Personnel Management Practice And Teachers Job Satisfaction
[A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF SECONDARY SCHOOL, KWARA STATE.]

CHAPTER ONE
Background to the study
     According to A.T Alabi, people have been managed in groups and organizations since prehistoric times. The success of any organization including the school system hinged on the establishment of a conducive working environment geared towards the advancement of the productive capacities  of people at work. These capacities are in pursuit of achieving the educational objectives as well as satisfying the needs of individual  staff. Bearing in mind that the quality of education in any society depends considerably on the number and quality of its personnel, the teacher is no doubt the pivot on which qualitative education and development hangs. The primary aim of school personnel management is  to secure sufficient numbers and categories of suitable teachers and support staff to undertake  the task of educating the students  to the standard expected by the students, the parents and the society at large. Thus, the quality of education provided in schools depends directly on the capability, commitment and motivation of the teachers together with significant number of non-teaching staff employed in a variety of support roles. According to O’Neil, (1994), human resources available to schools constitute their most valuable asset and their greatest management challenge. This study examines the personnel management practices and teacher’s job satisfaction in Kwara State Secondary Schools.
    According to O’ Neil (1994), Teachers can be classified according to professional training and length  of teaching  experience. They also differ in their opinions and attitude towards teaching. Some are more satisfied with their work than others. Some teachers have left the profession for other jobs; others have remained  on the job for as long as it is convenient  for them to shop around for other part-time jobs. At the same time many teachers have been known  to continue teaching under the same circumstances that repel others. Given quality learning in the secondary schools depend on the recruitment, selection, retention and development of professional teacher. Effective personnel management  procedures are essential  precondition  for the employment and continual  development of adequately qualified  and  dedicated staff that would promote an optimum level of performance  towards the provision of quality education in the secondary school level of education. In the secondary school system, the work of the personnel manager is carried out by the school head (the Principal) in consultation  with School Board or Commission as the case may be. The competence of the school head in personnel activities coupled with the  support of the Teaching Service Commission in the formulation of the effective personnel policies  go a long way towards the attainment  of educat goals of secondary schools as well as the potentials and  goals of the individual personnel.
    Job satisfaction is assumed  by the researcher to be a great contributing factor to the level of work performance among secondary school teachers in Kwara State  Secondary Schools. It is also assumed that if teachers in Kwara State LED are exposed to ideal and effective personnel management practices they would perform excellently  on the job and this would  help in the task of achievement  of  the stated goals of secondary school system in Kwara State in particular and in Nigeria in general. Many precious researchers have postulated that higher level of job satisfaction is associated with higher work achievement Taseem&Socters (2006).
    For a long  time, job satisfaction has been considered important to work performance or achievement of goals, group cohesion and organizational equilibrium. It may lead to increased production, improved relation and the maintenance  of a dynamic organization. Thus, an organization is a means of achieving  both individual and organizational goals. In order to accomplish the set goals, an organization specifies  the desired relations among tasks, responsibilities  and people. The employees  on the other hand, evaluate  these relationships to ascertain to what extent they are achieving their personal goals. Satisfaction of teachers is derived from the extent to which the organizational and personal goals are achieved. The problem is that it is not possible  to achieve equilibrium  and this often leads to employees’ dissatisfaction . Therefore, ideal personnel management  practice and job satisfaction are very crucial in any organization including the school system and any organization that ignores these, does so at the detriment or expense of the achievement of the organizational  goals and objectives.