INFLUENCE OF HUMAN RELATIONS AND PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS ON SELF-RELIANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES

Abstract

This paper examined the influence of human relations, innovation and problem-solving skills on self-reliance of business education graduates in South-West, Nigeria.  The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study while the population of the study consisted of 223 postgraduate Business Education students in the Universities in South-West, Nigeria. Since the population is manageable, the entire population of 223 respondents was used as the sample size for the study. A well structured questionnaire on 4 point-scale was used as instrument for data collected and was validated by three experts from Department of Business and Entrepreneurship Education, Kwara State University, Malete while the reliability test for the instrument yielded coefficient a 0.87 using Cronbach Alpha.  From the data collected frequency counts and percentage were used for demographic data, while mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the research questions. Hypotheses were tested using independent samples t-test at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that the human relations skills positively influenced self-reliance (mean = 3.25, SD 0.55) of Business Education graduates.  Also, human relations skills positively influenced self-reliance (mean = 3.33, SD = 0.64). In addition, problem-solving skills influenced self-reliance (mean = 3.12, SD = 0.96).  Furthermore, it was found that there was a significance difference in the mean perception of male and female respondents regarding the influence of human relations skills on Business Education graduates’ self-reliance (t218 = 0.01, P<0.05). There was a significant difference between the mean perception of respondents from federal and state universities regarding the influence of problem solving skills on self-reliance of Business Education graduates (t218 = 0.001, P>0.005).  There was also a significant difference between the mean perception of respondents from federal and state universities regarding the influence of problem-solving skills on self-reliance of Business Education graduates (t₂₁₈ = 0.001; P>0.05).  It was concluded that no matter how efficient entrepreneurs may be in their businesses, if they lack human relations, problems-solving and innovation skills such as ability to develop new ideas to create new products and ability to open up a new market, success may still become a mirage since it will be hard to compete with competitors as well as meeting the needs of the society.  It was recommended among others, that Business Education lecturers in the Universities should ensure that human relations skills needed are taught more vigorously through demonstration and practical methods to enable the graduates to open and manage small enterprises effectively. Also, Business Education graduates should as a matter of urgency enroll in business school for training in the area of human relations, innovation and problem solving skills which are needed for self-reliance.