Abstract

Organizations are rated high base on their performance and it is the responsibility of the human resources management to coordinate the personnel to attain the stipulated objectives. Thus human resources managers are meant to attract, develop, motivate and retain human resources in order to increase organizational performance. This is expected in the fire services of Abia and Anambra States. Paradoxically, their performance is hardly felt in the area of their principal mandate of protecting lives and properties from unwanted fire. Consequently, the two largest markets in the south east, Aba and Onitsha, suffer from frequent fire outbreaks. This study examined the influence of human resources management activities on the performance of the fire services in the identified states.The study adoptedsurvey research design. Census was adopted as the population which is the 96 personnel of Abia and Anambra states fire services. Questionnaire and interview guide were used as instruments for data collection. The response rate was 100%. Face-to-face interviews were purposively conducted on the fire service director, human resource manager, fire service commander, serving fire service personnel, retired fire service personnel, three market leaders and the public, in the two States. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was thematically analyzed. Findings revealed that Human Resource Management was a significant predictor of performance. The nature of recruitment with a p-value = 0.000 was significant at 0.05%. Also Human Resource Management activities with a p-value = 0.007 was significant at 0.05 level of significance. However, the influence of motivation on performance with a p-value = 0.677 was not significant at 0.05%.Motivation is only significant in combination with recruitment and management activities yielding a p-value = 0.000 which was significant at 0.05%. The study concluded that human resource management has positive influence on the performance of the fire services in Abia and Anambra States; thus it should be given more attention. Hence, the study recommended enhanced nature of recruitment; avoiding favoritism; improving salaries and welfare packages of workers; upgrading infrastructures in the areas of road networks and building more fire service stations