Human Resource Management Practices and the Performance of the Poultry Industry ()
1. Introduction
Organisations irrespective of the size and type, require resources in order to achieve their objectives. These resources are categorised into human and non-human resources [1] . Non-human resources are made up of all assets of organisations such as money, equipment and machinery, real estate, vehicles, land, etc. that are used in the production of goods and services [2] . The human resources, on the other hand, are the people that support the production of goods and services in organisations. According to [3] , human resource includes everything that employees have which make them employable. Human resources include knowledge, skills, talent emotions and abilities as elements that are inherent in human beings that make them productive [4] . Distinguishing human resource from other resources of organisations, [5] has indicated that human resource resides in human beings, and it is described as an active resource, while the other resources are regarded as dormant or inactive. Describing human resource as active means the human resource is creative, innovative and can initiate actions, which can put the inactive resources of organisations into action.
Researchers including [2] [6] [7] have asserted, that human resource is the most important among all the resources of organisations. As an important resource of organisations, it plays a crucial role in supporting sustainable competitive advantage in achieving both short-term and long-term prosperity of organisations. According to the Resource Based View (RBV) theory, owning resources alone does not give the required benefits to organisations, but how these resources are managed [8] . Human resource (HR) like any other resource, needs to be managed well before the full benefit can be realized. Human resource management (HRM) deals with philosophies, policies programmes, practices and decisions put in place to ensure that employees are attracted, maintained and retained in organisations to assist in achieving corporate objectives [4] . The need for effective human resource management has therefore been stressed by researchers including [3] [9] .
HRM plays an important role in identifying people problems in a firm and providing solutions to them [3] . The importance of HRM in the achievement of organisational objectives has been identified at both global and local levels. Effective human resource management helps organisations in achieving competitive advantage [4] , which implies that the success or failure of organisations, depends on effective management of human resource.
The relationship between HRM and organisational performance explains the theoretical basis of this study, which is based on the premise that a well-managed human resource is a productive one. The study, therefore, assumes that every organisation has human resources, among others, and that the performance of the organisation is functionally dependent on the human resource management practices. As a result, organisations both formal and informal make conscious efforts to manage their human resource [9] . However, little is known regarding how the human resource is managed in the informal sector, such as the poultry industry. This study therefore explores the state of human resource management practices in the informal sector (poultry industry) in the Dormaa municipality in Ghana. The selection of the poultry industry was informed by the enormous contributions that the sector has made and continues to make in the Ghanaian economy [10] . The contributions of poultry industry to the gross domestic product (GDP), among others, are the supply of proteins to support food security in the country, provision of employment and poverty alleviation in both rural and urban folks, which are part of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
1.1. Problem Statement
According to the RBV theory, when human resources are well managed helps organisations to achieve their targets, higher performance [11] . Effective human resource management improves organisational performance [12] . Alternatively, poor human resource management will result in high cost of production, lost of customers which may lead to the collapse of the organisation [5] . In another development, [13] have argued that effective human resource management is one of the strategies through which effective and efficient performance can be achieved. The report from [10] indicates that the process value chain of the poultry industry, provides employment to the poultry farmers as well as the youth in the communities. The output value chain of the poultry industry, regarding eggs and chicken production provides employment for thousands of people through the sales of eggs and chicken [14] .
In spite of the numerous contributions, the poultry industry is faced with many challenges, especially regarding human resource management practices [15] . As indicated by [2] the poultry industry is confronted with challenges regarding getting the right, competent and committed employees to be employed in the industry. The issue, according to [14] , has affected the productivity in the poultry industry, hence the collapse of many poultry farms. Establishing procedures to manage human resources in the poultry industry will help to attract, maintain and retain the right human resource that will make the poultry industry more productive. It is against this background that the current study assesses human resource management practices and its influence on the performance of the poultry industry in order to provide more understanding and an approach that can assist in improving the situation in the poultry industry.
1.2. Objective of the Study
The focus of this study was to assess the HRM practices and how they influence the performance of the poultry industry. Specifically, the study sought to; examine the state of human resource management practices in the poultry farming, determine the challenges facing the poultry farmers in managing human resources and assess the effect of human resource management practices on the performance of the poultry industry.
2. Literature Review
The review examines the theoretical framework of the study, conceptual definitions on human resource management practices, and conceptual framework of the study. The Resource Based View theory was employed as the theoretical basis for the study.
