Content uploaded by Ekwochi Eucharia Adaeze
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Ekwochi Eucharia Adaeze on Jun 03, 2021
Content may be subject to copyright.
World Journal of Management and Behavioral Studies 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
ISSN 2306-840X
© IDOSI Publications, 2015
DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wjmbs.2015.3.2.1322
Corresponding Author: Ekwochi Eucharia Adaeze, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences
Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria.
62
Effects of Industrial Training on Self Employment
and Economic Empowerment in Nigeria
Ekwochi Eucharia Adaeze and Orga C. Christopher
Department of Business Administration Faculty of Management Sciences
Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria
Abstract: The aim of this research work is to investigate “the effect of industrial training on self employment
and economic empowerment in Nigeria. The objectives of this research work include the following: to examine
if there is a formal system of industrial training in organizations; and to identify the effectiveness of industrial
training in organizations. For a successful completion of this research work, the researcher made use of both
primary and secondary data collection for information gathering. Primary data were collected through:
questionnaire administration, oral interview and personal observation. Secondary data were collected through:
periodicals, journals, textbooks, lecture notebooks and internet. The findings of this research study includes:
the industrial training in organizations enhances effectiveness of individuals involved; and industrial training
in organization leads to job satisfaction of employees. In conclusion, the industrial training in organizations
enhances effectiveness of individuals involved. The researcher therefore recommends that the management
of any organization should provide enough training facilities for the training of their employees and at the same
time change worn out ones. This will help facilitate the learning process of workers.
Key words: Industrial Training Employment Economic Empowerment
INTRODUCTION function and is one of the fundamental operative
This research work was prompted by performance industrial training which draws heavily on many
deficiencies that were observed in organizations. The psychological principles, has become increasingly
situation affects the productivity negatively. According important at all levels of organizational hierarchy in recent
to Koontz et al [1], industrial training help remove years. The training impacts new skills and old skills are
performance deficiencies in employees particularly when enhanced, sharpened and refined to enhance
the deficiency is caused by a lack of ability rather than a effectiveness. Training is a practical and initial necessity;
lack of motivation to perform and the individuals involved it enables employees to develop and rise within the
have the aptitude and motivation needed to learn to do organization and increases their market value, earning
the job better. Drucker [2] on the other hand stated that power and job security [4].
the aim of industrial training is to help the organizations According to Stein [5]"training is short term process
achieve their purpose by adding value to its key resource utilizing the systematic and organized procedure by which
– the people it employs. He highlighted the purpose of non–managerial personnel learn technical knowledge and
industrial training as: to increase productivity and quality, skills for a definite purpose". Calhoon, [6] says that
to promote versatility and adaptability to new methods, to training is "the process of aiding employees to gain
reduce the number of accidents, to reduce labors effectiveness in their present and future work. Armstrong
turnover, to increase job satisfaction displaying itself in [7] is of the opinion that “the systematic development of
lower labor turn-over and less absenteeism and to the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by an
increase efficiency. Industrial training itself is an individual to perform adequately a given task or job”.
important sub-system of human resource development. Belch [8] says that "the organized procedure by which
Onyike [3] stated that industrial training is a specialized people learn knowledge and/or skills for a definite
functions of human resource management. The area of
World J. Manage. & Behav. Stud., 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
63
purpose is training. Baker [9] opined that purpose of performance and productivity. In other cases, most
industrial training include the following: to increase organizations use outdated equipments to train their staff
quality and productivity; to help an individual fulfill in place of recent and modern gadgets that can further
his/her future personal needs; to improve organizational promote performance and productivity. Lack of formal
climate to improve health and safety of personnel; to system of industrial training in organizations also affects
address personal growth and prevent obsolescence; to the essence of industrial training in contributing to
develop innovativeness and creativity; to improve organizational performance. For instance some
interpersonal communication, leadership and team work. organizations carryout the process of industrial training
Akwaeze [10] defined industrial training as the once a year because the companies involved try as much
process of increasing the knowledge and skills of the as possible to minimize fund set out for training
workforce to enable them to perform their jobs effectively. individuals.
Industrial training is, therefore, a process whereby an
individual acquires job – related skills and knowledge. Conceptual Framework of the Study: Employees are
Industrial training costs can be significant in any increasingly demanding change, choice, flexibility and
business. However, many employers are prepared to variety in their work; suggesting that with the de-layering
increase these costs because they expect their business of organizations and empowerment of individual
to benefit from employees' development and progress. employees, the future for both the organization and the
Industrial training takes place at various points and places individual lies not in promotion to successively higher
in a business. Commonly, industrial training is required levels of management, but rather in developing the value
to: support new skills (induction training), improve of the individual as human capital [11]. The value of
productivity, increases marketing effectiveness, Support human capital is enhanced by acquisition of higher
higher standards of customer service and production performance potential such as new tasks, functions,
quality, introduction of new technology, systems or other knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes [12].
change, address changes in legislation, Support employee Further, higher performance capability usually begins with
progression and promotion. planned, structured methods to ensure that cross–training
Effective employee training has the potential to application in the work place. Total quality management
provide a range of benefits to business n: (TQM) writers argue that for the process to be successful,
Higher quality work groups must be "empowered" to function as a
Better productivity self–directed team [13]. When reviewing the literature on
Improved motivation - through greater empowerment total quality management, one is struck by the absence of
More flexibility through better skills any mention of individuals who have problems in the
Less supervision required (cost saving in workplace [14, 15], states that workers are viewed as the
supervision) greatest source of improvements, therefore, it means that
Easier to implement change in the business workers who are managed correctly will take responsibility
Effective training starts with training strategy. The ownership of the service or product. Moreover,
three stages of a training strategy are: employees involved in an effective industrial training
Identify the skills and abilities needed by the program manifest a love for their work and are interested
individuals in doing their best for the organization [16]. The
Draw up an action plan to show how investment in importance of industrial training has long been recognized
training and development will help meet business as a crucial issue for businesses. To the extent that
goals and objectives industrial – training programs are effective, companies are
Implement the plan, monitoring progress and training able to avoid wasteful spending and improve performance
effectiveness. and productivity. Thus, a key consideration for virtually
Diversity organizations in Nigeria today do not organization for its training investment.
actively train their employees on emerging technologies As it has been suggested that organizations are likely
to effectively aid the organization compete in the business to increase their reliance upon and utilization of industrial
environment. This greatly affects the organization’s training programs in years to come, the effectiveness of
occurs and with constant evaluation on the basis of
for their work, be committed to the organization and have
all business is the expected return provided by the
World J. Manage. & Behav. Stud., 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
64
training interventions in organizations is likely to become else. This evaluation needs to be done over a long time
even more salient in the future [17]. This is illustrated by period and needs to be carried out by those working with
several studies conducted by other authors regarding the candidate, to evaluate how the delegate performed
training. [18], provide an integrative framework for all the before and then after the training process.
variables that influence the design and delivery of
training. The framework outlines in detail the pre–training Theoretical Framework of the Study: The theoretical
and during–training conditions that may influence framework of this study is centered on the social learning
learning, as well as the factors that may facilitate the theory of Bandura which emphasizes the importance of
transfer of skills after training. According to [19], the observing and modeling the behaviours, attitudes and
systematic process of industrial training consists of emotional reactions of others, it means that people learn
planned programs designed to improve competence and from observing other people [22] have said that basically
performance at the individual, group and/or organizational the idea of learning by observing produced by
levels. The scope of training initiatives vary and include behaviourists but later some researcher looked to
operator, technical, sales, customer service and various interaction and cognitive processes and noted that
levels of leadership training. The success of industrial observation let people to see the consequences of other’s
training may depend on the reasons behind it. Conducting behaviours, resulting that people can gain some idea
training for the wrong reasons may lead to bad training of what might flow from acting in one way or the other.
while having the right reasons for it may lead to the In social learning theory, interval cognitive processes are
improvement, which the organization aims to attain. Some said to have some effect on behavior as examined by [23]
of the valid reasons for training would be to improve that person’s expectations about the outcome of a
performance, to improve employees’ skills, to promote job particular behaviours reflects these effects. To attend,
competency, to solve problems, or to orient new remember and would be key aspect of observational
employees [20]. Benefits of an effective employee training learning as noted by [24] who shows the most common
include improved profitability and more positive attitudes examples of social learning situation is television.
toward profit orientation; enhanced employees’ job Learning theories provided some key principles of
knowledge and skills; high morale of the work force. As learning so that implication of these principles in training
for the individual, training helps the individual in making may provide opportunities of trainees’ motivation and
better decisions and effective problem solving; it enables facilitate their learning. Social learning theory integrates
him or her to internalize and operationalize motivational behavioral and cognitive theories of learning in order to
variables of recognition, achievement, growth, provide a comprehensive model that could account for the
responsibility and advancement; and it aids in wide range of learning experience that occur in the real
encouraging and achieving self – development and self – world. The key contents of social learning theory are as
confidence. follows:
Furthermore, training improves communication
between groups and individuals; aids in orientation for Learning is not purely behavioral; rather, it is a
new employees and those taking new jobs through cognitive process that takes place in a social context.
transfer or promotion; provides information on equal Learning can occur by observing a behavior and by
opportunity and affirmative action; provides information observing the consequences of the behavior
on other governmental laws and administrative policies; (vicarious reinforcement).
and improves interpersonal skills. According to [21], Learning involves observation, extraction of
there are some links between training and good information from those observations and making
performance but the direction is difficult to identify. decisions about the performance of the behavior
However, what is known for sure is that the training and (observational learning or modeling). Thus, learning
development of staff is relevant in better performing can occur without an observable change in behavior.
companies. The difficulty in identifying the correlation Reinforcement plays a role in learning but is not
between training and performance is attributed to the entirely responsible for learning.
determination of changes in performance. Measuring The learner is not a passive recipient of information.
knowledge acquired is easy to determine. But to Cognition, environment and behavior all mutually
measure skills and attitude development is something influence each other (reciprocal determinism).
World J. Manage. & Behav. Stud., 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
65
Systems of Industrial Training in an Organization: To Clarify Connections: Some employees may feel that the
successfully launch an industrial training program, [25] training they are receiving is not relevant to their job. It is
suggested the following seven steps: important to help them understand the connection early
Stress Training as Investment: The reason training is of valuable time. Employees should see the training as an
often considered optional at many companies is because important addition to their professional portfolios.
it is thought of as an expense rather than an investment.
While it is true that training can be costly up front, it is a Role of Industrial Training in Employees’ Job
long–term investment in the growth and development of Satisfaction: Training and development are vital activity
human resources. in an organization. They play great role in determining the
Determination of Needs: As there is probably no the effects or benefits of training and development are
unlimited time or funds to execute an employee training [26]:
program, there should be an early decision on what the
focus of the training program should be. Determine what Reduction of learning time to reach acceptable
skills are most pertinent to address current or future standard of performance. By exploring new
company needs or ones that will provide the biggest employees to qualified instructions and controlled
payback. learning situations management in many cases
Promote a Culture of Learning: In today’s fast–paced production performance standards from these new
economy, if a business is not learning, it is going to fall employees.
behind. A business learns as its people learn. Implored performance on current job, experienced
Expectations should be communicated that all employees employees as well as the need for training and
should take the necessary steps to know their skills and development. This aids them in raising their level of
stay on top of their professions or fields of work. Such performance on their pursuit for job assignments.
efforts should be supported by providing the resources Altitude formation: a change in behavior is one of the
needed to accomplish the goals. benefits of a good training and development
Start out Small: Before rolling out a training program to in such a way that they support company activities.
the masses, there should be a rehearsal with a small group Employees through training and development get to
of users and their feedback gathered. These sort of know how to co-operate and be loyal to their
informal benchmarking exposes weaknesses in training organization.
plans and helps fine – tune the training process. A reduction in work error, frustration due to lack of
The Use of Quality Instructors and Materials: The Less need for close supervision: if employees
experts selected in the training program make a major undergo training and development programmes they
difference in the success of the efforts, whether it is a will come out having the right skills and attitudes
professional educator or simply a knowledgeable staff needed to do their work. With this acquired skills and
member. Having the right training materials is also training attitudes of the employees, there won’t be
important after the training is over these materials become any need for supervision since they can now do the
valuable resources for trainees. job on their own.
