EMPLOYEES TRAINING: AN INGREDIENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL SURVIVAL IN NIGERIA (A STUDY OF SELECTED SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN PORTHARCOURT)

Abstract

This study examined Employees Training: An Ingredient of Organizational Survival
in Nigeria with Selected Small And Medium Scale Enterprises in Portharcourt as its case study.
the study was guided by three research questions and hypotheses which are consistent with its
objectives. The study employed the descriptive survey approach in its design and data was
generated from a five point likert scale questionnaire. The study covered a population of one
hundred and forty three (143) employees of eight (8) SMEs within Portharcourt city. The
researcher used purposive sampling technique to select 129 respondents as the sample; however,
out of the 129 questionnaires distributed, only 112 were correctly filled and returned; thereby
given a questionnaire return rate of 87%. The statistical tools used for data analysis is the
Mannwhitney U test using the 20.0 version of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). It
was conclude that bearing the strategic contributions of employee training, training of employees
should not just be seen as a fringe benefit for the individual staff by the organization or an
interventionist approach to temporarily solve organizational problems. Rather, they should be
seen as an integral part of business functions that build a long-term strategic value for the
organization by helping the manpower acquire relevant skills, knowledge and experience that
can help the organizations attain their long term goals. The study recommended that the cost of
employee training in the SMEs should be controlled, in order to ensure that it does not negate the
competitiveness of the organization. These SMEs in related businesses can achieve by jointly
building training schools in order to attain and maximize economies of scale, there is need to
ensure that training programmes are tailored along the skill gaps of the employees. This will
ensure that the employees contribute maximally to the sustainability of SMEs and that to ensure
that employee training contributes maximally to SMEs adaptability, the updating of workers’
skill must be anchored on needs assessment, this will enhance the inclusion of current and
relevant skills in the training scheme of SMEs