PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF MANPOWER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE

(A CASE STUDY OF RIVERS STATE CIVIL SERVICE)

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ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to find out the “Problems and Prospect of Manpower Development in the Nigeria Civil Service”. Data were gathered through the use of questionnaires and personal interview. A population of One hundred and twenty (120) civil servants was used as the point of analysis from the One hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires that was sent. Only 120 were returned and were taken to be the study population. From the analysis of data, it was deduced that organization cannot attain its optimum objectives without consistently training its manpower. It was recommended that organization should from time to time engage its staff in training and development programmes which would in turn enhanced their performance to achieve a greater output from a given input. The success of any organization depends on how competence and reliability its manpower. The confidence is build in employee when he/she is well trained it gives him/her job satisfaction which of course leads to willingness to perform his/her duties well.   

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Until recently there has been a general resistance to investment in training and development in the civil service because of the belief that “employees hired under a merit system must be presumed to be qualified, that they were already trained for the jobs, and that if this was not so it was evidence that initial selection of personnel was at fault” (stahl, 1976). In line with this if the human capitals in an organization are ineffective problems arises and in order to alleviate these problems in the organization, manpower training becomes necessary.

Efficiency of an organization in the globe be it public or private largely depends on her effectively its human capitals are utilized. The civil services in particular, some workers are engaged in training programmes while some are adequately qualified for his/her areas of specialization. If the human resources are been effectively trained, then the right person will be all available at the right time to handle the right service, in the federal, state and local government is not an exception.

One the major problems confronting management in most organizations is the best possible way of watching people with jobs. The question often asked is whether we should design the job to suit the individual or get individual to fit into a job position?

The answer to this question is the basic fault that the function of management is to determine its manpower needs. One of the reasons for management development is to enhance the employee’s chances of promotion in the organization whereas in training the employee is made to perform a specific task, in development, he is made to assume more responsibility.

The need for management development in Nigeria has been succinctly summed up by the National Manpower Board.

The need for management development arose from the fact that there are organizations and there must be people to be responsible for the attainment of their organization’s objectives. If these are to be realized, the organizations must continuously look for qualified personnel to direct their affairs. Thus to provide managers and to ensure organizational continuity, they must train people to take over in the event of retirement, expansion, dismissal or death.

Management development aims at helping current managers develop themselves and acquire new management techniques.

A manager who is a fait with current management know-how is motivated to experiment with new techniques and is capable of instilling confidence in subordinates.

The shortage of top-flight executive all over the developing countries, competitor’s willingness to pay higher wages to attract executives, and the availability of more compelling opportunities overseas, make management development a prime necessity if an organization is to prosper. One factor that has promoted the world is the rapid change in technology and general environment of business.

If professional obsolence is to be eliminated, continuous training has to be undertaken. The development of executive is the development of the organization growth. As Levinson Harry pointed out “every” person who pursues a career, as distinct from a job-holder should expect to continue his education for the art of his professional life.

Levinson also advocated the concept of total push, that is, an organization must maintain continuous pressure on its executives to continue their self-development and this avoid obsolence. That means that the organization must provide time financial assistance, company training and facilities to help able-employees update their knowledge.

A system approach is requiring ensuring that organizational development effort is completely realized. Every member of management (first level, middle and top level) should benefit from the programme.

Therefore, the process by which management attempts to provide for its human resource to accomplish its task is manpower training which provide for the role each individual will play in an organization.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

The importance of human capital development has been extensively discussed and demonstrated by outstanding scholars all over the world. Resources not capital, not income nor material resources constitute the ultimate bases of the resources are passive. Human beings are the active agent accumulated wealth, build economic, social and political organization.

 The unrest protest and other antisocial activities that prevail in the federal, state and Local Government Constitutes a barrier to effective manpower training and development in the civil service.

In line with this, any state government which is unable to develop the skills and utilize them effectively in the civil service sector will else in its economy and will not be able to stand alone as a State Government.

 Another problem associated with the training of manpower development in our civil service sector is the abandoning of job since civil servants after achieving manpower training left their area of work for another better area for acquisition of money wealth.

