Training, Development and Employee Performance in Ghana's Banking Sector.

In today’s dynamic global environment, the demand for professional and highly skilled workforce has become inevitable for efficiency and growth in every organization. The need for employees to be trained as well as the development of employees to evolve into highly skilled individuals is essential. In this bid, the quality of the human resource of every organization is crucial to its success and sustainability.  The Ghanaian banking industry is continuously going through a process of transformation since the nineties due to the introduction of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization, Information and Communication Technology (ICT). To survive in the globalized era, organizations need to continuously develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of their human resources annually for the purpose of training and development of the human resources. Focusing on five selected banks in Ghana, namely: Bank of Ghana, Ecobank Ghana Limited, Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited, Bank of Africa and Access Bank Ghana Limited, the study examines the impact of training and development on the overall performance of employees in selected banks in Ghana. Methodologically, the study adopts descriptive research design, imbibing both primary and secondary data. Slovin’s sampling method is applied for collecting the data through administering a structured questionnaire. The sample size for the study is 310.   The findings of the study revealed that appropriate training and development of banks employees does result in efficient performance of their job responsibilities whereas inappropriate training and development could lead to under performance of their job responsibilities resulting in low productivity. In a suggested recommendation, the study encourages various banks to train and develop their staff to the finest advantage in order to augment their overall efficacy on the job. Also, given that the growth of banking sector in developed countries such as China, Canada, USA, UK among others are as a result of skilled personnel, which is the outcome of key importance attached to the training and development of its human capital. It is therefore recommended for banks in Ghana to constantly enhance their work force through diverse training and development programmes. Lastly, following the findings of the study here in, it is suggested that training and development of all staff should be dynamically followed and made a requisite for employers in order to improve performance.   Keywords: Training and Development, Employee Performance, Human Resource Management, Banking Sector Ghana, Organisational Learning, Workforce Development, HRM Practices, Sub-Saharan Africa, Financial Institutions, Learning Culture