Capacity Building and Service Delivery

Efficient service delivery by the government departments is important for establishment of good governance in a country. Recruiting the right man and up scaling his professional skills are two basic building blocks in enable government departments for efficient service delivery. There is plethora of literature on the subject of role of training in capacity building and productivity enhancement of employees. Training is the process of enhancing the skills, capabilities and knowledge of employees for doing a particular job. It is a learning process that involves the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills and changing of attitudes and behaviors to enhance the performance. .

Training moulds the thinking of employees by challenges existing notions and induces them to new concepts and practices. It encourages learning and leads to quality performance through implementation of new skills. Training improves employees’ performance by addressing their weaknesses in their work place skills. It enhances the employee satisfaction and they feel important because their employer is investing in their improvement. It also brings consistency to organizational work by exposing different batches and levels of employees to same type of information. Some important benefits of training are as under.
1) Training increases productivity of workers.
2) Confidence and morale of employees is improved.
3) Less supervision is needed.
4) Fewer accidents occur at workplace.
5) Chances of promotion of workers improve.
6) Team spirit is enhanced.
7) Quality of product is improved.

Training is a transforming process that requires some input and in turn it produces output in the form of knowledge, skills, productivity and attitudes. However it is important to note that the success rate of training process depends on the proper analysis and identification of needs of the organization, planning, design, and implementation of training. Feedback is important at every stage. But all this be done within overall organizational vision, mission and values . Training and skill development provides both the individual employees and the government as a whole with benefits that make the cost and time spent on training a worthwhile investment.

A survey conducted on need and role of training in capacity building of employees has shown the importance of training and realizations of the fact in government departments. Senior government officials belonging to different government departments were interviewed. Important questions asked during the survey included need of training frequency of training, impact of training and availability of resources for training in government departments . Out of sample group of forty respondents 26 responded to all the questions. Hundred percent respondents consider training as essential for capacity building of employees. 57 % of respondents consider training as essential at entry stage of service while 34. 61% consider training as necessary at all stages of service. 53.84%, 26.92 and 07.69 % of the respondents are of the view that training increases efficiency of the employees by 60%, 80% and 2-20% respectively. 69.23% respondents told that their departments do not have enough funds for training. 96.15% of the respondents consider one time training enough for whole of service. On the basis of the analysis it can be concluded that entering into the service with necessary skills is the most recommended option. In service training is also important. There is vast realization in departments about necessity of capacity building and its impact on productivity. Shortage of funds is important reason for lack of training. Hence it can be concluded that training is important in improving productivity of the workers. Training produces output in the form of knowledge, skills, productivity and attitudes. Desired results of the training, however, can be achieved through planning, designing and implementation of training after efficient training need analysis.