Browsing by Author "Okongo, Wilberforce"

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    Assessing the Effects of Autocratic Decision-Making by Academic Unit Managers on Work Performance of Ugandan Academic Staff
    (East African Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2019) Okongo, Wilberforce; Onen, David; Okaka, Wilson
    This paper presents the key issues and the effects of an autocratic decision-making approach by the unit managers on the work performance of the academic staff in three typical Ugandan public universities. The research was prompted by persistent complaints and reports from different key stakeholders regarding the deteriorating quality of teaching, research, and community engagement in public universities in Uganda. The objectives of this paper are to explain the issues, processes, and consequences of an autocratic approach to decision making by academic unit managers on the regular work performance of academic staff in the public universities; examine the role of academics’ in promoting the competitiveness of universities for better ranking at national, regional, or global levels, and establish the incentives for different types of academics’ work performance. A cross-section survey with mixed quantitative and qualitative methods in addition to the in-depth interviews and self-administered were used to collect data. The study findings revealed low work performance levels as a consequence of the practice of an autocratic decision making employed by the academic unit managers in Uganda. The study concluded that autocratic academic unit managers are instrumental in demoralising academic staff hence resulting in low-performance levels. Academics’ work performance is vital for university competitiveness for high institutional ranking. This is because Universities have a critical role to play for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number four for national progress towards education for sustainable development in Uganda.
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    Effectiveness of Decision-Making Approaches by Academic Unit Managers on Academics Performance in Public Universities in Uganda
    (East African Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2019) Okongo, Wilberforce; Onen, David; Okaka, Wilson
    This paper presents the key issues and the effects of an autocratic decision-making approach by the unit managers on the work performance of the academic staff in three typical Ugandan public universities. The research was prompted by persistent complaints and reports from different key stakeholders regarding the deteriorating quality of teaching, research, and community engagement in public universities in Uganda. The objectives of this paper are to explain the issues, processes, and consequences of an autocratic approach to decision making by academic unit managers on the regular work performance of academic staff in the public universities; examine the role of academics’ in promoting the competitiveness of universities for better ranking at national, regional, or global levels, and establish the incentives for different types of academics’ work performance. A cross-section survey with mixed quantitative and qualitative methods in addition to the in-depth interviews and self-administered were used to collect data. The study findings revealed low work performance levels as a consequence of the practice of an autocratic decision making employed by the academic unit managers in Uganda. The study concluded that autocratic academic unit managers are instrumental in demoralising academic staff hence resulting in low-performance levels. Academics’ work performance is vital for university competitiveness for high institutional ranking. This is because Universities have a critical role to play for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number four for national progress towards education for sustainable development in Uganda.
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    Enhancing The Work Performance of University Academic Staff by Delegated Decision-Making Approach for Good Governance in Ugandan Public Universities
    (East African Journal of Education Studies, 2019) Okongo, Wilberforce; Onen, David; Okaka, Wilson
    This study focused on the decision-making approaches (DMA) of the academic deans and departmental heads in tandem with the work performance of the academics in the Ugandan public universities. The research was prompted by persistent cases of complaints and reports from different key stakeholders regarding the deteriorating quality of teaching, research, and community engagement in public universities in Uganda. The researcher hypothesized that the problem could have been gaps emerging from the types of decision-making approaches used by the academic deans and departmental heads. As a result, the research was approached from the positivist research paradigm with a focus on the pragmatic philosophical approach in which both the quantitative and qualitative data were triangulated from 325 respondents with the use of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview methods. The study examined the effects of the delegated decision-making approach of the academic deans and departmental heads on the work performance of the academics in selected public universities in Uganda. A systematic random sampling strategy was used to administer the questionnaires to the target respondents. The data obtained was analyzed and presented with the aid of descriptive statistical techniques (tables, percentages & histograms), inferential statistical techniques (Student T-test, Pearson’s correlation, ANOVA & regression), and content analysis methods. The study findings revealed that low and high work performance had a direct bearing on the type of DMA used by academic deans and departmental heads in Uganda. The study concluded that the kind of DMA academic units managers employ when interacting with their institutional academic staff has a direct effect on how the academics perform their routine work. Thus, the study recommended that academic deans and departmental heads who are concerned with the decision-making process should employ more often delegated decision-making approaches at the workplace because it has a significant positive correlation with the work performance of the academic staff.
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    Evaluating Individual Characteristics’ Work Engagement of Primary School Teachers Moderated by Organisational Factors in Acholi-Sub Region, Uganda
    (East African Journal of Education Studies, 2025) Olanya, Gilbert; Okongo, Wilberforce
    This paper presents the influence of individual characteristics on primary school teachers’ work engagement as moderated by organizational management factors in northern Uganda. The main objective was to examine the influence of individual characteristics on the work engagement of primary school teachers in the Acholi sub-region. By applying a cross-section survey design, the study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The primary data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire form with a total sample of 326 participants from the selected schools. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the rate of teacher absorption as well as their self-efficacy was higher than their professional dedication and commitment to their academic service delivery. In conclusion, individual teacher characteristics were vital for the work engagement outputs of the school teachers to promote school work engagement in the Acholi northern Uganda’s sub-region. The study recommended that the headteachers, education officers, boards, committees, and the government should approve individual factors that promote the work engagement ethics of the primary school teachers for better performance.
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    Promoting Democratic Decision-Making for Academics’ Work Performance in Ugandan Public Universities
    (East African Journal of Education Studies, 2019) Okongo, Wilberforce; Onen, David; Okaka, Wilson
    he use of democratic decision-making approaches (DMA) by university academic unit managers is vital for improved scholarly productivity and regular work performance of academic staff’s in Ugandan public universities. The study examined the democratic decision-making approaches of the academic unit managers in tandem with the work performance of the academics’ in the Ugandan public universities. The research objectives were to examine the effects of democratic decision-making approaches as used by the various academic unit managers in the Ugandan public universities on the work performance of the various categories of university academics, examine the benefits of democratic decision making and explain its implications of academic productivity on education for sustainable development. The cross-sectional survey study employed mixed quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments that involved all categories of academics from assistant lecturers to professors in three selected public universities in Uganda. 325 respondents participated in the survey that was backed by in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed by the use of appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics as well as the thematic content analysis method. Preliminary findings indicated that among others, the high work performance of the academics was directly related to the democratic decision-making style which the decision-makers at various university academic units practiced. The use of democratic decision-making approach had a more significant positive effect on the work performance (WP) of the academic staff. The results showed that a unit increase in the use of DMA yields 19.1% increases in the WP of academic staff. We concluded that democratic decision-making approach promotes academic freedom, openness, incentives or motivations, and high academics’ productivity in regular work. Therefore, it is recommended that academic unit managers who aim to achieve better staff work performance for university competitiveness should adopt the democratic decision-making model for enhanced academics’ work performance output. The unit managers should also be trained and made skillful in the use of DMA because it is consultative, collective, and participative in nature.