The Impact of Training and Development Programmes on the Performance of Employees in Rural Banks in the Ashanti Region
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
The objective of this study comprises of a general objective and specific objectives.
General objective
To determine the impact of training and development programmes on employee performance in Rural Banks in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
Specific objectives
(i) To identify the nature of training and development programmes in Rural Banks in the Ashanti region of Ghana
(ii) To assess the specific training programs used in Rural Banks in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
(iii) To assess the existing development programs used in Rural Banks in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
(iv) To assess impacts of training and development programmes on the performance of employees in Rural Banks in the Ashanti region Ghana
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter reviews relevant literature related to the study. It comprises theories related to the training of employees at working place. It defines some of the basic concepts used in employee development and training, training objectives, types and methods of training and problems facing training and development of employees.
The theories underpinning the concept of training and development were also discussed. The chapter concludes with the development of a conceptual framework.
Training, Development and Employee performance.
In the field of human resource management, training and development is the fieldconcerned with organizational activity aimed at improving the performance of individuals and groups in organizational settings (Harrison, 2005). According Cole (2002:330), training is a learning activity directed towards the acquisition of specific
knowledge and skills for the purpose of an occupation or task. The focus of training is the job or task for example, the need to have efficiency and safety in the operation of particular machines or equipment, or the need for an effective sales force to mention but a few.
According to Butler (2010), training is directly related to the skills, knowledge, and strategies necessary to do a particular job. It can include teaching staff members new skills, exposing them to unfamiliar ideas, giving them the chance to practice and get feedback on particular techniques or styles of working with people, or simply
encouraging them to discuss their work with one another. Development however is a process that strives to build the capacity to achieve and sustain a new desired state that benefits the organization or community and the world around them (Garavan et al., 1995). Training and development therefore describes the formal, ongoing efforts
that are made within organizations to improve the performance and self – fulfillment of their employees through a variety of educational methods and programmes.
It is very difficult for an employee to perform well at the job place without any pretraining (Garavan, 1997). Trained employees perform well as compared to untrained employees (Partlow, 1996; Tihany et al., 2000; Boudreau et al., 2001). It is very necessary for any organization to give its employees training to get overall goals of
the organization in a better way (Flynn et al., 1995; Kaynak, 2003; Heras, 2006). Training and development increase the overall performance of the organization (Shepard et al, 2003). Although it is costly to give training to the employees but in the long run it give back more than it took (Flynn et al., 1995; Kaynak, 2003; Heras,
2006). Every organization should develop its employees according to the need of that time so that they could compete with their competitors (Braga, 1995).
Employee performance is an important building block of an organization and factors which lay the foundation for high performance must be analyzed by the organizations. Performance is a major multidimensional construct aimed to achieve results and has a strong link to strategic goals of an organization (Mwita, 2000).
According to business dictionary employee performance is the job related activities expected of a worker and how well those activities were executed. Many business personnel directors assess the employee performance of each employee member on an annual or quarterly basis in order to help them identify suggested areas for improvement.
Training
A very important area of the Human Resource Management function is training and development for the effective use of human resources. Training is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. In this study training is viewed as a means of not only fostering the growth of the individual
employee but as an integrated part of organizational growth. Ngirwa (2009), defined training as a “learning process in which employees acquire knowledge, skills, experience and attitudes that they need in order to perform their job better for the achievements of their organizational goals”. This definition shows the bridge between job requirements and employee present specifications. Training can therefore be seen as a systematic process of increasing the knowledge and skills of the staff for doing a specified job by providing a learning experience.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND ORGANISATION PROFILE
Introduction
This chapter is in two sections. The first section describes the methodology that was used in the study. It highlights on the, research design, sources of data, the population of the study, sample size and sampling techniques, the methods used in data collection and data analysis. Finally it gives the reliability and validity of those
instruments. The second section highlights briefly on rural banks in Ghana and the study area.
Research Design
Research has been defined as the pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and experiment that is a systematic method of finding solutions to a research problem identified (Kothari, 2003). It is the search for knowledge through objective and systematic methods of finding solutions to a problem. According to
Bryman ( 2 00 5 ), t he research process consists of series of actions or steps necessary to effectively carry out research. The process consists of closely related activities; such activities overlap continuously rather than following a strictly prescribed sequence.
According to Bryman and Bell (2011), there are five main types of research design. They are experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study and comparative designs. This study is a cross-sectional design. A cross-sectional design entails the collection of data on more than case at a single point in order to collect a body of two
or more variables( usually more than two) which are then examined to detect patterns of association (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
Research strategy
Also this study happened to use both qualitative and quantitative research design. Qualitative research design is a design used to find out how people feel or what they think about a particular subject or institution, whereas quantitative design is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. Hence quantitative research design in this
study was used in calculating simple percentage and number of respondents.
Sources of Data
In order to achieve the objectives of this research, data for the study was gathered from both primary and secondary sources.