 Money is considered to be one of the greatest problem in manpower training and development in the civil service. The effective training of manpower involves much money and finance means that the economically less viable countries or States find it very different for having elaborately highlighted the problems of manpower training.

Let us promptly also take a look at the prospect of manpower training and development in civil service.

 Effective manpower training will enable the Nigeria organization to identify the area where shortage or excesses of manpower are likely to occur in the future or where there is inefficient use of people in general and the civil service in particular.

 One of the major problems confronting Nigeria is the scarcity of qualified high-level manpower to run our complex bureaucracy and public corporation.

Executive manpower planning requires that the personnel department should have a good position description and skill evaluation of the key position in the organization to decide the types of executive required.

The company should have a good list of the available executives and their retirement years, forecast projected organizational expansion and executive requirement and start immediately to provide for each executive replacement  though the development personnel. It is not unusual for this to take place for over four years. Top-flight executives take over eight years to develop after formal academic preparation. Each planning more important than general manpower planning. It calls for detailed job specification and job description. It demands that the successful characteristic of a person occupying the position and the kind of skills that he possesses should be known. A good executive is said to possess three basic skills-technical, human and conceptual. Their skills are not developing overnight. He must have excelled as a member of middle management where human skills are more important than technical; he must have developed the conceptual skill required at the executive level in order to be promoted. Executive manpower plan should consider many important factors which include but not limited to these.

 It enables the civil service to identify future accommodation requirement.

 To lower cost of accident

 To prevent employee obsolence

 To lower turnover rate and absenteeism and increase employee job satisfaction since training can improve employee’s self-esteem.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The mean objectives of this research work are

  1. To find out the problems and prospects of manpower development
  2. To identify ways and means of improving manpower training and development
  3. To look at the success and failure of manpower training and development in the civil service
  4. To aid personnel department in planning the recruitment, selection and development of employee thereby cutting down the time required to civil existing variances.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

  1. To increase efficiency and productivity in the work place
  2. To assist practitioners to engaged in human capital research development
  3. To aid human capital managers stand to their responsibilities.
  4. To help government functionaries in decision making
  5. To enhance employee performance in an organization.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In civil service there is the need to create awareness of manpower training and development. Therefore, any useful information obtained through a research work of this will go a long way to educate the human capital department.

Therefore, for the purpose of this research work, the following research questions are necessary.

  1. Does training motivate civil servant to achieve greater efficiency in the working field?
  2. Does manpower training help to improve the management workers?

iii. What are the objectives of the training programme?

  1. Does civil service make use o f the best talents and skills available to it?
  2. What are the merits and demerits of manpower training in the development of civil service?
  3. Does manpower training and development enhance productivity?

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study will be restricted to the problem and prospects of manpower training and development in the civil service.

However, this research work was limited by the following:

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

  1. FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS: – In the course of carrying out this work, the researcher encountered a lot of financial difficulties. As a student, the researcher was unable to travel to various places for acquisition of materials of this research work.
  2. INSUFFICIENT TIME: – Time as they say “does not wait for anybody”. The required time period given to this work was not enough to achieve sufficient information or materials.

iii. LACK OF SUFFICIENT INFORMATION: Information gotten from area of study was not enough, which causes limitations to this research work.

  1. SECURITY RISK: – It was not an easy task to get required data and information from various ministries due to the rate of insecurity in the country as at the time this research work was carried out.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

For the purpose of this study, the definition of the following terms is necessary.

  1. CIVIL SERVICE: This is the government parastatal or department responsible for putting plans into action
  2. DEVELOPMENT: This is the improvement of employee’s competencies in a broader perspective.

iii. MANPOWER: This supply of competent employees who are willing and able to work.

  1. PROBLEMS: This is a difficult situation to deal with or understand in other words, it is limitations to the success of a particular thing.
  2. PROSPECT: This probability of being successful at work. The idea of something good might happen in the future.
  3. TRAINING: This is the acquisition of skills, knowledge and attitude to perform a given task.

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