DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE

I hereby declare that this research is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other University. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without prior permission from the author and or Moi University.

………………………… ……………………..

Emily Veronica Kiboss Date

SHR/PGH/27/06

DECLARATION BY SUPERVISORS

This thesis has been submitted for examination with our approval as university Supervisors:-

……………………………… …………………………

Prof. Richard O. Musebe Date

School of Human Resource Development

Moi University

………………………….… ………………………

Dr Alice Kurgat Date

School of Human Resource Development

Moi University

This thesis is dedicated with deep love to my great friend and husband Prof Joel Kiboss and my wonderful children for without their love, prayers and support; this work would not have been achieved. Also, this work is dedicated to my sweet grandchildren Kimberly Nekesa and Aaron Tiren for bringing joy to us.

ii

I thank the Management and Staff of Telkom Kenya-North Rift Region for accepting to participate in this Study, for without them this work would not have been possible.

Telkom Kenya is a communications industry that has experienced great challenges due to unprecedented advancement of technology. The emergence of cellular and wireless telephones has made it to face great challenges to its traditional cable technology. Despite having enjoyed monopoly in the provision of telephone and telex services, it failed to recognize the advent of mobile phones and the wireless technology. Consequently, the huge losses could have made the parastatal suffer an impending privatization. This scenario might be related to the lack or inadequate training and development of its human resources. The study therefore sought to investigate the role that training plays in enhancing employees’ job performance to embrace and/or cope with new technologies during periods of change. The following four objectives guided the study; (1) to identify the role training plays in enhancing job performance, (2) to explore how training helps employees to grow within the organization in order to meet the future Human Resource needs from within, (3) to establish whether training is part of the measures adopted by the organization in order to improve employees ability to cope with challenges posed by new advances in technologies, and (4) to document ways by which training helps employees manage change by increasing their understanding of reasons for change. Similarly, the following null hypotheses were tested for significance at 0.05 level: (i) there are no measures adopted by Telkom Kenya to improve the employees’ ability to cope with the demands of new technologies, and (ii) there is no significant relationship between the measures used to improve the employees’ ability to cope with the demands of new technologies and adequate human resources adopted to meet Telkom’s expansion into new programmes. Data collected from respondents using Telkom Kenya Employees Questionnaire (TKEQ) were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of computer package Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and presented in percentages and Chi-square (X2). The findings of the study showed that several training measures were used by Telkom Kenya to improve the employees’ performance and ability to cope with new technologies. The study concludes that the employees felt that the forms of training seemed relevant in improving their performance of current duties but failed to prepare them to cope with new technological changes. In view of these findings, the study recommended that the organizations such as Telkom Kenya should prioritize employee training programmes tailored to prepare employees cope with new technological changes and put modern resources to benefit both the organization and its employees.

DECLARATION ii DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS ix CHAPTER ONE 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Overview 1 1.2 Background of the Study 1 1.3 Statement of the Problem 4 1.4 Purpose of the study 6 1.5 Objectives of the Study 6 1.6 Research Hypotheses 7 1.7 Significance of the Study 7 1.8 Assumptions of the Study 8 1.9 Limitations of the Study 8 1.10 Theoretical Framework 9 1.10.1 Theory of Human Resource Management 9 1.10.2 Theory of Change 9 CHAPTER TWO 12 LITERATURE REVIEW 12 2.1 Overview 12 2.2 Introduction of telecommunication services in Kenya 12 2.3 Telecommunication reform in Kenya 13 2.4 Development of telecommunications services in Kenya 14 2.5 Cellular and internet telecommunications 15 2.5.1 Growth of cellular services 18 2.5.2 Growth of internet services 18 2.6 Other upcoming communications technologies 19 2.6.1 Broadband services 19 2.7 Government policy 20 2.8 Training 22 2.9 Types of Training 25 2.10 Training needs in a changed market place 25 2.11 Training needs analysis (TNA) 26 2.12 Training Objectives 29 2.13 Training Policy of the Organization 29 2.14 Summary 30 CHAPTER THREE 33 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 33 3.1 Overview 33 3.2Description of study area 33 3.3 Research Design 33 3.3 Target population 34 3.4 Sampling and Sampling Technique 34 3.6 Data Collection 35 3.7 Data Analysis Procedure 37 CHAPTER FOUR 38 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 38 4.1 Overview 38 4.2 Demographic Data 38 4.2.1 Distribution of respondents by gender 39 4.2.2 Distribution of respondents by age 40 4.2.3 Distribution of respondents by marital status 42 4.2.4 Distribution of employees’ attachment to department 43 4.2.5 Job title distribution of respondents 44 4.2.6 Distribution of professional qualification of respondents 46 4.2.7 Distribution of respondents by work experience 48 4.2.8 Number of years in current grade or job group held by respondents 50 4.3 The role of training as a measure for organizational growth and enhancement of job performance in the organization 52 4.3.1 Forms of job training given to employees 53 4.3.2 Attendance of job trainings offered by the organisation 56 4.3.3 Sponsorship of the job trainings given to respondents 57 4.3.4 Reasons for not being given the job training to some respondents 59 4.4 Role of training in helping employees grow in the organization and meet future work demands 61 4.4.1 Relevance of training to current duties 61 4.4.2 Adequacy of the job trainings for employees’ growth in the organization 63 4.5 The role training plays in enhancing job performance and ability to embrace and cope with emergent new technology changes 65 4.5.1 Job training priority areas given during training 65 4.5.2 Areas improved by job trainings offered to employees 68 4.5.4 Job performance ratings prior to job training programs 69 4.5.5 Job performance ratings after job training programs 71 4.6 Discussions 73 4.6.1 Nature of Telkom North Rift employees in terms of gender, age, education and work status 74 4.7 Training as a measure for organizational growth and enhancement of job performance in the organisation 76 CHAPTER FIVE 80 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 80 5.1 Overview 80 5.2 Summary of the findings 80 5.3 Conclusions 82 5.4 Implications and Recommendations for the study 84 5.5 Recommendations for further study 85 REFERENCES 86 APPENDIX 1: LETTER TO THE RESPONDENT…………………………………88 APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TELKOM KENYA EMPLOYEES 89

Training: Formal and systematic modification of behaviour through learning which occurs as a result of education, instruction, development and planned experience. It is a process whereby people acquire capabilities to aid in the achievement of organizational goals.

Performance: The level of outcome of employees’ effort as reflected in their work output.

Change: The alteration of status quo, it is changing ways of doing things.

Technological change: It is a kind of change that factors in the impact of technology – where the organization is affected by new technology.

Information and Communication Technology: refers to technologies that are used for accessing, gathering, manipulating, interpreting and presenting or communicating information.

Development: The process of facilitating learning that tends to be oriented towards broadening individual’s skills for future responsibilities.

This section gives a presentation of the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the purpose and hypotheses, the significance, assumptions and limitations and finally the theoretical framework on which the study is based.

Training and development programs are necessary in any organization for improving the quality of work of the employees at all levels. Particularly in a world of fast changing technology, changing values, globalization, and competitive operating environment. There is also the recognition that the human resource is valuable and must be developed if the organization is to hold onto staff and retain their commitment whilst at work. As Keep (1992) points out, training and development of employees is not an option but it is an intrinsic part of the practice of Human Resource Management and is an investment in people. According to Armstrong (2003) training is the formal and systematic modification of behaviour through learning, which occurs as a result of education, instruction, and development and planned experience. Therefore training may be viewed as a planned process to modify attitudes, knowledge or skills, and behaviour through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop manpower needs of the organization.

Training and development programs in any organization cannot be over-emphasized. It plays an important role in improving the performance of existing employees. Training programs help the organization in building future manpower requirements of managers, supervisors and high-grade professionals, technical, sales or production staff from within the organization. Training programs when properly implemented assist the organization to render better services to their stakeholders thus reducing or eliminating waste especially on scarce resources. In the world of fast changing technology, changing values and globalization, training programs are necessary to safeguard staff from obsolescence. Organizations in the 21st century, if they have to remain competitive and relevant to their customers’ needs, must value their human asset. This would require high investment in this vital resource by developing a positive attitude towards training programs, fostering and cultivating a learning culture among the work force (Schein, 1992). Although training and development cannot be seen as a panacea to all organization’s problems its role to ensure a multi-skilled, highly motivated workforce that is greatly empowered and productive cannot be underestimated.

But with the current changing economic set-up and fierce competition, in which companies rely on the strategy of beating their rivals with new products, new designs, and new methods of selling; teamwork and streamlined production techniques by their employees, requires that companies train their workers to develop a mindset and culture for quality without which the whole effort will fail (Cole, 1987). Therefore companies that choose to compete on the strength of their innovation will have to train their employees on creativity and lateral thinking. Moreover, companies trying to cut costs will be compelled to train their employees in problem solving techniques (Pattanayak, 2003).

In the communications industry globally, there has been unprecedented advancement of technology. For instance, the emergence of cellular and wireless telephones which have since posed great challenges to traditional cable technology, Telkom Kenya has born the brunt of these changes. Since Telkom Kenya had enjoyed monopoly in the provision of telephone and telex services in the country, it may not have envisaged the advent of mobile phones and the wireless technology which cannot compete with traditional cable technology. Thus, this loss making parastatal was faced with impending privatization that could have been avoided by engaging the knowledge and skills personnel equipped with adequate training and development to stand up to the challenge.

There is a clear evidence in the literature indicating that human resource development (HRD) should be based on faith in the inherent potential of every human, which can be manifested by giving management direction and orientation. Further, human resource is an unpredictable resource which has unlimited potential because HRD process cannot maximize the use of its human resource unless their competences are optimized by improving such competences to meet future and utilizing unemployed resources (Amstrong, 2003; Pattanayak, 2003).

Moreover, training and development efforts are required for the following issues:

a) The rapid rate of technological and social change in society that necessitates the training of human resource to cope with new developments;

b) The introduction of automation, intense market competition from changed technological advances in the marketplace leading to training needs of the available human resource;

c) The increased size and complexity of most organizations that require well trained human resource to cope with emergent challenges of new technologies;

d) The old human resource need retraining to enable them bridge the gap between existing performance ability and to keep abreast of changing methods, techniques and use of sophisticated and/or more advanced tools and equipments that require new performance.

However, considering the issues outlined above, the role of training in addressing employees’ performance and ability to cope with the challenges of technological changes in the marketplace is critical (Pattanayak, 2003; Schein, 1995). As such, the central feature of the role of training adopted by Telkom Kenya North Rift region to address job complexities caused by ever-changing market with stiff competitiveness due to new products for telecommunication services in Kenya was investigated by the present study on the basis of Cole’s (1996) assertion that complex jobs will make demands not only in terms of a specialist knowledge but also a real understanding of the basic principles or underlying concepts of their job performance or the work involved. For this reason, the present study was construed in terms of the perceived role of training in preparing and equipping the employees by enhancing their job performance and ability to cope with technological changes and telecommunication service challenges in the marketplace by considering whether or not training was part of the measures used by Telkom Kenya in this regard.

