Impact of Training on Employee's Performance" A Study of Selected Manufacturing Units in Ahmednagar District.

Transcription

1 Impact of Training on Employee's Performance" A Study of Selected Manufacturing Units in Ahmednagar District. 1 Surinder B. Sethi, 2 Preeti Agarwal Asst Prof (Avcoe, Sangamner), PhD Scholar(North Maharashtra University) Director: - Raisoni Institute Of Management & Technology, Jalgaon Abstract:- The share of manufacturing sector in increasing the GDP of any country is noteworthy. It is important in a way that it is a sector providing maximum employment to the people, directly and indirectly. This sector has tremendous competition and faces challenges from the market. Training & Development as an HRD intervention plays a vital role in the Success of the Organization. The purpose of Training and Development is to increase the skills of the employees, therefore it is increasingly believed that the training expenditures are not the cost but an investment for any organization. The present research study sheds light on the Effectiveness of Training & its Impact on Employee s Performance in selected manufacturing units in Ahmednagar District. KEYWORDS:- Training, Employee Performance, Behavior & Attitude I. INTRODUCTION : The topic of the research is Impact of training on employee s performance A study of selected manufacturing units in Ahmednagar District. The topic is approved by North Maharashtra University. The share of manufacturing sector in increasing the GDP of any country is noteworthy. It is important in a way that it is a sector providing maximum employment to the people, directly and indirectly. This sector has tremendous competition and faces challenges from the market. Advancement in the information technology, the increased used of computer aided designs and quick exchange of information has made paradigm shift in the business being conducted. Segmented markets, greatly diversified customers have a great impact on customer s choice. Therefore to remain in competition, it is essential that people in the Organization play a vital role to build the organization. To develop a world class Organization, the HRD intervention in the form of continuous training & development is necessary. Training & Development as an HRD intervention plays a vital role in the Success of the Organization. The purpose of Training and Development is to increase the skills of the employees, therefore it is increasingly believed that the training expenditures are not the cost but an investment for any organization. The present research study sheds light on the Effectiveness of Training & its Impact on Employee s Performance in selected manufacturing units in Ahmednagar District. II. BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM: Literature on training and its effectiveness is very rich in the form of many books and journals. But after referring to many books and articles it is worth researching whether the result of the efforts of training and its effectiveness practices have been actually undertaken. It is very essential to consider training as a source of process efficiency. There are plenty of Organizations where such a kind of support is not provided to their employees, in spite of the National policy that training has to be provided to the employees with a view to increase their skills, efficiency and effectiveness. Organizations now have understood the importance of imparting training to their employees so as to get an edge in the area of competition. There is now a growing recognition that training has a significant role to play in gaining competitive advantage. It is remarkable to accept the fact that training offers many benefits to the employees and the Organization as a whole. Employees become more confident, dynamic and supportive to each other. In addition to this employees develop a high morale to achieve improved performance as a result of training. The impact of this aspect benefits employees in personal, career oriented and job related knowledge. The adaptability of training to the employees makes them committed towards achieving performance and develops strong bonding with the Organization and stay longer in the organization. The manufacturing sector is a people based industry where the end product is often produced by number of employees, together delivering the end product for organization and customer s. the significance of valuable training activities for all business within the manufacturing sector is of utmost importance. As, training practices have the potential to increase the 20

2 service levels in the industry, organizations intend to work out cost and benefits of training and effectiveness. III. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH: a. To examine the awareness of training, prevailing in the Manufacturing sector of Ahmednagar District b. To review and analyze the training methods being implemented in the Manufacturing units. c. To evaluate the contribution of training towards employee s performance level. IV. HYPOTHESIS OF THE RESEARCH: H 1 : There is a difference in the importance that managers attach to various Management Development Training Areas. H 2 : Training has a positive impact on Behavior & Attitude, Confidence level, Communication skills, Motivation level, Teamwork, Performance and Employee satisfaction. H 3 : Training objectives, Contents of Training program, Equipments & Facilities, Opportunities for application of Training have a positive impact on Effectiveness of Training. V. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Type of Research- Post Facto Research Methodology is used in this research. This mainly comprises of a descriptive style of investigation to find out effectiveness of training and its impact. The present research study is descriptive in nature and therefore, data is collected from both Primary and Secondary sources. Secondary data was collected through comprehensive literature review and internet. Other secondary sources included preview studies, journals, reports, magazines, newspapers & books. The Primary data was collected from field visits of various units carrying out Training and Development programs. The present study is also empirical and analytical therefore it relies on observation, interviews and surveys. Universe & Sample- Ahmednagar district which is also known to be the place of Saints, is the largest district in area in Maharashtra comprising of 14 Taluka places. Ahmednagar District is on the forefront in Cooperative movement in the Country owing to the strong presence of 16 Sugar Factories, Distilleries, Spinning Mills, Paper Mills, Milk Federation & dairy etc. in the Co-operative sector and Co-operative real estates. Manufacturing sector has a wide base spread over entire District comprising of more than 2500 micro level Industries and more than 1000 small and medium scale Industries, whereas there are 45 large scale manufacturing companies functioning all over the District. For the present research 20 large scale manufacturing companies were selected from the district. The sample size for the main survey comprised of 200 respondents belonging to these large scale manufacturing units. Sampling Technique- Stratified Random Sampling technique is used for collection of data. Where the population was Stratified into a number of Strata and the sample items were selected from each Stratum. Data collection- 1. Primary Sources - Questionnaire, Interviewing People, Personal Observation. 2. Secondary Sources - Published and Printed sources, Research papers, Articles, Newspapers, Magazines, Websites. Techniques used for Data Analysis- 1. Descriptive Statistics - The Data was coded and recorded using IBM SPSS. Frequency tables were generated and observations based on percentages were noted. Bar charts, Pie charts and Histograms are used to highlight the findings. 2. Statistical Analysis - The Statistical Analysis for testing the hypothesis is carried out using IBM SPSS software. VI. FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS A. Findings 1. GENDER: The gender preference from the above study specifies that majority preference in manufacturing companies is given to male employees as compared to their counterpart. Out of 200 respondents surveyed 177 were male which comprise 88.5% of the survey, the remaining 11.5% were female employees. This concludes saying major preference in manufacturing companies is given to male employees. 2. AGE: The age bar graph of the respondents included for the study concludes saying that in today s era manufacturing companies are intending to invest more amount in experienced and senior category of employees. The survey conducted itself predicted this statement as 27% of the employees surveyed were in the age group of years, 22% were in the age group of years, 24.5% were in the age group of 46 & above whereas the remaining were in the age category of less than 30 years. 21

3 3. SUSTAINABILITY IN JOB: The above survey reflected that employees prefer sustaining their job with the Organizations which cater proper HR practices for the employees. The above study reflected that 42% of the employees surveyed were working with the same Organization past 6-10 years, 37.5% of employees were working past years with the same Organization & only 20% of the employees were associated with their present Organization for less than 5 years. 4. NO. OF TRAINING PROGRAMS: The analysis for the financial year reflects that, nowadays Organizations intend to spend more amount on shorter duration programs and increase the no. of the same. Lesser investment is required for short duration programs and it also helps to increase the number to keep intact with the changing need of the manufacturing sector. The above survey reflected that 52% of the training programs conducted by the companies during , comprised of full day program, 30% of the programs were half day programs whereas the remaining 18% were more than 1 day programs. 5. TYPE OF TRAINING PROGRAMS: The above survey reflected that On The Job training practices are readily accepted by all the manufacturing companies, as all the companies included in the survey are following the same. 6. TYPES OF TRAINING METHOD: It has been observed in the survey that amongst all the On The Job training methods, Coaching method is been followed by 61% of the respondents surveyed, Induction method is followed by 26.5% of respondents & Job Rotation method is practiced by 12.5% of respondents. 7. OPINION ABOUT TRAINING PROGRAM: It has been observed during the survey that all respondents had a positive approach regarding the quality of training programs provided to them. Everyone were of the Opinion that the programs conducted to impart training were effective. 8. SATISFACTION ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAM: The above survey stated that 30.5% of respondents were highly satisfied with the quality of the programs conducted whereas 69.5% of the respondents were somewhat satisfied with the same. 9. GENERAL PREFERENCE FOR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: The survey stated that 77% of the respondents preferred attaining such value added programs at the Training centre itself, 11% preferred Outbound sources, 7.5% preferred Hotels whereas 4.5% preferred attaining such programs at their Home itself. 10. LEARNING ENVIRONMENT PROVIDED: The study stated that 67.5% of the respondents are provided with such programs at Training centers itself, 20% of the respondents are provided with such value added programs at Outbound sources, 9.5% are provided with the services at Hotels, whereas only 3% of the respondents are catered with such facilities from their home. 11. MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT TRAAINING AREAS: a) Human potential development- Based on the survey & on the order of mean ranks it can be concluded that highest priority is given to Personality Development as a Management Development training area in terms of Human Potential Development, followed by Time Management, Decision Making & Management Effectiveness. b) Communication skills- Based on the survey & on the order of mean ranks it can be concluded that highest priority is given to Presentation Skills as a Management Development training area in terms of Communication Skills, followed by Readable Business Report & Effective Business Communication. c) People s Skills- Based on the survey & on the order of mean ranks it can be concluded that highest priority is given to Leading & Influencing as a Management Development training area in terms of People s skills, followed by Conflict Solving, Management Leadership & Building Teams. d) Technical Skills- Based on the survey & on the order of mean ranks it can be concluded that highest priority is given to Six Sigma as a Management Development training area in terms of Technical Skills, followed by Kaizen & 5 S. 12. TRAINING NEED IDENTIFICATION: The above survey stated that people are very well aware with the Training Need Identification prevailing in their respective Organization. 13. TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS: The above survey concluded that amongst the various methods used for Training Need Analysis, Competency Mapping method was being preferred by nearly 53% of respondents, Motivation Index Method has been preferred by 37% of respondents & Employee Satisfaction Survey Method has been preferred by nearly 10% of respondents. 14. ACCEPTANCE OF THE METHODS: The study stated that the respondents have undergone the following surveys conducted in their Organization & 22

4 have agreed that they were one of the Participants for the above surveys conducted. 15. OPINION ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAM: The survey concluded saying that 96% of the respondents surveyed considered Training as a part of Investment whereas only 4% of the same considered it as a part of Entertainment. 16. PREFERENCE ABOUT INTERNAL TRAINER: Being asked the respondents about their preference of becoming an Internal Trainer it has been found that 56.5% of respondents are willing in this regards, 28% of the respondents are not sure whereas 14.5% denied the proposal. 17. ACCEPTANCE OF SUGGESTIONS BY HR DEPARTMENT: The study reviewed that 98% of respondents have agreed that their suggestions are been accepted by their HR Dept. whereas only 2% of the respondents denied saying the same. 18. JOB SATISFACTION: It has been observed during the study that overall all Employees are happy with their Job Profiles, they enjoy their job thoroughly & they feel proud about their Job & role in their Organization. This is a very Positive Indicator on the part of company. 19. PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Being asked to the respondents about the performance review it has been observed that 61% of the respondents were of the opinion that the performance is reviewed frequently whereas 38% of them were of the opinion that it s been reviewed sometimes. 20. ASSESSMENT SYSTEM: Being asked the review of assessment system practiced in these Organizations it has been observed that nearly 69% of the respondents were of the opinion that the Assessment system is directed towards a long term approach whereas nearly 31% were of the opinion that it is directed towards medium term. This overall concludes that the Employees are satisfied with the assessment system being practiced in these Organizations. B. Suggestions 1. It has been observed under study that employees of the Organization are experienced & well educated, in this regards the researcher came to VII. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS - know that the turnover of the employees is less. Employees get themselves involved in day-to-day activities of the Organization & take full interest in the business of the Organization. Thus, it is been suggested that the talent gained through experience should be utilized to train the new employees. 2. The In-House training sessions are mostly held whereas outside the Organization Programs were found to be nearly negligible. 3. Employees have shown more interest in the various types of learning environments. Occasionally they should be given opportunity to hold their training sessions in hotels & resorts or some kind of adventure sports should be included as a form of training like Climbing hill & Crossing jungle where leadership qualities can be learnt, need to be a part & parcel of training atmosphere. These efforts tend to make the exercise of training more interesting & add to its worth. 4. As far as training equipments & facilities are considered, the quality should be improved & number of handouts given should be increased. 5. It is important that the allocation of budget is made to other different areas where it is needed. The sizable percentage of the budget is used for only technical aspects & remaining 60% caters for work culture, business development, and leadership & on the job training. This needs rethinking & areas other than technical training also must receive priority. 6. Organizational development programs need to be included in the curriculum. This is possible when the outside experts diagnose the company from third party point of view. The involvement of external consultants for the purpose of problem solving, mentoring, capacity building & developing of competencies is required to be done & it may act as a pre-requisite. These ideas have to be brought into reality so that successful adaptation to change, in order to perform future job is achieved. 7. Sustainable organizational excellence is achieved through identifying, selecting & cultivating employees who have demonstrated superior performance, who inspire others to achieve superior performance & who embody the core competencies of the Organization & such employees are to be utilized to train others. Hypothesis Stastical Test Components Test Result Hypothesis Selected H 1 : There is a difference Freidman Chi Human Potential χ 2 (3) =15.126, 23

