Merit Research Journal of Education and Review Vol. 1(4) pp. 085-096, May, 2013 Available online http://www.meritresearchjournals.org/er/index.htm Copyright © 2013 Merit Research Journals Full Length Research Paper Prospects of developing careers of academic staff of Uganda Colleges of Commerce Hojops Odoch J.P, Edward Oding-Wacha and Sudi Nangoli Department of Business Administration, Makerere University Business School Accepted May 06, 2013 This study was conducted to investigate and examine the prospects of developing career for academic staff of Uganda Colleges of Commerce through a quantitative research approach and methods. The findings indicate that a combination of recruitment, promotion and Training is positively correlated to Career Development. The study recommends that management of the Uganda Colleges of Commerce should support career development and also that staff should enroll on courses which will enable them upgrade to the next ladder. Staff are expected to be engaged in gainful activities such as research, seminars and refrain from disruptive activities such as over drinking. Those who aspire to go for further courses must ensure that they are relevant to enable them acquire the skills required for the new tasks. Staff should also be able to sacrifice and devote time and resources for their own good rather than waiting for the organization to think aloud for them. Keywords: Career development, challenges, Uganda Colleges of Commerce, Staff development INTRODUCTION In Uganda, there are public and private universities and training institutions. Their operations and guidelines are provided in the universities and other tertiary institutions Act 2001 as amended in 2003, and are supervised by the National Council for Higher Education. There are five Uganda colleges of commerce (UCCs) which fall under the department of Business, Technical, Vocational Education and training (BVTET) at the Ministry of Education and Sports. The Education Service Commission (ESC) has a constitutional mandate to review the terms of service, standing orders, training and qualifications of public officers in the Education Service (ESC Report, 2004). The average number of Academic Staff in each College varies from 35 to 50, designated as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Assistant Principal Lecturer and d Senior Principal Lecturer, many of whom seem to have stagnated at their first grid of appointment and have not *Corresponding Author E-mail: kimayoka@gmail.com Tel: +256703594805/+256-782836164 yet made any further step in career progress. The (ESC) report further reveals that 77% of Academic Staff are male, 5% are above 60 years of age and are engaged on contract, 28% are not registered as teachers and 14% are on probationary appointment. Studies of the early career problems of young mangers typically find that those who experience frustration are victims of reality shock. They see a discrepancy between what they thought the organization was and what it actually is (Ivancevich, 1996). According to Adams (1963), an advocate of equity theory, who proposed that because individuals differ, their methods of reducing inequity will also differ. Some will rationalize that their effort were greater or less than they originally perceived them to be, or that the rewards are more or less valuable. For example, one person failing to receive a promotion may decide that the previously desired job actually involved too much responsibility. Others may try to make co-workers with whom they are comparing themselves change their behavior; work team members receiving the same pay but exerting less effort, for example may be persuaded to work harder. 086 Merit Res. J. Edu. Rev. Promotion of teachers is no longer automatic even after upgrading due to limited resources (Lubega, 2004) as cited in Hojops (2006). Thus, if one had joined with a diploma, s (he) would continue to earn the same salary even if one upgrades to a masters degree. The new recruits seem to possess low skills leading to work overload onto the few staff that actually remained. Government at the same time issued stringent conditions on procedures to be followed by staff proceeding on upgrading courses. Such as having a confirmation letter; obtaining a written permission letter from the Permanent Secretary, which involves a series of hurdles to overcome. To crown it all, the authorizing Principals must first ensure that there is someone to take over the load of this staff wishing to train (Lubanga, 2002). Nevertheless, some Academic staff seem not to have done the relevant courses to help them accomplish work effectively and others did not return after completion. For the case of UCC Pakwach, only 2 Staff recently completed Masters Programme, 9 have got first degree and the rest are enrolled for some other qualifications. Monitoring system is almost lacking as there seems to be no evidence of career planning. The major objective of this study was to investigate and examine the prospects of developing career for academic staff of UCCs. The specific objective was to establish the contribution of individual staff commitment towards successful career development of academic staff of the UCCs. Literature review to a selected few. Enforced redundancies, short time contracts, availability of part time contracts, availability of part time rather than full time work, all break the idealized image of career. A reasonable number of staff in the UCCs are currently working on temporary terms provided by their governing councils. Torrington (1998), argued that the more the individuals attempt to manage their career, the more likely is that the opportunities will arise and the more likely they are able to do something