Effect Of Capacity Building On Organizational Performance

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Information to the Study

The greatest assets of any organization are its human resources. Organizations therefore spend considerable resources in building the capacities of their employees. Human resources capacity building equips employees to achieve organizational goals. Ohemang (2019) proposed that to fully build the human resources capacity of an organization in Nigeria, training and empowerment are the key requirements to improving employee job performance. The main goal of employees training and empowerment is to help the organization achieve its mission and business goals (Pinnington & Edwards, 2020). Capacity is the ability of humans, institutions and societies to perform successfully, to identify and reach their goals, and to change when necessary for sustainability, development and advancement purposes (Fowler & Ubels, 2018).

Capacity building is considered as endogenous dynamic process that relies on one’s motivations, effort, and perseverance to learn and progress which enables organizations to change, flourish and grow. Some of the major capacities that enhance growth include leadership development and knowledge networking (Nkamare, Ubi, Nwosu, Arrey, & Awah, 2020). According to Fowler and Ubels (2018), capacity building is based on core capacities namely; capability to act and self-organize, capability to generate development results, capability to relate, capability to adapt and self-renew, and the capability to achieve coherence. Capacity development is very much related to the ways organizations operates. Culture bears an understanding of the way an organization operates, its procedures, believes and values; it is usually affected by the people employed in it, the past incidents, present influences, and the type of work it undergoes. New skills, competencies, and training are important features to be acquired in an organization for capacity building; material resources such as equipment and capital assets are also imperative for this purpose (Fowler & Ubels, 2018).

Groot and Molen (2020) view capacity building as the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes in individuals and groups of people Therefore, based on this definition, capacity building for employees in a broad sense refers to improvements in the ability of all employees to perform appropriate tasks within the standards of the organization. According to Makau (2019), capacity building takes place at three levels, that is, at the individual level, an institutional level and the societal level. Capacity building on an individual level means the development of conditions that enable individuals to build and enhance existing knowledge and skills.

Additionally, it requires the conditions that will allow individuals to engage in the process of learning and adapting to change (Awamley, 2019). Institutional level capacity building should involve modernizing existing institutions and supporting them in forming sound policies, organizational structures, and effective methods of management and revenue control. The establishment of strong interactive public administration system that receives feedback from the population and makes public administrators more accountable and responsive is the goal of societal level capacity building (Awamley, 2019). Capacity building is an indispensable components of strategic human resources management, as well as a means of reducing uncertainty in the market place and achieving organizational goals. The main goal of capacity building is to help the organization achieve its mission and business goals (Pinninton & Edwards, 2018). To develop the desired knowledge, skills, abilities of the employees, and to perform well on the job, require effective education, career development and training programs that may also affect employees’ motivation and commitment (Hassan, Aku & Mercy, 2021). Capacity building is therefore a necessity in an organization, without which employees would not have a firm grasp on their responsibilities.

Organizational performance is the level of accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives (Guevara, Hsu & Forrest, 2021). Organizational performance is organizational ability to perform efficiently and efficiently i.e. achievement of goals by utilizing limited resources (Guevara et al., 2021). Organizational performance is the capability of the organizations to satisfy the expectations of the stakeholders and attainment of competitive advantage (Omigie & Bosah, 2020). According to Carton (2019), the organizations’ ability to use physical, human and capital resources to attain the maximum productivity level is the measure of organizational performance. (Ramamoorthy & Hunter, 2017) stated that the output of the organizational operations and achievement is termed as organizational performance. Whereas, (Antony & Bhattacharyya, 2020) conceptualized organizational performance as a measure of how well organizations are managed and the value they deliver to customers and other stakeholders.

Technological advancements have brought the need for capabilities and competencies required to perform particular tasks. Thus, to cope with challenges, more improved and effective capacity building programs are required by all organizations and these effective programs help in constructing a more conducive learning environment for the workforce and train them to cope with the upcoming challenges more easily and in time (Tai, 2021). According to Ibeme (2020), managers trying their best to develop the employees’ capabilities, and ultimately create good working environment within the organization. Capacity building and its impact should be continuously assessed in an organization, so that existing gaps could be filled to ensure constant progress. Disregarding capacity building programs would probably lead to lack of growth and possible failure. Capacity building is closely related to education, training and career development. This conventional concept has changed in recent years towards a broader and more holistic view, covering both institutional and country specific initiatives.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Not every organization considers the necessity for a well-defined and sustained training for staff in order to upgrade their performance. In other words where training need is recognized and a lot of time and money are committed; the exercise is often inappropriate, haphazard or lopsided in terms of content and participation. The worst of it is that it is premised on a faulty diagnosis or organizational training needs (Chukwurah, Uzor, Iwuno & Chukwueloka, 2020).