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:

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;

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:

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.

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:

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: