Abstract

The 21^st century has had tremendous development in the service sector particularly the telecommunication industry. This has led to the growth of service providers and the need to care and retain employees since they are an asset to the organization. The study has examined the impact of HRM on employees’ performance in Malaysian Telekom. The studies on the impact of HR practices in different levels within organizations has been an area of concern to scholars for some decades since the innovation and increase of industry practices has been dependent on effective human resource practices. In particular, information was collected through survey questionnaire from randomly 102 employees to test the hypothesis.  Regression analysis was conducted through the use of SPSS which could enable finding the influence of HRM practices on variables on the employees’ performance. The research findings indicate a strong impact and association of compensation and training programs on performance of employees.

Keywords: Human Resource, Compensation, Training, Employee Performance

Introduction

Employees are considered an essential asset in any organization. Thus, employees can create a competitive advantage if an organization is able to invest in employees through development of skills and knowledge for effective and efficient operations at the workplace (Shield et al., 2015). Similarly, the telecommunication industry strives to attract well trained, talented and enthusiastic employees who are dedicated to their work. The telecommunication industry has had a large revolution in terms of technological advancement that increased the level of competitiveness in the industry. Being the fifth largest and one of the fastest growing industries in the world, it plays a vital role in the world economy.

Ideally, the human resource management practices are considered as tools used by organizations to retain and attract employees in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of the business (Noe et al., 2017). Prior empirical studies have indicated that good and effective implementation of the human resource management practices empowers the employees and develops their performance positively. With regards to this understanding, HRMP will contribution to better employees’ performance and enable retention.  In this case, this study has explored the effect of various HRMP on performance of employees in Telekom, Malaysia.

Research Objective

The key aim of the research was to explore the impact HRMP on employees’ performance at Telekom Malaysia.

Significance of The Research

The significance of the research is considered to be threefold which add to literature and knowledge. Firstly, is to explore the association between the performance of employees and the human resource practices. Secondly, the research has offered a meaningful insight on the essence of human resources practices to improving the employee’s performance. Third, the study raises more concern to the fact that there is need to develop Human resource practices that will improve the efficiency of services provided by the Telecommunication industry.

Literature Review

According to Noe (2017), human resource practices have been important for ideal integration for success within the global business environment. Rees and Smith (2017) argues that the human resource practices have been considered vital for the success of organizational goals. Moreover, implementation of human resource practices in an organization results to retaining, attraction and motivation of employees within the organization (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010). Many researchers have been able to study the human resource practice concept and how it related to the employee and organizational outcomes. For instance, Collings, Wood and Szamosi (2018), studied the effect of great performance HR practices on workers’ behaviors and attitudes. They revealed the great performance HR practice are closely linked to employee’s behaviors and attitudes.

In order to study the various variables of HRMP that impact the employee performance it is necessary to recognize some of HR practices that influence the employee performance (Boon et al., 2015). These include training and employee development and performance appraisal.

Training and Employee Development

Training is conducted to build transformation through introducing a new worker into the organization culture (Shields et al., 2015). This involves equipping employee with knowledge and skills that are necessary for improving their ability to implement changes that are important to the organization. Training plays a significant role in improving the performance of employee since the abilities and knowledge attained during preparation will be part of their cycle in the business (Albrecht et al., 2015). Training as an instrument will enable the worker upgrade their awareness and performance in the organization (Briscoe, Tarique and Schuler, 2012).

Performance Appraisal

Wright (2018) pointed out that performance appraisal is a mechanism that is used in evaluating the performance of the employee through a measurable manner. The aim of the evaluation is to develop the effectiveness of the company in trying to improve the efforts of their employees (Wright, 2018). The chief goal of the performance appraisal is to guarantee that there is extreme utilization of employee’s knowledge, abilities and interests.

Methodology

Collection of data was through survey questionnaire. Since the research is about the employee performance and HRM, to explore the impact of the practices a quantitative method was adopted. The choice of close ended questions rather than carrying out an interview is to enable discover the association between the different variable among the respondents. The statistics used during the research was acquired from both sources (secondary and primary). The primary sources include the data that was collected directly from the questionnaire administration while the secondary source included textbooks, journals and publication both offline and online. The questionnaires were administered to the employees in Telekom Malaysia.

The questionnaire that was designed for the research included two sections; 5-point Likert scale and normal scale questions.  The options for the Likert scale include: 1 (Strongly agree), 2 (agree), 3 (neutral), 4(Disagree), 5 (Strongly disagree).

Sample Size

The sample size of the study was 102 employees within the organization. The participants were chosen with respect to their convenience and willingness to respond to the survey. 52% of the respondents were female as compared to 48% of female which reveals that Telekom Malaysia has more female workers than male.

Data Analysis

Data was gathered and analyzed through the use of statistical analysis software tool known as the SPSS (Statistical software package for social science) version 21. The software tool was used in performing descriptive statistics which include regression, correlation study and comparing the variances between the regression coefficient.

Analysis and Results

Hypothetical testing

H1: There is significant relationship between employee performance and training and development practices

Model	Sum of Squares	D F	Mean square	F	Sig
1. Regression Residual Total	6.001 69.251 75.254	100 1 101	6.001 0.693	8.666	0.003

Coefficients

1. Dependent Variable: Employee performance
2. Independent variable: Training

The significant value from ANOVA table is 0.003

This implies that the relationship between employee performance and training is significant. The results prove that there is a great relationship between the employee performance and employee training. This result is reasonable that employees get additional skills through training.

 

H2: There is an important relationship between employee performance and performance appraisal

Model	Sum of squares	Df	Mean Square	F	Sig
Regression Residual Total	10.979 66.010 76.989	100 1 101	10.979 0.660	16.636	0.000

Dependent variable: Employee performance

Independent variable: Performance appraisal

The significant value is 0.000 on ANOVA. This indicates that there exists relationship between performance of employees and performance appraisal.

Correlational analysis

Variables	RS	T&D	C&R	PA
Training and development	0.167**	0.163**	1
Performance appraisal	0.712**	0.143**	0.416**	1

 

 Summary of hypothesis

Hypothesis	Correlation	Results
Training and development	0.742**	Supported
Performance appraisal	0.640**	Supported

 

Discussion

The basic objective the research was to evaluate the impact of HR practices performance of employees in Telekom Malaysia. The two major human resource management practices were selected for the research study when conducting a study on the human resource practices in Telekom Malaysia. The hypothesis was developed focused on recognizing the effect of performance appraisal and training on performance of employees. Results from the SPPS indicate that the HR practices have significant influence on the employee performance since they both the dependent and independent variables have a significant relationship.

The previous results from other studies have supported the findings of the research. The study results in in line with Kampkötter (2017) outcomes where he reveals that performance appraisal and training are highly substantial on workers’ effectiveness and efficiency. Similarly, from the outcomes, Kehoe and Wright (2013), exposed that there is a substantial effect training and of performance of employees and organization goals.

Limitations and Future Research

There are a number of limits of the study which include; the research being limited to a sole organization which is the Telekom Malaysia, meaning that the outcomes of the study can only be utilized in further study in the Telecommunication industry. Furthermore, the number of HRMP discussed are very small in number. In future, there is need for other several HR practices to be evaluated in future research.

Conclusion

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of HR practices on performance of employee in Telekom Malaysia. The findings of the current research have been supported by previous research studies. These have illustrated that there is a positive relation between the performance of employees and human resource practices. In order to increase the level of employee performance, Telekom Malaysia should emphasize on successful implementation of human resource practices within the organization.

References

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Boon, C., Belschak, F. D., Den Hartog, D. N., & Pijnenburg, M. (2014). Perceived human resource management practices. Journal of Personnel Psychology.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Briscoe, D., Tarique, I., & Schuler, R. (2012). International human resource management: Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge.

Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.

Kampkötter, P. (2017). Performance appraisals and job satisfaction. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(5), 750-774.

Kehoe, R. R., & Wright, P. M. (2013). The impact of high-performance human resource practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2), 366-391.

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Pilbeam, S., & Corbridge, M. (2010). People resourcing and talent planning: HRM in practice. Prentice Hall.

Rees, G., & Smith, P. (Eds.). (2017). Strategic human resource management: An international perspective. Sage.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., … & Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Wright, P. (2018). Fundamentals of human resource management. Management, 5, 27.