GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

Abstract The study investigated the extent to which performance management could be used as a process for dealing with the underperformance of employees or team in the Nigerian oil industry. The population of this study consisted of 15,002 casual, contract and permanent employees. The study adopted a survey design. Data was collected via oral interview and structured questionnaire as well as textbooks, journals, magazines and unpublished articles, research and project reports in a related field. Manuals containing policy statements of the selected companies was analyzed using appropriate statistical technique such as descriptive statistics and Pearson product moment correlation analysis while all the hypotheses were tested at 0.025 alpha level. The questionnaire was designed by the researcher, vetted by the thesis Supervisor and validated by experts in Test, Measurement and Evaluation of the Department of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Uyo, Uyobefore the reliability study was conducted with the use of forty (40) respondents who did not form part of the main study. The instrument was subjected to reliability test using Crombach Alpha Technique. The test produced the reliability co-efficient ranging from 0.73 to 0.96 and this proved that the research instrument is reliable for the study.From the results of the data analysis, it was observed that the extent to which performance management is used as a process for dealing with underperformance of employees or team in the Nigerian oil industry is high. It was concluded that withthe help of performance management, underperformance of employees or team in the Nigerian oil industry has been remarkably discouraged and minimized. The recommendation was that themanagement should endeavour to discourage the underperformance of employees by instilling disciplinary actions to enhance high productivity. KEYWORDS: Performance Management, Process, Dealing, Underperformance, Employees or Team, Nigerian Oil Industry