2.1. Resource Based View (RBV) Theory
The main tenets of the theory are that resources are critical to the superior performance of organisations and that the resources needed for competitive advantage are within the organisation but not outside [16] . In other words, the theory examines the competitive advantage of the firm in relation to its resources within the firm. According to [17] , RBV examines organisations’ ability to obtain sustainable competitive advantage when they manage their resources in such a way that their efforts cannot be imitated by their competitors. The theory is described as theory of rent generation based on the market imperfections. It has been argued that RBV is based on two key concepts namely, resources and capabilities [18] . Resources are explained to be the basic primary inputs into the firm’s production processes and include all assets both human and non-human resources, owned and controlled by the firms that enable firms to design, conceive and implement effective and efficient strategies [16] . Capabilities on the other hand, describe the important features that confer superiority on organisations, which cannot be replicated by competitors.
RBV emphasises that firm’s resources including human resources must be heterogeneous and immobile [18] . The heterogeneity of resources assumes that human resources owned by firms should be different from one firm to another. The implication is that if all firms have the same stock of resources (human resources) then, no strategy will be available to one firm that will not be available to another firm. The theory further assumes that the resources should not be perfectly mobile [16] . It is argued that performance differentials are derived from rent differentials that are attributable to resources having intrinsically different levels of effectiveness and efficiency that emerged from how the resources are managed. The heterogeneity or uniqueness of resources that come out of how the resources are managed, is a necessary condition for a resource bundle to contribute to higher performance [17] . Even though the RBV theory has been criticised by many including [19] [20] with respect to some of its assumptions, it has been used extensively by many researchers such as [21] [22] to explain the relevance of resources in achieving organisational objectives. It is in support of these reasons that the current study has adopted BV as the theory that underpins it, since the theory explains the relevance of human resource in achieving organisational goals, and that it is not enough to own human resources, but how effectively and efficiently the human resources are managed. The theory has therefore justified the need for human resource management, to attract, maintain and retain employees in organisations.
2.2. The Concept of Human Resource Management
Human resource is defined as the set of workers who constitute the workforce of a firm [23] . The human resource as part of the human capital concept is the skills the labour force possesses and is regarded as an asset. It encompasses the notion that there should be investments in people and includes education, training, health and that these investments increase an individual’s productivity [24] . Human resource refers to the people employed by an organisation and it includes anything that is in any particular worker that makes him/her desirable by an employer [5] , and that human resource consists of the knowledge, skills, talents, emotion and ability of the members of the organisation which are intangible in value.
According to [4] , knowledge refers to that which is known, information, instruction, and experiences upon which one is able to act. The skills are described as any craft or accomplishment, expertise and competences appropriate for a particular job and they are acquired through formal or informal training. Talents unlike skills, are natural or special gift that one is able to exhibit without any extraordinary effort, they are inborn. Emotion as an element of human resources, has been explained by [12] as feelings and the various states of the mind such as anger, joy, fear, and sorrow which can affect productivity. Lastly, the ability is the power to do something or quality or state of being able and shows the act of applying these resources productively [25] .
Theorists and practitioners have underscored the importance of human resource in achieving organisational objectives however, for human resource to be able to support organisations to achieve such benefits, it needs to be managed as stressed by the RBV theory [8] , hence the need for human resource management. Human resource management (HRM) like any other discipline has been defined differently by different writers, to include all the philosophies, policies, programmes, practices and decisions related to how people are managed to increase the usage of employees effectively in order to achieve organisational and employee goals [12] . Human resource management focuses on managing the workforce in order to use employees productively to reach the organisation’s strategic business objectives and to fulfill employees’ needs [2] . Human resource management has been by [26] as the concepts, theories and strategies that organisations adopt to manage the human beings who are the key resource to the achievement of organisational goals.
It can be inferred from these definitions that HRM includes all the activities that managers engage in to attract, maintain and retain employees and to ensure that they perform at a high level and contribute to the accomplishment of organisational goals. In other words, HRM encompasses all the tasks, duties and functions required to attract, maintain and retain human resources in organisation.
The importance of human resource management is derived from specific functions or roles performed by human resource managers. These functions include human resource planning, employment process, training and development, performance management, compensation or rewards management, health and safety management and employee relations management [5] . These functions can broadly be grouped under three main categories, namely attracting, maintaining and retaining human resources.
