EFFECTS OF TRAINING ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A CASE [PDF]

EFFECTS OF TRAINING ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF UNITED NATIONS SUPPORT OFFICE FOR THE AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA

BY

GITHINJI ANGELA

UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

SUMMER 2014

EFFECTS OF TRAINING ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF UNITED NATIONS SUPPORT OFFICE FOR THE AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA

BY

GITHINJI ANGELA

A Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Executive Master of Science in Organizational Development (EMOD)

UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

SUMMER 2014

STUDENT’S DECLARATION I, the undersigned, declare that this is my original work and has not been submitted to any other college, institution or university other than the United States International University in Nairobi for academic credit.

Signed: ________________________

Date: _________________________

Githinji Angela (ID 612882)

This research project reporthas been presented for examination with my approval as the appointed supervisor.

Signed: ________________________

Date: _________________________

Nyambegera Stephen M, PhD

Signed: _______________________

Date: _________________________

Dean, Chandaria School of Business

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COPYRIGHT All rights reserved; no part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express written authorization from the writer. Githinji Angela © 2014

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ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of training on employee performance among the international civil servants.The study was guided by the following research questions; What is the role of training on employee engagement?What is the role of training on employee motivation?What is the role of training on employee job satisfaction? A survey research design was used for this study.The survey design was appropriate for this study because it allowed investigation of possible relationshipsbetween variables as well as data collection from broader category and comparisons between variables.The study population was 144 staff of the United Nations Support Office for the African Mission in Somalia. A sample of 45 was drawn using random stratified sampling approach from a list of sample frame provided by the employee register at UNSOA. The data was collected by use of a questionnaire.The data analysis involved frequencies, means, percentages, analysis of variance and bivariate analysis in form of cross tabulations. The findings were presented using Tables and figures. On the role of training on employee engagement the study showed that in general training enhances employee engagement in change processes. As a measure of engaging in change process, the top level management and non-management management staff were more likely to be induced in taking new tasks after undergoing training compared to those in the middle level management. Similarly training most likely motivates the top level to be committed to taking initiatives in helping other employees. This case may not apply for the middle level management and the non-management staff. Secondly the study also showed that training enhances employee engagement in innovation. Thirdly, the study showed that training enhances better performance among employee and lastly the study showed thattraining enhances employee enthusiasm to work. On the role of training on employee motivation the study showed that training enhances employee motivation as it allows for employee recognition within the organization. Likewise training aligns employees to the organizational goals at UNSOA. On the other hand training enhances positive leadership traits in the organization’s leaders. Lastly training facilitates motivation for work performance.

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On the role of training on job satisfaction the study showed that training enhances staff/supervisor/customer relationships at work. Though the level of conviction that training improves relationships with supervisor declines from the top level management, followed by middle level management and finally for the non-management staff. Further the study showed that training enhances the scope of the respondents’ ability to use their own initiatives and skills at work. Despite the findings the study has also shown that there is declining trend in the level of conviction that training enhances employee performance by influencing job satisfaction from the top level management to the non-management staff members. Lastly the study revealed that training imparts positively on the work activities. The study concludes that training influences employee performance by positively influence employee engagement to change process; innovation; better performance and enhance enthusiasm to work. It further concludes that training enhances employee performance by positively influencing employee motivation level through employee recognition; alignment to organizational goals; positive leadership traits; and motivation for work performance. Finally training enhances employee performance by influencing positively job satisfaction by enhancing staff/supervisor/customer relationships at work; the employee’s ability to use their own initiatives and skills at work; opportunities for pay and promotion; and by influencing the work activities. The study recommends that training should be conducted time to time to ensure that employees have the necessary engagement to change processes, innovation; better performance and job enthusiasm for enhanced employee and organizational performance. It also recommends that the management of UNSOAneeds to ensure training strategies are not only aligned to productivity but also to enhancing employee motivation for superior performance. Further UNSOAmanagement needs to evaluate its training strategies with respect to job satisfaction to ensure that the effects are uniformly attained across the organization. Finallythe study only focused on the international civil servants at UNSOA. Other studies on different populations and at different time zones would be welcome to ensure strong empirical conclusions on how training impacts on employee training.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge my supervisor Nyambegera Stephen M., PhD for his continued guidance throughout the project. His time and thought provoking insights was very much appreciated.

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DEDICATION To my loved ones for their support.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS STUDENT’S DECLARATION ........................................................................................ii COPYRIGHT ....................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................ vi DEDICATION..................................................................................................................vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................................viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xi LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................xii CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................ 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background of the Problem........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................... 5 1.3 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................. 7 1.4 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 7 1.5 Importance of the Study ............................................................................................. 7 1.6 Scope of the Study...................................................................................................... 8 1.7 Definition of Terms .................................................................................................... 8 1.8 Chapter Summary....................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................. 10 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 10 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 10 2.2 Training programs and Employee Engagement ....................................................... 10 2.3 Training and Motivation........................................................................................... 14 2.4 Training Programs and Job Satisfaction................................................................... 17 2.5 Chapter Summary..................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER THREE ......................................................................................................... 24 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 24 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 24 3.2 Research Design ....................................................................................................... 24 3.3 Population and Sampling Design ............................................................................. 24 3.4 Data Collection Methods.......................................................................................... 26 viii

3.5 Research Procedures .................................................................................................... 26 3.7 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................ 27 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................ 28 4.0 RESULTS AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 28 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 28 4.2 Demographics of the Respondents ........................................................................... 28 4.3 The Role of Training on Employee Engagement ..................................................... 32 4.4 The Role of Training on Employee Motivation ....................................................... 39 4.5 The Role of Training on Employee Job Satisfaction ............................................... 46 4.6 Chapter Summary..................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................. 54 5.0 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................ 54 5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 54 5.2Summary ................................................................................................................... 54 5.3 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 55 5.4 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 60 5.5 Recommendations .................................................................................................... 62 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 64 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 70 Appendix A: Cover Letter .............................................................................................. 70 Appendix B: Questionnaire ............................................................................................ 71

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AMISOM

African Union Mission in Somalia

UN

United Nations

UNPOS

United Nations Political Office for Somalia

UNSOA

United Nations Support Office for African Mission in Somalia

UNSOM

United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia

UNSSC

United Nations Systems Staff College

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LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Sample Size Distribution……………………………………………..………26 Table 4.1: Training and Employee Engagement in Change Process…………………….33 Table 4.2: ANOVA for Training and Employee Engagement in Change Process………33 Table 4.3: Cross Tabulation for Management Level…………………………………….34 Table 4.4: Training and Employee Engagement in Innovation………………………….35 Table 4.5: ANOVA for Training and Employee Engagement in Innovation……………36 Table 4.6: Training and Employee Engagement for Better Performance………………..36 Table 4.7: ANOVA for Training and Employee Engagement for Better Performance….37 Table 4.8: Training and Employee Enthusiasm………………………………………….37 Table 4.9: ANOVA for Training and Employee Enthusiasm……………………………38 Table 4.10: Training and Employee Recognition………………………………………..40 Table 4.11: ANOVA for Training and Employee Recognition………………………….40 Table 4.12: Cross Tabulation for Recognition versus Education Level………………….41 Table 4.13: Training and Organizational Vision…………………………………………42 Table 4.14: ANOVA for Training and Organizational Vision…………………………...42 Table 4.15: Training and Leadership Style………………………………………………43 Table 4.16: ANOVA for Training and Leadership Style………………………………...44 Table 4.17: Training and Work Itself…………………………………………………….45 Table 4.18: ANOVA for Training and Work Itself………………………………………45 Table 4.19: Work Relationships………………………………………………………….47 Table 4.20: ANOVA for Work Relationships……………………………………………47 Table 4.21: Cross Tabulation for Management Level versus Work Relationships………48 Table 4.22: Scope of Using Own Initiative and Skills…………………………………...49 Table 4.23: ANOVA for Scope of Using Own Initiative and Skills……………………..49 Table 4.24: Pay and Promotion Potential………………………………………………...50 Table 4.25: ANOVA for Pay and Promotion Potential………………………………….51 Table 4.26: Cross Tabulation for Pay and Promotion Potential………………………….51 Table 4.27: Work Activities……………………………………………………………...52 Table 4.28: ANOVA for Work Activities………………………………………………..53

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Gender of the respondents…………………………………………………...28 Figure 4.2: Management Position of the Respondents…………………………………...29 Figure 4.3: Respondents’ Department……………………………………………………29 Figure 4.4: Age Group of the Respondents………………………………………………30 Figure 4.5: Highest Level of Education of the Respondents……………………………..30 Figure 4.6: Frequency of Training……………………………………………………….31 Figure 4.7: Training Attended in the Last 12 Months……………………………………31

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CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Problem There are different ways of defining the term training. It may be defined as a systematic development of the knowledge, skills and behaviour required by employees to do adequately on confirmed task or job (Shaheen, Naqvi& Khan, 2013) or simply learning that is provided in order to improve performance on the present job (Amin et al., 2013). On the other hand Elnaga and Imra (2013) define employee training as programs that provide workers with information, new skills, or professional development opportunities. It can take place in numerous ways, on the job or off the job; in the organization or outside organization. Regardless of the view, the term training draws elements of acquiring new knowledge to help manage both current and future situations. An ever rapidly changing business environment therefore demands for a lifelong learning as an essential coping strategy. Business environments change from time to time which calls for continuous upgrading of employee skills and capabilities to improve on their job performance, growth and the ability to adapt to the rapidly changing economic environments for the organization to remain competitive (Amin et al., 2013). Pfeifer, Janssen, Yang and Backes-Gellner (2011) support this by saying that next to schooling, human capital accumulation after entry into the labour market is considered key to economic performance at both themicro and the macro level. Further Elnaga and Imra (2013) posit that to develop the desired knowledge, skills and abilities of the employees, to perform well on the job, requires effective training programs that may also effect employee motivation and commitment. Elnaga and Imra (2013) further argue that in order to prepare their workers to do their job as desired, organizations provides training so as to optimize their employee’s potential. They note that most of the firms, by applying long term planning, invest in building new skills by their workforce, enabling them to cope with the uncertain conditions that they may face in future, thus, improving the employee performance through superior level of motivation and commitment and when employees recognizes their organization interest in them through offering training programs, they in turn apply their best efforts to achieve 1

organizational goals and show high performance on the job. Hence training is therefore critical in achieving an elastic workforce which is motivated and committed (Amin et al., 2013). Despite these positive outcomes of training, some scholars have argued differently. For example Brum (2007) while acknowledging that training has been used extensively by organizations as a competitive strategy, notes that there is significant varying debates among professionals and scholars as to the effect that training has on bothemployee and organizational goals. He posits that one school of thought argues that training leads to an increase in turnover while the other states that training is a tool that can lead to higher levels of employee retention but regardless of the school of thought, most professionals agree that employee training is a complex human resource practice that can significantly impact a company’s success. The effect of training on employee and organizational performance may be both direct and indirect. Sahinidis and Bouris (2008) notes that directly the role of training programs is seen as a measure of improving employee capabilities and organizational capabilities i.e. when the organization invests in improving the knowledge and skills of its employees, the investment is returned in the form of more productive and effective employees. While indirectly they highlight that as companies train their employees so as to enable them to handle both current and future issues, the training can lead to high levels of motivation and commitment by the employees, who actually see the opportunity they are given hence the appreciation of the investment their organization is making in them andis shown in their hard work and their contentment in being a member of such an organization. Employee engagement may be seen as employees’ willingness and ability to help their company succeed, largely by providing discretionary effort on a sustainable basis and may be affected by many factors which involve both emotional and rational factors relating to work and the overall work experience (Markos&Sridevi, 2010). Agyemang and Ofei (2013) defines employee engagement as the positive, effective psychological work-related state of mind that leads employees to actively express and invest themselves emotionally, cognitively, and physically in their role performance. They posit that engaged employees work harder, are more likely to go above the requirements and expectations of their work and also tend to feel that their work actually positively affects their physical and psychological well-being. 2

On the other hand job satisfaction is viewed as the extent to which people like or dislike their jobs (Adesola, Oyeniyi&Adeyemi, 2013). There are different aspects of job satisfaction, e.g. satisfaction with achievement, pay, job security or work itself (Burgard&Görlitz, 2011). Adesola et al. (2013) posit that job satisfaction is considered a strong predictor of overall individual well-being while Rizwan et al. (2012) explains that employee satisfaction relays on interpersonal skills, work place, pay, promotions, trainings and relations with co-workers. They continue that these factors bring positive feelings about that job ensuing from assessment of its uniqueness. Hence an employee among a high job satisfaction holds encouraging feelings about the work which enhances individual and organizational performance. Motivation is very important from an organizational point of view because it transforms human resources into action (Saeed&Asghar, 2012). They continue to say that this improves the efficiency level of the employees and it leads to achieving organizational goals. In this way motivation is an internal feeling that comes from inside i.e. when employees are motivated towards their jobs, they are motivated to do more work. For this reason, it is necessary to provide such a workplace to the employees so that they feel motivated and perform better and better. Therefore motivation may be viewed as those psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed (Kreitner&Kinicki, 2006). Asim(2013) summarises that employees in any sector are the real assets of the organization and if they are motivated they perform their duties with full honour and dedication, they become fully loyal with it and are hence considered as a human capital of the organisation. Employee job performance shows the individual behaviours that contribute to achieving organizational objectives. In this context job performance shows effectiveness and efficiency that make a payment to organizational goals. Saeed and Asghar (2012) hold that employee performance principally depends upon many factors like performance appraisals, employee motivation, employee satisfaction, compensation, job security, organizational structure and others. In Kenya Wachira (2013) linked employee training and development activities to business growth in Barclays Bank. She posits that training and development activities have been used by the bank to ensure that it had well-grounded staff to support the growth agenda and as a result, many of her employees got opportunities to take on higher 3

responsibilities as well as being able to in achieving the best in all areas of their professional and personal lives. This was supported by a study by Otuko, Chege and Douglas (2013) looking at the effect of training dimensions on employee’s work performance with a focus on Mumias Sugar Company. The study indicated that there was a positive and significant effect between training needs assessment; training contents and employee performance in Mumias Sugar Company Limited. The general assembly of the United Nations [UN] also acknowledges the need for a competent, engaged and motivated staff. For example, the introduction to the UN Handbook on Competencies (2009) posit that in ‘Building the Future’, the organization’s greatest strength—and the key to success—is the quality of staff and managers. Hence to capitalize on this strength, the organizations need to create an organizational culture achievable through employee training and environment that enables staff to contribute to their maximum potential. This has seen a creation of training programs to stimulate increased employee productivity and performance (UN, 2010). Considering people as the most valuable resource, the United Nations established the United Nations Systems Staff College with a mandate of providing the skills and knowledge to empower staff so as to contribute to a more effective, results-oriented and agile United Nations through learning, training and knowledge dissemination (UN Systems Staff College ([UNSSC], 2014).Through its programmes and services, the UNSSC assists UN organizations and their staff to develop the skills and competencies needed to meet the global challenges faced by the UN. The training programmes range from residential workshops, seminars, and formalized training courses to coaching and mentorship. The United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia (UNSOA) was established pursuant to the Security Council Resolution 1863 on January 06, 2009 with a mandate to help the Security Council to achieve its overall objective, namely, to continue to provide a logistical support package for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) (United Nations Political Office for Somalia [UNPOS], 2014). In addition, resolution 2102 (2013) places UNSOA as part of the integrated framework of UN Assistance Mission in Somalia [UNSOM] and authorizes UNSOA to provide the former with administrative, technical and logistical support. The range of support comprises all services, including administrative services such as personnel, finance, 4

procurement, contract management, budget and training; construction and maintenance of office and accommodation facilities; health care; the establishment and maintenance of a communications and information technology infrastructure; air, sea and surface transport operations; supply and resupply operations and the provision of security services operation-wide (UNPOS, 2014). This mandate is achievable through a frame work of employee knowledge empowerment to handle the dynamic situations on the ground. 1.2 Statement of the Problem The recognition of the importance of training in recent years has been heavily influenced by the intensification of competition and the relative success of organizations where investment in employee development is considerably emphasized (Sultana, Irum, Ahmed and Mehmood, 2012). Training is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of staff that is technically and socially competent and capable of career development into specialist departments or management positions. There is therefore a continual need for the process of staff development, and training fulfils an important part of this process (Sultana et al. 2012). Despite the strong assumptions that workplace training influences employee outcomes (e.g. motivation, commitment, withdrawal behaviour and work performance), there is a limited number of studies in field settings addressing these issues empirically (Dysvik and Kuvaas, 2008). These sentiments are supported by Burgard and Görlitz (2011) who argued that non-monetary returns to training are less often examined in the empirical literature. Similarly Agyemang and Ofei (2013) argue that despite employee engagement and employee commitment and their determinants received a great deal of attention in the last decade in academic circles, the concepts remain new with relatively little academic research conducted on them especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore most studies on the subject of training and how it impacts on employee and organizational performance are majorly confined to the developed world within the context of individual countries and organizations raising the question on whether their findings can be generalised to other sectors, countries and the developing world. More explicitly, Dysvik and Kuvaas (2008) based their study which explored alternative relationships between training opportunities and employee outcomes in the Norwegian service organizations. The study showed that the relationship between perceived training opportunities, and both task performance and citizenship behaviours were fully mediated, 5

and that the relationship between perceived training opportunities and turnover intention was partially mediated by employee intrinsic motivation. Sahinidis and Bouris (2007) based their study which aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived employee training effectiveness and job satisfaction, motivation and commitment on employees and lower managers, on five large Greek organizations. The study indicated that indicating that there is a significant correlation between the employee perceived training effectiveness and their commitment, job satisfaction and motivation and high correlations were found between the latter three variables. Further Shaheen, Naqvi and Khan (2013) focused on visualising the importance of training for school teachers at the district of Kotli Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistani and in analysing its relationship between training and teachers’ performance. They found out a significant and positive association between training and organization performance. The research work by Adesola, Oyeniyi and Adeyemi (2013)examined the relationship between staff training and job satisfaction among Nigerian banks employees with special reference to the selected banks in Osogbo metropolis. In East Africa, most scholars have focused primarily on established commercial institutions as case studies in an attempt to highlight the relationship between staff training and employee performance. Jagero, Komba, and Mlingi (2012) used DHL and FedEx courier companies that operate in Dar es Salaam Tanzania as their case study; Wachira (2013) Barclays Bank Kenya; Otuko, Chege and Douglas (2013) Mumias Sugar Company Kenya; Neo (2000) East African Breweries Limited. There lacks sufficient empirical evidence regarding the impact of staff training on the international civil servants based in Kenya. More specifically studies focusing on the newly established UNSOA. In all these studies reviewed, the estimation framework does not allow taking time variant and unobserved factors into account. Though their findings might matter in a crucial way since the findings may apply in some situations, it is not clear whether these results would uniformly persist for other countries and sectors as well all classes of employees which present a knowledge gap. Hence the motivation to explore the relationship between employee training and performance in the United Nation Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia (UNSOA) for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in the current study. 6

1.3 Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of training on employee performance among the international civil servants. 1.4 Research Questions The study was guided by the following research questions 1.4.1 What is the role of training on employee engagement? 1.4.2 What is the role of training on employee motivation? 1.4.3 What is the role of training on employee job satisfaction? 1.5 Importance of the Study The study findings aresignificant to the following stakeholders; 1.5.1 UN Human Resources Management The Human Resources Management of the UN common system would be interested in finding out if training programs affect the performance of the employees. In addition, the Human Resources Management would find out how these training programs generally affect employees motivation and satisfaction. The findings of this study would be useful, not only to the United Nations Human Resources Management in meeting the long term needs of the international civil servant, but also to other organizations that carry out similar training programs and their relevance in the dynamic job market. 1.5.2 The Employees/International Civil Servants The international civil servants would want to know what training programs are available for them on the onset of joining the United Nations given that the United Nations has a unique operating system. Also, the employees would also have the chance to express their views and prove their relevance to their job situation. 1.5.3 Academicians and Researchers There could be a number of academicians and researchers who would like to know what training programs are available in the unique operating system of the United Nations and their relevance and sustainability in the ever changing job market.

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1.6 Scope of the Study The study population included the 144UNSOA’sstaff members based in Kenya. The data collection was within a period of two weeks between May 19, 2014 and May 30, 2014. The study was confined to the responses of the local employees of UNSOA due to ease of accessibility. The role of time variation and contextual variations (country, organization and respondents) could not be underestimated in influencing the finding outcomes. Hence the data collection was limited to a period of 11 days to limit time based opinion variations. The study scope; values, ethics and competencies of the respondents may also present a bias. For this reason, the respondents were assured of confidentiality to enhance response rate and truthfulness in answering the questions. Finally, it is not possible for any single study to cover every aspect of a particular topic and this study is no exception. 1.7 Definition of Terms 1.7.1 Training These are programs that provide workers with information, new skills, or professional development opportunities (Elnaga&Imra, 2013). 1.7.2 Employee Engagement Employee engagement is the positive, affective psychological work-related state of mind that leads employees to actively express and invest themselves emotionally, cognitively, and physically in their role performance (Agyemang&Ofei, 2013). 1.7.3 Job Satisfaction The extent to which people like or dislike their jobs (Adesola, Oyeniyi&Adeyemi, 2013) 1.7.4 Motivation Viewed as those psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed (Kreitner&Kinicki, 2006) 1.7.5 Employee Performance This is the measure of output vis-a-vis the input. It shows effectiveness and efficiency that make a payment to organizational goals and may depend upon many factors like performance appraisals, employee motivation, employee satisfaction, compensation, job security, organizational structure and others (Saeed&Asghar, 2012). 8

1.8 Chapter Summary The chapter gave a background on the subject of employee training. It has highlighted both advantages and disadvantages of employee training on both the employee and the organizational performance. The chapter has also presented both the contextual and theoretical knowledge gaps as well as the motivation for the current study. The following chapter will explore the literature review on the subject. Chapter three will present the research methodology that is the research design, population of study, data collection and analysis methods to be used. Chapter four will offer the findings of the study while chapter five will present a summary, discussion, conclusions and recommendations from this study.

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CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This chapter presents a review of the literature on the topic of effects of training and relevance of training programs on employee job satisfaction, a case study of training programs at the United Nations. The chapter is structured on the basis of the research questions. The first section reviews literature on the effects of the training programs available. Sections on the effects of training programs on employee performance and selfesteem will follow respectively. The chapter will end with a summary of the aspects covered under the literature review and a brief introduction to the next chapter. 2.2Training programs and Employee Engagement The level of employee engagement at the workplace defines the extent to which they derive job satisfaction. According to Spector (1997), the level of satisfaction varies from one individual to another, depending on the job itself, the person’s personality and past experiences. There are some researchers who study employee’s performance as an overall variable whereas others consider its different dimensions (Bryson, Cappellari&Lucifora, 2004). The general attitude that people have about their job defines job satisfaction. 2.2.1 The need for Employee Engagement Employee engagement is the extent to which employee commitment; both emotional and intellectual exist relative to accomplishing the work, mission and vision of the organization(Schmidt et al., 1993). Employee engagement is a part of employee retention. It integrates the classic constructs of job satisfaction (Schmidt et al., 1969) and organizational commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991).Engaged employees care about the future of the company and are willing to invest discretionary effort (Seijts, Gerard &Crim, 2006). Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them, which results in higher retention levels and productivity levels and lower absenteeism. When reliably measured, positive employee engagement can be casually related or correlated to specific business outcomes by workgroup and job type (Robinson, Dilys&Hayday, 2003). An engaged employee is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interest. Engagement can be seen as a heightened level of ownership where each

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employee wants to do whatever they can for the benefit of their external and internal customers, and for the success of the organization as a whole (Lockwood, 2007). According to Spreitzer (1995), engagement has four dimension: meaning (sense of purpose), competence (self-efficacy), feelings of self-determination (feelings of control) and impact (belief that one’s efforts can make a difference).There is clear evidence that high level of employee that high level of employee engagement keenly correlates to individual, group or corporate performance in areas such retention, turnover, productivity, customer service and loyally. Some of the distinct advantages of engaged employees included better performance and more motivation; higher organizational profitability; and higher staff retention rate. Additionally, higher engaged employees are associated with the company and its products and services, and contribute to bottom line business success. Competitive engagement environment creates a sense of loyalty, provides a high energy working environment and engaged employees serve as a brand ambassador of the organization. These advantages emanate from the fact that there will be emotional attachment and retention. Employees who are actively engaged in their jobs work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They help move the organization forward and they believe they can positively impact quality of their organization’s products (White, 2010). Engages employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them and demonstrate a willingness to recommend the organization to others and commit time and effort to help the organization succeed (Konrad, 2006). Furthermore, employee engagement has the potential to create involvement and commitment by workers. This high-involvement will produce superior performance. In addition, workers in the high involvement organization show more positive attitudes including trust organizational commitment and intrinsic enjoyment of their work (Konrad, 2006). Employee engagement levels have a direct impact on employee performance and consequently on the company’s bottom line. Engaged employees use their talent and strengths effectively at work every day to deliver high levels of performance consistently. At the same time, employees who are not engaged, not only erode the bottom line with their lack of productivity, they also foster negativity at every opportunity, thus impacting team performance (Konrad, 2006).

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It has been routinely found that employee engagement scores account for as much as half of the variance in customer satisfaction. Studies have statistically demonstrated that engaged employees are more productive, more profiTable, more customer focused, safer and less likely to leave their employer. Employees with the highest level of commitment perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organization which indicates that engagement is linked to organizational performance (Lockwood, 2007). 2.2.2Elements of Employee Engagement The organizations which believe in increasing employee engagement levels concentrate on the four key elements: First is culture. This consists of a foundation of leadership, vision, values, effective communication, a strategic plan and HR policies that are focused on the employee. Secondly, Commitment is defined as the foundation of engagement. Employees with high level of organizational commitment are willing to exert considerable effort for the organization and make discretionary contributions. The third element of engagement is co-operation. This encompasses positive relationship among employees within a group. It is the inherent willingness of individuals working in a team to pull in the same direction and achieve organizational goals. The final element is ‘taking responsibility’. This is usually associated with feeling empowered. Taking initiative and responsibility to become a part of the solution is an important ingredient of engagement. For an employee to display loyalty towards his organization, the first thing he needs to do is take responsibility. Employees who feel empowered have a sense of belonging and excitement about their jobs, they feel engaged at an emotional level and are willing to give their best all the time (Larsen &Diener, 1992) 2.2.3 Measuring Employee Engagement Employee engagement is usually manifested in outcomes such as change in attrition rate, growth in productivity and business and employee referrals. Measuring such behaviours may give an indication of the level of engagement. There are different methods used for measuring employee engagement manifestations, including interviewing individuals or groups in person, by telephone or through webinar conferencing, to get data relevant to employee engagement (Campbell, 1990). Some companies use focus groups to get perception, suggestions or feelings about employee engagement as the information gathered is qualitative and discussions are focused. Some utilize surveys containing a series of specifically designed questions 12

intended to collect appropriate data from a particular group (Scarlett, 2010). In using the surveys, high engagement would led to positive result in five key areas; a positive attitude towards and pride in the organization, belief in the organizations products/ services, a perception that the organization enables the employee to perform well, a willingness to behave altruistically and be a good team player and an understanding of the bigger picture and a willingness to go beyond the requirements of the job (Robinson, Perryman &Hayday, 2004). 2.2.4 Strategies for Improving Employee Engagement Recent research has focused on developing a better understanding of how variables such as quality of work relationships and values of the organization interact and their link to important work outcomes (Harter, Frank, Schmidt & Keyes, 2003). There are range of factors such as communication, performance, clarity and feedback, organizational culture, rewards and recognition, relationship with managers and peers, career development opportunities and knowledge of the organizations goals and vision, that are thought to increase overall

engagement and which, if well managed can effectively improve

engagement levels of employees (Brady, 2008). An employee perception of job importance is one of the drivers of engagement. According to a study by (Seijts&Crim 2006), an employee’s attitude towards the job and the company, have the greatest impact on loyalty and customer service than all other employee factors combined. Actions need to be taken to positively influence these perceptions (Richard &Deci, 2000). Employee clarity of job expectations is another of such drivers. If expectations are not clear and basic materials and equipment is not provided, negative emotions such as boredom or resentment may result. Therefore, the employee may become focused on surviving more than thinking about how he can help the organization succeed (Hay Group, 2002). Career advancement and improvement opportunities are a third driver of employee engagement. If this is coupled with regular feedback and dialogue with staff, engagement is sure to increase. Feedback is the key to giving employees a sense of where they are going but many organizations are remarkably bad at giving it (Lockwood, 2007). Engagement is also driven by the quality of working relationships with peers, superiors and subordinates. If employees’ relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade the employees to perform at top levels. Employee 13

engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss (Richard &Deci, 2000). Employee engagement is also driven by effective internal employee communication which conveys a clear description of ‘what’s going on’. Those who are far away from the action and know little about what is happening are usually disengaged. In the worst case, employee annexation can be very destructive when the head office, attributes the annex’s low engagement, there is poor performance as a consequence of its poor communications (Kahn, 1990). The reward to engage is another factor. An incentive to reward good work is a tried and tested way of boosting staff morale and enhancing engagement. Organizations can employ a wide range of tactic to ensure their incentive scheme hits the mark with the workforce such as: setting realistic targets, selecting the right rewards for your incentive program, communicating the scheme effectively and frequently, have lots of winners and reward all achievers, encouraging sustained effort, present awards publicly and evaluate the incentive scheme regularly (Robinson, Perryman &Hayday, 2004). Perceptions of the ethics and values of the organization, or inspiration and values are the last and probably the most important of the six drivers of engaged performance. Inspirational leadership is the ultimate perk. In its absence, it is unlikely that organizations will create meaningful engagement among employees (Schneider, Hanges& Smith, 2003). 2.3 Training and Motivation According the Robbins (1989), many people view motivation as a personal trait. Studies have however revealed that motivation is as a result of interaction between an individual and the situation. Individuals differ in their basic motivational drive. Finchman and Rhodes (1996) also define motivation as the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals conditioned by the efforts and ability to satisfy some individual need. The three key elements are effort, organizational goals and needs. Effort is a measure of the intensity put in by the individual. A motivated individual will put in more effort than a less motivated individual. However, high levels do not necessarily mean favourable job performance outcomes unless the effort is channelled in a direction that benefits the organization. It is therefore necessary to consider the quality of effort as well as its intensity. Effort has to be directed toward and consistent with organizational goals to be effective.

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2.3.1 Motivation Theories Baron (1986) distinguished between two opposing philosophies of human nature towards work as proposed by McGregor. Theory X which takes a pessimistic view of human motivation to work and Theory Y which is more optimistic and assumes workers are not passive and are ready to assume responsibilities and develop skills according to their organization’s needs. The accuracy of Theory Y assumptions depends on the extent to which management creates policies and motivational systems that enable workers develop their own potential. Today’s organizational culture has generally shown that workers have moved away from the tradition of viewing work as a form of punishment and now place a high value on work for its own good. The motivation to work has become a cherished value in society. This is especially so among managerial and professional workers who report that having a challenging job is more important than the amount of earnings. Clerical and unskilled employees also place high value on their work environment both social and physical than on the pay itself. 2.3.2 Motivation and Performance Motivation may be viewed as those psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed (Kreitner&Kinicki, 2006). Hence when employees are motivated, they perform their duties with full honour and dedication, they become fully loyal with (Asim,2013). Otuko, Chege and Douglas (2013) posit that the effectiveness of skilled employees can be limited if they are not motivated to perform their jobs. In fact they premise that the form and structure of an organization can affect employee motivational levels in several wayswhich are linked to performance e.g. organizations can implement merit pay or incentive compensation systems that provide rewards to employees for meeting specific goals; likewise protection of employees from arbitrary treatment, perhaps via a formal grievance procedure, may also motivate them to work harder because they expect their effort to be fairly rewarded. The human resource management theories such as Maslow’s and Hertzberg’s, demonstrate that motivation is a key driver to the performance of an employee. The theories contend that human beings have needs, and the more those needs are satisfied, the better an employee would perform and such performance would also be affected by

15

training and development, job security, organizational structure and compensation (Gratton, 2000). 2.3.2 The Need to Drive Motivation Motivated employees therefore are in a state of tension (Mullins, 1989). To relieve this tension, they exert effort. If the effort leads to satisfaction of the need, the tension is reduced. However, it is important to note that the tension reduction effort should be geared towards organizational goals. It is therefore necessary to ensure that the individual’s needs are compatible and consistent with organizational goals. If this does not occur then a situation arises where high levels of effort are exerted that then counters the efforts of the organization. Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn (1997) reiterate that motivation refers to forces within an individual that account for the level, direction and persistence of effort expended at work. Level refers to the amount of effort a person puts forth at a given task. Direction refers to what the person chooses when presented with a number of possible alternatives. Persistence refers to how long a person sticks with a given action. According to Newstrom and Davis (2002), motivation results from a person’s attitudes towards a specific situation. Motivation therefore is a product of underlying attitudes and specific situational factors at a certain point in time. If a procedure is arbitrarily changed but attitudes and the prevailing situation remain the same, motivation may change and produce different results. Motivation also requires discovering and understanding employee drives and needs, since it originates within an individual. Positive acts performed for the organization need to be reinforced. A managers’ job is to identify employee’s drives and needs and to channel their behaviour, to motivate them towards task performance. Results are seen when motivated employees are provided with the opportunity to be well trained and the necessary resources are provided. Hersey and Blanchard (1982) say that people have many needs all of which are continually competing for their behaviour. The mixture and strength of needs varies from one person to another as also explained in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Caroll and Tosi (1977) are of the view that much of the research done on the human factor in organizations is as a result of interest generated by the Hawthorne studies and 16

the point of view knows as ‘human relations. This view held that if a worker is committed to his/her job then he/she will be more productive. Such commitment is usually made of and reflected by the level of job satisfaction. However, sometimes a worker may also perform at a very high level even though they are dissatisfied due to the fear of losing their job. A person’s satisfaction with a job is determined by the difference between the characteristics of the job, what he wants from it and what he feels he should receive from it. What an employee wants is determined by his values and is related to his economic and psychological needs. What he feels he should receive is determined by a personal sense of equity. 2.3.3 Measuring Motivation among Employees According to Saeed and Asghar (2012) there are two types of motivation i.e. extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation both of which affect individual performance. Rewards in the form of compensation, bonuses affect extrinsic motivation whileverbal appreciation affects intrinsic motivation. 2.4 Training Programs and Job Satisfaction In recent years job satisfaction has received a great deal of attention from economists and policymakers. Traditionally, economists had distrusted the use of subjective and attitudinal variables, but early papers established that job satisfaction was related to a number of objective job features and was able to predict consequences such as absenteeism and quits (Hamermesh, 1977; Freeman, 1978; Borjas, 1979). In this paper we extend this analysis by addressing three main questions. First, does training affect job satisfaction? Second, does training affect workplace performance either directly or indirectly through its effect on job satisfaction? Third, does job satisfaction affect performance, whether or not it is related to training? Training is one means of improving manpower utilization and thereby potentially raising job satisfaction. Either or both of these may impact favourably on establishment performance, and the purpose of this paper is to identify these mechanisms and their impact on various measures of performance. There are a number of difficulties in establishing linkages between training and workplace performance, not least in measuring the latter, there being no single definition. Various measures include productivity, product quality, financial performance, pay rates, turnover, efficiency scrap rates, labour turnover, job creation, absenteeism, perceived organizational performance and perceived market performance. Second, there 17

is unlikely to be a single generic cause of productivity or profitability; there are a number of ways in which firms can become successful, including re-skilling and work intensification. A further difficulty arises from the way data are collected. Many studies rely heavily on single respondents within an organization, who may not be able to assess adequately relative performance. The cross sectional nature of many studies also means that the causal links between the variables chosen cannot always be firmly established. 2.4.1 The Effects of Training on Job Satisfaction One exception is Siebern-Thomas (2005) who after analysing 13 countries in the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) 1994-2001, found that job satisfaction tended to be higher where there was access to workplace training. The relationship between skill acquisition and job satisfaction is not straightforward. First, there is the distinction between general and specific skills. The portability of general skills may raise job satisfaction as it is easier to move to other jobs where satisfaction is higher. In contrast, specific skills bind the worker to the firm and may reduce satisfaction by creating a barrier to exit as workers will lose a portion of the return on such skills if they move. This leads on to the question of the matching of individual skills and levels of education with job requirements. If workers are mismatched in terms of skill and education requirements, this may lower job satisfaction, as evidenced in the earlier literature. In fact, most studies have focused on over- and under-education rather than over-skilling and under-skilling. Thus, Hersch (1991) found for the US that over-educated workers were less satisfied than adequately educated workers and (1995) that over-educated workers received less on-the-job training, but were more likely to be promoted. Yet Battuet al. (2000) found negative relationship between over-education and promotion for UK graduates and no evidence of employers upgrading tasks given to the over-educated. The same authors (1999)found that over-educated graduates had significantly lower job satisfaction than those whowere in graduate-level jobs. Green and Tsitsianis (2005) likewise found for a cross-section of2 workers that job satisfaction was lower for both over-educated and under-educated workers. Verhaest and Omey (2004) reported that aftercontrolling for educational attainment, overeducated workers were less satisfied, more mobile, participated less in training and earned less than adequately educated workers. Incontrast, Buchel (2002) found no significant 18

difference in job satisfaction between overeducatedand adequately educated employees in one of his study on the job skilling, Allen and van der Velden (2001) differentiated between education and skill mismatches, finding only a weak relationship between the two.Importantly, they found a significant negative relationship between skill mismatch and job satisfaction, while the links between educations mismatch and job satisfaction wasinsignificant. Bauer (2004), using the European Survey on Working Conditions, found that involvement of workers in High Performance WorkOrganizations (HPWOs) was associated with higher job satisfaction. Further, a skill index,derived from information on the number of days of training paid for or provided by the employer had a positive and significant effect on the 15countries overall. 2.4.2 Job Satisfaction and Quits Until recently there had been relatively few studies by economists examining the role playedby job satisfaction in quitting decisions. The main reason for this was the lack of a largesample longitudinal data which could be used to identify job satisfaction in one period andjob turnover in subsequent periods. Locke (1976) provided an extensive review of the literaturein the psychology field, concluding that a negative correlation coefficient betweenjob satisfaction and employee turnover was almost always obtained. However, correlationdoes not always imply causation and most of the studies cited by Locke used simpleunivariate analysis. In one of the seminal papers on job satisfaction, Freeman (1978) was one of the first economists to analyse the connection between quits and job satisfaction. Based onpanel data from two different US sources, the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS, 1966-1971) and the Michigan Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID, 1972-73), Freemanshowed that job satisfaction was positively and significantly related to the probability ofquitting. Moreover, he found not only that job satisfaction was quantitatively more importantthan wages, but also that the causality ran from job satisfaction to future quitting behaviour. This relationship was confirmed by Akerlofetal. (1988) using data from the NLS Older MenSurvey. More recently, Clark et al. (1998) using data from ten waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-93) found that workers who reported dissatisfaction with their jobswere statistically more likely to quit than those with higher levels of satisfaction. Using data from the Danish section of the ECHP, Kristensen and Westergård-Nielsen (2004), found that the inclusion of a subjective measure of job satisfaction improved the predictiveability of a job quit model. Dissatisfaction with the type of work was found to 19

be the aspectmost likely to lead to a worker leaving their job, whilst satisfaction with job security wasfound to have an insignificant effect on quit propensity. The authors contrast this finding withresults from the UK, where dissatisfaction with job security is usually found to be one of themost important predictors of quit behaviour. They attribute this discrepancy to the differing generosities of the benefit systems in the two countries.\Concerns about recruitment and retention difficulties in the public health and education sectors in the UK prompted studies by Shields and Ward (2001) and Frijterset al. (2004). Shields and Ward (2001) investigated the determinants of job satisfaction for nurses in theUK and established the importance of job satisfaction in determining nurses’ intentions toquit the National Health Service (NHS). They found that nurses who reported overall dissatisfaction with their jobs had a 65% higher probability of intending to quit than those reporting to be satisfied. Frijters, et al. (2004) examined the factors influence the quittingdecision of public sector teachers in England and Wales using a panel data of 29,801observations on 7,989 different teachers drawn from the quarterly Labour Force Surveybetween 1997 and 2003. They argued that improving job satisfaction through nonpecuniary aspects of teachers’ jobs has a larger impact on improving retention than increasing pay. Brown and McIntosh (1998) applied principal components analysis to data from a survey of employees from three low-wage service sector companies. They found that satisfaction with6 short-term rewards and long-term prospects were far more influential in determining overall satisfaction than contentment with social relationships or work intensity. The aforementioned relative shortage of longitudinal data means that researchers have tended to focus on the relationship between job satisfaction and their future employment expectations intentions (i.e. ‘latent’ turnover). The use of intentions to quit rather than observed quit raises the question how good a predictor of actual quitting is reports to quit? 2.4.3 Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism Absenteeism is the term generally used to refer to unscheduled employee absences from the workplace. Absenteeism can impose a number of costs on employer such as the lost output of the absent employee; overtime for other employees to fill in; any temporary 20

help costs incurred; possible loss of business or dissatisfied customers etc. (Oi, 1962). In contrast some psychologists have found that absenteeism may be beneficial as it provides some temporary relief from the stresses of work (Steers and Rhodes, 1978). Many authors (e.g. Barmbyetal. 1994) have tried to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary absence but this has proven to be difficult. Barmbyetal. (1991) report that the majority of sickness absence is inthe UK is in spells of five days or less; a finding supported by Labour Market Trends (2003) which showed that of those workers who were absent during a reference week, 40% of workers claimed absence for a period of only one day and approximately 75% claimed absence for 4 days or less. Both these suggest strongly that much absenteeism is on the basis of self-certification of illness and this has been cited as support for the voluntary absence hypothesis. Economists have investigated the issue from both a supply and demand side perspective. Onthe supply side, Paringer (1983) and Bridges and Mumford (2001) have found that older and single workers were more likely to be absent, especially for men. On the demand-side,Barmby and Stephan, (2000) found that larger firms tend to have higher rates of absenteeismwhich arises because of their ability to diversify the risk from absence more easily. Workerswho are employed on full-time contracts are more likely to be absent than part-time workers(Barmbyetal., 1995; Barmby 2002), whilst Ichinoand Riphahn (2005), show that theending of any probationary period and employment protection legislation both tend toincrease absenteeism. A number of authors have considered the relationship between job satisfaction and absence. In an early study conducted by Vroom (1964), low levels of job satisfaction were found to contribute to higher absenteeism rates. A finding confirmed by Clegg (1983), who also found that low job satisfaction was also associated with a lack of punctuality and a higherpropensity to quit. Drago and Wooden (1992) conducted a comparative study examining thecauses of absenteeism using data from a survey of 601 workers from Australia, New Zealand,Canada, and the United States. Their results indicated that absenteeism was lower in occupations where employees worked together closely and harmoniously and where jobsatisfaction was high. Finally, Weggeetal. (2004) utilized a sample of 436 employees working in a large civil service department and found that the hypothesized interaction between satisfaction and involvement was significant for both their indicators

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of absencebehaviour.Absenteeism caused by low job satisfaction is consistent with both the involuntary and voluntary absence schools. As noted above, low job satisfaction can stimulate withdrawal(voluntary absence). However, low job satisfaction has also been linked to a range of healthissues especially mental/psychological problems (Faragheretal., 2005) and absence in thisway can be thought of as involuntary. As noted by Zwick (2006), a major estimation problem, particularly when the data set used in our case is cross-sectional arises from the endogeneity of training and other production inputs such as labour and capital. As firms do not randomly select workers for training, but rather those most likely to benefit from it, training is not wholly exogenous. There are in fact two distinct biases: unobserved time invariant heterogeneity and endogeneity bias in relation to training intensity. In the case of the former, some firms may be inherently more or less productive than others. In fact, Bartel (1994) for the US, Deardenet al. (2000, 2006) for theUK and Zwick (2006) for Germany all find that less productive firms are more likely toimplement formal training programmes than high productivity firms, which means that theeffect of training on establishment performance is likely to be understated. Endogeneitybias may be caused by transitory shocks such as the introduction of new technology and changes inlabour and product market conditions. Firms may well choose to train when demand is low(the ‘pit-stop’ theory). Further, the effects of training may be spread over a number of yearsand although our training questions cover the previous twelve months, this may not beenough to capture the full effects. For all these reasons our estimates of the effects of trainingon performance are likely to be lower bound estimates. Our job satisfaction measures arehowever less likely to suffer from problems of endogeneity as training is much more likely toinfluence levels of job satisfaction than the reverse. Further, levels of job satisfaction seemmore likely to influence levels of performance than the reverse, particularly sinceperformance is measured relative to competitors. We also have a large number of controls topick up factors such as labour quality, tenure and establishment characteristics. 2.5 Chapter Summary This chapter mainly focused on giving more literature whilst attempting to answer the three main research questions which show the significant relationship between, training and employee engagement, training and motivation and training and overall job 22

satisfaction. Further on, the next chapter presents the following; research design, the population of the study, the sample and sampling techniques, instruments for data collection and method, data analysis and presentation methods and the research procedures.

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CHAPTER THREE 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction Research methodology is a way to systematically solve a research problem by logically adapting various steps (Scridhar, 2008). This chapter looked at the research methodology as used in the study. This chapter presented the following; research design, the population of the study, the sample and sampling techniques, instruments for data collection and method, data analysis and presentation methods and the research procedures. 3.2 Research Design Research design deals with planning the strategy or overall design of the study. This study used survey research design. Ogutu (2012) posits that a survey research method is probably the best method available to social scientists who are interested in collectingoriginal data for purposes of describing apopulation which is too large to observedirectly.In this survey, independent variables were selected rather than observations and analyses of relationships among the variables carried out intheir natural settings. The approach allowed ascertaining of widespreadopinions under natural conditions (Auka, Bosire&Matern, 2013). The survey design allowed investigation of possible relationshipsbetween variables.In this way the survey design wasmore appropriatefor the study because it enabled data collection from broader category as well as comparisons between variables. The dependent variable in this study was the employee performance while the independent variable was employee training. 3.3 Population and Sampling Design 3.3.1 Population According Sekaran (2001),population is the entire group of people, events or things of interest that the researcher wishes to investigate. While the target population is the total collection of elements about which the researcher wishes to make some inferences (Okiro&Ndungu, 2013).

24

The target population for this study was the 144 Kenyan based staff of UNSOA. The choice of this population was based on ease of accessibility. 3.3.2 Sampling Design 3.3.2.1 Sampling Frame Leary (2004) defined sampling as the process by which a researcher selects a sample of participants for a study from the population of interest. A sample therefore is the portion of the population of interest that is selected for a study (DoylePortillo, 2009). Additionally a sampling frame is a complete and correct list of population members only (Cunanan& Cruz 2008).For this study, the sample frame consisted of the 144 local based employees of UNSOA identifiable by the human resources department register of employee at UNSOA. 3.3.2.2 Sampling Technique A stratified random sampling was used to obtain the sample size. The population was categorized into the management positions. Auka et al. (2013) posit that stratified random sampling ensures that ensures that all the groups (categories) are adequately sampled and this facilitates comparison among the groups. 3.3.2.3 Sampling Size A sample size is sub set of the population drawn to represent the entire population or any combination of sampling units that does not include the entire set of sampling units that has been defined as the population(Garson, 2012).As a rule of thumb, for a population less than 1000, a sample of 30% is sufficient in representing the entire population (Blanche, Durrheim& Painter, 2008). Therefore for this study a sample of 45 employees was selected to represent the entire population of 144. This gave a 31.25% of the population.The actual distribution of the sample respondents was based on the actual representation of the department in the actual population.

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Table 3.1: Sample Size Distribution Management Position

Total population

Top level management Middle level management Non-management staff Total

Sample Size

Sample Size % of Total population

20

6

4.2%

40

12

8.3%

84

27

18.8%

144

45

31.25%

3.4 Data Collection Methods The primary data was collected through the use of survey questionnaire by drop and pick strategy to ensure high response rate. The use of questionnaire was adopted because it ensured that data collection was standardized such that each respondent got the same question and in the same format. Questionnaires also enabledcollection of original data from the sample of the population within a short time and at low cost for purposes of describing the entire population (Ogutu, 2012). The questionnairewas structured according to the research questions. The questionnaire was in four parts. Part one explored the population demographics. Part two the relationship between employee training and employee engagement. Part three the relationship between employee training and employee motivation. Lastly part four the relationship between employee training and employee job satisfaction. Auka et al. (2012) define validity as the extent to which the test-items measure what they purport to do and reliability as the consistence of a score from one occasion to the next. For this study, the validity and reliability was tested by use of pilot test and expert judgment of the research supervisor. 3.5 Research Procedures The questionnaire was pre-tested before the final distribution.Cooper and Schindler(2001) note that this is usually done to detect any weaknesses in the research design. The pre26

testing (pilot testing) was done with the aim of refining and fine tuning the questionnaire so as to ensure that it was valid and reliable. The pilot was done on five respondents from the study population who were then excluded from the final study to eliminate bias. The pilot was done to check possible errors in the instrument. The questionnaire was then be self -administered in hard copy form to each of the respondents and picked up later after a day to increase the response rate. 3.6 Data Analysis Methods Cooper and Schindlier (2000), described data analysis as the process of editing and reducing accumulated data to a manageable size, developing summaries, seeking for patterns and using statistical methods. The questionnaires wascoded before entering the data into statistical package for social sciences SSPSfor analysis. The data analysis involved frequencies, means, analysis of variances and bivariate analysis in form of cross tabulation to explore the relationships between the various variables tested in the current study. The data was then presented in form of Tables and figures. 3.7 Chapter Summary This chapter provided a description of the procedures followed in conducting the study on the impact of training on employee performance atUNSOA. It also covered the design and the resources that were used to obtain the required information in order to make the correct conclusions. Data collection and data analysis has also been shown. The following chapter covered the findings of the study.

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CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 RESULTS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Introduction The study sought to find out the effects of training on employee performance among the international civil servants. The study used the United Nations Support Office for the African Mission in Somalia as a case study. The findings are presented such that section 4.2 presents the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Section 4.3 the findings on the role of training on employee engagement. Section 4.4the role of training on employee motivation and section 4.5the role of training on employee job satisfaction. Chapter 4.6 gives a summary of the chapter. Forty five hard copies of the questionnaires were sent to the target respondents. Forty five of the filled questionnaires were received back indicating 100% response rate. 4.2 Demographics of the Respondents 4.2.1 Gender of the Respondents The study sought to find out the gender of the respondents with the presumption that variation in gender could influence opinions. Figure 4.1 indicates that 75% were males, 23% female and 2% transgender. Female 23%

Transgender 2%

Male 75%

Figure 4.1: Gender of the respondents 4.2.2 Management Position With a presumption that management position could influence the opinions of the respondents, the study sought to find out the management position levels of the 28

respondents. Figure 4.3 shows that the majority of the respondents were of the middle level management at 44%. Top level management and non-management positions were at 28% each. Nonmanagement 28%

Top level management 28%

Middle level management 44%

Figure 4.2: Management Position of the Respondents 4.2.3 Area of Operation The study sought to highlight the departments in which the respondents work. Figure 4.3 shows that the majority were of the human resources department at 26% followed by transport and supply management at 19% followed by procurement and contract management at 16%; construction and general maintenance at 9%; communication and IT at 9% and finally health care at 7%.

Health care 7%

Communication and IT 9% Human Resources 26%

Construction and general maintenance 9% Budget and training 14% Transport and supply management 19%

Procurement and Contract Management 16%

Figure 4.3: Respondents’Department

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4.2.4 Age Group The study further sought to find out the age groups of the respondents represented. Figure 4.4 indicates that the majority of the respondents at 42% were aged between 34 years to 44 years. Those aged 45-54 years were 28%; 25-34 years 26% and those aged above 55 years were only 5%. 42%

28%

26%

5%

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

over 55 years

Figure 4.4: Age Group of the Respondents 4.2.5 Education Level The study was also interested in finding out if the education level of the respondent influenced their opinions in any way. Figure 4.5 indicates that the majority of the respondents were holders of Bachelor’s degree (58%) while 32% were Master’s graduates with 9.3% being Diploma holders.

58.10%

32.60%

9.30%

Diploma level

Bachelor degree

Master degree

Figure 4.5: Highest Level of Education of the Respondents

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4.2.6 Frequency of Training The study also sought to find out the frequency of employee training within the organization. Figure 4.6 shows that majority of the respondents at 58% attend staff training once in a while, while 33% often attend employee training and 9% rarely attend training.

Rarely 9%

Often 33%

Once in a while 58%

Figure 4.6: Frequency of Training 4.2.7 Training Attended in the Last 12 Months The study went ahead to find out if those who have undergone staff training were trained in the last 12 months. Figure 4.7 shows that 91% had underwent training in the last 12 months.

No 9%

Yes 91%

Figure 4.7: Training Attended in the Last 12 Months 31

In summary section 4.2 showed that 75% of the respondents were male, 23% female and 2% transgender. Forty four percent of the respondents were in the middle level management, 28% were in top level management and 28% were in the non-management positions. The human resources department was represented by 26% of the respondents; transport and supply management by 19%; procurement and contract management by 16%; construction and general maintenance by 9%; communication and IT by 9% and finally health care by 7%. Section 4.2 further indicated that 42% of the respondents were aged between 34 years to 44 years; 28% were aged 45-54 years were; 26% were aged 25-34 years; and 5%were aged above 55 years. Fifty eight percent of the respondents were holders of Bachelor’s degree while 32% were Master’s graduates and 9.3% were Diploma holders. Finally section 4.2 showed that 58% of the respondents attended staff training once in a while, while 33% often attend employee training and 9% rarely attended staff training. For those who attend training, 91% of them had undergonestaff training in the last 12 months. 4.3 The Role of Training on Employee Engagement This section sought to find out the effect of staff training on the employee and organizational performance by influencing employee engagement. The study looked at how staff training has influenced staff engagement in change processes, innovation, better performance and enthusiasm. 4.3.1 Training and Employee Engagement in Change Process The study sought to find out if staff training has impacted on the employees’ engagement. The results were first collapsed into three categories of disagree, neutral and agree for ease of interpretation. Table4.1 shows that on a summated scale the majority of the respondents at 74% indicated that they were in agreement that employee training at UNSOA has enhanced engagement in the change process among the staff. The majority at 90.7% were in agreement that training improves willingness to accept change; 86% were in agreement that training enhances willingness to take new tasks; and the majority at 44.4% were in agreement that training enhances commitment to taking the initiative in helping other employees.

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Table 4.1: Training and Employee Engagement in Change Process

Statement Training improve willingness to accept change Training enhances willingness to take new tasks Training enhancescommitment to taking the initiative in helping other employees Summated

Percentage (%) N=45 Disagreement Neutral Agreement

Mean

Std. Deviation

0

9.3

90.7

3.91

.294

0

14

86

3.86

.351

20.9

34.9

44.4

3.26

.819

6.97

19.4

73.7

3.68

.49

The study further sought to find out whether these opinions cut across all the different population demographics or are in any way more aligned to certain categories of employees. To achieve this analysis of variance was carried out. Table 4.2 shows that p values for the relationship between management position and willingness to take new tasks/ commitment to taking the initiative in helping other employees are less than 0.05. This shows a significant relationship between the management position and these variables. To understand the nature of the relationship, cross tabulation was carried out. Table 4.2: ANOVA for Training and Employee Engagement in Change Process P-value (95% Confidence) Management Department Age position

Education level

.423

.602

.950

.108

.184

.252

.010

.625

.081

.064

.084

.001

.843

.08

.768

Gender Training improve willingness to accept change Training enhances willingness to take new tasks Training enhancescommitment to taking the initiative in helping other employees

33

Table4.3 shows that despite employee training enhancing willingness to take new tasks, those in top level management (100%) and the non-management staff (100%) strongly indicated agreement as compared to those in the middle level management where only 68% were in agreement with 32% being neutral. On the other hand, while majority (83%) of the top level management agreed that training enhances commitment to taking initiatives in helping other employees, majority of the middle level management (42%) and the non-management staff (42%)were neutral. Table 4.3: Cross Tabulation for Management Level Willingness to take new tasks (%)

Top level management Middle level management Nonmanagement

0

Agree ment 100

Enhancescommitment to taking the initiative in helping other employees (%) Disagree Neutral Agree ment ment 0 17 83

