INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING POLICY ON MANAGEMENT OF
SEWER LINE SERVICES TO DOMESTIC CONSUMERS IN ELDORET TOWN,
UASIN GISHU COUNTY
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
This project presents the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of
the study, objectives of study, research questions followed by significance of the study,
assumptions, delimitation of the study, conclusions with definition of terms and organization of
the study.
Background to the study
Proper organizational policies create a sense of belonging between the organization
customers and employees , this can be realized by building up of ties between customers and
employees through many ways on instances where OTP addresses issues relating to all parties
e.g. good service delivery ,good communication, mutual understanding of the parties, and mutual
trust that everyone needs. According to HR winter (2009), proper OTP in an institution help in
outlining proper job descriptions, point of need on the part of employee and customers training,
customer relations and how satisfaction is enhanced in employee’s jobs and customer
expectations.
Designing a training and development program involves a sequence of steps that can be
grouped into five phases: gap identification, organizational needs assessment, staff needs
assessment met, target group to be trained, instructional objectives, design, implementation and
evaluation. To be effective and efficient, all training programs must start with a needs
assessment. Long before any actual training occurs, Bryan Nielsen (2010) suggests that the
training manager must determine who, what, when, where, why and how training will be
offered .much information must be analyzed about the organization its goals , objectives, jobs
and related tasks that need to be learned, Competencies and skills that are needed to perform,
Nelson (2003). He further stipulated that proper and appropriate ways should be used to identify
the needs e.g. conducting study group surveys, observation, appraisals, job and task analysis,
interviews and critical incident techniques. Training contributes to sustainable development, and
is recognized in Ghana as a priority area of development intervention as is reflected in policy
documents. The Government of Ghana has developed key policy documents over the last ten
(10) years; Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan (PRSP) of September 2002 and its successor the
Economic Recovery Strategy Programme (ERS) of 2003, and the Vision 2030 of 2008; they all
emphasize the importance of training, education and development. The most important role that
the government has done is the developments of policies that guide the systems in place in order
standardize training in various sectors.
Considering that most of the African countries like Uganda, Gabon, Ghana, Malawi and
Tanzania are still in the early stage of their urbanization and economic development process,
people generally believe that a fast increase In solid waste generation should be unavoidable in
the developing world according to SNV reports (2012). The current practice of collecting,
processing and disposing municipal liquid wastes is also considered to be least efficient in the
developing countries and typical problems are low collection coverage, irregular collection
services, crude open dumping and burning without air and water pollution control, the breading
of flies and vermin, and the handling and control of informal waste picking or scavenging
activities (Bartone, 1995).
In American states both liquid and solid waste are managed in a manner that many staff and
residents has been trained on the sewer line. Research conducted by Illinois department of
agriculture, (2006) showed that there is need to train employees of all states to enable them to
offer sewer services to the public. In the USA sewer line service providers are trained in a
manner that they fully understand their assigned tasks. It is believed that customer needs keep on
changing with the trend in the market, this also applies to service provision that takes many
forms and hence satisfaction on the customers part.
Job satisfaction is>the most widely investigated job attitude, as well as one of the most
extensively researched subjects in Industrial/Organizational Psychology Judge & Church,
(2000). As a result of this expansive research, job satisfaction has been linked to commitment,
productivity, motivation, responsibility, mental/physical health, and general life satisfaction
Landy, (1978).> A common idea within the research has been that, to some extent, the emotional
state of an individual is affected by interactions with their work environment. The most widely
accepted explanation of job satisfaction was presented by Locke (1976), who defined job
satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job
or job experiences”.> Additionally, job satisfaction has emotional, cognitive and behavioral
components Bernstein & Nash, (2008).>
The emotional component refers to feelings regarding the job, such as boredom, anxiety, or
excitement; however there are numerous factors that must be taken into consideration when
determining how satisfied an employee is with his or her job, and it is not always easy to
determine which factors are most important to each employee.> Job satisfaction is very
circumstantial and subjective for each employee and situation being assessed, research has
revealed that the nature of an individual’s job or the characteristics of the organization that the
individual works for predominantly determines job satisfaction Jex,( 2002).> According to
Hackman and Oldham (1980) a job characteristic is an aspect of a job that generates ideal
conditions for high levels of motivation, satisfaction, and performance. Furthermore, Hackman
and Oldham (1980) proposed five core job characteristics that all jobs should contain: skill
variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. >They also defined four
personal and work outcomes as internal work motivation, growth satisfaction, general
satisfaction, and work effectiveness.>
Job descriptions in place of work are important part in scheme of services for employee’s
daily routine tasks; this explains in detail the role of the staff, job itself and the level off the level
of responsibility and hence chain of command in work place . job requirements of an employee
to be employed by an institution should be made through by coming up with well defined
qualifications that one has to meet before being employed .Training should therefore not end at
empowering the people but it should to be moved higher to the level of productivity to service
delivery. Developing a national role in training is important for an employers' organization for
several reasons according to government training policy (2003)
Statement of the problem
Kenya has not been keen to produce human resources suited to labor market demand. A large
number of the trainees are not effectively/ appropriately trained to offer what the labour market
requires. Kenya like a great number of Sub-Sahara Africa have a strong desire to place
investments in tertiary education despite the fact that a majority of Kenya’s economy is
composed of the informal sector. Labor market surveys conducted sporadically only look at the
formal sector, which means that the government has been unable to grasp a sizable portion of
domestic economic activity leading to failure to propose effective policy.
