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JurnalProduktiviti
vol: 24, 2007
Your Partner in Competitiveness
Journal
0000053903JURNAL Produktiviti - [Journal].
PERBADANAN PRODUKTIVITI NEGARA
JurnalProduktiviti
vol: 24, 2007
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CONTENTS
Khairul Anuar Mohd AltMd Shubri Ismail
Daud TalibKhairul Anuar Mohd AllZaidi Mat IsaWan Rosmanira
Nor Fazila HashitnIda YasinNor Hafizah Mohd AropMelissa Ahmad ArshadMohhidin Othman
Examining Sources Of SatisfactionDissatisfaction Of The MalaysianHotel Employees Using ProfileAccumulation Technique
Best Managerial Practices
byM. Sugumarane-mail : [email protected]
AbstractThis paper attempts to amplify keymanagement practices that should beadopted as best management practices inMalaysia, a productivity driven economy.The paper explores the need for identifyingmanagement best practices in Malaysia.Having established the need, variousOrganisational Excellence Best Practicesadopted in Malaysia, based on the criteriastipulated by Best Practice Awards as wellas those proposed in the literature, shall beanalysed. This shall be followed by aprocess of deductive analysis involving aselection of six key organisationalexcellence best practices that are commonamong the various awarding bodies. Thelist of common best practices forOrganisational Excellence that occur mostfrequently in these awards shall form anappropriate framework to determine bestpractices for organisational excellence.Based on these best practices fororganisational excellence, the expectedManagerial Best Practices inaccomplishing organisational excellenceshall be identified.
IntroductionDeveloping and adopting Best Managerial Practices to face specific challenges
and problems of each organisation are the urgent needs of many businesses andorganisations in this global competitive environment which is characterised by rapidchanging technologies and business environment. The new tendency of training anddevelopment of successful organisations over the world today, is to recognise bestmanagerial practices in dealing with specific challenge of their organisation to reachtargets, missions, objectives and to exceed customers' expectations. Globalisation andrapidly developing technology demand competition. Proper management is vital inthese complex environments. The seriousness towards the adoption of bestmanagerial practices can determine:
• the culture of the organisation,• the productivity of its staff, and• ultimately, success or failure.
As Malaysia forges ahead towards its realisation of vision 2020, the NinthMalaysia Plan (RMK9) will further strengthen to encompass the strategies andprogrammes designed towards becoming a more developed nation. Among the majorthrusts recommended is firstly to move the economy up the value chain. The secondthrust is to raise the country's capacity for knowledge and innovation, and to nurture"first-class mentality". The third thrust addresses persistent socio-economy inequalitiesconstructively and productively. The fourth thrust is to improve the standard andsustainability of quality of life and lastly to strengthen institutional and implementationcapacity.
All the five thrusts are aimed to ensure world class management practices andinfrastructure, and the importance of information structure necessary to prosper theoptimal and ever increasing application of knowledge in all sectors of the economy,and to enable knowledge enabling, knowledge empowering and knowledge intensiveindustries to flourish.
This paper argues that there are certain key prerequisites that need to beaddressed in order for the strategic thrusts recommended above to bear fruition. Thefirst is the need to identify what are the key constructs of organisational excellencethat is required for this to take place within the Malaysian context. This is due to theconstructs of organisational excellence that have been defined and may be used todetermine what organisations will have to focus on to improve the overallorganisational effectiveness in this new productivity driven economy. Anotherprerequisite would be to identify what management best practices should be adoptedto ensure organisational excellence, to raise the country's capacity for knowledge and
innovation, and to nurture "first-class mentality". In addition, it is important thatmanagerial practices required for the attainment of key constructs for organisationalexcellence are identified.
The Importance of Managerial Best PracticesManagement practices and the manner in which managers undertake their roles
and responsibilities vary considerably depending on the nature of the business theyare in, their level of competence and on the type of approach adopted by theorganisation in managing its business. According to Peter Drucker, managers are "todirect the resources and efforts of the business toward opportunities for economicallysignificant results." Managerial Best Practices is defined as adoption of managementbest practice as a way to lead and it serves as a model for other organisations strivingfor excellence. Best Managerial Practices is not the definitive answer to a businessproblem. Instead, they are a source of creative insight for business improvement andfor management solutions.
Managerial Roles and CompetencyTo meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume
multiple roles to suit their competencies through information process, interpersonaland decision making. Normally, the informational roles link to all managerial worksand performance. The interpersonal roles ensure that information is provided and thedecisional roles make significant use of the information, as shown in Figure 1.Managers working in a business that is highly competitive and demanding will becompelled to learn, unlearn and relearn the technical aspects of the business, as wellas adapt their management style to the demands of the business more readily thanmanagers who work in a business that is somewhat stable and predictable. Undersuch circumstances, managers begin to be submerged in their comfort zone andadopt management practices that suit their requirements and expectations. It followstherefore that the variability of the business environment has an impact onmanagement practice.
Given that managers have different technical and personal functioningcompetencies, they would undertake management practices that are consistent withtheir degree of competency. Managers who are technically sound will tend to spendmore time undertaking directive based leadership and managers who have excellentinterpersonal competencies will adopt supportive leadership. As such, the preferredpractice will differ depending on the nature of their competencies.
U<to
Figure 1 1 Managerial Roles
INTERPERSONAL
INFORMATIONAL
OECISIONAL
• Leader• Liaison
• Monitor• Disseminator• Spokesperson
• Entrepreneur• Negotiator
Provide Information
Process Information
Use Information
Approach Adopted by OrganisationsThere are primarily two approaches organisations adopt in terms of improving
performance. One involves increasing performance at all cost and ensuring thatperformance is improved rapidly with time. This type of organisations may becategorised as performance based organisations. Another approach that may beadopted is the learning based organisations that are more prone to learn from mistakesand in the process undertake a more gradual but sustained performance improvementthat may be slower but ultimately leads to continual improvement with time.
Managers who work with performance based organisations adopt managementpractices that tend to favour results, whereas managers who work with learningbased organisations are more inclined to be process driven and are learning oriented.
Again we see distinct differences in management practices among managers,depending on whether the organisation they work for is performance based orlearning based.
The above underlies the fundamental concern about what really constitutes bestmanagement practice, given the variation of management practices that exist inMalaysia, as indicated above.
Given that organisational excellence is the ultimate goal for ensuring increasedcompetitiveness and sustamability of business, it appears that the best managementpractices should transcend issues relating to the nature of business, managerscompetency and organisational approach to performance improvement. Themanagement best practice should be practices that contribute significantly towardswhat may be construed as organisational excellence. As long as managers contributetowards organisational excellence in a productivity driven economy, they undertake
Managerial Best Practices. It is important to identify what this is because it will alsoprovide an effective avenue for management to "integrate their knowledge intoproductive activity" (Grant, 1997) in order for such organisations to flourish in aproductivity driven economy.
It is important to bear in mind that the transformation of knowledge based focuswill have an impact on all organisations open to competition (Teece,2000). However,the nature of the impact will vary substantially depending on the extent to whichmanagement best practices suitable for the productivity driven economy is adopted. Itis due to this that a clear and definite understanding of what constitutes managementbest practices in a productivity driven economy is identified. This is an importantconsideration for ensuring that the process of shifting management attention toknowledge based management is undertaken on a continuous basis. Failure to do sowill retard the development of knowledge based industries in Malaysia.
Key Constructs for Organisational ExcellenceTo identify key constructs that constitute organisational excellence, a
comprehensive review of the criteria for such awards, as identified in the awards aswell as in the literature, was conducted. Such an analysis provided an indication ofwhat aspects of business operation and management practice were deemed crucial interms of ensuring organisational excellence. The awards identified included theMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), the European Quality Award(EQA), the Doming Prize and the Malaysian Quality Management Excellence Award(QMEA). To ensure a comprehensive coverage of all aspects, in addition to keyconstructs cited in the awards, a comprehensive review of the literature was carriedout as well. This provided a more holistic and comprehensive overview of the criteriafor operational excellence. A summary of the findings is indicated in Table 1 below.
Analysis of TQM Frameworks and Best Practices
Table 1 | Analysis of TQM Frameworks and Best Practices
Awards and Citations Organisational Excellence Best Practices
^ ^ •L. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Qeming Prize (2006)
MBNQA (2006)
EQA (2006]
QMEA (2007)
Mele and Colurcio (2005]
Boon & Arumugam (2005]
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X X
X
0
Asare, DavidS Murphy (2005)
Dale &Ahmed (2003]
PuiMun(2003)
Prajogo, Daniel (2003)Ange ta l . (2000)
Zhangeta l . (2000)
Nwabueze(2001)
Thiagarajanetal(2001)
1X
X
X
2
X
X
X
X
3
X
X
X
X
X
X
4
X
X
X
X
X
X
5
X
X
X
X
X
6
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
7
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
8
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
9
X
X
X
X
10
X
X
11X
X
X
12 13 14 .
X
*Note: The numbers in the top row refer to the
1. Top Management Commitment2. Strategic Quality Management3. Process Quality Management4. Design Quality Management5. Education and Training6. Supplier Quality Management7. Customer Satisfaction
9. Business ResultsI 0. Information and AnalysisII Benchmarking12. Human Resources Management13. Impact on Society and Environment14. Statistical Process Control15. Culture.
As the findings indicated a broad array of constructs distributed over a range ofawards and citations in the literature, a frequency table denoting the frequency atwhich these constructs were cited was developed. This table provided an indication ofthe relative importance of these constructs, by virtue of the frequency in which theywere cited. The frequency of occurrence and the corresponding priority ranking isindicated in Table 2 below.
Table 2 Frequency Analysis of Organisational Excellence Best Practices
Frequency of PrioritisedNo. TQM Best Practices Occurrence Rank
1.2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7
8.
9.
10.
11.
12
13.
14.
15.
Process ManagementEducation and Training
Total Customer Satisfaction
Top Management Commitment
Supplier Quality Management
Employee Empowerment and Involvement
Information and Analysis
Strategic Quality Management
Design Quality Management
Business Results
Impact on Society and Environment
Benchmarking
Human Resources Management
Statistical Process Control
Quality Culture
13
13
13
11
11
11
11
9
8
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
4
5
6
7
7
7
7
The frequency analysis shown in Tables 1 and 2 revealed that 13 out of the 14frameworks have three best practices in common: Process Management, Training &Development, and Total Customer Satisfaction. The analysis further revealed that 11out of the 14 frameworks have four best practices in common, which are. ManagementCommitment, Supplier Quality Management, Employee Empowerment and Involvement,and Information and Analysis. The Strategic Quality Management and Design QualityManagement have their presence in nine and eight frameworks respectively.
Based on the findings obtained, it may be possible to deduce that within theconfines of the major awards and citations by the various authors identified, theconstructs that have the highest and the second highest frequency of occurrenceinclude, Process Management, Education and Training, Total Customer Satisfaction,Top Management Commitment, Supplier Quality Management, Employee Empowermentand Involvement, and lastly Information and Analysis. Each of the above constitutesan important and critical construct of organisational Best Managerial Practice thatthrives on ensuring organisations continually learn and innovate to succeed.
Management Best Practices Required toAchieve Organisational Excellence
An examination of the factors above suggests that in order for an organisation toachieve excellence, it is necessary to ensure that the processes or activities undertakenare continually improved and reviewed through a well structured and forward basededucation and training curriculum. It also seems to suggests that top managementcommitment is a key prerequisite for operational excellence and the commitmentshould involve empowering employees as well as focusing on customer and supplierrequirements so that the flow of product and services to society is sustained.
It is important to realise that each of the above has to be considered incombination and not pursued in isolation with the other. Harrington (2005) provided acompelling argument for the need to combine and manage simultaneously five pillarsof organisational excellence that include Process Management, Project Management,Change Management, Resource Management and Knowledge Management. Heargued that organisations have to adopt a comprehensive holistic approach tomanagement and not adopt a piecemeal approach to issues like Total QualityManagement, Customer Relationship Management and the like.
To be able to undertake this challenging task of combining and managingsimultaneously these five pillars of management excellence, management bestpractices that enable the combination and management of these pillars of excellencehave to be identified and practiced. This will require managers to rethink their rolesand responsibilities and undertake best practices that are suited to today's businessenvironment. This entails an implementation of management reform.
It is imperative that managers are not only engaged in physical transformation ofproducts or services to customers but are also continually committed to improve whatthey do. They have to ensure that they are constantly in a state of "high thinking andhigh doing" to manage change for business transformation. This ability to think and doat the same time calls for a radical reform of management practice, from engagingprimarily in doing or thinking, to being engaged in both thinking and doing (IsmailAdarn 2007), as per the diagram below.
Figure 2 High Thinking High Doing
HIGH DOINGLOW THINKING
HIGH THINKINGHIGH DOING
LOW THINKINGLOW DOING
1HIGHTHINKIN
LOW DOING
Low Thinking High
The above suggested that for managers to succeed, they will need to undertake aseries of interventions in an organisation that strives to improve all pillars of excellenceand at the same time ensure they are constantly thinking of ways and means ofimproving what they do. To achieve and to maintain the speed of high doing and highthinking, those who are involved need to think fast and need to understand the primarydrivers of change, work at staying plugged in, constantly search for new combinations,and work on developing a sense of heightened perception, as shown in Figure 3.
• High thinking: anticipating the future, spotting trends before others, challengingassumptions, and creating a corporate environment where the best idea wins
• Quick decision making: establishing corporate guiding principles and constantlyreassessing everything, and matching the decision to the consequence
• High doing : doing the right thing all the time• Exceed customer needs : focus on the customer
Figure 3 Exceed Customer Needs
HighThinking
Decision-making
HighDoing
ExceedCustomer
Needs
It has been reported that organisations that have successfully implementedmanagement reform have three common features that underline management bestpractices. These include managers having the competency to define clear missionsand desired outcomes, measure performance to gauge progress and use performanceinformation as a basis for decision making (Welsh, 2001) to:
• Challenge the process;• Inspire a shared vision;• Enable others to act; and• Model the way.
It can be concluded that the best practice for management should includeproviding leadership, having strategic visioning capability, process improvementthrough coaching and mentoring, having excellent communication in order to define,monitor and use feedback as a basis for decision making and being able to continuallyengage in change management to ensure that the organisation being managed iscontinually reinventing itself to adapt to the ever changing demands of business.
These requirements are particularly important in a productivity driven economy.This is because of the emphasis laid on the acquisition of leadership competenciesand on the need to continually engage in learning and development to improveorganisational competitiveness. In addition, management best practices for theproductivity driven economy requires that managers develop excellent communicationskills and are able to use these skills to coach employees towards improving overallperformance. The ability to act as a change agent that effectively transforms theorganisation to suit the needs of the productivity driven economy is crucial in thisregard. As outlined earlier, this ability calls for excellent change managementcompetencies and managers should undertake such change management initiativeson an ongoing basis given the changing nature of business. Only then it would bepossible for a learning based organisation that strives on continual improvement tocome into existence.
A summary of the Best Managerial Practices and their corresponding focus isindicated below.
Leadership• Takes personal ownership and accountability for results• Recognises linkages in seemingly unrelated events• Acts decisively and pragmatically• Looks for the novel, untried or untested opportunities
Strategic Visioning• Creates (and has clarity of| vision for the future• Articulates and communicates a compelling vision that inspires
commitment from others• Formulates and implements strategy that positions the organisation to
achieve its longer term vision
Planner• Determines long-term and short term objectives and strategies• Allocates resources according to priorities• Determines how to use personnel and resources to accomplish a task efficiently• Determines how to improve coordination, productivity and the effectiveness
of the organisation• Ensures that work is not repeated nor problems tackled too late
Coaching for Performance Improvement• Displays intellectual curiosity« Sees developmental opportunities and lessons in day-to-day business events• Leads and supports the development of subordinates• Generate enthusiasm for the work, commitment to task objectives, and
compliance with requests for cooperation, assistance, support, or resources• Sets an example of appropriate behaviour
Good Communicator• Makes an impact for a specific intentional objective• Influences others to accept a point of view, adopt a specific agenda or take
a course of action through persuasion, rapport building and usingorganisational channels
• Communicates effectively in adverse or difficult situations
Probiem Solver• Able to identify work-related problems• Analyses problems in a timely but systematic manner to identify causes
and find solutions• Acts decisively to implement solutions to resolve important problems or crises• Encourages suggestions for improvement• Invites participation in decision making• Incorporates ideas and suggestions from others in decisions• Disseminates relevant information about decisions, plans, and activities to
staff that need this information to do their work
Negotiator• Uses negotiation daily, to work together with staff from different departments
and units to integrate knowledge to create value added product or service• Influences others through negotiation and/or renegotiation in decision
making process• Able to lead effective negotiations where each party understands the
interests and reach a mutually acceptable solution
Change Management• Understands situational context and acts to maintain control and
leadership in influencing direction• Leads and champions change• Manages ambiguity comfortably, taking and managing risks
ConclusionThe changing economic landscape in Malaysia has necessitated a reassessment
of management best practices that are required in the near future. Given that Malaysiahas embarked on a new approach that places a high premium on knowledgedevelopment and human capital, the latest management best practices need to beidentified. This is particularly so, given that management practices vary considerablybased on the nature of business, competencies of managers as well as types ofapproach adopted by organisations to improve performance. The best practicesproposed should provide a focal point for all organisations under all businessconditions and thereby serve as a framework for managerial best practices inMalaysia. It has been proposed that management best practices for a productivitydriven economy should be practices that are aligned to leadership, strategic visioning,coaching for performance improvement, communication and change management.However, these best practices will have to be continually reviewed on a regular basis,because best practices of today may well become outdated tomorrow.
