.
Kupfersmind, J., and Wonderly, D. M. (1994). An author’s guide to publishing better journals in behavioural science, TV: clinical psychology publishing.
Lacey, N. D. (2007) Survival skills in graduate research. Retrieved 20th January 2013 from www.gradschool.nmsu.edu/4596/htm.
Opie, O. N. (2006). Path analysis of institutional variables and undergraduate students’ attitude towards research projects in tertiary institution in Calabar Cross River State, Nigeria. Unpublished M.Ed Thesis University of Calabar.
Pierson, D. J. (2004). The top 10 reasons why manuscripts are not accepted for publication. Respiratory Care, 49(10): 14-20.
Singh, D. (2006). Publication bias – a reason for the decreased research output in developing countries. South Africa Psychiatry Review, 9(3), 6-12.
67 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Lifting the Veil on the Economic Activities of Muslim Females in Northern Nigeria
Tawa S. Tijjani, Ebi Shahrin Suleiman, Umar Haiyat Abdul Kohar Faculty of Management, University Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai Johor Bahru, Malaysia
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t The veil is widely used by secluded Muslim women in Northern Nigeria as a Article history symbol of virtuous respectability and as a hijab to conceal physical feminity Received: 11/07/2016 from public scrutiny. The practice of seclusion, termed kulle in Hausa dialect Accepted: 04/09/2016 in Northern Nigeria, is symbolized by the intangible moral and socio-cultural barrier the veil projects to isolate the Muslim woman from male or public scrutiny. An outcome of seclusion is the near absence of visible female participation in economic activities, which has given credence to the perception of Muslim women as submissive, lazy, unproductive consumers women, veil, seclusion, who are economically dependent on men. The paper examines the validity of economic activity, productive this perception, and the form and nature of the economic activities of secluded Muslim women, in the light of literature evidence and their normal daily life in Northern Nigeria. A non-empirical overview of the various economic activities of secluded Muslim women in Northern Nigeria is presented with emphasis on literature sources. Food vending, handcrafts, farm produce processing, employed farm labor and services like trading, tailoring and hair weaving were found to comprise the broad range of economic activities of the secluded women. Most of the economic activities are usually operated from the home, using children to bypass their restricted access to the open market. The earnings from such activities are owned by the women and are expended as they wish. Clearly, the negative, uncharitable portrayal of secluded Muslim women, across the barrier of kulle lacks basis and does not take into consideration their active participation in various economic activities behind the veil. Taking the evidence together, they convincing show secluded Muslim women in Northern Nigeria to be economically productive with considerable liberty to manage their economic activities and earn income for themselves.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Advocacy monitoring is an important process in the social and economical development of a country. The monitoring of the social equalities of women and children is very essential to improve the social infrastructure. The social equality also includes the education and health benefits to the women and infant children1. Advocacy can be defined as the efficient use of information to influence the policies2 and actions of the responsible authorities which can produce affirmative changes in the lives of people.
68 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Northern Nigeria currently comprises the contiguous states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara and is not synonymous with the colonial monolithic region north of the river Niger; a popular misconception. The states are federating units in the Nigerian nation and they collectively occupy about 61.7% of the total national land area and contain about 39% of the projected total national population of 164,728,579 in 2012 (N.B.S., 2012). Official data from the Nigerian 2006 census showed around 48% composition of the total population in its Northern region are females, which translates to over 26 million or more than a third of the total female population in Nigeria (N.P.C., 2010). The region has a rich diversity of languages and culture that is mostly Muslim and share common Islamic norms and values (Bergstrom, 2002; Vereecke, 1993). The seclusion of women is common and widely synonymous with married or mature women (Schildkrout, 1982). Seclusion, called kulle in Northern Nigeria, denotes the Islamic system of moral conduct, and local customs and practices that imposes the separation of the sexes (Bergstrom, 2002; Coles and Mack, 1991; Georgia et al., 2014; Pereira, 2002; Schildkrout, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). It requires mature Muslim females to remain out of public view, wear the hijab to cover their bodies and conceal their beauty if they venture outdoors, and limit their interactions with males to their immediate family circles (Mahdi, 2009).
The practice of seclusion in Northern Nigeria dates from the eighteenth-century jihad of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio (Bergstrom, 2002; Pierce, 2007; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). The low adoption of seclusion by women before the jihad had been noted by scholars (Bergstrom, 2002; Pierce, 2007; Zakaria, 2001). Establishing the caliphate had substantial social, cultural and economic effects, which contributed to the implementation and association of seclusion and veiling to women’s modesty and status (Bergstrom, 2002; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). The advent of British rule and the complex interactions of capitalism with local ideologies are credited with a restructuring of production, social and labor relations along lines of gender. This further reinforced the practice of seclusion and its association with wealth (arziki), honor (martaba) and prestige (yabo) (Pereira, 2002). Today, Northern Nigeria remains the largest geographical area in Africa where mature Muslim females observe strict seclusion both as a form of prestige and religious piety (Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001).
Kulle varies in degree of strict compliance and observance between rural and urban areas of Northern Nigeria. The rural communities are usually small, close knit social groups where everyone is somewhat a close or distant relative. Therefore, rural seclusion rules tend to be lax compared to cities where the diverse society, relative wealth, social standing and prestige encourages its strict observation (Zakaria, 2001). Also, the labor intensive nature of agriculture, the mainstay of most rural economies, which often requires female labor input also weakens the strict observance of seclusion (Bergstrom, 2002; Zakaria, 2001). Strict
69 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
observance of seclusion is also low in families where male members are formally employed and the females in the family have access to western education and also formal employment opportunities (Zakaria, 2001).
Several studies have documented secluded females in Northern Nigeria to be involved in several economic activities (sana’a) (Coles and Mack, 1991; Georgia et al., 2014; Schildkrout, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). For instance, the reported participation for secluded Hausa women in Kano state has been put at 80% (Coles and Mack, 1991), 63% (Pittin, 1982) or two-thirds (Hill, 1969; Vereecke, 1993) of the total women population studied. The women are usually self-employed in agricultural produce processing, food selling, petty trading and providing gendered services. However, it has been noted that most of these economic activities are usually informal and limited to the local economy, where they are dominant (Georgia et al., 2014; Lincoln, 2012; Verick, 2006).
Table 1: Economic activities of secluded women grouped by labor requirements
Economic Activity Labor intensive Non-labor intensive Farmland preparation, planting, Farm labor weeding and harvesting Farm produce De-husking, shelling, cleaning,
processing boiling, extraction and drying Sieving, boiling, frying, steaming, Food vending roasting, and packaging Cap and mat weaving, pottery, soap Hand crafts making, knitting, Milling or grinding, laundry, Services Petty trading, hair plaiting, babysitting, embroidery
2. Economic Activities of Women in Seclusion The practice of kulle does not diminish nor remove the right of the Muslim woman to own wealth and even seek for it within the limits prescribed by Islamic law. Islam places great value on entrepreneurial activities and encourages Muslims to seek wealth in every halal way possible (Ullah et al., 2013). Work (aiki) is perceived as a necessary endeavor to discharge duties and sustain biological needs. The Islamic work ethic teaches that engagement in economic activity is an obligation (Ullah et al., 2013). Secluded Muslim women in Northern Nigeria thus face no religious restriction to their aspirations to engage in economic activities as long as it is in compliance with Islamic laws (Georgia et al., 2014; Zakaria, 2001).
The choice of engaging in paid work is usually a personal one since the spouse is obligated to take care of the wife and family (Ullah et al., 2013; Vereecke, 1993). However, several other factors including economic, social and religious may significantly affect a secluded woman’s decision to work (Georgia et
70 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
al., 2014; Zakaria, 2001). A secluded Muslim woman may engage in sana’a to supplement the spouse’s inadequate income, to earn income and spend it on herself to increase her status, to pay the Islamic pilgrimage, to provide a bridal gift to her daughter or to increase her economic net worth (Georgia et al., 2014; Schildkrout, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). They however require the permission of their spouses to undertake in economic work, which is usually positive except in very few situations (Georgia et al., 2014; Zakaria, 2001).
The level and type of the economic activities of women in kulle varies among women and across the rural to urban areas in Northern Nigeria. The variation is largely dependent on the degree to which seclusion is observed and various factors like the level of skill needed, the labor requirements, market demand and the initial capital available. In addition, the vital contribution of child labor to the economic activities of secluded women had been noted in studies (Kazeem, 2013; Robson, 2004; Zakaria, 2001). Children act as intermediaries across the barriers of seclusion between the domestic, mainly, female sphere of influence and the public, mostly, male domain. Children buy needed raw materials for the women from the public markets, help them with strenuous tasks and sell the products, for the women, to the public. The children may include secluded woman’s children, offsprings of relatives or errand Qur’anic pupils (almajiri) (Robson, 2004; Robson, 2006; Zakaria, 2001).
Commercial food vending is a popular economic activity among secluded women. It involves the cooking and sale of popular fried treats of bean cake (kosai), rice cake (masa), groundnut cake (kulikuli), and cheese (awara). Drinks include juices, gruel and tamarind porridge (zobo, kunun zaki and kunun tsamiya), while meals of cowpea dumpling (moi-moi), rice dumplings (tuwon-shinkafa) or rice (shinkafa) with soup (miya), noodles (taliya) and cooked corn flour with soup (tuwo da miya) are preferred local dishes (Pittin, 1982; Schildkrout, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). Rice and cowpea (wake) with pepper (yaji), and salad, is a popular lunch meal. Other popular treats, which are hawked, includes tiger nut cake (dakua), honeyed wheat cake and rings (fankasau and alkaki), sesame seed cake (ridi), roasted and cooked groundnuts.
The mobility restrictions of seclusion require women under kulle to employ the services of children to hawk the food outside the home (Georgia et al., 2014; Robson, 2006; Schildkrout, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). The children typically have unrestricted access to the secluded women, where they collect and hawk the food to the public. The errand children offer daily hawking services (alaro), which is typically about five to eight hours, for paid remuneration with food or money. The children of secluded Muslim women are rarely paid for their service, which is considered as their contribution to the family. Children of relatives may or may not receive remuneration depending on the family ties with the secluded woman. However, one negative of this dependence of secluded Muslim women on child labor is its denial of children’s access to
71 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
education by engaging them all day long (Kazeem, 2013; Robson, 2004). The enrollment of children in schools is mutually exclusive to the demand for their labor by secluded women (Georgia et al., 2014; Zakaria, 2001). This is regarded as a social, educational and economic problem, since it is a cultural norm across the whole Northern Nigeria but is, more frequent among poor families who often need the economic contribution of the children (Georgia et al., 2014; Kazeem, 2013).
Farm produce processing is a seasonal source of income for secluded women especially in the rural areas. The activity is labor intensive, compared to cooking food for vending, and usually takes a whole day (aikin yini) or more depending on the quantity to be processed (Georgia et al., 2014). Table 1 shows a comparative grouping of the economic activities of secluded women using the labor input required. The produce processing involves single or multiple steps of de-husking, shelling, cleaning, boiling, extraction and drying. All the tasks are usually performed manually by the women with assistance from children. The basic work tools are common household items like the pestle and mortar, earthenware cookware, trays, plastic containers, threshing sticks, metal and clothe sieves, and broom. The consumables required are typically firewood and water. Most of the women are usually unable to afford labor saving machines but in some instances have organized to collectively buy and use threshing and extraction machines to improve their productivity. The produce processed includes oil seeds, cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables, which are usually packaged and sold in markets
Farm labor activities represent the very end of the scale of economic activities undertaken by secluded women. It requires the most physical exertion by secluded women in comparison with all other economic activities. The work is seasonal and mostly occurs during the planting season. However, the use of irrigation has further extended farming activities, in areas with large water bodies, all year round. Secluded women earn income by commercializing their labor (aikin kwadago) during the planting, weeding and harvesting of farm produce. The involvement of secluded females in such backbreaking paid labor is perceived as undignified, a reduction of social status and that only the very poor women take up such work (Georgia et al., 2014). Such social perception, especially in cities, is a consequence of associating wealth and status with less physical exertion. It is instructive to note that women participation in farm labor mainly occurs in rural areas and is so valued, maybe for its cheapness, that sometimes advance bookings are placed for their labor. The women are paid depending on the size of the farm and their arbitrary estimate of the labor input (e.g. number of yini) required for the task. Each woman subsequently receives payment based on the field area or number of plant ridges (kunya) worked or the quantity of harvested crops. Secluded women involved as employed farm labor are normally grouped together, sometimes with children, and given separate farmlands from men to work. The children are either employed almajiris or sons and daughters assisting their parents. This involvement of children in farm labor activities with women had been noted
72 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
(Georgia et al., 2014). Segregation of farm labor in this way is considered the norm but its implementation is not always strict. An exception to this arrangement is during crop planting and harvesting where such separation is usually ignored. The crops involved are mostly staples or commercial crops like maize, sorghum, groundnut, rice, etc.
