Using Demonstration Method to Enhance the Performance of First Year High National Diploma (HND) Secretarial Students of Accra Polytechnic in Typewriting

It was intended to enhance the poor performance of typewriting students by providing answers to questions relating to improvement, or otherwise in some specific techniques of typewriting.  The researcher made use of interview, questionnaire and observation to identify the problem associated with typewriting in relation to students, lecturers and administration to collect data for the study.  There was also the introduction of an intervention.  The analysis showed that students do not practice, or take typewriting seriously, more also, there are not enough typewriters. Some students think typewriting is like any other subject and treat it as such.  There has been changing of teachers every now and then and the methods of teaching and learning vary from one teacher to another. Again equipment are insufficient and those available too not in good condition. These frustrate students so they do not perform well.   The interventions used were demonstration and discussion methods.  As the teacher implemented these designs, it was realized that the performance of students had improved tremendously and as such an extra period was also added to reinforce practical work.  The results of the study indicated that reinforcement and counselling could be used as other interventions for improving the work output. Keywords:  Performance, High National Diploma, Typewritin

Assessing the Alignment between Students of the Department of Secretaryship/Bilingual Secretaryship and Management Studies of Accra Polytechnic and the Labour Market

This study is conducted with the objective of assessing the alignment between students of Secretary and Bilingual Secretaryship and Management Studies programme offered in Accra Polytechnic and the Labour Market.  The target population for this research was the Human Resource of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Staff of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and students of Secretaryship/Bilingual Secretaryship and Management Studies of Accra Polytechnic. The sample for the study consists of 80 questionnaires for students of Accra Polytechnic, Secretaryship/Bilingual Studies and interviews conducted in Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).  The study revealed that over 55% of the respondents did not see the relevance of shorthand as a course.  It was also revealed in the study that just a few percentage of students   get access to an organization for their internships and other students are left wondering  as to how and where to get an organization for their internship programme.  In view of the above, it is recommended that the curriculum of Secretaryship/Bilingual secretaryship and Management studies department of Accra polytechnic should be reviewed to suit the needs of the labour market

A Comparative Study of the Impact of the Ghanaian Public Procurement Processes before and after the Enactment in 2003- A Case Study of Accra Polytechnic

In Ghana, a Public Procurement law was passed in 2003 as the Public Procurement Act 663. The enactment of the Public Procurement law was to ensure that Ghana’s public procurement practices were harmonized and streamlined to conform to International procurement best practices and standards. This study is a comparative analysis of the impact the Public Procurement practices before and after the enactment of the Public Procurement Act, Act 663 of 2003. More specifically, it seeks to analyze the extent to which the introduction of the Public Procurement law widened the competitiveness and transparency element of the public procurement process. A case study approach was adopted and Accra Polytechnic was used as the research unit. The researchers used questionnaires and interview schedule to gather data. The departments involved were the procurement unit, finance, internal audit, development, stores and estates. The findings revealed the impact from a broader public sector management perspective and also exhaustively focused narrowly and specifically on the impact of the Act on Accra Polytechnic procurement practices. The findings also indicated that prior to the enactment of the Public Procurement Law the procurement process was often shrouded in secrecy, lack of transparency, thereby limiting the competitive space. However, with the enactment of the Act and the subsequent creation of the regulatory body, Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to oversee and superintend over public sector procurement, there has been an improvement and enhancement of procurement entities responsiveness and competitiveness. Key words: Competitiveness, transparency, value for mone

Effect of Human Resource Management Practices on the Performance of Small and Medium Hotels of Osu Klottey Sub-Metropolitan Assembly of Greater Accra

The study investigated the effect of human resource Management practices on performance of Small and Medium Hotels in Osu Klottey Sub-Metropolitan Assembly of Greater Accra of Ghana.  Descriptive survey design was used for the study.  Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were engaged to sample 200 respondents out of a total population of 501 full time workers of the hotels.  Questions were formulated to guide the study.  Frequency tables and charts were used to present the responses.  Person’s correlation was employed to test the performance of the hotels.  Major findings were that correlation coefficient for the relationship between rewards and compensations and the firms’ performance was, however, negative - 0.269.  Also, it was found that the relationships between the hotels’ performance and the human resource management practices were statistically significant at alpha (?) = 0.05.  These indicate there are slightly little but positive influence on impact of the recruitment procedures on the hotels’ performances though rewards and compensations had little influence on hotels performance.  It also indicates that lack of rewards and compensations demotivates employees to give off their best.  Based on the findings some recommendations were made, which offers a new and improved performance. Keywords: Reward and Compensation, Small and Medium Hotels, Firm Performanc

