By Ndibe, Beatrice Chinomnso
The study focused on the effect of employee training on organizational performance. The process and procedure of identifying employee skill gap in most organizations pose a big challenge to the Human Resource Department (HRD). Employee training is based on various reasons which could be detrimental to the overall objective of the organization. The HRD ensure that sending an employee on training will translate to increase in productivity. Thus, adequate consideration should be taken by the HRD when selecting a candidate for training. The ability to manage and work around the challenges faced when carrying out this HR function will ensure a better training objective that will affect the productivity of the employee and the organization. Since the effect of these factors brings with it some negative implications and consequences of low productivity, high rate of employee turnover and high cost; this study therefore was aimed at identifying the effects of employee training on organizational performance with special emphasis on the process and procedure of selecting employee for training. Pursuant to this, some objectives were formulated by the researcher and these were to ascertain the extent to which unsystematic approach of employee training affects organizational productivity; to determine the extent of effect of training design on employee productivity; to ascertain the extent to which training delivery style affects employee productivity; to determine the relationship between employee perceptions of training and organizational productivity; and to determine the extent to which employee training affects organizational performance. In pursuit of the objectives, a survey research was carried out in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population used for the study was 694 staff of Nigerian Bottling Company and 7UP Bottling Company. Sample size was determined using Yamane (1964) formula. A sample size of 254 was drawn. The study made use of data from primary and secondary sources which were collected using questionnaire administered to the 254 staff of the selected Organizations. Personnel records and annual reports of the selected Organizations were used for secondary data. The data analyses was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), while the person product moment correlation coefficient and the one-sample test were used to test the hypotheses formulated in the study. Findings from the study reveal that the extent to which unsystematic approach of employee training affected organizational productivity was high. This was statistically supported by the one-sample test at 0.05 (Zc = 8.246 < Zt = 0.000). Again, the extent of effect of training design on employee productivity was high. The one-sample test (Zc = 0.679 < Zt = 0.730; = 0.05) confirms this assertion. The extent to which training delivery style affected employee productivity was high as attested to by the result of one-sample test (Zc = 0.681 < Zt = 0.762; = 0.05). Similarly, there was a very strong positive relationship between employee perception of training and organizational performance. This is confirmed with the Pearson Correlation coefficient value of 0.948 at 0.05level of significance. The extent to which employee training alone affected organizational performance was low, however, when other variables like training design, training delivery style were considered, its effect became significant. This is confirmed by the one-sample test at 0.05 (Zc = 0.705 > Zt = 0.665). Based on the finding, the study concludes that if the right employees are sent on training through the systematic training procedure of identifying and selecting employees for training, there would be a significant improvement on the organizational performance. Finally, it is recommended that a mechanism should be created for proper assessment and evaluation of employee performance after training as this will ensure that only employees who require training are sent on training.