Using the Right Space: Selecting a training location that developments programmes increase the initiative and
is conducive to learning is also a prerequisite to effective creativity of the employees thereby making them
training program. Choose an environment that’s quiet and versatile and adaptable to new methods. This helps
good enough to spread out materials. Make sure the the employee to grow with the company as
space is equipped with a computer and projector, so you technology changes, thus preventing employee
can present a visually stimulating training session. obsolesce.
on, so they do not view the training sessions as a waste
effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. Some of
obtains shortened learning period and higher
programme. The attitudes of employees are directed
opportunities for training and development.
Greater adaptability to methods: training and
World J. Manage. & Behav. Stud., 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
66
Fulfill future personnel need: organizations that have performance." In a later article these authors conclude
a good internal educational programme will have to that, "research suggests that empowerment exists when
make less drastic manpower change and adjustments companies implement practices that distribute power,
in the events of sudden personnel alternatives. information, knowledge and rewards throughout the
When the need arises, organizational vacancies can organization." [16]. The authors go on to note that, "if any
move easily by staffed from internal sources if a of the four elements is zero, nothing happens to
company initiates and maintains an adequate redistribute that ingredient and empowerment will be
introduction programme for both its employees, zero." Another author uses this type of combination of
employers and even the customer of the organization concepts to define empowerment. [22] indicates,
in order to know their rights and privileges. "psychological empowerment is defined as a motivational
A good training and development programme construct manifested in four cognitions: meaning,
increases the scopes and capability of an employee competence, self – determination and impact. Together
and helps him assume greater responsibilities in the these four cognitions reflect on active, rather than a
future. passive, orientation toward a work role. In other words,
Role of Industrial Training in Enhancing the completely eliminate, the overall degree of felt
Effectiveness of Individuals Involved in the Training: The empowerment." This additive construct is distinct from
common dictionary definition of empowerment, "to give Bowen and Lawler’s construct noted above which is
official authority to: delegate legal power to: commission, multiplicative, indicating that the absence of any one of
authorize" [27] is the one most understood by most their four elements (power, information, knowledge and
people. As an example, [14] writes, "Empowerment means rewards) will completely eliminate empowerment.
that management vests decision-making on approved Researchers tend to provide definitions of the concept of
authority in employees, whereas, traditionally, such empowerment which reflect observed and results of the
authority was a managerial prerogative." However, this is research into concepts which are known and are or may
not the definition of what is usually called employee be precursors to empowerment. In his 1995 dissertation,
empowerment. One author notes empowerment is, "easy Koontz, Cyril O’Donnell and Heinz Weihrich [1] indicates,
to define in its absence alienation, powerless, "the empowered state was defined as a cognitive state of
helplessness, but difficult to define positively because it perceived control, perceived competence and goal
'takes on a different form in different people and contexts'" internalization. The empirical results supported the view
[2]. When most people refer to employee empowerment that empowerment is a construct conceptually distinct
they mean a great deal more than delegation. It is for this from other constructs such as delegation, self efficacy
reason that many authors provide their own definitions. and intrinsic task motivation". In this case the constructs
Enudu, [16] describes empowerment as a state of mind as of delegation, self-efficacy and intrinsic task motivation
well as a result of position, policies and practices. Ejiofor, are known quantities, each with its own previously tested
[15] articulates empowerment as, "when employees own validity. Mocker, [23] note in their literature review that,
their jobs; when they are able to measure and influence "scholars have assumed that empowerment is the process
their individual success as well as the success of their by which a leader or manager shares his or her power with
departments and their companies." Flippo, [19] definition subordinates. Power, in this context, is interpreted as the
of empowerment as, "employees having autonomous possession of formal authority or control over
decision - making capabilities and acting as partners in the organizational resources. This manner of treating the
business, all with an eye to the bottom-line" is more notion of empowerment from a management practice
accessible to many readers. Shubin, [24] indicates perspective is so common that often employee
empowerment as sharing with front-line employees four participation is simply equated with empowerment."
organizational ingredients: the first being information
about the organization's performance; another is CONCLUSION
knowledge that enables employees to understand and
contribute to organizational performance. The other two From the findings, that the industrial training in
ingredients Bowen and Lawler noted are, "rewards based organizations enhances effectiveness of individuals
on the organization's performance and power to make involved and industrial training in organization leads to
decisions that influence organizational direction and job satisfaction of employees, we concluded that the
the lack of any single dimension will deflate, though not
World J. Manage. & Behav. Stud., 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
67
industrial training has positive effect on self employment 4. Broom, K., 1999. Introduction to Business. New York:
and empowerment. Discussion of all the results proved
that there is a formal system of industrial training in
organizations as such training is effective and therefore
leads to job satisfaction of employees. Moreover, the
industrial training in organizations enhances effectiveness
of individuals involved.