constructive with them. Individual staff effort in the UCCs has often yielded positive results. According to Hamori (2006), changes in the global Economy in the late1980s have brought changes in individual career paths. The careers in the new model, ceased to signify upward progress through a single original hierarchy. Recently a large number of professionals strived to move from a technical starting position to the management ladder. This tendency indicates that many engineers and scientists see their eventual career as progressing into management (Wees and Jansen, 1994). They have expectations of becoming managers, since management function is one of the main routes for a professional/engineer to progress in terms of status and the more tangible reward of money (Hawkins and Barclay, 1990). Drucker (2002) has it that the probability that the first choice you make is the right one for you is roughly one in a million. If you decide your first choice is the right one, chances are that you are just plain lazy. One is expected to do a lot of searching and changing to find a career path that is psychologically and financially satisfying. Employee commitment and career development The nature and pattern of Careers has changed. Career management is an increasingly personal and powerful force (Crainer, 1998). He emphasized that in the new model people do not identify with a single company. Instead, they identify with an industry or a profession; a new career that creates balance between work and family life. Holbeche (2002) asserted in a provocative way that some workers should consider jumping ship; meaning that workers should manage their own career and be in position to develop their employability. This may also be interpreted as a sign of lack of long term commitment from the organizations. Essentially a career is something that an individual experiences but is not solely of his/her own making. The way in which organizations are organized defines the type and scope of career an employee may have. Individual career management Torrington (1998), observed that many organizations can no longer offer a traditional career, or can only offer this Career identity According to Currie et al (2006), traditional career perspectives assumes that the careers are boundaries within the same employing organization and that employees are provided with a career system of positions through which they progress, however in contrast, the individual pathways are less about climbing an original pathway but about t individuals moving between employers, whose contractual relationship is short. Ivancevich (1996) asserts that Career identity has two components; the first is the extent to which individuals have clear and consistent awareness of their interest, values and expectations for the future. Secondly the extent to which they view their lives as consistent through time. That is, answering the question of what do I want to be and how to get there. A person’s self identity consists of a combination of personal attributes (such as capable, competent) and the social identities (example gender, ethnicity) that a person seeks to present in a given situation (Erez, 1993) as cited in Aquine (2003). This is so for career development of academic staff in UCCs as one is capable of progress- Hojops et al 087 ing in careers irrespective of gender or tribe. Often, some executives choose jobs because of such extrinsic reward as high pay, status, and power. However, decisions to choose extrinsic over intrinsic frequently results into considerable unhappiness. A pleasing observation is to see an older person wanting to experiment with different job tasks and problem solving issues rather than stay cocooned in the work they know so well, and have mastered but no longer find stimulating. Many mature age employees who viewed themselves as having plateaued had been rejuvenated in spirit, in action and determination as a result of career development support (Maurice, 1999). The same can also be applied to academic staff of the UCCs some of whom seems to have plateaued on the post of lecturer. Research design Developing careers of staff in the UCCs Data collection instruments Torrington (1996), Contends that careers are owned by individuals and the primary responsibility for them falls on individuals; Organizations have a role in supporting and encouraging this. Individuals can most effectively manage their careers on a continuous basis. It involves identifying career goals, career strategies and career action plans, together with collecting feedback and monitoring their progress. In the views of Bozionelos and Liwang (2006) traditional career mentoring relationship constitute one component of social capital and this is the product of all relationship which the individual has and signifies resources, which can be measured in terms of intrinsic career success. Organization can also support and encourage career management by providing flexible and realistic career grids, honest feedback, opportunities for individual career exploration and planning. Ministry of Education and Sports, ESC, Colleges and MUBS are all joining hands to provide career opportunities to Staff who are equally concerned. The unanswered question is how far? Which way forward is the concern for both the researcher and everyone. Yarnal J. (2006), asserted that for career development to be effective in organizations, line mangers need to support the future development of their staff and have the necessary skills to coach and counsel them as appropriate. It is viewed as unlikely that individual employees, however committed, can successfully manage their careers without any support from their manager. Evidence according to him suggests that