CIVIL SERVICE INSTITUTE

FACULTY OF ACCOUNTING

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
ON
THE ROLE OF SKILLS TRAINING ON EMPLOYEE WORK
PERFORMANCE
(A CASE STUDY OF SOMTEL COMPANY)

BY:
ABDIAZIIZ AHMEED FAARAH MOHEMD
ID.NO: CSI-106-2016

A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ACCOUNTING OF

CIVIL SERVICE INSTITUTE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR COURSE
WORK

SUBMITTED TO: LECTURER YASIN NOUR

AUG, 2017
Table of contents
1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1
1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Problem statement ............................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Purpose of the study ......................................................................................................... 3
1.4 General objectives ............................................................................................................ 3
1.4.1 Goals ..................................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.2 Specific objectives ................................................................................................................ 3
1.5 Research questions ........................................................................................................... 3
1.6 Scope of the study ............................................................................................................ 3
1.6.1 Content scope ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.6.2 Geographical scope ............................................................................................................... 4
1.6.3 Time scope ............................................................................................................................ 4
1.7 Significance of the study .................................................................................................. 4
1.8 Description of the study area ............................................................................................ 5
1.9 Limitation of the study ..................................................................................................... 5
1.10 Operational definition of key terms ................................................................................. 6
2. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 7
2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Training ............................................................................................................................ 7
2.3 The importance of training ............................................................................................... 8
2.4 Employee performance .................................................................................................... 9
2.4.1 Motivation theories ............................................................................................................. 10
2.4.2 Motivation and performance ............................................................................................... 11
2.4.3 Measuring motivation among employees ........................................................................... 11
2.5 The relationship between training and employee work performance ............................ 12
3. CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................. 16
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 16
3.2 Variable definitions ........................................................................................................ 16
3.3 Research Design ............................................................................................................. 16
3.4 Research approach.......................................................................................................... 17
3.5 Population....................................................................................................................... 17
3.5.1 Sampling Technique ........................................................................................................... 17
 3.5.2 Sample Size ......................................................................................................................... 17
3.6 Data sources ................................................................................................................... 18
3.6.1 Primary source .................................................................................................................... 18
3.6.2 Secondary source ................................................................................................................ 18
3.7 Data Collection Methods ................................................................................................ 18
3.8 Methods of data analysis ................................................................................................ 19
3.9 Data representation tools ................................................................................................ 19
3.10 Chapter Summary........................................................................................................... 19
References .................................................................................................................................... 20
 The role of skills training on work performance in Somtel Company

1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
Organizations are facing increased competition due to globalization, changes in technology,
political and economic environments (Evans, Pucik, & Barsoux, 2002), and therefore
prompting these organizations to train their employees as one of the ways to prepare them to
adjust their performance and also increase their productivity. It is important not to ignore the
prevailing evidence on growth of knowledge in the business corporate world in the last
decade. This growth has not only been brought about by improvements in technology nor a
combination of factors of production but increased efforts towards development of
organizational human resources. It is, therefore, in every organization’s responsibility to
enhance the job performance of the employees and certainly implementation of training.

According to (Michel, 2008), skills training is the most crucial task that needs to be done by the
managers, and it’s what determines organizations’ success or failure. Every organization weather
it’s profitable or non-profitable should increase the skills of their work force regularly.

In today’s ever-changing market place, the importance of job training has never been greater.
Workforce training is an indispensable way to keep your organization competitive. Employees
are human, most will have weaknesses or gaps in their professional skills. Having a high quality
and comprehensive employee training program enables to strengthen the skills of the workforce.
An employee training program will make the staff up to a higher standard of competency so that
the entire team can share a set of knowledge and skills.

The question that may arise in many instances is, why human resources are important?
Bearing in mind that human resources are the intellectual property of the firm. Employees
prove to be a good source of gaining competitive advantage (Houger, 2006), and training is
the only way of developing organizational intellectual property through building employees
competencies. In order to succeed, organizations should have to obtain and utilize human
resources effectively. Organizations, therefore, need to design its human resource

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management in ways that fit into the organization’s structure. Doing so, it will make the
organizations achieve their goals and objectives. Moreover, it is also important for
organizations to assist their workforce in obtaining the necessary skills needed and, increase
commitment. The management of human resources in Somaliland in general and Somtel
Company in particular is rather challenging as the most organizations have difficulties finding
proper human resources. This may partly be a result of the different kinds of problems, for
example, political instability, corruption, bureaucracy, poor infrastructure, low levels of
education and purchasing power, diseases and famine known to prevail in the African
business context (Kamoche K. N., 2002).

