Influence of on-the-job Training on service delivery in Kenya Forest
Service, Meru Station
Edward Kariuki Mathenge (Corresponding Author)*, PhD Student, HRM Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, e-mail: edkam210@yahoo.com; +254-721-313-837
Daniel Nderi Waari, Phd (Marketing and Strategic Management) Candidate, Moi University, Kenya, dnderius@yahoo.com ; +254-721-986-343
Dr. Alice W. Kamau, Lecturer School of Business (Karatina University), Kenya, alicefipf@yahoo.com; +254-722-470-761
Abstract
Purpose– The study was seeking to study the influence of on-the-job training on service delivery in a parastatal organisation. Parastatal organisations are affiliated to the government, with some operating autonomously from the government to offer essential services to the public. The study would help the government to offer capacity building to its employees so as that the employees can offer effective and efficient services to the nation.
Design/methodology/approach– the research used descriptive research design and employed the geographical sampling method, where the employees at the Meru station were sampled, who are 162 in number. A questionnaire was hand-delivered and picked after the respondents completed to fill them. Open and close-ended questions were used in the questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was employed and percentages were presented in tables and figures.
Findings– Results show that 92% of the respondents agree that training policies affect service delivery, with 100% agreeing that the length of training affects service delivery at KFS. From the study findings 74% of the respondents agree that the level of training affects service delivery of employees at Kenya Forest Service, with 100% of the respondents, agreeing that curriculum affects service delivery. The employees stated that the job training policies should be crafted in collaboration with all employees so that their training needs, the need for retention and employee morale are catered for and enhanced in the policies. This would translate into crafting policies that support and enhance service delivery in the organisation.
Originality/value– The study picked on a parastatal for the study since it is semi-autonomous from the government and on-the-job trainings are done with the expectation of improving employees’ service delivery. The study is one of its kind in the region as not many studies have been done on parastatals in the region.
Keywords: on-the-job training, training policies, length of training, level of training, curriculum, service delivery.
The study seeks to establish the influence of employee training on service delivery in Kenya Forest Service. The need for services by organizations has continued to be one of the most important aspects for the success of an organization; this is because service delivery is the main determinant of the existence of an organization. Service delivery relates to an organization meeting the perception and expectation of its customers as Kotler (2003). Kotler (2003) also notes that satisfaction is a persons feeling or disappointment resulting from comparing a product perceived performance or outcome in relation to his/her expectations.
In view of the above, service delivery should be improved in business organization to achieve the best of them to be effective in offering their service and products. Excellent service delivery is the process by which an organization delivers its services or product in a way that allows the customers to access them in the most efficient, fair, cost effective and normally satisfying and pleasurable manner possible (Gitomer,1998). A business creates its own image to the public through how it receives handles and discharge its customers. In developing good customer service a proper customer complaint handling system needs to be established. It is an important tool and also a challenging task that requires the participation and commitment of all the staff.
According to Mile Management Consultants (2001) service delivery is the act of responding to customer needs and expectation in a way that will make them have a memorable experience and motivate them to come back, the need for service delivery is because there is a lot of competition and also customers are the source for profits, jobs and good salary. Customers also pay the salaries, wages and dividends. Once in the store the customer experience is influenced by the staff and people skill and the store itself. Mile Management consultants also wrote that service delivery should have a stress free shopping. According to consultants’ customer is someone who has both physical and emotional needs. The emotional needs are very powerful in determining customer satisfaction. The need to feel welcome where customer is allowed to know staff and their business is important. The need to feel important should do whatever is possible to make customer feel special. The need to be understood, staff should watch out for customer emotions, listen to their request. The need for comfort and being in charge, customers are in control of the situation. They need to feel they are not being pushed around.
Burnett (1992) asserts that customer satisfaction is closely identified with perception of quality. He also states closeness to the customer means segmentation and targeting markets precisely and then tailoring offerings to match. This will invest to build long term customer loyalty and service delivery and look at the customer’s lifetime value of the organization. Service delivery means doing everything possible to look after the existing customers of an organization. Frank and Bee (1999) note that focus on customer is on ensuring satisfaction for your customers, which involves creating a customer first culture through out the organization.
favor by serving him; he is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so, when customer care department should be effective in dealing with those problems. This time taken to handle the problem will indicate to the level of satisfaction to be achieved by the customer.
