Doctoral thesis of economics summation training and development technical workers in hanoi garment and textile companies

To survive and grow sustainably, the HN G&T companies really need to invest into training and development in order to posse a number of technical workers1 which meets the requirements in

Ministry of Education and Training University of National Economy

NGUY N VÂN THÙY ANH

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL

WORKERS IN HANOI GARMENT AND TEXTILE

COMPANIES

: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

(LABOR ECONOMICS) : 62340404

DOCTORAL THESIS OF ECONOMICS

SUMMATION

Hanoi, 2014

THESIS TO BE COMPLETED IN

THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

1 Ass Pro Dr Tr8n Th: Thu

2 Ass Pro Dr Cao Văn Sâm

Pro Dr Phan Văn Kha

Dr Nguy=n H>u Dũng

Dr Nguy=n Văn Thành

The thesis will be defend before the Council to protect her State&level doctoral thesis at the National Economic University

Take place at: h on 2014

& Library University of National Economy

& National Library

INTRODUCTION The rationale and significance of research

Currently, the garment and textile companies in Hanoi (HN G&T

companies) have been employing about 111,600 labors and

contributting about 17,3% GDP of Hanoi every year Economic

integration brought more business opportunities to HN G&T

companies but also more challenges which are from fierce

competition, technical innovation, and customers’ stricter

requirements To survive and grow sustainably, the HN G&T

companies really need to invest into training and development in

order to posse a number of technical workers1 which meets the

requirements in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and professional

development

Theoretical framework for training and development (T&D) the

technical workers are extracted and developed from researches on

human resources (HR) training and development On the world,

researches on HR T&D can be basically divided into 4 main groups:

training system design theories, learning theories,

motivational based approaches, and training evaluation models

In Vietnam, there are 2 main approaches of studies on worker T&D

is macro approach: researches on vocational training for certain

areas, provinces or industries is micro approach: studies on

training and development technical workers in the companies

Generally, most of studies concentrated on vocational training (the

macro approach) The micro approach, studies on

which implemented by the companies themselves in order to satisfy their labor needs, has

not been paid much attention In this micro approach, the studies did

not focus on evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of T&D in

1

To be shortened by “workers” from here

all dimensions, did not investigate objective and subjective factors that affect the T&D effectiveness Moreover, in the practice, the training and development technical workers in HN G&T companies has not implemented well enough, thus, did not enable the workforce respond the urgent challenges of business properly

Due to the above reasons, the chosen topic of dissertation on

“Training and development technical workers in Hanoi garment and

textile companies” is of urgent necessity Research questions are:

& Which is the theoretical framework applied into studying the training and development technical workers in companies?

& In the practice, how has the worker T&D in HN G&T companies been implemented? How well do the trained workers respond to job requirements? Why?

& Recommendations for improving technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies?

Thesis to achieve the bellowed purpose of studying:

& Systemizing the theories on human resources T&D and developing the theoretical base for T&D technical workers in companies

& Investigating, analyzing and evaluation the practice of T&D technical workers in HN G&T companies: contents of T&D, methods, effectiveness, objective and subjective factors that influence the T&D effectiveness

& Proposing some recommendations in order to improve the T&D technical workers in HN G&T companies

The research subjects and scope: the training and development

technical workers ( who are specialized in garment, textiles and yarn manufacturing)2 in HN G&T companies from 2009 to 2012

2

To be called G&T worker in following parts

The new contribution of research

Based on the studying the training evaluation models, the dissertation

suggested evaluating the effectiveness of the T&D technical workers

of companies through evaluating the responding extents to job

requirements of trainees in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and

professional development possibilities Proposing the “professional

development possibilities” of trainees to the assessment criteria is the

new contribution of the thesis in compared to previous researches

The results from studying the successful career development cases of

technical workers HN G&T companies showed that: background

of vocational training and other T&D activities have positive

influence to career development of workers, career development

and promotion opportunities play a motivating role to workers Thus,

T&D should be seen as important non&monetary rewards that

motivate workers

The results from investigating the factors that affect the effectiveness

of T&D in HN G&T companies showed that the trainees only meet

requirements in terms of skills and attitude, but they do not meet the

requirements in terms of knowledge and professional development

possibilities due to some main reasons , knowledge and

teaching capabilities of trainers are limited , the training

policies, the monetary and non&monetary rewards are not well

motivated to trainees , workers are mainly trained by on&the&

job methods but knowledge and skills basically and systematic

equipped , companies do not want to invest in T&D due to

wondering of losing well&trained workers and can not recover the

training costs

Thesis suggested the HN G&T companies should consider T&D

technical workers as solutions for enhancing competitive

competency, ensuring sustainable growth and motivating tools as

well, and should change the training points of view and methods to

the competency approaches The new contributions in recommendations include: improving training methods in order to meet professional competency standards, using the career development activities for workers as non&monetary motivating tools and retention, and improving the system of assessing the worker T&D effectiveness The thesis also suggested some recommendations to relating authorities to facilitate and support the worker T&D in HN G&T companies

The thesis structure includes 4 chapters Chapter 1 displays the

theoretical framework of worker T&D in companies Chapter 2 describes research methodology and data that serve the study Chapter 3 analyses and evaluates the practice of worker T&D in HN G&T companies Based on these analysis’s, the chapter 4 proposes recommendations for improving the technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF TECHNICAL WORKER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN COMPANIES

1 1 Definitions

Technical workers

!

" #!

$ % # & ' That means

technical workers are those who have been trained at different mastering levels in vocational schools or enterprises in order to ensure that they are qualified enough to accomplish the complex requirements of production process

Technical worker training in companies refers to

$

& % # Worker training in companies

includes skill training and vocational training, which are: vocational

training, skill training, bad performers’ retraining, orientation

training

Technical worker development in companies refers to

! (

" ' Worker development in companies

includes career development and management development

(promotion) activities, which are: worker upgrading training, training

2nd job for workers who are mastered in the 1st job; job rotation and

transfer; skill competitions; promoting good workers to trainers,

technical staff, managerial staff

explained the relationship between training and development and

need changes of any individual in 4 career development stages in

which he/she experienced during working life )

* : to observe, learn and follow instructions of more

experienced people )* : accumulating knowledge,

experience, being mastered in the job, employees now can work

independently )+ : to serve as mentors of those

who are in stage 1, and interact with other people Individuals who

can not cope with this challenging may shift back to stage 2

,- very few people who have strategic thinking

and involve in shaping the direction of the organization itself can

progress from stage 3 to stage 4 Most of professionals will maintain

in the stage 3 until retired

1.2 Implementing training and development technical worker in companies

! in order to accomplish a certain production volume,

firms identify the needs workers to be trained in terms of number and categories !, based on job specifications, firms identify the

requirements in terms of knowledge and skills !, assess the

actual capacities of workers Comparing specific job requirements with actual capacities of each individual worker help managers

!

!, identifying specific training

objectives in terms of: categories and number of workers needed, and necessary knowledge, skills, attitude and career development possibilities Then, developing the master technical worker T&D plans to serve for current requirements and directions for organizational development

firms chose the appropriate training methods and prepare infrastructure including equipments, raw materials The training methods includes: on&the&job training, which are job instruction, apprenticeship, coaching and counseling, and job rotation and transfer; off&the&job training, which are: vestibule training, sending workers to vocational school

! " ! choosing trainers from experienced

workers of the firms or inviting outside trainers Trainers should meet requirements in terms of knowledge, skills, teaching capabilities, and attitude !, using training policies and

monetary and non&monetary tools to motivate trainees before, during and after the training process !, HR unit should organize and

manage training programs effectively

# $ is assessing

the extents that worker T&D to production requirements in terms of:

categories and number of workers needed and professional

capacities of trainees' In which, firms should clearly assess the

extents that trainees respond to job requirements in term of

–necessary knowhow, &the mastering levels in

handling the operation activities, # – professional

possibilities to move up on the career path or promoted into

managerial positions

1.3 Factors influencing technical worker T&D in

companies can be considered as 3 major groups: factors related

to worker T&D design and implementation, individual factors,

and external influences

entirely controlled by firms so it can be improved to increase the

effectiveness of worker T&D Therefore, these factors have been

concentrated by the thesis Chart 1.1 displays the theoretical

framework:

Chart 1.1: Theoretical framework of worker T&D in companies

The design&implementation factors includes: A Worker training

need analysis B Choosing suitable training methods C Trainers’

quality D Training policies, and E Training programs management

Trainers’

quality

Training

policies

Training methods

Extents trainees respond to job requirements in

term of:

