Impact Of Training And Development On Employee Performance In Celcom Malaysia

Background of the Company

Discuss about the Celcom Malaysia for Automatic Radio Telephone Service.

Celcom is one of the oldest providers of mobile telecommunications in Malaysia. It was founded in the year 1988. Axiata group of companies is the parent company of Celcom. It is one among those few companies in Malaysia to hold cellular phone license. The company is responsible for successfully initiating mobile telephone service through Automatic Radio Telephone Service in Malaysia. The company excels in using advanced technology in their service as they had used first generation ETACS (Extended Total Access Communication System) design of the United Kingdom. They have also improved their operating function by using dialing prefix identifier to provide digital GSM, which is a European standard mobile communications used worldwide (Celcom.com.my, 2018).

At present, the company is using Virtual Mobile Operator services and CDMA technology to improve rural communication. In comparison to other cellular operators in Malaysia, Celcom is much ahead in offering extensive mobile coverage throughout the country. 2G, 3G and 4G LTE services are provided by the company on a post- paid and pre- paid basis. The company is aimed at providing the highest speed of network coverage throughout Malaysia in the coming years and therefore they have focused on improving their business (Cascio 2018). Training and development of the employees have been considered as the major factor for better organizational performance. Therefore, this particular area formed the basis of this research study. This report will highlight the relevant literature review and specific methodologies that was taken up for this research.    

One of the leading telecommunication providers in Malaysia, Celcom is concerned about providing effective training and development to the employees for organizational excellence. The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of training and development of the employees in Celcom Malaysia to improve performance in the organization. The company had initially arranged for several training sessions but there was no positive outcome. In the present time, the company is still struggling to attain their objective (Konings and Vanormelingen 2015).

The issues in the organization were centered on the area of customer service where the employees were spending most of their time with the customers. The frontline employees were the one who did the most important task of dealing with the customers and considered as a significant part of Celcom business. The training that was conducted in the organization dealt with customer service, telephone etiquette, knowledge on products and services, system information, customer experience, management and leadership programs, quality assurance training. These were the major areas, which needed immediate improvement. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to estimate the impact of training and development on employee performance in Celcom Malaysia (Mone and London 2018).

Purpose of the Study

As the company is one of the leading telecommunication providers in Malaysia, therefore they need to carefully deal with the issues that might hamper their reputation. Employees are regarded as the pillars of the organization and they require suitable treatment. Providing training and development to them will make them feel that the company values their position. Therefore, this study was taken up with the purpose of seeking the significance of training and developing the employees for organizational performance (Jones, Woods and Guillaume 2016)

Celcom Malaysia had initially taken up training sessions for the employees of the organization but those were futile in achieving the required objectives. Moreover, there was not much work done previously on this topic hence, there is accessibility to limited research papers for review. Low quality service in the telecommunications sector is a major issue, which has increased concerns for the customers. Celcom being a leading network provider did not want to face the negative effect of deteriorated service and they wanted to improve their business. They started investing for organizational improvement with special focus on the training and development of the employees (Leberman and McDonald 2016).

The main function of telecommunication sector is to deal with the customers and therefore employees need to be trained effectively for addressing the issues mentioned above. It is worth noting that there is hardly any study conducted on seeking the issues related to training and development of the employees. The small amount of studies that were conducted on this topic has only highlighted the general area of human resource management thereby creating a loophole on finding about the actual topic. Therefore, this was considered as a problem and this particular research was taken up to focus on the gap (Robertson et al. 2015).

This research was aimed at finding the impact of training and development for employee performance at Celcom Malaysia. Moreover, the gap was required to find out, which made the previous training sessions ineffective in terms of employee performance.

Following are the research objectives, which were designed to solve the issue related to training and development of the employees.

• To find out the importance of training and development on employee performance at Celcom Malaysia
• To find out the positive impact of effective training and development
• To analyze the  improvement in business of Celcom as a result of training and development of the employees

Following are the research questions, which were helpful in finding the solution to research topic:

1. What is the significance of training and development on employee performance at Celcom Malaysia?
2. How will effective training and development have a positive impact on employee performance?
3. How will Celcom improve their business by proper training and development of the employees?

Organizational performance largely depends on the way employees are managed, developed and stimulated. The employees need to be motivated and encouraged properly for setting them on the right path. Employee performance plays a major role in organizational excellence. Therefore, there is an increasing need for effective training and development in Celcom Malaysia for improving their business. The performance of the employees needs to be constantly monitored to check on their regular performance. It is important to keep a track of the routine activities of the employees and the impact of the same on organizational improvement. The managers are responsible for checking out if the employees are working as per the objectives of the organization (Rothwell, Hohne and King 2018). If there is any loophole or gap in their performance then it becomes the duty of the managers to find out ways of improvement. Training and development are the immediate requirements to bridge skills and knowledge gap. An effective training and development session boost up the morale of the employees and they can work with much more commitment and dedication.  

Problem Statement

Training and development of employees are an important part of organizational performance. There are different ways, by which employees can be trained such as technology training, quality training, skills training, professional training, team training and managerial training.

Technological training allows the employees to be acquainted with the technological advancements in their job field. Technological training varies from one sector to another. For Celcom Malaysia, the technological training will require knowledge gaining about the new mobile software (Bakker and Demerouti 2014).

Quality training refers to introducing the employees with the effective ways of producing good quality products and services. Quality of products and services is important for setting a business apart from the competitors. In case of Celcom Malaysia, quality training will include providing the best network coverage to the people of Malaysia.

Skills training focus on the required expertise for performing the particular work. The employees need to have the specific criteria for doing the particular task. For instance, in Celcom Malaysia, the employees should have the proper knowledge about mobile networking services and the relevant prepaid and postpaid tariffs (Deery and Jago 2015).

Professional training demands updated knowledge of the employees on their necessary professional field. For instance the employees of Celcom Malaysia should have the professional knowledge of the on-going offers provided by the company on network coverage or if there is any new schemes.

Team training is a process to build up the employees in such a way that they can effectively make decisions, solve problems and develop by working together. The employees of Celcom Malaysia should know the advantage of working together as a team for the betterment of the organization.

Managerial training refers to motivating and leading the employees so that they cater to the development of the organization (Albrecht et al. 2015). For instance, if an employee in Celcom Malaysia is eligible for promotion or appraisal then he will need managerial training.

Assumptions- The fundamental concept of this theory is that the investments in individuals can be measured numerically based on the economic value of their contribution towards society. This particular theory is based on the human behavior of economical interest in the competitive market, which increases employee productivity.

Strengths- This theory helps the marketers and researchers to analyze the relationship between learning and training as input and financial and community advantage as output. A wide range of research within the framework of this theory is associated with increased employee wages, growth in GDP and better health outcomes (Lin et al. 2017).

Aim of the Research

Limitations- The limitation of this theory is that it assumes education increases productivity of the employees with the increase in wages. However, little knowledge is gained from this theory about the ways by which learning and training can increase the wages of the employees. Therefore, this particular theory overlooks a large amount of wage variability.   

Assumptions- As per this theory, employees with less skill or no skills was compared with the highly skilled employees for accurate evaluation. The paradigm of competency has attracted a wide range of ideas on corporate strategy. This theory has been found similar with technology studies and international business.

Strengths- The strengths of competency theory lie in ensuring cost- effective, goal- oriented and productive training of the employees. The employees can attain a better level of competence effectively by following this theory. As per this particular theory, communication is improved between the employees and the managers. This theory has mentioned about increasing internal employee flexibility and providing an opportunity for constructive feedback from the managerial end (Gumbri, Shahid and Othman 2015).

Limitations- There is certain limitations of competency theory in the training and development of the employees.  In most of the cases, the employees focus on the way they are assessed rather than completing the assignments. This is because their main target is to achieve positive outcome from the training rather than gaining proper insight.  

Assumptions- this theory plays an important role in the training and development of the employees. As per this theory, the manager is assumed as the role model for the employees for improving their behavior. The employees tend to imitate their superiors rather than their peers due to the standard, reward and experience (Piaralal, Piaralal and Bhatti 2015).

Strengths- The strength of this theory lie in increasing the efficiency of training by incorporating four principles, namely- presentation of models for displaying the willing behavior; rehearsal by the observer of the modeling behaviors; favorable recognition for adopting the modeled behaviors; training transfer for encouraging the use of learned behaviors.

Limitations- This theory does not explain the reason for the motivation of the employees to perform in a certain way. The employees who were neither receiving punishment nor reward were in a mode of aggression. The ethical issues in the organization made it difficult to incorporate this theory in the organization. The exposure of the employees to aggression gives rise to ethical issues with the necessity of protection from psychological and physical harm. Evaluation of the training methods about social learning and behavior is difficult in this theory along with the establishment of scientific validity (Kamarudin et al. 2014).  

Research Objectives

Assumptions- This is an effective theory used mostly in the Malaysian companies for efficient leadership. This theory is incorporated to set the employees in the correct direction and help them in making the right decision. Contingency theory is assumed dependent on the ways an organization manages the business operations and procedures based on internal and external condition.    

Strengths- The strengths of this theory are that the leaders apply a particular style of leadership of their own choice according to the situation to evaluate the environment of the company. As per this theory, the company ensures that the superior quality of products and services is provided to the customer. The implementation of managerial skills becomes helpful in using IT for the betterment of employee performance by requisite training and development (Othman, Hamzah and Nor 2018).  

Limitations- there are certain limitations of the contingency theory such as insufficient literature. This theory does not focus on the necessary actions that could be taken by the employees under various situations. Moreover, when the theoretical steps are put into practice, complexity arises. Due to the complex nature of this theory, problem id faced during the methods of evaluation. This reactive theory suggests the options that the managers can do in a given situation.  

Assumptions- It is another important concept of increasing the efficiency of training and development of the employees. This theory is responsible for analyzing the emotions and behavior of the employees and keeping a track of their job satisfaction. Leadership is enhanced in this theory in the different groups of Malaysian organization by highlighting the employee behavior and motivating them so that they can give their best effort (Taghizadeh et al. 2014).   

Strengths- The strength of this theory is built up on the area where leaders are perceived as unique and distinctive. A lot of research was carried out before the introduction of this research. Therefore, there is total assurance of its validity in training and development of employees. The benchmark of the leaders is based on this trait theory. The strengths of this theory can be summarized to represent its value in the role of a leader.  

Limitations- This theory contains some basic flaws although it is largely accepted in the field of training and development of the employees. It cannot bring any effective outcome in Celcom Malaysia because the theory focuses on the leaders and not the employees. Validity of the findings is under question due to the ambiguous and subjective nature of this theory. This theory also failed at the point where specific traits influence the leadership productivity, performance and employee satisfaction. It is irrelevant for training and development purpose because the traits are inborn and original (Taghizadeh et al. 2017).

Research Questions

Assumptions- The great man theory is an important approach to display the skills and efficiency of leaders in influencing others within the organization. The leaders need to flaunt their knowledge, abilities and charisma to motivate other employees and juniors. This theory focuses on the innate characteristics of the leaders and mention that they are born with the necessary attributes. The inborn qualities of the leaders set them apart from the common individuals.

Strengths- The strength of this theory is based on the innate leadership qualities that some people have. It is useful in leading a team of employees within the organization. The great leaders take the initiative of leadership when there is any crisis within the organization. The necessary attributes are present within the individuals and they did not need to acquire it from outside.

Limitations- The limitations of this theory was countered by Habib, Zahra and Mushtaq (2015) stating that society creates leaders. The leader has the capability to manipulate the team in a certain way even if that is not the right path. As per this theory, the leader cannot be self- proclaimed as happens in most of the organizations. It is the responsibility of the team to choose the perfect leader after equal approval from the entire team.

Training and development for employee performance is the major area of research and there were many studies conducted on this specific problem.  Previous researches have shown that there is an excellent relationship between training and development of employee performance.

As per Falola, Osibanjo and Ojo (2014), training and development of employee performance was regarded as an integral part of the organization. The organizations also keep increasing their annual budget for winning on the competitive advantage. Again, Sung and Choi (2014) researched on this topic to find the impact of training and development on organizational innovation. It was suggested that effective training and development within the organization affect the performance of the employees by incorporating various learning processes.

On the other hand, Larsen (2017) mentioned in his book about the increasing importance of organizational performance based on service and knowledge. The European community was focused in this research to find out about attracting and retaining employees through training and development. It was reflected that human resources development was considered as a strategic factor to win over competitive advantage. Habib, Zahra and Mushtaq (2015) conducted a research to evaluate the training and development as a continuous process for improving employee performance in the organization. Their research was intended to develop the present and future performance with the involvement of the organization in keeping an eye on their evaluation process as an outcome of the training program. The authors summarized their findings in this article to state that the evaluation needs to be carried out in an organized manner for correcting employee behavior in attaining the organizational goals.

Literature Review

According to the research carried out by Ford (2014), there is an increasing need for innovative approaches for resolving organizational problems. This particular book has focused on the area of workplace training and development with the implementation of training design approaches, training evaluation methods and training delivery mechanisms. The particular research has scrutinized the fundamental issues of acquiring skills and knowledge, employee retention and turnover along with the significant factors affecting the training outcomes.  

The data that was collected while conducting the research works highlighted the significance of training and development for organizational improvement. Training and development of employees is important for their motivation and encouragement, which ultimately benefits the organizational performance. The impact of training is stronger when it is integrated with the practice of human resource management in accordance with the effective practices of empirical studies. From the literature review, it was found out that, many studies acquired support for training benefits of the organization. The benefits were in the form of profitability, productivity, effectiveness, operational income of employees, superior quality of products and services and decreased costs. Further, it can be mentioned that training of employees, information technology and IT has a strong effect on the organizational performance.     

