Impact Of Training And Development On Employee Performance Commerce Essay

The Impact of Training and Development on Employee Performance based on Customer Satisfaction (A Case Study on Union Bank PLC Nigeria)

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Training in business organizations differs from one organization and industry to another. Organizations and their HR functions are changing everyday so training functions will have to run differently as organizations expect more evidence that they are contributing to organizational success (Sims 1998).

According to Reynolds et al (2004:1) cited in Beardwell and Claydon (2007) training is defined as a set of activities which react to present needs and is focused on the instructor and contrast with learning as a process that focuses on developing individual and organizational potential and building capabilities for the future’.

Training is also the use of systematic and planned instruction activities to promote learning. It involves the use of formal processes to impart knowledge and help people to acquire the skills necessary for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily (Bass and Vaughan 1966) cited in Armstrong (1966).

Training is becoming continuously vital throughout one’s career because of technological advancements, overseas expansion and increased diversity (Maurer 2001). In addition, employees are expected to take responsibility for continually updating their skills (Garofano and Salas 2005; Warr and Birdi 1998). Training should be treated with extreme importance because the management of people determines organizational success. Employee performance will improve when managers and employees realize the value of training at work and take steps to implement such training in their organizations (Zaccarelli 1992). Training can also be useful to resolve problems when employees want to learn and when the job knowledge is lacking and inadequate. When these factors are not present, the other management solutions are more appropriate.

If the staff members of an organization are not properly trained it will ultimately affect the organization and exceptional performance will not be achieved. For example- a bank that does not train a customer service officer efficiently will not know how to treat customers and the bank would lose the customer to other competitors. Therefore, organizations should invest in training and development because a trained staff will promote efficiency and save both the managers’ and employees’ time.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

All scientific research is brought on by a received problem which is why I have set out to research on this topic- “The Impact of Training and Development on Employee Performance based on Customer Satisfaction” (A Case Study on Union Bank PLC Nigeria).The Nigerian banking Industry still faces many big challenges today in the proper training of employees. Training is supposed to be done on a regular basis because of emerging technologies (new banking software), new customer service skills and general awareness about the banking industry such as fraud. Fraud in any form is a veritable threat to the well being of an organization and its implications on the general economy cannot be treated lightly. Therefore this dissertation will look into proper training and development of employees in delivering customer service and how their performance impacts the Nigerian Banking industry.

AIM OF THE RESEARCH

The aim of this research study is to investigate empirically the importance of training and development of workers in an organization. The study will look at the various activities in the industry that contribute to the development of employees and from there seek to analyze the impact of these activities on how they ensure customer satisfaction, their performance and the organization as a whole.

OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of training and development on employee performance in the delivery of customer satisfaction with particular reference to Union Bank PLC Nigeria. The objectives are:

To explore the relationship that exists between training and development and the performance of employees

To determine how training and development increases job knowledge and skills of employees

To determine whether training and development will improve the delivery of customer service

To determine the positive influence of organizational training and development on improved customer service relationship

LITERATURE REVIEW

The world in which organizations, managers and human resource professionals operate today would be unrecognizable to their peers 35 years ago (Beardwell and Claydon 2007). Training activities remains a very large part of human resource development practices (Nordhaug 1989). The pace of innovation, development of technology, the turbulence of economic conditions and the professionalization of management and human resource management are just some areas where the “escalating and seemingly impossible demands” (Kanter, 1989) that face organization have had an enduring impact on the context in which they function today. In other words, the way organization develops people has changed over time. Approaches to learning have shifted as the practice and purpose of training and developing people have grown in importance, broaden in scope and become more sophisticated in method. (Reid, Barrington and Brown, 2004: 9 cited in Beardwell and Claydon 2007).

According to Rock (2008), Training is one of the most important investments that you can make in your bank because it is an ongoing process and Staffs will be more knowledgeable and engaged in their jobs. Customers will appreciate these qualities, which would mean more business for banks. He is of the opinion that creating an environment of learning at our banks can make a difference, particularly when it comes to motivating and retaining staff. Latest studies have shown that organizations greatly invest in Human Resource Development interventions so as to keep their employees updated and skilled in order to attain job performance, job satisfaction and job involvement. These skills can be conveyed by providing the necessary technical/non-technical training (Rowold, 2008).