achieving the required support from managers is not easy. Mangers resist assisting their staff in career development, perhaps due to a fear of showing their own ignorance of effective career strategies, or due to the fact that developing staff is not rewarded. The following instruments were used by the researcher to collect data from the field. Interview guide was administered to College Principals during the scheduled visits after making appointment with them. The principals provided the required information willingly. Questionnaires were administered to the different categories of staff from each of the UCCs. The researcher went to the colleges and contacted the academic staff who responded positively by filling and returning the completed questionnaires. Telephone interview was conducted to those who left the colleges some time back. Their contacts were got through records left at previous colleges. Documentary check list was also used to obtain various records and documents found in the UCCs. Important circulars from the ministry concerning the staff and the colleges including the minutes of meetings. Observation check was prepared to confirm the information that might have been gathered from the above sources. Study area and location of the study The research was carried out in three out of five UCCs. The colleges were UCC Pakwach, UCC Aduku and UCC Tororo, located in the following districts of Uganda: Nebbi, Apac, and Tororo respectively. The students enrolment in these colleges varied from 600 to 1,000 despite the fact that all these colleges were established by government in the same year (1983).Differences in enrolment figures was a result of courses offered at the colleges thereby leading to changes in staffing positions. The total number of staff in each college ranged from 35 to 50. Reliability and validity of Instruments Validity The validity of an instrument refers to the extent to which the instrument measures what it intends to measure (Mugenda and Mugenda, 1999). This was determined when the instruments were given to two experts in the department of Human Resource, Uganda Management Institute to read through and advise on the contents o f the questions, that is, clarity, ambiguity and relevancy of questions. Regarding relevancy of questions, it was determined when each question was rated to determine 088 Merit Res. J. Edu. Rev. Figure 1. Composition of Academic staff by title. the content validity index (CVI) using the following formula; CVI = Number of items rated as relevant by the two experts Number of items rated by both experts Since the CVI was 0.73 (which is greater than 0.7), the instruments were considered as suitable for data collection. Reliability The reliability of an instrument refers to the extent to which the instrument is consistent / dependable in measuring a phenomenon (Mugenda and Mugenda, 1999). This was determined when the instruments were being piloted to few people similar with the and there after subjected to cronbach reliability alpha test using SPSS. Since the reliability alpha was 0.75, which was greater than 0.7, the instruments were considered as reliable for data collection. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION Data Collection was administered by the researcher using specific techniques. One of them was face to face interview with the respective principals of the UCCs. Questionnaires were administered to selected categories of Academic Staff who filled and returned to the researcher. The researcher also carried out a systematic Observation on records and documents relating to career development available in the respective Colleges. The findings were recorded for further analysis. FINDINGS Demographic characteristics of respondents The Academic staff in the UCCs sampled were required to provide some demographic information about their work life and experiences. The following characteristics were found to be relevant to the study: professional title, gender, age, experience (years of service), Academic qualification, and current employment status. The following tables describe the composition of each of the characteristics mentioned above. Looking at the composition of staff by title, the following table reveals that a proportionate number of staff are either assistant lectures or lecturers and yet assistant lecturer is no longer in the establishment. From figure 1, on title of Academic staff in the UCCs, 28% of staff still holds the title of assistant lecturers while 60% are lecturers. This implies that nearly 90% of the sampled staff are either assistant lecturer (entry point), and therefore only 10% are senior staff. In other words, majority of staff are on lower posts and a few have managed to climb up the ladder. Similarly, looking at the gender distribution as indicated in the following table, one can say the UCCs is male dominated organization. From the above figure 2, it is indicated that only 25% of the academic staff is female and the rest are male. This is an imbalance which needs checking through policy. Over 70% of staff are Male and yet the record of Hojops et al 089 Figure 2. Gender Figure 3. Composition of Academic Staff by age. student enrollments indicate that half of their population are female and one would expect the same ratio for staff. Also by age distribution, most of the staff are aging as shown by the following figure 3: Figure 3 indicates that, 60% of academic staff are between 31 and 44 years of age. Also there exist some staff of 60 years and above, which according to the current employment policy are to be laid off and cannot be put on the government payroll. 3% or so of academic staff are between the ages of 18 to 24 years. The trend shows that about 90% of staff are aging, thus making the issue of career development very crucial as some of them are about to leave the active service. The analysis of experience of academic staff reveals that there should be more senior staff as opposed to the current level which is illustrated by the following figure. As indicated in figure 4, at least 85% of the academic staff have served in the colleges for four or more years while 18% have worked for over 15 years. Most staff have served between 4 to 9 years. This implies that in terms of years of service, colleges have more experienced staff as compared to entry staff. This is a contradiction to what was earlier presented in table 1 where by over 60% of staff were at entry ladder of 090 Merit Res. J. Edu. Rev. Figure 4. Experience (seniority) of academic staff in UCCs Figure 5. Proportion of Academic staff by employment status promotion. There is therefore a mismatch between ones’ years of service and their position / title along promotion ladder, an indication that the longer serving staff are not getting promoted. Figure 5 shows that over 60% of academic staff are on government payroll and the remainder are on local payroll and only 10% of staff are on contract implying that they are of 60 and above of age. This reveals that Hojops et al 091 Table 1. Correlations for career development in UCC Packwach Correlations Pearson C.Devt Correlation Recruit Promot Train Reward C.Prog E.Com C.Devt 1.000 .0474 .062 .782 -.303 -.205 .667 Recruit .474 1.000 .423 .264 .086 .360 .635 Promote .062 .423 1.000 -.066 .188 .088 .207 Train .782 .264 -.066 1.000 -.081 -.225 .512 Reward -.303 .086 .188 -.081 1.000 309 .021 C.Prog -.203 .360 -.088 -225 .309 1.000 .086 E.Com .667 .635 .207 .512 .021 .086 1.000 Key: C.Devt: Career Development Recruit: Recruitment Promot: Promotion Train: Training C.Prog: Career Programmes E.Com: Employee Commitment Government is the major employer in the UCCs such that any changes made about rewards would impact on the academic staff in the colleges. Career development in the UCCs As remarked previously by Torrington (1996), careers are owned by individuals and the primary responsibility for them falls on the individuals. Organizations have a role in supporting and encouraging this. The following section describes the relationship between career development and government policy, Management commitment, individual commitment as revealed by respondents in the respective colleges. Career development in UCC Pakwach Analysis of career Development in UCC Packwach was done to determine the responses of Academic staff in regard to Government policy, management Commitment and Individual commitment as it applies to them. The relationship between career development and government policy, management commitment and individual commitment in UCC Pakwach is explained by table 1. From table 1, Government policy (a combination of Recruitment, promotion and Training) is positively correlated to Career Development. The government policy was subdivided under recruitment (0.474), promotion (0.062) and training (0.782). This is a strong relationship with a combined average of (0.439). On the other hand, management commitment in UCC Pakwach is inversely correlated to career development. This was reflected under reward (-0.253). This is a reflection that academic staff in UCC Pakwach believed that there is a problem with reward management and career programmes in the college. Further look at the table reveals that there is a positive relationship (0.667) between individual employee commitment and career development in UCC Pakwach. This is an indicator that the staff in this college are dedicated to improve on their career. It also implies that staff are aware of their role to develop their careers. Career development in UCC Aduku The research, among others, sought to determine the correlation between Government Policy, Management Commitment and employee commitment in UCC Aduku. The data explaining the level of career development in UCC Aduku in relationship to government policy, management commitment and individual commitment is given on table 2. As indicated by table 2, Government Policy (a combination of Recruitment, Promotion and Training) is positively correlated to career development in UCC Aduku. This is reflected by Recruitment policy (0.161), Promotion (0.045), Training (0.194) making an overall average of 0.133. However, this score is less compared to the one of UCC Pakwach in table 1. Management commitment is also revealed to be negative (-0.231). This negative value shows that the academic staff in UCC Pakwach do not appreciate management effort towards their career development. Similarly, the individual commitment in UCC Aduku is negative (-0.050). The result is an indicator that many of these staff are not serious enough about their career development. It may also be a reflection that these staff do engage in activities that instead retard their career development, for example over drinking. 092 Merit Res. J. Edu. Rev. Table 2. Correlations for career development in UCC Aduku Correlations Pearson C.Devt Correlation Recruits Promotio Mgt.Comt Ind.Comt Equip C.Devt 1.000 .161 .045 -.231 -.050 .194 Recruits .161 1.000 .646 .121 .322 .244 Promotio .045 .646 1.000 -.271 .239 .261 Mgt.Comt .-231 .