Dissertation Proposal: Training & Productivity in Allied Irish Bank

This dissertation proposal investigates the impact of training and development on employee productivity within the banking sector, using Allied Irish Bank as a case study. The research aims to analyze the importance of effective training programs and their influence on both individual and organizational productivity. The proposal includes a literature review covering the meaning and importance of training and development, particularly within the banking context, and addresses the operational challenges faced by employees. It outlines the research problem, questions, objectives, and methodology, including sample size, data collection techniques, and limitations. Furthermore, the proposal suggests steps for improving employee performance through tailored training programs and updates on market conditions. The aim is to evaluate whether Allied Irish Bank provides sufficient training and development opportunities to its employees and suggests recommendations for the human resource department to enhance productivity levels.

Running head: DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The objective of this research proposal will be to discuss about the impact of training and
development on employees productivity in the banking sector. The example of Allied Irish
Bank will be taken into account here. The importance of providing proper and effective
training and development to the employees who are working in this banking institution will
be critically analysed in this paper along with their impact on their individual as well as
organizational productivity level. Theoretical background of training and development
process along with its importance from the viewpoint of the human resource department will
also be discussed in this research paper. Research aims, objectives and research questions
will be laid according to the topic selected for this paper. This paper will also include
research methodology, along with the research sample size, techniques and data analysis. The
limitations of the research will be done at the end of this research paper. Recommended steps
will also be provided, which can be implemented in the human resource department of the
company to improve the productivity level.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Background............................................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
Meaning of Training and Development.................................................................................4
Importance of Training and Development.............................................................................4
Training and Development in the Banking Sector.................................................................5
Impact of Training and Development on Employees in Banking Sector...............................5
Operational Challenges faced by Employees of Banking Sector...........................................6
Recommended Steps..............................................................................................................7
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
Research Problem...............................................................................................................9
Research Questions....................................................................................................................9
Research Purpose.......................................................................................................................9
Research Objectives.................................................................................................................10
Research Details.......................................................................................................................11
Methodology........................................................................................................................11
Sample, Data Collection and Sampling Technique..............................................................11
Limitations...........................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Background
The main purpose of this research paper will be to discuss about the impact of training
and development on employees productivity in the banking sector, which has been chosen as
the dissertation proposal topic. The example of Allied Irish Banks will be taken into account
in this paper. The importance of providing proper and effective training and development to
the employees who are working in this banking institution will be critically analysed in this
paper along with their impact on their individual as well as organizational productivity level
(Tahir et al 2014). It can be noted in this context that banking and financial sector is one of
the most competitive business sector among all other business sector that prevails in the
global business environment. Theoretical background of training and development process
along with its importance from the viewpoint of the human resource department will also be
discussed in this research paper. Research aims, objectives and research questions will be laid
according to the topic selected for this paper. The modern market scenario of the banking
industry will be taken into account, with the example of Allied Irish Banks taken into account
as discussed.
This paper will also include research methodology, along with the research sample
size, techniques and data analysis. The limitations of the research will be done at the end of
this research paper. So, it can be said that the main problem statement of this paper will be to
evaluate and analyse the impact of training and development on the overall productivity level
of the employees of Allied Irish Banks, that is, whether they are getting sufficient training
and development programs. Recommended steps will also be provided, which can be
implemented in human resource department of the company to improve the productivity level
(Sanyal and Hisam 2018). Allied Irish Bank has been taken as the example in this paper.

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Allied Irish Banks can be stated as one of the four major or big four commercial banking
institutions in the market of Ireland. The bank was founded in the year of 1966, and serves in
the area of the United Kingdom as well apart from Ireland (Aib.ie 2020). Almost 11,000
employees are associated with this bank, who will act as the base of this research paper, as
the impact of the productivity level of all these employees will be discussed here in the
context of getting training and development from the human resource department of this
banking organization.
Literature Review
Meaning of Training and Development
Training and development plays an important part in the human resource department
of an organization. Both these implies the program through which particular skills,
knowledge and abilities are imparted to the employees of that business house. The main focus
of these two is to improve the performance level of the employees, along with providing
learning scope to them to grow further in their professional life. The importance of training
and development in the entire business sectors is hugely important, and the same for the
banking sector will be discussed in this section of this paper (Imran and Tanveer 2015). It can
also be said that they are the subsystem of a business enterprise which helps to improve the
performance of an individual as well as of a group of workers. Training can be termed as the
educational process which helps to sharpen the skills, attitude and knowledge to enhance the
performance of the employees in business houses, whereas development is the overall
process of building the ability to achieve as well as to sustain a fresh desired state that will
benefit both the employees and the companies where they are working (Noe and Kodwani
2018)

