THE EFFECT OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF WORKERS’ PERFORMANCE IN THE NIGERIAN BANKING SECTOR (A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK BRANCHES IN ADO-EKITI, EKITI STATE)

THE EFFECT OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF WORKERS’ PERFORMANCE IN THE NIGERIAN BANKING SECTOR (A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK BRANCHES IN ADO-EKITI, EKITI STATE)

ABSTRACT

This study examined the effect of training and development on workers’ performance in the Nigerian banking sector a case study of First bank of Nigerian plc branches in Ado-Ekiti. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the effect of training and development of human resource in bank operation. During the research process the researcher collected data from two sources the primary and the secondary source of data were gotten from questionnaires administered to the employee of First bank plc while secondary data were gotten from textbook, journals, publication and manual. The technique used was descriptive survey. The population of study which is the employees of First Bank of Nigeria plc branches, while the sample size is 30. Descriptive analysis of statistical tools of frequency count and percentage were used to answer research questions that were raised for this study. The results of the findings indicated that training and development affects employees’ performance and organizational effectiveness. The study concluded that training is of great importance to the organization and as a result of this the training should be evaluated regularly and several times during the process as well. It is recommended that Nigerian banks should provide adequate training for their staff. This guarantees the retention of the bank staff in the nation and individual should be more proactive and seek to be more creative and innovative to contribute their quota through their profession and skill.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Many years ago, the concept of training and development were misunderstood and not given full consideration in most Nigeria organization. Today the situation has change totally, such that many organization, business and non-business organization has come to realize the need for training and development of employee as vital for organization development and operation. Training and development has started since the existence of man, as the action of man is directed on what to do and when to do it. Just as a little child is trained on various ways of walking, standing and sitting, it is done in order to develop the child with skills to adapt to his environment. The above statement is applicable to an employee, in order to train him so as to be able to adapt to the environment and organization which he finds himself. With this, it is clear that every organization need to train its employee so that there will be improved growth and productivity (Kumpikaite & Sakalas, 2011).

The beginning of 21st century has seen a dramatic surge among the businesses to attract and retain talent. This is much due to globalization, technology exploitation (Allen, 2010) and above all increased competition (Qayyum, Sharif, Ahmad, Khan, & Rehman, 2012). Employees need to be provided with a continuous learning atmosphere to keep themselves on track with the organizational mission & vision. In view of Spender (2011, as cited in Taylor & Ray, n.d.) employees must gain varied skills and broad knowledge in terms of various personal as well as professional attributes. It is performance that is the ultimate goal of any business’s efforts that leads towards the achievement of market leadership and capturing of unbeatable talent. These two are crucial for the organizations and are part of the organizational strategic mission (Mwita, 2010, as cited in Abbas & Yaqoob, 2009). To get training was once thought of as an extra effort to excel personally and perform up to the mark in one’s job but now it has become a matter of basic need to be trained to learn the change and adapt to the advancements in work practices (Garner, 2012). Also it is an undeniable fact that in response to the changing work practices if employees are not provided with chances to enlarge their professional experiences then this may lead them to skill obsolescence. Skill obsolescence has been defined by Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk (2010) to be the absence of sophisticated know-how and advanced expertise required to accomplish organizational tasks. Such a situation has led organizations, regardless of their size and scope of operations, to focus on competency based hiring and set challenging job tasks. Competency based hiring is not all that is done but also employees are trained and developed to be proactive and leaders through precisely designed training and development (T & D) programs. These T & D programs together with offering basic skill enhancement also help in gaining advanced job related knowledge to avoid skill obsolescence. Noe (2008) suggest that it is an organization’s management responsibility to facilitate the workforce through training & development to remain competent in their profession. They support their argument by saying that allocating resources and funds for training the employees is in the very interest of the organization itself as it has a positive effect on productivity. As highlighted in the literature review section, there is a relationship between training & developing employees and their job performance. Now through this study we are intended to check out this relationship on factual grounds by taking the banking sector of Nigeria as basis for this. In banks, the importance of training and development is inevitable as they fall in the services sector. Customer services are something that must be delivered carefully and at the maximum as the needs and wants of customers goes on changing (Frederick & Stephen, 2010).