Telkom Kenya despite it being a monopoly in telecommunication services both locally and internationally in voice and data connectivity has been experiencing massive decline in performance due to loss of its clientele since the advent of mobile phones. For instance, fixed line subscribers fell from 313,500 in July 2000 to 181,700 in July 2005 in spite of the fact that the tariff charges were relatively lower than that of mobile phone companies. Telkom Kenya is currently facing very stiff competition from a number of mobile phone companies such as Safaricom, Airtel and Yu which are steadily registering rapid growth in customer base. Recently, Safaricom registered 16.2 million, Airtel 2.8 million and Yu 1.5 million compared to Telkom Kenya’s 500,000 fixed line subscribers. This is a scenario in which Telkom Kenya due to making losses of business to its competitors, it was forced to lay off 6,000 employees out of 8,000 within two years starting from July 2008. (Government of Kenya Economic Survey 2010)

Perhaps the loss of business would have been avoided had Telkom Kenya not relied only on its monopoly of voice and data communications at the expense of making or adapting to the change wave in telecommunications business. The literature shows change management focuses on people, and is about ensuring change is thoroughly, smoothly and lastingly implemented. To know what that means exactly in a situation, one must dig down further into the specific change management objectives. In order to adapt and cope with changes that emerge as a result of new technology an organization requires a well trained human resource capable to cope with the demands of change. The question that arises is: how does Telkom Kenya make use of training of its employees to prepare them on change management and to cope with changes in telecommunication industry? What measures were taken by Telkom Kenya North Rift region take to prepare their employees to cope with the demands of change and the competitiveness in the market?

This study therefore sought to find out the role of training in enhancing Telkom’s employees’ job performance and their ability to cope and embrace change in the face of technological changes and market competition. The factors studied include training of employees working in Sales, Marketing, Accounting, and customer care departments on the use of new technology.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role which training plays in enhancing job performance during periods of change.

The main objective of the study was to ascertain the role of training for enhancing employees’ job performance and how to cope with emergent change. The study was based on the following specific objectives:

To establish whether training is part of the measures adopted by Telkom Kenya North Rift region to improve employees’ ability to cope with challenges posed by new advances in technologies.

To find out whether Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees considers training to have helped them to grow within the organization in order to meet the future Human Resource needs from within.

To determine whether Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees find the forms of training to be relevant and adequate to prepare and equip them to perform their current duties effectively.

The following five null hypotheses were tested by the study:

Ho1 Training of employees is not part of the measures adopted by Telkom Kenya North Rift region to improve their performance and ability to cope with the demands of new technologies.

Ho3 There is no significant relationship between training of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees and their growth within the organization to meet the future Human Resource (HR) from within.

Ho4 Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees do not find the forms of training to be relevant and adequate to prepare and equip them to effectively perform their current duties.

The findings and recommendations of the study will be useful in the development of theory and practice of organizational training and human resource management in Kenya. Those in the list of beneficiaries may include Human Resource Managers, the government, Non Governmental Organizations, policy makers, and the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Development in general. Furthermore the findings will document the challenges that organizations face in meeting training needs of their employees in order to meet skill shortages within the company. Moreover, the findings will increase the stock of existing knowledge and hence may become useful reading material for all in the area of Human Resource Development while the study recommendations will include areas for further research, which may provide useful inputs to other researchers.

An assumption is any important fact presumed to be true but not actually verified. Thus this study was based on the following assumptions:

All the important variables would be controlled and included in the research design (questionnaire) and that they would fulfill the requirements for coping with organizational change.

All telecommunication organizations have measures to cope with technological changes and that job training would largely determine the ability of employees’ performance in the face of change.

The respondents would give true and honest information and be objective as much as possible in responding to questions posed to them in the questionnaires.

It was projected that certain factors would limit the extent of the study and they included:-

The time for study was too short to allow the researcher do extensive research that covers all the areas of study in the North Rift Region.

The researcher encountered financial constraints such that covering the entire North Rift Region was not possible at the time. Hence, the findings of the study is only limited to Telkom Kenya, Eldoret office.

The study investigated the role of employee training in enhancing job performance during the periods of technological and organizational change. The study was based on two theories namely; (i) Human Resource Management theory as outlined by Decenzo and Robins (2000) and (ii) Lewin’s (1957 in Schein, 1995) Force Field Theory of Change.

As stipulated by Decenco and Robins (1989), this theory states that the development of skills, attitudes and knowledge of employees in an organization through training and development results in increased performance and achievement of other objectives of the organization. This therefore is a strong argument for forward looking organizations to train their employees not only to improve performance but to also build their capacities so that the organization can meet most, if not all, its future skill requirements.

According to Nutt (1986) there are three basic types of change in an organization:

Administrative Change-this is change that occurs and determines how an organization is administered.

Technological change- this is a kind of change that factors in the impact of technology-where organization is affected by new technology.

Adaptive change-adaptive change involves implementation of change in the same organizational unit, or initiation of a similar change in a different unit or department.

Telkom Kenya experienced a technological change that required adaptive change in order for it to survive the information age challenges. The role of training in a changed marketplace cannot be underestimated. Moreover, it is not gainsaying to say that training of employees is critical if employees are to survive in an environment faced with changed technological and economic setup of fierce competition and the need to beat the rivals with new products, new designs, new methods of selling techniques etc. Therefore organizations like Telkom Kenya needed to have streamlined their production techniques to respond well to the emergent technological changes in the marketplace (Pattanayak, 2003).

According to Schein (1995) Kurt Lewin’s change theory has major steps of managing organizational change stipulated as follows:

a) Unfreezing stage

Once the need for change has been established, the employees have to be prepared to be able to embrace and cope with the change. They are shown the present state of affairs and the desired end. They are also sensitized on the new methods of doing things.

b) Change implementation stage

This is where the change is implemented within the organization. At this stage the actual introduction of change takes effect. If the change is properly managed employees will begin to move away from status quo to the new desired way of behavior and action.

c) Refreezing/Institutionalization

This final stage is where change is consolidated and institutionalized to ensure that it gets entrenched in the system. It is necessary at this stage to make sure that the new behaviour and actions are rewarded as part of the cementing process. If the employees are not given incentives to maintain the desired behaviour, they tend to lapse back to their old ineffective methods.

According to Force Field theory and Human Resource Management theory, the changes that have faced Telkom Kenya are unavoidable and to enhance performance of employees, the mechanism to tackle the said changes is usually through training of employees. For it is through training of employees that an organization will be able to maintain or achieve higher levels of performance and advancement. Regular and continuous training gives employees opportunity for growth and productivity within the organization.

While this is the situation, little is known whether Telkom Kenya engages training to improve employees’ performance and especially the kind of training that would help them cope with emergent technological changes. The organization was forced to retire a large portion of its employees because of the stiff competition that made it to incur great losses because of the change of customer base. Most customers abandoned the use of landline telephone for mobile phones rendering Telkom Kenya despite enjoying the monopoly to lose not only customer base but lots of money due to such an exodus. It could be true that Telkom Kenya gave training to their employees but there is no data to indicate the impact of such training to enhance the performance of the employees nor did it help them to cope with such technological changes. Nevertheless, this study is therefore an effort to fill the knowledge gap.

This chapter presents a review of the literature that focuses on the role of training as a means to improve employees’ performance and their ability to cope with emerging technological and organizational changes. In this chapter the study attempts to present a brief history of telecommunication services in Kenya and how it has changed over the years. It will also show the link between training and performance during the periods of organizational change. The concept of change; its processes, employee’s commitment and types of change are also explored. It involves the systematic identification, and analysis of documents containing information that is related to the research problem being investigated Mugenda and Mugenda (1999:29)

The introduction of telecommunication services in Kenya was until 1977 managed as part of a regional network with neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda. Butin 1977, the East African Community under which the regional telecommunications services operated collapsed and as a result, the Government of Kenya established Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KP&TC) to run the services (Communication Commission of Kenya, 2003).

From 1969 to 1991 the government of Kenya owned most institutions including KPTC which due to poor patronage were largely unprofitable and depended on government funding for their operations. Moreover, the majority of people who headed these institutions and parastatals were political appointees who owed their allegiance to government in power and paid little attention to profitability through sound business principles. Consequently, consumer views and input had no relevance in the running of KPTC and numerous calls for improved services were falling on deaf ears (Kariuki, G,2009).

A telecommunications policy statement was issued in 1997 that set out the government vision on telecommunications development to the year 2015. The challenge at that time was to transform the existing policy structure from one designed for a monopoly to a policy of managing a liberalised telecommunication market. The government then separated the functions and management of the sector. Although this clarified roles for the policy, the regulatory and operational responsibilities were still vested in the government and specifically the Ministry of Transport and Communications which retained policy guidance. It was only in 1998/99 that the government launched some telecommunications sector reform which allowed competition in certain market segments and brought about the disbandment of KP&TC. The reform had three major components namely; (i) separation of roles in sector management – policy regulation, (ii) creation of a multiple operator environment – liberalization, and (iii) reduction and eventually elimination of government operational role in the telecommunications sector – privatization (Export Processing Zone Authority [EPZA], 2005).

Consequently, KP&TC was split into three legal entities, namely; (a) Telkom Kenya Limited (TKL), (b) Postal Corporation of Kenya (POSTA) and (c) the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK). The Postal Corporation of Kenya (POSTA), which was established by the Postal Corporation of Kenya Act, 1998 became the public postal licensee with the specific role to ensure universal access of postal services. Telkom Kenya Limited was established as a public telecommunications operator under the Companies Act. Consequently, Telkom Kenya was issued with licenses in all areas of voice and data connectivity. Because it had universal access service requirements in its license, it was obliged to provide interconnection facilities to other duly licensed operators. The Communications Commission of Kenya became the regulatory body for the sector established under the Kenya Communication Act 1998 (EPZA, 2005).

Since the launch of the telecommunication sector reform, Kenya has made great strides in the expansion of telecommunications services and the government has since implemented policy reforms that have resulted in a number of structural changes. (Kariuki, 2009) The main structural changes are – redefinition and clarification of roles for policymaking, market regulation, dispute resolution and operation of services among multiple players. In the operation of services, multiple operators are competing in various market segments based on a policy of the private sector operating in a competitive environment that also safeguards consumer interest. Telkom Kenya remained the only fixed national operator and has licensed Orange as a second national operator.(Research ICT Africa,2007) However, the Government has liberalized the mobile cellular market and currently there are several mobile cellular operators, Safaricom Ltd, Airtel (formerly Celtel International and Kencell Communications Ltd) Yu Communications and Orange.

Telkom Kenya Ltd has had a monopoly of basic infrastructure for landline services, international services, as well as Internet backbone until mid 2004. Under the monopoly framework it was expected that it would attract an investor to inject new capital for expansion; in turn the investor would take advantage of the monopoly and use the resources to expand and take services to the rural areas. Despite having no competition, Telkom Kenya’s key indicators of fixed line growth registered a net growth of only 3.5% per year. This was due to the low customer base and lack of change in tele-density that has remained below 1% over the past few years. This has affected all other market segments– cellular and Internet that had relied on Telkom Kenya infrastructure as part of the licensing conditions. As a result, the government took a decision in line with the policy framework to license a second national operator and consequently open up the market for full competition and other market segments experienced high growth. For instance, the licensing of cellular operators Safaricom Ltd and Airtel (formerly Celtel International and Kencell Communications Ltd), both recorded very high growth rates of 27.8% per year since1999. The cellular tele-density rose from one in 1999 to 9.75% in 2004. ( the East African,2007 & Wamburi, 2009).

Competition in cellular telecommunication began in the year 2000 when a second mobile operator was launched. Since then, the combined connections for the two cellular operators have increased from 15,000 in 1999 to 2.8 million by 2004. This represents a simple average growth rate of 27.8% per year which is much higher than the 3.5% of the fixed line operator. This then confirms the idea of change in consumer taste from fixed lines to cellular telecommunication. It has grown and quickly overtook fixed lines that currently comprise only a small market segment.

Prior to liberalization of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) in 1991 the then Kenya Posts& Telecommunications Corporation (KP&TC) was the only source. The customer experienced frequent shortages of the required telephone instruments and PABXs due to lack of stocking inadequate quantities. This was compounded by the limited variety of the stock since there was only one manufacturer which was engaged to supply. However, this problem has been overcome by the liberalization of equipment suppliers has not increased in variety and sophistication and as such, consumers can now access a wide variety of CPE with very advanced features both for fixed and mobile services. Also, the prices have been drastically reduced.(Waburi,2009)

Since the advent of telecommunication sector reform, the price of certain services has come down due to competition in certain market segments. This has made the services more affordable to the general consumer. In particular, the prices have come down on cellular and Internet services due to competition. For instance cellular operators have made efforts to expand the customer base by reaching out to poorer members of the society who use the phone less. Although this may have been discouraging in that the expansion of the network meant increased investment in network expansion nets users with lower revenue generation, the operators did not appear dissuaded.

Although TKL was the monopoly provider of leased lines for a long time, this has changed since the licensing of data operators in 2003 which has changed the availability services. Availability as a parameter describes growth in quantity of lines and services and bandwidth available to the consumers for business or personal use. It seeks to express the efforts and results of operators to supply ‘adequate’ services to the consumers (Kimari,2010:Kenya Communication Tecnologies(ICT) Boar,2009)

In the Internet sector, the market is fully liberalised but growth has been constrained by poor underlying infrastructure. The basic infrastructure to access Internet has been controlled under a monopoly basis by Telkom Kenya Ltd. But with the licensing of second national operator- Econet, the competition has improved such that the environment for ISPs are now providing better services. Some of the positive factors currently affecting the telecommunications sector include:

• Telkom Kenya installation of digital fiber-optic trunk lines that is connecting major market centers like Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Eldoret.

• Kenya’s plan to be part of the Africa has seen the one fiber-optic digital network laid to connect countries around the continent.

• The Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) which is now available from licensed ISPs operating in the country.

• Telkom has introduced an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) service.

• Value-added services such as VSAT, packet switching and leased lines which has been under the monopoly of Telkom Kenya has now allowed corporate clients VSAT licenses for intra-company traffic only (Kariuki, E.M.2010)

A notable feature in the Kenya market since sector reform in 1999 is the first expansion and uptake of cellular services. Cellular has since grown from under 15,000 customers in 1999 to over 2.8 million in 2004. This growth is remarkable and far exceeds the operators’ projections. Indeed the country was highly underestimated on its capacity to support cellular services. This fast growth has occasionally caused congestion, a factor that irritated customers and calls for the attention of the regulator. This fast growth against a stagnant economy is to mop up latent demand not served during the monopoly era (EPZA,2005:9)

Telkom Kenya the leader in fixed line subscribers has fallen in subscriber base from 313,500 in July 2000 to 181,700 inn July 2005 in spite of charging relatively low tariff charges than that of mobile phone companies. So Telkom Kenya is facing very stiff competition from mobile phone companies such as Safaricom, Airtel and Yu which are currently registering rapid growth in customer base. For instance by April 2011, Safaricom registered 16.2 million, Airtel 2.08million and Yu 1.5 million mobile phone subscribers while Telkom Kenya registered only 500,000 fixed line subscribers (EPZA,2005:11-11).

Internet growth was very rapid with the fast growth of ISPs, user base, and the cyber cafés. The estimated customer base rose to 1 million users through cyber cafés or office LAN networks. A great challenge is the cost of bandwidth, its quality and a competitive access to the local loop. Licensing of data operators will also provide much needed competitive supply of the local loop options.

Business applications and data services were areas the telecommunication reform failed to address. By offering exclusivities to TKL in key market segments, access to wide band services was limited. This is now changing since 2002 with the new re-classification of market segmentation by the CCK. This will bring a refreshing opportunity for business and manufacturers to access broadband services (EPZA,2005:20-21).

New applications call for new technologies to serve changing customer needs. Consequently, operators are introducing new technologies to serve these needs. The technologies include XDSL, fixed wireless and fibre access etc (DANIDA,2006).

The introduction of broadband technologies has made it possible to increase the data speeds required by corporate customers from 19.2 Kbits/sec on analogue circuits to over100 M Bits/sec. The liberalization of the telecommunication sector has encouraged the private sector to invest in the provision of broadband services. Three technologies are in use to provide broadband.

ADSL - XDSL (digital subscriber lines) technology that is being used to convert the analogue copper pair into a digital line capable of carrying up to 8 Mbits/sec. The XDSL family can be either ADSL or HDSL. Both types are in use to connect customers to their ISPs and TKL data networks to access internet or transmission of corporate data;

Fixed wireless access - Wireless broadband service introduced by data operators is now in the market. This technology is used for both data and voice and this is becoming popular with the corporate customers;

Fibre – At present only TKL has a fibre optic installation. The fibre optic installation provides junction circuits between digital exchanges replacing the old copper pair junction routes. Demand for broadband services is increasing and the TKL plans to install fibre optical cable network to customers countrywide. However, this has not been realised due to funding gaps. TKL has installed fibre in Nairobi and Mombasa where some exchanges are connected on a ring network. Plans are underway to connect more exchanges in Nairobi and some commercial high-rise buildings in parts of Nairobi;

Submarine cables – Submarine cables reduced reliance on satellite connectivity and offer high transiting charges to operators in Europe and America. Kenya is exclusively reliant on satellite connectivity for international connectivity and realise that it will increasingly be constrained on bandwidth access. Consequently, Kenya is working with neighbouring countries to build a submarine cable. This cable when implemented will link to South Africa and Djibouti with a landing at the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.

A recent survey shows that the Government of Kenya has embarked on a series of initiatives to revitalise and transform the economy into a modern market-oriented one (Communications Commission of Kenya,2003). The aim is to improve the economic well being of Kenyans by establishing Kenya, in the medium term, as the centre of industrial and financial activities in the region (Export Processing Zone Authority [EPZA], 2005). The sector policies aim to define the framework within which telecommunications and postal services will be provided. The overall Government objective for the sector is to optimise its contribution to the development of the Kenyan economy as a whole by ensuring the availability of efficient, reliable and affordable communication services throughout the country. In view of the anticipated growth of the economy and re-assessed demand, the government has set the national telecommunications targets as follows:

1. Improve the tele-density in rural areas from the current 0.16 lines to 5 lines per 100inhabitants by the year 2015;

2. Improve the tele-density in urban areas from the current 4 lines to 20 lines per 100inhabitants by the year 2015;

3. To increase the number of mobile subscribers from 2.8 million to 10 million by the year 2015;

4. Expand the current international internet bandwidth from the current 35 Mbps to 1Gbps by the year 2015;

5. Ensure that all secondary schools and tertiary institutions have internet access by the year 2007;

6. Encourage Internet Service Providers to establish Internet access nodes at all districts and local exchange areas (CCK,2003:3-4).

These targets translate to installation of 1.5 million fixed lines in rural areas and 2.4 million fixed lines in urban areas respectively. At an estimated average cost of about US $ 1,500per line, the total investment over the 15-year period will amount to about US$5.85 billion. This means that, on average, the annual requirements will be about US$390 million. This is an enormous investment requirement that calls for new initiatives to attract capital into the sector. It is in this context that the restructuring of Telkom Kenya Limited and a step-by-step liberalization of the sector is being undertaken particularly with a view to attracting capital from the private sector.

To exploit telecommunications for development, it was necessary that cheap and reliable telecommunications are made available. The government therefore reviewed its policies in order to address the application of telecommunications as part of the information and communications technologies (ICT) strategies. In the year 2001, Telecommunications and Postal Sector Policy Guidelines was gazetted which recognised the role of telecommunications in ICT. Following from these policy guidelines, the government developed a draft national ICT strategy sought to mainstream and optimise the use of ICT in all national development activities (Msimang,2011).

From the definition training is the process whereby people acquire capabilities to aid in the achievement of organizational goals. Training may also be considered as planned programme designed to improve performance and to bring about measurable changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes and social behaviour of employees for doing a particular job (Pattanayak, 2003). Training has an additional purpose of facilitating change. Training is basically the learning experience that brings permanent change in an individual. Armstrong (2001) insinuates that to be able to understand what training techniques can do to improve employee job performance, it is essential to know what learning is and how learning principles should be used in structuring effective training process.

Learning, according to Decenzo (1989), is defined as a conscious acquisition of knowledge of a desired skill. It is a continuous process that brings about change of a relatively permanent kind, thereby improving employees’ ability to perform on the job. Learning is the modification of behaviour in the light of past experience that is a continuous process to keep the employees competent and good performers. Further, Decenzo (1989) proceeded to discuss the principles of learning by highlighting the following process:

Initial Motivation or readiness-the initial urge drives the individual to learn. Hence a need, a wish, or an ambition is required to motivate the individual to learn. Though learning has to be done by the learner the initial motivation needs to be created by the organization.

Multiple Response-Learning may take place either in a single trial or through multiple trials. The basic objective of the training is to reduce the trial-and-error period and to help the learner to master skills quickly and effectively.

Selection of Responses through reinforcement- the right response reinforces thereby increasing the chances of their subsequent selection and reflection whereas the un- reinforced response drops out. This is the law of effect.

Law of exercise in habit formation- once the correct sequence of acts has been established as a result of reinforcement, the skills can be learnt through repetition or exercise.

Constant training of employees is essential if organizations wish to be successful. Learning must be treated as an essential part of the operations, granted that change is inevitable. New skills and competencies must be natured. Cole (1987) argues that training of employees should be carried out from time to time. Practice increases a learner’s performance. When learners practice what they have read, heard or seen, they gain confidence and are less likely to make errors or forget what they have learned.

These recommendations will be a guide to the Human Resource Manager in designing, implementing, and operating employee training and development programmes. Moreover, training of employees is important due to its benefits to both the organization and the employee. Armstrong (2003:110-111) outlines the benefits of training as:

Minimizing learning costs

Improving individual, team corporate performance in terms of output, quality, speed and overall productivity.

Improving operational flexibility by extending the range of skills possessed by employees (multi skilling).

Attracting high quality employees by offering them learning opportunities, increasing level of competence and enhancing their skills, which in turn translate to, enhanced job performance.

Helping to manage change by increasing understanding of the reasons for change and providing people with the knowledge and skills they need to adjust to new situations.

Developing a positive culture in the organization, for one that is orientated towards performance improvement.

Providing higher levels of service to customers.

There are two broad types of training available namely on-the-job training and off-the-job training techniques.

On-the-job training: This is delivered to employees while they perform their regular jobs. In this way they do not lose time while they are learning. On-the-job techniques include orientations, job rotation, coaching, apprenticeship, internship and job instruction training.

Off-the job training: This type of training is imparted off-the-job or outside the work premises. These include classroom activities like lectures, special study, films, television conferences, case studies, role-playing, simulation, programmed instruction and laboratory training (Armstrong,2003)

In light of the current changed technological and economic set-up with fierce competition, the companies relying on their strategy of beating rivals with new products, new designs, and new methods of selling, will now have to teach team work and streamlined production techniques to their employees Pattanayak (2003).

Prominent on the training agenda of any winning organization must be retraining, which will involve unlearning old concepts and acquiring new skills, skills for workers and managers whose experience has been restricted to non-competitive, and low technology era.

Training needs analysis according to Armstrong (1989) is the defining of the gap between what is happening and what should happen. The deficit between what people know and can do and what they should know and be able to do. When there is a mismatch between what is required and what is available, then a training need has been identified.

The training needs analysis as illustrated by Armstrong (1989) is depicted in the model below;

Performance and development reviews Job and role analysis Training surveys Analysis of human resource plans Analysis strategic plans

Training needs should be analyzed, for the organization as a whole, the group and for individual employee needs. The three areas are linked in that the sum of group and individual needs will help define organizational needs. Turrell (1980) sees three sources of training needs in an organization as:

Those caused by changes in technology, markets legislation and manpower composition.

Those derived from work problems, such as manpower utilization, machine utilization, dispute, safety and quality.

Those arising from manpower wastage associated with poor recruitment, induction and training.

Cole (1987) further explains that training needs analysis can be done using four methods, analysis of business and human resource plans, job analysis, analysis of performance reviews and training survey.

The diagram shown above shows that a systematic approach to training and development will generally follow a logical sequence of activities commencing with establishment of a policy and the resources to facilitate it, next to it is the assessment of training needs, for which necessary training is provided and finally devising of an evaluation and feedback form. This type of systematic training has several benefits which include:

The provision of a pool of skilled manpower for the organization,

The improvement of existing skills,

An increase in the knowledge and experience of employees,

Improvements in job performance with resulting improvement in productivity overall,

Improved service to customers,

Greater commitment of staff (i.e., increased motivation),

Increased value of individual employees’ knowledge and skills,

Personal growth opportunities for employees.

Training objectives specify what the trainee should be able to accomplish after successfully completing the training program. Objectives develop goals or aims by adding a more precise or measurable element, thus provide focus for the efforts of both the trainee and the trainer and benchmark for evaluating the success of the training program.

Cole (1987) states that the main objective of employee training is to improve current performance and to provide adequately trained staff to meet future organizational needs. In other words, training objectives should not be seen as ends in themselves, but rather as guides to practice or as yardsticks of performance. They should be seen as the criteria behavior or the standard of behaviour on the job to be achieved if training is to be regarded as successful.

Training policy is an expression of the training philosophy of the organization. It provides guidelines on the amount of training that should be given, the proportion of funds that should be allocated to training, the scope aims of training schemes, and the responsibility for training.

According to Gongera (2002) effective training philosophy should be performance related and not training for the sake of it. Training should be relevant and able to satisfy identified and appropriate training needs. Performance related training is necessary following the introduction of a new product, a process or system.

Companies with positive training philosophy understand that they live in a world where competitive advantage is achieved by having higher-quality people than other firms employ, and that this need will not be satisfied unless they invest in developing the skills and competence of their people. They also recognize that actual or potential skills shortages can threaten their future prosperity and growth.

Several reviews on various aspects of employee training and theories of change and what they imply for organizations have been undertaken in this section. But because research into the role of training in such organizations as Telkom Kenya are sparse, an attempt has been made in this review to see what suggestions and experiences can be borrowed from other similar situations.

The literature has also revealed that there have been minimal research done in the studies which have investigated the role of training in enhancing the performance of employees and their ability to cope with emergent technological changes. The literature has also shown that telecommunication companies such as Telkom Kenya has had to lay off its employees because it could not cope with the stiff competition that emanated from a change in technological and economic set up of information age. Telkom Kenya due to its monopoly of voice and data ignored the force of a fast changing world of technology, changing values and globalization and suffered great losses. This state of affairs kept Telkom Kenya employees at a disadvantage because the emergence of cellular and wireless telephones eventually cost them their jobs. It also posed great challenges to their lack of knowledge or training in new technology and hence made Telkom Kenya’s traditional cable technology to bear the brunt of these changes. This is because new companies such as Safaricom, Airtel and Yu took advantage of the opportunity brought about by the new technology and soon overtook Telkom Kenya by controlling the marketplace of voice and data connectivity.

From the foregoing, it becomes clear that for organizations in the 21st century to remain competitive and relevant to their customers’ needs, they should value their human assets. As a matter of fact this would require a high investment in human resource by developing a positive attitude towards training programmes. Further, it would require fostering and cultivating a learning culture among the work force. Failure to pay attention to this, an organization is at the risk of making great loses and perhaps even closures resulting in the laying off of its employees as was the case in Telkom Kenya due to something that could have been avoided.

While most organizations especially in most developed countries have put emphasis on the development of their human resource, the same cannot be said about organizations that are situated in the developing ones. This is perhaps due to lack of information and in fact, the literature or studies documenting on how organizations in Africa and Kenya in particular train their employees to boost their job performance and help them cope with emergent technological changes needs more studies. Although training and development cannot be seen as a panacea to all organization’s problems, its contribution to ensuring a multi-skilled, highly motivated workforce greatly empowered and productive workforce cannot be underestimated. There is a need therefore to understand how organizations such as Telkom Kenya develop their human capital to respond to fast changing world of information technology through training. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative techniques.

Taken as a whole, the literature clearly indicates that there is a great need to fill some gaps on unpreparedness of companies that enjoy great monopoly because the current marketplace of new technology is fast changing and may be very costly not only for the company but for its employees. As such, understanding the role that training plays in enhancing employees’ job performance and in helping them cope with emerging technological changes in the market place (further discussed in the next chapter) has been conceptualized in the light of what has emerged from the review of the literature.

In recent years, great advances in telecommunication have been achieved. First, the development of internet and other multimedia technologies with ability to send information faster and with reduced considerable costs and the need for modernization that caused many companies to change the mode of information transmission of data from faxing to that of electronic mail (e-mail). Secondly, the coming of cellular and mobile phones that change the operation of voice connectivity from the traditional costly landline telephones to the now mobile phones that are not only portable but convenient and cheap to operate directly. The understanding of the role that training plays in keeping the employees on track in a world that is fast changing because of new technology cannot be underestimated. It is against this backdrop that the present study was carried out.

This chapter focuses on information about the study area, research design, target population, sampling and sample frame, data collection, data analysis procedure, and the validity and reliability of research instruments, and data presentation.

The study was conducted in Telkom Kenya, Eldoret. Telkom Kenya is the only telecommunication company in the country. The company is fully owned by the Government of Kenya. Telkom Kenya came into being in 1998 when parliament passed telecommunication act, which in effect broke up the then Kenya Posts & telecommunication into three entities, Telkom Kenya, Postal Corporation, and Communication Commission of Kenya. Telkom Kenya offers telecommunication services both local and international voice and data connectivity. It employs close to 8000 workers and has branches all over the country (EPZA, 2005). The study was carried out in Telkom Kenya, Eldoret Branch.

This study adopted descriptive survey research design to collect data from employees of Telkom Kenya, North Rift Region. The study sought answers on the challenges brought about by new technological changes in their operating environment. The researcher chose this design because of its unique features befitting this study. For instance Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) asserts that apart from just describing, descriptive survey design can be used for explaining or exploring the existing status of two or more variables under scrutiny. In this way this study was able to explore the implications of technological and organizational change (independent variable) and role of employee training on their performance (dependent variable) in Telkom Kenya. This research design was deemed relevant to the study because according to Mugenda and Mugenda (1999), a survey research is probably the best method available to social scientists and other educators who are interested in collecting original data for the purpose of describing a population that is too large to observe directly.

The target population for the study was all the 1,800 Telkom Kenya Employees working in North Rift region. The study population included those working in Customer Care, Marketing, Accounts, and Technical Departments.

The sample in this study consisted of 335 respondents from four Telkom Kenya North Rift region departments. Stratified random sampling was used to select the respondents. To ensure inclusion of the whole employees in respective departments, respondents were selected according to their job titles. Simple random sampling was used to select the Marketing officers, Accountants, Sales representatives, and Customer care representatives. Initially, 40 respondents were selected giving a total number of 360 participants that were administered the questionnaire. But in the actual study, only 335 participants returned the questionnaires duly filled and hence represented the final sample of the study.

Stratified random sampling procedure was used to select the respondents of the study. The criterion used for stratification was based on the departments and job titles of employees. The sample was taken from marketing department, accounting department, sales department and customer care department strata. The total number of respondents that participated in the study is represented by the matrix below.

Department	Number (N)
Sales Marketing Accountant Customer	86 81 84 84
Total	335

This matrix data included 8 regional marketing officers, 41 marketing officers and 32 assistant marketing officers in the marketing department strata, 84 accountants in the accounting department strata; 86 sales representatives in the sales department strata and 84 customer care representatives from the customer care department strata.

The data collection instrument used was a questionnaires administered to randomly selected employees working in Sales, Marketing, Accounting, and Customer care departments. The questionnaire was used because of the relative ease and cost effectiveness (in terms of time and money) with which it was constructed and administered. A questionnaire would also allow respondents enough time to think about answers for questions which require a lot of reflection. The questionnaire was divided into two sections:

Section 1 – This section sought employees’ general information that included the department they were attached, age, gender, professional qualification, and numbers of years they have served in Telkom Kenya.

Section 2 – This section sought respondents’ views on job training: if the training offered them by Telkom Kenya was relevant to their current duties, whether they were adequately trained, areas prioritized during the training, the effects of training on their performance and for those who had not been trained information was sought on why they had not been trained.

