razak.utm.my · iii Editors: Nor Raihana Mohd Ali Hayati @ Habibah Abdul Talib Siti Zura A. Jalil @ Zainuddin Habibah @ Norehan Hj. Haron Samira Albati Kamaruddin Roslina Mohammad

razakschool.utm.my

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2nd

MASTER PROJECT SYMPOSIUM

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR

ISBN 978-967-15384-7-0

ii

Copyright © 2018 by UTM Razak School. All rights reserved.

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Published by:

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

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Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA

http://razakschool.utm.my

First Printing, April 2018

Printed in Malaysia

iii

Editors:

Nor Raihana Mohd Ali

Hayati @ Habibah Abdul Talib

Siti Zura A. Jalil @ Zainuddin

Habibah @ Norehan Hj. Haron

Samira Albati Kamaruddin

Roslina Mohammad

Siti Armiza Mohd Aris

Sharifah Alwiah Syed Abd. Rahman

Mohd Nabil Muhtazaruddin

Rahimah Muhamad

Fatimah Salim

Sa’ardin Abdul Aziz

Shamsul Sarip

Nor Fazilah Mohd Hashim

Book cover designed by:

Karmila Khalid

iv

About Master Project Symposium

The 2nd

Master Project Symposium was held on 22 – 26 May 2017 for Semester 2

Session 2016/2017 at Menara Razak, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala

Lumpur. This symposium is organized every semester by Master Project Committee,

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology to fulfil the

requirement of Executive Master in Occupational Safety and Health Management,

Master of Engineering Business Management, Master of Professional Science and

Master of Science (System Engineering).

This symposium aims to provide a platform for students to share their research

processes and outcomes among UTM Razak School members and at the same time

receive inputs from the audience to improve their research. Students are exposed to

various engineering business management issues by identifying the current issues in

their workplaces and addressing the issue through their research.

The papers presented in the symposium are compiled into proceedings with the aim to

share with others the research conducted by the students and findings that relates to

the current practices of many of the industries in Malaysia. An index of keywords

from all papers is included at the end of the proceedings. All participants and readers

can enjoy reading the proceedings and gain inspirations for further research and

application into education and practice.

v

Contents

Title Page No

Master of Engineering Business Management

Improvement on the Compliance of Project Documentation for

High Speed Broadband Project

Siti Norfatihah Ahmad Shariff and Rudzidatul Akmam Dziyauddin

1

Case Study on Citizen Relationship Management at Local

Authorities of Kuala Lumpur

Mageswary Appalanayadu and Noor Hamizah Hussain

8

The Impact of Transactional Uncertainties in Supply Chain on

Sales Performance

Izzah Yahya and Normawati Mohd Shariff

15

Factors Affecting the Decision in Providing Training and

Development in Small Medium Sized Engineering Companies

Muhammad Asyraf Ibrahim and Raihana Mohdali

25

Critical Success Factors of Implementing Knowledge Management

at LK Edu Private Tuition Center in Malaysia

Lim Seng Huat and Muhammad Fathi Yusof

32

Organizational Commitment towards Job Satisfaction in an Oil and

Gas Company in Sarawak

Mohammad Syafril Bahar and Hayati Habibah Abdul Talib

39

Project Delays Monitoring in Ministry of Health of Malaysia

Ahmad Al-Muhaymin Abd Wahab and Rahimah Muhamad

46

The Influence of Sales Skills towards Sales Engineer’s Performance

M Syahril Sudirman and Nik Hasnaa Nik Mahmood

54

Public Project Delay Monitoring By Implementation Coordination

Unit

Nor Azirah Abdul Ghani and Syuhaida Ismail

63

Impact of Team Integration on Project Delivery Performance in

Mass Rapid Transit Project

Nur Liyana Mohamad Nasir and Rafizah Musa

70

vi

Title Page No

Relationship between Engineer’s Emotional Intelligence Behaviour

and Sales Performance

Jessica Marie Arokiasamy and Roslizar Mat Ali

76

An Improvement of Building Service Management at Public Low

Cost Housing

Nadia Arib and Siti Uzairiah Mohd Tobi

84

Master of Science (Systems Engineering)

Lean Manufacturing System for Production Improvement Using

Line Balancing and Kaizen Approach

Ahmad Syazwan Afiq Abdul Karim, Siti Armiza Mohd Aris, Nurul

Aini Bani and Abdul Yasser Abd Fatah

92

The Impact of Fiber Reinforced Plastic Camouflage on the RF

Signal Strength

Muhammad Hanis Omar and Siti Zura A. Jalil

99

Master of Professional Science

Queuing System Model at Secondary School Coopmart

Ahmad Ridhuan Hamdan, Ruzana Ishak and Nik Nadzirah Nik

Mohamed

107

Inventory Management in Cafeteria Using Linear Programming

Mohd Fais Usop, Ruzana Ishak and Hayati Habibah Abdul Talib

114

Executive Master of Occupational Safety and Health Management

Evaluation of Occupational Stress of Royal Malaysian Navy Radar

Plotters

Wong Boon Wei and Normawati Mohd Shariff

121

Safety Culture among the Construction Workers in Rapid Rail

Project

Fazila Kamarudin and Norazli Othman

128

Job Satisfaction and Work Stress in Human Resources Management

Department of XYZ Bank Headquarter

Mohamad Adzim Samsudin and Noor Hamizah Hussain

136

vii

Title Page No

Elements in Personal Behaviour for Occupational Safety of

Motorcycle Riders

Kesevan Rarusuraman and Habibah @ Norehan Haron

146

Risk Assessment of Centralized Chlorine Gas System at Rubber

Glove Manufacturing Plant

Mohamed Anuar Idris and Shreeshivadasan Chelliapan

153

Risk Assessment of Excavation Works in the Vicinity of

Underground Utilities at Construction Site

Mohd Nazrul Mat Noor and Samira Albati Kamaruddin

164

5S Techniques at Neptune Air Warehouse

Nurul Amirah Jamaludin and Noor Hamizah Hussain

170

Safety Practices on Assembly Line at Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited,

Pakistan

Nausherwan Aadil, Astuty Amrin and Noor Hamizah Hussain

177

Level of Workers Awareness on the Globally Harmonized System

of Labelling and SDS at Workplace

Zuriana Zainal and Shamsul Sarip

183

Heat Exposure Assessment among Technicians in Machinery Room

onboard 24th

Corvette Laksamana Class Warship

Ahmad Tarmidzi Mohd Ideris and Siti Armiza Mohd Aris

195

Safety Awareness and Practices among XYZSB Workers towards

Occupational Safety and Health

Muhammad Faiz Md Haled, and Wan Normeza Wan Zakaria

,

200

Index 207

Proceedings of the 2nd

Master Project Symposium

1

Improvement on the Compliance of Project

Documentation for High Speed Broadband

Project

Siti Norfatihah Ahmad Shariffa and Rudzidatul Akmam Dziyauddin

b

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – The implementation of High Speed Broadband (HSBB) network by

Telekom Malaysia is collaboration project with the Government Malaysia to deploy

the access, domestic, core and international networks required to deliver an end-to-

end HSBB infrastructure. Government of Malaysia has privileges to verify HSBB

expenditure within the project year by appointing Independent Consultant to ensure

Government fund is fully utilized for the purposes of HSBB project. In order to ensure

a smooth operation to the activity of the verification, improvement of the compliance

of project documentation will be implemented in HSBB projects. This research will

examines the improvement on the compliance of project documentation for HSBB

projects. The sample data was collecting from 110 HSBB projects in year 2015. Then

the analysis was done by interviewing the project management office and project

manager that involve in implementing the HSBB projects. The study is expected to

improve the compliance of project documentation for future HSBB projects.

Keywords: Project Documentation, High Speed Broadband, Telekom Malaysia

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Telekom Malaysia (TM) as the main service provider for High Speed Broadband

(HSBB) network had launch HSBB product known as a UNIFI in 24 March 2010

(Bernama, 2010). “UniFi” names come from "Uni" meaning that unity and

brotherhood, and "Fi" symbolized fibre-optics. The Government of Malaysia,

represented by Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan and TM have

signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Agreement on September 2008. Under the

terms of the Agreement, TM agrees to undertake the roll-out of the HSBB Projects in

collaboration with the Government to deploy the access, domestic, core and

international networks required to deliver an end-to-end HSBB infrastructure. Based

on HSBB PPP Agreement that was duly signed on September 2008, the Government

of Malaysia has privileges to verify HSBB expenditure within the project year by

appointing Independent Consultant to ensure Government fund is fully utilized for the

purposes of HSBB project. The scope of the Government Independent Consultant

includes verifying the appropriateness of expenditure charged to HSBB project.

Inappropriate expenditure claimed by TM may be subjected to refund and also be

mailto:[email protected]




2

charged for false claims. Due to this requirement, TM has to ensure that all the

expenditure records and document pertaining to HSBB expenditure are accurate and

complete. All the required records need to be updated promptly and safely kept. In

trying to mitigate the above potential issues, HSBB expenditure and physical

verification activity were introduced. In order to ensure a smooth operation to the

activity of the verification, improvement on the compliance for project documentation

will be implemented in HSBB projects in Phase 2.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

HSBB is stands for High Speed Broadband delivering bandwidth at network speeds of

10Mbps and above through fixed line only as compared with normal broadband

delivered at network speeds ranging from 384Kbps to less than 10Mbps through fixed

line or Digital Subscriber Line and wireless mode such as 3G(HSDPA), WiMax or

WiFi (Arshad, 2008). At a political level, high speed broadband was seen as a

mechanism to transform Malaysia into a high-income country. Prime Minister Dato’

Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak stated that “High speed broadband is a

key enabler to transform Malaysia as a middle-income nation to a high-income

nation” (Gunaratne, 2014).

High speed broadband delivered to consumers and businesses will be through a mix

of Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), Ethernet-to-the-Home (ETTH) and Very High Speed

Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL2) technologies. In greenfield (new development)

areas FTTH will be the pre-dominant technology used for both residential and

commercial properties, whereas, brownfield (existing development) areas will be

served by FTTH, ETTH and VDSL2 technologies depending on the types of

properties and services to be deployed (Arshad, 2008).

Broadband has turned into Telekom Malaysia’s center business since the demerger of

its versatile business in 2008. In Malaysia, the high speed broadband technology will

be implemented mainly in industrial areas, cities, towns and the various development

regions including cyber cities and cyber centers, technology parks and the Iskandar

Development Region in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia (Shittu et al. 2013).

TM as the main provider and of the high speed broadband service stands up in the

market with their namely Unifi high speed broadband product (Arshad, 2008).

The 10 year HSBB Phase 2 project extend includes the deployment of additional

access and center limit covering state capitals and selected major towns throughout

the nation. It incorporates arranging, planning, usage, operation and support of HSBB

network infrastructure and services. The aggregate cost of the HSBB 2 speculation for

a time of ten years is RM1.8 billion whereby the Government will contribute RM500

million and the rest of the RM1.3 billion will be contributed by TM. The aggregate

cost of the SUBB speculation for a time of ten years is RM1.6 billion with the

Government contributing RM600 million and TM contributing RM1.0 billion

(Gunaratne, 2014).

Claim verification process for HSBB projects in TM is verification on the expenditure

that covered documentation, financial and technical and after that verification on the

physical.



3

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Preliminary Studies

The preliminary studies are the first stage of the work before the start of data

collection. In this stage, the method of reading, discussion and observation were

conducted to obtain information about the study to be performed. A literature review

was conducted to establish a common knowledge about the topic of research and it is

known as initial data. Through a literature review, research framework can more

clearly establish. Initial data and general information obtained from published

journals, information from the internet, the research work that has been published

before, the standard procedure in the project and books

3.2 Sampling Data from Projects

The sampling data are collected from the HSBB projects in Phase 2 in year 2015 are

known as the quantitative data. The sample data will be collected from project with

status complete and eligible to be included for the purpose of claim verification.

Referring to the research background, all HSBB projects in Phase 2 within 10 years

period, is to be verified and validate for claim verification by independent consultant

appointed by government. So HSBB projects in year 2015 are eligible to be included

for the purpose of claim verification. The data collected for this research is 110

projects from HSBB projects in Phase 2. This sample data will be filled in with

checklist from claim verification documentation. Every item in the checklist is

standard documentation checklist and expenditure checklist for the claim verification

process. Every item in the checklist is as per Table 1.

3.3 Interview

This data is then augmented with qualitative data by interviews the Project

Management Office (PMO) representative, project managers and experienced staff.

The project managers or the projects owner with failed or problem projects is selected

for the interview. The project managers with status success projects are also

participated for the interview to get clear view on the detail of checklist

documentation. Interview is great approach in the process of collecting more

information on claim verification process for HSBB projects in TM. The information

obtained is all about how project managers handle the HSBB projects, the claim

verification process, level of competence, problem or risk involvement and

recommendations for improvement of existing processes.

3.4 Data Collection and Analysis

To facilitate data analysis, Microsoft Excel 2010/2015 will be used for quantitative

data. Thematic analysis is applied to identify and further information and explanation

on the claim verification process.



4

Table 1: Checklist Documentation Project for Claim Verification

No Documentation

1 File Cover & Backbone

2 Table of Content

3 Tab and Sub-tab

4 Project Write-Up

5 Approved Project List

6 Project Schedule / Gantt Chart

7 Network Diagram

8 Plan & Map

9 Contract (if any)

10 Material Request Form

11 Material Reservation List

12 Project Ledger

13 Financial Documentations:

a. Bill of Quantity (BOQ)

b. Purchase Order (PO)

c. Delivery Order (DO)

d. Service Order (SO)

e. Goods Receipt Note (GRN)

f. Goods Issue Note (GIN)

g. Certificate of Acceptance (COA)

h. Daily Activity (DA)

i. Invoice

j. SEC Form

k. OT Form

l. Accrual and Accrual Reversal:

i. Accrual

ii. Reversal of Accrual

m. Journal:

i. Direct AP Journal

ii. GL Journal

n. Others

14 UAT/SIT

15 Photographic Evidence

16 Permits

17 Correspondence

18 Handover Document

19 Statement of Compliance (SOC)

20 Asset Listing

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Data Analysis for checklist items

Based on interview with Project Management Office, checklist items were reduced

from 38 items to 15 items. Table 2 below shows the 15 items for the enhancement

checklist.



5

Table 1 : Enhance Checklist Documentation Project for Claim Verification

No Documentation

1 Network Diagram

2 Plan & Map

3 Project Ledger

4 Financial Documentations:

a. Bill of Quantity (BOQ)

b. Purchase Order (PO)

c. Delivery Order (DO)

d. Service Order (SO)

e. Goods Receipt Note (GRN)

f. Goods Issue Note (GIN)

g. Certificate of Acceptance (COA)

h. Daily Activity (DA)

i. Invoice

5 UAT/SIT

6 Photographic Evidence

7 Asset Listing

These 15 items were identify for documentation that is crucial and critical items to be

complete in the project files, these 15 items were covered under financial and

physical/technical scope for claim verification. The analysis average percentage for

checklist from data sample project files is shown on the Table 3 below.

Table 3: Checklist items from data sample project files

The top 5 items in the checklist for incomplete status are Delivery Order, Good

Receipt Note, UAT/SIT and Bill of Quantity.

4.2 Interview

Based on analysis from the data sample collected from the 110 projects, selected

project manager, management from regional division and PMO were interviewed to

understand the procedure of the claim, items of the checklist, incompleteness of the

documentation, challenges and risks regarding the procedure of the claim

Status Network Diagram Plan & Map Project Ledger (CJI3) Bill of Quantity (BOQ) Purchase Order (PO)

% Complete 66% 72% 48% 32% 56%

% Incomplete 23% 26% 52% 65% 44%

% Not Applicable 8% 2% 0% 3% 0%

(Blank) 3% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Status Delivery Order (DO) Service Order (SO) Goods Receipt Note (GRN) Goods Issue Note (GIN) Certificate of Acceptance (COA)

% Complete 23% 1% 33% 39% 42%

% Incomplete 74% 25% 65% 55% 58%


(Blank) 0% 2% 0% 0% 0%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Status Daily Activity (DA) Invoice UAT/SIT Photographic Evidence Asset Listing

% Complete 30% 46% 26% 32% 17%

% Incomplete 63% 53% 71% 66% 55%


(Blank) 0% 0% 0% 0% 26%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%



6

verification. From the interview, contributing factors of incompleteness of the

documentation and also other arising issues have been identified.

Contributing factors for incompleteness of checklist items are:

1. Last minute filling and documentation for the project files (after project closed

or completed)

2. Only 1 week (6 – 8 days) notice for project files submission to be submit at

the verification center.

3. Same number of member in project delivery team for every region although

the number of project is different

4. Financial documents missing endorsements

Others arising issues in the claim verification process are:

1. Ethical issues

2. Logistics problem

5.0 CONCLUSION

This paper presents an inclusive study on the enhancement of claim verification

process for HSBB projects in Telekom Malaysia. The analysis on sampling data from

years 2015 shows that all project files have incomplete of documentation from

checklist items. In addition, interview analysis shows that a number of contributing

factors for incompleteness of documentation and arising issues in the claim

verification process for HSBB projects. Project manager and site officers that

involves in the implementation for HSBB projects need to have adequate experience

and knowledge and be aware of the claim verification process. They have

responsibilities to adhere and comply with the claim verification process.

As a measure of improvement, awareness program need to be implement to every

region to remind and brighten project manager understanding on claim verification

scope, process and documentation, financial compliance and project managers

responsibilities. Trial run on claim documentation and physical verification need to be

performed to provide real exposure and experience to project managers and to ensure

project managers are ready to manage future claim verification. In addition to that,

merit and demerit system for project managers can be introduced to mitigate problem

for last minute task on filling and documentation for HSBB project files. If they failed

to complete the documentation, low mark from failing to complete the documentation

will affect their KPI’s. Other than that is to train staff or worker that specifically

concentrate on the claim verification HSBB projects documentation.

However, ethical issues such as project managers sharing personal ID with their staff

to access into the system, in order to complete the documentation, this issue need to

have approach and cooperation from management to resolve the issue.



7

REFERENCES

Arshad, A. (2008). HSBB Knowledge Bank. Retrieved 21-May-2016, 2016, from

https://securevpn.tm.com.my/workgroups/strategy/hsbb/Pages/,DanaInfo=1intra

+Home.aspx

Bernama. (2010, 24 March 2010). TM Introduces UniFi, The Malaysian Insider.

Retrieved from http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/57389-

tm-launches-unifi-high-speed-broadband-

Gunaratne, R. L. (2014). High Speed Broadband Network in Malaysia.

Shittu, A. J. K., Osman, N. H., Osman, W. R. S., & Adedokun-Shittu, N. A. (2013).

The Evolution of High Speed Broadband Technology and its Impact on

Malaysian Society. World Applied Sciences Journal, 28(8), 1146-1153.

UniFi. Retrieved 28-May-2016, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniFi



8

Case Study on Citizen Relationship

Management at Local Authorities of

Kuala Lumpur

Mageswary Appalanayadua and Noor Hamizah Hussain

b


Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia a [email protected],

b [email protected]

Abstract – Good urban governance means they deliver services to citizen efficiently

and effectively in an inevitably way to citizen’s needs. The demand leads government

especially local governments to implement the Citizen Relationship Management

(CiRM). However, local citizens are yet 100% participate in the CiRM as a solution

to service quality. Therefore, the need to identify Information Technology (IT) officers

who also act as a system developers perspective on CiRM are important, where they

are the direct people who handle CSFs in CiRM as well playing a role in introducing

each of developed system to the public. Seven critical success factors (CSFs) were

identified in this research. The adapted questionnaire has been distributed to 95 IT

officers. The data collected guides the researcher to pursue investigate the

relationship between CiRM CSFs and the current existing CiRM. The data was

analyzed using correlation for understanding of current situation of CiRM. The

results lead to the proposed guideline to enhance the citizen participation in CiRM to

make government and the services provided more accessible and to ensure social

inclusion by making use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) more

effectively.

Keywords: Citizen Relationship Management (CiRM), Local Governmnet, CSF, ICT

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays government have recognised the need to improve their relationship with

citizens and to put citizen’ needs at the centre of government thinking said Zamanian

et. al, (2011). Thus forming strategic relationships with citizen is crucial to

government long-term success. The essential purpose of citizen relationship

management is to shift from government-oriented management into citizen-oriented

(Bahari, 2013). Many local governments have been actively promoting

implementation of their services and information systems in various ways Napitupulu

et. al, (2014). Meanwhile, according to Bahari (2013) CiRM is considered as

implication of information and communication technology in order to improve public

services and strengthen support to public policies. However, CiRM implementation is

not straightforward. Thus, this project too has encountered many problems, be it in

developed or developing countries. Critical success factors (CSFs) that could spur the

growth and success of CiRM initiates in Local government are identified by several

authors (Azizan, 2011; Irani et. al, 2010; Keramati et. al, 2011, Lawson-Body et. al,



9

2011, Napitupulu et. al, 2014 and Nfuka et. al, 2011)). Thus, citizen participation also

contribute as one of factor for successful CiRM where citizen participation can bring

very fruitful results to control corruption, to judge government policies (Sharma et. al,

2013), to make better delivery of government services, cost saving by electronically,

citizen empowerment, especially in decision-making and effective services in the

accountability process in public and private sectors.

According to Bahari (2013) public service in Malaysia operates similarly to

commercial companies where they face unprecedented pressure to improve service

quality while progressing lowering their cost, at the same time they are expected to

become more accountable, transparent, customer or citizen-focused and responsive to

stakeholders needs. The performance of the Malaysia government, especially the local

government like Kuala Lumpur City Hall (KLCH) has been subjected to various

criticisms based on the increasing number of complaints from the public regarding the

poor service provided. To solve all the problems which related to citizen service

quality, KLCH considering in establishing electronic services to their citizens and

becoming citizen-oriented. However, not many who use the online applications for

services from City Hall. Meanwhile the others still prefer the manual-base where they

come to KLCH counters to settle their problems or get any services.

This research is to examine the relationship between CiRM CSF and current CiRM

status, as well to propose a guideline for better practices in enhancing public

participation. The research objectives can be further detailed as follows: to identify

what are the IT official perception on CiRM implementation base on CSF; to evaluate

the relationship between CSF and current status of CiRM; and to propose a guideline

for better practices to enhance public participation in CiRM.


In Bahari (2012) mentioned the importance of CiRM has grown significantly in the

last few years at all levels of the government needs and is used to respond quickly and

accurately to citizens’ needs. CiRM is a collection of management methods and

information technologies used by governments to interact effectively with citizens.

CiRM technologies are widely used to improve citizen service levels (Keramati et al.

(2011). In CiRM book written by Schellong (2008), CiRM defined as strategy

enabled by technology with a broad citizen-focused, to maintain and optimize

relationship and encourage participation. This represents a working definition because

CiRM is an emerging research area. CiRM is not a theory but rather a management

concept.

The main goal of CiRM is to create and optimize the relationship with citizen by

embedding their opinions throughout public administration instead within a certain

processes or agency, certain hierarchy level or elected officials (Gagliardi et al. 2017).

Collecting the CSF from other researchers has gathered variables of CSFs as widely

accepted by literature and highly mentioned in other studies are shown in Table 1.

The table shows all the seven variables are used frequently by many researchers to

research about CiRM CSF.



10

Table 1: Frame of References

To

p

Man

agem

ent

sup

po

rt

Kn

ow

led

ge

Man

agem

ent

Pro

cess

Info

rmat

ion

Tec

hn

olo

gy

Org

aniz

atio

n

Ch

ang

e

Man

agem

ent

Cit

izen

Co

nce

rn

1 Napitupulu et. al, (2014) √

√

2 Nfuka and Rusu (2011) √

√

√ √

3 Lawson-Body et al. (2011) √

√ √ √ √ √

4 Keramati et al. (2011) √ √

√

5 Azizan (2011) √ √ √ √

√ √

6 Irani et al. (2010)

√ √

7 Sadegh Saremi (2009) √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Good public participation practices can help governments to be more accountable and

responsive (Sharma et al. 2013), and also improve the public’s perception of

governmental performance and the value the public receives from the government. In

the early of millennium year Suh (2004) mentioned citizen or public participation can

be classified into two categories: political participation such as voting in elections or

getting involved in political proceeding and administrative participation such as

demanding for or keeping a close watch on administration operation and this agreed

by many other recent researchers such as Alathur et. al, (2016); Gagliardi et al.

(2017); Haider et. al, (2015).

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Quantitative research approach has been utilized. The data collected from academic

papers and questionnaires. The populations is 95 of IT officers. According to Krejcie

and Morgan (1970) table the sampling size is 76. The respondents were given

sufficient time of 2 weeks to complete the questionnaires. 80 completed

questionnaires were returned therefore, the response rate of the questionnaire was

82.4%.


According to Correlation Mean Rank Sedgwick (2012) results, the relevant ranks of

each CSF are presented in Table 2 which reveals the respondents’ perception on

CiRM projects. Variables of Change Management are the weakest among others,

meanwhile their view for current CiRM status shows Citizen Participation are the

weakest in KLCH.

Table 2 reveals that, while Top Management Support is the most satisfactory CSF,

‘Citizen Participation’ is the weakest among Current situation CSF in KLCH.

Therefore, if Top Management wants to improve their CiRM, they have to pay more

attention to this factor.



11

Table 2: Ranking CSF of Current Status

Factors Mean Rank Perception

ICT 3.93

Citizen concern 3.98

Top management support 4.02

Organisation 3.80

Change management 3.76

Process 3.94

Knowledge management 4.03

Current Status

Top management support 4.00

Service quality 3.89

Supportive ICT infrastructure 3.83

Good planning 3.83

Employee involvement 3.64

Citizen participation 3.53

Challenges 3.87

Table 3 identifies the relationship between CiRM implementation CSF with the

current CiRM status. Correlation has found that all the variables correlation is

significant. Meanwhile, magnitude of r-value shows CiRM implementation

challenges and citizen participation is the weakest.

Table 3: Correlation and r-value

The bivariate correlation procedures computes Pearson’s correlation coefficient for

data set with normal distribution from above results once again revealed that there is

problem with citizen participation in CiRM.

Table 4 illustrates the proposed guidelines to enhance public participation in CiRM.

The guideline laid out the practices that define the bases of citizen-centric approach.

Perception Current Status Significant

(2 Tail)

Pearson

Correlation

Descriptive

Label for r

ICT Supportive ICT infrastructure .008 .521 Moderate

Citizen concern Citizen participation .001 .367 Weak

Top management support Top management support .000 .600 Strong

Organisation Challenges .002 .336 Weak

Change management Employee involvement .000 .606 Strong

Process Good planning .006 .411 Moderate

Knowledge management Service quality .000 .601 Strong



12

Table 4: Guidelines to enhance public participation in CiRM

No Pre-

requisites Requirements

Observation

Analysis

Vital Inputs

needed

1. Access (Respondent

s)

• e-Kiosks near to

public housing areas.

• Free Internet access

in well-known place

around Kuala

Lumpur.

• e-Kiosks need to be

set-up.

• Wifi only in KLCH

buildings.

• Setting up kiosks

• Hardware

• Connectivity

2. Motivation Huebner

(2015);

Sharma et

al. (2013)

• Package of services

(to motivate Citizens

to go to e-Kiosks).

• On-line services for

higher efficiency.

• Open counters to

teach public how to

do use the existing

online.

• Poor performance

level (due to above

citizens do not like

to use online

procedures and

prefer walk in and

manual

procedures).

CiRM (IT application

for on-line service

delivery, and for KM,

e-governance)

• On-line Application

for e-services.

• CiRM (including call

centre).

• Knowledge

Management

• Integrated Services

• System Integration

• Data security

3. Confidence

Gagliardi et

al. (2017)

• Empowerment

(through knowledge

dissemination).

• Relationship citizen

management.

• Distribute Guideline

on e-participation.

• Awareness, skills,

and trust & security.

• Citizens not aware

and not keen to use

e-applications.

• Citizen worried

lack of data

security.

• Citizens do not

have much

confidence in using

e-procedures / e-

services.

IT Application for

Project Management

for Rural and Social

Development

Programmes • IT application for

planning and

management of

development

programmes.

• MIS

• CiRM (including call

centre).

The Management should encourage Citizens use CiRM tools through Citizen-centric

Approach which by giving easy Access, Motivation and Confidence to the local

citizens. Meanwhile need to identify service and programmes to be given to citizen

via citizen requirement study (CRS) which can be conduct by Local authority of

Kuala Lumpur.

5.0 CONCLUSION

This paper has discussed the correlation between CiRM CSF and Current CiRM

status in KLCH. This research also proposed guideline on better practices to enhance

citizen participation in CiRM. CiRM should reach all the people who need

government services regardless of their location, age, status, language, or internet

access. The local government still needs to commit more resources into the

development CiRM, address the internal digital divide between the literate and

illiterate citizens. Henceforth crucial for local government to advertise for the

awareness of utilization of all government web portal services and encourage citizens

participation at all levels of services. The proposed guideline can help KLCH

Information Management Department to enhance citizen participation. This study can



13

be references too, for other local Governments in Malaysia. However, the results

cannot be the representative for the other countries local governments and as well

other Malaysian local Government this due to similar studies in other local

government may result in different results because of different cultures, different

technologies, and others.

REFERENCES

Alathur, S., Ilavarasan, P. V., & Gupta, M. (2016). Determinants of e-participation in the

citizens and the government initiatives: Insights from India. Socio-Economic Planning

Sciences, 55, 25-35.

Azizan, N. (2011). Critical success factors for knowledge transfer via Australian and

Malaysian government education websites: a comparative case study.

Bahari, M. (2012). Citizen relationship management implementation in local government-

towards a theoretical research framework. Journal of Information Systems Research

and Innovation, 2, 51-61.

Bahari, M. (2013). Citizen relationship management implementation in Malaysian local

governments. Brunel University, School of Information Systems, Computing and

Mathematics.

Gagliardi, D., Schina, L., Sarcinella, M. L., Mangialardi, G., Niglia, F., & Corallo, A. (2017).

Information and communication technologies and public participation: interactive maps

and value added for citizens. Government Information Quarterly, 34(1), 153-166.

Haider, Z., Shuwen, C., & Hyder, S. Citizens’ participation in e-government services: A

Comparative Study of Pakistan & Singapore. IOSR Journal of Electronics and

Communication Engineering, 9(6), 35-38.

Huebner, J. P. (2015). E-Participation and Citizen Relationship Management in Urban

Governance: Tools and Methods. Public Affairs and Administration: Concepts,

Methodologies, Tools, and Applications: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and

Applications, 11.

Irani, Z., Kamal, M., Angelopoulos, S., Kitsios, F., & Papadopoulos, T. (2010). New service

development in e-government: identifying critical success factors. Transforming

Government: People, Process and Policy, 4(1), 95-118.

Keramati, A., Saremi, M. S., & Afshari–Mofrad, M. (2011). Citizen relationship management

critical success factors: An empirical study of municipality of Tehran. International

Journal of Electronic Governance, 4(4), 322-347.

Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities.

Educational and psychological measurement, 30(3), 607-610.

Lawson-Body, A., Willoughby, L., Mukankusi, L., & Logossah, K. (2011). The critical

success factors for public sector CRM implementation. Journal of Computer

Information Systems, 52(2), 42-50.

Napitupulu, D., & Sensuse, D. I. (2014). The critical success factors study for e-government

implementation. International Journal of Computer Application, 89(16).

Nfuka, E. N., & Rusu, L. (2011). The effect of critical success factors on IT governance

performance. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 111(9), 1418-1448.

Sadegh Saremi, M. (2009). Critical success factors in citizen relationship management.

Schellong, A. (2008). Citizen relationship management: A study of CRM in government (Vol.

560): Peter Lang.

Sedgwick, P. (2012). Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Bmj, 345(7).

Sharma, G., Bao, X., & Peng, L. (2013). Public participation and ethical issues on e-

governance: A study perspective in Nepal. Electronic Journal of E-Government, 12(1).

Suh, S. (2004). Promoting citizen participation in e-government. See: http://unpan1. un.

org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan020076. pdf.

http://unpan1/



14

Zamanian, M., Khaji, M. R., & Emamian, S. M. S. (2011). The value chain of citizen

relationship management (CzRM): A framework for improvement. African Journal of

Business Management, 5(22), 8909.



15

The Impact of Transactional Uncertainties in

Supply Chain on Sales Performance

Izzah Yahyaa and Normawati Mohd Shariff

b


Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – This study investigates the impact of supply chain uncertainty on sales

performance at a major food supplier in the Klang Valley. The following clusters of

source of uncertainty were identified: stock availability, order forecast horizon and

administrative decision process. Data were collected by using JD Edwards system, a

software package used by organization to support a diverse set of business process

such as distribution, financial, inventory, procurement and fixed asset. The three

sources of transactional uncertainties were the independent variables, and company

sales performance was the dependent variable. The data collected from beginning of

January 2016 until end of the year on December 2016. The total reported number of

related sales orders was 90,603. From regression analysis, correlation shows positive

correlation between all independent variable and dependent variable but there were

negative correlation between independent variable which were order forecast horizon

and administrative decision with stock availability. Based on standard coefficient

three source of uncertainty was significant and the factors contribute most to sales

performance was stock availability.

Keywords: Supply chain management, source of uncertainty, sales performance

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Existing literature have generally described supply chain management as involving an

end to end process starting from raw material until the “product” is sent to the

customer (Borodin, 2016). Ballou (2004) defined supply chain as all activities

associated with the transformation and flow of goods and services, including their

attendant information flows, from the sources of raw materials to end users, while

Mentzer et al, (2001) defined supply chain as a set of three or more entities, whether

organizations or individuals, that are directly involved in the upstream and

downstream flows of products, services, finances, and/or information from a source to

a customer.

Supply-chain uncertainty is a problem with which every logistic manager faces (Hult

et al., 2010). Its performance can be influenced by many factors and problems may

occur from different sources due to the complexity of global supply-chain networks,

which include the potential for delivery delays and quality problems (Bhatnagar and

Sohal, 2005). According to Vorst and Beulens (2002), supply chain uncertainty refers

to decision making situations in the supply chain in which the decision maker does

not know definitely what to decide as he is either uncertain about the objectives of





16

supply chain, lacks information or understanding of the supply chain or its

environment; lacks information processing capacities; is unable to accurately predict

the impact of possible control actions on supply chain behaviour; or, lacks effective

control actions (non- controllability). In a case study about food supply chain of

salads in Netherlands, Vorst, Beulens, Wit, and Beek (1998) identified four main

clusters of source of uncertainty which are order forecast horizon, input data,

administrative decision and inherent uncertainties. The study concluded that supply

chain performance can improve when uncertainties are reduced or eliminated.

Supply chain practices must move toward sustainability because component of

organization businesses process, to review performance, and to adopt sustainable

services and products to satisfy consumer (Cronin et al., 2011; Keating et al., 2008).

Boonitt and Pongpanarat (2011) and Cho et al. (2012) develop framework for service

supply chain performance measurement and emphasized performance measures in

addressing the service supply chain processes. Moreover, sustainable service is a

component of sustainable plans and operation that could decrease negative

environmental impact and improved consumers and producers benefit, (Kotlerand

Armstrong, 2010; López and Zúñiga, 2014).

Since transactional uncertainties can predict supply chain performance increase or

decrease by knowing which factor has the biggest impact on sales performance will

enable the organization to enhance supply chain management decision at strategic,

tactical and operational levels. In turn, improvement in the management of supply

chain would inevitably contribute substantially to the profits of the organization and

its financial sustainability.

Accordingly, in this paper, the impact of transactional uncertainties on the sales

performance at the organization, a major dairy product supplier in Malaysia, is

addressed. The investigation is timely because previously, the company has never

conducted any study to examine the extent the factors related to uncertainty influence

its sales performance. Sales report from January to October 2016 shows that 67% of

the sales amount is successful in transaction. And more that 33% is consider as non-

successful transaction. Although, the percentage of non-successful transaction appears

to be reasonably low, but when converting into ringgit, the amount is equal to RM7.4

million per year. If the main factor of transactional uncertainties cannot be reduce or

eliminated, this amount consider as loss to the organization.

This study explores the impact of transactional uncertainties within supply chain on

the sales performance in the food supply industry. In order to achieve this, the

following objectives were identified to fulfil the aim of this research. First, the focus

was to find the factors that contribute to uncertainties in transaction at the company.

Secondly, it analyzed which of the factors of uncertainties in transaction contribute

the most to SP. Finally, this paper concludes with some recommendations of

measures that could be taken to improve sales performance at the company. This

research was only conducted in one food supplier Company in Malaysia and no

comparison has been done. It focused on Modern Trade Retailers which is the key

account at the organization.



17


Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an essential element to operational efficiency.

SCM can be applied to customer satisfaction and company success, as well as within

societal settings, including medical missions; disaster relief operations and other kinds

of emergencies; cultural evolution; and it can help improve quality of life.

Based on Ross (1998), SCM often use complicated terminology, had limit

management’s understanding of the concept and its effectiveness for practical

application. The SCM concept came up in 1960s according to Huan, (2004). In order

to success in business, companies have to focus on their supply chain. In 1997 top

managers had recognized the significance of having effective supply chain to create

competitive advantage according to Higginson and Alam (1997) and Cooper et al

(1997). Solvang (2001) writes that one of the biggest challenges for manufacturing

supply chains is to continuously improve their performance so that their

competitiveness can be sustained in long term. Tummala et al. (2006) stated to make

changes to the supply chain helps to lower cost and enables a company to more easily

compete based on the price.

In Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) literature, risk only associated with

issues that may lead to negative outcomes (Hillson, 2006, Peck,2006, Wager and

Bode, 2008). Risk sometimes is interpreted as unreliable and uncertain resources

creating supply chain interruption, whereas uncertainty can be explained as matching

risk between supply and demand in supply chain processes. Tang, O. and N. Musa

(2011), believe that two dimensions are important in discussing risk: the outcome of

risk impact and expectation of risk sources. As in most literature, Tang, O. and N.

Musa (2011), also agree that risk issue is associated with negative consequences of

impact (Christopher and Lee, 2004, Paulson, 2005, Spekman and Davis, 2005,

Wagner and Bode, 2006). Risk event should be expected as supplier has quality

deficiencies experienced by Robert Bosch GmbH, Wagner and Bode, (2006) or

unexpected such as wars, strikes or terrorist attacks, (Christopher and Lee, 2004;

Kleindorfer and Saad, 2005; Quinn, 2006). Based on Tang, O. and N. Musa (2011)

opinion, a better definition of supply chain risk should refer to i) events with small

probability but may occur abruptly, and ii) these events bring substantial negative

consequences to the system.

To improve supply chain performance, Vorst et al., (1998) were come out with four

main clusters of sources of uncertainty which impact the operational performance.

The four-main cluster are order forecast horizon, input data, administrative and

decision processes, and inherent uncertainties. While Snyder et al. (2012) described

supply chain uncertainty should include disruptions, yield uncertainty, capacity

uncertainty, lead-time uncertainty, and input cost uncertainty.

The first dimension of transactional uncertainty is input data available for this study

we use stock availability to fix the company terms. The availability and transparency

of information in supply chain has the potential to reduce cost and increase customer

satisfaction. According to Lewis and Naim, (1995), to provide real time information

on stock level and stock availability, inventory control system must be updated and

well managed. If the information not updated the order forecast horizon becomes even

larger. Besides, to eliminate transaction issues, information on customer demand must



18

be available in the right format. The specification of data decision can be a source of

uncertainty. For this study we will classify the met order with successful order and the

unsuccessful order drop because of out of stock.

The second dimension of transactional uncertainty is order forecast horizon. This is

referring to the time period from order placement to the recipient of goods. Once

retailer send the order to the organization, all sales estimation within the time frame

must be taken into account. Based on Vorst et al., (1998) model, they differentiate the

total order forecast horizon into two category which are order lead time and order

sales period. Order lead time is starting the moment order is placed until the order

goods are delivered. The order sales period is the time period between two successful

deliveries. In this study, the order date is based on time different starting from the

order receive from retailers until the order deliver to the retailers.

The third dimension refers to administrative and decision processes, in particular to

decision policies and the influence of human behaviour. The application of ordering

and production rules, use of local demand and inventory information and comparison

of internal costs with local service provider at fixed points in time. Additional

uncertainty is created by ignoring or aggregating information in administrative or

decision policies. Customer service need to make a decision to proceed or to cancel

order if there is price different in the sales order. This paper will show the decision

policies that are related to operational performance. The relationship between the

retailers to order and human decision towards supply chain management.

Performance measurement is defined as the process of quantifying effectiveness and

efficiency of action (Neely, Gregory, and Platts, 1995). Performance measures

dealing with suppliers, delivery performance, customer service, and inventory and

logistics cost in a SCM, (Gunasekaran, Patel, and Tirtiroglu, 2001). When customer

requirements are met it is called effectiveness and firm’s resources economy is

consider as efficiency measure when providing a pre-specified level of customer

satisfaction (Pasutham, 2012). Performance measurement systems are described to

quantify both the efficiency and effectiveness of action as the overall set of factors

used (Pasutham, 2012).

Based on the three dimension stated above this paper is to analyze the main factor

contribute to supply chain uncertainty and recommend some measure to help

company to improve the sales performance. For this study we will focus on the supply

chain uncertainty and sales performance only.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Data was collected from JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (JDE). JDE is an integrated

applications suite of comprehensive enterprise resource planning software that

combines value, standards-based technology, and deep industry experience into a

business solution with a low total cost of ownership. This system used by the

company to support a diverse set of business process such as distribution, financial,

inventory, procurement and fixed asset. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 was used to

extract the raw data because the data involve very large. All the sales order created by

the Customer Service was extracted from sales order table. The data collected from

beginning of January 2016 until end of the year on December 2016. The total reported

number of related sales orders was 90,603.



19

All the raw data were sorted by document number, item number, order date request,

request date to deliver, order status, unit price, unit cost, unit of measurement, stock

availability and key account.

The tabulated data were based on stock availability, order forecast horizon, and

administrative decision. This information we get based on the order status populated

in the system status setting and configuration at JDE.

For this study we focused on three main factors: stock availability, order forecast

horizon, and administrative decision processes. The factor of inherent uncertainty as

mention by Vorst et al., (1998), was left out because this factor is based on the

fluctuation in supply performance due to natural variations in quality, seasonal

patterns and variable yield which is not applicable to the organization supply chain.

The method use to analyze the three independent variables with one dependent

variable is Multiple Regression analysis. The independent variables are stock

availability (𝑋1) measured in unit order forecast horizon (𝑋2) measured in period, and

administrative decision (𝑋3) measured in ringgit, and the dependent variable (𝑌) is the

sales performance which measured in ringgit.


Table 1 shows the correlation coefficient reflect both the magnitude and direction of

the relationship between two independent variable. The correlation coefficient

between Stock availability and Sales performance shows positive value which is equal

to 0.913. While order forecast horizon correlation coefficient with sales performance

is equal to 0.044 with positive amount. The third independent variable is equal to

0.395 with positive amount. All the correlation coefficient is positive therefore when

an increase in one variable is related to an increase in the other variable in the

coefficient or vice versa. Between this three variable show that stock availability

value is near to 1.000, it show that stock availability is the highest impact of the

relationship with sales performance compared to order forecast horizon and

administrative and decision.

Table 1: Correlations and shared variance (n = 90,603)

Sales Performance,

𝑌

Stock

availability,

𝑋1

Order forecast

horizon,

𝑋2

Administrative

decision,

𝑋3

Sales Performance, 𝑌 1.000

Stock availability, 𝑋1 0.913 1.000

Order forecast horizon,

𝑋2

0.044 -0.003 1.000

Administrative decision,

𝑋3

0.395 -0.001 0.002 1.000

Table 2 is the Model Summary show how strong the multiple independent variables

are related to the dependent variable. The value calculated for R-square was 0.992

which suggests that 99.2 percent of the variability of the sales performance. The three

independent variables in the regression model account for 99.2 percent of the total

variation in a given sales performance. The higher the R-square, the better the model



20

fits the data. The adjusted R-square is a modified R-square that takes into account

how many variables are included in the model. The adjusted R-square shows the same

amount as R-square, the percentage shows that the three independents variable are

highly contribute to the sales performance.

Table 2: Model Summary based on Correlation and Regression Analysis

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

1 .996a .992 .992 509.72622

The simple linear regression analysis of the data on the transactional of uncertainty,

results are shown in Table 3. The regression equation for this analysis as:

𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑌 = 56.48 + 𝑋1 +𝑋2 + 0.976𝑋3

The coefficient for stock availability is 1.00, so for every unit increase in stock

availability, a 1.00 unit increase in sales performance. For every unit increase in

forecast horizon, we expect a 1.00 unit increase in the sales performance holding all

other variables constant. The coefficient for administrative decision is 0.98. So for

every unit increase in administrative decision, approximately 0.98 point increase in

the sales performance.

At α = 0.05 significant level, the stock availability, order forecast horizon, and

administrative decision appear to be statistically significant predictors of sales

performance. This is because all of the coefficient for the stock availability, order

forecast horizon, and administrative decision is significantly different from 0 and its

p-value is 0.000, which is smaller than 0.05.

Table 3: Result for Coefficients from Regression analysis

A comparison across all statistics present in Table 3 highlighted that stock availability

was the strongest direct predictor of sales performance across multiple indices. Stock

availability obtained the largest beta (β = 0.913, p <0.001), demonstrating that it made

the largest contribution to the regression equation, while holding all other predictor

variables constant. By comparing the standardized coefficients, the highest factor that

impacts the sales performance is stock availability this is because the beta is 0.913.

Administrative decision clearly emerged as the second strongest factor of sales

performance. In terms of beta weight (β = 0.396, p <0.001), it made the second largest

Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 2.325 1.715 1.356 0.175

Stock availability, 𝑋1 1.000 0.000 0.913 3124.096 0.000

Order forecast horizon, 𝑋2 1.000 0.006 0.046 157.060 0.000

Administrative decision, 𝑋3 0.976 0.001 0.396 1355.494 0.000



21

contribution factor to the regression equation when holding all other predictors

constant.

In order words, stock availability is the most factor contribute to improve the sales

performance. If this main factor is reduced or eliminated, the sales performance will

directly increase. Overall, these findings support how stock availability is the most

significant direct contributor and administrative decision was the second most

important direct contributor to impact of the sales performance.

From the finding above the highest factor that contributes to the uncertainties of

transaction is stock availability. Based on the Vorst, Beulens, Wit, and Beek (1998),

previous study the stock availability is related to the information availability and

transparency of the stock availability. The less information the organization has the

more uncertain its transaction. This is because lack of information affects the sales

person decision making ability to stock purchase. Information helps to ensure that

customers can receive material when and where they require it. This support by Fisher

(1997) to reduce uncertainty related to innovative products which are characterized by

a short product lifecycle and a wide variety of products and Simangunsong, (2012),

elaborate by applying a shorter stock replacement cycle (less than one month) than the

minimum product life cycle (6 months), the organization has sufficient time to sell off

excess stocks in the case of end-of-product-life items. The stock information should

be updated in real time to the sales person. Therefore the stock can be placed on time.

Order forecast horizon is the different of the purchase order date and the request

delivery date from the retailers. Customer service need to ensure the order had

process within the time range. For delivery can divided into local and outstation

delivery. For local location customer service need to ensure the sales order process

and send to the warehouse within one day, while outstation the time lead to deliver is

within 3 days. The Monczka et al. (2009) mention, that problems with order

processing have involved accepting orders before determining if adequate production

capacity is available, not coordinating order processing with order scheduling, and

using internal production dates instead of the customer’s preferred date to schedule

the order. Order processing is an important part of supply chain management as it

represents a link between the manufacture and the external customer.

Administrative decision use of local demand and inventory information and

comparison of internal costs with local service provider at fixed points in time.

Additional uncertainty is created by ignoring or aggregating information in

administrative or decision policies. Customer service need to make a decision to

proceed or to cancel order if there is price different in the sales order. The order can

only flow if the retails price is greater and equal to the system based price. To ensure

the performance can increase the system setting by including the criteria of the price

different.

As a result, the stock availability is the main factor of transactional uncertainty at the

company. The stock information should be updated in real time to the sales person.



22

5.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, all the three-source uncertainty discussed is the factor that contribute to

sales performance increase or decrease. Based on the result, find that the stock

availability is the most factor that effect sales performance. By controlling the quality

of inputs, lead times, and increase delivery reliability can improve performance. A

critical stock take of operation research applications and emphasized ability to address

the complexity supply chains, particularly where flexibility and sustainability are key

system goals. The organization must have the strategy to reduce and eliminate the

stock availability factor. Demand forecasting is a significant work for every party in a

supply chain, the accuracy of demand forecast is important to organization because

the quality of its forecast often affects the performance of the entire supply chain.

Lean process can be implemented to provide a flow of goods, services and

technologies from suppliers to customers without creating waste. Therefore, it is

imperative for leanness to organize a highly efficient and integrated production and

logistics process through which manufacturers can increase productivity and reduce

process-related costs to produce high-volume products. Such a high volume of

production processes requires high efficiency through automation and real-time

information sharing within an organization. The limitation of the study refer to the

small size and to reduce possibility of the findings to be generalized within food

supply industry. Future research proposed includes more empirical research in order

to further investigate in stock availability when do the forecasting to ensure the stock

on hand not over purchase or out of stock.

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24

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25

Factors Affecting the Decision in Providing

Training and Development in Small Medium

Sized Engineering Companies

Muhammad Asyraf Ibrahima and Raihana Mohdali

b


Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – One of the main factors identified for the death of small medium

enterprises (SMEs) within five years is due to the losing of talented human capital

that have the knowledge and skills gap due to the lack of training in the organization.

In other words, neglecting training and development in the organization do not only

affecting the employees but also the performance of the organization. The objective of

this study is to determine the factors affecting the management decision in providing

training and development for employees. This study employed qualitative method

namely face-to-face interviews with six respondents who are responsible for training

and development of the organization. The scope of study only focused on small

medium sized engineering company which includes engineering services and

manufacturing. It is found that there are two major factors namely regulatory

requirement and deficit and improvement of the performance. Other factors identified

are availability of resources, time, lack of suitable training, and requirement of

project and client. The limitation identified in this study is the information provided

by the respondents is limited and general. The findings of this study might help SMEs

and the authority that are monitoring the development of the SMEs in Malaysia to

strongly emphasize on the importance of training and development for the employees

of the organization in ensuring a stable growth of the industry.

Keywords: Training and development; Small and Medium-sized company

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Training and development is one of the main human resource functions. It plays an

important role to improve the effectiveness of the human capital in the organization

and consequently to contribute to a better performance of the organization. However,

the study by Cegos in 2015 showed that there was a decreasing trend of the number of

employees trained in the country from 93% to 85% (Ang, 2015). The report

highlighted Malaysia as to be out of sync with the developments of other Asia Pacific

countries in terms of the amount of corporate training provided by the organizations.

Countries such as Singapore and Australia showed an increase of four percent and

18% respectively in employees training, engagement between learning professionals

and learners and a collaboration and encouragement in learning culture.

The lack of training and development is evident in many organizations. Providing

training in developing human capital relates to the decision on investment particularly




26

for small and medium enterprises (SME). According to market research, 55% of

SMEs do not survive over five years due to lose out on talent and human capital apart

from funding and poor finances (The Star, 2015). The talent shortage issues faced by

SMEs owners are due to training gap in the organization. The chief executive of

Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), C.M. Vignaesvaran stated that this is

very common among Malaysian SMEs as most do not consider external training

program for their employees (Wong, 2016). In order to gain competitive advantage,

upskilling and reskilling of the talents are needed to meet the challenging demands of

the dynamic global business and trade. HRDF chief executive also stated that local

talents in this context will need to possess qualities that will help employers to

achieve global competitiveness and to be at par with their competitors as being

accentuated in the Eleventh Malaysia Plan.

Since training and development of human capital is vital to the organization’s

performance, it is interested to understand the factors that influence the management

decision in providing the training and development to the employee. The objective of

this study is to determine the factors affecting the management decision in providing

training and development for employees. This study only includes the Small and

Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that focused on the engineering sector specifically in

manufacturing and engineering services. The scale for manufacturing is based on the

sales turnover from RM300,000 to not exceeding RM50 million or employees from

five to not exceeding 200 and for services and other sectors is based on the sales

turnover from RM300,000 to not exceeding RM20 million or employees from five to

not exceeding 75 (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2013).

2.0 FACTORS AFFECTING THE MANAGEMENT DECISION IN

PROVIDING TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR EMPLOYEES

There are several factors identified in prior studies that affect the decision for the

organizations to provide training and development for their employees. Ae study on

factors affecting management decision in providing structured training and

development to employees which focused on SMEs identifies that the performance

deficits is one of the primary factors (Coetzer et al., 2012). Ridoutt et al. (2002) find

that concern of quality is one of the factors that relates to the productivity or

performance of the employee in several industries including manufacturing. Based on

a study conducted in Kenya, Atieno (2013) has also found the similar finding in a

hotel industry that training and development appear to be the major factor to enhance

productivity and improve performance of the organization.

Another factor which is apparent in prior studies is regulatory requirement by the

relevant authorities as clearly evident in a study conducted by Coetzer et al. (2012). In

a manufacturing industry, training does not only driven by the factors of concern of

quality, new or changed technology and change in work organization but also the

government licensing and regulation (Riddout et al., 2002).

Fund and budget allocation is also part of the factors that has been identified from the

literature. A study by Waziri et al. (2013) on public organizations in Tanzania finds

that the fund availability and allocation plays the important role to implement training

program in an organization. The finding of the study also indicates that insufficient

funds have caused staff to be provided with irrelevant training which does not support

their career advancement. Mndeme (2011) has also found that the shortage of training



27

budget is one of the organization factors that affecting the training program

implementation in parastatal organizations in Tanzania and surprisingly, the training

for budget these organizations was clearly used for another business functions.

However, study by Kum et al. (2011) on Escon Consulting Firm find that only 10% of

the respondents agree that lack of resources affects training while 80 % of the

respondents disagreed that a lack of resources affects training and other 10% were

neutral on that matter.

Apart from that, lack of awareness on training and development program by

employees also affecting the decision to provide training and development by

organization. Awareness is found to be among the most significance factors in

implementing training and development in organizations (Waziri et al., 2013). Based

on a study conducted on SMEs by Coetzer et al. (2011), it is found that employees are

not proactive to strive for opportunity in training and development of the

organization. This is evident in a study conducted by Mndeme (2011), only 45.3% of

the respondents are aware on the existence of training programs in their company.

This probably shows the real attitude of the employees in self-developing their own

career path that probably leads to the management decision in offering training and

development programs for the organizations.

There are several other factors that have been identified from the literature. The

commitment of the management and time (Waziri et al., 2013), the need to match

employee specifications with the job requirements and stake holders (Atieno, 2013)

and fear of the employees to leave the company training and lack of suitable training

and development opportunities for employees (Coetzer et al., 2012) are among the

factors that have least influence on the management decision in providing training and

development for their employees.

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study adopted qualitative study which involved face-to-face interviews. There

were six respondents from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that only focused on

engineering companies specifically manufacturing and engineering services. The

selected respondents were the persons who are responsible for training and

development in the organization. The interview instrument was self-developed based

on relevant literatures. This instrument was used as guidance for the researcher to

ensure respondents provide the responses as required. During the interview sessions,

the information gathered were clarified by repeating the main ideas which help to

confirm the information given as well to offer opportunity for respondents to provide

any additional information. The duration of the interview sessions were in average of

one hour.

For data analysis, the procedure of the data analysis for qualitative research was

adopted based on Creswell (2013). The process of data analysis started with

transcribing the recorded information into text by the researcher. In order to better

organization of the data, it was checked, sorted and arrange based on the question.

The process of data analysis was then proceed with analyzing the converted data and

relevant information were collected. Next is the coding process where it involved with

grouping data into themes. The sentences, phrases or paragraphs were sorted into

codes, and codes were sorted into wider themes. The process continued with themes

were sorted into larger perspective. Certain terms are labelled to these themes based



28

on terms used by the respondents. The process proceed with descriptions generated by

the respondents. The findings were then discussed based on themes, sub-themes and

specific quotations. The relationships and pattern between groups were identified and

differences were highlighted. Finally, the findings of the data were interpreted based

on perspective of the research problem and literature review.

4.0 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Background of the Respondents

There are a total of six respondents that have been selected for this study which are

consist of equal number of respondents from manufacturing and engineering services.

The range of age respondents is from 26 to 46. The highest education of the

respondents is bachelor degree. The range of respondents’ working experience is

between two and 17 years and majority of the respondents have less than 10 years of

working experience. Table 2 summarizes the demographic information about the

respondents.

Table 2 : Demographic of the Respondents

Label Gender Age Level of

Education Field

Job

Description

Number of

Experience

P1 Male 31 Bachelor

Degree

Engineering Services

(Consultancy)

Senior

Engineer/

Team

Leader

6

P2 Male 46 Diploma Manufacturing (Box

Manufacturer)

Production

Executive 17

P3 Female 26 Bachelor

Degree

Manufacturing

(Electrical Parts

Manufacturer)

HR

Executive 2


Degree

Manufacturing

(Aerospace Parts

Manufacturer)

HR

Executive 3

P5 Male 43 Bachelor

Degree


(Consultancy)

Corporate

and HR

Manager

10


Degree


(Construction)

HR

Executive 6

4.2 Factors Affecting the Management Decision in Providing Training and

Development for Employees

There are several factors that have been identified from the interviews. The major

factors that have been identified from the interview as agreed by all of the

respondents are deficit or improvement of the performance and regulatory

requirement. The selected example of quotations on the major factors is presented in

the



29

Table 3. These major factors that have been identified have similarity in terms of

scale of the organization which is SMEs based on study by Coetzer (2012). Apart

from that, the study by Ridoutt et al (2002) on factors influencing the take-up of

training in industries including manufacturing industry also has similar finding of

regulatory requirement and concern of quality which relates to the employee

performance apart from new or changed technology and change in work organization.

The findings on the study by Atieno (2015) on hotel industry in Kenya have similar

finding of in enhancing productivity and improve performance.

Table 3 : Major Factors Affecting the Management Decision in Providing Training

and Development for Employees

Factor Example of Quotations

Regulatory

Requirement

“….regulatory requirement …… from the regulatory bodies such as BEM, CIDB

and ISO. For engineers, there are requirement to meet CPD (Continuous

Professional Development) for professional engineers.” (P5, Corporate and HR

Manager, Consultancy)

“….regulatory requirement …. as related to the competencies of the employees

…….. to perform the job activity in proper procedure ..... providing proper

procedure to employee as it is part of the ISO requirement.” (P3, HR Executive,

Manufacturing)

Deficit Or

Improvement

Of The

Performance

“Improvement of the performance contributes to the quality of the product. ……

based on the performance evaluation by customer satisfaction survey, we set it as

benchmark for our performance and from the evaluation, we plan what can do

improve this situation and evaluation how does the improvement after the training.”

(P5, Corporate and HR Manager, Consultancy)

“Deficit of the performance does influencing the decision because this is affecting

the schedule and also number of product to be produced. The deficit of the

performance is contributed by improper of job procedure.” (P3, HR Executive,

Manufacturing)

Other factors that have been identified which are the availability of resources, time

and lack of training program. The selected example of quotations on the major factors

is presented in Table 4.

These findings are supported by study on public organization of municipal council in

Tanzania which also identified that are the availability of funds, inadequate time and

irrelevant training factors which affecting the implementation of training programmes

(Mndeme, 2012). Apart from that, requirement of project and client also other factor

affecting the management decision in providing training and development for

employees which is related to the need of task requirement and influence from other

parties such as client. This finding is supported by study on the hotel industry in

Kenya whereby the need to match employee specifications with the job requirements

and stake holders’ needs are also contributes to factors influencing staff training and

development decisions (Atieno, 2015). The similar finding of lack of suitable also

been identified on study on SMEs by Coetzer (2012).



30

Table 4 : Other Factors Affecting the Management Decision in Providing Training

and Development for Employees

Factor Example of Quotations

Availability of

Resources

“….. training and development program is quite costly…… have limited capability

in terms of funds for training and development for the employees ….. the grant

provided by the government is not fully utilized by the management as some of the

grant is utilized on other than developing human capital” (P4, HR Executive,

Manufacturing)

Time

“Due to the number of employees is very small and we are required to multitask as

this will effect on the work schedule. So, time does influencing the decision …..

required detailed plan to make sure the training and development program will not

interrupt the job activity.” (P4, HR Executive, Manufacturing)

Lack of

Suitable

Training

“….. due to lack of trainer in particular courses specifically in aerospace industry

……there is lack of training consultant for aerospace industry in Malaysia due to

the small size of aerospace industry in Malaysia.” (P4, HR Executive,

Manufacturing)

Other Factors “Other factors .... is part of the requirement by the client to perform the task

…..relates to the requirement by the client and project.” (P1, Team Leader,

Consultancy)

5.0 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Due to limitation in terms on most of the respondents’ experience, the information

that been provided are very minimal and very general. Apart from that, the number of

respondents which is small also contributed to the limited information of the findings.

As this study only focused on engineering companies, the information that been

collected is limited from engineering companies’ point of view. Future study from

other industries which may have different factors from engineering companies with

bigger number of respondents which help contributes to better understanding on

factors affecting the management decision to provide training and development for

employees.

6.0 CONCLUSION

This study presents factors affecting the management decision in providing training

and development for employees. The major factors have been identified that deficit or

improvement of the performance and regulatory requirement. Apart from that, the

other factors that have been identified are availability of resources, time, lack of

training program and requirement of project and client. The implication of this study

is the understanding on the factors affecting the company’s decision in providing

training and development to the employees might help the government agencies to

encourage participation in training and development among SMEs in Malaysia. This

study also identified that the availability of funds is not the main issue for the SMEs

companies as claimed by HRDF chief executive to provide training and development

for employees as schemes provided by government agency such as HRDF which

provide assistance for employers to develop talents through training and development.



31

REFERENCES

Ang, J. (2015, March 3). Employees in Malaysia are “desperate” for training.

Retrieved from http://www.humanresourcesonline.net/state-apac-workplace-

learning-positive-3-years/

Atieno, J. I. (2015). Factors influencing staff training and development decisions in

state-owned hotels in western Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, University of

Nairobi).

Bank Negara Malaysia, Development Finance and Enterprise Department . (2013).

Circular on New Definition of S mall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Coetzer, A., Redmond, J., & Sharafizad, J. (2012). Decision making regarding access

to training and development in medium-sized enterprises: An exploratory

study using the Critical Incident Technique. European Journal of Training

and Development, 36(4), 426-447

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed

Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Kum, F. D., Cowden, R., & Karodia, A. M. (2014). The impact of training and

development on employee performance: A case study of ESCON Consulting.

Singaporean Journal of Business Economics and Management Studies, 3(3),

72-105.

Mndeme, I. S. (2011). Factors Limiting Effective Implementation Of Training

Programmes In Parastatal Organizations In Tanzania: A Case Study of

Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited, Dar-Es-Salaam And Coast Zone

(Doctoral dissertation, OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA).

Ridoutt, L., Hummel, K., Dutneall, R., & Smith, C. S. (2002). Factors influencing the

implementation of training and learning in the workplace. National Centre for

Vocational Education Research.

The Star, Train to be the best . (2015, July 27). The Star. Retrieved from

http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/smebiz/focus/2015/07/27/train-to-be-the-

best/

Waziri, F., & Stephen, T. (2013). Factors Influencing Implementation of Training

Programme in Public Organizations in Tanzania: The Study of Temeke

Municipal Council. Developing Country Studies, 3(10), 94-99.

Wong, J. (2016, May 1). Upskilling the Malaysian workforce. Borneo Post Online.

Retrieved from http://www.theborneopost.com/2016/05/01/upskilling-the-

malaysian-workforce/



32

Critical Success Factors of Implementing

Knowledge Management at LK Edu Private

Tuition Center in Malaysia

Lim Seng Huata and Muhammad Fathi Yusof

b


Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia a,[email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – This study is to identify critical success factors, analyze the benefits and

identifies the relationship between the critical success factors and perceived benefits

of implementing knowledge management at LK EDU private tuition center in

Malaysia. This study was conducted at one of the private tuition group, LK EDU,

which has 5 branches at Klang Valley. Data was collected by using distributing

questionnaires to 50 tutors at LK EDU and IBM SPSS for Windows version was used

for data analysis on this research. Critical success factor is independent variable, and

perceived benefits as dependent variable. Multiple regression method is used to

identify the relationship between the critical success factors and perceived benefits.

Keywords: Knowledge management, critical success factors, tuition centre

1.0 INTRODUCTION

New range of business improvement philosophies, approaches and methodologies

were continuously developed throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This development has

been largely focus on various combinations of business practice and academic theory.

There are many examples of these approaches organizational learning, the learning

organization, total quality management, business process reengineering. Knowledge

management has started to emerge as an area of interest in academia and

organizational practice in more recently (McAdam & McCreedy, 1999).

Conscious integration of people, processes and technology involved in designing,

capturing and implementing the intellectual infrastructure of an organization is

knowledge management approach (Petrides, 2004). The role of knowledge

management in the improvement of organizational competitive advantage through

sharing of best practices, achieving better decision making, and faster response to key

institutional issues, better process handling and improved people skills is important.

In this new economy, in order to innovate, and their ability to learn, adapt and change

become a core competency for survival, individuals and companies are obliged to

focus on maintaining and enhancing their knowledge capital (Bhusry & Ranjan,

2011).



33

The Malaysia Ministry of Education (Education, 2015) issued a mission statement

reflecting the national aspiration: “To develop a world class quality education system

which will realize the full potential of the individual and fulfil the aspirations of the

Malaysian nation”. In Vision 2020, Malaysia wants to be a developed country in year

2020. It is importance change from an information society to a knowledge society

and finally to a value-based knowledge society.

The new era of the knowledge economy requires a workforce with a high level of skill

and educational attainment since 2000 onwards. Public institutions were upgraded to

accommodate increasing demand for places and the curriculum was reviewed to

increase the knowledge content. Besides that, public institutions also incorporate new

emerging technologies. To ensure parity with urban areas, teaching and learning

facilities and educational support services were expanded to rural area(Malaysia,

2001).

Despite of all the great competitiveness in this market, Malaysia has recorded a

number of 2,967 registered tuition centers in year 2010. The number of student who

enrolled in these tuition centers was approaching 200 thousand. The unregistered

home-based tuition center was not being reported in that figure. Thus, the actually

number of tuition center and students could be out of expectation. Furthermore, a

private tutor is believed to be able to earn an income from RM4 000 to RM10 000 a

month depending on his credibility and reputation. This offer is very much better than

a university fresh graduated, or even a manager of a company (Nair, 2012).

The objectives of the study are:

i. To analyze the benefits of implementing knowledge management at

LK EDU private tuition center in Malaysia.

ii. To identify critical success factors of implementing knowledge

management at LK EDU private tuition center in Malaysia.

iii. To identify the relationship between the critical success factors and

perceived benefits.

This study will focus on critical success factors of implementing KM at LK EDU

private tuition in Malaysia. By understanding critical success factors of implementing

KM, private tuition center will aware the importance of implementing KM in their

center’s current and future performance. Tuition center will put more attention on

those factors in order to perceived benefits of KM.

Knowledge management system (KMS) is useful to those tuition centers that are

planning to implement or already implementing. KMS will provide critical success

factors to be considered. Besides that, the relationship between KM benefits and

critical success factors of implementing KM may be useful in tuition center. Other

than that, the KMS in tuition center is advisable for the center to maintain and

catalyze their academic excellence.

The scope of the research is focus on private tuition center in Malaysia. This is

because most existing research on higher education institutions and not consider on

the needs of Private tuition center.



34

2.0 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

According to Hossain and Yu (2004), shift in market skills of Malaysia moved from

an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, and then moves from the

industrial economy to an information economy and lastly to knowledge economy.

The critical success factor of implementation knowledge management are

organizational culture, top management leadership, technology, education and

training, tutor participation and teamwork. Organization culture was the largest

obstacle faced by organizations to create a successful knowledge-based enterprise

(Goh, 2002). Chase (1997), Goh (2002), Hasanali (2002), H. Lee and Choi (2003)

mention that organisation is the factor of implementation knowledge management.

Drucker (1995) mentioned that the foundation of effective leadership is thinking

through the organization’s mission, defining it and establishing it in order to manage

knowledge effectively. Based on the literature (Chase, 1997; F.Drucker, 1995; Goh,

2002; Kermally, 2002), top management leadership is critical success factor of

implementation knowledge management. There is a need for effective user support

and user education and training in order to make knowledge management successful

(Koenig, 2003; Kramer, Klebl, & Zobel, 2010). According to the literature (Choy,

2005; Syed, 2014; Weber & Weber, 2001), tutor participation and teamwork (Cohen

& Bailey, 1997; Greengard, 1998; Nonaka & Press., 1995) are critical success factor

of implementing knowledge management in an organization.

Refer to the literature (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Averweg, 2012; Bhatt, 2001; S. M.

Lee & Hong, 2002; Luan & Serban, 2002; Wong & Aspinwall, 2003) if effectively

managed to augment knowledge sharing in the organization, technology plays an

important role. The benefit of implementation of knowledge management are cost

reduction (Becerra-Fernandez, Gonzalez, & Sabherwal, 2004; McAdam & McCreedy,

1999), increase the level of creativity and innovation (Becerra-Fernandez et al., 2004),

improve effectiveness and efficiency (McAdam & McCreedy, 1999), improve the

quality performance(Becerra-Fernandez et al., 2004; McAdam & McCreedy, 1999)

and increase the staff competencies(Becerra-Fernandez et al., 2004).


The research design, approaches used and the rationale for selecting procedures,

methods and analysis techniques. This research consists of the following areas:

research design, data collection methods, and survey research and of design

questionnaires, pilot testing the questionnaire survey, sampling selection and

statistical analysis of data. There are six independent variables used in this research

which are organization cultural, top management leadership, technology, education

and training, tutor participation and teamwork to determine the critical success factors

of implementing knowledge management. The dependent variable for this research is

perceived benefit of knowledge management.

The quantitative approach was used by using questionnaire to collect the data in this

research paper to investigate the relationship between critical success factors of

knowledge management and the benefits of implementation knowledge management.



35

The questionnaires are distributed to reach the respondents. The study stated that only

employee of LK EDU who has working in LK EDU are eligible to fill in the

questionnaire. The objectives of the questionnaire were to investigate the benefits of

knowledge management, the critical success factors of knowledge management and

the knowledge management perceived benefits. A questionnaire was conducted to test

the hypothesis. The reliability of each item in the questionnaire was tested with the

reliability test- Cronbach’s Alpha, and all of them were greater than 0.7, which

indicate the questionnaire is reliable.

IBM SPSS for Windows version was used for data analysis on this research.

Descriptive statistics (mean values and standard deviation) were employed by

checking the central tendency and the dispersion that will in turn provide an idea of

how well the terms were developed. Correlation analysis is used as a measure of

association for exploring the patterns that exist in the relationship between variables.

Multiple regression method is used to identify the relationship between the critical

success factors and perceived benefits.

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The finding of the study has shown that the benefits of implementation of knowledge

management are cost reduction, increase the level of creativity and innovation,

improve effectiveness and efficiency, improve the quality performance and increase

the staff competencies. The critical success factors of implementing knowledge

management are found to be organizational culture, top management leadership,

technology, tutor participation, education and training and teamwork. The relationship

between the critical success factors and perceived benefits of implementation

knowledge management at LK EDU private tuition in Malaysia is shown in Table 1.

The results of the multiple regressions model in Table 1 shows insignificant

relationship between the education and training with perceived benefits of KM.

Perceived benefits of teamwork have positive relationship towards perceived benefits

of KM. The results of the multiple regression model revealed that the strongest

predictor is technology (β= .068, p < .05), which shown in Table 1. It means that

teamwork plays the greater role in gaining perceived benefits by implementing

knowledge management in the organization.

The second critical success factor of KM implementation is top management

leadership which also has positive relationship towards perceived benefits of KM.

The results of the multiple regression model revealed that organizational culture is the

second strongest factor towards perceived benefits of organization (β= .715 p < .05)

which shown in Table 1. In other words, the results of this study believe that top

management leadership can bring benefits to the organization.



36

Table 1: Multiple Regression Analysis for Variables

Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients t Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

Organizational Culture .364 .040 .448 9.077 .000

Top Management

Leadership .662 .040 .715 16.377 .000

Technology -.083 .048 -.074 -1.723 .092

Education and Training -.027 .034 -.037 -.800 .428

Tutor Participation -.017 .067 -.015 -.250 .804

Team Work .072 .052 .068 1.365 .000

The third CSF of KM implementation is top organizational culture which also has

positive relationship towards perceived benefits of KM. The results of the multiple

regression model revealed that organizational culture is the third strongest factor

towards perceived benefits of organization (β = .448, p < .05), which shown in Table

1. In other words, the results of this study believe that top organizational culture can

bring benefits to the organization.

Fourth CSF of KM implementation is technology which was found that there is no

relationship with perceived benefits of KM. The results of the multiple regression

models in Table 1 showed insignificant between the technology and perceived

benefits of KM.

Fifth CSF of KM implementation is education and training which was found that

there is no relationship with perceived benefits of KM. The results of the multiple

regression model in Table 1 showed insignificant between the education and training

with perceived benefits of KM.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS

The objective of the study is to identify the relationship between the critical success

factors and perceived benefits of implementation knowledge management at LK EDU

private tuition in Malaysia. From the findings stated above, the critical success factors

of implementing knowledge management including organization culture, top

management leadership and team work. Additionally, the benefits of implementation

of knowledge management are cost reduction, increase the level of creativity and

innovation, improve effectiveness and efficiency, improve the quality performance

and increase the staff competencies.



37

REFERENCES

Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. E. (2001). Knowledge Management and Knowledge

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39

Organizational Commitment towards Job

Satisfaction in an Oil and Gas Company in

Sarawak

Mohammad Syafril Bahara

and Hayati Habibah Abdul Talibb


Malaysia, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia a,

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract – Oil and Gas Industry is consider as dying industry with many employees

were retrenched, relocated and restructured due to the vastly dropped of crude oil

price. Most companies required to explore a preferred method to ensure the

competent one is retained. Prior studies suggested that the one who have better

intuition towards remain in the same company have better understanding on

organizational commitment thus increase their job satisfaction. This paper explores

organizational commitment relationship towards job satisfaction among staffs in an

oil and gas company in Sarawak, Malaysia. The questionnaire containing 7

demographic questions, 62 survey items (instruments: Organizational Commitment

Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Survey, and two pre-determined answer questions)

hosted by the researcher were distributed among staffs in Engineering Department of

the Company. Only affective commitment was significant and positively related to all

aspects of job satisfaction, while normative commitment was only negatively related

on one aspects (operating conditions) and continuance commitment on three aspects

(operating conditions, promotion, and nature of work) of job satisfaction. The most

rewarding aspect of job satisfaction as a staffs in the company was “Pay” (47

responses), and the most frustrating aspect was “operating conditions” (16

responses).

Keywords: Affective Commitment, Continuance Commitment, Normative Commitment, Job

Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Oil and Gas

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The price of crude oil was significantly dropped from US$80 per barrel to US$30 per

barrel and this trending was not seen in over a long time. This sudden and trending

fall has had recondite a chain of effect on the entire oil and gas industry all around the

world. This cause all of the oil and gas companies in all over the world was highly

impacted in terms of financial, mostly. These matters required companies to perform

downsizing which includes of restructured, retrenchment and most of the employees

were letting go. From the company point of view, little specific method is known to

retain the one whom have a better commitment towards organization. Due to current

situation occurred where unstable of crude oil price and forecasting for the next 5

years will be maintain low, many who retained are prefer to go for other industries



40

such as manufacturing, construction, automobile and many more. This caused the

inclined of turnover intention among employees. To encounter this problem, the

researcher believe that knowing the organizational commitment relationship towards

job satisfaction among staffs are vital at this point to ensure Human Resource

Management (HRM) retaining the skilled and experience ones with the lowest

turnover intention.

Many researches have been organized in the area of behaviour in organization related

to work ethics such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational

culture (Harun & Salleh, 2014). The important of organizational commitment was

emerged because of its association with the role behaviour or behaviour outside of its

character in any organization such as absenteeism (Nagar, 2012). According to

Okpara (2004), they explained that the variables most general used is organizational

commitment as precedents to anticipate job satisfaction which shown less determine

of turnover intention.


2.1 Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitment refers to attitude and emotion attached to the mission and

vision of an organization, to employee’s role, involvement, and identification in an

organization (Okpara, 2004). In basis, an appraisal of the conformity between an

employees’ own values and beliefs are aspects to measure organizational commitment

of employees in the organization. Individual’s willingness to commit to organizational

goals is one of the characteristics of organizational commitment. When employees are

provided with opportunity to learn and grow, significantly they perceived

commitment to remain in their current organization is higher (Swailes, 2002).

According to Ayeni (2007), commitment is “a relation and connection of the

employee to the organization with multidimensional construct”. Different pattern can

be taken by commitment and can be controlled at distinctive constituencies in

particular organization. Organizational commitment also can be divided into three

elements: affective, continuance and normative.

2.2 Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a complex construct and describe as a personal’s feeling, evaluative

and affective impacts towards employee job. Many researches are present which link

the job satisfaction with turnover intentions (Abraham, 1999). Job satisfaction and

organizational commitment are the most important subjects in the research of job-

related perspective (Kontoghiorghes & Bryant, 2004). Job satisfaction can be classify

using a one-dimensional model for overall job satisfaction or a multidimensional

model capturing the independent aspects that influence the emotional state of job

satisfaction. The different aspects are independent and should be measured separately

to capture the degree of influence each has on job satisfaction. Hylton (2014) utilized

seven subscales to measure independent aspects of job satisfaction which are pay,

promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating conditions, co-

workers, nature of work, and communication.

The relationship of organizational commitment towards job satisfaction and turnover

intention are more supported by many studies which perceive organizational



41

commitment as a predictor of job satisfaction. As a positive emotional reaction, it is

rational to suppose that job satisfaction would be negatively related to behavioural

turnover (Moorman, 1993). Consequences of frequent studies have given the proof of

a strong negative relationship of job satisfaction with turnover intentions. After an

intervention to improve the level of job satisfaction, the reduction of turnover

intentions was detected.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design & Data Collection

Research design employed was a mixed method strategy to explore organizational

commitment relationship towards job satisfaction among staffs in one of Oil and Gas

Company in Sarawak. The quantitative research (descriptive research) method which

was determined as main method used to gather the information needed. For this

research, questionnaire was divided into four sections which are demographical

background of the respondents, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ),

Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and 2 qualitative questions to examine the

characteristics of the important elements in determine organizational commitment

relationship towards job satisfaction among staffs in the engineering department of

the company.

In this study, data was collected using a structured questionnaire which consisted of

24 subscale questions which related to the three elements of organizational

commitments and 36 subscale questions which related to the nine aspects of job

satisfaction. In ensuring the research was conducted smoothly, the researcher emailed

to all staffs and permission to distribute the questionnaire was approved from the head

of department. All questions are written in English. The questionnaire was distributed

to the selected staffs that represented the population of the engineering department in

the company and the researcher explains to the participant their roles to ensure they

understand the objectives and the outcome desired from this study. The participants

were informed to answer and return the questionnaire to the researcher by hand within

one week. It took 15 minutes for participants to answer the questionnaire on average.

3.2 Data Analysis Methods

Data from the survey were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

(SPSS). Pearson correlation and t-test were used to examine the relationship between

variables. The Cronbach’s Alpha for job satisfaction is (0.91) and each elements of

organizational commitment: Affective (0.87), Continuance (0.79), and Normative

(0.75).


4.1 Demographic Analysis

Male participant were the highest group of respondents for this study at 58.57%. Of

the study participants, the largest age group was 26 to 30 years old at 55.71%; nearly

half of the staffs were in the younger adulthood age range of 35 years old and below.

The highest group of race is Malay with 57.14% followed by Chinese, Others and

Indian with 24.29%, 15.71%, and 2.86% respectively. The largest percentage of the



42

respondents, 47.14% had worked 3 to 6 years in the organization. When combined

with the next highest frequent length of service, 68.57% had work less than 6 years in

the organization. The sample respondents were similar to the population of staffs

(provided by HRM) in gender, age, and race; thus the sample can be described as

being representative of the population.

The t-test analyses found that there were significantly different between female and

male correlation of organizational commitment and job satisfaction by 24.4% and

26.3% respectively at Confidence Interval (CI) at 95% as shown in Figure 1 and

Figure 2. Some studies have identified that female employees were more committed

and satisfied towards their organization compared to male employees (Cunningham,

2006). Other control variables such as age, race, organization tenure, and education

seemed to have very little linkage with the levels of job satisfaction. This is supported

by Joolideh and Yeshodhara (2008) when they stated that age is not related to job

satisfaction.

Figure 1: Comparison of Organizational Commitment between Genders

Figure 2: Comparison of Job Satisfaction between Genders

4.2 Correlation Analysis

The correlation matrix, as displayed in Table 1, shows the significant level and the

correlations associated with the three elements of organizational commitment which

are affective, continuance and normative and the nine aspects of job satisfaction are

pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating

conditions, co-workers, nature of work, and communication.

0.00

5.00

Organizational Commitment between Genders

Female Male

0.00

5.00

Job Satisfaction between Genders

Female Male



43

Table 1: Correlation between organizational commitment and job satisfaction

NOTE: OCaff= Organizational Commitment Affective, OCnorm= Organizational Commitment Normative, OCcont=

Organizational Commitment Continuance, JSpay= Job Satisfaction pay, JSprom= Job Satisfaction promotion, JSsup= Job Satisfaction supervision, JSfrbe= Job Satisfaction fringe benefits, JScrew= Job Satisfaction contingent rewards, JSopc Job

Satisfaction operating conditions, JScowk= coworkers, JSnow= Job Satisfaction nature of work, JScomm= Job Satisfaction

communication, TotalOC= Total Organizational Commitment and TotalJS= Total Job Satisfaction.

The total Organizational Commitment towards total Job Satisfaction shows a

moderate relationship (0.421) where affective commitment, OCaff (0.515), normative

commitment, OCnorm (0.221) and continuance commitment, OCcont (0.135).

Affective commitment is the highest correlation towards job satisfaction and were

similar with other prior studies in higher education staffs, hotel managers, career

counsellors, and certified rehabilitation counsellors. The highest statistical correlation

of affective commitment towards job satisfaction were promotion (0.383), contingent

rewards (0.342) and supervision (0.339). The findings suggest that staffs of the

company who perceived the promotion to be in line with the type of work they

desired, were comfortable with their organizations’ supervision and chances of

contingent rewards, and were more likely to have an affective commitment in this

organization. Previous study also retrieved a strong relationship of affective

commitment towards job satisfaction. The highest positive significant correlation of

normative commitment towards job satisfaction were for supervision (0.320),

promotion (0.265), and communication (0.128). The findings suggest that staff of the

company who felt supported by their supervisor, enjoyed the communication at work,

and had promotion options would more likely have a sense of loyalty or normative

commitment in this organization.

Negative significant correlations for continuance commitment towards job

satisfaction were highest for three aspects of job satisfaction which were promotion (-

0.063), operation condition (-0.038), and nature of work (-0.005). The findings

suggest that staffs of the company who perceived their workplace to have poor

promotion options, were not pleased with the operating condition, and was not

comfortable with the nature of work where more likely to have turnover intention in

this organization. The researcher believe that the staffs most likely to have turnover

intention are low despite this negative relationship translating the lack of promotion,

poor operating condition and extreme nature of work, due to the pension or other

options were worth staying for and tolerated by knowing that no workplace is ideal.

There were only seven out of nine pre-determined answer were chosen by

respondents as their most rewarding aspect. Two answers were not chosen by the

respondents were contingent rewards and operating conditions. The highest element

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

OCaff OCnorm OCcont JSpay JSprom JSsup JSfrbe JScrew JSopc JScowk JSnow JScomm TotalOC TotalJS

OCaff 1

OCnorm 0.298 1

OCcont 0.154 -0.088 1

JSpay 0.286 0.057 0.204 1

JSprom 0.383 0.265 -0.063 0.354 1

JSsup 0.339 0.320 0.140 0.056 0.263 1

JSfrbe 0.280 0.053 0.201 0.498 0.062 0.100 1

JScrew 0.342 0.079 0.132 0.487 0.347 0.375 0.236 1

JSopc 0.179 -0.069 -0.038 0.152 0.043 0.104 0.002 0.235 1

JScowk 0.044 0.027 0.012 0.054 -0.176 0.316 0.079 0.056 0.224 1

JSnow 0.316 0.118 -0.005 0.324 0.071 0.305 0.129 0.358 0.476 0.266 1

JScomm 0.288 0.128 0.072 -0.022 0.010 0.247 0.152 0.387 0.283 0.189 0.462 1

TotalOC 0.684 0.555 0.670 0.286 0.256 0.394 0.278 0.274 0.022 0.040 0.193 0.235 1

TotalJS 0.515 0.221 0.135 0.570 0.427 0.602 0.449 0.698 0.503 0.382 0.688 0.569 0.421 1

Organizational Commitment Job Satisfaction



44

of job satisfaction was chosen as rewarding aspect by respondents is pay followed by

nature of work and co-workers. All of nine pre-determined answer were chosen by

respondents as their most frustrating aspect. The highest element of job satisfaction

was chosen as frustrating aspect by respondents is operating conditions followed by

supervision and nature of work.

The findings indicated that the staffs had moderate relationship between

organizational commitments towards job satisfaction. Based on the observations, the

type of jobs the staffs did and their workplace environment may have contributed to

this finding. As results suggested that there were several aspects that shall be focusing

on by management to ensure the improvement of organizational commitment to

increase job satisfaction. For example, staffs perceived that promotion as one of the

important aspect because they are fully understand and aware of the requirement to

get promoted which are to close gaps in technical assessment, attending skill group

trainings, and achieve good rating in Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Little not

agree with this requirement because they felt that some of the topics to close gap in

technical assessment were not related with the work they did and KPI rating was not

always translating the job done. In addition supervision also contributed as one of the

important aspect perceived by staffs in the company. By providing the learning

opportunities of skill development for technical managers may have implication on

the organizational commitment and job satisfaction among staffs in the company.

5.0 CONCLUSION

This paper presents an inclusive review on organizational commitment relationship

towards job satisfaction among staffs in an oil and gas company. Through survey

conducted, it was prevalent that there were significant and positively organizational

commitment relationship towards job satisfaction among staffs. The incorporation of

improving organizational commitment of staffs in the company would be important

step in addressing the job satisfaction among them. The admixture of the results of the

relationship could be part of the company success planning, employee policies, staffs

training and development, and operating procedures of the oil and gas company.

REFERENCES

Harun, H. and Salleh, R. “Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Stress

among Offshore Oil and Gas Platform Employees.” Asian Social Science Vol.

10, No. 11 (2014).

Nagar, K. “Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction among teachers.” Times

of Burnout, VIKALPA Vol. 3, No. 2, (2012): 43-60.

Okpara, J.O. “Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: Are there

Differences between American and Nigerian managers employed?” Academy of

Business & Administrative Sciences, Briarcliffe College, Switzerland (2004).

Swailes, S. “Organizational commitment: A Critique of the Construct and Measures.”

International Journal of management Reviews Vol. 4, No. 2 (2002): 155-178.

Ayeni, C.O. and Phopola, S.O. “Work Motivation, Job Satisfaction, and

Organizational Commitment of Library Personnel in Academic and Research

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Abraham, R. “The Impact of Emotional Dissonance on Organizational Commitment

and Intention to Turnover.” The Journal of Psychology Vol. 133, No. 4 (1999):

441-55.

Kontoghiorghes, C. and Bryant, N. “Exploring Employee Commitment in a Service

Organization in the Health Care Insurance Industry.” Organization

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Hylton, T. E. “The Relationship between Job Satisfactions, Organizational

Commitment, and Turnover Intent among Certified Rehabilitation Counselors”.

Michigan State University, Michigan (2014).

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and Procedural Justice.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Vol. 6, No. 3

(1993): 484-489.

Cunningham, G. B. “The Relationships among Commitment to Change, Coping with

Change, and Turnover Intentions.” European Journal of Work and

Organizational Psychology Vol. 15, No. 1 (2006): 29-45.

Joolideh F. and Yeshodhara K. “Organizational Commitment among High School

Teacher of India and Iran.” Journal of Educational Administration Vol. 47,

No.1, (2008): 127-136.



46

Project Delays Monitoring in Ministry of

Health of Malaysia

Ahmad Al-Muhaymin Abd Wahab1,a

and Rahimah Muhamad2,b

1Unit Urus Setia Dan Kewangan, Bahagian Pengurusan Sumber Manusia. Wisma

Pertahanan, Kementerian Pertahanan Malaysia, Jalan Padang Tembak, 50634 Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia 2UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi


[email protected]

Abstract – Construction delays are considered as the time overrun in the project completion

from the project milestone as per contract. Project delays can occur due to many factors

involving client or owner, consultants, contractors and third party. Construction delays

affects government development planning and spending in the 5 year Malaysia Plans to

provide efficient public facilities and infrastructures. In the Fourth Rolling Plan of the Tenth

Malaysia Plan (10th MP), RM1.797 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Health Malaysia

(MOH) for 376 projects such as building hospitals and clinics. Such tremendous budget was

to ensure the smooth sailing of the projects implementation. This research attempts to

investigate and study the causes of project delays and project monitoring practices in the

Ministry of Health (MOH) during 10th Malaysia Plan. To investigate the factors of

construction delays and project monitoring practices in MOH, a structured questionnaire

survey was distributed to 77 respondents from MOH, Public Work Department (PWD),

Implementation Coordination Unit, Prime Minister’s Department (ICU JPM), consultants

and contractors. Data analysis was carried out by using frequency analysis based on the

respondents profile and Average Index (AI) to determine the delay factors and the degree of

significance of each factor. The result showed that 25 of the 26 factors of construction delay

are significant. Current project monitoring procedures and tools implemented by MOH, PWD

and ICU JPM are still relevant and effective but need to be constantly improved.

Keywords: Factors, Construction delay, Project monitoring, Government, Ministry of Health,

Malaysia

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Construction industry in Malaysia is growing rapidly and has become an integral

component of the country’s economic development. In general, Malaysian

construction industry is primarily driven by the expansion of local economic activities

(Hamzah et al., 2012). The Malaysian Government is identified as the biggest client

in the construction industry focusing mainly on the building of public facilities and

infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, clinics, public housings and roads. Under

the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9th

MP), 78% or RM179 billion from RM230 billion total

budget allocation was allocated for the implementation of physical projects.

Subsequently, 60% or RM138 billion from RM230 billion budget allocation was

allocated to implement physical projects under the 10th

MP (JPM, 2010).



47

However, the construction industry in Malaysia always constantly faced with delays

problem during implementation. The factors involved in the construction delays

include client, contractors, consultants, resources and external factors. In Malaysia, a

study had identified 24 causes of delay identified in construction industries (Hamzah

et al., 2012) while another study pointed out 130 causes of delay which were divided

into 31 different categories (Tawil et al., 2014). Another research to investigate a

government project delay in Kedah grouped the delay causes into seven categories

(Othman & Ismail, 2014).

Similarly, project delays also occur in other countries like Ghana, Jordan and

Pakistan. A research by Frank D.K. Fugar and Adwoa B. Agyyakwah-Baah

concluded that clients, consultants and contractors are the most influential factors of

the 32 delay factors identified in construction projects in Ghana (Fugar & Agyakwah-

baah, 2010). In Jordan, a study identified 55 delay causes but stated that only 22 delay

causes were significant to the projects performance (Samarah & A.Bekr, 2016). In

construction industry of Pakistan, another study concluded that there were 20 delay

causes which the researchers then grouped into six main delay categories: clients,

contractors, consultants, contract, project condition and external factors (Haseeb et al.,

2011).

Construction project delays can be expressed as the time overrun, or extension of time

behind the date agreed upon by the contract parties (Samarah & A.Bekr, 2016).

Another study concluded that respondents shared similar opinion that delay means

deviation from the originally planned period (Riazi et al., 2013). According to ICU

JPM, project delay is defined as project delayed for more than one month. Sick

project is defined as project delayed more than two months from planned schedule

and the contractors are unable to complete the project (JPM, 2015). Generally, project

delay is defined as project delayed in certain period as compared to the original

schedule or agreed contract period.

The objectives of this study are to investigate the causes of MOH construction project

delays under the 10th

Malaysia Plan and to evaluate current monitoring practices of

MOH projects. Based on the findings, this study will recommend some measures to

improve the current construction monitoring practices of the Ministry of Health

(MOH). This research is mainly focused on the factors of construction delays and

project monitoring in MOH. The researcher chooses to focus on MOH as previous

studies were only focussed on project delays in government sector in general but not

on specific agency. Additionally, the nature of MOH projects is also different from

other government agencies because of the project scope and specifications. This

research attempts to investigate and understand the causes of construction delays and

project monitoring in MOH. In achieving this aim, it is necessary to thoroughly

review the existing reports from the various agency, journal, research and government

circular.

2.0 CONSTRUCTION DELAYS IN MINISTRY OF HEALTH (MOH)

Over the five years of the 10th MP implementation since 2011, a total of 11, 997

projects were implemented over various stages. By the end of 31 December 2015,

however, only 9,017 projects managed to be completed while 2,890 projects were still



48

in the planning stage. The Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime

Minister’s Department reported that 160 projects were delayed due to problems

encountered at implementation stage. Thirteen of these delayed projects were under

MOH. The delays and problems had also been highlighted in the Auditor General’s

Reports by the National Auditor Department of Malaysia (NADM) from 2011 until

2015. Figure 1 below illustrates the number of project delays by ministry.

To better understand the factors of construction delays in MOH, literature review of

the Auditor General’s Reports from 2011 until 2015 was under taken. Since 2011,

MOH projects had been reported facing problems during planning, implementation

and even project completion. For the purpose of this study, only 12 MOH projects

were selected for further investigation as the projects fulfilled the following criteria: i)

Project under 10th

Malaysia Plan and ii) Project identified delays during constructions

work. They were divided into three categories: New Hospital, Upgrading Hospital and

New Clinic. New Hospital refers to the construction of new hospital building.

Upgrading Hospital refers to projects involved in upgrading building and services in

hospital. New Clinic refers to the building of new clinic facility and creating new

health services. Figure 2 listed the project identified by categories.

Ministry of Health projects are implemented by MOH and Public Work Department

(PWD). Meanwhile ICU JPM, a central agency, monitors all MOH projects under the

5 Years Malaysia Plan. This agency uses online monitoring system such as Project

Management System II (SPP II), Sistem Kawal dan Lapor (SKALA) and Integrated

Project Tracking Update Analysis (iPANTAU) to coordinate and monitor MOH

projects. Site meetings and Ministry Development Action Committee (MDAC)

meetings are conducted to discuss any project issues.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

The questionnaire survey was designed based on the construction delay factors

identified in the literature review. There were three categories of respondents

involved in this survey. First is Owner or Client which were respondents from MOH

and PWD. Second is respondents from ICU JPM as the Monitoring Agency and the

last category is Consultants and Contractors. However, from 77 respondents only 48

returned the questionnaire.

Figure 1: Project delays by Ministry



49

Figure 2: List of MOH project delays in National Audit Reports

The Likert Scale was selected to develop the questions before the survey was

distributed to respondents. This scale is designed to examine how strongly subjects

agree or disagrees with the statement on a 5 point scale with the following description:

Strongly Agree =5, Agree = 4, Neither Agree Nor Disagree = 3, Disagree = 2 and

Strongly Disagree = 1 (Ho Chooi Peng, 2013).

Data analysis was carried out by using frequency analysis of the respondent profiles.

Average Index (AI) was used to determine the delay factors and to identify the degree

of significance of each factor. The average index was computed by using the Average

Index (AI) formula as below (Nashwan, 2015):

Average Index, AI = ∑ (1𝑋1 + 2𝑋2 + 3𝑋3 + 4𝑋4 + 5𝑋5)

N

where N is total number of respondents and X is number of respondents for every

scale.

4.0 RESULT AND ANALYSIS

There are 26 factors of MOH project delays identified and listed in the questionnaire

survey. The Average Index (AI) calculation has been used for each factor and the

result as tabulated in Table 1. The highest AI is 4.44 for Design and scope changes

and the lowest is 2.90 for Natural disaster. The 5 most significant factors based on AI

is Design and scope changes, Incompetent contractors or subcontractors,

Communication and coordination problem, Financial Problem and of site workers.

The AI result also showed 25 of 26 factors index value is more than 3.00 and only one

factor below 3.00. The factor is the Natural disaster which is the AI value is 2.90. All

the respondents agreed 25 factors are the causes of construction project delays in

MOH and the Natural disaster is not the significant factor.



50

Table 1: Average Index (AI) for each factor

Factors of MOH project delays Average Index (AI) Ranking

1. Inadequate project feasibility studies 3.94 8

2. Poor contract management 3.42 21

3. Design and scope changes 4.44 1

4. Budget problems 3.85 10

5. Incompetent officer 3.04 24

6. Lack of monitoring 3.60 18

7. Delays in interim payments 3.00 25

8. Incompetent consultants 4.02 6

9. Communication and coordination problem 4.29 3

10. Inappropriate project planning and scheduling 3.83 12

11. Poor relationship between project team members 3.75 13

12. Poor quality control 3.67 16

13. Incompetent contractors or subcontractors 4.31 2

14. Unskilled site workers 4.02 7

15. Shortage of site workers 4.13 5

16. Poor site management 3.94 9

17. Financial problem 4.17 4

18. Materials and equipment problem 3.65 17

19. Poor relationship between project team members 3.60 19

20. Weather 3.17 23

21. Natural Disaster 2.90 26

22. Location difficulty 3.19 22

23. Local authorities issue 3.75 14

24. Land issues 3.71 15

25. Utilities problem 3.85 11

26. Extended of Time (EOT) 3.60 20

In previous research (Othman & Ismail, 2014), the authors claimed that design and

scopes changes are caused by owner/clients. This factor can be attributed to the nature

of MOH projects. MOH projects are often very difficult because of the scope,

specifications and medical equipment involved. Five from seven respondents strongly

agreed that MOH projects are difficult. Design and scope changes in MOH projects

was also highlighted in the Public Construction Project Performance in Malaysia

research article, published in June 2016, as one of the problems in public projects in

Malaysia (Jatarona et al., 2016).

The second most significant factor is incompetent contractors or subcontractors.

Previous researches also characterised factors related to contractors and

subcontractors as one of the leading causes of construction delays. The top three delay

factors of government project in Kedah were identified related with contractor

category. Similarly, the top causes of delay of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA)

construction projects were also related to contractors. These findings from previous

researches further confirm the survey result that incompetent contractors or

subcontractors is one of the major causes of MOH project delays.



51

Based on the findings in this study, the top ten construction delay factors in MOH

projects are: 1) Design and Scope Change, 2) Incompetent contractors or

subcontractors, 3) Communication and coordination problem, 4) Financial problems,

5) Shortage of site workers, 6) Incompetent consultants, 7) Unskilled site workers, 8)

Inadequate project feasibility studies, 9) Poor site management and 10) Budget

problem. Six out of the ten factors fall under consultant and contractor category.

Meanwhile, the other four factors are under client or owner category. As a conclusion,

the construction delays in MOH are predominantly caused by client/owner, consultant

and contractor. In order to overcome this, a combined effort involving all parties is

crucial to troubleshoot problems during MOH project implementation and improve

monitoring activity.

Results from Section C and D of the questionnaire survey that focused on MOH

project monitoring aspects are shown in Table 2 and Table 3, respectively. Section C

has eight questions and Section D has seven questions. Section C was answered by

respondents from MOH, PWD and ICU JPM. Meanwhile, Section D was answered by

respondents from consultants and contractors category. MOH and PWD are grouped

into client category and ICU JPM is a monitoring agency. These sections are very

important in measuring the respondents’ awareness of current project monitoring

practices in MOH and to identify if improvement actions by government are needed.

As seen in Table 2, the highest AI of 4.20 indicates that the immediate actions have

been taken to ensure MOH projects back on schedule. The lowest AI of 2.85 shows

that the current practices for monitoring MOH projects are outdated. Although

respondents agreed that the monitoring agencies take immediate actions to ensure

MOH projects are back on schedule, the agencies have a difficulties to execute the

action. Also, the agencies have proper project monitoring practices, current online

project monitoring tools and meeting platform are still relevant and effective. The

cooperation between government agencies to monitor the MOH project issues

statement is also agreed by respondents with an AI of 3.76. However, the AI for

respondents on understanding about government procedures in project monitoring is

second lowest that is 3.33. Respondents are ought to understand and familiarise

themselves with the procedures and the agencies which are MOH, PWD and ICU

JPM need to give serious attention to this matter.

Table 3 shows the consultants and contractors give their feedback regarding on the

monitoring aspect of MOH projects. Only seven respondents from consultants and

contractors gave their feedback that is 14.58% from 48 respondents. The highest AI of

4.86 shows that the respondents follow a proper procedure to monitor MOH projects

during construction. Majority of respondents agreed with a proper monitoring

procedures by Gantt chart and site diary. The AI for MOH and the agencies in

assisting the consultants and contractors during project implementation is indicates as

4.71. The same AI of 4.57 are obtained for MOH and government agencies to

improve their system of project monitoring procedures. Although the average scores

of AI in Table 3 is found significantly higher for monitoring the project, their systems

monitoring procedures need to be updated. Respondents also aware that MOH

projects are very difficult because of project scopes, specifications and medical

equipment with an average of 4.14. The lowest average of 3.86 is significantly shows

that the respondents disagreed with the issues of project quality are due to the failure

monitoring by the consultants and contractors.



52

Table 2: Average Index for section C questionnaire

Project monitoring: client and monitoring agency view Total Score Average Index (AI)

MOH/PWD/ICU takes immediate action to ensure MOH projects

back on schedule. 172 4.20

MOH/PWD/ICU encounter any difficulties in executing an action

to ensure the project is back on schedule. 168 4.10

MOH/PWD/ICU has its own proper project monitoring practice. 164 4.00

Current practices using by MOH/PWD/ICU to monitor MOH

projects is outdated. 117 2.85

Current online project monitoring tools such as Project

Monitoring System II (SPPII), SKALA and IPANTAU is

effective.

161 3.93

Current meeting platform such as Jawatankuasa Tindakan

Kementerian (JTPK) and Jawatankuasa Projek Sakit (JKPS)

in ministry is helping to solve project delay issues.

154 3.76

The cooperation between government agencies has helped to

solve problems during MOH projects implementation. 160 3.90

Officers and staffs are understand about current government

procedure in implementing construction projects, especially

in monitoring aspect.

160 3.33

Table 3: Average Index for section D questionnaire

Project monitoring: consultants and contractors view Total score Average Index (AI)

Consultants and contractors are understand about current

government project implementation and monitoring

procedures.

32 4.57

MOH and other agencies are helping consultants/contractors to

solve every problem during project implementation. 33 4.71

The monthly site meeting is effective to consultants/ contractors

raises issues to ministry/agencies. 28 4.00

MOH/Government agencies need to improve their project

monitoring procedure or system. 32 4.57

Consultant and contractors follow a proper procedure to

monitoring MOH project during construction. 34 4.86

MOH projects are very difficult because of project scopes,

specifications and medical equipment. 29 4.14

The failure during monitoring project by consultants and

contractors caused the quality issues after project completed. 27 3.86

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Project delays is a big concern to the Malaysian Government as RM 215.8 billion has

been spent to implement public sector projects under the 10th

Malaysia Plan (10th

MP)

through 25 ministries including the Ministry of Health (MOH). This study identified

25 significant factors that contribute to construction delay in MOH projects. Current

monitoring practices implemented by MOH, PWD and ICU JPM are at satisfactory

level based on the survey result. Therefore, current monitoring practices need to be



53

improved to be more effective and responsive to address problems encountered during

the implementation of MOH projects.

The findings of this study also suggest that MOH, PWD and ICU JPM should carry

out the following action: 1) Appoint technical person in the same field to monitor the

project implementation. 2) Setup a competent team in health construction and select

contractor with special criteria which is experience in health construction project. 3)

The design and scope for MOH project need to be finalized before construction begin.

4) Project quality monitoring activity or process need to improve and giving priority

by MOH, PWD and ICU JPM.

REFERENCES

Fugar, F. D. K., & Agyakwah-baah, A. B. (2010). Delays in Building Construction

Projects in Ghana. Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and

Building, 10(1/2), 103–116.

Hamzah, N., Khoiry, M. a, Arshad, I., Badaruzzaman, W. H. W., & Tawil, N. M.

(2012). Identification of the causes of construction delay in Malaysia. World

Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 72(12), 312–317.

Haseeb, M., Xinhai-Lu, Bibi, A., Maloof-ud-Dyian, & Rabbani, W. (2011). Problems

of Projects and Effects of Delays in the Construction Industry of Pakistan.

Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(5), 41–50.

Ho Chooi Peng (2013). Research Methodology Manual. National Institute of Public

Administration (INTAN).

Jabatan Perdana Menteri, U. P. E. (2010). Rancangan Malaysia Kesepuluh 2011-

2015. Rancangan Malaysia Kesepuluh 2011-2015, 193–251.

Jabatan Perdana Menteri, U. P. P. (2015). Pengurusan Projek Awam : Konsep

Pratikal Dan Realiti. Unit Penyelarasan Pelaksanaan, Jabatan Perdana Menteri

(ICU JPM).

Jatarona, N. A., Yusof, A., & Ismail, S. (2016). Public construction projects

performance In Malaysia. Journal of Southeast Asian Research, 2016(Vol.

2016(2016), Article ID 940838,).

Nashwan Al-Emad, S. N. (2015). Identification of Delay Factors from Mecca’s

Construction Experts Perpective. International Journal of Sustainable

Construction Engineering & Technology, Vol. 6(No. 2), 16–25.

Othman, A., & Ismail, S. (2014). Delay in Government Project Delivery in Kedah,

Malaysia. Recent Advances in Civil Engineering and Mechanics, 248–254.

Riazi, S., Riazi, M., & Lamari, F. (2013). Public Sector Project Delay : The Malaysian

Perspective and the Way Forward. In Proceedings of the 19th CIB World

Building Congress, Brisbane 2013 : Construction and Society, Queensland

University of Technology, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, QLD,

Australia.

Samarah, A., & A. Bekr, G. (2016). Causes and Effects of Delay in Public

Construction Projects in Jordan. American Journal of Engineering Research

(AJER), 5(5), 87–94.

Tawil, N. M., Khoiry, M. A., Hamzah, N., & Arshad, I. (2014). A Pilot Survey on

Causes of Delay in Malaysian Construction Project. MATEC Web of

Conferences, 10(January), 1–8.



54

The Influence of Sales Skills towards Sales

Engineer’s Performance

M Syahril Sudirmana

and Nik Hasnaa Nik Mahmoodb

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected]

,

[email protected]

Abstract – This paper discusses a study on the influence of sales skills acquired from training

on Sales Engineer’s performance in analytical equipment industry. The sales skills in this

study include interpersonal skills, salesmanship skills, technical skills and marketing skills.

The objectives of the study were to identify sales related training attended by Analytical

Equipment Sales Engineer, to examine the level of sales skills and performance among

Analytical Equipment Sales Engineer, to examine the relationship between sales skills with

sales engineer’s performance and to examine the influence of sales skills on Analytical

Equipment Sales Engineer performance. Data was gathered from 50 Analytical Equipment

Sales Engineer within eight companies in Selangor. Data were analysed using both

descriptive and inferential statistic namely frequencies, mean, Pearson Correlation and

regression. The finding of the study shows the type of trainings attended by sales engineers

and their level of sales skills and performance were evaluated. The results of Pearson

correlation analysis show positive relationship between sales skills and performance.

Surprisingly, regression analysis showed that only salesmanship skills, interpersonal skills

and technical skills have influence towards sales engineer’s performance while marketing

skills shown no impact towards performance.

Keywords: Sales skills, Sales engineer, Sales performance, Training

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This study investigates the influence of sales skills acquired from training towards the

performance of analytical equipment sales engineer as expected by the company.

Sales engineer are known as personnel that carry both responsibilities as salesperson

and engineer at the same time. The transition of sales engineer to knowledge worker

once started due to the shift of mass production to mass customization in engineering

industry as stated by Darr (2006) and this transition has brought about the growing

interdependence between social and technical skills in the work of Sales Engineers.

