The Public and Private Sectors in Nigeria: A Management Comparison. (original) (raw)

Despite the inconclusiveness of research findings, there is little doubt that management practices are linked to the productivity and performance of a company (or sector, as the case may be) (Siebers, Aickelin, 2008). Rasul and Roger (2014) allude to the fact that management practices matter in a bureaucracy. They noted that despite management practices being related to autonomy and performance incentives being positively correlated to each other, they have opposing correlations with the size of public service delivery. Since the 1980s, both developed and developing countries began to introduce public sector management reforms. The public sector has been under increasing pressure to adopt private sector orientations. (Haque, 2001) This, in inference, shows that there are inherent peculiarities involved the management practices of both sectors in developing countries which, according to Lynge (2013), Nigeria is classified into. This paper will seek to compare and contrast management practices of the public and private sector, specifically in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This comparison will be based along the lines of these management practices: Operations Management (OM), Human Resource Management (HRM), performance monitoring, incentive/people management and financial control. This paper will also seek to show a brief analysis on the cause of these differences, show examples while highlighting the major forces that come into play. The paper is divided into 3 sections. Section 1 will provide a brief introduction of both sectors, Section 2 will show a comparison/analysis, while the last section is a brief conclusion based on the issues discussed in the preceding sections. Keywords: Management Practice(s), Public Sector, Private Sector, Nigeria.