1.2 Problem statement

Despite the increasing effects on training of organizational employees by organizations, there
is still limited literature on human resource development issues in developing countries
(Debrah&Ofori 2006, 440) and increasing concerns from organizational customers towards
low quality services in the telecommunications sector.

Lack of skills training in Somtel Company is the factor that caused a weak performance from the
company’s staff. Every year nearly 40 professional personnel do not get the work training that
they need in order to fulfil their duties. As result, work performance from the personnel becomes
below the expected level.

This problem in the personnel’s department needs ground-breaking solutions. One innovative
solution maybe an increase of staff training and development of the skills of the employees. This
qualitative case study will explore perceptions of professionals in Somtel Company about the
personnel’s work performance and how to increase the skills and trainings that the workers need
precisely. This study assesses the effect of training skills on employee performance in Somtel
Company in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

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1.3 Purpose of the study

This study will investigate the relationship between skills training and work performance in
Somtel Company.

To explore why work performance of the workforce of Somtel Company is not as good as the
other competitors of the market like Somcable and Telesom.

This research is going to identify the strengths and weaknesses of skills training on job
Performance in Somtel.

1.4 General objectives

1.4.1 Goals
This study tries to find out the relationship between skills training on work performance of the
employees of Somtel

1.4.2 Specific objectives

1. To find out the profile of respondents in terms of age, gender, experience, and
educational level.
2. To examine the level of skills training in Somtel Company.
3. To investigate the level of work performance in Somtel Company.
4. To evaluate what extent skills training is related to work performance.

1.5 Research questions

1. What is the profile of respondents in terms of age, gender, experience, and educational
level?
2. What is the level of skills training in Somtel Company?
3. What is the level of work performance of the staff of Somtel Company?
4. Is there is significant relationship between the level of skills training and work
performance in Somtel Company?

1.6 Scope of the study

The scope of this study is confined in the following key sections: Content Scope, geographical
scope, and time scope.

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1.6.1 Content scope

This research will cover by literature review of skills training on work performance.

1.6.2 Geographical scope

The geographical scope of this study is restricted in the capital city of Hargeisa, Somaliland.

1.6.3 Time scope

This study is estimated to take three weeks.

1.7 Significance of the study

Training becomes inevitable the moment an organization realizes the need for improvement and
expansion in the job. But often times, organizations embark on job enlargement and enrichment
to promote employees' morale, motivation and satisfaction when in the fact the real problem with
work performance lies incapacity development. The study becomes necessary because many
organizations in this contemporary world are striving to gain competitive edge and there is no
way this can be achieved without increasing employees' competencies, capabilities, skills etc.
through adequate training designs. Moreover, the result of the study will be useful to the
following:

Managers. The study results will help the managers of Somtel Company to identify the
challenging effects of employees’ training on organizational performance, hence determine the
areas where improvements through training can be done. It will also help the management in
planning for the development and implementation of effective and efficient training needs that
will lead to increased performance of the workers.

Employees. Findings of the study may bring awareness to the employees’ perception about the
importance of skills training, and after the training the employees may reach a new level of work
performance and satisfaction of the work.

Government. In some ways, the findings of the study can be used as a policy setter in
Somaliland government especially the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service Commission.

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Researchers. The result will be helpful in understanding the other issues regarding the
relationship of skills training and level of work performance which can possibly be further
studied.

The institute. The findings of this study will help the students of the Civil Service Institute, to
use as a guide and literature for further study regarding the relationship between the skills
training and work performance.

1.8 Description of the study area

Hargeisa is a city situated in the Maroodi-jeex region of the self-declared but internationally
unrecognized republic of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa. It is the capital and largest city of
Somaliland. During the Middle Ages, Hargeisa was part of the domain of the Adal Sultanate.
The city later succeeded Berbera as the capital of the British Somaliland protectorate in 1941. In
1960, the protectorate gained independence and united as scheduled days later with Italian
Somaliland to form the Somali republic on July 1, 1960. (Wikipedia)

Hargeisa is situated in a valley in the Galgodon (Ogo) highlands, and sits at an elevation of
1,334m. Home to rock art from Neolithic period, the city is also a commercial hub for precious
stone-cutting, construction, retail services and trading, among other activities.