As stated by Avlonitis and Panagopoulos (2010), sales team needs to deliver

outstanding performance as they are representing the image of the company. The

judgments made by customers always based on the behaviour and attitudes of the

employees. The sales team is an important team in a company that will generate sales

with industrial clients which enables profit realization, especially for which operate

within business to business type of companies, as they are very contingent upon the

sales team to grow within modern markets. Every company needs to learn and adapt





55

with the new knowledge and skills to face the new challenges to perform their jobs

efficiently and effectively. Hence, in order to improve sales skills among Sales

Engineer, related trainings are required.

Botha, Nieman and Van Vuuren (2006) in their study conducted in South Africa

highlighted that one way of enhancing related skills in respective industry is by

providing training and education to potential and existing employees. Bhatti and Kaur

(2010) emphasized that training is among the most essential and the best human

resource method for enhancing organizational and workers’ productivity to achieve

the goal of an organization.

Sales Engineer plays an increasingly important role as many products and services,

especially those purchased by large companies and institutions are highly complex.

According to the studies from annual reports among selected companies, the

performance for sales engineer is under achieved. For example, the company is

expected to achieve sales target which is RM2 million per year. However, according

to the report, sales engineer only managed to get sales in range RM500,000 to

RM1,200,000 per year. This scenario happened within all companies that being

studied in this research.

Marshall et al. (2000) identified that improving sales performance is a main goal for

companies to increase competitiveness in the market. Although there are many factors

that determined to contribute to salesperson performance, Churchill et al. (2000)

revealed that sales skills are one of the key individual-level determinants that

contribute to salesperson performance. Related sales skills for Sales Engineers to

perform their responsibilities include interpersonal skills, salesmanship skills,

technical skills and marketing skills. Futrell (2006) added that recruiting highly

skilled salesperson for the companies is very important.

Hence, the objective of this research is to identify sales related training attended by

Sales Engineer among the selected companies. In addition, this research will examine

the level of sales skills among Analytical Equipment Sales Engineer. After that, their

sales performance will be identified. Then, the relationship between sales skills with

sales engineer’s performance will be examined and the influence of sales skills on

Sales Engineer’s performance can be acknowledged.


Training refers to bridging the gap between the current performance and the standard

desired performance. It could be deliver through various methods such as coaching

and mentoring, peer’s cooperation and participation by the subordinates (Elnaga and

Imran, 2013). As industries undergo rapid change, the need to sort, add, discard, and

ultimately integrate new knowledge and skills with that which was learned yesterday

is a challenging task. Due to that, training is the main and important human resources

ways in developing the productivity of the company and employee effectiveness

(Khalilur Rahman et al., 2015).

Hence, Cosh et al. (1998) emphasized that formal approach for organizations to

update employees’ acquisition of job-related skills, knowledge and ability (SKA) is

by training. From a human capital theory perspective, training is investment rather



56

than consumption. Research claimed that training is an important factor that could

facilitate a firm’s expansion, develop its potentials and enhance its profitability.

Traditional weak practices among employees can be changed to efficient and effective

practices by having good quality of training (Kathiravan et al., 2006).

Sheth and Sobel (2000) explained that Sales Engineers today are knowledge workers

providing the company with capacity for knowledge sharing through technology

dependent, analytical sales processes. Recent meta-analytical evidence, shows that

sales engineer revolve and nowadays perform the task in search, leverage, and

develop customer-specific knowledge to co-create solutions for customers (Dietz et

al., 2011).

The transition of sales engineer to knowledge worker once started due to the shift of

mass production to mass customization in engineering industry as stated by Darr

(2006). Due to this shift, it’s lead to the ‘technicization of sales force’ (Darr, 2002)

and the subsequent blurring of boundaries among design, manufacturing, and sales.

The transition has also brought about the growing interdependence between social and

technical skills in the work of Sales Engineers (Darr, 2006).

Churchill et al., (2000) revealed that sales skills are one of the key individual-level

determinants that contribute to salesperson performance. Rentz et al. (2002)

introduced sales skills in term of interpersonal skills, salesmanship skills and

technical skills while Ahearne and Schillewaert added marketing skills into the group.

According to O’Rourke (2014), interpersonal skills refer to mental and algorithms

applied in social communication and interaction to achieve specific effects and

results. In addition, Carter interprets salesmanship as an effort to induce people to buy

goods carried by them. Moreover, National Association of Marketing Teachers of

America defined it as the ability to persuade people to buy goods or services at a

profit to the seller and benefit to the buyer.

Technical skills are known as the capabilities of employees to accomplish specific

problems or tasks related to technology advancement. It is skills sets that are

teachable and can be reckoned easily by certification. Moreover, according to Kotler

(2012), marketing is “the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value

to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing recognizes unfulfilled

requirements and wants. It measures and tells the size of the identified market and the

profit prospective. It determines which segments the company is capable of serving

best and it designs and promotes the suitable products and services.”

Business Dictionary (2002) defines performance as the overall accomplishment of a

given task measured against present standard of accuracy, completeness, cost and

speed. Furthermore, Brown (2008) described performance as the success of the

employees to ample the tasks given to them accordingly. Landy (1985) found that

employees that satisfied with their job will have high tendency to perform in their job

and thus managed to stay with the company for longer period of time than those who

are not happy with their jobs. Sales performance is very crucial for the companies as

it will be the indicator for the success of the company in their business.



57

3.0 METHODOLOGY

This research employed a quantitative method with structured questionnaire for the

data collection. The questionnaire consists of 3 sections. Section A includes

background of Sales Engineer which also known as the demographic information.

Section B comprises total of 19 items to evaluate sales skills which is interpersonal

skills (5 items), salesmanship skills (5 items), technical skills (5 items) and marketing

skills (4 items). The items were measured by using the 5-point Likert scales

represented by “highly unskilled”, “unskilled”, “moderately skilled”, “skilled” and

“highly skilled”. Section C covers the Sale Engineer’s performance with 8 items and

rated by “strongly disagree”, “disagree”, “moderately agree”, “agree” and “strongly

agree”. In order to ensure validity of the study, the items were adapted from previous

studies.

The total number of 50 Analytical Equipment Sales Engineer within 8 companies in

Selangor were sampled. Pilot study was conducted before real study is started. 10

questionnaires were distributed to Sales Engineer for the reliability analysis.

Two instruments were used to measure sales skills and Sales Engineer’s performance.

Sales skills questionnaire used to measure interpersonal skills, salesmanship skills and

technical skills adapted from Rentz et al. (2002) while marketing skills adapted from

Ahearne and Schillewaert (2000). Questionnaire for sales performance adapted from

Behrman and Perreault (1982). Cronbach alpha statistic was applied to verify the

reliability of these two instruments in this study and all variables were shown

acceptable value for further analysis.

Data from the survey were analysed using SPSS statistical software. Descriptive

statistics (frequencies, mode and mean) and inferential statistic (Pearson Correlation

and Regression) were used to assess the relationship between variables and influence

of studied variables. The acceptable value of correlation coefficient should be in the

range of +1.0 (perfect positive correlation) to -1.0 (perfect negative correlation). The

strength of correlation is based on Guilford rules of thumb (Tompkins, 1992).


Out of 50 Sales Engineers, 52% ages between 25 to 35 years and the minority is 4%

with age 46 to 55 years old. In term of gender, 62% are male while 38% are female

Sales Engineers. Majority of the Sales Engineers (52%) are Malay, followed by

Chinese with 34% population and only 14% are Indian. Furthermore, the highest

percentage (76%) of respondents finished their study in degree level while 16%

completed their diploma and only 8% managed to complete their master level.

Moreover, this study shown that 40% of Sales Engineers have working experience

within 1 to 5 years in this industry. 36% with 6 to 10 years experiences and the lowest

is 11 to 15 years experiences (2%).

Figure 1 shows the data for type of trainings that have been attended by Sales

Engineers. According to the result, it can be stated that all respondents have attended

product knowledge training while they are working as Sales Engineer followed by 30

persons attended for interpersonal training, 29 persons for salesmanship training, 28

persons attended communication training and 22 persons for marketing training. The



58

data shows that only 11 persons attended management training and the least training

attended by respondents is public relation which is only 9 persons.

Figure 1 : Type of trainings attended by Sales Engineer

4.1 Level of sales skills and performance among Analytical Equipment Sales

Engineer

Based on the data collected and shown in Figure 2, the score for level of sales skills

and performance can be categorized according to the mean score which is 1.00 to 2.33

mean is Low level; 2.33 to 3.66 mean as Medium level; and 3.67 to 5.00 mean

considered High level. The highest level for sales skills among respondents is the

technical skills with mean 4.0280 and followed by salesmanship skill that is 3.7800

mean score. Interpersonal skills level is also measured as high because the mean score

recorded is 3.7040. However, the marketing skills considered as in medium level

because the score is below 3.6700 with mean score 3.4950. As for the sales

performance, the mean score recorded is 3.7125 and it is lies in high level group.

4.2 Relationship between Sales Skills with Sales Performance among Analytical

Equipment Sales Engineer

Table 1 represents the correlation between sales skills which are interpersonal skills,

salesmanship skills, technical skills and marketing skills towards sales engineer’s

performance. Results indicate in the table that there are positive correlations between

all sales skills and Sale Engineer’s performance with highly significant value. The

highest correlation value is between salesmanship skills and performance (0.741**).

The second highest correlation value is between interpersonal skills and performance

(0.670**) followed by technical skills and performance (0.546**) and the lowest

correlation value is between marketing skills and performance (0.537**). According

to Guilford rule of thumb, r value within 0.7 to 0.9 is considered as high relationship

while r value in the range of 0.4 to 0.7 is moderate relationship. Hence, salesmanship

skills have high relationship towards sales performance whereas interpersonal skills,

technical skills and marketing skills are moderately related to the respondent’s

performance.

This study found that there is a positive relationship between salesmanship skills and

Sales Engineer’s performance. This finding is consistent with previous studies that

indicated this positive relationship such as (Babakus et al., 1996; Ford et al., 1998;



59

Baldauf & Cravens, 1999; Baldauf et al., 2001; Katsikan & Skarmeas, 2003).

However, there are other studies that revealed no association between salesmanship

towards sales performance (Piercy et al., 1997; Grant & Cravens; 1999; Ahearne &

Schillewaert, 2000). This study verifies that the plan for management to recruit Sales

Engineer with excellent salesmanship skills will assure their good performance in the

company.

Figure 2 : Level of sales skills and performance

Table 1: Relationship sales skills and sales performance

Interpersonal Salesmanship Technical Marketing Performance

Interpersonal Pearson Corr.

Sig. (2-tailed)

1

Salesmanship Pearson Corr.

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.660**

0

1

Technical Pearson Corr.

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.373**

0.008

0.465**

0.001

1

Marketing Pearson Corr.

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.482**

0

0.618**

0

0.529**

0

1

Performance Pearson Corr.

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.670**

0

0.741**

0

0.546**

0

0.537**

0

1

Finding in marketing research showed that interpersonal skills play an important role

for the development of bonds between salesperson and clients and directly promote

the good perception towards the company’s image (Gwinner et al., 1998; Bejou and

Palmer, 1998; Gutek et al., 1999; Price and Arnould, 1999; Gremler et al., 2001;

Patterson and Smith, 2003; Wu, 2011). Although study from Lockeman and Hallaq

(1982) stated interpersonal skills as main predictor of sales success, this study give

different perspective. This findings may be attributed due to some reasons such as the

nature of business, the diversity of products offered and markets served and the

complexity of sales the organizational structure (Basir et al., 2010). This study

revealed interpersonal skills as the second important skill to support sales engineer’s

performance which is contradict with finding from Hill and Petty (1995) which stated

that interpersonal skills as the strongest predictor of employability. Nevertheless,



60

interpersonal skills still considered as important skill to support the good performance

among sales engineers because present study demonstrates that it has positive

relationship and significant impact towards Sales Engineer performance.

Although significant number of research have proven the fact that technical skills did

not influence the positive impact towards salespersons performance (Ahearne and

Schillewaert, 2000; Barker, 1999; Piercy, Cravens and Morgan, 1997), but the finding

from this study shown that technical skill has positive correlation with performance

and give significant impact. The result from this study similar to previous evidences

which stated the fact technical skills bring impact to salespersons performance

(Katsikan and Skarmeas, 2003; Baldauf et al., 2001; Grants and Cravens, 1999;

Cravens et al., 1993).

Finding from this study contradict with Leigh and McGraw (1989) and Sujan et al.

(1988) findings which established that marketing skills will produce good

performance. In addition, Ahearne and Schillewaert (2000) also mentioned that

marketing skills have significant relationship with performance. The findings from

this study exhibit that Sales Engineer not necessary to be knowledgeable in analytical

equipment market to achieve the sales target. The absence of a significant impact

between marketing skills with Sales Engineer’s performance in this present study may

be because of some points such as nature of industry structure, perception from the

market and the complexity of the organization. Selling tangible products produced by

the companies do not require Sales Engineer to be knowledgeable about the industry

in details such as market trends and competition. It does not mean that the knowledge

is not useful at all, however the significant is not really important for Sales Engineer

to expert in if to be compared with performance.

4.3 Influence of Sales Skills on Analytical Equipment Sales Engineer

Performance

Prediction on the influence of sales skills on Sales Engineer’s performance was

analysed using regression analysis. The adjusted R² value was 0.618 which indicated

that 61.8% of the variance in sales skills contributed to sales performance. Moreover,

result from ANOVA test showed that there was a significant relationship between

four attributes in sales skills and sales performance where the F value was 20.782.

However, based on the beta coefficient shown in Table 2, it is indicates that there are

only three sales skills contribute to the performance of sales engineer. The

salesmanship skills recorded beta coefficient (β = 0.438), interpersonal skills (β =

0.293) and technical skills (β = 0.232) while marketing skills beta coefficient is (β =

0.002).

5.0 CONCLUSION

This study presents the results of trainings attended by Analytical Equipment Sales

Engineers. Trainings attended will determine the level of sales skills among



61

respondent and also their sales performance. This study also revealed the relationship

between sales skills and Sales Engineer’s performance. The results have shown that

sales skills which are salesmanship skills, interpersonal skills and technical skills will

positively influence the performance of Sales Engineers in analytical equipment

industry. Even though marketing skills have positive relationship with performance

but it have no significant influence towards Sales Engineer’s performance.

Table 2: Influence of sales skills on sale performance

Coefficientsa

Model Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) -6.560 4.284 -1.531 0.133

Interpersonal 0.558 0.226 0.293 2.470 0.017

Salesmanship 0.862 0.263 0.438 3.280 0.002

Technical 0.476 0.219 0.232 2.177 0.035

Marketing 0.004 0.216 0.002 0.020 0.984

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63

Public Project Delay Monitoring By

Implementation Coordination Unit

Nor Azirah Abdul Ghania and Syuhaida Ismail

b

UTM Razak School of Advance Engineering and Technology

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, 54100 Kuala Lumpur a

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract – Malaysian government places high priority on the construction industry

by allocating 60 percent from the total allocation for physical development of public

project delivery. However, 113 on-going project are delayed and facing shortfalls in

spending expenditure. Thus, it is important that these delay and over-budget

problems being tackled by the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU), who

coordinates and monitors the implementation of the public projects. Hence, this

paper is undertaken with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness in monitoring

delayed pubic projects by ICU. This aim is achieved via objectives of identifying the

causes of public project delay based on the monitoring by ICU, examining the

monitoring tools currently used by ICU in monitoring public project delay, and

proposing improvement measures for effective monitoring of the public project delay

by ICU. Data was collected via document review, which is subsequently validated via

questionnaire survey on the purposive sample of 16 monitoring officers at ICU and

analysed via Microsoft Excel. It is found that the main causes of delayed public

projects are contributed by contractor-related followed by project implementation-

related, utility-related, land and site-related problems. Project monitoring systems

currently used by ICU are Project Monitoring System II (PMS II) and Integrated

Project and Tracking Analysis Updates (iPANTAU), which are claimed by the

respondents as effective to identify and solve the problem of public project delay. The

top proposed improvement measure for PMS II and iPANTAU are developing

contractor score rating system based on their performance in PMS II and improve

competency of monitoring officers, particularly on identifying the causes of delay

before keying in the data into iPANTAU, respectively. This paper is expected to

enhance the efficiency of these systems by providing accurate information needed to

the stakeholders.

Keywords: Public project delay, monitoring tools, Implementation Coordination Unit, Malaysia

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Malaysia aims towards becoming a high-income advanced nation by 2020.

Construction sector was the fourth important sector in Malaysia (EPU, 2010).

According to Economic Planning Unit (2010), construction sector was contributed

about RM327 billion or 5.2 percent from total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Despite from that, it is reported that project deliverable performance and execution in

Malaysia reduced dramatically due to poor cost and time management of the projects



64

(Abdul Rahman et al., 2012; and Endut et al., 2014).

Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) has a huge responsibility given by the

stakeholders to ensure that all development projects are carried out rapidly,

effectively and delivered on time to the members of the public. However, at the end

year of implementation of the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP), ICU (2016) reported

about 113 public projects were delayed and facing shortfalls in spending expenditure

about RM8.33 billion.

One of initiatives by the government to track the performance of public projects is by

developing the public projects monitoring online-based system. Project Monitoring

System II (PMS II) is one of the important tools in monitoring the public projects.

PMS II is a centralised database for every each project and this data has been used for

planning, implementation and evaluation (ICU, 2015). However, information in this

system is insufficient, for example information is not updated particularly on actual

performance project on the site and there is a difficulty to get the information about

performance of projects on site because the bureaucracy from implementation agency

(ICU, 2015).

On the other hand, Integrated Project and Tracking Analysis Updates (iPANTAU) is

developed in-house as a recorded monitoring initiative by ICU and also functioned as

a center database (UPP, 2014). This system enables to analyse number of projects site

visit, identify causes or issues on site and number of issues that have been resolved.

This system also helps the monitoring officers to detect chronology of certain

problem that was identified earlier (UPP, 2014). Nevertheless, there is a lack of

comprehension level between monitoring officers in using iPANTAU system,

therefore a lot of problems on site did not undergo Follow Up and Follow Through

action.

2.0 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness in monitoring delayed public

project by Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU). To achieve the aim of this paper,

the following objectives have been identified, namely to determine the causes of

public project delay based on the monitoring by ICU; to examine the monitoring tools

currently used by ICU in monitoring public project delay, and to propose

improvement measure for effective monitoring of the public project delay by ICU.


According to Contract Management in Government Procurement Volume 4 by

Ministry of Finance (2014), delay is defined as delays exceeding one month or 10

percent late from the expected schedule. Delay is also a situation when the actual

progress

of a construction project is slower than the planned schedule or simply defined as the

late completion of the projects (Serrador and Turner, 2015).

Based on Yates et al. (2006), there are three main types of delay that occur on

construction project, namely excusable, non-excusable delays and delays concurrent.

A delay that is compensable is compensable to the contractor, but non-excusable to

the employer. On the other part, a delay deemed as non-excusable is compensable to

the employer because it results in levying of liquidated damages. Concurrent delays



65

happened when more than one factor delays the project at the same time or in

overlapping periods of moment (Hamzah et al., 2011).

Nurul et al. (2016) also identified 69 low performance factors and divided these into

five groups, such as (1) early investigation cases, (2) design phase, (3) contract phase,

(4) construction phase and (5) upon closing phase. Othman and Ismail (2014) list out

7 categories of causes identified from 72 causes of delayed project, such as (1)

client/owner, (2) consultant, (3) contractor, (4) manpower, (5) material, (6) equipment

and (7) external factor. Ramanathan et al. (2012) concluded that the highest 5

rankings causes of delay are related to (1) owner/client, (2) contractor, (3) design-

related, (4) labour/manpower and lastly (5) consultant and contractual relationship.

Basically, monitoring the public project produces a lot of information that is required

by the top management to track the work progress at site. Key Performance Indicator

(KPI) is also identified as a monitoring tool that measures assessment and success

performance of a project (Cox et al., 2003). Mean while, project outcome monitoring

was a proactive and transparent mechanism for managing the assignment of new

projects to project managers and for evaluating the performance efficiency of the

completed projects and their responsible project managers (Cao and Hoffman, 2011).

On the other hand, value management in public project management was defined as a

process to reduce cost at the lowest cost of the project by identifying which elements

that can reduce the costs without sacrificing the quality and function of the project

(UPP, 2015). Others tool are the Project Monitoring System (PMS), which can help

senior project management, project directors, project managers etc., in monitoring and

assessing project performance (Cheung et al., 2004).

Knowledge is the important element in project management system. Liao and Qi

(2009) suggested to combine project and organisation procession in the knowledge

management system to articulate the linkages between technical and deployment as

well as feedback on projects.


This paper used triangulation method (quantitative) through document review as well

as structured questions from questionnaire survey in validating the findings from

document review as research methodology. This paper was conducted in five stages,

starting with literature review, followed with data collection, data analysis, data

interpretation and conclusion of the paper.

The second phase was data collection. To achieve the first objective in identifying the

causes of public project delay based on the monitoring by Implementation

Coordination Unit (ICU), data compilation on the documents review from Project

Monitoring System II (PMS II) and Integrated Project and Tracking Analysis Updates

(iPANTAU) was undertaken. Data analysis via Microsoft Excel followed by data

interpretation were carried out. Eventually, these findings are validated via

questionnaire survey on a set of purposive sample involving 16 monitoring officers at

ICU and reanalysed via Microsoft Excel. This questionnaire survey involves the 5-

point Likert scale of agreement (1 referring to strongly disagree to 5 which indicates

strongly agree) and importance (1 referring to least important to 5 which indicates

most important), following Poh (2016) who carries out research on key performance

indicators (KPI) for medium size contractors in Malaysia. As for the purpose of this

paper, the mean 3.5 and above signifies the level of agree and important, respectively.



66

As for second and third objectives of monitoring tools currently used by

Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) and proposing the improvement measure for

effective monitoring to address all the delay issues particularly in public project

through questionnaire, data analysis is again undertaken via Microsoft Excel,

followed by data interpretation. The last phase was reporting stage to conclude the

findings of this paper.

5.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Based on the documents review data from the Project Monitoring System II (PMS)

and the Integrated Project and Tracking Analysis Updates (iPANTAU), the main

causes of delayed public projects are summarised as shown in Figure 1.1. It is mainly

contributed by contractor-related, namely lack of experience, financial issue,

manpower, machineries, materials about 40.5 percent (194 public projects); followed

by project implementation problem-related about 16.5 percent (79 public project),

utility about 7.5 percent (36 public projects), and land problem about 6.9 percent (33

public projects) and site problem about 6.5 percent (31 public projects).

Figure 1: Causes of public project delay based on monitoring activities by the

Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU)

Source: Integrated Project and Tracking Analysis Updates (iPANTAU) (2015)

Results as shown in Figure 2 on the access and usage of both PMS II and

iPANTAU within a week demonstrated that the monitoring officers at ICU are

accessing the PMS II for more than 5 times/week, that is about 44 percent and

considered as highest percentage in terms of accessibility per week. The respondents

also agree that PMS II helps to identify the delayed public project at average range of

3.81 (agreeable scale). In comparison with the Integrated Project and Tracking

Analysis Updates (iPANTAU), about 50 percent of respondents claimed that they use

the system at about 1 - 2 times within a week to solve the problems of public project

Contrac

tor

Project

Implem

entation

Utility

Others

Proble

m

Land SiteAllocati

on

Consult

ant

Plannin

g

Capacit

y of

Implem

entor

Agency

Tenderi

ng

Conting

ency

Volume 194 79 36 35 33 31 20 16 14 12 7 2

Solved 148 55 25 18 25 27 9 8 11 7 3 2

Unsolved 46 24 11 17 8 4 11 8 3 5 4 0

0

50

100

150

200



67

delay. They further claimed that this system is able to provide accurate information

regarding the physical progress of the delayed public projects in Malaysia.

Figure 2: Respondents frequency in accessing the PMS II and using iPANTAU

within a week

The respondents are also asked on their understanding of the proposes

improvement measures for effective monitoring in project in Section D of the survey

question as to answer the third objective. To recapitulate, this paper adopts Likert

Scale of 1 to 5 (1 referring to least important to 5 which indicates most important),

mean 3.5 and above signifies the level of agree. From Table 1, it clearly indicates that

the respondents agreed with the statements in the measurement.

Table 1: Summary analysis for the statement of proposed improvement measures for

effective monitoring by Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU)

No Item

Frequency (%)

Mean

ST D NA/

ND A SA

1 Develop contractor score rating system

based on their performance in PMS II

0

(0)

2

(12.5)

1

(6.2)

6

(37.5) 7

(43.7) 4.1

2

Revise the physical progress of the project

based on Department of Work guidelines in

PMS II

0

(0)

2

(12.5)

3

(18.7)

5

(31.2)

6

(37.5) 3.9

3

Improve competency of officer particularly

on identifying the causes of delay before

keying in the data into iPANTAU

2

(12.5)

0

(0)

1

(6.2)

6

(37.5)

7

(43.7) 3.8

4

Provide Extension of Time (EOT) and

Liquidated and Ascertained Damages

(LADs) information in PMS II

1

(6.2)

1

(6.2)

4

(25.0)

3

(18.7)

7

(43.7) 3.8

5 The system (PMS II and iPANTAU) must be

user friendly

1

(6.2)

1

(6.2)

3

(18.7)

8

(50.0)

3

(18.7) 3.6

Note: LI = Least Important, NI = Not Important, NI/NI = Neither Important/Nor Important,

I = Important, MI = Most Important

25%

31%

44%

PMS II

1-2 times 3-4 times more than 5 times

50%

31%

19%

iPANTAU

1-2 times 3-4 times more than 5 times



68

6.0 CONCLUSION

This paper has successfully achieved its aim and objectives in evaluating the

effectiveness in monitoring delayed public projects by the Implementation

Coordination Unit (ICU) as well as identifying the causes of public project delay

based on the monitoring by ICU, examining the monitoring tools currently used by

ICU in monitoring public project delay, and proposing improvement measures for

effective monitoring of the public project delay by ICU, respectively. This paper finds

that the top five causes of public project delay based on the monitoring by ICU are

contractor, project implementation, utility, land and site problem; whilst the

monitoring tools currently used by ICU in monitoring public project delay are Project

Monitoring System II (PMS) and Integrated Project and Tracking Analysis Updates

(iPANTAU).

It is also found by this paper that the top five proposed improvement measures for

effective monitoring of the public project delay by ICU are Develop contractor score

rating system based on their performance in PMS II, Revise the physical progress of

the project based on Department of Work guidelines in PMS II, Improve competency

of officer particularly on identifying the causes of delay before keying in the data into

iPANTAU, Provide Extension of Time (EOT) and Liquidated and Ascertained

Damages (LADs) information in PMS II and The system (PMS II and iPANTAU)

must be user friendly.

Thus, effective project management system is seen by this paper as helping the

Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) in identifying causes the delay, monitoring

the delay project and solving the problems in public projects in Malaysia. In overall,

this paper has successfully proposed improvement measures to give more impact and

accurate information of the projects when the monitoring officers are performing their

jobs, especially in preparing the reports to the top management.

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70

Impact of Team Integration on Project

Delivery Performance in Mass Rapid Transit

Project

Nur Liyana Mohamad Nasir a

and Rafizah Musab


Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – An overview of factors in effective communication in view of team

integration is the aim of the paper, based on questionnaire survey that distributed

among project team in MRT project. Through the document review, there were 15 key

indicators in team integration and only four key indicators being measured as factors

of effective communication and investigate the relationship among that factors

towards team integration and project delivery performance. The last objective is to

propose an effective communication index in MRT project. As for conclusion, it

shows that the four indicator of effective communication have a strong relationship

towards the team integration and project delivery performance. The rank order

effective communication factor is focusing goal and objective, free flow

communication, sharing information and collective understanding respectively.

Keywords: Team integration, Project delivery performance, Effective communication

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The fragmentation structure in approaching the project delivery had been criticized on

their performance as a project delivery in the construction industry (Latham, 1994).

Therefore, the concept of integration, coordination and communication need to be

applied to overcome this issue. Construction project is likely to practice traditional

procurement. The client will appoint their consultants for the designation works

meanwhile contractor will carry out the construction part. The contractor has been

choosing through tendering process. However, those concept does not encourage

during stage in the traditional procurement at construction stage (Latham, 1994, Love

and P.E.D., 1998). Hence, the element of the contract can give difficulty to be

efficient in the collaboration and cooperation (Love and P.E.D., 1998). It can be seen

that throughout the traditional procurement, it gives negative impact on team dynamic

and teamwork to meet contract deliverables and thus need to propose on the best

solution (Forgues and Koskela, 2009). If the project team fail to have team integration

in the early phase of construction, it can cause problem in planning which leads to

delay hence harm the overall project (Arditi, 2002). The output of the study

investigates the relationship factors of effective communication in team integration

and project delivery performance. The analysis of this study is based on the working

experience of project team during construction of MRT Line 1.



71

1.1 Problem Statement

Lack of effective communication between stakeholders make the process of project

cycle do not meet the contract deliverables. During the launching ceremony of MRT

project, the client make a target to start the operation of MRT Line 1 for the phase 1 at

the end of 2016 meanwhile for phase 2 at early of 2017. There are about 8 packages

with different contractors for this project. There are works that cannot be completed

on the target date of opening operation. The clients pushing their contractors to work

double but they still give a lot of variation order. A lot of changing in structural

design during construction occurred especially on station buildings part. These

problems have given impact on the delay of project completion date. However, it can

be reduced with the effective communication between stakeholders. The problem

occurred during the construction stage gives impact on cost, time and quality of the

project. The contractors have a limited time to carry out their jobs, thus the quality of

the works not become the priority anymore. They are competing to complete their

jobs.


2.1Team Integration

Team integration is defined as one of the organization or disciplines with different

objectives, aims and cultures merge into a single cohesive unit and mutually

supporting unit (Baiden et al., 2006). The traditional procurement method does not

apply the true concept of integration in the construction project. Thus, without full

encouraging on integration, coordination and communication, it cannot overcome the

fragmentation. Fail to comply the integration during the early phase of construction

project may effect on the planning, delay hence harm the overall project outcomes

(Arditi, 2002). Topic of team integration gives reflect on the fragmented working

environment and collaborative working issues (Construction, 2003). Few steps need

to be taken in order to have great team integration in working environment. All

project teams need to strategies the concept of team integration and collective

strength which has potential to positively influence project outcomes (Jorgensen and

Emmitt, 2009). There are some hindrances in working environment for project teams

to comply team integration due to lack of collaboration, inconsistent shared vision,

poor communication and inadequate participation (Excellent, 2004).

Based on 15 key indicators in conceptual framework that adapted from (Ibrahim et al.,

2013), four key indicators have been chosen and critically reviewed in this research.

The indicators are focusing on goal and objectives, collective understanding, free flow

communication and sharing information. Focusing on goal and objectives is one of

the key indicators of team integration in construction project (Baiden et al., 2003,

Moore, 1999). Dainty ARJ et al., (2001) stated that the efficiency and success of

project are depending on focus on single items. Without hardworking effort of focus

and work together towards common goals, the overall project effectiveness and

efficiency cannot be achieved (Love and P.E.D., 1998) . Besides that, collective

understanding is one of vital indicator of team integration for project success. OGC

(2003) stated that collective responsibility and decision making of project cost and

maintenance of facilities, sustainability, speed of delivery, design quality, and the

efficiency of operation team is the contribution from early phase of team integration.

Love and P.E.D.(1998) mentioned that free flow communication gives influence on



72

team effectiveness, integration of works, efficiency during supervision, job

satisfaction and overall organizational effectiveness.

2.2 Effective Communication

The way of communication between stakeholders in the construction project is

important. As one of the successful communication strategy, it is important to know

the mistakes, barriers in the communication. Failure in effective communication will

give problem in project delivery performance. Communication is boundless as the

view of group of mistakes. According to Cervone (2014), project communication is

failed when the direction of communication is in unmannerly, communicating status

update being focused and the expectation from teams are outward. Besides, effective

communication provides an important route to compete among construction firms.

2.3 Project Performance

Astley et al., (1990) stated that the successful of project is based on the outstanding

results in budget, schedule and quality. In addition, if the projects comply all the

technical requirements and performance specification which they gaining high level

satisfaction among the project stakeholders also categorize under project success (De

Wit, 1988). Zhang and Fan (2013) stated that project performance criteria for

construction project can be classified into few groups such as meeting project overall

performance, meeting owner’s requirements, meeting project’s multiple goal and

stakeholders’ satisfaction. Meeting project overall performance will be based on time,

cost and quality meanwhile indicators of meeting project’s multiple goal are health

and safety and environment, absence of conflicts, risk management and claim

management.


Data collection instrument for this research was a survey questionnaire. Unit of

analysis was a completed MRT project. Questionnaire was developed through a

review of past literature and cooperation from project team.

The study pinned its team integration among the contractors in the construction site of

MRT Project Line 1. The sample size is focusing on project team located at site.

Respondents are from the age of 25 to 65 years old which have more than one years

of experience knowledges. Data was measured quantitatively by using SPSS in order

to evaluate the relationship factors of effective communication in team integration.


4.1 Results

A total of 40 questionnaires were distributed to the selected contractors in MRT

project. Based on the cross tabulation shows in Table 1, this study is dominant by

engineer with less than 5 years experience about 35%. Nevertheless, the second

dominant is also by engineer but having 5 to 10 years experience and the least is from

manager and supervisor level about 5% whom both of them having 5 to 10 years

experience. It indicates that the project team is young generation who have high

optimism in construction industry.



73

Table 1: Respondent Profile

Position

Working Experience

<5 years 5-10 years > 10 years

Manager 0 5% 8%

Engineer 35% 19% 5%

Supervisor 5% 5% 0%

Others 16% 0% 0%

The relationship of factor of effective communication towards the team integration is

discussed in Table 2. The research objective of the impact of effective communication

on team integration were tested using correlation test. According to Wiersma (1998),

the closer the value of r to +1 or -1 means that the strong relationship between two

variables. The r (Pearson Correlation) value are shown in Table 2.0. The r value

between focusing goal and objective, collective understanding, free flow

communication and sharing information toward team integration are 0.816, 0.832,

0.707, and 0.752, respectively. It can be concluded that focusing goal and objective

and collective understanding have a very strong relationship meanwhile for sharing

information and free flow communication only have a strong relationship. Thus, the

null hypothesis is rejected.

In addition, the relationship of effective communication showed strong influence on

project delivery performance. It is proved in the Table 3. The r value is 0.948. Thus,

the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between effective communication and

project delivery performance is rejected.

Table 2: Pearson Product Moment Correlation for Factors of Effective

Communication and Team Integration

Team Integration Measures

Focusing

Goal and

objective

Collective

Understanding

Sharing

Information

Free Flow

Communication

Team Integration 0.816 0.832 0.707 0.752

Table 3: Pearson Product Moment Correlation for Effective Communication towards

Project Delivery Performance

Team Integration Measures Effective Communication

Project Delivery Performance 0.948

The last objective is to propose an effective communication index in MRT project. It

is shown in Figure 1. The figure shows that focusing goal and objective is getting

highest factor with 4.36, followed by free flow communication with 4.34, sharing

information with 3.23 and the last is collective understanding at 4.15.



74

Figure 1: Mean score Factors of Effective Communication

4.2 Discussion

This research had provided a baseline of case study on general problem arise in

construction project specifically in MRT project in Malaysia. As for this aim of

research is to further investigate the effective communication in project delivery

performance, it create positive response from respondent. Most of the respondents

give average 4 in the Likert scale question. For them, focusing goal and objective is

the main control factor in effective communication in determining success of the

project. The role of project manager and other top management is also important in

determining the aim and objective of the project. Through the strong relationship

among the staff, by having the effective communication among them, the general

problem arise at the construction project can be minimised. Thus, they need to have

communication freely among them to build up trust and to ensure all are aware about

the information. In addition, by having regular project meetings, both formal and

informal will also help in strengthening the project objectives.

5.0 CONCLUSION

This research has contributed to the theory and practice in several aspects of team

integration. Successful project needs to be in line with the well-integrated teams

which are further measured in terms of quality, time and cost. As through this case

study, it contributes the theory of effective communication affecting the project

delivery performance during construction stages.

For future research, study can be focused on validating the other general problems

occurred in the MRT project. This research can be taken as a baseline and reference

specifically in the MRT project in Malaysia.



75

REFERENCES

arditi, D., Elhassan, A. and Toklu, Y.C.(2002). Constructability analysis in the design

firm. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 128, 117-126.

Astley, Graham, W. & Zajac, E. J. (1990). Beyond Dyadic Exchange: Functional

Interdependence and Sub-unit Power. Organization Studies, 11, 481-501.

Baiden, B.K., Price, A.D.F. & Dainty (2003). Looking beyond processes: Human

factors in team integration. In: GREENWOOD, D. J. E. (ed.) 19th Annual

ARCOM Conference. 3-5 September 2003: University of Brighton

,Association of Researchers in Construction Management.

Baiden, B.K., Price, A.D.F., Dainty & A.R.J (2006). The extent of team integration

within construction projects. International Journal of Project Management 24,

13-23.

Cervone, H. F. (2014). Effective communication for project success OCLC Systems

and Services :International digital library perspectives,, 30, 74-77.

Construction, A. E. I. (2003). The integrated project team: team working and

partnering. In: COMMERCE, O. O. G. (ed.). London: Procurement guide.

Dainty ARJ, Briscoe GH & SJ, M. (2001). New perspectives on construction supply

chain integration. Supply Chain Management. An International Journal of

Project Management, 6, 163-73.

De Wit, A. (1988). Measurement of project success. International Journal of Project

Management 6. EXCELLENT, C. (2004). Teamworking, . In: EXCELLENT,

C. (ed.). Watford.

Forgues, D. & Koskela, L. (2009). The influence of a collaborative procurement

approach using integrated design in construction on project team performance

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 2, 370-385.

Ibrahim, K. I., Costello, S. B. & Wilkinson (2013). Key practice indicators of team

integration in construction projects: a review team Performance Management,

19, 132-152.

Jorgensen, B. & Emmitt, S. (2009). Investigating the integration of design and

construction from a "lean" perspective. Construction Innovation:Information,

Process, Management, 9, 225-240.

Latham, M. (1994). Constructing the Team. Joint Review of Procurement and

Contractual Arrangements in the United Kingdom Construction Industry: .

Wiley: London.

Love & P.E.D. (1998). Concurrent engineering: a strategy for procuring construction

projects. International Journal of Project Management, 16, 375-83.

Moore, D. R. A. D., A.R.J. (1999). Integrated project teams’ performance in

managing unexpected change events. Team Performance Management, 5,

212-222.

OGC (2003). Achieving Excellence in Construction, Procurement Guide 05. In:

TEAM, T. I. P. (ed.). London: Office of Goverment Commerce.

Wiersma, W. (1998). Research methods in education : an introduction. In: BACON.,

A. (ed.). Boston.

Zhang, L. & Fan, W. (2013). Improving performance of construction projects: " A

project manager’s emotional intelligence approach". Engineering,

Construction and Architectural Management, 20, 195-207.



76

Relationship between Engineer’s Emotional

Intelligence Behaviour and Sales Performance

Jessica Marie Arokiasamy a

and Roslizar Mat Alib



[email protected]

Abstract – Business environment in today’s world is rapidly changing and highly

competitive. In order to gain competitive advantage, organizations must take full

advantage in optimizing their work forces and put high pressure towards their

employee’s performance especially on sales team because sales performance enables

profit realization. The sales team is front liners who need to deliver outstanding

performance, which leads to customer retention and long term relationship between

two organizations. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a successful tool for personal and

professional life such as sales engineers. Employing a sample of 50 sales engineers,

the aim of this research is to identify the level of Emotional Intelligence behaviour

exhibited by sales person and used as a tool to increase the sales performance.

Emerging research has shown that emotional intelligence positively supports sales

performance. The benefit of demonstrating very high frequency of emotional

intelligence in the workplace is vast especially to sales engineers. The Genos

Emotional Intelligence Inventory (full self-rater version) was distributed to 55 sales

engineers. The findings demonstrated that the overall level of EI is high with sales

performance achieved 76 – 100%. The findings proved that those who achieved

>100% + sales performance exhibit very high level frequency of emotional

intelligence.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Sales Performance, Sales Engineers

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The sales team is an important team in an organization in generating sales with

industrial consumers which enables profit realization, especially for which operate

within business to business type of companies, as they are very reliant upon the sales

team to grow and prosper within contemporary markets (Avlonitis & Panagopoulos,

2010). Emotional Intelligence (EI) or "the ability to monitor one's own and others

feelings and emotions, to differentiate among them, to use this information to guide

one's thinking and actions and effectively manage the emotions of others" (Giorgi,

Mancuso, & Perez, 2014) has been associated with sales performance (Rojell,

Pettijohn, & Parker, 2006). In order to gain competitive advantage, organizations put

high pressure towards the employee's performance especially on sales team because




77

they play a pivotal role to bring the business to success. In other words, employees

that exhibit very high frequency of emotional intelligence demonstrate great higher

organizational commitment and dedication to an firm, which enables the firm to

improve its long term productivity with increasing sales growth (Bardzil & Slaski,

2003).

Therefore, it is important that sales people acquire considerable knowledge of

competence in emotional self-awareness, emotional expression, emotional awareness

of others, emotional reasoning, emotional self-management, emotional management

of others, and emotional self-control in order to achieve excellent performance and

manage the ability connected directly with organizational success. The Genos

Emotional Intelligence self-assessment model questionnaires were used where in

attempt to correlate the frequency of sales engineers in exhibiting emotionally

intelligence behaviours with sales performance. The emotional intelligence

behaviours of the sales engineers were identified, and then analysis was conducted to

establish any correlated relationship between EI and sales performance.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize and regulate one’s emotions. In

this research, sales engineer’s emotions are particularly important in sales because of

the need to engage, understand and motivate customers. Emotional intelligence helps

a sales person to become more authentic in their conversation with customers and

create positive relationships. Many sales people mostly communicate at the

superficial level of selling features and benefits with a one-size-fits-all approach.

Hence, the purpose of this research is to study the relationship between engineer’s

emotional intelligence behaviour and sales performance. In this context, sales person

refers to ABC Engineering sales engineers. Thus, the objective was to gain further

comprehension to improve in sales performance through understanding of emotional

intelligence and further guide in sales engineer’s recruitment. The research objectives

can be further detailed as follows: to identify the level of sales engineers exhibiting

emotional intelligence; to analyse the relationship between Engineers Emotional

Intelligence and Sales Performance as well as to develop the framework to be applied

by the management during recruitment process and in training and development.


Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a variable that can never be omitted because of its

significant effects on much organizational behaviour such as dedication to perform

tasks, ability to display leadership and commitment to a job. An estimated of 90% of

top performers in virtually every industry possess high emotional intelligence

(Kidwell, Hardesty, Murtha, & Sheng, 2012), suggesting that high emotional

intelligence would improve sales performance. The sales team is essential in the

business to business selling process (Kumar, Sunder, & Leone, 2014). Salespeople are

liable for a wide range of outcomes including customer relationships, retaining

customers, acquiring new customers, present sales, and long-term sales growth. Since

sales people are interacting often with customers are typical of service employees, a

high level of exhibiting emotional intelligence behaviours is very important for these

people. Hence, EI is predominantly needed by employees in close relationships with

customers. Sales people are required to use society-friendly emotional ability as well

as intellectual ability and effectively to cope with the diverse needs of customers

during interaction with customers (Tomer, 2003), which has significant effects will be



78

exerted on their selling attitude. This demonstrates that sales people exhibiting higher

levels of emotional intelligence are more likely to have better sales performance.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design and Research Instrument

A quantitative method was applied to collect the primary data to analyse the

relationship between emotional intelligence behaviour and sales performance.The

secondary data collected from academic papers. The Genos Emotional Intelligence is

used as primary data collection which was designed specifically for the use in

workplace for training and development to aid human resources (HR) professionals

involved with identification, selection, training and development of employees

(Palmer, Stough, Harmer, & Gignac, 2009). It contains 70-item multi-rater assessment

which comprises a general factor of total EI, as well as seven oblique factors as

outlined in Table 1.

Table 1: Genos EI Model

EI Skill Description

Emotional Self-Awareness

The skill of perceiving and understanding one’s own

emotions

Emotional Expression The skill of effectively expressing one’s own emotions

Emotional Awareness of Others The skill of perceiving and understanding others’ emotions

Emotional Reasoning

The skill of utilizing emotional information in decision

making

Emotional Self-Management The skill of effectively managing one’s own emotions

Emotional Management of Others The skill of influencing the moods and emotions of others

Emotional Self-Control

The skill of effectively controlling strong emotions

experienced

Note: Adapted from The Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory: A Measure Designed Specifically

for Workplace

Based on Genos Emotional Intelligence (EI) Inventory: Technical Manual, the EI

inventory is applicable for adults above 18 years old and is specific for workplace

setting as it has high workplace face validity. The total emotional intelligence scales

of this study had an acceptable internal consistency of Alpha Cronbach (α= 0.91). The

EI inventory items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale; ‘1=Almost Never‛,

‛2=Seldom‛, ‛3=Sometimes‛‚4=Usually‛ and ‚5=Almost Always‛. The total score will

represent the frequency how often an individual engages in an emotional intelligence

behaviours in their work settings, which in this research, it is focused to sales

department.

3.2 Data Collections and Procedures

The sample consisted of 50 sales engineers from sales department in ABC

Engineering. A total of 55 questionnaires were distributed however only 50 were

returned completely filled. Data for this research was collected using quantitative

research, which included sections on demographic profile, sales training, sales

performance and emotional intelligence. The frequency analysis obtained in this



79

research were to identify the level of sales engineers exhibiting emotional

intelligence. Additionally, it was also to obtain descriptive correlational with the use

of “The Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory” questionnaires to examine whether

relationship exist between emotional intelligence and sales performance.

3.3 Operational Framework

Figure 1 shows the proposed operational framework for the research that was

systematically designed for a clear research plan. The research participants were from

sales department, ABC Engineering. The aim is to identify the level of Emotional

Intelligence of sales engineers and later on using the data collected to analyse the

relationship between Emotional Intelligence and their sales performance based on the

level of sales performance achieved for the year 2016. Upon completing the

development of operational framework, recommendations are proposed to be applied

by the management during recruitment process and in training and development.

Figure 1: Operational Framework


4.1 Sales Performance

The objective of this research was to identify the level of sales engineers exhibiting

emotional intelligence and to analyse the relationship between Engineers Emotional

Intelligence and Sales Performance. The response rate was 91% from sales

department. Table 2 shows sales performance for the year 2016 and the level of

consistency of sales performance during last 12 months (Year 2016). Respondents

achieved 76-100% of sales are 92% and 100% + sales are 8% for the year 2016. The

level of consistency of sales performance during last 12 months for the year 2016,

16% of respondents responded that “I have achieved my target every month / sales

period consistently as required by my organization”, 44% of respondents responded “I

achieve my target at least once per quarter”, 5% of respondents responded “I achieve

my target occasionally” and 30% of the responded that “I achieve my target every

alternate month”. This sales performance frequency analysis supports with the EI

Inventory percentile scores.



80

Table 2: Sales Performance

Variable n %

Sales performance during the last 12 months (Year 2016)

0-25% 0 0%

26-50% 0 0%

51-75% 0 0%

76-100% 46 92%

100 + % 4 8%

Level of consistency of your sales performance during last 12 months (Year 2016)

I have achieved my target every month / sales period consistently as required by my

organization 8 16%

I achieve my target at least once per quarter 22 44%

I achieve my target occasionally 5 10%

I achieve my target every alternate month 15 30%

I have not achieved any targets 0 0%

4.2 Emotional Intelligence

The interpretation of the inventory was based on the guidelines on corresponding

percentile range and categories as provided by the Genos Emotional Intelligence

Technical manual (Gignac, 2010). Table 2 shows the interpretive guidelines for

Genos EI Inventory percentile scores and Table 3 shows the Level of emotional

intelligence of sales engineers. From the table it is clear that 10% of sales engineers

have very high level of frequency in exhibiting emotionally intelligence behaviours

and about 76% of sales engineers have high level of frequency in exhibiting

emotionally intelligence behaviours.

Table 2: Interpretive guidelines for Genos EI Inventory percentile scores

Percentile

Range Categorisation Interpretative Guideline

80-99 Very High Very high level of frequency in exhibiting emotionally intelligence

behaviours

61-79 High High level of frequency in exhibiting emotionally intelligence

behaviours

41-60 Average Average level of frequency in exhibiting emotionally intelligence

behaviours

21-40 Low Low level of frequency in exhibiting emotionally intelligence

behaviours

1-20 Very Low Very low level of frequency in exhibiting emotionally intelligence

behaviours



81

4.3 Emotional Intelligence and Sales Performance

The Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the correlation calculations used to analyse this

research also yielded the opportunity to analyse the correlation between Genos EI

Inventory. A Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship

between the level of emotional intelligence and sales performance as shown in Table

4. There was a positive correlation between the two variables, r = 0.628, n = 50 and p

value calculations for the correlation had results of p < .001, two tailed which

indicated statistical high significance in the calculation. The results of these analyses

support the research objective and confirmed the positive correlation between EI and

sales performance. Therefore, the results confirmed that the level of EI gives a high

impact on sales engineer’s performance.

5.0 CONCLUSION

Most businesses rely on sales in order to grow. Improving a sales person's Emotional

Intelligence (EI) may not be a universal solution for sales success, but it may be an

added weapon in an organization's arsenal of tools to increase profitability by

improving sales performance. The research conducted was promising as it gave

significance to the research objective and research questions. According to (Ziglar,

2007) he stated that “To succeed in selling, use logic and emotion in your sales

presentation. Logic makes people think; emotion makes them act. If you use only

logic, you'll end up with the best educated prospect in town. If you use only emotion,

you'll end up with a cancelled order. Balance these keys and you'll sell more.”

Therefore, it is important for sales engineers to balance these logic and emotions for

better work performance. The proposed framework for Emotional Intelligence

training and implementation is shown in Figure 2.

Table 3: Level of emotional intelligence of sales engineers

Level of EI Frequency Percentage

Very High 5 10%

High 38 76%

Average 7 14%

Low 0 0%

Very Low 0 0%

Total 50 100%

Table 4: EI and Sales Correlations

1.8 Sales_P_Y2016 TOTAL EI %

1.8 Sales_P_Y2016

Pearson Correlation 1 .628**

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.00

N 50 50

TOTAL EI %

Pearson Correlation .628**

1

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.00

N 50 50

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).



82

Figure 2: Framework for Emotional Intelligence training and implementation

The proposed framework in Figure 2 is for the firm to make an establishment for

training and development besides product and sales training. The training and

development department needs to initiate the training process starting with first three

initiative steps which is assessing employee’s emotional intelligence. It is also vital to

provide training and development of emotional intelligence to the employees while

taking into account the seven variables as a predictor for developing EI. Then third

step is to foster the use of emotional intelligence seven variables skills on job. The

drivers in this proposed framework were derived from the seven variables of EI and

concluded into four drivers and these were self-direction, internal engagement,

customer relationship, and sales target achievement or to achieve. These drivers will

help to succeed in sales performance and increase in competitive advantage. Though

this research initiative yielded significant results, but it was restricted by several

limitations. Therefore, further investigation is essential. These findings are important

because sales engineers are the life force of engineering industries. Through the

selling process, both individuals and organizations can reach unlimited potential.

Thus, any factor that can adequately improve performance is beneficial to the

industry. The findings of this study may assist researchers and practitioners in

utilizing the knowledge gained to enhance professional practices. This research can be

informative for ABC Engineering because sales engineers exhibiting EI behaviour

contributes to their sales performance. In addition, it can be helpful to human

resources in making objective decisions involving EI usefulness in training and

development, and in sales industries in general where direct interactions with

customers are prevalent. From this research it is understood that there is impact on

sales engineers exhibiting EI behaviour and sales based businesses. Through Training

and developments concentrating on developing sales people ability to manage

emotions and use emotions in the sales process will benefit the organization,

management, and sales people itself.



83

REFERENCES

Avlonitis, G. J., & Panagopoulos, N. G. (2010). Selling and sales management: An

introduction to the special section and recommendations on advancing the

sales research agenda. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(7), 1045-1048.

Bardzil, P., & Slaski, M. (2003). Emotional intelligence: Fundamental competencies

for enhanced service provision. Managing Service Quality: An International

Journal, 13(2), 97-104.

Gignac, G. E. (2010). Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory. Technical Manual

(2nd Ed.), Sydney, Waterloo, NSW, 10-36.

Giorgi, G., Mancuso, S., & Perez, F. J. F. (2014). Organizational emotional

intelligence and top selling. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 10(4), 712-725.

Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., Murtha, B. R., & Sheng, S. (2012). A closer look at

emotional intelligence in marketing exchange. GfK Marketing Intelligence

Review, 4(1), 24-31.

Kumar, V., Sunder, S., & Leone, R. P. (2014). Measuring and managing a

salesperson's future value to the firm. Journal of Marketing research, 51(5),

591-608.

Palmer, B. R., Stough, C., Harmer, R., & Gignac, G. (2009). The Genos Emotional

Intelligence Inventory: A measure designed specifically for workplace

applications Assessing Emotional Intelligence (pp. 103-117): Springer.

Rojell, E. J., Pettijohn, C. E., & Parker, R. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and

dispositional affectivity as predictors of performance in salespeople. Journal

of Marketing Theory and Practice, 14(2), 113-124.

Tomer, J. F. (2003). Personal capital and emotional intelligence: an increasingly

important intangible source of economic growth. Eastern Economic Journal,

29(3), 453-470.

Ziglar, Z. (2007). Ziglar on selling: The ultimate handbook for the complete sales

professional: Thomas Nelson Inc.



84

An Improvement of Building Service

Management at Public Low Cost Housing

Nadia Arib a and Siti Uzairiah Mohd Tobi

b



[email protected]

Abstract – Public housing program in Malaysia is basically to provide adequate

shelter, especially to the lower income group. The development of Projek Perumahan

Rakyat (PPR) was aimed at improving the quality of life so that they can live

comfortably. Despite the Government’s effort in providing adequate housing,

complaints among residents of low-cost houses are that the provision of facilities is

inadequate and the services in the housing areas are poor. Thus, it is intended in this

study to explore improvement for building service management at public low cost

housing. For this reason, the objectives are set to identify the components of building

service, to investigate the residents’ perception towards building service provided by

the local authority and to propose strategies for better building service management

at public low cost housing. To achieve these objectives, PPR Wangsa Sari was chosen

as the case study location. This study was designed to adopt mixed method using

questionnaire survey and semi structured interview. The data gathered was analyzed

using index scale analysis and content analysis. It was found that the problem with

building service is not just physical but also related to the attitude of the residents.

While garbage collection is the most critical components as perceived by the

residents, lift is the component that has been given priority by the management. After

various observation and analysis, it is recommended that to improve the building

service management, a few strategies are to be implemented. The recommendations

are eliminating social issues by strengthening their unity, enhance social mentality to

improve the residents’ attitude, educate the residents by being transparent about the

cost, educate the residents to pay on time and meeting with other local authorities for

knowledge sharing.

Keywords: Building Service, Management, Public Low Cost Housing

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Throughout the five-year Malaysia Plan, the government has earmarked several funds

for the construction of low-cost houses and various housing programs were

implemented including the Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR). The construction of the

low-cost houses is to provide adequate shelter for the lower income group and to

ensure that they could live comfortably. In order to provide a healthy and safe living

environment for the residents, building service systems are installed (John et

al.,.2005). It is the system in building to make people comfortable, functional,

efficient and safe (Designing Building, 2017). Similar to architecture, building



85

services are much required for the comfort, convenience and environmentally friendly

operation of buildings (Ramli et al.).

1.1 Problem Statement

Despite Malaysian government’s effort in providing adequate housing, the complaint

among residents of low-cost houses is that the provision of facilities is inadequate and

the services in the housing areas are poor. This situation if not properly addressed

may ultimately create a stressful living environment. Challenges faced by Malaysia is

not only in providing affordable housing for the low income group but also in keeping

the unit in good health so that it can serve its intended functions throughout its entire

lifespan without drastically upsetting its basic features and use so that people can live

and work in harmony (Samikon et al., 2013).

A number of reasons may be adduced on why building performs poorly in meeting

users’ need and expectation. What is considered as important by the residents and

maintenance department may differ and the disagreement on the priority order of

completing maintenance demand may result in residents’ dissatisfaction over the state

of repair of the building (Abdullah et al., 2012 ). Whenever deficiencies in the public

building are encountered, it is expected of the government’s responsibilities to plan

implementation strategies if it requires any physical construction. According to Salleh

et al. (2011), the role played by the management in managing the housing

environment is crucial especially in tenanted housing. A classical study suggested that

good housing management could increase the degree contentment of tenants in their

housing (Onibokun et al., 1974). For this reason, the need to investigate the residents’

perception towards building service in low-cost housing has become necessary in

order to foresee the requirements for building management strategy.

1.2 Objective of Study

There are several objectives of the study that has been identified. The objectives are:

1) To identify the components of building service

2) To investigate residents’ perception towards building service by local authority

3) To propose strategies for better building service management at PPR


Studies on housing have gone past the investigation of the physical, structural and

functional fundamentals of one's regional center called "house" (Hayward, 1977 and

Lawrence and Roderick, 1987). Increasing interest is presently demonstrated towards

the investigation of residents’ perception, how individuals view or think about their

housing and how it influences their lives. In building research, perception evaluation

is a means to understand the force that drives residents’ needs and enables facilities

managers to make decisions and improvements to meet those needs (Aye et al.,

2005).

2.1 Building Service

Building service refers to the design, installation, operation and monitoring of the

mechanical and electrical system such as electrical supply, lighting, ventilation,



86

plumbing and sanitary, fire service and lifts (Ho et al., 2008 and Bajunid et al., 2012).

Lai and Yik (2004, 2011) highlighted that assessment of building services conditions

is important to safeguard the safety, health and well-being of people and to protect the

environment. They also noted that building service system tends to stay in serviceable

condition if they are regularly inspected according to the legal requirement. As stated

by Lateef (2009), buildings are assets, the value of which changes in accordance with

the quality of the maintenance invested in them. If proper maintenance is invested in a

building, the value will improve and vice versa. In this study, the aspect of service

provided within the housing unit area was given focus prior to achieving the

objectives of this study in investigating residents’ perception towards building

services by the local authority in order to propose strategies for better building service

management.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

This study is designed to use the quantitative and qualitative methods as the process

of data collection. For the quantitative method, structured questionnaire was designed

to seek residents’ perception on the 11 listed building service components and 6

criteria for building service management as shown in Figure 1 below. 5 Likert type

scale using 1 for not important, 2 for less important, 3 for neutral, 4 for fairly

important and 5 for very important was used to draw the components deem critical by

the residents while multiple choice was used to draw the highest frequency of

residents’ concern in building service management. PPR Wangsa Sari was selected as

the case study location with the unit number of 262. According to Krejcie and

Morgan’s table, the sample size for this quantitative survey is n = 155.

Projek Perumahan Rakyat (Low-Cost High Rise Residential)

Building Service Components Related

Stakeholder

Strategies for

better building

service

management

Staircase

Plumbing service

Lighting

Corridor

Electrical services

Garbage collection

Water supply

Sewerage system

Drainage system

Lifts

Fire fighting

system

Residents

(user)

and

Local

authority

(provider)

Building Service Management

Responsiveness

Accessibility

Enforcement of Law

Systematic

Safety and Health Inspection

Inclusion of Tenants’ View

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Input Process Output



87

The survey instrument (questionnaire) was designed to elicit information concerning

residents’ perception towards building service prior for the development of interview

question. For qualitative method, a semi-structured interview was used to achieve the

third objective of the study. By using purposeful sampling, interview questions were

addressed to the key person from Jabatan Pengurusan Perumahan dan Pembangunan

Komuniti (JPPPK) under DBKL, local authority who directly carried out the

responsibility of managing and maintaining the PPR in order to provide specific

knowledge about the topic of study.


The analysis of the respondents’ background for the first section of questionnaire

survey is as shown in Table 4.1 below.

Table 4.1: Demographic Information

%

Gender

Male 62

Female 38

Age

18 – 35 35

36 – 65 63

> 65 2

Occupancy

Owner 43

Tenant 57

Duration of stay

0 – 6 months 16

7 – 12 months 7

1 – 2 years 8

> 3 years 69

Education

SRP/PMR 12

SPM 28 STPM 21 Diploma 16 > Degree 23

* n = 155

The analysis is carried out by using frequency distribution from the convenience

sampling. Based on Table 4.1, 62 percent of males took the survey while the

remaining 38 percent were females. This study also measures distribution of age

group living in the low cost housing area such as young, middle and old. It was found

that most of the respondents come from middle age group between 36 to 65 years old

with 63 percent. Meanwhile, younger group of between 18 to 35 years old accounted

for the remaining 35 percent and the lowest was the older group of age more than 65

years old with only 2 percent. In this study, it was also found that 43 percent of the

respondents were owners of their units while the other 57 percent were tenants renting

the unit from the local authority. Further, 69 percent which is the majority of the

residents have been living in the low cost housing for more than 3 years. It was also

found that only 39 percent of them have a higher level of education. Out of this



88

percentage, 33 respondents are diploma holders and 25 are degree holders or higher.

The rest 61 percent are either finished schooling at lower secondary (SRP/PMR),

upper secondary (SPM) or post secondary (STPM) level. It shows that most of the

respondent did not further their studies in higher learning education.

4.1 Quantitative Data

For quantitative data of questionnaire survey, it is as shown in Table 4.2 and Table

4.3. The analysis was done to look at the mean value in order to identify the most

critical service component which was ranked based on the average mean. It is also to

identify the residents’ concern in building service management by drawing out the

highest frequency distribution. The result accounted for the second section of the

questionnaire.

Table 4.2: Level of Importance for Building Service Components

(n = 155)

Building Service Components Mean Rank

Garbage Collection 4.866 1

Lift 4.800 2

Electrical Service 4.733 3

Fire Fighting System 4.533 4

Drainage 4.333 5

Plumbing Service 4.066 6

Sewerage System 4.006 7

Water Tank 4.000 8

Staircase 3.666 9

Lighting 3.533 10

Corridor 3.400 11

Note: Higher score relate to more importance

A very interesting result arose from the analysis of building service components level

of importance. The study found that out of 11 components of building service listed in

the survey question as presented in Table 4.2 above, building service components of

garbage collection, lift, electrical service, fire fighting system, drainage, plumbing

service, sewerage system and water tank were accorded highest degree of importance

with the mean values of 4.866, 4.800, 4.733, 4.533, 4.333, 4.066, 4.006 and 4.000

respectively. This means that these components are perceived as eight most important

components in building service by the residents. The other three components of

staircase, lighting and corridor were accorded as fairly important with mean values of

3.666, 3.533 and 3.400 which is less than 4.0 for fairly important. From this result

however, only the top five components were considered in the interview section of the

study.

Table 4.3: Concerns in Building Service Management

Frequency

Take immediate action in responding to residents’ complaints 133

Ease the residents access to communicate with the management 81

Implementation of the law that is fair and just 36

Management that is more systematic in handling residents’ complaints 86

Regular inspection of safety and health 59

Inclusion of residents’ view in determining maintenance priority 97

* n = 155



89

Based on the frequency distribution, the residents are most concern with the

management responsiveness with the frequency distribution of 133. The residents

want the management to take immediate action in responding to residents’ complaints

as part of the method for improvement.

4.2 Qualitative Data

The analysis of interview transcript was done by using content analysis in order to

identify the emerging pattern from the respondents that have been interviewed. The

respondents are the 3 main officers chosen based on their criteria because they are the

main officers that manage the PPR. For the qualitative data, the discussions are

structured to look at the four main contexts of study which are the building service

components, building service management, maintenance fund and Government

initiatives in improving building service management. Results from the content

analysis done from the interview data are summarized as shown in Table 4.4.

Based on the result obtained, recommendations for appropriate strategies in

improving building service management are:

• Eliminate social issues by strengthening their unity.

DBKL can help the residents by providing assistant and all the help they need to

empower their residential association so that they can be heard by the public. Such

support can be in terms of providing space for them to carry out their activities or

by providing channels for advertising their programme for the residents.

• Social mentality to improve the residents’ attitude

Scheduled talk or seminars should be provided to the residents regarding the

attitude, vandalism, cleanliness and living in harmony. The content of the talk

should emphasize on how crucial it is to implement good values for a prosperous

living in the neighborhood and how their attitude can have an impact on the

properties health.

• Educate the residents about the cost of maintaining the services

Local authority should educate the residents by being transparent about the cost of

maintaining the services. Explain how cooperation from the residents in taking

care of their units as well as their related surrounding areas is very important in

order to keep the building in good health so that it can serve its intended

functions.

• Educate residents to pay on time

The low rentals that are charged to the residents are already making it hard for the

local authority to maintain the provided service efficiently. Therefore, the

residents need to know the importance of paying the rental if they want to live

comfortably.

• Meeting with other Local Authority for knowledge sharing

Local authorities should once in a while make a group meeting to discuss among

them the best strategies in maintaining the services. They can make a comparison

on how they manage their property and how they handle the residents to come out

with the most successful method for management.



90

Table 4.4: Summary of the Qualitative Result

Main Context Summary of The Result

Building Service

Components The most important components is lift as ranked by the officers

DBKL appoint a contractor for garbage collection, the maintenance of life,

fire fighting system, electrical service and drainage.

Garbage pickup by Alam Flora is subjected to schedule.

Periodic schedule of once a month for the maintenance of lift.

The problem with garbage collection is that residents did not throw the

garbage properly making it hard for the collection process.

Residents’ attitude and vandalism are the contributing factors to damaged

lift.

Residents frequently misuse fire hose for personal use during the absence of

water supply.

Residents need to improve their attitude to maintain the health of the

components

Make a comparison and learn from other Local Authority and another

country for better management.

Law enforcement is necessary by issuing notice and summons to those who

are damaging the property

Building Service

Management There are 3 teams that handle the maintenance of PPR; civil, mechanical and

electrical.

If a problem occurs, residents will file a report to Bilik Gerakan and they will

channel the complaints to the contractors.

Work inspection on site for work verification must be done by DBKL staff,

usually by the assistant engineer or someone below that level before the

commencement of maintenance work.

DBKL had certainly put their effort since they can respond immediately in

attending residents’ complaints.

DBKL is facing the problem with lacking manpower in terms of internal

staff.

The current management of JPPPK is considered as average by their officers.

Maintenance Fund Rentals are one of the resources for maintenance expenditure.

Government

Initiative The setting up of Perbadanan Perngurusan Perumahan Awan Negara (3PAN)

to take over and monitor the construction and maintenance of PPR is a good

initiative by the government

However, there might not be any difference in reducing the common

problem but there are on the administration

The design can be centralized and maintenance standard operating procedure

can be standardize

5.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it can be said that the problem with building service is not just physical

but also related to the attitude of the residents. Despite what has been recommended

for the improvement of local authority and the residents, it must also be kept in mind

that DBKL is subjected to an agency that helps these people because the residents of

PPR can be categorized as those who are of low level of income and low level of

education background. Perhaps it is because of this, such issues keep reoccurring

though DBKL has already provided enough services to entertain the residents.

Overall, this study has contributed to a fundamental knowledge of basic strategies in

improving building service management covering both stakeholders which are the

user and the provider for public low cost housing.



91

REFERENCES

Abdullah, Shardy, Sarah Zubedy, and Nurul‘Ulyani Mohd Najib (2012):. Residents’

maintenance priorities preference: The case of public housing in

Malaysia. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 62, 508-513.

Aye, Lu, W. W. S. Charters, M. Chiazor, and J. R. W. Robinson 2005. Evaluation of

occupant perception and satisfaction in two new office buildings. In

Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future–a challenge for a post carbon

world, in: Proceedings of the 43rd Annual conference of Australian and New

Zealand Solar Energy Society, pp. 1-8.

Bajunid, Anniz Fazli Ibrahim, and Mazlin Ghazali (2012). Affordable mosaic

housing: rethinking low-cost housing. Procedia-Social and Behavioral

Sciences 49, 245-256.

Designing Buildings. “Building services engineer. Designing Buildings Wiki.

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Building_services_engineer

(accessed May 2, 2017).

Hayward, G. D (1977). Housing research and the concept of home. Housing Educator

Journal 4, no. 3, 110–121.

Ho, Daniel Chi-Wing, Kwong-Wing Chau, Alex King-Chung Cheung, Yung Yau,

Siu-Kei Wong, Hing-Fung Leung, Stephen Siu-Yu Lau, and Wah-Sang Wong

(2008). A survey of the health and safety conditions of apartment buildings in

Hong Kong. Building and Environment 43, no. 5, 764-775.

John, G. A., D. J. Clements-Croome, V. Fairey, and H. M. Loy (2005). Contextual

prerequisites for the application of ILS principles to the building services

industry. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management 12, no. 4,

307-328.

Lai, Joseph HK, and Francis WH Yik (2004). Law and building services maintenance

in Hong Kong. HKIE transactions 11, no. 1, 7-14.

Lai, Joseph HK, and Francis WH Yik (2011). An analytical method to evaluate

facility management services for residential buildings. Building and

Environment 46, no. 1, 165-175.

Lateef, Olanrewaju Abdul (2009). Building maintenance management in

Malaysia. Journal of Building Appraisal 4, no. 3, 207-214.

Lawrence, Roderick J. What makes a house a home?. Environment and Behavior 19,

no. 2 (1987): 154-168.

Onibokun, Adepoju G. Evaluating consumers' satisfaction with housing: An

application of a systems approach. Journal of the American Institute of

Planners 40, no. 3 (1974): 189-200.

Ramli, Azuin, Zainal Abidin Akasah, and Mohd Idrus Mohd Masirin. Assessing

Safety and Health Factors Influencing Performance of Malaysian Low-Cost

Housing.

Salleh, Nor Aini, Nor'Aini Yusof, Abdul Ghani Salleh, and Noraini Johari (2011).

Tenant satisfaction in public housing and its relationship with rent arrears:

Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. International Journal of Trade,

Economics and Finance 2, no. 1, 10.

Samikon, S., Z. U. L. H. A. B. R. I. Ismail, A. Hashim, and N. Nasir (2013).

Managing adaptation in low-cost public housing: A conceptual

framework. Energy, Environmental and Structural Engineering Series 9.



92

Lean Manufacturing System for Production

Improvement Using Line Balancing and

Kaizen Approach

Ahmad Syazwan Afiq Abdul Karima, Siti Armiza Mohd Aris

b, Nurul Aini Bani

c, and

Abdul Yasser Abd Fatahd



[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – This project presents optimization and efficiency improvement of the

automotive production line for Instrument Panel by using line balancing in Perodua

Global Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd. (PGM). Implementation of Lean to regulate works

on floor has increased the manufacturing performance. Several improvement steps

have been applied throughout the project to measure the impact of improving the

current system such as rearranging the layout of the parts rack, eliminating

unnecessary activities of the assembly processes, reducing the cycle time, and

balancing manpower workload using line balancing techniques such as Yamazumi

chart and Kaizen Activity. The The results obtained from the implementation of these

techniques have been compared with the pre-implementation data to observe the

significance of the improvement made. It is hoped that the continuous improvement

made would help the company to implement Kaizen techniques in other parts of the

assembly process.

Keywords: Lean Manufacturing, Line Balancing, Kaizen, Eliminate Waste

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "lean", is a

production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than

the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for

elimination (Rose et al., 2011). Working from the perspective of the customer who

consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a

customer would be willing to pay for, with the approach to ideally design the

processes and to harmonize them in a way that they perfectly fit together. To do so,

all unnecessary items are identified and the process is designed to be as lean as

possible (Okpala, 2014). The targets: maximum efficiency, clearly defined

responsibilities, accurately described processes, traceable ways of communication.

For process optimization, kaizen as coined in Japanese is a management concept,

which focuses on the gradual improvement of processes and on the development of

people so that they are able to solve the problems and the desired results can be







93

achieved (Thessaloniki, 2000). It is not a project, it is a comprehensive tool and mind-

set to develop the business. It is used to remove problems and capitalize opportunities

for improvement. This work is driven by employees with management support.

Among the first industries to adopt this system are Toyota and Sony. But it is now

also used in the service sector as medical, health and dental care, municipalities,

schools, banks and others.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Conceptual Framework

Research design is the plan and structure of investigation so conceived as to obtain

answer to research questions. For this project, investigation on some waste occur in

production line as a material and simulation tool using several lean tool selected was

conducted (Inc., 2013).

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of the Study

2.2 Cycle Time

Cycle time reduction identifies and implements more efficient ways to do things.

Reducing cycle time requires eliminating or reducing non-value-added activities,

which is defined as any activities that does not add value to the product (Raman &

Jamaluddin, 2008). Examples of non-value- added activities in which cycle time can

be reduced or eliminated include repair due to defects, machine set-up, inspection, test

and schedule delays.