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Importance of Training and Development
The advancement in the area of technology has increased the overall competition
between the organizations all over the world irrespective of their business industries and
background. The same is applicable for financial and banking sector as well. In order to
compete with the rival banks in the region where Allied Irish Bank operates, it is important to
provide proper and effective training and development programs by the human resource
department of this financial institution. The importance of different training and development
programs has been discussed by different researchers (Khuong and Tien 2013). Different
training and development programs will help to cope up with the current situations in this
global market place and it can be noted in this context that financial and banking industry is
one of the most competitive business sector among all other sectors in the world.
Training and Development in the Banking Sector
Advancement in the field of technology has also forced to change the needs and
requirements of different types of financial services for the customers. To satisfy their
requirements, proper training and development programs must be implemented by the human
resource department of the financial organization of Allied Irish Bank. This reveals the
importance of training and development programs in this financial organization, which will
ultimately help to maintain the leading position of this company in the market places where
they serve their customers (Dajani 2015). Job satisfaction level along with the morale of the
employees can be boosted if proper training and development programs are designed and
implemented by the human resource department of Allied Irish Bank. The efficiency level of
the individual can also be increased through the process of providing training and
development, which will help that employee to get promoted and work better for this
financial business entity (Elnaga and Imran 2013).

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Impact of Training and Development on Employees in Banking Sector
Training and development plays an important part from the human resource
department point of view in all the business industries that prevail in the global business
world. The term training and development normally deals with the acquisition of know-how,
understanding, practices and techniques. It helps to make better the overall performance of
the employees at collegial, individual and organizational levels (Ashar et al 2013). Training
and development also possess a direct relationship with the employees and their productivity
(Lamba and Choudhary 2013). The employees of banking organizations like Allied Irish
Bank need to deal with lots of financial products n order to meet the basic requirements of
their customers. To perform this, efficient training and development is required which will
enhance the skills and abilities of the employees so that they can perform well and maintain
their own productivity level. This will ultimately help to improve the overall productivity of
the organization and competitive advantage can be gained against the rival financial
institutions like Bank of Ireland, ulster Bank, RBS, UBS, Barclays and others. Job
satisfaction and self-morale is also increased if proper training and development is provided
by the human resource department of this financial institution. Increase in job satisfaction
will automatically led to employee retention as the employees are getting satisfied by
working on this company only and there will be no need of him or her to move to another
organization. It can be noted in this context that more the retention of the employees that an
organization like Allied Irish Bank will enjoy, more the new people will they attracted to
work in this organization and the customers can also faith on the overall banking operations
of this financial business house (Shakeel and But 2015). So, it can be said that training and
development plays an integral role in the business operations of a financial working culture
and it is regarded as one of the most important duties that need to perform by the human
resource department of organizations like Allied Irish Bank, where some employees are