2.2.1. Attracting Human Resource
Attracting human resources includes whatever managers do to get the right calibre of human resources in the organisation, and it covers areas such as human resource (HR) planning and employment process [1] . Human resource planning is a process used by the human resource department to understand the strength of the current manpower and prepare for the future. To ensure the effectiveness of manpower planning is to hire the right number of people with the right skills at the right place and time to do the right things [27] . According to [4] human resource or manpower planning is a strategy for the procurement, development, allocation and utilization of an enterprise’s human resources. Human resource planning is the process of determining ahead of time the number (quantity) and the type (quality) of human resources required to ensure that the human recruitments of an organisation are satisfied [5] . This indicates that HR planning is the process of projecting the quantitative and qualitative employees’ requirements of any organisation for a given period in the future.
Many including [9] [12] agree that human resource planning involves activities such as forecasting future manpower requirements, making an inventory of present manpower resources, anticipating manpower problems by projecting present resources into the future and planning the necessary programmes of recruitment, selection, training and development to ensure that future manpower requirements are properly met. After the organisation has gone through human resource planning to determine the number of workers required, it goes through the employment process.
According to [1] , the employment process consists of three activities, namely, recruitment, selection and placement. Recruitment, as explained by [5] is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the jobs in the organisations. It is the process of seeking and attracting a pool of people from which qualified candidates can be chosen for job vacancies. Recruitment as a process, starts with identification of the need for human resources and ends with getting the prospective employees to apply for the vacancies available and the aim of effective recruitment programme is to attract the best people for the job and aid the recruiter by making a wide choice available [4] . Many, including [6] [28] have indicated that organisations must have effective recruitment policies and processes to inform candidates, both at internal and external sources, about job openings and influence them to apply for the available position.
The second stage of the employment process, selection is the process of choosing the most suitable candidate for a job from among the available applicants [23] . Selection is the most important stage of the employment process as the right candidate for the right position, takes its final shape, and selecting the wrong candidates and rejecting the right candidates have proved to be a costly mistake [1] . The selection process involves a series of steps that help in evaluating the candidates and it has to be done in accordance with the organisational requirements. According to [4] , the selection process can have four possible outcomes, and two of the possible outcomes (accepting the right candidate and rejecting the wrong candidate) have a positive effect on the organisation. On the other hand, accepting the wrong candidate and rejecting the right candidate have a negative impact on the organisation. It is quite obvious that the impact of right candidate would be positive and effective for the organisation and the candidate would prove to be a valuable asset to the organisation.
The last stage of employment process is employee placement, which ensures that once the candidate accepts the offer and joins the organisation, he/she has to be placed at the job he/she has been selected for [29] . A proper placement of an employee results in low employee turnover, low absenteeism, and low accident rates and improved the morale and commitment of the employees [5] . As part of the placement process, the employee is inducted into the organisation, and this is the period of familiarisation for the employee with the organisation, with his or her colleagues and the job. The employee is usually put on probation for a period ranging from six months to two years depending on the policy of the organisation. The organisation then decides the final placement after the initial probation period is over, based on the employee’s performance, aptitude and interest during the period [4] . The next stage after the placement is the maintenance of the human resource.
2.2.2. Maintaining Human Resource
Maintaining human resources has been explained by [27] as HR functions that ensure that workers are given the necessary skills and also ensuring that they do what is expected of them. This covers human resource functions such as training and development and performance management. According to [5] , training is a process of assisting a person to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in a particular work area by acquiring more knowledge and practices. Training is used to establish specific skills, abilities and knowledge for an employee and it is important for organisational growth [12] . The objective of training among others is to enhance the skills and capabilities of employees in an organisation, to avoid managerial obsolescence, to prepare employees for promotion and managerial succession, to retain and motivate employees, and to create an efficient and effective organisation, which in turn enhance organisational performance [4] .
Employee training has been distinguished from employee development, even though the two are used to improve organisational performance, employee development is related to the development and growth of the employees in an organisation through a systematic process, and it is future-oriented which prepares managers for future positions in organisations. As explained by [26] , employee development is concerned with the learning and development of the employees, and helps in the development of the intellectual, managerial and people management skills of managers. It trains managers to understand and analyse different situations, and to arrive at and implement the correct solutions [9] . The objectives of management development programmes include improving the performance of the managers, enabling the senior managers to have an overall perspective about the organisation, equipping managers with the necessary skills to handle various situations and to prepare managers for future leadership positions [4] .
