Interpersonal Relationships and Organizational Performance: The Nigerian Public Sector in Perspective

The paper focuses on interpersonal relationships and organisational performance with particular perspective on the Nigerian public sector. Organizations are purpose driven entities with objectives, goals, vision and mission to accomplish. The public sector or the state sector is not only created to provide public service efficiently and effectively but to adopt managerial tools which will ensure that the ever growing and changing needs of the country are satisfactorily addressed. As a sector of a country’s economy comprising of both public services and public corporations, the public sector’s performance is pivotal to economic growth and development. The performance of the public sector is usually a reflection of how effectively and efficiently the human and other productive resources of the country are galvanised and managed by public managers. Studies in the direction have attempted to know what factors affects organizational performance and particularly how factors with positive influence on organizational performance can be sustained. Of interest in the paper is to examine the functional role of interpersonal relationships on organizational performance using the Nigerian public sector as a unit of analysis. It is contended using the Balanced Scorecard Model propounded by Norton and Kaplan (1996) and the EFQM Excellence Model as theoretical foundations of analysis that although cordial interpersonal relationships in pertinent in improving workers and organisational performance, it is not a sufficient element in stimulating expected high performance.