INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT 

STUDIES 
 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT 
(Masters Program) 
 

Assessment of Human Resource Training and 
Development, Practices and Challenges in Public Health 
sector: The case of West Hararghe Zone 

By: MOHAMMED BEKER OUMER 

Advisor: MESFINE LAMMA (Asst. Professor) 
 

A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Public Management, Ethiopian Civil 
Service University, in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of 
Masters Degree in Public Management 

June, 2013  

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
 Declarations

I Mohammed Beker Oumer, I.D. Number PMMR 0046/04, do hereby declare that this
Thesis is my original work and that it has not been submitted partially; or in full, by
any other person for an award of a degree in any other university/institution.

Mohammad Beker Signature--------------------- Date-----------------------

This Thesis has been submitted for examination with my approval as University
supervisor.

Name of Advisor----------------------------- Signature------------------------ Date-----------

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 APPROVAL

The undersigned certify that they have read and hereby recommend to the Ethiopian
Civil Service University to accept the Thesis submitted by Mohammed Beker Oumer
and entitled “Assessment of Human Resource Training and Development, practices
and Challenges in Public Health sector: The case of West Hararghe Zone”, in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Masters Degree in Public
Management.

Name of Supervisor--------------------------------------- Signature----------

Date----------------

Name of Internal Examiner---------------------------------- Signature----------

Date----------------

Name of External Examiner----------------------------------- Signature----------

Date----------------

Name of Head of Department----------------------------------- Signature----------

Date----------------

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 Abstract

Today, employee training and development become increasingly important for organizations
of all types. This because of an ever changing organizational environment accompanied by an
increasing obsolescence of human knowledge mainly due to an ongoing revolution in science
and technology , widening the gap between employees’ knowledge and skills and what the job
demands. As a result, employees’ basic education and training is no longer sufficient to carry
them through their jobs. Thus, in order to cop up with these changing demands, organizations
have to constantly up date and improve the capacity of their workforce through training and
development. Employee training and development is especially important in public health
sector in order to maintain consistency between available competencies and the needs for
health care services. Having this in mind, this research was conducted to examine the current
practices of and prevailing challenges in employee training and development programs
implemented in the public health sector of west Hararghe zone in Oromia region and to
suggest remedial measures for enhancing employee training and development programs for
efficient and effective service delivery. In order to achieve its purposes, the study adopted
descriptive research method and normative survey techniques was used for gathering data
while the questionnaire and interview served as the instruments for collecting data.
The population of the study considered were 783 health professionals working in four rural
woredas, one town administration, and one hospital and zone health office and from these a
sample of 265employees were selected using probability sampling method. Accordingly, the
data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that WHZHO has
competent trainers for administering trainings (particularly, for short term trainings)
provided at zone level. However, employee training and development practices of WHZHO
cannot be described as conforming to standard practices mainly due to lack of properly
conducted need assessment, irregularity in appraising employee’s performance and unfair
and biased selection of participants, lack of detailed and need based plan for short term
trainings conducted at zone level, and lack of post training evaluation which shows lack of
commitment on the part of the management towards improving its human resource.
Furthermore, the research identified lack of general support and commitment from the
management, absence of involvement of immediate supervisors in selecting trainees, lack of
well organized training data and lack of conducive environment particularly at woreda and
hospital levels are among the major challenges prevailing in employee training and
development programs of WHZHO. Thus, the organization should keep up with its strengths
and should work hard to remove prevailing challenges by applying scientific principles
concerning its employee training and development programs. More specifically, establishing
need based plan in advance, introducing fair and clear selection criteria, strict adherence to
the directive 05/2003 issued by ORCSGGB for managing long term training opportunities
provided to health professionals, conducting post training evaluation and creating favourable
environment to facilitate transfer of training at the work places are among what
recommended by the study recommends concerning employee training and development
programs of WHZHO.

Key Words: Human Resource Development, Training, In-service training, Public health
service, Evaluation

iii 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and for most, I would like to give my glory and praise to the Almighty Allah for
his invaluable cares and supports throughout the course of my life and helped me
since the inception of my education to its completion and enabled me to achieve my
career.

Next, I’m grateful to appreciate my Advisor Mesfin Lemma (Asst. Professor) who
has taken all the trouble with me while I was preparing the paper. Especially, his
valuable and prompt advice, attractive facial expressions, constructive corrections and
insightful comments, suggestions and encouragement are highly appreciated. A
special word of mouth is his credit.

I also would like to extend thanks to my wife, Asiya Shazali for her invaluable
support, patience and understanding during my study period.

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 Table of Contents
Title Pages

Declaration…………………………………………………………………………..…i
Approval………………………………………………………………………..…...…ii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….....iii
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………..…..iv
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………….…..…v
List of Tables………………………………………………………………..…….…viii
List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………ix
Acronyms………………………………………………………………………………x
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................ 1
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1
1.1Background .......................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Statement of the Problem ................................................................................... 4
1.3. Objective of the Study ........................................................................................ 6
1.3.1 General Objective: ........................................................................................ 6
1.3.2 Specific Objectives: ...................................................................................... 6
1.3.3 Research questions ....................................................................................... 7
1.4. Significance of the Study ................................................................................... 7
1.5. Scope of the Study.............................................................................................. 7
1.6 Limitations of the study ....................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................... 9
LITRATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................ 9
2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Historical Back ground of Training and Development ....................................... 9
2.3. Strategic Human Resource Development......................................................... 10
2.4 Training and Human Resource Development ................................................... 11
2.4.1 Training and Human Resource Development Process ............................... 12
2.4.1.1 Training needs assessment............................................................... 13
2.4.1.1.1 Organizational training needs; ................................................ 14
2.4.1.1.2 Task Analysis ......................................................................... 14
2.4.1.1.3 Person Analysis ...................................................................... 15
2.4.2. Designing the program based on the results of need assessment .............. 15
2.4.2.1 Developing training objective. ....................................................... 15
2.4.2.2 Developing instructional methods and media. ................................ 16
2.4.3. Implementing Training Human Resource Development Program ............ 18

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 2.4.4. Evaluation of Training and Development ................................................. 19
2.5 Employee Training and Human Resource Development Approaches .............. 19
2.5.1. Employee Training .................................................................................... 20
2.5.1.1 On-the-job Training ........................................................................ 20
2.5.1.2 off-the-Job Training ................................................................. 21
2.6 Human Resource Development in Health Sector .............................................. 21
2.7 Challenges in employee training in public sector ............................................. 22
CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................... 24
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 24
3.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 24
3.2 Research Design ................................................................................................ 24
3.2.1 Research Approach and Strategies ............................................................. 25
3.2.2 Types of Data/Data Sources ....................................................................... 25
3.2.3. Population of the Study ............................................................................. 26
3.3 Sampling Design ............................................................................................... 26
3.3.1 Sampling Techniques ................................................................................. 27
3.4. Data and Techniques for data collection .......................................................... 28
3.5. Ethical considerations....................................................................................... 29
3.6. Techniques for Data Analysis and Presentation ............................................... 29
3.7. Organization of the research............................................................................. 30
3.8. Descriptions of the study area .......................................................................... 30
CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................................... 32
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ................................... 32
4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 32
4.2 Overview of WHZHO ....................................................................................... 32
4.3 Response rate..................................................................................................... 34
4.4 Back ground information of the respondents .................................................... 34
4.5 Awareness about employee training and human resource development policy
among health professionals of WHZHO ................................................................. 36
4.6 Assessment of employee training and development practices of WHZHO from
the view point of the respondents ............................................................................ 39
4.6.1 Assessment of the training needs identification (criteria for selecting trainees)
................................................................................................................................. 40
4.6.2 Assessment of performance appraisal practices ......................................... 41
4.6.3 Alignment of employee training with the organization’s over all objectives
............................................................................................................................. 45
4.6.4 Assessment of Training delivery methods utilized by WHZHO ................ 46
4.7 Assessment of mechanisms being used for evaluating employee training and
development programs. ............................................................................................... 49

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 4.7.1 Responses regarding the role of training in increasing organizational
performance ......................................................................................................... 50
4.7.2 Assessment of the quality of employee training programs of WHZHO .... 52
4.7.3 Opinions of the respondents about the impacts of the methods used in the
trainings ............................................................................................................... 53
4.7.4 Assessment of the content of management training programs in WHZHO53
4.8 Assessment of the main challenges in Employee training and Human Resource
Development Programs of WHZHO ....................................................................... 58
CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................... 61
Summary of findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations ....................................... 61
5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 61
5.2 Summary of Findings ........................................................................................ 61
5.2.1 Practices of designing and implementing employee training and
development programs ........................................................................................ 61
5.2.2 Mechanisms used for evaluating employee training and development
programs. ............................................................................................................. 63
5.2.3 The major challenges in employee training and development programs of
WHZHO. ............................................................................................................. 63
5.3 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 64
5.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 65
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 67
Annexes
 
 

vii 
 
 List of Tables

Tables Pages

Table 4.1 Response rate ............................................................................................... 34

Table 4.2 Educational back ground and service years of Non- Management and
management staff respondents’. .................................................................................. 36
Table 4.3 Awareness of the respondents about training and development policy ...... 37
Table 4.4 Medium of communicating training policy ................................................. 38
Table 4.5 Understanding of Training and Development Policy .................................. 38
Table 4.6 Responses of managerial respondents regarding training needs assessment40
Table 4.7 Responses about the frequency of performance appraisal ……………..…42
Table 4.8 Responses of non managerial respondents concerning whether performance
appraisal results are used as the bases for selecting trainees. ...................................... 43
Table 4.9 Responses of non managerial respondents regarding responsible body for
selecting trainees in their respective organizations. .................................................... 44
Table 4.10 Types employee training programs implemented at WHZHO ................. 46
Table 4.11 Responses of managerial respondents concerning off-the-job training
methods used by WHZHO. ......................................................................................... 48
Table 4.12 Responses from managerial staff about instructional methods and media
mostly used in management development ................................................................... 48
Table 4.13 Responses from non managerial respondents regarding the methods used
by WHZHO for facilitation at the training .................................................................. 49
Table 4.14 Responses regarding the role of training in increasing organizational
performance ................................................................................................................. 51
Table 4.15 Perceptions of the respondents about relevance of the training programs to
their jobs. ..................................................................................................................... 51
Table 4.16 Opinions of non managerial respondents about the quality of training
programs they have attended at WHZHO. .................................................................. 52
Table 4.17 Responses of the respondents about the impacts of the methods used in the
trainings. ...................................................................................................................... 53
Table 4.18 Contents of management development programs. .................................... 54
Table 4.19 Degrees of trainee’s satisfaction about training process conducted at
WHZHO ...................................................................................................................... 55
Table 4.20 Opinions of the respondents about the evaluation of employee training and
development programs. ............................................................................................... 56
Table 4.21 Opinions of respondents regarding the criteria used by WHZHO for
evaluating training and management development programs ..................................... 57
Table 4.22. Competency of staff for service delivery from the view point of non
managerial respondents. .............................................................................................. 57

viii 
 
 Lists of Figures
Titles Pages
Figure 2.1. Cycle of Training Process ……………………………………………….15
Figure 4.1 Non managerial respondents by sex………………………………….......34
Figure 4.2 Managerial respondents by sex……………………….…………………..34
Figure 4.3 Ages of non managerial respondents……………………….…………….35
Figure 4.4 Ages of management respondents……………………….………………..35
Figure 4.5 Techniques for management development analysis………………........41
Figure 4.6 Methods of on-the-job training…………………..……….…................….47
Figure.4.7Responses of managerial respondents regarding the methods of
on-the-job training being used byWHZHO………………..………….….48

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ACCRONYMS

WHZHO: West Hararghe Zone Health Office

HRD: - Human Resource Development
HRM: - Human Resource Manager
HSDP IV: Health Sector Development Program IV
ORCSGGB: Oromia Region Civil Service and Good Governance Bureau

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
This chapter contains a background to the study as it provides highlights of the
relevance of training and development in the ever-changing world of service delivery,
be it in private or public institutions. The chapter also brings out the problem
statement, objectives, the research questions, significance/justification of the study,
scope, organization of the study, and limitations of the study.

1.1 Background
Today, employee training and development become increasingly important for
organizations of all types, whether it is public or private ones, so as to keep pace with
a fast-paced, highly dynamic, and increasingly global economy and hence to maintain
the organizations’ long term competiveness and productivity. Desimone et al. (2002)
stated that changes in the market dynamics, technology, and the structure of labor in
today’s world have created works that are more complex, abstract, and knowledge
based and this in turn made organizations of all types to suffer from a substantial gap
in the knowledge and skills needed for economic and social progress and those that
are available. Particularly, in the context of public sector now a day’s, increased
importance have been attached to employee training and human resource
development from the beginning of the century which brought plenty of reforms,
changes and novelties into the sphere of public administration and this has made the
governments of all nations around the world to focus their attention on increasing the
effectiveness and usefulness of the state structures, the stability of the machinery of
state together with improving professionalism and responsibility of their civil
servants. This is mainly because, each and every tasks performed by the organizations
require effective contributions of organizations’ work forces, which made designing
and implementing effective training and development programs become mandatory
for organizations so as to ensure that their staffs have the requisite knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other characteristics which enable them confront these new work place
demands, (Pynes 2009).

Similarly, Chen and Klimoski (2007), Pattanayak (2009), and Journal of Managerial
Sciences, written by Muhammad and Faroq (2005) also suggested that not only

1 
 
private sector organizations, today, public sector organizations are also working in a
highly dynamic environment where changes are taking place on regular bases. In
order to cope up with these changes, they need to proactively design and implement
effective training and human resources development programs. Moreover, public
sector organizations in many ways are required by the government to positively
contribute to the national development plans which in turn depend on developing the
capacities of their employees in order to meet the ever increasing demands and
expectations of the government and the public at large. Ahuja, K. and Shukla, R.
(2005), cited by Tamrat (2007), in his master’s thesis also suggested that in today’s
fast moving world the basic education and training is no longer sufficient to carry an
employee through his/her job because jobs are growing faster than the employee who
hold them, primarily due to the increasing obsolescence of human knowledge by the
ongoing revolution in science and technology. This will necessitate human resource
development and training to be carried out on a continuous basis by all kinds of
organizations to fill the gaps in their employee’s skills and capacities.

Bach (2000), Kayani (2008), Cartwright, R (2003) and Singh (2009) suggested that
for employee training and human resource development programs to be effective and
deliver the desired results, there are fundamentals and basics issues which must be
given due attention by any organizations. The most fundamental and basic thing is
aligning employee training and development program closely to the organization’s
overall strategic directions and conducting it in an effective and efficient manner
based on the proper preparation, designing, execution, and evaluation, i.e. by
conducting need assessment, establishing realistic objectives, selecting appropriate
methods and media, selecting trainers and trainees properly, and implementing the
program with a close supervision and follow- up during and after the implementation
among others.

However, as it was revealed in different studies such as master’s thesis conducted at

Addis Ababa University by Aliyou (2005), Tamrat (2007), Desalegn (2010) and
master’s thesis conducted at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
in Ghana by Yawson, F (2009) as well as Journal of Managerial Sciences written by
Muhammad and Faroq (2005), employee training and development programs being
carried out in the public sector organizations is found to be deficient in many respects.

2 
 
Either it is not devised in the light of well-defined objectives determined by the
thorough investigation of training needs assessment, or it lacks a meaningful way of
assessing its utility. This is also what is frequently prevalent in most of the public
sectors of Ethiopia.

Since the down fell of the Derge regime, the government of Ethiopia has made
greatest effort improve the overall human resource situation in the country by focusing
attention on capacity building as the main issue in all its reforms being implemented
starting from the civil service reform made in 1988 through the current growth and
transformation plan, in which capacity building activity has been stated as an integral
element. Accordingly, most of the public sector organizations, including public health
sector, are engaged in training of staff at all levels (i.e. at federal, regional, and zonal
levels). Particularly, Human Resource Development (HRD) has been a key
component in the successive HSDPs with the main objective of improving the staffing
level at various levels as well as to establish and implement transparent and
accountable Human Resource Management Systems at all levels. To realize this, the
government has devised and implemented Policies to increase the numbers and
capacity of training institutions as well as using health institutions as a training centre
and strengthening in-service training system.

Accordingly, West Hararghe zone health office, in Oromia regional state, is one which
has been given a mandate for facilitating the capacity building process of the public
health sector found in the zone. As a result, West Hararghe zone health office plans
and provides different kinds of in-service trainings on behalf of the region to the
public health workers selected from 424 health facilities found in the zone (i.e. 14
rural woredas and two city administrations which comprises of two hospitals, 65
health caters and 349 health posts) with a total of 1,964 health professionals currently
working in these health facilities by spending a huge amount of budget each year,
allocated from regional government, different NGOs as well as the federal
government.

Regardless of the level at which they are carried out, to be effective, employee
training and human resource development programs must be based on well established
training and development policies, adequate budget, comprehensive need assessment,
setting appropriate training and development objectives based on the results of need
3 
 
assessment, selecting appropriate trainers and trainees, selection of sound methods and
media, close supervision and follow up both during and after implementation and
finally evaluating the results. Thus, this study tried to assess the current practices of
and prevailing challenges in employee training and development programs being
implemented in the public health sector of west Hararghe zone.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

As it was stated by Well, et al., (2004), to cope up with ever changing environments in
which organizations are operating, organizations and employees have to constantly up
date and improve their capacity and hence respond to these changing demands. This is
because of the fact that rapidly changing working environments brings about changes
in the manner of operations by introducing, among other things, new techniques, new
management systems such as changes in the policies, procedures, expansion of service
and/or product coverage, increasing customer demands and awareness for better
quality services and products, etc. These all will force the organizations and
employees to constantly up date and improve their capacity so as to cope up with
these changing demands. Here, on the one side the effectiveness and their survival is
primarily depends on the quality of their human resources and on the other side as it
was stated by Fallon et al., (2005) an employee’s basic education and training is no
longer sufficient to carry him/her through his/her job because jobs are growing faster
than the employees who hold them, primarily due to the increasing obsolescence of
human knowledge by the ongoing revolution is science and technology which will
create the gap between employee knowledge and skill and what the job demands.

As a result it is imperative for organizations to formulate human resource training and

development policies and plans in line with their overall strategy for enhancing and
improving the productivity and performance of their employees and there by ensure
their success and survival. In line with this, what is worth mentioning here is the
suggestion forwarded by Kreitner (2009), which added that the mere processes of
recruiting, selecting, orienting and then placing employees in jobs alone do not
guarantee success. In line with this Donnell and Garavan (1997) cited in the article
written by Sthapit (2010), added that, the emergence of the modern strategic
management has resulted in ever-increasing need for strategically steering
organizations’ managerial practices into strategic management. Chlivickas (2007), in

4 
 
his article written on human resources development strategy and civil service training
system, suggested that human resources training and development like in the private
sector is also crucial in the public sector due to its objectives of creating the capacity
of civil servants for effective and efficient realization of government programs,
policies, and strategies. He further added that a key for guarantying success in
pursuing objectives and priorities in state management is through creating efficient
and effective public servants and to successfully pursue public administration reform
which in turn requires systematically improving human resources’ capacity.

When we come to see the reality in the public sectors of Ethiopia, Human resource
development and training has given due attention by the government as a means of
developing and strengthening the implementation capacity of the civil service so as to
effectively and efficiently realize the polices, strategies and programs of the
government. Accordingly, the government, in all of its reforms being implemented in
the country starting from the civil service reform made in 1988 through the current
growth and transformation plan, has placed capacity building as an integral element of
its overall strategic directions. As a result, most of the public sector organizations are
engaged in training of staff at all levels (i.e. at federal, regional, and zonal levels).

But, the most crucial thing for achieving the desired results and hence to enhance the
productivity of employees and improve their performance, employee training should
be implemented in an effective and efficient manner. This is to mean that, as it was
stated in the Journal written by Farazmand (2004) since the main objective of
employee training and human resource development is to facilitate employees’
learning of job-related competencies (i.e. knowledge, skills, or behaviors) that are
critical for successful job performance in the immediate term and near future, thus,
adopting a strategic approach rather than an unplanned and ad hoc one will make the
initiatives to become more targeted, measurable and effective. More specifically, to be
effective, employee training and human resource development programs must be
based on well established training and development policies, adequate budget,
comprehensive need assessment, setting appropriate training and development
objectives based on the results of need assessment, selecting appropriate trainers and
trainees, selection of sound methods and media, close supervision and follow up, both
during and after implementation and finally evaluating the results.

5 
 
However, failure in fulfilling these preconditions is inevitable problems in most of
organizations in Ethiopia in general and in the public organizations in particular and
this in turn results in lack of optimum employee task relationship, resistance of
employees in taking future assignments, declining of employees performance,
increases in employee turnover and absenteeism, and weak employee morale and
commitment which have unique consequences on the overall performance of the
organization.

Thus, by taking these all in to consideration, this study was conducted to assess the
overall situations of the current practices of employee training and development
programs being under taken by West Hararghe zone health office. I.e. to identify the
major prevailing challenges and hence coming up with the possible remedial solutions
for these problems and this will have significant importance to the zone in particular
and to the region and the country in general.

1.3. Objective of the Study

1.3.1 General Objective:

The general objective of this research was to assess the current practices of and the
prevailing challenges in the training and development programs being implemented by
west Haraghe zone health office.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives:

¾ To investigate how the training and development programs are designed and
being implemented in the public health office of west Hararge zone.
¾ To identify the mechanisms used for selecting the trainees from Woredas and
Hospitals.
¾ To assess the extent to which the training and development programs being
aligned with the organization’s short and long term goals.
¾ To evaluate the training delivery methods used by the organization.
¾ To assess the mechanisms being used by the office to evaluate the training and
development programs and how it assesses the impacts.
¾ To identify the major challenges of the training and development programs
being implemented by Western Hararghe zone health office

6 
 
 ¾ To identify and recommend the possible solutions for solving the challenges in
training and development programs being implemented by the health office of
west Haraghe zone.
1.3.3 Research questions
Furthermore, this research was tried to answer the following guiding questions.
1) How the training and development programs are designed and being
implemented in the public health sector of western Hararge zone?
2) How the training and development programs are evaluated and impacts
assessed?
3) What are the major challenges of the training and development programs of
western Hararghe zone public health sector?
1.4. Significance of the Study
Nowadays employee training and development has become a very crucial issue for
any organizations for achieving organizational as well as individual’s objectives. As it
was stated in the above section the main objective of this research, was to investigate
the existing situations with regard to the practices of employee training and
development programs. As there is no any research conducted on this issue in this
health sector, the finding of this research may have a significant importance to the
management of west Hararghe zone health office by providing the possible
suggestions for solving the existing as well as potential problems with the overall
practices of employee training and development programs. Furthermore, its findings
may be significant by providing an insight into how this office can effectively
streamline its training and development program so as to improve its overall
performance as it was conducted based on the practical information about core
training and human resource development issues. In addition, the findings of this
research will contribute and complement the already existing knowledge and literature
on the processes and practices of training and human resource development
particularly in the public health sector and the other public services sector in the
region. Finally, this study will also be used as a basis by anyone who is interested to
carry out further research on this issue.

1.5. Scope of the Study

Today, planning and implementing employee training and development programs
becomes an imperative for all organizations whether for profit or not for profit,

7 
 
governmental or nongovernmental, in order to up-date their employees’ skill and
experience which in turn will contributes to enhancing their the productivity and
profitability. Accordingly, the research conducted on this issue may be required to
assess the whole issues related to employee training and development programs of the
organization. However, for the sake of quality and specialization and by considering
in to account the time and resource constraints, the study was focused only on the
employee training and development practices (i.e. short term trainings in the form of
in-service training programs) provided at zone level to update staff knowledge and
skills of health professionals(excluding supportive staff working in the woredas and
zone health office)without going deep to investigate employee training and
development programs. Accordingly, the research tried to assess the current practices
of and the challenges inherent in employee training and human resource development
programs being carried out at zone level.

1.6 Limitations of the study

Inability to use a larger sample size was considered as the minor limitations of the
study, which was mainly due to shortage of time and budget constraints. That
notwithstanding, the sample size used was reasonably large, the findings can be
generalized for the entire health professionals currently working in public health
sector of west Hararghe zone, however, with caution. In addition to this, some
external (uncontrollable) factors such as unavailability of officials for conducting
interview as they were busy with their own schedules, negligence of some
respondents, particularly management staff respondents, to respond to the
questionnaire openly and timely, are among the main problems. However, such
problems were minimized by making repeated appointments with key respondents.
Furthermore, in order to prevent certain disadvantages associated with the use of
questionnaires, such as low response rate or inaccurate responses, restriction of
freedom of responses, less opportunity for clarifications of responses and others, the
researcher was involved personally at every stage of the study and used interview to
get detailed information about the issues studied as a result achieved a high level of
data consistency, reliability and accuracy.

8 
 
 CHAPTER TWO

LITRATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction
This chapter reviewed literature on training and development. This has been organized
under four major themes namely; historical back ground of human resource
development, strategic human resource development, training and human resource
development, approaches to employee training and human resource development, and
challenges in employee training and human resource development in the public sector.

2.2 Historical Back ground of Training and Development

According to Desimone et al. (2002), the origin of human resource development can
be traced back to apprenticeship training programs in the 18th century, where small
shops operated by skilled artisans produced virtually all house hold goods such as
furniture’s, clothing, and shoes. During this time the crafts shop owners started to train
and educate their workers, usually while they are working in the shop for several years
until these workers become proficient in their work. In addition to this, a man named,
Dewit Clinton, founded a first recognized privately owned vocational school in New
York City in 1809, also referred to as manual school, with the purpose of providing
occupational training to unskilled, young people who were unemployed or had
criminal records and these early forms occupational trainings established a prototype
for vocational educations.

The importance of Human Resource Development, which was started during that time
further enhanced due to the advance of industrial revolution during the late 1800s as it
started to mark the beginning for and the spread of factories which created a
significant demand for skilled man power and as a result factories were started to
invest in to training for improving the capacity of their workers. The concept of
Human Resource Development was further developed during World War I, which
made many factories that produced non-military goods to retool their machinery and
retrain their workers. Pynes (2009) also stated that the importance of Human Resource
Development and Training has continued to gain strong recognition in all
organizations for developing the capacity to compete in a global economy which is

9 
 
accompanied by changes in market dynamics, advance in technology, and the
structure of labor markets and hence created works that are more complex and abstract
which makes organizations to suffer from a substantial gap between the knowledge
and skills needed for, their sustainability and survival.

2.3. Strategic Human Resource Development

Today, organizations of all kinds are experiencing pressure to make fundamental
improvements in the way they operate in order to keep pace with the constantly
changing technological, economic, social, political and other advances. Employee
training and development has expected to play a key role in assisting organizations
meet these challenges. According to Ferris, R and Buckley (1995), to be effective and
able to help organizations to overcome these challenges, employee training and
development activities need to be aligned with the overall strategies of the
organization. Strategic human resource development (HRD) refers to the training and
development activities that arises from a clear vision about people’s abilities and
potential and which operates within the overall strategic framework of the
organization.

It is human resources training and development activities that are formulated and
implemented in a manner that can help organizations achieve their overall strategies.
In other words, strategic HRD refers to HRD activities that are business-driven,
impact-oriented, proactive and forward looking, allowing the managers to access and
diagnose the processes and people capabilities that can predict the future success of
the organization (Pattanayak 2009). It is the learning and development strategies that
are established as part of the overall strategic approach of the organization and
involves introducing, eliminating, modifying, directing, and guiding processes and
responsibilities in such a way that all individuals, teams, and departments are
equipped with the skills, knowledge, and competencies required to undertake current
and future tasks required by the organizations. Similarly, strategic human resource
management was defined by Noe et al., (2007) as: the identification of needed skills
and active management of learning for the long range future in relation to explicit
corporate and business strategy. The fundamental aim of strategic HRD is to enhance
resource capability in accordance with the belief that the human capital of an
organization is a major source of competitive advantage. It is therefore about ensuring

10 
 
that the right quality people are available to meet present and future needs. This is
achieved by producing a coherent and comprehensive framework for developing
people.

The specific objectives of strategic HRD are to develop intellectual capital and
promote organizational, team and individual learning by creating a learning culture –
an environment in which employees are encouraged to learn and develop and in which
knowledge is managed systematically. Torrington (2005) also suggested that although
strategic HRD is business-led, its policies have to take into account individual
aspirations and needs. Strategic approach to human resource development improves
performance by enhancing skills, improving attitudes, and increasing job satisfaction
and motivation, and particularly in the public sector, these benefits should be viewed
in terms of implementing the current development initiatives such as public sector
reforms, implementation performance management systems, poverty eradication
action plan and others, which call for new and renewed skills, knowledge and
attitudinal orientation. Accordingly, employee training and development policy, as its
objective is to create the implementation capacities, it needs to be integrated and
properly implemented in a sustainable manner.

2.4 Training and Human Resource Development

Human Resource Development was defined by Desimone et al. (2002), as a set of
systematic and planned activities designed by an organization to provide its members
with opportunities to learn necessary skills to meet current and future job demands.
Ivancevich (2007) also explained that employee training and development as the
process that attempt to provide employees with information, skills, and understanding
of the organization and its goals. He also defined Training as the process, where by
employees acquire capabilities to perform jobs and it provides them with specific,
identifiable knowledge and skills for use in their present jobs. Training program is a
systematic process of altering employees behavior in a direction that will enable them
achieve organizational goals and it is mostly related to present job skills and abilities
and it has current orientation and helps master specific skills ad capabilities required
to be successful on their current jobs. Whereas management development is a term
used to describe a broader range of activities related more to the needs of the
individuals and their future careers and it is concerned with improving managers’

11 
 
performance in their present roles and preparing them for greater responsibilities in
the future. It has been described by Mumford and Gold (2004) as ‘an attempt to
improve managerial effectiveness through a learning process. Management
development is more general than training, and refers to learning opportunities
designed to help employees grow and provides them with less detailed but broader
learning which may be used in a variety of settings and for future jobs. It is a macro,
which results in comprehension of processes, and via this understanding, results in
better job performance (Armstrong, M. 2006).

According to McNamara (2008) employee training involves an expert working with

learners to transfer to them certain areas of knowledge or skills to improve in their
current jobs where as Development is a broad, ongoing multi-faceted set of activities
which includes training activities as one of its component so as to bring someone or an
organization up to another threshold of performance, often to perform some job or
new role in the future. In other words, the main objective of employee training is to
enable employees perform better on the jobs they are currently doing. Whereas
employee development on the other hand, is career oriented rather than job-oriented
and aims at preparing employees for higher responsibilities in the future. Pattanayak
(2009) viewed employee training generally as a planed effort by an organization to
facilitate employees learning of the job-related competencies. These competencies
include knowledge, skill, or behaviors that are critical for successful job performance.
Employee training typically involves providing employees the knowledge and skills
needed to do a particular job or task though attitude changes may also be attempted.
He also added that developmental activities, in contrast, besides increasing the
capacities of employees for performing their current jobs, have a long term focus of
preparing for future responsibilities. In the subsequent pages, in addition to employee
training and management development programs, emphasis will be given to the
discussion of strategic HRD, factors that can affect training and development, the need
for employee training and development in the public sectors.

2.4.1 Training and Human Resource Development Process

Employee training and development interventions can be used to address a wide range
of issues and problems in an organization. It can be used to orient and socialize new
employees in to the organization, provides skills and knowledge and helps individuals

12 
 
and groups become more effective in their jobs as well as preparing them to future
responsibilities. Training can bring tangible benefits to both the organization and the
employees. In order to ensure these goals are effectively achieved, care must be taken
when designing and delivering training and development programs Desimone et al.,
(2002). They suggested that designing effective training program involves a process,
which includes a four step sequences: Need assessment, designing the program based
on the results of need assessment, proper implementation, and monitoring and
evaluation. These processes are shown in figure below:
Developing 
Need Assessment: 
Stage 1 criteria to 
¾ Organizational analysis 
¾ Task analysis 
evaluate training 
¾ Person analysis  out comes: 
¾ Reaction 
¾ Learning 
¾ Behavioral 
¾ Organizati
onal 
results 
Design training programs  & 
Stage 2 instructional  methods 

Evaluation of the 
programs 
Implementation

Stage Stage 4

Fig 2.1 Cycle of training processes (modified from Mullins, L. 2005)

2.4.1.1 Training needs assessment

According to these scholars return on investments in training and development for an
organization will be minimal or nil if training and development program me is not
based on effective needs identification. Employee training and development plans
should be based upon job skills requirements and strategic initiatives of the
organization and the contents should be customized to the specific needs of the
organization. The need for employee training and development can be due to existing
current deficiency, such as poor employee performance, or a new challenges which
demands a change in the manner in which the organization operates(for instance
introduction of new legislations increased competition, etc). Identifying training and

13 
 
development needs involves three main processes: task analysis, organizational
analysis, and individual analysis. This means that organization should know as to why
and what inputs required and to whom the training should be given. Furthermore,
Scarpello and Ledvinka (1998) suggested McGehee and Thayer’s three category need
analysis approach as the dominant frame work for identifying training needs.

2.4.1.1.1 Organizational training needs;

Organization training needs assessment deals with identifying job related knowledge
and skills needed to support the organization’s short range and long range goals. Here,
there are three requirements which need to be considered;
A. Are there an adequate number of workers to accomplish organizational objectives?
B. Identifying whether these people are equipped with the necessary skills and
knowledge as well as whether their general level of performance is up to the standard,
or not.
C. Assessing whether the prevailing organizational climate is conducive for the
fulfilment of tasks and objectives or not.
Chatterjee (1995) further noted that this can be done via; observing employees, asking
supervisors about employees, investigating employees’ problems, conducting
performance assessment and attitude survey, and assessing the rules ,procedures, and
systems. This is to ensure that training will improve performance of the organization
as a whole and ensure organizational objectives are met. The gap between achieved
results and targeted goals is the training gap.

2.4.1.1.2 Task Analysis

This approach refers to the determination of skill and knowledge, the job requires. In
collecting job information as input into training decisions, however, the job analysis
must include (Scarpello and Ledvinka 1984):
¾ A detailed examination of each task component of the job.
¾ The performance standard of the job.
¾ The method and knowledge the employee must use in performing the job task
¾ The way employee learns the method and acquires the needed knowledge.
Whilst organization analysis provide clues as to the type of training that individuals
and groups in the organizations must be given today or in the future, job analysis on

14 
 
the other hand involves a careful study of jobs within an organization in further effort
to define the specific content of training.

Observations (day to day), promotions, transfers, appraisals, accidents and quality

control records remains the main sources by which organization’s identify training
needs of individuals whilst new products/equipments, new standards, new policies,
and operations trends are used to identify group training needs. Training needs can be
assessed by analyzing three major human resource areas: the organization as a whole,
the job characteristics and the needs of the individuals. This analysis will provide
answers to the following questions: Where is training needed? What specifically must
an employee learn in order to be more productive? Who needs to be trained? This can
be carried out by assessing the current status of the organization how it does what it
does best and the abilities of your employees to do these tasks. This analysis will
provide some benchmarks aligned with which the effectiveness of a training program
can be evaluated. Your organization should know where it wants to be in five years
from its long-range strategic plan. What you need is a training program to take your
organization from here to there (Yawson, F. 2009).

2.4.1.1.3 Person Analysis

Person analysis is concerned with determining the skills and knowledge possessed by
the employees in general so as to identify what skills are available for current jobs and
which are needed later and what skills are needed for future development. That is
identifying the skills gap which needs to be filled through training (Cartwright, R.
2003).

2.4.2. Designing the program based on the results of need assessment

This involves clearly defining and identifying the objectives and scope of the
programs, as well as selection of proper methods and media to be used for imparting
training.

2.4.2.1 Developing training objective.

The objectives of employee training and development program should relate directly
to the needs determined by the assessment processes. It also requires setting course
objectives which clearly state what behavior or skill will be changed as a result of the
training and should relate to the mission and strategic plan of the organization. Goals

15 
 
should include milestones to help take the employee from where he or she is today to
where the organization wants him or her in the future. Setting goals helps evaluate the
training program and also to motivate employees. Training objectives are statements
that specify the desired knowledge and skills that employees will possess at the end of
training. They do not include those things the trainee is expected to know or be able to
do before the training. It provides the standard for measuring what has been
accomplished and determining the level of accomplishment. For training objectives to
be useful, they should be stated as specifically as possible (Bowin, R. and Harvey, D.
2000). The development of training objectives should be a collaborative process
incorporating input from management, supervisors, workers, and trainers to ensure
that the objectives are reasonable and realistic.

2.4.2.2 Developing instructional methods and media.

Once the training needs are identified and the objectives determined the next step is
determining the methods and media to be used for delivering training. This should be
based on the content of the program and assessment of the trainees’ level of education,
level of their knowledge, attitudes, and relationships with one another (Pyens, J.
2009). He also added that the methods media selected should be one that can provide
the desired learning successfully and hence can maximizes imparting of the
knowledge and skills. In attempt of developing instructional methods and media
factors such as cost effectiveness of the methods and media selected, desired program
content, learning principles, and participants preferences and capabilities need to be
considered. A number of training methods and media can be used to impart training so
as develop managerial capabilities as well as to train non managerial employees.
Some of the methods that can be utilized for managers and no managers can be:

A. Lecture (class room Training;

It is a method in which the material to be thought is presented by a subject matter
expert to a group of participants. It can be used for both management development
and for training non managerial employees. The main advantage of lecture method is
that a large number of participants can be trained by one instructor. Even if it do not
allow chances for participants to share their own experiences, but this can be backed
by a number of media such as slide, overhead projector, videotape, closed circuit
television, motion pictures, etc. However, its effectiveness at large will depend on the

16 
 
instructor, unless he/she uses a combined methods, it will be limited to one-way
communication.

B. Role Playing
This method involves spontaneous acting of realistic situation by two or more
participants and it gives trainees the opportunity to practice interpersonal and
communication skills by applying them to lifelike situations. The trainees are provided
with the role scripts or expected to write their own role plays, which can make them
totally relevant and realistic (Scarpello and Ledvinka 1988). This method enables
participants practice in trying out new behaviors, obtain immediate feedback from
participants as well as from instructor, and it can enhance transferability of the
trainings to the future jobs (Pyens, J. 2009).

C. Case Studies
Here, in this method, trainees are required to analyze situations, identify problems,
and offer solutions by examining the written description of a problem given to them.
They are expected to read the case presented to them, diagnose the causal issues and
decide what should be done. Then, as a group, they discuss their interpretations and
understanding of the issues and the proposed solutions (Pyens, J. 2009).

D. Programmed Instruction and Computer - Based Training

Programmed and computer - based instruction are self - teaching methods designed to
enable trainees to learn at their own pace. It is highly structured, individualized
learning method in which training materials are developed about a specific content
area, learning objectives and instructional goals are specified; and information and
training materials are assembled for employees to read and use for practice.
Employees are expected to read the materials or practice the competencies required by
the training objectives and then demonstrate what they have learned. In this method,
the materials to be learned are broken down in smaller steps on which employees are
expected to provide responses whether they are captured the contents or not and it also
involves testing their understanding on each step before proceeding to the next step. It
can be used to teach a variety of technical and non technical subjects, however, unlike
the lecture method, it requires active involvement of the participants

17 
 
E. Conference;
According to Ahuja (1988) conference is a group meeting conducted based on
organized plan in which participants seek to gain knowledge understanding via a
considerable amount of oral participation. Usually, conference is for sharing ideas,
learning from experience sharing, and pooling information among the participants.

F. Simulation Methods.
It is a method in which the trainees are provided with an artificial representation of an
organizational, group, or personal situations on which the participants will react as if
the situations are real. It may include such methods as case study, role playing, in-
basket exercise, and management games.

G. Job rotation;
Job rotation involves moving trainees around among different jobs within the
organization and it is usually used for management level trainings and self managed
work team programs. It allows employees to learn several job skills and a wider range
of operations in the organization. As a result it provides organization flexibility by
having a poll of experienced candidates from whom to choose when vacancies occur
(Bowin, R. and Harvey, D. 2000).

H. Apprenticeship;
Apprenticeship is a training method which combines on-the-job training and
experience with class room instruction in particular subjects. Its main advantage is
that the trainees receive wages while they are learning and they acquire all available
skills which will help them to secure jobs.

2.4.3. Implementing Training Human Resource Development Program

The implementation of training and human resource development program should aim
at enabling organizations to achieve their objectives. This is an action phase which
starts after identifying, in advance; clear-cut objectives for the programs, trainers,
where and when the program is to be conducted and the materials required and the
media are identified and made ready.

18 
 
2.4.4. Evaluation of Training and Development
Training and human resource development programs should be evaluated by using pre
determined criteria. Employees should be evaluated by comparing their newly
acquired skills with the skills defined by the goals of the training program. Any
discrepancies should be noted and adjustments made to the training program to enable
it to meet specified goals. As Ahuja (1988) noted, the concept of evaluation is most
commonly interpreted in determining the effectiveness of a program in relation to its
objectives. Human resource development is an investment in people. As it was stated
by Yawson (2009), the major reason why management invests in training and
development program is that to help employee to perform better in the achievement of
organizational objectives, thus, evaluation is a means to assess the cost/benefit of the
program to the organization. Kirkpatrick (1987), cited in Ferris and Buckley (1995)
advanced four levels of training evaluation criteria: The first criterion deals with
assessing the trainees’ reactions to know as to how they perceive the relevance and
quality of the training (i.e. investigating whether the trainees liked the training as well
as the relevance of the materials to their jobs) which in turn helps to improve training
program. The second criterion is learning which refers to assessing the extent to
which principles, facts, and techniques are understood by the participants (i.e. the
progress made in terms of knowledge, skills or attitudes).

The third criterion to be used in evaluating training programs are change in

individual performance (or change in job behavior) as a result of training. And finally
evaluation of a training program should be conducted to identify the advancement
made at organizational level. Furthermore; according to Mullins, L. (2005) evaluation
of training programs can be done;
¾ To increase effectiveness of the program while it is going on.
¾ To increase the effectiveness of the program to be held next time.
¾ To help participants to get feedback for their improvement and efficiency.
¾ To find out to what extent the objectives are achieve

2.5 Employee Training and Human Resource Development Approaches

Pattanayak (2009), suggested that approaches for providing training can be divided in
to two; on-the-job training and off-the-job training. Which method to be used in a
given circumstance, will be determined based on the circumstance itself and who,
what and why of the training program.

19 
 
2.5.1. Employee Training
According to Ferris and Buckley (1995), employee training activities are planned
programs of organizational improvement under taken to bring about a relatively
permanent change in employees’ knowledge (e.g. familiarity with all the items in a
particular product line), skills (e.g. Ability to deal diplomatically with irate
customers), attitudes (e.g. satisfaction with training, which may lead the employee to
seek out further training) or behavior (e.g. acceptable performance of the job for
which training was provided). Pattanayak (2009), also defined employee training as a
planned program designed to improve employees’ performance and to bring about
measurable changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and social behavior of employees
for doing particular jobs and in addition to this, according to him, employee training
has an additional purpose of facilitating changes. As it was also stated by McNamara
(2008), employee training can improve the relationship between the employees and
their immediate supervisor which in turn will enhance understanding and effective
implementation of organizational policies and strategies.

More specifically, Chlivickas (2010), in his article conducted on civil service training
system of the Republic of Lithuania, suggested that human resources development
strategy needs to be based on employee training policy designed and implemented in
an effective, integrated, and sustainable manner and this will be crucial for increasing
the effectiveness and usefulness of the state structures, the stability of the machinery
of state, as well as for enhancing the improvement of professionalism and
responsibility. This is because, the society sets ever increasing requirements for the
public service and constant pressure of the society on the public service to prove its
efficiency by material achievements requires that civil servants should be able to
efficiently plan their activity and think strategically and this in turn requires improving
the skills of civil servants ethical issues to be considered with regard to employee
training and development

2.5.1.1 On-the-job Training

On-the-job training is basically learning by doing. In this method, training is provided
to employees while they are performing their regular works and employees do not lose
time while they are learning. It involves coaching, orientation, job instruction training,
apprenticeship training, internships and assistance ships, and job rotations.

20 
 
2.5.1.2 off-the-Job Training
This type of training is delivered off-the-job outside the work premise. It can includes
class room activities like lectures, special studies, films, television conferences or
discussions, case studies, role-playing, simulation, programmed instruction and
laboratory training. The four most popular off-the-top training and development
techniques are: sensitivity training, transactional analysis, lecture courses, and
simulation exercises.

2.6 Human Resource Development in Health Sector

Human resource development in health can be defined as the systematic effort, within
the limits of what a country is prepared to spend, to take full advantage of the
successful exploitation of the workforce, in the health sector (Dussault, G. 1999). It is
the process of optimizing the performances and management of human resources, the
central resource in the delivery of health care services. It has objectives and as it deals
with various functions related to the production and to the utilization of the workforce,
it needs to be comprehensive. It is a purposeful attempt to influence how human
resources are allocated and utilized and as a result it is always motivated by value
choices, whether it is the pursuit of equity of access, effectiveness of care, satisfaction
of users, or profit and can take different forms according to the value choices made by
a country. Caroyle, R. (2005) also stated that human resource development should be
seen as contributing to the achievement of higher level objectives, that is the services
and health objectives which a country has decided to adopt with the main objective of
getting the right people with the right skills and motivation in the right place at the
right time”. It is an activity concerned with the different functions involved in
planning, managing and supporting the professional development of the health
workforce within a health system, generally at strategic and policy levels, so it needs
to be designed in line with health objectives and priorities (For example; expected
measurable results in relation to mortality, morbidity, risk factors, to be achieved in
relation to a specific population, within a specific period of time) as this will help to
define the objectives in relation to human resources development more easily in
terms of the kinds of competencies the personnel needs, of the number of trained
personnel for the various activities planned, of incentives needed.

21 
 
 Using Martineau and Martinez’ typology of HRD core functions (1997) as a starting
point Calderon, R.(2010), defined the field of intervention of HRD as covering four
major areas; staffing, which is concerned with the availability of an adequate stock of
personnel in terms of mix and number of personnel (the right combination of
categories of personnel and adequate numbers per category), of its distribution by
region (including internal migration patterns), by level of care, by type of
establishments, by gender, in order to meet the service objectives, education and
training which are interventions concerned with ensuring that each category of
personnel has the appropriate competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes) required to
contribute effectively and efficiently to the production of services. Training concerns
with the maintenance and adaptation of the competencies of existing personnel and
can take many forms (short/long duration, individual/group, in/out service, etc.),
human resource development which deals with maintaining the consistency between
available competencies and the needs of the services, performance management so as
to ensure maintenance and improvement of the quality of services, which includes
their appropriateness, their effectiveness, their efficiency, both technical and of
allocation, and their capacity to maximize client and provider satisfaction. It concerns
itself with the division and organization of work, the setting of practice standards, the
design of relevant information and management systems, and the implementation of
sound management principles and practices, including supervision and evaluation.

2.7 Challenges in employee training in public sector

Chlivickas (2010), in his paper conducted on ‘Development of human resources
system for improvement of public administration in central and eastern European
countries’, presented on 6th International Scientific Conference, suggested that human
resources training and development like in the private sector is also crucial in the
public sector due to its objectives of creating the capacity of civil servants for
effective and efficient realization of government programs, policies, and strategies.
He further added that a key for guarantying success in pursuing objectives and
priorities in state management is through creating efficient and effective public
servants and to successfully pursue public administration reform which in turn
requires systematically improving human resources’ capacity. He also stated that the
main problems with regard to employee training and development programs in the
public sector organizations are; failure to properly analyze training needs and to

22 
 
perform training process and career planning functions and inability to make public
servants’ training to be in line with the interests of the institutions. Chaisiri (2003), in
his study titled ‘Human Resource Development through Continuous Improvement’,
identified the challenges in employee training and development in the public sector
organizations. According to him, employee training and development programs in the
public sector organizations, are mostly becomes inefficient due to lack of proper
planning and ineffective coordination as it relies on the direction from the central
administration. He further added that lack of clear declaration of Human Resource
Development policy, the limited personnel with full responsibilities in general human
resources management and lack of system wide planning, follow up and evaluation,
and shortage of budget are among the main challenges which render employee
training and development activities in the public sector organizations ineffective and
inefficient.

23 
 
 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction
This chapter deals with the research methodology (i.e. is the conceptual structure
within which research was conducted) that was used in gathering data for this study.
Accordingly, it covers or contains the research design, population, sampling design,
types of data to be gathered, techniques for data collection, data analysis and
presentation and organization of the research

3.2 Research Design

Research design as it was stated Dawson, C. (2002) is a mapping strategy. It is
essentially a statement of the object of the inquiry and the strategies for collecting the
evidences, analysing the evidences and reporting the findings. Calderon and Gonzales
(1993) that in the scientific inquiry the historical, descriptive, and experimental
researches are the three major research types with their respective variations from
which the researcher may choose the approach he/she wants to use depending up on
the nature of the problem under investigation. They also stated descriptive research is
a purposive process of gathering, analyzing, classifying, and tabulating data about
prevailing conditions, practices, beliefs, processes, trends, and cause-effect
relationships and then making adequate and accurate interpretation about such data
with or without the aid of statistical methods. Calderon and Gonzales (1993, PP. 62)
and Singh (2006) also stated that descriptive research is oriented towards the
description of the present status of a given phenomenon under investigation. It
includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds.

Thus, as the general objective of the study was to assess the current practices of and
the prevailing challenges in the training and development programs being
implemented by west Haraghe zone health office, descriptive survey method of
research was used.

24 
 
3.2.1 Research Approach and Strategies
The study was conducted by using descriptive research and descriptive research as it
was stated by Kothari (2004) is concerned with specific predictions, with narration of
facts and characteristics concerning individual, group or situations which was in line
with the purpose of this study. Descriptive research requires to be based on carefully
planned procedures or techniques for collecting the information so as to obtain
complete and accurate information. He also stated that observation, questionnaires,
interviewing, examination of records, etc are among the methods which can be used
for collecting information and data required.

Thus, by keeping in view the objective of the study and the resources available and
hence to ensure reliability of the data collected structured interview was conducted
with the respondents selected from the management staff of woredas, hospital and
zone health office in order to collect qualitative data and questionnaire was also
distributed to non managerial respondents selected by using simple random sampling
method from four rural woredas, Chiro hospital and from zone health office.

3.2.2 Types of Data/Data Sources

In order to obtain relevant information, both primary and secondary data was used.
The primary data was gathered from the primary sources. According to Calderon and
Gonzales (1993), primary data are those gathered from primary sources such as
individual persons, organized groups or organizations, established practices such as
legal systems, economic systems of morals etc, documents in their original forms for
instance constitution, laws, orders, proclamations, treaties, contracts census and the
like, where as secondary data are those gathered from secondary sources such as
books including dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, etc; articles published in
professional journals, magazines, news papers, and other publications; unpublished
master theses and dissertations,; monographs manuscripts, and all other second hand
sources. Similarly, the primary data was gathered from primary sources such as
employees and managers, training and development policies and proclamations,
national and regional health policy documents and the like. Secondary data was
gathered from sources such as books, articles, unpublished master theses and
dissertations, and other documents found relevant to this study.

25 
 
 3.2.3. Population of the Study
West Hararghe zone is one the 18 zones found in Oromia regional state, and currently
comprises of 14 rural woredas and two town administrations. In the zone there are 424
public health facilities which comprises of two hospitals, 65 health caters and 349
health posts found in the 16 woredas with the total of 1964 health professionals
currently working in these health facilities(including those working in the office at
zonal as well as at woreda level), Thus, as the purpose of the research was to assess
the current practices of employee training and development programs in this health
sector, it was imperative to consider these employees as the population or universe
from which study population was selected. Population or universe, as it was defined
by Calderon and Gonzales (1993), is the group of interest to the researcher, the group
to whom the researcher would like to generalize the results of the study. Accordingly,
the population or universe considered in this study was the total of 1964 health
professionals currently working in different public health facilities found in the 16
woredas of west Hararghe zone in Oromia regional state. They also defined study
population as the aggregation of elements from which the actual sample is to be
selected. Thus, the sample for the study was drawn from the study population, which
in turn selected from the total of 1964 health workers found in the zone.

3.3 Sampling Design

A sampling design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population to
be studied. Usually, it deals with planning in advance the number of items to be
included in the sample which is to be selected from the population, including how a
sample should be selected and of what size such a sample would be, Kothari (2004).
He also added that the sample selected should be as representative of the total
population as possible in order to produce a miniature cross-section. What is
important to be considered before deciding on the size of the sample and the
techniques to be used for selecting that sample, as stated by him, is decision
concerning a sampling unit. A sampling unit is that element or set of elements
considered for selection in some stage of sampling and it may be a geographical one
such as state, district, village, etc, or a construction unit such as house, or it may be a
social unit such as family, club, school, etc, or it may be an individual which the
researcher will have to decide one or more of such units from which he/she will select
the sample for his/her study (Calderon and Gonzales 1993).

26 
 
Accordingly, the primary sampling unit for the purpose of this research was 4 rural
woredas, one the two town administrations and one of the two hospitals found in the
zone including west Hararghe zone health office which was one of the area from
which the sample was taken. The sampling techniques used for selecting sampling
unit as well as the sample size are discussed as follows.

3.3.1 Sampling Techniques

Kumar (2006) stated that an optimum sample is one which fulfills the requirements of
efficiency, representativeness, reliability and flexibility while taking in to
consideration the constraints of time and costs. According to him even if there is no
fixed rule in determining the size of a sample to be taken from a given population,
there is a general guide line which needs to be considered for determining adequacy of
sample size. He suggested that as the size of a sample varies inversely with the size of
the population, a larger proportion is required of a smaller population where as a
smaller proportion may do so for a bigger population. For instance, for a population of
five thousand, a sample of 10% may be appropriate but for a population of five
hundred, a proportion of 30% may be required.

Furthermore, as Calderon and Gonzales (1993) suggested before determining the

sample size it is important to determine the size of the population(or universe),study
population from which actual sample to be taken, margin of error and proportion of
study population to be used, sampling technique, the actual computation of sample
and the sample.

Based on this, the total population (or universe) was organized under four strata by
using stratified random sampling method. The first stratum consists of the 14 rural
woredas found in the zone, the second stratum consisted of the two town
administrations, the third stratum consisting of the two hospitals found in the zone,
and the fourth stratum consisted health workers working in the west Haraghe zone
health office. Thus, from 14 rural woredas only 30% of them was included in the
study i.e.14x30%=4 rural woredas, which are selected by using simple random
sampling method. And one of the two town administrations from the second stratum
and one of the hospitals from the third stratum was also selected by using simple
random sampling method and included in the study. Finally, the study population was
the total of health professionals currently working in selected four rural woredas, one
27 
 
town administration, and one hospital and from zone health office, which are 783
workers. The margin of error of 5% was used and the, the sample size was determined
as follows. By using the formula=N/1+Nc Where;
N=is the study population
n=is the sample size,
c=margin of error
Total population=1964
The study population=N=783
Margin of error=5%
Using the formula, n= N 783 265
1+Nc² 1+783(0.05)²
Then the proportion taken from each stratum 265 33.84
almost, 34%. 783
By using this formula the sample size was taken from each stratum as indicated in the
table below.

Table 3.1 the sample size taken from each stratum

Stratum Population Formula Sample
First Guba Koricha Woreda 116 116x34% 39
Mi’esso Woreda 123 123x34% 41
Chiro Woreda 127 127x34% 43
Gamachis Woreda 117 117x34% 40

Sub Total 483 163

Second Chiro Town 27 27x34% 9
Third Chiro Hospital 237 237x34% 81
Fourth Zone health office 36 36x34% 12
Grand Total 783 265
. 2

For the purpose of selecting the sampling unit and the sample size, both probability
and non probability sampling techniques will be used. Probability sampling was used
for selecting samples from non managerial health professionals and non probability
sampling method was used to select the respondents from managerial employees.

3.4. Data and Techniques for data collection

The study was based on both secondary and primary data sources. The secondary data
was gathered from all relevant documents related to employee training and
development and the training and development manuals prepared by ministry of

28 
 
health and by the Oromia region health bureau. In addition to the aforementioned
sources, the researcher was tried to refer different books, published and unpublished
documents, journals, articles and master theses and dissertations, and other documents
found relevant to the study conducted so as to establish theoretical and empirical
frame work for this research. Primary data about the current practices of employee
training and development programs was obtained through questionnaires distributed to
both the management staff and non managerial respondents. The questionnaire
comprises three sections. The first section contains questions about the respondents
including sex, age, years of work experience, length of service with the organization
and educational level. The second section deals with information regarding the
respondents’ perceptions or awareness about Human Resource Training and
Development Programs of their organization, Human Resource Training and
Development Practices at WHZHO, and about the major challenges of the training
and development programs. Moreover, data on current human resource development
practices and existing challenges of WHZHO from management point were gathered
using structured interview format. Accordingly, interview was conducted with the
management staff.

3.5. Ethical considerations

According to Kumar (2005), research conducted with human subjects, should be
carried out in an ethical manner. He suggested that while carrying out a research, the
researcher have a duty to him/herself and to the individual who is participating in the
research. So even if the outcome of the proposed research is for a good cause, if it
involves the researcher lying or deceiving his subjects in some way, failure to protect
confidentiality of the information gathered and the privacy of individual participants
would be regarded as unethical manner. Similarly, in conducting this research the
researcher paid due attention to ethical rules by making maximum efforts to avoid
using illegitimate information and the information collected was treated and used only
for the purpose of the study without allowing any negligence in using it and fully
protecting its confidentiality.

3.6. Techniques for Data Analysis and Presentation

The data analysis was done in a way that the research objectives demand. Here, the
data was first summarized using descriptive statistics such as tables, frequency

29 
 
distributions and percentages to give condensed picture. Then the summarized data
was analyzed in brief vis-à-vis the theoretical frame work of the study to arrive at a
meaningful conclusion. As much as possible, separate analysis for individual research
question is done. More specifically, demographic characteristics are summarized
using frequencies and percentages for all variables including: age, sex, work
experience, years on the current job/position and educational level and the results
were displayed by using tables and charts. In line with this data gathered through
questionnaires were analyzed and presented in the form of charts, diagrams and tables
using MS-excel. The results of the interview questions were also integrated in to the
responses of employees, gathered through questionnaires, and were analyzed
accordingly and the findings were discussed in relation to the research questions,
literature review and the theoretical framework.

3.7. Organization of the research

The research was organized as follows. The first chapter deals with the introduction,
background to the study, the statement of the problem, purpose, objectives,
significance, scope of the study and the limitations. Chapter Two is about the review
of related literature related with the topic which enumerates the theories and concepts
available on training and development. The third chapter presents the methods used
and how the data for the study was analyzed and presented. Chapter Four provides a
historical overview of WHZHO and it is centered on data presentation, analysis and
discussion of findings. Finally the fifth chapter was about the summary of findings,
conclusion, and recommendations provided based on the findings of the study and
areas to be suggested for further studies.

3.8. Descriptions of the study area

West Hararghe is one of the 18 administrative Zones found in Oromia Region,
comprising of fourteen rural woredas and two town administrations and it is bordered
on the south by the Shebelle River which separates it from Bale, on the southwest
by Arsi, on the northwest by the Afar Region, on the north by the Somali Region and
on the east by East Hararghe. The capital city of the zone is Chiro town, which is
found on the distance of 315km from Addis Ababa on the main road to Harar, Dire
Dawa and Jijiga.

30 
 
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this Zone has a total population of
1,871,706, of whom 958,861 are men and 912,845 women; with an area of 15,065.86
square kilometers with a population density of 124.23. While 160,895 or 9.36% are
urban inhabitants, a further 10,567 or 0.56% are pastoralists. A total of 395,127
households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.74 persons to a
household, and 380,019 housing units. The three largest ethnic groups
are Oromo (90.12%), Amhara (7.24%) and Somali (1.26%); all other ethnic groups
made up 1.38% of the population. Oromiffa is spoken as a first language by
89.47%, Amharic by 8.82% and Somali by 1.2%; the remaining 0.51% spoke all
other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants are Muslim,
comprising of around 88.05% of the population, while 11.11% of the population
professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.

West Hararghe zone health office is one of the public sector organizations established
at zonal level, with a mandate of coordinating and facilitating the implementation of
the health policies and strategies designed by the regional government throughout the
zone. Currently in this zone there are 424 public health facilities which comprises of
two hospitals, 65 health caters and 349 health posts found in the 16 woredas with the
total of 1964 health professionals currently working in these health facilities
(including those working in the office at zonal as well as at woreda level).

31 
 
 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction
This chapter deals with the comprehensive analysis and discussion of the data
gathered through questionnaires, interview, and review of relevant literatures and
documents in line with the research questions and research objectives. Accordingly,
the chapter includes an overview of WHZHO in terms of, roles in terms of
implementation of health sector development program (HSDP IV) and discussions
regarding the practices of and challenges in employee training and development
activities at WHZHO. More specifically the whole chapter was divided in to sub
sections based on the research questions and the specific objectives.

4.2 Overview of WHZHO

Today, like the private sector, public sector organizations are also operating in a
highly dynamic, fast moving environment since the beginning of the century which
brought about plenty of reforms, changes and novelties into the sphere of public
administration and this has made the governments of all nations around the world to
focus their attention on increasing the effectiveness and usefulness of the state
structures, the stability of the machinery of state together with improving
professionalism and responsibility of their civil servants. Similarly, the government of
Ethiopia has given due attention to human resource development and training as a
means of developing and strengthening the implementation capacity of the civil
servants to effectively and efficiently realize the policies, strategies and development
programs of the government.

Public health sector is one, in which the government has making a series effort for
developing human resources for health so as to improve health service delivery
throughout the country. As the responsibility for public service delivery is already
decentralized from the centre to being under the authority of the regions and down to
the district level, offices at different levels from the Federal Ministry of Health to
Regional Health Bureaus and Woreda Health Offices are made to share in decision
making processes, powers, duties and responsibilities for capacitating their human

32 
 
resources in an efficient and effective manner (Ministry of Health HSDP IV 2010/11 –
2014/15, October 2010). Furthermore, standardizing in-service trainings so as to
ensure and supporting the health and management workforce career progression and
skill development was considered in HSDP IV as one of the strategic objectives for
improving human resource for health. In line with this, the mandate for planning,
financing, monitoring and evaluating of all health programs and service deliveries
concerning primary health care services has already been decentralized to the Woreda
levels. In addition zonal health offices are expected to play vital roles in the
implementation of HSDP-IV by providing adequate support to woredas and hospitals
and to monitor and evaluate health programs and delivery of health care services.

West Hararghe zone health office, in Oromia regional state, is one which has been
given a mandate for facilitating the capacity building process of the public health
sector found in the zone. As a result, it facilitates and provides different kinds of in-
service trainings to the public health workers selected from 424 health facilities found
14 rural woredas and two city administrations in the zone which comprises of two
hospitals(one zonal hospital and a district hospital), 65 health caters and 349 health
posts with a total of 1,964 health professionals currently working in these health
facilities by spending a huge amount of budget, each year, allocated from regional
government, different NGOs as well as the federal government. Each and every
training programs at this level are expected to be conducted as par the directive issued
by Oromia region Civil Service and Good Governance Bureau (Directive No 05/2003
E.C.), which was issued to guide employee training and human resource development
in the public health sector in the region. The directive is concerned exclusively with
the training and transfer of health professionals.

Even if training programs, as meant in this directive, are more concerned with the
educational opportunities provided to health professionals for improving their
education levels, however it also contains the provision forwarded to guide short term
trainings (i.e. a training program which lasts for a period between fifteen days to three
months as provided under part 1, number 13 of the directive) which will help the
health office, particularly for selecting trainees for training programs.

33 
 
4..3 Responsee rate
In
n order too assess thee practices oof employee training programs
p caarried out by
b
W
WHZHO, qu
uestionnaire were prepaared and diistributed too a total of
o 265 heallth
prrofessionals selected froom four ruraal woredas, one
o town adm
ministration,, one hospitaal,
annd to thosee selected from
f zone health officce itself. The
T data abbout the tottal
qu
uestionnairees distributedd, returned annd unreturneed are presennted in tablee 4.1 below.

T
Table 4.1 Ressponse rate
Items Distribuuted Returrned Unretuurned
Numberr Nummber Per. Numbeer Per.
Non managerrial employeees 253 250 98.81% 3 1.19%
Managerial employees
e 12 12 100%% - -
Total 265 262 98,87%
Source: Own Survey, Maarch 2013

A it is indiccated in thee above tablle, out of 253 questionnnaires distriibuted to noon

As
m
managerial em
mployees 2550 were filleed and return
ned while the remaining 3 were faileed
too return the questionnairre distributed to them. However,
H alll of the mannagement staaff
w successffully filled and
were a returned back the questionnaire ddistributed to
o them.

4..4 Back groound inform

mation of thee responden
nts

Fig 4.1 Non mangeerial respon

ndents
Fig. 4.22 Manageria
al responden
nts
by sex
s
by sex
x

Female Females
25%
26%
Male
M
7
74% Males
75%

Source: Own Survey, Maarch 2013 Souurce: Own Survey,

S Marcch
013
20

O of 250 no
Out on manageriial respondeents, from figgure 4.1 aboove, around 185(74%) are
a
m
males and th
he remainingg 65(26%) ffemales whille out of 122 manageriall respondentts,
m
males accoun
nt for 75 %( 9 respondennts) and femaales around 225 %(figure 4.2).

34
Figure 4.3 beelow, indicattes that abouut 54% of non
n managerrial respondeents are founnd
beetween 25yyears and 35years, 25.660% were below 25 yyears and the
t remaininng
20
0.40%(10%+
+9.60%+0.880%) were foound to be ab
bove 35 yeaars.

Fig. 4.3 Ages

A of non managerial
m reespondents

58%

25.60% 25.00%
17%
%
0.80%

<25 25 to 35 35 to455 45 to55 5 to60

55
Ages in Yeears

Source: Own Survey, Maarch 2013

A it is displaayed in figurre 4.4 below

As w, most (58.333%) of the managemen
nt respondennts
arre found in age betweeen 25 years and 35 yearrs , around 116.67% of thhem are founnd
beetween 36 years
y and 40 years and thhe rest betweeen 41years aand 50 yearss.

Fig.4.4 A
Ages of man
nagerial resp
pondents
58%

17%
% 25.00%

25
5 to 35 35 to45 45 to55
Ages in
n Years

Source: Own Surveey, March 20013

T data gathhered from thhe respondennts, concern

The ning their levvels of educaation and theeir
w
work experiiences in their
t organnizations, arre presented in tablee 4.2 below
w.
A
Accordingly, this table shows that aaround 58.80
0% of them are Diplom
ma holders annd

35
the remaining 41.20% had first Degree. From 12 managerial respondents, about half
(50%) are second Degree holders, 41.67% first Degree holders and the remaining
8.33% had Diploma. This table also revealed that around 92.13 %(
58.33%+8.33%+25%) of managerial staff have and about 86.80%
(38.80%+10.80%+37.20%) of non managerial respondents have worked for more
than 3 years in their respective organizations and this can assures reliability and
accuracy of the information provided by such respondents.

Table 4.2 Educational back ground and service years of Non- Management and
management staff respondents’.
No  Items  Descriptions  Non  Managerial  Total 
managerial  staffs 
staffs 
Fre  Per  Fre  Per  Fre  Per 
1  Educational  Diploma  147  58.80%  1  8.33%  148  56.49%
background:  First Degree  103  41.20%  5  41.67%  108  41.22%
Second  ‐ ‐ 6 50% 6  2.29%
Degree 
Total 250 100% 12 100%  262  100%
2  Service  years  in  Less  than  3  33  13.20%  1  8.33%  34  12.98%
this  years                 
organization  3 to 5 years       97  38.80%  7  58.33%  104  39.69%
5 to 7 years  27  10.80%  1  8.33%  28  10.69%
more  than  7  93 37.20% 3 25% 96  36.64%
years 
Total 250 100% 12 100%  262  100%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

4.5 Awareness about employee training and human resource development policy
among health professionals of WHZHO
The results from the interview conducted with the management and from the
responses collected through questionnaires revealed that the organization (WHZHO)
including all the woredas had a written guide line, directive number 05/2003 E.C.,
issued by Oromia Region Civil Service and Good Governance Bureau, which they use
in facilitating educational opportunities and in-service trainings provided to health
professionals. More specifically, the responses gathered through the questionnaires
distributed to both managerial and non managerial respondents are organized in table
4.3 below.

36 
 
Table 4.3 Awareness of the respondents about training and development policy
No Items Non managerial respondents Managerial respondents
Yes No I don’t Yes No I
know don’t
know
1 Does your F % F % F % F % F % F %
organization 181 72.40 57 22.80 12 4.80 12 100
have Training
and
Development
Policy?
2 Has the policy 81 32.40% 142 56.80% 27 10.80% -
been
communicated
to you?
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As it is stated in this table, all of managerial respondents and about 72.40% of non
managerial respondents confirmed that WHZHO has a directive to be used for guiding
its training and development programs. However, the responses provided by non
managerial respondents, in table 4.3, indicated that the policy (i.e. directive number
05/2003 E.C., issued by Oromia Region Civil Service and Good Governance Bureau)
has not been communicated to them as replied by 56.80% While 22.80% of them
answered that the policy has been communicated to them.

Here, what should be noted is that any activity related to employee training and
development programs requires the existence of genuine commitment starting from
top management and throughout all levels of the organization. Thus, creating full
awareness about the programs and the policy (i.e. directive) among all the employees
can better facilitate the ground for the success of the organization as this will help the
organization to show to its employees a clear link between training and an
organization’s career development and reward system in which training might leads to
recognition and advancement. Particularly, orientation of new employees can play a
crucial role in this case. This is because when new employees arrive to work at a
particular institution they will be unfamiliar with the working practices at that
institution and the providing them with a clear and comprehensive orientation will
help them to develop confidence and to become effective team members as rapidly as
possible. In line with this Bediako, A. (2002) stated that training and development
must not be thought of as an after recruitment program but rather it must be
incorporated into orientation programs for newly recruited staff. According to him, an
37 
 
organization has to provide full information to new employees what training and
development means and what programs and facilities are available to employees.

Table 4.4 Medium of communicating training policy

Item Description Percentage Frequency
How was the medium used in During recruitment 16 6.40%
communicating this to you? Formal briefing 41 16.40%
During promotion 12 4.80%
Seminar 44 17.60%
By hear say 137 54.80%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As it is depicted in table 4.4, the common means used by the organization to

communicate the directive to their staff, as replied by non managerial respondents,
was during recruitment (6.40%), formal briefing (16.40%), during promotion
(4.80%), and seminar(17.60%). However, the majority (54.80%) of them replied that
the policy did not communicated to them rather they heard it by hear say. This implies
that these organizations (i.e. health office of woredas and hospitals) are expected to do
more in order to create full awareness about the policy among their employees. In line
with this, Neo, R. et al., (2006) suggested that employees need to become familiarized
with tasks, receive appropriate training and understand the organization’s practices
and procedures before starting the job.
Table 4.5 Understanding of Training and Development Policy
Items Non managerial Managerial
respondents respondents
F % F %
How would you rate your understanding of the Excellent 6 2.40 9 75
Human Resource Training and Development Very 20 8.00 2 16.67
policy of your organization? good
Good 91 36.40 1 8.33
Average 7 2.80 - -
Poor 126 50.40 - -
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

When asked about their understanding of the Human Resource Training and
Development policy of their organization, 75% of managerial staff has rated
themselves as if they have an excellent understanding and the remaining 25% have
rated their level of understanding from very good to good. On the other hand out of
250 non managerial employees, only 6(2.40%) rated their understanding of the human
resource training and development policy as excellent. In addition to this, around
44.40% (8%+36.40%) of them rated their understanding between very good and good,
38 
 
7(2.80%) rated their understanding as average, and the majority 126 (50.40%) of non
managerial respondents had poor understanding of the training and human resource
development policy. This indicates failure of the organizations in making all of their
employees aware of the directive. In line with this, interview conducted with three of
the management staff selected from zone health office also revealed that even if the
organization has a clear guide by which it is expected to organize its employee
training and development programs, creating awareness about the directive among all
their staff with the directive is not familiar particularly, at woredas and hospitals level.
According to Mullins, L. (2005), familiarizing employees with the practices and
procedures of the organization early, before starting their jobs will enable the
organization to optimize employees’ contributions by increasing their confidence and
help them to feel a sense of involvement and make them know how they can play their
part in achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.

4.6 Assessment of employee training and development practices of WHZHO

from the view point of the respondents
Olaniyan, D. and Ojo, L. (2008), stated that the effectiveness and success of an
organization lies on the people who form and work within the organization and as a
result it becomes imperative for organizations to device and execute the means for
optimizing the contributions of their human resource to their aims and goals so that
they can successfully execute and realize their strategies and hence accomplish
organizational goals and objectives. This in turn requires the organization to introduce
training and development to enable its workforce towards taking the organization to
its expected destination. Thus, an extensive capability and commitment to training
must be an integral part of the organization’s overall strategy. However, although the
potential benefits of training may appear obvious, it does not necessarily follow that
training, per se, will lead to improved performance. Securing the full benefits of
successful training largely depends up on a planned and systematic approach to the
effective management of training. Thus, to be effective and deliver the desired results,
employee training and development activities require, among other things, a clear
commitment to acceptable training standards (Mullins, L. 2005).

Employee training and development consists a fundamental steps to be followed.

These are conducting an objective assessment of training needs; description of the

39 
 
required training programs, determining the appropriate training methods and media
to be used, selection and training of trainers, delivering the program, and evaluating
the program both during and after it has been implemented. By keeping this in mind,
the overall practices of employee training and development was assessed and the
results from both the interview conducted with the management of the organization
and from the questionnaires distributed to managerial and non managerial employees
are discussed under this sub section.

4.6.1 Assessment of the training needs identification (criteria for selecting

trainees)
As it is shown in table 4.6 below, out of 12 managerial respondents, only 41.67%
replied that the organization conducts training needs while the majority 58.33%
answered the question negatively. Concerning management development need
assessments, 75% of them replied that the organization do not conduct need
assessment. This indicates that training needs assessment, up on which employee
training programs should be based is ignored by the organization.
Table 4.6 Responses of managerial respondents regarding training needs assessment
No Questions Yes No I don’t
know
1 Were training need assessments made Fr Per Fri Per Fr Per
before any training was implemented? 5 41.67% 7 58.33% - -

2 Does your organization analyze 2 16.67% 9 75% 1 8.33%

managers development needs regularly?

Source: Own Survey, March 2013

Usually employee training and management programs are designed to improve the
gaps between the desired and actual level of performances and there for it is need
oriented. Thus, employee training and development activities should be based on
careful identification of needs. This is because, if employee training and management
development needs analysis is incorrect at this stage, then the later activities will
become in appropriate and organization could end up in wasting time, resource and
demotivating employees as they will develop negative attitudes towards future
programs (Foot, M. and Hook, C. 2004).

40 
 
 Fig. 4.5
5 Techniquess for Manageemen Develop
pment Analyysis used by
WH HZHO

58.33%
25%
16.47%

Orrganizational analysis
Task
k (job) analysiss
Person analysis

Sourcee: Own Survvey, March 22013

A far as the techniques to

As t be used inn managemeent developm
ment needs are
a concerneed,
w
what is wortth mentionin
ng is the fuundamental and dominaant frame work
w is thhe
M
McGehe and
d Thayer’s three-categgory need analysis appproach to be used for
f
iddentifying organization’s human reesource deveelopment neeeds cited inn the work of
Scarpello andd Levinka (1998). Thesse are Organnizational aanalysis which deals wiith
exxamining orrganization’s strategic goals and plans in linne with hum
man resourcce
pllanning, Tassk (job) anaalysis whichh is concern
ned with deetermining the
t skills annd
kn
nowledge thhe job requuires, and P
Person analyysis which ddeals with analyzing thhe
suubstantive knowledge an
nd skills posssessed by thhe employeee. According
gly, out of thhe
12
2 manageriaal responden
nts, around 58.33% staated that, tassk analysis is the mosttly
appplied approach coupleed with orgganizational analysis 25% and peerson analyssis
16
6.67% (Figuure 4.5) aboove. Even if this resp
ponse impliees that thee organizatioon
coonducts anaalysis of thee needs of thhe organizatiion, assessess the skill annd knowledgge
thhe job requirres before exxecuting the training proogram, this aalone do nott indicate hoow
m
management developmennt needs anallyses is impllemented.

4..6.2 Assessm
ment of perfformance ap
ppraisal praactices
A
According too Mullins, L. ng needs will
L (2005), the identificattion of indivvidual trainin
beest be suppported by a performannce appraisaal system w
which focusses on futuure
deevelopment needs. Coonducting a continuou
us judgmentt on the behavior
b annd
peerformance of the staff, as a formalized and sysstematic apppraisal schem
me can help to
mprove the future performance oof the staff and will support identification of
im
inndividual’s training
t neeeds. Usuallyy, it was suuggested thaat before coonducting thhe
trraining proggrams the management
m t has to maake continuees efforts for
f appraisinng

41
individuals and organization itself so as to identify training needs. In line with this,
when non managerial staffs were asked about how often their performances were
appraised by the management of their organizations, the results appear to indicate that
performance appraisals were carried out irregularly in their organizations. As
indicated in table 4.7 below, 67(26.80%) of the respondents replied that their
performances were appraised monthly, 108(43.20%) stated that they were appraised
each quarter and 31 (12.40%) stated that their performance appraised every six
months.

Table 4.7 Responses about the frequency of performance appraisal

Item Description Percentage Frequency
How often is your performance Monthly 67 26.80%
appraised? Quarterly 108 43.20%
Every six months 31 12.40%
Once a year 5 2.00%
. Never 39 15.60%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

According to study conducted in Malisiya by Haslinda, A. and Mahyuddin, M. (2009)

and the findings of the study conducted in Nigeria by Olaniya, D. and Ojo, L. (2008),
a formalized and systematic performance appraisal scheme will enable organization to
regularly assess individuals’ performance, highlight potentials and identify training
needs. Most importantly, an effective appraisal scheme can improve the future
performance of staff, can create career plans which encompasses not only training
proposals but also areas of work experiences, job goals and personal developments as
well as it helps an organization to establish a formalized human resource development
programs. Moreover, a properly conducted performance appraisal can reveal problems
which may restrict progresses and cause inefficient work practices and it can also
provide information for human resource planning, to assist succession planning and
determine suitability for promotion and for particular types of employment and
trainings.

Respondents were also asked whether performance appraisal is the basic criterion by
which the selection of trainees is guided at their respective organizations, only around
40.40% of non managerial respondents replied affirmatively while the majority
59.60% of them stated that the performance appraisals were not used in selecting staff
for training. In addition, in the responses provided to open ended question non

42 
 
managerial respondents also replied that most of the times performance appraisal
results did not used as a bases for selecting trainees, rather proximity with the
management, and sometimes an unknown criteria were used instead.

Table 4.8 Responses of non managerial respondents concerning whether performance

appraisal results are used as the bases for selecting trainees.
No Items Non managerial Respondents Managerial
Respondents
Yes No Yes No
F % F % F % F %
1 Do you think that performance 101 40.40 149 59.60
appraisals are used in selecting staff for
training?
2 Do you know the bases on which 3 25 9 75
trainees are selected from woredas and
hospitals for training?
3 Do you know whether your job 94 37.60% 156 62.40%
strengths and limitations are
documented by your supervisors?
4 Are your views sought on Human 65 26% 185 74%
Resource Training and Development
programs at WHZHO?

Source: Own Survey, March 2013

Regarding item 2, table 4.8, most of the managerial respondents (75 %%) do not
know the bases on which trainees are selected from woredas and hospitals to how they
are selected for the training given by WHZHO and only 25% replied that they know
about the bases. This implies that most of the respondents may feel dissatisfied since
they are not clear with the bases on participants are selected for training. Furthermore,
with regard to item number 3, in table 4.8 above, the majority, 156 (62.40%) of the
non managerial respondents did not know whether their job strengths and limitations
are documented by their respective supervisors or not and only 94 (37.60%) of them
replied affirmatively. Generally, the responses displayed in table 4.8 can be a clue for
lack of effective and systematic performance appraisal scheme in health sector of west
Hararghe zone. Lossey, M.(2009) stated that in order to make organization effective
and successfully achieve its objectives, work has to be planned out in advance,
performance has to be measured consistently and providing ongoing feedbacks to
employees and work groups on their progress toward reaching their goals, providing
employees with training and developmental opportunities so as to encourages good
performance, strengthens job-related skills and competencies, and helps employees

43 
 
keep up with changes in the workplace, and recognizing employees, individually and
as members of groups, for their performance and acknowledging their contributions to
the organization’s mission.

Non managerial respondents were also asked whether their views are considered in the
training and development programs at WHZHO, as indicated in table 4.8 (item 4), the
majority (74%) replied negatively. This implies that the organization do not take in to
consideration the views of its employees in its training and development programs.
Lossey, M. et al., (2009) stated that mandating all training without encouraging
participation by learners in assessing their needs, and in planning their own
development, greatly increases resistance to training, decreases personal investment
and participation, and increases the likelihood that training content will be ignored
when learners return to their jobs. Mullins. L (2005) and Pynes, J. (2009) also
suggested that incorporating inputs from different segments in to a training and
development programs will enable an organization to design and implement a
successful programs which can address not only substantive content or material but
which also create a climate in which individual learning styles are recognized and
considered in the delivery of the content and this is particularly important to WHZO
for the short term trainings (in-service trainings) which is implemented at the zone.

Table 4.9 Responses of non managerial respondents regarding responsible body for
selecting trainees in their respective organizations.
Item Description Frequency Percentage
Who is responsible for selecting Immediate supervisors 61 24.40%
employees for training? Human resource 13 5.20%
managers
Management 41 16.40%
committee
Chief executives of 104 41.60%
the office
It is not known 32 12.80%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

When asked about the responsible body for selection of staff for training in their
organizations, as indicated in table 4.9 above, 61(24.40%) of non managerial
respondents replied that it is done by their immediate supervisors, 13(5.20%) by
human resource managers, 41(16.40%) stating it is the responsibility of management
committee, 104(41.60%) of them replying that it was carried out by chief executives

44 
 
of the office and the rest, 32(12.80%) did not know by whom employees are selected
for the training, which can be a clue for the absence of fair and rational selection
criteria. In line with this, interview conducted with head of human resource
management of zone health office revealed that the role of human resource
management is not well recognized. As it was suggested in the journal written by
Saleem, Q., Shahid, M. and Naseem, A. (2011) in order to improve productivity and
performance of employees, varies trainings including pre-service and in-service
trainings are required to be prepared and delivered to employees. To ensure this, the
responsibility of updating staff knowledge and skill has to be discharged by HR
Managers in a competent way.

4.6.3 Alignment of employee training with the organization’s over all objectives
Wilson, J. (2004) employee training needs to be aligned with the organization’s
overall strategies so as to enable the organization secure the full benefits of successful
training programs. It requires to be backed by planned and systematic approach with a
clear commitment to training throughout the organization. To this end the most
important thing is the commitment and support of the management which will become
crucial for the success of training programs. In line with this, interview conducted
with the management staff revealed that they prepare a detailed plan regarding long
term training programs which deals with educational trainings to be provided at
universities and public health colleges found in the region. However, zone health
office itself do not have written plan for employee training programs conducted at
zone level in the form of short term in-service trainings. The head of zone health
office planning department, in the interview, stated that for such trainings (i.e. short
term trainings) we face difficulty to include it in to our annual plan due to the fact that
they are usually carried out according to plans prepared by the region health bureau in
coordination with some donors. This indicates poor commitment of the management
to effectively exploit the assistances and helps available from its stake holders which
in turn may enable them to effectively coordinate such trainings (short term trainings).
This requires maintaining effective communication between zone health office and the
stake holders (including the region’s health bureau). At woreda and hospital levels,
plans for both short term and long term training programs do not exist. According to
Mullins, L. (2005) training and development programs should be an integral part of
the organization’s overall strategy. There should be a continuous commitment to the

45 
 
training standards. But, the reality in WHZHO shows absence of commitment on the
part of the management towards employee training and development programs.

4.6.4 Assessment of Training delivery methods utilized by WHZHO

In an interview conducted with two of the management staff off WHZHO regarding
training delivery methods used for providing trainings to both management and non
management employees, they stated that the organization uses lecture and video
presentation method, case study method, conference method/ the workshop method,
simulation method and programmed instruction method as well as apprenticeship
based on the contents of the training programs, time and budget available, depth of
knowledge required as well as back ground of trainees. Concerning availability of
capable trainers to provide training programs, the managers replied that the
organization has appropriate trainers for the right trainees, particularly for providing
in-service trainings provided at zone level. They also added that as most of in-service
trainings are provided with different NGOS, if need arises such organizations are also
assign their own trainers usually if the programs are one which is organized by them,
so the organization (WHZHO) do not face any problem in this case.

Table 4.10 Types employee training programs implemented at WHZHO

Item Non managerial Managerial
respondents respondents
F % F %
Which of the following types of On- the- 35 14 3 25
employee training program have you job
taken so far? off- the 172 68.80 7 58.33
– Job
Both 43 17.20 2 16.67
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As it is indicated in table 4.10, both on-the-job methods and off-the-job methods are
used for trainings given to both managerial and non managerial employees in
WHZHO. Most of the managerial respondents (58.33%) and about 68.80% of non
managerial respondents have taken off-the-job trainings. In addition to this, on-the-job
training method was also used as replied by 14% of non managerial respondents and
25% of the managerial respondents. The remaining 17.20%of non managerial
respondents and 16.67% of managerial respondents indicated that both methods are
used by the organization. The responses provided by the majority indicate that
WHZHO relies more on off-the-job methods. Here, without undermining the
46 
 
siignificant roole that off-tthe-job trainning methodds can play in enhancin
ng employeees’
coontributions to the aims and goals off the organizzation, delibeerate considderation is alsso
reequired for using on-the-job traininng methods.. This is because on-the-job traininng
m
methods a the mosst preferred aalternative as it enables tthe workers to train whiile
are also
thhey are perfforming theeir actual taasks. Furthermore, on-tthe-job meth
hods are coost
efffective because employyees producce while theey learn, buiild employeee morale annd
alllow them to
o receive im
mmediate feedback and can
c minimizee the problem
ms of transffer
off training. Inn line with this,
t Ahuja, K. and Shukkla, B. (20055) also stateed that on-thhe-
joob training method
m is thee most effective and effiicient methoods for trainiing employees
beecause of itts complete accord witth the three basic lawss of learningg: the law of
reeadiness as it
i allows the participantss confront thhe jobs that they
t potentiaally able to do
d
annd is interessted in learniing how to do
d them, law
w of exercisee as it providdes them wiith
thhe chance too immediateely apply w
what they have learned and the law
w of effect by
b
alllowing emp f secured in
ployees to geet satisfactioon out of theeir works as well as to feel
thheir jobs partticularly for new employyees.

Fig. 4.7 Responses

R of mangerial reespondents regarding
r thee methods off on-
the-jjob training being
b used b
by WHZHO

33.33%
25% 25%
16.67%

Job
b instruction Job rootation App
prenticeship Coaching
g
training

Source: Ow
wn Survey, March
M 2013
O
On-the-job training meth
hod is one off training tecchniques thaat can be useed to facilitaate
em
mployee leaarning, whilee they are being
b in their work places. On-the-job training is
usually proviided by suppervisors, whho instructss subordinates in the co
orrect way to
peerform a tassk and it is directly
d relatted to the requirement oof the jobs annd there for it
w ensures transferabilit
will t ty of the skiills trained to
t the jobs (Pyens,
( J. 20
009). Some of
im n-the-job traiining methoods include; on-the-job instruction, job rotatioon,
mportant on
appprenticeship, and coacching can bee mentioned. In line w
with this, figu
ure 4.7 abovve
shhows that almost all off the alternaatives given with respeccts to on-the-job traininng
47
methods are used by the WHZHO but with varying degrees job rotation 33.33%, job
instruction and coaching methods 25% each and apprenticeship 16.67%.
Table 4.11 Responses of managerial respondents concerning off-the-job training
methods used by WHZHO.
Item Description Freq Per
Which of the following off-the-job types of employee Lecture and video 3 25%
training program have you taken so far? presentation
Simulation 4 33.33%
Case study 2 16.67%
Role playing 1 8.33%
Self study and 2 16.67%
programmed
instructions
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

According to Ahuja, K. And Shukla, B. (2005) although on-the-job training method is

the most power full method by providing trainees an opportunity to practice and
apply what is learned; yet it is not totally proper to place sole reliance up on it as
some knowledge and skills are difficult to teach at the work site, so off-the- job
training will become necessary. Off-the-job training provides an alternative to on - the
- job training because employees receive training away from their workstations as a
result it avoids disruptions to the l routine activities at the job site and it also allows
the use of different training techniques such as lecture, case study, simulation, role
playing, self study and programmed instructions among others. In line with this table
4.11 above, indicates that the most commonly used off-the-job training methods by
WHZHO includes simulation training (33.33%) followed by lecture and video
presentation 25%, case study and Self study and programmed instructions 16.67%
each, role playing method 8.33% as replied by managerial respondents.
Table 4.12 Responses from managerial staff about instructional methods and media
mostly used in management development
Item Description Frequency Percentage
Instructional methods and Lecture 4 33.33%
media mostly used in Conference 3 25%
management development Self study and Programmed 2 16.67%
learning
Case study method 1 8.33%
Role playing and behavioral 1 8.33%
modeling
Management games 1 8.33%
All of the above
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

48 
 
The instructional method and media to be used for imparting trainings depend on the
program content and the content in turn is shaped by training or development need
identification and established objectives, (Croyle, R. 2004). As shown in table 4.18,
most of media used for management training in WHZHO are lecture (33.3%) and
conference (25%) followed by self study and programmed learning 16.67% and the
least are case study, role playing and behavior modeling and management games
8.33% each. The implication for the lecture method mostly frequently used is that it is
the most widely accepted method and also economical because a large number of
people can be trained using one instructor (Buckley, M. and Ferris, G. 1995).

Table 4.13 Responses from non managerial respondents regarding the methods used
by WHZHO for facilitation at the training
Item Description Frequency Percentages
Methods being used for facilitation Lecture 151 60.40%
at the training you have attended? Demonstrations 99 39.60%
Discussions 187 74.80%
Presentation 143 57.20%
Group Work 196 78.40%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As shown in table 4.13, most of the media used for delivering employee training by
WHZHO are lecture 60.40%, demonstration 39.60%, discussion 74.80%, presentation
57.20%, and group work 78.40%. The instructional method and media depend on the
program content.

4.7 Assessment of mechanisms being used for evaluating employee training and
development programs.
Haslinda, A. and Muhyuddin, M (2009), recommended Kirkpatrick’s model of
evaluation as an appropriate model to be used for evaluating effectiveness of
employee training and management development in the public sector. This model
consists of four levels of evaluation; reaction level which deals with assessing how the
trainees perceive and subjectively evaluate the relevance and quality of the training,
learning level deal with assessing the amount of learning that has occurred due to a
training program and it can be related to the method used to transfer the knowledge,
skills and attitudes, change in job behavior or performance which is concerned with
studying the change in job behavior which takes place as a result of the training by

49 
 
assessing whether tasks are performed differently before and after the training, and the
fourth level deals with evaluating the progress made at the organizational level.
Accordingly, interview was conducted with the heads of the five woredas health office
and with the head of human resource management department of a hospital and three
persons from west Haraghe zone health office including head of human resource
management department revealed that evaluation of the training programs of WHZHO
starts from the beginning while the programs are in progress by assessing opinions of
the participants about the program as to how they feel regarding the significance of the
program to their jobs, their participation during sessions, their satisfaction with the
way in which the session is managed and the timing of the sessions. Pre test and post
tests are sometimes also used on trainings programs financed and organized by some
NGOs which help the organization to find out the amount of training that has occurred
as a result of training. The interview also revealed that in order to assess the transfer
of the trainings to the actual jobs, supervisors are also assigned from zone health
office to conduct field visit and provide supportive supervision to woredas and
hospitals. This may help trainees to get feedback for their improvement and efficiency
while it also help the organization to find out the extent to which the objectives are
achieved. In addition to this, opinions of non managerial and managerial respondents
are sought on the practices of WHZHO in evaluating its training and development
programs. These opinions were gathered through questionnaires distributed to both
managerial and non managerial respondents and discussed under this section as
follows.

4.7.1 Responses regarding the role of training in increasing organizational

performance
As it was stated by Mullins, L. (2005), for employee training programs to bear the
desired results it should not be regarded as an isolated activity, separated from day-to-
day working of the organization. Rather its significance in improving the overall
performance of the organization should be inculcated throughout the organization and
the staff themselves should also feel a sense of involvement and know how they can
play their part in achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. In line with
this, a question was raised, both to managerial and non managerial respondents to
examine their opinions as indicated in table 4.14 below.

50 
 
Table 4.14 Responses regarding the role of training in increasing organizational
performance
Item Non managerial Managerial
respondents respondents
Yes No Yes No
Do you believe that individual’s F % Fri Per F % F %
training is the critical factor in 227 90.80% 23 9.20% 12 100
increasing organizational performance?
Source: Own Survey, March 201

From this table it is possible to deduce that almost all of managerial respondents and
the majority (90.80%) of non managerial respondents have positive attitude
concerning the significance of employee training in increasing the overall
performance of the organization. The perceptions held by the respondents may result
in far reaching positive consequences for the organization if utilized properly in its
training and development programs. This is in line with what was stated by Noe, R. et
al., (2006), keeping other things constant, positive perceptions held by employees
towards a given training program can largely enhance transfer of the trainings.

Table 4.15 Perceptions of the respondents about relevance of the training programs to
their jobs.
Item Description Non managerial Managerial
respondents respondents
F % F %
How relevant were the Very much 157 62.80 9 75
trainings you received to your relevant
work? Relevant 76 30.40 3 25
Not all relevant 18 7.20 - -
Not sure - - - -
Not relevant - - - -
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As it is indicated in table 4.15 above, about 62.80% of non managerial and75% of

managerial respondents rated the trainings they took so far as very much relevant in
improving their current job performance and around30.40% of non managerial
respondents and 25% of managerial respondents rated the trainings as relevant and out
of 250 non managerial respondents, only around 7.20% of them have rated the
trainings they had taken at WHZHO as if not all relevant. Here, without undermining
the responses of the minority, it is possible to conclude that employee training
programs of WHZHO is much more linked to employees’ current jobs experiences

51 
 
and tasks as replied by the majority. This is also in line with a study conducted by
Haslinda, A. and Mahyuddin, M (2009), which revealed that whenever training is
organized according to the employees’ needs and is job-relevant it has a much higher
impact on participants. In addition to this Noe, R. et al., (2006) also stated that
employees are likely to learn when training is found to be meaningful to them

4.7.2 Assessment of the quality of employee training programs of WHZHO

As shown in table 4.20 below, the majority of the respondents were impressed with
the quality of the trainings they have participated in and rated them between average
and excellent. Specifically, 14% of the respondents rated the quality of the training
they have participated in as good, 15.60% described them as very good and 49.60%
stated that they were excellent. This indicates that the majority of the respondents had
positive perceptions about the quality of the training programs they have participated
in at WHZHO

Table 4.16 Opinions of non managerial respondents about the quality of training
programs they have attended at WHZHO.
Item Description Frequency Percentages
How would you rate the quality of the Excellent 124 49.60%
training programs you have participated Very good 39 15.60%
in? Good 35 14.00%
Average 39 15.60%
Poor 6 2.40%
Very poor 7 2.80%%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

Furthermore, an open ended question was asked to know what they liked from
employee trainings provided at WHZHO. They replied that commitment of the
trainers and their capability in delivering the training, relevance of the contents of the
programs to their profession and hence their jobs, experience sharing among the
trainees and certificates they got on some trainings organized by NGOs are what they
liked on the trainings at WHZHO.

52 
 
4.7.3 Opinions of the respondents about the impacts of the methods used in the
trainings
According to Haslinda, A. and Muhyuddin, M (2009), the learning level evaluation of
a training program aims at measuring the progress made in terms of knowledge, skills
or attitudes of the participants and therefore it can be related to the trainee’s opinion
about the methods used to transfer the knowledge, skills and attitudes. Similarly, both
managerial and non managerial respondents were asked whether the methods used in
the training programs they have participated in had any impact on their skills. Their
responses are presented in table 4.17 below.

Table 4.17 Responses of the respondents about the impacts of the methods used in the
trainings.
Item Non managerial respondents Managerial respondents
Yes No I Yes No I
don’t don’t
know know
Do the methods used F % F % F % F % F % F %
in training have any 179 71.60 71 28.40 - - 11 91.67 1 8.33 - -
impact on your
skills?

Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As it is indicated in this table around 91.67% of managerial respondents and 71.60%

of non managerial respondents replied that the training methods have a significant
impact on the skills that can be acquired from a given training while the remaining
28.40% and 8.33% of non managerial respondents and managerial respondents,
respectively, responded that the methods used in the training programs had no any
impact on the skills to be acquired from the training.

