Informal learning and decision-making process among academic board members of Nigerian Polytechnics

Abstract

Polytechnics in Nigeria are important tertiary institutions that could introduce change in the entire nation through its breakthrough in science and technology and job creation. Nevertheless, Nigerian polytechnics are faced with various issues particularly on poor decision-making process among its Academic Board members who are known as the highest decision making committee in the polytechnic education system. The issues of poor decision-making process are especially with regard to students and staff dissatisfaction resulting in frequent student’s unrest and staff going on strike. As such, this study was done to explore the effect of informal learning towards decision-making process. The philosophical approach adopted was interpretivism in which, interview and focus group discussions (FGDs) were employed to source for data. The overall design of the study was qualitative and it applied the non-homogenous purposive sampling method. In-depth interviews were carried on two groups of samples. Eleven management staff were interviewed individually followed by twenty-one Heads of Departments who were purposively selected in three separate focus group discussions comprising of seven respondents per group. Data were analysed using Nvivo 12.0 computer software while the thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings from the data revealed that effective communication and internet facilities play a crucial role in the development of decision-making process. This study discovered that access to information and communication technology (ICT) assists stakeholders to understand themselves essentially when it comes to teaching and learning activities and particularly for effective decision making. Additionally, performance appraisal, motivation and reward play a significant role as part of the institution’s strategy to boost the performance of staff which were seen as imperative to help management encourage informal learning. Similarly, it was revealed that skills, knowledge and past experience through informal learning are necessary in assisting and resolving issues capable of causing disharmony among stakeholders in the system. This study has contributed to the understanding of informal learning and decision-making process among the Academic Board members through the development of a model of informal learning for effective decision-making process in Nigerian Polytechnics particularly at the Federal Polytechnic Bida where the case study was conducted.