According to Gerson (1995), identifies that the most crucial aspect of service delivery is satisfaction. All things done to achieve excellent quality and service are not important for a customer who is not satisfied. It further defines customer satisfaction as the force that his/her expectation have been met or surpassed. If the company provides quality and service according to customer definition then satisfaction will follow. According to Kotler (1997) , customer service are all those activities geared to make it easy for the consumer, to teach the right people within the company and receive quick and satisfactory service, answers and resolutions to problems. Customer satisfaction is the outcome felt by buyers who have experienced a company performance that has fulfilled expectations. Customers are satisfied when their expectations are met and delighted when their expectations are exceeded. Satisfied customers remain loyal longer, buy more, are less price sensitive and talk favorable about the company. To create customer satisfaction, companies must manage their value chain as ell as the whole value delivery system in a customer centered way. The company’s goal is not only to get customers but even more importantly to retain customers.
Customer’s relationship marketing provides the key to retaining customer customers and involves providing financial and social benefits as well as structural ties to the customers. Companies must decide how much relationship marketing to invest in different market segments and individual customers, from such levels as basic, reactive, accountable, and proactive, to full partnership. Much depends on estimating customer lifetime value against the cost stream required to attract and retain these customers. Total Quality Management, TQM, is seen today as a major approach to providing customer satisfaction and company profitability. Companies must understand how their customers perceive quality than their competitors. This involves total management and employee commitment as well as measurement and reward systems. In the view of Hayden (1998) customer service includes services such as free delivery of products to customer’s home, installation of appliances and repair services. Generally the more customer service a store offers the higher the prices will be relative to a store that does not offer such services.
Profile of Kenya Forest Service
Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme (PELIS) on an initial 16,000 hectares of land that needed to be reforested.
The vision of Kenya Forest Service is “to be the leading organisation of excellence in sustainable forest management and conservation” whilst the mission is “to enhance conservation and sustainable management of forests and allied resources for environmental stability and socio-economic development”. Their mandate is to provide for the establishment, development and sustainable management, including conservation and rational utilization of forest resources for environmental protection and socio-economic development of the country.
In the KFS (2012), there is a Human Resource and Administration Division under Senior Deputy Director Finance and Administration whose tasks are, among others to co-ordinate human resources planning, training and development and handles attendance and leaves. Among the leaves granted are unpaid and study leave, pg 36. On page 29, under 1.15 training and development, “KFS believes that employees are its greatest asset and the attainment of its employees. The service’s training programmes targets the achievement of its mandate”. This, together with 3.0 training and development that reads, “The service shall therefore offer training opportunities to all its employees in order to improve their work performance and personal development”, clearly states that employees are facilitated or allowed to study. ENCOM, (2012) states that employees are promoted on merit and this includes paramilitary training for junior ranks or education (minimum diploma lasting 6 months) for officers.
On Job Training Policies
Bramley (1996) says that the employees that feel their company is investing in them may feel more job satisfaction and increased loyalty to then- organization. Having a training plan in place can be beneficial to the organization and offer benefits to employees that competitors may not offer. Although companies may risk losing employees that have just been trained, the benefit of training those employees far outweighs their risk. When staff is involved in formal training plan, individual's skill sets improve and they can contribute more to the organization. Employees that feel their company is investing in them may feel more job satisfaction and increased loyalty to their organization. The benefit of training employees is mutual and can be realized for quite sometime. Organizations can also offer lesser skilled workers formal training in order to benefit from their new skills. Skilled, experienced workers are inevitably better trainers in the workplace. Some less experienced people are qualified, but not to the extent of being able to train others well. Training people on the job is an art form. On the training also includes risk management with trainees, preventing any damage and making sure they understand the objects and pitfalls of their jobs.
up high level jobs. Training is useful not only for organization but also for employees. Training provides job security and an opportunity for advancement to the employees. Money spent on training is an investment in human assets. A skill acquired through training is an asset for both the organization and the employer.