There are various methods and techniques of training and development available to organisations and the selection of any of these methods is influenced by variables such as the person, the job, the resources, the organisation and the economic environment [30] . The training and development methods as agreed upon by many researchers are on-the-job and off-the-job training [5] [31] . With respect to the on-the-job training, the employees learn the skills as and when they performance their jobs. Contributing on the different types of on-the-job training and development, [4] identified job instruction training, apprenticeship and coaching, job rotation, and committee assignments. On off-the-job training, [1] explained that it refers to training imparted away from the employee’s immediate work area, and its major advantage is minimization of damages in operations. The various forms of off-the-job training include classroom lectures, simulation exercises, experiential exercises, complex computer modelling, vestibule training and role play [25] .
With respect to training and development techniques, [25] have outlined four (4) steps which are needs analysis or assessment, instructional design, design implementation and evaluation and follow-up. The needs analysis or assessment is used to determine the performance deficiency or the training gap in order to come out with the required training [26] while the instructional design is the process of compiling the content of the training programme. The design implementation is the stage in which the instructions designed are put into action, and evaluation and follow-up are used to monitor and evaluate the training and development programme [9] .
Researchers, including [4] [25] [27] have agreed that both training and development have benefits to both the employee and organisations. These benefits include improving knowledge and skills and changing attitudes, developing the abilities and competencies of the individual and satisfying the current manpower needs of organisations. The benefits of training and development also include reducing cost of production by helping to increase both quality and quantity of organisations’ products which may increase the opportunities of both the organisation (competitive advantage) and the employee, for a higher reward [1] . In contributing to the benefits of training and development, [28] have indicated that training is the key element of improving organisational performance since it increases the level of individual and organisational competence, and it reconciles the skill gaps.
Performance management is a strategic and integrated process that delivers sustained success to organisations by improving the performance of employees [30] . Performance management has also been defined by [12] as a process in which an employee’s work behaviour and goals are aligned with the organisation’s goals, and it is an ongoing and interactive process that helps employees enhance their capability and facilitate productivity. According to [25] , performance management or evaluation system is an organised set of activities established to regularly and systematically evaluate employee performance and ensure its alignment to business metrics.
It has been agreed by both practitioners and researchers that performance management involves three (3) major activities which are; defining performance objectives, measuring performance and providing feedback and coaching [1] . Defining the performance objective involves setting performance targets or goals within a period of one year, which are split into monthly or quarterly targets [32] . Performance management largely involves the assessment of performance against the set targets at the end of the assessment period [4] , while providing feedback and coaching is a proactive approach to ensuring that the employee succeeds and the job is well done rather than waiting till the end of the assessment period [9] .
Effective performance management must go through some processes which include; identifying the evaluation objectives, developing performance standards, monitoring and evaluating work performance, and discussing on work performance [32] . Another area of importance of performance management mentioned by researchers are methods used for the evaluation and the responsibilities for effective performance evaluation [23] .
In the methods of performance management, three approaches that have been identified are the trait, the behaviour and the result approaches. The trait approach measures employee personal characteristics such as creativity, innovation, leadership and dependency that are seen as important in carrying out one’s work, while the behavioural approach focuses on how employees go about their work [1] . Lastly, the results approach enables supervisors to evaluate the actual results achieved by employees, it is more quantitative in nature and stresses that employees be responsible for all results achieved [30] .
With respect to the individuals who have responsibilities in performance management, the following are mentioned immediate supervisor, self-evaluation, subordinates, peers, customer evaluation and 360-degree evaluation [30] . A supervisor is the most eligible person to observe and evaluate work performance of employees, and responsible for the management of the unit or department.
Apart from the sources explained above, organisations may also use the 360 degree evaluation method to assess their employees, which is very popular and is an alternative to the traditional method as organisations get complete information about employees’ performance. The 360-degree method uses a combination of various evaluation sources as stated above, and it is important to increase organisations’ competitiveness in the market [9].
2.2.3. Retaining Human Resource
Retaining human resource as part of the HRM functions, covers compensation and incentives management. Compensation management is one of the most important functions in human resource management since it helps to strengthen the culture and the important values of an organisation. Compensation or reward management has been described as the formulation and implementation of strategies and policies, in order to reward people fairly, equitably and consistently in accordance with their values to the organisation and help the organisation to achieve strategic objectives [33] . In other words it deals with the design, implementation and maintenance of reward systems that aim at meeting the needs of both the organisation, employees and stakeholders. Compensation management is becoming an increasing issue of importance not only to practitioners and scholars but also to the concerned parties associated with the organisation, the employer and the employees [34] .