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The Influence Of Motivation And PerceivedBenefits On Implementation And Maintenance
Of ISO 9001:2000 Standard In SelectedOrganisations In Malaysia
byRoziana Othmane-mail : [email protected]
AbstractThis paper examines the influence ofmotivational factors for obtainingcertification and perceived benefitsmeasures on the ease of implementing andmaintaining ISO 9001:2000 qualitymanagement system. A survey wasconducted on organisations that hadobtained their ISO 9000 certification andstill continue with the implementation atthe time of the study through variouscertification bodies. Hypothesis that weretested using path analysis showed thatthere is a structural relationship betweeninternal perceived benefits with the ease ofimplementation and maintenance. It wasalso established that motivation is thesignificant predictor that influences thebenefits gained, and ISO 9000 standardsprovide a platform for a consistentorganisation-wide approach to continualimprovement.
©
IntroductionThe awareness on importance of quality and having quality management system
for better organisational performance has been emphasised through the work of many
quality proponents. There was a growing awareness and acceptance on ISO 9000
quality management standards for establishing quality management systems amongorganisations in Malaysia. The number of certified organisations increasedcumulatively from 2022 in 2003, to 3249 in 2005 (as at June 2005) and growing at anannual rate of 51.2% in 2004. Continuous implementation and maintenance of quality
management system was essential to satisfy customers and to ensure enhancementof the system.
Companies obtained ISO 9000 certification in anticipation that it will bringsignificant benefits to them. It was proven by a number of empirical evidences that the
benefits reaped contributed mostly towards operation improvement and efficiency(Santos and Escanciano, 2002; Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002; Salleh and Goh, 2001;
and, Withers and Ebrahimpour, 2001). Recent study by Magd et at., 2003 have
examined the impact of ISO 9000 implementation on organisational performance andsuggested that the adoption of ISO 9000 was justified in terms of many benefitsassociated with its implementation.
ISO 9000 certification had become a basic competitive prerequisite for many
companies doing business in today's global economy (Delpha, 2002). According to
Santos and Escanciano (2002), future research will be necessary to analyse the effectsof ISO 9001:2000 so as to determine whether substantial improvements of a
commercial nature have been experienced. Although the study found that the benefit
gained was on internal efficiency, there was a tendency for firms to gain benefits ofexternal nature, such as improving their market share, image and competitive position,as these benefits contribute most to an organisation's approval of the ISO 9000
certification. Nwankwo (2000) supported that ISO 9000 standard led companies to a
continuous progression towards greater professionalism in their approach to maintain
successful market positions.
It is also believed that the present version of the standard (ISO 9001:2000) willovercome the limitations and disadvantages experienced with the earlier version of thestandard (ISO 9000:1994) in order to improve the competitive position of certifiedcompany. Santos and Escanciano (2002) however cited that there was no empiricalevidence to establish whether the most market-oriented certified companies obtainbetter results than those companies with lesser degree of market-orientation.
Another interesting issue that had been deliberated in many of the researchworks was whether the benefits or advantages reaped by the companies weretangible. From literatures, a number of explanations and definitions were given byresearchers with regards to what was meant by the benefits being tangible.Gotzamani and Tsiotras (2002) showed that motives for true quality improvement willresult with improvement in operations and product's quality. Stevenson and Barnes(2001) found that the evidence, needed to prove that real benefits from achievingcertification can be realised in a long term, was on an increasing trend. Casadesus andGimenez (2000) believed that the new ISO 9001:2000 will result in tangibleimprovement as its structure focuses on continual improvement and measurement ofcustomer satisfaction. In addition, findings from Salleh and Goh (2001) showed thatinternally-driven motives were perceived to be of greater beneficial outcomes of theimplementation of ISO 9000 quality management system.
Contrary to the earlier findings, Najmi and Kehoe (2001) cited that many
companies which had obtained ISO 9000 certification eventually experienceddiminishing business benefits. Their findings showed that those companies which didnot maintain and sustain its quality system will only experience illusional benefits.
Casadesus and Gimenez (2000) found that the benefits gained by most companieswere more focused on commercial value and quality image and did not relate to thereal improvement in quality. The benefits gained were also not real because of lack ofimprovements in the companies after a given period of time. Gotzamani and Tsiotras(2002) in their study revealed that many companies could get certified without havingto prove any business results. It was also found that the ISO 9000 standards led to aninappropriate emphasis, that it was bureaucratic or more paperwork rather than quality
improvement.
Another important issue that had been brought forward by many researchers wasthe difficulties encountered before, during and after the implementation of ISO 9000
activities. Findings from Santos & Escanciano (2002), Escanciano et al. (2001), Dick
(2000) and Rissanen (2000) revealed that the earlier version of the standard (ISO
9000:1994) had created some problems with regards to extra burden and work due toexcessive paperwork, documentation and bureaucracy. Major problem faced by manyorganisations was related to the human resource aspects such as resistance to change,employee resentment, lack of understanding and information on technical matter,inexperience and fear (Awan and Bhatti, 2003; Amar and Mohd Zain, 2002; Escancianoet al, 2001; AI-Khalifa and Aspinwall, 2000; and Fuentes et al, 2000). The levels ofdifficulties in implementation were due to the incapability of the companies in fulfillingthe ISO standard requirements fully (Salleh and Goh, 2001 and Chin et al., 2000).
©
However, Fuentes et al. (2000) and Lo and Humphreys (2000) found that most ofthe companies studied had difficulty in acquiring right consultants from externalsources. Besides facing limited resources, it was found that time and costs were theother obstacles in the implementation of ISO 9000. It was further explored that topmanagement support and involvement were vital to the success in getting
certification and ISO implementation (Withers & Ebrahimpour, 2001; AI-Khalifa &Aspinwall, 2000 and Fuentes et al., 2000). Despite the criticism of the standard, thepresent ISO 9000 standards have undergone revision and it was believed that the
certification was worth the difficulties experienced (Dick, 2000 and Rissanen, 2000).
Therefore, this study focused on identifying the organisational impediments or
difficulties faced by the certified companies in implementing the quality management
system according to ISO 9000 standard and established the structural relationships
with the motives of certification and the benefits gained by the certified companies.
The 1994 version was criticised, among other things, for putting too much stress
on documentation and records. Findings from Santos & Escanciano (2002), Escanciano
et al. (2001), Dick (2000) and Rissanen (2000) revealed that the earlier version of thestandard (ISO 9000:1994) had created some problems with regards to extra burdenand work due to excessive paperwork, documentation and bureaucracy. The levels of
difficulties in implementation were due to the incapability of the companies in fulfilling
the ISO standard requirements fully (Salleh and Goh, 2001 and Chin et al., 2000). Toovercome these problems, the new standard places far more emphasis on processesand results. However, this raised a question, "Will the improvements to the standard
really help to reduce variability in its implementation and maintenance and make the
implementation easier?"
Past studies had shown that researchers looked at factors such as motivational
factors (Marshall, 2002; Singles et al., 2001; Staines, 2000; Brown et al., 1998),perceived benefits factors (Lee et al., 1999; Koo et al., 1999; Leung and Chan, 1999)and implementation factors (Tang and Kam, 1999; Lipovatz et al., 1999) as separate
issues, and there was no effort to analyse these 3 variables simultaneously and study
their relationships. There were few attempts by Poksinska (2002) to analyse therelationship between motivation and benefits, and by Salleh and Goh (2001) to see thelinks between the reasons for seeking certification with degree of perceived difficultyand links between organisational factors (European market, ownership and paid upcapital) with degree of perceived difficulty. Further to this, limited literatures on therelationships of these variables and no effort to build the framework between these
factors had necessitated this study to fill in the gap.
Another gap observed in this study was the lack of references from local sourcesthat can be used in comparing and contrasting the issues and findings of this study.Although the references were mainly from referred journals and internationalpublications, the Malaysian context should be taken into consideration to generatebroad understanding of the issues being discussed and deliberated.
Empirical studies also showed that many barriers and general difficulties of ISO9000 certification (Santos & Escanciano, 2002; Escanciano et al., 2001; Dick, 2000;
Rissanen, 2000; Lipovatz et al., 1999; and, Quazi and Padibjo, 1998) occurred in
implementing ISO 9000 quality systems. Only few attempted to analyse the level ofdifficulty in implementing the clauses of ISO 9000 standards based on ISO 1994version, (Salleh and Goh, 2001 and Chin et al., 2000). Salleh and Goh (2001) went one
step further in testing the links between the degrees of perceived difficulty ofsatisfying the 20 requirements with five factors which were only confined todemographic or organisational factors. However, this study intended to fill theknowledge gap by looking at factors influencing the implementation and maintenanceof the ISO 9001:2000 standard based on 8 clauses in the standard. This study analysed
the relationships, which were not confined to the organisational factors only, but alsotook into account the motivations and perceived benefits that may have structuralrelationships with the ease of implementing and maintaining the ISO 9001:2000 systems.
To add clarity to the problem statement, the major aim of this study was toaddress the research question below:
"Is there any structural relationship between the ease of implementation andmaintenance of ISO 9001:2000 systems with motivational factors and perceived
benefits factors?"
This study intends to answer the following research objectives;
i) To find out the influence of motivations or motives for obtainingcertification on the ease of implementing and maintaining the ISO9001:2000 quality management systems;
ii) To find out the influence of perceived benefits from the implementationof ISO 9001:2000 certification on the ease of implementing andmaintaining the ISO 9001: 2000 quality management systems; and
iii} To find out the influence of motivations on the perceived benefits.
0
The previous ISO 9000 quality management system standards (ISO 9000:1994}were officially replaced by the present version (ISO 9001:2000) on 15 November2000. It was believed that the present version will address the weaknesses andproblems faced in the implementation of the earlier version. Therefore, it wasexpected that this present version should perform better, as this upgraded standarddemands for more comprehensive improvement in the quality management system.
The features of the present standard require companies seeking ISO 9000certification to be more customer-focused. The companies are also required tomeasure and monitor the progress made in achieving both customer satisfaction andeffective communication. The standard also emphasises on continual improvement byurging the companies to frequently review the effectiveness and suitability of theirquality management system at planned intervals. The earlier version was criticised,among other things, for putting too much emphasis on documentations and records
(Caillibot, 2001). Hence, to overcome this, the new standard places more emphasis onprocesses and results.
Dick (2000) in his study found that companies often implement quality
management systems due to external pressures. This study intended to find outwhether the main motivation for companies in obtaining the certification was
externally driven, and that such motivational factors remained the same for thepresent standard.
The challenges introduced in the new version raised the question as to whetherthe benefits of ISO 9000:2000 standard were similar to the previous standard (ISO
9000:1994). The literature search showed that the benefits of ISO 9000:1994 were
more internally oriented and it is anticipated that the benefits of the new version will
be more towards addressing the external elements.
Many studies on the earlier version of the ISO standard also showed that manycompanies which obtained certification expected various improvements in theirorganisation. However, there was no clear indication whether the companiesexperienced the intended benefits. The perceived benefits gained were not realbecause it was usually tied up with a lack of improvement in the companies, after agiven period of time (Casadesus and Gimenez, 2000). Furthermore, companies couldget certified without having to prove any positive business results (Gotzamani andTsiotras, 2002).
What emerged from the various studies showed that an organisation which wasable to be certified with the earlier version of ISO 9000 standard did not mean that itwas truly committed to quality (Nwankwo, 2000) and the organisation was justimplementing it as the latest quality fad with no real benefits (Stevenson & Barnes,
2001). Many companies did not plan to implement improvement further from the
point of obtaining certification as they found that the difficulties in the maintenance ofthe areas required in the quality management system are insurmountable.
This study is an extension of the previous studies by looking at theimplementation factors, motivational factors and the perceived benefits factors
simultaneously while other researchers were looking at the issues separately. Notmuch research work focused on the factors influencing the implementation and
maintenance of quality management systems certified to ISO 9001:2000 standardshad been conducted to date. Findings from this study will add to the existing body ofknowledge of literatures on the relationships between motivations and maintenance ofISO 9001:2000 standard, and the relationships between perceived benefits and themaintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard. Specifically, this study contributed to greater
understanding on the dimensions of critical issues in implementation and maintenance
of ISO 9001:2000 standard in Malaysia. Lastly, this study hoped to focus on how
companies could improve the existing approach and strategy of promoting the
development and capacity building required in the implementation of ISO 9001:2000
standard.
This study covers organisations that had obtained ISO 9000 certification and thosestill pursuing the implementation at the time of the study through various certificationbodies such as SIRIM QAS International, AOQC Moody and Cl International. Upon
inspection of the statistics compiled by the Department of Standard on number ofcertification issued for different sectors, the scope for the organisations to be includedin this research include all sectors and industries listed by the respective certificationbodies. It is important to note that SIRIM QAS International commanded close to 85%of the total certified organisations.
Literature ReviewRelationship between Motivation and Perceived Benefits
There were numerous efforts of studies conducted to link or relate the reasons forISO 9000 certification with the benefits perceived from such certification. Santos and
Escanciano (2002) analysed the reasons that led companies to be certified, and found
o
that the reasons were related to the benefits obtained. Another supporting evidence
of this grounded theory was proven in the research conducted by Gotzamani andTsiotras (2002), which tested the relationship between certification motives and
benefits. The findings proved that the motives, which led companies to certification,were related with the overall benefits that companies gained from it. It was also foundthat the motivation for ISO 9000 certification was a significant and positive predictor
that influenced the benefits derived (Terziovski et al., 2002; Withers and Ebrahirnpour,2001). This was supported by studies by Poksinska et al. (2002) and Salleh and Goh(2001} which emphasised that there was a relationship between motivation and thedegree of perceived benefits and further concluded that the overall benefits which thecompanies gained from the standard showed dependency on motivation which
initiated the drive for the certification.
Past studies had proven that there were relationships between motivationalfactors and perceived benefits factors. As the findings were related to previousstandard, it is hoped that this study will prove likewise and could support thecontinuity of the same findings that were derived from the current standard in contextof the Malaysian environment.
The methods of analysis used by past studies were hypothesis testing bycorrelation analysis between motives and perceived benefits. This study also utilisedthe same analysis and went one step further in performing the path analysis to provethe structural relationships between these two factors.
Relationship between Perceived Benefits and Implementationand Maintenance of Quality Management System
Many research works had proven that the perceived benefits were associated
with the improvement in the firm's competitiveness (Santos and Escanciano, 2002}and the implementation and maintenance of ISO 9000 systems (Salleh and Goh, 2001;Chin et al., 2000). As the companies perceived the benefits in a right way, they wouldcontinuously progress towards maintaining successful market positions (Nwankwo,2000}; therefore companies could foresee the difficulties hence develop strongstrategies towards making the implementation easier. There were many authors whosaw that the most important benefits gained from ISO 9000 certification were
improved documentation and record management (Gunnlangsdottir, 2002; Amar and
Zain, 2002; Poksinska et al., 2002; Salleh and Goh, 2001; Chin et al., 2000). Failure to
foresee the perceived benefits could be a barrier that makes it difficult for a companyto implement and maintain a certified quality system.
In most studies, authors found that critical clauses in the maintenance of ISO
9000 system were related to corrective and preventive action, managementresponsibility, and documentation and data control (Salleh and Goh, 2001). This issupported by findings from Chin et al. (2000), who found that the important clauses
for ISO 9000 maintenance, which was referred as 'the maintenance triangle',comprised of management review, internal quality audit and corrective action.Awareness on the importance of ISO 9000 maintenance is crucial in a competitivecondition whereby firms are able to convert the attainment and continuousimprovement of quality into goals to guarantee long term survival. However, there isno study on whether there is an association between the level of perceived benefitsand level of perceived difficulty in implementing and maintaining the ISO system.
Past studies had proven that perceived benefits are associated with theimplementation and maintenance of the ISO 9000 systems. There was no studyconducted specifically on the relationship between internal perceived benefits withthe ease of implementation and maintenance. It was hoped that this study will provesignificantly that there is a structural relationship between perceived benefits andimplementation.
The methods of analysis used by past studies were hypothesis testing bycalculating the mean difference, t-test and percentage rating. This study also utilisedthe same analysis and went one step further in performing the path analysis to showthat there was structural relationships between the perceived benefits factors withthe ease of implementation and maintenance factors.