In 2015 according to the UNDP the city had a population of 1,200,000, while according to CIA
facebook, Hargeisa has estimated population of around 1,500,000 as of 2015. It is 600th largest
city in the world by population size. The urban area occupies 75 square kilometer (29 sq. mi).

1.9 Limitation of the study

 There is very limited time to cover this broad research topic, obviously, three weeks is
not enough to carry out. Time will be a challenging task to face.
 There is narrow literature on this topic, thereby limiting amount of information is
available on this study.
 The targeted population is dispersed all over the Somaliland, and this research is
restricted only in capital city of Somaliland. This will cause small portion of the targeted
population to be available and the sample size will decrease.

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1.10 Operational definition of key terms

Training is a type of activity which is planned, systematic and it results in enhanced level of
skill, knowledge and competency that are necessary to perform work effectively (Gordon
1992).

Development is a broad ongoing multi-faceted set of activities (training activities among

them) aimed at bringing someone or an organization up to another threshold of performance,
often to perform some job or a new role in the future (McNamara, 2008).

Employee performance is defined as the outcome or contribution of employees to make

them attain goals (Herbert, John & Lee 2000) while performance may be used to define what
an organization has accomplished with respect to the process, results, relevance and success.
(Sultana, 2012), define performance as the achievement of specific tasks measured against
predetermined or identified standards of accuracy, completeness, cost and speed. Employee
performance can be manifested in improvement in production, easiness in using the new
technology, highly motivated workers.

Human resource management is the way organizations manage their staff and help them to
develop (McCourt & Derek, 2003), in order to be able to execute organizations’ missions and
goals successfully.

Human resource development is the integration of individual, career and organization

development roles in order to achieve maximum productivity.

Motivation is an internal process that makes a person move toward a goal. Motivation can’t
be directly observed, instead motivation can only be inferred by noting a person’s behavior.

Job satisfaction is the level of contentment employees feel about their work, which can affect
performance.

Procedures a fixed, step-by-step sequences of activities or course of action (with definite start
and end points) that must be correctly perform a task. Repetitive procedures are called
routines

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2. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction
In the fast pace changing world of business and environmental uncertainty, organization realize
its limitation of dealing with challenges (Tai, 2006). However the firms should invest in training
programs to make their employees competent enough to face uncertainties and take effective
decision in time, in order to remain competitive in the market. Effective training is beneficial for
the firm in variety of ways, such as, it plays a vital role in building and maintaining capabilities
both on individual and organizational level, and thus participators in the process of
organizational change (Valee, Martin, & Romero, 2000). Moreover, it enhances the retention
capacity of talented workforce, hence the unintentional job rotation of the workers (Jones &
Wright. 1992; Shaw et al., 1996) and to an enhancement in employee performance and
organizational productivity (Bartel, 1994); (Huselid, 1995).

2.2 Training
Effective training and development programs aimed at improving the employees’ performance.
Training refers to bridging the gap between the current performance and the standard desired
performance. Training could be given through different methods such as on the coaching and
mentoring, peer’s cooperation and participation by the subordinates. This team work enable
employees to actively participate on the job and produces better performance, hence improving
organizational performance.

Training programs not only develops employees but also help an organization to make best use
of their humane resources in favor of gaining competitive advantage. Therefore, it seems
mandatory by the firm to plan for such a training programs for its employees to enhance their
abilities and competencies that are needed at the workplace, (Jie and Roger, 2005).

Training not only develops the capabilities of the employee but sharpen their thinking ability and
creativity in order to take better decision in time and in more productive manner (David, 2006).
Moreover it also enable employees to deal with the customer in an effective manner and respond
to their complaints in timely manner (Hollenbeck, Derue and Guzzo, 2004).Training develops
self-efficacy and results in superior performance on job (Svenja, 2007), by replacing the

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traditional weak practices by efficient and effective work related practices (Kathiravan,
Devadason and Zakkeer,2006).

Training refers to a planned intervention aimed at enhancing the elements of individual job
performance” (Chiaburuand Tekleab, 2005). It is all about improving the skills that seems to be
necessary for the achievement of organizational goals. Training programs, may also help the
workforce to decrease their anxiety or frustration, originated by the work on job (Chenet al.,
2004). Those workers who feel themselves to be unable to perform a task with the desired level
of performance often decide to leave the firm (Chen et al., 2004), otherwise their stay at frim will
not add to productivity (Kanelopoulos and Akrivos, 2006). The greater the gap between the skills
necessary and those possessed by the workforce, the higher the job dissatisfaction of the workers.
Rowden (2002), suggest that training may also be an efficient tool for improving ones job
satisfaction, as employee better performance leads to appreciation by the top management, hence
employee feel more adjusted with his job. According to Rowden and Conine (2005), trained
employees are more able to satisfy the customers and (Tsai et al., 2007), employees who learn as
a result of training program shows a greater level of job satisfaction along with superior
performance.