Several gendered services provided by secluded women involve creative or skilled expertise to a higher or lesser degree. The skills are rarely self-acquired and involve learning through informal teaching sessions from a mentor. Patronage of the service may require the female customer to seek out the secluded service provider. In some situations, the provider of the service offers it directly to the women by going round the homes to seek customers and peddling other wares in the process. The limitation on women mobility in public is an advantage for such service providers. They are always assured a substantial number of their clients will always be available when they call. Some of such services include clothe embroidery, tailoring, hair weaving and body henna design (kunshi) for females (Pittin, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). Unskilled services offered by the women in kulle involve grinding of food ingredients (markade), cereal de- skinning (sirfe), babysitting, laundry and housemaid services (Pittin, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001).
Cottage crafts remain the only other economic activity of secluded women, which requires skills and creativity. The participation by secluded women in such economic activity is either because it is a family trade or the result of training, which is funded by the female apprentice or aid organizations. The capital requirement for setup is often substantial due to the need for equipment and raw materials. However, the earnings from cottage crafts are perceived among secluded women to be high and desirable. Produced items include sweaters, incense making, bead making, baby knitwear, soaps, detergents, clay cookware (pottery), broom making, mat weaving and local woven caps.
Petty trade activities by women in kulle are often limited to a table of wares in the house or trays of wares, which are hawked by the women or errand children to other secluded women or the public. The hawked ware range from soup ingredients and seasoning, soaps, detergents, kola nuts, sugar, salt and may include luxury items like jewelry, perfume and clothing (Chumley, 1998; Mordi et al., 2010; Schildkrout, 1982; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). The scale of the petty trading activities of secluded women is small due to their limited capital, the frequent need to go to the market to replenish stocks and more importantly, the competition of male owned provision stores on street corners. Thus, the variety of wares offered secluded petty traders is targeted at the gendered needs of women.
The income earned by secluded Northern Nigerian Muslim women from their economic activities has been noted to be sizable and values and size of some of their economic activities has been compared to that of counterpart males (Mordi et al., 2010; Schildkrout, 1982; Zakaria, 2001). It has been noted in studies that
73 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
secluded Muslim women retain the earnings from their economic activities as personal income (Georgia et al., 2014; Schildkrout, 1982; Ullah et al., 2013; Vereecke, 1993; Zakaria, 2001). The spouse rarely asks for remittances but the secluded woman is expected to reduce the financial burden of the home on the spouse by spending on herself, the children and buying condiments, detergents, etc (Schildkrout, 1982; Zakaria, 2001). The other ways secluded women expend their income involve buying bridal gifts for wedded daughters and the haj pilgrimage. The acquisition of land and properties by women in kulle is infrequent because it often requires the added responsibility of supervision, which may involve interactions outside the home and with males.
3. Conclusion
The economic activities of secluded Muslim women in Northern Nigeria were examined in detail. They were shown to engage in economic activities, which involve buying, selling, cooking, processing of farm produce and provision of paid services and even the commercialization of their physical labor. Most of the economic activities are usually operated from the home, using children to bypass their restricted access to the open market. The women were also shown to exercise complete independence over their earnings in deciding how it should be expended. Taking the evidence together, they convincing show secluded Muslim women in Northern Nigeria to be economically productive with considerable liberty to manage their economic activities and earn income for themselves.
References Bergstrom, K. (2002). Legacies of Colonialism and Islam for Hausa Woman: An Historical Analysis, 1804 to 1960. Women and International Development, Michigan State University.
Chumley, J. (1998). Work, Agriculture, and the Rise of Female House Seclusion in Post-Colonial
Hausaland. Senior Thesis Projects.
Coles, C. M. and Mack, B. (1991). Hausa Women in the Twentieth Century. University of Wisconsin Press. Georgia, T., et al. 2014. Economic Opportunities and Obstacles for Women and Girls in Northern Nigeria. UK: Department for International Development (DFID) Nigeria.
Hill, P. (1969). Hidden Trade in Hausaland. Man. 392-409.
Kazeem, A. (2013). Unpaid Work among Children Currently Attending School in Nigeria: With Focus on Gender, Ethnicity, Urban-Rural Residence and Poverty. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 33,(5/6), 328-346.
Lincoln, A. (2012). Nature of Leadership Practices of Nigerian Female Entrepreneurs. International Journal of Business and Social Science. Vol 3 (10) 50- 59.
74 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 68-75, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Mordi, C., Simpson, R. and Singh, S. (2010). The Role of Cultural Values in Understanding the Challenges Faced by Female Entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Gender in Management: An International Journal, Vol. 25 Issue: 1, pp.5-21,
N.B.S. 2012. Annual Abstract of Statistics 2012. In: Nigeria, N. B. O. S. (ed.). Nigeria: Federal Government of Nigeria (F.G.N.).
N.P.C. 2010. Population Distribution by Sex, State, Lgas and Senatorial District: 2006 Census Priority Tables (Vol 3). In: Commission, N. P. (ed.). Nigeria: Federal Government of Nigeria.
Pereira, C. (2002). Locating Gender and Women's Studies in Nigeria: What Trajectories for the Future. 10th General Assembly of CODESRIA,‘Africa in the New Millennium’, Kampala, Uganda.
Pierce, S. (2007). Identity, Performance, and Secrecy: Gendered Life and the" Modern" in Northern Nigeria. Feminist Studies. 33,(3), 539-565.
Pittin, R. 1982. Documentation of Women's Work in Nigeria: Problems and Solutions. International Labour Organization.
Robson, E. (2004). Children at Work in Rural Northern Nigeria: Patterns of Age, Space and Gender. Journal of Rural Studies. 20,(2), 193-210.
Robson, E. (2006). The ‘Kitchen’ as Women's Space in Rural Hausa land, Northern Nigeria. Gender, Place & Culture. 13,(6), 669-676.
Schildkrout, E. (1982). Dependence and Autonomy: The Economic Activities of Secluded Hausa Women in Kano, Nigeria. Women and work in Africa. 55-81. Ullah, M. M., Mahmud, T. B. and Yousuf, F. (2013). Women Entrepreneurship: Islamic Perspective. European Journal of Business and Management. 5,(11), 44-52.
Vereecke, C. (1993). Muslim Women Traders of Northern Nigeria: Perspectives from the City of Yola. Ethnology. 32(3), 217-236.
Verick, S. (2006). The Impact of Globalization on the Informal Sector in Africa. Economic and Social Policy Division, United Nations Economic Cat Commission for Africa.
Zakaria, Y. (2001). Entrepreneurs at Home: Secluded Muslim Women and Hidden Economic Activities in Northern Nigeria. Nordic Journal of African Studies. 10,(1), 107-123.
75 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Risk in Islamic Banks: A Literary Review
Muryani Arsal1*, Nik Intan Norhan Abd Hamid2, Faizah Mohammed Bashir3
*1,2Department of Finance, Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia. 3Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia.
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t This paper focuses on the risk of the Islamic banking. This paper concluded Article history that the concept of risk in an Islamic bank can best be understood when viewed Received: 11/07/2016 from two dimensions is prohibition of gharar (uncertainty) and freedom of Accepted: 04/09/2016 contract cause an Islamic bank is a financial institution that status, rules and procedures clearly state its commitment to the principles of Islamic law and the Risk, Islamic bank, Risk prohibition of receipt and payment of interest on each operation. Furthermore, Islamic banks are barrier in using some of the risk mitigation instruments that management, Conventional their conventional counterparts use as these are not allowed under Islamic bank commercial law.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The meaning of the risk has changed over the years. Understanding the real meaning of risk and its basic components spend a lot of time and efforts. In simple terms, risk is a probability that the events will happen, which are contrary of expected, in the respect that such divergence can be positive and negative. The positive risk is desirable but rarely possible in everyday life. Conversely, the risk component from which both individuals and organization want to protect and, if possible, manage it actively is the negative risk (Kozarević et al., 2013) Risk involved both susceptibility of asset values and opportunities of income growth. The successful companies presume of these opportunities (Damodaran, 2009). An essential element of risk management is to understand the risk–return trade-off of different assets and investors. Investors can expect a higher rate of return only through increased its exposure to risks. The objective of financial institutions is to create value for the shareholders by acquiring assets in multiples of shareholder-owned funds, , managing the resulting 76 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
risks faced by the equity becomes an important function of the financial institutions (Ahmad and Khan, 2007).
Islamic banking is newish compared with conventional banking; the risks inherent in the instruments used are not well understood. Islamic banks can be expected to face two types of risks namely risks that are similar to those faced by conventional financial intermediaries and risks that are unique owing to their compliance with Islamic law (Ariffin et al, 2009). Furthermore, Islamic banks are barrier in using some of the risk mitigation instruments that their conventional Counterparts use as these are not allowed under Islamic commercial law (Kozarević et al., 2013). The structure of the paper is as follows. First, the nature of Islamic banking. Second, paper commences by reviewing the existing literature within the context of the risks in Islamic banking with some reference to the risks in conventional banking. Then, the defining and identifying different risk. The last section draws some conclusions.
2. The Nature of Islamic Banking An Islamic bank is a financial institution that status, rules and procedures clearly state its commitment to the principles of Islamic law and the prohibition of receipt and payment of interest on each operation (El- Gawady, 2005). The concept of Islamic economic perspective and prospective role to be played by the Islamic banks in which open. It is natural and essential for an Islamic bank to include the function and practice of commercial investment and social activities, as an institution designed to promote the mission civilized Islamic economics (El-Gawady, 2005). In view of activities, an Islamic bank is normally a hybrid between a conventional commercial bank and an investment bank, and thus resembles a universal bank. All commercial transaction of banks were transformed and eliminated based on interest to comply with sharia rules and principles. (Karim, 2001; DeLorenzo, 2002; Iqbal and Mirakhor, 2002). It appears from the above definition that Islamic banking is a system of financial intermediation that avoids receipt and payment of interest in their dealings (Wilson, 2002; Iqbal and Mirakhor, 2007) and conducted in a manner that helps achieve the economic goals of Islam (Karim and Archer, 2002) then, the banking system that operates based on the principles of Islam transaction a profit loss sharing is a major feature, ensure justice and fairness in the economy (Nienhaus, 1983; Iqbal and Mirakhor, 2002; Wilson, 77 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
2002; El Gawady, 2005; Chong and Liu, 2009). Furthermore, an Islamic bank is based on the Islamic faith and must stay within the limits Islamic law in all of its actions and deeds (El Gawady, 2005).
2.1 Risk of Islamic Banking The concept of risk in an Islamic financial system can best be understood when viewed from two dimensions is prohibition of gharar (uncertainty) and freedom of contract (Ahmad and Khan, 2007). Gharar, according to Islamic law, is any element of chance involving asymmetric information, uncertainty (Badawi,1998), risk or even speculation or gambling (Al-Saati, 2003), and any resultant profits are illicit and to be excluded according to the religious, and consequently the moral, precepts of Islam (El-Gawady, 2005). Gharar needs to be explained in a contracting context and concerns the uncertainty of the subject matter. Undertaking a business transaction or an investment decision involves some degree of risk taking, regarding the future performance or outcome of the activity. However in such cases, risk taking is based on educated analysis and an understanding of the risks that are necessarily present, whereas gambling creates a risk that would otherwise be non-existent. The Quran clearly prohibit us from gambling, as illustrated in these verses (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 219 and Surah Al-Ma’idah, verse 90) relating to games of chance or gambling, referred to in Arabic as maysir (Ariffin et al., 2009; Ahmad and Khan, 2007) The main difference between gharar and risk taking is related to the nature of risk and its potential contribution to the social good. Gambling involves the creation of risk for the sake of risk in the hope of very high gains, whereas risk taking that is part of some real economic activity that creates economic value in the market should be permissible and desirable. Gambling is essentially a zero-sum game, which creates no wealth (El-Gamal, 2001). Islam offers full freedom of contracts to economic agents as long as the resulting contract is within the boundaries defined by Islamic law, which mainly excludes riba and gharar. Given the freedom of contracts and the understanding of gharar, Islam fully recognises risk that is generated by financial (El-Gamal, 2001). The asset and liability sides of Islamic banks have unique risk characteristics. The Islamic banking model has evolved to one-tier mudaraba with multiple investment tools. On the liability side of Islamic banks, saving and investment deposits take the form of profit sharing investment accounts. Investment accounts can be further classified as restricted and unrestricted, the former having restrictions on withdrawals before maturity date. Demand deposits or current accounts in Islamic banks take the nature of qard hasan (interest- 78 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
free loans) that are returned fully on demand. On the asset side, banks use murabaha (cost-plus or mark-up sale), installment sale (medium/long-term murabaha), bai-muajjal (price-deferred sale), istisnaa/salam (object deferred sale or pre-paid sale) and ijara (leasing) and profit-sharing modes of financing (musharaka and mudaraba). These instruments on the asset side, using the profit-sharing principle to reward depositors, are a unique feature of free interest banks. The different nature of its asset and liability composition and the profit and loss sharing basis change the nature of risks that free interest banks face (Ahmad and Khan, 2001; ; Ahmad and Khan, 2007; Ariffin et al., 2009; Abdullah et al., 2011; Kozarević et al., 2013).
