RESEARCH PROPOSAL

IMPACT of EMPLOYEES TRAINING

on the ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT at BRITISH AIRWAYS

ADNAN UL HAQ

Abstract This study investigation is to examine and identify the importance of employees training and the impact of those perceived benefits of training on organisational commitment including affective, normative, and continuance commitment. This research paper focus on role of trainings programs and its benefits as a practice of HR to retain the employees in the organisation, increasing the work efficiency of organisation as a whole, and to make employees more loyal towards organisation This research paper provide vital information about the significant relation between the training of employees and the organisational commitment level, as examined, measure and tested via the procedures and techniques of statistical tools. Training of employees in the world today is regarded as the important integral part of organisations strategic planning. Today, the firms have recognised that employees training add value to both employees and organisations. It helps organisations in various ways such as the quality of product and services gets better, the resources can be used in more rational method and on top of all the rate of turnover of employees is reduced by means of training because it helps organisation to ensure that their workers are more committed towards organisation. The effectiveness and efficiency of employees can be increased by organisations through appropriate and adequate trainings. The training conducted after the need assessment always helps the organisation and its workforce which could create a huge difference in the success of organisation and its employees.

Introduction

Human Resource Management is the discipline that has emerged as vital for the survival of an organisation due to the development of world in various dimensions. In todays world, HRM is regarded as a significant contributor in the success and stability of an organisation. Training and development program is basically a practice that is practiced by the top management to increase the performance of their employees in order to attain and utilise the maximum potential skills of an individuals so that the ultimate objective of organisations are accomplished in rational and effective manner. Training and development is one of the various practices of human resource management practices. Without any doubt, in order to improve the employees commitment towards his respective organisation, training is an essential factor for every type of business irrespective of its size and type. Aviation sector lies in the hospitality sector and its activities are connected in three dimensions with the country such as social, economic, and commercial dimensions. It deals in the travel and cargo shipments which mean an automatic bondage is formed between this sector and the social network. Its activities are revolving around commercial and business activities of people therefore it is commercial in nature and vital contributor to the economy of a country. In United Kingdom, the tourism and travelling activities are high as compare to other European countries, there is a huge labour force involved in the hospitality industry, which means in aviation industry there are also employees turnover very low due to their perception that there is a job satisfaction in this sector. In the private airlines though there has been a significant employee turnover noticed. The reason could be either less motivation or better career opportunities so it is essential for airline companies to motivate their workforce through various HR practices including training as one of them so that best human resource are retained by airline companies. From time to time researchers and scholars have emphasised that employees right type of training is lined with the increase in organisational commitment. Since training and development are two different phenomenon that are being mixed by people. Often people use one instead of others as synonyms but there is a huge difference between these two elements. Training and development both are given to employees but the reason for both are different one. Training is given to employees so that the skills they lack can be fulfilled in them. In other words, if employees are lacking certain types of skills that organisation requires than an appropriate training is given to them. On the other hand, development program is for employees to polish their existing skills. It means employees have to go through it in order to improve their current skills. The difference can also be understood by this way that for new technology, already existing workforce who have the skills to operate it but need further improvement, for them it is a development but new technology with no previous expertise, than employees go through training. According to John Maxwell (2007), when the organisation main focus

is on job, then training is given to employees but when the focus shift from job to person, then employee is involved development program. He further argued that for short time period training is given but development assist employees for long life. Despite these major differences, training is always seen as a vital component by the organisations to increase the employees loyalty and commitment towards their respective organisation.