2.3 The importance of training

Training is important and an imperative tool for the organization to revamp the performance of
all the personnel for organizational growth and success. It is beneficial to both employers and
employees of an organization. An employee will become more efficient and productive if he is
trained well. Firms can develop and enhance the quality of the current employees by providing
comprehensive training and development. Training is essential not only to increase productivity
but also to motivate and inspire workers by letting them know how important their jobs are and
giving them all the information they need to perform those jobs (Anonymous, 1998). The general
benefits received from employee training are: increased job satisfaction and morale, increased
motivation, increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain, increased capacity to
adopt new technologies and methods, increased innovation in strategies and products and
reduced employee turnover.

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2.4 Employee performance

According to Hawthorne studies, and many other research work on productivity of worker
highlighted the fact that employees who are satisfied with their job will have higher job
performance, and thus supreme job retention, than those who are not happy with their jobs
(Landy, 1985). Moreover, it is stated that employees are more likely to turnover if they are not
satisfied and hence demotivated to show good performance. Employee performance is higher in
happy and satisfied workers and the management finds it easy to motivate high performers to
attain firm targets (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2006). The employee could be only satisfied when they
feel themselves competent to perform their jobs, which is achieved through better training
programs.

Recognizing the role of training practices, enable the top executives to create better working
environment that ultimately improves the motivational level as well as the performance of the
workforce.

According to Leonard-Barton, (1992), an organization that gives worth to knowledge as a source

of gaining competitive edge than competitors, should build up system that ensure constant
learning, and on the effective way of doing so is training. (Pfeffer, 1994), highlights that well-
trained workforce is more capable of achieving performance targets and gaining competitive
advantage in the market. Training is determined as the process of enabling employee to complete
the task with greater efficiency, thus considered to be vital element of managing the human
resource performance strategically (Lawler, 1993; Delaney and Huselid, 1996).

The importance of training on the employee performance, through accelerating the learning
process, is mentioned in many researches (Ulrich, jick, & Von Glinow,, 1993). Employee
performance, achieved through training, refers to immediate improvements in the knowledge,
skills and abilities to carry out job related work, and hence achieve more employee commitment
towards the organizational goals (Huselid, 1995); (Ichniowski, 1997)). (Kamoche & Mueller,
1998) Mentioned that training should leads to the culture of enhancing learning, to raise
employee performance and ultimately higher return on investment (in training) for the firm.

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“A term typical to the Human Resource field, employee performance is everything about the
performance of employees in a firm or a company or an organization. It involves all aspects
which directly or indirectly affect and relate to the work of the employees” (employee
performance, website).

Employee's performance is important for the company to make every effort to help low
performers. Performance is classified into five elements: Planning, monitoring, developing,
rating and rewarding. In the planning stage, planning means setting goals, developing strategies,
and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish the goals. Monitoring is the phase in which the
goals are looked at to see how well one is doing to meet them .Monitoring means continuously
measuring performance and providing ongoing feedback to employees and work groups on their
progress toward reaching their goals. Ongoing monitoring provides the opportunity to check how
well employees are meeting predetermined standards and to make changes to unrealistic or
problematic standards. During the developing stage an employee is supposed to improve any
poor performance that has been seen during the time frame one has been working at the
company. During planning and monitoring of work, deficiencies in performance become evident
and can be addressed.

The rating is to summarize the employee performance. This can be beneficial for looking at and
comparing performance over time or among various employees. Organizations need to know
who their best performers are at the end of the cycle is rewarding stage. This stage is designed to
reward and recognize outstanding behavior such as that which is better than expected

2.4.1 Motivation theories

Baron (1986), distinguished between two opposing philosophies of human nature towards work
as proposed by McGregor. Theory X which takes a pessimistic view of human motivation to
work and Theory Y which is more optimistic and assumes workers are not passive and are ready
to assume responsibilities and develop skills according to their organization’s needs. The
accuracy of Theory Y assumptions depends on the extent to which management creates policies
and motivational systems that enable workers develop their own potential. Today’s
organizational culture has generally shown that workers have moved away from the tradition of

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viewing work as a form of punishment and now place a high value on work for its own good.
The motivation to work has become a cherished value in society. This is especially so among
managerial and professional workers who report that having a challenging job is more important
than the amount of earnings. Clerical and unskilled employees also place high value on their
work environment both social and physical than on the pay itself.

2.4.2 Motivation and performance

Motivation may be viewed as those psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and
persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2006). Hence when
employees are motivated, they perform their duties with full honor and dedication, they become
fully loyal with (Asim, 2013).

(Otuko, Chege , & Douglas , 2013), suggest that the effectiveness of skilled employees can be
limited if they are not motivated to perform their jobs. In fact they premise that the form and
structure of an organization can affect employee motivational levels in several ways which are
linked to performance e.g. organizations can implement merit pay or incentive compensation
systems that provide rewards to employees for meeting specific goals; likewise protection of
employees from arbitrary treatment, perhaps via a formal grievance procedure, may also
motivate them to work harder because they expect their effort to be fairly rewarded.

The human resource management theories such as Maslow’s and Hertzberg’s, demonstrate that
motivation is a key driver to the performance of an employee. The theories contend that human
beings have needs, and the more those needs are satisfied, the better an employee would perform
and such performance would also be affected by training and development, job security,
organizational structure and compensation (Gratton, 2000).

2.4.3 Measuring motivation among employees

According to (Saeed & Asghar, 2012), there are two types of motivation i.e. extrinsic motivation
and intrinsic motivation both of which affect individual performance. Rewards in the form of
compensation, bonuses affect extrinsic motivation while verbal appreciation affects intrinsic
motivation.

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2.5 The relationship between training and employee work performance

Most of the previous studies provides the evidence that there is a strong positive relationship
between human resource management practices and organizational performance. (Purcell et al.,
2003). According to (Guest, 1997), mentioned in his study that training and development
programs, as one of the vital human resource management practice, positively affects the quality
of the workers knowledge, skills and capability and thus results in higher employee performance
on job. This relation ultimately contributes to supreme organizational performance. The result of
Farooq. M, & Aslam. M. K (2011) study depicts the positive correlation between training and
employee performance. Thus, we can predict from this finding that it is not possible for the firm
to gain higher returns without best utilization of its human resource, and it can only happen when
firm is able to meet its employee’s job related needs in timely fashion. Training is the only ways
of identifying the deprived need of employees and then building their required competence level
so that they may perform well to achieve organizational goals. Furthermore, the result of the
study of Sultana. A, et.al. (2012), conducted in telecom sector of Pakistan, states the R² as .501
which means that 50.1% of variation in employee performance is brought by training programs.
Further, the T-value was 8.58 that explains training is good predictor of employee performance.

As depicted by the work of Harrison (2000), learning through training influence the
organizational performance by greater employee performance, and is said to be a key factor in
the achievement of corporate goals. However, implementing training programs as a solution to
covering performance issues such as filling the gap between the standard and the actual
performance is an effective way of improving employee performance (Swart, 2005).

According to (Swart, 2005), bridging the performance gap refers to implementing a relevant
training intervention for the sake of developing particular skills and abilities of the workers and
enhancing employee performance. He further elaborate the concept by stating that training
facilitate organization to recognize that its workers are not performing well and a thus their
knowledge, skills and attitudes needs to be molded according to the firm needs. There might be
various reasons for poor performance of the employees such as workers may not feel motivated
anymore to use their competencies, or maybe not confident enough on their capabilities, or they
may be facing work- life conflict. All the above aspects must be considered by the firm while

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selecting most appropriate training intervention that helps organization to solve all problems and
enhance employee motivational level to participate and meet firm expectations by showing
desired performance. As mentioned by Swart et al.(2005), this employee superior performance
occur only because of good quality training program that leads to employee motivation and their
needs fulfilment.

According to (Wright & Geroy, 2001), employee competencies changes through effective
training programs. It not only improves the overall performance of the employees to effectively
perform the current job but also enhance the knowledge, skills an attitude of the workers
necessary for the future job, thus contributing to superior organizational performance. Through
training the employee competencies are developed and enable them to implement the job related
work efficiently, and achieve firm objectives in a competitive manner.