Knowledge Skills Attitude/behavior

Training programs management Training need analysis

Individual factors which have certain influences on effectiveness of

worker T&D include: age, gender, seniority and mastering levels

Considering the external influences, thesis focused on impacts of

international integration and some factors such as: employability and opportunities to raise income after training State’s policies about vocational training and high school background

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA

2.1 Qualitative research

in order to: evaluate the T&D practice and investigate the following contents in each company: training need analysis, training program designs, methods choosing, trainers’ quality assessment, T&D effectiveness evaluation; compare, generalize the common characteristics, difficulties or advantages, also consider different problems and problem solving

to describe their career path, thus, analyze the relationship between vocational training&skill training&professional development and analyze the need changing of individual workers in each stage of their career progresses

to gain the evaluations from different cuts about worker T&D in HN G&T companies Interviewees are: policy makers, researchers, managers

at all levels of firms, and trainers

Quantitative research

Thesis studied the extents of impacts of %

to effectiveness of worker T&D Survey has been carried out

in 60 HN G&T companies, which include: 33 garment firms (equivalent to 55,1%) and 27 G&T firms (44,9%)

& technical workers who are serving garment,

textiles and yarn production machines; HR staff, trainers,

functional staff and Managerial staff: directors and vice directors

of plants, Heads of shift, team leaders and other immediate

supervisors However, in practice, most of worker T&D activities in

HN G&T companies is on&the&job That’s why all immediate

supervisors, some middle managers are trainers at the same time

Therefore, the research merged group number (2) and (3) of

respondents into only one group that’s called ‘managers/trainers’

Their opinions on worker T&D reflect two side of a coin:

evaluations of implementators and evaluations of users

& displayed in chart 1.1

& Dependent variables: effectiveness of worker T&D in HN G&T

companies which measured by the extents that trainees respond to

#

& Independent variables: *' / identified

reasonably, sound training program; B !

: instruction (and other coaching and mentoring),

apprenticeship, vestibule training, sending workers to vocational

schools 0' ( & !: assessed by knowledge, skills, teaching

infrastructure serves T&D, training programs management; and 2'

Monetary and non&monetary motivating tools, training policies, and cares of top management

1.The more identified reasonable training needs, the more effective

worker T&D

2 The more systematic the training methods, the more effective

worker T&D

3 The more qualified trainers, the more effective worker T&D

4 The better the training programs managed, the more effective worker T&D

5 The more motivated the policies, and the more cares of top management, the more effective worker T&D

by 2 ways: direct interviewers and through mails In each firm, there were 2 questionnaires for workers and 1 questionnaire for manager delivered Finally, the survey covered:

& Delivered 800 questionnaires for technical workers (code 34)05),

recovered 636 acceptable questionnaires

& Delivered 400 questionnaires for managers (code 34)67),

recovered 321 acceptable questionnaires

by the statistic software SPSS

81

Pearson’s Chi&square test (χ2 applied to all pairs of one independent

variable vs one dependent variable' Then, calculate the P value,

comparing to the significance α=0,05:

& If P value <0,05 => these two variables are related

& If P value >0,05 => these two variables are not related Gamma (γ ) test to measure the impacts of design&implementation

factors to effectiveness of worker T&D' When 2 variables are

related, the value of γ refers to strength of impact of independent variable X to dependent variable Y:

γ < 0,5 => X has nearly no impact on Y 0,5<γ < 0,8 => X has little impact on Y 0,8<γ < 1 => X has a strong impact on Y

81 by using the crosstabs

81 based on statistic descriptive analysis'

2.3 At desk document analysis method

Some other research methods were also applied to the thesis such as:

at desk document analysis method, comparing, generalizing

3 PRACTICE OF TECHNICAL WORKER TRAINING AND

DEVELOPPMENT IN HANOI GARMAENT AND TEXTILES

COMPANIES

3.1 Some major characteristics influence worker T&D in

HN G&T companies

-The Vietnam G&T industry has been exploiting #

#

such as international regulations,

reduces of State’s subsidiaries, technical barriers, stricter

requirements from customers, thus, facing with the risk of being

backward due to a series of weaknesses First, production structure

imbalance and asynchronous in the level of technological

development between garment, textile and yarn production leads to

Second, the uneven firm distribution across regions, enterprises

concentrated in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city lead to difficulties such

as increased production costs, # amongst

G&T companies versus firms of other industries in the areas

$

afraid of losing trained workers, wasting time, efforts and cost, firms

tend not to invest in intensive worker training or only to train

superficially that serve simple operations After several working years, the work becomes more complex, knowledge and skills of many workers do not meet the strict production requirements because they have not been adequately and systematically trained Consequently, productivity reduced leaded to low wages make workers feel disappointed That’s why they quit to find other better opportunities

companies compared with other industries in the area Therefore, HN G&T companies are always in labor shortages, difficult to attract and recruit new employees and difficult to retain well&trained workers and proficient workmanship