Prior to the administration of the research instrument, its validity and reliability was determined. The instrument was given to a group of five experts to vet on the suitability of the items to give the necessary data. This was done to assure the validity of the questionnaire instrument. The instrument was then tried on a group of 20 employees who did not participate in the actual study. The data collected was analysed using the Cronbach alpha formula. The instrument yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.77 which is considered acceptable for research purposes (Fraenkel&Wallen, 2000).

The data gathered from the questionnaire instrument were validated, edited, and then coded Mugenda and Mugenda (1999). Data from responses to questionnaire items were quantified. Finally data analysis was then performed using Chi-square, modes, and percentages based on SPSS computer packages. For instance; the Chi-square was used to determine whether there was any statistically significant relationship among the variables. Percentages were used to explain the standard proportions while the Modes were used to determine the items which attracted the most responses. As such, the analyzed descriptive data was presented using tables, charts and graphs accompanied by their relevant description and explanation. The inferential statistics were presented in form of Chi-square (X2) values which were determined at the 0.05 level of significance.

This chapter presents results of data collected from 335 respondents who are employees of Telkom Kenya North Rift Region. The study had targeted a sample population of 360 but only 335 questionnaires were returned duly filled. This represents a response rate of 93%, which is a strong signification that most of the respondents who received the questionnaire were highly cooperative. The data collected was coded and analysed using the SPSS and the results are presented in form of tables, bar graphs and pie chart. The frequencies, descriptive and chi-square(X2) statistics test was used to evaluate the variables under the study. The X2 a non-parametric inferential statistic was used to determine whether or not the sample proportion matched the theoretical values. A significant X2 test indicates that the data varied from the expected values, whereas a test that is not significant indicates that the data are consistent with the expected values. In this study, a significance compliance level of 0.05 was used to test the hypotheses posed.

The demographic data describing the respondents of the study were coded and analysed in terms of gender, age, marital status, departmental attachment, job title held, work experience, qualifications, years in current job group or grade. The results were very necessary to shade light into the status of the different employees working for Telkom Kenya, North Rift Region who participated in the study. The findings are discussed further in the sections that follow.

The data collected from the respondents required them to indicate their gender in terms of sex. This was undertaken in order to determine gender distribution of males and females working within Telkom Kenya North Rift Region. The results in Table 4.1 show that a majority of the employees (53.7%) were male as compared to (46.3%) females.

An analysis of the data above indicate that the gender distribution of employees working with the Telkom Kenya North Rift Region seems to be gender insensitive in that the male employees comprised of 53.7%, while the female were only 46.3%. The chi- square (X2) statistics test performed revealed that the gender of employees was not statistically significantly different (X2=1.866, p = 1.72>0.05). Therefore the hypothesis posed suggesting that nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region would not differ significantly in terms of their gender is not supported because the X2 value (1.866) is not statistically significantly different at the 0.05 level. It is interesting to note that this finding affirms the usual gender inequity that is common with most organisations in Kenya and other African countries because the male employees were proportionally more than their female counterparts (Marube& Ongoro, 2008).

The researcher found that the age of employees working with Telkom Kenya varied significantly as summarized in Table 4.2 and Figure 1 below.

As can be seen from the data presented above, a significant number of employees (65.1%) were between the ages of 31-40 years. There is an indication of a higher distribution of this age category of respondents in the various departments they are attached. This category of employees may be considered to be in the middle age bracket and at the prime of their careers and are thus able to be taken for training from time to time. The data further shows that those below 30 years comprised of 20%. This category are the newly hired employees who may have just graduated from colleges and have knowledge and skills that may enable them to cope with the changes in technology that may occur in the course of their duties. Such a young group may nonetheless benefit from the experience of on-the job training if placed under senior and more experienced employees to mentor them.

Another significant finding observed is that the category of employees falling between 41-49 years and above 50 years recorded a very low percentage of 13.7% and 1.2% respectively. This cadre of respondents comprises of fairly elderly employees who may have been with Telkom Kenya North Rift Region since its inception and have therefore seen the organization grow and go through many phases of change. While such older employees may be useful in teaching new employees through on-the job training, they are prone to resisting new changes which may be introduced because of being used to certain norms and familiar ways of operating.

Age > 50 years 41-49 years 31-40 years < 30 years Frequency 300 200 100 0

The chi- square statistics test performed (311.51) shows that the age distribution of employees was statistically significantly different from one employee to another in that the Chi-square value (X2=311.51, p = <0.000) is lower than the 0.05 significance level. Here, the hypothesis indicating that nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region would not differ significantly in terms of their age is therefore rejected.

The marital status of employees is critical if employees are to work harmoniously within the organization. Results of the questionnaires administered are summarized and represented in Table 4.3. The data indicate that a majority of the employees (64.5%) working with Telkom Kenya North Rift Region were married, while 35.5% were single parents. There is uneven representation of employees within Telkom Kenya North Rift Region and the organization seems to favour married persons than single persons. It may be also that most of the employees being young when they join the organization marry in the course of their employment.

Status	Frequency	Percent	Cum. Percent	X2 value	df	Assymp. Sig
Married Single Total	216 119 335	64.5 35.5 100.0	64.5 100.0	28.087	1	0.000

The chi- square statistics test calculated (28.09) shows that the marital status was statistically significantly different from one employee to another in that the Chi-square value (X2 =28.09, p = 0.000) is highly significant and far below the significance level. Therefore, the hypothesis suggesting that the nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region would not differ significantly in terms of their marital status is again rejected.

The employees selected for the study were from the various departments; Sales, Marketing, Accounting and Customer care departments. The results presented below in Fig. 2 portray employee representation in the departments they are attached. The resultsindicate that those in Marketing department comprised of 26%, Sales department 25.4%, Accounting 24.2%, and Customer care department 24.5%. The results shown below signify that the employee attachment to departments has an almost even distribution with negligible variation.

Customer care 24.5% Accounting 24-2% Sales 25.4% Marketing 26.0%

As can be seen, there was a fairly even distribution of respondents attached to various departments, a finding that is supported by the chi- square statistics test performed. It showed that the distribution of departmental employees involved in the study was not statistically significantly different because the Chi-square value (X2= 0.272, p = 0.965) observed is greater than 0.05 significance level. Here, the hypothesis saying that nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region would not differ significantly in terms of their departmental distribution was upheld. This is a strong indication that the departmental distribution of respondents was modestly even.

The data shown in Table 4.5 and Figure 3 below indicate a sharp contrast between the job titles held by respondents because their representations varies from one department to the other. As can be seen from the data, the Accounting, Sales and Customer care departments seem to have more job titles than the other departments. The job title of the various employees included in the study was significantly different in the following order; the regional marketing officer comprised of 2.4%, marketing officer 12.2%, customer care representative 25.1%, sales representative 25.7%, assistant marketing officer 9.6% and accountant 25.1%. In other words, there are 8 regional marketing officers, 41 marketing officers and 32 assistant marketing officers in the marketing department as compared to 84 customer care representatives in customer care department, 86 sales representatives in the sales department and 84 accountants in the accounting division. This finding does necessarily portray the usual or general hierarchal positioning of employees in terms of the nature of jobs and/or titles held but rather the representation of job titles of the respondents themselves.

The information gathered from the respondents came from employees holding varied job titles. Hence, the study was sufficiently inclusive in that it accommodated and/or collected data that represent the views of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees with regard to the role that training plays to prepare them cope with emergent technological changes.

Marketing officer 12.2% Assistant marketing officer 9.6% Accountant 25.1% Sales representative 25.7% Customer care representative 25.1% Regional marketing o fficer 2.4%

The chi-square statistics test performed (99.81) showed that the job titles distributions within department vary significantly from one department to another. The test indicated a chi-square value (X2 =99.81, p = 0.000) which is far below the significance level of 0.05. Despite this disparity, the findings indicate that the views collected in this study came from across all cadre of employees that work for Telkom Kenya North Rift region who are in one way or another affected by technological changes within the telecommunications services sector.

Part of the objective of this study was to determine the nature of professional and/or educational qualifications of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees. The data collected on the professional and/or educational qualifications of employees working with Telkom Kenya North Rift Region were analysed and compared. These data are summarized in Table 4.6 and Figure 4 and discussed further. The results indicated that a majority of employees (58.5%) had attained certificate level of education; while those with diploma level were 36.7% and 4.8% were degree graduate holders.

Professional qualification Degree Diploma Certificate Frequency 300 200 100 0

The Chi- square statistics test calculated (146.8) portrayed that the professional and/or educational qualifications of respondents differed significantly from one employee to another. Apparently, there was a significant deviation observed from the Chi-square value(X2 =146.8, p = 0.000) which is way below the 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the hypothesis suggesting that nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region do not differ significantly in terms of their professional and/or educational qualification is rejected. This is a strong implication that the majority of employees working for Telkom Kenya North Rift region are holders of certificate and diploma with a very small number of degree holders. In fact the findings indicate that more than half (58.5%) of the employees in Telkom are certificate holders as compared to only 36.7% and 4.8% who hold diploma and degree qualifications respectively. Given this position, the company could not have competed well with the new changes. The changes and challenges emerging from Information Technology require higher qualifications and skills that Telkom employees lack considering the level of training offered and qualifications (Pattanayak, 2003).

Information with regard to how long an employee has worked for Telkom Kenya North Rift Region was considered critical in this study. As such, one of the specific objectives was to determine the nature of work experience of Telkom Kenya North Rift Region employees. The results from the analysis of data found that the period of time that employees have worked for Telkom Kenya North Rift Region was varied. The data shown in Table 4.7 and Figure 5 below of the respondents interviewed during the study indicated that more than half of the employees (55.5%) said they had worked with the organization for between 5-10 years. This implies that in the departments studied; most of the employees were fairly new and are more receptive to training needs, a motivation factor which may enable the organization to retain their staff. The findings also showed that those who have worked for between 11 – 15 years were 17.6% as compared to 23.3% who have worked for more than 16 years.

Years worked for Telkom Kenya >16 years 11-15 years 5-10 years < 5 years Frequency 200 100 0

The Chi-square statistics test calculated (194.02) shows that the periods in which the employees have worked with Telkom Kenya were statistically significantly different as is evident from the Chi-square value found (X2(3) =194.02, p =0.000) which is far below the 0.05 critical level. Therefore, the hypothesis suggesting that nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region would not differ significantly in terms of their work experience was rejected. As already discussed above, the findings indicate that a high number (59.1%) of employees seem to only work in the company for 10 years or less and move elsewhere because a very high number (81.5%) of the employees fall within their prime working age bracket of 40 years or less and are not ready to retire yet but could take up training from time to time. However, the findings had earlier indicated that majority of Telkom employees are certificate holders. The literature indicates that the safeguarding of employees from obsolescence is highly dependent on regular training and highly qualified staff (Cole, 1987; Schein, 1992).

