Employee Relations Strategy: Implication for Performance in Lagos State University, South-West, Nigeria

The incessant industrial action, strike, boycotting among workers in the educational sector especially in the public universities is becoming a worrisome phenomenon. This paper examined the impact of employee relations strategy (Organizational policies, Promotion, Equity, Recognition and Mentoring) on job performance in Lagos State University, Southwest, Nigeria. A model was developed and tested using One hundred and thirty six (136) copies of valid questionnaire, which were completed by staff in the State owned university, Lagos, Nigeria. Structural Equation Modeling was adopted to test the hypotheses and relationships that might exist among variables. Results of the analysis indicates that equity, promotion, mentoring and recognition have positive influence on employees’ performance. While in the opposite direction, organizational policies have negative and insignificant effect on job performance which suggest that increase in employees’ performance will require that managers pay more attention to friendly organizational policies.


INTRODUCTION
Management of people at work is an integral part ofmanagement process in providing enabling work environment and retaining employees. Employees are one of the most important determinants and leading factors that facilitate the success and failure of any organization in a competitive environment. The survival and prosperity of a company in the turbulent and highly competitive environment of today depends mainly on the quality of its employees. This quality itself is a reflection of the breadth and depth of the managers' knowledge of the functions to be performed in engaging competent employees and promoting flexible organizational policies. A growing number of organizations see human resources as major contributors to accomplishing corporate objectives. While others now recognize the fact that employing effective employee relation strategies can be the greatest strength of their organizations. Ever since the conception of modern economic organizations, employee relation has been the most critical element in both public and private sectors (Albrecht, 2010). The growing competitions in Nigeria especially in the tertiary institutions have called for consistent implementation of effective strategies to enhance harmonious relationship between employers and employees, thereby reducing workplace conflict. Many studies (Cooper & Payne, 2008;Aluko, 2007;Crandall & Perrewe, 2005;Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lentz, & Lima, 2004) have indicated that workplace conflict is a significant factor that may affect job performance. Hameed (2009) posits that managing the relationship between an employer and employee is a contentious issue that may affect the performance of both management and staff in Nigerian tertiary institutions. It is also argued that this relationship can influence employees' attitudes (Falola, Ibidunni & Olokundun, 2014;Redmond, 2013), commitment and involvement (Wagner & Harter, 2006) which eventuallycan result to retention (Taiwo, 2010;Stajkovic & Fred, 2003) or turnover (Robbins & Judge, 2008), displeasure, tiredness, dissatisfaction and low productivity (Kaufman, Chapman & Allen, 2013).
The incessant industrial action such as strike, boycotting among workers especially in the public universities, is becoming a worrisome phenomenon in the educational sector. The causes of these industrial action can be attributed to many factors associated with employment relations. Studies have indicated specific issues that can adversely affect employee relations and ultimately lead to workplace conflict within the public university system. One of the imperative factors is inequitable pay which has an adverse effect on job performance (Adeniji & Osibanjo, 2012). Inequitable pay is an indispensable factor that occurs as a result of cost reduction (Aluko, 2007). Rigid bureaucratic structure and organizational climate (Spector, 2008) and uncertainty (Pinder, 2008) also affect employees' satisfaction negatively. Carter and Aston (2002) revealed that coercion and poor team building affects corporate performance. Other mitigating sources include lack of participation/involvement in decision making (Nolan, 2012); longer working hours (Aluko, 2007), inadequate capacity development (Gennard & Judge, 2002), insufficient welfare services (Cooper & Payne, 2008); poor relationship with supervisors and colleagues (Oakland & Oakland, 2001); increased industrial hazard (Siegel, Schraeder & Morrison, 2007;Harlow & Lawler, 2000); job insecurity (Manjunath & Rajesh, 2012) and delay in payment of salary. The fulfillment of the above factors ultimately leads to employees' retention and increased involvement. Numerous studies (Albrecht, 2010;Hameed, 2009;Crandall & Perrewe, 2005) proposed that increased level of employment relationship leads to higher job satisfaction. Other studies (Manjunath & Rajesh, 2012;Albrecht, 2010;Pinder, 2008;Oakland & Oakland, 2001) indicated that when employees are satisfied with their jobs, they tend to be more committed and productive in their organization. The level of employees' retention and involvement is a function of employees' relation strategies experienced by the workers especially in the tertiary institutions. Thus employer relations strategy in State universities is an unexamined genre in scholarly literature. It is this dimension that is of preponderant concern in this paper which is, to examine the effects of employee relations strategy (organizational policies, recognition, promotion, equity & mentoring) on job performance in a State owned university.

