Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Asian Academy of Applied Business (AAAB) 2013

THE EFFECIVITY OF TRAINING AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ON JOB

PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT ROYAL MALAYSIA POLICE DISTRICTS OFFICES IN
SABAH

Ho Siew Hoong
Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) Sabah
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Syed Azizi Wafa Syed Khalid Wafa

School of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Datu Razali Datu Eranza

School of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
drde@ums.edu.my

ABSTRACT

This study provides an insight into the human respurce practices in training and skills
development, and the effects to job performance of the officers in Royal Malaysia Police
(RMP). The interest of the study was generated based on the Royal Commission Report that
outlined issues facing RMP; lack of training and development planning, weaknesses in
recruitment as lack of efficiency profile assessment and lack of emphasis on ethical and
integrity assessment, the absence of strategy and comprehensive programme for human
resource management and development, and the lack of Human Resource Planning. Hence,
the study attempted to investigate the relationship between training and skills developemtn
with job performance, and the moderation effect of age and education level to the former
relationships. The research objective was researched by quantitative approach, by using
questionnaire as the main instrument. 278 samples were randomly selected and snowbally
collected. The findings suggested that training and skills development programme of RMP
were significantly affecting the job performance of the officers, and the relationships are
moderated by educational level of the individuals.

Keywords: Training, Skills Development, and Job Performance.

INTRODUCTION

The Royal Malaysian Police, referred as RMP is a centralised organization with

responsibilities ranging from traffic control to intelligence gathering. The main functions of
Royal Malaysian Police is as stated in Section 3(3) Police Act 1967, as the Force shall subject
to this Act be employed in and throughout Malaysia are: maintenance of law and order,
preservation of the peace and security of Malaysia, prevention and detection of crime,
apprehension and prosecution of offenders and, the collection of security intelligence.

In 2005, the Royal Commission released a report, detailing some problems and challenges
facing the force. The Royal Commission report, Chapter XIII stated that Royal Malaysia
Police should focuses on the enhancement of Human Resource Management and
Development as to increase the job performance. Some of the ineffectiveness of Royal
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Malaysian Police as reported in the Commission Report is related to the weaknesses of

management system and the less-effective strategy in developing one hundred thousand
officers in the service, which can be categorized into: (1) Lack of Training and Development,
(2) Weaknesses in recruitment as lack of efficiency profile assessment and lack of emphasis
on ethical and integrity assessment, (3) The absence of strategy and comprehensive
programme for human resource management and development, and (4) Lack of Human
Resource Planning. Hence, this study attempted to investigate the relationship between
training and performance, skills and development, and whether or not age and education
level moderate the relationships of training and skills development, with job performance.
The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) has a performance system based on the system designed
by the Malaysian Public Service Department (PSD). The senior police officers’ performance
appraisal system involves the process of work target setting, assessment of behaviour and
job performance within a stipulated period. Pursuant to guidelines, the work targets are
established in January following discussions and agreement between the first rating officer
and the subordinate. The first rating officer is required to guide their subordinates to set
work targets and to complete the annual work target. The appraisal process involves two-
way interaction between the subordinate and the supervisor. The standard of work
achievement will be measured based on cost, quantity, quality, and time (Public Service
Department, 2002). Mid-term review on the accomplishment of those objectives is held in
June/July and at the end of the evaluation period. The supervisor must inform the results of
the appraisal report to the appraise.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Job performance is the level of an individual’s contribution to accomplish organizations goals