Organisations often use reward management to attract and retain competent and suitable employees as well as facilitate them to improve their performance through motivation and to comply with employment legislation and regulation [30] , According to [33] , every effective compensation management has the following aims; reward people according to the organisation’s values and wants to pay for, reward people for the value they create, reward the right behaviours to convey the right message and to develop performance culture. In addition, to motivate employees and obtain their commitment and engagement, help to attract and retain high-quality employees the organisation needs and to develop a positive employment relationship and psychological contract. The end results of all these will eventually lead to high organisational performance.
2.3. Organisational Performance
Performance relates to organisational output and it has been defined by [35] as a systematic process for improving organisational output by developing standards for individuals and teams. In other words, performance looks at getting better results by understanding and managing output within an agreed framework of predetermined goals, standards and competency requirements. Researchers agree that, there are various ways of measuring performance since different organisations have different goals. According to [36] , the physical values that are employed to measure organisational performance are known as performance indicators. They have indicated that there are two main indicators of measuring performance namely financial/cost and non-financial/cost-based measures of performance. While some authors agree that quality, time, delivery reliability, and flexibility form the financial/cost-based indicators, others look at customer satisfaction, quality, employee factors, productivity, safety environment and social performance as non-financial/cost measures of indicators. The general perspectives of performance indicators as suggested by both researchers and practitioners, adopted by this study are employees’ jobs satisfaction, employees’ motivation, high employees’ performance and improved organisational performance. These indicators can be linked to the performance in the poultry industry.
2.4. Human Resource Management Practices and the Performance of the Poultry Industry
Organisations often make use of human resource management functions to attract and retain competent and suitable employees as well as facilitate them to improve their performance through motivation and to comply with employment legislation and regulation [37] . The poultry industry is an aspect of the general agriculture that deals with rearing of birds for eggs and chicken for provision of protein for both domestic and international markets [2] . The industry has played and continues to play significant roles in the economy of many countries including Ghana. The contributions of the industry to the Ghanaian economy are seen in food security, poverty alleviation and provision of employment [10] , which are important aspects of the sustainable development goals (SDG). According the [38] , the importance of the poultry industry is seen in the value chain, through inputs, process and output.
With respect to the input, the poultry industry provides ready market, for farmers who cultivate maize and soya beans [10] . As indicated by [7] , there is a positive relationship between human resource management practices and the performance of the poultry industry. Supporting this assertion, [38] has indicated that human resource management practices play a critical role in the performance of the poultry industry. The human resources are used or needed for the feeding of the birds, collection of eggs, vaccination/medication, cleaning as well and provision of security in the poultry industry.
In spite of the nexus between human resource management practices and performance of the poultry industry, the management of human resource in the industry in Ghana, has not been given the needed attention, and as a result it has affected the performance of the industry [39] . Secondly, human resource management (HRM) is not regarded as priority area in Ghanaian informal organisations, including poultry farming and as a result most poultry farmers do not get the competent and committed human resource to help them to meet their performance targets [31] .
2.5. Conceptual Framework of the Study
Based on the theoretical framework, conceptual definitions and the empirical review, the study proposed the following conceptual framework. (See Figure 1)
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Figure 1. Human resource management practices and the performance of the poultry industry.
The above framework shows that poultry industry is the unit of analysis of the study and is made up of the poultry farmers in the Dorman Municipality in the Bono region of Ghana. Human resource management practices, involves human resource functions such as human resource planning, employment process, training and development, performance management, compensation management, employee relations and health and safety. These functions according to [4] , when carried out as expected help to attract, maintain and retain human resources into organisations which may lead to employees’ job satisfaction, employees’ motivation.
3. Methodology
The study used poultry farmers who are keeping poultry in Dormaa municipality, because of their roles and contributions to the national development in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and poverty alleviation. The study employed the positivist approach and survey design as a research strategy, which is quantitative in nature. The purpose of a survey was to collect quantitative information, usually through the use of a structured and standardized questionnaire [40] .
The study employed simple random sampling method, to select 213 poultry farmers as sample size and a questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the poultry farmers. Even though 213 questionnaires were distributed, 164 were retrieved given the response rate of approximately 77% (164/213 × 100).