Primary data
The primary source of data collection used the questionnaires and structured interviews. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect primary data and analyzed by means Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) and content analysis respectively. The purpose of the questionnaires and interview were to investigate the awareness of training program and the role the rural banks play in the training and development of its employees and how this affected employee performance.
Secondary data
Secondary data have been defined as data that have been previously collected for some project other than the one at hand (Saunders et al., 2009). Secondary data were selected as sources of data collection for this research to enable information to be obtained for literature review for the study. The sources of secondary data for this research consist of mainly published books, journals, newspapers and company records and Bank of Ghana website. Data were also collected from web databases.
Population
The target population is made up of employees of the rural banks comprising management staff, senior staffs and junior staffs, spread over the Asante Akim (central and north) and Ejisu-Juaben municipalities.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter gives detailed information on data collected from the field via the use of questionnaires and interview. These data are analysed to emphasize response from respondents using various forms of graphical representations. This chapter is also divided into sub-headings to throw more light on questions asked on the field. The first part deals with the employees of the institution (quantitative analysis) while the second part deals with the interview (qualitative analysis) conducted with the Head of human resource department.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
In this chapter, the principal findings of the research as observed from the analysis of field data are briefly presented and discussed. The conclusion provides a summary of the entire study. The analysis of these findings informed the researcher to come out with relevant recommendations.
Summary of Findings
This research examines the impact of training and development programmes on employee performance in Rural Banks in Ashanti Region. The objectives of the research was to find out the nature of training and development programms, specific training and development programmes used and its impact on the performance of
employees.
To achieve this objectives a sample size of 50 employees were selected from two Rural Banks in the Ashanti Region and questionnaires were administered. This was further supported with an interview with the Human Resource Manager of one of the Banks. The research revealed the following interesting findings:
Firstly, total respondents representing 100% indicated that they are aware of the existence of training and development programmes in their oganisation. Furthermore 90% of the sample population indicated that they have experienced training and development in their organization.
When it came to the rating of training and development programmes in their oganisation, 50%, 37% and 8% rated it as being good, very good and very efficient respectively. Again 74% of the respondents agreed at least that the training and development programmes in their organization are planned.
When it came to the type of training received, 30.4% indicated that they have gone through employees‟ orientation, 22.3% had experienced refresher courses and 36.6% had had on-the-job training. Again when it came to what the objectives of the training and development programmes were, 80% of the respondents indicated it helped to improve performance whiles 20% of the population indicated it helped them to acquire more skills.
Also 98% of the respondents indicated that the objectives of the training and development programmes were achieved with 2% of the respondents being undecided. With the relevance of the training and development programmes respondents had received to their work, 72% and 26% responded being relevant and
very relevant respectively.
Again when it came whether the training and development has helped respondents to perform their job better, they all agreed. Finally the entire respondents also agreed that they need further training and development in order to improve upon their performance.
Conclusions
This study was aimed at examining the impact of training and development on employee performance and the study supports a strong positive relationship between them. From the findings, this study came up with the following conclusion: Training and development program is continuous practice in the Rural Banks selected and the employee was able to learn and update their knowledge and skills every year. Again, training and development programmes in these organisations are planned, systematic and coordinated. Also it follows an appropriate training and development process. The study also concluded that there were positive impacts of training and development on employee performance and organization effectives, but the factors
such as low budget and the apathetic nature of some employees hinder training and development activities to be carried out systematically Finally, the whole study concluded that, the training and development programme is
a highly effective programme among other HR functions which should be planned and implemented by organization so as to run a cycle of increasing skills in employees in order to increase performance, which in turn increase their collective performance and thus further result on organizational growth.
Recommendations
Based on the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are outlined to help address challenges identified and ways of improving training and development in these financial institutions:
1. Through the interview with the Human resource manager, it was realized that funds for the organization of training and development programmes for employees was not always readily available. From the research it can be
concluded that training and development of employees leads to improvement of their performance and the performance of the organization as a whole. Therefore the needed funds for an effective training and development
programme to take place should be made available at all times by the orgnisations
2. Again, the interview with the human resource manager reveled that some employees have an impression that these programmes are a waste of time and therefore do not take it serious. Since it has been proven that these
programmes has a direct link with performance of employees and the organization as a whole, rigorous education should be given out on the importance of these programmes on the performance of employees.
3. Again, management should create more opportunities for training and development of their employee since it has been proven that there is a direct link between training and development with performance. Therefore
employees should be encouraged to go for training and development program (in service training). This will brighten up their ideas and will enable them to know more about the recent changes in technologies.
4. Furthermore, the organisations should establish the training objective in accordance with the organizational goal. This will ensure that the needed training and development programmes are identified and implemented. It will help in reducing the impression the impression of some employees that these programmes are a waste of time and therefore take it serious.
5. Finally management should clearly state the results for each employee. For instance what change in employee knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors has occurred after experiencing such programmes. It must also clarify what is to change and by how much. The training and development goals should be specific, tangible, verifiable, timely and measurable.
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