-121 -.271 1.000 .309 .247 Ind.Comt -.050 .322 .239 -.309 1.000 -.353 Equip .194 .244 -.261 -247 .353 1.000 Key: C.Devt: Career Development. Promotio: Promotion. Recruits: Recruitment. Quip : Training. Mgt Comt: Management commitment Ind.Comt: Employee Commitment. Table 3. Correlations for career development in UCC Tororo Correlations Pearson C.Devt Correlation Recrt Promt Train Ind.Com Reward C.Prog C.Devt 1.000 .413 .368 .385 .309 .008 .127 Recrt .413 1.000 .510 .045 .354 .063 .196 Promit .368 .510 1000 .260 .096 -.032 -.101 Train .385 .045 .260 1.000 .164 -.210 -364 Ind.Comt .309 .354 .096 .164 1.000 .313 .369 Reward .008 .063 -.032 -210 .313 1.000 .609 C.Prog .127 .196 -101 -364 .369 .609 1.000 Key: C.Devt: Career Development Recrt : Recruitment Promt: Promotion Train: Training Ind.Comt : Employee Commitment C.Prog: Career programmes Career development in UCC Tororo An investigation was made on the correlations between government policy, management commitment and individual commitment in UCC Tororo and the findings are given in table 3 provides the statistics for the relationship between career development in UCC Tororo government commitment and individual commitment. From table 3, the coefficient for Career Development in UCC Tororo and government policy is positive. This is reflected by recruitment (0.413), promotion (0.368) and training (0.385) with an overall average of 0.385 for government policy. However this is moderate compared to UCC Pakwach seen earlier. The relationship between Career Development in UCC Tororo and Management Commitment (given by reward and career programmes) is positive (0.068), as illustrated by reward (0.008) and career programmes (0.127). This figure is relatively less than that of UCC Pakwach which is an indicator that in terms of effort along the path of career development, UCC Tororo tried to make a head way. However, the staff still believed that this effort was not substantial enough to push forward their career ambitions. The relationship between career development and individual commitment in UCC Tororo was positive (0.047), an indicator of minimal effort by staff to develop their career. It is also a reflection that those who are dormant possibly are not aware of their role in developing their own careers. Promotion in the UCCs Promotion in the UCCs just like any civil service is based on experience. Most of the staff in the UCCs have served Hojops et al 093 Table 4. Management Commitment and Career Development in UCCs Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) COMIT Unstandardize d Coefficients B Std. Error 3.455 .181 -.277 .094 Standardized Coeffients Beta -.345 Correlations t 19.086 -2.940 for a reasonable period of time but do not see any rise along the promotion ladder. The academic staff in the UCCs are to progress from lecturer, senior lecturer, principal lecturer (ESC, 2004). However, the number of staff in the higher ladder are very few as compared to the number of lecturers. A comparison of results of the colleges revealed that more promotion prospects were in UCC Pakwach (0.062) and UCC Aduku (0.045).Staff are expected to apply whenever such positions are advertised and they are to go through the normal processes of interviews. However for quite a number of years, government has not advertised such posts and staff are bewildered. Training in the UCCs Training in the UCCs is the responsibility of government, colleges and individual staff in those colleges. Once staff have got a training opportunity, they are expected to notify management to secure a training leave. If it is a long term course, then the staff must inform the ministry in order to be granted a leave with pay. Those who fail are usually deleted from the payroll. Results from the colleges concerning training opportunities offered by these institutions indicated that UCC Tororo (0.391) and UCC Aduku (0.194). Training opportunities are sometimes provided by MUBS to staff serving in the colleges whereby upon the recommendation of the governing council such staff are sponsored. Some short workshops are also organized for the staff in the colleges. Those meant to benefit are usually recommended by college management. However training opportunities are few and some staff fell like they are left out. Management commitment and career development in UCCs One of the objectives of study was to explore the role of UCCs management commitment on career progress of academic staff in the UCCs. The respondents were asked whether their organizations pay fair salary to staff and also whether these payments were regular. Sig. .000 .005 Zeroorder Partial Part -.345 -.345 -.345 Collinearity Statistics Tolerance VIF 1.000 1.000 Respondents were also required to state whether allowances and benefits were given to staff when due. Provision of career development programmes in terms of workshops and career information were also enquired. The questionnaire also demanded from academic staff if they were not cohored by the administration into making career choices. Statistics across colleges revealed that the relationship was negative for UCC Pakwach (0.303), UCC Aduku (-0.231) and UCC Tororo (-0.127). This was an indicator that management effort was required for the success of career development of staff in these colleges. The responses from the 74 respondents were inputted, analyzed using SPSS and the summary results as shown by the following tables. From table 4, about the relationship between management commitment and career development of staff in the selected UCCs. The coefficients revealed that the relationship is negative with standardized Beta -.345This implies that the UCCs management according to the respondents , are not as commitment and possibly this seems to suggest that management input retards career development in these colleges. However this may also be interpreted that the contribution of management instead of promoting, thwarts career development efforts in the UCCs The significance level indicated on table 3 is 0.005, which is 99%. This is an indicator that staff in UCCs consider management commitment a very crucial factor in career development despite the reverse reactions. According