Project Materials

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGERIAN BANKING INDUSTRY (PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Human capital refers to investment in education and training. Recent polls demonstrate that although business executives fully feel that people are the most essential asset that the organization can employ to reach its goal, they are at a loss to prove that investment in people lead to greater economic results.

However, conventional measurements such as Economic Value Added (EVA) and Return on Investment (ROI) provide little insight into how an organization’s human assets are functioning.

Among the four M’s (Money, Materials, Machines, and Man), Man is what makes the organisation thick. Nigeria’s banking industry is the most vigorous and active in the economy.

The industry is currently what keeps the economy robust and active, thus human capital development must be adequate and include people’s talents. The appropriate people should be in the right locations at the right times inside the organization/industry.

A look at the human capital requirements reveals that most banks employ people with core competencies. Banks often employ a small number of highly skilled people.

To ensure effective human capital development in the banking business, members must improve their learning and development procedures.

This essentially means that the organisation must find ways to develop and mobilise human intelligence, knowledge, and creative potential at all levels of the organisation, as well as become increasingly skilled at placing quality people in key positions and developing their full potential.

It will also become increasingly necessary to hire people who embrace learning and change, as well as to encourage staff to be bright, flexible, and adaptable.

Kauter (2012) expresses this as the necessity to develop people as a critical lever in human resource management, and draws a connection between organisational member learning and the organization’s survival and success.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

As previously stated, human capital development is critical to the success of any organisation. For this to happen, Nigeria’s banking industry must be able to teach and retrain its employees.

This would entail paying exorbitant fees to hold seminars (in-house or outside). Remember that even if the funds for training are available, personnel must have the necessary mental attitude for the training.

The organisation must also develop an appropriate environment for its staff. Human resource environments might be internal or external in nature.

The internal environment consists of those sets of controllable factors or variables and forces within the confines of the organisation, such as the value of top management and the technology used in the organisation.

For example, if top management values people and sees them as critical Success Factors (CSF) and adequately rewards them when necessary, employees will be at their peak performance and the banking industry will continue to grow.

Another factor to consider when determining whether the banking business and its human resource capital growth will expand is the technology used.

Banks should be prepared to face the challenges of the information age and globalisation. For example, the adoption of ATM machines has improved the future of human capital development in the majority of institutions that can afford it.

Human capital development in the Nigerian banking industry is as critical as the business itself. However, there are certain concerns anticipated, such as:

1. Will human capital development fix Nigeria’s banking problems?

2. How can Human Capital Development help governments and monetary authorities?

3. What good impact does it have on shareholders, innovators, and the public?

4. How will the organisation prevent labour unrest and turnover, regardless of the development of its human resources?

5. Is there a correlation between time and money spent on human capital development and employee output and returns?

6. Is human capital development a panacea for improving employee performance?

7. Does human capital development affect the organization’s (banks’) profitability?

8. What measures should banks take in terms of human capital development to increase profits?

9. What opportunities does human capital development present for the banking industry?

10. Is it acceptable for employees to be overworked in the name of increased profits?