Most organizations have realized that the performance of their workers plays a vital role in determining the success of the organization (Shaheen et al 2013; Ajila and Awonusi, 2014). Elnaga and Imran (2013) stress that for employees to develop the desired knowledge, skills and abilities to perform well on the job; they need effective training programs that may also influence their motivation and commitment. Also, Rafique et al (2014) opine that the relationship of intrinsic rewards (working environment, authority and recognition) extrinsic rewards (pay, promotion and bonuses), job satisfaction and perceived training effectiveness on motivation impact on organizational commitment and knowledge transfer. As such, it is important for employers and managers alike to know what really motivates employees to work more.

In recent years, manpower development has been the bedrock of many banking industries in Nigeria. This is because it has improved employees performance which has led to productivity and efficiency of the organization. Considering the changes in market environment and competitions experienced by firms, it is important that organization invest on the relevance resources in the organization. The ability and strategy to effectively carry out these proactive acts will serve as an edge over competitors of organization. In other words, training and retraining are necessary, if efficiency and productivity are to be attained. When employees are offered training they acquire new and improved skills that will enable them to perform better in any given organization. Training and retraining of employees is capable of making them to face the challenges and competition in the banking industry.

In the banking sector, training is often organized to upgrade and update their knowledge and skills. Training is also very important in the banking sector because when employees are trained, it will promote sales and increase the level of competition among various banks. Manpower development is the most valuable assets of any organization as well as the most difficult to manage. According to Crosse and Hempel (2008) manpower development is the number of workmen (skilled and unskilled) needed for a certain type of work in a given industry. They form the engine working toward the aims and objectives of the organization. However, for effective management of this manpower, training and retraining is required to meet daily challenges of the work ability that is facing it personnel policies should be directed toward well-defined objective and guided by clearly understood principles. The impact of trained manpower and the untrained manpower in the banking industry is what this project seeks to address.

Abbah (2014) argues that an organization is effective to the degree to which it achieves its goals pointing out that an effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation and sense of commitment and satisfaction within the sphere of it influence. He stresses that in order to make employee satisfied and committed to their jobs, there is need for strong and effective motivation at various levels in an organization. But, Abbah (2014) revealed that Nigerian employees both in the public and private organizations are unmotivated noting that they seems to work with absolute lack-luster due to lack of motivation.

Falola et al (2014) posit that for any organisation to achieve its stated goals and objective in this competitive world, adequate and relevance training and development of staff cannot be over-emphasized. Kiruja and Mukuru (2013) state that employee performance is a function of ability and motivation, where ability is comprised of the skills, training and resources required for performing a task and motivation is described as an inner force that drives individual to act towards something. Also, Sharma and Shirsath (2014) submit that training contributes greatly to employee’s motivation and improved performance in comparison with other factors like technology, management behavior, working environment etc.

Past researches on worker behaviour has studied various workers’ attitude to work such commitment, lateness, absenteeism, intensity of work effort, quits etc. However, no research has been conducted to investigate the potency of training and development in Nigerian banking sector in the present times. This study does not only aim to bridge this gap, it will also go further to identify the training and development needs of Nigerian banking workers focusing on First Bank plc, Ado – Ekiti.

In an ever growing competitive world, where organizations are always at competition with one another in terms of goods and services, there should be a link between the organizations business strategy and the training and development that it undertakes (Wilson, 2009). Therefore an organization which combines its strategy and training and development is regarded as having a good business sense. Recruiting, retaining, training and developing the right and talented people give an organization a competitive edge over its competitors: this is what human resource management is about. It is therefore a great strategic concern to the organization how it manages its people in order to develop their commitment and produce the best out of them for its benefit.

