EMPLOYEE PERCEPTION ON SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES IN BANGALORE AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

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1 EMPLOYEE PERCEPTION ON SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES IN BANGALORE AN EMPIRICAL STUDY PRADEEP M P Research Scholar, VTU Assistant Professor, R V Institute of Management, Bangalore. pradeep.mudugur@gmail.com Dr. DINAKAR G Director-MBA, Bangalore Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore Mobile dinakargrao@rediffmail.com Abstract Businesses in today s world are highly uncertain and have cutthroat competition. Top management believes that the level of skills, knowledge and attitude of their human resources are strategically significant than before. The success of business is directly proportional to the skills, knowledge and attitude of its people and their receptiveness towards customer expectations and environmental changes. Skill Development program will facilitate and empower them to act swiftly to changing market demands and meets the expectations of all shareholders. Training enables them to carry out these roles and responsibilities efficiently and also learn new things, which will prepare them to take up higher responsibilities in the future. The purpose of this paper is to discover the perception of Skill development programs by the employees in organizations. In this research, employees from different industries will been chosen based on convenience sampling. Information for the paper will be collected through primary source that are from questionnaires surveys. The data will be checked by applying appropriate statistical tools to evaluate the perception of employees towards training and development programs in their organizations. Key Words: Skill Development Program, Knowledge, Skills and Attitude (KSA), effective training, employee perception, learning and development, employee productivity. 88

2 INTRODUCTION In today competitive world, most of the organizations across industries depend upon various resources which will give them the competitive edge. In industries especially which are driven by the knowledge, skills and competencies of employees, the employer has to impart various kinds of skill development programs in order to sustain in the competition. Skill development programs aims at developing the key skills which will add value to the job requirements. The practitioners need to identify the skill gap and develop suitable programs to achieve the goals of the organization. The benefits derived out of the investments made on such skill enhancement programs can yield tangible or intangible results. To achieve the maximum effectiveness of skill development programs, it is imperative to consider the actual work requirements to design and implement the program. Skill development programs can take various shape and form like different programs for different employees who belong to various functional departments and cadres. Different factors like content of the program, expertise of the instructor, infrastructure facility, duration of the program, pedagogical methods, hands on learning experience, applications of the training etc will play a divisive role to make the program more relevant and beneficial. Employees who participate in the skill development program will have various opinions and perceptions about many factors. It is very important to measure these factors from which vital inferences can be drawn and considered for designing and implementing the future programs. The researcher has made an attempt to study the perceptions of employees about skill development programs in the organizations. The study intended to collect the perceptions of employees belonging to Information Technology industry in Bangalore. LITERATURE REVIEW The objective of the study was to analyze the attitudes of small business owners towards training courses and to have an empirical evidence for creation of business training model. The researchers used focused groups for to study the training perceptions of African and American business owners. The findings of the study showed that regulation and taxes were the most interesting topic and electronic commerce was the least interested topic out of 23 training topics. Also the study found that the perceptions of African American and Caucasian American groups differed significantly on all the 23 variable of the training programs. (Barbara, 2006) Assessment of Nigerian women s attitude with reference to special skills training programs was done. Also the researchers studied the effects of such attitudes on program development and implementation. The purpose of the study was to determine the attitude and perceptions of rural and urban women towards special skills training program. The study adopted the simple 89

3 descriptive survey research design to determine the attitudes and perceptions of 360 female participants selected at random from training centers in southern Nigeria. The study results showed that the rural and urban participants displayed same attitudes towards the programs but they disagreed for the factor that all the women were keenly involved in the programs. (Omoruyi & Omoruyi, 2003) Authors explored the impact of Chinese cultural and values on the behavior and attitudes of Chinese restaurant owners about training of food safety. The objective of the study was to find out key parameters which drive the Chinese restaurant owner s behavior about food safety training. Also the impact of Chinese cultural values and their behaviors was analyzed. The interview method was used to collect the data from the respondents. The study findings reveled that the hotel owners expressed that due to shortage of time, money, energy and labor they were unable to implement the food safety training for employees. Also other reasons like lack of qualification, language barriers, transportation facility, and difficulty in changing employs behaviors were stopping them for opting for training program. (Liu & KwonJune, 2013) Examination was conducted to explore the effectiveness of training program which was meant for imparting interpersonal skills for their managers who were hired newly. This was examined by using Quasi-experimental framework.120 casual theme restaurants were selected for the study which had 56 employees on average. The variables used for the study are Neuroticism, Extraversion, and openness to experience, Agreeableness and conscientiousness. It was found that self-caching and feedback system are almost same in the impact of post training. Also, feedback for upward need higher knowledge compared to self-coaching training and more emphasis should be given to trainee requirement. (Tews & Tracey, 2008) An attempt was made to figure out the attitude and the influencing factor in interviewers who conducts interview also the differences between people who are trained and who are not. Questionnaire method was used to collect the information s voluntarily. Factor analysis was to used find the interviewer s perception. It was found that people who were trained had positive attitude. Interviewers training reduced the problems associated during conducting interview. (Camp, Schulz, Vielhaber, & Wagner-Marsh, Fall 2011) This study was to investigate the use of needs assessment and training evaluation in training sales force. They have selected manufacturing and service sector for examination. It was found that practice of need assessment was used in designing training programs but effective procedures were not adopted. It was also found that usefulness of the training programs could be measured in simple procedures, but important parameters like learning, behavior and reactions were very rarely adopted. Questionnaire method was used to get the information s from the respondents and five point Likert scale was adopted for the study. Internal and External training effectiveness 90

4 were examined. (Erffmeyer, Russ, & Russ, 1991) This attempted to find out perceptions of sales people with regards to the necessary of sales and behavior skills which are required for increasing the performance of sales, customer delight, satisfaction in job, commitment towards the organisation and planning to change organisation. Total number of respondents selected was 270 and drop-off method of questionnaire administration was employed. Univariate regression method was used for analysis of collected data. It was found that perceptions of the requirement of skills on sales and have behavior is very much important and directly related to the variables considered in the study. They also found that it is important for the sales manager to make sure that his team members are well equipped with all the necessary skills in order to achieve desired organisation goals. (Pettijohn, S, Pettijohn, & Taylor, 2007) It was examined the managerial position influence and managerial attitudes for training need on the self interested for training from the managers. Questionnaire method was used and 506 respondents were administered. It was found that managers at lower level required more training. Managers who thought about training were appreciating the necessity of skills on quality control. They have concluded that there is no enough work done in the area of attitudinal on self assessed training requirements. Further research scope this study is possible. (FORD & NOE, 1987) STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Organizations constantly strive to enhance the learning abilities of the employees who are the back bone of all the projects in the business. Change is a continuous phenomenon with more challenges awaiting the organizations. Imparting Skill development programs have become mandatory for uplifting the employees ability and to maintain the organization relevance. The perceptions of employees play a major role in the success or failure of any skill development program. Hence this research paper aims to study and analyze the various perceptions of employees about sill development programs in various Information Technology companies located in Bangalore. OBJECTIVES 1. To evaluate employee perceptions on skill development programs 2. To Measure the impact of skill development program on employees productivity 3. To Determine the extent of organizational characteristics influence on Skill Development programs. Hypothesis 1 H 0: The responses of employee perception is not dependent on availability of skill development program H 1: The responses of employee perception is dependent on availability of skill development program 91

