Core Competency and Performance Management in Selected Private Secondary Schools in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

The study sought to determine how core competencies are employed during the performance management process of the selected private secondary schools in Port Harcourt. The need to ascertain whether these organizations employ their core competencies during their performance evaluation process led to this study. Survey research design was employed for the study. Two research questions were raised and one hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was 210 workers in the two private secondary schools that were selected for the study (Graceland International Secondary School and Blessed Children Academy High School). The entire population was used for the study. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument, tested through split-half method, were 0.61 and 0.71 for sections B and C respectively. Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Z-test was used to test the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that the respondents agreed that employees’ performance was measured by the outcomes of their effort, by the behavioral characteristics that led to those outcomes, and not by how closely related they were with top management or by how long they have been working in the organization. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that management of private secondary schools in Port Harcourt should lay more emphasis on behavioral competences not just on only the outcome of employees’ effort.