The duration in which employees have worked with Telkom Kenya North Rift Region were of significant importance in the present study because they are useful in determining the amount of training one has undergone since joining the organization.

The data gathered from the questionnaire administered are summarized in Table 4.8 and Figure 6.

Years held your current grade (Job group) > 11 years 5-10 years 1-4 years < 1 year Frequency 300 200 100 0

The results in Figure 6 indicate that the number of years that employees have held their current grade varied from one employee to another. For instance, the highest number (57%) of the employees said they have been in the current grade for between 5-10 years. This was followed by those who said they have been in the same job group for 1-4 years (27%). Further, a very a small number(12.5%) of them said they have been in the current grade for more than 11 years. Also, a negligible number (3.6%)said they have only served for less than a year in current job group. This is an indication that there is no prolonged job stagnation but the respondents are rewarded frequently.

The chi-square statistics test performed (220.1) shows that the period in which employees have held their current grade was statistically significantly different from one employee to another because the Chi-square value (X2 =220.1, p = 0.000) is way below the 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the hypothesis saying that the nature of Telkom Kenya North Rift region would not differ significantly in terms of the years of grade or job held in the group was rejected.

While training and development cannot be seen as a panacea to all organization’s problems, its role is nonetheless critical in ensuring the growth of employees within the organization. One of the main objectives of this study was to determine the role training plays in enhancing growth in the organization and meeting its future HR needs. Decenzo and Robins (1989) states that developing the skills, attitudes and knowledge of employees of an organization through training and development results in increased performance and achievement of other objectives of the organization. This argument calls for a look at the measures that an organization takes to train their employees not only to improve their performance but to also build their capacities of organization’s growth to meet most, if not all, its future human resource skill requirements.To understand the measures the organization take to ensure growth of its employees within the organization, a Null hypothesis was put forth to test if there is any significant relationship between training and growth in organization. Data collected using a questionnaire designed was analyzed and is presented in the sections that follow.

There is a correlation between training programs given by Telkom Kenya North Rift Region to its employees and the organization’s effort in building the growth of employees and their future manpower requirements. This is because training programs when properly implemented do assist the organization to offer better services to their customers and thereby reduce or eliminate waste especially on scarce resources. As such, it is important to understand if the forms of job training offered to help employees grow within the organization and to meet their future HR needs and work demands.

The findings from the data gathered indicate that the forms of training attended by the employees were mostly on job training as summarized in Table 4.9 and Figure 7.

Not trained 12.5% On job training 53.4 Off the job training 12.2% Both on and off-job training 21.8 %

It is clear from the findings that those who attended on the job training comprised of 53.4% while those who attended both on the job and off the job training consisted of 21.8%. Incidentally, a similar number of those who have not been trained and those undertaking off job training comprising of 12% each. The data in Table 4.9 gives further confirmation of the preferred mode of training adopted by Telkom Kenya.

The findings above indicate that Telkom Kenya preferred the on-the-job training method which gave their employees an opportunity to learn by doing while working as well over the off-the-job one which requires classroom activities. This confirms the finding observed earlier that most employees in Telkom Kenya are holders of certificates which may have been acquired in secondary education or through on-the-job trainings. It seems the organization employed more workers with low qualifications and trained them through on-the-job training as most diploma and degree programmes can only be done through off-the-job training method which requires classroom activities.

The chi- square statistics calculated (152.3) shows that the forms of training attended by respondents were statistically significantly different because the Chi-square value(X2=152.3, p = 0.000) is far below the 0.05 level of significance. The hypothesis suggesting that training of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees is not a part of the measures adopted to improve their performance and ability to cope with the demands of new technologies is rejected because there is sufficient evidence of several forms of training attended by Telkom Kenya employees.

Generally, attendance to forms of training is an indication of some of the measures that an organisation may take in its effort to boost growth of employees within the organization. The respondents were asked to indicate if they have attended any form of training (e.g. seminars, workshops, conferences or formal training) sponsored by their organization. The data summarized in Table 4.10 below showed that most of the employees working with Telkom Kenya North Rift Region said they have undergone job training in form of seminars, workshops, conferences or formal trainings. However, we must realise that mere attendance at workshops, seminars, etc. alone without indication of specifics may not provide direction towards productivity and growth in an organisation.

A perusal of the results (Table 4.10) indicate that a very high number (87.5%) of the employees said they have received job training compared to a very low number (12.5%) of those saying they have not received any form of job training.

This finding is supported by a Chi-square statistic performed to determine if the job training attendance was statistically significant. The data indicates that for the attendance of training by respondents a statistically significant difference was found between those who have attended forms of job training and those who have not had any form of training. In other words the calculated Chi-square value(X2 =188.1, p = 0.000) found is lower than the 0.05 significance level. Hence, the hypothesis proposing that job training of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees is not a part of the measures adopted to improve their performance and ability to cope with the demands of new technologies is rejected because there enough evidence showing that an overwhelming number of employees at Telkom Kenya North Rift region have indeed attended job trainings.

In understanding the measures the organization take as part of their effort to strengthen employees’ growth in the organization, assistance given to employees to attend the training is necessary.

Not sponsored 11.9% Sponsored 88.1%

The results in Figure 8 showed that the job trainings attended by Telkom Kenya North Rift Region employees were mainly sponsored by the organization The findings in Table 4.11 portrayed that 88% of the trainings given were sponsored by the organization as compared to a very low number (12%) not sponsored by the organization.

When the Chi-square statistic test was calculated for the sponsorship of the attendance to training by respondents a statistically significant different was found in favour of the organisation sponsoring the training of almost all their employees (X2 =188.1, p = 0.000). This is a strong implication that training is indeed part of Telkom Kenya simply because the organisation sponsors almost all the trainings that their employees have attended. It is clear that training is an integral part of the measures adopted to improve their performance and ability to cope with the demands of new technologies because of its commitment to sponsor the job trainings attended by their employees.

Another finding discovered in this study was that there are some employees who were not been given any job trainings because their duties did not require it but were very few. For instance, 3.9% said the duties they perform did not require any training, 5.1% said in as much as they felt they needed training, they were not selected for training. But a very negligent numbers (2.7%) indicated that there was lack of funds. This is a strong indication that Telkom Kenya invest well in the training of their employees. But whether job training as a form of training was sufficient to enable Telkom Kenya employees to compete in the voice telephone market is another matter worth investigating in the future.

The Chi-square statistics test performed (980.21) on the reasons why employees were not trained and none response was significantly different since the hypothesized value found (X2 =980.21, p = 0.000) is lower at the 0.05 significance level.

From the foregoing, there is a clear indication that Telkom Kenya North Rift Region lays great emphasis on the training of their employees. There is a clear indication that a majority of its employees had no reasons as compared to those who gave reasons to show that training is part of the measures that Telkom Kenya uses to improve their human resource. This is in line with Keep (1992) who has pointed out that the role that training plays in the development of employees is not just an option but it should be both an intrinsic part of the practice of HRM and a measure of investment in its people. The respondents also concurred that the job trainings offered were both relevant to their current duties and adequate to enable them perform their jobs well.

Changes that have taken place at Telkom Kenya in recent years are unavoidable and the mechanism to tackle them is through enhancing job performance through training of employees. It is through training of employees that an organization will maintain or achieve higher levels of performance and advancement. It is therefore important to understand how the regular and continuous training gives employees opportunity for growth and productivity within the organization. Although there is evidence that Telkom Kenya North Rift Region offers the employees regular sponsored forms of training, it is not yet clear whether the employees find such training relevant and adequate for their current duties. An attempt was therefore made to relate how the form of training helps the employees to grow within an organization in order to meet future HR needs from within. The data presented in Tables 4.13 – 4.15 is an illustration of the findings.

The opinions of the respondents on the relevance of training program to the current duties were viewed differently as summarized in Table 4.13. Apparently, there is sufficient evidence suggesting that large number (85%) of respondents were of the opinion that the training received was relevant to their current duties as compared to only 7% who were of a contrary opinion and 8% of whom had not been trained.

There is an overwhelming evidence to imply that Telkom Kenya does not only offer sponsored training programmes for their HR but also, the majority of employees agreed to the fact that the forms of training they attended were both relevant and adequate to enable them perform their current duties well.

When the Chi-square statistics test was performed to relate the relevance of training and the respondents’ performance of current duties between those agreeing and those not, statistically significant difference was found (X2=403.65, p = 0.000). Therefore, the hypothesis suggesting that Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees do not find the forms of training to be relevant and adequate to prepare and equip them to effectively perform their current duties is therefore rejected because the p-value (0.000) is way below the 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001 significance levels.

Furthermore, a majority of employees confirmed that training program was not only relevant but also enhance their current duties. The data summarized in Table 14 indicate that a large number of the employees agreed that the job trainings offered by the organization enhance their job performance. For instance, only 66.6% seem to enhance just their job performance as compared to a very smaller number (8.7%) said the training helped them to cope up with the new technology. Similarly, only 5.7% of them said the job trainings offered could enhance what their future tasks demand. Still, 13.7% of the employees said they were not trained.

Although, the Chi-square statistics test calculated (461.58) shows that their opinion regarding the relevance training program and ability to enhance their current duties was statistically significantly different (X2=461.58, p = 0.000); the other very critical areas registering low percentages is not good news for the organization either. Such a scenario may not be healthy for an organization, especially in this 21st Century which has brought with it new and more advanced technology and very volatile as well as competitive market.

Another important finding observed on the employees who attended training is that they were of the opinion that training offered was adequate. The data summarized in Table 15 is a testimony to that fact. The results show that a majority of the employees (72%) identified training to be adequate as compared to 29% of them who said they find it to be inadequate.

The chi- square statistics test performed (64.5) indicated that the training offered was statistically significantly adequate as the hypothesized value found (X2=64.5, p = 0.000) is obviously much lower than the 0.05 level of significance.

In a world like the one of today with fast changing technology, changing values and globalization, training programs are necessary to safeguard staff from obsolescence. The information gathered from respondents summarized in the tables and figures shown above were used to test the hypothesis stating that there is no significant relationship between training and improvement of employee’s ability to meet demands of new technologies.

The X2 statistics test observed (478.7) revealed that there is statistically significant relationship between the training and improvement of employees’ ability to meet the demands of new technology at 95% confidence interval. Incidentally, the hypothesized value found (X2=478.7, p = 0.000) implies that we reject the null hypothesis and adopt the alternative that there is a significant relationship between training and improvement of employees ability to meet demands of new technology).

There is a wide agreement that an organization must remain competitive and relevant to their customers’ needs by valuing their human asset. To succeed in doing this, an organization should be willing to invest highly in this vital resource by developing a positive attitude towards training programs, fostering and cultivating a learning culture among the work force. Looking at the findings from Telkom Kenya North Rift region, the organization has laid great emphasis on the availability job training programs to help enhance employees’ ability to embrace and cope with change posed by emergent new and/or advanced technology. From the foregoing, there is no indication of specific courses or trainings that would give Telkom a competitive edge. A mere statement that some training were given is necessary but not sufficient in this regard.