5 Hypothesis 2 H 0: There is no significant impact of skill development programs on employee s productivity H 1: There is significant impact of skill development programs on employee s productivity Hypothesis 3 H 0: There is no significant relationship between organizational characteristics and their influence on skill development programs The sample size of the study was 100 employees from IT companies with different education, experience, gender background. Analysis Demographic Variables: Demographic Variables includes and describes a specific population. In our study Demographic variables are employees from IT companies with different years of experience, Designations and gender. H 1: There is significant relationship between organizational characteristics and their influence on skill development programs RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The present study has adopted the descriptive research approach. The population of the study includes employees working in various Information Technology companies in Bangalore. The researcher has collected the data from employees belonging to various hierarchical positions and wide range of experience. The study made use of Simple random technique to collect the data from the respondents. Well structured questionnaire is designed with Likert scale factors for responses. The questionnaire covered the various factors of employee s perceptions regarding the skill development programs. SPSS 21 and Ms Excel 2015 were used. Regression analysis and Anova techniques were employed to carry out the analysis. 92

6 Descriptive statistics are numbers that are used to summarize and describe data. The word "data" refers to the information that has been collected from an experiment, a survey, a historical record, etc. Descriptive statistics is the discipline of quantitatively describing the main features of a collection of information, or the quantitative description itself. Descriptive statistics are distinguished from inferential statistics (or inductive statistics), in that descriptive statistics aim to summarize a sample, rather than use the data to learn about the population that the sample of data is thought to represent. Descriptive Statistics N Minimu m Maximu m Std. Deviation Employee Perception on job requirement Employee Perception on needs of training Employee Perception on effectiveness towards learning Employee Perception on Job Responsibilities Employee Perception on training faculties Employee Perception on Mandatory norms Skill Development program for job proficiency Skill Development program for Skill Advancement Skill Development program for appraisal

7 Employee Productivity by usefulness of the program Employee Productivity by cost reduction Employee Productivity continued employment Employee Productivity by approach towards work Employee Productivity by skill implementation Organizational Characteristics of pay system Organizational Characteristics of managers involvement Organizational Characteristics of learning culture Organizational Characteristics of job rotation Organizational Characteristics of HRM Organizational Characteristics of Infrastructure Valid N (list wise) 100 Correlation is a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two or more variables fluctuate together. A positive correlation indicates the extent to which those variables increase or decrease in parallel; a negative correlation indicates the extent to which one variable increases as the other decreases. Degree and type of relationship between any two or more quantities (variables) in which they vary together over a period; for example, variation in the level of expenditure or savings with variation in the level of income. A positive correlation exists where the high values of one variable are associated with the high values of the other variable(s). A 'negative correlation' means association of high values of one with the low values of the other(s). Correlation can vary from +1 to -1. Values close to +1 indicate a high-degree of positive correlation, and values close to -1 indicate a high degree of negative correlation. 94

8 Employee Skill Perception Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) Correlations Employee Perception 1 Skill Development Employe e Productiv ity N 100 Pearson.597 ** 1 Development Correlation Sig. (2-tailed).000 N Pearson.454 **.507 ** 1 Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson.364 **.309 **.470 ** 1 Correlation Employee Productivity Organizational Characteristics Sig. (2-tailed) N **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Organizati onal Characteris tics Significant value is less than 0.01; it indicates there is a positive and moderate correlation between the variables. Hypothesis 1 H 0: The responses of employee perception is not dependent on availability of skill development program Mode l Model Summary R R Square Adjusted R Square H 1: The responses of employee perception is dependent on availability of skill development program Std. Error of the Estimate a a. Predictors: (Constant), Skill Development 95

9 ANOVA Model Sum of Squares df Square F Sig. Regression b 1 Residual Total a. Dependent Variable: Employee Perception b. Predictors: (Constant), Skill Development Model 1 Unstandardized B Std. Error Beta Standardized (Constant) Skill Development a. Dependent Variable: EPQMEAN t Sig. Conclusion: P- value is less than 0.05, we reject null hypothesis and conclude that the responses of employee perception is dependent on availability of skill development program Hypothesis 2 H 0: There is no significant impact of skill development programs on employee s productivity Model Summary H 1: There is significant impact of skill development programs on employee s productivity Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate a Model Sum of Squares 1 a. Predictors: (Constant), Skill Development ANOVA df Square F Sig. Regression b Residual Total a. Dependent Variable: Employee Productivity b. Predictors: (Constant), Skill Development mean 96

10 Model 1 Unstandardized B Std. Error Beta Standardized (Constant) SKDMEAM a. Dependent Variable: Employee Productivity t Sig. Conclusion: P- value is less than 0.05, we reject null hypothesis and conclude that there is significant impact of skill development programs on employee s productivity Hypothesis 3 H 0: There is no significant relationship between organizational characteristics and their influence on skill development programs Mode l Model Summary R R Square Adjusted R Square a H 1: There is significant relationship between organizational characteristics and their influence on skill development programs Std. Error of the Estimate a. Predictors: (Constant), Skill Development Model Sum of Squares 1 ANOVA df Square F Sig. Regression b Residual Total a. Dependent Variable: Organisation Characteristics b. Predictors: (Constant), Skill Development 97

11 Model 1 Unstandardized B Std. Error Beta Standardized t Sig. (Constant) SKDMEA M a. Dependent Variable: Organisation Characteristics Conclusion: P- value is less than 0.05, we reject null hypothesis and conclude that there is significant relationship between organizational characteristics and their influence on skill development programs FINDING AND SUGGESTIONS conducted only after the consultation of the target audience. This will enable to have a training need analysis done and contribute to hold employees during the training. After all, infrastructure requirements have to be taken the utmost care. Infrastructure plays an important role in success and failure of any skill development program. It s been found from the study that, few factors like mandatory norms for attending skill development programs, programs offered as one of the factor for continued employment, skill based pay system, infrastructure and training need analysis have got very wide responses which are deviating from standard deviation. From the research, I would like to suggest that companies should motivate employees to attend training program by clearly stating the usefulness and take away from such skill development programs. Any kind of skill development programs should not conducted forcefully. Skill development programs should be conducted for the beneficiary of employees and employer. It should not be used as a tool for retention of employees. There should be a skill based pay system in order to make skill development programs successful and also to have a positive perception. Trainings should always be CONCLUSION Availability of skill development programs will impact employee perception positively. Skill development programs contribute to employee productivity. Organizational characteristics will influence the effectiveness of skill development programs. Hence, Information technology companies should continue providing skill development programs very often considering the Future scope of research Further research can extend for different industries, organisation, Divisions, departments and functional domain. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barbara, & Warren. (2006). African american small business owners attitudes 98

12 toward business training. Journal of small business management, 44 (4), Camp, r. R., Schulz, e., Sielhaber, m. E., & wagner-marsh, f. (fall 2011). Human resource professionals perceptions of interviewer training. Journal of managerial, xxiii (3), Erffmeyer, r. C., Russ, k. R., & Russ, k. R. (1991). Needs assessment and evaluation in sales-training. Journal of personal selling & sales management, 11 (1), Ford, j. K., & Noe, r. A. (1987). Selfassessed training needs: the effects of attitudes toward training, managerial level, and function. Personnel psychology, 40, Liu, p., & Kwonjune, u. (2013). The exploration of effects of chinese cultural values on the attitudes and behaviors of chinese restaurateurs toward food safety. Training journal of environmental health, 75, 10. Omoruyi, u, a., & e.o., f. (2003). An assessment of women's attitudes towards special skills training programmes in nigeria: implications for programme development and implementation. Convergence, v, 2. Pettijohn, c. E., s, l., Pettijohn, & Taylor, a. (2007). Does salesperson perception of the importance of sales skills improve sales performance, customer orientation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and reduce turnover? Journal of personal selling & sales management, xxvii, Tews, m. J., & Tracey, j. B. (2008). An empirical examination of posttraining onthe-job supplements for enhancing the effectiveness of interpersonal skills training. Personnel psychology, 61,