Statement of the Research Problem
University's continued existence and sustainability in competitive environment requires the provision of an environment that stimulates labour management relations. It is essential to note that when employment relationship is defective, there are tendencies for many factors to emerge which will adversely affects job performance. However, university management must have the capability not only to enhance peaceful co-existence, but must also intensify efforts to prevent work related conflict occurring at workplace via consistent promotional opportunities, appropriate communication style, healthy ethical attitude, change management, propermanagerial style and other motivational factors (Taiwo, 2010;Wagner & Harter, 2006).
Employee relations strategy comes in many forms depending on the nature and size of the organization. Employee relations strategy has been found to be an important aspect for effective and efficient management of organizations, yet there is little evidence for the implementation of such strategy in the Nigerian University system especially the State owned universities. Employeerelations strategy as an independent variable can be influenced by other variables such as organizational policies, recognition, promotion, equity & mentoring and so on.The significance of employee relations in maintaining peace is well known, but this becomes challenging where inequality and poor implementation is on the high side.Over the years, it has been observed that poor implementation of collective agreements reached by the parties/actors and increase in pay inequality has led to the development of distrust, apprehension and emotional exhaustion which are quite obvious in the public universities.
In the Nigerian university system, employee relations strategy and performance are linked with wages/salaries, workplace climate and other benefits, whereas other factors such as organizational policies, recognition, promotion, equity and mentoringare not being addressed. Studies (Majunath & Rahesh, 2012;Mike, 2008;Wagner & Harter, 2006) have also revealed that peaceful co-existence between the parties (government/employers and employees) largely contributes to employees' satisfaction, but these studies failed to identify the strength and degree of the relationship between employee relations and work performance.
However, previous studies (Albrecht, 2010;Cooper & Payne, 2008;Mike, 2008;Hicks & Caroline, 2007) reveals that employee relations is no longer a new practice of human resource management and organizational behavior but in spite of the attention and resources paid to the practice, public (State) universities are still prone to incessant industrial action. Though few studies have been conducted in the Western world using other sectors, but limited or no empirical studies have been conducted using tertiary institutions especially State owned universities in South-West, Nigeria. Therefore, this study attempts to examine whether the results achieved in the western world can be replicated with a wider scope in Nigeria.
Hence, the relationships between independent variables (such as organizational policies, recognition, promotion, equity, mentoring) and dependent variable (performance) were discussed and this necessitated the need for specific research questions for the study as follows: 1. To what extent has organizational policies (H1) and recognition (H2) been impactful on employee retention (direct) and performance (indirect)?
Research questions are depicted in Figure 1 (Conceptual Framework).

Employee Relations
Employee relation has become a vital ingredient for enhancing performance and the productivity of an organization. The management and co-ordination of human activities have become the cornerstone for achieving organizational survival. This achievement facilitatesthe protection of employees' interest and their welfare for the purpose of avoiding conflictual relations between the employer and the employee (Mike, 2008). Employee relations focuses on the management of the relationship between the employees and the employers in order to heighten their commitment (Gennard & Judge, 2002), passion, performance (Hameed, 2009), loyalty, productivity (Mike, 2008) and motivation (Crandall & Perrewe, 2005). Employee relation largely focuses on the prevention of conflictual issues and solving problems in the workplace (Cooper & Payne, 2008). Some problems arise in the workplace especially when supervisors correct performancesthat are below expected results. This is why Human Resource managers should provide disciplinary approaches that are progressive and also ensure that humane procedures are followed while settling disputes and resolving grievances of employees (Harlow & Lawler, 2000). Good employee relations also ensures that employees are given necessary guidance and information which can help to promote the practices, programmes, philosophies and policies of the organization (Redmond, 2013;Dessler, 2004). It also ensures that the employees have information about their rights and are helped to resolve their poor performance issues or workplace misconduct. Employee relations strategy arises in a wide range work situations but become worse when employees perceived that they are underpaid or have little or no control over work processes. Poor employee relation strategies adopted by employers of labourcan be caused by numerous factors such as lack of recognition, lack of workers participation in decision making, rigid bureaucratic structure (Leblebici, 2012), poor organizational climate (Pinder, 2008), poor management style (Nelson, 2005), non-supportive environment (Al-Anzi, 2009), pay inequality (Redmond, 2013;Stecher & Rosse, 2007), inadequate mentoring programmes (Dessler, 2004), amongst other factors.

