A Professor of Human Resources Management, Foluso Jayeoba, has urged administrative professionals to focus on cooperation and collaboration rather than competition to enhance their productivity and service delivery.
Jayeoba of the Department of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, Lagos State University, Ojo, gave the advice at a lecture organised by the Administrative Department, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, on Wednesday in Lagos.
The lecture was organised to mark the ‘2024 Administrative Professionals’ Day’.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the programme is: ‘System Thinking for Effective Organisational Performance’.
Jayeoba, also the keynote speaker at the programme, said that administrative professionals should work together to be able to deliver largely toward achieving the goal of the organisation.
According to him, more achievements will be made when work are done collectively rather than individuals, stressing that workers should focus on system thinkin
g by working toward the overall goals and objectives of their organisations.
He explained that every part of the organisation was as important as the other, saying it was important to understand the need for interaction between all the parts of an organisation if the set goals would be actualised.
He identified the benefits of system thinking to include enhanced productivity, improved decision making and enhanced problem solving, amongst others.
‘The perception of system thinking as implied in the theme, entails that people should work together to deliver effectively to the clients and equally meet the purpose of the organisation.
‘No individual is bigger than the organization. So, if the workers cooperate and collaborate, there will be room for increased productivity.
‘If workers should have that perception of system thinking, works become easy and people will have the right attitude toward work and there won’t be competition but rather cooperation,’ Jayeoba said.
Prof. Akin Osibogun of the College of
Medicine, University of Lagos, said that the roles of administrators were critical to the implementation of policies and overall management of an organisation.
Osibogun, also Chairman of the programme, said that administrators were the custodian of rules and regulations of an organisation, saying that without them, effective management in an organisation might be jeopardised.
‘Administration department is the pillar of an organisation. I am excited that administrative professionals of the hospital are developing this skill.
‘Be mindful that it’s a journey that requires continuous development through skills acquisitions, trainings and learning. There are bound to be challenges on the way but I pay that God will see you through,’ Osibogun said.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Olugbenga Owoeye, urged the administrative professionals to continually develop and update themselves with the new developments in the profession for effective performance.
According to him, the administrative professio
nals should be more devoted to their jobs, while upholding the ethics of the profession.
Owoeye, who congratulated the administrative professionals for their self-developments and organising the programme, said it was a wake-up call for other various departments in the hospital.
‘Personal development is key; ensure you continually update and develop yourselves with the developments in the profession as well as the ethics.
‘I congratulate the administrative department for coming up to develop themselves and organise this programme.
‘It is like encouraging other various departments in the hospital to follow suit,’ Owoeye said.
Earlier, the Director of Administration of the hospital, Dr Adeyinka Antwi, called on administrative professionals to develop work culture/ethics to enhance their performance and productivity.
Antwi said that workers’ attitude to work needed to improve in terms of the hour, way and methods devoted to the work so that the productivity would improve.
According to him, workers’ input
s must be equal to the outputs but some workers wanted to be paid even without doing work.
‘Basically, work ethics and culture need to improve; the way we do our work, the hours we give to the work, must improve so that our performance can also improve.
‘So that at the end of it all, you can now boldly make a demand for your organisation to compensate you accordingly.
‘Unfortunately, some people want to be paid even when they did not work.
‘As a nation, the first thing to do is to ensure we have a good work culture so that we raise the productivity level of the country.
‘And as we raise the productivity and we are well; then we can tell the government to give us more for what we are doing and also bring to task those in governance if they are not doing what we expect them to do,’ Antwi said.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria