Technology Based Employees Training and Organizational Performance as Perceived by Employees

The present study explores the nature of the technology-based HR trainings practices with a focus on the banking sector in Pakistan. The study was carried out in the twin-cites of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Random sampling technique was adopted and population mainly was categorized into six Islamic banks and 6 conventional Banks. The study recommends that by implementing the technology-based training and acquiring the inputs from the top level management and the internal customers using this input and information for the organizational strategies and goal, can further the market shares and the profitability.


Introduction
Today, is a common conventionally belief that each employee endeavors to prove itself to be an important source for the competitive improvement of the organizations. Hence, it is essential that the organization must advocate such human resource management (HRM) practices as could generate the useful of employees on its own. Schein & Van Maanen (1977) stated that the career development strategy helps human resources to better their competence, creativity and the organizational efficiency. It must facilitate them to discover the new openings according to their own capacity; must be the foremost to the individuals, contentment, and the business performance. It directs to propensity with the view to assessing the impact of the HRM on the business performance. A number of studies have detected a positive association between the HRM work practices and the organization performance (Gelade and Ivery, 2003). Again, there is also some pragmatic support that the organizations that align their HRM practices with their business strategy have a greater possibility for achieving the better results (Dyer and Todd, 1995).  documented that the business performance can be assessed by bring in suitable career growth agenda, yet without presenting high monetary benefits to the human resources.
The Human Asset is one of the most significant assets of the organization. It undertakes the major functions of the business. The organizations face substantial difficulty when trying to get victorious training programs by using the information technology. Thus, there is an enormous need to get the task-force management seriously. The successful organizations set an example as to the fact that they have endeavored long to discover an adequate Human resource (HR) system. These adequate HR systems comprise the selection process, the work force planning's, the real performance planning, and the result oriented performance appraisal system as well as the effective training system. These merged HR systems facilitate important opportunities with the help of trainings and other methods of effective mentoring. The association equipped with abundant human resource kits and business results rely on a plain basis, which advances the employment, thus using by such practice as, may connect with the higher organizational performance (Ulrich 1997). The ever growing complexity and variability in the business environment followed by a sharp change in the technology, the organizations as well as the aggressive competition needs use all of their resources to achieve the competitive advantage in the industry and the most consistent and important source of competitive advantage is the skilled workers. The success in the business depends solely on the faithful and loyal workers and it is undesirable fact that the HR practice is an important source of the work relations. In the light of current situation, this study aims at analyzing the effects of different human resource strategies like the technology-based training on the organizational effectiveness. The focus of this study is to use the relevant technology in the training process and its implications for the organizational activities being an intermediary factor with refund to the targeting consumer workers. This study will help both the Islamic, conventional banking and the corporate leaders. It will help them to identify and recognize the importance of the technology-based training in support of the customer orientation of the employees to achieve the critical business goals through the implementation of these types of activities in their organization.