Typical characteristics of workforce of HN G&T companies are:

# (G&T workers occupied the big proportion),

& ! (low skilled, mostly short &term trained)

Immediate supervisors are old, limited in professional capabilities so

HN G&T companies are

for replacing these supervisors

3.2 Practice of technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

Every year, due to constant product design changes, large scale of technical workers who directly involved in production, as well as high turnover rate, HN G&T companies percentage need to conduct

a large amount of worker T&D activities

Worker training includes:

(1) Vocational training for new recruits: most of HN G&T

companies train sewing and cutting workers by apprenticeship method (short theoretical study, then practice directly in the shop

floors) or instructions (direct mentoring in production) Because the

textile&dyeing and yarn manufacturing operations are more

complicated, firms usually applied apprenticeship methods to

trainees for a period of 2&3 months

(2) Retraining the bad performers: by direct mentoring in

production for a period of 1&3 months

(3) Skill training: due to fashion trend changes so skills training for

technical workers to serve producing the new series of goods takes

place very often.Training method is coaching and mentoring.

Worker development includes:

(1) Upgrading training and tests are conducted yearly in large scale

firms Workers learn theories and practice needed opreations by

themselves Based on Job specifications, firms organize the tests

(2) Train the 2nd job for workers mastered the 1st job helps firms

be more flexible in cases of labor surplus or shortages Workers can

increase their incomes, develop their professional capacities

Training methods are coaching and mentoring in about 2&3 months,

costs about 1 mil to 1.8mil VND per textile&yarn worker or

approximately 1 mil VND per garment worker

(3) Skill competition looking for good workers to foster

development and encourage the movement of skill improvement

The contents of the tests are more complicated than upgrading tests

and product must be completed within the shortest time

(4) Developing technical workers to managerial positions and

technicalJfunctional staff in companies

Studies in 7 typical HN G&T companies showed that 94,9%

supervisors and 28,1% middle managers promoted from technical

workers Studying the 16 cases of successful career development

(pp.76&82) concludes: workers are able to be promoted to

technical&functional staff, supervisors or middle managers, or even

top management if they are trained properly , basic

backgrounds from vocational training help worders develop their

career better and advance to higher positions more easily if workers’ backgrounds are not basic and systematic due to inadequte vocational training, firms need to add supplemental short or long& term courses to assure workers’ professional developments in the advancement stage, being trainers help technical workers get better understanding and job awareness, more love and commitment, better career development and more advancement opportunities , combination of off&the&job training and on&the&job training, especially the methods like mentoring, job rotation or transfer creates positive impacts to career developmetn and management advancement of employees Therefore, vocational training&skill training&professional development on the one hand are to develop the professional capacities of technical workers and motivate them as well, on the other hand, to create and develop quality human resources in order to assure the sustainable development of firms

The training needs in terms of number and categories of workers to accomplish a given workload are well identified in HN G&T companies However, due to lacking of Job specifications or poorly written Job specifications, some firms have difficulties in determining the required levels of knowledge, skills that trainees need to satisfy The results of the performance evaluation is not used effectively to identify gaps in knowledge and skills of technical workers need to be trained Most supervisors do not know how to make up a personal development plan for an individual worker

! ! /

On the basis of the identified training needs and objectives, considered to the infrastructure, the companies often use methods of instruction and apprenticeship (typical case: coach and mentoring at Dalat JSC.) The vestibule training or sending workers to vocational schools are rarely used The instruction is evaluated as the least systematic method Sending workers to vocational schools is

assessed the most However, the instruction and apprenticeship are

evaluated the most economic and time saving Assessing the

dimension of practical and easy to learn, the four methods are

equivalent That means

#

& Vestibule training is the best

in terms of systematic, practical, relialistic and easy to learn but a

large amount of investment to infrastructure required (typical case:

‘vocational school within the firm’ at Garment 10)