Armstrong (2001) defines training as the formal and systematic modification of behavior through learning, which occurs as a result of education, instruction development and planned experience. Armstrong (2001) also enumerates the fundamental aim of training as to ensure that employees have the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out their rules properly, ensuring staff are competent and professional underpins the performance of a firm, develop the skills and competencies of employees and improve theory performance, help people to grow with the organization in order that, as far as possible, its future needs for human resources can be met from within, reduce the learning time for employees starting in new jobs on appointment, transfer or promotion and ensure that they become fully competent as quickly and economical as possible, minimize learning costs, improve individual, team and corporate performance in terms of output, quality speed and overall productivity; improve operational flexibility by extending the range of skills possessed by employers (multi-skilling), attract high quality employee by offering them learning and development opportunities increasing their levels of competence and enhancing their skills, thus enabling them to obtain more job satisfaction to gain higher rewards and to progress within the organization; increase the commitment of employees by them to identify with the mission and objectives of the organization; help to manage change by increasing understanding of the reasons for change and providing with the knowledge and skills they need to adjust to new situations help develop a positive culture in the organization, one for example, that is oriented towards performance improvement and provide higher levels of service to customers.
Length of Training
Human resource is the very important and the backbone of every organization and it is also the main resource of the organization. So organizations invest huge amount on the human resource capital because the performance of human resource will ultimately increase the performance of the organization. Performance is a major multidimensional construct aimed to achieve results and has a strong link to strategic goals of an organization (Mwita, 2000). As Mwita (2000) explains that performance is the key element to achieve the goals of the organization so to performance increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization which is helpful for the achievement of the organizational goals. But t h e question arise that how an employee can work more effectively and efficiently to increase the growth and the productivity of an organization. There are many factors whic h i mprove s th e work of the employee such as flexible scheduling, training etc.
that Training design plays a very vital role in the employee as well as organizational performance. A bad training design is nothing but the loss of time and money (Tsaur and Lin, 2004). On the job training helps employees to get the knowledge of their job in a better way (Deming, 1982).
People learn from their practical experience much better as compared to bookish knowledge. On the job training reduces cost and saves time (Flynn et al., 1995; Kaynak, 2003; Heras, 2006). It is better for the organizations to give their employees on the job training because it is cost effective and time saving (Taylor et al., 2004). It is good for organization to give their employees on the job training so that their employees learnt in a practical way (Baum et al., 2007).
On the job training helps employees to get the knowledge of their job in a better way (Deming, 1982). People learn from their practical experience much better as compare to bookish knowledge. On the job training reduces cost and saves time (Flynn et al., 1995; Kaynak, 2003; Heras, 2006). It is better for the organizations to give their employees on the job training because it is cost-effective and time saving (Taylor et al., 2004). It is good for organization to give their employees on the job training so that their employees learnt in a practical way (Baum et al., 2007).
It is very difficult for an employee to perform well at the job place without any pre-training (Garavan, 1997). Tr ained employees perform well as compared to untrained employees (Partlow, 1996; Tihanyi et al., 2000; Boudreau et al., 2001). It is very necessary for any organization to give its employees training to get overall goals of the organization in a better way (Flynn et al., 1995; Kaynak, 2003; Heras, 2006). Training and development increase the overall performance of the organization (Jon et al., 2003). Although it is costly to give training to the employees but in the long run it give back more than it too (Flynn et al., 1995; Kaynak, 2003; Heras, 2006). Every organization should develop its employees according to the need of that time so that they could compete with their competitors (Carlosn & Braga, 1995).