Relationship between Implementation and Maintenance ofQuality Management System, Motivation, and Perceived Benefits
Based on past studies, there was not much evidence to prove that the factors
namely, motivational and perceived benefits, had simultaneous structural relationships
with the implementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard. Past studiesanalysed these factors separately but this study is an extension of the previousstudies; analysing the implementation and maintenance factors, organisational factors,
motivational factors and the perceived benefits factors simultaneously. This study
went one step further to fill the gap by proposing a conceptual framework, althoughthere were limited literatures on the relationships of these variables and no effort tobuild the framework between these factors.
The present standard requires companies seeking ISO 9000 certification to be
more customer-focused and they are required to measure and monitor the progressmade in achieving both customers' satisfaction. The standard also emphasises oncontinual improvement by urging the companies to frequently review theeffectiveness and suitability of their quality management system. It is anticipated that
this present version should perform better as the upgraded standard demands morecomprehensive and improvement in the quality management system and is perceivedas less difficult to be implemented. Based on the current needs of ISO 9001:2000standards, greater understanding on the dimensions of critical issues in
implementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard is vital to the industries
in Malaysia.
Conceptual FrameworkThe operationalisation of a theory is done through developing a specific set of
dependent relationships that can be tested empirically. The purpose of a model is toconcisely provide a comprehensive representation of the relationships to be examined(Hair et al., 1998). To achieve a clear picture of the theory with clearly definedvariables, the model is then formalised in a path diagram or in a set of structuralequations. The path analysis is used to better portray the structural relationships.
Based on discussions in previous chapters, the study focused on three majorconsiderations. Firstly, the study aimed to test whether there is a structuralrelationship between motivational factors with the ease of implementing and
maintaining the quality management system. A framework was also developed to findout whether the perceived benefits factors have structural relationship with the ease
of implementing and maintaining the quality management system. Lastly, it was alsoto find out whether the motivational factors had structural relationship with the
perceived benefits.
Through these structural relationships, it was hoped that this study had proventhat as the motivation of the organisation to obtain the certification is high, they would
perceive the benefits in a more positive way and could foresee the difficulties inimplementing and maintaining it. Hence, the organisation will develop strongstrategies towards making the implementation and maintenance easier. On the other
hand, if the motivational level to obtain certification is low, organisations would fail to
perceive the benefits of the certification, and would eventually experience difficulties
in implementing and maintaining the ISO systems. The theoretical framework that
was developed to present a clear picture of this hypotheses is depicted in Figure 1.
Proposed Conceptual Framework
Independent Variable
MOTIVATIONALFACTORS
PERCEIVEDBENEFITS FACTORS
Dependent Variable
IMPLEMENTATION &MAINTENANCE OF QMS
HypothesesIn order to substantiate empirical evidence, the below main hypotheses weredeveloped and tested:
Hi: The motivational factors have positive relationship with the ease ofimplementing and maintaining the quality management systems;
H2: The perceived benefits factors have positive relationship with the ease ofimplementing and maintaining the quality management systems; and
Ha: The motivational factors have positive relationship with the perceived benefits.
The proposed framework was expected to be a useful foundation on which furtherempirical research in the field of ISO 9000 systems can be further enhanced to assistcompanies in Malaysia in maintaining their certification. The framework had proven tothe companies that ISO 9001:2000 certification can add value to their organisations'overall performance. Four significant results were expected from the proven
theoretical framework such as:
a. The drive for ISO 9001:2000 certification was motivated primarily byquality considerations in internal factors.
b. The perceived benefits, especially internal factors, were proven to havepositive relationships with the ease of implementing and maintaining theISO 9001:2000 systems.
c. The motivational factor was a strong influence of the benefits that mightbe perceived by companies embarking on ISO 9001:2000 certifications.
Methodology
The descriptive research was chosen for this study to describe the factors
influencing the implementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard in
Malaysia. The research sample chosen for the study included ISO 9001:2000 certified
companies in different sectors, obtained from SIRIM QAS database and directories of
other certifying bodies accredited to Department of Standard Malaysia (DSM). Five
hundred respondents were targeted as the sample size for this study. The sample,
which consisted of stratified samples, was selected using simple random sampling
according to distribution by sectors. This method was chosen to ensure that each
sector is represented in the sample. The data collection methods used was self
administered questionnaire; posted through mail, fax or email to companies.
The data was then analysed using SPSS version 13 and LISREL 8.72. The
descriptive analysis performed was frequency analysis and Cronbach's alpha, and
inferential analysis was conducted using Pearson Correlation Analysis and Structural
Equation Modeling/ Path Analysis.
Development of MeasuresBased on previous research, the measures developed were adopted and modified tosuit the needs of the study. The origins of the measures used are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 The Origins of Constructs
No. Construct Adopted From
1.2.
3.
Motivational Factors
Perceived Benefits Factors
Implementation andMaintenance of QMS
Poksinska et al. (2003) and Llopis and Tari (2003).
Poksinska et al. (2003) and Salleh and Goh (2001)
ISO 9001:2000 Standard
Source: Compiled by Author
The constructs were measured by looking precisely at each of the items and how
well they suited the study. Motivational factors were also considered as independent
variables in this study. The dimensions of motivational factors in this study wereadopted from Poksinska et al. (2003) and Llopis and Tari (2003). Poksinska et al. (2003)
studied the experiences from implementation of ISO 14000 in Sweden in comparison
with motives, benefits and key implementation factors of ISO 9000. Similarly, Llopisand Tari (2003) analysed the influence of internal motivation for seeking certification
with the level of quality management and performance in order to determine whetherinternal aspects are more important than external aspects. Some modifications andadditions was done to the variables classified by Poksinska et al. (2003} and Llopis andTari (2003) to suit the needs of this study and they were grouped into three classes.
The perceived benefits were tested in two stages. Firstly, the perceived benefitsas independent variable may have structural relationship with the dependent variable;that is, the ease of implementing and maintaining the quality management systems.Secondly, perceived benefits were considered as dependent variables. The influenceof organisational variables on motivation factors was assumed to have effect on theperceived benefits. The analysis was done to see whether direct relationship can beestablished between the motives of companies seeking certification and the types ofperceived benefits gained through ISO 9000 certification. In the operationalisation ofthe perceived benefits factor, the dimensions of these factors were adopted fromPoksinska et al. (2003) and Salleh and Goh (2001). Some modifications were done to
categorise the variables into two groups that represent specific and clear dimensionsto suit the needs of the study.
The dependent variable was a group of factors termed as the ease ofimplementation and maintenance factors. They were measured through a series ofstatements which indicate the level of difficulty that organisations experienced in theprocess of carrying out the activities that are related to ISO 9000 certification. Thedimensions of these factors were adopted from ISO 9001:2000 standard which was
used as a reference. This study defined the implementation process as starting fromthe process where the organisation prepared for adequacy audit until after getting the
certification and continuously improve the process.
Another three variables, namely motivational factors, perceived benefits factors
and implementation and maintenance factors, were analysed simultaneously to testthe hypotheses number 1, 2 and 3. It was believed that SEM provides the appropriate
and the most efficient estimation techniques for a series of separate multipleregression equations which were estimated simultaneously (Hair et al., 1998). In linewith the objective of the study to identify which independent variables predict eachdependent variable, the characteristic of SEM in developing structural model is themost suitable method in which path was developed to relate independent todependent variables and allow multiple relationships between these variables.
In comparison with the methodology used to analyse the motivational factors
which are inappropriate for this study, Poksinska et al. (2003) analysed their data usingfactor analysis and paired sample t-test whereas Llopis and Tari (2003) used clusteranalysis and also factors analysis. Besides these analysis, the method used byPoksinska et al. (2003) in analysing the perceived benefits factors were t-test for
paired sample whereas Salleh and Goh (2001) used average mean scores in analysing
this variable.
Results and DiscussionAmongst the response received, majority (56.6%) of the respondents were from
the manufacturing sector, followed by healthcare and construction both at 8.8%.
Within the manufacturing sector, the main portion came from the electrical andelectronic industry (25%) and followed by the chemical industry (19%). In terms of
ownership, 61% of respondents were from local organisations and 22% was from
majority local organisations. This was followed by 12% from foreign companies andlastly 5% from Government agencies.
A total of 37 (32.7%) of the respondents exported their products or services to
various market destinations. Majority of the exports were to ASEAN countries, a40.5% of the total number that exported their products or services. Majority of therespondents (36.3%) were from large companies with number of employees from 151to 500. This was followed by larger and mostly multinational companies at 28.3% and
medium-sized companies at 24.8%. Only about 10.6% of the respondents were fromsmall companies. About 38.1% of total respondents had been certified to ISO systemfor less than 5 years and only 15% had been certified to the ISO 9000 system for
more than 10 years.
Model ValidationThe path analysis was used to better portray the inter-relationships. The proposed
conceptual framework in Figure 2 was developed through three main hypotheses and
later extended into a pictorial portrayal of the relationships to see the structural
relationships between implementation and maintenance with motivation and perceived
benefits.
The analysis was done using LISREL 8.72 and four important findings were
revealed. Firstly, there was a positive relationship between perceived benefits and
implementation. Path diagram showed that there was a relationship between internal
perceived benefits with the ease of implementation and maintenance. However, therewas no past study specifically on the relationship of these two factors. There were
only studies proving that the perceived benefits are associated with the
implementation and maintenance of the ISO 9000 systems (Santos and Escanciano,2002; Gunnlangsdottir, 2002; Amar and Zain, 2002; Poksinska et al., 2002; Dissanayaka
et al., 2001; Salleh and Goh, 2001; Chin et al., 2000; Nwankwo, 2000). It was observed
in past studies that as the companies perceived benefits in the right way, they could
foresee the difficulties and hence developed strong strategies towards making the
implementation easier. On the other hand, failure to foresee the perceived benefits
could be a barrier that makes it difficult for the company to implement and maintain a
certified quality system.
Secondly, it was found that internal motivation factors influenced the internal
perceived benefit factors. It can be concluded that motivation factors were thesignificant and positive predictors that influence the benefits derived (Terziovski et al.,
2002 and Withers and Ebrahimpour, 2001). This finding was also supported by the
study conducted by Poksinska et al. (2002) which cited that internal perceived benefits
showed dependency on internal motivation factor and this further substantiated Salleh
and Goh (2001) who emphasised that there was a link between reasons for seeking
certification and the degree of perceived benefits.
Thirdly, it was found that the external motivations influenced the externalperceived benefits. This finding was supported by Poksinska et al. (2002) who foundthat motive on "corporate image" (market related reasons) showed a relationship with
benefits of "improved corporate image".
Lastly, the path analysis revealed that external motivation factors, regulatorymotivation factors and external perceived benefit factors had no direct influence on the
ease of implementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard. There was alsono past study on such relationship; between motivation factors and implementation
and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard.
Dependent Variable
a. Implementation and Maintenance
Independent Variable
Internal Motivation + ExternalMotivation + Regulatory Motivation
b. Implementation and Maintenance Internal Perceived Benefits +External Perceived Benefit
c. Internal Perceived Benefits andExternal Perceived Benefits
Internal Motivation + ExternalMotivation + Regulatory Motivation
The proposed path model in Figure 2 was tested using LISREL 8.72. The purpose
of developing the path diagram was to estimate the strength of each relationshipdepicted in the path diagram. It calculated the strength of the relationships using a
correlation or covariance matrix as the input.
The analysis was conducted using correlation coefficient matrix as it provided a
more conservative estimates of the significance of coefficients which were used as
the input to run the model fit test- A model was derived after the test and estimation
process was run. The path model derived from the analysis is shown in Figure 3 and
Figure 4.
Proposed Path Model
IndependentVariable
InternalMotivation
DependentVariable
Implementation &Maintenance
igure 3 I Path Model of Determinants of Implementation and Maintenance
Mot - reg
-0.11
Implementation &Maintenance
-0-09
^^ Path Model of Significant Determinants of ImplementationFigure 41H and Maintenance
0.55t = 6.85
Implementation &Maintenance
Significant at 0.05 level (t = ± 1.96)
Referring to the LISREL output, three structural equations were estimated and
showed significant relationship as follows:
a. Implementation and Maintenance
= 0.34* perceived benefits (internal) with R2 = 0.064 and t = 2.59
b. Perceived Benefits (internal)
= 0.55* motivation (internal) with R3 = 0.33 and t = 6.85
c. Perceived Benefits (external)
= 0.53* perceived benefits (internal) + 0.37* motivation (external} with
R2 = 0.51 and t = 7.64 and t = 4.33 for respective coefficients.
* Significant at 0.05 level (t = +1.96)
Hypothesis Testing
The hypothesis number 1, 2 and 3 were tested using Structural Equation Model (SEM)
based on correlation matrix as input and the hypothesis were further analysed by
breaking down into respective sub-hypothesis. The relationships established from the
path analysis and the subsequent testing results are summarised in Table 2.
Table 2 Summary of Hypothesis and Sub-hypothesis Testing Results
o
No. Main/ Description Supported/Sub Hypothesis Not Supported
1.
2.
3.
Main hypoHI
Sub hypoHla
Hlb
Hie
Main hypoH2
Sub hypoH2a
H2b
Main hypoH3
H3a
H3b
H3c
H3d
H3e
H3f
The motivation has positive relationship with theease of implementing and maintaining the qualitymanagement systems
The internal motivation has positive relationship withthe ease of implementing and maintaining the qualitymanagement systems
The external motivation has positive relationship withthe ease of implementing and maintaining the qualitymanagement systems
The regulatory motivation has positive relationshipwith the ease of implementing and maintaining thequality management systems
The perceived benefits have positive relationshipwith the ease of implementing and maintaining thequality management systems
The internal perceived benefits have positiverelationship with the ease of implementing andmaintaining the quality management systems
The external perceived benefits have positiverelationship with the ease of implementing andmaintaining the quality management systems
The motivation has positive relationship with theperceived benefits.
The internal motivation has positive relationship withthe internal perceived benefits.
The external motivation has positive relationship withthe internal perceived benefits.
The regulatory motivation has positive relationshipwith the internal perceived benefits.
The internal motivation has positive relationship withthe external perceived benefits.
The external motivation has positive relationship withthe external perceived benefits.
The regulatory motivation has positive relationshipwith the external perceived benefits.
Not Supported
Not Supported
Not Supported
Supported
Not Supported
Supported
Not Supported
Not Supported
Not Supported
Supported
Not Supported
Reasons for Significant ResultsBased on the results of path analysis, the fit statistics were: Chi-Square=1.47, df
=2, p=0.48, with an adjusted GFI of 0.95, GFI of 1.00 and a RMSEA of 0.00. The sub-hypothesis number H2a was supported by the findings which showed that there wasa relationship between internal perceived benefits with the ease of implementationand maintenance. Although there was no past study which specifically found therelationship between these two factors, this study had proven a new finding. The paststudies had proven that perceived benefits were associated with the implementationand maintenance of the ISO 9000 systems (Santos and Escanciano, 2002;Gunnlangsdottir, 2002; Amar and Zain, 2002; Poksinska et al., 2002; Dissanayaka etal., 2001 ;Salleh and Goh, 2001; Chinetal., 2000; Nwankwo, 2000). It was observed inpast studies that as the companies perceived benefits in the right way, they couldforesee the difficulties and hence developed strong strategies towards making theimplementation easier. On the other hand, failure to foresee the perceived benefitscould be a barrier that makes it difficult for the company to implement and maintain acertified quality system.
The findings also supported the sub-hypothesis number H3a where it found thatthe internal motivation factors influenced the internal perceived benefit factors. Thisfinding concluded that motivation factors were the significant and positive predictorthat influenced the benefits derived (Terziovski et al., 2002 and Withers andEbrahimpour, 2001). This finding was also supported by the study conducted byPoksinska et al. (2002) which cited that internal perceived benefits showeddependency on internal motivation factor and this was further substantiated by Sallehand Goh (2001) who emphasised that there was a link between reasons for seekingcertification with the degree of perceived benefits.
The results from path analysis also supported the sub-hypothesis number H3e; thatthe external motivations influenced the external perceived benefits. This finding wassupported by Poksinska et al., 2002 who found that motive on "corporate image" (marketrelated reasons) showed a relationship with benefits of "improved corporate image".
Reasons for Insignificant ResultsThe results showed that for eight out of eleven sub-hypotheses, there was
insufficient statistical evidence to conclude that there are positive relationshipsbetween the independent constructs with the corresponding dependent constructs.
Three motivational factors, which were internal motivation, external motivation
and regulatory motivation, had no direct influence on the implementation andmaintenance of ISO systems. This could be due to the fact that these motivationfactors were indirect causes for the implementation for ISO 9000. The motivational
factors seemed to have direct influences on perceived benefits factors. The reasonwhy companies went for certification was due to the fact that they mainly perceivedthe benefits that they would experience. This is supported by studies made by Sallehand Goh (2001) and Poksinska et al. (2002) that showed the benefits perceived weremainly caused by the motives or reasons, which finally led the companies to go forcertification.
There was insufficient statistical evidence to establish a positive relationshipbetween external perceived benefits and the implementation and maintenance of ISO9000 systems. This could be due to the respondents' background in terms of marketdestination, where about 40.5% of the respondents that export their products orservices were targeted to ASEAN countries. On the other hand, the respondents thatexport to other foreign markets which imposed stricter requirements especially USA
and European made up only 10.8% and 13.5% respectively.
ConclusionBased on the path analysis, the study had proven new findings that there was a
structural relationship between internal perceived benefit and the ease ofimplementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard. This finding showedthat when the benefits reaped from the certification was internalised and perceived in
a right way by the organisation, they would foresee the difficulties hence developed
efforts to further improve and thereby making the implementation and maintenance of
ISO 9001:2000 standard easier.
The findings also supported the last hypothesis which found that the internal
motivation factors influenced the internal perceived benefit factors whereas theexternal motivations influenced the external perceived benefits. The findingssupported past studies that concluded motivation factors were the significant andpositive predictor that influence the benefits derived.
The findings of this study added to the existing body of knowledge of literatureson the relationships between motivations and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000
standard, and the relationships between perceived benefits and the maintenance ofISO 9001:2000 standard. Specifically, this study contributed to current understanding
on the issues and practices related to ISO 9001:2000 certification in Malaysianindustries. This study also created a greater understanding on the dimensions of criticalissues in implementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2000 standard.
Even though some of the ideas expressed in this conceptual framework weresimilar to other past researches, this study added value to the overall concept byintegrating these various concepts and past theories to provide more extensive andcomprehensive picture of those relationships. The validity and reliability of this studywere tested empirically. It could be concluded that the theoretical framework of thisstudy could provide a useful foundation on which further empirical research in thefield of ISO 9000 systems can be further built and enhanced.
Secondly, from industries' perspectives, this study provided an insight to furtherunderstand the current issues and practices of the implementation of the ISO9001:2000 standard. It emphasised on the importance of ISO 9000 and its potential togrow further. The industries should take the initiatives to examine areas which wereclaimed in the study as difficult to implement and maintain. Such information from thisstudy was also important and could be used by the certification bodies in Malaysia tofind ways and means to formulate plans in assisting companies to maintain theircertification and realising its long term benefits. This implication supported the viewby Laszlo (2000) that there are potential difficulties that lie ahead for thoseorganisations that aspire to fulfill the requirements of this new version of ISO9001:2000, unless they recognise that there is a cultural gap between the newapproaches required as compared to the previous 1994 version. Therefore, in fulfillingthe requirements of 1509001:2000, companies need approaches that are gearedtowards deeper understanding in applying the principles of quality management thusadopting these principles in the evaluation of management techniques.
Lastly, from practitioners' perspectives, this study was hoped to trigger somethought that the next review of the standard could consider those areas that weredifficult to be implemented by companies. The consultancy approach should addressthe areas that were difficult to be implemented and maintained, so that appropriateassistance could be offered to companies to encourage them in getting certification.
There were some issues and practices that should be addressed as a way toimprove further the study in this area, for the benefit of any future studies. Thefindings of the study were only applicable within the next few years as a new versionof ISO 9000 is expected to be introduced within the next two years. This will triggersimilar or advanced study to be carried out to provide new insight on the practices bythe industries
Lack of literatures in areas of ease of implementation also suggested that morestudies in similar areas should be carried out to establish the relationships with factorssuch as perceived benefits and motivations. Besides, the proposed conceptualframework in this study could be tested extensively to derive better results.
It was claimed that the ease of implementation of ISO 9001:2000 system couldresult in better outcome or performance of the companies that implement the systemThe companies will gain more insights on the benefits to give them focus and motivationin maintaining the system. This study only identified factors affecting the ease ofimplementation of the system. Hence, future research would need to be carried out toexamine how the factors contribute towards better performance of the companies
The importance of quality management lies in the culture of an organisation itself,in which it must be embedded in their culture to foster a climate for open cooperationand teamwork among the employees. However, the ability of an organisation to changeand improve continuously depends on its willingness to adapt to the principles of qualitymanagement. The 2000 version of ISO 9000 was introduced to replace ISO 9001:1994,with new look and new scope as to overcome the criticism and weaknesses found inearlier version. The most significant change in 2000 version is where it serves as a basisfor benchmarking an organisation's quality management system.
New emphasis has been given in ISO 9001:2000 standards which foundachievement of customer satisfaction as an explicit requirement in the standard. In
order for the organisation to identify and review customer requirements, management's
responsibility is crucial to ensure that the customer requirements are met Hence, theorganisation further needs to measure and monitor its customer satisfaction.
Among the weaknesses and problems that organisations faced in implementingthe activities related to ISO 9000 in earlier version was too much emphasis ondocumentation and records. With the introduction of ISO 9001:2000 standard, it ishoped that the standard would enable the implementation to be carried out with easeand effective way and less difficult in fulfilling the requirements of the standard.
The findings of this study is hoped to provide in a great length the understanding
of the issues and challenges in the implementation and maintenance of ISO
9001:2000 standard. Hence, the organisation could improve its existing approach andstrategy in addressing the need to demonstrate its capability to achieve customersatisfaction. The organisation could also find ways to improve its development andcapacity building required in the implementation of ISO 9001:2000 standards.
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An Empirical Study Of The EffectsOf Service Quality And Organisational
Performance In Malaysian Local Authorities
byDaud Talibe-mail : [email protected] Anuar Mohd Alie-mail . [email protected] Mat IsaWan Rosmanira
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is toidentify the Quality management practicesthat impacted the organisationperformance from the perspective of publicsector. The results of this study highlightedthe close association between the servicequality and the organisation performancewhich confirmed that investments inquality should indeed result in betterperformance. The service quality variablesthat were found to be the strongestpredictors of organisation performancewere customer productivity, followed bymanagement commitment, internal
customer satisfaction, system, policy andprocedure, human resource andinfrastructure.
Introduction
In Malaysia, there are a total of 144 local authorities (Ministry of Housing andLocal Government, 2000). There are a total of ninety-seven local authorities in WestMalaysia and forty-seven in East Malaysia. Since local authorities are very muchinvolved in the development of the district, they have become one of the mostimportant agencies in terms of development of local districts. Hence, their efficiencyand effectiveness of resource utilisation that is being funded through budget allocationwill greatly affect the economic growth of the country at the macro level. Currently,most of the efficiency and effectiveness of resource utilisation is determined throughrevenue and cost management. Having noted this, the study tried to investigate therelationship between service quality and organisational performance among the localauthorities in Malaysia. The intention to improve service delivery and service quality inMalaysian public sector started during the 'look east-policy' implementation in early1980s (INTAN, 1992 - Malaysia Development Strategy/Policy). During the earlystage, the focus was more towards the policy and strategy development programwhich was related to Productivity and Quality (P&Q) activities at industries and
services level. Many P&Q activities were introduced and implemented by both thepublic and private sectors in 1990s, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), QualityControl Circle (QCC), 5S and ISO 9000. Furthermore, to encourage those activities, thegovernment introduced Productivity and Quality Awards, with different categories andcriteria for both sectors to enhance their service delivery and service quality towardscustomer satisfaction and expectation. The era of The New Millennium' created anew dimension especially to the public sector where the focus is towards becoming aworld class organisation. Due to this, the public sector needs to know what comesfirst or in other words to give priorities to which activities or elements that have strongimpact to service quality and organisation performance directly or indirectly.
Literature ReviewWhen mentioning service quality most researchers always refer to two schools of
thought that dominate the extent thinking. One is the Nordic school of thought, basedon Gronroos's (1984) two-dimensional model. And the other is the North Americanschool of thought, based on Parasuraman et al. {1988} five dimensional SERQUALmodel. Besides these, there are other relevant significant conceptual and empiricalworks which focused on service quality, and can be summarised as:
(1) customers' experiences with tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,assurance, and empathy aspects of service delivered by a firm (Parasuraman
etal., 1988);
(2) technical and functional quality (Gronroos, 1984);
(3) service product, service environment, and service delivery (Rust and Oliver,1994); and
(4) interaction quality, physical environment quality, and outcome quality(Brady and Cronin, 2001).
These conceptual and empirical works invited other researchers to give comments
and feedbacks, which were assumed as limitations that need to be solved. Mostcomments were concluded into two major needs; the need to develop industry
specific measures of service quality (Babakus and Boiler, 1992) and the need todevelop an instrument specifically for the focal service (O.M. Karatepe et al., 2005). At
present practices, most researchers altered the items to suit the specific context orstudy (Babakus and Boiler, 1992; Carman, 1990; McAlexander et al., 1994) and this
continued with the instruments, where most researchers developed their new
instruments for service quality measurement by replicating or adopting Parasuramanet al.'s(1988) SERQUAL model (see, for example, Angur et al., 1999; Athanassopoulos,1997; Blanchard and Galloway, 1994; Donthu and Yoo, 1998; Lloyd-Walker and
Cheung, 1998; Marshall and Smith, 1999; McDougall and Levesque, 1994; Newman
and Cowling, 1996; Yavas and Benkenstein, 2001). Due to this scenario, a few
researchers tried to avoid from directly using the SERQUAL model such as Avkiran(1994), who developed a multi-dimensional instrument for measuring customer-
perceived quality; and, Bahia and Mantel (2000), based on expert opinions revealed sixdimensions of service quality.
As can be inferred from the statement of its purpose, this study built upon these
works and by applying an iterative procedure, developed a service quality instrument
specifically for local authorities in West Malaysia. Preliminary survey, before the actual
survey, was carried out among the very senior officers in selected local authorities,and feedbacks showed that there were needs for a tailor-made service qualitymeasure, specific to the country and culture. This statement is supported by other
studies which also concluded that country or culture factor played an important role forthe measure of service quality, especially to identify the instruments or dimensions.Malhotra et al. (1994) shared this view and posited that cultural differences (e.g.,
individualism, collectivism, power distance) between countries were likely to havevarying effects on the definition of service quality. Kettinger et al. (1995) stated that
the weight of evidence suggested that culture pfayed a significant role on the
definition of the service quality construct. Indeed, Imrie et al. (2002), recently statedthat managers should avoid employing the SEROUAL scale globally and instead they
should develop "a new, culturally bounded measure of service quality" (p.17); another
challenge and limitation for using the SERQUAL model.
This study developed a service quality measure for the Malaysian Public Sector ingeneral, and specifically for Local Authorities in West Malaysia. It should be noted thatthis is not the first study on service quality measurement issues in Malaysia, althoughmost of the studies were geared towards private sector such as manufacturing and
industries rather than the public sector. Other related service quality measures for
Malaysia public sector were carried out by Kanji et al. (1999) for higher institutions,
Razli (2001) for hospital, Khairul Anuar et al. (2002) for local authority and reports
produced by certain government bodies or agencies that dealt with service qualitysuch as Public Service Department, INTAN, MAMPU and National Productivity
Corporation (NPC) of Malaysia.
Sampling and MethodologyThis study employed two survey methods; field survey and mail survey. Data were
obtained from the most senior officers of each department from each local authority
through self-administered personal interview, aided by structured questionnaires. 800sets of questionnaires were distributed and 214 were returned. Of these 214, 7 were
incomplete and follow-up was done to fill in missing information. These 214, although
a 26.8 percent response rate, were deemed sufficient for further analysis as therecommended sample size by Hair et al. (1998) was between 100-150. A series of
statistical procedures and measures were recommended in the literatures (Hair et al.,1998; Bontis, 1998; Bontis et al., 2000) to find the relationship between the related
constructs measured in this study. The procedures were reliability analysis, factor
analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). The core analysis methodology for
this research was the SEM. SEM encompasses model analysis techniques such ascovariance structure analysis, latent variable analysis, confirmatory factor analysis,
path analysis and linear structural relation analysis.
Figure 1 | Research Model
PRODTY
INFRA
Significant at 0.05 level i t = +1.96)
MeasuresNine constructs; internal customer satisfaction (ICS), management commitment
(MGT), productivity improvement (PRODTY), system, policy and procedure (SOP),human resource management (HRM), infrastructure and environmental factor (INFRA),
overall service quality (SERQUA) and performance (PERFORM), were operationalisedin order to test the research model.
Internal Customer SatisfactionThe instrument to measure internal customer satisfaction was adopted from the
works of a few researchers, such as Parasuraman, et al. (1988), Gilbert (2000) and
Khairul Anuar et al. (2001). All nine items were measured using a 7-pomt scale,
anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"0) and "Very Strongly Agree"!?}.
Management CommitmentManagement commitment is one of the most important elements in Total Quality
Management (TQM) (Kanji and Asher, 1993; Al-Sulimani and Sharad, 1994; Ho, 1995;
Khairul Anuar, 2002; Curry and Kadasah, 2002). Others, Hradesky (1995) proposed thatmanagement commitment and performance need to be integrated when performing
the main activities in the organisation whereas Oakland (1996) mentioned the need of
consistency involvement in management commitment. Four items were measured
using the 7-point scale, anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"(1) and "Very StronglyAgree "(7).
Customer ProductivityProductivity refers to the efficiency and effectiveness of employees. The main
focus of this construct is the association and impact of service quality (Kontoghiorghes
and Gudgel, 2004) to organisational performance (Tangen, 2005). Nine items thatrepresent productivity were chosen and were measured using the 7-point scale,
anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"(1) and "Very Strongly Agree"(7).
System, Policy and ProcedureSystem, policy and procedure have always been used as an instrument or criteria
in the quality award winner assessment (Ghobadian and Woo, 1994; Bohoris, 1995;Tan, 2002). It is believed that system, policy and procedures have direct impact on
improving the internal factor rather than the external factor, such as the employeesand processes. Four items were measured using the 7-point scale, anchored by "Very
Strongly Disagree"!!) and "Very Strongly Agree"{7).
Human Resource ManagementHuman resource management is related with training, recognition, promotion and
carrier development. According to Lawler et al. (1995), employees must have power,
information, knowledge and benefit to smoothen the business processes. Six items
were measured using the 7-point scale, anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"(1) and"Very Strongly Agree"(7).
Infrastructure and EnvironmentInfrastructure and environment consist of technologies, equipments and facilities.
Instrument will help to enhance the service quality and performance of an organisation
(Mokhtar, 1996; Athanassopoul, 2001). Five items were measured using the 7-pointscale, anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"(1) and "Very Strongly Agree"(7).
Service QualitySpecifically when refer to service quality of local authorities, the first thing that
always appears is the customer complaint. Therefore most of items developed to
measure service quality in this study are related to customer complaint, which at theend will be linked with service performance (Zeithaml et al., 1990; Oakland, 2000;
Johnston, 2001). Seven items were chosen and were measured using the 7-pointscale, anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"(1) and "Very Strongly Agree"(7).
Overall PerformanceThe overall performance is measured by the internal customers, based on
perceived service quality delivered, and achievement that the organisation received.The items were developed with reference to previous studies (Anderson and Sohal,
1999; Sun, 2000; Khairul Anuar, 2000). Seven items were chosen and were measured
using the 7-point scale, anchored by "Very Strongly Disagree"(1) and "Very StronglyAgree"{7).
Aims of the StudyThis study had seven specific research objectives. In other words, it tried to
examine the relationship between seven exogenous constructs with one endogenous
construct. Those seven exogenous constructs will consist of the expectation of thelocal authorities' employees on the service quality that was delivered to the
customers, which indirectly affects the organisational performance. The researchobjectives can be put into the following hypotheses:
HAI: Internal customer satisfaction through service quality has positive effectson organisational performance.
HAZ: Productivity improvement through service quality has positive effects onorganisational performance.
HAS: System, policy and procedure through service quality has positive effectson organisational performance.
HA4: Management commitment through service quality has positive effects onorganisational performance.
HAG : Human resource management through service quality has positiveeffects on organisational performance.
HA? : All the exogenous constructs have positive effects on the endogenousconstructs (organisational performance).
Reliability AnalysisReliability is the extent to which a measure is free from variable errors (Nunnally,
1978). For the purposes of this study, the internal consistency method assesses the
Cronbach alpha statistic, which indicates a strong reliability if the alpha co-efficient
exceeds 0.7 and a moderate reliability if the alpha co-efficient exceeds 0.6 (Nunnally,
1967). Table I shows the initial alpha co-efficient for each of the combined scales and
their associated subscales. From the table, it can be seen that both of the combined
scales and all of the subscales exceeded Nunnally's requirement for strong internal
consistency.
Table 1 Reliability Statistics for Scale
Scale Cronbach alpha
Internal customer satisfaction (9)
Service quality (7)
Productivity improvement (9)
Management commitment (4)
Human resource management (6}
System, policy and procedure (4)
Infrastructure & Environmental (5)
Organisational performance (7)
0.9336
0.9172
0.9265
0.9127
0.9292
0.8761
0.8688
0.9543
Confirmatory Factor AnalysisConfirmatory factor analysis is normally referred to as the measurement model if it
is the only model analysis in SEM (Thompson, 2000; Hair et a!., 1998; Grimm and
Yarnold, 2000). Confirmatory factor analysis helps to specify and confirm the
relationships of the variables and factors prior to the analysis. It also allows total control
of which variables describe the factor. Therefore the researchers can assign each
variable that describe the factors. Since researchers have complete control over the
allocation of indicators for each construct, variables that have low loadings on
respective factors are constrained to zero (Hair et al. , 1998). Variable with highestloadings in a particular factor will be selected to describe that factor. Consequently the
variables become indicators to the specified factors, also known as latent constructs.