5 in the importance that Managers attach to various Management Development Training Areas H 2 : Training has a positive impact on Behavior & Attitude, Confidence level, Communication Skills, Motivation Level, Teamwork, Performance & Employee Satisfaction H 3 : Training Objectives, Contents of Training program, Equipments & Facilities, Opportunities for application of training have a positive impact on effectiveness of training. square conducted separately each area. Simple Regression Analysis conducted separately each component. test for for Step-wise Multiple Regression Analysis was conducted separately for each component Development Area P value(0.002), N=200 Communication Skills χ 2 (2) =49.779, P value(0.000), N=200 People s Skill χ 2 (3) =8.934, P value(0.030), N=200 Technical skills χ 2 (2) =38.710, P value(0.000), N=200 Behavior & Attitude t= , b=1.06, Confidence level t= , b=1.16, Communication t= , b=1.36, Skills Motivation level t= , b=1.314, Teamwork t= , b=1.545, Performance t= , b=0.997, Employee t= , b=1.516, Satisfaction t=4.961, B=0.356, Beta=0.340, Training Objectives t= , B= , Beta= , t= 5.808, B= 0.395, Beta= 0.403, t= , B= , Beta= , P= t= 9.368, Contents of Training B=0.411, program. Beta= 0.556, Equipments Facilities Opportunities application training & for of t= 3.540, B=0.226, Beta=0.245, P=0.000 t= 4.299, B=0.277, Beta= 0.296, P=0.000 Conclusions from Hypothesis Hypothesis 1: A Freidman chi square test was conducted separately for all the four Management Development Training Areas, to identify the difference in the importance that managers attach to various areas. Human Potential Development Area- A Freidman chi square test (χ 2 (3) =15.126, P value(0.002), N=200) on the importance that managers attach to various human potential development areas reveal that highest priority is given to Personality Development as a human 24

6 potential area followed by Time Management, Decision Making & Management Effectiveness. Communication Skills- A Freidman chi square test (χ 2 (2) =49.779, P value(0.000), N=200) on the importance that managers attach to Communication Skill reveal that highest priority is given to Presentation Skills as a means of Communication followed by Readable Business Report & Effective Business Communication. People s Skill - A Freidman chi square test (χ 2 (3) =8.934, P value (0.030), N=200) on the importance that Managers attach to various People s Skill reveal that highest priority is given to leading & influencing as an area directly having an impact on People followed by Conflict solving, Management Leadership & Building Teams. Technical Skills - A Freidman chi square test (χ 2 (2) =38.710, P value (0.000), N=200) on the importance that Managers attach to various technical skills reveal that highest priority is given to Six Sigma as an area of Technical Advancement followed by Kaizen & 5 S. Hypothesis 2: A Simple Regression Analysis was conducted separately on each component to find the impact that Training has on independent component. Behavior & Attitude A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on employees Behavior & Attitude reveal that Training has a positive impact on Behavior & Attitude and it influences the same by (t=13.349, P=0.000). Level of Confidence - A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on employees Level of Confidence reveal that Training has a positive impact on Level of Confidence and it influences the same by (t=15.269, P=0.000). Communication Skills - A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on employees Communication Skill reveals that Training has a positive impact on Communication Skills and it influences the same by (t=16.726, P=0.000). Motivation Level - A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on employees Motivation Level reveal that Training has a positive impact on Motivation Level and it influences the same by (t=18.441, P=0.000). Team work - A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on employees Team work reveal that Training has a positive impact on Team work and it influences the same by (t=19.166, P=0.000). Performance - A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on employees Performance reveal that Training has a positive impact on Performance and it influences the same by (t=11.490, P=0.000). Employee Satisfaction - A Simple Regression Analysis to study the impact of Training on Employees Satisfaction reveal that Training has a positive impact on Level of Satisfaction and it influences the same by (t=19.709, P=0.000). Hypothesis 3: A Step Wise Multiple Regression Analysis was conducted separately for all the four components to analyze whether or not they have any impact on Training Effectiveness. Training Objectives - A Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to study whether Training Objective have a positive impact on Effectiveness of Training reveal that variables like Briefing & De Briefing sessions, Consultation before sponsoring for training, Communication of the training objectives before nomination for training & Communication between peers before going for training are significant predictors of Training Effectiveness. Contents of Training Program - A Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to