Literature Review
The Human Resources (HR) function is an unparalleled one. In this context, we believe that the survival is possible only for the companies, which understand that their HR managers are of the primary rather than of the secondary role in the strategic decision-making process. The HR-managers should be considered of sufficient standing in the business policy of the company. HR is truly a strategic partner of the senior management and properly performs its functions representative to act on behalf of the employees (Ehrlich, 1997;Ellig, 1997). According to Jose et al. (2004), the survival is possible only for those companies, which understand that their HR managers are the primary, not the secondary role in the strategic decision-making process. The dedicated literature of (Albertson, 1999;Kristen, 1997;Ammenheuser, 2000;Geoffrey, 1997;Burzawa, 1997) pointed out many reasons like assembling, and exchanging the information, Helping manage and identify the expertise based on two criteria like qualifications, knowledge, and experience, simplify the multifaceted information swapping etc for the technological development in the HR functions. It is also argued to confabulate in calligraphy on the common benefit of the design of an intranet from the interior aspect of the HR management (Blair, 2000;Dawson, 1998;Perussina, 1998Perussina, , 2000. The traditional aspects of learning and education are experiencing radical changes. Teaching and learning are no longer confined to the traditional classroom and instructors -led trainings (Zhang& Nunamaker, 2003). Electronic learning (Elearning) which is on learning through Internet is a major phenomenon in the recent years. Institutions and businesses are investing considerable amount of time and money in the development of the online alternatives to the traditional forms of education and training (Zhang& Nunamaker, 2003).
On the corporate side the competitive business world is being enlighten fast, the employees' needs are up-todate with the latest knowledge and technologies. Many businesses have adopted the e-learning solutions for their company training, such as Dell Learning, e-learning CISCO, HP and Virtual Classroom (Zhang & Nunamaker, 2003). Through the E-learning systems, the employees have an easy access to various online databases and tools that help them find solutions to work-related problems. Zhang and Nunamaker (2003) suggest that the effective and efficient teaching methods are in great demand by the organizations to ensure that the employees and the sales are in line with all the latest information and the most advanced skills. Scholars and practitioners both consider the e-learning systems to be a valuable exchange of knowledge and transfer tool. The researchers however, have not been able to find a consistent relationship between the IT investments and demonstrate organizational performance (Brynjolfsson, 1993;Farbey, Land, & Targett, 1999;Hitt & Brynjolffson, 1996. According to Hitt & Brynjolffson, (1996) the internet is the most important factor which is neglected by the experts. In fact, internet makes it possible to decentralize the individuals within the company to increase their motivational and developmental level and enhancing their employability. Delone and McLean (2003) updated the success model to cape with the measurement challenges of the new e-learning process. The changes in the technology are relevant to the human resources issue. Decision about the new technology for the existing processes to be adopted is a company specific issue. The changes in the information technology have a major impact on the lifestyle and work. A total change in the technology and the skills of many organizations also may create uncertainty and lack of concentration. The previous studies have shown that for many companies to predict the future skill needs were not the sufficiently developed processes and, therefore they were limited to the understanding that experience was a sense of the perspective skills. Studies have shown that it gives no emphasis on the training within the business in the UK. Due to continuous research and field studies exploring the nature and status of the online trainings in Northern Ireland more accurately, the future studies will focus on the technological edge. This can be characterized mainly by the feeling that the poor or non-use application or development of the new technologies can prevent the competitiveness of the enterprises.

Sample:
The study was carried out in the twin-cites of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Almost all the conventional and the Islamic Banks with their branch offices in Rawalpindi and Islamabad were approached. For the questionnaires distribution purpose stratified random sampling techniques were adopted. The Population mainly was categorized into six (6) Islamic and 6 conventional Banks. The selected Banks had their controlling offices in the twin cities. The survey questionnaires were distributed randomly in the respective Bank branches among middle and the front line employees. Total seven hundred and fifty (750) questionnaires were so distributed among the experienced or under training personnel interactions with the regular and potential customers. The turnover was 507 dully filled in scoring 67.6% response rate. The sample size above 400 meets the standard criteria of the social sciences research and the response rate is at level to execute the inferential and differential statistics like the regression analysis, the factor analysis and the high order structural paths. This criterion is in line with the other research studies.

The Measurement:
The response measurement was conducted through the research instrument. The research instrument consisted of four parts. The first part consisted of the demographic information about the banks employees. The prominent items regarding the employees' demographic information included Gender; Age; educational level; working experiences and the type of bank where with the respondents were working. The second part of the questionnaires was composed of the measurement scale of the technologybased trainings (TBT). The measurement scale of the technology-based trainings was adopted and the potential items of the technology-based training and the E-learning scales were adopted. The technologybased training constructs was measured at the 10 -item scale.

Demographic Analyses:
This section addresses the demographic information covered by the survey. This section covers the demographic information like the Gender, the Age, the Educational Status, the Work Experiences, and the Types of Bank. Since the study is based on perceived data, the researcher wants to check the variation in the perception of the practitioners.  (344) were the male participates in the survey. The female participation rate in this study was less than the male subjects. The results further clarified that the survey accounted 11.8 % (60) respondents who had their age group between 18-25 years and 70.4% (357) participants had their age group 26-35 years, whereas, 11.8% (60) fell under the category of 36-45 years and 5.9 % (30) revealed their age between 46 years and above. It was evident from the results that, majority of the conventional and the Islamic Banks employees fall under the category of 26-35 years, demonstrating the mid-career of the employees The above percentage of male and female will help to understand the demographic profile of the employees in banking sector of Pakistan and gives insight to answer question No. 5 at page 8.  Table 4.2 just provides the basic information of employee's experience.

