A Professor of Agricultural Extension Management with special interest in organisational behaviour in the College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prof. Olugbenga Ladebo, has analysed the perception of organisational politics on productivity as part of his contribution to research.
The university don, who also disclosed that his second contribution to knowledge bordered on social exchange, said that this was a variable that he employed to explain stress on the job, especially among extension workers in Nigeria.
“I examined two extension organisations and the Agricultural Development Programmes and I was able to use this exchange variable to explain their level of stress,” he said.
Explaining further on what motivated his line of research, Prof. Ladebo said it started when he was working on the literature review for his PhD programme and he came across the theme “Organisational Performance,” that had so much confusion surrounding its definition, conceptualisation and operationalisation.
According to him, most scholars were unable to differentiate the concept from efficiency, such that 90 per cent of articles on organisational performance actually employed efficiency variables.
“Over time, scholars have bundled up the two concepts and I was able to come up with my own research focus; institutional performance, to look at, and assess the performance of educational institutions in Nigeria and I was fortunate that, at that time, a scholar in the United States of America did his PhD on the topic and came up with a scale.
He was the first person to come up with variables and scales to assess the institutional performance in the world. He supplied me with the whole bunch of documents that I used for my PhD, which I started with,” he said. Speaking on his contributions to research, Prof Ladebo disclosed that the first area had to do with the perception of organisational politics.
“I submitted the research paper in 2004 and it was published in 2006. Initially, the paper was rejected, but the editor in his wisdom saw my analysis and result, and he decided to produce and guide me through over a period of 13 months so as to rewrite it.
I rewrote it four times under the guidance of the editor,” he said, stating that the result of such effort must not be allowed to waste away. On some of the challenges encountered in his research, Ladebo said they included problems from colleagues, funding and students.
The university don, who acknowledged that there had not been sufficient funds, pointed out, “I still believe an individual can fund his or her research with the little funding that we have, if judiciously used. “Other challenge is student’s attitude.
We cannot do it alone as professors or researchers, but we still need the cooperation of postgraduate students and they are no more available for research, because they are only interested in their degrees.
A PhD graduate must publish at least two articles before he or she can be awarded a certificate. It is a compulsory requirement in countries like Japan and United States of America”.
Prof. Ladebo revealed that he had discovered some exceptional behaviour among his research respondents by researching into their homosexuality, which he noted, was a controversial topic in the country. “We were able to identify students that have trait X. And based on such parameters, there is nothing that differentiates the homo-sexual from others.
If you say that the Cumulative Grade Point Average of a homo-sexual is lower, it is because he is under pressure from coming out, of being in the closet, not because he is a homosexual.
There is a burden they are carrying, if we talk about morality, then; who has the moral right to judge them? Even the pastors on the pulpit are not morally right to judge. They are dying in silence because of our hypocritical attitude. From the biblical standing, the Bible does not condemn anybody.
Those countries that are wise are giving them their rights and we should look in that direction. I am working on the research, hoping I will be able to present it for an inaugural lecture. The big picture is to influence policy framework in the country. I have records that I can use to back up what I have said,” he said