Recommendations: The following recommendations are
made for this study:
Firstly, the management of any organization should
provide enough training facilities for the training of
their employees and at the same time change worn
out ones. This will help facilitate the learning process
of worker.
Also, the government should encourage training and
development by building well-equipped training
centres in the country where organizations that do
not have training centre can send their workers for a
training course.
Again, management should try as much as possible
to provide employees with conducive atmosphere
necessary for effective work performance so that
after undergoing a training course, they will come
back to a conducive working atmosphere to put what
they have learnt in practice.
In addition, management should encourage their
workers to attend training course by rewarding or
compensating those that attended. This reward may
come in the form of increment in salary, increment in
fringe benefits, promotion, giving employees more
responsibilities etc. This will make other employees
in the company to show interest in those training
course and at the same time take part in them.
Management should also extend the duration of
training courses for their employees. This will help to
facilitate proper knowledge and skill acquisition for
the trainees.
REFERENCES
1. Koontz, et al., 2006. Management International
Student Edition, Tokyo: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
2. Drucker, P., 2003) An Introductory View of
Management, New York: Harper’s College Press.
3. Onyike, K., 2003. Management: An Introduction.
Enugu: Department of Management, University of
Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
McGraw Hill Inc.
5. Stein, I., 2002. Management. New York: McGraw Hill
Inc.
6. Calhoon, J., 2008. Personnel Management. London:
McGraw Hill Inc.
7. Armstrong, M., 2004. Handbook of Human Resource
Management Practice (9th ed.). London: Kogan Page.
8. Belch, B., 2003. Management, New Delhi: Prentice
Hall of India Private Limited.
9. Bass, B.M. and J.A. Vaughn, 2008. Training in
Industry: The Management of Learning”, London,
Tavistock Publications Ltd.
10. Akwaeze, M., 2002. Corporate Policy and Strategy.
Enugu: Splash Media Organization.
11. Akpala, A., 2009. Management: An Introduction and
the Nigerian Perspective. Enugu: Department of
Management, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
12. Baker, R., 2005. The Management Control Process.
New Jersey: Prentice a. Hall Inc.
13. Bratton, J., 2007. “Work and Organizational
Behavior”. New York: Paul Grave Mac Millan.
14. Egbo, V.O., 2011. Corporate Policy and Strategy:
Managing for Competitive Advantage: Enugu:
Splash media Organization.
15. Ejiofor, P.N., 2010. Management in Nigeria: Theories
and Issues. Onitsha: African Fep Publishers.
16. Enudu, T., 2008. Business Policy: AN Introductory
Analysis. Enugu: New Generation Books.
17. Farmer, R.N. and B.M. Richman, 1999. Comparative
Management and Economic Progress, Homewood:
Richard D. Irwin, Inc.
18. Fincham, R., 2009. Principles of Organizational
Behavior. 3 Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
rd
19. Flippo, E (2009) Personnel Management. London:
McGraw Hill Inc.
20. Hastings, P.G., 2009. Introduction to Business. New
York: McGraw Hill Inc.
21. Ile, N.M., 2003. Comparative and International
Management, Enugu: Ochumba Printing and
Publishing Company Limited.
22. Jones, A., O. George and D. Hill, 2005:45.
Management. New York: McGraw Hill Inc.
23. Mocker, J.R., 2002. The Management Control
Process. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.
24. Shubin, J.A., 2007. Business Management: An
Introduction to Business and Industry. New York:
Barnes and Noble Books.
World J. Manage. & Behav. Stud., 3 (3): 62-68, 2015
68
25. Stoner James A.F. and B. Edward Freeman, 2007. 26. Orji, A., 2006. Principles of Research Methodologies.
Management, New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Enugu: New Generation Books.
Private Limited. 27. Taro, Y., 1964. Statistics: An Introductory Analysis.
New York: Harper and Row Publishers.