According to Pattanayak (2003), the current changing economic set-up and fierce competition has made companies to rely on the strategy of beating their rivals with new products, new designs, and new methods of selling etc. This would require companies to train their workers to develop a mindset culture for quality without which the whole effort will fail. But companies must prioritize areas in which to train their employees to enable the embrace and understand organizational change and cope with emerging new technologies.

A look at the findings from respondents who participated in this study summarized in Table 4.16 below show different but interesting revelations. For instance, 56.5% of the respondents agreed that the trainings were to increase professionalism as compared to 46.9 of those who responded no. Similarly, 46.9% of the respondents said the trainings were to increase their customer care service (47%) as compared to 53.1% who said no. Ironically, only 3.9% admitted that the trainings were to help them cope with organizational change as compared to a high number (96.1%) who denied. A small number (8.7%) concurred that the trainings were on cost reduction with regards to departmental law and technological change as compared to 91.3% saying the contrary.

The data further revealed that a meager 15.2% agreed that the training prepared them to deal with organizational plans and goals compared to 84.8% who did not think so and responded no. Also, a smaller number (5.4%) of respondents concurred that the trainings were to help them deal with issues of competition for market share while 94.6indicated the opposite case.

A similarly smaller number (4.5%) of employees who participated in the study agreed that the trainings had customer preference as one of the priority areas as compared to 95.5% who disagreed and said no. Only 10.1% of the respondents said yes to the fact that the trainings prioritized change in technology as compared to 89.9% of them who felt they did not. Interestingly, a significantly low number (2.4%) of the respondents agreed that the trainings prepared them on issues about product and service obsoleteness as compared to 97.6% of them who said the contrary.

Chi-square statistics tests were performed to determine if the respondents’ levels of agreement and disagreements regarding the prioritized areas covered by the trainings were statistically significant. The results indicate strong evidence that the areas of organizational change, cost reduction, organizational plans and goals, competition for market share, consumer preference, change in technology and product and service obsoleteness were not given or considered as areas of priority.

This is ironic considering that these areas are critical if the employees are to deal and cope with the issues of competition and market changes as well as new and advanced technology. Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences when it came to whether such areas prioritized by trainings did help them improve their work in customer care service and their professionalism. This means that most of the areas that the organization’s trainings lean more on developing professionalism on the part of the employee and on how to deliver services and care to the customer.

Another critical aim of the study was determine if the employees felt that the areas prioritized during the trainings improved their job performance. The data showed varied views as summarized in Table 4.17. The findings revealed that only 12.2% of the respondents said the program helped them improve on reduction of organizational costs while 67.2% said the areas assisted them to improved job performance. However, an extremely low number (1.2%) concurred that the areas of priority did help them improve on their working in the organization.

Areas Improved	Frequency	Percent	Cum Percent	X2 value	df	Asymp Sig
Cost reduction Better Performance Accepts New Technology All the above improved Not trained Total	41 225 26 4 39 335	12.2 67.2 7.8 1.2 11.6 100.0	12.2 79.4 87.2 88,4 100.0	478.716	4	0.000

The Chi- square statistics test calculated (478.72) showed that the areas improved by the training was statistically significantly different from one employee to another because the hypothesized value found (X2 =478.72, p = 0.000) is far below the 0.05 level of significance. The findings show that Telkom Kenya may have concentrated more on training for better performance. This is not healthy because neglecting training on new technology and cost reduction may work against good competition. Customers tend to prefer cheaper services and modern delivery services.

Normally, forms of trainings are undertaken by various organizations in order to help their employees not only to improve on their skills but to enhance their job performance and/or cope with new changes in technology and the volatile market. The North Rift Telkom Kenya employees were asked to rate their performance before training. The findings were different as summarized in Table 4.18 and Figure 9.

Below average 0.6% Not trained 11.6% Average 17.3% Good 70.4

The data in Figure 9 portray that those who rated the current job performance before training were higher (70.4%) compared to 17.3% of those rating their job performance average before training 17.3%. The Chi-Square test performed presented in Table 4.18 below is a further testimony to this fact.

The Chi-square statistics test calculated (388.4) shows that the rating of performance before training was significantly different from one employee to another, because the hypothesized value found (X2=388.4, p = 0.000) is lower at 0.05 significance level. Hence, the hypothesis saying that there is no significant relationship between training of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees and their ability to embrace and cope with change posed by the introduction of new information and communication technology was rejected. This is because the finding seems to imply that the form of training received did not really improve the performance of Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees.

Telkom Kenya North Rift region employees also rated their performance after training and the findings are summarized in Table 4.19 and Figure 10 below. The results here are also higher (71.0%)on how they rated the current performance to have improved greatly after training. A smaller number (i.e., only 17.3%) said their performance slightly improved after the training and only 11.6% of the employees have not been trained. The chi- square statistics test performed (216.01) to understand the respondents deviation if their rating of performance after training was significantly different from one employee to another as the hypothesized value observed (X2=216.01, p = 0.000) is way below the 0.05 level of significance to ignore the differences.

A study of the findings seems to suggest that most employees rate their job performance higher irrespective of whether they attended training or not. This is a strong implication that the training offered did not really play any significant role on the performance of the employees.

Not trained 11.6% Greatly improved 71.0% Slightly improved 17.3%

The data shown above were further subjected to hypothesis test stating that there is no significant relationship between the training that employees received and their ability to embrace and cope with changes posed by the introduction of new information technology. The Chi-square statistics test calculated (64.5) revealed a statistically significant relationship between the training of employees and growth of organization at 95% confidence interval. Specifically, the hypothesized value (X2 =64.5, p = 0.000) shows that we reject the null hypothesis and adopt the alternative stating that there is significant relationship between training of employees and their ability to embrace and cope with the changes posed by the introduction of emergent new technology.

The study sought to find out the role of training in enhancing Telkom’s employees’ job performance and their ability to cope and embrace change in the face of technological changes and market competition. In view of this, five hypotheses were posited for testing by the study. In the previous section an attempt has been made to use the results of the data to uphold or reject the hypotheses with regard to the role of training in enhancing employees’ performance and their ability to cope with technological change in the marketplace. The findings of this study have been discussed on the basis of the objectives that guided the study.

The findings of the study (Figure 1 and Table 4.1) indicated that slightly more than half (53.7%) of the employees were male as compared to (46.3%). A further analysis of the data showed this gender distribution is adequate to address the issue of gender sensitiveness by the organisation. The data (Table 4.2) showed that the age distribution was higher (65.1%) in favour of those considered to be in the middle age bracket (31-40) and at the prime of their careers and as such, they are thus able to be taken for training from time to time. There is also evidence showing that the organisation has a good number of fairly elderly employees who may have not only been with the organisation since its inception but have also seen the organization grow and go through many phases of change. Such cadre of employees can have their own usefulness in that they may become quite handy in teaching new employees through on-the job training. This observation is particularly important since the findings revealed that more than half of the employees (55.5%) are those who have worked with the organization for between 5-10 years and are fairly new, they are not only more receptive to training needs, a motivation factor which may enable the organization to retain their staff but may benefit from the training from the elderly group.

The results further indicate that (Table 4.5) most of the employees’ job distribution at Telkom Kenya is highest in the sales division but equal in the customer care and accounts departments. Apparently, these are workforce that are most affected by market and technological changes. But given the fact that most of them are certificate holders, mere on the job trainings could not prepare them well to cope with the emergent technological changes. This has become evident from their level of educations discussed below.

In terms of education, the study also revealed (Table 4.6) that the majority of employees working for Telkom Kenya North Rift region are holders of certificate. This may explain the reason why Telkom Kenya prefers to use on-the-job training method which gives their employees an opportunity to learn by doing while working as opposed to the off-the-job one which requires classroom activities. There is a high possibility that the certificates held by most employees in Telkom Kenya are those which may have been acquired in secondary education. As such, the holders may not qualify to undergo off-the-job trainings such as diploma and degree programmes which require higher grades at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE).This implies that with such caliber of employees, Telkom Kenya could not compete in a world of profound and accelerating changes in information and communications technology use that required a highly educated and skilled workforce knowledgeable in technology intensive approach as opposed to just material intensive approach.

The results also showed that the majority of the employees (Table 4.7) have held their current job for between than five and ten years. While they may not be so new in the system, they are also more receptive to training needs. This notwithstanding, their level of qualification may have worked against any meaningful off-job training which could have prepared them better to cope with the emergent technological changes, hence the wide use of on-the-job trainings that only focused on enhancing the performance of their current duties. This kind of training leaned more on material intensive approach rather than technology intensive one which could have prepared them better to meet the rapidly changing market and technological changes needs.

The findings of the study (Table 4.9) showed that Telkom Kenya preferred the use of on-the-job forms of training which gave the employees more opportunity to learn by doing while working. While this may have served well given the kind of equipment commonly used at Telkom Kenya, the new telecommunication data services equipment (mobile phones etc) were different and Telkom Kenya employees may not have adopted to their operation. Data also indicates that attendance to various forms of training is part of the measures that Telkom Kenya has used in its effort to boost the growth of employees within the organization. This has become clear because the respondents overwhelmingly agreed that they have attended various forms of training sponsored by their organization (Table 4.10). This is a clear indication that Telkom Kenya North Rift Region lays great emphasis on the training of their employees. It is further supported by a majority of employees who had no reason for not attending training this shows that training is part of the measures that Telkom Kenya uses to improve their human resource. This is in line with what other contributing authors have pointed out with regard to the role that training plays in the development of employees (Armstrong, 2003; Keep, 1992; Pattanayak, 2003).

Moreover, training should not just be construed as an option but it should be considered both as an intrinsic part of the practice of HRM and a measure of investment in its people. The respondents in this study found (Tables 4.12- 4.14) the job trainings offered to be both relevant to their current duties and adequate to enable them perform their jobs well. This is critical if an organisation is to survive in a world like the one of today with fast changing technology, changing values and globalization. Failure to which there is no safeguard of staff from obsolescence.

Normally for an organization to remain competitive and relevant to customers’ need, it should be willing to invest highly in developing a positive attitude towards training programmes that fosters and cultivates a learning culture among the work force. However, Telkom Kenya’s training programmes failed to focus on areas that would help enhance its employees’ ability to embrace and cope with change posed by emergent new and/or advanced technology. Hence, the inevitable has happened in that the company has not only been beaten by their competitors such as Safaricom, Airtel and Yu which are new comers into the market of telecommunication services, but it failed to safeguard their employees and as such, their employees were prematurely retrenched (EPZA, 2005). This finding is important because it has unearthed the types of training offered in order to gauge the suitability and capacity of employees to cope with the changing times and technology.

