Feedback Training Needs of Field Work Staff of Telecommunication Infrastructures Servicing Industries for Effective Job Performance in Rivers State

The study examined feedback training needs of field work staff of telecommunication infrastructures servicing industries for effective job performance in Rivers State. One research question guided the study and a null hypothesis was tested. The research question was: What are the training needs for feedback skills among field work staff of telecommunication infrastructures servicing industries for effective job performance in Rivers State? Descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. Descriptive survey research is concerned with either describing or interpreting the current status of the problem. This research method was used to ascertain the current state of the problem by studying the entire population. The population of the study was 97; which comprised 37 Electrical and Electronics lecturers in 3 Universities in Rivers State and 55 Supervisors in 3 Telecommunication Infrastructures Servicing Industries also in Rivers State. The entire population was used for the study since it is not too large and is manageable. A structured questionnaire which was developed by the researcher on the basis of objective of the study and research questions was used as instrument for data collection. The questionnaire had two sections; A and B. Section A contained items on the demography of the respondents while section B had 10 items on feedback training skills. Using the Cronbach alpha method to determine the reliability of the instrument, the reliability co-efficient of 0.74 was obtained. The data collected for the study were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and to determine the closeness of the respondents’ mean ratings. While the z-test was used to analyze the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Thus any item that had a mean rating of 3.50 and above was regarded as agreed while any item with a mean rating less than 3.50 was regarded as not agreed. Also, any item that had a standard deviation of .01 to 0.9 was regarded as homogenous while any item with standard deviation of 1.0 and above was regarded as heterogeneous. A null hypothesis was rejected where the p-value was less than the 0.05 level of significance in two-tailed test; which meant that, there was a significant difference between mean scores. Conversely, where the p-value was greater than or equal to the level of significance (0.05) in two-tailed test; it meant that there was no significant difference and the hypothesis was accepted. The findings of the study shows that Supervisors and lecturers strongly agree that training in feedback skills on response to questions, enquiries, complaints in real time among others was required for effective job performance of field work staff of telecommunication infrastructures servicing industries in Rivers State. The study recommended that, operators and managers of telecommunication infrastructures servicing industries in Rivers State should through workshops and seminars provide training for field work staff on how to response to questions, enquiries, complaints in real time for improved and effective job performance. Keywords: Telecommunication infrastructures servicing industries, feedback training, field work staff, job performance