Training and Development and Employee Performance

 

Training and Development and Employee Performance

Training is defined as a learning process in which employees acquire knowledge, skills, experience and attitudes that they need in order to perform their job better for the achievements of their organizational goals (Ngirwa, 2009). According to Armstrong (2006), development is an unfolding process that enables people to progress from a present state of understanding and capability to a future state in which higher-level skills, knowledge and competencies are required. 

It takes the form of learning activities that prepare people to exercise wider or increased responsibilities. There are two broad types of training available to organizations. These are, on the job and off the job techniques respectively. Taylor (2009) identifies six types of training and development practice in business environment. These include on the job training and lecture, programmed instruction, computed assisted instruction, audiovisual techniques, simulations, and business games. According to Tzafrir (2005), training is an important element in producing the human capital. It provides employees with the skills, abilities and knowledge required by the post (Danvila del Valle et al., 2009).

 Training and Development as a Tool for Employee Performance

 According to theories proposed by some scholars, training and development positively influences employee performance which in turn influence profit or revenue (Fey et al., 2000). This view is supported by (Soltan, et al., 2004) who pointed out that employee training and development is ranked as the most important in the performance management studies in Scotland, U.K. Almost three quarters (¾) of employees from Canada and United States who have received job-related training and development from their employers reported in the study that they were using their acquired skill at work to a great extent and that their work performance had improved. This they recounted had improved the performance of the organization as a whole.

Training and Development and Job Satisfaction

In today’s competitive world the job satisfaction plays a central role and organizations are aware of that. Job satisfaction is the level of pleasure in which employee feel happy to do their work. For example, Ilies et al. (2009) defined that Job Satisfaction is the one of more dynamic work attitude, approach, methods and styles. According to Hashmi Irshad et al. (2014) Job Satisfaction is the variable which is tested by many scholars and industrial/ organizational psychologists. Job Satisfaction is a feeling which employees have through job related experiences.

Job satisfaction can come from feeling comfortable within the organization, job proficiency and even from the knowledge that an employee can work hard and get promoted. Training programs can contribute to all of these factors and lead to more satisfied employees who perform at exceptional levels. According to (Tsai, Yen, Huang, and Huang , 2007), employees who are committed to learning showed a higher level of job satisfaction that has a positive effect on their performance. (Rowden and Shamsuddin , 2000) and (Rowden and Conine ,2005) argue that the most thoroughly trained employees will better satisfy the needs of their customers and employees. Training programs increase an employee’s job knowledge. An increase in job knowledge means that the employee will feel more comfortable doing his job and will perform at a high level and be happy (Ngirwa, 2009). There is little empirical support for this suggestion. There is a need to provide such empirical support to either enhance the previous studies or reject the findings. It is therefore hypothesized that: there is a significant relationship between training and development and employee job satisfaction.

List of References

Armstrong, M., 2006. A handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Boadu, F., Dwomo-Fokuo, E., Boakye, J.K. and Kwaning, C.O., 2014. Training and development: A tool for employee performance in the district assemblies in Ghana. International Journal of Education and Research, 2(5), pp.513-522.

Danvila del Valle, I. and Sastre Castillo, M.A., 2009. Human capital and sustainable competitive advantage: an analysis of the relationship between training and performance. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 5(2), pp.139-163.

Ilies, R., Fulmer, I.S., Spitzmuller, M. and Johnson, M.D., 2009. Personality and citizenship behavior: the mediating role of job satisfaction. Journal of applied psychology, 94(4), p.945.

Irshad, R. and Hashmi, M.S., 2014. How transformational leadership is related to organizational citizenship behavior? The mediating role of emotional intelligence. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS), 8(2), pp.413-425.

Ngirwa, C.A., 2009. Human resource management in African. Work Organizations, 1.

Rowden, R.W. and Ahmad, S., 2000. The relationship between workplace learning and job satisfaction in small to mid-sized businesses in Malaysia. Human resource development international, 3(3), pp.307-322.

Rowden, R.W. and Conine, C.T., 2005. The impact of workplace learning on job satisfaction in small US commercial banks. Journal of workplace Learning.

Taylor, S.S. and Ladkin, D., 2009. Understanding arts-based methods in managerial development. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(1), pp.55-69.

Tsai, M.T. and Huang, Y.C., 2008. Exploratory learning and new product performance: The moderating role of cognitive skills and environmental uncertainty. The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 19(2), pp.83-93.

Tzafrir, S.S., 2005. The relationship between trust, HRM practices and firm performance. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(9), pp.1600-1622.