2.2 Types of Risk of Islamic and Conventional Banking Furthermore, due to their constant change and mutual interactions, it would be impossible to cover all types of risk that banks, whether Islamic or conventional, face. The risks in conventional banks can be divided into some of types of risk i.e. market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, and other types of banking risks. Market risk is the risk that the decrease in the value of an investment due to movements in market factors. Market risk can be systematic and unsystematic. Systematic risk arises from macro sources like currency and equity prices risks, and unsystematic is instrument-specific likewise fluctuations in prices of commodity or asset that the bank is dealing with, will be categorized under specific market risk (Ramzan and Zafar, 2014; Ahmad and Khan, 2007). Credit risk is as the probability that a counterpart of a contract will fail to fulfil its engagements, either as a one-off or completely (Boumediene, 2011). Liquidity risk arises from either difficulties in obtaining cash at reasonable cost from borrowings (funding liquidity risk) or sale of assets (asset liquidity risk). The liquidity risk arising from both sources is critical for Islamic banks (Ahmad and Khan, 2007). For a number of causes, Islamic banks are assumed to come across with considerable liquidity risk. First, there are limitations from fiqh on the securitization of the present assets of Islamic banks, which are principally debt in nature. Secondly, due to gradual growth of financial instruments, it is difficult for Islamic banks to quickly draw funding from the financial markets because there is no independent inter-Islamic bank money market (Ramzan and Zafar, 2014). Operational risk is of direct or indirect loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people, and technology or from external events (BCBS, 2001). Operation risk may be arises due to lacking of trained and qualified professionals to perform Islamic financial operations. Risks may also arise due to the 79 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
dissimilar business practices; computer software available in the market for conventional banks may not be appropriate for Islamic banks (Ramzan and Zafar, 2014). Other types of risk in conventional banks include: bank exposure risk (to clients or other banks), investment risk, legal risk, strategic risk, reputational risk and country risk banks (Ahmad and Khan, 2007; Kozarević et al., 2013). Besides most of the risks faced by conventional banks (such as one part of credit, market, operational, and liquidity risk), Islamic banks have special types of risk that are specific to their business operations in compliance with Islamic law. In Islamic banking, all types of risk can be divided as follows: financial risk, business risk, treasury risk, management risk, fiduciary risk and other types of risk in Islamic banks (Ahmad and Khan, 2007; Kozarević et al., 2013). One of the basic types of risk faced by Islamic banks is the financial risk. Its result is a direct financial loss on the bank assets and liabilities. Business risks appear due to various macroeconomic and political conditions, but also due to insolvency which is a result of the lack of resources for the continuation of business activities. The treasury risk includes the risks that appear in the management of Islamic bank financial resources: cash management, ownership management, short-term liquidity management, as well as bank assets and liabilities management. Management risk is related to the risk that appears due to unsuccessful bank management, negligence in running business and fulfilling contract obligations, as well as due to weak internal and external institutional environment, including the legal risk as well, when banks cannot implement their contracts (Iqbal and Mirakhor, 2007). The consequences of fiduciary risk can be enormous, particularly if Islamic banks start to lose their reputation from their customers (Izhar, 2010). Apart from these types of risk, Islamic banks have other types of risk specific to certain products offered by these banks. Such risks appear only when certain business activities are not performed in a way which is expected in Islamic banks (Kozarević et al., 2013).
2.3 Risk Management in Islamic Banks The nature of risks faced by Islamic banks is complex and difficult to mitigate, for different reasons. First, unlike the conventional banks, given the trading-based instruments and equity financing, there are significant market risks along with credit risks. Second, risks intermingle and change from one kind to another at different stages of a transaction. Third, because of rigidities and deficiencies in the infrastructure, institutions and instruments, the risks faced are magnified and/or difficult to mitigate (Ahmad and Khan, 80 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
2007). The four basic stages of this process can be isolated i.e. risk identification, risk evaluation, selection of method for risk management, and implementation and result assessment (Ahmad and Khan, 2001; Kozarević et al., 2013). Risk identification is the first step in the entire process of active risk management. It includes the comprehension of potential losses based on the total exposure to various types of risk. Risk evaluation assesses potential losses in such a way that it determines the probability of their appearance in a certain period of time, assesses their possible size, and finally ranks potential losses by means of importance. The selection of method for risk management is made on the basis of the probability and size of the identified potential losses. One can select one of the risk management methods, but also several of them in combination. After determining the method by which one wants to manage risks, what follows is the creation and implementation of measures. The control of the implemented risk management methods, as well as the assessment of the results obtained, must be performed periodically due to changeable conditions and circumstances in which banks operate, which were considered during the result assessment (Kozarević et al., 2013). In terms of Islamic banks, the system for risk management in these banks includes several successive stages as follows: risk identification, risk and capital quantification, gathering or grouping similar risks, previous controls, and risk monitoring. As conventional banks, Islamic banks have risk identification as the initial stage of the process of risk management. This stage should provide the size of a possible loss of the bank on the basis of exposure to all types of risk. However, Islamic bank have a task that is much more difficult than for conventional banks, since they are exposed to specific types of risk as well, that are generated by their special ways of financing. After the identification of all types of risk, they need to be quantified. This means that for each type of risk one should determine the highest possible loss caused by it, and use it as the basis for making the necessary reserves from the basic capital of the bank. This is an extremely significant stage in Islamic banks due to the fact that they are exposed to a wide spectrum of risks. This is why the risks frequently need to be divided into certain groups with the same or similar characteristics. Previous controls are necessary so as to check whether the conditions have been made for the execution of each stage of risk management, failure of which requires certain measures to be taken so that all involved in a certain stage of this process have the appropriate work conditions. Since the process of risk management is continuous and it is per se constantly
81 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
repeated, permanent monitoring needs to be made so as to ensure that all the stages of the process run without halts or difficulties (Kozarević et al., 2013).
3. Conclusion The unique nature of Islamic banking operations provides a depth intuition that the risk determinants of Islamic banking fit to be different from those factors affecting conventional banking. The risk in an Islamic banks can best be understood when viewed from two dimensions is prohibition of gharar (uncertainty) and freedom of contract. Furthermore, due to their constant change and mutual interactions, it would be impossible to cover all types of risk that banks, whether Islamic or conventional face. The risks in conventional banks i.e. market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, and other types of banking risks. Besides most of the risks faced by conventional banks, Islamic banks have special types of risk that are specific to their business operations in compliance with Islamic law which is financial risk, business risk, treasury risk, management risk, fiduciary risk and other types of risk in Islamic banks. However, there is a need to introduce a risk management culture in Islamic banks, that is, risk identification, risk measurement, selection of methods for risk control, because Islamic bank have a task that is much more difficult than for conventional banks, since they are exposed to specific types of risk as well, that are generated by their special ways of financing.
References Abdullah, M., Shahimi, S., and Islam, A.G. (2009). Operational Risk in Islamic Banks; Examination of Issues. Qualitative Research in Financial Market, 3 (2), 131-151.
Ahmad. H. and Khan,T. (2001).Risk management: an analysis of issues in Islamic financial industry. Occasional Paper 5, IRTI/IDB.
Ahmed, H. and Khan, T. (2007). Handbook of Islamic Banking: Risk Management in Islamic Banking. Published by Edward Elgar. UK.
82 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Al-Saati, A.R. (2003). The Permissible Gharar Risk in Classical Islamic Jurisprudence. Islamic Economic, 16 (2), 3-19.
Ariffin, N.M., Archer, S., and Abdel Karim, R.A. (2009). Risks in Islamic Banks: Evidence from Empirical Research. Journal of Banking Regulation, 10 (2), 153-163.
Badawi, Z. (1998). The question of risk. Islamic Banker, 32, 16-17.
Boumediene, A. (2011). Is credit risk really higher in Islamic banks? The Journal of Credit Risk, 7(3), 97- 129,
Chong, B.S. and Liu, M.H. (2009). Islamic Banking: Interest Free or Interest-Based? Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 17,125-144.
Damodaran, A. (2009). Strategic Risk Taking: A Framework for Risk Management. Wharton School Publishing.
DeLorenzo, Y.T. (2002). The religious foundation of Islamic finance. Islamic Finance, Innovation and Growth. Rifaat Abdel Karim and Simon Archer (Eds). Published by Euro Money Books and AAOIFI, London.
El-Gamal, M.A. (2001). An Economic Explication of the Prohibition of Gharar in Classical Islamic Jurisprudence http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~elgamal/files/gharar.pdf
El-Gawady, Z.M. (2005). Possible of Cooperation between Islamic Banks and Conventional. Journal of Research in Islamic Economics 1 (1), 37-47. http://www.must.edu.eg/Publication/Business_Res4.pdf.
Iqbal, Z. and Mirakhor, A. (2007). An Introduction to Islamic Finance, Theory and Practice. John Wiley & Sons (Asia).
83 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 76 - 84, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Izhar, H. (2010). Identifying Operational Risk Exposures in Islamic Banking. Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies. 3, 17–53.
Karim, R.A. and Archer, S. Eds. (2002). Islamic Finance, Innovation and Growth. London, Published by Euro Money Books and AAOIFI.
Kozarević, E., Nuhanović, S. and Nurikic, M.B. (2013). Comparative Analysis of Risk Management in Conventional and Islamic banks. The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. International Business Research, 6(5), 180-195.
Iqbal, Z. and Mirakhor, A. (2007). An Introduction to Islamic Finance, Theory and Practice. John Wiley and Sons (Asia).
Nienhaus, V. (1983). Profitability of Islamic PLS banks competing with interest banks: problem and prospect. Journal of Research in Islamic Economics,1 (1), 37- 47.
Ramzan, M. and Zafar, M.I. (2014). Liquidity Risk Management in Islamic Banks: A Study of Islamic Banks of Pakistan. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business. 5 (12), 199-215.
Wilson, R. (2001). The Evolution of the Islamic financial system. Islamic Finance, Innovation and Growth, in Karim, Rifaat Abdel and Simon Archer (Eds). Published by Euro Money Books and AAOIFI, London
84 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Perspectives on the Inquiry Learning Approach (IlA) on English Language Proficiency in Indonesia
Sitti Hamsina S1*, Ahmad Johari Bin Sihes2, Amamata Zakari3
1Institut Parahikma Indonesia, Jl.Mustafa Dg. Bunga No. 191 Gowa Sulawesi Selatan Indonesia, Post Code 92113. 2Department of Educational Foundation and Social Science. Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 3Department of Estate Management, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, PMB 0231 Bauchi - Nigeria *Corresponding Author:[email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t The main objective of this study is to present perspectives on the Inquiry Article history Learning Approach (ILA) also called Student Centered Learning (SCL) on Received: 11/07/2016 teaching and learning English Language among students in Indonesia. The Accepted: 04/09/2016 study also seeks to identify, examine and highlight the challenges and prospects of teaching English and improving language proficiency in Indonesia Inquiry Learning Approach; using ILA. Consequently, the study identified that the challenges largely due to English Language; Language poor implementation of teaching methods, plans and curriculum in schools. In Proficiency; Indonesia addition, poor education policies, student engagement as well as environmental and sociocultural factors were also identified as challenges hindering English language teaching, learning and proficiency in Indonesia. More importantly, the role of teachers was identified as the most significant factor impeding progress in teaching, learning and gaining English language skills in Indonesia. The role of teachers in designing, developing and implementing teaching plans as well as actively engaging and motivating students is strategic to the success of the ILA. Moreover, the study observed that numerous other challenges still exist such as choosing and implementing appropriate student-centered learning methods. Despite the challenges, the study concludes that the use of ILA can significantly improve their prospects of acquiring the requisite languages skills for learning English. Furthermore, the ILA can improve teaching, learning, and writing English in Indonesia. In addition, the approach will improve the quality of teaching and learning of English directly impacting on the overall education system in the country. In spite of the challenges, numerous prospects exist for adopting student-centered learning approaches which can improve proficiency, teaching and learning English in in Indonesian schools.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction English language was first officially declared a medium of instruction by the Indonesian Ministry of Education in 1955. As a result, English is now widely spoken in Indonesia although not as a second official language (Komaria, 1998). Furthermore, English language has become a compulsory foreign language for all primary and secondary school students in Indonesia since 2006 (Dardjowidjojo, 2000; Thalal 2010).
85 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Therefore, Indonesian students are taught to master the four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing. To this end, different approaches have been implemented to improve English proficiency albeit with limited success. This has been attributed to poor, outdated and inefficient teaching methods that fail to fully engage and motivate students to learn English. In addition, mastery of writing skills in English is still difficult and at low levels due to difficulty of teaching the subject (Thalal, 2010). Hence students are unable to achieve the desired maximum skill based learning objectives (Windiyati, 2010).