Learning is “Relatively permanent change in behaviour produced by experience”, (Bass and Vaughn, 1968). Learning covers all virtually behaviours and is concerned with the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, values and emotional response (Mc Kenna, 2006). This behaviourist approach to learning is considered to be more influential which is derived from classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Training is practical process not theory training is an art and science as well, there is no training theories, one can manage and use some appropriate methods for effectiveness of training process. According to Daniel, (1993) Training is a process through which individual learning advances organizational learning. By clear understanding of this (individual learning) trainers can actively manage the learning process to make it consistent with an organizational goals, vision and values (Fincham & Rhodes, 1999).
performance is said to be the observed effect of learning on behaviours. The idea of training is closely bound up with the distinction which is made between training and performance, learning can occurs without any formal training but (Gagne, Briggs and Wagger, 1992) asserted that use of the training (process) is to make effective the process of learning by arranging conditions so that trainee could learn more rapidly and effectively. Bass and Vaughn, (1968) explored that the real significance of attempts to develop the training technology is that analysis of human behaviours helps in the identification of real conditions which are relevant and necessary in bringing about specified changes in performance. Learning theory deal with the human behaviours, changes occurs in behaviours and the effects of environment on these behaviours. Learning theory examines the human behaviour and gives some instructions (conditions) of learning. Gagne et al, (1992) found learning theory provides hierarchy of instructions for learning conditions (training) like stimulus recognition, response generation, procedure following, use of terminology, discriminations, concepts formation, rule application and problem solving. Instructions are helpful in the identifications of prerequisites and to facilitate learning at each level, the hierarchy also satisfies and provides necessary conditions for learning and serves as the basis for designing instructions and selecting appropriate media for training. In short all learning theories permeate the dimensions of training and provides trainer with options to choose the one most appropriate. Depending upon the trainees and training approaches, different learning theory may apply.
Level of Training
Armstrong (2001) further says that training should be more concerned with identifying satisfying learning and development needs like multi-skilling, fitting people to take an extra responsibility, increasing sound competence and preparing people to take on high responsibility in future. According to Bramley (1996) the accurate identification of training needs of an organization is crucial to the success and development. However theory does little to assist those who face this difficult task.
(Carlos & Braga, 1995).
Delivery style is a very important part of training and development (Carlos A. Primo Braga, 1995). Employees are very conscious about the delivery style (Armstrong, 2000). If someone is not delivering the training in an impressive style and he is not capturing the attention of the audience it is means he is wasting the time (Griffin et al., 2000). It is very necessary for a trainer to engage its audience during the training session ( S eamen et al., 2005). Delivery style means so much in the training and development. People are the critical component of the organizational system (Hayes, Wheelwright & Clark, 1998). Superior performance is ultimately based on the people in an organization, the right management principles, systems and procedures play an essential role. The capabilities that create a competitive advantage come from people, their skill, discipline, motivation, ability to solve problems and their capacity for learning (Telley, 1968). Strength of any organization depends upon the knowledge and skills of the people it employs, but all employees are not equal in the same settings. To bring them upto the required level the organization offers different training and developing programs. Every year organizations invest huge budget on training as (Training magazine, 2007) mentioned overall U.S organizations shelled out $58.5 billion for training in year 2006. The figure/situation forcing the executives that how organization can make these training programs more effective. Organizations ultimately learn via their individual employees, hence theories of individual learning are crucial in training. Through research studies and experiences, psychologists produced different theories of how individual learn thus the required objectives of this study is to highlight the applications of these important theories and how these theories prove to be of most effective in trainings? As training are only effective if it promote learning.
According to Bently (1991) investment in people, in developing and maintaining appropriate skills is vital to organization strategy for future. Indeed effective training enhances knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors of people that determine their performances. In actual sense the lighter ones education the more pragmatic and open minded they becomes and in turn, enables decision making and enhances the level of performance with time and expertise.
and communication skills The tasks to be carried out are so complex that people unlikely to master them on their own initiative at a reasonable speed.
Curriculum
Armstrong (2001) quotes Holden 1997 in designing the continuous vicious cycle of planned training as: training policy, establishing training in the organization, evaluate training, identifying training needs, carrying out training, evaluating training, planning training and the cycle continues. Armstrong (2001) depicts that training must have a purpose and that purpose can be defined only if the learning needs of the organization and the groups and individuals within it have been systematically identified and analyzed. It is necessary to avoid falling into the trap of adopting the "deficiency model", which implies that training is only about putting things right that have gone wrong. Training is much more positive than that. It is or should be, more concerned with identifying and satisfying learning and development needs - multi-skilling, fitting people to take on extra responsibilities, increasing all-round competence and preparing people to take on higher levels of responsibility in the future. Training needs should be analyzed, first for the organization as a whole - corporate need, second for departments, teams, functions or occupations within the organization group needs and third for individual employees. These three areas are interconnected. The analysis of corporate needs will lead to the identification of training needs in different departments or occupations, while these in turn will indicate the training required for individual employees. The process also operates in reverse. As the needs of individual employees are analyzed separately, common needs emerge which can be dealt with a group basis. The sum total group and individual needs will help to define corporate needs; although there may be some super ordinate training requirements which can be related only to the company as a whole to meet its business development needs the whole training plan may be greater than the sum of the parts. Where should training take place?
