SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES FOR IMPROVED ADMINISTRATIVE EFFECTIVENESS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE NIGERIA

The study investigated school business competencies for improved administrative effectiveness in Public Secondary School in Rivers State. Three research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was 286 principals in all the public secondary schools in Rivers State. A sample of 166 through a stratified random technique was determined using the Taro Yamane formula. The instrument of the study was a self design instrument captioned “School Business Management Competencies Questionnaire (SBMCQ) and Principal Administrative Effectiveness (PAE) with the reliability coefficients of 0.77 and 0.84 respectively which was determined through the Cronbach alpha statistics. Mean scores and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was sued to test the hypothesis. It was discovered that the highest kind of business available in the public school is related to cafeteria / canteen services and that also to a high extent, resourcefulness as a business management competency improves administrative effectiveness in public secondary schools in Rivers State. It concluded that for the school administrators to manage the school business effective (administrative effectiveness), they must possess the core competence of resourcefulness, conceptual thinking and administrative organisation. It was recommended among others that the principal should have a comprehensive understanding of the school complex nature and also think critically at both abstract and concrete level to harmonize a rather multifaceted business challenges in the school and proffer realistic solutions.

Analysis of Relationship between Need Based Training and Assessment Reduction of Professional Obsolescence PO in Pakistan Banks.

According to the emergent case of Web services in Pakistani banking sector, two types of preconditions are investigated: technological preconditions and organizational preconditions vis-a-vis technically competent human resource. Based on these, a set of qualitative and quantitative research methods were carried out beside the bank direction, commercial staff and subscribed customers to technology based banking services. The research illustrates that centralized architectures, fragmented information systems, organizational rigidity, level of technological know-how and disregarding user's implication could be factors of slowness (or failure) in implementing technology based banking services. E-banking has to be a delivery channel that replicates and replaces many of the physical functions a bank currently performs. Hence, e-banking now becomes a virtual banking counter that the individual and corporate customer to carry out the regular activities. Even e-banking services are more electronic-based, but, it still strongly supports banking activities, therefore communication, transaction and distribution (Peterson, Balasubramanian and Bronnenberg, 1997). There are number of challenges that need to be faced by Pakistani banks, however, the opportunity in this industry is high due to the current trend especially application and development of ICT. The tremendous advances in technology and the aggressive infusion of information technology had brought in a paradigm shift in banking operations. Internet banking that has revolutionized the banking industry world wide has turned out to be the nucleus issue of various studies all over the world. However there has constantly been a literature gap on the issue in Pakistan. Exploring online banking customer requirements allowed the definitions of service criteria assuring customer satisfaction at the time of realization and so the factors regulating the quality level of Internet banking services. Analyzing voice of the customer and building a transformation framework bringing it into practice are the leading steps of the methodology and the most important factors in regulating the level of quality of internet banking services. Dove (2004) holds the opinion that failure to adapt to change in terms of skills development is professional obsolescence. Khan (2004: Dawn) says that influx of insincere, non professional, incompetent recruitees in banks in the aftermath of privatization badly affected the banking industry. This fact has been verified by Grip and Zwick (2001:4) who opined in their study on "the employability of low-skilled workers in the knowledge economy", changes in technology and occupation also spur shift in the kinds of skills needed to serve a specific job, and any neglect to update the skills leads to professional obsolescence. The continuous improvement in skills and knowledge in the Banks is vital and this view is supported by Grip and Zwick (2001:4) and they state that "Both the upgrading of the skill level and the shifts in the type of activities may deteriorate the applicability of skills the workers acquired in the past". The banks in Pakistan are facing new challenges due to globalization of financial markets. The international banks are equipped with modern technology, innovative products and services, skilled and knowledgeable human resource to capitalize on the major and valued segment of the clientele. The local banking industry is directionless. It is due to lack of required skills and knowledge the employees need to possess to perform their duties efficiently. Srivastava (2003:68) describes about the emerging competitive environment where performance of an individual depends upon different types of skills and knowledge and one of them is developing problem solving skills. Sridhar (2003:31) states that genuinely identified training needs will address the issue of skills development. Khan (2004:Dawn) proffers one significant remedy to improve the performance of banks which is institutionalization of HRM and it entails placement of best man to best assignment, updating his/her knowledge through refreshing courses, seminar on emerging banking and financial problems thereby heading towards reduction in professional obsolescence. Need-based trainings are the major tool to equip the human resource so as to make Pakistani banks sustainable and competitive apart from other reform measures like further strengthening of Prudential Regulations,