The following study examines the impact of training and development programs on job satisfaction in the government organizations of Sultanate of Oman. In the recent days, the organizations tend to face a tough challenge to survive in the global scenario. So, to survive, the organizations require transforming themselves into learning organizations and train its members to adapt to the constant changing competitive business environment. However, to adapt to the change, the members need appropriate training and development, which sometimes becomes difficult to provide for the government or non-profit organization. Sultanate of Oman is largely dependent on the revenues that come from the export of oil. This is probably the major source of the income of the country. Notwithstanding, due to the recent changes in the global economy, the price of oil goes down in the global market, which has largely affected the economy of Sultanate of Oman. On the other side, as the economy is not stable in the country, the rate of unemployment increases in Oman. Thus, due to lack of financial support, the public sector organizations are in the dilemma of providing appropriate training and development programs to the employees. The purpose of the report is to understand how training and development motivates the employees of government sector in Sultanate of Oman.
Describing the general setting-Training is significant dynamic functions to be filled HR department of the organizations. As put forward by Rajasekar and Khan (2013) training provides greater stability, flexibility as well as the capacity for the growth in the organization.Training and development is simply defined as the “formal” ongoing efforts that are made within the firm to enhance the performance of its employees (Looney, 2013).
Providing definitions- the job satisfaction is the amount of overall positive effects of feeling that individuals have towards the jobs (Millán et al., 2013). The efficiency of an organization directly depend on how capable its members are and how they are motivated to work (Al-Aufi& Ahmed Al-Kalbani, 2014). The ability of an individual depends on his ability to work and the type of training he/she receives. The Sultanate of Oman government has demonstrated much concern in the area of development of human resource.
Research problems- Training and development is a serious issue considered by the government of Oman. The government of the nation emphasizes on the need for the development of workforce and the enhanced management of its talents. Many studies have been conducted on the competitive business environment of Oman considering private organizations. However, hardly any research has been conducted on the need of training and development of the employees in public sector of Oman. Therefore, the current study focuses on the areas of training and development of employees in government organizations of Oman to measure the job satisfaction.
The research aims to evaluate the present initiatives required for training and development programs for the employees of government organizations in Sultanate of Oman.
1) How do training and developments programs influence employee job satisfaction in the public organizations in the Sultanate of Oman?
2) What is the role of human resource department on training and development programs of employees in public sector in Oman?
3) What are strategies that contribute to the development of training of employees in public sector of Oman?
The “Sultanate of Oman” is a significant stakeholder of “Gulf Corporation Council” and it has acquired a strategic location on the “Southern corner of Arabian Peninsula”. Oman acquires almost 40% of its GDP from oil revenues (Miller, Kim & Holmes, 2015). The government of the nation has attempted in developing the skills and competencies of young Omanis providing them with appropriate training and development as the significant key parameters of Human Resource planning (Fosu, 2013). As mentioned by Rajasekar and Khan (2013) recognizing the significance of training in the organization has heavily been influenced by the intensification of the competition as well as dramatic development of the company where the enhancement of employee skills is considerably emphasized. Conversely, another theory emphasizes that organizations always adopt activities for symbolic reasons. This means the training is provided not because it increases productivity, instead it is a good gesture from the employers that organizations show and value the relationship with the team. As mentioned by Saleh, Piaw and Idris (2015), training is a pre-planned, systematic and aims at enhancing the level of employee skills and knowledge. In addition, the organizations that are dedicated to generate profits for stakeholders and providing quality of services to customers as well as beneficiaries invest enormously in training of their staff, which finally contributes to their customers and increase of productivity (Kumar, 2014).
Training and development remains as the significant issue for the companies in the government sector globally. The strategies and the policies are developed by the government authorities, which indicate the extent of significance they provide to the provisions of human resource training and development. As mentioned by Azeem (2010), developing a sound training strategy as well as the policies of training is significant and it should engage the stakeholders of the organizations. It is very significant to identify that training and development framework should be a strategic priority instead of calling it a simple tactical of knee-jerk and responsive (Zubr, Sokolová & Mohelská, 2016). As put forward by Hans et al. (2014), the government sector environment has become very inflexible and bureaucratic; thereby the training often lags behind. The government of Sultanate of Oman has relied on E-governance and they are giving more effort and time to achieve these goals. The public organizations in Oman should bring the same platform to implement the management techniques applied by the companies in public sector.
The government of the nation has taken many initiatives in providing education to young Omanis with enhanced national training and development programs. The government of the country puts increasing effort in the training of young Omanis. More specifically, the government has set aside almost 100 million riyals for the country’s HR development programs (Rajasekar & Khan, 2013).
Omani Government observed the importance of human resource development in general as well as manifested its dedication through education as well as many other avenues (Abdulla, 2009). Like the governments of other country, the government of Oman has also realized that without training and development, the organizations in the public sector might not be able to maximize the use of human resource (Abdulla, Djebarni&Mellahi, 2011). Thus, a considerable attention has been placed on the training of the employees, who must gain the ability to increase their skills of job by attending variety of training and development. These raining and development programs are developed by internally or by outside agency. On the contrary, the Institutes of Public Administration run by the Ministry of Civil Service contributes to the training and development of employees in public organizations of Oman. Sheikh Khalid bin Oman Al Marhoon, the chairperson of Ministry of Civil Service held the meeting with the Institutes of Public Administration regarding the training needs of the employees and administrative system of other state (Mamman & Al Kulaiby, 2014). The board also had the discussion on the development of SMEs. In collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Service, the will provide technical education and vocational education in the public organizations as the plan for human resource development. The government of the country believes that this step will be instrumental especially in bringing about effective aswell as proactive HRD policies (Azeem& Akhtar, 2014). The nation’s commitment has been translated into the development of administrative apparatus for formal training. So, this is usually done by creating training and development programs.
It is identified that training policy and strategy for public organizations inarranged in two significant document- the civil service law executed by the government’s Ministry of Civil Service as well as the Scholarship law (Rajasekar& Khan, 2013). These two major documents developed the training policy as well as the strategy for the government sector in Sultanate of Oman.
As discussed above, the core elements of a systematic approach to training include identification of training needs, the design of training programs. Thereafter, the systematic approach delivers as well as evaluates the work process. It is significant to look after at the organizational benefits of the training provided and develop the metrics that could measure the return on training investment (Khan & Mishra, 2013). The existing studies point out that the organizations implement the training needs identification in accordance with the government guidelines. The organizations are trying to put the training strategy in place that could serve the strategic objectives. Nevertheless, many large government organizations lack trained as well as skilled HR and training managers (Bindu & Yashika, 2014).
It is observed that in Oman, all human resource manage positions are Omanized. To deal with the dynamic needs in the public sector, the step of Omanization was taken before several HR and training managers in the public sector had gained enough expertise to deal with the challenge involved in developing a training strategy (Elnaga & Imran, 2013). The public sector organizations are in the need of developing the skills of trainee managers; thus, they could successfully fulfill the significant role of formulating as well as managing the whole training functions. Al-Khouri (2013) developed the study where he clarified that several middle managers do not have the appropriate skills. The reason is systematic as many managers have been promoted into management jobs due to their previously exemplified technical abilities instead of managing people successfully. The major focus is on the enhancement of technical skills for first-line management, whereas the additional training for middle-level managers in these sectors should be a significant priority (Agoi, L2015). Enhancement of manager’s skills is identified as the critical need in the government sector (Navin Kumar, 2015). Thus, if this can be achieved, it could be a driving force in enabling the transformation of both workforce and the organizations.
The existing studies demonstrate that public sectors organizations in Oman should produce annual training plan, which should be done aligning the guidelines provided by the governments. The initial phase is to use a number of tools as well as processes to check whether work-related skills, learning knowledge essential for the employees’ development and growth are correctly related. The most usual technique used to identify training needs is to carry out a job analysis exercise to set up the skills required. Training and HR managers on a daily basis should exchange the information with training programs as well as courses that could be available in the coming year. Sarrayrih and Sriram (2015) developed five different strategies for training and development programs for the employees of government sector. The study shows that many public sector organizations use these strategies to increase employee efficiencies.
Furthermore, Belwal and Belwal (2014) commented that it is necessary for training department of each government organizations to analyze the familiar needs to determine the priorities for each department and the plan the overall training programs. The findings of existing studies imply that the training function in different public sector organizations tend to focus on the long-term as well as the work-related skills, which means the employees’ personal development and acquisition of learning could be neglected. Ibrahim and Al Falasi (2014) focused on another significant factor which determines the training activities of the organizations is the allocation of finance for the training resources.
As put forward by Hans, Mubeen andGhabshi (2013), the evaluation is probably the most significant aspect of the training systems, without it an individual many not be able to produce the appropriate return. Narayanan, Umaselvi and Hussein (2012) argued that this step is also the most significant and challenging aspects of the training. The challenges are even larger in the public sector organizations due their complicated as well as their bureaucratic structure and the system. Many organizations surveyed and observed evaluation as the most significant as well as challenging aspect in training cycle in the public sector in Oman. The evaluation of whole training scenario includes the action plan for the training strategy, is indeed essential if the public sector organizations in Oman completely assess the training process, which they usually practice.
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