The data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The study variables were human resource management practices (HRMP) as the independent variable (IV) and the performance of the poultry industry as the dependent variable (DV). Descriptive statistical tools were employed to organise, summarise, and present the data in an informative way. While the inferential statistics were used to establish the effect of human resource management practices on the performance of the poultry industry.
4. Results and Discussions
The analysis and discussion of the results were based on the respondents’ characteristics and the research objectives.
4.1. Respondents’ Characteristics
The demographic characteristics of the respondents and the variables examined include sex, age, level of education, years of working experience, number of birds and the number of staff employed and the results showed that the majority of the research subjects were male, representing 64.6% and the female was 35.4%. With respect to the age distribution of the respondents, 77.4% of them were under 50 years, while 22.6% were above 50 years. This shows that the poultry industry in the municipality is male-dominated and most of them are in the youthful age, which indicates a brighter future for the industry. The results also indicated that 70.8% of the respondents have basic and secondary school education, with only 29.2% having tertiary education, which implies most of the people with higher education in the municipality do not invest in the poultry industry. The results further show that 66.4% have between three and ten years of working experience, and 25.6% of the respondents have over ten (10) years of working experience in the industry, which implies that the poultry industry in the municipality is experienced hands, and this is a good indication. With respect to the number of birds owned by the respondents, the results indicate that 11.0% have less than 1000 birds, 50.0% have between 1000 and 4000 birds, 32.9% have between 5000 and 10,000 birds and 6.1% of the respondents have over 10,000 birds. Lastly, the data on the number of workers who have been employed by the respondents in their poultry farms shows that 47.0% have ten (10) or fewer employees, 30.9% have employed between eleven (11) and twenty (20) staff, and 12.2% have employed more than twenty human resources in their farms. This shows that the poultry industry is making a significant contribution with respect to the employment of the youth in the municipality. The details are shown in Table 1 below.
4.2. Human Resource Management Practices in the Poultry Industry
To achieve this objective and based on the trend in the human resource management literature, the following variables were considered; human resource policy, attracting, maintaining and retaining human resources. The results of the descriptive statistics are displayed in Table 2.
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Table 1. The number of birds and employees of poultry farmers.
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Table 2. Human resource management practices in the poultry industry.
On human resource policy, an attempt was made to find out if the farmers have established guidelines they follow (policy) as they go through their human resource management practices. The result shows a mean score of 3.5854 and a standard deviation of 1.14. This indicates that the poultry farmers have guidelines that guide them as they manage human resources in their respective farms, however, guidelines are not documented.
With respect to the activities undertaken to attract workers into the poultry industry, HRM functions such as human resource planning and employment process were considered. On human resource planning, it was established that the number of birds a farmer has was a major factor in determining the number of workers to employ, this has 3.7866 as a mean score and a standard deviation of 0.95 and human resource forecast was ranked the second, with a mean score of 3.6463 and standard deviation of 0.88. These results indicate that the farmers plan for their human resource.
With regard to the employment process, the results show that the major sources of recruitment was employee referrals, followed by friends and families with the means scores and standard deviations of (3.6098, 0.90) and (3.3, 1.11) respectively. It was also established that poultry farmers get workers to employ through informal advertisement. On the method used for the selection of workers for employment, engagement before employment (mean score of 3.1037 and standard deviation of 1.109) was mostly used for the screening and those who were successful were employed (mean score of 2.9146 and standard deviation of 1.19) as part of the placement process.
On the HRM practices to maintain the workers in the poultry industry, training and development and performance evaluation were used. With respect to training and development, succession plan ranked high as a means of grooming workers for future leadership position with mean score of 3.7622 and standard deviation of 0.8426. The results also show that the farmers inducted their newly employed staff (3.3659, 1.04), as means of welcoming them into their farms and preparing them for their jobs. The results further indicate that the farmers used both on-the-job and off-the-jobs as the methods for training and developing the staff, with the following mean scores and standard deviations respectively (3.311, 1.00) and (3.1159, 1.11).
With regard to performance evaluation as part of the efforts to maintain the human resources in poultry farming, the results indicate that target setting with the workers ranked high with a score of (3.7195, 0.95). This was followed by an evaluation of workers performance (3.6524, 0.78) and feedback on performance was given to workers (3.5366, 0.68). These results indicate positive signs regarding how workers’ performance is managed.
