Impact of training on Employee Commitment

Abstract

Productivity, efficiency, organizational employee morale, and organizational effectiveness are all impacted by employee’s commitment, which is crucial to the overall success of institutions. This paper discusses employee commitment identifying the impact created by the training opportunities provided by the institution to its employees. For the research, an in-depth analysis of the previous literature was done in a meticulous manner. It also identifies the employee’s perception on commitment and how do they evaluate the institutions support on application of their acquired knowledge.

The results have implications for those who design HR policies, programs and provide training, highlighting the value of continual professional development programs in creating a dedicated workforce. Stakeholders can make wise choices to improve employee’s engagement, retention, and overall organizational success by better understanding the relationship between training and commitment. The entire research article includes findings, and more refined conclusions that will result from additional analysis and interpretation of the findings.

Keywords: Training effectiveness, Employee commitment, Continuance commitment, Organizational support, Employee perception

Introduction

Training teaches individuals on how to do something. In many ways, it helps people grow.Formal steps are used in training to show people how to do their jobs well (Armstrong, 2010). To cut costs, many employers cut back on training (Mugizi et al., 2015).

As an individual highly motivated towards the HR policies and programs, I have realized that the organization which identifies an employee as an important part retains its workforce for a longer period of time and maintains the quality of it services.

Meyer, Stanley, and Parfyonova (2012) give a multidimensional definition of commitment that includes perspectives on affect, continuity, and norms. Affective commitment is how emotionally connected and involved you are with an organization. Continuance commitment is how much you think it will cost you to leave, and normative commitment is how responsible you feel you are to support and stay a member (Mugizi.: 2015).

The study aims to study the effectiveness of training on employee and their commitment to the institution. The research will be conducted to analyze:

What are the factors that affect employee’s commitment, particularly in relation to the training opportunities provided by the institution?

The study focuses on finding the effectiveness of the professional developmental trainings provided by the institution and on its employee’s commitment. The research will help the organization, trainer and other stake holders to analyze the need of training on improving organization’s quality and commitment.
This study helps the employer to focus on investing on those training and those employees that are more retaining factors for the organization. This will make the decision for the employer easier on their investment and security. The study is only limited to study the commitment of the employees on the basis of training and neglects the other factors that influence the employee commitment with the organization.

There always will be other influencing factor that might affect the employee’s decision to hold back with the organization or change it. The other factors are negligible and might also be of the major significance to the commitment of the employee. The study has made employee’s commitment only relative to the developmental training provided by the institution.

Literature Review

As a researcher, talking about previous work on this topic has helped me look at different aspects. When an organization invests in someone, they form a bond with that organization. This is why many organizations are interested in commitment. This shows how much an employee has taken on board and changed the values and ways of thinking of the company (Peteromode & Bello, 2018). A promise, loyalty, or support is what commitment means. It’s been asked what “employee commitment” means by many people. Meyer, Stanley, and Parfyonova (2012) give a multidimensional definition of commitment that includes perspectives on affect, continuity, and norms.

Affective commitment means feeling emotionally connected to and involved with an organization. Continuance commitment means how much it is thought to cost to leave, and normative commitment means the responsibility to support and stay a member (Mugizi, et al. 2015). Different definitions agree that an employee’s commitment means they want to stay with the company. High-commitment employees keep good results in check by making it less likely that bad things will be said about the company.

People are more loyal to their company when they get more training (Owoyemi, et al. 2011). There is research that shows that employees are more likely to stay with a company if they are trained to improve their skills and feel committed to it because they care about it and have opportunities to do so. People who work in institutions want to grow as people and as professionals. Training, whether it’s before or during work, mostly changes how an employee thinks about and sees certain things.

Training helps new employees learn how to be leaders, pick up new skills, understand the company culture, do their jobs, and follow company ethics. Professional commitment shows how strong the bond is between an employee and their company. For Charles-Pauvers and Wang, this is the degree to which a person identifies with and is involved with an organization. This type of attachment is psychological and shows how much a person internalized and adopted the organization’s traits and point of view. Rots and Aelterman say that new teachers need to be dedicated to their jobs if they want to stay in the field (Ibrahim & Iqbal, 2015).

Theoretical Framework

This section identifies the theoretical relation of the phenomenon in accordance to the popular studies done over the topic and spreads upon the light on the framework that identifies the relation of the process of commitment in the staff followed by various trainings provided by an institution to its staff members. The Social Exchange Theory and the Social Identity Theory serve as the foundation for this study.

Social Exchange Theory

The Social Exchange Theory (SET) was created by researchers like Homans (1958) and Blau (1964) to explain how people act in groups. In his essay “Social Behavior,” Homans looked at the mental processes that make people interact with others. Homans thought that trading tangible and intangible goods was a part of social behavior.

Homans said that people who give a lot want to get a lot back, and people who get a lot are forced to give. Blau was interested in exchange, which is what makes social systems work. Blau says that people build relationships with each other by meeting their obligations to each other. Marescaux, Winne, and Sels (2013) say that SET says that HRM practices create a positive exchange relationship where employees are positive about the company and their job in return.

According to the Social Exchange Theory, people want the most benefits with the fewest costs. Costs can be things like time, effort, emotional benefits, or sacrifices. Reward can be things like love, support, companionship, and material benefits.

Findings and Discussions

After studying various articles on the topic, the discussions were divided into themes to abstract the concrete learning from the past literature. 4 Themes have aroused from the review and has been presented here to discuss the findings of this research.

Findings

The thematic discussions below were extracted from 20 existing previous literature. All of these articles have discussed aspects of employee commitment and training was their focused area of study. These articles were extracted from various reputed sites and journals and were cited by many Thus, they were able to discuss a variety of opinions regarding the influence of their experiences, education, and training on their personal growth.

The themes that have developed from the interview with the participants are:

1. Experience of the employee
2. Training Content Relevancy
3. Organizational support
4. Commitment to the organization

These themes are further discussed below:

Experience of the teacher:

The commitment of employees with the same organization has been found to be dependent on the years of experience in the sector they held. Employees with less years of experience reported enjoying the learning process and feeling that ever training had one or more takeaways, while those with more than seven years of experience felt that the same ideas were being repeated and that more specific themes should be developed in place of the themes that were previously used.

Training content Relevancy

It can be realized that relevant ideas and their delivery are important for everyone. When talking about any form of learning, relevance is of the biggest significance. It is crucial to maintain relevance and provide instruction that is appropriate for the learner. For the same reason, articles reviewed discussed how crucial it was for the training’s content to be applicable for them to use it in the classroom.

Relevance in accordance to need of student

Relevance comes in different forms; in the course of the study, the participants revealed that the relevance of the training was not only about the content but also the relevancy of the content that was designed for the learner of the era.

The articles very well explained that the changing time has burning challenges to cope with the needs of the students. Hence, it is justifiable to seek for training that caters the need of the students of the era.

Relevance of the subject matter

The subject matter should be of need to the teachers. Relevant content matter allows the teachers to refresh their knowledge and enhance their skills. A teacher attending the training session that adds on to their techniques and strategies for qualitative delivery of the content. Since relevance thrives for the majority of the time, it is essential to engage more participants.

Organizational Support

Following training, the participant is already prepared and eager to join the company to exhibit the developed skills and learning. The majority of the time, the employees was selected under certain conditions to attend training. As a result, it becomes extremely necessary and motivating for employees to apply their knowledge in the classroom and support the growth of their organization.

Support for the implementation of acquired knowledge

After the completion of the training, employee wishes to share and implement the knowledge. This support provided by the organization allows the participants to feel valued and acknowledged which increases the affection of the employee with the organization.

Support for the development after training

After attending the training, teachers expect that the organization values their effort made to dedicatedly learn from the training and utilize this learning to enhance their capability and performance in the organization. This allows them to stay motivated and committed towards the organization.

However, as a researcher, I would feel that seeking for promotional benefit only on the basis of a training program attended and knowledge acquired isn’t very justifiable when it comes to handing over a great responsibility of leading a certain position.

Commitment to the organization

They also stated that the ongoing chance to take part in properly accredited trainings encouraged them to stay with the company, but only under the condition that the company looked into other facilities that they should be given in accordance with all the effort, time, and dedication that they had invested in the company.

Continuance Commitment

Very frequently, did the participants discuss about the continuance commitment, i.e. their intention to continue with the organization. They agreed that they would continue with the organization to which the training opportunity provided by the institution also mattered and made them re-think their decision of discontinuing with the organization.

Affective Commitment

This made it evident that it is not only the intention to continue with the organization, but also the affection that an employee builds with its organization, after being employed in the institution for a certain period of time and being a member of the organization as well as being rewarded with various facilities that mattered the participant and helped them through their difficult times.

Although the participant had made it obvious that training was one of several reasons influencing her decision to stay with a company, it was not the only factor that affected her decision to leave that company.

Discussions:

When the study began, it was anticipated that the research would focus solely on the terms “training” and “commitment,” but as it progressed, it became clear that these terms also spread a light on the concepts of “learning,” “relevancy,” “experience,” and other concepts that served as bridges to connect disparate ideas. This paper agrees with what has already been said that the institution’s training makes workers better at both technical and non-technical tasks and can be used to make workers more committed (Owoyemi, et al. 2011).

From the findings, the need of topic’s to be updated in the forms of training, while the topic’s relevance changed how the participants felt about the opportunity offered by the institution; it also was obvious that irrelevant discussion during the training made the training opportunities a burden rather than a learning experience. The creation of fresh concepts that were pertinent to the needs of the rapidly changing generation and their educational expectations would encourage the participants more in their efforts to improve the result if organization. Even the researches have noticed and suggested that most of the teachers training were marked irrelevant and did not make any contribution to the teachers’ performance (Ayvaz-Tuncel & Çobanoğlu, 2018).

Any training’s content determines how much of an impact it will have on the attendees, and also how much will it encourage them to learn more, and to use their imagination to improve the quality of the work they produce after the training. The employees should be trained by the experts of the contemporary issues which are the brand new ones for the industry (Ayvaz-Tuncel & Çobanoğlu, 2018). Training with relevant content allows the teachers to learn and implement well in the institutional environment.

Organizational support is of utmost importance when it comes to the employees contributing to the organization and respecting the organizational culture (Mugizi Bakkabulindi & Bisaso, 2015). The participant feels driven and compelled to cooperate with the organization in their best interests when the organization offers a platform for the teachers to utilize the gained knowledge as effectively as feasible for the desired outcome and improvement in the quality of the service. While this demonstrates how knowledge is put to use after training, it is important to recognize that this fact also plays a crucial role in a teacher’s pre-training motivation.

The training and development opportunities offered by their institution has an impact on the decision of the employees to stay with the organization, which makes connection with continuance commitment of an employee in the organization. An organization that is able to create an environment where training is valued by employees will be able to achieve greater commitment outcomes (Owoyemi, et al, 2011).

However, this also sparked the question: Is training the sole aspect that has the greatest impact on an employee’s decision to stay with the company?

Additionally, the commitment of the employee required the organization’s perspective and in-depth analysis of the work environment in their institution because, despite being given access to all developmental opportunities and adequate training to advance their knowledge, when the work culture and internal environment weren’t favorable for the employee, their decision to stay with the organization already decreased, shattering their intuition to continue.

This paper suggests that non-material rewards to validate the learning of teachers after training is also of utmost importance to retain its teachers and keep the quality of education high. This is in line with the social theory of exchange that has been developed by scholars like Homans (1958) and Blau (1964), in addition to the non-material rewards validated to the learning of the teachers and post learning commitment of the teachers, it also discusses that the commitment of the teacher is not only affected by the development opportunity, but then it is also associated to creating a condition of affection for the employee and the organization at the same time.

Conclusion

The research found that the training and development opportunities provided by the organization have a significant impact on an employee’s organizational commitment after carefully examining the interviewees’ responses and the data that was gathered.

However, training alone won’t have an impact on an employee’s decision to stay committed to the company; it must be balanced with a number of other factors, including monetary compensation, promotions, job security, non-material rewards within the company, and an expansion of the services the company offers to its employees.

The organization should make sensible decisions when choosing the training to be given to the teachers because repetition and trainings that do not support the organization’s values and mission cause teachers to get bored and overworked. The training program should be able to inspire to implement more modern necessity of the industry, give them a chance to explore deeper, and inspire them to stick with the tried-and-true methods that they have been using for a long time.

In addition to improving their competencies, training them enables to better understand what is expected of them by the business as employees and to maintain those standards. While instructors appreciate recognized trainings, they also want recognition for the effort they made to travel to and benefit from the training. These factors when kept in the spotlight; creates a state of affection among the institution and the employee which ultimately affects the commitment of the employee to the organization.

References:

1. Ayvaz-Tuncel, Z., & Çobanoğlu, F. (2018). In-service teacher training: problems of the teachers as learners. International Journal of Instruction.
2. Boroş, S. (2008). Organisational identification: Theoretical and empirical analyses of competing conceptualisations. Cognition, Brain, Behaviour, 12(1), 1-27.
3. Homans, G. C. (1958). Social behaviour as exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 63(6), 597-606.
4. Ibrahim, M., & Iqbal, M. (2015). Teachers’ perceptions of professional commitment (affective, continuance and normative commitment) to teaching profession. European Journal of Business and Management, 7(10), 64-80.
5. Mackenzie, C. P., & Nwafor, S. O. (2019). In-service training and job security as determinants of teachers’ job commitment in public senior secondary schools in Abia state. International Journal of Education and Evaluation, 5(7), 12-24.
6. Marescaux, E., De Winne, S., & Sels, L. (2013). HR practices and HRM outcomes: The role of basic need satisfaction. Personnel Review, 42(1), 4-27. doi: 10.1108/00483481311285 200.
7. Mugizi, W., Bakkabulindi, F. E., & Bisaso, R. (2015). Framework for the study of employee commitment. Makerere Journal of Higher Education, 7(2), 15-47.
8. Owoyemi, O. A., Oyelere, M., Elegbede, T., & Gbajumo-Sheriff, M. (2011). Enhancing employees’ commitment to organisation through training. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(7), 280-286.
9. Peretomode, V. F., & Bello, S. O. (2018). Analysis of teachers’ commitment and dimensions of organizational commitment in Edo state public secondary schools. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 8(3), 87-87.
10. Tajfel, H. (1978). Social categorisation, social identity, and social comparison. In H. Tajfel (Ed.). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 61-76). London, UK: Academic Press.
11. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1979). An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict. In S. Worchel, & W. Austin (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations. Monterey, CA, USA: Brooks/ Cole
12. Wilson, Mugizi. (2015). Framework for the Study of Employee Commitment. Makerere Journal of Higher Education. 7. 15 – 47. 10.4314/majohe.v7i2.2.
13. Yolcu, H., & Kartal, S. (2017). Evaluating of In-service Training Activities for Teachers in Turkey: A Critical Analysis. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 5(6), 918-926.
14. Imran, M. K., & Tanveer, A. (2018). Investigating the impact of employee training on employee commitment and turnover intentions in telecommunication sector. Journal of Business Management, 54(6), 235-252.
15. Jehanzeb, K., & Bashir, N. A. (2020). Employee development and turnover intentions: The role of organizational commitment. Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, 36(2), 101-114.
16. Xiao, M., & Cooke, F. L. (2021). Employee commitment through HRM training in China: A critical review. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(15), 3261-3281.
17. Ahmad, N., & Shahzad, K. (2019). Training and development impact on employee commitment and turnover intentions in the pharmaceutical industry.Journal of Managerial Sciences, 13(3), 45-61.
18. Mawdsley, J. K., & Somaya, D. (2020). Leveraging return on training investment: Impacts on employee commitment and retention. Academy of Management Journal, 63(4), 1165-1191.
19. Bello, B. O., & Zaman, M. D. (2020) The impact of training and development on organizational commitment in the Nigerian banking industry. Journal of Workplace Learning, 32(3), 186-203.
20. Lai, C., & Kapstad, J. (2021) How does job training influence employee commitment? Investigating the mediating role of perceived organizational support. Personnel Review, 50(5), 1403-1419.
21. Albdour, A. A., & Altarawneh, I. I. (2020).The relationship between organizational commitment and employees’ performance: The mediating role of job satisfaction. Management Research Review, 43(3), 519-541.