4.7.4 Assessment of the content of management training programs in WHZHO

The responses of managerial employees were sought regarding the contents of the
training programs provided to them at WHZHO were sought and their responses are
displayed table 4.18 below. As it is shown in this table, the majority of managerial
respondents replied that planning, decision making and problem solving,
communication and resource management are highly included in the training
programs they have taken so far and the other majority of the respondents indicated

53 
 
that leadership, performance appraisal and motivational are very highly included in
the training program they have taken. In general, the response related to the extent to
which the given management functions are included as appropriate and desired
management training content implies, that WHZHO’s effectiveness in incorporating
the desired and relevant content of the program. This later on helps each management
group in executing their management functions effectively and efficiently which
contributes a lot to ward achievement of ultimate value of the organization

Table 4.18 Contents of management development programs.

Items Very highly Moderately Less included Not included TOTAL
Included included
Fr Per Fr Per Fr Per Fr Per Fr Per
Planning 10 83.33% 2 16.67% - - - - 12 100%
Decision- 3 25% 4 33.33% 3 25% 1 8.33% 12 100%
making and
Problem solving
Communication 4 33.33% 6 50% 2 16.67% - - 12 100%
Motivation 2 16.67% 5 41.67% 1 8.33% 4 33.33% 12 100%
Resource 5 41.67% 2 16.67% 4 33.33% 1 8.33% 12 100%
Management
Leadership 7 58.33% 3 25% 1 8.33% 1 8.33% 12 100%
Performance 5 41.67% 1 8.33% 3 25% 3 25% 12 100%
appraisal
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

Furthermore, non managerial respondents’ overall satisfaction about the training

practices conducted at WHZHO was also assessed and their responses are organized
in table 4.19 below. As indicated in this table, 20.40% of them fell unsatisfied with
trainees’ selection criteria used in WHZHO and 43.60% of them are very little
satisfied, which indicates that there are problems in the selection criteria being used.
Regarding the instructional methods and media used to provide training services,
almost more than half of the respondents, i.e.51.20 %( 8.80%+42.40%) feel satisfied
and this may show the relevance of the training methods and media to conduct the
training programs at WHZHO. However, this should be without undermining those
(32.40%+16.40%) who are very little satisfied and not satisfied concerning the
methods and media used to provide training services. Concerning the adequacy of
training period there exists inconsistency as about 10.40% of the respondents are very
much satisfied, 26.40% satisfied, 36.40% are very little satisfied, and the remaining
27.60% of them are not satisfied. Out of the total respondents, more than the average,
69.60%%(35.60%+ 34%) are satisfied with the trainers’ capabilities and skills which
54 
 
is an indication of the zone health office’s strength in providing trainer’s with
adequate technical proficiency and skills. However, around 18.80% of the respondents
are very little satisfied while 20% are not satisfied and this can be a clue for the office
to further search for appropriate trainers. Regarding training objectives, more than half
of the respondents (55.20%=24.40%+30.80%) are satisfied, 27.60% are very little
satisfied and the remaining 21.20% are not satisfied. Concerning the appropriateness
of training facilities 17.20% of them are very much satisfied, 21.20% satisfied,
43.60% very little satisfied, and 18%are not satisfied. Moreover, 38.80% are very
much satisfied with the desired program contents, 34.80% are satisfied, 21.20% very
little satisfied and the remaining 5.20% unsatisfied.

Table 4.19 Degrees of trainee’s satisfaction about training process conducted at

Items Very much Satisfied Very little Not satisfied Total

satisfied satisfied
Freq. Per. Freq. Per Freq. Per. Freq. Per. Freq. Per.
Selection 33 13.20% 57 22.80% 109 43.60% 51 20.40% 250 100%
criteria
Training 22 8.80% 106 42.40% 81 32.40% 41 16.40% 250 100%
methods
Training 26 10.40% 66 26.40% 91 36.40% 69 27.60% 250 100%
periods’
Adequacy
Trainer’s skills 89 35.60% 85 34% 47 18.80% 50 20% 250 100%
and capabilities
Training 61 24.40% 77 30.80% 69 27.60% 53 21.20% 250 100%
objective
Appropriateness 43 17.20% 53 21.20% 109 43.60% 45 18% 250 100%
of training
facilities
Desired 97 38.80% 87 34.80% 53 21.20% 13 5.20% 250 100%
program
content
WHZHO
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

The researcher also sought the opinions of the respondents on what they like and
dislike about the training programs at WHZHO. The exposure to new trends,
confidence building, and results oriented programs, quality facilitators, good course
content all of which help staff to refresh and upgrade their knowledge for and
enhanced health service delivery made them to develop likeness for such programs.
On the other hand, what the respondents dislikes included the short duration of some

55 
 
to the courses, the ad-hoc and discriminatory criteria for selecting staff for training,
inadequacy of the training programs, late notification of participants about training
programs, and poor scheduling of training programs among others.

Table 4.20 Opinions of the respondents about the evaluation of employee training and
development programs.
No Item Non managerial respondents Managerial respondents
Yes No I Yes No I
don’t don’t
know know
1 Have you realized F % F % F % F % F % F %
any change on 203 81.2 47 18.8 - - 12 100 - - - -
your performance
after taking any
form of training
in your
organization?

2 Does your 53 21.2 137 54.8 - - - - - - -- -

organization
evaluate the
effectiveness of
employee training
program?
3 Does your - - - - - - 4 33.33 8 66.67
organization
evaluate the
effectiveness of
management
development
program?
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As it is indicated in the above table, all of the managerial respondents and the majority
(81.20%) of non managerial respondents replied that the trainings given to them at
WHZHO have brought about significant improvements on their job performance. In
line with this, the responses provided by the majority to open ended question also
revealed that the trainings have added a lot to what they have learned in colleges and
universities and hence enabled them to provide quality services to their customers.
When the respondents were asked whether the organization conducts evaluation of
employee training and development programs, the majority (54.80%) of non
managerial respondents replied that their organization do not evaluate effectiveness of
its training programs while absence of evaluation was also indicated by the responses

56 
 
replied by 66.67% of managerial respondents. Employee training and development
programs need to be followed by an effective system of review and evaluation
including the ongoing monitoring of progress, a supporting appraisal system and
keeping and maintaining of suitable training records so as to determine whether the
programs have accomplished their objectives. However, this is aspect seems neglected
by WHZHO.

Table 4.21 Opinions of respondents regarding the criteria used by WHZHO for
evaluating training and management development programs
Question/ Description Non managerial Managerial
respondents respondents
F % F %
What measurement criteria Reaction 69 27.60 1 8.33
are used in evaluating the Learning 32 12.80 2 16.60
worth of a specific Job behavior 34 13.60 1 8.33
program? Organizational impact 36 14.40 3 25
Ultimate value 79 31.60 3 25

Source: Own Survey, March 2013

As indicated in table 4.21 above, around27.60%, of non managerial respondents stated

that for evaluating the worth of a specific program, WHZHO uses reaction level
evaluation, learning 12.80%, job behavior 13.60%, organizational impact 14.40%, and
ultimate value by 31.60 %. On the other the responses of managerial respondents
indicates that organizational impact and ultimate value are the two most commonly
used measurement criteria followed by learning level evaluation as the majority of
them said, and job behaviors and reaction are also used by WHZHO to some extent.

Table 4.22. Competency of staff for service delivery from the view point of non
managerial respondents.
Question Description Frequency Percentages
How do you rate the competency of staff of your Excellent 124 49.60%
organization in terms of service delivery? Very good 39 15.60%
Good 35 14.00%
Average 39 15.60%
Poor 6 2.40%
Very poor 7 2.80%%
Source: Own Survey, March 2013

When the opinion of non managerial respondents were sought as to whether the staff
at their respective organizations had the requisite competency for their daily activities,

57 
 
79.20 %( 49.60%+15.60%+14%) of them answered positively, 15.60% rated as
average and the remaining 5% answered in the negative. This indicates weakness of
the organization in evaluating effectiveness of its training programs.

4.8 Assessment of the main challenges in Employee training and Human

Resource Development Programs of WHZHO
Data for the main challenges WHZHO faces in the implementation of its training and
development programs was collected through open-ended questions and presented
under this section. Thus, the major challenges prevailing in employee training and
human resource development programs of WHZHO, as stated by the majority of
respondents are absence of proper training needs analysis and need based plan for
conducting trainings, biased and unfair selection of trainees, and lack of support and
commitment from the management, particularly, at woreda levels as most of them do
not have employee training plan included in their annual plans. At this point what
needs to be considered is the suggestion forwarded by Mullins, L. (2005), which
stated that if training need analysis is not properly conducted, then the later training
activities may become inappropriate and organization could end up in wasting time,
resources, and also demoralizing the staff. In addition to this, respondents replied that
immediate supervisors do not involved in the selection of trainees, rather the selection
of the participants are haphazardly decided by the chief head of the woredas. Such
problems can be an indication for lack of commitment to employee training and
development on the part of the management.

Cooper, C. and Burke, R. (2006) stated that since the purpose of employee training is
to improve knowledge, skills and to change employees’ attitudes in a way that can
increase their contributions towards the realization of the organization’s overall
objectives, it needs to be considered as an integral part of the organization’s overall
strategy. In other words employee training and development programs need to be
guided by effective plan, a launching pad for designing and implementation based on
identified training needs and an effectively out lined training programs to meet those
needs. Another problematic area is in the management of educational opportunities
(training opportunities for upgrading their levels of education) provided to health
professionals. The main problem in this area emanates from the failure to follow the
clear provision provided in the directive 05/2003E.C.issued by Oromia Civil Service

58 
 
and Good Governance Bureau, to guide and manage educational opportunities of
health professionals working in the public health sector throughout the region as
complained by the majority.

Here, the directive clearly provides for employee’s pperformance appraisal results and
service years as among the major criteria up on which health professionals can
become eligible to compete for opportunities made available by the government to
support the health workforce career progression and skill development. However, the
majority of the respondents complained for lack of proper and regular performance
appraisal, both at woreda level and zone health office. Performance appraisal, as they
stated, is carried out only for reporting purposes, when the report is required by the
civil service and good governance office concerning with the implementation of
Balanced scorecard (BSC). Another time when an employee performance is also
evaluated based on subjective criteria such as proximity with the management when it
is required for making an individual eligible to compete for education opportunity in
which case performance evaluation result is considered as one of the criteria for
eligibility. This indicates that the basic objective of performance evaluation, which is
for improving employees’ performance and which will best support the identification
of training needs is ignored or undermined by the organization. However,
performance appraisal, as stated by Chandan, J. (2007), should be used primarily for
improving the performance of individuals leading to improvement in the performance
of the organization as a whole. But this aspect of performance evaluation seems
ignored by WHZHO. As it was stated by Wilson, J. (2004) no matter what the training
and development activities are to be, they need to be devised in conjunction with
overall aims and objectives of the organization and training should be neither a
punishment nor a reward. This is to mean that when the organization is providing both
time and finance then there should be a clear link between the training/development
and the organization’s objectives otherwise linking training to blame causes
demoralization and equally, the ‘‘you have done well this month, you can go on that
course is what should also be avoided as this may also render the training to be
undervalued.

Furthermore, the responses provided to open ended questions by the majority of non
managerial respondents revealed that lack of well organized data regarding employees

59 
 
who have attended the trainings that can help inform managers of the particular skills
and experiences of staff members or to help them select appropriate participants for a
given training. In addition to this, lack of guidance and follow-up from the
management after training as well as lack of training evaluation and absence of
adequate support neither from woredas nor from zone health office and lack of
favorable environment at their work place for transferring what they have learned on
the trainings on the job as the main challenges in WHZHO.

The researcher also sought the opinions of the respondents on how employee training
and development programs at WHZHO can be improved further. The respondents
suggested that in order to improve employee training and development of WHZHO,
the organization should use a clear and transparent criteria in selecting participants
and immediate supervisors and management committee should involved in training
activities, trainings provided should be supported with adequate demonstrations and
providing adequate manuals to trainees, maintaining balance between some training
contents and time allocated and if the management particularly, at woreda levels,
should provide adequate and appropriate support to trainees at woreda level may help
the organization to overcome challenges prevailing in its employee training and
development programs.

60 
 
 CHAPTER FIVE

Summary of findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

5.1 Introduction
This chapter deals with the findings of the study and draws conclusion based on the
findings that emerged. Recommendations for improving the training and development
activities at WHZHO for an improved health services delivery have also been
included in this chapter.

5.2 Summary of Findings

This study was conducted for the purpose of determining the current practices of and
prevailing challenges in employee training and development programs being
implemented in the public health sector of west Hararghe zone in Oromia region and
to suggest remedial measures for enhancing employee training and development
programs for efficient and effective service delivery. The descriptive method of
research was utilized and the normative survey technique was used for gathering data
while the questionnaire and interview served as the instruments for collecting data.
The study population was 783 health professionals currently working in four rural
woredas, one town administration, one hospital and those working in zone health
office from which 34% was taken proportionally. In addition to the questionnaires
distributed to 253 non managerial and 12 managerial respondents, interview was also
conducted with the management staff selected from woreda health offices, zone health
office and from a hospital. Thus, based on the discussions made under chapter four,
the major findings of the study are presented as follows;

5.2.1 Practices of designing and implementing employee training and

development programs
™ WHZHO has a directive to be used for guiding its training and development
programs as it was confirmed by all of managerial respondents and about
72.40% of non managerial respondents. However, the responses provided by
the majority (56.80% ) of non managerial respondents indicated that the
directive (i.e. directive number 05/2003 E.C., issued by Oromia Region Civil
Service and Good Governance Bureau) has not been communicated to them.

61 
 
 ™ As it was revealed by 75% of managerial respondents and 58.33% of non
managerial respondents, employee training and management development need
assessment is not conducted by the organization. The study also revealed
existence of irregularity in appraising of employee’s performance in public
health sector of WHZ. Here, 67(26.80%) of the respondents replied that their
performances were appraised monthly, 108(43.20%) stated that they were
appraised each quarter and 31 (12.40%) stated that their performance appraised
every six months. Furthermore, about 59.60% of non managerial respondents
replied that performance appraisal results are not used as bases for selecting
participants of the training programs. In line with this, about 62.40% non
managerial respondents replied that they do not know whether their strengths
and weaknesses are recorded by their immediate supervisors or not.
™ Furthermore, the majority (74%) of non managerial respondents replied that the
organization do not take in to consideration the views of its employees in its
training and development programs. The respondents also added that When
asked about the responsible body for selection of staff for training in their
organizations, 61(24.40%) of non managerial respondents replied that it is done
by their immediate supervisors, 13(5.20%) by human resource managers,
41(16.40%) stating it is the responsibility of management committee,
104(41.60%) of them replying that it was carried out by chief executives of the
office and the rest, 32(12.80%) did not know by whom employees are selected
for the training, which can be a clue for the absence of fair and rational
selection criteria. In line with this, the interview conducted also revealed that
the role of human resource management is not well recognized in WHZHO.
™ With regard to long term trainings, WHZHO has a detailed plan and it was also
included in its annual plan but the organization do not have plans for short term
trainings. As it was revealed in the interview conducted with the heads of two
departments (human resource management head and planning department head)
at zone health office, such trainings are handled separately at departmental
level based on the plans prepared by region health bureau in collaboration with
the funding donors.
™ The study also revealed that lecture and video presentation, case study,
conference/workshops, simulation, programmed instructions, and
apprenticeship are mostly used training methods in WHZHO. As it was

62 
 
 revealed through questionnaires and an interview conducted, the organization
has competent trainers for administering trainings (particularly, for short term
trainings) provided at zone level.
5.2.2 Mechanisms used for evaluating employee training and development
programs.
As it was revealed by an interview conducted with the management staff from
five woredas health office and with the head of human resource management
department of a hospital and three persons from west Haraghe zone health
office including head of human resource management department, evaluation
of the training programs of WHZHO starts from the beginning while the
programs are in progress by assessing opinions of the participants to know
how they feel regarding the significance of the program to their jobs, their
participation during sessions, their satisfaction with the way in which the
session is managed and the timing of the sessions. They also stated that pre
and post tests are used, sometimes on trainings programs financed and
organized by some NGOs.
Furthermore, about 62.80% of non managerial respondents and 75% of
managerial respondents stated that the trainings were very much relevant to
their current job and tasks. The majority of the respondents also rated the
quality of the training programs they have participated in at WHZHO
positively. In line with this, all of managerial respondents and about 81.20% of
non managerial respondents replied that the trainings they received at
WHZHO have enabled them improve their performances.
5.2.3 The major challenges in employee training and development programs of
WHZHO.
The responses replied by 54.80% of non managerial respondents and about
66.67% of managerial respondents indicated that WHZHO do not evaluate its
training programs. The other challenges prevailing in employee training and
development programs include; absence of need analysis and need based
employee training programs and absence adequate follow up by zone health
office and , biased and unfair selection criteria and failure to involve
immediate supervisors in selection of trainees, lack of regular performance
appraisal scheme, absence of well organized training data, and lack of proper

63 
 
 guidance, lack of staff involvement in training decisions, and lack of support
from the management after training particularly at woreda and hospital levels.
5.3 Conclusions
Based on the major findings, the following conclusions are drawn by the researcher
focusing on the strength and weakness of WHZHO with respects to the practices of
employee training and management development programs.