Ju
knowledge and skills, especially if the course covers standard theory and practice, which can easily be translated from the general to the particular. External training should be able to supply the quality of instruction that it might be uneconomic to provide internally. It can be used to implant highly specialized knowledge or advanced skills and has the added advantage of broadening the horizons of those taking part, not least because they will be exposed to their peers form the organization. Training program designed as an art, (Armstrong, 2001).
Armstrong (2001) says that training analysis is the art of designing training programmes to select the right blend of on-the- job training. There are rules for doing this. Each programme has to be considered individually. But the emphasis should always be towards putting learning into practice and therefore, first consideration has to be given to what happens on-the-job learning by doing with appropriate guidance from managers, colleagues or mentors. Off-the-job courses, whether internal or external, should be regarded as complimentary and supplementary activities that may stimulate learning or provide knowledge and skills that cannot be obtained internally. But they are always subsidiary to what individuals do and learn in their normal place of work.
Armstrong (2001) cites the techniques used as; on-the-job techniques, which are practical on a day-to-day basis or as part of a specially tailored program. These include demonstration, coaching, job rotation, planned experienced and mentoring and other personal development activities. There are also of-the-job techniques, which are used in formal training courses away from the place or work. These include lectures, talks, discussion, role playing, simulation, group exercises, team building, distance learning, out door learning and workshops. Training is an organized procedure by which people acquire knowledge or skills for different purpose. It is the provision of the knowledge, skills and attitudes for effective performance. It is very crucial in any organization for effective delivery of services. If there are many reasons why employees need teaming for them to be effective, staff training must have a purpose that can be defined only if learning needs of an organization and group individual within it have been systematically identified and analyzed. Training needs analysis is partly concerned with defining the gap between what is happening and what should happen. This is what has to be filled by training.
in carrying out their various assignments. In which this view, issues such as on-the job learning, team development, and action learning and performance management. In summary, training may be referred to as planned process of increasing skills and management for improvement and effectiveness in handling tasks related to job tasks. Reynolds (1985) argued that the transfer of expertise by outside experts is risky since their design is often removed from the context in which work is created. This is a fundamental problem and applies equally to internally run up training courses where what has been taught can be difficult for people to apply in the entirely different circumstances in their work place. Training can seem to be remote from reality and skills and knowledge acquired can appear to be irrelevant. This particularly applies to management or supervisory training but even the manual skills learnt in a training centre may be difficult to transfer. This problem can be tackled by making the training as relevant and realistic as possible, anticipating and dealing with any potential transfer difficulties. Individuals are more likely to apply learning when they do not find it too difficult, believe what they learnt is relevant, useful and transferable, are supported by line managers have job autonomy, believe in themselves and are committed and engaged. Transfer is also more likely if systematic training and just-in – time approaches are used, as described below. Training should be systematic in that it is specifically designed, planned and implemented to meet defined needs. It is provided by people who know to train and the impact of training is carefully evaluated. The concept was originally developed for the industrial boards in the 1960’s and consists of a simple four-stage model, this include, Identify training, Decide what sort of training is required to satisfy these needs, Use experienced and trained trainers to implement training and Follow up and evaluate training to ensure that it is effective.