Measuring the Perceptions difference of the Technology Based Trainings and the Customer-Oriented
Employee in Terms of the Gender.

Table 3: Independent Sample T-test of the Technology-Based Trainings and the Customer-Oriented Employees With Respect to the Gender
The tabulation in the above table divulges the mean the differences test for the two independent variables (i.e. the technology-based trainings and the customer-oriented employees) in term of the gender perceptions. It was evident from the analysis that there were no significant mean variations in the perceived technologybased trainings in the male and the female workers of the organization (p>.05). The perceived technologybased training however in the male employees (µ=4.0124, SD=.77146) was relatively greater than in the female employees (µ=3.9893, SD=.80333). The result indicated that the male staff acknowledged more technology-based trainings.  The tabulation in the above table divulges the mean difference test for the two independent variables (i.e. the Technology-based Trainings and the Customer-Oriented employees) in term of the Bank types. It was evident from the analysis that there were the insignificant mean variations in the perceived technology-based trainings in the Islamic and the conventional banks (p>.05). The perceived technology-based training however in the conventional banks (µ=4.0133, SD=.77827) was relatively greater than in the Islamic Banks (µ=4.1012, SD=.78433). The result indicated that a Conventional bank employee recognized more technology-based trainings. The results in table 5 reports the analysis of the variance after securing the assumption of the homogenous variances in the technology-based trainings across different age groups of the staff members of both the Islamic and the conventional banks. It was evidence from the results that the over F-statistics (.407, P>.05) reported the insignificant mean variation in the technology-based trainings. The analysis further divulged that overall all the age groups tended towards the agreement regarding the perceived technology-based trainings, the age group 18-25 years (4.0958) and 26-35(4.0028) years however professed more technologybased trainings as compared to 36-45 years (3.9583) and 46 years and above (3.9417). The analysis summarized that as age group of the employee increased they acknowledged more technology-based trainings. The results in table 6 reports the analysis of the variance after securing the assumption of the homogenous variances in the technology-based trainings across the educational level of the staff members of both the Islamic and the conventional banks. It was evident from the results that the over F-statistics (.526, P>.05) reported the insignificant mean variation in the technology-based trainings. The analysis further divulged that overall the all-educational level employees tended toward the agreement regarding the perceived technology-based trainings; however, the masters' degree holders (4.0282) and the professional banking diploma holders (4.0371) acknowledged the more technology-based trainings as compared to the M. Phil (3.9375) and the bachelor degree holders (3.9293). The results in table 7 reports the analysis of the variance after securing the assumption of the homogenous variances in the technology-based trainings across the work experiences of the staff members of both the Islamic and the conventional banks. It was evident from the results that the F-statistics (.270, P>.05) reported the insignificant mean variation in the technology-based trainings. The analysis further divulged that overall all the work experiences groups tended towards the agreement regarding the perceived technology-based trainings, however, the 15-19 years work experiences (4.1250) and 10-14 years (4.0119) professed more technology-based trainings as compared to the work experiences group of less than 3 years (3.9747) and 4-9 years (4.0162).

Conclusion
The training is becoming increasingly considerable in the banking industry as an instrument to apprehend the broadened market share and the favorable client compensation. Technology is the category of the computer-based training (CBT) that has abundant endowments and it conserves an effect in the progressive intensity training. The HR concern in the (TBT) Technology-based trainings is burgeoning as the larger businesses assimilate as to how to clarify the embryonic amount by establishing the time savings and alienable endowments. The conventional training methods can be time-consuming and costly, and evince numerous logistical confrontations as well. Banking sector has the demonstrated programs manifold in the last decade. Similarly, advent of technology has greatly facilitated in enhancement of organizational performance. Customers have attained greater importance in business entity. It therefore becomes imperative to transfer benefit of technology to customers who in return would have positive impact on banking business. This study concludes that employees of banking industry perceive the importance of technology based training. Since this study takes different demographic variables in to consideration, it is further concluded that the sub categories of all demographic variables give almost equal importance to technology based training in the organizational setting.