EFFECTIVENESS OF IN SERVICE TRAINING ON EMPLOYEES DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY
Abstract
The study examined the effectiveness of in-service training on employees’ development and productivity. Three research questions and hypothesis were formulated in line with the research objectives to guide the study. The survey
design was adopted in the study. The population of study comprised 280 staff members of the Ebonyi State Ministry
of finance, Abakaliki. The sample size consisted of 164 respondents selected through the Yaro Yamane technique of
sample size determination. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire. The Chi-square test of statistics
was employed in testing the
hypotheses and data
analysis. The result of the
study shows that In-service
training has significant
influence on employee’s
morale, in service training
has significant influence on employee’s efficiency and productivity and that in-service training has significant effect on
organizations’ performance. From the findings of the study, it was recommended that business organizations should
set up regular training and development programmes that are capable of raising the skills, morale and productivity of
employees, organizations should involve experts in mapping out their training and development needs, Training and
personnel development should be based on proper analysis of its contribution to the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization.
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background to the study
The role played by staff training can no longer be over-emphasized as many have come to recognize that training
offers a way of developing skill, enhancing productivity, guaranteeing quality of work and building worker’s loyalty to
the firm. Organizational goals also keep changing in line with the realities of the time; technology keep getting
sophisticated; customers and clients of organization become more choosy and conscious of their rights in demanding
organizational products and services, and organization’s products and services keep changing in response to their
choice. It is hard for any business organization to exist without adequate manpower hence it is an indispensable tool
for any organization. For employees to perform their functions effectively there must be well designed training and
development programs to enable them enhance their productivity.
Training is defined as the process of developing skills, habits, knowledge and aptitudes in employees for the purpose
of increasing the effectiveness of employees in their present positions as well as preparing employees for future
positions (Avasthi, 2006). In-service training is a set of planned activities on the part of an organization to increase the
job knowledge and skills or to modify the job knowledge and skills or to modify the attitudes and social behavior of its
employees in ways consistent with the goals of the organization and the requirements of the jobs (Bartlett, 2001). Inservice training is a kind of education, which is done to help the individuals in an organization to acquire knowledge,
skills and attitudes in their jobs.
Udo (1983) views in-service training as the development of specific skills and attitudes needed to perform a particular
job or series of jobs to maximize the productivity of the employee and improve the overall organizational efficiency. In
service training to Ohakwe (2007), is a continuous assistance or coaching given to an employee in order to make him
have the current knowledge of the job content, scope and relationship within the organization.
Development according to Ezeuwa (2009) can be seen as the use of human resources to quantitatively change
man’s physical and biological environments to his benefits or ever seen as involving the introduction of new ideas into
the social structure and causing alterations on the patterns of the organization and social structure. To develop staff,
Daniels (2003) simply refers to as to make employee grow with the company so that they can be fitted for available
higher positions within their capacity. Development deals with improving human relations and interpersonal (Iwuoha,
2009).
Training as the crucial area of human management, is the fastest growing segment of personnel activities. Training is
a course of diet and exercise for developing the employees’ affective, cognitive and psychomotor skills to assist an
employee towards enhancing his productivity. At times, some companies go beyond establishing their own schools for
training and retraining their staff at no cost expense to the trainee.
There are two major types of training: On-the -job training and Off- the -job training as identified by Alo (1999). Onthe-job training, is normally handled by colleagues, supervisors, managers, mentors’ to help employees adjust to their
work and to equip them with appropriate job related skills. According to Ejiogu (2000) Off-the-job training would
include lecture, vestibule training, role playing, case study, discussion and simulation .Armstrong (1995) listed group
exercises, team building, distance learning, outdoor and workshops as part of off-the-job training.
The main aim of in-service training and development programmes in an organization is to enable employees increase
their productivity. Productivity on the other hand is the end product of training and development as well as a measure
of the output of the result from a given input. The importance of training has become more obvious, particularly to
public sector, given the growing complexity of the work environment, the rapid change in organizations such as;
ministries, parastatals, extra departments and public agencies, and technological advancement, which further
necessitate the need for training and development of public personnel to meet the challenges. Training helps to
improve quality, productivity, morale, management succession, business development, profitability and service
delivery (Jones, George and Hill, 2000).
In-service training aims at providing knowledge, skills and attitudes to employees, which will help them to be more
successful, more productive and happier in their jobs. Science and technology bring new knowledge, techniques and
tools for each work area; therefore, the need to push the employee to learn more and improve themselves so as to
accomplish the goal of the government becomes imperative (Obisi, 1996).
According to Mullins (1999) training is capable of producing the following benefits: increase the staff’s confidence,
motivation and commitment of staff, provide recognition, enhanced responsibilities and the possibility of increased
pay and promotion; give feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement, and broaden opportunities for career
progression; help to improve the availability and quality of staff. Training motivates employees to work harder.
Employees who understand their work are likely to have high morale and job satisfaction. They are able to see closer
relationship between their effort and performance. Kartal (2010) believes that in-service training transmits the
knowledge of the new staff to the related departments in a systematic way, decreases misunderstanding and
disagreement among the staff and creates a positive work atmosphere.
Fundamentally, the central objective of training in one word is efficiency, which is to increase the effectiveness of the
work of the officials for the purposes of administration. Efficiency has two important aspects, the first of which may be
said to be technical efficiency in the present work of the employee or some higher work to be entrusted to him in
future, and second of which is the improvement of his morale.
Ebonyi state Ministry of Finance and Economic development was created as soon as the state was created in 1996
during the late General Sanni Abacha’s regime with Mr. Oko Udo Oko and Mrs. Ngozi Nwankwo as the pioneer
commissioner and accountant general respectively. Dr. Ekuma Nkama is the current political Head of the ministry.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is a service ministry in Ebonyi State. The ministry is charged
with the enormous responsibilities and functions of overseeing the financial and development policies and objectives
of the State Government.
The vision of the Ministry is the integration and implementation of fiscal and developmental policies and programmes
of the state. Ebonyi state government organized in-service training for all the employees of the ministry in the year 2014. This in-service training was on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) organized by the immediate
past administration of Governor Marthin Nwanchor Elechi (MFR). The training programme which had its venue at the
staff development centre Abakaliki, was aimed at equipping the staff of the ministry with the requisite knowledge of information and communication technology so as to enhance their job efficiency and productivity.
EFFECTIVENESS OF IN SERVICE TRAINING ON EMPLOYEES DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY