IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON HUMAN RESOURCE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Technological breakthroughs make life easier, faster and less expensive. Its impact can be felt in all fields of human endeavor. These days certain feats that were unimaginable many years ago are being achieved with the aid of technological inventions. Like in the social arena, technology has helped in redefining leisure and making life more enjoyable.

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the background of study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions and significance of the study.

Again this chapter will also deal with scope of study limitation of the study, definition of terms and references etc.

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities which are created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage technology is referred to as tools and machines that may be used  to solve real world problems.

The word “Technology” can be used to refer to a collection of techniques. Technology can also be referred to as a means to fulfill a human purpose.

In this context, it is the current state of humanity’s knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desire products to solve problem, to fulfill needs or satisfy wants. It includes method, skill, processes, techniques and tools.

Technology has had a significant impact of human resource training and development (Egbo and Okeke) (2009), training and development of employees of any organization is a task that is geared toward improving the skill, knowledge, competencies and behavior of the available manpower in an organization in order to ensure optimum performance.

Cole (1993), development is any learning activity which is directed toward future needs rather than present needs and which is connected more with career growth than immediate performance.

Technology makes it possible for training and development of new staff members to be conducted in an efficient manner. This gives employee the ability to access training programs from anywhere.

Training and development in virtual classrooms makes it possible for human resources professionals to train a large number of employees quickly and to assess their progress through computerized testing programme.

Technology can be described as the knowledge of techniques process etc, or it can be embedded in machine, computer devices and factories, which can be operated by individual with individuals with detailed knowledge of working of such things.

1.2     STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The problem of obsolete skills abilities and capabilities of workers due changes in technology and production processes of the organization should be dealt with to keep the standard of their products.

The problem is noticed on the ability of worker to cope with the modern trends in the production activities of the organization because they are not train for such. No organization can grow faster than the skills of its human resources. This is where training and development via leveraging modern technology comes in. do banks take advantages of the advances in technology to upgrade the skills of their employees?

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of this study is to find out the impact of technology on human resource training and development. The specific objectives of the study include:

1. To find out whether technology aids in training and development of bank staff.
2. To examine the disposition of bank staff towards the use of technology in training and development.

• To examine the various methods used by banks in training and developing their staff.

1. To assess the impact of the various methods on staff, their skills and morale.