Research Questions And Purpose

With the aim to improve the customs trainingprocesses and procedures to better enhance the performance of the organization. Investigatingthe impact of training and development on employee performance and productivity in the Seychelles Customs is very crucial. Hence, is it important to address the following questions. Doesthe training programmes plan cover for every employee;Does the training programmes adequate for the development of the customs staff;What key internal and external factors influence the impact of training; What are the training practices and policies for Seychelles Customs Staff;What are the major purposes of T and D programmes applied in Seychelles Revenue Commission for Customs Staff?

Purpose of this research are:

• To explore the impact of the current customs training and development activities have on the organizational performance.
• To find out whether the organizations training, and development programme is right training for customs staff, and if the programmes are conducted for all employees.
• To explore different methods of training and development that affect employee’s performance and productivity
• To examine the hurdles in the implementation of such programmes
• To propose suitable training and development program and process recommendation that can be used to improve the training development for the customs staff in Seychelles.

Background and content

With fast paced technology and globalisation, the current nature of Custom’s administration is challenging and rapidly shifting. Global competition is causing administrations to focus on every aspect of their operation; its effectiveness, how it functions, and how its processes contribute towards the strategic goals of the organisation (Potocki&Brocato). Remaining competitive requires customs officers to be well trained with the expertise to perform their job effectively and efficiently. Employee training is one of the essential instruments that assist improve efficient organisational efficiency while helping to promote the organization's stability index. It is very essential for the organisation to make additional attempts and invest a lot in training of employees if it wishes to accomplish its goals in the most economical manner. Robert argues that effective training assists employees to become more conversant with their job and to attain the required skills to achieve high-quality outcomes (Robert, 2006). According to Goldstein & Ford, training is a systematic method for learning and development to increase employee, team and the organisations efficiency (Goldstein & Ford,2002). While Jones, George & Hill (2000) argues that training focuses mainly on educating members of the organization how to conduct their present task while helping them to obtain the understanding and abilities they need to be efficient performers.

As it is well recognized that employee efficiency and productivity in organisations are enhanced by training and growth (G.A Cole, 2002). It is widely known that effective training of employee’s plays a fundamental role in building successful organisations, operations, and growth (Acton & Golden, 2002). Performance is the main component of the organization's objectives and Training plays a significant role in determining the worker's performance and thus enabling staff to resist the competitive environment. The effective operation of the Seychelles Revenue Commission is vital for two key reasons. Firstly, it holds the responsibility for collecting around 88% of the country’s revenue and plus have to effectively ensuring the protection of borders and the safety of its population.

Like many other public sectors in Seychelles, SRC department are involved in the training and development of its personnel and SRC HR unit are responsible for training and development on behalf of the organisation. Although several efforts by the Customs Division of the Seychelles Revenue Commission’s (SRC) management team, this organisations staff productivity remains below target (SRC). The Customs Division is under achieving despite several administration training initiatives which have been implemented (SRC). The current training that is in place to increase the proficiency of the Customs officers and their performance, the recorded rate of ongoing mistakes performed by its officers is alarming (AOG). These mistakes in turn cause a negative impact on the organisation and creates unnecessary delays in the clearance of cargo. Further, a bad reputation for the organisation builds due to poor service delivery. This also results in negative impacts on the country, affecting its economy due to revenue loss. Higher authorities have raised concerns that the division needs to improve their organisation and its performance urgently to combat these negative outcomes (MOF). An organisations failure or success depends greatly on the quality their human capital. This therefore calls on the management to guarantee appropriate staffing that is technically and socially skilled and able to the expectations of the organization.

For some years now achieving the quality training goals and objectives for customs staff has been a challenged for the division and has been a subject for discussion at the management level. Still it appears that training providedby the management for the customs staff remains haphazard, training is not properly systematically planned, and many of its staffsare not receiving the specific training that can properly qualified them to properly deliver their task and also the systematic process of staff development in place is not interconnected with all the respective sections to ensure that training that are chosen meet the needs of the staff so that the staff can perform better. This is resulting to poor Customs performance as the organisations staff productivity remains below target (SRC).

Methodology

For the purpose of this research, and in order to achieve the objectives will be collected and will be used the following secondary data:-

• A review of literature on the effectiveness of training and development on the performance of the organisation
• A desk-based document review (training policy, training scheme, minutes meeting of training, training plan, details of how staff are selected for training).
• Review of the training policy and Customs Management Act
• A descriptive analysis would be used to describe what the data is showing and followed by inferential analysis to give a conclusion about the data.
• Desk-base analysis of the training budget

Ethical Issues and Considerations.

In view that Secondary data would be used as a primary source to conduct this research, there would be no need for the approval from the ethics committee. However, in view that the analysis require original data from the organisations, the people whose details are recorded in the data might have not directly approached for their consent, therefore, there is a need for me to limit the analyses that I would be conducted to ensure that promises of anonymity are maintained.

Timeline

Outcomes

Conduct investigations and research, analyse data using literature review and document analysis, synthesize research findings, draw conclusion and produce a research project report into the field of training and development and performance of Seychelles Customs that would be submitted to RMIT

Learning Goals

To be able to analyse quantitative data by selecting appropriate descriptive data analysis.

To critically analyse how training and development program can affect staff performance in SRC. Identify issues in the process of which training and development program for the staff that need to be addressed and find ways of which SRC can better develop customs training that would meet the need of the organization and also to develop better strategies that benefit the growth of the employee.