THE IMPACT OF STAFF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT ON TEACHERS’ PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The achievement of organizational objectives either public or private requires the availability of certain inputs in terms of human and material resources which are otherwise referred to as the factors of production. These factors of production are land Labour, capital and entrepreneurship.

It should be noted therefore that of all these factors, labour which refers to different categories of workforce who perform managerial, technical, supervisory and general duties in an organization is the most complex to manage due to individual differences and uniqueness. Individual goals and aspirations, individual needs and preferences, divergent interests of the individuals compared with that of organization as well as the individual capabilities and aptitudes.

From the foregoing, it is evident that the success of the school system like every other organization depends to a large extent on the ability to utilize the teacher in an efficient and effective manner.

And for the organization to maximize the utilization of the teachers, there is the need for training and manpower development programmes. Employees’ training and development is an attempt to improve their present and future performances on their jobs through learning, so as to be able to carry out assigned tasks for the purpose of attaining the goals and objectives of the school system. Training can thus be described as a systematic way of stimulating efficiency and high performance through learning processes.

Adeleke, (2000) observed that employee’s competence on the job is acquired not only by formal education but also through the acquisition of specific skills and knowledge on the job by training and development. Greater emphasis should therefore be placed on training and development as a panacea for obtaining competent employees in the organization.

The importance of training in enhancing the effectiveness of any organization cannot be over-emphasized. This arises from the fact that it forms an integral part of the process of total quality management and enables employees to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively so as to enable the organization achieve its set goals and objectives.

Training connotes a planned process to modify attitudes so as to achieve effective performance in a range of activities. It can further be described as an organized procedure which is based on individual needs for satisfying specific job requirements. It is therefore, a necessary exercise carried out to give a staff the needed and required knowledge or skills: its aim is to solve particular organizational problems.

Training is thus geared towards the acquisition of specific skills or knowledge and such skills and knowledge acquired must be needed to solve specific and important organizational problems. It therefore requires changes in the job behavior or performance of those trained.

Manpower development on the other hand is seen as the learning activities which are directed towards the future needs rather than present and which are concerned more with growth, career and succession than immediate performance.

Human resources development is a systematic process, which aims at ensuring that the organization has the effective managers it requires to meet its present and future needs. It is concerned with improving the performance of existing managers, giving them opportunities for growth and development, and ensuring, as far as possible that management succession within the organization to develop the capacity to solve different problems as well as to meet future needs. In essence, development can be much more related to the future rather than the present job. It is therefore a course of action deigned to enable individual employees realize their potentials for growth. It is pertinent from the foregoing that development programmes are more broad based and general in outlook , targeted at senior employees and for long-term purposes because it is a planned, guided or directed activity undertaken by an employee to help prepare him for higher responsibilities to come (Olaiya, 1999).