Summary
Punctuality plays a central role in modern economics. As James Surowiecki put it, “the fundamental challenge for a modern economy is to co-ordinate the actions of millions of independent people so that goods may be produced and services delivered as efficiently as possible. It’s a lot easier to do this when people are where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there”. (The New Yorker, April 5, 2004.) Punctuality is also an important component of firm strategy. For example, in the early 1990s Finnair started several quality improvement efforts, with a special emphasis on ground service operations. Since 1996, the company has consistently been ranked among the top three European carriers in punctuality. For example, luggage retrieval at Helsinki airport average 12 minutes, one of the fastest in the world.
industry and saps industrial progress. The economic and social loss occurring from absenteeism cannot be determined accurately. He said that absenteeism is, however, too complex and an elusive concept to permit exact remedial measures.
Johnson (1995) denotes motivation by “comfort”, “flexibility” and “attentiveness”. Comfort is neither a satisfier nor a dissatisfier, flexibility is more of a satisfier and, attentiveness is a very strong satisfier. Thus, organisations should spend a considerable amount of resources making sure that employees are attentive and helpful to others and to customers since it is valued a lot, (Johnston, 1995). Belbin (1982) says that Adam’s
Equity Theory suggests that managers must treat employees equally. Equity acts as a
source of motivation. He states that when people believe that they have been inequitably treated in comparison with others, they will loose their morale and dislike work. Victor’s expectancy theory suggests that people will do what they can when they want to do it. Therefore employee morale should be motivated so that they increase their output and externally like their work.
Retention in the table is represented by security; which has the effect of bringing dissatisfaction to employees and thus to customers. Organizations may experience a decrease in performance, efficiency, and morale, and an increase in the disorder of social networks, group cohesion, and communication (Sightler 1999). As Day (2000) argued, if companies cannot retain their employees, “the economic results could be devastating for an organization. A substantial amount of value could potentially end up being employed by a competitor, or … become the competition”. Hinkin (2000) determined that the most costly element of employee turnover, representing 60 percent, is that of lost productivity Employees on the other hand have a role to play as far as retention or turnover is concerned. This is because they make the decision on whether to remain in their current organization or to move to other organizations.
According to Brench (1998), behavior can be learnt and individuals trained in appropriate leadership behaviors would be able to lead more effectively. In the Behavioral theories approach, certain theories were carefully examined to bring out the role of a leader in an organization. They include the Leadership continum which was developed by Robert Tanneabum and Warren .H. Schnydt and shows off the trade off between a manager’s use of authority and freedom that subordinate experiences as leadership style change from boss centered to subordinate leadership style. The contingency /situation, according to researchers, was different from the behavioral approach in that, as appropriate behaviors lead to desired subordinates responses, in the behavioral approach, in the contingency approach situational factors must be considered so as to know how certain leadership styles will affect the organization.
Statement of the Problem
Administration Division under Senior Deputy Director Finance and Administration whose tasks are, among others to co-ordinate human resources planning, training and development and handles attendance and leaves. Among the leaves granted are unpaid and study leave, pg 36. On page 29, under 1.15 training and development, “KFS believes that employees are its greatest asset and the attainment of its employees. The service’s training programmes targets the achievement of its mandate”. This, together with 3.0 training and development that reads, “The service shall therefore offer training opportunities to all its employees in order to improve their work performance and personal development”, clearly states that employees are facilitated or allowed to study. ENCOM, (2012) states that employees are promoted on merit and this includes paramilitary training for junior ranks or education (minimum diploma lasting 6 months) for officers. There are a number of officers with advanced diplomas and degrees but have not yet been promoted, besides the statement in ENCOM that seems to support promotion on merit, education achievement being one of the criteria. It is for this reason that the researcher wants to study the influence of employee training on service delivery at The Kenya Forest Service.
Purpose of the study
To investigate the influence of on the job training on service delivery, a case study of Kenya Forest Service, Meru Zone.
Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study were:
i. To investigate the effect of on job training policies on service delivery in Kenya Forest Service Meru Station.
ii. To examine the effect of length of training on service delivery in Kenya Forest Service Meru Station
iii. To find out the effect of level of training on service delivery in Kenya Forest Service Meru Station
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 115 employees responded successfully to in the following percentages; 43% disciplined forces, 4% technical services and 53% support services employees. The male respondents account for 70% of the total number of respondents and females account for 30 % of the total respondents who participated in the survey. This means that there are more males than females in Kenya Forest Service. Data obtained shows that 43% of the employees at KFS have a college diploma, 35% possess secondary education and 22% have a university degree as their highest level of education, and that 48% of the respondents are married, 39% are single and 13% are divorced. More data indicates that 4.6, 34% of the respondents have worked for 8-10 years in KFS, 26% have worked for 11-15 years, 17% have worked for 5-7 years, 13% have worked for over 15 years and 9% have worked for less than 5 years. This means that majority of the respondents have had a fairly long tenure f service at KFS.