According to Zaman and Bakar (2003) the process of research findings are still in the early stages about the correlation between the training and organisational commitment. However, numerous types of researches are carried out in the western countries about training programs and commitment levels in organisation but researches are still not done in more regular manner related to the airlines sector of United Kingdom regarding training and organisational commitment. High number of researchers has firmly stated that a relation between training or employees and organisational commitment exists (Bartlett 2001; Bartlett and Kang 2004; Grossberg 2000; Meyer and Smith, 2000; Bartlett and Kang 2004; and Tannenbaum et al, 1991). This investigation study will be based on the practical observation therefore it will be empirical in nature to examine the link between training and organisational commitment. In England, now employees cross gender training is not associated with the time period of employment in a strong manner (Grossberg, 2000). While, Maurer and Lippstreu (2006) proposed that among employees the employees development may be in relation negative towards organisational commitment. Meyer and Smith (2000) sustain their notion that between variables like organisational commitment and provided training to employees by organisation has a correlation among them and close relationship do exist. Several other researchers sum up at the end of their researches that perceived benefits of training are linked to affective, normative and continuance commitment (Bartlett and kang 2004; Bartlett 2001).

The productivity of employee along with the job satisfaction is immensely influenced by the organisational commitment. Employees are being retained by the organisation through enhancing their organisational commitment due to the nature of commitments prevailing in the organisation. The employees are motivated by means of adequate training that eventually improve the level of affective, normative, and continuance commitment. The savings of organisation increase due to organisational commitment, for instance if employees are more committed with the organisation there will be less hiring and recruitment. Training program ensure that employees develop professional skills and become more loyal towards the organisation. Training also ensure that employee is needed by organisation and he should be retained, this increase their level of commitment towards his respective organisation.

Though, the debate about the impact of training on the employees towards their organisational commitment in the aviation sector is still limited due to the variation in the human resource

management practices. Qureshi (1998) firmly stated that training methods can be affective in increasing the level of employees organisational commitment if adequate and appropriate training is provided to employees and firms realise that training is not an expense but an investment (cited in Khilji, 2002). The strategic human resource management tends to improve due to the economies liberalization (Bhatnagar and Sharma 2005). This research piece will critically examine the ideas of employees in the aviation sector of United Kingdom to analyse and elaborate in depth whether the system of training provision for employees in British Airways is sufficient, efficient and well effective that its do good to influence employees towards the organisational commitment or not.

The Purpose of Research:

The key reason behind this investigation study is to find out the link between the perception of employee towards training and organisational commitment. The current idea of literature about management development indicates that benefits of training perceived are linked with the organisational commitment among employees in a constructive and a positive manner. Studies of recent times have developed a keen interest among scholars and researchers to investigate the correlation among these variables more in depth. This investigation study will critically analysed the whether there is a significant constructive and positive relation of perceived benefits of training with affective, normative, and continuance commitment (organisational commitment) or not. This study will be beneficial for two vital purposes, one is the academic and the second purpose is implication in a practical manner because it will assist fresh researchers to elaborate more this subject matter. Furthermore, it will be purposive for the aviation industry of UK to identify the significance of a training program for employees so that they are more committed towards their organisation as it will reduce the employee turnover and increase job satisfaction. Ahmad and Bakar (2003) urged that the managers attention can be drawn towards training program of employees by means of an implication in a practical sense of these types of researches. They further suggested that to increase the organisational commitment of their employees, if managers have strong desire to increase the level of commitment of employees towards their organisation. The results of this study will be vital for practitioners of Human Resource Development prevailing in the aviation industry of Great Britain in order to develop a perception among employees about training in a positive way. Research Questions To critically examine the correlation of between the trainings perceived benefits by employees and the organisational commitment at British Airways is the main query behind this investigation study.

The questions of research are following:

Q1. Is the correlation between the benefits of training perceived by employees and affective commitment is vital or not? Q2. Is the relationship between the perceived benefits of training and normative commitment important or not? Q3. Is the link between the perceived training benefits and continuance commitment is significant or not?

Hypothesis

There are three assumptions in this research study which are as following: Hoa: There is a strong positive link between perceived benefits of training and affective commitment. Hob: There is considerable positive relation between training benefits perceived and normative commitment. Hoc: There is an important positive correlation between benefits perceived of training and continuance commitment.

Research Aim:

To examine influences of a training program on the organisational commitment of employees in the aviation sector (United Kingdom).

Research objectives: In this research study following objectives are to be achieved.

To evaluate critically the influences of training program operating in the aviation sector of UK on the employees commitment.

To explore the methods used by originations to increase employees level of commitment towards organization through interviews from manager and staff members.

To find out the end result of training programs impact on the aviation industry.

Scope of Study: This study is from the perspective of employees as well managements one too as it contains a detailed discussions about training programs designed by top management for employees so that further improvement is brought in the level of commitment of employees towards their organisation. It focuses not only on one side but equally covers both perspectives as one cannot be fully understood by ignoring the other one either partially or completely. The currently operating training and development program is elaborated in detail. Moreover, to enhance the employees level of commitment, individuals willingness to involve his own self in the training and development program is discussed through means of primary research.

Literature Review According to Noe (2008) training is described as firms planned effort to facilitate the learning of employees about competencies related to job (pp 4). Investing in training and development program is vital as it is required to ensure that the goals and objectives of an organisation are accomplished (Lewis, 1997). Employers and employees benefits are connected with the investment in training and development program, as it is a general notion (Santos and Stuart, 2003). In times of reforms and restricting, the more acceptance and importance has being accomplished by the Human Resource Developments role. Employees behaviour and the desired attitude demonstrated at workplace are being recognised by Human resource development (ibid). Lewis (1997) described that sole reason lying behind firms, nations and employees high performance is training and development. Every time individuals are needed to be utilised to the best of their potential limits, the vital factor is then considered by organisations to play major part is the training and development program (ibid). The high level of productivity is can be accomplished by organisation through providing the proper training to its employees is suggested by the theory of Human capital (Becker, 1975). Progress actions assist individuals to develop their ability and influence their individual and proficient growth (London, 1989). Donovan et al (2001) argued that after participating in different types of training program the workers grew more in confidence, respond promptly to accept required changes and groom to be more supportive towards each other.

According to Mowday et al (1982) recently organisational commitment received more popularity among the subordinates of an organisation. One of the organisational performances indicators is the organisational commitment (Becker, 1975). Furthermore, organisational performance is ultimately affected by organisational commitment and it is one of the pointers that reveals attitude of employee related to particular task. While Randal (1990) firmly states that more than organisational performance, the efforts of employees, presents, and commitments are more correlated with the organisational commitment. The level of employees commitment is major consideration of organisations working all across the globe. Awamleh (1996) states that the gap between the employers and their subordinates is being narrowed by a significant part, that is played by organisational commitment. Consequently, Koslowsky et al (1988) also discovered in his investigation that in Israel the organisational residency behaviour is also correlated with organisational commitment. According to Dearden et al (1997) employees who are being provided training by their employers give an edge to their bosses as probability of loosing such trained employees reduced whereas employees who do not receive training opportunities have more chances of leaving the firm. Sometimes for the purpose of fun the jobs are switched by employees that are encountered by less developed countries and cause an obstacle of job hopping (Barnett, 1995, Syrett, 1994, Khatri et al 2001). For various reasons like attaining the edge over rivals in the market, to adjust according to the need of dynamic environment

business and etc, the top management of an organisation are more interested in enhancing the employees commitment. According to Sekaran (2002), due to the Human Resource Management System reforms the demands of high performance of organisations have lifted more. On the other hand, Mathieu and Zajac (1990) explained in their research investigation that among the employers those are less likely to quite the firm who have high organisational commitment and their performance is being observed high too.

Affective, normative and continuance commitment are the vital components that form organisational commitment. In broad perspective, the level of involvement felt by an individual for his or her respective organisation is regarded as organizational commitment which is defined as psychological understanding about the organisation (Bartlett and Kang, 2004). To measure the level of organisational commitment including affective, normative, and continuance commitment of employees, a measuring scales were designed by Meyer and Allen (1997). The employees involvement in terms of emotion with the organisation is regarded as affective commitment, the feelings of employee to responsibility to stick with the same organisation is known as normative, whereas the cost that employee relate with quitting the company is called continuance commitment (Meyer and Allen, 1990, P.1). Mathieu and Zajac (1990) concluded in their research that commitment which is calculative by nature is termed as continuance commitment. Weiner (1982) firmly stated that comparing to affective and continuance commitment, normative commitment is focused on the right or moral thing to do (p.421). Bartlett (2001) explored at health care industry the correlation between employees perception towards training and organisational commitment. The outcomes of the research pointed out that affective and normative commitment of organisational commitment are linked in constructive and positive manner with the perceived ability to attain training, managerial assistance for training, enthusiasm to be trained from training and supposed benefits of training. Neo and Wilk (1993) firmly stated that adequate measures to build up motivation and eagerness in their employee to learn should be initiated by organisations. Bartlett (2001) stated that employees are more committed to the firms who suppose that training programs participation is beneficial. Bartlett (2001) also suggested that among employees the organisational commitment could be of high level due to the social support for training. Brief (1998) strongly believed that job satisfaction affect the link between perceived access to training of employees and organisational commitment. Bartlett (2001) research results concluded suggestions for HRM development professionals in the health care industry. Moreover the investigation proposed that appropriate training leads to an outcome like organisational commitment. The studies of Bartlett (2001) recommended that HRD practitioners should work to develop such atmosphere that makes the experienced workers to adore and encourage the participation in training. McNeese-Smith (2001) published a qualitative research study which pointed out that nursing

workforce think that chances for learning are further important in formative stages of organizational commitment among the workers than monetary and economic remuneration, relations with fellow workers and job satisfaction (cited in Bartlett and Kang, 2004).

According to Patrick (2006) to ensure the vitality of an organisation and the core function of HRM are benefits of training and training itself. Patrick (2006) explored the link between training and various outcomes of organisation such as job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover of employees and pointed that among job satisfaction, training, and organisational commitment exists a strong correlation. On the other hand Patrick (2006) also narrated that to attain high performance through training the route is not straight one always and employees learn through experience as they usually do not possess the right skills to apply at that situation.

Benson (2006) strongly emphasised on positive relationship among the job training and three antecedents of organisational commitment but with turnover intention it is vice versa related. Benson (2006) found that employees involvement in tuition-settlement that targets to supply excessive skills to market workers were connected in a positive way among individuals about organisational commitment but pessimistically linked quitting the firms intentions. Benson (2006) proposed that the objective of decreasing the turnover of workers is through the promotion of such workers who actively took part in the training program. The previous empirical research by Becker (1965) also supported the argument as it stated that after the development of skills employees are less willing to leave organisation if they are rewarded after training with either promotion or increase their salary.

Lowry et al. (2002) conducted a research study and elaborated the connection among employees relating their training, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Lowry et al (2002) summed up those appropriate methods of training influence the employees job satisfaction and organisational commitment. According to Bartlett (2001) trainings accessibility is connected strongly with commitments like affective and normative one but with continuance commitment it has no connection. In addition, Calwell et al (1990) commenced a research investigation which was later supported by studies conducted by Morris et al. (1993) indicates that between the organisational commitment and programs related to trainings accessibility, there prevails a correlation. Past research pointed out that huge influence of training of employees on the affective commitment particularly when an atmosphere regarding employees care is created by organisations (Kinicki et al, 1992). Moreover, Eisenberger (1986) urged that when workers have a perception about their employers being committed to them then they are more loyal and committed to organisations.

The above literature shows that there is a relationship between the training program and the organisational commitment. It further indicates that the models and previous empirical researches has

identified that those employees who are promoted by the organisation or either given a raise in their salary package after the provision of a training are more loyal and committed towards their organisations. They benefits of training helps employees to enhance their career as it give growth to their career and the management reduces their other expenses like hiring or recruiting goes down due to trainings their employees are more committed to organisation. It further explained that there is a sufficient difference between affective, normative, and continuance commitment as some may link directly and contribute to employee in direct mode while other may not. The training is a practice that motivates employees to attain the ultimate objective of the organisation.

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