Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

THE EFFECIVITY OF TRAINING AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ON JOB PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT ROYAL DISTRICTS OFFICES IN

Ho Siew Hoong (RMP) Sabah , Malaysia

Syed Azizi Wafa Syed Khalid Wafa School of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Datu Razali Datu Eranza School of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This study provides an insight into the human respurce practices in training and skills development, and the effects to job performance of the officers in Royal Malaysia Police (RMP). The interest of the study was generated based on the Royal Commission Report that outlined issues facing RMP; lack of training and development planning, weaknesses in recruitment as lack of efficiency profile assessment and lack of emphasis on ethical and integrity assessment, the absence of strategy and comprehensive programme for human resource management and development, and the lack of Human Resource Planning. Hence, the study attempted to investigate the relationship between training and skills developemtn with job performance, and the moderation effect of age and education level to the former relationships. The research objective was researched by quantitative approach, by using questionnaire as the main instrument. 278 samples were randomly selected and snowbally collected. The findings suggested that training and skills development programme of RMP were significantly affecting the job performance of the officers, and the relationships are moderated by educational level of the individuals.

Keywords: Training, Skills Development, and Job Performance.

INTRODUCTION

The Royal Malaysian Police, referred as RMP is a centralised organization with responsibilities ranging from traffic control to intelligence gathering. The main functions of Royal Malaysian Police is as stated in Section 3(3) , as the Force shall subject to this Act be employed in and throughout Malaysia are: maintenance of law and order, preservation of the peace and security of Malaysia, prevention and detection of crime, apprehension and prosecution of offenders and, the collection of security intelligence.

In 2005, the Royal Commission released a report, detailing some problems and challenges facing the force. The Royal Commission report, Chapter XIII stated that Royal Malaysia Police should focuses on the enhancement of Human Resource Management and Development as to increase the job performance. Some of the ineffectiveness of Royal 1

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

Malaysian Police as reported in the Commission Report is related to the weaknesses of management system and the less-effective strategy in developing one hundred thousand officers in the service, which can be categorized into: (1) Lack of Training and Development, (2) Weaknesses in recruitment as lack of efficiency profile assessment and lack of emphasis on ethical and integrity assessment, (3) The absence of strategy and comprehensive programme for human resource management and development, and (4) Lack of Human Resource Planning. Hence, this study attempted to investigate the relationship between training and performance, skills and development, and whether or not age and education level moderate the relationships of training and skills development, with job performance. The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) has a performance system based on the system designed by the Malaysian Public Service Department (PSD). The senior police officers’ performance appraisal system involves the process of work target setting, assessment of behaviour and job performance within a stipulated period. Pursuant to guidelines, the work targets are established in January following discussions and agreement between the first rating officer and the subordinate. The first rating officer is required to guide their subordinates to set work targets and to complete the annual work target. The appraisal process involves two- way interaction between the subordinate and the supervisor. The standard of work achievement will be measured based on cost, quantity, quality, and time (Public Service Department, 2002). Mid-term review on the accomplishment of those objectives is held in June/July and at the end of the evaluation period. The supervisor must inform the results of the appraisal report to the appraise.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Job performance is the level of an individual’s contribution to accomplish organizations goals (Campbell, 1990), and as activities related to organization’s goals (Borman and Motowiidlo, 1997). The relationship between skills development and performance is the employee in the organization acquired certain skills provided by the organization to empower and train them so that the entire employees skill are improved. This two-way action creates a relationship between the employee and management. Employee responsibility is to be the maximum performance engine for the production of product or services to satisfy the organizations goals to achieve Delbridge (2001). Prickett (1998) reports that London University’s survey of graduates found that over 90% expect their employer to help in their development. While, Holbeche (1998) found that one-third of her sample of high fliers would leave if they could not broaden their skills. This means offering these talented employees training to keep them current on their job function and allowing them to learn new skills can also utilized to improve employee satisfaction and performance with the organization. Training can and should be a powerful agent to facilitate a firm’s expansion and the development of its capabilities, thus enhancing profitability (Cosh, 1998). The human capital in the organization will be more loyal towards their employer and provide extra effort to ensure the growth and performance of the organization, which is never ending. Manu, J.S. (2004) stated that training is used as a management tool to develop skills and knowledge as a means of increasing an employee’s and ultimately an organization’s performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. Employee development is another management tool. This tool is used to enhance the skills and ability, which the employees need to be able to move along with the organization to pursue a career in line with its advancing needs. Not only is management’s commitment to the training and development of its employees an attempt to improve product quality and service delivery, but also a way to make the employees feel valued and as part of the organization. It can raise the employee’s morale 2

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

and encourage their commitment to the organization. A well-trained workforce can produce better jobs, be creative, and have higher motivation, which in the long term enhance the organization’s productivity.

According to Rothwell (1984) and Majchrzak (1988) training is one of the common problems in the introduction of technological change in an organization. Organizations underestimate the importance of skills needed for new technology. Decision making concerning investing in new technology are often made on assumption that the skills needed for the new equipment are available or will be easy to obtain. Although training and other human resource issues may arise during the innovation, they are often not conducted in commitment. Futhermore, Manu, J.S. saying that training and development is essential to organizations which seek to gain a competitive advantage through a highly skilled and flexible workforce, and are seen as a major element to high productivity and quality performance. A skilled workforce can increase productivity by producing a higher level of work with greater value. A skilled workforce can improve a firm’s operative flexibility as they will be easier to retrain due to their broad knowledge base of multi-skills. This allows management to be confident in using new technology and provide employers with progressive adjustment to change in production methods, produce requirement and technology. In today’s competitive climate, “efficient production even of technically unsophisticated products benefits from technically advanced machinery operated by a workforce with a high level of skills” which in turn “a pre-condition for successful selective of appropriate machinery and its efficient utilization” (Steedman & Wagner, 1989).

Employee performance had been discussed among human resource scholars and practitioners since long time ago, considering employees are valuable capital in the organisations. Similarly, training and development as a component of human capital development had been attracted attention for ages. Previous study found out number of positive impact of training and development on employee performance and other aspects related to workplace matters. For instant, Zheng et al (2007) findings on training practices of multi-national companies in Asia show that employee training is viewed as an essential element in enhancing innovation, creating new knowledge and increasing productivity. Such findings are in accordance with the theories developed earlier that training and development enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes for example, on a study in Eritrea, 2007, employees iterate that training has a great impact on job satisfaction and performance, ability to do job, a motivation to work and future employment prospects. As cited in Zheng et al (2007), scholars and researchers of human resources development field generally agree that to continuously improve and maintain the capability of human capital it is essential to invest in human capital through education and training (Lucas, 1988). Training and development had been referred by Laird (1990) which the definition views training as a means of individual to achieve a standard capabilities. Berge (2002) emphasize that increased need for improved employee performance requires more efficient ways to identify, recruit and improve the training and development of workforce. Khandekar and Sharma (2005) advocate that human resource development can play a very important role in impacting human resource performance. Therefore, by recognizing, developing, and utilizing the employee performance is significantly proved as a source of sustainable competitive advantage.

Literature shows that training and development is considered as one of the most important issues for human resource management (Nikandrou, 2005) and had been widely reviewed due to its roles in ensuring the survival of an organization in the rapidly changing 3

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

environment. Those organizations which fail to manage training and development efficiently and effectively will be out-dated. This is related to the notion that the changing in organizational environment caused by enhancement of new technologies, globalization, new policies, political and economical development as well as new market demand. The key skills and competencies required to adapt to a changing marketplace must be driven, not by traditional precedent, but by current and future strategic requirements (Guinn, 2000). In today’s global market, organizations are surrounded by competitors and challenged by changes. The increasingly volatile organizational environment demands a re-thinking of training and development. Kelly (2003) urges that training in organization should be more informal than it would be in more traditional organizations. In other hand the impact of the rate of change on today’s organization means that the skills on today might be not the skills required for tomorrow. Hence, it is imperative that organization truly leverage employees as a competitive capital to gain competitive advantage. To accomplish this undertaking, Hooi (2007) highlights the importance of investments in human capital development through the provision of training and development, which would enhance employee’s competencies and satisfaction and also improve performance.

Bambrough (1994) warns that the role of training and development is a crucial part of any organization and the importance of that role will increase. For this reason, spending on training and development will remain relatively constant. Training and development is one of the most important ways that skills, knowledge and ability of a trainee can be enhanced and in turn, performance can be improved. The training field has been called by many different names. Among them are education, development, employee education, staff development, personnel development, in-service education, human resource development, human performance technology, human performance improvement, organization development, human performance enhancement, workplace learning and performance and, learning and performance (Rothwell, 2005).

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Framework

The research framework was designed to examine the relationship of training and skills development and its influence on job performance among the police personnel in Sabah Contingent.

TRAINING

PERFORMANCE

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

AGE

EDUCATION LEVEL

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Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

Research Hypotheses

The hypotheses constructed for this research as follow: H1: There is a significant relationship between training and performance of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah H2: There is a significant relationship between skills development and performance of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah H3: Age moderates relationship between training and performance of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah H4: Education level moderates relationship between training and performance of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah H5: Age moderates relationship between skills development and performance of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah H6: Education level moderates relationship between skills development and performance of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah

Research Analyses and Unit of Analysis

The analyses involved for the research are factor analysis, reliability analysis, and regression analysis, with hierarchical regression analysis. The unit of analysis in this study are individuals in Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) personnel in Sabah. The study focused on the police officer’s who are below grade 41 at Sabah Contingent.

Sampling Design

Total population of 650 sample population who are below grade 41 in Sabah Contingent (resource by Bahagian Perjawatan, Ibu Pejabat Kontinjen (IPK) Sabah), purposive sampling was used, specifically judgement sampling. A total of 400 questionnaire has been distributed to the RMP officers in Sabah basically from Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Penampang and Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) . The number of distributed questionnaire is exceeded the requirement of the sample size which is about 278 for 650 population.

Questionnaire Design

Sections Items Scale A Age, gender, length of service, and education level of the Nominal respondents B1 Adapted from Robert, and Chonko (1994). Likert scale 5 – strongly agree to 1 – strongly disagree B2 Adapted from Barton, and Delbridge (2001) Likert scale 5 – strongly agree to 1 – strongly disagree C Adapted from Scott A. and Daniel J. (1999) and Robert P., Likert scale 5

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

Kevin E. and Penelope C. (2003) 5 – strongly agree to 1 – strongly disagree

FINDINGS

Profile of Respondents

A total of 400 questionnaires have been distribute to the respondents in RMP officers in Sabah from IPD Penampang and IPD Sandakan. During the collection data, the researcher can manage to get 320 feedback from the respondents and after screening process, only 294 questionnaires can be used for this dissertation. 294 responses were stored in the survey database in which all 294 questionnaires were answered completely.

Table: Demographic Profile of the respondents

Item Profile Description Frequency Percentage (%) 1 Gender Male 159 52.8 Female 135 44.9 2 Age From 20 years to 30 103 34.2 years From 31 years to 40 113 37.5 years From 41 years to 50 41 13.6 years From 51 years to 60 37 12.3 years 3 Length of Service in 1 to 5 years 147 48.8 Royal Malaysian 6 to 10 years 98 32.6 Police 11 to 15 years 12 4.0 16 to 20 years 9 3.0 21 to 25 years 15 5.0 26 to 30 years 13 4.3 4 Designation 132 43.9 Lance 108 35.9 Corporal 20 6.6 Sergeant 13 4.3 Sergeant Major 15 5.0 Sub 6 2.0 5 Department General Duty 63 20.9 Crime Department 13 4.3 45 15.0 MPV Unit 26 8.6 Traffic 57 18.9 Commercial Crime 64 21.3 Logistic 26 8.6 6 Qualification SRP 8 2.7 6

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

SPM 122 40.5 STPM/DIPLOMA 95 31.6 DEGREE 69 22.9

Table: Reliability Test Analysis No. Variables Cronbach’s Number of items N of Items Aplha deleted 1 Training 0.745 - 5 2 Skill Development 0.929 - 7 3 Performance 0.645 - 7 4 Age and Educational Level 0.883 - 2

Hypotheses Results

Hypotheses Statements Result H1 There is significant There is a significant relationship (p<0.05) between relationship training (B=-.144, t=-2.491, p=0.000) and performance. between training Thus, hypothesis H1 is accepted and it was concluded and performance that Royal Police Malaysia (RMP) officers who were of the Royal Police experiencing training will had effect on their job Malaysia (RMP) performance. H2 There is significant The result shows there is a significant relationship relationship (p<0.05) between skill development (B=0.062, t=1.056, between skill p=0.000) and performance. Thus hypothesis H2 was development and accepted and it was concluded that high level of skill performance of development among the RMP officers had effect on their Royal Malaysian job performance. Police (RMP) H3 Age moderates Age as a moderator did not moderate the relationship relationship between training and performance with the significant between training (p<0.05) B= -0.079, t= -0.871 and p=0.384. Thus and performance hypothesis H3 was rejected and it was concluded that of Royal Malaysian age of individual level had no effect training and Police (RMP) performance among RMP officers.

H4 Educational level Educational level as a moderator did moderates the moderates relationship between training and performance with the relationship significant (p<0.05) B= 1.070, t= 1.353 and p=0.001. between training Thus hypothesis H4 was accepted and it was concluded and performance that the educational of individual had effect on role of the Royal training and performance among RMP officers. Malaysian Police (RMP) H5 Age moderates Age as a moderator did not moderate the relationship relationship between skill development and performance with the between skill significant (p<0.05) B= 0.097, t= 1.091 and p=0.276. development and Thus hypothesis H5 was rejected and it was concluded performance of the that age of individual had no effect on skill development

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Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

Royal Malaysian and performance among RMP officers. Police (RMP) H6 Educational Level Educational level as a moderator did moderate the moderates relationship skill development and performance with the relationship significant (p<0.05) B= 2.344, t= 2.919 and p= 0.000. between skill Thus hypothesis H6 was accepted and it was concluded development and that educational level of individual had effect on skill performance of the development and performance among RMP officers. Royal Malaysian Police (RMP)

Training and Skills Development

The results indicate that training has a significant relationship with performance based on the data collected in this study. Meanwhile, the B value for both hypothesis H1 showed that this significant relationship is positively related. Therefore, it can be concluded that high training will cause high performance among Royal Police Malaysia (RMP) officers in Sabah. The findings supported literature which has recognized the finding Piercy et al. (1998) concur that managers rated training as one of the most important factors in improving employee performance and Leigh (1987) added that training enhances learning for employee to reach more satisfactory performance levels in less time consumed than learning through direct experience only. According Walker et al. (1977) and Anderson et al. (1995) saying that training may increase the employee knowledge base and skill level, resulting in higher performance. In this study, the result proposed that there is a significant relationship between skill development towards performance. This finding did support previous literature which has identified training as one of the factor that influences job performance among Royal Police Malaysia (RMP) officers in Sabah.

Age and Educational Level

Age has no significant effect as a moderator on training to performance and skill development to performance. Therefore, level of age did not give an effect towards the independent and dependent variable. Therefore, either young or old police officers did not give a relationship on their performance based on the level of training and level of skill development.

Educational level has a significant effects ad a moderator on training to performance and skill development to performance. By looking at the findings, high level of qualification of the officer will give an positive relationship towards the independent variable to dependent variable, whereby high qualification will moderate the high training and impact to the high performance and high educational level also moderate high skill development and impact to the high performance among the officers.

Limitations

The scope of study is being limited to only 2 places which is IPD Penampang and IPD Sandakan, and it is not include all the IPD’s in Sabah. Therefore, the total respondents that given a feedback for this study only a small percentage out of 19 IPD’s in Sabah as a

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Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

generally, and this study may only represent not from the whole group of RMP in Sabah, and the result cannot be generalized at present. The questionnaire used for this study was adopted and modified from previous researcher and was considerably long (a total of questionnaire is 30 questions). As responding is a voluntary process there is always the risk that the respondents would get bored and leave the questionnaire half done, or would succumb to central tendencies. Moreover, comprehension of the respondents (to the questions) and accuracy of their answer (whether they simply selected due to length of the questionnaire) cannot be determined. Other than that, the questionnaire can be differently understood especially among the lower rank officers and most of the respondents holding only STPM or DIPLOMA qualification education. Since it was self reported the probability of misperception much higher, which affect the true reality of the respondents.

Recommendations for Future Research

For the purpose of future research it is strongly suggested that the research must take into consideration certain issues as the followings: 1. Bigger sample must be taken into in the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) in Sabah and moreover in this study only 294 respondents have been evaluate in the data out of 4500 total of officers in Sabah, 2. Based on the hierarchal regression analysis, as moderator (age) did not explain the relationship between independent variable towards the dependent variable, , there is still room for futher improvement. There are other moderator (eg: gender or position) to the training and skill development – performance relationship which could be identified and underlying relationship need to be further looked into as to create a more accurate model.

Conclusion

Every staff for every company was an assets in order to achieve the company vision, mission, target and their goal. Therefore, every single of human capital in that particular organization has a role to ensure their job performance will affect positively in the organization. In order for Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) to be give their services to the citizen and country, every officer in the RMP need to know what are their roles and how to achieve the best performance for the organization. By considering training and skills development among the important aspect that influence the job performance especially in the highly competitive world today, it is one of the best variables to measure the officers performance. Under this environment, this study aimed to discover the important elements that will contribute towards RMP officers performance, with hopes that the findings will be informative and helpful to these organizations in positioning themselves in this country. Analyzing and improving from previous studies by other researchers, this study measured two variables (independent variables), one variable (moderator) and one dependent variable (performance) among Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) in Sabah. Surveys were conducted by manually. From 400 questionnaires have been distribute, 320 completed questionnaires were obtained. After screening process, only 294 questionnaires can be used for this study. It was concluded statistically that both independent variables (training) is significant. One of the moderator which is age, does not moderate relationship between independent variables and dependent variables, hence for educational level moderator has significant relationship between independent variables towards dependent variable. As the study was conducted under some limitations. Hence the conclusions of this study ought to be interpreted

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Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

cautiously. Despite the fact that findings were found to be comprehensive and reflective, there is still room for further improvements for future studies.

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Robert, J., Lapidus, R. and Chonko, L. 1994. An exploratory examination of situational variables, effort, and salesperson performance, Journal of marketing Theory and Practice pg. 70-93.

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