Latent construct is "an abstract, hypothetical concept that cannot be directly
observed, but that is represented by concrete operational definitions" (Bryant, 2000,
p.138). The scales used in this confirmatory factor analysis were subjected to factoranalysis in the form of Principal Axis Factoring (PFA| (Hair et al., 1998). Carmines and
Zeller (1979) suggested items with factor loadings exceeding 0.7 be accepted; which
indicated more shared variance between the construct and its measures than error
variance. Variables retained as shown in Table II. Eight constructs were identified: six
exogenous constructs (ICS, PRODTY, MGT, HRM, SOP and INFRA) and two
endogenous constructs (SERQUA and PERFORM).
Table 2 Eight - Construct Measurement Model
Observed ICSVariables
a1a233
a4a5a6a7a8g3g4g5ca4cblcb2cb3d162cf3e1e2e3e4e5e61113f4b!b3b5b6He)Hc2Hd2Hd3
0.7320.8020.7710.7790.8820.7930.8420849
INFRA
0.8280.7860.829
EXOGENPRODTY
0.3130.7480.8060.751
BUSMGT HRM
0.7870.8200911
0.8090.7610.8240.8550.8580.864
SOP
0.7970.8480.915
ENDOGSERQUA
0.7960.9020.8050.815
ENOUSPERFORM
0.8180.8890.8T730.912
Notes: For variable names see Table. ICS - Internal customer satisfaction, INFRA =Infrastructure and Environmental, PRODTY = Productivity improvement, MGT = Managementcommitment, HRM = Human resource management, SOP = System, Policy and Procedure,SERQUA = Service quality, PERFOM = Organisational performance.
Modeling and Hypothesis Testing Using AMOSAMOS is an acronym for "Analysis of Moment Structures" or in other words, the
analysis of mean and covariance structures. Developed by James Arbuckle, itcomplements the estimation process of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The
AMOS application can easily be linked with the SPSS and developed within the
Microsoft Windows interface. The AMOS approach enables researchers to assess
most of the SEM applications that include: analysis of both factor analytic and full
latent variable models, implementation of the maximum likelihood (MLE) approach to
bootstrapping, and imputation of missing values using a direct, rather than the more
commonly used indirect approach. MLE is used "to seek parameters that best
reproduce the estimate population variance-covariance matrix" (Thompson, 2000,
p.267). The recommended sample size when directly estimating the overall model
using MLE is between 100 -150 (Ding et al., 1995; Hairetal., 1998).
Table 3 shows the hypotheses of each construct's association of the model.Discussion of these impacts is as follows:
• At a = 0.05, Construct ICS has a positive and significant association withConstruct SERQUA (PE = 0.158; t = 2.215; p = 0.027). Based on the dataset, HAiwas asserted showing that internal customer satisfaction has positive effects onperformance of local authorities.
• At a = 0.05, Construct PRODTY has a positive and significant association withConstruct SERQUA {PE = 0.461; t = 2.958; p = 0.003). Failure to reject HA2 basedon the dataset shows that productivity improvement has positive effects onperformance of local authorities.
• Result shows that at a = 0.10, Construct MGT has a positive and significantassociation with Construct SERQUA (PE = 0.215; t = 1.808; p = 0.071). Failure toreject HA4 based on dataset shows that management commitment has positiveeffects on performance of local authorities.
• At a = 0.10, Construct INFRA has a positive and significant association withConstruct SERQUA (PE = 0.073; t = 1.187; p = 0.059). Failure to reject HA5 basedon the dataset asserts this alternative hypothesis. It shows that infrastructure and
environmental factors have positive effects on performance of local authorities.
At a = 0.05, Construct SOP has a positive and significant association withConstruct SERQUA (PE - 0.147; t = 2.266; p - 0.023}. Failure to reject HA3 basedon the dataset shows that system, policy and procedure have positive effects onperformance of local authorities.
At a = 0.05, Construct HRM has a negative but significant association withConstruct SERQUA fPE - -0.147; t - -2.547; p = 0.011). Failure to reject HflB basedon the dataset shows that human resource management has negative effects onperformance of local authorities.
At a = 0.05, Construct SERQUA has a positive and significant association with
Construct PERFOM (PE - 1.159; t - 11.572, p - 0.000}. Base on the dataset, HA7
was asserted showing that service quality has positive effects on performance oflocal authorities.
Table 3 The Hypothesis of Each Construct's Association of the Model(X Parameter t- value of Significant
Construct associations level Estimate structural p-value (yes/no) Hypothesis<PE} effect
ICS with SERQUA
PRODTYwith SERQUA
MGT with SERQUA
INFRA with SERQUA
SOP with SERQUA
HRM with SERQUA
SERQUA with PERFORM
0.05
0.05
0.10
0.10
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.158
0.461
0.215
0.073
0.147
- 0.147
1.1591
2.215
2.958
1.808
1.887
2 266
- 2.547
1.572
0.027
0.003
0.071
0.059
0.023
0.011
0.000
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
HA1
HA2
HA4
HA5
HA3
HA6
HA7
Notes: tt level = Significant level, probability of committing a type one error
• The result also indicated that there were strong and significant correlations amongthe six exogenous Constructs; ICS, PRODTY, HRM, MGT, INFRA and SOP (see
Table 4).
Evaluating the Model FitIn evaluating the model fit, another set of hypothesis was used:
Ho : The overall model has a good fitHa : The overall model does not have a good fit.
Failure to reject the null hypothesis is desired because it indicates that the overallmodel can predict the observed variance-covariance matrix in the dataset (Hair et al.,1998, p. 610-11). In short, the overall model has a good fit.
0
AMOS revealed that chi-squared (xz) was 458.413 and the degree of freedom (df)
was 393. Furthermore, the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) Index
was 0.028 which was below the 0.05 threshold (< 0.05 is a good fit) while normed fit
index (NFI) was 0.937 which was above the 0.9 threshold (Hair et al., 1998). Both
RMSEA index and NFI indicated that the model has a good fit. Based on the dataset,there are strong evidences not to reject the null hypothesis.
Discussion
Overview of the ModelThe model indicated that all constructs have strong associations either with service
quality or performance. The overall model is presented in Figure 2.
Internal Customer SatisfactionThe construct of internal customer satisfaction is manifested by eight variables (see
Table 3). These variables represent the characteristics of the construct. Based on the
dataset, the model shows that internal customer satisfaction has positive effects on
the service quality and indirectly on the overall performance of local authorities (sees
Figure 2 and Table 3).
Customer ProductivityCustomer Productivity has positive effects on the service quality and indirectly on
the overall performance of local authorities (p-value = 0.003 at 0.05)(Martin and Home,
2001). The need for customer productivity in terms of efficiency and effectiveness to
improve service quality at the same time improving the overall performance is strongly
supported by the results in the dataset. Furthermore, this construct has the strongest
effects compared to other constructs (Figure 2).
Table 4 Correlation of the Exogenous Constructs
Exogenous Constructs
i.nnsmicr IL,,I
Construct PRODTY
Construct HRM
Construct MGT
Construct INFRA
Construct SOP
SJiLiliJJi«K!l:tti.iiilLajlICS PRODTY
1.00
0.046
0.708
0.745
0.620
0.749
1.00
0.807
0.873
0.700
0.833
Exogenous
ConstructHRM
1 00
0.849
0672
0848
constructs
ConstructMGT
1.00
0586
0.824
•.1-L- :'l'[-l*W« ' ' : i'l-idINFRA SOP
1.00
0.684 1.00
Path of parameter estimate of the model significant at 0.05 and 0.10Signif icance level respectively (t-values in brackets)
0.210(2.226)
a = 0.05 *
0 1 1 3(1.887)a = 0.10
/Votes ; Arrows indicate significant path coefficients
Management CommitmentThe result shows that there is a significant path relationship between management
commitment and service quality (p-value = 0.071, a = 0.101. Management commitment
is also highly correlated with other exogenous constructs (Table 4),
Human Resource ManagementHuman resource is the most important dimension in quality and productivity
improvement (Ross, 1994). Previous study by Peaauwe and Richardson (1997) gave an
overview on the relationship between HRM/TQM and performance which focused on
satisfaction, motivation, absenteeism, retention, trust and involvement. Others, Sun
et al. (2000) found that employee involvement was significant and positively correlated
with improvement in business performance. However, the result shows a negative
relationship between service quality and performance (Table III and Figure 2). Thesame result was produced by Khairul Anuar (2002) and Khong and Richardson (2003),
which totally diverted from the main assumption. It was believed that this was due to
insufficient supporting data related to the misunderstanding and clarif ication ofquestionnaires during data gathering.
System, Policy and ProcedureSystem, policy and procedure always relate to the ISO 9000 implementation and
respond to the change of management system and culture. Most of the localauthorities in Malaysia are in the process of improving the management system and
culture, and are involved with various quality activities such as 5S program, Quality
Control Circle (QCC), Benchmarking Practices, TQM and most of them have been ISO
certified. Due to this, the result shows that system, policy and procedure canpositively affect service quality and also indirectly the overall performance of local
authorities (p-value = 0.023, a =0.10).
Infrastructure and EnvironmentInfrastructure and environment play an important role to complement customer
satisfaction and expectation. Relevant studies that explained the involvement ofinfrastructure and environment include Mokhtar (1996), Hairulliza (1996), Norizan
(1996) and Athanassopoul et al.(2001). The result shows that there is a significant path
relationship between infrastructure and environment, and service quality and overall
performance (p- value = 0.059, a = 0.10).
Service QualityThe emphasis is more towards the internal customers' perception during the
delivery process to satisfy the external customers. Previously, when dealing withservice quality, we always refer to the most popular concept and approach introducedby Parasuraman et al. (1996, 1998). However, the items or elements used in this
study still have indirect connection with the five items used by Parasuraman et al.,which consist of reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance and safety. Result
shows that service quality really has positive impact to overall performance and this
has been proven by a lot of studies before.
Limitations
This study is subject to several limitations. First, the results should be interpretedwithin the usual limitations of survey research. Second, the results of study werebased on cross-sectional data, and no statement of causation could be made. Third,
participation in the survey was voluntary. It is possible that the respondents, who
declined to participate and/or treated as drop-outs, had different opinions from those
who participated. Furthermore, the parameters set in this model are snapshots of the
conditions of the local authorities at that particular time and place. Therefore, there is aprobability that the data offered reliability but not necessarily consistency. However,with all kinds of limitations mentioned above, the results of the study generallyindicate that further understanding of the organisational performance, such as the
customer productivity and management commitment of local authorities, should be
addressed and further investigated to help the local authorities to strategise their roles
and functions to suit the needs of quality management practices.
Conclusion and DiscussionDetail conclusions are:
• Internal customer satisfaction, customer productivity, management commitment,human resource management, system, policy and procedure, and infrastructureand environment are highly correlated (see Table 4).
• Internal customer satisfaction has positive effects on service quality and indirectlyaffects the overall performance of local authorities in West Malaysia.
• Customer productivity has positive effects on service quality and indirectly affectsthe overall performance of local authorities in West Malaysia.
• Management commitment has positive effects on service quality and indirectlyaffects the overall performance of local authorities in West Malaysia.
• Human resource management has negative effects on service quality andindirectly affects the overall performance of local authorities in West Malaysia.
• Infrastructure and environment has positive effects on service quality andindirectly affects the overall performance of local authorities in West Malaysia.
• Service quality has positive and direct effects on overall performance of localauthorities in West Malaysia.
This study developed a 51-item survey instrument to measure local authorities'perceptions of service quality in West Malaysia. The results show that service quality
could be conceptualised and measured as a six-dimensional construct consisting ofinternal customer satisfaction, management commitment, customer productivity,human resource management, system, policy and procedure, and finally infrastructureand environment. The scale exhibited high internal consistency and reliability, and metrigorous conceptual and empirical criteria for construct validity such as ConfirmatoryFactor Analysis and Maximum Likelihood. Our results showed that customerproductivity is the most important dimension of service quality, followed bymanagement commitment, human resource management, system, policy andprocedure, internal customer satisfaction and infrastructure and environment. The
current study provides some useful insights for managerial action. First, localauthorities can rely on this specific scale in order to measure service quality deliveredto their customers. By examining performance scores on each attribute within andacross the dimensions, improvement needs can be identified. Second, from a strategic
standpoint, local authorities can determine which service quality dimension(s) theyshould pay most attention to. Third, local authorities can employ the service quality
scale to identify district customer clusters or segments with varying perceptions aboutservice quality.
Cluster profiles can provide valuable information on how to approach eachsegment for quality improvement initiatives. Focusing marketing efforts on the most
unhappy cluster(s), for instance, may provide immediate relief for reducing defect rate(Brandy and Cronin, 2001). Fourth, the service quality scale can also be administered
to frontline employees and their customers simultaneously to compare customer
perceptions of service quality with frontline employee perceptions. Finally, from a
competitive standpoint, local authorities can use the existing scale to assess their
strengths and weaknesses relative to competitors across service quality dimensions.
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Kesan Pembelajaran Di Tempat KerjaTerhadap Sikap Berkaitan Dengan Pekerjaan
olehKhairul Anuar Mohd Alle-mail : [email protected] Shubri Ismaile-mail : [email protected]
AbstrakKajian mi bertujuan untuk melihat impakpembelajaran di tempat kerja terhadapsikap yang berkaitan dengan pekerjaankepada seseorang pekerja seperti kepuasanpekerjaan, pengiibatan pekerjaan daniltizam organ/sasi. Kajian ini mendapatiterdapat perhubungan langsung yangsignifikan di antara pembelajaran di tempatker]a dengan sikap terutama dengan iltizamorganisasi. Iltizam pula members kesanlangsung yang signifikan kepada kepuasandan pengiibatan pekerjaan. ini menunjukkanpembelajaran di tempat kerja memberikesan kepada sikap seseorang pekerja.Keberkesanan pembe/ajaran di tempat kerjaberganwng kepada beberapa faktor sepertikeupayaan individu, persekitaran, iltizampengurusan, bahan dan kemudahanpembelajaran, dan lain-lain. Kajian ini hanyamengkaji proses pembelajaran individudengan membuat perbandingankeberkesanan di antara kaedahpembelajaran formal, informal daninsidental yang berlaku di tempat kerja.
AbstractThis research is conducted to study theimpact of workplace learning toward workrelated attitudes such as work satisfaction,work involvement and organisationcommitment. In this study, we found thatthere was a significant positive relationshipbetween workplace learning and organisationcommitment only, but not with others. Wealso found there was a significant
positive relationship between organisation commitment with work satisfaction andwork involvement. We concluded that workplace learning did have a relationship withwork related attitudes. The effectiveness of the workplace learning depends onvarious factors such as individual capabilities, workplace environment, top managementcommitment, etc. In this study we only focused on the learning process of an individualby comparing between formal, informal and incidental learning.
PengenalanKeadaan pasaran masa kini lebih terbuka dengan tiada sekatan, liberalises! &
globalises! pasaran, penghapusan halangan perdagangan melalui perjanjian
perdagangan bebas (FTA), persaingan yang sengit di dalam negara dan antarabangsa,dan kecanggihan teknologi yang berubah dengan begitu cepat. Keadaan ini memaksaMalaysia mengubah pendekatan pembangunan berasaskan input (input driven) kepada
pembangunan berasaskan produktiviti (productivity driven). Pembangunan modal insan
serta penyelidikan & pembangunan (R&D) merupakan strategi jangka panjang untuk
mengekalkan daya saing negara.
Pembelajaran di tempat kerja merupakan satu strategi untuk membangunkan
kompetensi para pekerja. Gabungan ilmu dan pengalaman pada para pekerja akan
membolehkan mereka bertindak cepat dan fleksibel kepada kehendak perniagaan
(Spangenberg et. al.,1999, Caravan 2000). Kompetensi pekerja adalah sesuatukeleblhan yang mutlak yang dapat mengekalkan daya saing organisasi. Kompetensi
yang mirip kepada 'firm-specific' dan amat sukar untuk ditiru oleh pesaing-pesaingyang lain. (Capped dan Singh 1992).
Pembelajaran Di Tempat KerjaPembelajaran di tempat kerja ialah "Satu proses yang diamalkan di mana individu
dan kumpulan mendapat, mentafsir, mengenal pasti, dan memadu atau asimilasikelompok maklumat, kemahiran dan perasaan, menjadi satu bentuk pembelajaran"(Marsick 1987, Caravan et.al. 2000). Pembelajaran merupakan satu proses yangkompleks. Kita sentiasa mempelajari sesuatu perkara yang baru di dalam prosesmelaksanakan tugasan kita. Pembelajaran ini digunakan sebagai isu untukpenambahbaikan di dalam proses tersebut.
