Employee Training and Development in Nigeria: Culture and Laws

This essay delves into the crucial aspects of employee training and development within the Nigerian context. It begins by outlining the cultural nuances of Nigeria, including its diverse ethnic groups and business etiquette, and how these factors influence workplace dynamics. The essay then explores the normal expectations of Nigerian employees, such as the need to feel valued, receive fair compensation, and have opportunities for autonomy and training. It examines various training methods employed by Nigerian organizations, including both traditional and more modern approaches like coaching and job rotation, while also considering the role of national and international laws in shaping these practices. The essay highlights the importance of aligning training and development programs with cultural sensitivities and employee needs to enhance workforce performance and address the challenges of unemployment in Nigeria. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for effective training approaches that promote employee growth and satisfaction.

Essay
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
Culture of the Nigeria......................................................................................................................3
Normal expectations of the employees............................................................................................4
What other employers normally do.................................................................................................5
National and international laws requires employers to do...............................................................7
Policies and practices of Nigeria different from what is done in the UK........................................8
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Training is a program which assists employees to learn particular skills and knowledge to
improve performance in their present job roles. Good training and development programs of the
organizations facilitate personnel to get the growth opportunities and develop their own talent. In
the present time, there are many of the companies which are using unique and effective training and
development methods to develop their workforce (Training of Employees - Need and Importance of
Training, 2017). The present essay is based on to determine the best approach to training and
developing employees of a nation. In order to address this research question, Nigeria is taking into
the consideration. As per the information of National Bureau of Statistics, in 2012, population of
Nigeria has become 167 million. In this respect, report of the National Population Commission,
2013 has stated that half of the population has youth between 15 to 34 year age group. As the
number of youth population grows, the rate of unemployment is growing (The State of Youth
Unemployment in Nigeria, 2014). The major reason behind increase unemployment situation is
Nigeria has ineffective approaches of training and development for the employees followed by
organizations of the country (The Current Situation in Nigeria, 2016). The current essay will focus
over different issues such as culture of the nation, normal expectations of staffs, nationals and
international laws require employers to do and how policies and practices of Nigeria differ from
what is done in the UK.
Culture of the Nigeria
Nigeria culture has shaped by its multiple ethnic groups which has contained diverse 52
languages. It has more than 1150 dialects and ethnic groups where the four largest ethnic groups are
Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Fulani. By moving towards the business aspect of this nation, it has found
that the most common greeting is a handshake with a warm welcoming smile (Doing Business in
Nigeria, 2017). Businessmen shake hands at the starting and ending of the meetings. Without
informal rituals, people have exchanged their business cards by left hands. Because of the different
ethnic groups in Nigeria, communication styles have varied according to it. At the time of taking,
people have focused over the facial expressions of other persons during the meeting. Nigerians are
generally friendly in nature where the politeness have carried out by a person during inquire of
another one before starting of business with each other (Nigerian business culture and incentives:
An inside perspective, 2015).
In Nigeria, English is emerging as the most important language to run businesses in the
nation for the local people. Office hours for working are generally 8am to 5pm from Monday to
Friday (Arogundade, 2011). In terms of business dress up, stylish and smart with dark colour has
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preferred by business persons. There is a large population in the following nation is Muslim and
men are forbidden from handshaking with women. From the long time ago, Nigeria still stays a
patriarchal community where both kinds of genders have got the equal opportunities at senior
positions in both political and corporate sectors. Along with this, business etiquette of the country
has flexible and impressive for the foreign owned multinational organizations (Okereke and
Nnenna, 2011). In Nigeria, business meetings have very social occasions because in this nation,
outsider companies need to be carried out patient and wait to develop a trust with Nigerian people.
It has helped the firms to create strong interpersonal connections.
By moving towards the management style of companies in the context of culture of Nigeria,
it has determined that it is extremely hierarchical in nature (Garba, 2010). The top management has
always male and belong to old generation where they have expected to receive respect from the
employees and expect that their worker will never criticised their boss in publicly. It is not always
essential that top management take all business related decisions and they have followed by lower
level personnel. For Nigerian people, business relationships are more important and they have never
wanted any kind of compromise in it. Business leaders of this nation have expected that their
employees should follow all given instructions very closely. Ability of work together has considered
as a significant asset at the Nigeria workplace (Ogundele, Akingbade and Akinlabi, 2012).
On the other hand, in Nigeria, it has a terrible reputation for corruption and bribery. It has
observed that this problem has widely spread from the highest levels of government to the lowest
level of small street organizations. This issue has continuously avoided by the administration that is
creating a bed image of Nigeria in all over the world (Okpara and Kabongo, 2011).
