Ahmad Nabil Md Nasir 1*, Amirmudin Udin 1, Dayana Farzeeha Ali 1, Adnan Ahmad 1 and Mohd Safarin Nordin 1

Transcription

1 Man In India, 96 (1-2) : Serials Publications DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS FOR SKILLED WORKERS TOWARDS HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IN THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY IN KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA Ahmad Nabil Md Nasir 1*, Amirmudin Udin 1, Dayana Farzeeha Ali 1, Adnan Ahmad 1 and Mohd Safarin Nordin 1 This paper discusses about the differences between Non-Technical Skills for skilled workers towards their highest educational level in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. This research is a quantitative research and used questionnaire as their medium of research. There are seven of Non-Technical Skills elements that use in this research which are Communication Skills, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills, Information Management Skills, Leadership and Organizational Skills, Teamwork Skills, Work Attitudes and Personal Traits and Self- Management Skills. The means of all Non-Technical Skills for skilled workers for highest education level is obtained. One-way ANOVA and Post-Hoc ANOVA Turkey are used to get the differences between the variables. In this research, there are the differences between the Non-Technical Skills for skilled workers towards their highest educational level in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Keywords: Non-Technical Skills, Skilled Workers, Highest Education Level Introduction The excellent in development of human capital through the provision of a skilled worker is the goal of education in Malaysia. Our nation depends on the ability of young people who will be able to maintain productivity, while the industry is dependent on the availability of an educated workforce, skilled and quality (Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 1999). In industry, high demand for skilled workers is not only dependent on the quantity but the quality of them (Ahmad Nabil et al.,, 2011). The importance of Non-Technical Skills proficiency for skilled workers has led the quite phenomenon in Malaysia. Therefore, a lot of agencies should cooperate in the realization of this vision. Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) through the Engineering Accreditation Council of Malaysia (EAC) has released a list of attributes that should be mastered by engineering graduates from accredited programs (EACM, 2003). The list of Non-Technical Skills are communication skills, problem identification, problem-solving skills, work effectively in groups, lifelong learning, professional and ethical in all aspects (EACM, 2003).The process towards Non-Technical Skills proficiency process should start in the higher learning institutions. According to a study done by MERIC (2008) in the United States showed that graduates from Degrees, Masters and PhD 1 Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia * ahmadnabil.nasir@gmail.com

2 650 MAN IN INDIA in all areas are better than Certificate and Diploma for Non-Technical Skills. In England, skilled workers that have degrees is more better than diploma s skilled workers (Dickerson and Green, 2002). Research Methodology Descriptive research method used in this research. It involves data collection to test the hypotheses and answer the research questions (Gay, 1996). A set of questionnaire is used. The population for skilled workers is 15,142 and 375 have been chosen to be the sample by using Krejcie and Morgan table (1970). Researcher used cluster sampling and random sampling for sampling technique. Cluster sampling was used to identify the number of electronic skilled workers according to the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM). After that, a simple random sampling will be used in the field study. The questionnaire consists of Part A, which is to gain background information of the respondents, while Part B and C are focusing on Non-Technical Skill aspects. The data obtained from this study were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as means, ONE WAY ANOVA Test and Post Test (Post Hoc) ANOVA Turkey. Table 1 shows the skilled workers Non-Technical Skills proficiency scales. Mean Score TABLE 1: NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS PROFICIENCY FOR SKILLED WORKERS SCALES High Proficiency Medium Low Result Based on the findings of the survey data, a total of 191 respondents (50.1%) for skilled workers has been successfully involved in the study. Skilled workers with Certificate get highest mean in Work Attitudes and Personal Traits which is 4.31 and have the lowest mean in Communication Skills which is For skilled workers with Diploma, they have the highest mean in Work Attitudes and Personal Traits which is 4.26 and lowest is Information Management Skills which is While skilled worker with Degree get highest mean in Work Attitudes and Personal Traits for For skilled worker with Masters have the highest means in Communication Skills which is 4.28 and lowest in Creative Thinking And Problem Solving Skills which is Figure 1 shows the mean bar for skilled workers by their highest educational level towards Non-Technical Skills proficiency.

