ABSTRACT

Management is essential to the continued operation of an organization, be it small, large, manufacturing, distribution or service like the poultry business at a profit. This work evaluates the effect of application of management functions in the performance of poultry organizations in Umuahia, Abia State as a broad objective with other specific objectives- to determine the roles played by management functions in the operations of poultry businesses in poultry organizations in Umuahia, Abia State; to investigate the operational efficiency of management on the performance of poultry organizations in Umuahia, Abia State; to examine the importance of managerial functions on the performance of poultry organizations in Umuahia, Abia State and to study the contributions of poultry organizations in Umuahia to the growth of the economy of Abia State. Five research questions were posed and five hypotheses formulated in line with the objectives of the study. The research design adopted for this study was the survey and descriptive research design. Data was drawn from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was collected directly from the field through interview schedule and distribution of questionnaire to the poultry owners while secondary data were obtained through Textbooks, Journals, the internet and other valuable hard copy materials like mimeograph. The population of the study consisted of all the poultry farms in Umuahia, Abia State which is thirty (30) in number. The total number of employees in the above poultry farms is about four hundred and twenty (420). The Sample size was determined using the Taro Yamane formula and a sample of 205 was obtained. The instruments for data collected were validated using content validity while the reliability of the instrument was done through the cronbach alpha (α). All the Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 software package while Correlation and Chi-square tests were used to test all the hypotheses. Hypothesis one shows a correlation value of 0.084. Hypothesis two shows a calculated Chi-square value (χ²) of 398.419Hypothesis three indicated a correlation value of 0.077. Hypothesis four shows a correlation value of 0.060 while hypothesis five shows a correlation value of 0.954. The above results led to the recommendations that the application of management functions has a significant effect on the performance of poultry farm organizations; the role played by management functions has significant impact in the operations of poultry businesses in poultry farms in Umuahia, Abia State, among others.

Keywords: Management functions, Performance, Poultry organizations.