to Yarnal (2006), evidence suggests that achieving the required support from managers is not easy . Many managers resist assisting their staff in career development, perhaps due to fear of showing their own ignorance of effective career strategies, or due to the fact that development of staff is not rewarded. During the interviews, the principal of UCCs Pakwach, in regard to career development said that many staff are not putting enough effort to improve on their career, some do not want to be guided by policy and after find they aloof. By implications, the findings show that there is a contradiction on roles to be played by each party in as far as career development is concerned. Management needed to come out clearly on possible steps in order to enhance career development in the 094 Merit Res. J. Edu. Rev. Table 5. Employee commitment and career development in UCCs Coefficients Unstandardized Coefficients B Std. Error Model (Constant) EMPLOYEE 2.166 -.138 .682 .320 Correlations Standardized Coeffients Beta -.051 t 3.177 -.432 Sig. .002 .005 Zeroorder Partial Part -.345 -.345 -.345 Table 6. Employee commitment and career development in UCCs Correlations Pearson correlation Sig.(1-tailed) N Dependent Comit Dependent Comit Dependent Comit UCCs. Some Colleges who have a policy did not review it for the last 3 years. Flexibility was required in this regard because having staff development policy in place will guide them on a better way forward. This view was also held by Drucker (1991), who said the choice of the employer is based on location, immediate availability of positions, starting salary and other basic conditions. Today management may also need to think through about the work life of any employee by providing some opportunities of career growth. Reward management in UCCs The academic staff in the UCCs are either on government payroll or local payroll. To be on government payroll, one must be appointed by ESC and deployed by the ministry of Education and Sports. Many staff are recruited by government and are on payroll. The monthly salary paid is a consolidated package to include rent and medical among other things. Some colleges also pay transport allowance to their staff, normally on a boda boda rate. This payment is meager as reported by many staff and cannot allow the academic staff to sponsor for their study programmes in addition to other basic requirements. Statistics across colleges showed that UCC Pakwach offered least reward (-0.303) compared to UCC Aduku (0.231) and UCC Tororo (-0.127). If the reward were high enough then many staff would be in a position to sponsor their courses which would broaden their career. Dependent 1.000 -.345 . .002 74 66 Comit -.345 .002 . 66 66 Career programmes in UCCs Career programmes in the UCCs are not as common as it would have been expected. The workshops organized are usually professional ones and staff opt to push higher using those papers. Useful career information which are very vital for consumption of staff are sometimes lacking and the staff seems not to be bothered so much. Respondents across colleges revealed that these (workshops) were lacking and thus colleges scored as UCC Aduku (-0.231), UCC Pakwach (-0.205) and UCC Tororo (0.030), which was an indicator that the staff in UCC Tororo were occasionally attended to unlike other colleges. The college management find it easier to fund other activities at the expense of career workshops which are vital for laying foundation for career development in the colleges. Individual employee development in UCCs commitment and career One of the objectives of study was to establish the contribution of individual staff commitment towards successful career growth of academic staff of the UCCs. The respondents were to indicate whether they were aware of their role to develop their own career, and further if they utilize the career information acquired. The academic staff were also to indicate whether they were certain of what to do in order to get to the next promotion ladder. Data across colleges depict different scenarios. Whereas UCC Pakwach (0.667) and UCC Tororo (0.047) Hojops et al 095 reported positive relationship, the relationship for UCC Aduku was inverse (-0.050) because UCC Aduku had comparatively more respondents (28 for this study), compared to UCC Tororo (26) and UCC Pakwach (20), the aggregate results for all the colleges became negative as indicated by the following table. The results of the 72 respondents indicate that individual staff commitment negatively impacts on career development of academic staff in the UCCs. Table 5 indicate that there is a negative relationship between employee commitment and career development in the UCCs implying that many staff do not engage themselves in career development activities or are not aware of their career progress. However the level of significance is 99% (at .002 from table15).This is a pointer of the level individual staff needs to put in as far as career development is concerned. It is a revelation that individual staff effort is paramount and without it there may be no successful career development. Table 6 indicates the results of the correlation between Employees and career development in the UCCs, it further illustrates the relationship between individual contribution career development in UCCs which is inverse suggesting that the staff are not doing much to help themselves. It is an indicator that some staff are not aware of their role in as far as career development is concerned to the extent that their activities instead of pushing the forward live them behind wanting. An impression got from staffing some UCCs reveals that while others are going for books some resorts to booze, which tendency