3 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS Figure 1: Mean bar for skilled workers by their highest educational level towards Non-Technical Skills proficiency To know that there is a significant differences between the highest academic qualifications with Non-Technical Skills proficiency, one way ANOVA analysis was carried out. Null hypothesis for each elements are shown in Table 2. TABLE 2: NULL HYPOTHESIS BY EACH ELEMENTS IN NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS Elements Communication Skills Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Information Management Skills Leadership and Organizational Skills Teamwork Skills Work Attitudes and Personal Traits Self-Management Skills Null Hypothesis education level towards Communication Skills proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley education level towards Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley education level towards Information Management Skills proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley education level towards Leadership and Organizational Skills proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley education level towards Teamwork Skills proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley education level towards Work Attitudes and Personal Traits proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley education level towards Self-Management Skills proficiency for skilled workers in the electronics industry in the Klang Valley

4 652 MAN IN INDIA TABLE 3: ONE WAY ANOVA ANALYSIS Elements F Ratio sig. f Result Null Hypothesis Communication Skills Significant Rejected Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Significant Rejected Information Management Skills Significant Rejected Leadership and Organizational Skills Significant Rejected Teamwork Skills Significant Rejected Work Attitudes and Personal Traits Significant Rejected Self-Management Skills Significant Rejected In this research, One-way ANOVA analysis indicated that the entire null hypotheses are rejected. This result shows that there have differences between the highest academic qualifications with Non-Technical Skills proficiency skilled electronics industry in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Therefore, to know the highest academic levels that have differences towards Non-Technical Skills proficiency, post-test (Post-Hoc) ANOVA test was conducted. Post Hoc Test ANOVA Turkey is chosen to analyze the further data. The summary of the data analysis are shown in Table 4. TABLE 4 : POST HOC TEST ANOVA TURKEY Elements Highest Highest Mean Signi- Academic Academic difference ficant Level Level Communication Skills Diploma Degree Master Degree Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Diploma Degree Information Management Skills Diploma Degree Leadership and Organizational Skills Diploma Degree Teamwork Skills Diploma Degree Work Attitudes and Personal Traits Certificate Degree Diploma Degree Self-Management Skills Certificate Degree Diploma Degree The study shows that there are significant differences between all elements in Non-Technical Skills and highest academic qualifications of skilled workers. It can be seen that there are significant differences between skilled workers with Degree and Diploma for all elements of Non-Technical Skills. However, the small differences between them did not give a great influence on overall Non-Technical Skills proficiency by the academic qualifications. For Communication Skills, there have a significant difference between skilled workers with Degree and Master. However, the small difference between them did not give a great influence on Communication Skills proficiency by the academic qualifications. Further findings

5 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS showed that there has a significant difference between skilled workers with Degree and Certificate for Work Attitudes and Personal Traits and Self-Management Skills. Even there have the significant difference, but it will not influence the proficiency of skills is due to both the mean differences were small. Discussion Based on the research findings, the differences in highest academic qualification among skilled workers in the electronics sector in Klang Valley could affect their proficiency of non-technical skills. Moreover, the findings also proved that the skilled workers that having the highest academic qualification in Diploma and Bachelor degree are proficient in all non-technical skills. On the other hand, the skilled workers that having certificate degree as their highest academic qualification only affect their proficiency in Work Attitude and Personal Traits and Self- Management skills, whereas the Master degree holder skilled workers only affect their proficiency in Communication skills. These findings are in line with research conducted by Dickerson and Green in England, which found that the workers with Diploma and Bachelor degree are more proficient in non-technical skills, such as Language skills, Numeracy skills, Management skills, Communication with Customer skills, High level Communication skills, Lateral Communication skills, Problem Solving skills and Revise skills (Dickerson and Green, 2002). In addition, these findings also supported by the research conducted by Kay towards the world economy giant companies in 2010, which found that these companies claimed that the employment of higher education institution graduates are very profitable to them. This was due to the majority of the graduates were equipped with high level of non-technical skills, namely communication skills, leadership skills, work ethics, creative and critical thinking skills and problem solving skills (Kay, 2010). As for the certificate holder, the skills that affected are Work Attitude and Personal Traits and Self-Management skills. These findings are in line with the research conducted by Abd Hair et al.,, (2004) and Fitrisehara et al., (2009). Based on Abd Hair et al., (2004) findings, certificate holder graduates were highly proficient in Work Attitude and Personal Traits skills compared to other nontechnical skills. As for Fitrisehara et al., (2009), their findings found that the certificate students at technical and vocational institution in Malaysia were highly proficient in Self-Management skills compared to other non-technical skills. As for the Master degree holder skilled workers, the skill affected is Communication skills. This finding is supported by the research finding by Dickerson and Green (2002), which found that the skilled workers who graduated with Master degree or above are more proficient in Communication skills compared to the other nontechnical skills. The difference of proficiency level of non-technical skills among skilled workers based on the highest academic qualification can be explained in more

6 654 MAN IN INDIA details through the exploration on the Malaysia academic system. Table 5 shows the instillation percentage of non-technical skills according to Bachelor, Diploma and Certificate degree, which is based on Malaysia Engineering Education Model (MEEM). Based on the table, Bachelor degree is given the highest instillation of non-technical skills and followed by Diploma and Certificate degree. The difference on non-technical skills instillation is able to give a clear picture on the employers regarding the proficiency of non-technical skills among their fresh employees. TABLE 5: INSTILLATION PERCENTAGE OF NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS ACCORDING TO BACHELOR, DIPLOMA AND CERTIFICATE DEGREE, WHICH IS BASED ON MALAYSIA ENGINEERING EDUCATION MODEL (MEEM) Category Bachelor of Diploma of Certificate of Engineering based Engineering based Engineering on MEEM of MEEM based on MEEM Non-technical Skills 30% 15-20% 10-15% This research has adapted the list of non-technical skills attributes, which is in the learning syllabus at the higher education institution for engineering students. Based on Engineering Accreditation Council Malaysia (EAC), which is established under Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) (EACM, 2003), the engineering graduates in Malaysia from accredited programs need to be proficient in these abilities as mention below: a) Communicate effectively, not only among engineers but also be able to communicate well in larger community, b) Able to identify, formulate and solve problem, c) Understand the professional responsibility, commitment and ethics, d) Able to function effectively in a group and able to become a leader or manager as good as become a normal team member, e) Understand the professional engineer s social, cultural, global and environment, and the need of sustainable development and f) Expectation of the need to undertake lifelong learning, and possessing/ acquiring the capacity to do so Conclusion Non-technical skills are the critical skills that sought by the industries or employers nowadays, even though for the skilled workers. Without such skills, they will unable to communicate with their peers or colleagues at their best. Moreover, they also unable to contribute while work in a team, which cause them to hardly survive in the industry. Based on this research, it can be claimed and concluded that the highest academic qualification is proportional towards the proficiency of nontechnical skills among skilled workers in the electronics sector in Klang Valley.

7 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS References Abd Hair Awang, Azimi Hamzah and Rahmah Ismail. Kemahiran Bolehkerja : Keseimbangan Antara Tuntutan Majikan dan Penguasaan Pelatih. Persidangan Kebangsaan Penyelidikan Siswazah Pengajian Pendidikan. 11 September Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang. Ahmad Nabil Md Nasir, Dayana Farzeeha Ali, Muhammad Khair Noordin, Mohd Safarin Nordin. Technical skills and non-technical skills: predefinition concept. International Engineering and Technology Education Conference (IETEC) January 2011.Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dickerson, A. dan Green, F. (2002). The Growth And Valuation of Generic Skills. Studies in Economics 0203, Department of Economics, University of Kent. EACM. Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), Engineering Accreditation Council Malaysia: EAC Manual Fitrisehara Kazilan, Ramlah Hamzah and Ab. Rahim Bakar. Employability Skills Among the Students of Technical and Vocational Training Centers in Malaysia. European Journal of Social Sciences. 9(1), Gay, L. R. (1996). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and application (5th ed.). New York: Macmillan. Kay, K. (2010). Essential Skills for the 21stCentury Workplace: Keys to Succeeding in the Strategic Finance, Vol. 81 No. 10, pp Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (1999). Dasar Pendidikan Kebangsaan. Kuala Lumpur. Krejcie and Morgan (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational & Psychological Measurement, 30, MERIC (2008). Mýssourý Skýlls Gap. Missouri Economic Research & Information Center, USA.

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