ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to
ascertain the problems and counselling needs of workers for occupational
adjustment in industries with a view to recommending ways of averting these
problems and meeting these needs through counselling services. The study was
guided by four research questions and three null hypotheses. Review of
literature focused on the theoretical framework of the study, the problems and
counseling needs of workers and industrial counseling. The study was carried
out in three selected industries in Enugu State namely Nigerian Breweries,
Nigerian Bottling Company and Innoson technical and industrial company. The
population of the study was 1834. Out of the above population, a simple of 370
workers was studied. The instrument used for the collection of data was a
questionnaire titled Industrial Workers Problems and Counselling Needs
Questionnaire (IWPCNQ). The research questions were answered using mean and
standard deviations while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at
.05 level of significance. The major findings of the study are that industrial
workers in Enugu State have many problems, social counselling needs,
educational counselling needs, and vocational counselling needs such as
exposure to hazards, lack of free medical care and long working hours among
others. Social counseling needs such as getting along well with work mates,
expressing one’s self well in discussion especially in public, adjusting to
problems arising from work mates among others. Educational counseling needs
include pursuing further academic programs that will be of benefit to them,
studying more effectively and improving their memory among others and
vocational counseling needs such as being acquainted with current information
in the place of work, getting informed of work security and job satisfaction
among others. These problems and counselling needs were found through research
to constitute major problems areas which affect workers productivity and
output. It was also found out that these problems and needs militate against
workers productivity and occupational adjustment of the workers. Finally, it
was discovered that applying counseling services will go a long way in averting
the problems and handling the needs of workers.
The educational implications of
the findings were highlighted such as increasing the content areas of
counselling education to take care of industrial counseling and organizing
vocational counseling on regular basis for the workers. The major limitation of
the study was outlined and suggestions for further studies made.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Nigeria is fast growing into an
industrialized nation in recent years. This is seen in the rate at which
private and public individuals embark on establishment of industries. This
trend invariably makes Nigeria a work oriented society, particularly in Enugu
State. Some individuals engage in private enterprises while others get settled
in public enterprises. Those in private enterprises sometimes have different
problems, needs and aspirations in their work activities when compared with
their counterparts in public sector organizations. Sometimes after working
hours, some workers or employees usually converge at recreational centers where
they spend time with friends and colleagues from different occupations.
At
such meetings or contacts, people share their experiences in the different
places of work. Sometimes in the course of conversations, they are privileged
to share their experiences with regards to their different working conditions.
Some of their problems range from low or inadequate payment, delayed payment of
salaries workers adjustment problems, non motivation to communication gap
between management and workers.
Others
express regret over lack of job security, lack of free medical care, exposure
to hazards, long working hours, and exploitation by the employers among others.
From the rapid pace of growth of industries in conjunction with the emerging
increase in the population of workers and their problems, the need for
counselling in the industrial establishments in Nigeria becomes clearer.
Counselling
refers to a helping relationship that reassures, restructures, accommodates and
stimulates action for the meaningful development and adaptation of an
individual. According to
Eweniyi (2002), counselling is defined as a learning process in which
relationship is developed between two persons in a confidential environment
with the view to mutually achieve problem solving goal. Okeke (2003) defines
counselling as a helping relationship involving the counselor and the client in
which the counselor uses his professional knowledge and skills to assist the
client to attain proper development and maturity, improve functioning and
improve ability to cope with life problems.
From
the above definitions, it could be seen that counseling involves the
utilization of professional skills by a trained counsellor towards assisting an
individual to learn and develop a problem solving skill for self-realization
and self-fulfillment.
Counselling is also a helping
relationship which is geared toward assisting an individual to gain self
insight such that he is able to utilize his abilities and potentials in
achieving his set goals especially in terms of work.
Nigeria
is a work oriented society, some workers or employees engage in private
enterprises while others get settled in public enterprises (government paid
employment). Private enterprises according to Thomas (2007) is defined as a
business unit established, owned and operated by private individual for profit
instead of any government or its agencies. Private enterprises can also be
defined as a business organization which is owned and managed by private
individuals rather than government bodies. Private enterprises in the context
of this work are privately owned industries that engage in the production and
manufacturing of goods and services in which the main purpose is to maximize
profit.
According
to Geocahe, Bromance and Mojito (2014), an industry is defined as a productive
organization that produces or supplies goods, services, or sources of income.
This implies that an industry is an organization which engages in the
production of goods and services for income generation.
Public enterprise according to United Nations as cited in Henry (2009) is an
incorporated or large unincorporated enterprises in which public authorities
hold a majority of the shares and exercise control over management decisions.
Public enterprises are also corporations that are wholly or partly owned and
controlled by the state. To achieve the goals of the various industrial
establishments is obviously dependent on the activities and roles of workers or
employees.
Workers
are the backbone of any organization or industry that performs critical tasks
for the survival of the organization. A worker according to Conrad and Joseph
(2009) is defined as one who works at a particular occupation or activity. A
worker can also be seen as an employee who works in an industry. According to
Obidoa and Ifeluni (2010) an employee is a person who is paid to work for
somebody. Madu (2012) observed that employees are made up of workers serving in
either the public or private sectors. He further stated that employees range
from the highest class of chief executives to the lowest class of office
messengers or gatemen. The worker or employee could be male or female who works
in an industry.
Highlighting
on this, Cassel (2002) and Adebunsuyi (2007) maintained that gender refers to
the social fact of being male or female or having the recognizable traits of
one’s sex. The characteristics and behaviours that are generally associated
with being a male are referred to as masculine and those associated with being
a female are referred to as feminine. Work force in Nigerian industries is also
characterized by gender disparity especially in wages and salaries. Lending
credence to the assertion, Ode (2004) stated that with the present downturn in
the country, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the average Nigerian
workers to make ends meet because of inadequate wages and high inflation with
reference to gender disparity in pay package. Highlighting on this, Peterson
Trond and Thea (2006) stated that there are so many aspects
of the gender bias and discrimination in organization by the employer. For
instance, there is discrimination in job compensation, packaging, hiring, and
favoritism related to job promotion. There is also bias in wage setting for
different types of work. They further stressed their point that work force is
divided horizontally and vertically with reference to male and female such as
unfair distribution of pay and wages of male and female workers.
Supporting this, Heilman and
Okimoto (2008) stated that employment bias occur against mothers irrespective
of whether they were students or working people and that women suffer
disadvantages at their work places.
Observations
have shown that incentives and services ranging from good and free medical
care, good transportation and social welfare allowance are given to those in
the higher cadre while the lower ones are ignored. This discrimination often
causes friction among the workers. Also, some workers stay for months without
salary while others are stagnated in one grade level for decades. All these
have often conjunctively radiated a lot of fear on the workers. Stressing on
junior and senior workers, disparity among junior and senior workers could
result in the role demands between them as junior workers usually serve as
messengers with heavy physical work and are usually supervised by senior
workers and executives (Jared, 2014). In the context of this work, junior
workers are workers below grade level seven employees which constitute the
middle class manpower in the industries while senior workers are those above
grade level seven employees and constitute senior manpower in the industries
respectively. On the other hand, junior staff is a worker (male or female) in
an organization whose position and status is lower in level than a supervisor
while senior staff is any worker above the position of a supervisor as observed
by Madu (2012)......
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