MANPOWER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: A FOCUS OF AKWA IBOM STATE CIVIL SERVICE TRAINING CENTRE, UYO

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The human resource available to any nation constitutes the most important assets to that nation. All other resources namely money, machines, information, time, technology et cetera, are inanimate and therefore need to be activated by human resources. Manpower is the basic resource that is used in converting other resources to benefit a nation. So how well a nation develops it human resources is fundamental in deciding how much it could accomplish as a nation. Even in the developed world where the uses of machines are at an advanced stage, manpower is still very vital. The Nigerian government cognizant of this fact has overtly encouraged the establishment of many institutions for the training and development of manpower (Aina, 1992).

In other words, the quality of human resource in an organization is very important as it determines whether or not the organization will be successful. As observed by Likert (1961), the activities of many enterprise are initiated and determined by the persons who make up that institutional plants, offices, computers, automated equipment and all else that a modern firm uses except for human effort and direction of all the tasks of management, managing the human components is the central and most important task, because, all else depends on how well the human resources is developed.

Considering the tremendous importance of human resources in an organisation, every organisation therefore places great emphasis on training and development. This is in a bid to turn potential human resources into actual resources. Education provides people with knowledge, training, orientation, spirit of initiative and social responsibility which enable them to do the job of development in the circumstances in which they find themselves. There is no other way of achieving organizational goals and objectives than through proper training and development which enhance optimal utilization, productivity, commitment and motivation of workers (Cole, 2002).

Nwachukwu (2005), observes that, employee productivity is a function of ability will and situational factors. An organization may have employees’ ability and determination, with appropriate equipment and managerial support yet, performance falls below expectation. This is due to the fact that, they lack adequate skills, and knowledge which are acquired through training and development. Training and development could be in various forms, which include induction courses, conferences, on-the-job training, seminars and other practical methods of staff training.

Manpower training and development policies are therefore the vital ingredients for organizational advancement. Organisation exists and grows because it provides the community needs, to do this, the organisation must function at an optimum level of productivity. Its efforts, success or failure depends on the ability of the organisation to train and develop its manpower into productive, competent and skilled work-force which is capable and willing to work towards the realization of organizational goals and objectives. Manpower training and development has for long been one of the functions performed by the management, but was not given serious attention by some organisations. Many employees have failed in organisations because their need for training was not identified and provided for by the management. This reduced the performance within such establishments. These shortcomings have been attributed to poor and ineffective policies on training and development. Where there is a good and effective training and development programme and this programme is adequately administered, it could go a long way in improving productivity because training increase workers morale, improves coordination, reduces labour turnover and also it reduces cost, thereby increasing performance (Akpan, 1982).
To achieve its training and development goals, the center needs to go extra miles in encouraging its employees to undergo different forms of training. New employees therefore need to undergo training while existing employee must be developed and retrained from time to time so as to improve productivity and service delivery.

As Terraco and Swenson (2008) observed, there is a positive relationship between employee development and organizational performance, with organizations which offer an array of learning opportunities enable employees to perform better in their jobs which in turn enables the organization as a whole to perform better as well.

1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
Organizations are usually established to achieve defined goals and objectives. The success or otherwise of an organization, to a large extent, is determined by the effectiveness of its manpower policies. Manpower training and development forms an integral part of any organization that wants to succeed because, it is the knowledge and skills of the employees in the organization that will determine the extent to which resources potentials may be put to work.
In Nigeria, the manpower policies of most organizations are in-accurate especially when it concerns training and development. This is the same in the civil service, and this affects performance generally.
The Akwa Ibom State civil service training center was established to improve the job performance of civil servants by helping the employees to raise the level of their job performance through training. To achieve this, Akwa Ibom State civil service training center needs to put in place an adequate training and development programme which will assist in producing skilled manpower required to carry out the necessary activities in the civil service training center. The center in line with the above has the following training and development objectives;
To improve the necessary knowledge and skills of its workers for the efficient performance of their official duties.
To develop the academic/professional and technical potentials of officers, in order to prepare them for higher responsibilities in their chosen career.
To produce a corps of highly specialized, talented and motivated officers for the efficient execution of government policies and programmes (Ngu, 2010).

Judging from the above training objectives, the performance of workers in Akwa Ibom State civil service training center should be up to expectation if really they receive the required training and development, as observed by Nwachukwu (2005) that, employee training and development are at the heart of employee utilization, productivity, commitment, motivation and growth. Thus, performance in the Akwa Ibom State civil service centre is a function of training and development programmes of the centre. The question that comes to mind is, if the centre has a training programme with good objectives, has the implementation of this training programme been able to meet the objectives? Because, in Nigeria, organizations have policies on human resources training and development, but these policies are formulated in such ways that, they are not easily accessible to those employee for which it is intended to improve.
Despite the training programme organized by Akwa Ibom State Civil service training centre. What is the attitude of workers towards the training programme? Is there any improvement in the performance of their official duty?
Apart from the fact that the need for most employees training have not been identified and provided for, the issue of funding of training programme is a factor that have crippled most training programmes in organization, Akwa Ibom State Civil Service centre inclusive. There are situations where a number of employees exist in an organization, but there are no provisions for their training and development to enhance the efficient and effective linkage to their jobs. If organizations have employees of ability and determination, with appropriate equipment and managerial support, without adequate skills and knowledge which are acquired through training and development, performance will be below expectation.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to find out how training affects manpower development in Akwa Ibom State Civil Service: A focus of Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Training Centre. The specific objectives of the study include:
To examine how training and development affects workers performance in the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Training Centre.

To find out the roles of funding in staff training in the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Training centre.
To assess the attitude of workers towards training programme organized by Akwa Ibom State civil service training centre.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
From the foregoing, the questions that are fundamental to this research work are;
How has manpower training and development programme affected workers performance in the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Training Centre?
How has the issue of funding training programmes affected the training activities in Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Training Centre?
Does attitude of workers towards training programme affect their performance in Akwa Ibom State Civil service Training Centre?

1.5 HYPOTHESES
For the purpose of this research work, the following hypotheses have been formulated;
1: The higher the level of staff training, the greater the performance of employees in their official duties.
2: The higher the funding of training, the effective the training programme.
3: The greater the positive attitude of workers towards training programmes, the higher the performance in the civil service.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study determined to make necessary recommendations that would help the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service training centre on how to evolve an effective and efficient personnel training and development policy which is vital for the realization of the centre’s goals and objectives. This study also sought to add to existing literature on personnel training and development if any in the training centre. The study will assist researchers and students of personnel management who may want to undertake a similar study. Finally it will assist personnel managers, who desire to come out with effective and efficient manpower training and development programmes in their organization.