According to the study by Yaumi (2010) this is also because teachers still use conventional learning approaches comprising lectures, drills and memorization to teach English language. The study revealed that 86.62% of teachers in Indonesia still employ conventional learning approaches (CLA) compared to 13.67% for student-centered learning. According to Doolittle and Camp (1999) conventional approaches are ineffective and should not be used in teaching language skills. The study also suggests that the CLA limits students’ ability to directly or actively participate in the learning process. Furthermore, CLA does not encourage students to practice the necessary skills required for effectively learning English. The study concludes by advocating that teachers adopt different approaches to encourage active student participation in accordance with the teaching curriculum. This is will enable students acquire the requisite skills to understand, analyze and solve problems in the learning process (Parr and Edwards, 2004; Herman and Knobloch, 2004; Baker et al., 2008).
Similarly other studies have hypothesized that by using various instructional approaches, students can be encouraged to acquire and improve their English language skills. One such approach is the Inquiry Learning Approach (ILA). This approach relies on the process of learning that involves students to think critically and creatively to solve problems using the everyday knowledge and life skills to learn English language. In addition, the approach encourages students to learn through active participation in class (Brown, 2008; Tanto and Luciana, 2009; Rahayu, 2011; Ekowati et al., 2013). However, English language skills need to be continuously practiced both in the classroom and outside (Utami and Cahyono, 2006). According to Atkinson et al., (2008) this can promote students' self-learning which is a core aspect of ILA.
Consequently, the ILA is also known as Student-Centered Learning (SCL) approach. Furthermore, the approach uses a variety of techniques to guide students to learn, evaluate, and practice their skills. The role of teachers in ILA is to directly engage students to master language skills through guidance and answering inquiries related to the subject content. Therefore, an approach that should be known and carried out by teachers in the teaching of English language skills of students is a correlative approach between teaching and learning activities to the situation and the student classroom experience. This is considered instrumental in addressing the potentially challenges associated with language proficiency as well as learning skills.
86 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Therefore, the ILA approach encompasses active communication of oral and written ideas aimed at fostering the learning experience (Tanto and Luciana, 2009; Hayes, 2002; Abu-Febiri, 2002). The ILA is significantly influenced by support model which fosters student-teacher communication during the learning process. The support model is vital to building confidence in the students for active participation in the learning process (Friedrichson and Meis, 2006). Similarly, this can help teachers gain knowledge and experience in more effective approach to the subject matter to be taught using an inquiry approach. According to Newman and Hubbard (2004), many teachers still lack the skills, experience and understanding necessary for delivering teaching and learning objectives using ILA.
Furthermore, there is limited knowledge on effectively and efficiently teaching and learning English language based on the ILA approach. The process is currently hampered by numerous challenges culminating in poor teaching, learning and English proficiency in Indonesia. Furthermore, there is a shortage of empirical research on the prospects of ILA as opposed to the Conventional Learning Approach (CLA) on language learning in Indonesia. Therefore, this study seeks to present some perspectives on the merits of Inquiry Learning Approach (ILA) on English Language proficiency along with highlighting the prospects and challenges of teaching English and improving language proficiency in Indonesia.
2. Challenges of Inquiry Learning Approach (IlA) This section aims to outline selected factors that currently impede the adoption, development and diffusion of ILA as an effective approach for teaching and learning English language skills in Indonesia.
2.1 Active Engagement
Studies by Harwanto, (2005); Alimashudin, (2008); Kiki, (2008); John (2009); and Windiyanti (2010) on various learning approaches highlight the importance of actively engaging students. The studies advocate that active involvement of students is crucial to the learning process. Similarly, Thalal (2010) suggests that the teaching curriculum used by English teachers must actively and creatively engage students to communicate in the classroom. Furthermore, the English curriculum proposed by the Indonesian Ministry of Education (2006) aims to develop students' oral or written English skills. Therefore, teachers are encouraged to use methods based on student-centered learning (SCL) or Inquiry Learning Approach (ILA). This is based on the premised that English language skills and effective communication can be achieved through active student engagement. In general, listening, speaking, reading and writing are vital language skills for communication. However, according to Rita and Rita (2011) teaching and learning languages in the classroom is mostly focused on the skills of listening, speaking, and reading. The study asserts that writing skills seldom get the maximum teaching which hampers progress in this aspect. Furthermore, the study posits this is to some extent due to difficulties teachers experience in
87 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
selecting appropriate approaches for teaching English writing skills (Rita and Rita, 2011). The study by Alimashudin (2008) on a secondary school in Makassar Indonesia observed that writing is the most challenging language skill for students to learn. Likewise, Rita and Rita (2011) corroborates this by stating writing is the most difficult of the four language skills in teaching English in Indonesia as teachers do not pay much attention to it. English writing skills comprises knowledge of the five elements; content, organization, vocabulary, language usage, and mechanics (Alimashudin, 2008). These elements are vital to the process of learning and teaching English as a compulsory foreign language. In addition, lack of these rudimental elements hinders the ability to link their knowledge from the classroom learning process with life as family and community members.
2.2 Role of Students and Environmental Factors The challenges of learning English language and acquiring writing skills are not limited to learning approaches. The challenges of teaching and learning English include the inability of students to comprehend the curriculum. According to Sugiharti (2012) difficulties in learning can be due to lack of motivation and or laziness on the part of the students. For high school students in Indonesia, this could be due to the student’s inability to express their thoughts, develop ideas, feelings, and opinions (Chaniago et al., 2011). Learning writing skills may also be due to the individual uncertainties, difficulties or circumstances, particularly for students learning English as a foreign or second language (Buckingham, 2008; Beydoĝa, 2011). The teaching and learning of English learning seeks to train students' writing skills, however, this process still has many shortcomings. Sugiharti (2012) states that students have difficulty in writing due to lack of basic understanding of diction, lexis and grammar. This results in low use of foreign languages, especially in the writing process also since most of activities devoted to learning foreign language writing skills are inscribed in the local language. Hence, the teaching of writing skills often fails to succeed because students are unable to grasp and use language skills. Learning writing skills requires the skill to assemble and develop vocabulary, lexis and grammar into coherent sentences and paragraphs (Weigle, 2009; Arif Yusuf, 2011). Similarly, Harwanto (2005) observed that writing skills are not effectively understood by students as first, in terms of organizational elements, which translates ideas into irregular writing. Therefore, English language teachers need to train their students to overcome the difficulties in the use of writing skills.
2.3 Role of Teachers The role of teachers in effectively delivering the content of the curriculum based on ILA is also vital in teaching and learning English language. Hence, the teacher competence and training is vital to developing students' writing and other language skills in learning of English as a foreign language (Beydoĝa, 201; Buckingham, 2008; Mourtaga, 2011; Melanie, 2012). According to the studies, the design and development
88 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
of teaching syllabuses, lesson plans and competence is vital to teaching and learning. However, according to Herlinawati (2011), the basic knowledge of English is poor even among English teachers in Indonesia. Consequently, this affects the overall effectiveness of the teacher-student teaching and learning experience in schools. In addition, Alwasilah (2006) asserts that student failure is partially due to the incapability of teachers to integrate student needs in the syllabus and the persistent use of conventional approaches such as lectures, exercises, translations and summaries. This view is corroborated by Rita and Rita (2011) who opine that the incompetence of English teachers is responsible for the poor attention given to learning writing skills. The study also suggests that learning and writing are skills that require the organizational elements content, organization, use of language, vocabulary, and mechanics communicated in text form. Therefore Alwasilah (2006) advocates the development of English language writing skills and teaching methods that emphasize processes over product, and quantity is not quality. This according to Lewis (1993) will help students of English as a foreign language gain writing experience, and overcome the problems associated with mastering the elements of content, organization, vocabulary, language usage, and mechanics. In addition, Ridhlo (2012) adds that English teachers need to be more creative in order to master the techniques of teaching so that the teaching material and the curriculum can be easily understood by students. Lastly, the problems faced by English teachers in Indonesia can also be ascribed to the poor organization and management of schools. According to Windiyati (2010) the problems faced by English teachers in teaching is related to the issues of lack of provision of teaching aids, techniques, and materials such as textbooks. Consequently, teachers have difficulty in understanding the learning and by extension disseminating the objectives, selecting themes and topics. The lack of appropriate teaching materials and textbooks also impedes progress in the quest for high English language skills, proficiency and literacy in the country.
2.4 Sociocultural factors The role of sociocultural and religious factors in the language learning process has been examined by Alimashudin (2008). The social position of madrasah and role of Islam on the process of teaching and learning in Indonesia is considered a major factor. According Rachmawaty (2004), schools are normally the last alternative for formally educating children in Indonesian society. This is because conservative outlook of madrassas towards formal schooling, science and technology development. Based on this finding, Rachmawaty (2004), advocates the use of inquiry learning approach in English writing skills at this Makassar, Indonesia. In addition, sociocultural factors, as already mentioned, can also hinder motivation in learning and writing skills among students.
89 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
3. Prospects of Inquiry Learning Approach (ILA) Despite the many challenges faced by students and teachers, the use of ILA can significantly improve their prospects of acquiring the requisite languages skills for learning English. As stated by Bruner (1966), the ILA avails students and teachers with the opportunity to gain the skills, knowledge and competency in learning English through participatory classroom teaching. In addition the approach promotes active engagement, discussions and real time feedback between students and teachers (Harada and Yoshina, 2004; Tanto and Luciana, 2009). Furthermore, the ILA can improve teaching, learning, and writing English in Indonesia. In addition, the approach will improve the quality of teaching and learning of English directly impacting on the overall education system in the country. Furthermore, it will aid the design, development and implementation of an inquiry based English language curriculum and learning experience in the nation’s schools. Most importantly, it will also avail students with the requisite proficiency skills required for future professional development and career advancement. A good command of oral and written English language skills can also improve and stimulate business, trade and communication at international level as well as improve the nation’s prospects of socioeconomic growth and development. In accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), the provision of quality education is vital for the progress of any nation. Hence, Goal 4 of the SDG emphasizes the need for developing nations to invest in programmes, schemes and strategies for improving the delivery of quality education to its citizens. Hence, the adoption of the ILA can potentially improve the quality of teaching and learning of English in Indonesia. In addition, such strategies will also benefit the nation’s English teachers and improve by the government role in educating the nation’s youth and its future leaders.
4. Conclusion The study presented perspectives on the merits of Inquiry Learning Approach (ILA) on teaching and learning English Language in schools in Indonesia. Furthermore, the prospects and challenges of teaching English and improving language proficiency in Indonesia were also highlighted. The study concludes that teacher’s competence, teaching methods, education policy and student enrolment can greatly influence English language teaching and learning skills. Furthermore, the study observed that numerous challenges still exist in choosing and implementing student-centered learning methods in Indonesia. In spite of the challenges, numerous prospects exist for adopting the ILA.
References Abu-Febiri. (2002). Brief of the Centre for the Development of Teaching and Learning. 5(4). F. Thinking skills in education: idel and real academic cultures.
90 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Alimahsudin. (2008). Improving the Paragraph Writing Ability of the Elevent year Students of SMA Negeri 1 Namelea through Process Strategy. Makassar: State University of Makassar.
Alwasilah, A.C. (2006). From Local To Global: Reinventing Local Literature Through English Writing Classes. TEFLIN Journal, 17, 1.
Arif Yusuf. (2011). Error Analysis of Students’ English Descriptive Writing. Unpublished Thesis. Makassar: State University of Makassar. Atkinson, Maxine P. Hunt, & Andrea N. (2008). Inquiry-Guided Learning in Sociology Teaching Sociology; 36, 1: 1-7.
Baker, W., Barstack, R., Clark, D., Hull, E., Goodman, B., Kook, J., Kraft, K., Ramakrishna, P., Roberts, E., Shaw, J., Weaver, D., & Lang, M. (2008). Writing-to-learn in the inquiry-science classroom: Effective strategies from middle school science and writing teachers. Clearing House, 81(3), 105-108.
Beydoga, H. Ömer. (2011). Effects of Mind Map Supported Cognitive Preparation on Expository Writing. Ahi Evran Üniversitesi Kırşehir Eğitim Fakültesi, Dergisi KEFAD, 12, 4: 1-23.
Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction, Cambridge, Mass.: Belkapp Press. Buckingham, L. (2008). Development of English Academic Writing Competence by Turkish Scholars. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 3.
Brown, J. (2008). Student-Centered Instruction: Involving Students in Their Own Education. Music Educators Journal: 94, 30-35.
Chaniago, S. M., Badusah, J, Embi, dan M. A. (2011). Masalah Pengajaran Kemahiran Bahasa di Sekolah di Indonesia. Malay Language Education Journal, 1, 1: 109-122.
Dardjowidjojo, S. (2000). English teaching in Indonesia. EA Journal, 18, 1: 22-30.
Doolittle, P. E. & Camp, W. G. (1999). Constructivism: The career and technical education perspective. Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, 16(1) Retrieved http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVTE/v16n1/doolittle.html
Ekowati, S. R., Suyanto, E., dan Samhati, S. (2013). Keefektifan Model Inkuiri dalam Pembelajaran Menulis Paragraf Argumentasi SMAN 1 Waylima. J Simbol (Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pembelajarannya), 1,1. Friedrichsen, P. dan Meis. (2006). Brokering at the Boundary: A Prospective Science Teacher Engages Students in Inquiry. Science Education, v90, 522- 543.