Normal expectations of the employees
In The Nigeria, the employees of the organizations have contained some expectations from
their employers. Feel valued and respect is one of them in this direction (Moser, 2012). Nigerian
personnel want to feel valued and respected from their top management side. They have expected
respect from their leaders’ side and also anticipate that they have not judge the employees for any
reason. Along with this, workers of Nigerian organizations have usual want fair compensate for
their work from the top management side (Employee Expectations in Modern Business, 2015). They
have thought that transparent relationships with the managers or boss allow them to share their
viewpoints and opinions with the lower risk of dishonest or unfaithful.
On the other hand, many of the employees of different industries of the Nigeria expect that
employers should give them autonomy. They have wanted to be able to decide when, where and
how their working activities get to be performed (Lawal and Oluwatoyin, 2011). As per the
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personnel expectation, they have hated being micromanaged by the top management all the time.
According to them, by giving autonomy to do their job, they can effectively fulfil their job roles and
complete the assign work in more effective manner. Apart from this, workers of Nigerian
organizations have expected that employers should provide them right and appropriate training and
development opportunities. This has important to the personnel for their personal and professional
growth. It has been found from the research that many of the firms of this nation have not used the
best approaches of training and development (Obisi, 2011). It has de-motivated them to perform
them assign roles and duties in an effective manner. Due to this, most of the workers have switched
the jobs from one enterprise to another very frequently. So, it has expected by the Nigerian
employees to the employers that they have received good training and development opportunities.
Apart from this, personnel have expected that their management have to give the recognition to
their work. Because they think that it is a regular and inseparable element of culture of organization
(Ololube and Egbezor, 2012). If higher authority has given the recognition to employees work then
it will motivate them in the right direction to increase their efforts to perform own job duties and
responsibilities.
From the above stated all expectations of employees of Nigerian organizations, it has
determined that training and development is one of the major anticipations of them. The adopted
approaches in this direction by the firms have not that too much effective to train the staff members
in the right direction. These have not able to boost the employees potentials and further develop
their skills (The Benefits of Employee Development and Training, 2012). The inappropriate
selection of training and development frameworks by the business leaders of Nigeria has increased
the dissatisfaction level in the staff members and has decreased their productivity. Along with this, it
has created an unsafe working environment for the workers at the workplace. With the application
of old and ineffective training and development tactics of Nigerian organizations have not promoted
the lifelong learning concept at working areas which has not motivated them to learn the new skills.
So, improper selection of training and development by the enterprises to train their employees has
one of the issues in Nigeria (Moses and Mordi, 2010). Personnel have expected that management
have delivered them right training and development programs so that they can gain the new
development opportunities at the workplace.
What other employers normally do
In Nigeria, employers have adopted various training and development approach to train the
employees. Many of the organizations have used off the job training method to deliver training to
the staffs. In this context, lectures and conferences have organized by the management to increase
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the knowledge and develop the new skills in the personnel. It is a direct and traditional method of
instructions where a verbal presentation presents for the large audience. The lectures have
developed as per the roles and responsibilities of the workers with the aim of raise their interest
towards the assign job roles (Aroge, 2012). But lectures and conferences have not that much
effective to train and develop the employees. On the other hand, vestibule training has also a
approach that used by Nigerian companies to train their workers in the right direction. Under this,
top management have offered the access to employees to learn something new where the staffs are
trained in a prototype working environment. Here, similar working conditions have created in this
type of training methods so that the personnel can effectively train to perform the assign the job
roles (Usoro, 2010). After receiving the complete training, they have appointed on similar jobs in
the actual work areas. But in the real time situation, difference in working environment has
sometimes unable the employees to use the learning things in the practical manner.
Apart from this, employers of Nigerian organizations have carried simulation exercises to
give training and develop the employees in the right direction so that they can increase their efforts
to complete the work as per the set criteria (Topno, 2012). Under this, many of the enterprises have
organized some management games; take the help of case studies, role playing, in-basket training
etc. These all have increased the understanding of the personnel to understand and analyze the
situations and take the right decisions according to it. But when the employees have faced or deal
with the real problems which have diverse from case study or role playing games then they have not
able to carry out their roles and complete the assign work (Smith, 2010).
To overcome all the issues related to off the job training approach, Nigerian organizations
have taken a new step to follow some new and effective training and development methods that can
meet the expectations of the staff members in the right way. In this context, first technique is
coaching where the employers have determined the weak areas of the staffs and has tried to focus
on it with the aim of overcome them (Abimbola and Agboola, 2011). It has delivered the benefits
related to transferring theory learning to practice to the personnel. Along with this, by mentoring
concept, higher authorities of Nigerian organizations have tried to develop learning attitude in the
workers. With the help of this, top management have appointed some responsible and experience
persons to monitor the employees performance and working style. Apart from this, by using job
rotation concept, many of the firms of Nigeria have giving the training to employees related to their
jobs. It has helped the staffs to learnt something new all the time and take the important decisions in
an effective way (Falola, Osibanjo and Ojo, 2014). So, these are the some actions which have
recently taken by employers of Nigeria in order to deliver training and development to the
personnel in diverse directions.