Author (years)	Context	Methods	Variables	Results
Falola, Osibanjo and Ojo (2014)	Training and development is a crucial strategic equipment to boost up the employee performance	Descriptive research method was used in this research and data was collected from the primary sources.	Increase in training budget and competitive advantage	There is a strong connection between training and development, performance of the employees and competitive advantage.
Larsen (2017)	Training and development of employees is gaining increased attention.	Strategic method was used to win over competitive advantage	Knowledge, service and advanced technology	Organizations can attain their business objectives if the employees possess personality characteristics in addition to skills, knowledge and flexibility.
Sung and Choi (2014)	This study has examined the effect of training and development on organizational innovation.	Empirical study was conducted by using data from multiple sources.	Organizational learning and innovative performance	An organization needs to invest in training and development for promoting different practices of innovative performance.
Habib, Zahra and Mushtaq (2015)	Training and development is considered as a continuous process in the improvement of the employee performance.	Quantitative method was used in this research for finding about the effectiveness of training and development of employees in the telecommunication sector.	Current and future performance of the employees and training needs evaluation.	The influential impact of training and development increases the efficiency of the employees to fulfill customers’ needs.
Ford (2014)	There is an increasing need for training and development to overcome the organizational problems.	Applied psychology was used in this research to inform theory in a better way.	Innovative approaches for effective research practice	Advancements were made in the field of learning and development from different applied disciplines.

The gap in the literature was found out because there was no mention of counter- argument by the authors. The positive impact of training and development was explained without stating the negative outcome due to the lack of training in an organization.  

H1: There is a significant positive impact of job rotation on employee performance. In the study carried out by Akbari and Maniei the relationship between job rotation and employee performance was measured at the Dana insurance company. All the employees of the Dana insurance company was studied and observed as the statistical population. It was a descriptive research and functional aim was underlying it. In order to measure the fundamental ideas of the research the job rotation questionnaire had eight questions whereas the employee performance questionnaire had eleven questions. The validity of the study was tested by using the two methods of content validity and ostensible validity. The study was concluded with the observation that there was a significant relationship between the employee performance and job rotation (Salih, M.O.I. and Al, A.B.A.N.Y 2017).

H0: There is no significant positive impact of job rotation on employee performance. This null hypothesis is associated with the positive hypothesis that is mentioned above. As per the study conducted by Salih, M.O.I. and Al, A.B.A.N.Y (2017) it was aimed to identify the opinions of the employees about job rotation through different dimensions. These dimensions included benefits, drawbacks and hurdles and it as intended to find out the effect of the employee performance by considering the case of Red Sea University in Sudan.  This study has focused on the relationship between the performance of the employees and their job tenure. The findings of this research study were not able to find out any kind of statistically remarkable relationship between job rotation and employee performance at that particular university. The researchers found out through data collection that the job rotation variables, such as benefits, drawbacks and hurdles in the university are not directly related to the employee performance. However, the primary data analysis technique reflected that there is a significant relationship between job tenure of the employees and job rotation. Therefore, it was recommended from the management level at the university that for training the employees regarding new job roles it is important to set clear work criteria in front of the employees to evaluate their performance.

Types of Training and Development

The two contradictory studies were effective in raising arguments about the impact of job rotation on employee performance. It can be assumed from the studies that the impact of job rotation on employee performance varies from one organization to another. It was found out in the Red Sea University that the job rotation variables of benefits, drawbacks and hurdles did not pose any impact on the employee performance. On the other hand, the employees of Dana Insurance Company were surveyed to find out that job rotation played an important role on their performance. The findings of the two studies were in total contrast to each other and thus, paved the way for a better research on this topic.

H2: There were advancements made in the field of learning and development from different applied disciplines. As per Bulmash (2008), it was studied that there is a strong connection between information technology with the HR department and the way technology is influenced to manage workforce capital in an organization. A discussion on the emergence of HR technologies was effective in discovering the internal system of the department. The technological advancements on the different sector helped in attracting, hiring and retaining the employees to organize the human resources department properly. HRIS or Human Resources Information System was used in leveraging technology by various stakeholders of the organization. As per the recent survey conducted among the vendors of Canada and the United States it was found out that the total cost of system implementation in the human resources was extended to US$ 12 million which was quite expensive. This HRIS was able to create and maintain a record of the employees in order to ensure legal compliance. The advancements from different applied disciplines permitted the managers to presume and plan for the upcoming requirements of the HR. The study also found out that the system was able to gather data and direct the activities in accordance with the organizational objectives (Bulmash 2008). Therefore, the study was able to find it that the technological advancements in the various departments of the organization helped in the learning and development of the employees.  

According to the study carried out by Groff (2013), it was stated that the ever- changing world has put the eternal education system under question. In response to this emerging doubt, a sampling was produced as the wider array of new versions of education. It can be found out from this study that the contemporary learning environments have made use of technology to redesign and make way for innovative teaching and learning. Combining technology to give rise to innovation is an issue for the rapidly changing teaching and learning environments. The technical integration is responsible for finding out innovative ways in learning and teaching. Re-conceptualization is generated at the same time with transformational and innovative learning and teaching. The contemporary learners were prepared with the relevant skills and capacities of international awareness, problem solving in collaboration and individual learning (Groff 2013). Therefore, it was found out from this study that the remarkable advancements have led to new ways for engaging in various kinds of activities to gather learning experiences.   

H0: There were no advancements made in the field of learning and development from different applied disciplines. From the previous researches, it was found out that the technological advancements have helped in the innovative learning process. Therefore, there is no scope of null hypothesis in this condition.