Harada, V. H., & Yoshina, J. M. (2004a). Moving from rote to inquiry: Creating learning that counts. Library Media Connection, 23, 22–24.
91 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Harwanto, L.O. (2005). Improving Writing Ability of Second Year Students of SLTP 4 Sampolawa through Process Writing Strategy. Unpublished Thesis. Makassar. State University of Makassar Press.
Hayes, M.T. (2002). Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Struggles to Define Inquiry- Based Science Teaching. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13(2), 147- 165.
Herlinawati. (2011). The Effectiveness of Indonesian English teachers Training programs in Improving Cinfidence and Motivation. International Journal of Instruction, 4, 1: 79-104.
Herman J. M. & Knobloch, N. A. (2004). Exploring the effects of constructivist teaching on students‘attitudes and performance. Proceeding of the 2nd Annual North Central Region AAAE Research Conference. Lafayette, IN: 21-35.
Kiki, Suprihardini. (2008). Grammatical Error in English Writing of The Students at SMA 11 Makassar. Unpublished Thesis. Makassar: State University of Makassar.
Komaria, O. (1998). The History of English Teaching in Indonesia. Unpublished thesis submitted for the degree of M.A. Applied Linguistics (English Language). Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta.
Melanie M. Landon-Hays (2012). I Would Teach It If I Knew How: Inquiry, Modeling, Shared Writing, Collaborative Writing, and Independent Writing (IMSCI), a Model for Increasing Secondary Teacher Self-Efficacy in Integrating Writing Instruction in the Content Areas. Unpublished Ph.D Tesis. Utah State University. Logan.
Mourtaga, Kamal R. (2011). Poor Writing in English: A Case of the Palestinian EFL learners in Gaza Strip. Unpublished Paper. Islamic University of Gaza.
Newman, W. J., Jr.; Abell, S. & Hubbard, P. D.(2004). Dilemmas of Teaching Inquiry in Elementary Science Methods. Journal Science Teacher Education, 15: 257-279.
Parr, B. & Edwards, M. C. (2004). Inquiry-based instruction in secondary agricultural education: Problem- solving—an old friend revisited. Journal of Agricultural Education. 45(4), 106-117.
Rachmawaty, Martha (2004). Motivasi Para Siswa Belajar Di Madrasah Aliyah Negeri Sidoarjo. Tesis UMM.
Rahayu (2011). Pengaruh Pembelajaran Inkuiri Terhadap Hasil Belajar Bahasa Indonesia Siswa pada Pokok Bahasan Unsur Instrinsik Naskah Drama. Tesis. Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan: Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
92 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 85 - 93, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Ridlo, Moh. Ali. (2012). Improving the Students’ Writing Ability at MTs Mambaul Ulum through the Use of Picture Cards. Unpublished Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang.
Rita Inderawati & Rita Hayati (2011). Short-Term Training Model of Academic Writing to High School Teachers. US-China Foreign Language, 9, 8: 517-523.
Sugiharti. (2012). Pemanfaatan Gambar Karikatur sebagai Media Pembelajaran Menulis Esai. Jurnal Pendidikan Penabur.19: 11.
Tanto Setia Mulyanto, Luciana Syahman (2009). Pengembangan Kompetensi Bahasa Inggris Di SMA Dengan Menggunakan Pendekatan Inkuiri Melalui Kegiatan “Independent Movie Festival: Anti Bullying Campaign”. Jurnal Penelitian, 9, 1.
Thalal, M. (2010). New Insights into Teaching of English Language to Indonesian Students. Unpublished Paper.
Weigle, S.C. (2009). Assessing Writing. Second Edition. Combridge University Press. Widiati U., and Cahyono, B. Y. (2006). The Teaching of EFL Speaking in the Indonesian Context: The State of the Art. BAHASA DAN SENI, 34(2), 269- 292.
Windiyati, T. (2010). A Study on the problems faced by English Teachers in Teaching Writing for Grade VIII at SMPN 1 Kasembon Malang. Unpublished Thesis, English Education Department. State University of Malang.
Yaumi, Muhammad. (2011). Peningkatan Kinerja Guru Melalui Pembelajaran Berbasis Kecerdasan Jamak. Disertasi. Program Studi Kurikulum dan Teknologi Pendidikan Pascasarjana Universitas Negeri Jakarta.
93 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Islamic Bank: A Conceptual paper
Umar Usman*, Sany Sanuri Mohd Mokhtar, AU Alkali, Nur Naha Abu Mansoor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, Coimbatore - 641112, Tamil Nadu, India Corresponding Author: [email protected], [email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t Service quality in the banking industry entails meeting the needs, requirements Article history and wants of the bank customers, and the level of how well the service Received: 11/07/2016 delivered matches the expectation of their customers. Jaiz Bank is facing the Accepted: 04/09/2016 challenges of capital base, which is not strong enough for it to be among the large banks in Nigeria. The paper discussed the various dimensions of service Service quality, bank quality and customer satisfaction in the banking industry. The study customers, expectation, recommends that Jaiz Bank should not only provides quality services to satisfy customer satisfaction its customers, but also aim at delighting their customers so as to attract more customers, establish and sustain a strong relationship that enables the bank creates competitive advantage.
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Service quality in the banking industry is all about meeting the needs, requirement and wants of the bank customers, and the level of how well the service delivered matches the expectation of their customers. It is generally, agreed that service quality is an important issue facing the banking industry. According to Raddon (1987) found out that 40% of customers switching from one financial institution to another in the United states of America (USA) is as a result of service problem. According to Allred & Addams (2000) also reported that 50% percent of total respondents they surveyed are of the opinion that they have stopped using a particular service provider because of poor performance of service delivery.
94 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Jaiz Bank Nigeria limited is the only Islamic bank in Nigeria with a medium –sized, with the total assets value at fourteen (#14.1) Billion Naira which is equivalent to (US88.8 Million) with shareholders’ equity of about ten billion (#10 billion) which is equivalent to (US63.6 Million).
The Jaiz Bank Headquartered is in Abuja the capital city of Nigeria and the bank have strategy of expanding to other urban centers in all the thirty six (36) states of the federation. In pursuit of this goal of the Jaiz Bank, it has received approval to increase its shareholders capital from the current value to #14.3 billion which is equivalent of US$ 92.3 million Capital base, and the bank is expected to apply for a national license, once its meets the shareholder capital base. Which is not strong enough to make the bank to be among the large banks in the country and also the bank is a regional bank for now. The large banks has a minimum of twenty five billion naira as their capital base but notwithstanding the Jaiz Bank is fast growing financial services provider in Nigeria.
2 Literature Review The concept of service quality and measurement of service quality is defined by Grönroos, (1984) as the fulfillment of customers’ expectations. According to Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, (1993) describe service quality as the gap between the customer s expectations of the quality of the service and their perception of the service experience. In the same vein service quality literature, consider expectation as the desires and wants of the customers (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985).
However, SERVQUAL consists of two parts, A 22 items section measuring service quality expectations within a specific banking sector and while the corresponding 22 items measuring the perception of service quality of a particular company in the service sector. The SERVQUAL can be defined as the differences between the expected customer perception of service quality and expected service quality.
Therefore, the innovators promulgated, developed and promoted SERVQUAL through a series of quite a number of publications (Parasuraman & Berry, 2004).for instance, as the discussion in the development, testing and potential applications of SERVQUAL, an instrument for measuring customer perceptions. Furthermore, in 1991 Parasuraman and Berry revealed findings from a follow-up study, in which they refined SERVQUAL.
95 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman,( 1996) also reviewed literature extensively and compressively on the relationship between service quality and profitability and also examined empirically the relationship between consumer behavioral intention and service quality. They find out that improving service quality has serious impact on behavioral intentions (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1986)
However, since its introduction in 1988 SERVQUAL has attracted quite considerable attention and have been given attention to study the service sector as education, banking, Telecommunication, health and other professions. Regardless of the service sector, the most common and used SERVQUAL examines the five main dimensions that have been consistently used and ranked by most customers to be the most significant in the service industry, which include the following:
Tangibles simple means the entire appearance of physical facilities, equipment’s, personnel and communication media and material. Reliability can be defined as the ability to perform the promised service accurately and dependably. Assurance in the service sector can be defined as the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to covey confidence and trust Responsiveness can be defined as the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service delivery in the service sector. Empathy can be defined as the dimension which refers to the level of caring and individualized attention the business provides for its customers.
However, based on this instrument quite, a large number of published studies have been employed and evaluated by SERVQUAL (P A Dabholkar, Thorpe, & Rentz, 1996; Pratibha A. Dabholkar, 1996). Some of the previous empirical studies have adopted the original SERVQUAL instrument and while others have used a modified version of SERVQUAL. In the present, a modified SERVQUAL will be used. It was, moreover, an issue in a number of subsequent studies (Carman, 1990).
According to Beckett & Howcroft, (2000) measuring service quality in the banking industry implies that the strategy of consistently anticipating and satisfying the needs and expectations of the bank customers. Unlike other sector such as the manufacturing firms that are able to appraise the quality of their products
96 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
objectively by the degree to which output can meets a technical specification, for the service firms, for example banks excellent service quality is present only if the customer perceives and values it.
Nguyen & LeBlanc, (1998) suggested in this connection: The problem of evaluating service quality is more difficult and highly complex than product quality due to the nature of intangibility. Weiermair, (2000). Similarly the challenges of lack of a common understanding of the definition of service quality in the banking sector they also consider this as one of the most constraint to the successful implementation of quality initiatives in the service sector (Aamodt et al., 2010).
2. Measuring Service Quality in the Banking Industry In the banking sector, gap analysis has been accepted as a critical tool of measurement the current levels of service quality, (Lewis, 1991). A key existing challenge facing the banking industry is the determination of precise and clear definition of quality. However, service quality in the banking industry plays a vital role since it is directly linked to the profitability. Previous empirical studies have examined the relationship between service quality and profitability(Easton & Jarrell, 1998). And the result have shown a positive relationship between service quality and profitability(Daniel, 2002). Also examined empirically the relationship between service quality and financial performance amongst banks and credit union in Australian and they found out that all financial performance measures are positively correlated with service quality.
Generally, there are quite a number of empirical studies that deals with service quality in the banking industry and the application of the SERQUAL instrument in the commercial banks. Some of the studies review include the following:(Kettinger & Choong C. Lee, 1994; Kwan & Hee, 1994).
Accordingly a study conducted of a comparative between the Greek private and public banks. The result found out that the expectations of service received were marginally higher in the private banks than in the public banks in most of the dimension measured (Kangis & Voukelatos, 1997).
In another study in two major Indian banks investigated the applicability of an alternative measure of service quality in the banking sector. They found that the overall results give support to a multidimensional
97 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
construct of service that SERVQUAL scale provides greater diagnostic information than the SERVPERF scale (Angur, Nataraajan, & Jr, 1999).
However, studied on service quality delivery of loan products, have also found out that substantial differences existed between the bankers and the customers of the bank in analyzing service quality in the UAE Islamic banks perceived the significant of service quality dimensions (Jun, Peterson, & Zsidisin, 1998; Pratt & Maahs, 1999).
Finally, also develop and tested an instrument of measuring service quality of commercial banks in the UAE based on the five dimensions of SERVQUAL. The factor analysis resulted in three dimensions: Human skills, tangibles and empathy. They found out that the three dimensions were valid and reliable. The human skills dimension consist mainly of items such as were originally included in the assurance and reliability dimensions. The tangibles consisted of items that belonged to the originally to the same dimension of tangibles. Finally, the empathy as a dimension consists of items that were part of the two original dimensions of responsiveness and empathy. The study also compared the significance of the three dimensions and found out that found skills are the most significant(Al-Tamimi & Al-Amiri, 2003; Jabnoun & Khalifa, 2005).
1. Service Quality in Islamic Banking Industry Basically, there are few previous empirical studies that consider the application of SERVQUAL instrument in the banking industry (Juliana Arifin, Ahmad Shukri, & Zunaidah Sulong, 2013). Identify the banking behavior of Islamic bank customers in the state of Bahrain. The study captured a sample of three hundred banks customers. One of the most significant results in this study was that bank customer tend to be more satisfied with the products or service they use most, with the investment accounts receiving the highest satisfaction. The Islamic banks workers received the highest satisfaction among the elements of the service delivery system. Metawa, & Almossawi (1998) posit that in this study Islamic banks needs to design and implement a viable service quality programmers (Almossawi, 2001; Naser, Jamal, & Al-Khatib, 1999). Also studied the customer preference and satisfaction in Jordanian Islamic banks and the study mainly focus on the degree of customer awareness and satisfaction in an Islamic bank in Jordan. A sample size of 206 respondents was selected for the study and the analysis of the respondents revealed that a degree of
98 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
satisfaction with many of the Islamic bank products and services facilities, but basically dissatisfaction with some of the Islamic banks service (Naser et al., 1999).
