CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1     Background of the study
The concept of employees’ commitment has received increased attention in the recent times. According to Becker (2000) research literatures are paying increasing attention to the concept of commitment as managers and organizational analysts are continually seeking ways of increasing employee retention and performance. Interest in organizational commitment has therefore been stimulated largely because evidence in the research literature has it that commitment reduces turnover and increases performance. A reduction in turnover could be an indication of a high level of commitment and performance. An increase in turnover on the other hand could amount to a low level of organizational commitment and performance. This is because a high level of organizational performance can be achieved only when an organization has a committed labour force.
With the introduction of monetization and fringe benefits policy in 2005, civil servants have been paid certain percentage of their basic salary as fringe benefits which are added to the basic salary, meaning an increment in salary of workers. Although, there is much academic debate on the extent to which additional income is a direct motivator (Nwagwu, 2007).
Job satisfaction describes how satisfied an individual is with his or her job. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Job satisfaction is not the same as motivation or aptitude, although it is clearly linked.Job design aims to enhance job satisfaction include job rotation, job enlargement, job enrichment and job re-engineering. Other influences on satisfaction include the management style and culture, employee involvement, empowerment and autonomous work position. Job satisfaction is a very important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations.
1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Commitment of worker has been described by Moser (2002) as the most important ingredient to an effective work output. Aside from completing tasks for the joy of doing them, it has been discovered that motivation drives people’s behaviour to attain a specific outcome. This explains why developing an effective and efficient compensation system becomes an important part of the human resource management process in advanced countries.
The attitude of Nigerian workers in terms of output compared to the more developed countries in recent times is becoming alarming. This could be attributed to uneven reward system, poor income, and unfavourable social, economic, and political infrastructure of the country. Rewards are an ever-present and always controversial feature of organizational life in Nigeria
The monetization policy, which was formally introduced into the Nigerian Public Service in 2005 led to monetization of those physical benefits which were added to the basic salary of workers. Despite the implementation of monetization policy in Nigeria, little has been done to clearly show the effect of the policy on the level of the performance of workers. However, their purchasing power is hardly enhanced due to the biting effects of inflation and high cost of living in the country. There is the need to know whether the addition to salary through the monetization of benefits and prompt payment of these benefits will have any effect on the workers with their disposition to their workplace.
Government employees and their immediate families have always enjoyed these benefits at her expense. Though the running cost may not cater for all the expenditure, but the expenses incurred in the course of service are refunded, most workers get their expended money back when these funds are released for offices. Now, it is not clear whether workers would want to spend their money to buy all these physical needs under monetization regime since it is now consolidated to the salary to almost become the basic salary. It is not also clear how monetization policy will lead to improved welfare condition of the workers through the provision of all the monetized needs from their new salary scale, judging from the impact of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) on workers.
In essence, workers commitment to their jobs and their efforts are often not addressed properly, creating room for false claims, agitations and labour conflicts.