The results of the study revealed that part of the failure is on the prioritized areas covered by the types of trainings offered. It is clear from the data (Table 4.16) that such critical areas of organizational change, cost reduction, organizational plans and goals, competition for market share, consumer preference, changes in technology and product and service obsoleteness were not considered as areas of priority. The study established that most of the areas of priority leaned more on the development of professionalism on the part of the employee - how to deliver services and care to the customer but less on preparing them to meet the technological change challenges. The fact that most employees rated their job performance higher irrespective of whether they attended training or not is a strong indication that the training offered though it plays some significant role on improving the performance of current duties, it did not equip them with the ability to cope with new challenges in technology and the volatile market. Instead, Telkom Kenya concentrated more on equipping their employees with skills just for better performance with little consideration for the emerging new technologies.

Nevertheless, it should not be assumed that the forms of trainings undertaken by various organizations usually succeed in helping employees to improve on their skills and to enhance their job performance to enable them cope with new changes in the market. The HRD process should always aim at maximizing the use of human resource by optimizing the competence of available human resource and improving the competence for future challenges. This is because the role of training will depend on the HRD needs of the organisation, HRD mechanism being used, and the facilities and/or opportunities provided in line with the ground realities (Pattanayak, 2003). Had Telkom Kenya applied this mechanism, the probability of it competing well in telecommunication service market would have been easier because of the competitive edge it had due to its long monopoly.

The results of the study (Tables 4.18 and 4.19) seem to suggest the employees said the type of trainings offered were good and that they improved the performance of their current duties. But given the scenario of what bedeviled Telkom Kenya employees, the role of training did not have any impact in preparing them to cope with the emergent technological changes in the market place. What the organisation did was to give their employees enough training to enable them perform current duties rather than offering training programmes that could prepare them not only to perform duties but also equip them with the necessary skills that a competitive market would require.

The present study undertook an investigation of the role of training in enhancing employees’ job performance at Telkom Kenya North Rift Region. It sought to understand whether there was any significant relationship between training and job performance. This chapter presents a summary of major findings of the study and the conclusions reached. Some recommendations and areas in need of further research are highlighted.

From the analysis of the data presented in Chapter Four, the following conclusions summarizing the major findings have been reached.

The age of employees working with Telkom Kenya, North Rift Region varied significantly. Distribution of employees seems to be gender insensitive in that the number of male employees is proportionally more than their female counterparts. The data further showed that the newly hired employees are those who may have just graduated from colleges and have knowledge and skills that enable them to cope with the changes in technology that occur in the course of their duties. Also, such a young group benefit from the experience of on-the job training if placed under senior and more experienced employees to mentor them.

There is uneven representation of employees within Telkom Kenya North Rift Region and the organisation has employed more married persons than single ones. This observation may also be that most of the employees being young when they join the organisation get married in the course of their employment. The data gathered indicate that the forms of training attended by the employees were mostly on the job training and most employees revealed that they have undergone job training in form of seminars, workshops, conferences or formal trainings. The results garnered showed that the job trainings attended by Telkom Kenya North Rift Region employees were mainly sponsored by the organisation which is a clear indication that Telkom Kenya North Rift Region lays great emphasis on the training of their employees.

Majority of employees confirmed that the training program was not only relevant but it also helped them in the performance of their current duties. However, a smaller number (i.e., only 17.3%) said their performance slightly improved after the training. The analysis of data also revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the training of employees and the growth of the organization.

The findings of the study revealed that training in Telkom Kenya North Rift region is indeed a measure used to improve the employees performance and to prepare them to cope with technological changes and challenges in the market. However, there are certain factors that need a closer examination e.g. the impact of training on employees’ job performance and attitudes towards work, extending the sample size to include other Telkom Kenya regions and a comparative study involving participants from other organisations that offer telecommunication services.

Although Telkom Kenya North Rift region has recognized the important role that training plays in HRD, the need to familiarize the employees with market change challenges and to expose them to new technology is a formidable one. Given the privatization of the organisation and lose of monopoly training programmes that are limited to current duties are probably out of the question because the new technological change challenges require new HRD strategies that are geared towards the training needs necessary for Telkom Kenya employees not only to improve their performance per se but to enable them also to cope with the new changes.

Further, the results of the study seem to indicate that on-the-job training method is indeed the most commonly used form of training that Telkom Kenya North Rift region uses to improve its employees’ job performance. The forms of training (seminars, workshop etc) are fully sponsored programmes. But despite the responses indicating that the forms of training are relevant and have improved the employees’ performance of current duties, its real potential to fully enhance the employees’ performance and ability to cope with new challenges have not been fully realized. This is because Telkom Kenya employees could not cope with the technological changes that the organisation has experienced in the last decade. Instead, the organisation which was initially Kenya Posts and Telecommunication Cooperation has since been restructured and the telecommunication sector (Telkom Kenya) privatised.

While the findings show that new cooperation (Telkom Kenya) takes the training of their employees as an integral part, it has had to lay off most of their employees to be able to cope with the technological change challenges. It may be true that the employees gained knowledge and skills required by their jobs but the knowledge and skills gained has not enabled Telkom Kenya’s North Rift region employees to cope with the change challenges in the market emanating from the new information technology. The recent cellular and internet clarion call for a well trained human resource. If this is the case, then the findings of the present study might prove to become a useful part of the data base. Of course, it would be naïve to assume that the findings of this study in a small region in Kenya could become useful for theory and model building.

Besides, the forms of training offered that seem to be only relevant to the employee’s ability to perform current duties as the respondents revealed in this study more research is a demonstration of the weaknesses of tailor made on-the-job sponsored trainings just as the ones offered by Telkom Kenya. There is no gainsaying the fact that such forms of training may lose its usefulness-especially considering issues like the loss of the long enjoyed monopoly, training programmes that only help staff do current duties, lack of foresight on the market changes etc. However, it would be unfortunate if these factors should prove to widen the existing gap in technological changes and its challenges.

To improve the role of training in enhancing Telkom Kenya employees’ job performance to enable them cope with emergent technological changes and competition, the implementation of the following measures, among others, seem appropriate:

The fact that Telkom Kenya offers several forms of training through seminars and workshops imply that they are not adequately equipped to participate in a highly competitive market where highly skilled labour force are required. This calls for a need Telkom Kenya to engage in modern forms of training to keep their employees on track in a world that is fast changing because of new technology. To this end, there is need for Telkom Kenya to ensure that they employ other forms of training e.g. off-training to upgrade the qualifications of their employees.

Given the fact that most employees at Telkom Kenya are certificate holders imply that there is need to reconsider employing those with better qualifications. In this regard there is need for Telkom Kenya put more emphasis on the development of their human resource by bringing in a multi-skilled and highly motivated workforce who qualify to undertake all forms of training (if need be) to enable them respond well with a fast changing world of information technology through training.

Due to the failure of Telkom Kenya to foresee the forces of change coming and their reliance on the long enjoyed monopoly in data communications, there is need for a thorough review of the training methods employed to allow for the introduction of new methods or approaches that can effectively prepare their employees to cope with emergent technological changes. In particular, understanding the redefinition and clarification of roles for policymaking, market regulation, dispute resolution and operation of services to allow them to compete in various market segments based on the policy of the private sector which operate in a competitive environment that also safeguard consumer interests rather than being dissolution with the old thinking of monopoly of the market.

The findings also indicated that Telkom Kenya employees are within the middle age bracket and at the prime of their careers. This implies that most of them could benefit from other forms of training. There is need for Telkom Kenya to encourage them to attend off-training programmes that would better equipped them with knowledge and training necessary to empower them to cope with the emergent technological changes and to use modern data and/or telecommunication equipments.

Certainly, more investigations covering a larger area would be necessary to reach any meaningful conclusion about the benefits or otherwise of the role of training in enhancing employees’ performance and their ability to cope with new information technology changes in the market.

Armstrong, M. (2003) Human Resource Management: Strategy and action. London:Cook and Page.

Cole, G. A. (1996) Management: Theory and Practice 5thedn. London: Letts Educational.

Communications Cooperation of Kenya [CCK] (2010) Government of Kenya Economic Survey Operators. Nairobi: CCK.

School of Human Resource Development

Moi University, P.O Box 3900,

ELDORET

24th July 2007

Dear respondent,

I am a Post graduate student of Moi University pursing a postgraduate studies in Human resource Development. Currently, I am conducting a research to investigate the role of job training on employee performance during periods of organizational change: A case of Telkom Kenya.

The study is purely for academic purposes. It is for this reason therefore, that the study and information provided will be treated with utmost confidentiality. I wish therefore, to request for your co-operation in filling the questionnaire truly and to the best of your knowledge.

Additional information may be written on the blank sheet attached.

Thank you,

Yours truly,

E.V.KIBOSS

SECTION ONE: GENERAL INFORMATION

Instruction: Please tick ( ) appropriately.

The Department you are attached to _________________________________

What is your job title? _____________________________________________

What is your gender? Male [ ] Female [ ]

State your age below 30 [ ] 31-40 [ ] 41-49 [ ] 50 and above [ ]

Your marital status married [ ] single [ ] other (specify) _____________________________________________

What professional qualification do you hold? Certificate [ ] Diploma [ ] Degree [ ] Other (specify) _____________________________________________

How many years have you worked for Telkom Kenya? Less than 5 years [ ]

5-10 [ ] 11-15 [ ] over 16 years [ ]

How many years have you held your current grade (job group) below 1 year [ ] 1-4 [ ] 5-10 [ ] 11 and above [ ]

SECTION TWO: TRAINING

Have you ever been given job training by your organization by way of seminars, workshops, conferences or formal training? Yes [ ] No [ ]

If yes, was the training you attended on-the-job [ ] or off-the-job training [ ]

Was the training program sponsored by your organization

Yes[ ] no []

If no to (9) above, in your opinion what could have been some of the reasons?

The duties which I perform does not do not require any further training. [ ]

I do not have enough time to go for further training [ ]

Lack of training funds [ ]

I was not selected for job training [ ]

Others (please specify)

_______________________________________

13. In your opinion, was the training program relevant to your current duties? Yes [ ] No [ ]

14. If yes, did the training enhance?

i. Your job performance

ii. Future tasks demand

iii. To cope with new technology within the organization.

15 Were you adequately trained? Yes [ ] No [ ]

16 Which areas were prioritized during the training?

i. Customer care [ ]

ii organizational changes [ ]

iii Departmental law our and technological changes. [ ]

iv. Organizational plans and goals [ ]

v competition for the market share [ ]

vi consumer preference [ ]

vii increasing professionalism [ ]

viii Change in technology [ ]

ix product and service obsoleteness [ ]

x. other (please specify)________________________

17. As a result of the training which areas have been improved?

i. Cost reduction [ ]

ii Enhanced performance [ ]

iii Ability to understand and accept new technology [ ]

iv. other (please specify)__________________________

18. Rate your current performance in the job

Before training

Good [ ]

Average [ ]

Below average [ ]

After training

i. Very good (greatly improved) [ ]

ii. Average (slightly improved) [ ]

iii. The same as before (No change) [ ]

Thank you, for completing this questionnaire!