2. Customer Satisfaction According to Anderson and Fornell (1994) stated that "two quite different conceptualizations of the satisfaction construct can be distinguished: transaction specific and brand specific". Transaction-brand specific limits satisfaction to a specific purchase occasion (Oliver, 1980; Anderson and Fornell, 1994); similarly, cumulative satisfaction, customer-satisfaction simple refers to an overall evaluation based on many purchase and consumption experiences of a product over period. It can be view as a function of all previous transaction and specific satisfactions. (Anderson and Fornell, 1994; Aydin et al., 2005) Overall satisfaction is said to be a more fundamental indicator of the industry past, current and future performance this is because customers always make repurchase evaluations and based their decisions on their purchase and consumption experience to date and not only restricting to a particular transaction (Quinn, Lemay, Larsen, & Johnson, 2009).
Therefore, this will reduces the price sensitivity and the customer losses from regular fluctuations in service quality in the short term. The ultimate result is high customers’ loyalty to the banking industry.
Satisfaction refers to as the extent to which a customer will experienced a pleasurable level of consumption of a related fulfillment (Oliver 1997; Verhoef, Franses, and Hoekstra 2002). Technically, customer satisfaction develops in the short term because of previous interactions with the service provider. (Geyskens, Steenkamp, and Kumar 1999) customer satisfaction can also be develops through repeated and positive reinforcement (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, and Gremler 2002). The impact of customer satisfaction in the development of strong customer brand relationships is a clearly argued by authors such as Storbacka, Strandvik, and Gronroos (1994), who observed that customer satisfaction is the customers affective and cognitive evaluation of the services provider based on all consumption episodes that the customer had with the service provider. Whenever there is a high level of customer satisfaction, it is an indication that a service provider consistently fulfills its service promise. (Delgado-Ballester and Munuera- Aleman 2001) and its means that the customers has built a strong level of confidence in the integrity and reliability of the industry (Vivek et al., 2012).Similarly, if in any way a customer is not satisfied with the
99 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
service, a deeply committed, emotionally and bonded relationship cannot occur in any way. (Crosby, Evans, and Cowles 1990; De Wulf,Odekerken-Schröder, and Iacobucci 2001; Roberts, Varki,and Brodie 2003).The ideal situation is that customer satisfaction is essential to the buyer and seller relationship (Crosby, Evans, and Cowles 1990). If a strong and enduring customer brand relationship is to be built a customer must barely satisfied with the service provider (Moore & Bowden-Everson, 2012b). It is very significant that satisfaction is to be measure at a global evaluative level in order to ensure a proper understanding of the overall nature of the relationship.
Customer satisfaction is the central point in the study of customer loyalty in a business firm ( e.g., Chan et al., 2003; Kenney & Khanfar, 2009). Also several studies have shown positive effects of customer satisfaction on purchase intention ( e.g., Anderson and Mittal 2000; Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Heskett et al. 1994), referrals ( e.g.,Heskett et al., 2008), other studies on repurchase behavior intention ( e.g., Anderson and Mittal 2000), on customers retention ( e.g., Gustafsson, Johnson, and Roos 2005), on strong and sustainable relationship duration ( e.g., C. L. Kwek, Lau, & Tan, 2010) on profit and return on investment( e.g., L. C. Kwek et al., 2010).
In the banking industry, customers satisfaction has been defined in a number ways for instance (Alpert, 1996) define it as a short term attitude of a customer that arises from the customers evaluation of the product or service experience. Elliott and Shin (2002) define it as the subjective outcome of the various outcomes and experiences at the banking institution. Quite a number of previous studies have shown that customer satisfaction is a significant predictor of customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction has been strongly linked to favorable outcomes such as positive word of mouth or recommendation by customers (Mavondo, Tsarenko, and Gabbott 2004), customers satisfaction increased revenue and reduced costs for the banking industry (Shah 2009),customer satisfaction and relationship continuity through customer undertaking continued purchase (Al‑Alak 2006;Helgesen and Nesset 2007). Several studies have shown that a customer satisfaction has explains a large proportion of the variance in customers willingness to make recommendation of the banking product and services (Al‑Alak 2006; Athiyaman 1997; Marzo Navarro, Pedraja-Iglesias, and Rivera-Torres 2005). The secondary customer loyalty shall have many benefits, which may follow from high levels of satisfaction such as the attraction of new customer, retention of existing customers to continue patronized, donation behavior from alumni and membership of alumni (Helgesen and 100 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Nesset 2007). All the previous literature suggests that customers weigh prior satisfactions evaluations heavily in their decision to patronize banking institution providers’(C. L. Kwek et al., 2010).
Customer’s satisfaction with the service delivery of quality products or services have been suggested and documented as the way and manner in which it will affecting the buyer decision with a relationship (Ndubisi, 2003; Anderson 1994; Fomell, 1992; Hirchman, 1970). Similarly according to Hirchman (1970), Richins (1983), and Singh (1988), whenever the customers are satisfied the likelihood of exit from negative word of mouth and the relationship is greatly reduced. This is in line with the confirmation and disconfirmation theory (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1980) this made a clear explanation that satisfaction is achieved when the real expectations are fulfilled (confirmed),that negative disconfirmation of any form of expectations will result in dissatisfaction, and that positive disconfirmation will result in to enhanced satisfaction. Lovelock, Patterson, and Walker (1998) identified the virtues of customer’s satisfaction: Firstly, customer satisfaction is inextricably linked to customer loyalty and relationship commitment. Secondly, highly satisfied customers spread positive word of mouth and in effect become a talking, walking advertisement for an institutions whose service has pleased them. Thirdly, highly satisfied customers may be more forgiving .i.e. a customers who has enjoyed good service delivery many times in the past is more likely to have the belief that any service failure is just a deviation from the norm. Therefore, it is may take more than one unsatisfactory incident for a strongly loyal customers to really change his or her perceptions and consider switching to an alternative service providers or supplier. Other studies have proof that delighted customers are less susceptible to competitive offerings. For instance, Seines (1998) found that customers’ satisfaction had a direct effect on purchase continuity.
3. Conclusion The challenges of banking industry imply that service quality attributes are needed to satisfy the bank customers. The main reason is to raise the bank customer satisfaction with regard to significant attributes in order to establish a quality service to the bank customer, more especially considering the fact that Jaiz Bank is entire banking system to the customers, so there is the for rapid skimming strategy in order to attract and retain customers relationship
101 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
4. Suggestion for Further Study This study is purely conceptual which mainly focus on service quality in Islamic bank and future study should consider empirical study in order to test the bank customer’s perception on service quality dimensions in Islamic bank.
References
Aamodt, K., Abel, N., Abeysekara, U., Abrahantes Quintana, A., Abramyan, A., Adamová, D., … Zynovyev, M. (2010). Two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in pp collisions at √s=900GeV. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 82. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.82.052001
Almossawi, M. (2001). Bank selection criteria employed by college students in Bahrain: an empirical analysis. International Journal of Bank Marketing. doi:10.1108/02652320110388540
Al-Tamimi, H. a H., & Al-Amiri, A. (2003). Analysing service quality in the UAE Islamic banks. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 8, 119–132. doi:10.1057/palgrave.fsm.4770112
Angur, M. G., Nataraajan, R., & Jr, J. S. J. (1999). Service quality in the banking industry: an assessment in a developing economy. International Journal of Bank Marketing. doi:10.1108/02652329910269211
Beckett, A., & Howcroft, B. (2000). An exposition of consumer behaviour in the financial services industry, 15–26.
Carman, J. M. (1990). Consumer perceptions of service quality: an assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66, 33–55. doi:10.1016/S0148-2963(99)00084-3
Dabholkar, P. A. (1996). Consumer evaluations of new technology-based self-service options: An investigation of alternative models of service quality. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 13, 29–51. doi:10.1016/0167-8116(95)00027-5
Dabholkar, P. A., Thorpe, D. I., & Rentz, J. O. (1996). A measure of service quality for retail stores: Scale development and validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24, 3–16. doi:10.1007/BF02893933
102 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Daniel, R. W. (2002). Reinventing Ourselves: Interdisciplinary Education, Collaborative Learning, and Experimentation in Higher Education (review). The Journal of Higher Education. doi:10.1353/jhe.2002.0044
Easton, G. S., & Jarrell, S. L. (1998). The effects of total quality management on corporate performance: An empirical investigation. JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, 71, 253–307. doi:10.1086/209744
Grönroos, C. (1984). A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications. European Journal of Marketing. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000004784
Jabnoun, N., & Khalifa, A. (2005). A customized measure of service quality in the UAE. Managing Service Quality. doi:10.1108/09604520510606844
Juliana Arifin, Ahmad Shukri, & Zunaidah Sulong. (2013). A conceptual model of literature review for family takaful ( Islamic life insurance ) demand in Malaysia. International Business Research, 6, 210–216. doi:10.5539/ibr.v6n3p210
Jun, M., Peterson, R. T., & Zsidisin, G. A. (1998). The identification and measurement of quality dimensions in health care: focus group interview results. Health Care Management Review, 23, 81–96.
Kangis, P., & Voukelatos, V. (1997). Private and public banks: a comparison of customer expectations and perceptions. International Journal of Bank Marketing. doi:10.1108/02652329710194964
Kettinger, W. J., & Choong C. Lee, W. J. (1994). Perceived Service Quality and User Satisfaction with the Information Services Function. Decision Sciences, 25, 737–766. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=11936645&lang=de&site=ehost-live
Kwan, W., & Hee, T. J. (1994). Measuring Service Quality in Singapore Retail Banking: A Gap Analysis & Segmentation Approach. Singapore Management Review, 16, 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=6915289&site=ehost-live
Lewis, B. R. (1991). Service quality: An international comparison of bank customers’ expectations and perceptions. Journal of Marketing Management. doi:10.1080/0267257X.1991.9964139
Naser, K., Jamal, A., & Al-Khatib, K. (1999). Islamic banking: a study of customer satisfaction and preferences in Jordan. International Journal of Bank Marketing. doi:10.1108/02652329910269275
103 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 94 -104, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Nguyen, N., & LeBlanc, G. (1998). The mediating role of corporate image on customers’ retention decisions: an investigation in financial services. International Journal of Bank Marketing. doi:10.1108/02652329810206707
Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. (2004). Parasuraman, A, Berry L, refinement and reassessment of the servqual scale.pdf. Journal of Retailing. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:Refinement+and+reassessment+of+the+s ervqual+scale#0
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing, 49, 41–50. doi:10.2307/1251430
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1986). A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing, 49, 41–50. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1251430
Pratt, T. C., & Maahs, J. (1999). Are Private Prisons More Cost-Effective Than Public Prisons? A Meta- Analysis of Evaluation Research Studies. Crime & Delinquency. doi:10.1177/0011128799045003004
Weiermair, K. (2000). Tourists’ perceptions towards and satisfaction with service quality in the cross- cultural service encounter: implications for hospitality and tourism management. Managing Service Quality. doi:10.1108/09604520010351220
Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1993). 1024 Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman 1993.pdf. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21, 1–12. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/index/a26x784852420246.pdf
Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. The Journal of Marketing, 60, 31–46. doi:10.2307/1251929
104 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Properties and Classifications of Bamboo for Construction of Buildings
1Aisha Haladu Bornoma, 2Muhamed Faruq, 3Moveh Samuel 1Department of Architecture, School of Environmental Science, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, P.M.B. 2076 Yola, Nigeria 2Faculty of Built Environment Universiti Teknologi Skudia 81310 Johor Baharu Malaysia
3Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Skudia 81310 Johor Bahru Malaysia
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t This article look into the various properties and characteristics of bamboo and Article history how they could be used for possible construction of some domestic and some Received: 11/07/2016 of their possible advantages over conventional wood used in building Accepted: 04/09/2016 constructions. From one perspective bamboo is more impervious to water harm than the normal hardwood. Be that as it may it is as yet a characteristic material made of natural components, and thusly extreme dampness will make it twist or will enable shape to develop. One of the principle focal points of working with bamboo is that it is a magnificent, common and sustainable asset, Bamboo, properties, equipped for fast development that can maintain a strategic distance from characteristics, construction, future deforestation of our valuable tropical rainforests
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Bamboo is a ‘grass’ that is woody, hard, hollow-stemmed, perennial, and evergreen in nature. It belongs to the family of the true grass called ‘Poaceae.’ In fact it has the largest family members of the grass family, with about 91 genera and more than 1000 species – Figure 1 shows some types of bamboo. Some of its members are giant while some are moderate as shown in Figure 2. Bamboos are found in many climates around the world – cold mountains to tropical regions. They have diverse uses; in construction (Sakaray et al., 2012; Salzer et al., 2016), medicine ( (Van 105 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Hoyweghen et al., 2014; ‘20 Healing Benefits of Bamboo’, 2016; Coffey, 2017), as food (Singhal et al., 2013; Liese & Köhl, 2015), and even in textiles (Barik et al., 2014) – these are depicted in Figure 3.