Regarding HRM functions to retain employees, variables such as wages, accommodation, food, medical care and workers involvement in decision-making in the operations of poultry farmers in the municipality. The study results depict that provision of medical care and food for the workers were ranked first and second, with mean scores and variability of (3.9390, 0.81) and (3.8841, 0.92) respectively. These were followed by worker’s involvement in decision-making (3.7988, 0.91), determination of wage based on performance (3.5610, 0.78) and provision of accommodation to workers (3.2622, 1.20). These findings are steps in the right direction, retain the workers in the poultry industry.
4.3. Challenges of Human Resource Management Practices in the Poultry Industry
The second objective of the study was to determine the challenges facing poultry farmers as they manage human resources. This objective was achieved by considering variables such as the availability of the right skills, worker’s attitude, financial difficulties, employees’ commitments and high employee’ turnover. A scale of 1 to 5 was given, with 1 indicating low agreement and 5 showing high agreement; and the results are shown in Table 3.
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Table 3. Challenges of human resource management practices in the poultry industry.
On the difficulty in getting qualified human resources with the right skills to employ, the finding of the study depicts that 57.0% of the respondents indicated that it is a major challenge. With respect to difficulty in getting the workers with the right attitude and commitment employees, the results show that 54% and 29.9% respectively, of the respondents indicated their agreement. The result also showed that 49.4% of the respondents disagreed that financial difficulty was an issue in managing human resources, while 29.8% agreed. Lastly, on the workers turnover, 45.2% of the respondents agreed that it is a challenge, while 28.6% disagreed. These results show that there is no consensus among the respondents regarding challenges facing human resource management practices in the poultry industry.
4.4. Effect of Human Resource Management Practices on the Performance of the Poultry Industry
The third objective of the study was to examine how human resource management practices are impacting on the performance of the poultry industry. For the purpose of this study, the HRM functions were categorised into three namely, activities performed by farmers to attract, maintain and retain workers in the poultry industry. To determine the effects of human resource management practices on the performance of the poultry industry, the data was analysed using multiple regression model and the results gave four tables which are correlation, model summary, the ANOVA and the Coefficient tables. The results are shown in Tables 4-7.
The result in Table 4 provides information on the Pearson correlation coefficient between the independent variables HRM practices (0.465) and the dependent variable, performance of the poultry industry. The result shows that there is a positive correlation between human resource management practices and performance of the poultry industry. The table also shows the one-tailed significance of the correlation (correlation is significant if p < 0.001). This means that the correlation is significant, since p = 0.000, and the number of cases contributing to the correlation (n = 164). The model summary shows the extent of the contributions made by the independent variable to the dependent variable.
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Table 4. Human resource management practices and performance of the poultry industry.
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Table 5. Model summary of human resource management and performance of poultry industry.
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Table 6. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of human resource management and the performance of the poultry industry.
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Table 7. Coefficient of human resource management and the performance of the poultry industry.
The value of R (0.465) in the model summary indicates that the correlation between HRM practices and performance of the poultry industry is moderately low. The value of R2 (R Square = 0.217) shows that HRM practices account for 21.7% of the variation in the performance of the poultry industry. This means that about 78.3% of the variation in performance of the poultry industry cannot be explained by human resource management practices. (See Table 5)
The ANOVA table indicates whether the model result is a significantly good degree of prediction of the outcome variable, and also shows the various sums of squares and the degree of freedom associated with the output. The most important part of the ANOVA table is F-ratio and the associated significance value of that F-ratio as shown in Table 6.
The result indicates that the F-ratio is 44.787, which is significant at p < 0.001, since the value in the column label Sig (0.000) is less than 0.001. This implies that the regression model is significantly better prediction, and the regression coefficient is identified in Table 7.
The result in Table 7 provides the details of the model parameter, the Beta values, and the significance of these values. The B value of the regression coefficient is 0.285 and the Beta value is 0.465 with t-stat = 3.729, and Sig (p-value) = 0.000. Even though the Beta value of 0.465 indicates that human resource management practices make a moderately low contribution to the performance of the poultry industry, the independent variable (human resource management practices) makes a unique contribution in predicting the dependent variable (performance of the poultry industry). This means that human resource management practices have significant positive effects on the performance of the poultry industry. The result implies that, the hypothesis was rejected. It is therefore concluded that there is a significant positive effects of human resource management practices on performance of the poultry industry.
