CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Since the 1980s organisations across the globe have been focusing on increasing profitability. This has been accomplished by increasing throughput on existing investments and by decreasing costs. The reduction in costs often focused on the reduction of fixed costs which led to a decrease in the training and skills development budget of organisations as well as in some cases, retrenchments (Food and Beverage Sector Education Training Authority [FoodBev SETA], 2011). Due to the laying off of staff, a surplus of artisans was available in South Africa, which meant that new artisans no longer needed to be trained. This led to the discontinuation of established training programmes for artisans (Jordaan & Barry, 2009). Since there was an oversupply at the time, organisations also did not have to increase artisan salaries to keep up with inflation, in order to retain artisans.

There are hundreds of thousands of job vacancies in Nigeria and yet the country has a 25% unemployment rate, indicating a mismatch in the demand and supply of skills (Centre for Development and Enterprise [CDE], 2011). Although the official unemployment rate (the number of unemployed people expressed as a percentage of the labour force) is high by international standards, it understates the magnitude of the crisis because it includes only those adults who are not employed and are actively looking for work. Given the poor state of the job market, millions of adults who want to work have given up looking for jobs and are therefore not counted as unemployed. A more revealing statistic is that only 41% of the population of working age (everyone aged 16–64) have any kind of job, both in the formal and informal sectors of the economy (CDE, 2011).

People tend to use different methods to seek and access jobs. Checking with friends and relatives has been found to be a widespread job search method in many countries including Italy, United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) (Holtzer, 1988 and Wadsworth, 1994). In a UK job survey, Wadsworth (1994) found that job centres, media and friends/contacts are the main search strategies used by unemployed job seekers and 32 percent of jobs were found through informal networks channel, as opposed to 19 percent of job centres and 18 percent of media. Holtzer (1988) cited by Pistaferri (1999) reports that in his US National Longitudinal Survey sample the two most frequently used methods of job search are friends/relatives and direct application. He found that 18 percent of job seekers received job offers from the use of informal networks, as opposed to 19 percent from use of direct application and 10 percent from use of other methods. People should have a social capital in order to access jobs.

One can expect the demand for artisans to increase in the future as fewer new graduates come through the system. The industry wide demand for artisans also sees the shift of artisans to higher paying sectors of the economy. A continuation of this trend may lead to the need to import artisans in the future. Such a strategy is, however, often characterised by high cost (Morris & Reed, 2008).

The under-supply of artisans is compounded by an ageing workforce. In one report it was estimated that more than 70% of currently employed artisans will exit the labour force over the next 5–6 years, and that the average age of artisans is 54 (Erasmus, 2008). Furthermore, JIPSA (2008), a high-level task team initiated by government, stated that South Africa produced about 5000 artisans a year, and that this figure would have to rise to 12 500 a year for the next 4 years to meet demand for a projected increase of 30 000 over the period 2007–2010. In JIPSA’s view this was both a conservative estimate of needs and a stretch target in terms of South Africa’s capacity to produce artisans.

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The retention of artisans is becoming an increasingly difficult task for organisations to manage. The attrition of scarce skills is viewed as a major cause of the so-called war for talent which is characterised by a scarcity of skills where demand outweighs supply (Hay Group, 2002). In a study by Adcorp, the artisan job family was identified as the number one category of concern when filling vacancies in Nigeria. An ageing workforce, negative perceptions regarding this job family due to the nature of the blue-collar work environment, a decline in apprenticeship student numbers, the closure of artisan training centres, poaching of artisans from rival companies, international recruitment of artisans and the overall training cost to obtain a successfully qualified artisan all have to be creatively managed in order to address the current shortage and the limited short and medium term supply of artisans (Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition [JIPSA], 2008).

Technical skills shortages remain a serious constraint in Nigeria, even though increasing amounts of public and private resources are being committed to address the needs of infrastructure projects due to a growing economy and a growing population (Hall & Sandelands, 2009). A critical component of competitiveness is having the appropriate skills complement across a range of occupations and professions as well as the skills to drive economic growth and organisational success (Bussin, 2011).

In the light of the above, the study intends to investigate the relevance of artisans in the development of sectors in Nigeria. To examine the effects shortage of artisans in the institutions.  To assess the relevant impacts of artisans in the sectors. To examine the challenges facing the hiring of artisans in close proximity and the way forward.

1. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to investigate the design and implementation of online application for hiring of artisans in close proximity.

The specific objectives of the study will be:

1. To examine the relevant impacts of artisans in the society
2. To assess the effects shortage of artisans in the institutions.
3. To examine the challenges facing the hiring of artisans in the society
4. To provides ways in which artisan can be hired in close proximity.

1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Arising from the research objectives, the following research questions will be addressed:

1. What are the relevant impacts of artisans in the society?
2. What are the effects shortages of artisans in the institutions?
3. What are the challenges facing the hiring of artisans in the society?
4. What are ways in which artisan can be hired in close proximity?

1. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The research hypothesis will be stated in null and alternate as follows:

H0 there is no significant relationship between design and implementation of an online application for hiring of artisans and close proximity.

H1 there is significant relationship between design and implementation of an online application for hiring of artisans and close proximity.

1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is on the design and implementation of an online application for hiring of artisans in close proximity is very important to all artisans in the society as their role in the development of the economy cannot be over emphasized.

It is very important that after this study, government will recognize the relevant of artisans in nation building. It will also enable governmental agency to always make provision and implementation for the hiring of artisans in the society.

1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is only limited to the artisans in the society. It will look at the various challenges impeding the hiring of artisans, the relevant impacts of artisans in the society, the effects shortage of artisans in the institutions.

1. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

TIME CONSTRAINTS: One the challenges experienced by the researcher is the issue of time; the research will simultaneously engage in departmental activities like seminars and attendance to lectures. But the researcher was able to meet up with the deadline for the submission of the project.

FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS: Every research work needs funding; however lack of adequate funds might affect the speed of the researcher in getting materials for completion of the project.

1. DEFINITION OF TERMS

Artisans

Close proximity

Online application