ZAMBIA CENTRE FOR

ACCOUNTANCY STUDIES

BY DR ALVERT N NG’ANDUEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ZCAS

29TH APRIL, 2016

• Mr Johan Hattingh, Chief Executive Officer,

PMR.africa,

• Senior Government Officials Present,

• Fellow Chief Executive Officers from various

Institutions,

• Senior Management Team of PMR.africa Present,

• Fellow Invited Guests,

• Ladies and Gentlemen.

• Singularly honoured and privileged to have been requested todeliver the keynote speech on the occasion of the PMR.Africa2016 Industry Awards.

• Especially grateful for the special recognition personally andfor ZCAS.

• Appreciate and especially thank the organisers of thisfunction, PMR.africa, for inviting all of us to witness theresults of their 2015 industry survey.

• And thanks to the Senior Industry Executives present here forsparing time from their very busy schedules to grace thisoccasion.

• I Acknowledge the fact that as busy BusinessLeaders, sparing time to be at this event is anindication of the significance you attach to thisoccasion.

• I know that these awards set bench marks forothers to aspire to and everybody should beinspired to perform better not just for theawards but much more so that we can contributeto the development of our country.

MY CHOSEN TOPIC:

“EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PRODUCTIVITY - RUMINATIONS FOR

THE ZAMBIAN WORKPLACE”

The case for investing in education and training asvehicles for improved productivity and consequently,national development.

A cursory review of the literature.

Some thoughts on what lessons there might be for theZambian workplace and policy makers.

• The concept of education for sustainable developmenthas been adopted as an important policy internationally.

• One of the key aims of development is to boosteconomic growth.

• The quantity and quality of human resources areimportant contributory factors to economic success.

• The educational and training system has an importantrole to play in economic development.

• Education and development are intricately linked: education can

lead to development, and development constantly makes new

demands on education. But how does a nation's education

system relate to its economic performance?

• Globalization and international trade requires countries and their

economies to compete with each other.

• Economically successful countries will hold differing

competitive and comparative advantages over other economies.

• A successful economy has a workforce capable of operating

industries at a level where it holds a competitive advantage over

the economies of other countries.

• To achieve competitive advantage, nations may try incentivizing

training through tax breaks and write offs, providing facilities to train

workers, or a variety of other means designed to create a more skilled

workforce.

• Although other factors are certainly in play, differences in training levels

have been cited as a significant factor that separates rich and poor

countries.

• Staff training has implications for the employer and the employee

relating to the cost of training, effect on productivity, remuneration

issues, job prospects and who bears the cost of training.

• In this address, our concern is with the implications on national

economies.

• In the context of this address, “education” refers to

primary though secondary to post secondary (including

universities, technical and vocational) levels education.

• Research has established that a country's economy

becomes more productive as the proportion of educated

workers increases, since educated workers are able to

more efficiently carry out tasks that require literacy and

critical thinking.

• However, obtaining a higher level of education also

carries a cost.

• To remain competitive in an increasingly globalised world requires

that nations maintain their comparative advantage in having a highly

skilled labour force.

• Workers not only need to be skilled, but also adapt fast to change.

• On-the-job training and education are therefore important sources of

long-term competitiveness and means of adjustment.

• Providing basic skills is mostly the responsibility of general education

systems but changing education provision is often time consuming.

• Thus, firms or workers can instead make up for any skill shortfall by

engaging in training.

An enterprise’s success depends on having trainedemployees.

General training raises a worker’s future productivity notonly in the firm providing it, but also in other firms in thelabour market.

Specific training raises the worker’s productivity only in thefirm providing it and is clearly associated with turnover.

Research evidence suggests that countries that increasethe level of education of their workforce see greaterproductivity.

• Lack of education and training can create a variety ofproblems for the workplace:

1. Unhappy Employees – as a result of low morale

2. Low production - The rate of production is low when employees

don't know enough to perform their jobs confidently.

3. Unsafe work environment - untrained workers are more

susceptible to injuries.

4. Increased Expenses – increase in miscellaneous expenses

5. Loss of Customers – poor quality of products and poor

customer service

• Well-trained employees:

1. Are more capable and willing to assume more control over their

jobs.

2. Need less supervision, which frees management for other

tasks.

3. Are more capable to answer the questions of customers, which

builds better customer loyalty.

4. Complain less, are more satisfied, and are more motivated.

5. increase sales, quality and customer satisfaction.

6. Positively impact labour turnover and financial performance

indicators.

7. Exhibit less absenteeism.

• Clearly, Employees can contribute to the

success of an enterprise when they are

trained to perform their jobs according to

industry standards.

• However, some companies consider in-

depth training an unnecessary expense and

expect new employees to learn on the job

from supervisors and older employees.

Shall we produce more university graduates if better-payingjobs for university graduates are not available?”

“Shouldn’t the country focus on attracting higher-skilledjobs instead of creating more skilled workers who shallleave the country to find work?”

In the workplace, increased supply can actually help tocreate its own demand (stimulates labour demand by atleast two-thirds the supply increase).

“If you educate them, jobs will come,” though nationalstrategies to increase the demand for skilled workers mayalso be needed.

Training and education are

important but not sufficient for

productivity growth. How much (if

any) impact training has depends on

the accompanying product and

production strategies of the

organization in which the training takes place.

• Over-education is the “underutilization ofworkers’ education and/or skills”.

• It affects enterprise output through itsinfluence on worker job satisfaction which isrelated to firm output.

• Research has shown that over-education is

negatively and significantly related to job

satisfaction which is positively and

significantly related to output.

• Barriers to training are factors that either restrictopportunities for training or, if training is available, theyraise the perceived costs of training or reduce the benefitsof training making it more likely that an offer of training isrejected. Three main types:

1. Situational barriers: Barriers associated with a person’s situation in

situation in life at a given time e.g. being too busy at work, financialconstraints, family responsibilities or lack of child care, language,health problems, lack of relevant education, insufficient ability.

2. Institutional barriers: Barriers associated with established practices

practices that exclude or discourage participation in training e.g. hightraining fees, entrance requirements, limited course offerings,inconvenient times or locations, ageist attitudes of employers.

3. Dispositional/or psychological barriers: Barriers

attributable to negative attitudes and opinions towards

learning or negative perceptions of oneself as a

learner.

Note: All three types of barriers to

training raise the perceived or

actual costs associated with

training.

• The knowledge and skills of workers (brought on throughschool education as well as training) available in the laboursupply is a key factor in determining both business andeconomic growth.

• Countries can build a strong foundation for economic successand shared prosperity by investing in education and training

• Inadequate investments in education and training weaken theability of an economy to develop, grow, and attract businessesthat offer high-skilled, high-wage jobs.

• On average, a trained worker is likely to be 5-20% moreproductive than an untrained worker.

• Participating in training, and lifting the education

level of the workforce, raises an establishment’s

survival chances:

o establishments are more likely to survive if they employ

more educated labour.

• underutilization of workers’ educational skills

affects output adversely. Part of the success of

Japan might be due to its ability to more fully

utilize its educated labour.

• Zambia can learn from the available body of

research knowledge in an effort to achieve

competitive advantage for economic growth.

1. Enterprises must not cut back on training. Rather,

they should continue to invest in training and

development.

2. Employers must improve their hiring policies

attempt to identify those candidates more

take advantage of the skills and knowledge

through training.

3. For Zambia, the current economic crisis and the deterioratingemployment prospects of university graduates put greater pressureon educational institutions to respond to the demands of the labourmarket. Thus, institutions of learning and training need to considerchanges in their orientation and programmes so that graduates arebetter prepared to meet the needs of employers.

4. While training and education are important, they are not sufficientfor productivity growth. Enterprises must consider theaccompanying product and production strategies of theorganization in which the training takes place.

5. Employers must guard against credentialism, the “paper disease” or“paper qualifications syndrome” which will not necessarily improveproductivity as the qualifications are not acquired to achieve betterknowledge and skills for the workplace.

3.

6. policy implications for dealing with barriers to

training:

i. lack of confidence, fear of, or resistance to training

could be addressed by adopting particular training

methods that are suited to specific groups of workers.

ii. Training providers need to ensure that prospective

trainees can realistically expect tangible benefits from

that training that translate into incentives to train e.g.

by making the purpose of training clear, closely linking

training to specific employment opportunities.

• ZCAS has over the last twenty eight years heavily

invested its resources (Financial and Human) without

any Government Financial support in its training and

education infrastructure.

• The Centre has evolved and transformed to become an

Educational Institution with a high reputation of training

excellence in the region.

• ZCAS is currently partnering with International and Local

Universities and Professional Bodies in delivering world

class Education and Skills Development in the 21

professional and academic programmes in Accountancy,

Business, Law and ICT on offer.

• I extend an invitation to you all, especially theprivate sector, to partner with us at ZCAS for abetter tomorrow, a better Zambia and a goodfuture for the citizens of Zambia.

• My message today is that national enthusiasm fordevelopment will be misplaced if Zambia does notplace its money where its mouth is with regard toeducation and training development.

• Zambia must deliberately invest in education andtraining of its citizens as no one else will do it forus!!