study whether Contents of the Training Program have a positive impact on Effectiveness of Training reveal that variable like Training programs contained variety of method is a significant predictor of Training Effectiveness. Equipments and Facilities - A Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to study whether Equipments & facilities have a positive impact on Effectiveness of Training reveal that variable like Training material & Tools is a significant predictor of Training effectiveness. Opportunity for application of Training - A Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to study whether Opportunity for application of Training has a positive impact on Effectiveness of Training reveal that variable like Training has contributed towards value addition to my functional abilities is a significant predictor of Training effectiveness. VIII. CONCLUSION: The research on the whole provided valid empirical findings and demonstrated whether the employees and the organizations surveyed have benefited due to training and developments conducted, and how employees transferred learning to their jobs. From the findings it is clear that organizations in general are becoming more aware of the need to understand their employees perception/reaction to the training provided. While these are obvious advantage in understanding employee s perceptions and reaction to training and development, it is the linking of those reactions to learning and job performance in day to day activities contribute to organizational benefits and performance. As regards to effectiveness of Training on enhancing employees behavior and attitude all employees irrespective of their age groups, agree that training program changed their behavior and attitude, which indicates that to get best results in this area, Training is to be conducted on regular basis. Moreover, Training 25

7 did have positive effect on employee s involvement and satisfaction in this organization. The results showed that training can be used to enhance overall organizational performance and productivity. This indicates that training outcomes benefit employees and organization. It is worthwhile to mention that training activities carried out were significantly related to the effectiveness. Today s economy thrives on knowledge workers. They are recognized as an integral partner to organizational effectiveness. They give the organization its unique value, inimitable uniqueness in the area of competency. Systematic training only brings these metamorphic changes. IX. RECOMMENDATIONS: a. It is been suggested that training programs outside the company environment are necessary, where trainees are not engaged in their day-today work & also can be away from various problems which could be in in-house programs. Such outside programs are essential. b. One of the contributions to this study is establishing relationship between training & organizational performance. It is very crucial to develop, deliver & evaluate training activities based on the expectations of the organization. The fundamental intentions of training are to develop & deliver training for the competence of employees & therefore evaluating the training becomes a basic necessity. By doing this exercise only the rationale of training is established and that is, Training is not the cost but is an Investment. Therefore, to prove this point evaluation is required as a consequence which leads to finding out Impact on the Organizational performance. c. Companies in general should make it an everyday affair for employees to learn meditation, yoga, pranayama & other techniques. These techniques are beneficial to the employees. Meditation is a proven technique to improve upon general well being & bringing mind in a positive state. 10. Limitation and Scope for further study : A. Limitation 1. The analysis is restricted to the organization under study and its employees only. 2. The study has covered the training practices conducted in the year 2010 & The information on training activities was taken from the records available from the units as well as from those who had undergone the training and development. B. Scope for further study 1. Since objective of the study was not to find any relationship between perceived Training effectiveness and the increase in the financial performance, it is crucial to investigate whether HR managers and training managers are interested in finding out relationship between training effectiveness and financial performance of the organizations. This really needs for increased awareness of the part of managers to investigate the effect of training activities on performance of the organization. The performance of the organization does not solely depend upon the training department in the overall performance of the organization can be studied. 2. This study as well as some parallel studies have indicated that the organizations prefer to get their training evaluated from their in house faculties rather than the third party evaluation. Therefore, there is a need to study why organizations are reluctant to be transparent when organizations in their annual report talk about satisfying stake holders and of good corporate governance. 3. The present study has analyzed the effectiveness of training from the view point of the employees (from the filled questionnaires) and employer (from the discussion with Hr managers). The further research could be in the area of impact of training on the customers satisfaction. This is important as it is ultimately the customer who buys the product, contributes to the profit of the Organization and from this surplus only the employee s salary is being distributed. If customer does not buy your product, even the Six Sigma quality of training does not help for success of the organization. 26