Organizational Policies, Employee Retention and Performance
Organizations formulate and implement effective HR policies that accurately reflect their core values and philosophies; and the relationships between management (employer) and employees; sometimes the policies are established to solve current and future contingencies. The more flexible and consistent these policies are, the greater the level of employees' involvement (Osibanjo, Salau & Falola, 2014). The organizational policies mostly cover areas like: promotional system, change management, compensation packages (Pinder, 2008), recruitment strategies, occupational health and safety, labour-management relations, information and communication system (Oakland & Oakland, 2001).The study therefore hypothesized that: Hypothesis 1: Organizational policies have positive effect on employees' retention and performance.

Recognition, Employee retention and Performance
Recognition has become a strategic method of facilitatingemployee retention in the recent days (Kaufman, et al., 2013). Some studies (Leblebici, 2012;Mike, 2008;Huges, 2007) added that recognition has contributed to mutual relationship and cohesiveness between employers and employees and this thereby help in reducing their intention to leave or absent from work (Nelson & Quick, 2005;Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004;Banjoko, 2002). Al-Anzi (2009) pointed that lack of recognition, career development and career opportunities are major reasons for employees' intention to leave an organization for another. A Study by Greenberg and Baron (2003) also indicated that recognition in terms of workers participation in management, respect, self fulfilment are important factors that help in influencing the satisfaction and retention level of an employee. Based on the above, the study therefore hypothesized that: Hypothesis 2: Recognition has positive influence on retention and performance.

Equity, Employee retention and Performance
Equity is of great importance to most organizations. An essential strategy for talent retention is the establishment and sustenance of an equitable work environment (Redmond, 2013;Siegel, et al., 2007;Adams, 1963). Equity is fundamental to employment relationship because it is necessary for | 57 employees to perceive a sense of fairness in terms of compensation, support, appreciation, recognition, support, growth and advancement for the work they are doing (Stecher & Rosse, 2007). Inequity raises dissatisfaction, displeasure and disillusionment (Albrecht, 2010;Hicks & Caroline, 2007). Dissatisfaction and disillusionmentpromotes work related stress which eventually can lead to low involvement and commitment. When workers sense that management are treating them unfairly, they turn out to be less committed and sometimes counter-productiveand if this is not controlled, it can lead to low capacity development, low commitment, absenteeism, and high attrition rate (Aluko, 2007), therefore we hypothesized that: Hypothesis 3: Equity has positive influence on retention and performance.

Promotion, Job Satisfaction and Performance
Promotion is an indispensable and strategic tool for enhancing job satisfaction and increased performance. Numerous studies like (Chan & Mak, 2012;Demet, 2012;Dessler, 2004) pointed that employees feel motivated when they perceive consistent promotional opportunities. Redmond (2013) argued that some factors such as advancement, promotion, learning and career development, appreciation and enabling environment give employees greater opportunities which significantly influence their attitude to work. However, when promotions are not delayed unduly and free from mediocrity (Finegold & Frenkel, 2006), employees tend to make outstanding results possible in the organization (Salau, Falola & Akibonde, 2014;Albrecht, 2010;Banjoko, 2002). To buttress this fact, Al-Anzi (2009) adduced that absence of promotional system and opportunities may lead to absenteeism, high turnover rate, low commitment and performance which make the realization of organizational objectives invisible. In order to ascertain the relationship between ergonomics and employee satisfaction, we hypothesized that: Hypothesis 4: Promotion has positive effect on employee satisfaction and performance.

Mentoring, Employees' Involvement and Job Performance
Mentoring has become a predominant factor of career and professional development in both the public and private sector.Mentoring is typically a formal or informal affiliationthat involves effective communication between two persons (Bozeman & Feeney, 2007). One may be senior mentor (usually outside the protégé's chain of supervision) and the other a junior protégé. Mentorship is an interpersonal (Parsloe, 2000) and developmental relationship (Pompper & Adams, 2006;Allen, vd., 2004) in which a more wellinformed, knowledgeable, educated and experienced individual assist in building, guiding and directing the efforts of a less skilledand knowledgeable individual. The mentor may be an adult or young person, but have a special area of proficiency and expertise. It is a capacity development relationship between someone with immenseknowledge and a learner (Allen, Eby & Lentz, 2006). Mentoring is a systematic process for transferring formal and informal knowledge, cognitive support and the psychosocial support observed by the receiver as appropriate to work, occupation, business or profession (Brashear, Boles, Bellenger & Barksdale, 2006).Numerous studies revealed that mentoring has helped employee to inspire the protégé's development in specific areas and to facilitate successful completion of a task (Bozeman & Feeney, 2007;Glomb & Welsh, 2005) and sometimes lead to high retention (Parsloe & Wray, 2000). While these mentoring relationships can produce positive developmental and organizational outcomes, it can sometimes fail due to a variety of causes and problems such as lack of involvement, inadequate experience on the part of the mentor, no leadership involvement, poor planning, unrealistic expectations, and "fuzzy" goals). This study therefore hypothesize that: Hypothesis 5: Mentoring has positive effect on employees' involvement and performance.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Several theories underpin the subject of employee relations. Three (3) theories (class theory, involvement theory and equity theory) were examined.