H3: The influential impact of training and development increases the efficiency of the employees to fulfill customers’ needs. As per the study carried out by Hafeez and Akbar (2015), employees are considered as key resources of the organization. The achievement of the organizational objectives is solely responsible on the employee performance. Therefore, the superiors know that it is a wise idea to invest in training and development of the employees and motivates them to take up challenges in the competitive market. This particular research was aimed at the impact of training on employee performance in the pharmaceutical industry of Karachi, Pakistan. The findings of the study have highlighted that training is an independent part of the research whereas employee performance is dependent on the areas of teamwork, employee motivation, innovative technologies, communication skills and job satisfaction. The dependence was felt in the development areas of job satisfaction, innovative technology, employee motivation and process efficiency. A brief summary of the whole process was portrayed through this paper in the effectiveness of training to improve employee performance. Four pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan were selected for this research where 365 employees were surveyed through questionnaire by following the random sampling process. The response rate was 96% based on which two assumptions were made to relate to the research question. The reliability was tested and descriptive research design was used along with correlation and regression analysis (Hafeez and Akbar 2015). The findings of the research highlighted that there is a positive relationship between training and employee performance and one is dependent on the other. It has paved the way for future research along with recommendation.  

On the other hand, as per the study carried out by Imran and Tanveer (2015) there is significance of both training and development and employee performance at all levels in the business sector. For conducting the study, banking sector was chosen because of its role played in supporting the economy of any country. Due to global saturation in business, it has become difficult to retain the knowledge and competencies of the employees. The findings have focused on the fact that as the global economy is based on service therefore competition is added constantly for potential obstacles. It has made the organization think about the basic functions such as get hold of new knowledge in the bank to win competitive advantage. An organizational and methodological approach need to be maintained while delivering knowledge to the employees. A descriptive research design and explanatory approach was used in this study for finding out the effect of training and development on the employee performance. Six banks in Pakistan were selected for this particular research work and they were surveyed through an organized questionnaire. The sample size was 150 for this research process and 104 authentic responses were collected from the respondents (Imran and Tanveer 2015).

H0: The influential impact of training and development does not increase the efficiency of the employees to fulfill customers’ needs. There was no scope for null hypothesis in this respect as the researches and collected data have focused on the significance of training and development under broad daylight. The empirical studies conducted in the pharmaceutical companies and banking sector of Pakistan, it was found out that training of employees is an inevitable part of organizational performance.

H4: An organization needs to invest in training and development for promoting different practice of innovative performance. Peretz, Levi and Fried (2015) had carried out a research to evaluate the data collected from 5000 organizations of 22 countries. Three dominant issues were raised from this research which are given below-

• The impact of the local or global culture while implementing diversity in hiring, training and promoting individuals from definite target groups
• The balanced effect of cultural practices on the relationship between diversity program and the organizational outcomes of employee turnover and absenteeism
• Mediating effect of absenteeism and turnover on the relationship between the cultural diversity practices and the organizational innovation and practices

The hypothesis that was considered in the beginning of the research was supported by the national cultural values in the collected sample. The findings of the research study was supported by hypotheses and helped in guiding the managers of the organizations to adopt different diversity programs. The global management issues of diversity were widely discussed in this research paper (Peretz, Levi and Fried 2015).

Sung and Choi (2014) has conducted a study to scrutinize the effect of training and development of organizational performance and innovation. It was suggested in this research that investment in the training and development process of the organization affect the learning practices. For this particular research, the data analysis showed that the expenses for training and development influence the individual and organizational learning practices to enhance innovative performance. The evaluation also highlighted that innovative performance is directly related to the innovative environment of the organization. On the contrary, investment in training and development of the employees outside the organization poses a negative impact on the innovative performance without any effective learning outcome. An explanation was provided at the end of the study to aim at the mechanism, which was related to the investment in training and development of the employees for innovative performance (Sung and Choi 2014).

H0: An organization need not invest in training and development for promoting different practices of innovative performance. The null hypothesis was not completely negligible in this respect. The previous research work was able to find out that often training and development investment went on vain.  

H5: There is a strong connection between training and development, performance of the employees and competitive advantage. H5: According to Falola, Osibanjo and Ojo (2014), training and Development is considered as an indispensible tool or strategy that has the power to enhance employee performance. In addition to this, organizations gain competitive advantages as well. Several organizations spend huge on increasing the training budget, yearly basis. They believe that it will help them in earning the competitive edge. The survival of the organizations or companies in this competitive business environment lies totally in its ability of training the employees to be innovative, creative and inventive in order to enhance the performance level as well as increase competitive advantage.

Training and development of the employees is considered to be an aspect of the human resource practices, which assist in enhancing the skills, competence and knowledge of the employees. This in turn, makes the employees capable of improving their abilities of performing more effectively and efficiently. The training and development plays a major role in the overall organizational effectiveness. Elnaga and Imran (2013) mentioned that it is a persuasive technique that, helps in improving the performance of the employees and enhances the organization’s productivity level. Employees are considered as indispensible asset of the organizations, who helps the enterprises in gaining competitive advantages.