0

32

68

37

42

21

0

0

100

17

41.5

41.5

Disagre ement 0

Neutral

Thus despite the majority of the respondents at 73.7% on a summated scale, indicating that training enhances employees’ engagement in change processes, individually the top level management (100%) and non-management management staff (100%) are more likely to be induced in taking new tasks compared to those in the middle level management where only 68% were in agreement with 32% being neutral. Similarly training most likely motivates the top level (83%) to be committed to taking initiatives in helping other employees. This case may not apply for the middle level management and the non-management staff (42% neutral in both cases). 4.3.2 Training and Employee Engagement in Innovation The study then sought to highlight the effects of employee training on employee engagement in innovation. Table 4.4 shows that the majority on a summated scale were in agreement that training enhance employee engagement in innovation. Table 4.4 also shows that the majority at 58.1% were in agreement that training allow opportunity for identification of future opportunities and challenges; 62.8% were in 34

agreement that training empowers employees to always keep going when the going gets tough; 55.8% were in agreement that training allow for adapt quickly adaptation in difficult situations. Table 4.4: Training and Employee Engagement in Innovation

Statement Training allow opportunity for identification of future opportunities and challenges Training empowers employees to always keep going when the going gets tough Training allow for adapt quickly adaptation in difficult situations Summated

Percentage (%) N=45 Disagreement Neutral Agreement

Mean Std. Deviation

0

41.9

58.1

3.58

.499

0

37.2

62.8

3.63

.489

23.3

20.9

55.8

3.33

.837

7.77

33.33

58.9

3.51

0.61

The results of analysis of variance between the various demographics (gender, management position, department, age and education level) shown in Table 4.5 indicate that the resultant p values range from 0.079 to 0.621. Lack of p values less than 0.05 indicates that there is no statistically significant difference in the opinions held by the staff from various categories and any observable difference would be purely by chance and the opinion that employee training at UNSOA has enhanced staff engagement in innovation is cuts across all the categories.

35

Table 4.5: ANOVA for Training and Employee Engagement in Innovation P-value (95% Confidence) Management Department Age position

Education level

.621

.118

.502

.234

.10

.515

.129

.255

.331

.055

.489

.079

.705

.198

.505

Gender Training allow opportunity for identification of future opportunities and challenges Training empowers employees to always keep going when the going gets tough Training allow for adapt quickly adaptation in difficult situations

4.3.3 Training and Employee Engagement for Better Performance Table 4.6 indicates that on a summated scale, 77.7% were in agreement that training enhances employee better performance. Mean of 4.03 shows a high level of agreement.Table 4.6 further indicates that the majority at 69.8% were in agreement that training enhances job focus; 74.4% were agreement that Training allows one to give the best effort at work each day; 88.8% training allows one to be more involved in their work and days goes by very quickly. Table 4.6: Training and Employee Engagement for Better Performance

Statement Training enhances job focus Training allows one to give the best effort at work each day Training allows one to be more involved in their work and days goes by very quickly Summated

Percentage (%) N=45 Disagreement Neutral Agreement

Mean Std. Deviation

9.3

20.9

69.8

3.60

.660

4.7

20.9

74.4

3.98

.831

0

10.9

88.8

4.50

.845

4.67

17.57

77.67

4.03

.78

36

Further analysis of variance shows that all the p values are greater than 0.05 as indicated by Table 4.7. Hence the opinion expressed in Table 4.6 is held by all categories of staff members since the p values are too large to have any statistical significance in the difference. Table 4.7: ANOVA for Training and Employee Engagement for Better Performance P-value (95% Confidence) Management Department Age position

Education level

.715

.175

.378

.765

.230

.459

.219

.431

.607

.105

4.74

.121

.398

.700

.080

Gender Training enhances job focus Training allows one to give the best effort at work each day Training allows one to be more involved in their work and days goes by very quickly

4.3.4 Training and Employee Enthusiasm Finally the study sought to find out how training impacts on performance by enhancing employee enthusiasm. Table 4.8 shows that the majority at 72% were in agreement that training enhance employee enthusiasm. The majority at 72.1% agreed that training creates excitement of going to work daily; 56% were in agreement training creates a feeling of complete involvement in work; 90.1% were in agreement that training inspires staff towards goals. Table 4.8:Training and Employee Enthusiasm

Statement Training creates excitement of going to work daily Training creates a feeling of complete involvement in work Training inspires staff towards goals Summated

Percentage (%) N=45 Disagreement Neutral Agreement

Mean Std. Deviation

4.7

23.3

72.1

3.77

.684

10.7

33.3

56

3.91

.811

9.9

0

90.1

4.67

.566

8.34

18.87

72.73

4.12

.690

37

The results of the analysis of variance between the various employee demographics and enthusiasm variables indicates that the resultant p values range from 0.154 to 0.933 as summarised in Table 4.9. Since all the p values were greater than 0.05, there lack statistically significant variation in opinions held across the various employee demographics at 95%confidence interval. Thus any variations within and between the variables lack empirical significance and is purely by chance. Therefore the average summated findings on employee enthusiasms can be generalised to the entire study population. Table 4.9: ANOVA for Training and Employee Enthusiasm P-value (95% Confidence) Management Department Age position

Education level

.664

.235

.565

.737

.154

.664

.218

.583

.366

.37

.832

.486

.508

.933

.172

Gender Training creates excitement of going to work daily Training creates a feeling of complete involvement in work Training inspires staff towards goals

In summary section 4.3 sought to highlight the role of employee training on employee performance by influencing the level of employee engagement. The section indicates that despite the majority of the respondents at 73.7% on a summated scale, indicating that training enhances employees’ engagement in change processes, individually the top level management (100%) and non-management management staff (100%) are more likely to be induced in taking new tasks compared to those in the middle level management where only 68% were in agreement with 32% being neutral. Similarly training most likely motivates the top level (83%) to be committed to taking initiatives in helping other employees. This case may not apply for the middle level management and the nonmanagement staff (42% neutral in both cases). It also shows that the majority (59%) on a summated scale were in agreement that training enhances employee engagement in innovation.All the p values are greater than 0.05. This indicates that there is no statistically significant difference in the opinions held by the various categories and any observable difference would be purely by chance and 38

the opinion that employee training at UNSOA has enhanced staff engagement in innovation is cuts across all the categories. Seventy seven point seven per cent were in agreement that training enhances employee better performance. Mean of 4.03 shows a high level of agreement.Further analysis of variance shows that all the p values are greater than 0.05 as indicated by Table 4.7. Hence the opinion expressed in Table 4.6 is held by all categories of staff members since the p values are too large to have any statistical significance. Lastly the majority at 72% were in agreement that training enhances employee enthusiasm. Analysis of variance summarised in Table 4.9 indicates that all the p values were greater than 0.05 thus any variations within and between the variables lack empirical significance is purely by chance. 4.4 The Role of Training on Employee Motivation Section 4.4 sought to find out the effect of staff training on the employee and organizational performance by influencing employee motivation. The study looked at how staff training has influenced staff motivation through recognition, setting of organization vision, motivation through leadership and motivation through work itself. 4.4.1 Training and Employee Recognition Table 4.10 indicates that on a summated scale, the majority of the respondents at 77% indicated that training enhances their ability to be recognized within the organization. It offers an opportunity for the staff to be assigned to important tasks (62% in agreement); training enables staff to work in projects from start to end (81% in agreement) and it empowers staff to take personal responsibility for their job outcomes (86% in agreement). Further analysis of variance was thus sought to find out if these opinions cut across the various employee categories or are more aligned to some.

39

Table 4.10:Training and Employee Recognition Statement Training enables staff to work in important tasks Training enables staff to work in projects from stat to end Training empowers staff to take personal responsibility for their job out comes Summated

Percentage (%) N=45 Disagreement Neutral Agreement

Mean Std. Deviation

18.6

18.8

62.8

3.44

.796

11.6

7.0

81.4

3.84

.814

11.6

2.3

86

3.77

.684

13.9

9.37

76.73

3.68

.769

The analysis of variance findings in Table 4.11 indicates that there are statistically significant differences in the opinion held by staff from across different education levels. The relationship between education level and the fact that training enables staff to work in important assignments scored a p