It is noted that in Kenya, the education and industry sectors exist separately from each other
and while the importance of the school-to-work transition of students is being advocated,
discussion of these matters has failed to probe deeper, resulting in a lack of realistic policy
linking school education to the labor market. Another reason for the low rate of people reaching
employment through technical and vocational education is based on commonly-held belief that
technical and vocational education are lower in value than academic courses, however, the
government’s role in its training sector is not limited to the management of vocational training
schools to the contrary, in order that human resource effectively contributes to industrial
development, only the government has the capacity to carry out the establishment of laws,
policies, systems and assistance to private human resource development institutions to deliver on
the task.
Significance of the study
This study is needed to find out the impacts of the training policy on service delivery it
seeks to improve ways of training and how to identify employees’ training needs required in
order for a staff to undergo a training of a certain nature .If a company's employees do not
acquire skills then the company could lose large amounts of money, customers or even go out of
business. On the other hand if that company's employees are well trained and motivated by their
employers it could have great income potential, keep loyal customers and gain a lot of market
share.>>>This research would help many managers and leaders in our society to identify ways that
they need to do in order to successfully train their employees to perform at their best. As a
manager this knowledge will therefore help researchers to understand what new strategies could
be implemented in order to motivate employees to achieve optimal training results. It is evident
that there is a need for this study because of the many companies that are constantly spending
money on various ways to increase employee motivation.
Basic assumptions of the study:
The assumption of the study is that quality of services and effectiveness depends much on
training policy of an institution. This will determine the kind of training offered to employees in
order to carry out their tasks efficiently hence good service delivery and customer satisfaction.
Furthermore the study explores the possibility of the policy having a lot of influence and brings
in a lot of impacts that can be felt both in and outside the organization, it begs to identify the
ways in which an organization has used to acquire policies that govern training s and training
procedures that are followed in selection of staff to be trained at a particular area of
specialization.
Limitations of the study
The study encountered a number of setbacks that impacted the study .The organizational
service delivery was on reasons other than the training policy of the organization. The policies in
place were hindered by other factors in that it actually brought impacts on service delivery.
Delimitation
The study aimed to establish the role of training policy in enhancing employee
productivity. It was be carried out at the Eldoret town and it involved employees working at
Eldoret water and sanitation company .ELDOWAS offers water service provision, distribution
of clean treated water to Eldoret town and its environs, it also offer sewerage system and sewer
treatment services. The Company owns a bigger share of water consumers in Eldoret town since
it is a sole company that does treatment of water at the source. Modern state of equipment used
in water processing and at the laboratories to taste water ph, turbidity and are utilized by highly
trained and qualified officers .
Definition of significant terms.
Organizational training policy: A document customized to guide training activities in a
company
Management of sewer line services: process of controlling assignments, processes and duties
in sewer line unit.
Domestic consumers: People benefitting from the company’s services.
Training Policy: It is o document that guide organizational processes and procedures.
Need assessment: Process of finding out existing gaps of training in employees.
Job satisfaction: External and internal satisfaction of an employee towards the job assigned.
Job description: It is a management tool used in an organization to help individual staff
understand their duties ,positions jobs and tasks allocated.
Customer relations: relationship between staff and customers.
Internal Training: Training conducted inside the company either by internal
trainers or external trainers.
External Training: Training conducted out of company by external trainers.
Local Course : Training that can be acquired locally e.g. at the local
colleges in Kenya.
In-House Training: Internal training organized by the company and
conducted by the company or by the commissioned
trainers.
Fulltime Course: Training occupying all the trainees time
Long Course : Training or other capacity building activity lasting more than three (3)
months.
Self Sponsorship: Funding for training borne privately by the trainee.
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