Wilson, (2009), states that “a range of organizational changes has contributed to providing circumstances making the development of Human Resource Management (HRM) both pertinent and possible”. The provision of good and quality goods and services to customers of an organization has necessitated that the employees give out their best and that the organization can rely on their commitment. If employees are to experience flexibility and effectiveness on the job, they need to acquire and develop knowledge and skills, and if they are to believe that they are valued by the organization they work for, then they need to see visible signs of management’s commitment to their training and career needs.

The quality of the human resource of an organization is essential to its success. Thus, every organization must seek to improve the quality of its workforce. One way of achieving this is through training. The importance of training can only be appreciated with a clear understanding of its direct impact on employee performance. An improvement in employee performance also leads to an improvement in the company’s performance.

The core strength of any organization comes from its employees. To develop and strength them, leads to a solid foundation for the organization’s future, therefore a manager must continue to develop himself and also have a commitment to help his employees develop their full potential. The employees depend on the managers, and the organization depends on all of them for its success. Many researchers believe that, for organizations to maintain a competitive advantage they must focus on enhancing performance through a process of continual learning.

For these reasons organizations are now focusing more on improved productivity from optimal human resource utilization and thus, investment in training and development with the ultimate goal to improve human productivity at both the macro and micro levels. Thus, employee training is becoming a necessity to every organization; training enables them to carry out their roles and responsibilities efficiently and also learn new things, which will prepare them to take up higher responsibilities efficiently and also learn new things, which will prepare them to take up higher responsibilities in the future. The amount and quality of training carried out varies enormously from organization to organization due to factors such as the degree of external change, for instance, new markets or new processes.

Statement of the Problem

Before the establishment of central bank in 1959, training of Nigeria bankers was not taken serious by most banks, especially the foreign owned banks. In every organization or sector all over the world, the management sets up the organizations goals and ways of achieving these goals (First Bank of Nigeria Plc) is not exception Ejiofor (2007) states that for an organization to attain this goals effectively and efficiently, workers are taken very important and necessary. And to keep and maintain these workers, they should be trained and developed, and also be familiarized with the new trend in existence.

Many organizations have not been able to identify the important of training and development. These questions were being asked by Rosenberger why some organization performs better than other? Why it is that organization or sectors has not been able to perform efficiently? Why is it that training and development is rarely considered necessary in some?

In giving answers to these questions, it is important to determine the following areas:

· Identify potential training needs of job existing.

· Identify individual performance level.

· Identify post training performance with respect to the training and development objectives.

· Identify the huge sum of money and other resource usually inputed into training of the employees of First Bank of Nigeria Plc.

The need to find solution to this problem can badly be over emphasized. It is so order to correct the impression that has been created into the mind. Executive who believe that there is no effect in investing fund in training and development of employees in the bank? Therefore, this study will take a critical look at the effect of training and development of workers’ performance in the Nigerian banking sector (a case study of First Bank branches in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state).

Objective of the Study

The primary objectives of this study is to investigate the effect of training and development of workers’ performance in the Nigerian banking sector (a case study of First Bank branches in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state). The specific objectives of this study are to;

1. determined influence of training and development of human resource on the operation of First Banks in Ado-Ekiti.

2. help provide an opportunity and broad structure for the development of human resource technical and be behavioural skills in the bank.

3. find out if staff of the banks see the training and development programme as motivation and means of job enrichment and satisfaction.

4. determine the number of bank worker trained each year and how it affects their performance at work.

5. evaluate workers’ performance before and after training courses.

6. make recommendations where appropriate to the banks in other more meaningful, it human resource training and development.

7. improve upon the quality of work and life in First Banks in Ado-Ekiti.

8. determine the problem banks encounter in carrying out training and development of its staff.

