Significance of in-service training activities in state owned enterprises (KITs) in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to search the current status of in-service training activities in Turkish State Owned Enterprises (KITs); Another aim is to see whether in-service training activities are perceived as strategic decisions of the organizations and whether they have an impact on productivity. To serve this aim the researcher sought the answers of the following questions: (1) What is the place of in-service training activities as a branch of human resource management in Turkish State Owned Enterprises (i.e. information about departments and people responsible for training, kinds of training programs, objectives of training programs, need assessment and participant selection techniques, design, implementation and evaluation of training programs)? ; (2) What is the significance of in-service training activities as a strategic decision in Turkish State Owned Enterprises; (3) How do the training activities influence productivity? ; (4) What would be the role of these in-service training activities influencing productivity in Turkish State Owned Enterprises in the future? To collect the data which would give the answers of these questions, all KITs having in-service training activities in last three years in Turkey were taken as the population of this study and the researcher conducted an interview to all population. So, the training directors of 37 KITs were inteiVie\Ned with the guidance of "In-Service Training Activities in State Owned Enterprises (KITs) Information Form (KIT'lerde Hizmet-igi Egitim Faaliyetleri Bilgi Formu)" which was developed by the researcher. Some of the significant results of this study are as follows: Training activities in KIT organizations are mostly directed by the people who have not background in the field of education. There is a variety in size and supervision of training units and they are determined by the importance given to training in these organizations. State can not allocate enough money to training from the total budget since expenditures on training are limited by economical decision taken in April 5, 1994 (Tasarruf Tedbirleri). The most frequently stated purpose of training programs is to increase productivity of employees and that of the companies. Training needs and selection of participants (91.89%) are usually determined by the suggestions of managers. The obligatory technical/functional trainings of blue collars are given priority and lectures and seminars (94%) are most frequently used teaching methods. The most common technique to evaluate training programs is to give questionnaires to the participants (64.86%) in order to learn their opinions about the training (70.27%) they have attended. Another important result of this study is that training programs are organized in a highly bureaucratic way and there is no strategic training in KITs. Finally, productivity is not measured concretely before and after training to see the impact of training on productivity in Turkish State Owned Enterprises.