IN-SERVICE TRAINING NEEDS OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES IN PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS

IN-SERVICE TRAINING NEEDS OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES IN PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria has posed a serious challenge to all facets of the Nigerian economy. This has necessitated executive secretaries to keep abreast of the current technology as it affects office procedures and operations. For executive secretaries to contribute effectively and efficiently to the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization they have to be retrained and be given a learning environment on continuous basis in order to acquaint themselves with new challenges in the office.

Notwithstanding, there is no doubt that advancement in technology has reshaped and transformed the way executive secretaries discharge their duties. The competent and effective executive secretaryship can be obtained through in-service training programmes. For in-service training programme to be adequate and sound it should consist of three phases, namely: pre-service training phase, on the-job experience training phase, and in-service training phase (Diraso, 1992).

In-service training is a long life process in which an employee is constantly learning and adapting to new challenges of his job. This he does through reading of books, journals and magazines in his area of specialization, through discussion with colleagues and supervisors on matters concerning his profession and attending courses and conferences relating to his profession. The aims of in-service training include: to update the employees and revamp their professional knowledge, skills, and competencies and to broaden their knowledge of the core areas of specialization (Itotoh, 1996). Itotoh maintained that such areas may include: writing, editing, production and distribution of correspondence (publications), maintains all corporate books and accounts, receives and disburses fund (finance), assists in recruiting new members by responding promptly totelephone and e-mail enquires, maintains all membership, maintain all records and files all forms (regulatory) and fluent in Hyper-Text Markup Language (computer literacy).

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Technological advancement has been extended to all spheres of human endeavours. Offices are daily modernized through the use of latest equipment and procedures. These affect the executive secretary and his profession. The challenges of new techniques and innovations demand from executive secretaries much greater responsibilities and improved performances on their jobs. The essence of providing in-service training for executive secretaries is to enable them develop professionally, keep abreast on new knowledge and technology in their office procedures and operations. However, Oldroyd (1994) and Mahapatra (2002), have observed that public establishments pay only lip service to in-service training of their employees and this automatically accounts for staff inadequacies such as poor job performance. It is in this Gbosi (1999) maintains that where in-service training exists, it is haphazardly coordinated, poorly monitored and organized. Ofordile (2007) observes that in-service training programmes have continued to experience the constraints of inadequate funds.

This is because employees’ retraining in public establishment is considered expensive in terms of time and maintenance of staff during the programme. He maintains that lack of willingness by the employees to be retrained and some staff with long experience may not show interest in in-service training programmes that do not have any weight for purpose of assessment and they hardly take retraining seriously as a means of changing behaviour of the organization. Therefore, these above inadequacies, if not properly addressed will result in poor performance, difficulty in attaining organizational goals and objectives, and lack of individual development and so on. These anomalies should urgently be corrected for the benefit of both the organizations and their staff members. It is therefore very significant to find out the in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to assess the in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State. Specifically, the study sought:

1. To assess the Information and Communication Technology skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.
2. To assess the human relations skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.
3. To assess the Administrative/managerial skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.
4. To assess the reprographic technology skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in Public establishments in Kaduna State.
5. To assess the micrographic technology skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

1.4       Research Questions

The following research questions have been formulated to guide the study:

1. What are the Information and Communication Technology skills needed for in service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?
2. What are the human relations skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?
3. What are the administrative/managerial skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?
4. What are the reprographic technology skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?
5. What are the micrographic technology skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?

Significance of the Study

It is hoped that the findings of this study will be of immense benefit to administrators, secretarial staff, researchers, secretarial education students.

Administrators (management): There is no single organization that can do without training and developing its staff. As such this study will provide adequate information to the management that will go through it to get a foreknowledge of the types of in-service training needs of their staff and the importance of in-service training and the condition that determine that. They could adopt the findings to plan and organize in-service training programmes for their staff.

Secretarial staff: The executive secretaries will be made to realize that adequate in-service training programmes enable them to possess the level of intellectuals skills with which they can perfectly and proficiently handle the demands of their daily routines and to understand that adequate training will help to ensure job satisfaction. The results of the study will hopefully stimulate further research on the in-service training needs of other cadres of the secretarial staff by opening the frontiers of information on more in-service training programmes.

Finally, secretarial education students would benefit from the findings of the study. They would understand better concepts being taught and be able to express their views about concepts encountered in classroom interactions.

1.5       Delimitation of the Study

This study was restricted to in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State. This study was delimited to public establishments in Kaduna State. The study did not assess other employees of public establishments in Kaduna State. The ministries represent the geographical spread of public establishments in the state.

THE EFFECT OF TRAINING AND MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT ON ORGANIZATIONS

THE EFFECT OF TRAINING AND MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT ON ORGANIZATIONS

(A CASE STUDY OF ANKPA LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL)

ABSTRACT

This research work is set to examine the effect of training and manpower development on organization, a case study of Ankpa Local Government Council with the view of finding out the way by which training and manpower development can be conducted and its effects on organizational performance.  The objective of the study is to highlight the advantages of human resource training and development and recommend an appropriate measure that could help improve the current human resource training programmes. Relevant data for this research work were collected from both primary source and secondary source of data. A descriptive method was used for this study. The total population of the staff in the organization is 150 out of which questionnaires were drawn from staff of the organization which constitute a sample size of 80.  The statistical instrument used in testing the validity of the hypothesis was chi – square. Among the major findings of the work was that training and development programme improve productivity and better performance. The research therefore recommended that there should be a free flow of information to enable all the staff to be aware of the training and development programme available to them both internally and externally.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Manpower training and development must be based on a need analysis derived from a comparison of “actual performance’’ and behavior with “required performance’’ and behavior. Manpower training and development is one of the major ways organization invests in the workforce for greater return today and even in the foreseeable future.

Organizational effectiveness rests on the efficient and effective performance of workforce that makeup the organization. The efficient and effective performance of the workforce in turn, rest on the richness of the knowledge, skills and abilities possessed by the workforce. Training and manpower development in most organizations is a continuous act/exercise. The inexorable march of time and the ceaseless glamour for social change combine to make adaptability and continuing preparation of the workforce as inevitable as the initial acquisition of knowledge and skills. This cannot happen if employees training and development do not occur in an enterprise. In other to maximize the productivity and efficiency of the organization, every executive, manager or supervisor in a public or private organization has the responsibility and indeed the binding duty to ensure the development of their employees who have requisite knowledge and expertise.

Training is like sharpening an existing skill in order to reflect the trends in technology and other social–cultural environmental changes of an organization. Productivity is the goal of today’s competitive business world and training can be a spring board to enhance productivity. The aim is to enable them contribute their full measure to the welfare, health and development of the organization (Onah 1993).

The main objective of training and manpower development in an organization is to increase efficiency of employees with the resulting increase in corporate productivity. This accounts for why a large number of fund and time is expended by organization at one period or the other in the improvement of the skills of their employees at various levels.

The principal intention of training according to Akpan (1982:128), is to equip people with the knowledge required to qualify them for a particular position of employment, or to improve their skills and efficiency in the position they already hold.

Manpower development on the other hand, implies growth and the acquisition of wide experience for future strategic advantages of the organization. Manpower training and development therefore, improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the employee. Therefore, the aim of this research is to know the current state, nature, procedure and method of training and manpower development used by Ankpa Local Government Council for their employees.

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This research deals with the effect of training and manpower development on organization is intended to find out the efficiency and effectiveness of training and manpower development programme in an organization with reference to Ankpa Local Government Area Council. Since this organization is a public organization which deals with people at the grassroots level it encounters numerous problems which affects the achievement of organizational objectives. Such problems ranges from:

1. Lack of employees with requisite skills and knowledge to carryout their official responsibilities.
2. Lack of training, retraining and manpower development for the employees of the local government.
3. Lack of qualified instructors and consultants to undertake training courses,
4. Lack of essential training tools, to
5. Lack of effective communication within the organization which makes it impossible for most employees to know about training opportunities available to them.

1. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objective of this research is to examine the effect of training and manpower development in an organization using Ankpa Local Government Council as a case study with a view to find out how the organization is performing in terms of its employees training and development.

The following are the specific objectives of the study:

1. To highlight the advantages of employees training and development in an organization.
2. To examine the current training and development of employees in the organization
3. To increase the general knowledge and understanding of individual staff as regards training and development.
4. To recommend appropriate measures that could help improve the current manpower training program.