Labour Process / Class Theory
Labour process or class theory was originally formulated by Karl Marx (translated in 1976). According to Marx, labour process refers to the process whereby labour is materialized or objectified in use values. Labour is here an interaction between the person who works and the natural world such that elements of the latter are consciously altered in a purposive manner. Hence the elements of labour process are; three-fold: first, the work itself, a purposive productive activity; second the object(s) on which that work is performed; and third, the instruments which facilitate the process of work. The labour process is sometimes loosely termed "work organization". The theory largely focuses on class struggles between bourgeoisie (employers) and proletariat (employees). This struggle becomes predominant where management of the organizations are trying to maximize profit and reduce cost; on the other hand, employees striving to improve their standard of living and condition of work. The struggle between these classes if not properly controlled and harmonized ultimately leads to workplace conflict. One major aspect of Marx class theory that fully elucidates the subject matter under study is what he termed the pre-alienated worker. He opined that at the point of alienation, the worker is only directed not by self but by organizational forces which he does not have controlled over.

Theory of Involvement
This theory was propounded by Astin (1984). The ideology of Astin centered on the significance of employee involvement. He sees involvement as a strategic means of facilitating almost all the aspects of employees' cognitive and emotional development. He identified three components of employee involvement which includes informative involvement, involvement with management, and involvement with other co-worker. By implication, this theory implies that, the more involved an employee is with the organization, the higher likelihood of employee retention. In order to cope with the changing competitive environment, Roberts, Thomas and Bartram (2012) contended that organizations need to engage people who are capable of being both managers and leaders in the way they influence, mentor and develop others in formal and informal capacities.

Adams' Equity Theory
J. Stacy Adams, a workplace and behavioral psychologist in 1963 adduced that equity theory shows how a person views fairness in regard to social relationships. A person identifies the amount of input gained from a relationship compared to the output, as well as how much effort another person puts forth. Equity Theory suggests that if an individual thinks there is an inequality between two groups or individuals, the person is likely to be distressed because the ratio between the input and the output are not equal which will lessen motivation and lead to decrease job commitment by the party which feels cheated. Employees compare the outcome of their input to that of similar worker performing similar activities. Hence, the work place relationships would be decided by the degree of equity provided by the conditions of work. Workers would discharge their duties more and improve production and feel part of the organization when they perceive there is equality between their inputs and the resultant output. Hence, equity theory has actually examined the relationship between employees work behavior and employment relations. Equity theory explains that employees cognitively make comparison of their inputs (knowledge, skills, abilities, time, energy, qualification, experience, etc) into an organization with that of comparable person or persons (similar in inputs) within and outside the organization. By implications, where employee perceives a wide gap between input and output in terms of pay inequality, such organizations may be a victim of increased insecurity, anxiety, low organizational commitment, high labour turnover, low productivity and involvement (Gallagher & Sverke, 2005).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study is descriptive in nature using survey research design. The study population from which the sample was drawn comprises of staff and management of a Public (State) university in South-West, Nigeria. The population of the state university is 1158.Using Mason (1978) formula, 212 was adopted as the sample size. Therefore, two hundred and twelve questions (212) copies of the questionnaire were administered to both academic and non-academic members of Lagos State University, South west, Nigeria and only one hundred and thirty-six (136) copies of the questionnaire were valid and used for this study, yielding sixty-four (64) percent of the total questionnaire administered.
The structured questionnaire for the survey contained two (2) sections; the first section sought for the demographic characteristics of the respondents while the second section contained fifteen (15) items out of which the employment relation strategy items were adapted from Armstrong (2005). However, the independent variables (organizational policies, equity, career development and mentoring); moderating variables (employee retention, satisfaction and involvement); and dependent variable (performance) were adapted from literature reviewed and each item was based on 5-Likert scales ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). The procedure result of the reliability statistics test based on standardized items has Cronbach's Alpha of .793, considering the fact that .70 is the acceptable cut-off value.
Responses were analyzed with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) AMOS 21, with the adoption of Structural Equation Modelling | 59 (SEM) to obtain regression and correlation between observed variables and also regression between the dependent and independent constructs of the study. Various fit indices were utilized in assessing the overall fit of the study model.

