EFFECT OF HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT ON EMPLOYEE’S PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIAN BANKS

ABSTRACT

The success of any organization depends on the ability of its human resources to utilize other resources.The study investigates the Effect of human capital development via training on the employee’s productivity in some selected five commercial banks in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design of the survey type was used for the study. The population comprised all staffs of the selected commercial banks while the sample size consisted of 100 staffs of the selected commercial banks. Purposive sampling was used to select twenty staffs from each bank. The instrument used for COLLECTION of data was a self-designed questionnaire. All the questionnaires were completed and returned. Descriptive statistics such as Tables, Frequency, percentages and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data generated using SPSS. The key findings from the study were that management does not encourage any self-development programmes and only development programme recommended for their employees is on-the-job training. Also, from time to time, personnel department reviews its training programme. Also, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that human capital development has significant impact on the employee’s productivity, and they do attend training development programmes. The training developments programme has helped in the area of quick and efficient service delivery to customers. It was recommended that, The Nigerian banks should continue to take the issue of human resource development (capacity building for performance) seriously as a way of improving on employees’ level of productivity.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The recruitment of academically qualified employees is a necessary start for sustainable human capital development in all organizations. Human capacity has become a critical index of competition in the world of business to the extent that the development of such capacities through training has become top priority in designing the strategic plan of business organizations (Tim & Brinkerhoff, 2008)

Human Capital Development is essential for the growth and development of any nation. It is perhaps the most dynamic of all the resources of any organization. Over the years, the Financial Sector had been plagued with scarcity of trained personnel and financial experts, which has led to employment of half-baked workers who need further training to make them suitable for the banking jobs. Human Capital Development is the key to the development process of any country. It is the process of determining and assuring that a country will have adequate number of qualified persons, available for work at any time. Developing countries including Nigeria have tried to accelerate the pace of their socio-economic development and modernization since the end of the Second World War most especially after attaining political independence.

It should be mentioned that an important aspect of manpower is its quality and not its size but more importantly, the educational and skill content of a country’s labour force. Studies have shown that the success of an organization is highly dependent on the skills, knowledge and experience of its employees, which is a direct product of adequate human capital development capability of that particular organization (Rao, 2000; Bokeno, 2011). The success and progress of an organization depend on its ability to maximally explore the talent and potentials of its workforce. This is more likely to be achieved through the purposeful (HCD) capability of an organization, (Mohammed, 2006)

Human capital development is the process of enabling people to make things happen, (Rodrigues and Chincholkar 2005). This implies that without availability of capable employees (in terms of required skills, knowledge and experience) to make things happen in the area of quality products/service delivery and profit maximization, the enhanced goal attainment of that particular organization becomes a mirage. Researchers have shown that one of the major challenges facing modern organizations in the twenty-first century is on how to put in place strategies to motivate and encourage their employees to get committed to organizational ideals and aspirations; and also on how to translate these ideals and aspirations into enhanced productivity of the workforce and the organization (Olowu and Adamolekun, 2005; Gberevbie, 2010).

In this regard, no other factor is as important as human capital in maintaining corporate stability, development and profitability of an enterprise…”  Therefore, the successful mobilization of employees to get committed to the ideals and aspirations of an organization (organizational commitment) for the purpose of enhancing its growth and profitability is sine-qua-non to organizational survival, (Ejiofor and Mbachu 2001).

1.2 Statement of Problem

Most of the employers have reported the inefficiency of some staff in business organization in Nigeria, though this inefficiency could be attributed to their non possession of the requisite skills and competencies. The adverse effect of nepotism, god fatherism and favouritism during recruitment exercise has effect on productivity. The resultant effect of this is that such accountant employed without due employment procedures find it extremely difficult to cope with the ever improving technologically business environment (Iwuoha, 2009)

There is strong consensus that no individual can be a perfect fit at the time of employment no matter his professional skills and qualifications particularly where organisational methods and systems differ in an ever changing environment (Ubeku,1987) In view of this,   organization must therefore take the issue of human capital development very seriously since individuals have tremendous potentials for growth, both employees and their employing organizations ultimately gain from efforts at enhancing the staff’s knowledge, skills and abilities.

Over the years, the financial sector had been plagued with scarcity of trained bankers and financial experts in the country. This has led to the employment of half baked experts which need further training to make them suitable for the banking jobs. In order to enhance this process various institutions were established with specific functions of promoting human capital development in the Nigerian economy. The financial sector reforms had changed the legal framework, economic and technological environment of banks.

The deregulation of banks led to the proliferation of banks as many banks were set up to take advantage of the seemingly abnormal profit occasioned by the foreign exchange deregulation. This definitely increased the mobility of the staff in the banking industry as staff became very fluid within the industry. In addition, innovation and increased use of microcomputers has forced both old and new banks not only to employ a new flow of staff but also to give them necessary training and retraining. The structure of employment has thus undergone serious changes which make it inevitable to update obsolete skills and talents of the bank. Furthermore, as the old staffs appears to have become obsolete in skills as a result of the rapid changes within the environment, it is necessary to prepare employees for the new challenges introduced by the reforms. This is why human capital development programmes as well as retaining has to go together with new equipment.