1. RESEARCH QUESTION

For the sake of achieving the desired objectives for this research, the researcher tries to find answers to the following research questions:

1. Does your company engage in any form of employees training and development programme?
2. How often do you conduct training and development in your organization?
3. Does your organization have policy on employees training?
4. What are the major problems in the organization with respect to staff training and development?
5. Does training and development improve skills and knowledge of manpower in service organization?
6. Does training and development improve productivity and better performance?

1. STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

Here, Hi and Ho below represent the alternative hypothesis and null hypothesis respectively.

HYPOTHESIS ONE

Hi:  Training and development improve productivity and better performance.

Ho:  Training and development does not improve productivity and better performance.

HYPOTHESIS TWO

Hi: Training and development improve skills and knowledge of manpower in service organization.

Ho: Training and development do not improve skills and knowledge of manpower in service organization.

1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The research will be beneficial to both public and private organization especially Ankpa local government council and their staff as it emphasized the need and encourage the establishment of policy guidelines on the efficient and effective training and development porgramme in an organization.

It will help managers of various organizations to generate ideas and solution to problems based on the best way to run training in their organization in order to achieve desired goals and objectives.

It will equally be useful to small scale business, large corporations, universities, college of education and to the government.

It will also help researchers to know more about training programme as a tool for improving employees’ performance.

Finally, it will be of great value to students as a point of reference and will equally form the basis for further research study.

1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is limited to Ankpa Local Government Area Council as it will be very difficult to examine the effect of training and manpower development in all organization in Nigeria. Therefore the information and data required for this research will be sourced from Ankpa Local Government Council and any conclusion reached can be binding on the entire local government in Nigeria or such organization as they share similar features or characteristics.

1. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Analyzing the efficient human resources development on organizational growth is not a shallow topic to be handled haphazardly. Ti is not only technical also sensitive and broad.

For the purpose of this project it restricted to the business concern. Also for want of time resources industrial training fund (ITF) Enugu area office is sampled out as abase for the research work.

So many factors are deemed to militate against quicker  and easier completion of the work. These include among other:

Cost:       Lack of fund may affect not only the period of the analyzing the effects of human resources development on the organizational growth and come out of legacy for the posterity one need to travel far and near

Time:   Time is as costly as money, it is even easier facing financial problems than time. Time cost is hardly required.  Financial markets do exist but time existed for time with the school academic; the period for the research work is too short putting other course into the budget.

Source of facts:   This research has convinced me that so many authors share almost the same view on this topic “the effect of training and manpower development on organization” as such are going to a library having about ten textbooks of different authors at least you find our they are saying the same thing but in different tongue invariable you are reading a research work as compiled from the review of different authors in the library. Invariably one can say you are having a book or two.

Reluctant to co-operate:   The  management of the local government  are too reluctant  to disclose the required information and more so when it comes to disclosing the organizational books of record. The idea equally affects the quality of facts given in the research.        

1. DEFINITION OF TERMS

MANPOWER: This means the amount of human resources (employee) in a given organization. It is the total number of employees that undertook different tasks in the organizational setup.

TRAINING: This is an act, event in which people engage to improve their performance in a specific job related to tasks. It`s also the process of learning or increasing knowledge to the employee in an organization.

MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT: According to Ascon (1992) manpower development is a process which enables an organization to meet its current and projected manpower requirements. It`s also the process of producing or creating something new that will enable organization meet its target.

ATTITUDE: Someone’s approach to challenge or life in general.

EDUCATION: This is an agent of change that seek to overhaul entire physical interaction of man in relation to his work, work environment and the society.

TRAINING: This is aimed at improving skills for specific vocation or trade such as clerical duties, artisans and other operative status.

DEVELOPMENT: This is grooming, encouraging and drawing out a potential for application to a fresh task, job or appointment.

EMPLOYER: This is someone who hired people to work for him.

TRAINING OBJECTIVE: These are the targets of the training

PERFORMANCE: This is someone’s ability to get something done, especially as regards to duty.

SKILL: This is one of the traits expected from an employee after training.

TRAINING NEED: This is a gap between the expected or desired performance and actual performance, which can be removed by improvement of skill, increase in knowledge and change of attitude.

EMPLOYEE: This is someone who is paid to work for someone else.