(Campbell, 1990), and as activities related to organization’s goals (Borman and Motowiidlo,
1997). The relationship between skills development and performance is the employee in the
organization acquired certain skills provided by the organization to empower and train them
so that the entire employees skill are improved. This two-way action creates a relationship
between the employee and management. Employee responsibility is to be the maximum
performance engine for the production of product or services to satisfy the organizations
goals to achieve Delbridge (2001). Prickett (1998) reports that London University’s survey of
graduates found that over 90% expect their employer to help in their development. While,
Holbeche (1998) found that one-third of her sample of high fliers would leave if they could
not broaden their skills. This means offering these talented employees training to keep them
current on their job function and allowing them to learn new skills can also utilized to
improve employee satisfaction and performance with the organization. Training can and
should be a powerful agent to facilitate a firm’s expansion and the development of its
capabilities, thus enhancing profitability (Cosh, 1998). The human capital in the organization
will be more loyal towards their employer and provide extra effort to ensure the growth and
performance of the organization, which is never ending. Manu, J.S. (2004) stated that
training is used as a management tool to develop skills and knowledge as a means of
increasing an employee’s and ultimately an organization’s performance in terms of
efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. Employee development is another management
tool. This tool is used to enhance the skills and ability, which the employees need to be able
to move along with the organization to pursue a career in line with its advancing needs. Not
only is management’s commitment to the training and development of its employees an
attempt to improve product quality and service delivery, but also a way to make the
employees feel valued and as part of the organization. It can raise the employee’s morale
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and encourage their commitment to the organization. A well-trained workforce can produce
better jobs, be creative, and have higher motivation, which in the long term enhance the
organization’s productivity.

According to Rothwell (1984) and Majchrzak (1988) training is one of the common problems
in the introduction of technological change in an organization. Organizations underestimate
the importance of skills needed for new technology. Decision making concerning investing in
new technology are often made on assumption that the skills needed for the new equipment
are available or will be easy to obtain. Although training and other human resource issues
may arise during the innovation, they are often not conducted in commitment. Futhermore,
Manu, J.S. saying that training and development is essential to organizations which seek to
gain a competitive advantage through a highly skilled and flexible workforce, and are seen
as a major element to high productivity and quality performance. A skilled workforce can
increase productivity by producing a higher level of work with greater value. A skilled
workforce can improve a firm’s operative flexibility as they will be easier to retrain due to
their broad knowledge base of multi-skills. This allows management to be confident in using
new technology and provide employers with progressive adjustment to change in production
methods, produce requirement and technology. In today’s competitive climate, “efficient
production even of technically unsophisticated products benefits from technically advanced
machinery operated by a workforce with a high level of skills” which in turn “a pre-condition
for successful selective of appropriate machinery and its efficient utilization” (Steedman &
Wagner, 1989).

Employee performance had been discussed among human resource scholars and
practitioners since long time ago, considering employees are valuable capital in the
organisations. Similarly, training and development as a component of human capital
development had been attracted attention for ages. Previous study found out number of
positive impact of training and development on employee performance and other aspects
related to workplace matters. For instant, Zheng et al (2007) findings on training practices
of multi-national companies in Asia show that employee training is viewed as an essential
element in enhancing innovation, creating new knowledge and increasing productivity. Such
findings are in accordance with the theories developed earlier that training and development
enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes for example, on a study in Eritrea, 2007, employees
iterate that training has a great impact on job satisfaction and performance, ability to do
job, a motivation to work and future employment prospects. As cited in Zheng et al (2007),
scholars and researchers of human resources development field generally agree that to
continuously improve and maintain the capability of human capital it is essential to invest in
human capital through education and training (Lucas, 1988). Training and development had
been referred by Laird (1990) which the definition views training as a means of individual to
achieve a standard capabilities. Berge (2002) emphasize that increased need for improved
employee performance requires more efficient ways to identify, recruit and improve the
training and development of workforce. Khandekar and Sharma (2005) advocate that human
resource development can play a very important role in impacting human resource
performance. Therefore, by recognizing, developing, and utilizing the employee performance
is significantly proved as a source of sustainable competitive advantage.