According to Emelo (2010), training and development can be useful in an organization, mostly banks. He is of the opinion that training and development would help to provide a chance and broad platform for the development of human resources technical and behavioral skills in an organization. Also, he says it would help in increasing the productivity of the employees that helps the organization further to achieve its long-term goal.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section covers the research approach and the data collection that would be adopted by this work to attain its objectives. Several research methods could have been implemented to carry out this research, but the best suited and most appropriate method aimed at getting the best possible outcomes will be used. A primary qualitative research method which is questionnaire will be used in order to get the most relevant data to support correct analysis and outcomes. His research method will help can help gather information first hand from the respondents. Denzin and Lincoln (2005:3) cited in Merriam (2009) explained that “qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world”. In order words, qualitative research is done in a natural setting which allows subjects answer questions the researcher asks. I have employed a case study approach to carry out this research.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

A questionnaire will be employed to carry out this case study because I would have the flexibility to ask different respondents different questions while staying within the focus of my research aim. According to Kumar (2005), a questionnaire is a written list of questions whereby respondents record their answers. The answers gotten from the respondents will enable me to understand how certain practices within the organization are employed Questionnaires could be used to acquire data from a large portion of a group.

DATA COLLECTION

The research and questionnaire will be conducted in Union Bank PLC which is an old generation bank in Nigeria that just started embracing the use of technology. The study reviews the experience of the organization’s training and development of the new technologies and being able to satisfy customers more effectively. The sampling strategy that would be used for this research will be the simple random sampling. Agner (2008) describes simple random sampling as the kind of sampling in which every possible sample of size which means every combination of items from the number in the population is equally likely to be part of the sample.  The sampling frame will focus on the employees who have worked in the bank for over two years and people that have been customers for that long as well. The questionnaires will be closed ended questions focusing on factors within the literature in context.

DATA ANALYSIS METHOD

The research would make use of a parametric test and will be carefully conducted so as to avoid misinterpretation. The T-test would be used in the analysis of the data because it would help me compare the means of two groups which are the employees and customers. T-test assess whether the means of two groups are statistically different from each other. The research method employed in this exercise is the scientific method as it identifies and defines the problem.

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

Reliability of an instrument refers to the degree to which an instrument consistently measures what it intends to measure. Therefore, a data is reliable if it gives the same result when administered by a different researcher at any given time so if the response of the respondents are consistent, the data is considered reliable. On the other hand, validity means’ the extent to which an account accurately represents the social phenomena to which it refers’ (Hammersley 1990: 57 cited in Siverman 2005). This means the degree to which a measuring instrument measures what it is designed to measure. Validity is important because of its role in determining the importance of training and development in the Nigerian banking industry and the questionnaire to be used in this research work has been structured with questions which are relevant to achieve the aims of this research.

POTENTIAL RISK

The potential is not often reached as returns from questionnaires are usually low which is why a surplus of questionnaires will be used and hopefully enough would be retrieved which would still enable me to run the SPSS. However return rates can be considerably improved if the questionnaire is delivered and responded to on time.

LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

The limitations of this study would be majorly resources in the forms of money and time, seeing as there shall be cost incurred in the process of the research. While the time constraint comes into play as the research takes place during 2009-2010 which happens to be my one year degree masters program, hence the workload would be combined with the project.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

On the issue of ethics, the participants who will be taking part in the questionnaire will not feel uncomfortable in any way and the information gotten will be treated with confidentiality and anonymity. Cooper and Schindler (2008:34) cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) define ethics as the ‘norms or standards of behaviour that guide moral choices about our behaviour and our relationships with others’. In order words, ethics helps us make moral choices about ourselves and the people around us. Information from banks are very critical, so the major issue would be to be able to protect all the information acquired from questionnaires and use it only for the dissertation.

TIME TABLE

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Introduction

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Literature review

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Research methodology

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Presentation and findings

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Questionnaires survey

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Discussion of Themes

Analyze data

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Recommendation and conclusion

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Print and Bind

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Submission

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Saunders et al (2009)