However, employee performance is also effected by some environmental factors such as

corporate culture, organizational structure, job design, performance appraisal systems, power and
politics prevailing in the firm and the group dynamics. If the above mentioned problems exist in
the firm, employee performance decreases not due to lack of relevant knowledge, skills and
attitude, but because of above mentioned hurdles. To make training effective and to ensure
positive effect of training on employee performance these elements should be taken into
consideration (Wright & Geroy, 2001). Besides, (Eisenberger, 1986), stated that workers feel
more committed to the firm, when they feel organizational commitment towards them and thus
show higher performance.

(Bartel, 1994), reports that there is a positive correlation between effective training program and
employee productivity, however to make it possible, (Swart et al., 2005), it is the responsibility
of the managers to identify the factors that hinders training program effectiveness and should
take necessary measures to neutralize their effect on employee performance. In addition, Ahmad
and Bakar (2003), concluded that high level of employee commitment is achieved if training
achieve learning outcomes and improves the performance, both on individual and organizational
level. These findings are also consistent with the results of Kim (2006) research work.

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Generally, it can be debated that the effect of training program on employee outcomes such as
motivation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, did not received much attention so
far. Rare work was done to test whether firms can affect their workers attitude, through proper
training interventions. According to Lang (1992) training should be planned in such a way that it
results in organizational commitment. On the other hand (Gaertner & Nollen, 1989), proposed
that employees’ commitment is a result of some human resource practices, that is, succession
planning and promotions, career development and training opportunities. All these practices,
when achieved results in greater employee performance. Moreover, (Meyer & Smith, 2000),
investigate the link between Human Resource Management practices and organizational
commitment, so as to discover the causes of effective employee performance.

Although the above literature provides the evidences regarding the benefits of training and its
positive influence on employee performance, Cheramieet al. (2007), argued that, management,
mostly feel hesitant while investing in its human resource due to various reasons. Sometime, in
spite of receiving effective and timely training programs, employees are intended to cash it for
the sake of their own market value and employment opportunity, or willing to change job just
because of higher salaries, and thus, firm investment in training results as a cost rather than
profit. It is also observed that due to the resistance of the organization towards offering training,
propels individuals to invest themselves for their career development and greater performance
(Baruch, 2006).

As mentioned by (Arnoff, 1971), training sessions accelerate the initiative ability and creativity
of the workforce and facilitate to avoid human resource obsolescence that may occur because of
demographic factors such as age, attitude or the inability to cope with the technological changes.
(Obisi , 2001), reported that training is a systematic process of enhancing the knowledge, skills
and attitude, hence leads to satisfactory performance by the employees at job. He further
mentioned that the need and objectives of the training program should be identified before
offering it to the employees.

(Scott, Clothier, & Spriegel, 1997), argued that training is the crux of better organizational
management, as it makes employees more efficient and effective. They further elaborated that

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training practice is have a strong bond with all other human resource practices as (Mamoria,
1995), it enables employees to develop themselves within the firm and raise their market value
in the market. Additionally, training supports to shape employees’ job related behavior and
facilitate them to participate for the success of the organization and ultimately firm gets higher
return due to superior performance of its employees. Mamoria (1995), further mentioned that a
well-trained worker is able to make a best use of organizational resources along with minimum
level of wastages. As stated by (Ohabunwa , 1999), when employees are well trained
organization can delegate responsibility and authority to them with full confidence of ensuring
organizational success.

2.3 THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

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3. CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve a research problem by logically adapting
various steps (Scridhar, 2008). This chapter looked at the research methodology as will be used
in the study. This chapter presented the following; research design, the population of the study,
the sample and sampling procedures, instruments for data collection and method, data analysis
and presentation methods and the research procedures.

3.2 Variable definitions

This research, the independent variable is skills training, where the dependent variable is
employee work performance a case study in Somaliland.

Skills training: skills training refers to a planned intervention aimed at enhancing the elements of
individual job performance” (Chiaburuand, Tekleab, 2005). It is all about improving the skills
that seems to be necessary for the achievement of organizational goals.

Work performance: is defined as the outcome or contribution of employees to make them attain
goals (Herbert, John & Lee 2000), while performance may be used to define what an
organization has accomplished with respect to the process, results, relevance and success.

3.3 Research Design

Research design deals with planning the strategy or overall design of the study. This study used
survey research design. (Ogutu , 2012), posits that a survey research method is probably the best
method available to social scientists who are interested in collecting original data for purposes of
describing population which is too large to observe directly. In this survey, independent variables
were selected rather than observations and analyses of relationships among the variables carried
out in their natural settings. The approach allowed ascertaining of widespread opinions under
natural conditions (Auka, Bosire&Matern, 2013).

The survey design allows investigation of possible relationships between variables. In this way
the survey design is more appropriate for the study because it enables data collection from

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broader category as well as comparisons between variables. The dependent variable in this study
is the employee performance while the independent variable is employee skills training.

3.4 Research approach

This research paper will use both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The researcher will use
mixed approach in order to increase the validity and reliability of the study.

3.5 Population
According Sekaran (2001), population is the entire group of people, events or things of interest
that the researcher wishes to investigate. While the target population is the total collection of
elements about which the researcher wishes to make some inferences (Okiro&Ndungu, 2013).

The target population for this case study is the staff of telecommunication giant in Somaliland,
Somtel Company. The choice of this population is based on ease of accessibility.

3.5.1 Sampling Technique

A stratified random sampling will be used to obtain the sample size. The population will be
categorized into the management positions. Auka et al. (2013) posit that stratified random
sampling ensures that all the groups (categories) are adequately sampled and this facilitates
comparison among the groups.

3.5.2 Sample Size

A sample size is sub set of the population drawn to represent the entire population or any
combination of sampling units that does not include the entire set of sampling units that has been
defined as the population (Garson, 2012). As a rule of thumb, for a population less than 1000, a
sample of 30% is sufficient in representing the entire population (Blanche, Durrheim& Painter,
2008). Therefore for this study a sample of 90 employees will be selected to represent the entire
population of 288. This will give a 31.25% of the population. The actual distribution of the
sample respondents was based on the actual representation of the department in the actual
population.

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 The role of skills training on work performance in Somtel Company

Table 3.1: Sample Size Distribution

Management Position Total Sample Size % of Total

Sample Size
population population
Top level
40 12 4.2%
Management
Middle level
80 24 8.3%
Management
Non-management
168 54 18.8%
Staff

Total 288 90 31.25%

3.6 Data sources

3.6.1 Primary source
Sources of the data will be collected from the respondents through questionnaire. Because it’s
easy to be answered.

3.6.2 Secondary source

The source of secondary data will be gathered from text books, academic journals, articles,
government documents and review of previous findings relating to this topic.

3.7 Data Collection Methods

The primary data will be collected through the use of survey questionnaire by drop and pick
strategy to ensure high response rate. The use of questionnaire is adopted because it ensures that
data collection is standardized such that each respondent get the same question and in the same
format. Questionnaires also enable collection of original data from the sample of the population
within a short time and at low cost for purposes of describing the entire population (Ogutu ,
2012).

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 The role of skills training on work performance in Somtel Company

The questionnaire will be structured according to the research questions. The questionnaire will
contain four parts. Part one will explore the population demographics. Part two will examine the
level of employee skills training in Somtel Company. Part three will investigate the level of
employee work performance and motivation. Lastly, part four the relationship between employee
skills training and employee job performance.

Auka et al. (2012) define validity as the extent to which the test-items measure what they purport
to do and reliability as the consistence of a score from one occasion to the next. For this study,
the validity and reliability will be tested by use of pilot test and expert judgment of the research
supervisor.

3.8 Methods of data analysis

Cooper and Schindlier (2000), described data analysis as the process of editing and reducing
accumulated data to a manageable size, developing summaries, seeking for patterns and using
statistical methods. The questionnaires will be coded before entering the data into statistical
package for social sciences SPSS for analysis.

The data analysis will involve frequencies, means, analysis of variances and bivariate analysis in
form of cross tabulation to explore the relationships between the various variables in the current
case study. The data will then presented in form of tables and figures.

The second level of the data analysis will involve inferential statistics where Chi Square and
Regression Analysis will be used to establish the association between study variables at 95%
confidence level and also to test hypotheses. Using SPSS (Statistical Program for Social
Sciences).

3.9 Data representation tools

To present the data, the researcher will use tables and graphs using Microsoft Excel and
Microsoft Word to present the data.

3.10 Chapter Summary

This chapter provided a description of the procedures to be followed in conducting the study on
the role of skills training on employee work performance in Somtel Company. It also covered the

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 The role of skills training on work performance in Somtel Company

design and the approaches of the study. Data resources and data representation methods are also
part of the chapter, methods that will be used to obtain the required information in order to make
the correct conclusions. Data collection and data analysis methods has also been shown.

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