Literature shows that training and development is considered as one of the most important
issues for human resource management (Nikandrou, 2005) and had been widely reviewed
due to its roles in ensuring the survival of an organization in the rapidly changing
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environment. Those organizations which fail to manage training and development efficiently
and effectively will be out-dated. This is related to the notion that the changing in
organizational environment caused by enhancement of new technologies, globalization, new
policies, political and economical development as well as new market demand. The key skills
and competencies required to adapt to a changing marketplace must be driven, not by
traditional precedent, but by current and future strategic requirements (Guinn, 2000). In
today’s global market, organizations are surrounded by competitors and challenged by
changes. The increasingly volatile organizational environment demands a re-thinking of
training and development. Kelly (2003) urges that training in organization should be more
informal than it would be in more traditional organizations. In other hand the impact of the
rate of change on today’s organization means that the skills on today might be not the skills
required for tomorrow. Hence, it is imperative that organization truly leverage employees as
a competitive capital to gain competitive advantage. To accomplish this undertaking, Hooi
(2007) highlights the importance of investments in human capital development through the
provision of training and development, which would enhance employee’s competencies and
satisfaction and also improve performance.

Bambrough (1994) warns that the role of training and development is a crucial part of any
organization and the importance of that role will increase. For this reason, spending on
training and development will remain relatively constant. Training and development is one of
the most important ways that skills, knowledge and ability of a trainee can be enhanced and
in turn, performance can be improved. The training field has been called by many different
names. Among them are education, development, employee education, staff development,
personnel development, in-service education, human resource development, human
performance technology, human performance improvement, organization development,
human performance enhancement, workplace learning and performance and, learning and
performance (Rothwell, 2005).

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Framework

The research framework was designed to examine the relationship of training and skills
development and its influence on job performance among the police personnel in Sabah
Contingent.

TRAINING

PERFORMANCE

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

AGE

EDUCATION LEVEL

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Research Hypotheses

The hypotheses constructed for this research as follow:

H1: There is a significant relationship between training and performance of the Royal
Malaysian Police in Sabah
H2: There is a significant relationship between skills development and performance of the
Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah
H3: Age moderates relationship between training and performance of the Royal Malaysian
Police in Sabah
H4: Education level moderates relationship between training and performance of the
Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah
H5: Age moderates relationship between skills development and performance of the Royal
Malaysian Police in Sabah
H6: Education level moderates relationship between skills development and performance
of the Royal Malaysian Police in Sabah

Research Analyses and Unit of Analysis

The analyses involved for the research are factor analysis, reliability analysis, and regression
analysis, with hierarchical regression analysis. The unit of analysis in this study are
individuals in Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) personnel in Sabah. The study focused on the
police officer’s who are below grade 41 at Sabah Contingent.

Sampling Design

Total population of 650 sample population who are below grade 41 in Sabah Contingent
(resource by Bahagian Perjawatan, Ibu Pejabat Kontinjen (IPK) Sabah), purposive sampling
was used, specifically judgement sampling. A total of 400 questionnaire has been distributed
to the RMP officers in Sabah basically from Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Penampang and
Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Sandakan. The number of distributed questionnaire is
exceeded the requirement of the sample size which is about 278 for 650 population.

Questionnaire Design

Sections Items Scale

A Age, gender, length of service, and education level of the Nominal
respondents
B1 Adapted from Robert, and Chonko (1994). Likert scale
5 – strongly agree
to
1 – strongly
disagree
B2 Adapted from Barton, and Delbridge (2001) Likert scale
5 – strongly agree
to
1 – strongly
disagree
C Adapted from Scott A. and Daniel J. (1999) and Robert P., Likert scale
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Kevin E. and Penelope C. (2003) 5 – strongly agree

to
1 – strongly
disagree

FINDINGS

Profile of Respondents

A total of 400 questionnaires have been distribute to the respondents in RMP officers in
Sabah from IPD Penampang and IPD Sandakan. During the collection data, the researcher
can manage to get 320 feedback from the respondents and after screening process, only
294 questionnaires can be used for this dissertation. 294 responses were stored in the
survey database in which all 294 questionnaires were answered completely.

