The degree of human resource(s) utilization in the Gha na ia n public sector: a case study of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission

This research is an in-depth assessment of the degree of utilization o human resource(s) in the public sector of Ghana, with a particular reference to GAEC. Like any other public service organization, GAEC consists of individuals with their own skills and talents which could best be utilized to enhance the rate of attainment of the goals of the Organization. From personal observations made together with interactions with those who matter before the research was carried out, it was assumed that the human resource(s) of GAEC and the Ghanaian public sector for that matter were being utilized to a lower degree. To investigate and assess the situation, a questionnaire was designed and copies given to respondents to answer. The questions were mainly based on the following parameters: employees’ placement, boss-subordinate relationship, performance feedback, organizational commitment, motivation, performance measurement system, commitment to team work, empowerment, managers’ attitudes towards relevant initiatives and innovative ideas from employees, participative decision making and the implementation of such decisions, organizational culture, and staff discipline. The literature reviewed indicated that the way these parameters manifest themselves in organizations could enhance the degree of utilization of their human resource(s). The research report suggests by both descriptive and empirical analyses that, contrary to what was earlier on anticipated, the human resource(s) of GAEC were not being utilized to a lower degree. Since the Ghanaian public sector including GAEC is a system, one could generalize the descriptive and empirical results by also saying that the human resource(s) of the public sector were not being utilized to a lower degree. The research has also shown that, most employees in the Organization were dissatisfied with the manifestations of such parameters as performance feedback, motivation, commitment to team work, implementation of collective decisions made, empowerment, and performance management system; but these parameters were in the minority. The situation, the researcher was convinced, would not be anything different from what pertained in sister public service institutions since they were all interconnected. In helping to correct the anomalies revealed in the study, pre-employment orientation for prospective public servants should be encouraged. Such a programme ought to focus on public sector development from global perspective and what public service seeks to achieve. It should also seek to make prospective public servants appreciate the ideal or idea of public service. In so doing, the prospective public servants should be assured of the State’s readiness to praise, honour and/or promote them, when they deserve, for their roles to help the Country to fulfill her development agenda. Seminars and workshops should also be held regularly for public service employees on the need to adopt and practice modern managerial principles based on the parameters mentioned. All these should aim at enhancing the degree of utilization of human resource(s) in the public sector. Looking, however, at the general public’s perception of the performance of the Sector as being bad in recent times, this report suggests the need for an independent performance evaluation and assessment of the Ghanaian public sector to confirm or reject the research outcome. Such a performance evaluation and assessment should be done taking into consideration what the public service organizations were established to accomplish and how far they had gone in accomplishing those tasks.

Source: KNUST