does not rhyme career development. An encouragement was given by Maurice (1999) who said that those who have plateaued could be rejuvenated in spirit by experimenting on a different job task rather that stay cocooned in the work they know so well. A similar view was also held by Lisa (2003) that successful career planning requires workers to set realistic goals, determining strength and weaknesses on their part and develop skills that make them marketable. SUMMARY, TIONS CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDA- Relationship between the UCCs commitment and career development management The results from respondents indicated that there is inverse relationship between management commitment and career development in UCCs. This was an indicator that the respondents never appreciated the input from UCCs management towards career development. However it recognizes that the role of management is very vital with a level of significance at 99% as shown by table 13. Results from colleges showed that there was least commitment in UCC Pakwach followed by UCC Aduku and UCC Tororo. It revealed that many staff perceive management effort negatively or do not take it seriously. The same observation was also given by Lamb (2002) whereby military officers in the U.S.A who returned to civilian life were ill-equipped despite their services training in the military. However, management on their part believed that they did what could be done and some staff were adamant. This calls for proper manpower planning so that people of varied skills are promoted up the ladder and also taking care of possible replacements. The relationship between individual commitment and career development The finding from the relationship between individual commitment and career development in UCCs shows that there exists an inverse relationship. Comparison across colleges showed that staff in UCC Pakwach was more committed compared to UCC Tororo and UCC Aduku. However, it showed that individual staff effort is paramount and should be replaced at the focal point. The results show that many staff are not aware of their role in as far as career development is concerned or simply they have left it to government- their employer. Some staff never bothered to be involved in activities that will lead to their career growth and this was discovered to be detrimental to career development. Furthermore, staff shun certain courses that would be very vital for their career progress, a tendency to over specialize in a field less demanded. Management commitment in the UCCs The UCCs management contents that they are equally committed to career development according to one of the principals surveyed. He said that it is the staff that are not procedural, they prefer to work along their way and not according to the laid down programmes. College management also admitted the insufficient level of funding provided towards career development and this was attributed to meager resources remitted from the ministry of education and sports. However staff do not seem to appreciate this effort and there was a need to harmonize the relationship through workshops. Employee commitment in UCCs The findings suggest that more staff in the UCCs lack the zeal to develop their career and yet this was the crucial factor in career development. Employees tend to wait for ministry programmes and yet these opportunities are 096 Merit Res. J. Edu. Rev. rare. Many of them also lack the information that their input is paramount symbolizing that they need to be aware of their role in career development. Some employees were discovered to be involved in activities that retard their career development such as over drinking instead of their career development. To the contrary, some employees reported that there was administrative bias and a form of favoritism which hindered their progress along the career structure. RECOMMENDATIONS The management committee and career development The management of the UCCs (Governing Councils and principals) have a sensitive part to play in as far as career development is concerned. Actions of management can easily be misunderstood by staff as it is being evidenced from previous results. Non-response by management at the same time if not properly explained can easily be seen as intent to deny the staff certain privileges. For instance, 40% of staff on local pay should be updated to government status in order to put them at par with the rest. Interventions in the form of career workshops are also important because staff will find opportunity to think and act about their future. The individual contribution and career development This was found to be a very significant factor. Staff are expected to enroll for courses which will enable them upgrade to the next ladder. Staff are expected to be engaged in gainful activities such as research, seminars and refrain from disruptive activities such as over drinking. Those who aspire to go for further courses must ensure that they are relevant to enable them acquire the skills required for the new tasks. Staff should also be able to sacrifice and devote time and resources for their own good rather than waiting for the organization to think aloud for them. Similarly, Garam (1996) had established a related trend that employees must be at the focal point towards their career success. REFERENCES Adams JS (1963). Towards an understanding of inequity, J. Abnormal and social Psychol. 67, no.5, Nov.1965, pp442-436. Aquine (2003). Identify threat and anti-social behavior in organizations and human decision Processes, people’s management joint, 2003, pp196. Boundaries; Int. J. HRM, April (2006). Boziohelos N, Liwang (2006). 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