Table: Demographic Profile of the respondents

Item Profile Description Frequency Percentage (%)

1 Gender Male 159 52.8
Female 135 44.9
2 Age From 20 years to 30 103 34.2
years
From 31 years to 40 113 37.5
years
From 41 years to 50 41 13.6
years
From 51 years to 60 37 12.3
years
3 Length of Service in 1 to 5 years 147 48.8
Royal Malaysian 6 to 10 years 98 32.6
Police 11 to 15 years 12 4.0
16 to 20 years 9 3.0
21 to 25 years 15 5.0
26 to 30 years 13 4.3
4 Designation Constable 132 43.9
Lance Corporal 108 35.9
Corporal 20 6.6
Sergeant 13 4.3
Sergeant Major 15 5.0
Sub Inspector 6 2.0
5 Department General Duty 63 20.9
Crime Department 13 4.3
Special Branch 45 15.0
MPV Unit 26 8.6
Traffic 57 18.9
Commercial Crime 64 21.3
Logistic 26 8.6
6 Qualification SRP 8 2.7
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SPM 122 40.5

STPM/DIPLOMA 95 31.6
DEGREE 69 22.9

Table: Reliability Test Analysis

No. Variables Cronbach’s Number of items N of Items
Aplha deleted
1 Training 0.745 - 5
2 Skill Development 0.929 - 7
3 Performance 0.645 - 7
4 Age and Educational Level 0.883 - 2

Hypotheses Results

Hypotheses Statements Result

H1 There is significant There is a significant relationship (p<0.05) between
relationship training (B=-.144, t=-2.491, p=0.000) and performance.
between training Thus, hypothesis H1 is accepted and it was concluded
and performance that Royal Police Malaysia (RMP) officers who were
of the Royal Police experiencing training will had effect on their job
Malaysia (RMP) performance.
H2 There is significant The result shows there is a significant relationship
relationship (p<0.05) between skill development (B=0.062, t=1.056,
between skill p=0.000) and performance. Thus hypothesis H2 was
development and accepted and it was concluded that high level of skill
performance of development among the RMP officers had effect on their
Royal Malaysian job performance.
Police (RMP)
H3 Age moderates Age as a moderator did not moderate the relationship
relationship between training and performance with the significant
between training (p<0.05) B= -0.079, t= -0.871 and p=0.384. Thus
and performance hypothesis H3 was rejected and it was concluded that
of Royal Malaysian age of individual level had no effect training and
Police (RMP) performance among RMP officers.

H4 Educational level Educational level as a moderator did moderates the

moderates relationship between training and performance with the
relationship significant (p<0.05) B= 1.070, t= 1.353 and p=0.001.
between training Thus hypothesis H4 was accepted and it was concluded
and performance that the educational of individual had effect on role
of the Royal training and performance among RMP officers.
Malaysian Police
(RMP)
H5 Age moderates Age as a moderator did not moderate the relationship
relationship between skill development and performance with the
between skill significant (p<0.05) B= 0.097, t= 1.091 and p=0.276.
development and Thus hypothesis H5 was rejected and it was concluded
performance of the that age of individual had no effect on skill development

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Royal Malaysian and performance among RMP officers.

Police (RMP)
H6 Educational Level Educational level as a moderator did moderate the
moderates relationship skill development and performance with the
relationship significant (p<0.05) B= 2.344, t= 2.919 and p= 0.000.
between skill Thus hypothesis H6 was accepted and it was concluded
development and that educational level of individual had effect on skill
performance of the development and performance among RMP officers.
Royal Malaysian
Police (RMP)

Training and Skills Development

The results indicate that training has a significant relationship with performance based on
the data collected in this study. Meanwhile, the B value for both hypothesis H1 showed that
this significant relationship is positively related. Therefore, it can be concluded that high
training will cause high performance among Royal Police Malaysia (RMP) officers in Sabah.
The findings supported literature which has recognized the finding Piercy et al. (1998)
concur that managers rated training as one of the most important factors in improving
employee performance and Leigh (1987) added that training enhances learning for
employee to reach more satisfactory performance levels in less time consumed than learning
through direct experience only. According Walker et al. (1977) and Anderson et al. (1995)
saying that training may increase the employee knowledge base and skill level, resulting in
higher performance. In this study, the result proposed that there is a significant relationship
between skill development towards performance. This finding did support previous literature
which has identified training as one of the factor that influences job performance among
Royal Police Malaysia (RMP) officers in Sabah.

