CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to
the Study
Training and development must be based on a need analysis
derived from a comparison of “actual performance” and behavior with “required
performance” and behavior. Training and development is one of the major ways
organization invests in the workforce for greater return today and even in the
foreseeable future (Bartly, 2007). Organizational effectiveness rests on the efficient
and effective performance of workforce that makeup the organization. The efficient
and effective performance of the workforce in turn, rest on the richness of the
knowledge, skills and abilities possessed by the workforce. Training and
development in most organizations is a continuous act/exercise. The inexorable
march of time and the ceaseless glamour for social change combine to make
adaptability and continuing preparation of the workforce as inevitable as the
initial acquisition of knowledge and skills. This cannot happen if employees‟
training and development do not occur in an enterprise. In other to maximize
the productivity and efficiency of the organization, every executive, manager
or supervisor in a public or private organization has the responsibility and
indeed the bounding duty to ensure the development of their employees who have
requisite knowledge and expertise (Dale, 2005). Training
is like sharpening an existing skill in order to reflect the trends in
technology and other social –cultural environmental changes of an organization.
Productivity is the goal of today’s competitive business world and training can
be a spring board to enhance productivity. The aim is to enable them contribute
their full measure to the welfare, health and development of the organization
(Julius and Ogwo, 2007). The main objective of training and development in any
organization is to increase efficiency of employees with the resulting increase
in corporate productivity. This accounts for why a large number of fund and
time is expected by organization at one period or the order in the improvement
of the skills of their employees at various levels. The principal intention of
training according to is to equip people with the knowledge required to qualify
them for a particular position of employment or to improve their skills and
efficiency in the position they already hold Adetunji, (2007).
Manpower development on the other hand, implies growth and the acquisition of
wide experience for future strategic advantages of the organization. Training
and development therefore, improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the
employee. While training and development prosper organization, ignorance
destroys it. Therefore, workers like machines must be updated on constant basis
or else, they end up becoming obsolete or misfit (Deverell,
2007). The development of indigenous manpower to serve as the propelling force
for national growth and development is no doubt a key to Nigeria’s
socio-economic and political development (Ake, 2009). This is quite
indispensable considering the argument of the concept of transfer of technology
as a propelling force for the development of the developing countries of which
Nigeria is one (Ake, 2009). However, it is important to state that the lack of
adequate emphasis on manpower development as a tool for development in Nigeria
on the part of government as well as the organized private sector could not be
far-fetched from the lack of understanding of both the concept and methods for
manpower development in a post-colonial Nigerian State in which the process of
human resource development for national growth was distorted by colonialism
with the attendant negative orientation that was injected into political
leadership (Ekpo, 2009). Thus, manpower development became an elitist design
that was geared to favour capitalist mode of production in which labour was
relegated to the background among the factors of production.
1.2 Statement of the
Problem
The challenge of human capital development for developing
nations is daunting. This is in consideration of how far ahead the rest of the
world is and the enormous efforts and resources required of them to catch up.
Nigeria's high population, vast socio-cultural diversity, yet-to-mature
political culture and the great hope repose on her to emancipate the
black-race, makes the challenge even more critical for us. The good news
however, is that there is cause for great optimism because the nation has more
than enough human capital potentials to surmount the challenge if harnessed,
activated and effectively channeled.
This research as it deals with the training and development
of employees in FCAI is intended to find out the efficiency and effectiveness
of training and development programme in FCAI. For this reason, it encounters
numerous problems which range from:
1.
Lack of qualified
instructors and consultants to undertake training courses,
2.
Lack of essential
training tools, to
3.
Lack of effective
communication within the organization which makes it impossible for most
employees to know about training opportunities available to them.
1.3 Research Question
1. What
is the impact of training and development on the staff performance of Federal
College of Agriculture, Ishiagu?
2. Is
there need for continuous training and development in acquiring new techniques
by the staff of Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu?
3. What
are the major challenges facing training and staff development in Federal
College of Agriculture, Ishiagu?
4. What
is the cost, design and method of training and staff development adopted by the
management of Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu in training its staff?
5. What
viable solutions could be employed to tackle the challenges facing staff
training and development in Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu?
1.4 Objectives of
the Study
The broad objective of this study is to examine the impact of
training and development on public sector (organization) with a special focus
on Federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu (FCAI), Ebonyi State. The specific
objectives are;
1.
To identify the role and the need for
continuous training and development in acquiring new techniques, so as to
respond to the changing needs of Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu.
2.
To identify the impact of training and
development programmes on effective performance of staff in Federal College of
Agriculture, Ishiagu.
3.
To identify major problems facing
training and staff development in Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu; and
suggest possible solutions for solving the problems.
4.
To evaluate and assess the cost,
design and training methods available in Federal College of Agriculture,
Ishiagu.
1.5 Significance of
the Study
The research will be beneficial to all service organizations
especially Federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu in Ebonyi State and their
staff as it emphasized the need and encourage the establishment of policy
guidelines on the efficient and effective training and development programme.
It will help managers of various organizations to generate
ideas and solution to problems based on the best way to run training in their
organization in order to achieve desired goals and objectives.
It will equally be useful to small scale business, large
corporations, and universities, college of education and to the government. It
will also help researchers to know more about training programme as a tool for
improving employees‟ performance.
Finally, it will be of great value to students as a point of
reference and will equally form the basis for further research study.
1.6 Scope of the
Study
This study covers the impact of training on public sector
organization, case study of Federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu. The basis
for the case study is to show whether there has been any significant
contribution of training on organizational performance in Nigeria.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
The main limitation of this work is the time frame and other
limitations are stated below:
Time Constraint: it
should be noted the period given is not adequate for a study of this magnitude
and also a high demand nature of other academic engagements would affect the
quality of this research. For this reason, the study has to be limited to some
specific areas.
Problem
of Collecting Information: organizations and individuals
usually characterized by the fear of diverging sensitive information to
outsiders. Hence, the quality of the project may be affected by unavailability
of some vital data from the respondents to some extent but total co-operation
is being anticipated from our respondents.