Reducing cycle time will have a significant impact on a company's bottom line when

implemented. Cycle time reduction provides tremendous benefit to a company.



94

Formulation ;

2.3 Yamazumi Chart

Yamazumi is a Japanese word that literally means to stack up. Process tasks are

individually represented in a stacked bar chart, and these can be categorized as either

Value Added, Non-Value Added or Waste. The mean duration time of each task is

recorded and displayed within the bar chart. Each of the process tasks is stacked to

represent the entire process step (Becker, 1998). The Yamazumi chart can be used for

both Waste Elimination or Line Balancing activity. Process steps can be rearranged or

deleted to optimise and balance the target process.

Formulation ;

3.0 CASE STUDY

The aim of the paper is to eliminate waste condition in Instrument Panel (IP)

Assembly Line Shop at Perodua. The study was carried out to overcome the delays

that occurs in the transfer process by supply operator. What can be seen is part of a

sub part assembly line to IP main line did not follow a predetermined time round.

Through preliminary observations, it was found that the operator had to wait a long

time due to supply trolley waiting in the sub assembly buffer until full. The next

chapter will discuss on the method to rectify this issue.

3.1 Observation of Process Layout

Dashboard assembly production line of the PGM consists of five workstation main

lines, four workstation subs, three workstation SPS, and two quality gates. Each

workstation carry out different processes with specific work sequences to produce one

complete product. The main activity in PGM is assembling of dashboard. During the

observation, essential data such as waste on part handling and production flow had

been gathered for the analysis purpose. The workstations layout at the automotive

dashboard assembly production line are shown in Figure-2.

Man Power = Total Workstation CT /

Tact Time

(CT : Cycle Time)

Tact Time = PT day /

Customer Demand day

(PT : Production Time)

Efficiency = Total Workstation CT /

TT x Number of Workers

(TT : Tact Time)



95

Figure 2: Current Layout Assembly Shop IP Line

3.2 Analysis Cycle Time

Table 1 shows the current takt time and cycle time for each work station. Takt

is a German word for rhythm and refers to how often the part or product is required or

the rate at which the product is required (typically by the customer). Takt time

(time/piece), is computed as

Takt =Available Operating time (sec/day) per Daily Demand (pieces/day) (Eq. 1)

Cycle time is a measure of how much time it takes for a particular operation,

which is also expressed in similar units (time/piece).

Table 1. Current cycle time for each work station

.

Logistic Shop Aread

Sub Wire/ HVAC

Sub IP Core-1

Sub IP Core-2

Remark:PP MemberWireHVACIP Core

*1 route 1 elecpot only.*1 elecpot carry 4 trolley.

SPS AreaMain Line

Area

Sub Assy Area

Process 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cycle time (s) 74.2 97.3 88.8 94.6 79.1 78.5 100.9

Tack time (s) 108 108 108 108 108 108 108

Percentage CT (%) 12.0985 15.8650 14.4790 15.4248 12.8974 12.7996 16.4520



96

3.3 Yamazumi Chart

Based on the chart in Figure 3, it is found that the wire has the highest cycle

time. These conditions clearly state the cause of the main reasons for the delay occurs

the process. This is because the supply operator had to wait a long time in the process

before it can be circulated into the exciting part is adjacent to the main line.

Figure 3: Previous Yamazumi Chart

Table 2: Yamazumi Chart Analysis

4.0 RESULT AND DISSCUSION

After gathering and analysing data is completed, the next step is implementing Kaizen

activity that aimed to eliminate the waste and improve current condition of production

line.

4.1 Rearranging the layout of Process Sub Assembly Line

During the observation of the sub assembly process, parts were not arranged in proper

location and were far from the worker. Thus it forced the operator to walk into storage

area to pick the parts needed before returning back to the work station. This action

increases the total time taken to take part by the worker. Part arrangement activity was

done by considering the distance between part and worker, suitable picking method

for the worker as well as considering methods to supply parts from part supplier. The

parts inside working place are arranged accordingly to ensure that the cycle time

taken is not increased and the flow of work sequence is not changed. Figure 4 shows

the part arrangement at production line.

613.3

5.7

7

81.1

Total cycle time (s)

Required Manpower (pax)

Efficiency (%)

Actual Manpower (pax)



97

Figure 4: Sub Assembly Layout Change

4.1 Optimizing the Work Sequence

The cycle time can be reduced by eliminating or minimizing 7 types of waste. Non-

value added steps or waste have been identified and segregated for elimination

purpose. The improvement activities was introduced for waste elimination in work

process step. Then the sequences of steps were arranged in order to optimize the

motion and work of operator inside the work place. Wastes which were identified

inside working area are over-process method, excess of motion and unorganized work

sequence. Figures 5 shows the workstation after the implementation of Kaizen

activity.

Figure 5: Current Yamazumi Chart

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION

This paper focuses on the optimization of cycle time and reduction of non-value

added activity. Improvement in the productivity achieved and elimination of non-

value added activities has been done. The cost of operation is reduced considerably.

Optimization of cycle time study is helpful for low cost automation and bench

marking activity at industry production improvement level.

Remark

Workbench

HVAC Bezza

HVAC Axia

Supply HVAC Trolley

Supply Wire Trolley

Proses IP Core 1

Proses IP Core 2

Proses Wire/HVAC

OUT

OUT

IN

IN

OUT

OUT

IN

IN

JB

WIRE

WIRE

JB

JB

WIRE

WIRE

JB

WIRE WIRE

WIRE

JB

WIRE

WIRE

WIRE

JB

WIRE

WIRE

JB JB

OUT

IN

IN

OUT

BEFORE KAIZEN AFTER KAIZEN

REST AREA

SUB ASSY AREA



98

REFERENCES

Becker, R. M. (1998). Lean manufacturing and the Toyota production system.

Retrieved from http://www.sae.org/manufacturing/lean/column/leanjun01.htm

Inc., Art of Lean. (2013). Toyota Production System Basic Handbook. Retrieved from

www.artoflean.com/files/Basic_TPS_Handbook_v1.pdf

Okpala, C. C. (2014). Tackling Muda – The Inherent Wastes In Manufacturing

Processes. International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology, 5(4), 6-

11

Raman , N. A., & Jamaludin, K. R. (2008). Implementation Of Toyota Production

System ( TPS ) In The Production Line Of A Local Automotive Parts

Manufacturer. International Conference Mechanical Manufacturing

Engineering, pp. 21–23.

Rose, A. M. N., Deros, B. M., Rahman, M. N. A., & Nordin, N. (2011). Lean

Manufacturing Best Practices In SMEs. International Conference Industrial

Engineering Operational Management, 1(1), 872–877.

Thessaloniki. (2000). Kaizen Definition & Principles in Brief a Concept & Tool for

Employees Involvement. Retrieved from

https://www.michailolidis.gr/pdf/KAIZEN08.pdf

http://www.sae.org/manufacturing/lean/column/leanjun01.htm

http://www.artoflean.com/files/Basic_TPS_Handbook_v1.pdf



99

The Impact of Fiber Reinforced Plastic

Camouflage on the RF Signal Strength

Muhammad Hanis Omar a

and Siti Zura A. Jalil b



bsitizura.kl@utm,.my

Abstract – Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) material is commonly used in Malaysia for

wireless sites camouflaging. Most infrastructure and telecommunication companies

are not aware that some parameters that camouflage the antenna may affect Radio

frequency signal strength. In this paper, the performance of Radio Frequency (RF)

signal strength on FRP material for two different camouflage shape of Parabolic and

Rectangular are investigated and optimum thickness of FRP material and optimum

distance between camouflage and the transmitting antenna are identified. The

Computer Simulation Technology (CST) is used for the purpose of the simulation. The

aim of this project is to investigate performance of RF signal strength on FRP

material. The results show that, the return losses for parabolic and rectangular are

different due to the distance.

Keywords: Fiber Reinforced Plastic, Radio Frequency, Antenna, Computer Simulation Technology

1.0 INTRODUCTION

High growing demand of bandwidth requires various operators to ensure their cellular

base station always available. The challenge is to secure suitable locations to erect a

station especially in urban areas, besides the presence of several wireless operator

within same area. Camouflage is the solution that makes the Radio Frequency (RF)

antennas less visible or outright completes concealment, where it will blend to the

surrounding and less obvious to the public. This camouflaging can be accomplished

by using RF transparent material to disguise or to hide the RF equipment’s

(Guidelines for Aesthetic Design, 2012).

In fact, Microstrip Patch Antenna called also Printed Antennas. The printed antenna

was invented by Bob Munson in 1972 and became popular in the 1970s. The

Microstrip antenna consists of, Metal “patch”, Dielectric Substrate, and a ground

plane as per Figure 1.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of RF signal strength on

Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) material. The shapes of camouflage are two types,

parabolic and rectangular. The optimum thickness of FRP material and optimum

distance between camouflage and the transmitting antenna is identified and a suitable

camouflage configuration for optimum RF signal strength during transmission is

proposed.



100

Figure 1: Microstrip Patch Antenna

Now day, it is important for operators to achieve local authority licenses. The

camouflage must compliance with the surrounding landscape to meet requirement of

local authority (IMas et al., 2014). With the advancement of the technologies, demand

for better performance on the antenna design process and camouflage material has

been increased. Camouflage material is dielectric material which used to protect or

hide the antenna (Mayordomo et al., 2011).

Antenna deployed in certain area required the camouflage or protective. The

camouflage or protective usually constructed from plastic material. This plastic

material, which can affect the RF signal strength. In this research thickness of the

camouflage material is one of the objective to be study. The result from different

thickness of material used for camouflage will provide from Computer Simulation

Tool. The presented results give understanding on the impact of different camouflage

material thickness on the signal strength (Finistauri et al., 2004).

The camouflage should be transparent to RF so that it does not degrade the signal

strength performance of the antenna. Good material of the camouflage is available

from the material with low relative permittivity or dielectric constant which can

reduce reflections. Fiber Reinforced Plastic have desired low relative permittivity

which value ranging from 2 - 5, and strong enough to support the camouflage

construction (Huiling et al., 2001).

2.0 METHODOLOGY

The simulation design is divided into three categories that are simulation design patch

antenna before camouflage, simulation design patch antenna after camouflage for

Parabolic shape, and the simulation design patch antenna after camouflage for

Rectangular shape. For simulation design camouflage, shape with various thicknesses

and distances from the antenna face are conducted. Computer Simulation Tool (CST)

is used for simulation design on four frequencies that are 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100

MHz, and 2600 MHz.

2.1 Microstrip Patch Antenna

The advantages for microstrip antenna are easy to design and fabricate, low cost,

small size, easy to feed (coaxial cable, microstrip line), etc (Uelli, 2013 and Wireless

Communication Facility Guidelines, 2016).



101

2.1.1 Antenna Design

There are four parameters in designing a Rectangular patch antenna, that are, the

operating frequency (f0), Dielectric constant of substrate (٤r), the height of the

dielectric substrate (h) and the height of the conductor (t). The other parameters are

the width of the patch (W), the length of the patch (L) and the width and length of the

ground plane and the substrate (Wg)(Lg). All parameters are shown at Figure 2 and

Figure 3 (Sharma et al., 2013 and Prabhakar et al., 2016).

Figure 2: FR4 substrate

Figure 3: Antenna Design Parameter

2.1.1 Design Model

The design parameter is calculated by the following steps;

Step 1: Calculation of patch width is the first step. The following formula is used to

calculate patch width w; [8] [9]

𝑤 = 𝑐

2𝑓𝑜√٤𝑟 + 12

----- (1)



102

Where f0 is resonant frequency, ٤r is substrate dielectric constant and c is velocity of

light.

Step 2: In second step ٤reff is calculated. To calculate effective dielectric constant ٤reff

, the

Formula is; [8] [9]

٤𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 = ٤𝑟 + 1

2+ ٤𝑟 − 1

2∗

1

√1 +12 ∗ ℎ𝑤

Where ٤r is substrate dielectric constant, h is substrate height above ground and w is

the width of patch. Design parameter h are 1.6 mm, which is thickness of substrate.

Step 3: In this step ˄L is calculated. Formula for length extension ˄L is; [8] [9]

˄L = 0.412 h ∗(٤𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 + 0.3)(

𝑤ℎ+ 0.264)

(٤𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 − 0.258)(𝑤ℎ− 0.8)

Where ٤reff is effective dielectric constant, h is substrate height above ground and w is

the width of the patch.

Step 4: Next step is to calculate Leffective. Formula for Leffective is; [8] [9]

𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 =𝑐

2𝑓𝑜√٤𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓

Step 5: After step 4, Patch length is calculated by the following formula; [8] [9]

𝐿 = 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 − 2 ˄L

Step 6: In the next step the ground length is calculated with the help of following

formula; [8] [9]

𝐿𝑔 = 2 ∗ 𝐿

Step 7: Next ground width is calculated by the following formula; [8] [9]

----- (2)

----- (3)

----- (4)

----- (5)

----- (6)

----- (7)



103

𝑊𝑔 = 2 ∗𝑊

To design the microstrip feed line (inset-fed);

Step 8: The width of microstrip feed line is calculated using formula; [8] [9]

𝑍𝑐 =

{

60

√٤𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓

𝑙𝑛 [8ℎ𝑊𝑜 +

𝑊𝑜4ℎ].

120𝜋

√٤𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 [𝑊𝑜ℎ+ 1.393 + 0.667 ln (

𝑊𝑜ℎ+ 1.444)]

𝑊𝑜ℎ ≤ 1

120𝜋𝑊𝑜ℎ > 1

}

Step 9: Finally, fi is calculated by the following formula; [8] [9]

𝑓𝑖 = 104 (0.001699 ∗ ٤𝑟7 + 0.13761 ∗ ٤𝑟6 − 6.1783 ∗ ٤𝑟5 + 93.187 ∗ ٤𝑟4

− 682.69 ∗ ٤𝑟3 + 2561.9 ∗ ٤𝑟2 − 4043 ∗ ٤𝑟 + 6697) ∗𝐿

2

Finally, the various parameter taken for the design are as Figure 2 and Figure 3.

2.1.1 The Parabolic and Rectangular design

Figure 4 shows the shape of parabolic and rectangular design. The parameter for

camouflage material used ٤r 4.4 and electric conductivity 0.029 (Guidelines for

Aesthetic Design, 2012)..

Figure 4: Parabolic and Rectangular shape design with parameter to study.


Simulation from CST shows that the return loss for parabolic shape are different with

rectangular shape. Return loss for parabolic shape is good in far distance from

antenna face but the return loss for rectangular shape is good in short distance from

antenna face. The results of return loss are not good when the thickness of camouflage

----- (8)

----- (9)



104

increased for both shapes (Guidelines for Aesthetic Design, 2012, Mayordomo et al.,

2011, Finistauri et al., 2004 and Huiling et al., 2001).

3.1.1 Parabolic Shape

Table 1 shows the results of the return loss for frequency 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100

MHz and 2600 MHz at distance from antenna face 100 mm, 300 mm and 500 mm

versus thickness camouflage 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm. The data obtain from result

simulation return loss by CST as Figure 5.

Table 1: Results of return loss for Parabolic Shape

(a) 900 MHz (b) 1800 MHz

(c) 2100 MHz (d) 2600 MHz

Figure 5: Example result return loss from CST



105

3.1.1 Rectangular Shape

Table 2 shows the results of return loss for frequency 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100

MHz and 2600 MHz at distance from antenna face 100 mm, 300 mm and 500 mm

versus thickness camouflage 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm. The data obtain from result

simulation return loss by CST as Figure 6.

Table 2: Results of return loss for Rectangular Shape

(a) 900 MHz (b) 1800 MHz

(c) 2100 MHz (d) 2600 MHz

Figure 6: Example result return loss from CST



106

4.0 CONCLUSION

This paper presented a performance of RF signal strength on FRP material for two

different camouflage shapes of Parabolic and Rectangular and optimum thickness of

FRP material and optimum distance between camouflage and the face transmitting

antenna. The results show the return loss for parabolic and rectangular are different

due to distance and thickness.

REFERENCES

Development Service Department, January 4, 2016. Wireless Communication Facility

(WCF) Guidelines, City of San Diego.

Guidelines for Aesthetic Design, SOPP for Aesthetic Design, 2012_V5, Celcom,

Digi, Maxis, Umobile.

Huiling Jiang, H. Arai and Y. Ebine (2001), Antenna-radome interaction of 2GHz

band 120/spl deg/ beam antenna, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society

International Symposium. Digest. Held in conjunction with: USNC/URSI

National Radio Science Meeting (Cat. No.01CH37229), Boston, MA, USA, pp.

66-69 vol.3.

I. Mayordomo, T. Dräger and J. Bernhard (2011), Technical challenges for the

integration of passive HF RFID technology in FRP composite materials, IEEE

International Conference on RFID-Technologies and Applications (RFID-TA),

pp. 445-450.

IMas. Rodriguez, H. C. Nguyen, T. B. Sorensen and O. Franek (2014), Base Station

Antenna Pattern Distortion in. Practical Urban Deployment Scenarios, IEEE

80th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2014-Fall), Vancouver, BC, pp. 1-

6.

Prabhakar, D., P. Mallikarjuna Rao, and M. Satyanarayana (2016), Design of

rectangular patch antenna array with multiple slots by using mitered bend feed

network for multi-band applications. IEEE International Conference on

ElectroMagnetic Interference & Compatibility (INCEMIC).

S. Finistauri, G. Marrocco, G. D'Orio, M. Motta and S. De Polo (2004), Investigation

on pattern distortion of landscape-compliant 3G base-station antennas, IEEE

Antennas and Propagation Society Symposium, pp. 1054-1057, Vol.1.

Sharma, Amit, Atal Rai, and Reeta Verma (2013), Design and simulation of dual band

rectangular patch antenna for Bluetooth and Wimax applications. IJERA 3.5,

pp. 329-332.

Uelli, M.A. (2013), Introduction of Fibre-Reinforced Polymers-Polymers and

Composites: Concepts, Properties and Processes. INTECH Open Access

Publisher.



107

Queuing System Model at Secondary School

Coopmart

Ahmad Ridhuan Hamdana, Ruzana Ishak

b and Nik Nadzirah Nik Mohamed

c

Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia a [email protected],

b [email protected],

c [email protected]

Abstract – In today’s modern days, waiting in line is inevitable. This is very much

related to the commitments towards fast paced lifestyle, daily chores and activities.

Technically lines occur when there is surplus of demand over service in supply. This

can also happen when resources are limited. These situations are common

phenomenon that happens in daily lives when customers or individuals need a service

and have to queue due to high demand of the service. It can be either enjoyable or

dissatisfying experience depending on the situation when a queue occurs. Despite

advancements in technology that have improvised the waiting-line process, queue

management remains a significant hurdle for every company owner to overcome. In

line to the situation, this study is to determine the effectiveness of the waiting line

using Queuing Theory at Coopmart MRSM Alor Gajah. The specific objectives of

this study are to determine the customers congestion at the payment counter, to

identify the queuing system performance parameter and to propose the effectiveness

of queuing system in the Coopmart MRSM Alor Gajah. Waiting and service time of

students at Coopmart Koperasi MRSM at Alor Gajah are studied in 3 times period

that we consider as peak hours in two types of counter which are for boys and girls.

From the data collection, we observed it using queuing theory and M/M/1/∞/∞

queuing model will be implemented. From results, it’s show that for optimum service

level, the counter must be change from one to two counter each side. The summary

and findings of the study shall be used as guideline for the management of Coopmart

MRSM Alor Gajah in deciding improvement of its operation.

Keywords: queuing theory, queuing system, queue system performance parameter

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Queuing Theory is a branch of knowledge in operation research that concerns the

analysis of queues when a customer arrives at a service centre and must wait in a line

before being served. The theory focuses on how organizations can serve a number of

customers who demand services while queuing. A conclusion yielded by Bank et al.

(2001) shows that delayed queues and queuing problems are the most common

features in our daily life situations such as at a fast-food outlet, cinema, road traffic

but also in more technical environments such as in manufacturing, computer

networking and telecommunications.



108

Owners especially store owners that have to attend to large numbers of customers at a

time have attempted to measure and manage queues to quicken the customer

procession, increase sales and profit, increase productivity and operation efficiency,

increase satisfaction levels and increase customer loyalty in using the service

provided. However, to decrease waiting time is easier said than done. It requires

extensive investments whether to use advanced technology in speeding up waiting

lines, increase attendants that take care of servers or simply improving the

environment system, location and space of waiting without queuing for the comfort of

customers such as the ones used in most banks, private hospitals and government

agencies.

Similarly, the same situation is encountered in Coopmart MRSM Alor Gajah. To date

there is no research conducted study on the waiting line caused by massive inflow of

customers especially during recess hour. Several possibilities such as limited

operating hours and goods sold policy are the potential causes of the long waiting line

at the payment counters. The present study was done to statistically study the waiting

line and congestion at Coopmart MRSM Alor Gajah. Data from the study was

analysed and applied onto queuing theory model for validation and forecast using

multiple serving counter improvement suggestion.


Total checkout service time is defined as the time a consumer is prepared to be served

and joins the waiting line to the time a consumer is being served and obtains receipts

for payment of items bought. A wait for service is said to be the time a customer is

prepared to receive service until the time the service starts (Taylor, 1994).

Many studies in the past have been conducted to evaluate how waiting in checkout

lines impact the customers. A number of these studies, most notably conducted by the

likes of Weisselburg (1969), Crahill et al. (1977), Foote (1976), and Jones et al.

(1980), have tried to explore how to shorten the waiting time in queuing lines by

observing how costumers perceive varying wait times in waiting lines and how its

influences their behaviour towards the store they shop. These researches have further

supported that time plays an important role in consumer behaviour. As such, the focus

of their study was to minimize the time that customers spent waiting in a queue.

Jones et al. (1980) explained that a major issue that managers of grocery stores

confront every day is to ensure consumers are checked out as soon as possible after

shopping for their goods. This fact is considered important in maintaining good

owner-customer relations. Hui et al. (1998) gave a conclusion that a delay during the

service stage could affect perceived response by a consumer whilst queuing. Taylor

(1994), Tom & Lucey (1995) concluded that customers’ blame to the cause of delay

greatly influenced their emotional response. Vinta (1999) explained that national

chains of grocery stores use queuing models in their systems in order to find out the

total number of checkout counters that are needed to be open to ensure that consumers

will only have to wait for no more than 15 minutes at the start of a queue



109

As a conclusion from the review of literature in this research, it is clear that both time

and convenience play important roles that managers should oversee when choosing

and applying the best checkout systems for their establishment. Until now, retail

industrial managers are applying various techniques and learning of new in checkout

systems to aid them in improving the current process of customer checkout.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research procedure

A quantitative research approach was used in the research. Assisted by 10 research

assistant, data of daily record of waiting line within five school days are taken from

Girls Payment Counter (GPC) and Boys Payment Counter (BPC). Instruments of

individual research assistant for this study are digital watch, queuing form and pen

were used. Participants in the study were student customers throughout the three time

study period. Queuing systems method was used in study the data, with additional

questionnaire distributed to complement data from the study.

This two dedicated serving counter was found that the system was fit for the M/M/1

queuing model. This study of queuing systems done by data gathered from the study

were compiled and summarized into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. By running an

online calculator at http://www.supositorio.com/rcalc/rcalclite.htm which made

available to be used, the data was validated.

3.2 M/M/1 Queuing Model

The study adopted a Queuing Model in the form of: M /M /C: FCFS /∞/∞ where:

M = Markovian (or Poisson) arrivals and exponential service time.

C = Single-server.

FCFS = First come, first served.

∞ = Infinite system limit.

∞ = Infinite source limit.

For analysis of M/M/1 queuing model, the following variables will be investigated:

λ = Mean arrival rate (number of arrivals per unit of time)

μ = Mean service rate per server

= Utilization Factor

P(0) = Probability of zero customers in the system

Ls = Average number of units (customers) in the system

Lq = Average number of customers in the queue (waiting to be served),

Ws = Average waiting time in the system

Wq = Average waiting time in the queue

http://www.supositorio.com/rcalc/rcalclite.htm



110

3.3 Queuing Theory Equations

From this arrivals and service rate value, queuing performance parameter can be

measured using the formula listed in Table 1. All of this formula are measured and

calculate manually if we want to find queue performance parameter. But in this study,

queue performance parameter will be automatic calculated by Queuing Calculator to

measure M/M/1 and M/M/C. Even though different technic but will get the same

answer. One more things, it is worthy to note that the formulas can be applied only if

μ is greater than λ. In other words, they can be applied only if 𝜆

𝜇 < 1 or when the rate

of arrivals is less than the rate of departures. Failing to meet this condition leads to a

growing of the waiting line, because the service capacity is insufficient.

Table 1: Single and Multiple-Channel Queuing Model Equation

M/M/1 M/M/C

P(0)

Lq

Ls

Wq

Ws



111


The study reflects of close numbers of participants between boys and girls distributed

daily. The finding shows congestion in the payment counters happening on every

school day, from Monday to Friday. During morning recess, opening hour from

10.00-10.30 am showing the highest congestion obstacle. During this operating hour,

students will scramble in to buy packed food after they are famished from the long

sessions of teaching learning since early morning. A high percentage of group arrival

patterns is 78% imposed direct increase congestion volume. The average number of

student customers by day is illustrated on Figure 1.

Figure 1: Average Number of Student Customers by Day

From the data collection, two important queuing theory performance parameters were

identified. There are the arrival and service rate for both counter. This parameters will

be an input of the Queuing Theory formula analysis. Then, analysis continue with

Queuing Theory Calculator to get another data of performance parameter. The M/M/1

Queuing Model is applied to the data collected from the study for both BPC and GPC.

Queuing Theory performance parameters of single server were derived shown in

Table 2. Then the comparison between single and multi-server shown in Table 3 and

4.

Table 2: Single-Server Statistical Result for Each Counter

Performance Parameter Boys Payment Counter (

BPC )

Girls Payment Counter (

GPC )

Number of Servers (C) 1 1

Arrival rate () 112 customer per hour 112 customer per hour

Serving rate (μ) 140 customer per hour 144 customer per hour

Overall system utilization () 80.00% 77.78 %

Probability of zero customers in the

system (P0)

0.2 0.222

Average number of customers in the

system (Ls)

4 customer 3.5 customer

Average number of customers in the

queue (Lq)

3.2 customer 2.722 customer



112

Average time customer spends in the

system (Ws)

0.0357 hours 0.0313 hours

Average time a customer spend in

queue (Wq)

0.0286 hours 0.0243 hours

According to Table 2 above, overall system utilization are very high which is almost

80% both counter. This shows the busy factor of the serving system or measures the

efficiency of the queuing system. A lower utilization factor is preferred for more

efficiency in the waiting line. Hence, this Coopmart Queuing model performance

parameter shows that there is a lot to be done to manage its queues and also to

improve customer satisfaction.

Table 3: Single-Server and Multi-Server Comparison for BPC

PARAMETERS M/M/1 M/M/2 M/M/3 M/M/4

112 112 112 112

μ 140 140 140 140

80.00% 40.00 % 26.67 % 20.00 %

P(0) 0.2 0.6 0.7373 0.8

Ls 4 0.952 0.8189 0.8024

Lq 3.2 0.152 0.0189 0.0024

Ws 0.0357 0.0085 0.0073 0.0072

Wq 0.0286 0.0014 0.0002 0

Table 4: Single-Server and Multi-Server Comparison for GPC

PARAMETERS M/M/1 M/M/2 M/M/3 M/M/4

112 112 112 112

μ 144 140 140 140

77.78 % 38.89 % 25.93 % 19.44 %

P(0) 0.222 0.611 0.7407 0.8056

Ls 3.5 0.9164 0.7947 0.7799

Lq 2.722 0.1386 0.0169 0.0021

Ws 0.0313 0.0082 0.0071 0.007

Wq 0.0243 0.0012 0.0002 0



113

From the finding in Table 3 and 4, it was seen that the performance parameter for

both of counter are almost identical. Results shows that overall system utilization

(is significantly improved up to 50% reduction by adding new additional serving

counter. The value of the utilization factor is not the only one to decrease. Almost all

four-performance parameter for the queuing system above decrease almost half or

50% better when the amount of servers increases. Even though the increase in servers

show that the waiting line has become more efficient at both counters, but when the

costs of managing to hire more workers and the space of the Coopmart is limited is

taken into account, then it is not suitable to increase the servers from one to four

server. Based on the comparison table above, the optimum server that is advised

needs to be increased at the BPC and GPC to overcome the problems of overcrowding

is only two servers per counter.

5.0 CONCLUSION

This paper presents the cause of waiting line congestion at Coopmart MRSM Alor

Gajah using Queuing Theory method. The queuing performance parameter were

applied and analysed. Result shows that adding new service counter for both queue

would significantly reduce the waiting line and making it more adequate.

Furthermore, it also increasing efficiency for better customer satisfaction. The

outcome of this research could be beneficial to Coopmart MRSM Alor Gajah

management team in quantifying the waiting line efficiency level. It also will become

as a guideline in deciding its improvement plan after considering cause and effect to

all relevant stakeholders.

REFERENCES

Banks, J.and, C. J., , N. B. L., and M., N. D. (2001). Discrete-Event System

Simulation, volume 24-37. Prentice Hall international series, 3 edition.

Crahill, T., Gross, D.B., and Magazine, M.J. (1977). A Classified Bibliography of

Research on Optimal Design and Control Queues. Operations Research. Vol.,

25, No. 2. March/April pp.219-232.

Foote, B.L. (1976). A Queuing Case Study of Drive in Banking. Interfaces. Vol, 6,

No. 4, August, pp. 31- 37.

Hui, M.K., Thakor, M.V., Gill, R. (1998). The Effect of Delay Type and Service Stage

on Consumers' Reactions to Waiting. Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (4),

469-479.

Jones, M.T, O’Berski, A.M., and Gail, T. 1980. Quickening the Queue in Grocery

Stores. Interfaces. Linthicum: Jun 1980. Vol. 10, Iss. 3; pg. 90.

Taylor, S. (1994). Waiting for Service: The Relationship between Delays and

Evaluations of Service. Journal of Marketing, 58 (2), 56–69.

Tom, G. Lucey, S. (1995). Waiting Time Delays and Customer Satisfaction in

Supermarkets, Journal of Services Marketing, 9, (5), 20-9.

Vinta, E. (1999). Queuing Analysis and Waiting Lines. Retrieved on March 22, 2004

from http://www.luc.edu/faculty/eventa/archive/su483we/quesues.htm.

Weisselberg, R.C., Coweley, J.G. (1969). Quicken the Queue. Journal of Systems

Management Vol, 20. October, pp. 30.

http://www.luc.edu/faculty/eventa/archive/su483we/quesues.htm



114

Inventory Management in Cafeteria Using

Linear Programming

Mohd Fais Usopa, Ruzana Ishak

b and Hayati Habibah Abdul Talib

c



[email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – Inventory management is an important factor in running a business. It

plays a big role of managing the stock in cafeteria. If the inventory management is

fail to manage wisely, it will affect the profit of the cafeteria. Therefore, the purpose

of this study is to improve the inventory management in school cafeteria. Most of the

cafeteria in Malaysia are not manage their stock well. In this study, we are using two

difference ways in order to improve the inventory management in cafeteria. The first

method is provide the database system that can improved the management of the stock

in weekly basis. Second method is using Linear Programming Model to get the

optimal range of the inventory needed for selected categories. Data was collected by

using the Periodic Inventory System at the end of week within three months and this

study was conducted at one of the boarding school’s cafeteria in Melaka. The results

shown the effectiveness of using these two methods and will be very helpful to the

cafeteria management in organizing their inventory. Moreover, the finding in this

study can reduce the cost of operation and give more profit. Besides that, this study

also provide the Standards of Procedure (SOP) for the inventory management in

Cafeteria.

Keywords: Inventory Management, Linear Programming, Database, Stock.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Inventory is the major important factor in various company background related to the

construction, production, food and beverages, oil and gas and others field. Inventory

also the major current asset to the company and very important input to the final

product. Inventory terms is referring to the materials or goods used by a certain

company for purpose of produce something related to the business or sale (Sidhu et al.

2014). It also includes the items, which are used as supportive materials to facilitate

production.

As stated by Hashim et al. (2012), an organizations that manages food and beverages

products or services, in preparing for a food product, ingredients and recipes should

be supported by availability of the raw ingredients in the store. It means that, in order

to make the production of the food according to the demand, the company must have

some effective method to manage the inventory.

According to American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), inventory

is defined as an item in storage or resources that are in phase of transformations that



115

have economic value that will be used for continuous operation in the manufacturing

process of a product before distributing to customers. If the inventory not well

organizes, the financial health of the company will be affected and the objective of the

company to get the optimal profit cannot be achieved.

Among the benefits of inventory management, first to reduced inventory cost

resulting from using the efficient matching of requirement to stock. Second, to

prevent the shortages of stock to avoid repeat order on the same items through the

urgent needs. Third, to capture on audit trail of the entire inventory movement details

to resolve queries. Lastly, the company can monitor the flow of the inventory and not

to keep bulky stock in the store which can increase the cost of the company.

Therefore, this study is to improve the inventory management in school cafeteria. By

using two difference method. The first method is providing the database system that

can improved the management of the stock in weekly basis. Second, is using the

Linear Programming Model to get the optimal range of the inventory needed for

selected categories.


Inventory management is a vital function to help insure the success of manufacturing,

distribution, production and other companies. The effectiveness of inventory

management systems is measured by how successful of a company in providing low

inventory investment, maximum throughput, low costs and get high levels of

customer service (Imeokparia, 2013). All business, from small to large, needs to do

another inventory management to keep track of supplies they provide for internal use

or to sell (Khabbazi et al. 2013).

Service quality is one of the vital determinants of customer satisfaction and it will

directly affect the organizational success especially in the service industry such as fast

food restaurants or cafeteria. Therefore, service quality measurement should be done

frequently and in a timely manner to obtain an accurate current level of service

quality (Gilbert et al. 2004). Therefore, in order to maintain the service satisfaction of

the costumers, the inventory should be managed effectively and efficiently in the

company.

The method of managing the inventory in effectively and efficiently is by providing

the procedure to the cafeteria. According to Moule & Giavara (1995), all the policies,

methods, standards and procedures are the set of comprehensive process in managing

the inventory. The process including the following major purpose. First to ensure all

the processes and deliverables of the company consistence. Second to implement the

effective measurement of quality for the service provided by the company. Third to

extend the used of IT database to support on the system. Forth to prevent from redo

the known problems. Fifth to improve communication by standardizing the

methodology. Sixth to facilitate and reinforce the new process and techniques.

Besides that, inventory management can be done by using the Linear Programming

Model. Linear programming is a mathematical method to achieve the optimum

solution (such as maximum profit or minimize cost) in a mathematical model for

some list of requirements, that is, constraints. Linear Programming is a tool to

optimize decision-making process. Taha (2014) mentioned that linear programming

could be used to solve problems which variables, constraints and objective function

can be identified.



116

3.0 METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted at one of the boarding school’s cafeteria in Melaka. The

capacity of the school is around 1100 peoples including teachers, staffs and students.

The operation hours of the cafeteria are between 7.30 am to 3.00 pm and 9.00 pm to

11.30 pm. The optimization approach was employed as the method to give suggestion

about the needed of stock by selected category in a week.

3.1 Data Collection

There are a few types of data needed in order to manage the inventory of the cafeteria.

These includes the stock in and out of each item, the cost of the item and the gross

income of the daily sales. For data collection of the inventory, Periodic Inventory

System (PeriodIS) was used in the study. The person in charge will fill up all the

particulars in the inventory form and transferred in the PeriodIS. The process of

collecting data was done weekly within twelve weeks of the cafeteria operation time.

The data was collected according to six categories such as Meat – Poultry, Fish –

Seafood, Vegetables, Herbs and Spices, Grocery and Drinks. In each category, there

are more details items data need to be collected.

