1.2.

Statement of the Problem New competitive approach in the oil industry has breached established management policies and rendered the orthodox methods of product and service development o bsolete. TQM is one of the subject that have dominated discussions in the oil i ndustry and academia because of increased competition in the market and the need to continuously improve on the quality of the product and services rendered by the organisation in order to survive. In the same view, empirical studies have b een conducted on the level of TQM application, its associated problems and prosp ect and its impact on corporate survival. However, there is a limited knowledge on the impact of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Employee Performance. Oil is a highly sensitive resource in Nigeria but it also the main driver and so urce of foreign exchange earnings for the Nigerian economy (Akinyele, 2011), and according to Chuku (Chukwu, 2002), the Nigerian oil industry contributes over 8 0% of Nigerian government revenues. Nigeria currently produces over 30 million b arrels of crude oil per day. This, according to The Guardian (Guardian, 2006), m akes it Africa s number one producer of oil and gas and ranked seventh in the world since 2006. The importance and huge production base the oil industry to the Nig erian economy and the high technology in the industry requires the employment of highly skilled employees (Baker, 2006). Because of the need and desire to expan d the multiplier effect of the oil industry, the Nigerian government had activel y embarked on grooming skilled local manpower in order to reduce the dominance o f the industry by expatriate workers (Baker, 2006). It is therefore paramount to have an effective management technique to ensure required employee performance in order to remain competitive. Quantifying and managing employee performance in the Nigerian oil industry is co mplex. It is not just limited to performance in the production and refinement of petroleum and its products, but it encompasses the broad spectrum of company s acti vities such as business models and marketing, which is critical to the very comp etitiveness and survival of companies involved in the Nigeria oil industry (Math iason, 2006) (Achumba & Osuagwu, 1994). This makes the Nigerian oil industry a g ood reference point for the study of the impact of TQM on employee performance i n the oil industry. Some oil companies in Nigeria attempt to adopt and apply TQM philosophy without analysing and addressing issues such as motivation, training, working environmen t, job security, labour union, and cultural factors, even though a lack of prope r addressing of the factors that impact TQM can impact employees performance advers ely (Ho, 1999:20). Although it is accepted that there is a linkage between TQM i mplementation and employee performance, the way TQM is implemented in oil produc ing companies and how this impacts employee performance is not well understood a nd there is limited research on it. Employee performance and performance managem ent is a major concern in the Nigerian oil industry, given the continued inciden ts of oil spillages, customer dissatisfaction (especially host communities), ind ustrial accidents and conflict between management and employees. For the support ers of total quality management, there is the question that if TQM provides mana gement and organisational excellence, then why it has not been successfully impl emented in the oil industry, especially in the Nigerian oil industry where it ca n make a big difference. 1.3. Objectives and the Rationale of the Study Total Quality Management (TQM) is perceived as the most modern management philos ophy that can provide customer satisfaction through the performance improvement in all aspects of an organisation. The main objective of this research is a stud y of the impact of TQM on employee performance in the oil industry using the Nig erian oil industry as a case study. The following are the specific research obje ctives. 1. Establish the relationship and impact that the implementation of TQM as a management tool has on the performance improvement for Nigeria oil companies. 2. Identify the various approaches used by oil producing companies in imple

menting TQM to impact positively on employee performance, and determine those as pects of TQM that positively impact employee performance and those that negative ly impact performance. 3. Draw conclusion on the impact of TQM on employees performance in the oil in dustry and provide a set of recommendations which when followed, will lead a suc cessful implementation of TQM with the required performance improvement in all o perational activities of oil companies. 1.5 Significance of the Study The research is important and topical and it will provide useful information on the necessity of TQM as a business improvement and survival strategy. Such infor mation will help managers and policy makers in strategy formulation, organisatio nal and employee development of organisations. Furthermore, research findings wi ll contribute to organisational growth as it will highlight the benefit and impa ct of TQM on employee performance and how this relates organisational productivi ty and performance. Finally, the outcome of the research will be useful for stud ents, researchers and management practitioners. 1.6 Scope and Limitation of Study This research project intends to find out how employee performance in certain oi l companies is influenced by the implementation of TQM. Although there are sever al oil companies operating in Nigeria, this research will be limited to oil prod ucing companies in Rivers State, Nigeria which is a good source of research give n the complexity of the oil industry in that region. Given the time frame of the project and resources available, it is not possible consider all other variable s that influence or may influence employee performance in the oil producing firm s due to the implementation of TQM. The scope of the enquiry is thereby limited by the scope of inquiry given that i t is limited to the oil producing firm in Rivers State, Nigeria.