NET COMMUNICATION COMPETENCY AS CORRELATE OF OFFICE MANAGER EFFECTIVENESS IN STATE OWNED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN RIVERS STATE: THE MODERATING ROLE OF DIGITAL RESOURCE AVAILABILITY

Abstract

One of the most prominent challenges faced by the administrative systems of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and Rivers State in particular is office manager’s ineffectiveness. The incessant cases of misplaced files, delays in the dissemination of decisions and administrative information, unresolved students’ complaints, poor supervision of administrative activities across units, and general sluggishness in the administrative process of tertiary institutions point to the fact office managers are not very effective (Yusuf & Lawal, 2012; Osakede, et al., 2017; Dike, 2019; Odu, 2019). The researcher’s interaction with some office managers in some of the tertiary institutions in Rivers State shows that some of them are not effective when it comes to record management. There are incidents of file and information loss or misplacement, difficulty in retrieving or tracing saved files both in computer systems and file cabinets. In document production, some of the administrative documents appear to be fraught with errors. It also appears that there is a problem of
communication gap. In most cases, administrative heads fail to maintain timely and accurate information sharing and feedback with their colleagues which often leads to role confusion and other errors within the administrative system