3.2 Food Stocktake Database (FSD)

Food Stocktake Database (FSD) is the template of Microsoft Excel developed by

Alex Bejanishvili (2013) from SpreadSheet 123 website. The purpose of counting the

food and drink items is to put on a value of all the food and drink stock on hand. In

FSD, some of valuable information that was useful to the management of cafeteria

can be used. It gives a quick overview of the Cost of Inventory at The Opening and

Closing, Forecasted Profit Margins and Cost Variances. All these information can be

tracked on weekly basis for a period of four weeks. FSD gives the exact variance on

the basis of purchases log, stock count (stock out), and stock closing. From the

information, FSD can gives summary of Monthly Gross and Net Income, and Monthly

Gross Profit and Gross Profit Margin. The total Gross Profit is the difference

between Net Income (Sales Tax 6%) and The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The Cost

of Goods Sold is calculated as sum of the Cost of Inventory at Opening and the

Purchases minus with the sum of Cost of Inventory at Closing.

3.3 Development of Inventory Model

The aim of the inventory model is to find the minimum range of inventory needed for

the selected categories in a week. The Linear Programming Model (LPM) was

developed in order to give the figures of the Stock In for a week to the management.

By this approach, the cafeteria can reduce more problems such as shortages of stock

and store it longer period in a freezer which may reduce the freshness of the items.

The study was focussing on two perishable stock categories which are Meat – Poultry

and Fish – Seafood. Therefore, from the range of the stock needed, it will help the

management of cafeteria in minimizing the cost of operation. Indirectly this will

increase the weekly income of the cafeteria. The study was used LPM in separate

process according to the category.



117

3.3.1 Decision Variables

The decision variables for this study are items that have been used in Meat – Poultry

and Fish – Seafood categories. There are

xi where i = 1, 2, 3 … j (j is the number of items in the category)

3.3.2 Objective Function

The objective function for this study is to minimize the weekly cost of the stock, Z by

category. Then, the objective function of this study is given by:

Minimize, Z = ∑ 𝑐𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑗𝑖 where i = 1, 2, 3 … j (1)

where Z refer to the weekly cost of the stock, ci represent the cost of each stock.

3.3.3 Constraints

Three constraints were involved in this study including the cost of the stock is less by

10 % from the averages of cost of goods sold constraints, the inventory needed by

each stock in the category, and the nonnegative constraints.

i. The cost of the stock is less by 10% from weekly averages of cost of goods

sold (COGS):

∑ 𝑐𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑗𝑖 ≤ 𝐶𝑂𝐺𝑆 (2)

ii. The inventory needed

xi = mi i = 1, 2, … j (3)

iii. Nonnegative

xi 0 i = 1, 2, … j (4)

Hence, Microsoft Excel Solver is used to solve the linear programming model and

generate the optimal solutions.

3.4 The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

Based on the developed model in 3.3, to find the solution and to contribute some

improvements of the inventory management in school cafeteria, a Standard Operating

Procedures (SOP) will be introduced to the manager. In this study, all the workers

which are involved in the inventory management of the school cafeteria will follow

the SOP in stock count in and out of the inventory


The result of the analysis from the Food Stocktake Database are shown in Table 1.

The gross profit was increased from January to March after the cafeteria able to

manage the inventory. Moreover, the gross profit margin also increased from 31.22%

to 38.66% at the end of March. This indicate that the system is successful improved

the inventory of the cafeteria. Figure 1 and 2 represent the result of gross profit and

gross profit margin in graphical way.



118

Table 1: Gross Profit and Gross Profit Margin by month

Month

Gross

Profit

(RM)

Gross Profit

margin (%)

January 9,746.85 31.22

February 12,246.83 33.95

March 14,140.35 38.66

This indicate that the system is successful improved the inventory of the cafeteria.

Figure 1 and 2 represent the result of gross profit and gross profit margin in graphical

way. Moreover, Table 2 and 3 show the results of the alternative inventory needed of

Meat – Poultry Category and Fish – Seafood Category respectively. The results of

Meat – Poultry category give the range of (3 – 6) kg per week for the meat.

Figure 1: Gross Profit by month

Figure 2: Gross Profit Margin by month

It goes the same with the chicken in the range between (103 – 115) kg per week.

From the range, management of cafeteria keep the stock of meat according to the

range in order to get the minimum cost without any shortages. Besides that,

alternative (a13) is the best alternative in order to give the optimal cost of goods sold

(COGS) for the category because of the value is closed in actual situation. In table 3,

the alternatives of the Fish – Seafood category is tabulated. The results show that the

best alternative of optimal inventory needed is alternative one (a1). It shows that the

cost of the total stock for the week is almost similar with the average of the weekly

stock needed for the category. Moreover, if the management of cafeteria use other

alternatives from alternative two (a2) to alternative eleven (a11), it still can give the

optimal cost of the stock. Then the range of each stock for Fish – Seafood category

will helps the management of cafeteria in determining the suitable stock for a week to

operate the business without losses.

Through the two weeks of observation, it was found that the cafeteria already have

their own procedures. Table 4 shows the current procedures which are usually used by

the management and the new SOP suggested to the cafeteria from this study.

9,746.85

12,246.83

14,140.35

January February March

Gross profit (RM)

0

50

January February March

Gross Profit Margin

(%)



119

Table 2 : Alternative Inventory Needed of Meat – Poultry Category for one week

Table 3 : Alternative Inventory Needed of Fish – Seafood Category for one week

Table 4: Current Procedures and New Standard Operating Procedures

Number Current Procedures or Practices New Standard Operating Procedures

1 All the workers can take the raw

material in stock room.

Assign two workers to take the inventory

in stock room.

2

No system of keeping the invoices,

purchase orders, delivery orders and

receipts.

Filing all the invoices, purchase orders,

delivery orders and receipts and record it

in MS. Excell

3

No proper system of recording the

stock in and out, the prices of the

inventory and the remaining stock.

Use The Periodic Inventory System as the

database of the inventory. Record all the

stock in and out, prices and the remaining

stock by week.

4

Business report in general only and

not at specific items

Use Food Stocktake Database (FSD) to

record the prices, stock, gross daily

income and targeted profit margin.

5

Write the income of the day without

proper calculation and use simple

calculation for the gross profit.

Get valuable information from FSD in

terms of gross profit of the week and

month, cost of the goods sold, gross profit

margin and the cost variance.

6 Any workers can receive the

payment from the customers.

Assign only one worker to receive

payment except the owner.



120

5.0 CONCLUSION

This study has produced the solutions of the inventory management in cafeteria by

providing the system of managing the inventory. The implementation of the database

inventory system also helped the management in managing their inventory. All the

stock was tracked by the system called Periodic Inventory System. In this system, the

Stock In and Stock Out of the inventory was counted and evaluated. By this system,

the management will detect the Cost of Goods Sold of each category weekly. Then it

will helped them in order to organize their budget in future.

Moreover, the inventory models provide method to the management of cafeteria in

order to get the range of inventory needed according to the selected category per

week. With this, the management can get the minimum cost of the stock to maximize

the profit. This study also has updated the SOP by re-arrange and improved it for

better management.

REFERENCES

Bejanishvili, A. (2013, August 20). Spread Sheet123. Retrieved from

www.spreadsheet123.com: https://www.spreadsheet123.com/ExcelTemplates/food-stocktake-template.html Gilbert, G. R., Veloutsou, C., Goode, M. M. H., & Moutinho, L. (2004). Measuring

customer satisfaction in the fast food industry:a cross-national approach, 371-383.

Hashim, N.L., Mohd Ghouse, N.Z., & Ismail, N. (2012). A Requirement Model For

Managing Inventory of Raw Materials. , (July), pp.4–6.

Imeokparia, L., (2013). Inventory Management System and Performance of Food and

Beverages Companies in Nigeria. , 6(1), pp.24–30.

Khabbazi, M.R., Hasan M.K., Shapi’i A., Sulaiman R., & Taei-Zadeh A. (2013).

Inventory System And Functionality Evaluation For Production Logistics. ,

54(3), pp.377–387.

Moule, B., & Giavara, L. (1995). Policies, Procedures and standard. Information

Management & Computer Security, 3(3), 7-16

Sindhu, S., Dr. Nirmalkumar, K. & Krishnamoorthy, V. (2014). Performance

Analysis of Inventory Management System in Construction Industries in India.

3(4), pp.11488–11493.

Taha, H. (2014) Operations Research: An Introduction, (8th

.Ed), International,

Singapore: Prentice-Hall

http://www.spreadsheet123.com/

https://www.spreadsheet123.com/ExcelTemplates/food-stocktake-template.html



121

Evaluation of Occupational Stress of Royal

Malaysian Navy Radar Plotters

Wong Boon Weia, Normawati Mohd Shariff

b



[email protected]

Abstract – Radar Plotting (RDP) is a highly important and sensitive industry, as

personnel are required to not only be highly vigilant, but to be in an environment

dealing directly with national security throughout their careers. The number of

reported and recorded disciplinary cases involving RDP personnel is relatively high

as compared to other specialisations. One should especially note that this number

has been increasing since 2012, and doubled in 2014 as compared to 2013. This

study’s purpose is to identify the levels of occupational stress and its dominant

sources amongst Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Radar Plotters (RDP). RDPs for the

purpose of this study are defined as those who take on primary RDP roles on RMN

ships and RMN operation units onshore. Additionally, this study also sought to

compare occupational stress levels between supervisory and non-supervisory RDP

personnel. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Generic Job Stress Questionnaire was used to achieve the stated objectives.

Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyse the mean score for the five

dimensions and an independent-samples t-test was used to compare occupational

stress levels. Results showed that RDP personnel face a high level of occupational

stress and supervisory RDP personnel experience higher stress levels than non-

supervisory RDP personnel in the dimensions of Job Roles, Job Requirements, and

Physical Environment. However, supervisory RDP personnel were more satisfied

and felt less pressure with their job, while reporting better social support from

superiors. It is anticipated that the findings of this study will provide valuable

information to RMN to develop relevant stress management measures for RDP

personnel in the future.

Keywords: Naval Personnel, Occupational Stress, NIOSH Generic Job Stress Questionnaire

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The RMN’s primary roles are to defend national maritime interests from any threat to

the country's sovereignty, as well as safeguarding territorial integrity and security,

including the preservation of life and property, while fulfilling a secondary role of

supporting local law enforcement agencies in carrying out their tasks. RDP is one of

the specialisations under the Seaman Branch. Currently, there are approximately 350

RDP personnel undertaking a primary RDP role. Generally, RDPs’ main roles



122

include contributing to navigational plotting, reporting all unknown contacts or ships,

as well as assisting in an operation's document preparation.

Over 140 RMN personnel sought counselling in 2016, and more than 140 cases of

RMN personnel being declared medically unfit due to depression were recorded as of

31 December 2016. Disciplinary cases in RMN increased in general between the

years of 2012 to 2015, but the numbers went down in the year of 2016. However, no

analysis was performed to identify the root causes of these disciplinary cases. The

number of reported and recorded disciplinary cases involving RDP personnel is

relatively high when compared to other specialisations. This could be due to the

working environment of RDP personnel, as RDP is the only specialisation that

requires personnel to take work shifts in a confined space with low temperatures of

approximately 16-20 degrees Celsius, whether onshore or aboard ships, throughout

their career. Additionally, RDP is the only specialisation where the number of

disciplinary cases has seen increases since 2012, especially when the number doubled

in 2014 as compared to 2013. Furthermore, there were insufficient qualified

counsellors in RMN to cope with 18,000 RMN personnel, especially since there are

no specific counsellors appointed for personnel who work on RMN ships and

operation units. The objectives and research questions of this study are shown in

Table 1.1 below:

Table 5.1: Research Design

Research Objective Research Question

1. To identify level of occupational stress of RDP

personnel. RQ1. What is the level of occupational

stress of RDP personnel?

2. To determine which of the five dimensions (Job

Roles, Job Requirements, Job Satisfaction and Job

Pressure, Social Support from Superior, and Physical

Environment) contribute to the occupational stress of

RDP personnel.

RQ2. Which of the stressors is the

dominant source of stress of RDP

personnel?

3. To compare occupational stress levels between

supervisory (rank Petty Officer and above) RDP

personnel and non-supervisory (rank Leading and

below) RDP personnel.

RQ3. Is there a difference between the

occupational stress levels of supervisory

RDP personnel and non-supervisory RDP

personnel?


Yahaya et al. (2009) reported that “stress refers to the generalised, patterned,

unconscious mobilisation of the body’s natural ability”, while Bokti and Talib (2009)

stated that “occupational stress is anything regarding the working environment or

nature of work itself that causes individual perceived stress”. Military personnel are

believed to face higher job stress than their civilian counterpart’s due to their

profession, especially active duty military personnel (Hourani et al., 2006).

Moreover, Pawar and Rathod (2007) said that non-officer personnel had significantly

higher occupational stress than officers. Islam et al. (2012) noted that the sources of

occupational stress are categorised into six main categories, namely, workplace and

job conditions; job roles; social support; career development; organisational structure,

and home-work interface. Part of the findings of Yahaya et al. (2009) revealed that

the physical environment or workplaces with poor working conditions can negatively

affect occupational stress. These dimensions of sources were deemed relevant to this

study, as the workplace conditions of RDP personnel included confined spaces with



123

low temperature. Stress from job roles, on the other hand, include the behaviours and

demands that are related to the job and individual performance such as role

ambiguity, role conflict, responsibility, and role overload. This is relevant as the

occupational stress of RMN personnel at the Lumut Naval Base were significantly

related to job demands and job satisfaction due to the frequency of military missions

(Liyana et al., 2010). In the case of social support, work relationships, such as

relation with chiefs, subordinates, and colleagues, can be the cause of stress.

However, social support from superiors or managers have a larger effect on

occupational stress in the context of military occupations (Sharma, 2015). Career

development and organisational factors had not been reported as significant when

related to occupational stress in the context of military professions from previous

studies. Lastly, home-work interface describes problems at work because of personal

problems. As a result of these definitions, the potential occupational stress sources

(dimensions) tested were Job Roles, Job Requirements, Job Satisfaction and Job

Pressure, Social Support from Superiors, and Physical Environment.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

The study’s survey questionnaires were based on the NIOSH Generic Job Stress

Questionnaires measures and modified to suit the RDP profession and working

environment. The NIOSH Generic Job Stress Questionnaire or NGJSQ was

developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of

the United States and it was chosen as the instrument due to its high scores of validity

and reliability (Cronbach Alpha value average of more than 0.7). The questionnaire

consists of six parts based on the NGJSQ measures, and was developed as the

research instrument for data collection which includes Demographic Information, Job

Roles, Job Requirements, Job Satisfaction and Job Pressure, Social Support from

Superiors, and Physical Environment. The questions used various Likert scales,

based on NGJSQ measures. The sample size was 185 respondents, determined by

referring to the Krejcie and Morgan sample size tables. The questionnaire was

divided into six parts in the form of close-ended questions. Part I related to

Demographic Information. Part II related to Job Roles, consisting of role ambiguity

and role conflict. Part III related to Job Requirements, consisting of quantitative

workload and job requirements. Part IV related to Job Satisfaction and Job Pressure,

consisting of job satisfaction and mental demand. Part V related to Social Support

from Superiors. Lastly, Part VI related to Physical Environment.

Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data set by its mean scores,

percentage, and frequency in order to identify the stress levels of RMN RDP

personnel and dominant sources that contributed to the occupational stress of RDP

personnel. The occupational stress levels of RDP personnel were determined based

on the mean result of occupational stress level categories as shown in Table 3.1. The

range for mean score was categorised into class intervals for various Likert scales

based on the formula in Figure 3.1. An independent-samples t-test was used to

compare occupational stress levels between supervisory RDP personnel and non-

supervisory RDP personnel in order to know the difference in occupational stress

levels between them with regards to each dimension.



124

Table 3.1: Occupational Stress Levels Categories

Scale Stress Level

1 Low

2 Moderate

3 High

Figure 3.2: Class Interval Calculation Formula


4.1 Level of Occupational Stress of RDP Personnel

Table 4.1 shows the mean score and standard deviation for the seven stress factors

related to occupational stress. Table 4.2 shows the mean score of occupational stress

levels of RDP personnel concluded from five dimensions. The level of occupational

stress of RDP personnel was identified as High. Four dimensions were also identified

as high stress, namely Job Roles, Job Requirements, Job Satisfaction and Job

Pressure, and Physical Environment, whereas Social Support from Superiors was

identified as low stress.

Table 4.1: Mean Score, Standard Deviation and Range of Stress on 7 Stressors

No. Stressors Likert

Scale Mean

Standard

Deviation Range Of Stress

1. Job Roles 7 5.52 0.66 High

2. Job Requirements 5 3.86 0.35 High

3. Workload 5 3.74 0.72 High

4. Mental Demand 4 3.13 0.60 High

5. Job Satisfaction 3 1.81 0.42 Moderate

6. Social Support from Superior 5 2.05 0.32 Low

7. Physical Environment 2 1.70 0.19 High



125

Table 4.2: Occupational Stress Levels of RDP Personnel based on five dimensions

No. Dimension Stressors Range Of

Stress Scoring Mean

Stress

Levels

(mean)

1. Job Roles High 3 3

High (2.5)

2. Job

Requirements

Job

Requirements High 3

3

Workload High 3

3. Job Satisfaction

& Job Pressure

Mental Demand High 3 2.5

Job Satisfaction Moderate 2

4. Social Support from Superior Low 1 1

5. Physical Environment High 3 3

4.2 Dominant Source Contributing to Occupational Stress of RDP Personnel

Table 4.3 shows the mean score, percentage and range of stress for the five

dimensions of occupational stress sources. The results show that four of the

dimensions were the dominant dimensions that contributed to occupational stress

levels with percentages of mean score more than 60% each, except for Social Support

from Superiors, which is only 41%. The dimension with the highest percentage of

mean score is Physical Environment, while the lowest percentage of mean score is

Social Support from Superiors.

Table 4.3: Percentage of Mean Score for Each Dimension

No. Dimension Stressors Likert

Scale Mean Percentage

Average

%

Range

Of

Stress

1. Job Roles 7 5.52 78.86% 78.86% High

2. Job

Requirements

Job

Requirements 5 3.86 77.20%

76.00% High

Workload 5 3.74 74.80%

3.

Job

Satisfaction

and Job

Pressure

Mental

Demand 4 3.13 78.25%

69.30% High Job

Satisfaction 3 1.81 60.34%

4. Social Support from Superior 5 2.05 41.00% 41.00% Low

5. Physical Environment 2 1.70 85.00% 85.00% High



126

4.3 Stress Levels between Supervisory RDP Personnel and Non-supervisory RDP

Personnel

Table 4.4 shows the results of the independent-samples t-test. The results suggest

significant differences between these two groups in all aspects. It can be concluded

that supervisory RDP personnel have higher stress levels than non-supervisory RDP

personnel in terms of Job Roles, Job Requirements, and Physical Environment.

However, supervisory RDP personnel were more satisfied and felt less pressure with

their jobs, while receiving better support from superiors.

5.0 CONCLUSION

The levels of occupational stress of RDP personnel was identified as high, while Job

Roles, Job Requirements, Job Satisfaction and Job Pressure, and Physical

Environment were the dominant dimensions that contributed to the occupational

stress levels of RDP personnel, with Social Support from Superiors being a low

contributor. The study also found that supervisory RDP personnel had higher stress

levels than non-supervisory RDP personnel in terms of Job Roles, Job Requirements,

Workload, and Physical Environment.

Table 4.4: Independent-Samples T-Test Results

Dimensions Stress Factors Job Function Freq Mean Standard

Deviation t df sig.

Job Roles Job Roles

Non-

supervisory 125 5.35 0.74

-7.6 135.0 .000

Supervisory 60 5.87 0.11

Job

Requirements

Job Requirements

Non-


-6.6 130.2 .000


Workload

Non-supervisory

125 3.68 0.85 -2.2 165.9 .027


Job Satisfaction & Job Pressure

Mental Demand

Non-


7.1 89.0 .000


Job Satisfaction

Non-


2.6 136.0 .012


Social Support

from Superior

Social Support

from Superior

Non-supervisory

125 2.08 0.38 -2.5 124.0 .013


Physical

Environment

Physical

Environment

Non-


-5.5 183.0 .000


However, supervisory RDP personnel were more satisfied and felt less pressure

within their jobs, and reported having better social support from superiors. This is

likely due to how supervisory RDP personnel frequently work directly with superiors

and provide solutions for certain tasks as well as handle coordinated task execution as



127

compared to non-supervisory RDP personnel, who work by following orders.

Supervisory RDP personnel, perhaps due to higher rank, may expect and receive

better treatment from superiors, such as, for example, obtaining better workplace

conditions. Supervisory RDP personnel were generally more satisfied and felt less

pressure, probably due to longer service durations and a better working experience, as

well as having gotten used to the job. These findings may contribute to occupational

stress management in related fields. Future researchers may use these findings as a

guidance to focus on improvement of occupational safety and health in RMN.

REFERENCES

Bokti, N. L. M., & Talib, M. A. (2009). A preliminary study on occupational stress

and job satisfaction among male navy personnel at a naval base in Lumut,

Malaysia. The Journal of International Social Research, 2(9), 299-307.

Hourani, L. L., Williams, T. V., & Kress, A. M. (2006). Stress, mental health, and job

performance among active duty military personnel: findings from the 2002

Department of Defense Health-Related Behaviors Survey. Military

medicine, 171(9), 849.

Islam, J., Mohajan, H., & Datta, R. (2012). Stress management policy analysis: a

preventative approach. International Journal of Economics and Research, 3

(6), 1-17.

Liyana, N., Bokti, M., & Talib, M. A. (2010). Tekanan kerja, motivasi dan kepuasan

kerja tentera laut armada tentera laut diraja Malaysia. Jurnal

Kemanusiaan, 15.

Pawar, A. A., & Rathod, J. (2007). Occupational stress in naval personnel. Medical

Journal Armed Forces India, 63(2), 154-156.

Sharma, S. (2015). Occupational stress in the armed forces: An Indian army

perspective. IIMB Management Review, 27(3), 185-195.

Yahaya, A., Yahaya, N., Arshad, K., Ismail, J., Jaalam, S., & Zakariya, Z. (2009).

Occupational stress and its effects towards the organization management.

Journal of Social Science. 5(4), 390-397.



128

Safety Culture Among the Construction

Workers in Rapid Rail Project

Fazila Kamarudina and Norazli Othman

b



[email protected]

Abstract – The project owner has applied stringent safety requirements in additional

to compliance to legal requirement, however incident still occurred on site.

Therefore, this study will identify the cause of accident, determine the factors

affecting the safe behavior and propose framework in in order to achieve safe culture

in mass rapid project construction. The methodology is divided into three which is

the questionnaire survey, site observation and data review. The questionnaire survey

is divided into five factors affecting behaviors namely management safety

commitment, social support, safety knowledge and safety performance. Site

observation was carried out with a prepared checklist that focus on the workers

behavior at site with 30 sample from each contractor. Findings reveal that most

accident are due to unsafe behavior. More than 80% of respondent agree that safe

behavior is important but the site observation reveal that the workers’ safe behavior

required further improvement. Therefore, it is crucial to establish safety behavior

program to ensure safe behavior among workers. The development of safety culture

does not rely on top management by simply providing control measures such as

standard operating procedures, tool box briefing, PPE and others onsite only but it

must be instill through the workers attitude and mind in each individual in the

organization. Safety culture framework is proposed focusing on behavioral stage

whereby organization need to have behavioral program which is supported by the

management commitment, safety training, communication, participation and resource

allocation.

Keywords: Safety Culture, safe behaviour, construction

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Every time when there is an accident at construction site, the responsible parties begin

investigating the root cause and how could it be prevented in the first place. Although

the investigation and problem-solving process been carried out, fault finding is

normal and there is always be reasons for occurrence of the accident. Normally and

most conveniently, workers are to be blame for the accident because of the

carelessness and inattentive while performing their tasks. Almost none of the accident

findings concluded other facts that are more important such as unavailability of

suitable equipment, unavailability of procedures and training, unprotected machine,



129

and absence of hazard identification. It is important to investigate the unsafe behavior

of workers and factors affecting their behavior which lead to an accident. Since

behaviors are a function of their consequences, culture formation can be thought of as

a series of behaviors and consequences (Faridah et al., 2011).

According to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Labour Department, 2012,

approximately 80% of accidents on construction are caused by unsafe human

behaviour with majorities of the fatalities due to falling from heights, striking against

or being struck by moving object, or being struck specifically by moving vehicles. In

Malaysia, among all the occupational sectors, construction sector is listed as the

highest fatal accidents in 2015 and 2014 reported by Department Occupational Safety

and Health (DOSH) and the third most occupational accident cases reported to

DOSH. In year 2014 the total number of victims reported involved in the construction

sectors accidents are 72, 94 and 6 respectively for Death (D), Non-Permanent

Disability (NPD) and Permanent Disability (PD) reported by DOSH. However, in

year 2015, the number of the victims reported by DOSH in construction accidents are

88, 138, and 11 respectively for D, NPD and PD. There is an increase figure of

victims involved in year 2014 of 172 victims to 231 victims in year 2015 and the

highest fatalities cases among all sector is become a major concern not only to the

construction industry but also the authorities.


Safety culture is divided into three components i.e psychological aspect (how people

feel), behavioural aspect (what people do) and situational aspects (what organisational

has) (Cooper, 2000). It is defined as the product of shared values, beliefs, attitudes,

and pattern of behaviour based on top-down approach practices that are concerned

with minimizing the exposure to conditions considered dangerous or injurious to the

entire group members on a self-regulatory basis (Faridah, 2011). The psychological

aspects of the Safety Culture refers “How people feel” about safety and safety

management systems and this represent the beliefs, attitudes, values and perception of

individuals and groups at all level of the organization, which are often referred as the

safety climate (Faridah, 2011) . Behavioral aspects are concerned with “what people

do” within the organization which includes the safety related activities, action and

behaviors exhibited by employees which also can be described as organizational

factors(Faridah, 2011. The situational aspects of Safety Culture describe “what the

organization has” and this reflected in the organisation’s policies, operating

procedures, management system, control systems, communication flows and

workflow systems and these aspects can also be described as corporate factors

(Faridah, 2011).

The Reciprocal Safety Culture Model by Cooper is used for the development of the

framework for this study. This is because the characteristic of these factors

constitutes Psychological, Behavioral and Situational factors which allow

triangulations of the perspectives in the context of safety culture within the

organization (Faridah et al., 2010). These three elements also mirror those accident

causation relationship by number of researcher (Faridah et al., 2010). Furthermore,

the model itself promotes self-regulation which are consistent to the definition of

safety culture as “the product of shared values, beliefs, attitudes and patterns of



130

behavior, based on top-down approach practices that are concerned with minimizing

the exposure to conditions which are dangerous and harmful to the entire group

members on a self-regulatory basis (Faridah et al., 2004).

One of the main element in safety culture is behavioral aspect. There are many

factors affecting the safe behavior of the construction workers. However, for the

purpose of this research the factors affecting safe behavior will limit to management

commitment, social support, project progress, motivation and knowledge and safety

performance.

Behavior is anything someone does or says. It is an action or reaction person or things

in response to external or internal stimuli (Choudhry, 2014). According to the theory,

behavior is determined by the behavioral intention to emit the behavior. The theory

proposed that behavior is affected by behavioral intentions which, in turn, are affected

by attitudes toward the act and by subjective norms (Choudhry, 2012).

3.0 METHODOLOGY

The research is based on data review of accident causation analysis, questionnaire and

site observation. Data review of this study is focus on accident causation which is

due to unsafe act an unsafe condition. Review of accident analysis is carried out for

only reportable accident case to DOSH. Reportable accident to DOSH includes

fatalities, permanent disabilities, temporary disabilities and dangerous occurrence.

From the total number of reportable accident, the root cause of each incident will be

segregated into unsafe act and unsafe condition.

Survey questionnaire is distributed to the contractors selected for this study. A total

of 210 questionnaires is distributed for three (3) contractor in rapid rail project. The

survey questionnaire consists of two (2) part i.e. Section 1 – Demographic

Information and Section 2 – Safe Behavior. On demographic information (Section 1),

the questionnaire will enquire on participant’s gender, age, highest qualification,

working experience, workers trade, and employment category. Since construction

industries involves in hard labor, it is expected most of the participant is male with

highest education of (SPM) or diploma. Expected working experience will be

between 3-8 years. Employment category divided into local and foreigner.

Section 2 of the questionnaire enquire the participants to respond to 5 main segments

on the questionnaire i.e. the management safety commitment, social support, project

completion pressure and safety knowledge. The questionnaire is developed in

5 points - Likert scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. Each segment is

detailed down to 4 to 5 questions. On management safety commitment, four (4) main

factors were asked i.e. priority on safety operation, safety welfare, management effort

to upgrade safety facilities and reduce safety problem and prevention of occurrence

for safety related incident. On social support, respondent will be asked on whether

their supervisor and co-worker will caution them if they are working at risk, is the

supervisor makes on going and frequent inspection on safe behavior. For project

completion pressure, respondent will be asked if they are making short cut to get their

job done in timely manner, are they always being hurried by supervisor and safety is



131

temporarily overlooked; and are they taking short cut and risks are common due to

heavy workload.

On safety motivation, respondent is required to answer whether they enjoy working

on site, whether working safely align with their personal valued and their feeling if

they are not working safely. On safety knowledge, respondent was asked on the use

of equipment, tools and plant in safe manner; whether they know how to maintain and

improve workplace health and safety; and how to reduce the risk of accident and

incident in the workplace. It is expected that the questionnaires result will answer the

second objectives of the study, to assess the factors affecting the safety behavior

among the workers in the project site.

Site observation is carried at three (3) contractor’s site project. 10 sample will be

collected from each contractor. The observation is carried out among the construction

workers i.e. skilled workers, general workers and competent workers. A checklist

will used during the observation which focuses on personnel protective equipment

(PPE), procedures, facilities, tools/equipment, attitude. The result of this site

observation is analyzed and used to address objective no 2 i.e. to assess the factors

affecting the safety behavior among the workers in the project site.


Review of accident analysis was carried out for only reportable accident case to

Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia. Reportable

accident to DOSH includes fatalities, permanent disabilities, temporary disabilities

and dangerous occurrence. However, for this paper the review is covered for

fatalities, permanent disabilities and temporary disability cases. Review of accident

report is based on the mass rapid transit Line 1 which start from 2012 up to December

2016. The cause of accident is divided into unsafe act/behaviour and unsafe condition.

The data shows that 75% of the accident is caused by unsafe behaviour/act which lead

to the accident, meanwhile 25% of the accident is due to unsafe condition.

Survey questionnaire were distributed to workers of the three (3) main contractors. A

total of 210 questionnaire distributed via hard and soft copies to the respondent. The

questionnaire is divided into two (2) section i.e. Section A for General Information

and Section B for Safe Behavior.

As shown in Figure 1, the assessment of safe behavior element revealed that high

percentage on safe behavior element which is management safety commitment, social

support, safety motivation, safety knowledge, safety participation, PPE and tools and

equipment. Highest score on safety motivation of 90%, management safety

commitment and personal protective equipment at 89%, social support, safety

participation and tools/equipment at 88% and lowest is safety knowledge at 86%.

The questionnaire on safe behavior concluded that the respondent has a high level of

safe behavior and agreed that their behavior may reflect safety of themselves and

others.



132

Figure 1: Percentage of Safety Behavior Element

Site observation was carried out to 90 workers in three contractor project sites.

However, site observation reveals that low percentage on workers behavior towards

facilities (60%) i.e. the workers does not ensure cleanliness (47.8%) and workers does

not ensure work area in safe working condition (42.2%). Low percentage of workers

behavior on their attitude at site which is at 63%. The workers is observe they do not

have constant communication on safety with others workers (41%) and does not look

up others safety (50%). Workers are also observed on PPE and managing

tools/equipment and scored fairly at 78.1% and 73.3% respectively. During site

observation procedure scored highest at 81.1% (availability, conformance and

adequacy) as shown in Figure 2. The site observation concluded that site workers

behavior need further improvement to ensure safety at site

5.0 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

Being a mega government project, it is crucial to portray to the member of the public

that safety is the most important element in the construction project beside quality and

on time completion. Not only by practicing safety it will benefit the project owner

and the contractors, it definitely will give confident to the member of the public since

the project is taking place in high density area of Klang Valley. The project owner

has applied stringent requirement on safety to the contractor however, the

requirements may not be sufficient to ensure safe behavior on project site. Therefore,

the implementation safety behavior program in ensuring safety culture at mass rapid

transit project is seemed to be ideal solution. It is recommended future study to be

undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the safety culture framework.



133

Figure 1: Percentage of Site Observation on Worker Behavior

The implementation of safety culture framework must be implemented throughout the

rapid rail project contractor. Safe behavior program to be organized at each

contractor so that the safety culture will be instilled at each worker on site. The result

of the assessment may be used for enhancement of safety culture for future rapid rail

line.

REFERENCES

Al-Refaie, A., (2013). Factors affect companies’ safety performance in Jordan using

structural equation modeling. Saf. Sci. 57, 169–178.

Choudhry, R. M., Fang, D., & Mohamed, S. (2007). The nature of safety culture: A

survey of the state-of-the-art. Safety Science, 45(10), 993–1012.

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136

Job Satisfaction and Work Stress in

Human Resources Management

Department of XYZ Bank Headquarter

Mohamad Adzim Samsudina and Noor Hamizah Hussain

b

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advance Technology, Universiti Teknolgi

Malaysia, Jalan Sulta Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract

Banking sector is a one of the challenging and stressful job. Poor job satisfaction will

lead to high stress and could affect employees’ life. The aim of this study is to

investigate the variables of job satisfaction and work stress in order to determine the

relationship between job satisfaction and work stress. The finding can then be used to

recommend factors in order to increase job satisfaction and reduce work stress

amongst employee at Human Resource Management Department (HRMD) are of

XYZ Bank Headquarter (HQ). These findings would provide the XYZ Bank the result

of job satisfaction and work stress experienced by the employee so that intervention

could be implemented. The sample were 45 employees from HRMD of XYZ Bank

HQ. A set of questionnaires was administered to evaluate employees’ perception on

job satisfaction and work stress levels. Informed consent was obtained from the

various position of employee at HRMD of XYZ Bank HQ and privacy of

participation was ensured. The five (5) hypothesis was formulated to determine the

prevalence of job satisfaction and work stress factor among employee. Statistical

analyses included correlation as well as descriptive statistics was used. The results of

the study indicate there is a statistically significant with medium positive correlation

between job satisfaction and work stress. The results may not be suitable to generalize

the findings to other population, but as a representative to an organization of the same

department and sector. The recommended factors to increase job satisfaction and

reduce work stress was introduced using the suitable training and hence provide job

security for employee.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The banking sector in Malaysia has undergone incredible changes with increased

competition, increased levels of deregulation, which has facilitated the Malaysian

Banking system and has placed huge pressure and has created poor job satisfaction on

bank employees which result high number of work stress (Ling, Bahron, & Boroh,

2014). Job satisfaction is the measure of individual’s perception of his or her job, both

in terms of financial and non-financial factors and has effects for how well the

employee is motivated to do their job (Hanna, Kee, & Robertson, 2017).



137

Stress has become a certain part of human life and makes life difficult and people

need to handle with proper way (Riaz et al., 2016). The life of the employees has

become very difficult, due to which their mental and health gets affected. In 2000,

Malaysia going forward to privatization, and globalization. All sectors including

banking sector have undergo major reforms, including (Yadav & Dabhade, 2014).

With the opening of the banking sector, XYZ Bank had to face fierce competition

from private and foreign banks. The productivity of the work force determines the

achievement of company. In an age of highly competitive market, bank employees are

exposed to numbers of stressor factor that can affect them on all aspects of life (Jedin

& Abidin, 2013).


For this study, the research method that had been used is to collect data were survey

questionnaire.

2.1 Research Design

This study is a quantitative study. The type of investigation was Correlation Analysis

in nature. This study was distributed the questionnaire to the respondent as the

method to collected the data. Besides, this is a cross-sectional study.

The hypothesis and research questions as given below:

H1. Poor work environment will lead to lower employee job satisfaction.

H2. Attitude toward change will lead to lower employee job satisfaction.

H3. Workload would increase the level of employee work stress.

H4. Role conflict would increase the level of employee work stress.

H5. Interpersonal at Workplace would increase the level of employee work

stress.

2.2 Research Instrument

The instrument that used in this study is a questionnaire. A questionnaire is a

reformulated written set of questions to which respondents record their answers,

usually within rather closely defined alternatives. Questionnaires are generally

designed to collect large numbers of quantitative data. They can be administered

personally distributed.

The research objectives (RO) can be further detailed as follows:

RO1. To investigate the variable of job satisfaction and work stress.