Scope of the Study

This study will not digress from its purpose which is to examine the effect of training and development of workers’ performance in the Nigerian banking sector (a case study of First Bank branches in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state). First Bank workers from First Bank branches in Ado-Ekiti will be used as respondents for this study. Ado – Ekiti area was chosen by the researcher for this study due its proximity to Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko where the researcher is a student. This will reduce cost and avoid complexity that may arise as a result of having a very large population. But since in most cases the characteristics of staff are generally similar, the research findings would be generalized to include all bank workers in Nigeria. The survey design of the descriptive type of research was used for the study. The research instrument was self-structured questionnaire. The research involved the independent variable of training and development and dependent variable of workers’ performance in Nigeria banking sector.

Research Questions

In order to achieve the above stated objectives, the following research questions were raised by the researcher for the purpose of this study:

(i) How does training and development of human resource help in achieving First Banks goals?

(ii) What proportion of the staff is trained annually?

(iii) Did training and development of human resources have any influence on the level of performance of the banks?

(iv) What type of training and development of human programmes are available in the banks.

(v) Did training and development of human resources have any effect on improving profitability of the banks?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance:

Ho: Training and development does not significantly improve the level of job performance of the staff of the banks

Hi: Training and development does improve significantly the level of job performance of the staff of the banks.

Ho: Training and development opportunities do not significantly motivate workers.

Hi: Training and development opportunities do significantly motivate workers.

Ho: Training and development of human resources do not significantly improve the profitability position of banks.

Hi: Training and development of human resource do significantly improve the profitability position of banks.

Significance of the Study

For training and development of human resource to have effect on bank operation, its objectives, benefits and process must be clearly stated and understood for the benefit of those who are expected to gain from it. The study is expected to be of benefit to the following.

1. Banks in Nigeria: The study will help the management of the bank in Nigeria to improve the quality of the staff with particular reference to First Bank plc, branches, Ado – Ekiti.

2. Bank Customers: An improved banking service will help eliminate waste of time in the bank before attention is given to customers.

3. Nigeria Economy: The research work will help rebuild all battered economy resulting from banking sector.

4. Bank Staff: When bank realize the need for human resource training and development, their employee will have greater opportunity of being trained. It will help to develop and shape their future.

Limitation of the Study

Training and development is vital and significant to all organization both private and public sector. But this study is focusing on first bank of Nigeria plc branches, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Limitations that affect this research work are:

1. Time: The time given for the research work is so short that most time it clashes with lecture period, so this lead to the inability to get quality and actual result but with the help of the researchers’ supervisor this was overcome.

2. Finance: is very important to every research work, as the information is not found in a particular place, the researcher need to move from one place to the other, so that the information can be gotten. And this entails money. Enough monetary aspect is not available for proper financing of this project.

Definition of Terms

Training: This is the process of preparing human resources for the best services to their organization. At one extreme, training consists of a few hours or minutes of induction by the supervisor who gives the new employees, skeletal outline of the bank policies; location etc. as designed to develop qualified specialists. Training is designed to change the behavior pattern of a worker to achieve organizational objectives.

Development: This is the process that involves a long time planning specifically designed for management staff with changes in technology and management method, all aim at improving managerial effectiveness.

System: It is a series of element inter-dependent and inter-related to form a whole and it has three stages the input i.e. the teaching, conversion process i.e. assimilating the teaching and output i.e. the carrying out of what has been thought.

Appraisal: It is a continuous process aimed at assisting or advising and encouraging the appraised (employee) performance.

Introduction: It is the process of arrangement made by or on behalf of the management to familiarize the new employee with the working condition in this new employment.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter review relevant literature on the topic “the effect of training and development of workers’ performance in the Nigerian banking sector (a case study of First Bank branches in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state). The literature will be reviewed under the following headings:

· Introduction

· History of first bank

· History of training and development in the banking industry

· Training and development

· Training and development need’s and job analyzed

· Conceptual framework

· Employees’ retention

· The impact of training and development in the banking industry

· The need for training and development

· The importance of training and development

· Planning training and development programme

· Method and techniques of training and development