MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, OKO.
Manpower development is one of the foremost approaches for achieving efficiency in any organization. Therefore, it is imperative that the institution after identifying its needs should prescribe a suitable programme for training its staff for maximum contribution to the development and progress of the institution.
The school management realizing that no meaningful achievement could be made without equipping the staff with the right type of training decided to set up STAFF COMPULSORY TRAINING WORKSHOPS.
This was stated in the official Newsletter of the institution on May 17th 2010 that:
“The institution will operate a staff training and manpower development scheme whereby staff will be granted study fellowship for the purpose of research for acquisition of higher qualification and the ultimate enhancement of efficiency and value of an individual staff to the institution”.
Thus it is found that in principle, the provision for training of all categories of staff ranging from junior staff to senior staff, both academic and non-academic.
2.1 THE CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT
Onah (1995) in his work “Manpower training and development in Nigeria, the local government experience. He sees training as an organized and co-ordinate development of knowledge, skill and attitude needed by an individual to master a given situation or perform a certain task within an organization setting.
Okeke N.C. and Thayor (1997) see training as formal procedures which an organization uses to facilitate employees learning so that their behaviour contribute to the attainment of the organization as well as the individual goals and objectives.
Akpan (2001) also defined manpower training and development as the process whereby an employee is able to grow in the job, through the acquisition of wider experience of varied and tested responsibilities.
According to Ubeku (1975); He noted that employees who has not received adequate training before being assigned responsibility lack necessary confidence with which to carry out the job. He then suggested that the employee should be held to grow into more responsibility by systematic training and development so that he will be confidence enough to carry out the responsibility of job. This according to the author is because training increases the employee belief that he knows what is expected of him to originated ideas as to how best to carry out the task of the job.
Ejiofor (1981) observed that “It is one thing to equip employee with the right knowledge of what to do, it is another to guarantee the willingness to do it. This willingness of employee motivation for higher performance can be enhance not only by the kind of training that is relevant to organizational needs and objectives but also by appropriate management of the trained manpower.
Buttressing the foregoing assertion, Onah (1998) in his concluding part of his study of manpower training and development in Nigeria, the local government experience said that quality and quantity of personnel in the local government are growing no doubt but manpower planning sabotage are not satisfactory. The matriculated and inadequate staff training and development scheme in the system. The training that is undertaken is not in keeping with manpower needs that may be dicted by the manpower supply forecasting, besides, the critical neglected in training scheme. The consequences of which is the death of professional system.
2.2 OBJECTIVES OF MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT
According to Aniemeka (1999), she observed that training is a process of changing the behaviours and attitudes of employees in a direction that will increase the achievement of organizational goals. It involves teaching of technical skills to non-managerial personnel.
To promote the goal, organization members need certain “tools or abilities which training provides”. Hence, they noted that organization members need the particular manual or physical skill required to understand and accept the values that the organization is efficiency and that they need the knowledge, the factual premises of decision to select these means and action that will best accomplished the goal within value framework supplied than by the organization.
According to Simon et al (1974), he observed that training internalized the organization’s influence. It changes the person in such a way that he will act as design by his own motivation rather than by the stimulus of movement by movement instructions. No organization could exist if its members did not have considerable ability of self direction and the desire to take independent action of the right kind. The kind that promotes co-operative effort of the organization. However, this ability and desire to take independent action in harmony with effort of the other members of the organization can increased by training.
Training objectives in an organization is realized by different types of training – programme. A well designed training programme will usually specify the kind of personnel qualities necessary in a person entering the programme.
Ubeku (1975) shows enormous interest management development should aim at:
- Systematic transferring of general management knowledge, policies and procedures for managing the organization to all managers.
- Appraising and maintaining an inventory of all candidates named a qualified replacement for managerial positions.
- Improving the present performance of all managers on the job development methods directed at individual needs.
- Broadening managers for higher productivity through and on the job programme, activities and courses.
The objective of executive in development programme is to improve and understanding of such area as planning, co-ordinating, communication, decision making, delegation, headquarters field relation, legislative relation and public relations.
In their work Pigors and Myers (1981) have emphasized the informal on-the-job aspect of training by observing that training does not only take place within the four walls of formal educational institutions, but there are other important forms of training such as induction and orientation as well as on-the-job training that take place in the work situation itself and in a continuous manner. They also stated that all new employee regardless of their previous training, education and experience need to be introduced to their new employers work environment and to be taught how to perform a specific task and that specific occasion for retraining arise when employee are transferred or promotion arises when job change introduced by advancing automation. Even when responsibilities for orientation, induction and retraining are not regard by managers as calling for planned procedures, they will be met in someone way or, other by one in the work situation.
The authors further stressed that the continues nature of training in organization by quoting, the view of Docley that, training is not something done to new employee. It is used continuously in every well ran establishment every time you get someone to do work the way it pleases you, you are training. Every time you give direction or discuss a procedures, you are training.
Thus on given the foregoing literature on the problem of inefficiency and low productivity in an organization of generally is not due more to inappropriate deployment and consequently lack of effective management of available manpower on which a lot of effort and time are invested to train rather than lack of qualified manpower.
2.3 USEFULNESS OF MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT
- Manpower development improves the organizational output.
- It equipped the employer with the right skills needed to perform a given task.
- It motivate the workers and make them to put in their best so as to perform well.
2.4 TYPES OF MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT
As a matter of policy, staff development is geared towards the achievement of goals of the schools. That is to effectively promote professional training in support of manpower development for the country.
For the purpose of this, the staff of the institution are given the opportunity to benefit from some training programmes which includes.
HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA TRAINING (HND)
The institution enable its staff to undergo HND training to upgrade their certificate in areas that are relevant to the objectives of the department of that staff to enable him improve his/her efficiency in the performance of his duty. The categories of staff that benefit from this type of training are those who had already gotten their Ordinary National Diploma (OND). This type of training programme is granted 2 – 3 years duration depending on the length of course admitted.
2.5 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW
This study traced the definition of manpower development as given by various authors and scholars. It equally lay emphasis on the objectives and types of manpower development.
Finally, it also discussed on the usefulness or importance of manpower development.
