ENHANCING EMPLOYEE MORALE THROUGH TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE

ENHANCING EMPLOYEE MORALE THROUGH TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE

This study is aimed at examining the relationship between training and development and employee morale in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

According to Bowles and Cooper (2009), employee morale is defined as the state of individual psychological wellbeing based on a sense of confidence, usefulness, and purpose; the attitude of an individual or group of employees resulting in courage, devotion, and discipline. Therefore, morale refers to how employees positively and supportively feel about and for their organization (Haddock, 2010).

Morale is a very widely used term. It generally refers to esprit de corps, a feeling of enthusiasm, zeal, confidence in individuals or groups that they will be able to cope with the tasks assigned to them. A person’s enthusiasm for his job reflects his attitude of mind to work, environment and to his employer, and his willingness to strive for the goals set for him by the organization in which he is employed.

Morale is elusive, it is not easy to measure, define or control. It could be high or low.  If the enthusiasm and willingness of employees to work is high then morale is high and vice versa.  Employee morale represents the attitudes of individuals and groups in an organization towards voluntary cooperation to the full extent of their capabilities for the fulfillment of organizational goals (Seroka, 2009).

The attitudes, feelings, and emotions of employees play a vital role to determine their performance and behavior. These, in turn, determine the success and growth of the organization. It is for this reason that personnel experts, as well as line managers, pay keen attention to the issues of motivation and morale in the industry.

The productivity of employees in deposit money banks is largely affected by the morale of employees as such, many employees are looking for a way out of their jobs in search of greener pastures due to low morale. Employee morale can, in turn, be affected by effective training and development.

Training and development as a function of human resource management are concerned with organizational activity aimed at bettering the performance of individuals and groups in organizational settings. For the organization, training and development leads to improved profitability while cultivating more positive attitudes toward profit orientation. For the individuals, training and development improve job knowledge while also helping in identifying with the goals of the organization. Training and development can be defined as planned learning modules/experiences which teach employees how to perform current and future jobs effectively to enhance the fulfillment and performance of employees(Ngirwa,2009).

According to Raja, Furqan, and Muhammad (2011), training and development have become the most important factor in the business world today, because training increases the efficiency and the effectiveness of both employees and the organization. Training is a systematic restructuring of behavior, attitude and skills through learning, education, instruction, and planned experience. Training is designed to change or improve the behavior of employees in the workplace to stimulate efficiency. The cardinal purpose of training is to assist the organization achieves its short and long term objectives by adding value to its human capital. Training and development are not undertaken for the sake of training, but rather are designed to achieve some needs. Training of these employees is very essential and must be based on needs assessment framework derived from a comparison of actual behavior and performance to desired behavior and performance.

Organizational effectiveness rests on the efficient and effective workforce which makes up the organization. This effective performance, in turn, rests on the richness of knowledge, skill sets, and abilities possessed by the workforce. Training and development in most organizations are a continuous exercise. The inexorable march of time and the ceaseless glamour for social change and technology combine to make continuous adaptability of the workforce as inevitable as the initial acquisition of knowledge and skills. Training sharpens an existing skill to reflect the trends in technology and other socio-cultural changes of an organization. Let’s not forget that any organization that has no plan for the training and development of its staff is less than dynamic because learning is a continuous process and acquired skills get obsolete when the environment changes. Moreover, a popular caption in personnel management says “if you think training and development are expensive try ignorance.” While training and development prosper organizations, ignorance destroys it. Therefore, workers like machines must be updated constantly else they end up becoming obsolete or misfit (Muthar,2007; Robert Owen cited in Amah 2006).

According to Akinola (1997), the principal intention of training and development 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. Besides, the development of indigenous manpower to serve as the propelling force for national growth and development is no doubt a key to Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development including the banking sector in which deposit money banks operate.

Thus, training and development is an elitist design geared towards improving a major factor of production which is labour.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The concept of enhancing employee morale through training and development is of growing concern to both large and small organizations especially in deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. Many of the previous studies indicate that employees are not capable enough to carry out their tasks in an efficient manner due to the low morale of employees and training problems (Otuko, Chege and Douglas 2013).

With the current expansion of the global economy and the fast-changing evolution of technology, deposit money banks have become more vulnerable to under-motivated workers as a result of inadequate work incentives and rewards, excess workload, unofficial working days, inadequate training, poor funding of training projects, late closing hours ( a major issue due to poor security in the state).