Pekerja mestilah sentiasa 'kemas kini' dengan kemahiran dan pengetahuan yangdiperlukan untuk mengekalkan kompetensi rnereka. Tahap kompetensi pekerja yang
tinggi akan membantu mengekalkan daya saing organisasi. Organisasi juga harus
sentiasa mengenal pasti sumber pengetahuan dan menguruskannya sebaik mungkinsebagai alat untuk membantu pekerjanya mengekalkan daya saing mereka.Persekitaran organisasi atau budaya organisasi juga mempengaruhi sikap pekerjaterhadap pembelajaran.
Watkin dan Marsick (1992) mengenal pasti 3 bentuk pembelajaran di tempat kerja:
1. Pembelajaran formal2. Pembelajaran tidak formal3. Pembelajaran insidental.
Merriam dan Caffarella (1991), Smith (1999), mendefinisikan pembelajaran formalsebagai "...pembelajaran yang berstruktur, ditaja oleh institusi, selalunya dalam bilikkuliah, dengan pembelajaran dirancang oleh jurulatih/tenaga pengajar, dilaksanakan dandinilai keberkesanannya".
Pembelajaran formal merupakan program pembelajaran yang paling mudah diaturoleh organisasi. Organisasi akan melaksanakan "analisa keperluan latihan (TNA)" untuk
mengenalpasti keperluan latihan kepada pekerja mereka mengikut keutamaanorganisasi. Terdapat ramai perunding dengan pelbagai disiplin yang memudahkanorganisasi memilih program yang sesuai dengan kehendak mereka. Pembayaran rebetoleh Perbadanan Sumber Manusia Berhad (PSMB) kepada organisasi yang layak jugamerupakan pendorong organisasi melaksanakan program ini.
Pembelajaran formal selalunya member! penekanan kepada pengetahuan utama (coreknowledge).
Coombs dan Ahmed (1974), Smith (1999), mendefinisikan pembelajaran informal
sebagai; "... sepanjang proses kehidupan kita, setiap individu berusaha mendapatkandan menambahkan pengetahuan, kemahiran, sikap dan wawasan hasil daripadapengalaman seharian dan interaksi di dalam persekitaran...". Secara umumnya,pembelajaran informal ini tidak teratur dan tidak bersistematik sehinggakan kadang-kadang pembelajaran itu berlaku tanpa niat.
Kita belajar secara informal di tempat kerja semasa kita berinteraksi dalammelaksanakan tugas kita. Kajian oleh Cheetam dan Chivers (2001) mendapati skorpembelajaran informal berlaku di tempat kerja melalui Latihan 'OJT' (4.2), bekerjabersama-sama rakan yang mahir (3.93), bekerja sebagai sebahagian daripada kumpulan(3.65), analisa sendiri/berfikir sendiri (3.58), belajar daripada pelanggan, pembekal danlain-lain (3.48), belajar melalui 'networking' dengan orang lain yang melaksanakan tugasyang sama (3.35).
Reber (1993) dan Craig (2005) mendefinisikan pembelajaran insidental sebagai "...
terdapat proses implisit mernperkayakan pengetahuan tanpa usaha yang disedari, atau
kesedaran eksplisit tentang apa yang dipelajari...". Sebenarnya pembelajaran in!
menghasilkan pengetahuan yang tacit, pemahaman dan kemahiran seperti membuat
keputusan secara spontan (intuitively).
Di tempat kerja, kita meiaksanakan tugasan yang sama atau harnpir sama
berulangkali. Setiap kali melakukan semula tugasan tersebut, kita merasakan ianya
lebih mudah berbanding dengan sebelumnya. Sebenarnya kita telah menjalani proses
penambahan ilmu pengetahuan tanpa kita sedari. Ini akan menjadikan hasil tugasan kita
menjadi lebih sempurna.
Pembelajaran di tempat kerja berlaku melalui interaksi yang dinamik di antara
pembelajaran formal dan informal. Mereka berpendapat pembelajaran formal selalunyaakan mempengaruhi pembelajaran informal, dan seterusnya akan menggalakkanpenyertaan yang lebih aktif dan berstruktur dalam aktiviti pembelajaran. Kedua-duajenis pembelajaran ini saling sokong-menyokong di antara mereka dan memacu ke
arah penarnbahbaikan serta inovasi yang lebih canggih.
Sikap Yang Berkaitan Dengan PekerjaanSikap positif terhadap pekerjaan akan digambarkan melalui hasil kerja yang
dilakukan. Kejayaan organisasi yang mengamalkan TQM bergantung kepada sikap
berkaitan pekerjaan yang positif di kalangan pekerja mereka, kerja berpasukan (team
work), iltizam pengurusan atasan, dan lain-lain (Bozionelos 2003, Karia dan Asaari 2006).
Chen et. al. (2004) mengenal pasti beberapa petunjuk terhadap sikap yang berkaitandengan pekerjaan :
1. penglibatan pekerjaan (job involvement)2. kepuasan pekerjaan (job satisfaction)3. iltizam organisasi {organisation commitment)
Penglibatan pekerjaan mempunyai faktor motivasi yang penting kepada organisasi.
la mernperlihatkan tahap ikatan individu terhadap kerja dan bagaimana diameiaksanakan kerja tersebut. TQM yang memberikan peluang kepada pekerja
melibatkan diri dalam aspek-aspek pekerjaan mereka dan memberi kuasa
(empowerment) untuk membuat keputusan yang berkaitan dengan tugasan mereka.
Penglibatan mereka ini akan rneningkatkan kepuasan pekerjaan (Kanungo 1982).
Kepuasan pekerjaan selalunya merujuk kepada rasa puas hati oleh pekerja keranausaha mereka dihargai, dan merasakan mereka dapat bersama-sama menyumbanguntuk mencapai matlamat organisasi. Kepuasan pekerjaan boleh ditakrifkan sebagaikesan positif oleh pekerja terhadap kerja atau keadaan kerja mereka {Loke 1976).
Rowden dan Ahmad (2000), Rowden dan Conine Jr (2005), melihat kepuasanpekerjaan dalam dua aspek. Aspek pertama dari sudut kemanusiaan, di mana manusiaharus diberi pengiktirafan sebagai seorang manusia yang mempunyai maruah. la harusdilayan dengan baik dan penuh hormat, " layanan yang baik". Aspek kedua pulamelihat dari sudut utiliti yang membuktikan kepuasan pekerjaan akan mempengaruhisikap pekerja. Sikap pekerja akan mempengaruhi hasil yang dikeluarkan. Hasil yangdikeluarkan akan melambangkan iltizam organisasi dan penentu kesinambungan hidup(survival) organisasi tersebut.
Iltizam ialah keadaan psikologi yang dikenali sebagai keberkesanan ikatan emosiindividu terhadap organisasi dan merasa selesa berada dalam organisasi tersebut.Perasaan dan/atau kepercayaan yang melibatkan hubung kait di antara pekerja denganorganisasinya. la mempunyai implikasi dalam membuat keputusan sama ada untuk
terus bersama organisasi itu atau meninggalkannya
Iltizam organisasi dikatakan sebagai penilaian kekuatan seorang individu yang ingin
dikenali bersama-sama organisasi tertentu dan ingin dilihat terlibat di dalam organisasitersebut (Mowdays, Steers dan Porter 1979).
Meyer dan Alien (1997) menyatakan iltizam ini mempunyai tiga komponen:
• Iltizam afektif menggambarkan ikatan emosi pekerja dengan organisasinya.
• Iltizam afektif membuktikan individu ingin bersekutu dengan organisasidisebabkan oleh nilai dan matlamat organisasi itu serta kesetiaan dan rasa sayangkepada organisasi tersebut.
• Iltizam normatif pula merujuk kepada 'sense of duty' pekerja terbabit. la merasakandia harus memenuhi obligasinya terhadap organisasi itu. Dia harus terus berada
dalam organisasi itu untuk menunaikan tanggung jawabnya.
• Iltizam continuance merujuk kepada kepercayaan individu yang ingin bersekutudengan organisasi dengan harapan dapat mengurangkan kesan negatif dan kosyang dijangkakan (perceived cost) berkaitan jika ia ingin meninggalkan organisasinya
Kerangka TeoriKajian mi mengkaji keberkesanan pernbelajaran di ternpat kerja terhadap
pembentukan sikap-sikap berkaitan dengan pekerjaan terutama kepada penglibatanpekerjaan, kepuasan pekerjaan dan iltizam organises!.
Variabel tidak bersandar ialah pembelajaran di tempat kerja:
1. pembelajaran formal2. pembelajaran tidak formal3. pembelajaran insidental
Variabel bersandar (dependent) pula ialah sikap-sikap berkaitan pekerjaan:
1. Penglibatan pekerjaan (job involvement)2. Kepuasan pekerjaan (job satisfaction)3. Iltizam organisasi (organisation commitment)
Variabel ini diukur melalui:
1. Penglibatan pekerjaan mengandungi 5 soalan diukur dengan 5 point ska lalikert, skala 5 untuk paling tinggi dan skala 1 untuk paling rendah(berasaskan Kanungo)
2. Kepuasan pekerjaan mengandungi 10 soalan diukur dengan 5 point skalalikert, skala 5 untuk paling puas hati dan skala 1 untuk paling tidak puashati (berasaskan Spektor)
3. Iltizam organisasi mengandungi 15 soalan diukur dengan 5 point skalalikert, skala 5 untuk paling setuju dan skala 1 untuk paling tidak setuju(berasaskan Mauday)
HipotesisH1: Pembelajaran di tempat kerja rnempengaruhi sikap berkaitan pekerjaan.H2: Pembelajaran di tempat kerja TIDAK mempengaruhi sikap berkaitan pekerjaan.
Soal selidik dalam kajian ini diuji kebolehpercayaannya (reliability) dengan
rnenggunakan 'coefficient Cronbach alpha' yang mengukur konsistensi dalaman. Nilai
melebihi 0.60 dikatakan mempunyai konsistensi dalaman, dan kesimpulannya data
tersebut boleh dipercayai.
PEMBELAJARAN DI TEMPAT KERJA ^ ^ H H SIKAP BERKAITAN PEKERJAAN
Formal Informal 'insidentaf ^^^^^^H^ l Penglibatan pekerjaan Kepuasan
Jadual 1 Nilai 'Cronbach Alpha' untuk setiap pemboleh ubah
Pemboleh Ubah
Pernb9lajaran Di Ternpat KGrja
lltizam Organisasi
Penglibatan Pekerjaan
Kepuasan Pekerjaan
Jumlah soalan Nitai 'Cronbach Alpha'
12
12
10
21
0.6106
0.7177
0.6695
0.7635
Hasil KajianDemografi Responden
66.3% responden kajian ini terdiri daripada pekerja wanita. Komposisi jawatan
mereka ialah 70.9% terlibat dalam operas! pengeluaran, 18.6% penyeliaan dan 10.5%
ialah pengurusan. Kebanyakan responden ini mernpunyai asas pendidikan formal yang
baik. 68.6% daripada mereka mempunyai Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, 23.3% mempunyai
diploma dan 4.7% memiliki i jazah pertama semasa mereka mernasuki bidang
pekerjaan.
Kebanyakan pekerjaan yang terlibat dalam QCC ialah mereka yang telah lama
berkhidmat. Hampir 80% daripada mereka telah berkhidmat melebihi 3 tahun.
Kebanyakan mereka juga telah lama melibatkan diri dalarn aktiviti QCC ini. 74% mereka
ini telah melibatkan diri melebihi 2 tahun. Sepanjang penglibatan dalarn aktiviti QCC ini,
mereka telah berjaya menyelesaikan projek penambahbaikan dan telah membuat
persembahan fperkongsian maklumat) di pelbagai peringkat. 44.7% di peringkatsyarikat, 16.5% di peringkat wilayah, 32.6% di peringkat nasional dan 5.8% di
peringkat antarabangsa.
Pembelajaran Di Tempat KerjaKajian mendapati pekerja rnerasakan mereka belajar sesuatu semasa berada di
tempat kerja. Purata minimum pembelajaran di tempat kerja di antara terendah 2.92
dan tertinggi 4.75. Purata skor min ialah 3.70. Komponen pembelajaran di tempat kerja
terdiri daripada pembelajaran formal, informal dan insidental. Kajian ini mendapati
purata skor min untuk komponen ini ialah:
Pembelajaran informal = 4.00
Pembelajaran formal = 3.67
Pembelajaran insidental = 3.67
Secara keseluruhan, kajian ini mendapati pekerja lebih banyak belajar melalui
pembelajaran informal sernasa berada di ternpat kerja.
Kajian ini juga mendapati pembelajaran ini saling berkait diantara satu dengan yang lain.
Analisa korelasi mernperlihatkan hubung kait di antara mereka seperti di bawah:
Jadual 2 Korelasi Di Antara Komponen Pembelajaran
Pembelajaran Pembelajaran Pembelajaranformal informal insidental
Pembelajaran formal
Pembelajaran informal
Pembelajaran insidental
Pearson rSig.
Pearson rSig.
Pearson rSig.
1 0.425"*0.000
1
0.262"0.000
0.377"0.000
1
** signifikan pada paras kebarangkaliannya 0.01
Kaedah pembelajaran di tempat kerja berbeza mengikut jawatan dan mengikut ujianpost hoc. Kajian ini mendapati pihak pengurusan mempelajari lebih melalui kaedahpembelajaran formal dan informal (r- 0.926,0.915). Penyelia juga mempunyai ciri-ciriyang sarna (r=0.839,0.797). Pembelajaran untuk pekerja operasi utama arnat berbezasama sekali. Mereka lebih banyak belajar rnelalui pembelajaran insidental dan informal(r=0.747,0.728).
Sikap Berkaitan Dengan Pekerjaan
Kajian ini menunjukkan purata responden mempunyai sikap yang positif terhadap pekerjaan
mereka (rnin 3.38). Butiran komponen sikap di ternpat kerja adalah seperti berikut;
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H min Std.dev
lltizam organisasiPengiibatan pekerjaanKepuasan pekerjaan
3.67
3.41
3.19
0.42
0.46
0.38
Kajian menunjukkan hubung kait di antara komponen sikap berkaitan dengan pekerjaan
ditunjukkan di Jadual di bawah. Analisa menunjukkan iltizam mempunyai hubungan
yang sederhana dengan penglibatan (r=0.444), dan dengan kepuasan (r=0.263|. Kajian
mendapati penglibatan dan kepuasan tidak mempunyai hubungan (nilai p 0.255>0.05).
[ Jadual 3 Korelasi Di Antara Komponen Sikap Berkaitan Pekerjaan
Pembelajaran Pembelajaran Pembelajaranformal informal insidental
Iltizam organisasi
Penglibatan Pekerjaan
Kepuasan pekerjaan
Pearson rSig.
Pearson rSig.
Pearson <Sig
1 0.444*"GOOD
1
0263"0014
0.125"0.255
1
* signifikan pada paras kebarangkaliannya 0.01signifikan pada paras kebarangkaliannya 0.05
PerbincanganKajian mi mendapati pembelajaran di tempat kerja member! kesan kepada sikap
yang berkaitan dengan pekerjaan tetapi tidak secara langsung. Pembeiajaran tidak
mernpunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan sikap, nilai p 0.127>0.05. Pembelajaran
mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan iltizam organisasi, nilai p ,000<0.05, nilai r =
0.434. Pembelajaran juga tidak mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan penglibatan
pekerjaan dan kepuasan pekerjaan. Nilai p masing-masing ialah 0.648 dan 0.818.
Ini menunjukkan pembelajaran di tempat kerja memberi kesan kepada sikap yang
berkaitan dengan pekerjaan melalui perubahan dalam iltizam.
Kajian juga mendapati iltizam organisasi memberi kesan kepada kepuasan
pekerjaan dan juga penyertaan pekerjaan. Hubungan yang signitikan antara mereka
ditunjukkan rnelalui nilai p 0.00<0.01 , nilai r =0.444 untuk penglibatan pekerjaan dan
nilai p 0.014<0.05, nilai r=.0263.
Pernbelajaran di tempat kerja dibahagikan kepada pembelajaran formal, informal
dan insidental. Kajian ini mendapati pembelajaran informal merupakan pembelajaran
yang berkesan yang terhadap perubahan sikap di tempat kerja. Hubungan mereka yangsignifikan, nilai p 0.00<0.01, nilai r=0.370. Lain-lain jenis pembelajaran tidak signifikan,
nilai p >0.05.
Jadual 4 Korelasi Di Antara Komponen Sikap Berkaitan Pekerjaan
o
Min Iltizam afektif
Min Iltizam normatif
Min Iltizam 'continuance'
Pearson rSig
Pearson rSig.
Pearson rSig
Pembelajaran Pembelajaranformal informal
0.0550.613
0.?67*0 013
0398"0000
0.250"0020
0.490"0000
0643"000
Pembelajaraninsidental
-0.1250.253
0.1970.070
0.1770.102
** stgmfikan pada paras kebarangkaliannya 0.01* signifikan pada paras kebarangkaliannya 0.05
Analisa di atas menunjukkan korelasi yang signifikan nilai p(0.013<0.05), dan
(0.000<0.01), di antara pembelajaran formal dengan iltizam normatif (r= .0267) dan
iltizam continuance fr=0.398). Pembelajaran formal akan meningkatkan iltizam normatif
dan continuance, namun korelasi mereka agak lemah.
