CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.0 Introduction

According to Okotoni and Erero (2005), there has been a general resistance to investment in training in the public service because of the belief that employees hired under a merit system must be presumed to be qualified, that they were already trained for their jobs, and that if this was not so it was evidence that initial selection of personnel was at fault. This assumption has been jettisoned as the need for training became obvious both in the private and the public sectors. Many organizations have come to recognize that training offers a way of developing skills, enhancing productivity and quality of work, and building worker loyalty to the firm. Indeed, the importance of training has become more obvious given the growing complexity of the work environment, the rapid change in organizations and technological advancement which further necessitates the need for training and development of personnel to meet the challenges. Training and development helps to ensure that organizational members possess the knowledge and skills they need to perform their jobs effectively, take on new responsibilities, and adapt to changing conditions. (Jones, George and Hill, 2000). It is further argued that training helps improve quality, customer satisfaction, productivity, morale, management succession, business development and profitability. Elaborating further on the importance of human resources development (HRD), the International Labour Office (2000) affirmed that development and training improves their trainees’ “prospects of finding and retaining a job; improves their productivity at work, their income earning capacity and their living standards; and widens their career choices and opportunities.” Management experts also argue that a major function of a manager is to develop people and to direct, encourage and train subordinates for optimum utilization. Training helps prepare employees for certain jobs that are unique to the public sector. Specifically on Nigeria, the Public Service Review Commission (PSRC) report in 1974 emphasised the importance of training and development: A result-oriented public service will need to recruit and train specialized personnel. The new public service will require professionals who possess the requisite skills and knowledge. Training should be part of a comprehensive education planning programmes.. Of all the aspects of personnel management the most important for us in Nigeria is training. The experience of manpower training and development in the Nigeria public service has been more of ruse and waste. It is against this backdrop that this study examines problems of employees training and development in public sector.

1.1 Statement of Problem

The Nigerian Public sector is characterized with the problem of poor training and development of its employees. The reasons for these include; poor staffing for most of the training centres, inadequate training facilities in these centres. There are no modern training facilities such as computers, laboratories, libraries, vehicles that aid training and development. Training needs is not conducted to determine who needs to be trained and what needs to be learned. The consequence of these problems is low productivity of the public sector. It is in line with these challenges that this research study is set to examine the problems of employees training and development in the public sector, with an objective to provide useful recommendations were necessary.

1.2 Objectives of the study

The following are the objectives of the study;

1. To examine the problems of employees training and development in the public sector.
2. To examine the need for employees training and development in the public sector
3. To examine the methods for training and development
4. To examine possible solutions to the problems of employees training and development in the public sector.

1.3 Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to achieve the objectives of the study;

1. What are the problems of employees training and development in the public sector?
2. What is the need for employees training and development in the public sector?
3. What are the methods of training and development?
4. What are the possible solutions to the problems of employees training and development in the public sector?

1.4 Significance of the study

The significance of the study is that it will bring to light the problems of employees training and development in the public sector, the need for employees training and development in the public sector, the methods of training and development and possible solutions to the problems of employees training and development in the public sector. The study is also significant in that it will serve as a reference material to other scholars and researchers seeking for information on the subject.

1.5 Scope/Limitations of the Study

This study covers the problems of employees training and development in the public sector and it is restricted to the ministry of education, Uyo.

In the course of carrying out the study, some challenges were encountered by the researcher that stood as limitation to the study and they include:

Financial factor: Inadequate funds affected researcher had to travel long distances for the distribution of the research questionnaire forms.

Time factor: This affected the reduction in the size of the sample used for the study because the researcher had only less than two months to complete the study.

Material factor: Shortage of relevant material for literature review posed.

1.6 Definition of terms

Employee – Refers to a paid worker in a public or private organization.

Training – The process of teaching or learning a skill or job.

Development – The process of changing and becoming larger, stronger, or more impressive, successful, or advanced, or of causing somebody or something to change in this way

Public sector – Government and its activities: the portion of a nation’s affairs, especially economic affairs, that is controlled by government agencies.