4.5. Discussion of Study Results
Human Resource Management Practices in the Poultry Farming
The focus of this objective was to examine the current state of HRM practices with the view of providing a better understanding of how human resource is managed in the poultry industry. The findings show that the poultry farmers have guidelines, that direct their human resource management practices, the descriptive statistics gave mean score of 3.6 and standard deviation of 1.1. This result implies that the poultry farmers have guidelines that guides them. This is in line with the findings of researchers including [4] [28] who have indicated that for an effective and efficient management of human resource, there should be human resource policy that are fully implemented for the benefit of both the organisation and the workers.
With respect to the strategies that farmers use to attract human resource into the poultry industry, the finding showed that HR functions like human resource planning, recruitment, selection and placement were used. On the recruitment, selection and placement, the mean scores ranges from 2.95 to 3.6, which is an encouraging results. The findings buttress the position of [5] , that employment process in human resource management consists of recruitment, selection and placement.
On HRM practices to maintain the workers, the data indicate that the poultry farmers in the municipality used training and development, induction, on-the-job, off-the-job training and succession planning, and performance evaluation. These findings are in line with human resource management best practices as indicated by [1] [2] .
With respect to the strategies used to retain human resource into poultry farming, the results indicated that wages were determined based on the performance of workers, the workers were also provided with some incentives such as accommodation, food, medical care and they were involved decision making process. These findings are in support of the results of the studies by [2] [9] [13] , who have indicated that human resource management functions are implemented to enhance motivation and job satisfaction of workers and in order to improve efforts to retain workers in the organisations.
Challenges Facing Poultry Farmers in Managing Human Resources
On the challenges confronting HRM practices in the poultry farming, the results indicate that difficulty in getting human resource with the right skills, attitude and qualification to employ are disturbing issues. The findings also show that respondents disagree that financial difficulty was a problem in managing human resource. Lastly, employee turnover was identified as one of the challenges facing human resource management practices in the poultry industry. These findings are in agreement with study results by [2] [14] [15] , who indicated that human resources are supposed to have the right skills and attitude, anything short of that with affect the performance in the organization.
Effect of Human Resource Management on the Performance of the Poultry Industry
On the effects of HRM practices on the performance of the poultry industry, the results on the Regression indicate that HRM practices have positive relations (0.465) with the performance of the poultry industry and that the relationship is significant at p = 0.000. The findings of the study also show that HRM practices provide a significance moderate and unique contribution to the performance of the poultry industry. This means that human resource management practices have significant positive effects on the performance of the poultry industry and that the hypothesis was rejected. These findings are in agreement with the results of studies conducted by [2] [26] [34] [38] , who have established that human resource management practices have a significant positive effect on the performance of organisations.
5. Conclusion
Based on the objectives and the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn from the findings. With the state of HRM practice in the poultry industry, the results implies, the poultry farmers were using human resource management practices in their operations, which may help to reduce unemployment situation in the municipality. On the challenges contorting HRM practices in the poultry industry, the results showed unavailability of skillful, competent, committed and loyal staff to employ. These challenges may further reduce the return on investment in the industry, which will subsequently discourage farmers from investment in the industry and the end result may be reduction in the poultry products in country.
Lastly, on the effect of HRM practices on the performance of the poultry industry, the results indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between human resource management practices and the performance of the industry. This means that effective HRM practices could effectively improve the performance of the poultry industry, since the data indicated that human resource management practices account for about 21.7% of the variation in the performance of the poultry industry. The implication is that any effort to improve human resource management practices would enhance the performance of poultry industry by approximately 21.7% or 28%.
With regard to future research, the current study employed quantitative approach by using only questionnaire in gathering data for the analysis. This approach did not allow for further or follow up questions to be asked which could have given the researcher more insight on certain variables. It is therefore recommended that future researches should employ the mixed method to address the limitations posed by both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Such an approach would provide more credibility and will likely ensure that quality of assessment and analysis in research are achieved.
6. Recommendations
Based on the findings and the conclusions, the study recommends that, the Poultry Farmers Association should organise workshops for the farmers to improve their knowledge and skills on the best HRM practices in order to improve the current level of human resource management practices in the poultry industry.
On the challenges facing the farmers regarding competent, skillful, and committed workers to employ in the poultry industry, it is recommended that the farmers should organise orientation, training and development programmes to improve on motivation commitment levels of employees in order to retain employees in poultry industry. Lastly, regarding the effect of HRM practices on the performance of the poultry industry, the study recommends that ministry of agriculture and the Poultry Farmers Association in the municipality should support the farmers to improve on their strategies to manage human resource so that the performance of the poultry industry will be enhanced.