Results and Discussion
The demographic characteristics of the respondents are depicted in Table 1. The male gender constituted 67.9% of the population; age 30 to 39 years old represented 42.6%. In terms of relevance, the age distribution of the respondent could be said to be adequate for this survey. Expectedly, employees ranging from 30 to 39 years tend to be prone to be old enough to handle relationship with the superior. In addition, 65.9% of the respondents are married. Furthermore, 55.4% are with MSc/MBA. This shows that the respondents are literate and educated to provide reasonable answers to the questions; while 35.3% of the respondents have worked with the organization for 6-10 years.
Table 2 displays the model fit summary for the survey. Bentler and Wu (2002); Bentler and Bonett (1980); and Kaplan (2000) argued that different indicators of goodness-of-fit are usually adopted in various research concepts. Further, the higher the number of the indices of indicators, the acceptable of a good fit such as Normed Fit Index (NFI) =>.90; and Comparative Fit Index (CFI) acceptable value =>.90. Other informative indices that measure the close association between the model and the data include Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEA); Goodness of fit (GFI); etc.
The goodness of fit explains the close association that exists between the observed and expected values. Obtained scores are therefore compared with the cut-off values (Bentler & Wu, 2002;Bentler & Bonett, 1980) in order to establish the degree of fit. The fit index shows that NFI = .958; CFI = .962; GFI = .987; CMIN/df = 3.303 and minimum score as indicated in the cut-off values was achieved as shown in Table 2.
Figure 2 depicts standardized estimates of the structural model outlining the path coefficient scores of the observed variables in the study. It is evident in the coefficient scores obtained that close association exists amongst the tested variables (mentoring, recognition, equity, promotion and organizational policies), while the regression weights are depicted in Table 3. The parameter estimate as depicted in Figure 2 indicates that promotion is the most significant predictors of performance with aid of the mediating variable (retention). When recognition goes up by 1 standard deviation, retention goes up by 0.11 standard deviations. When mentoring goes up by 1 standard deviation, retention goes up by 0.065 standard deviations. When promotion goes up by 1 standard deviation, employee involvement goes up by 0.133 standard deviations. When equity goes up by 1 standard deviation, retention goes up by 0.113 standard deviations. When organizational policies go up by 1 standard deviation, employee involvement goes down by 0.208 standard deviations.
Mentoring (H5), recognition (H2) promotion (H4) and equity (H3) were found to be indirectly and statistically significant of the prediction of performance. Therefore, the study hypothesized statements were accepted. While organizational policies (H1) exerted negative and insignificant influence on performance. As obtained in the literature, organizational policies play a significant role in employees' performance. However, the results obtained from the survey are contrary to the earlier studies in which positive and significant relationship were identified between organizational policies (Demet, 2012;Albrecht, 2010;Dessler, 2004) and performance. By implications, since employees have no control over policies such as sick days, insufficient provision of conference supports and research grants, workplace safety procedures and policies regarding career and capacity development, these may be the factors that could be responsible for low performance.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION
The principal objective of the study is to identify the relationship between employee relation strategies and employees' performance using a case organization within the Nigerian educational sector. It is evident that employee relation strategies influence employees' performance. Therefore, the study provides insight to the effect of employee relation strategies taking into consideration variables such as flexible organizational policies, | 61 recognition, equity, promotion and mentoring on employees' performance through mediating variables such as employee involvement and retention. The implication for decision makers is that the more an organization engages in supportive employee relation strategy, the higher the retention level which will ultimately lead to increased job performance. Obviously, managers should pay more attention to the proper management of flexible organizational policies, consistent promotional system and mentoring programmes as these variables have positive and significant effects on employees' performance. Recognition and equitable pay should serve as a competitive advantage in order to increase employees' efficiency. Based on the obtained result from the study, organizational policies have negative and insignificant effect on performance, which suggest that increase in employees' performance will require that managers pay more attention to flexible organizational policies. This might be an isolation case since the study was conducted in an institution within a particular zone, however it is expedient to suggest that future study may wish to explore the effect of organizational policies on employees' performance in other institutions within the Nigerian education sector.