! # /

Evaluating the quality of trainers

Most trainers of HN G&T companies mainly are part&time (counted

to 95,7%), high seniority but qualifications are generally limited

Number of technical staff, supervisors, and high&skilled technical

workers (grades 5&6) counted only to 33,2% Medium&skilled

technical workers (grades 3&4) are majority (counted to 47,9%)

Evaluating the motivating policies and cares of top

management to worker T&D

Most workers participate training courses due to pressure of work

and supervisors’ requirements There are few who find learning

desires themselves In the invetigated companies, support policies to

workers during the training course and compensation policies after

the courses are not well motivated The different between

assessments of supervisors and workers shows that supervisors do

not aware of the real situation adequately This might be one of

causes explain the problem of many well&trained workers quit the

jobs after being trained To solve this problem, besides binding

contracts for the minimum serving time after training signed by

workers, the companies make provisions on compensation for

training costs However, they still can not retain the well&trained

workers

Evaluating the training course management

Since most HN G&T companies use instruction or apprenticeship train methods, so machinery and equipment being used in production are served for practical session of the training course Quantity and quality of machinery and equipment serving for practice are quite good Also, time arrangement are quite reasonable, learning materials are quite enough, and classroom management are quite good

*$

Generally, extents that trainees respond to job requirements in terms

of skills and attitude and behavior are just satisfied but responding levels in terms of knowledge and career development possibilities are poor

3.2 Assessing the impacts of influencing factors to effectiveness of technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

3.3.1 Assessing the impacts of group of designJimplementing factors to effectiveness of technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

Results of Chi&square test confirm the hypothesizes 1, 3, 4 and 5 but ignore the hypothesis 2 Amongst the group of design&implementing factors, quality of trainers has the strongest impacts on effectiveness

of technical worker T&D Especially knowledge, skills and teaching capacities of trainers has a very strong relationship with knowledge, skills, and career development possibilities of trainees The motivated the policies, and the more cares of top management has the 2nd strong impacts to effectiveness of worker T&D, especially to knowledge and career development possibilities of trainees The elements of training needs identification and training course management has slight impacts to effectiveness of worker T&D

Besides, it’s impossible to conclude that !

81 The instruction

and apprenticeship are not systematic, not effective in terms of career

development possibilities but they are effective in terms of skills

The vestibule is considered as the best due to systematic and

effectiveness in terms of knowledge, skills, attitude career

development possibilities

3.3.2 Assessing the impacts of individual factors to effectiveness

of technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

Analyzing the effectiveness of technical worker T&D by gender

shows the extents that male and female trainees satisfy the job

requirements in terms of knowledge are nearly equivalent However,

the extents that female trainees satisfy the job requirements in terms

of skills, attitude and behavior and career development possibilities

are better than the male workers because the yarn & textile & garment

job requires details, carefulness that fit more with female workers

Analyzing the effectiveness of technical worker T&D by age and

seniority shows the group of over&45&year&old workers are good at

knowledge, skills and attitude but limited in career development

possibilities Group of from&33&to&45&year&old workers, those who

have 15 to 20 years of seniority, are good at knowledge, skills and

attitude, especially are the best in terms of career development

possibilities Group of under&25&year&old, those who have short&term

seniority are the worst in terms of knowledge, skills, attitude, and

career development possibilities

Analyzing the effectiveness of technical worker T&D by

mastering levels, the group of grades 5&6 worker shows the

superiority of knowledge, skills, attitudes and career development

possibilities compared to others Group of grades 3&4 workers has

the self&assessment of meeting the job requirements in terms of

knowledge and skills Group of grades 1&2 workers are low at knowledge and skills after being trained

In summary, impacts of individual factors to the effectiveness of technical worker T&D as follows: female workers meet the job requirements in terms of skills, attitudes and career development possibilities better than male workers; the older and the more senior workers are, the better they meet the job requirements in terms

of knowledge, skills and attitude; the higher grade workers are, the better they meet the job requirements in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and career development possibilities

! ! ! Assessing the impacts of other external factors to effectiveness of technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

Session 3.1 analyzed the impacts of international integration, some characteristics of VN G&T industry, some characteristics

of labor force to effectiveness of technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies Besides, assessing the impacst of 3 factors such as: employability and opportunities to raise income after training State’s policies about vocational training and high school background shows that the employability and opportunities to raise income after training has greater impacts

to effectiveness of technical worker T&D the remain two factors

4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE

4.1 Viewpoints on technical worker T&D in HN G&T companies

/