The research revealed that there is a written directive (directive number 05/2003)
issued by Oromia Civil Service and Good Governance Bureau to be used by all health
offices and facilities concerning the short term and long term trainings provided to
health professionals throughout the region. However, most of the respondents to the
questionnaire are not clear with this directive as it was not effectively communicated
to them by the organization. Regarding employee training and development need
assessment, the research revealed that the organization do not conduct need
assessment. In addition to this there exists irregularity in appraising employees’
performance and the performance appraisal results were not used as a basis for
selecting employees for trainings provided by WHZHO and as it was confirmed by
the majority of the respondents, employee’s strengths and weaknesses are not
recorded by their respective supervisors as a result trainees are not clear with as to
which bases are used by the organization in selecting an employee for a given
training. Thus, lack of transparency in this respect is the major problem of the
organization that majority of the employees are complaining.

Furthermore, both zone health office and woredas do not have plans for managing the
short term trainings (in-service trainings) provided at zone health office and such
trainings are handled separately, at departmental level based on the plans prepared by
region health bureau in collaboration with the funding donors. This later on inhabits
the organization from evaluating the effectiveness of the program. Thus, the study
revealed that employee training and development procedures at WHZHO cannot be
described as conforming to standard practices. With regard to the capability of
WHZHO to deliver training programs, it was found that the organization has
competent trainers for administering trainings (particularly, for short term trainings)
provided at zone level.

64 
 
In addition to these, post training evaluation has not given much consideration by
WHZHO, although it is a means for determine whether the training accomplished its
objectives or not. Most of the time reaction and leaning level evaluation was used
while the program is going on and at the end of the programs. Finally, the research
identified lack of general support and commitment from the management, absence of
involvement of immediate supervisors in selecting trainees, lack of well organized
training data and generally lack of conducive environment particularly at woreda and
hospital leveles are among the major challenges prevailing in employee training and
development programs of WHZHO. This in turn may be a bottle neck for
transferability of the skills and knowledge learned on the trainings and may result in
inconsistency in the application of the knowledge and skills learned.

5.4 Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study and conclusions made, the following
recommendations are forwarded to alleviate or at least to minimize the currently
encountered problems by WHZHO in relation with employee training and
development programs.
¾ The management of public health sector of west harangue zone has to pay greater
attention to their human resources because improving the delivery of health care
services mostly depends up on the ability of the organization to maintain
consistency between available competencies and the needs of the services.
¾ The organization(WHZHO) have to make its employee trainings and
development programs be governed by plans prepared in advance based on a
proper need assessments and should use clear and fair selection criteria. There
should be an objective assessment of training needs and effective system of
review and evaluation including the ongoing monitoring of progress, a
supporting performance appraisal system and maintaining suitable training
records which will help the management to select appropriate trainees for a given
training program.
¾ Furthermore, all the woredas and hospitals found in west hararghe zone should
strictly adhere to the directive issued by Oromia region Civil Service and Good
Governance Bureau (directive number 05/2003) particularly for long term
trainings associated with educational opportunities provided to health workers at
universities and public health colleges.

65 
 
 ¾ Performance and organizational level evaluations should also be exercised by
WHZHO so as to increase the effectiveness of the programs to be implemented
as this will also help the trainees to get feedback for their improvement and
efficiency, and help the organization to determine whether the training
accomplished its objectives or not.
¾ Finally, the management of woreda health office and hospitals should create
favorable environment for the transfer of the skills and knowledge learned in the
training by providing adequate support by immediate supervisors, management
support, even using some incentives for encouraging employees to use learned
capabilities on their jobs.

66 
 
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Annex I

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT(Masters Program)
Questionnaire filled by non-managerial health workers

Dear Respondent,

This questionnaire has been designed to solicit information for purely academic
purposes, to enable the researcher Mohammed Beker, a final year student of
Ethiopian Civil Service University, Institute of Public Management and Development
Studies, Department of Public Management (Masters Program), carry out his thesis on
the topic; - Assessment of Human Resource Training and Development, practices and
Challenges in Public Health sector: The case of West Hararghe Zone, in partial
fulfillment of a requirement for the award of a Master of Public Management degree.
Hence, to gather information, I kindly request your assistance in responding to the
questions listed below. Any information you present will be kept absolutely
confidential and will only be used for academic purpose. Your cooperation and
prompt response will be highly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Mohammed Beker
(Graduating student)
General Guideline:
Please put “√” inside the box for those questions that are followed by choices and
write your short and precise answers for those followed by blank spaces (i.e. open
ended questions).Your valuable support in responding to the questions raised is of
paramount importance to the success of the study. Hence, I ask you in all regard to fill
the questionnaire carefully and at your best knowledge. The quality and quantity of
information you provide will determine the ultimate reliability of the output of this
study. If you have any additional comments or ideas, please feel free to use a blank
paper.
N.B:
1. You don’t need to write your name.
2. The student researcher has scheduled to get the filled questionnaire back within
three days.
3. All information given would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

1 
 
A. Personal data

1. Sex:
A. Female B. Male

2. Age: (in years)

A.Less than 25 C. 36 to 40

B.25 to 35 D.41 to 50

E. 51 to 60 F. 61 and above

3.Educational background:

A. Diploma

B First Degree
C. Second Degree
D. Other Specify ______________________________________
4. Your field of specialization for you highest educational status_________________
5. Service years in this organization
A. Less than 3 years C. 5 to 7 years
B. 3 to 5 years D. more than 7 years
B. Knowledge and awareness of Human Resource Training and Development
Programs
6. Does your organization have Training and Development Policy?
i) Yes ii) No
7. If your answer for Q6 is yes, has the policy been communicated to you?
i) Yes ii) No
8. What was the medium used in communicating this to you? (Multiple answers are
possible)
i) During recruitment iii) During promotion
ii) Formal briefing iv) Seminar
v) By hear say
vi) Other (Specify)………………………………………………………………..

2 
 
9. How would you rate your understanding of the Human Resource Training and
Development policy of your organization?

Excellent iv. Average

Very good V.Poor
Good
C. Human Resource Training and Development Practices at WHZHO
10. How often is your performance appraised?
i. Monthly ii. Quarterly
iii. Every six months iv. Once a year v. Never
vi. Other (specify)…………………………………………
11. Do you think performance appraisals are used in selecting staff for training?
A. Yes B. No
12. If your answer to the Q11 is ‘No”, what criteria is used in selecting staff for
training?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..................
13. Do you know whether your job strengths and limitations are documented by your
supervisors?
i) Yes ii. No
14. Are your views sought on Human Resource Training and Development programs
at WHZHO?
A. Yes B. No
15. In your organization, who is responsible for selecting employees for training?
A. Immediate supervisor B. Human resource managers
C. Management committee D. Chief executives of the office
E. It is not known
16 Which of the following types of employee training program have you taken so far?

A. On the job
B. off- the – Job
C. Both

17. What are the methods being used for facilitation at the training you have attended?

3 
 
A. Lecture  B. Demonstrations
C. Discussions D. Presentation
E. Group Work
F. Other __________________________________________________________

B. The major challenges of the training and development programs of western

Hararghe zone public health sector

18. Do you believe that individual’s training is the critical factor in increasing
organizational performance?
A.Yes B. No

19. How relevant were the trainings you received to your work?
i). Very relevant ii) Relevant
iii) Not sure iv) Not all relevant v ). Not
relevant
20. How will you rate the quality of the training programs you have participated in?

i. Excellent ii. Very good iii. Good

iv. Average v Poor vi. Very poor

21. To what extent are you satisfied with respects to the following factors which are
partsof employee training processes?

N.B The factors are not mutually exclusive mmultiple answers are possible
Very much Satisfied Very little Not
satisfied satisfied satisfied
Selection criteria
Training methods
Training periods’ Adequacy
Trainer’s skills and capabilities
Training objective
Appropriateness of training
facilities
Desired program content
22. What do you like about the training programs at WHZHO? ----------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23. What do you dislike about the training programs at WHZHO? ------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 
 
24. Do the methods used in training have any impact on your skills?

i) Yes ii. No
25. How do you rate the competency of staff of your organization in terms of service
delivery?

a. . Excellent b. Very good c. good.

d . Average e. poor e Very poor

26. Have you realized any change on your performance after taking any form of
training in WHZHO?
A. Yes B. No
27. If your answer for question No.25 is yes, please explain.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

28. Does your organization plan for and evaluate the effectiveness of its training and
development efforts each year?

A. Yes B. No C. I do not know

29. If your answer for question No.28. is yes, what measurement criteria are used in
evaluating the worth of a specific program?
A. Reaction D. Organizational impact
B. Learning E. Ultimate value
C. Job behavior
F. Others (if any) …………………………………………………………………..
30. In your opinion, what are the real problems that you observe regarding human
resource training practices of your organization?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

31. In what ways do you think Human Resource Training and Development at
WHZHO can be improved?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

5 
 
 Annex II

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (Masters Program)
Questionnaire filled by management staff

Dear Respondents,

This is a study to assess Human Resource Training and Development, practices and
Challenges in Public Health sector: The case of West Hararghe Zone. It is in partial
fulfillment of a requirement for the award of Masters Degree in Public Management
and to gain practical knowledge on the topic under investigation and hence to provide
a stepping stone to other prospective researchers, who may be interested to carry out
further investigation in this area. I would be very grateful if you could help answer
this questionnaire for me. This is purely for academic purpose and your responses will
be treated with the strictest confidentiality and anonymity.I would like to express my
sincere appreciation and deepest thanks in advance for your generous time and frank
and prompt responses.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Mohammed Beker
(Graduating student)

General Guideline:

Please put “√” inside the box for those questions that are followed by choices and
write your short and precise answers for those followed by blank spaces (i.e. open
ended questions).Your valuable support in responding to the questions raised is of
paramount importance to the success of the study. Hence, I ask you in all regard to fill
the questionnaire carefully and at your best knowledge. The quality and quantity of
information you provide will determine the ultimate reliability of the output of this
study. If you have any additional comments or ideas, please feel free to use a blank
paper.
N.B:

1. You don’t need to write your name.

2. The student researcher has scheduled to get the filled questionnaire back within
three days.
3. All information given would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

1 
 
A: Background of Staff

1.Sex:

Female

Male

2. Age: (in years)

A. Less than 25 B.25 to 35

C.36 to 40 D.41 to 50

E.51 to 60 E.61 and above

3. Educational background:

A. Diploma B. First Degree

C. Second Degree

D. Other Specify ……………..…………………………….

4. Your field of specialization for you highest educational status_________________

5. Service years in this organization

A. Less than 3 years B. 3 to 5 years

C. 5 to 7 years D. more then 7 years

B. Knowledge and awareness of Human Resource Training and Development

Policy

6. Does your organization have a written management development policy?

A Yes B. No C. I do not know

7. How would you rate your understanding of the Human Resource Training and
Development policy of your organization?

A. Excellent B. Very good

C. Good D. Average E. Poor

8. Were training need assessments made before any training was implemented?

A. Yes B. No C.I don't know

9. Does your organization analyze managers development needs periodically?

A Yes B. No C.I do not know

2 
 
10.Which of the following technique(s) for identifying your organization’s
management development need analysis is /are being used?

A. Organizational analysis B. Task (job) analysis C. Person analysis

11. Do you know the bases on which employees are selected for training?

A. Yes B. No

12. If your answer for question No 11 is yes, please explain the basis

_____________________________________________________________________

13. Which of the following types of employee training program have you taken so far?

A. On the job B. off- the – Job

C. Both

14. Which of the following on- the- job types of employee training program have you
taken so far?

A. Job instruction training B. Job rotation

C. Apprenticeship D. Coaching

E. All of the above

F. Mention others (if any) ______________________________________________

15. Which of the following off- the -job types of employee training program have you
taken so far?

A. Lecture and video presentation B. Vestibule training

C. Case study D. Simulation

E. Self study and programmed learning

F. Mention others (if any)_______________________________________________

16 .Which of the above method(s) are frequently employed by WHZHO and why?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

17. Please indicate on the following instructional method and mediamostly used in
management training programs you have taken.

A. Lecture B. Conference

C. Self study and Programmed learning D. Case study method

3 
 
E. Role playing and behaviour modelling F. In basket exercise

G. Management games H. all of the above

I. Mention others (if any) ________________________________________________

18. Do you believe that individual’s training is the critical factor in increasing
organizational performance?

A. Yes B. No

19. To what extent the contents of the training you have taken are relevant for your
current Job.

A. Highly relevant B. Moderately relevant

C. Less relevant D. Not relevant

20. To what extent the following topics have been included in the training programs
that you have participated so far?

Very highly Moderately Highly Less Not

Included included included included included

Planning
Decision-making and
Problem solving
Communication
Motivation
Resource Management
Leadership
Performance appraisal

21. Do the methods used in training have any impact on your skills?

i) Yes ii. No
22. What are the methods of facilitation at the training you have attended?

A. Lecture B. Demonstrations

C. Discussions D. Presentation

E. Group Work

F.Other_______________________________________________________________

23. Does your organization evaluate the effectiveness of management development

program?

A. Yes B. No C.I do not know

4 
 
24. If your answer for question No.22 is yes, what measurement criteria are used in
evaluating the worth of a specific program?

A. Reaction B. organizational impact

C. Learning D. Ultimate value

E. Job behaviour

F. Others (if any) _______________________________

25 Have you realized any change on your performance after taking any form of
training in WHZHO?

A. Yes B. No

26. If your answer for question no.12 is yes, please explain.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

27. What do you suggest to the organization in relation with management

development programs vis-à-vis strength and weakness?

Strengths

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Weaknesses

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

28. In what ways do you think Human Resource Training and Development at
WHZHO can be improved?

5 
 
 Annex III
ETHIOPIAN CIVIL SERVICE UNIVERSITY
Institute of Public Management and Development Studies
Department of Public Management (Masters Program)

Interview questions

Dear Respondent,

This interview has been designed to solicit information for purely academic purposes, to
enable the researcher-Mohammed Beker, a final year student of Ethiopian Civil Service
University, Institute of Public Management and Development Studies, Department of Public
Management (Masters Program), carry out his thesis on the topic; - Assessment of Human
Resource Training and Development, practices and Challenges in Public Health sector:
The case of West Hararghe Zone, in partial fulfillment of a requirement for the award of a
Master of Public Management degree. Hence, to gather information, I kindly request your
assistance in responding to the questions listed below. Any information you present will be
kept absolutely confidential and will only be used for academic purpose. Your cooperation
and prompt response will be highly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Mohammed Beker
(Graduating student)
N.B:
1. You don’t need to write your name.
2. All information given would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

1 
 
1. Your position _____________________________________

2. Service Year _____________________________________

1. Does WHZHO have Human Resource training and development policy?

2. Has the policy been communicated to all the staff in the WHZHO, and what was the
medium used.
3. What procedures guide the training of staff at WHZHO and how is the program being
implemented?
4. How your organization tries to integrate human resource functions to support HRD
system of the corporation?
5. How training and development needs determined? How does your organization try to
incorporate employees’ interest in training and development programs?
6. What is your base for selecting appropriate trainees for appropriate training from
Woredas and Hospitals?

7. Does WHZHO have the right trainers who have adequate technical proficiency and
skills for the right trainees? And who are the potential trainers?
8. What factors do you consider in selecting instructional methods and media for
training and development program?
9. What are the methods employed for developing management abilities and providing
opportunities for non managers?
10. Does your organization include employee training and development programs in its
annual plan? Is training and development of staff related to organizational objectives?
How?
11. How do you evaluate training and development program to verify the success of the
program?
12. What mechanism do you use to check out that knowledge and skills gained from
course works or training programs are transferred to actual work?
13. Do you think the methods used so far in the human resource training and development
programs have achieved the desired results?
14. What challenges does your organization face in implementing its Human Resources
training and development plan?
15. How do you think human resource training and development at WHZHO can be
improved?

2