Pembelajaran informal mempunyai impak yang signifikan terhadap iltizam, nilai p
0.020<0.05, dan 0.000<0.01. Pembelajaran informal mempunyai korelasi yang lemah
terhadap iltizam afektif (r=0.250), tetapi ia mempunyai korelasi yang signif ikan yang
sederhana dengan iltizam normatif (r=0.490) dan iltizam continuance (r=0.643).
Pembelajaran insidental tidak mempunyai korelasi yang signifikan dengan mana-
mana komponen iltizam, (P-value>0.050).
———————-x Jadual Regresi Berganda Di Antara Komponen Sikap Di TempatJadual 5 l Kerja Dengan Pembelajaran
Pemboleh ubah Beta tak Ralat BetaBersandar P Bebas piawai piawai piawai t Sig.Sikap Konstan
Min P. InformalMin P. Insidental
Min P. Forma!
2.669D.292
-0.116
3.045E-03
.334
.078
.071
.074
7.992
.436
-.179
.005
0.000
3.725
-1 631
0.041
0.000
0.000
.107
.967
Rz =0.165 StatistikF =5.385R2terlaras =0.134 Sign. =0.002Ralat piawai = 0.284
Analisa regresi menunjukkan kira-kira 13.7% perubahan dalam sikap berkaitanpekerjaan disebabkan pembelajaran informal. Nilai p 0.00<0.01, kita da patmerumuskan pembelajaran informal memberi kesan yang signifikan kepada sikapberkaitan pekerjaan.
Kita dapat meramalkan perubahan sikap rnelalui persamaan berikut:
SIKAP = 2.432 + 0.248 (PEMBELAJARAN INFORMAL)
Rumusan
Pembelajaran di tempat kerja merupakan agen kepada perubahan sikap berkaitandengan pekerjaan. Seseorang pekerja yang mempunyai sikap yang positif akanmenghasilkan produk atau perkhidrnatan yang berkualiti. Ini akan menjamin daya saingdan kesinambungari kehidupan (survival) organisasi. Kajian ini mernbuktikanpembelajaran dl tempat kerja membawa perubahan kepada sikap yang berkaitandengan pekerjaan.
Pembelajaran informal harus diberi penekanan kerana ia merupakan penyurnbangyang paling besar kepada perubahan sikap, berbanding dengan lain-lain bentukpembelajaran, narnun kaedah pembelajaran lain tidak harus dipandang ringan keranasernua kaedah pembelajaran ini saling berkait dan saling perlu-rnemerlukan di antaramereka.
Pembeiajaran informal harus diiktiraf dan diberi pertimbangan rebet oleh HRDCsetanding dengan pembelajaran formal.
RUJUKAN
Andrew Hale Femstein (20001. A Study of Relationship between JobSatisfaction a:«i Organisation Comm/lmenl among Restaurant EmployeesUniversity of Nevada. USA
Decha Dechawatanapaisal and Sununta Siertglhai 120061 The Impact ol
Learning IB: 4Z-54
Graham Ctteetham and Geoll Chivais 120011 How Professionals Lasm InPractice' An Investigation of Informal Learning Amongst Working InProfessions. Journal of European Industrial Training 25: 248-292
John PMayer and Natalie J Alien 119911 A Three-ComponentConceptualisation of Organisational Commitment. Human ResourceManagement Review >. SI-89
Lennart Svensson, Per-Erik Ellstrom And Cartna Aberg 120041. IntegratingFormat and Informal Learning at Work. The Journal of Workplace Learning16:479-49'
Michael W Graham ana Philip f Messnei 119381. Puncipals ana JobSatisfaction. International Journal of Educational Management 15: 196-202
Examining Sources Of Satisfaction AndDissatisfaction Of The Malaysian Hotel Employees
Using Profile Accumulation TechniquebyNor Fazila HashimIda Yasine-mail : [email protected] Hafizah Mohd Arope-mail : [email protected] Ahmad Arshade-mail : [email protected] Othman
IntroductionThe Mafaysian economy has undergone
significant structural changes over the lastthirty years. Until the 1970s, the economywas mainly dependent on agriculture.However, in the 1980s, the countryfocused on changing its economicstructure, towards economic developmentthat was driven by twin-engines of growth,namely the manufacturing and servicesectors.
Hence, the role of the service sectortowards propelling the national economyinto the next stage of developmentbecame increasingly important in the1990s. The service sector has grown intandem with the growth of themanufacturing sector, where in the year2005 the service sector registered anoutput growth of 6.15% (NationalProductivity Corporation, 2006). Theservice sector continued to be a majoremployer with a 58% share of totalemployment in the year 2005 (NinthMalaysia Plan, 2006). The expansion of theservice sector is such that in 2005 itcontributed 60.8% to GDP share (NinthMalaysia Plan, 2006). In addition, thegovernment views the service sector as acatalyst for growth and specificallyencourages the development of thetourism industry because it has emerged
as the second largest foreign exchange earner after manufacturing, especially whenthe tourist inflows continue to record an incremental increase every year.
The expansion of the service sector has seen a continuing growth in the tourismsub-sector. For the year 2005, Malaysia recorded tourist receipts of RM31 billion froma total of 16.4 million tourist arrivals. The tourism services comprise of hotel, resorts,tour services, travel agencies, restaurant and catering services, and transport services.In 2005, there were 2,256 hotels and other lodging places located all over the countrythat supplied a total of 170,873 rooms (Ninth Malaysia Plan). The average occupancyrate for Malaysian hotels in 2005 was 63.5%. Tourism industry is also a majorcontributor to employment, providing 451,000 employment opportunities in 2005. Themajor source of employment was in the hotels and other lodging services, withemployment steadily increasing from 39,000 persons in 1995 to 91,156 persons in2005. It is projected that by 2010 a total of 520,700 employment opportunities will becreated in this sub-sector (Ninth Malaysia Plan, 2006).
Being a labour intensive industry, hotel employees play an important role inachieving competitive advantage. Hence, this particular study which focuses oninternal units and employees satisfaction could be beneficial to the hospitality sector ingeneral and hoteliers in particular. In that sense, practitioners may also benefit fromthe findings of this study, as it can be useful in improving their organisational practicesaimed at achieving service excellence.
ObjectiveThe main objective of the study is to identify the internal service quality (ISO) andsources of job satisfaction in the hotel industry. The specific objectives are:
i. To examine and identify internal service quality by assessing employees'experience in their working environment, which will be translated intoISO positive and negative dimensions.
ii. To identify sources of job satisfaction among the hotel employees.
ScopeThe study was carried out in 2006 at selected hotels located in Peninsular Malaysia.Hotels participated in this study were:
i. Pan Pacific Kuala Lumpurii. Pan Pacific Kuala Lumpur International Airportiii. Holiday Villa Subangiv. Holiday Villa Cheratingv. Concorde Hotel Shah Alarmvi. Putrajaya Marriott Hotelvii. Hotel Equatorial Bangi
The sampling consists of the hotels' employees of all categories (management andoperations).
Moreover, this study seeks to classify the attributes of internal service quality intoattributes that are predominantly satisfiers and dissatisfiers, and sources of satisfactionand dissatisfaction among hotel employees.
Literature ReviewService QualityService quality is defined as 'the delivery of excellent or superior service'. Theuniqueness of service quality are:
• the customer is a participant in the service process;• the product and consumption occur simultaneously;• service capacity is time-perishable;• the challenging intangible nature of service and the inability to store the output;• the involvement of more labour-intensive operations;• the level of quality expected is less perishable;• site selection is dictated by customer location; and• the importance of individual preferences and perceptions.
Gronross (1984) divided service quality into three components: technical,functional and image. While Juran (1988) stated that the quality of a product or serviceis determined by its fitness for use by external and internal customer. Crompton andMackay (1989) were concerned with the attributes of the service itself, and how thoseattributes developed positive perceptions of the service. It is widely discussed inliteratures that service quality is dependent on customers' needs and expectations,and whether the level of service meets the needs and expectations.
In the context of hospitality industry, attributes such as imprecise standards andfluctuating demand have been identified; however these further complicate the task ofdefining, delivering and measuring service quality. Quality aspects such as'friendliness', 'helpfulness' and 'politeness' are likely to be interpreted differently byvarious guests and are assessed subjectively. Furthermore, demand for service in thehospitality industry is generally clustered around peak periods of a day or year andthese peaks create an environment which makes it difficult to provide consistentservice quality.
Internal Customer ServiceThe idea of an internal customer and a customer-driven system that matches
internal services to users' needs emerged in literatures in the late 1980s. The conceptevolved originally through the idea of making jobs in the service sector more attractiveto potential and existing employees.
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Nagel and Cilliers (1990) have defined the internal customer as any member of anorganisation receiving products or services by other members in the organisation. Inthe context of a hotel, it can be argued that a waiter is the internal customer of thecook who prepared a specific dish, the cook is the internal customer of thestorekeeper who, in turn is the internal customer of the purchasing agent. All of themare the internal customers of the payroll department (Alexandros, 2001:251).
Gronross (1990) described internal customer concept in service delivery processas a network of system consisting of interrelations and interdependences between anumber of sub-process. He further explained that these sub-processes support oneanother and poor performance in one of them will eventually affect the servicedelivered to the external customer. The idea was supported by Heskett et al. (1994)who stated that the quality of internal service encounters is characterised by theattitudes that employees have towards one another and the way employees serveeach other inside the organisation.
However, the concept of 'internal customer service' is different from 'internalmarketing', where the former focuses on how employees serve other employees,while the latter focuses on how the company serves the employees. Thus, internalcustomer service is viewed as a two-way exchange process between individuals indifferent functional departments of a firm in which the provider is charged withresponding to the needs of his/her internal customer, resulting in a satisfied internalexchange partner.
Employees Job Satisfaction in the Hospitality industryThe research on employees job satisfaction started in the 1930s and since then
has become an interesting area in organisational behaviour research. Locke (1976)defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state, resulting from theappraisal of one's job or job experience. Job satisfaction is generally recognised as amultifaceted construct that includes employee feelings related to both intrinsic andextrinsic job elements. Furthermore, it encompasses specific aspects of satisfactionrelated to pay, benefits, promotion, work conditions, supervision, organisationalpractices and relationship with co-workers.
In addition, Pizam and Chandrasekar conducted a study on job satisfaction in thehospitality industry in 1983, on overall and factor specific satisfaction. The findingsindicated that 75 percent of the respondents, who were young executives, weresatisfied with their position. Sarker, Crossman and Chinmeteepituck {2003} studied therelationship between age and length of service with job satisfaction of hotel employeesin Thailand. The study found that employee's age was not significantly associated withoverall job satisfaction level. Indeed, there was a significant relationship
between tenure and facets of satisfaction, but the effect of tenure on satisfaction wassignificantly modified by age. Other studies in hospitality setting carried out by Silva(2006) investigated the relationship between job attitudes and personality traits. Thefindings showed that job attitudes, specifically organisational commitment and jobsatisfaction are significantly related to the personality traits.
MethodologyIn order to investigate the internal service quality dimensions and job satisfaction ofhotels' employees, the following research methodology was employed in the study.
The SampleA questionnaire survey was conducted in 2006. A total of 2200 questionnaires
were distributed to hotel employees of five-star hotels at selected tourist destinationsin Malaysia. A sample size of 161 respondents was collected, representing a responserate of 7.3 percent. The respondents of this study were predominantly operationalstaff, 62.1 percent male and 37.9 percent female. 30.4 percent of the respondents inthis study have served the hotel for 5 to 10 years, 21.1 percent for 1 to 3 years and20.5 percent served more than 10 years. Finally, 18 percent of the respondents havebeen working in the hotel between 3 to 5 years, while 9.3 percent of them have beenworking with the hotel for less than a year.
Profile Accumulation Technique (PAT) SurveyTo examine the internal service quality and job satisfaction, PAT, a semi-
quantitative technique which allows qualitative data to be collected and yet assessedquantitatively, was employed in this study. PAT allows respondents to say exactlywhat they want and the data is not tainted by the possible irrelevant assumptions ofthe service provider. Moreover, respondents' perceptions of service experiences canbe assessed without influencing their responses.
PAT is an extremely versatile technique, and has been used to assess the servicequality of various customer services, including hotels, restaurants, managementassociations, training organisations, and tourist attractions (Othman, 2005). Accordingto this technique, respondents will write down the best and the worst aspects of aparticular service experienced, on a simple form. Respondents are asked on The bestthing about working here' and The reasons why these are best'. On the reverse are,The least satisfactory things about working here' and The reasons why you feeldissatisfied'. The numbers of responses were then counted to provide a profile of thestrengths (positive) and weaknesses (negative) of the service.
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In terms of reliability, as with other statistical techniques, the larger the numbersof responses collected the more reliable the quantitative data become, but in case ofPAT even as few as 50 completed responses could provide meaningful information.
Classif ication of AnecdotesThe study received satisfactory responses from respondents on the two questions
posed in the survey form. The total numbers of usable satisfaction anecdotes were295 and the dissatisfaction anecdotes were 264. Most of the respondents described inconsiderable detail on their experience of incidences, while some just briefly explainedtheir experience.
Each anecdote was numbered and summarised into a list of key words andphrases which encapsulated the employees' experience of the service. This was thenrecorded on a spreadsheet. Two sets of tables were created, one for the anecdotesrelating to the experience of good service (the satisfiers) and one for the anecdotes ofpoor service (the dissatisfiers).
Nine facets of job satisfaction developed by Spector (1985) and sources of jobsatisfaction in hospitality and catering, from the research project of Harbourne (1995)were used as basis in the analysis. The nine facets of job satisfaction were:
1. Pay 4. Fringe benefits 7. Co-workers2. Promotion 5. Contingent rewards 8. Nature of work3. Supervision 6. Operating conditions 9. Communication
According to Harbourne (1995), job satisfaction is based on many factors. The mainsources of satisfaction are:
• Opportunities to meet people,• Teamwork which exist in the workplace with colleagues,• Atmosphere in the workplace,• Amount of control the respondents have over the way they perform their jobs,• Physical conditions of the workplace, and• Hours worked.
Meanwhile, the top six sources of dissatisfaction are:
• Opportunities for promotion,• Perks,• Pay and compensation,• The share of tips,• Recognition for good work, and• Opportunities for getting qualifications.
Research by Reynoso and Moores (1995) found the dimensions of tangibility,reliability, helpfulness, professionalism, consideration, confidentiality, flexibility andcommunication. Meanwhile the study carried out by Othman (2006) found teamwork,enjoyable, rewards and socialise as internal service quality dimensions. As such, theframework used in this study is based on works by Spector (1985), Harbourne (1995),Reynoso and Moores (1995), and Othman (2006).
Findingsinternal Service QualityPositive Dimensions of Internal Service Quality (ISO)
A total of 195 positive responses received from respondents were used to constructthe positive dimensions of internal service quality. The positive dimensions are basedon the emerging attributes indicated by employees.
This study found five internal service quality dimensions. The positive dimensionsare enjoyable (31.79%), followed by consideration (26.15%), teamwork (18.46%),rewards (15.38%) and socialise (8.21%). In this study enjoyable refers to pleasure ofworking in the organisation, particularly the hotels, while teamwork is defined ascooperative efforts by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal.Rewards refer to the return for performance of a desired behaviour and socialise refers
to interactions of employees with other people, such as, colleagues and hotel's guests.
Figure 1 shows positive internal service quality profile ranging from enjoyable,followed by consideration, teamwork, rewards to socialise.
EnjoyableEnjoyable, which accounted for 31.79%, was perceived as the most populardimension in the profile. The attributes included in enjoyable, as described by therespondents, are comfortable working environment, hassle-free, less officepolitics, fun, excitement, no pressure and less stress. A number of employeeswith more than 10 years of service described their working environment aspleasant and not much pressure. 'We know each other and that makes our workeasier and smoother'.
Figure 1 ISQ Profile- Positive
Socialise
Rewards
Enjoyable2.00 T
Consideration
Teamwork
0
ConsiderationThe second most important dimension ranked by respondents is consideration,which accounted for 26.15%. The attributes mentioned include friendlycolleagues, respect for each other, understanding co-workers, help and care foreach other. One respondent, who had been working in the hotel for less than ayear, described his working experience as 'My senior colleague always help newstaff and we always help each other'.
TeamworkThe third most popular dimension is teamwork, accounting for 18.46%. Theattributes included in teamwork, as described by the respondents, are team spirit,excellent teamwork, cooperative colleagues and teamwork as the result of the
interaction between staff. One of the respondents described teamwork as 'Wework as a team and there is family spirit among the staff.
RewardsOnly 15.38% of the respondents perceived rewards as a positive ISQ dimension.Employees indicated that non-monetary rewards include opportunities to learnnew things and to gain new experience, to learn about food and cooking, andopportunities to improve conversing in the English language. An employee whohas been with the hotel for a year described rewards as 'I get an opportunity toattend courses related to hotel and catering to improve my working sk i l l ' .