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getting affected by inadequate training and development process (Ugbomhe, Osagie and
Egwu 2016).
Operational Challenges faced by Employees of Banking Sector
It has been already discussed that banking and financial sector is one of the most
competitive business sector among all other sectors that prevails in the global business world.
Apart from this, the improvement of technology has also increased the challenges between
the organizations, as they are fighting against each other to satisfy the needs and requirements
of the people and increase the profit earning and competitiveness among them. But, to
perform all these, the employees face challenges in all the business industries, including the
banking and financial sector. One of the most important challenges that are faced by the
employees of banking sector is regulatory pressures. It can be noted in this context that rules
and regulations in terms of rates and other banking products do changes in quick successions.
So, it is mandatory for the employees to keep them upgraded with these systems, so that
answers can be provided to the questions raised by the customers of Allied Irish Bank along
with all other banking institutions (Ugoji and Mordi 2014). Another major challenge that is
faced the employees of Allied Irish Bank is the increase of capital demands in the market
places where they operate. Demands and requirements of capital is one of the most essential
parts of the banking operations that is performed by their employees. A slow and sluggish
economy along with slow real estate market also creates pressure on employees of this sector,
as meeting the individual as well as the branch targets becomes tough in those marketing
conditions (Khan et al 2014).
Recommended Steps
To maintain the leading position in the market place of Ireland, the management of
Allied Irish Bank need to follow some recommended steps, which will ultimately help them

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to improve the performance level of the impacted employees. The recommend steps are given
as follows:
The exact impacted area of the selected employees needs to be identified properly, so
that effective and efficient training and development programs can be designed by the human
resource department of Allied Irish Bank and can implement them on the organizational
process (Lau et al 2013)
Motivational training programs need to be implemented for all the employees, so that
each employee will be able to rectify themselves according to their area of improvement.
This will help to reduce the negative impact on their overall performances
The training and development programs must be updated according to the alterations
in the market conditions along with the changes in the business environment of banking and
financial industry. This will help to provide the training and development programs according
to the issues that are faced in modern financial and banking market
The training and development programs must be designed by keeping the viewpoint
of all the employees in mind, so that the basic areas of improvement of all of them can be
covered by the current training and development programs
The programs need to be performed after a particular span of time, so that this will
provide the chance of improving the performances of the employees according to their
individual impacted area (Swamy, Nanjundeswaraswamy and Rashmi 2015).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can, thus, be concluded that training and development
programs possess positive impacts on the employees of banking sector. Through the example
of Allied Irish Bank, it has been seen that absence of adequate and innovative training and

10DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
development programs are adversely affecting the performances on some of the employees,
and the human resource department must look into the matter on urgent basis and need to be
fixed as early as possible. This will not only help to improve the performance of these
employees, but will make better the production of the selected financial institution as a
whole, and help to maintain the competitive advantage of Allied Irish Bank over others.
Research Problem
The current issue that has been faced by the management of Allied Irish Bank is
inconsistency in the level of performance of their employees, which is hampering the overall
productivity level of the organization. This has resulted in downfall of the profit earning of
this financial company. It can be stared in this context that the management is looking to
offload almost 300 employees due to increase in the operational cost of running a business
house in this modern competitive financial sector, which is one of the most competitive
business sector around the world (Asfaw, Argaw and Bayissa 2015).
Research Questions
The research questions of this research paper are given as follows:
1. What is the meaning of training and development?
2. How much is the importance of training and development in modern business
context?
3. What are the training and development in banking sector?
4. What are the impacts of training and development on the performance of the
employees in the banking sector?

11DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
5. What are the operational challenges that are faced by the employees of banking sector
in case of insufficient training and development facilities?
6. What are the recommendations that need to be followed by the managements of
banking institutions to follow proper and efficient training and development facilities?
Research Purpose
As discussed, the primary purpose of this paper will be to study and discuss about the
impact of training and development on employees productivity of Allied Irish Bank.
Researchers has found that training and development process proves to be an integral part in
the performances of the employees of financial and banking sector, as they need to deal with
various kinds of financial products and services. So, it can be said this research paper will
help to find out the level of impact on the overall productivity of the employees if efficient
training and development is provided by the human resource department of this financial
house (Kulkarni 2013).
Research Objectives
To answer the research questions that are mentioned above, there are necessities for
research objectives, which will aid to carry on this research and provide to get the solutions
related on the selected research topic of this paper. In other words, it can be said that the
below mentioned research objectives will help to provide the answers related to the impact of
training and development on employees productivity in the banking sector, with Allied Irish
Bank selected as the example. The objectives are described as follows:
1. To know the exact meaning of training and development
2. To know the importance of training and development in the context of modern
banking sector