1.1 Introduction
Human capital refers to the abilities and skills of human resources while human capital development refers to the process of acquiring and increasing the number of persons who have the skills, education and experience which are crucial for economic growth of a country. Nigeria as a country is immensely endowed both in natural and human resources. Nigeria used to depend on physical capital for her growth and development without putting in to consideration the role played by human capital in the development process. In recent years, human capital has been recognized as an agent of national development in all countries of the world (Isola & Alani, 2012).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
This study of human capital development is very important issue in every organization which focuses on growth, viability and survival of any organization. Whether private or public, manufacturing or non-manufacturing is effective acquisition, utilization and maintenance of the organization’s human resources.
The human resource is so critical to organization survival such that it has judging by today’s complex business environment, been acclaimed as the most vital resource available to any organization. It is a study that concern with an inquiry into human capital training and development with special reference to department of national civil registration (DNCR).
The rapid economic growth and development of sectors of the economy since the attainment of political independence enhance the need for human capital development strategies in the (DNCR). No matter how efficient and sophisticated your machines, tools and equipment are and no matter how vast your human element will have to put those material resources to use.
At this junction, training can be looked into just as a new born baby needs guidance to acquire the skills common to all human beings in the society so also does a new employee (and old employees for changes in method of world need to acquire new skills where possible especially when he/she lacks such skill. The international labour organization (ILO) defined training for commerce and industry as concerned with the acquisition or development of these skills knowledge techniques, attitudes and experience which enables an individual to make his most effective contribution to the combined effort of term of which he is a member.
Therefore, in In University of Abuja where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know The Impact of Human Capital Development on Staff Productivity in University of Abuja.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Nigeria as one of Africa’s biggest economies has been faced with the problem of human capital development over the years. In spite of all the abundant resources the Nation has been endowed with, Nigeria has failed to realize her full development potential in terms of sustainable human capital development or people oriented development like many other prosperous economies of the world that have adopted a similar strategy to boost their economic growth.
A large percentage of Nigeria’s population estimated to be 182.2 Million according to World Bank, (2016) remain at rather low levels of literacy and often with insufficient access to education and health care. The government should be able to put more funds into education, healthcare, training, skills and other related factors in order to curb the persistent challenge of high unemployment rate, inadequate education, poor health and so on which will in turn feed back into the economy and thus promote economic growth.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine The Impact of Human Capital Development on Staff Productivity in University of Abuja. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To find out the impact of human capital development in University of Abuja.
- To identify the need for human capital development programmes in University of Abuja.
- To examine the problems of developing staff for productivity in University of Abuja
- To determine human factors as an integral part of organizational resources for organizational survival.
- To demonstrates that human capital development can bring about an increase in productivity, improve and modify employee’s skill and educate them on proper procedures for carrying out tasks in accordance with organizational established standards.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there enough provisions for development of staff in University of Abuja?
- Does staff consider development to be important in University of Abuja?
- Is lack of development programmes responsible to reduced efficiency in University of Abuja?
- Are there enough resources available for staff development programmes in University of Abuja?
- Are there yard sticks used in measuring staff productivity efficiency?
- To what extent does human capital study educate individuals on proper procedures for carrying out tasks in accordance with organizational established standards?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
- H0: Human Capital development does not have significant effect on Staff Productivity in University of Abuja
- H1: Human Capital development has significant effect on Staff Productivity in University of Abuja
1.7 Significance of Study
Human capital development and Staff Productivity in University of Abuja have often resulted in various findings with no consensus. This may be attributed to various measures used to measure human capital development as Education, Health, Productivity, youth empowerment with no universal agreement on the measures. However life expectancy as an important health indicator whose importance as a component of human capital development continues to rise has seldom been used even though it remains at extremely low levels in a number of sub sahara Africa countries of which Nigeria is one.
The study will be relevance to Tertiary Institution on Staff Productivity, which should be a basic benefit of each and every Nigerian citizen in ensuring that tertiary school enrollment continue to make valued contributions to Human capital development in Nigeria. And also, it will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The study focuses on The Impact of Human Capital Development on Staff Productivity in University of Abuja using University of Abuja as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
In this research work, the following terms have their respective meaning as follows:
Manpower: Manpower refers to the total supply of people available or currently working on a specific job or task.
Planning: Planning is a guide against future uncertainties through forecast and setting of targets and verifiable objective that are quantifiable. Planning helps an organization to get where it want to be in future
Development: Development is the ability of an organization to increase its capacity as well as employee’s abilities and capabilities in an endeavor to react to existing and anticipated pressures and changes.
Mentoring: Mentoring has been identified an important influence in professional development in both the public and private sector in other to increase employee performance retention, commitment to the organization and knowledge sharing.
Productivity: The amount of output per unit of input (Labour, equipment and capital)
Performance: The accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness.
Compensation: Compensation is a psychological mechanism by which feelings of inferiority, frustration or failure in one field are counter balanced by achievement in another.
Utilization: Utilization refers to the final achievement of an organizational objective with regards to manpower, which had to be measured in some ways like testing the effectiveness of staff and their efficiency towards designed goals.