SocialisingSocialise is the least important dimension ranked by the respondents. Socialisingwas only mentioned by 8.21 % of the respondents. The attribute focuses on the
opportunity to meet people, celebrity and international guests. An employee withthe hotel for 20 years described socialise in her working experience as ' I enjoymeeting all kinds of people especially the VIPs, celebrities and sometimes my oldfriends'.
Negative Dimensions of Internal Service Quality (ISO)Analysis on the negative dimensions of the ISO is based on employees'
dissatisfaction during their interaction with other personnel. By going through all thenegative responses as part of the categorising process, seven dimensions were identified.
Figure 2 shows the negative dimensions of ISO, namely, management attitude(29.63%), followed by lack of functionality (27.78%), no consideration (14.81%),miscornmunication (10.19%), not professional (7.41%), attitude problem (5.56%) andlack of teamwork (4.63%). Dimensions such as management attitude, lack offunctionality and no consideration are above the mean.
Figure 2 Negative Dimensions of ISQ
Management attitude3.00
Lack of teamwork
Attitude problem
Not professional
Lack of functionality
No consideration
Miscommunication
Management AttitudeManagement attitude is the main dissatisfaction dimension indicated in the
survey, which accounted for 29.6%. Attributes such as unfair treatment, bossy,
favouritisms, no integrity, not being appreciated, discrimination and poor
management are categorised under management attitude. One employee
described the dissatisfaction on management attitude as 'Promotion is not based
on knowledge or skill but more on cronyism', 'Management practices favouritism
especially during promotion to higher position or for salary increment'.
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Lack of FunctionalityLack of functionality emerges due to reasons such as not enough staff, out-dated
equipment, work system unorganised, hot work area, lack of skilled staff and lowsafety level. This dimension refers to unavailability of facilities or staff orprocedures that could spoil a good working environment. These were indicated by27.78% of the responses. An employee described lack of functionality in hisworking environment as There is lack of staff in this hotel and I always have to
work extra hours to cover certain jobs'.
Lack of ConsiderationLack of consideration is among the top dissatisfaction aspects in the workingenvironment of hotel employees, and accounted for 14.81 %. Lack of
consideration refers to situation when the employees do not show any
consideration to fellow employees. The attributes mentioned in this categoryinclude not respecting others, fussy head of department, head of departmentbeing very strict, unsympathetic and uncaring. One emptoyee described the lack
of consideration in the working environment as 'My head of department is very
fussy and hardly approved my leave'.
MiscommunicationA miscommunication dimension reflects a communication breakdown among theemployees in their working relationship. Some of them have communicationproblem such as not being able to speak English fluently. Other attributes are
head of department is very rude, management not listening, management did nottake action against complaints and lack of communication. As a result
miscommunication accounted for 10.19% of the responses. An employee describedmiscommunication as The way head of department talks to us is very rude', 'My
manager does not care for our feelings and scolds the staff as he (ikes'.
UnprofessionalUnprofessional was described by the respondents as not acting appropriately as aprofessional, such as unsystematic in carrying out their works or unable to handlecertain request by the hotel guests. Not being professional accounted for 7.41%of the responses. Other attributes mentioned by the respondents are doublestandard, need close supervision and very slow in doing work.
Attitude ProblemThe second least important dimension is employees' attitude problem, accountedfor 5.56%. This dimension refers to the dissatisfaction over their colleagues'
attitudes or personal behaviour. The attributes included in the attitude problem, asdescribed by the respondents, are critics by colleagues, busybody friends, selfishcolleagues, inter department disputes, nothing is fun, tiring, work extra hours andhigh workload.
Lack of TeamworkFinally, the least important dimension in the negative profile is the lack of
teamwork, which accounted for 4.63%. Lack of teamwork was described as theuncooperative relationships between members within a team or between theteams. The attributes mentioned in this category include no teamwork, nocooperation among staff and no commitment.
Employees' Job SatisfactionA key factor behind employees' loyalty is job satisfaction. Generally, satisfaction is
the most important reason for employees to remain in their present job. As jobsatisfaction is based on many factors, this study identified ten main sources of jobsatisfaction from employees' point of view.
Sources of Satisfaction and DissatisfactionFigure 3 shows sources of job satisfaction of Malaysians' hotel employees. The
top four factors of satisfaction are related to the atmosphere in their workplace (74
responses) followed by coworkers (60 responses), nature of work in the hospitalityindustry (48 responses) and fringe benefits (31 responses).
Responses given by the respondents such as 'excitement', 'good workingenvironment', 'feels good', 'conducive environment', 'attractive ambience' and 'enjoypresent work' were later categorised under atmosphere. Subsequently, responsessuch as 'friendly co-workers', 'family spirit among staff, 'help each other', 'manyfriends', 'understanding colleague', 'teamwork' and 'good relationship with colleague'were later associated with factor co-worker. Indeed, responses such as 'opportunity tomeet other people', 'learn new language', 'opportunity to meet foreigner', 'learn newthings' were categorised as nature of work.
Figure 3 The Sources of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction
Nature of work
ConvenienceWorking HoursCommunication
AtmospherePay
Promotion
Supervision
Fringe Benefits
Co-workers
-80 -60 -40 -20Dissatisfaction
20 40 60Satisfaction
80
In line with the sources of satisfaction, this study indicated that there are nosatisfactory responses related to working hours and a very few satisfactory responsesrelated to promotion. This supports the findings of Harbourne (1995), that promotionprospect is always a problem in hospitality industry. Only managers are broadlysatisfied with promotion prospects. However, in terms of hours worked, his findingsshowed that most of the hotel managers worked more than 60 hours per week, butthey did not seem too bothered about that.
On the other hand, this study indicated that the four main sources ofdissatisfaction are associated with pay, atmosphere, fringe benefits and supervision.Negative responses by employees which have been associated with pay are, 'no salaryincrement1, 'low service points', 'low salary compared to workload', 'low basic salary','same service point although it is a busy day', 'minimum bonus' and 'payment forovertime not being calculated correctly'. In addition, negative responses such as 'notransport allowance', ' lack of staff facilities', 'lack of incentives', 'uniforms hardlychange', 'poor free meals', 'medical benefits not extended to family members','limited annual leaves', 'less activities for employees', 'staff housing are notcomfortable' and finally 'less sport and social activities' are related to fringe benefit.Dissatisfaction of atmosphere are related with responses such as 'workplace notconducive', 'too much of multi-skilling1, 'not enough staff, 'instruction not comply withstandard of procedure', 'hot workplace', 'old equipments', 'too much workload', 'lackof skilled staff and 'low safety level'.
Furthermore, working hours, communication and promotions are also sources ofdissatisfaction among the employees. Responses related to working hours are 'long
working hours' and 'have to work overtime'. Dissatisfaction towards communication as
highlighted by respondents are 'manager very rude', 'management not listening tostaff, 'manager do not respect supporting staff, and 'lack of communication'.Meanwhile dissatisfaction towards promotion being highlighted by respondents are'not much opportunity for promotion', 'difficult to get promoted1, 'discrimination duringpromotion', 'unfair promotion', 'promotion very slow' and 'favouritism in promotion'.
Sources of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction by Gendera) Sources of Satisfaction by GenderThe following analysis seeks to examine the sources of satisfaction anddissatisfaction by gender. Figure 4 shows the sources of satisfaction by genderwhere factors such as atmosphere, coworkers, nature of work and fringe benefitsare the top four sources of satisfaction.
Figure 4 The Sources of Satisfaction by Gender
Nature of work
ConvenienceWorking Hours
Communication
Atmosphere
PayPromotion
SupervisionFringe Benefits
Co-workers
12 16 20Male Female
Generally, 59.3 percent of the satisfactory responses came from male employees,as compared to 40.69 percent from female employees {see Table 1). Atmosphere isregistered as the highest percentage of satisfaction, with 16.61 percent from maleresponses and 8.47 percent from female responses. The second top source ofsatisfaction is co-workers, where 12.2 percent came from male responses and 8.14percent from female responses. This was followed by the nature of work, where 8.47percent was from male responses and 7.8 percent from female responses. Finally,fringe benefits received 6.1 percent responses from male employees and 4.41 percentfrom female employees.
In addition, none of the positive responses from male and female employees canbe associated with working hours. Indeed, only small percentage of positive responsescan be associated with promotion, which came from female employees.
Table 1 Sources of Satisfaction, Male Vs Female
Sources of Satisfaction Male (%) j Female (%)
Co-workers
Fringe Benefits
Supervision
Promotion
Pay
Atmosphere
Communication
Working Hours
Convenience
Nature of Work
Total
12.20
6 10
5.08
0.00
5.76
16.61
0.68
0.00
4 41
8.47
59.31
8 14
4.41
3.39
0.34
3.39
8.47
0.00
0.00
4.75
7 80
40.69
b) Sources of Dissatisfaction by GenderOn the other hand, analysis on the sources of dissatisfaction found that the topfour sources are pay, atmosphere, fringe benefits and supervision (see Figure 5).59.85 percent of the total dissatisfactory responses came from male employeesand 40.15 from female employees (see Table 2). The highest percentage ofdissatisfaction is related to pay, where 17.42 percent came from male employeesand 8.71 percent from female employees. This was followed by atmosphere,where 10.61 percent came from male and 9.09 percent carne from femaleemployees. Fringe benefit is another of the top four sources of dissatisfaction,with 9.85 percent of responses from male and 7.95 percent from femaleresponses. Finally, supervision received 10.98 percent responses from maleemployees and 5.30 percent from female employees.
Figure 5 ) The Sources of Dissatisfaction by Gender
Nature of work
Convenience
Working Hours
Communication
Atmosphere
Pay
Promotion
SupervisionFringe Benefits
Co-workers
Male
Table 2 Sources of Dissatisfaction, Male Vs Female
Sources of Satisfaction Male (%) Female (%)
Co-workers
Fringe Benefits
Supervision
Promotion
Pay
Atmosphere
Communication
Working Hours
Convenience
Nature of Work
Total
1.89
9.85
10.98
4.17
17.42
10.61
3.79
1.14
000
000
59.85
1.52
7.95
5.30
2.65
8 7 1
9.09
3.41
1.52
0.00
000
40.15
Sources of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction by Years of ServiceFurther analysis was conducted to examine the sources of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction by years of service. For this purpose employees were categorised into 2groups, based on their years of service.
a) Sources of Satisfaction by Years of ServiceFigure 6 shows the sources of satisfaction by years of service. Basically, 51.19percent of the satisfactory responses came from employees with less than 5years of service and 48.81 percent came from employees with more than 5 yearsof service (see Table 3).
Figure 6 | The Sources of Satisfaction by Years of Service
Nature of work
Convenience
Working Hours
CommunicationAtmosphere
Pay
PromotionSupervision
Fringe Benefits
Co-workers
2 4 6 8 10 12< 5 years services as > 5 years services
14 16
The findings indicated that employees who served more than 5 years are moresatisfied in terms of atmosphere, pay, promotion and convenient as compared toemployees with less than 5 years of service. Analysis on the top four sources ofsatisfaction showed that atmosphere received 13.90 percent responses fromemployees who served more than 5 years and 11.19 percent from employees withless than 5 years of service. The second top source of satisfaction are co-workers,where 10.51 percent from employees with less than 5 years of service and 9.83percent from employees who served more than 5 years. This was followed by thenature of work, where 9.49 percent responses came from employees who served lessthan 5 years and 6.78 percent from employees who served more than 5 years. Fringebenefits received 6.10 percent responses from employees with less than 5 years ofservice and 4.41 percent from employees with more than 5 years of service. It isimportant to note that there are no satisfaction responses which can be associatedwith working hours.
Table 3 Sources of Satisfaction by Years of Service
Sources of Satisfaction
Co-workers
Fringe Benefits
Supervision
Piomotion
Pay
Atmosphere
Communication
Working Hours
Convenience
Natuie of Work
Total
Less Than 5 YearsOf Service (%)
10. bl
6.10
4.75
O D D
4 0 7
11 19
068
000
4.41
9.49
51.19
More Than 5 YearsOf Service (%)
9.83
4.41
3 7 3
0.34
5.08
13.90
0.00
0.00
4.75
6.78
48.81
b) Sources of Dissatisfaction by Years of ServiceAnalysis on the sources of dissatisfaction in relation to employees' years of servicereceived 56.44 percent of responses from employees with less than 5 years ofservice and 43,56 percent from employees with more than 5 years of service (seeTable 4). As above, the top four sources of dissatisfaction are pay, atmosphere,fringe benefits and supervision (see Figure 5). With regards to pay, 15.43 percentof dissatisfactory responses came from employees with less than 5 years ofservice and 10.61 percent came from employees with more than 5 years ofservice. Atmosphere registered 12.50 percent dissatisfactory responses fromemployees with less than 5 years of service and 7.20 percent from employees
with more than 5 years of service. Fringe benefits registered 9.47 percentdissatisfactory responses from employees with less than 5 years of service and8.33 percent from employees with more than 5 years of service. Finally, supervisionregistered 8.33 percent responses from employees with less than 5 years ofservice and 7.95 percent from employees with more than 5 years of service.
Figure 7
Nature of work
ConvenienceWorking Hours
CommunicationAtmosphere
PayPromotion
SupervisionFringe Benefits
Co-workers
Sources of Dissatisfaction by Years of Service
4 8 12 16
< 5 years services * > 5 years services20
Table 4 Sources of dissatisfactions by year of service
less Than 5 Years More Than 5 YearsSources of Satisfaction Of Service (%! Of Service (%)
Co-workers
Fringe Benefits
Supervision
Promotion
Pay
Atmosphere
Communication
Working Hours
Convenience
Nature of Work
Total
3.03
947
8.33
1.89
15.53
12.50
3.03
2.65
0.00
0.00
56.44
0.38
8.33
7.95
4.92
10.61
7.20
4.17
0.00
0 00
o on43.56
Furthermore, this study indicated that there are no dissatisfactory responseswhich can be related to sources such as 'nature of work' and 'convenience'. In fact,for 'working hours' the dissatisfactory responses came only from employees with lessthan 5 years of service. Comparison between employees with less than 5 years ofservice and more than 5 years of service indicated that employees with more than 5years service registered higher percentage of dissatisfactory responses on sourcessuch as communication and promotion.
RecommendationsService excellence can be achieved through the ability of employees in delivering
personal difference to the customers during the service delivery. The followingrecommendations are in line with efforts to improve working environment andrelationship in the hotel industry with the understanding that satisfied employees willdeliver their best service and thus increased external customer satisfaction.
!t is suggested that the wage system of the hotel industry be linked toproductivity performance (PLWS). This method will enable employers/hoteliers to
develop a systematic approach towards improving productivity and wages through theactive involvement and cooperation of their employees. Moreover, it enables hotelemployees to obtain a fair share of gains that arise from productivity growth andperformance.
Hence, special attention should also be given to improving employees' jobsatisfaction. Meanwhile, good pay, good working conditions, recognition, promotionand fringe benefits are very important motivating factors to all employees. Forexample, hotel employees are generally rewarded based on individual and business
performance, however more efforts need to be focused on motivating them
especially enhancing their professionalism and social competence so that they couldbe more sensitive to customer requirements. This effort will encourage employees to
deliver the best service, increase customer satisfaction and repeat business, andimprove turnover and profits.
Employees are regarded as the most important 'asset' in an organisation.Managers and head of departments should have essential knowledge in organisationalbehaviour to enable them to manage, understand and appreciate their subordinates.Furthermore, a better understanding of human nature, basic needs and abilities ofpeople will help to maintain a good relationship between supervisors and theirsubordinates. Managers or heads of department who often maintain a goodrelationship with their subordinates will definitely receive a better cooperation andcommitment from their subordinates.
The findings of this study pointed to a high dissatisfactory responses amongstemployees associated with supervision. Thus, it is essential that the hotel managersacquire 'people' skills which will help them to support, encourage and lead theirsubordinates more effectively. Managing and treating employees with lack of respectand unprofessionally will lead to high levels of staff turnover, and in a long term couldalso tarnish the reputation of the hospitality organisation.
ConclusionSome of the quality problems identified are related to personnel in the hospitality
industry and can be addressed by a specific 'people' and 'quality' strategy. Due to thelabour intensive nature of hospitality industry which requires a high interactionamongst the employees as well as between employees and customers, thereforeteamwork, cooperation and effective communication are crucial in ensuring excellencein the service delivery.
Generally, service quality and job satisfaction in the hospitality industry are verymuch depending on the sharing of information and collaborative learning experiencebetween staffs. Indeed, training and empowerment for the service industry employeesare necessary to ensure quality service is delivered. Ultimately, in achievingexcellence, the employees have to continuously enhance their knowledge and buildpersonal skills inventory. Furthermore, employee who has been treated as internalcustomer will feel much respected and appreciated, and will remain loyal to theexisting organisation.
REFERENCESnbr/dge, MA.
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