Examining the Effect of Training and Development on Employees Performance in an Organisation - A Case Study of Catholic University Institute of Buea, South West Region - Cameroon

The creation of a country’s wealth and dynamism depends upon the competitiveness of its firms and this in turn, relies fundamentally on the capabilities of its entrepreneurs and managers. This field of human resource management, training and development is the field concerned with organizational activity aimed at improving the performance of individuals and groups in an organizational setting. Several names have been given to it including employee development, human resource development and learning and development. This study is geared at investigating the effect of training and development on employee performance with a case study of the Catholic University Institute of Buea. Literature review that was information based on other scholars contribution to the subject area of training, methods of training, benefits of training, employee performance, evaluation of training, relationship between training and development in relation to employee performance and the information was analysed. This study adopted a case study approach where data was collected across a population through sampling of 150 employees at the Catholic University Institute of Buea. Questionnaires were distributed to staff and faculties or lecturers.

In a world where ideas and innovation are greatly contributing to the economic and social development of countries and with the world becoming a global village where knowledge is shared and exchanged therefore the need for global competition has caused many organizations to focus on every aspect of their operations and thus probing how each function and process can add to the company strategic goals. For this reason human capital can be regarded as the prime asset of an organization and businesses need to invest in that asset so as to ensure their survival and growth. Therefore the organization should ensure that it obtains and retains skilled, committed and well-motivated workforce it needs and this means taking steps to assess and satisfy future employee needs and to enhance and develop the inherent capacities of employees by providing learning and continuous development opportunities. For this reason training departments are also under pressure to display their organizational value in the same terms, this is because organizations need to spend a considerable time, effort and money in training their employees, though the benefits from these efforts may or may not be clearly visible in organizations in terms of improved performance [1].

The Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB) South West Region, Cameroon, was approved as a non-profit making university in two separate letters.

The authorization to create CUIB on 09/01/0194 of 11 June 2009 and the authorization to start was signed by the Honourable Minister of Higher Education Prof Jacque Fame Ndongo by decision no 10/02173/N/MINSUP/DDES/ESUP/SAC/NJE/ebm dated 26th of May 2010. Its primary purpose is to train professional servant leaders with moral and spiritual values so that they may be responsible to their communities. The proprietor/chancellor of the Catholic University of Buea is the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea. In June 2011, another arm of the University, the Business and Research Park was created as a legal entity of its own by the Cameroon laws no RC BUC.2031-B023 with the name CUIB-Centre for entrepreneurship research and innovation [2]. From the President’s message of 2015/2016 academic year, he reiterated that anyone who steps into the CUIB campus will notice that CUIB has a strong sense of community and campus pride. It clearly makes a difference in the lives of students and the surrounding communities in Buea. The students, staff and faculty go out weekly to carryout volunteerism in surrounding communities. Just five years old, the rest of the country has begun noticing its accomplishments through its students who are not only likeable and humble but are strong academically as they can compete with their peers internationally and win internal awards. Examples include, the Tony Elumelu entrepreneurship awards, the Anzisha award etc. The Catholic University Institute of Buea Sport Academic (CUSA), Went operational in December 2014 with authorization no 1106/G37/C84/VOL II/SAAJP with the main aim of assisting young, talented and excellent skilled Cameroonians in the various field of sport like football, volleyball, basketball, handball etc.

Training is looked at as the formal and systematic modification of behaviour through learning, which occurs as a result of education, instructions and development and planned experience [3]. Training is the process of equipping the workforce with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to tackle the job responsibilities. Employees or staff development on the other hand is improvement of the employees ‘competences for future environmental demands and adaptability. Training and development leads to increased employee motivation therefore management can motivate people through such methods as increase in workers’ pay, promotion, praise and training. Thinks that motivating other people is about getting them to move in the direction you want them to go in order to achieve the stated result [4]. Human resources manager can either question their employees about their job, problems or perceived training and development needs or even observation can be used to investigate work flows also data from internal records can also be analysed to identify patterns and trends in performance of an employee [5]. States that a company that seeks to train and develop its employees well and reward them for their performance has its employees in turn motivated and thus are more likely to be engaged in their work hence improving performance and loyalty to their company [6]. These same employees, being the point of contact with customers will provide better service, leading to more business and more referrals from the satisfied customers. The capacity of staff in a firm influences the ability to achieve the desired targets particularly in performance driven enterprises and therefore human resource is recognized as a critical resource for success. In order to sustain performance of the organization, it is important to optimize the contribution of employees towards achievement of the aims and goals of an organization [3].

The opinion that an empirical approach is the collection and analysis of data and it could be quantitative or qualitative, primary or secondary and that no research is purely empirical [7]. Nevertheless some researchers think that a single research method may use both quantitative and qualitative techniques and procedures or a combination and it could as well use both primary and secondary data. Both primary and secondary data that was information collected from questionnaires to employees of the Catholic University Institute of Buea Also secondary data from bulletins and other University documents and websites was use for this research work [8-11] (Table 1).

Table 1:  Examining the effect of training and development on employee’s performance in an organization – a case study of catholic university institute of Bureau.

In order to examining the effect of training and development on employees performance in an organisation – a case study of catholic university institute of bureau, the researcher gave one hundred (100) questionnaires to some staff and faculty members (employees) of the catholic university institute of bureau, south west region - Cameroon.

Looking at the knowledge of employees ever having any form of training in the organisation

From table 1 above, 95% of the respondents reveal that they have the idea that employees have knowledge of training in the organisation and finally 5% of the respondents say they disagree with the above statement.

As concern the knowledge of existence of a department of human resource that takes proper care of the employees

From table 1 above, 98% of the respondents agree that they are aware of the existence of a department of human resource that takes proper care of the employees and 2% of the respondents disagree with above statement.

With regards to knowledge of the selection of personnel for training and also for specific training purposes

From table 1 above, 90% of the respondents are of the opinion that they have knowledge of the selection of personnel for training and also for specific training purposes and 10% of the respondents disagree with the above statement.

Looking at the knowledge Opinion of training having improved employee performance at the workplace

From table 1 above, 96% of the respondents reveal that the knowledge they have obtain from training have improved their performance at the workplace and 4% of the respondents say that training have no impact on their performance in the organisation.

Finally with regards to the knowledge of diverse method of training carried out at the organisation

From table 1 above, 85% of the respondents are of the opinion that they are aware of the different methods of training used at the organisation, meanwhile 15% of the respondents disagree with the above statement.

The competitiveness of firms partly due to globalisation has in turn make management of these companies to rely fundamentally on the capabilities of its entrepreneurs and managers. They are under pressure to display their organizational value in the same terms because organizations need to spend a considerable time, effort and money in training their employees, though the benefits from these efforts may or may not be clearly visible in organizations in terms of improved performance. In examining the question relating to the training programme quality, the results indicate that the programmes undertaken by the sample companies are relevant as considered by the respondents` opinions.

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