Training and development is the essential tool for actualization. The workforces’ level of competency, abilities and skills influences the ability of preserving the obtained positions as well as gain competitive advantage. In the mean time, the employees’ pro-activeness, skills as well as is competency level is directly proportional to the organization’s level of competing with others. The organizations and companies are confronting with the increased competitive advantage, resulting from globalization, changing economic environments and technological advancement. Therefore, it can be said that organizations should invest a significant amount in training and developing the employees, in order to increase their performance as well as gain competitive advantage (Goetsch and Davis 2014).

H0: There is no strong connection between training and development, performance of the employees and competitive advantage. On the contrary, Chao (2014) examined that training and development procedures adds extra burden to the company’s administration. On conducting a training procedure, the company has to accommodate suitable training materials as well as facilities and also select the suitable candidates for the overall training purpose. At times, companies also hire professional experts and certified trainers for meeting the training needs of the employees. Therefore, this may end up in extra costs and the company may have to reshuffle their strategies of budgeting. In this procedure, the company may lose focus on the vision, mission or aims.

In addition to this, some of the staff members or employees feel that balancing training and their work becomes an added distraction or pressure. This in turn, may lead to temporary degradation of the employees’ work performances. Moreover, some employees even find this as a perfect excuse to present improper work. Training and development procedures may go stagnant if they are not improved by the organizational managers, with time. Some employees may not even take the training facilities as something serious. If such factors occur, the training sessions carried out by the organizations may fail to benefit the companies.

H6: Organizations can attain their business objectives if the employees possess personality characteristics in addition to skills, knowledge and flexibility. Barrick, Mount and Li (2013) mentioned that along with skills, knowledge or flexibility, employees are required to have strong personality traits in order to attain the business objectives. Organizations and companies want their employees to be confident in each phase of life. This helps in reflecting the organizational mission, vision, goals and objectives. Creative employees have the power to take the organization to the ultimate level of success. Organizations want their employees to be creative and innovative in order to achieve success as well as competitive advantage. It can be said that a proper mixture of the skills, abilities and personality traits of the employees can help the organizations succeed.

In addition to this, Boswell, Zimmerman and Swider (2012) opined that dependability at the workplace is a recognizable trait or characteristic of the employees. Being dependable at the workplace means, showing up to the work on time, not exploiting vacation or sick days, following up with the assigned tasks and others. In addition to this, the employees who are flexible can take the organization to a huge success level. The employees need to be compassionate towards their colleagues or subordinates, enthusiastic with their works and always remain motivated to complete their tasks before deadline.

In the words of Hewitt (2012), self motivation is the key to be effective at any environment or surrounding, be it creative, spiritual or business. The employees should always be motivated and encouraged to achieve their daily targets, meet up the demands of their clients and finish their tasks before the deadline. In addition to this, being confident is also a major personality trait of the employees, which enables them to work at any condition and in turn, improves team morale. The employees who are confident enough to interact with their co- workers, managers or clients can prevent inaccurate and unfair judgments.

H0: Organizations cannot attain their business objectives if the employees possess personality characteristics in addition to skills, knowledge and flexibility. On the contrary, Blackburn, Hart and Wainwright (2013) mentioned that personality traits of the employees have got nothing to do with the business objectives. At times, the negative attitudes or personality traits of the employees affect the business to a huge extent. Some employees also have the power to influence their co- workers in a negative manner, which in turn proves to be disadvantageous for the business itself. A negative attitude or behavior has the power of putting others into a bad mood. It will hamper the employees’ performance level, reduce the productivity level of the organization and in turn affect the objectives of the business.

In addition to this, negative personality traits of the employees also have the power of hampering the team morale. Team members will be unwilling to work collaboratively, which will hamper the peace and harmony of the team as well. Moreover, this may reduce the energy level of the employees and invite depressive attitudes or behaviors among the co- workers. Therefore, it can be said that wrong personality traits of the employees can even mar the organizational progress as it can reduce work quality, customer engagement as well as the employees will face difficulties or challenges in overcoming obstacles.

The researcher has specific plans and strategies to gather actual knowledge to form the basic philosophy of the particular research. There are three dominating views of research philosophy.

Positivism is the first type of view in research philosophy. The positivist researchers think in the same way as similar to the scientists. The natural laws are considered while following positivist research philosophy. This particular research philosophy focuses on the generic idea that is already proved by previous research. Additionally, there are different assumptions of the researcher regarding the positivist way of carrying out the research work (Rahman et al. 2015).

Interpretivism is another way of research philosophy where the researcher does not agree with the generalized laws. This is contradictory to the positivism research philosophy. The researcher who follows interpretivism philosophy argues that social aspects lose their original quality if positivism philosophy is followed. However, general ideas are necessary to understand the entire situation.

