The Impact Of Training And Development Practices On Employee Performance At Inyatsi Construction, Swaziland

Abstract

The importance of employee training and development cannot be over emphasised in an organisation. Critical skills knowledge development is relevant for the establishment and sustainability of an organisation and becomes vital for continuous process improvement. Management must understand the requirements of employees at every stage of their job description because this process is part of critical performance evaluation. That said, the main aim of the study paper was to investigate the impact of training and development (T&D) practices on employee performance at Inyatsi Construction. A quantitative research approach adopted, employing survey to purposively collect data from (n=129) stratified sampled population. The survey was conducted from different branches of Inyatsi Construction located in three different countries, namely, Swaziland, Zambia and South Africa. T&D practices as independent variable and Employee performance as a dependant variable. Descriptive statistic tools SPSS were applied on the questionnaire to see the reliability all the constructs have Cronbach's Alpha value greater than 0.700 indicating the reliability of the instrument. The linear regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between the variables as indicated below: (i) the Pearson correlation coefficient between T&D practices and employee performance is .57 (p< 0.01); (ii) there is a significant relationship between Organisational Intentions and Training and development practices (B=0.862, t=8.740, p-value<0.001); (iii) there is a significant relationship between Specific Employee Development Needs and Training and development practices (B=0.713 t=6.839, p-value<0.001); (iv) there is significant relationship between employee key performance areas and Training and development practices (B=0.653 t=4.617, p-value<0.001). Despite this study’s contribution to the body of knowledge, specifically within the discourse around this topical issue namely, investment in human capital development for strategic purposes, the study further impresses upon management of Inyatsi, especially HR executives and practitioners to draw lessons from the findings of this study to inform and help develop a culture of learning organisation. Every training and development interventions must be aligned with not only career path of employees, importantly aid the process of achieving strategic imperatives for sustainable competitive advantage.