DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
HISTORY
The Department of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management was formally set up in August 1982. The establishment of the Department was in response to the demands from industry. The then Dean of the Faculty, Professor Ukandi Damachi, who had had a long tenure in Geneva with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) after observing the need for industrial peace in Nigeria, proposed that for the first time in Africa, an academic unit should be set up to cater for the specific manpower capacity needs of trade unions, employers and government for specialists in industrial relations and human resource management. The first intake at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, commenced at the beginning of the 1982/83 academic year. The M.Phil/Ph.D. degree programme commenced in October 1985, and the Master of Industrial and Labour Relations degree in 1995. Since the 1990s, the Department has assisted other Nigerian universities and the Ghananian trade union movement to set up programmes in this field.
The mission of the Department is to produce professionals and experts in the field of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management. This objective is being achieved through the training, research and consultancy services of the department. The degree programmes in the field of industrial relations and personnel management in the Department are based on business and social science disciplines, and supported by decision-making tools in business and social research.
The products of the Department are found in industry, trade unions, government, tertiary institutions, and the like.
PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES:
The general philosophy is to develop the mind, impart both theoretical and practical knowledge on individuals, to develop self-confidence, innovativeness and self-reliance in designing, implementing and controlling human resource and industrial relations policies and practices.
The major objectives of the programme are to:
. provide basic knowledge and skills needed for the understanding and analysis of problems related to the management of people at work in industrial, commercial, public and other human organizations;
. equip students with the analytical skills needed for recognizing, defining and solving problems as well as training in decision-making;
. develop leadership and interpersonal relations skills in managing people;
. train students in the principles and techniques of organizational management and to ensure effective management of people.
The programme, and its curricula as appended to this document, should give the students comprehensive education that equip with knowledge and decision-making skills in a variety of problem areas. In particular, products of this programme should be able to apply their understanding of industrial relations to the needs of an organization. The emphasis should be on human resource management, i.e., ability to recruit the right caliber of people and make them productive in the organization. Graduates should have the ability to resolve conflicts in work and work-related organizations.
