INFLUENCE OF MANAGERIAL SKILLS OF MIDDLE-LEVEL MANAGERS ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS, IN NIGERIAN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION

This paper investigated the influence of the managerial skills of middle-level managers on organizational effectiveness in Colleges of Education in South Western Nigeria. This was prompted by the observation of the researcher on the lack of administrative training of most deans and heads of department in Nigerian Colleges of Education. The population of study consisted of deans, heads of department, and academic staff members of nine Colleges of Education, while the sample consisted of 461 academic staff members randomly sampled from the Colleges. The instrument used was the questionnaire tagged Managerial Skills, Staff Morale and Work Effectiveness Questionnaire (MSSMAWEQ). Descriptive statistics, simple regression analysis and Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics were used to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that middle-level managers demonstrated requisite managerial skills in the Colleges of Education. It was also found that the managerial skills of middle-level managers had a very low influence on academic staff research/publications effectiveness and on community service effectiveness. Further still it was established that there was no significant relationship between managerial skills of middle-level managers and students academic performance. The paper therefore advised these group of managers to use their technical skills to improve the quality of classroom lecture delivery, by institutional staff, through students’ exposure to research findings in their chosen fields of study; employ motivational skills to encourage academic staff to carry out researches into issues that will positively impact upon their host communities and add value to the Nigerian society.