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National and international laws requires employers to do
In the direction of offering the right training and development to the employees, at national
and international levels, various HR policies have been developed that needed to be followed by
Nigeria employers. In Africa, after the global financial and economic crisis, there have some
changes in labour standards take place (Arogundade, 2011). The areas in which modifications have
carried out are social security, wages, migrant workers, human resource development etc. During
this, there have some challenges have faced by International Labour Organization (ILO) in the areas
of discrimination in employment, training and development in Africa and its other regions. In this
direction, employers of Nigeria has needed to be followed ILO in which management need to
improve the health and hygiene conditions as well as occupational safety for both gender employees
(Labour standards in Africa, 2017). This has increased the focused of the organizations towards
enhance working conditions of the workplace.
On the other hand, as per the World Bank Report, till the 2015, the population of Nigeria has
182.2 million and it GDP has $481.1 million along with 2.7% growth rate. In 2015, inflation rate of
this nation has become 9%. In this context, the World Bank has helped in fight poverty and
improves the living standards for the people of Nigeria by granting more than 130 IBRD loans. This
has brought the creation of productive jobs with the growth of the private sector by improving in
education skills (Nigeria, 2017).
At the national level, National Power Training Institute of Nigeria is an organization which
has provided the training to the employees in different areas. Management has created a strong,
dynamic and world-class power training institute with the name of NAPTIN. It has developed
partnerships, linkages and affiliations with international and local Training Institutes and
Universities. Along with this, this has developed marketing strategies to promote the importance of
training in power utilities within the Nigeria. Further, National Power Training Institute of Nigeria
has designed, developed and organized different training courses that can able to increase capacity
and skills of the personnel in both non technical and technical power utilities (Business Objectives /
Goals, 2017).
On the other hand, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) of
Nigeria organization is one of the companies of the nation which are considering the national laws
to give training to the employees in the direction of information technology. Under this, agency has
looked towards the provision of IT infrastructures to the organizations that help in enabling a
development of good IT environment in the nation where the companies can easily give on the job
and off the job training to the staffs in easier (Operations, 2017).
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Policies and practices of Nigeria different from what is done in the UK
In the present time, many of the organizations of Nigeria have re-emphasized on the
requirement of training and development of the employees. It has considered as a most important
part of creating new ideas which has mutually beneficial to both employers and workers (Okereke
and Nnenna, 2011). The following HRM practice has influenced the supervisors, managers and HR
department to make sure that the personnel have effectively trained and developed to perform the
job duties in an appropriate manner. Some organizations in Nigeria have offered additional
subsidies and education in the context of job-related training and some of the firms have modified
their wage structures which have involved training subsidy and education allowance in the salary of
the employees. The impact of this policies and practices have it has mutually given the benefits to
both staffs and the management (Garba, 2010). This assists the worker to acquire the new
knowledge and skills which has not mentioned in job description. With the time, Nigeria is
becoming aware towards the needs and requirements of training and development of the employees
of the various industries. Along with this, there is several training centres open by the government
for giving the training to the personnel and make them capable to perform the job duties (Joseph,
2015).
On the other hand, in the UK, the government has taken numerous initiatives in the direction
of training and development of employees. Under the skill funding program, government has
funded skills training for further education (FE) by supporting 1000 colleges, employers and private
training centres with £3.2 billion funds on per year basis. This has supported young people to
receive the training and employment (About us, 2017). Along with this, funding structure has
changed by the UK government. Further to determine the best vocational qualifications as either
tech level or applied general, several strategies have used by the government bodies. In addition to
this, by setting up national colleges that are recently led by employers, the UK government has
developed the training and development opportunities.
From the above discussion, it has been clear policies and practices of government and
employers of Nigeria and UK has different from each other. Both the nations are developing several
job opportunities for their employees.
CONCLUSION
Summarizing the whole report, it has been concluded that Nigeria is a nation that include
different types of people are there so, there is a difference in their views, opinions and culture.
There are various industries that are required to focus on best training and development approaches.
So the employees put maximum efforts to attain their business objectives and goals. To reduce the
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switch a job from place to another firm, it has required a proper training and development to the
employee to increase its satisfaction in the work. The various training programmes need to adopt by
the Nigeria industries so, the personnel growth will enhance as well as professional. Along with
this, the level of unemployment in this country increase and also there is a economic as well as
social development. Also, they follow employment legislation and HR practices as well as off job-
training to the staff worker to develop in its knowledge, skills and abilities. The various
compensation benefits, subsidies and education are also given. The managers of Nigeria have taken
the help of National Information Technology Development agency to modify the infrastructures. On
the other hand, policies and practices of training and development of employees of Nigeria and UK
have different from each other. From the overall report, it has been clear that in the job training
method has the best approach to deliver the training to the staffs for Nigerian employees.
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