Age and Educational Level

Age has no significant effect as a moderator on training to performance and skill

development to performance. Therefore, level of age did not give an effect towards the
independent and dependent variable. Therefore, either young or old police officers did not
give a relationship on their performance based on the level of training and level of skill
development.

Educational level has a significant effects ad a moderator on training to performance and

skill development to performance. By looking at the findings, high level of qualification of
the officer will give an positive relationship towards the independent variable to dependent
variable, whereby high qualification will moderate the high training and impact to the high
performance and high educational level also moderate high skill development and impact to
the high performance among the officers.

Limitations

The scope of study is being limited to only 2 places which is IPD Penampang and IPD
Sandakan, and it is not include all the IPD’s in Sabah. Therefore, the total respondents that
given a feedback for this study only a small percentage out of 19 IPD’s in Sabah as a

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generally, and this study may only represent not from the whole group of RMP in Sabah,
and the result cannot be generalized at present.
The questionnaire used for this study was adopted and modified from previous researcher
and was considerably long (a total of questionnaire is 30 questions). As responding is a
voluntary process there is always the risk that the respondents would get bored and leave
the questionnaire half done, or would succumb to central tendencies. Moreover,
comprehension of the respondents (to the questions) and accuracy of their answer (whether
they simply selected due to length of the questionnaire) cannot be determined. Other than
that, the questionnaire can be differently understood especially among the lower rank
officers and most of the respondents holding only STPM or DIPLOMA qualification education.
Since it was self reported the probability of misperception much higher, which affect the
true reality of the respondents.

Recommendations for Future Research

For the purpose of future research it is strongly suggested that the research must take into
consideration certain issues as the followings: 1. Bigger sample must be taken into in the
Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) in Sabah and moreover in this study only 294 respondents
have been evaluate in the data out of 4500 total of officers in Sabah, 2. Based on the
hierarchal regression analysis, as moderator (age) did not explain the relationship between
independent variable towards the dependent variable, , there is still room for futher
improvement. There are other moderator (eg: gender or position) to the training and skill
development – performance relationship which could be identified and underlying
relationship need to be further looked into as to create a more accurate model.

Conclusion

Every staff for every company was an assets in order to achieve the company vision,
mission, target and their goal. Therefore, every single of human capital in that particular
organization has a role to ensure their job performance will affect positively in the
organization. In order for Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) to be give their services to the
citizen and country, every officer in the RMP need to know what are their roles and how to
achieve the best performance for the organization. By considering training and skills
development among the important aspect that influence the job performance especially in
the highly competitive world today, it is one of the best variables to measure the officers
performance. Under this environment, this study aimed to discover the important elements
that will contribute towards RMP officers performance, with hopes that the findings will be
informative and helpful to these organizations in positioning themselves in this country.
Analyzing and improving from previous studies by other researchers, this study measured
two variables (independent variables), one variable (moderator) and one dependent variable
(performance) among Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) in Sabah. Surveys were conducted by
manually. From 400 questionnaires have been distribute, 320 completed questionnaires
were obtained. After screening process, only 294 questionnaires can be used for this study.
It was concluded statistically that both independent variables (training) is significant. One of
the moderator which is age, does not moderate relationship between independent variables
and dependent variables, hence for educational level moderator has significant relationship
between independent variables towards dependent variable. As the study was conducted
under some limitations. Hence the conclusions of this study ought to be interpreted

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cautiously. Despite the fact that findings were found to be comprehensive and reflective,
there is still room for further improvements for future studies.

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