Figure 1: Some types of Figure 2: Giant and moderate bamboo plantsSource: bamboo Source: (Schroder, (‘Bamboo Types’, 2011; Brown, 2015; ‘New Species’, 2016) 2016)
Figure 3a: Bamboo in construction Source: (Jagyasi, 2012; Arjun, 2016)
Not all species of bamboo can be ues for construction. Only a few species of bamboo like Guadua angustifolia (Guadua Bamboo) and Phyllostachys edulis (Moso Bamboo) have same strength ratio of steel and almost twice the compression ratio of concrete. It is no surprise that when a powerful earthquake struck Colombia in 1999 almost all the concrete buildings collapsed while houses built from bamboo stood still and untouched by the earthquake. This article look into the various properties and characteristics of bamboo and how they could be used in architectural design and illustrations of possible construction of some domestic building.
2. Taxonomy and Classification
Classifying bamboo has always been somewhat a difficult task (Schroder, 2014), especially for non-scientists, who happen to be majority of the people who need to access this information. This 106 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
is because of the complex botanical names. In a bid to simplify the lives of those who would come to use bamboo more frequently, (Schroder, 2012) produced a list of ‘popular’ bamboos, with both their botanical and common names. Table 1 shows ten of the most common. Even though these are popular in America, nonetheless, they cover so much of the types also found elsewhere. Table 1: Some 10 of the most common bamboo types Species Name Common Names
1 Bambusa balcooa Female Bamboo
2 Bambusa bambos Giant Thorny Bamboo 3 Phyllostachys bambusoides Timber Bamboo 4 Bambusa spinosa Thorny Bamboo 5 Bambusa textilis Slender Weavers Bamboo 6 Bambusa tulda Nepalese Bamboo
7 Bambusa vulgaris Common Bamboo 8 Fargesia spathacea Umbrella Bamboo 9 Pseudosasa amabilis Tonkin Cane 10 Gigantochloa atroviolacea Tropical Black Bamboo
Even among botanists, there have been considerable debates over bamboo classification and identification over time (Schroder, 2014). The debates sometimes results in change of names or even reclassification. It is therefore difficult to have a world-wide classification. However, the botanical names of their genera, the species, and their geographical location are used as simplified data. Other data such as descriptions, botanical drawings Photos, vernacular names, etc., can also be helpful.
2.1 Descriptions of Bamboo Anatomy and Structure The anatomy of bamboo describes its structure which determines its ultimate mechanical properties. The bamboo culm consists of 3 basic parts as shown in Figure 4: 1. The stem – part growing above ground which may be straight of curved. 2. The stem base – lower part of the stem that extends into the soil. 3. The stem petiole – the lowest part of the stem, made up of many shot sections.
107 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Figure 4: bamboo culm showing its 3 basic parts Figure 5: Hollow and solid culm Source: (Schroder, 2011) bamboo Source: (Schroder, 2015)
The culm is structurally made of the nodes or diaphragms, and the internodes (McLendon, 2014). The nodes consist of cells traverse-oriented or parallel to the nodes, while the internodes have axially oriented cells. Culms are usually hollow, like tubes, which gives the wall thickness as the size between the inner surface and the outer surface of the stem. There are however, some species with solid culms (‘Bamboo Anatomy and Growth Habits’, 2016). 3. MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BAMBOO Bamboo can be used as an alternative to steel as masonry reinforcement because of the proven mechanical properties which gives it high performance (Semple et al., 2015; Karthik et al., 2017), as well as the availability (‘World Bamboo and its distribution area’, 2015) which makes it low cost material. Being a natural material, its characteristic high performance varies from one type to another; hence whenever one is referring to values of mechanical properties of bamboo, the name of associated bamboo type is necessary. Also, any design provisions for construction with bamboo as reinforcement must have adequate safety factors. As a result of these properties, more than 1billion people in many countries use bamboo as a primary building material (Standard, 2010)
3.1 Modulus of Elasticity (Moe) Modulus of elasticity is one of the mechanical properties of bamboo which has been investigated in the design of Bamboo Reinforced Concrete elements. In terms of modulus of elasticity and density, bamboo is a remarkable ‘grass’ which has some structural superiority over other engineering materials. Modulus of elasticity of bamboo is generally around 2500ksi although other researchers like Schneider (2014) got 1,145ksi (7894MPa) mean. It is worthy of note that this general value is still less than those of steel and concrete, and even along the bamboo culm itself, 108 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
MoE of the nodes is generally less than that of the internodes (Tonges, 2005). In fact, Oka et al. (2014) conducted an experiment and got the modulus of elasticity at the nodes to be about 40% less than the internode.
3.2 Tensile Strenght (Ts) Seasoned bamboo possesses higher tensile strength than ‘green’ bamboo (Wakchaure & Kute, 2012; Moroz et al., 2014). (Ghavami, 2005) tests gave tensile strength value of 54ksi for his bamboo sample. Sabbir et al., (2012) in another test got 18ksi. However, when discussing tensile strength, it is more appropriate to differentiate between that of the culm and that of the fibers based on the one being used in a test (Schneider, 2014). In line with that, Cao and Wu (2005) tested and found the tensile strength of bamboo fibers to be within the range of 18 to 131ksi (124 to 805MPa). Generally, tensile strength is lower at the nodes (Verma et al., 2012), and (Oka et al., 2014)’s tests results showed that the tensile strength of the node region was about 30% that of the internode, as a result of what Amada et al. (1997) described as the fibers’ distribution being chaotic. On comparing tensile strengths of green and seasoned bamboo, Wahab et al. (2012) found 13ksi and 14,9ksi respectively. Comparatively speaking, tensile strength of Moso bamboo is one third of a typical grade 60 steel rebar. As a result of these wide ranges of tensile strength, it is desirable to ensure that the bamboo reinforcement is having appropriate safety factors before being used. One of the ways to do this is to treat the bamboo culms by presoaking or preferably treatment, which will ensure an overall safety factor of between 2 to 2. 5% (Geymayer & Cox, 1970). In a recent experiment however, (Mark & Russell, 2011) showed that average global factor of safety for bamboo and a similar material is about 5.0.
3.3 Flexural Strength Flexural fortification, otherwise called longitudinal support is necessary to increase the flexural capacity of a concrete beam. In order to develop adequate flexural capacity of a beam, number of the bamboo stirrups need to be much (Yamaguchi et al., 2013). Hence they should be spaced very closely, 6inches according to (Schneider, 2014), because closer stirrups ensure that stresses are transferred to the remaining stirrups even after some of the stirrups have failed. And this would consequently result in the beam retaining large amount of its capacity. This will also prevent pre- mature shear failure of the beam. 3.4 Shear Strength Extensive flexural cracking could cause premature shear failure in beams (Sherwood, 2008; Eskenati & Pour, 2016).this underscores the crucial need for stirrups, to provide shear capacity to concrete members like beams. Shear failure is the diagonal failure experienced in the material
109 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
being reinforced, hence the shear reinforcement is introduced to cross the diagonal tension cracks and keep them from opening. A test conducted by Moroz et al. (2014) on concrete masonry walls using very flexible Tonkin cane bamboo reinforcement, vertically to resist flexural and sliding failures, and horizontally to resist inclined shear failure, showed enhanced shear capacity and ductility, compared to unreinforced walls. Bamboo stirrups increased capacity of an unreinforced shear beam by between 135 and 259%, while in comparison to steel, BRC shear controlled beams had capacities of between 33 and 70% of steel type (Schneider, 2014).
4. BAMBOO USAGE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF DOMESTIC HOUSING AND SMALL BUILDINGS There have been a long-standing convention of bamboo development, going back to a huge number of years. Diverse societies have found in this material a sparing arrangement of building, offering sound yet light and effectively replaceable types of haven. The strategies, exercises and apparatuses are frequently basic, direct, available even to the youthful and untalented. Notwithstanding human misuse and horrible treatment, trees keep up it's contributively part towards the residence of humankind. Man has for a considerable length of time delighted in the advantages of the unconditional present of nature. Lodging is one of the need things and detecting the present lack of the home units, the present managerial pioneers the world over discover extreme to hit upon an answer for. Bamboo building development is described by a basic casing approach like that connected in customary timber outline plan and development. Bamboo based materials are generally utilized as well. In its characteristic condition as strong culms, divided culms or as longitudinally split strips, bamboo has been utilized as a part of all parts of house development with the exception of the chimney and the stacks. These are depicted in detail underneath:
110 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Figure 5: BAMBOO RESIDENCE Modern Figure 5: Bamboo in Construction The Owner- Architecture Location: Rue du Grand-Pré et rue Builder Network Chandieu. Geneva, Switzerland
CONCLUSION From one perspective bamboo is more impervious to water harm than the normal hardwood. Be that as it may it is as yet a characteristic material made of natural components, and thusly extreme dampness will make it twist or will enable shape to develop. • Bamboo is anything but difficult to cut, handle, repair, reposition and keep up, without the requirement for modern devices or gear. • Because of its remarkable physical qualities, Guadua bamboo is appropriate for a wide range of structures and developments. • Its roundabout shape and empty areas make bamboo a light building material, which is anything but difficult to deal with, transport and store. In this way, working with bamboo spares time. • Bamboo can be used for changeless and for transitory developments. • In each of its hubs, bamboo has a separating or transverse divider that keeps up quality and permits twisting subsequently averting bursting when bowed. Due to this awesome trademark a bamboo development offers prevalent seismic tremor resistance. • The arrangement of the strands in the dividers of the bamboo enables it to be cut length- wise or cross cut in bits of any length, utilizing straightforward manual devices like the blade.
111 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
• Another favorable position of working with bamboo is, that it can be utilized as a part of mix with different sorts of development materials, such as fortifying materials for establishments..
/REFERENCES
20 Healing Benefits of Bamboo. (2016, September 1). Retrieved 11 February 2017, from https://healdove.com/alternative-medicine/20-Healing-Benefits-of-Bamboo Amada, S., Ichikawa, Y., Munekata, T., Nagase, Y., & Shimizu, H. (1997). Fiber texture and mechanical graded structure of bamboo. Composites Part B: Engineering, 28(1–2), 13–20. Arjun, N. (2016, December 12). Bamboo Reinforced Concrete - Mix Proportion, Design and Construction. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from http://theconstructor.org/structural-engg/bamboo-reinforced-concrete-mix-design- construction/15054/ Asian Vegetables: Beans, Melons, Mushrooms, and Root Vegetables. (2017). Retrieved from http://thewoksoflife.com/asian-vegetables-beans-melons/ Bamboo Anatomy and Growth Habits. (2016). Retrieved 12 February 2017, from http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/html/about-bamboo/bamboo-growth-habits.html Bamboo Capsules Extract. (2017). Retrieved 18 February 2017, from https://goayush.com/index.php/navchetana- kendra-bamboo-capsules-extract-90-capsules.html Bamboo plant. (2017, February 11). Retrieved 11 February 2017, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/bamboo.htm Bamboo Types. (2011). Retrieved 18 February 2017, from http://www.arsihbamboo.com/page10.php Barik, N., Kara, T. C., Das, R., Roy, G. K., Sahoo, G. C., Panda, T. C., … Dash, M. (Eds.). (2014). bamboo NIA - textiles clothes.pdf. Odisha, India: Odisha Bigyan Academy. Brown, N. D. (2015, October 11). 3 Easy to Care for Indoor Plants For Black Thumbs. Retrieved 18 February 2017, from http://decoandbloom.com/daily-inspiration/3-easy-to-care-for-indoor-plants-for-black-thumbs Coffey, J. R. (2017). Bamboo’s Surprising Medicinal Uses. Retrieved 11 February 2017, from https://natural-herbal- remedies.knoji.com/bamboos-surprising-medicinal-uses/ Dharmananda, S. (2004, December). Bamboo as Medicine. Retrieved 11 February 2017, from http://www.itmonline.org/arts/bamboo.htm Eskenati, A. R., & Pour, H. V. (2016). Premature Failure and its Prevention in Flexural Beams Retroftted by GFRP Fibers. Journal of the Institute of Engineering, 11(1), 12–19. Geymayer, H. G., & Cox, F. B. (1970). Bamboo Reinforced Concrete (Technical) (p. 18). Vicksburg, Mississipi. Retrieved from acwc.sdp.sirsi.net/client/search/asset/1044577 INBAR. (2014). Bamboo: A strategic resource for countries to reduce the effects of climate change (p. 28). International Network for Bamboo and Rattan. Jagyasi, P. (2012, April 10). Stunning examples of bamboo architecture. Retrieved from http://www.ecofriend.com/20- stunning-examples-of-bamboo-architecture.html Karthik, S., Rao, P. R. M., & Awoyera, P. O. (2017). Strength properties of bamboo and steel reinforced concrete containing manufactured sand and mineral admixtures. Journal of King Saud University - Engineering Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksues.2016.12.003 Liese, W., & Köhl, M. (2015). Bamboo: The Plant and its Uses. Springer.