Realism research philosophy is based on a variety of principle. This particular philosophy is independent of human, beliefs, thoughts and prejudices. According to this research philosophy, the strong social forces can have a direct impact on the people without making them aware of their impact on the specific behavior and understanding. The individual choices of the people are not directly related to the social factors to affect the way in which practical world is examined.

For this particular research on impact of training and development on employee performance, positivism philosophy was used by the researcher to accept the generalized views of the previous authors (Chao 2014). This research had focused on the telecommunication sector with specific mention of Celcom Malaysia. No new theories or concepts were introduced through this research. Different assumptions of the researchers about the topic of training and development of employees were focused in this particular research. The information was gathered by maintaining honesty and integrity.    

Research approach is a process of planning, developing and evaluating suitable knowledge related to the research topic. There are three dominant areas of research approach, which the researcher takes into consideration for designing the research work. The three approaches used in the research work are deductive, inductive and abductive.

In a deductive approach, a set of hypotheses is formed to tally with the process of research observation and findings. Experiential observation is used in this approach to examine specific situations as per the generalized rules. If a researcher follows this approach then, it becomes easy for him to draw a conclusion with clear identification of the topic from the beginning (Sheehan 2014).

Inductive approach of research focuses on the creation of new theories and concepts based on the observation of the researcher. Experimental observation is used in this approach to develop new theories based on the fundamental patterns.  

Abductive research approach refers to incomplete observation on the part of the researcher. The unknown facts of the research are specified at the beginning of the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this specific research approach.

For the research on the topic ‘impact of training and development on employee performance’, deductive approach can be used because this study did not develop any new concepts. The research was based on the generalized ideas of the previous research works of other authors. This approach has also permitted the researcher to support his own findings and opinions by countering the arguments of the previous researchers. This was considered a suitable approach for establishing the cause- effect relationship. This approach was helpful in gathering information on the topic of impact of training and development on employee performance (Van Dyne, Ang and Tan 2017). The significant advantage of using deductive approach in this research is that it uses the general laws for authentication of the facts on the influence of training and development of employees with specific focus on Celcom Malaysia.   

Research design refers to the appropriate strategy selected by the researcher for integrating different components of the topic in a logical manner. This is done to ensure that the research problem is addressed in an effective way by the researcher. The research design includes planning from the beginning about the ways in which data will be collected, measured and evaluated. The three important components of research design includes descriptive, explanatory and exploratory. The exploratory and explanatory research design combines to create the descriptive research design

Explanatory research design is aimed at the evaluation of the occurrence of a specific research phenomenon. The relationship between the two research variables was considered while conducting this research work (Tims, Derks and Bakker 2016). An increased influence of training and development on employee performance was analyzed in this research work. This specific research design is effective in comprehending the research phenomenon by seeking the causal relations.

Exploratory research design evaluates the research hypotheses for working according to the research aims and objectives. This particular research design has determined the relationship and pattern of numerous components, which were used in terms of lack of relevant studies.

Descriptive research design was responsible for portraying the research process in an organized manner. This research approach uses the methods of observation, case study and survey to gather information relevant to the topic. As the name says, this design is responsible for explaining the entire scenario. However, this design is not effective in making appropriate predictions or identifying the cause and effect relationship (Wang et al. 2014).

This particular research has used the descriptive research design as it allows the researcher to fulfill the aims and objectives by describing the entire phenomenon of the impact of training and development on employee performance. This particular design was also efficient enough in acquiring more information for describing the features of the specific research problem. It was effective in recognizing the variables of the research that can be examined (Zutshi and Creed 2015). In- depth information can be collected from the research study by using this particular research design. Descriptive research design resulted in the collection of wide range of data, which was useful for answering the research questions.

Research strategy focuses on the use of a basic plan to find out the answers of the specifically designed research questions. It is a summation of the understood objectives of the research. The sources of data collection, research questions and drawbacks of the research formed the basis of the research aims and objectives. Case study, interview, survey and action research are the major elements of research strategy (Roberts et al. 2014).

The strategies of action research are intended to recognize the issues pertaining to the research problem. It is initiated to solve an emergency issue or help in resolving a progressive problem leading to team working among the individuals of an organization. It forms the basis of community practice to improve the issues persisting within the organization.

Interview and surveys are helpful in collecting live responses from the participants. A questionnaire is framed to gather relevant information from the participants. These are helpful in analyzing the primary sources of data collection technique (Joseph et al. 2015).

Case study strategy allows the researcher to find out different reports and represent specific findings. In this research strategy, previous articles, company reports form the basis of case study to validate the information.

