Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol 3, No 4, 2012 71 Utilization of Committee System and Secondary School Principals’ Administrative Effectiveness in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria A.T. Alabi 1* A. I. Mustapha 2 and A.Y. AbdulKareem 1 1 Department of Educational Management, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 2 Baboko Community Secondary School, Ilorin, Nigeria *E-mail of the corresponding author: alabiafusat@yahoo.com Abstract This study investigated the relationship between utilization of Committee System (CS) and secondary school principals’ administrative effectiveness in Ilorin metropolis. The researchers adopted a correlation survey research design. Random sampling technique was used to select 25 senior secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis and 290 participants comprising 20 Principals, 20 Vice-principals and 250 teachers. A researcher-designed questionnaire titled “Committee System and Principals’ Administrative Effectiveness Questionnaire (CSPAEQ)” was used to collect relevant data. Three research questions were raised and answered, while three hypotheses were also formulated and tested. The data gathered for the study were statistically analysed using percentage and Pearson product moment correlation statistic at 0.05 level of significance. Among the findings were that there was significant relationship between utilization of Committee System (CS) and secondary school principals’ administrative effectiveness in Ilorin metropolis. Based on the findings, it was recommended that there should be mandatory orientation courses, seminars, conferences and workshops on effective usage of committee system for the school administrators. This is necessary to promote the usage of Committee System in schools. Additionally, the existing Committees in secondary schools should work collaboratively and their progress should be reviewed periodically by principals to check for any deviations and unnecessary waste of time. Keywords: Utilization, Committee System, Secondary School Principals, Administrative Effectiveness 1. Introduction The need for effective human resource management strategies that incorporate Committee System in the administration of secondary school cannot be overt emphasized. School management is focused on efficient management of human and material resources. The management of school organisation requires the adoption of Committee System because of the bureaucracy, collegial and political models that are applicable (Dauda, 2000). The tasks of school principals are enormous and the need to involve teachers and other administrative staff in the management process to ensure optimal production, efficiency, satisfaction, adaptiveness and development cannot be over-emphasized. Many teachers crave for participation in the running of the school. They do not only want to be involved in decision making at staff meetings, but also want to take active role in the effective administration of the school, which could possibly be satisfied through the use of school communities. It should be noted that the internal processes within the school organizations are very essential for the determination of effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the school system. These internal processes include the school climate, staff involvement in decision making, leadership behavior and communication process. The se of committee is a strong force in these internal processes that could bring about school effectiveness. There is also the growing assumption that committee works in schools and colleges affect negatively the academic work of teachers. Thus, instead of the involvement in the running of the school being a morale booster to the teacher and affecting his teaching tasks positively, it is now a situation in which the primary duties of teaching the students are relegated for ad hoc committee duties. Thus, there is the problem of effective utilization of the committee system in the schools. This assumption has prompted the quest to examine the use of committee system and its impact on principals’ administrative effectiveness.