112 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Mark, A.-A., & Russell, A. O. (2011). A comparative study of Bamboo reinforced concrete beams using different stirrup materials for rural construction. International Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering, 2(2), 407. McLendon, R. (2014, November 21). Rare, 1-inch frogs raise babies inside bamboo stems. Retrieved 9 February 2017, from http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/rare-1-inch-frogs-raise-babies-inside-bamboo-stems Moroz, J. G., Lissel, S. L., & Hagel, M. D. (2014). Performance of bamboo reinforced concrete masonry shear walls. Construction and Building Materials, 61, 125–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.02.006 New Species. (2016, May 29). Retrieved from http://nanbamboo-seller.blogspot.com/2016_05_01_archive.html Oka, G. M., Triwiyono, A., Awaludin, A., & Siswosukarto, S. (2014). Effects of Node, Internode and Height Position on the Mechanical Properties of Gigantochloa Atroviolacea Bamboo. Procedia Engineering, 95, 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.12.162 Sabbir, M. A., Mamun, M. S., & Fancy, S. F. (2012). Performance Evaluation Of Bamboo Twig As A Potential Reinforcement In Concrete Considering Tensile Property, 2(3), 3205–3209. Sakaray, H., Togati, N. V. K., & Reddy, I. R. (2012). Investigation on properties of bamboo as reinforcing material in concrete. International Journal of Engineering Research and Application, 2, 077–083. Salzer, C., Wallbaum, H., Lopez, L. F., & Kouyoumji, J. L. (2016). Sustainability of Social Housing in Asia: A Holistic Multi-Perspective Development Process for Bamboo-Based Construction in the Philippines. Sustainability, 8(2), 151. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8020151 Schneider, N. (2014, August 1). APPLICATION OF BAMBOO FOR FLEXURAL AND SHEAR REINFORCEMENT IN CONCRETE BEAMS (MSc). Clemson University. Retrieved from http://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/1907 Schroder, S. (2011, September 14). Bamboo Stem Anatomy. Retrieved 18 February 2017, from https://www.guaduabamboo.com/identification/bamboo-stem-anatomy Schröder, S. (2011, September 14). Bamboo Stem Anatomy. Retrieved 9 February 2017, from https://www.guaduabamboo.com/identification/bamboo-stem-anatomy Schroder, S. (2012, December 15). Top 20 Best Bamboo Species. Retrieved 11 February 2017, from https://www.guaduabamboo.com/types/top-20-best-bamboo-species Schroder, S. (2014, November 10). Bamboo Identification Guide. Retrieved 11 February 2017, from https://www.guaduabamboo.com/identification/bamboo-identification-guide Schroder, S. (2015, January 18). Is Beema Bamboo a Solid Bamboo? Retrieved 18 February 2017, from https://www.guaduabamboo.com/forum/is-beema-bamboo-a-solid-bamboo Schroder, S. (2016, April 28). Amazing Facts about Bamboo. Retrieved 18 February 2017, from https://www.bambooimport.com/en/blog/facts-about-bamboo Semple, K. E., Zhang, P. K., & Smith, G. D. (2015). Hybrid oriented strand boards made from Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens Mazel) and Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.): species-separated three-layer boards. European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, 73(4), 527–536. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-015- 0914-0 Sherwood, E. G. (2008). One-way Shear Behaviour of Large, Lightly-reinforced Concrete Beams and Slabs. University of Toronto (Canada). Singhal, P., Bal, L. M., Satya, S., Sudhakar, P., & Naik, S. N. (2013). Bamboo Shoots: A Novel Source of Nutrition and Medicine. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 53(5), 517–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2010.531488 Standard, P. (2010, July 6). Bamboo Houses to the Rescue. Retrieved 9 February 2017, from https://psmag.com/bamboo-houses-to-the-rescue-51fdc49fc3aa 113 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 105 - 114, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Tonges, D.-I. C. (2005). Properties. Retrieved 18 February 2017, from http://www.conbam.info/pagesEN/properties.html Van Hoyweghen, L., De Bosscher, K., Haegeman, G., Deforce, D., & Heyerick, A. (2014). In Vitro Inhibition of the Transcription Factor NF-κB and Cyclooxygenase by Bamboo Extracts. Phytotherapy Research, 28(2), 224– 230. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.4978 Verma, C. S., Chariar, V. M., & Purohit, R. (2012). Tensile strength analysis of bamboo and layered laminate bamboo composites. Int J Eng Res Appl (IJERA), 2(2), 1253–1264. Wahab, R., Mustafa, M. T., Abdus Salam, M., A. Tabert, T., Sulaiman, O., & Sudin, M. (2012). Potential and Structural Variation of Some Selected Cultivated Bamboo Species in Peninsular Malaysia. International Journal of Biology, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.5539/ijb.v4n3p102 Wakchaure, M. R., & Kute, S. Y. (2012). Effect of moisture content on physical and mechanical properties of bamboo. Asian Journal of Civil Engineering (Building and Housing), 13(6), 753–763. What is Bamboo? (with pictures). (2017). Retrieved 11 February 2017, from http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is- bamboo.htm World Bamboo and its distribution area. (2015, September 1). Retrieved 18 February 2017, from http://www.yoyucn.com/en/News/News_Details.aspx?id=29 Yamaguchi, M., Murakami, K., & Takeda, K. (2013). Flexural performance of bamboo-reinforced-concrete beams using bamboo as main Rebars and Stirrups. In 3rd Int’l Conf. Sust. Constr. Mater. Tech, Kyoto E (Vol. 273). Retrieved from http://www.claisse.info/2013%20papers/data/e273.pdf
114 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 115 - 120, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Research Article
Perception of Project Time Overrun In Building Construction Industry in Nigeria Anumah John James1, Anumah Lesado2, Daniel Abi Alice1, Rasaki Olajide Samson1 1Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Jos-Nigeria 2Archshel Development Ltd, Jos-Nigeria Corresponding Author: [email protected]
ARTICLE INFO A b s t r a c t Many construction projects are not completed as at when due. In Nigeria, the Article history sight of abandoned uncompleted buildings is a common recurrence. This study Received: 11/07/2016 sets out to explore how time management in building projects is perceived in Accepted: 04/09/2016 the construction industry in Nigeria via case studies of constructed buildings, interviews and questionnaires with the major players in the construction industry; client, consultant and contractor. Progress control chart was compared against the program of works charts and overruns observed. The Construction Project, Project common factors that inhibit both time and cost control during construction Time, Time Overrun, Client, projects were first identified. Subsequently, necessary measures were Consultant, Contractor developed for the top five leading inhibiting factors which were classified as: preventive, predictive and corrective measures. They can be used as a checklist of good practice, and help project managers improve the effectiveness of control of their projects. The results reveal a correlation of causes between the client, consultant and contractor; Inaccurate estimate of time and cost, Irregular flow of finance (funds), Delay in payment of work done (client not honouring Architects payment certificate as at when due).
© Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Planning and time schedule are the most important tools for construction project management. They are the basis for project time control (Bikram 2014). In the construction industry, the aim of project control is to ensure timely completion of projects and within budgeted cost among other project objectives. It is imperative that project managers Check and review project progress where necessary, and confirm the validity and relevance of what is left of the plan (Chapman 2014). In Nigeria, major players in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry are criticized for their inability to complete building projects within the stipulated time. To facilitate timely completion of project, the parameters of time, cost and quality must be considered together. (Mitchell et al 2007)
115 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 115 - 120, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Jrade and Lessard (2015), Vaardini (2015) carried out case studies and suggested that time overrun was due to inclement weather; changes initiated by designers, client requirement, site conditions, late deliveries, economic conditions, and problems in planning and design as main causes of construction delays. Kodwo and Seth (2014) identified variations in building projects as a source of cost overrun. Based on analysis of 46 completed building projects in the UK, Akinsola, et al (1997), classified these factors thus: client characteristics; especially lack of prior experience and knowledge of construction project organization. Project characteristics, such as type, size, complexity and duration of the project; and project organization factors, such as; design duration, percentage of design completed before tender, procurement and contract type, adequacy of information provided, and number of sub-contractors are also factors. An accurate estimation of time contingency is seen as a major factor for achieving a successful construction project. The aim of this study is to explore how time management in building projects is perceived by those involved in the project team in Nigeria, to identify the main inhibiting factors of project time control and also to develop some mitigating measures to assist project managers’ better control their projects. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations made with respect to the perception of time management associated with building projects. These observations underlie the rationale for this study.
2. Methodology A dual approach was employed: • Case studies of constructed buildings; two buildings that had program of works and were assessable were selected and the program of works monitored against the progress of works done by studying the management and administration of work onsite. • Interviews were conducted with the major players in the construction industry; Client, Consultant and Contractor to seek their informed opinions on the issue by asking questions of workers and building personnel.
3. Results and Findings Two case studies were undertaken; the Inhabitant Resettlement Housing Scheme in Bukuru, Jos South- Plateau State and a Church Auditorium Project in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North-Plateau State. Figure 1 shows the program/ progress of works of the inhabitant resettlement housing scheme in Bukuru, Jos South-Plateau state. Time overruns were experience in most stages of the construction as seen from the progress of works
116 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 115 - 120, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
done. The project was taking longer than scheduled and significantly long delays were experienced due to poor funding. Figure 2 shows the program/progress of works for the church auditorium project. This project like the first also exceeded the scheduled time objective for its completion as it was completed four months behind schedule. This was also due to poor funding. It was observed by studying the management and administration of work onsite and by interviews with workers and building personnel that the most common factors responsible for the time overruns are as follows: Inaccurate estimate of time and cost, Irregular flow of finance (funds), Delay in payment of work done (client not honouring Architects payment certificate as at when due), Deficiencies in management and Delays in decision by building professionals. These are tabulated in table 1 below.
Figure 1: Program/ Progress of Works for Inhabitant Resettlement Housing Scheme
117 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 115 - 120, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
Figure 2: Program/ Progress of Works for Church Auditorium Project at Angwan Rukuba
Table 1: Factors perceived as causes of project overrun Rank Client’s perception Consultant’s perception Contractor’s perception 1 Improper planning and Delay in honouring Architect’s payment Delay in progressive payments by scheduling of contractor certificates by client client 2 Poor site management and Poor site management and supervision by inclement weather supervision by contractor contractor 3 Poor liquidity of contractor Short supply of experienced technical staff of Delay in approving extra work and contractor variations by consultant 4 Shortage of experienced Poor liquidity of contractor Delay in approving major changes technical staff and labourers in the scope of work of contractor 5 Poor control and monitoring Inaccurate planning and Shortage and/or unavailability of of contractor by consultant scheduling of contractor specified material in the market
Form the results presented above, the findings of the research shows that the major factors responsible for the time overrun in building construction projects are Delay in progressive payment by clients (honouring consultant’s payment certificate), Inaccurate planning and scheduling of projects by contractors, inclement weather, short supply of experienced technical staff, and poor liquidity of the contractor. Going by the views of both clients and consultants, contractor related factors are the most significant for time overrun. The contractors indicate that external factors are the significant factors for time overrun.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations Finishing projects on time will not only save money, but will help to establish a good track record. When a history of finishing projects well and within stipulated time has been established, potential clients will be
118 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 115 - 120, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
apt to trust and recommend a business. From the study conducted, it is evident that the major players in the construction industry share the blame for untimely completion of projects. The measures to remedy time overrun where classified viz: • Predictive: Planning should incorporate weather forecast. Where possible, external works should be avoided during inclement weather. The client should always request for an updated bank bond before he pays the contractor to ensure liquidity of contractor. • Preventive: Reputable contractors with proven track records should be employed for building projects. Their experience in drawing and executing realistic program of works will ensure that realistic time frames are allotted for each stage of construction and time overrun avoided. • Corrective: Architects payment certificate raised should be honoured within the stipulated time (usually 21 working days). The funds needed for projects should be earmarked before the project commences.
References Aftab H. M., Ismail A. R., Ismaaini I., Noor Y. Z. (2014). Time Management Practices in Large Construction Projects. Colloquium on Humanities, Science and Engineering. Malaysia: ResearchGate.
Ahmad J. and Julien L. (2015). An integrated bim system to track the time and cost of construction projects
Alan Chapman. (2014). www.businessballs.com/project.html
Akinsola A., Potts k., Ndekugri I., Harris f. (1997) identification and evaluation of factors influencing variations on building projects
Bikram N. (2014). Time management in projects: tools, techniques and methods
Kasimu A.M. and Usman M.D. (2013). DELAY IN NIGERIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. Journal of Environmental Sciences and Resources Management, 120-129.
Kathy M., Paul B., Keith C., Peter E. and Rob P. (2007). Stake holders perceptions of contractor time, cost and quality management in building projects
Khalil A. A. A., Ayman H. H., Gamel E. N. (2014). Guideline for preparing comprehensive extention of time claim
Kodwo A., Seth A. (2014). COST OVERRUNS IN BUILDING PROJECTS:a acse study of a government of ghana project in accra
Sindhu V. (2015) identification of causes and impacts of time overrun in construction projects
119 | P a g e
©Journal of Applied Sciences & Environmental Sustainability 2 (4) 115 - 120, 2016 e-ISSN 2360-8013
120 | P a g e