Training, manpower development and job performance: Perception and relevance among civil servants in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined perception and relevance of influence of training and manpower development on employee performance, using civil servants in Ebonyi State, Nigeria as reference. A pre-coded questionnaire was administered on 300 civil servants stratified into three categories: GL 04-06; GL 07-12 and GL 13+. The purpose was to ensure equitable representation of civil servants in the study area and to elicit their opinion on the theme of study. Using chi-square (x2) as a significant test, training was perceived to influence job performance at µ 0.05 and = µ 0.25. Also manpower development was perceived to influence job performance at µ 0.05 and = µ 0.25, but the influence of type of training on job performance was inconclusive. When cross-tabulated, only 49.8% of those that had training and those exposed to manpower development had high job performance as against 21.2% for their counterparts with no training and manpower development. This is suggestive of spurious factors (that may include leadership, organizational climate, management development, salary etc) that may intervene as motivation factors for high job performance. Of significance, is that the primary aim of training and manpower development was rather to meet statutory requirements (60%), as against improvement on the job (31.2%) and has policy implications for training and manpower development relevant to organizational need or goal to be provided to employees. This was a sufficiently promising result to encourage further study, not only to re-visit the theoretical explanation that training and manpower development directly result to improved job performance, but also to verify the circumstance within which training and manpower development enhance job performance. Key words: Training, manpower development, performance, employee, Ebonyi, civil servants.