Knowledge has become an increasing factor for productivity just as social values are shifting away from viewing work as the most important thing in life to a balanced view of self-development, career development, etc. Hence,  the need to train and develop employees to enlarge their professional experiences and prevent skill obsolesce thereby boosting employee morale.

Happy employees have high morale while unhappy employees have low morale. High morale means that the employee is satisfied with the job, puts in maximum effort, is creative, takes initiative and is committed to the organizational goals rather than personal goals. Low morale means that the employee is not satisfied with the job and which could lead to employee turnover, high skiving, complaints, strikes, and absenteeism. High morale leads to high returns to stakeholders, high productivity and employee loyalty.

Productivity is related to morale and for high productivity to occur there is a need for training and development of employees. Some employees recognize the importance of training and development on their morale/ productivity while others couldn’t link the importance of training and development on their morale which motivates the researcher to investigate how employee’s morale could be enhanced through training and development. 

1.3 Aims and  Objectives

The general aim of the study was to examine the relationship between training and development and employee morale in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Specifically, the study sought to address the following objectives:

1. To examine the relationship between training needs assessment and job satisfaction in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
2. To investigate the relationship between training needs assessment and organizational commitment in deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
3. To determine the relationship between training contents and job satisfaction in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
4. To determine the relationship between training contents and organizational commitment in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

1.4 Research Question

The following research questions were raised:

1. What is the relationship between training needs assessment and job satisfaction in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State?
2. What is the relationship between training needs assessment and organizational commitment in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State?
3. What is the relationship between training contents and job satisfaction in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State?
4. What is the relationship between training contents and organizational commitment in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

This study was guided by the following research hypotheses:

Ho­₁:  There is no significant effect of training needs assessment and job satisfaction in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Ho₂: There is no significant relationship between training needs assessment organizational commitment in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Ho4:  There is no significant relationship between training contents and organizational commitment in Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

1.6  Significance of the Study

This study would be beneficial to the Deposit  Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and their staff as it emphasized the need to encourage the establishment of policy guidelines on efficient and effective training and development programs.

It would help managers of many Deposit Money Banks to generate ideas and solutions to problems based on the best way to boost employee morale in their organizations to achieve desired goals and objectives using training and development as a driving point.

It would also help researchers to know more about training and development as a tool for improving employee morale. Finally, it would be of great value to students as a point of reference and would equally serve as the basis for further research study.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The scope of the study is made up of three components namely;

Theoretical scope/ Content scope, geographical scope, and unit of analysis

The theoretical scope of the study is restricted only to literature materials on employee morale and training and development.

The geographical scope covers deposit money banks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The unit of analysis level is at the organizational level. The study will be drawn from managers and employees.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

The use of a questionnaire as the principal method had some limitations,  as there was no opportunity for possible ambiguity in the questionnaire to be cleared.

These research findings may not be generalized to Deposit Money Banks and their employees outside of Rivers State as they were not within the geographical scope of the study.

The reluctance of respondents to fully cooperate in completing the questionnaire despite the assurance of confidentiality.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Employee Morale

Employee morale is the description of the emotions, attitude, and overall outlook of employees during their time in a workplace environment.

Training and Development

This is the planned learning experiences that teach employees of respective categories how to perform current and future jobs.

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is the feeling of contentment or a sense of accomplishment, which an employee derives from his/her job.

Organizational Commitment

Organizational Commitment is defined as the individual’s psychological attachment to an organization

Training Needs Assessment

This is the method of determining if a training need exists and if it does, what training is required to fill the identified gap.

Training Contents

All information presented to learners with the aim of teaching and implementing knowledge, skills, and attitudes that would bring about enduring behavioral change.

1.10 Organization of the Study

This study was planned and structured to cover five chapters.

Chapter one consisted of an introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, research question, research hypothesis, significance of the study, scope of the study,  limitations of the study and definition of terms.

Chapter two of this study focused on literature review covering empirical framework, conceptual framework, and theoretical framework.

Chapter three contained the research methodology and the specific details requiring research decisions, the population of the study, etc.

Chapter four dealt with  data presentation,  analysis, and discussion of results

Chapter five presented a summary of the findings, conclusion, and recommendations.