This particular research has used case study strategy because it allowed the researcher to evaluate the social, economic and political impact of training and development on employee performance with specific focus on the telecommunication sector of Celcom Malaysia. Case studies are appropriate for collecting qualitative data and therefore appropriate for this research topic. Reports of telecommunication companies and academic journals were considered while conducting this research work. It was effective in the particular context to gain relevant information. A study on the real- life environment was useful in detailed understanding of several components of the research.  It also provided the opportunity for using previous theories and concepts to help in collecting data as no new theories were generated in this specific research (Abbas and Raja 2015).

There are different ways in which information can be collected for the process of monitoring and evaluating the collected data. The methods of data collection depend on the sources from which information was collected. Primary and secondary sources are used to collect data for the research work (Shuck et al. 2014).

In primary data collection, information is gathered by using the methods of interviews, questionnaires and other first- hand sources. It is important to design a tabulation plan based on which the questionnaire will be designed. An effective questionnaire is formed based on a suitable tabulation plan. Apart from questionnaires and interviews, other primary sources of data collection include focus group interviews, case studies, information, critical incidents, diaries and portfolios. The primary data, which are collected by following the above methods are mostly qualitative or sometimes in nature (Richey and Klein 2014).

Secondary data collection refers to the information gathered from the works of other researchers and authors. The sources of data collection include government census, company reports, organizational records and data, which were collected originally for other research works. There are no specific methods to collect secondary data. The researcher is allowed to collect relevant data both from the internal and external sources of the organization. Sales report, financial statements, personal details of the customers, company information, feedback reports from the stakeholders and management information system are the internal sources from which secondary data can be collected. The external sources include government census, relevant information from the government departments, business journals, libraries, business magazines, social books and internet from where information can be collected (Dane and Brummel 2014).

The secondary data can be both qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data can be collected from newspapers, interviews, diaries, transcripts and other sources. However, quantitative data can be collected by using survey, statistics and financial statements.

For this specific research on the ‘impact of training and development on employee performance,’ secondary sources of data collection technique will be helpful as it is easily available and accessible. The researcher can save on a lot of time by using the secondary sources of data collection technique. It is cost- effective in comparison to primary sources of data collection technique. The collection of secondary data helped in determining the issues of the employees in the telecommunication sector and analyzing the need for their training and development with specific focus on Celcom Malaysia (Paterson, Luthans and Jeung 2014). It was also convenient and time efficient process of gathering information. The facts and findings of the current research were compared with the existing information available on the topic to find answers to the research question.   

The process of data analysis refers to the systematic application of statistical and rational techniques for describing, illustrating, recapitulating and evaluating the collected data. The research becomes effective when data integrity is ensured through a suitable and correct analysis of the research findings.

There are two types of data analysis process- qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative analysis focuses on the meanings, experiences and views of the participants of the research. This particular analysis describes the whole situation to gain knowledge on a particular practice (Stone et al. 2015). There are no preconceived categories of response and the detailed data is collected from a small sample. Theoretical approach is used in the process by using illustrative explanation and individual feedback. On the other hand, quantitative analysis measures the magnitude of the practice on which the research is conducted. The preconceived responses are categorized on standard measures with a wide range of data collected from a large sample. Statistical and numerical analysis helps in supporting the conclusion of the relevant data.

For this specific research on the impact of training and development on employee performance, both qualitative and quantitative method was used for data analysis. The use of secondary analysis of qualitative data was appropriate for conducting the literature review on the importance of training and development (Tan et al. 2014). There were different steps developed while conducting this analysis such as- determining the research question, locating data, evaluating the relevance of data, measuring the credibility of data and analysis. This analysis helped the researcher know the exact information, which he was seeking for conducting the literature review. Secondary analysis of qualitative data involved the utilization of previous data that was collected for prior studies for carrying out the literature review.

The quantitative analysis was done by using the SPSS software tool. Descriptive statistics along with ANOVA, collinear diagnosis and correlation helped in seeking and analyzing the mean, median, mode and standard deviation of the dependent and independent variables. Moreover, frequency table was used to plot the variables taken up for the process of research. In addition, a partial regression analysis was used for the dependent variable of employee performance. This research had considered the rate of improvement among the employees after they were trained and tallied with his findings of the employees in Celcom Malaysia (Paillé et al. 2014).

Ethical considerations are considered as an important part of research failing which the researcher will not be able to complete his work in a successful manner. Following are the important factors that the researcher has considered while conducting this research work (Pulakos et al. 2015).

• The research participants were not harmed in any way in the course of the research work.
• The respect for the dignity of the research participant was given full priority.
• Full consent was taken from the participants before the research was conducted.
• The information of the research participants was completely secured.
• Total confidentiality was ensured on the part of the research participants.
• Anonymity of the respondents was maintained while conducting the research work.
• There was no exaggeration or deception about the aims and objectives of the research.
• The respondents were informed prior to the research about their safety and security.
• Complete transparency was maintained during this research work (Fu and deshpande 2014).

This chapter has described different research methodologies and then justified the reason for using the appropriate one. The selection of suitable methodologies helped the researcher to complete his work in a successful manner.

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