Effect of Recruitment and Selection Practices on the Performance of Small and Medium Hotels of Osu Klottey Sub-Metropolitan Assembly of Greater Accra

The study investigated the effect of human resource Management practices on performance of Small and Medium Hotels in Osu Klottey Sub-Metropolitan Assembly of Greater Accra of Ghana.  Descriptive survey design was used for the study.  Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were engaged to sample 200 respondents out of a total population of 501 full time workers of the hotels.  Questionnaire, interview schedule and conversation schedule were formulated to guide the study.  Frequency tables and charts were used to present the responses.  Person’s correlation was employed to test the performance of the hotels.  Major finding was that the relationships between the hotels’ performance and the recruitment and selection practices were statistically significant at alpha (?) = 0.05.  These indicate there are slightly little but positive influence on the selection processes on the hotels’ performances. Based on the findings some recommendations were made, which offers a new and improved performance. Keywords: Recruitment and Selection Practices, Small and Medium Hotels, Firm Performanc

Supply Chain cost identification as a means of cost reduction strategy. -A case study of Ghana Supply Company Limited

This paper examines the concept of supply chain (SC) to explore non-value adding activities in order to offer a firm, a cost reduction strategy. This strategy starts with mapping the SC and identifying each and every activity along it, starting from the last tier supplier to the final consumer. The aim of the paper is to examine the SC processes of Ghana Supply Company Limited (GSCL). A small-scale case study was adopted with both primary and secondary data sources being used. The primary data focused on the use of personal interviews and questionnaires while secondary data was sourced from journals, the internet and other publications pertinent to the topic.  Sample of ten questionnaires were administered on the personnel of the Procurement, Warehousing and Shipping departments constituting a population of twenty-nine (29). Close and open-ended questions were asked to enable respondents to come out with divergent answers. Findings of the study revealed that the supply chain operations of GSCL to a large extent is well coordinated as evidenced by the integration of activities such as procurement, shipping, warehousing and fleet management under the direct control and supervision of the Director of Operations. Key words: Supply chain, cost reduction, value adding activitie

The Nexus between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-competencies: a social enterprise perspective

The purpose of the study was to examine the mediation roles of student satisfaction and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the nexus between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-competencies within a social enterprise context. The study used a cross-sectional survey design, with a sampled population of 185 business students from three universities (Accra Technical University, Cape Coast Technical University and the University of Ghana) in Ghana. A PLS-SEM approach was used to examine the relationships among the independent–dependent constructs in the study. Entrepreneurial education had positive and significant relationships to student satisfaction and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, but it showed an insignificant relationship to entrepreneurial self-competencies. Student satisfaction was also found to relate positively and significantly to entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial self-competencies. Furthermore, both student satisfaction and entrepreneurial self-efficacy were found to fully mediate the nexus between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-competencies. The study highlights the crucial roles of student satisfaction and self-efficacy in the implementation of entrepreneurial education in higher education institutions. In a discipline that is characterised by paucity, this study provides a unique and original assessment of the important roles of student satisfaction and student self-confidence in building entrepreneurial competencies among students

The role of personality differences in achieving organisational productivity

Purpose: This study examines the role of personality differences in organizational productivity. Specifically, the study examined the level of acceptance of individual differences, ascertained how individuals relate to each other to attain preset productivity levels and assessed how personality differences translate into organizational productivity. Research methodology: Using a quantitative research approach and case study design, data were collected from 190 employees through simple random sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics from IBM SPSS Statistics 24 and are presented in the tables. Results: The results showed a high level of acceptance of individual differences, even though leaders mostly failed to adjust to employee differences. It was also found that, although leaders did not invest in employee relations programs, personality differences positively affected organizational productivity. The findings also reveal that employees are creative in managing resources and materials for production, explaining the significant influence of personality differences on productivity. Limitations: The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics only. Therefore, no inferences can be made. This study was limited to the employees of the Ghana Meteorological Agency. Contribution: Organizational leaders need to become more tolerant of individual employee differences, as this goes a long way to improve organizational productivity. Future studies should consider other industries in which the workforce is more diverse. Novelty: This study highlighted the role of personality differences in achieving organizational productivity with evidence from the Ghana Meteorological Agency

Inclusivity and sustainability within Ghana: enhancing awareness and utilisation of social enterprise and entrepreneurship for all

Report commissioned by the British Council. In Ghana, youth unemployment is high, and there is a lack of awareness and understanding of social enterprise despite it being a possible resolution to the employment of young Ghanaians. Social enterprises have great potential to reduce youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa. The social enterprise approach can achieve this partly because it relies less on public sector and donor funding, unlike other conventional business approaches