Results show that 48% of the respondents strongly agree that training policies affect service delivery, with 44% indicating that they agree that training policies affects service delivery, with 4% citing disagreement and strongly disagree respectively about training policies affecting service delivery. This means that majority of the respondents felt that training policies affects service delivery in a way. In total 53% agree that job training affects service delivery to a very great extent with 35% agreeing that job training affects service delivery to a high extent. 9% cited low extent and 3% cited very extent of job training affecting service delivery. Majority of the respondents, at 88%, therefore were in agreement that job training affects service delivery (Hill, 1985; Mullins, 2005; Braton et al, 2007; McKenna, 2006).
.
Data indicates that 52% of the respondents agree that the length of training affects service delivery whereas 48% strongly agrees that the length of training affects service delivery of employees at Kenya Forest Service. This implies that the employees agree to the fact that the more time you spend while being trained, the more you grasp the content and methods of doing your work effectively and efficiently. Out of the total, 61% of the respondents stated that the length of training affects service delivery to a high extent whereas 39% stated that the length of training affects service delivery to a very high extent. This implies that service delivery is to a large extent influenced by the length of training (Bently (1991).
delivery at Kenya Forest Service. The study further shows that 61% of the respondents stated that the level of training affects service delivery to a high extent whereas 39% stated that the level of training affects service delivery to a very high extent. This implies that service delivery is to a large extent influenced by the level of training (Bently (1991).
The data obtained indicates that 35% of the respondents agree that curriculum affects service delivery whereas 65% strongly agrees that curriculum affects service delivery of employees at Kenya Forest Service (Jackson & Schuler, 2000). This implies that the employees agree to the fact that the content one is exposed to has a significant effect on what one does, i.e., service delivery. More data indicates that 57% of the respondents stated that curriculum affects service delivery to a high extent whereas 43% stated that curriculum affects service delivery to a very high extent. This implies that service delivery is to a large extent influenced by the length of training (Dessler, 2008).
Conclusion and Recommendations Conclusion
Service delivery at Kenya Forest Service is affected in varying degrees by training policies, length of training, level of training and curriculum implemented. 92% indicate that job training affects service delivery, with 100% accepting that length of training affects service delivery, 74% agreed that the level of training affects service delivery and 100% stated that curriculum affects service delivery.
The study shows that Kenya Forest Service has invested in crafting suitable training policies for the employees in their areas of expertise to improve efficiency, effectiveness and service delivery as exemplified by 92% who agreed with the idea. On the length of training, 100% of the employees agreed that training is necessary in enhancing service delivery. A 74% agreement was reported on the level of training affecting service delivery from the Kenya Forest Service employees. They explained that the level of training ensures proper grasp of the content, skills and attitudes necessary for handling job challenges. The curriculum that is implemented gets 100% support from Kenya Forest Service employees who said that curriculum determines the soft and hard skills necessary to ensure one’s expertise and capabilities are enhanced.
Recommendations
The job training policies should be crafted in collaboration with all employees so that their training needs, need for retention and employee morale are catered for and enhanced in the policies. This would translate into crafting policies that support and enhance service delivery in the organisation.
Concerning the level of training, the employees suggested that each individual needs should be considered as well as the certificates and tenure of service so that training objectives are met. While crafting the training content and programme, one’s previous experiences and capabilities should be considered so that the content is not underwhelming or overwhelming to the point of putting off the participants. The level of training enables employees to pinpoint at the actual level in which one is capable of handling issues and thus determines service delivery.
An updated, current and relevant curriculum one is taught determines service delivery to a large extent for the world is fast changing. When one is kept abreast with the current happenings, content and new ways of doing things, one is able to work freely, effectively and efficiently thus optimal service delivery.
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