RO2. To evaluate relationship between job satisfaction and work stress.

RO3. To recommend factor to increase job satisfaction and reduce work

stress.



138


The results originating from the statistical analysis are presented and outstanding

structures are discussed. The descriptive statistics computed for the study are

presented first in an outline of the characteristics of the sample with regards to the

variables included in the study. Thereafter, the analyses of the constructs relevant to

the study, that is, job satisfaction and work stress, are presented with the aid of

inferential statistical procedures. The outcomes of the statistical analyses conducted to

assess each of the correlation presented.

The descriptive statistics calculated for the sample are provided in the sections that

follow. For the purposes of testing the stated research objective 1. That is, the data

pertaining to the variables included in the study, as collected by the three measuring

instruments employed, are summarised by means of graphic representation and the

calculation of descriptive measures. In this manner, the properties of the observed

data clearly emerge and an overall picture thereof is obtained. The measures of central

tendency and dispersion for the dimensions of job satisfaction and work stress.

Those who score from 1 to 10 will consider has low job satisfaction and who score 11

to 20 will consider medium job satisfaction. Finally, those who score 21 till 30 will

consider high job satisfaction. Table 1 shows the level of job satisfaction based on the

work environment and attitude toward change factor.

Table 1: Level of job satisfaction

Range 1 ≤ Low ≤ 10 11 ≤ Medium ≤ 20 21 ≤ High ≤ 30

Work Environment 0 26 14

Attitude Toward Change 0 16 24

Job Satisfaction 0 42 38

In the terms of Table 1, the work environment factor shows the 26-people recorded

medium satisfaction and the 14 people have high satisfaction with their job. On other

hand, by the attitude toward change factor shows that the 16-people recorded medium

work satisfaction and 24 recorded job satisfactions. The overall score from the job

satisfaction factor the 42-employee recorded has medium job satisfaction while 38

recorded has high job satisfaction.

Table 2 shows the level of work stress based on the workload, interpersonal relation

and role conflict.



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Table 2: Level of work stress

Range 1 ≤ Low ≤ 10 11 ≤ Medium ≤ 20 21 ≤ High ≤ 30

Workload 1 21 18

Interpersonal Relation 0 28 11

Role Conflict 0 30 10

Work Stress 1 79 39

In the terms of table 2, by workload factor which recorded for those who score 1 is

has low work stress and 21 score has medium work stress. While 18 employee score

has high work stress. In the terms of table 4.6, by interpersonal relation which

recorded for those who score 28 is has medium work stress, while 18 employee score

has high work stress. In term of role conflict for those who score 30 is has medium

work stress, while 10 employee score has high work stress. The overall score from the

work stress factor the 1 employee recorded 1 work stress and 79 employees recorded

has medium work stress. While 38 recorded has high work stress.

Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was calculated were performed.

With the aid of these statistical techniques conclusion are drawn with regards to the

population from which the sample was taken and decisions are made with respect to

the research objective. Figure 1 shows the relation between job satisfaction and work

stress.

Figure 1: Relation between job satisfaction and work stress

In the figure 1, the objection is to determine the relation between job satisfaction and

work stress by using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Table 3

shows the result of Correlation Coefficient by using interpretation of SPSS.

Work Stress Job Satisfaction



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Table 3: Correlation between job satisfaction and work stress

Job Satisfaction Work Stress

Job Satisfaction Pearson Correlation 1 0.452

Work Stress Sigma (2 tailed) 0.452 1

**p < 0.05

In order to ascertain whether there is a significant relationship between job

satisfaction and work stress the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was

computed. The results indicate that there is a statistically significant, relationship

between job satisfaction and work stress was average (medium) on HRMD employee.

(r = .452, p < 0.05).

In the figure 2, the objection is to determine the relation between work environment

toward workload, role conflict and interpersonal relation by using Pearson Product

Moment Correlation Coefficient. Table 3 shows the result of Correlation Coefficient

by using interpretation of SPSS.

Figure 2: Relation between work environment toward workload, role conflict and

interpersonal relation

The results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between work

environment toward workload and role conflict. Relation between work environment

and workload was average (medium) on HRMD employee. (r = .403, p < 0.05)

(Pallant, 2013). Thus, relationship between work environment and Interpersonal

Relation was high. (r = .627, p < 0.05) (Pallant, 2013). Lastly, the is no relation

between work environment and role conflict. (r = .119, p > 0.05) (Pallant, 2013).

Work Environment

Workload

Interpersonal Relation

Role Conflict



141

Table 3: Correlation between work environment toward workload, interpersonal

relation and role conflict

Workload

Interpersonal

Relation

Role

Conflict

Work

Environment

Pearson

Correlation *0.403 **0.627 *0.119

Sigma (2 tailed) 0.010 0.000 0.464

*p < 0.05, **p > 0.05

In the figure 3, the objection is to determine the relation between attitude toward

change toward workload, role conflict and interpersonal relation by using Pearson

Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Table 4 shows the result of Correlation

Coefficient by using interpretation of SPSS.

Figure 3: Relation between attitude toward change toward workload, role conflict and

interpersonal relation

Table 4: Correlation between attitude toward change toward workload, interpersonal

relation and role conflict

Workload

Interpersonal

Relation

Role

Conflict

Attitude

Toward

Change

Pearson

Correlation *0.250 **0.614 -*0.157

Sigma (2 tailed) 0.120 0.000 0.334

*p < 0.05, **p > 0.05

Attitude Toward

Change

Interpersonal Relation

Role Conflict

Workload



142

The results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between attitude

toward change and Interpersonal relation. The relation between attitude toward

change and interpersonal relation was high on HRMD employee. (r = .250, p < 0.05)

(Pallant, 2013). Meanwhile, that is no relationship between attitude toward change

toward workload (r = .250, p < 0.05) and role conflict (r = .-157, p < 0.05) (Pallant,

2013).


Discussion of the results of the statistical analyses in relation to the hypotheses by

making reference to previous research. Table 5 shows the result of the hypothesis

used. The results shows that the hypothesis 1 and 2 was rejected, while hypotheses 3,

4 and 5 was accepted.

Table 5: Result of hypothesis

Hypothesis Result

H1: Poor work environment will lead to lower employee job

satisfaction.

The hypotheses are

rejected.

H2: Attitude toward change will lead to lower employee job

satisfaction.

The hypotheses are

rejected.

H3: Workload would increase the level of employee work

stress.

The hypotheses are

accepted.

H4: Role conflict would increase the level of employee work

stress.

The hypotheses are

accepted.

H5: Interpersonal at workplace would increase the level of

employee work stress.

The hypotheses are

accepted.

Correlation between job satisfaction and work stress.

Results analysis from the current research show that there is a statistically significant,

inverse relationship between job satisfaction and work stress in HRMD employee at

XYZ Bank HQ (r = .452, p < 0.05). This indicates that, based on the sample of

employee that participated in majority HRMD employee where experience work

stress levels typically experience good job satisfaction have. On other hand, the

correlation between job satisfaction and work stress was medium. Several studies

have tried to determine the link between work stress and job satisfaction. Job

satisfaction has been found to have a significant relationship with work stress (Abidin,

Mansor, & Abu, 2013). While, other research has proven that job satisfaction can be a

source of stress, while high satisfaction can ease the effects of stress (Khalatbari,

Ghorbanshiroudi, & Firouzbakhsh, 2013). Another study reveals that job stress and

job satisfaction were found to be interrelated (Riaz et al., 2016)



143

The results of investigations between job satisfaction and work stress have provided

acceptable evidence of how job satisfaction and work stress are related. Previous

research have shown that stress factors such as role workload, interpersonal relation

and workload have conflicting strengths in their relationships with job satisfaction.

(Khalatbari et al., 2013).

Training to increase job satisfaction and reduce work stress

It is equally challenging for the employer as the organization to increase the job

satisfaction and reduced work stress. Nevertheless, an organization need to recognize

the factor causing dissatisfaction and work stress among employee. Role assigned

should be specified equivalent the workers’ personality and potential (Hülsheger,

Alberts, Feinholdt, & Lang, 2013). For example, some workers might feel burdened

by certain task that they need to complete alongside with their job, and this causing

dissatisfaction to them, hence, they need to be assisted appropriately i.e. discussing

with manager regarding changes needed to be done (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015).

After consultation with both parties, work practices needed to be changed wherever

necessary. In addition to that, an employee tends to be burdened by the task which

they are not specialized in. It will create work stress as they are unable to meet the

demand of the organization. An organization should be able to provide training to

improve the knowledge, skills and work efficiency for specific purpose i.e. courses

and seminars. It is also known that employees commitment is significantly correlated

with organizational commitment (Jehanzeb, Rasheed, & Rasheed, 2013).

Job security to increase job satisfaction and reduce work stress

In addition to that, the organization should offer job security as a positive motivator to

employee to increase job satisfaction (Artz & Kaya, 2014). It could be done by

emphasizing on importance of an individual to the organization, i.e. increasing bonus

or salary, promotions (Tabatabaei, Hosseinian, & Gharanjiki, 2011).

If increasing job dissatisfactions is a consequences of interpersonal conflicts which

subsequently lead to stress, psychological assistance that could be provided must not

be ignored i.e. counselling to relieve the stress or training on how to deal with stress

(Kleespies, 2014) (Kuhlmann, Huss, Bürger, & Hammerle, 2016).

Conclusion

Employees are viewed as catalysts that foster change in organization. The topic of

employee work stress and job satisfaction have gained the attention of various

researchers (De Simone, Cicotto, & Lampis, 2016). Based on various research

findings, employee experience poor job satisfaction will lead to increase stress among

them.

Sources of stress are exceptional to the environment and thus coping strategies should

be implemented accordingly. Based on the research findings, employee at HRMD of

XYZ HQ had good job satisfaction, but recorded high number of stress. As a

conclusion, the XYZ Bank management will need to play a more active role by



144

reducing stress and improves the bank atmosphere as both are attribution of stress.

Nevertheless, intervention should be implemented as an organizational initiative

rather than individual effort, that the stress management is not burdensome. More

research regarding the job satisfaction and work stress in banking sector should be

done in the future as a purpose of comparison i.e. between local and foreign bank.

In the conclusion, employee at HRMD of XYZ Bank have recorded good job

satisfaction but high level of work stress. On other hand, there are average correlation

between job satisfaction and work stress. Finally, in order to increase job satisfaction

and work stress the suitable training was proposed and recommend the Bank

management to increase job security to their employee.

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mindfulness at work: the role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional

exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 310.

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turnover intentions: Impact of employee's training in private sector of saudi

arabia. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(8), 79.

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146

Elements in Personal Behaviour for Occupational Safety

of Motorcycle Riders

Kesevan Rarusuramana and Habibah @ Norehan Hj Haron

b


Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[email protected] ,

[email protected]

Abstract

Each year, more than 50,000 riders are injured and killed due to road traffic accidents.

In Malaysia, two-thirds of reported workplace-related fatal and serious injury

incidents are the result of commuting crashes. The objective of this research is to

analyst elements in personal behaviour of road safety measures among motorcyclists

at Energy Power Plant @ EPP. This study was conducted among the staffs used a

motorcycle as the main transportation at the workplace. Data was analyzed using

SPSS version 23, the frequency of rider’s personal behaviour factors. (n=80

participants were included in this research. The analysis reveals that responded

(82.5%) were 66 are male and 14 are female respondent. Meanwhile, reliability

statistics and validity of Cronbach’s Alpha was (.703). However, there were some

concerning findings regarding elements in personal behaviour of rider. Compress with

20 elements of personal behaviour have tested base on four categories: 1= Always, 2=

frequently, 3= occasionally and 4= Never. Meanwhile, the highest score of (Mean)

toward elements in personal behaviour is (4.14) or frequently use a mobile phone

while riding a motorcycle. Besides that, correlation coefficients show that Attitude of

drinking alcohol has no influence on the usage of mobile when riding. This explains

that alcohol drinking does not have an influence on the other variables. Gender effect

on riding skills has a major difference. However, Our analysis reveals that these data

provide preliminary evidence to guide the development of addressing commuter

motorcycle collision, whether these be behavioural, educational, training, and

awareness program on commuting road motorcycle accidents.

Keywords: Personal Behavior, Occupational Safety, Motorcycle safety, Riders,

elements, Safety issues,

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Road traffic injury is a main leading cause of work-related death worldwide. In

Malaysia, more than 50,000 injury accidents occur in the workplace every year with

an estimated 1,200 resulting in death. Two-thirds of these are the result of commuting

crashes (especially motorcycle-related collisions) and therefore comprise a large

proportion of PERKESO claims. The Malaysian government recognizes the

importance of reducing work-related injuries and has initiated many programs and

measures to manage injuries at work. Indeed, the Ministry of Human Resources,




147

thought the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, have released the

Occupational Safety and Health Master Plan for Malaysia 2015 (OSH-MP 15) which

outlines a strategic vision and direction for work safety and health in Malaysia. One

of the key factors of the Masterplan is to build a preventative safety culture, where a

right to a safe and healthy environment is respected and promoted at a systems-level

where all stakeholders from government, employers and workers actively participate

in positive and proactive approaches to see During the last two decades, there has

been significant growth and changes in the Malaysian economy, which has impacted

on the number of vehicles on the road and the number of vehicles that is now

privately owned and driven or ridden. This has resulted in an increase of associated

road trauma and death toll 4 to 5 times that of other countries with good safety

records.

Further, riding behaviours and attitudes towards road safety amongst crash-involved

motorcyclists (compared with non-crash-involved motorcyclists) that are associated

with increased crash risk, including working shift work, having less riding experience,

more likely to smoke while riding and more likely to engage in speeding.

Furthermore, there is international evidence suggesting that a range of behaviours and

environmental condition contribute to commuter motorcycle crash and injury risk.

Figure 1: Factors that affecting the likelihood of a motorcycle crash, and level of

injury sustained by riders.

Above figure shows that, the relative contribution of all the three different factors

such as human factors, road environment factors and vehicle factors that can

contribute to collisions and it is very clear that human behaviour (factors) is a

dominant contributor human behaviour contributes to over one-third of all collision,

but in combination with other factors such as the road environment and the vehicle,

these factors together contribute to almost (95%) collision.

Human Factor 95% Road Environment

Factor 28%

Vehicle Factor 8%



148

Figure 2: The relative risk of having a serious crash in different speed zones

Refer to Figure 2, shows the magnitude of the increased risk associated with increased

travel speed, relative to travelling at 60km/h. All of the factors that we have just

described, results in this outcome. If motorcyclist ride at 65km/h, riders are 2 times

more likely to have a crash, compared with driving at 60km/h and this increased

exponentially as travel speed increases. At 70km/h, riders are 4 times more likely, at

75km/h riders are 10 times more likely, and at 80km/h riders are 32 times more likely

to be involved in a serious crash compared with travelling at 60km/h. These figures

are related to vehicle drivers, and it is most likely that the magnitude of increased risk

is even higher for motorcyclists. That means that lower speeds are likely to result in

an injury crash, and will increase at a similar rate.

Figure 3: Ishikawa Diagram (Causes & Effect) of Motorcycle Vehicle Accident.



149

Refer to figure 3, cause and effect diagram of motorcycle vehicle accidents (MVA)

generally provides a clear visual about the root cause of problem and effect. Past

studies have revealed few main causes of human behaviour, vehicle condition, safety

policy and environment had contributed major problem of motorcycle vehicle

accidents among riders. It is also essential to investigate on personal human behaviour

toward motorcycle vehicle accident and element – elements personal behaviour in

most cases.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology of completing this research. In this

section, the study area in this research at EPP. Sample population size around 100

employees were using a motorcycle as the main transportation to workplace and size

sampling will be chosen around 80 who participant will take part as a respondent to

answer the questionnaire. The aimed questionnaires also identified the elements in

personal behaviour that causes motor vehicle accidents. The samples will gather and

run the data analysis by using SPSS version 23 (Quantitative correlation, mean,

Matrix Analysis,). There were 4 questions related to elements in personal behaviour.

Such as:- Attitude toward drinking alcohol, Frequently use a mobile telephone while

riding a motorcycle, frequently smoke a cigarette while riding a motorcycle. The

Likert scale under four categories survey questions compress with 16 questions, 1 =

Always, 2 = frequently, (over 50% of the time), 3 = occasionally (less than 50% of

the time) and 4 = Never. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire

without leaving any un-attempted or incomplete questionnaire that was relevant.


A total of 80 employees had taken part in the questionnaire and a total of 150

questionnaires were distributed but only manage to collect 80 sampling, (n=80) and

total sampling group were 150, balance 70 were excluded from the analysis as some

of the employees working on triple shift and couldn’t get an answer the questionnaire

and some are working at the heavy industrial department due to work constrain unable

to answer the questionnaire. The participants are mostly using a motorcycle as the

main transportation to work. Meanwhile, reliability statistics and validity of

Cronbach’s Alpha was (.703) and the reliability of distribution questionnaire did meet

the minimum requirement.

Table 1: Provides an information demographic characteristics of participants.

Characteristic Frequency Percentage %

Gender

Male 66 82.5

Female 14 17.5

Age

1 Below 20 1 1.3

21 to 25 6 7.5

26 to 30 27 33.8

31 to above 46 57.5



150

Table 1 indicates a summary of the demographic characteristics based on survey

questionnaire of respondents toward gender, age group and individual riding skills.

The analyses reveal that respondents (82.5%) of 66 number are male and 14 (17.5%)

are female had responded towards the questionnaire. There were age group above 31

shown that highest (57.5%) under the category of age group are using a motorcycle as

a medium of transportation, secondly, age group 26 to 30 indicated (33.8%) were

using a motorcycle to workplace. Base on this analysis, shows that’s (76.3%) have

agreed to have good riding skills and only (23.9%) indicated having poor riding skills.

Refer to Table 2 correlation coefficients table shows the correlation of personal

behaviours. Pearson Correlation is being used to test the relationship between the

variables. If the value in the Sig. (2-tailed) is equal or less than 0.05, there is a

significant relationship between these two variables. Meanwhile, if the value is above

0.05, there is no significant relationship between the two variables. A correlation of 0

indicates no relationship at all. A correlation of 1.0 indicates a perfect correlation.

Based on the data obtained, this study shows that Attitude of drinking alcohol has no

influence on usage of mobile when riding, smoke cigarettes while riding, ride above

the speed limit and ride faster traffic light turn yellow. This explains that alcohol

drinking does not have an influence on the other variables. Usage of mobile-only

correlates with a smoking cigarette while riding and does not influence other variables

as the Sig. (2-tailed) is more than 0.05. It poses a medium level of influence towards

smoking while riding. Similarly, smoking while ride does not influence other

variables except usage of mobile while riding.

Riding above limit only influences riding faster when traffic light turns yellow and

does not correlate with other variables. It has a medium strength of relationship or

correlation with riding fast before the traffic light turns yellow. This shows that the

riders are not able to control the speed and overboard the yellow light. Likewise,

riding faster when traffic light turns yellow does not correlate with any other variables

but only with riding above the speed limit.

Table 2: Correlation Relationship for rider’s personal behaviour and elements in

personal behaviour toward road safety within the organization.



151

4.0 CONCLUSION

This chapter provides results and overall looking deeper into their personal behaviour

among riders that have a good understanding in terms of road safety knowledge.

Furthermore, riding skills is another important element for riders to engage on riding

a motorcycle on the road and commute with other type of vehicles on the road. On

the other hand, most of the respondent agreed that two-wheel transportation always

have high chances to expose on commuting road accident. In terms, road accident the

ratio is only 70 percent can be control by motorcycle riders on commuting road

accidents and balance 30 percent depends on other road users. If we compare with the

ratio 30 or 70 in either situation personal behaviour of rider can cause motorcycle

fatalities and permanent damages amongst other stakeholders’. Has been the major

contribution to engage motorcycle crashes among riders on several factors such as

speeding, personal riders’ behaviour, environmental and consuming alcohol or drugs

while riding. Concerning on riders knowledge about road safety especially wearing a

helmet and wear tightly while riding a motorcycle is two different activities will

determine the level of critical head injuries. Head injuries caused in commuting road

motorcycle accident can be prevented by wearing the helmet with tightly and this

behaviour will minimize the fatalities risk with the additional head is very important

organs in human life. Our analysis reveals that, these data provide preliminary

evidence to guide the development of any initiative addressing commuter motorcycle

collisions, whether these be behavioural, educational, training, and awareness

program on commuting road motorcycle accidents.

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L.Connor. (2011). Thr link between fatigue and safety. ELSEVIER, 43.

Carvalho, h. B. d. (2016). Alcohol and drug involvement in motorcycle driver injuries

in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil: Analysis of crash culpability and other

associated factors ELSEVIER.

Hany M.Hassan, M. S., Mohammad Kishta, Atef M.Garib, Hussain A.Al-Harthei.

(2016). Investigation of drivers' behaviour towards speeds using crash data

and self-reported questionnaire. ELSEVIER, 98, 348-358.

Heraclito Barbosa de Carvalho, G. A., Marcelo Rosa Rezende, Celso Bernin, Jorge

santos Silva, Vilma Leyton, Julia Maria D'Andrea Greve. (2015). Alcohol and

drug involvement in motorcycle driver injuries in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Analysis of crash culpability and other associated factors. ELSEVIER, 162.

Jennifer Oxley, J. Y., Mano Deepa Ravi, Effie Hoareau, Mohammed Azman Aziz

Mohammed, Harun Bakar, Saraswathy Venkataraman, Prame Kumar Nair.

(22 Sep 2015). Commuter motorcycle crashes in Malaysia An understanding

of contributing factors. Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine.

L. de Rome, R. I., M. Fitzharris, N.Haworth, S.Heritier, D.Richardson. (2012).

Effectiveness of motorcycle protective clothing, Riders health outcomes in the

six month following a crash. ELSEVIER, 43, 2035 - 2045.



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Muhammad Marizwan Abdul Manan, A. V. (2012). Motorcycle Fatalities in

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Commuting Accidents in Malaysia: Law and Management. ELSEVIER, 211,

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between psychological factors and self-reported behaviour of motorcyclists in

Malaysia, depending on self-reported usage of different types of motorcycle

facility ELSEVIER.

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Health burden of road traffic accidents, an analysis of clinical data on

disability and mortality exposure rates in Flanders and Brussels. ELSEVIER,

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Teferi Abegaz, Y. B., Alemayehu Worku, Abebe Assrat, Abebayehu Assefa. (2014).

Effects of excessive speeding and falling asleep while driving on crash injury

severity in Ethiopia A generalized ordered logit model analysis ELSEVIER,

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motorcycle to vehicle crashes in the Seoul metropolitan area. ELSEVIER.



153

Risk Assessment of Centralized Chlorine Gas

System at Rubber Glove Manufacturing Plant

Mohamed Anuar Idrisa

and Shreeshivadasan Chelliapanb



[email protected]

Abstract – As a glove manufacturing plant, chemical is one of the most highly used

material. Some chemical give an impact to the human health, environmental aspect as

well as physical hazard such as highly flammable gas. In this study, the assessment of

risk and recommendation of control measures of exposure to chlorine gas was

identified. Besides the accidental release of chlorine gas incident, ill health issues

also another aspect that should be taken care off. Medical leave record for the

personnel those who involved in chlorination process are highly related to respiratory

problem. Between 2010 until 2016, 39.2% from the sick leave record was related to

chlorine-induced illness symptoms. From the study found that there were strong

relation between the exposure to chlorine and health issues. Extra cautions and

special safety control were needed for better. The study also recommended further

improvement in current control measures such as engineering control aspect besides,

skill and competency of the workers. A concept of safety by design, inherently safety

and fail-safe system was taken into consideration during this study. Data analysis was

carried out to compared the chlorine concentration before the improvement and after

improvement and found that there were significant different. After improvement taken

place, found that the chlorine concentration inside the chlorine room decreased from

1.15ppm to 0.089ppm in average. This will improve safety control of centralized

chlorine manifold system for better and safer working environment.

Keywords: Chlorine, Chemical Hazard, Chlorine Health Effect

1.0 INTRODUCTION

According to the report by MARGMA (Malaysia Rubber Glove

Manufacturers Association) during 28th

Annual General Meeting 2016, there are 104

glove factories in Malaysia which represent for 55 companies. Estimated global

demand for year 2016 is 216.2 billion pieces which 63% or 133.6 billion produced by

Malaysian manufacturer. It is a critical fact that gloves are a necessary protective

device and very importance medical tools. Even, when a child is born into this world

the first thing it touches is a pair of gloves.

In market, there are many type of gloves which design and produce according

to the user’s need, requirement and expectation. Different type of gloves may use

different type of material such as natural rubber gloves, nitrile gloves, vinyl gloves,

neoprene gloves or polyurethane gloves. Some gloves is reusable and mostly are



154

disposable. Glove applications are also very wide in different market or industry such

as machinery, oil and gas, chemical, automotive, healthcare, electronic industry, food

processing and many more. The purpose of using glove also might be differ such as

for general purposes, chemical or liquid protection, and product protection or for

personal protective equipment. In this study, we were focused on disposable latex

gloves for electronic industry as well as for healthcare industry or known as

cleanroom powder free gloves.

Glove manufacturing process started from blending or mixing the material

such as latex, vulcanizing agent, colour pigment, anti-oxidant and crosslinking agent.

After compounded latex completed and well blended it will be transfered to latex

dipping tank at glove production line through a flexible poly vinyl chloride (PVC)

hose by gravity. During dipping and curring processes, the latex glove will form when

a hand mold is dipped inside latex solution in latex dipping tank. After thin layer of

latex film form on the hand mold, it will be conveyed to curring oven for the

vulcanizing process.

After the glove completely cure, it will be dipped inside chlorine solution bath

followed by alkaline and subsequently dipped inside water bath for rinsing. Finally,

the glove will passed through the drying oven before it will be stripped out from the

mold partially by pneumatic stripping nozzle as well as stripping operator. The whole

process of dipping is a continous process.

The next process is called off-line chlorination and it used chlorin solution

which is created by mixing of sodium hypo and acid hydrochloric with automatic

preset composition by computerization system. For general understanding, the process

is quite similar to normal laundry but the different is using chlorinator machine. After

completed off-line chlorination, the glove will further rinse by ultra-pure water before

it being dry by dryer. Final stage of cleanroom glove manufacturing process are

sorting and packing. Every single glove will be checked and inspected for any defect

before it deliver to end users.


In general, most of the activities with regards to glove manufacturing process are

highly involved of chemical. Furthermore, the working environment especially at

dipping process, are noisy, hot and a lot of manual handling and repeatative work.

However, all necessary action already taken place to manage the situation in order to

prevent it from leading to any incident or ill health problem. Local exhaust ventilation

(LEV) – wet scrubber and dust collector, air-cooled supply, work rotation system,

sound insulation booth, machine guarding, training and competency program as well

as providing the appropriate personal protective equipment to the workers are already

inplace to minimized the exposure of the workers to the hazard that existed. Among

those chemical, chlorine gas is the most toxic that we are using in our operation. In

our proces, the chlorine used for glove surface treatment. As a latex’s natural

characteristic, it has surface tacky and tense to stick to each other and very difficult to

donning. Chlorine will remove the surface tackiness and make it easy to donning as

well as will not stick to each other.

Chlorine is highly irritating when inhaled, and is common toxic industrial gas

causing tissue damage in the airways followed by an acute inflammatory response



155

(Elisabeth et al.,2006; Sivaprakash & Karthikeyan, 2014; Sung-Woo Han et al.

2016). It can burn moist body surface such as eyes, nose, throat, lungs and wet skin.

In contact with water, chlorine produces hydrochloric and hypochlorous acids

(Boskabady, 2012; Pallavi et.al, 2013; Gaskin et.al, 2013; Wang et.al., 2012). In

characteristic, chlorine gas have sharp, pungent and penetrating odour. Molecular

weight 2.5 times heavier than air. Greenish-yellow color when concentration in the air

more than 1,000 part per million (ppm). The rate of exposure for time weighted

average, eight hour at 0.5 ppm (Undang-undang Malaysia, 2005). Whereas, United

State, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) rate at 10 ppm

for Immediate Danger to Life or Health (IDLH).

Although chlorine is potentially one of the most hazardous substances

manufactured, transported and handled, it provides more chemical industry’s turnover

and industry’s manpower works in chlorine-related activities (Sivaprakash &

Karthikeyan, 2014). The key to success in business particulally those involve with

high risk operation lies in the effective management of the risks (Purdy &

Wasilewski, 1994). Without taking risks, we cannot advance and prosper, yet, if we

are incautious, our losses can exceed our gains. On the other hand, too conservative

an approach to risk control stifles benefits and progress. However, the most successful

companies and individuals are those who discover the optimum risk to cost balance.

For optimization, we need to manage risks in the most cost-effective manner. It is

clear, that before risks can be managed, they need to be analysed and assessed (Liu,

2012; Rui, 2014).

Inhalation of chlorine causes long-standing lung inflammation and airway

hyper responsiveness. The sample of mice were used in technical experimental which

exposed to chlorine with pre-set time with specific concentration of chlorine level

(Jonasson, 2013; Boskabady, 2012; Sivaprakash & Karthikeyan, 2014). Toxic effects

when exposed to chlorine gas can be classified to as two groups; ie – early and late

effects which both are highly dependent on exposure dose (Lurati, 2015; Chen, 2011).

Exposure to chlorine effected or may cause acute neutrophilic inflammation in lung

tissue and airways, pulmonary oedema and parabrachial distribution of fibrotic

depositions.

Estimated exposure time and concentration of toxic chemicals can be

predicting for the adverse effects (Boris, 2014; White & Martin, 2010). The software

package called EAGLE, which implements the algorithm and used to estimate the

time and space varying toxic agent density. Tabulates three Acute Exposure Guideline

Levels (AEGLs) to predict the onset of these adverse effects from specific length

exposures to specific concentrations of toxic chemicals, included chlorine for a

general population.

The effect on health symptoms after exposure to chlorine leakage were

discussed. Conducted based on real case study. Health examination was performed to

the works those suspected of exposure to chlorine gas (Lurati, 2015; Sung-Woo Han

et al. 2016).



156

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

Most of the approaches are using the practical application of knowledge. It

involves the application of basic knowledge for the solution of a particular problem

and evaluation of new concepts. The sources of data collected for the study was

compiled from the monitoring data of chlorine gas concentration by using chlorine

gas detector with data logger and survey conducted. In conducting survey,

questionnaires were used to gather the data on relation between dependent variables

such as knowledge, skill and competency as well as exposure time of the workers to

the chlorination process with the chlorine-induced health impacts. To analyse the

chlorine concentration, quantitative analysis was used.

Chlorine gas sensor completed with real time data logger with present time interval at

10 second per reading. Model used: HYDRO.

To analyse workers or crew knowledge, skill and competency, quantitative analysis

method was use. All 68 workers or crew from the production section whom directly

involved with chlorine are used as respondents. A set of questioners were given to

each and every one of them.


Chlorine is known as a hazardous chemical. Highly exposed to chlorine may

lead to have adverse effect to the human health (Elisabeth et al.,2006; Sivaprakash &

Karthikeyan, 2014; Sung-Woo Han et al. 2016). Chlorine may cause acute and

chronic health effect such as burn out moist body surface like skin, eyes, nose, throat

or damage in respiratory system which can cause death (Jonasson et.al., 2013; Khan

et.al., 2015; Gaskin et.al., 2013; Rui et.al., 2014).

The study is conducted to assess the concentration of chlorine inside the

chlorine room while the technical or production crew do the drum replacement. As

normal standard operation, the drum was replaced in the interval at once in 5 to 8

working days. Average time the crew spent inside the chlorine room also being

assessed and take into consideration for the study. During drum replacement, the crew

will have o chlorine room. All safety procedure such as entry permit until PPE

compliance should be comply at all time before and during entering the chlorine

room. Only trained and authorized crew will be allowed to enter the room. At all time,

the room locked up and secured the assess key at security control room.

Chlorine concentration were measured by fixed chlorine gas detector which

located near to landing valve or supply manifold header. Data collected and recorded

by realtime recorder at the interval once data per every 10 second. Although the data

in continuously logged by the data logger and plotted by electronic chart, but the data

of chlorine analyzed when then crew inside the room. The logged data was extracted

by special software from the data bank. Analysis was done by microsoft excel as well

as SPSS.

Data collected in between of 12 January until 2 March 2017. From the

analysis found that the level of chlorine concentration during drum replacement by



157

crew are at the average of 1.154 ppm and the standard deviation at 0.3478. The

highest concentration was at 1.8 ppm (Figure 1.0). Based on the schedule 1,

Regulation 6 and 7, Occupational Safety and Health (Use and Standards of Exposure

of Chemicals Hazardous to Health) Regulations 2000, eight-hour time weighted

average (TWA8) for the chlorine is 0.5 ppm (Undang-undang Malaysia, 2015). It

shows that the workers were exposed to chlorine during drum replacement activities.

Figure 1: Chlorine Concentration

From the survey which conducted to technical or production crew, more than 58% of

total 68 respondents were exposed to chlorine more than 1 hour in a week for

changing drum. Refer to Figure 2.

Figure 2: Exposure rate of the technical or production crew

In addition, from the sick leave record which has extracted from the human

resources data between 2010 until 2016 for the technical and production crew, the

chlorine induced illness such as cough, sore throat, headache, sore eyes, skin irritation

and chest pain or short of breath was recorded 39.2% from total sick leave (Figure

1.2).



158

Figure 3: Sick leave Record

From the analysis, found that there are statistically significant correlated between

exposure times towards health issue with Pearson Correlation coefficient at 0.659. In

other words, the longer exposure time to chlorine, the higher possibility to getting

health issue.

Another factor taken into consideration in the study was the level of awareness

and skill of the technical or production crew with regards to chlorine safety as well as

method of drum replacement. Analysis on general awareness of respondent towards

chlorine safety shown Figure 4. More than 97% are having high awareness level.

Figure 4: Awareness level of technical or production crew

Total 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 % Cumm. %

1 Fever 339 45 48 72 51 35 40 48 41.8% 41.8%

2 Others 154 23 20 27 20 23 23 18 19.0% 60.8%

3 Cough 123 15 5 33 28 22 10 10 15.2% 76.0%

4 Sore throat 68 5 15 18 12 5 8 5 8.4% 84.3%

5 Headache 64 5 8 18 13 5 5 10 7.9% 92.2%

6 Sore eyes 28 2 8 0 6 2 8 2 3.5% 95.7%

7 Skin irritation 20 3 3 3 0 5 3 3 2.5% 98.2%

8 Chest pain / short of breath 15 1 5 5 0 1 2 1 1.8% 100.0%

Total 811 99 112 176 130 98 99 97

Chlorine induced sickness 318 31 44 77 59 40 36 31 39.2%

Score Frequency Percent

Low 0-16.6 0 0.0%

Average 16.7-33.3 2 2.9%

High 33.4-50 66 97.1%

Total 68 100%



159

Figure 5: Skill and competency of technical or production crew

Studies on skill matrix assessment for each crew, revealed that 72% of the

crew were well trained and full experience or at advance level. Less than 6% are

below intermediate level. In other word, most of the technical or production crew

whom directly involved with chlorine are having high level of awareness and skill

with regards to chlorine safety. Shown in Figure 5.

Statistical analysis shows that, there are no correlation between skill and

competency towards chlorine health issue. However, for awareness it shown the

significant correlation at 0.473. Does not make sense, since the higher skill and

awareness, the more ill health cases. Thus, it might be having another contribution

factor behind. Knowing to do by safer ways but did not do or in other word, take for

granted. Another factor, could be design weakness.

Occupational safety and health at place of work are very much depending on

higher level management of commitment. The better commitment from the

management will give clear direction for safety and health compliance (Lurati, 2015).

From the study, on respondent’s perception on higher level management commitment

towards occupational safety and health and found that more than 76.5% highly agreed

that the management are giving high commitment towards safety and health at

workplace. Refer to Figure 6.


Low 0-16.6 0 0.0%

Average 16.7-33.3 16 23.5%

High 33.4-50 52 76.5%

Total 68 100%



160

Figure 6: Management Commitment

The statement that mentioned on management were committed towards safety and

health were strongly supported by the analysis on legal compliance which illustrated

in Figure 7. From the study, more than 66% of respondent strongly agree the

management were committed to legal compliance.

Figure 7: Legal Compliance

As summary of analysis, found that there were few factors that is having

relation towards health issues (chlorine induced illness symptom). There are

illustrated in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Summary of correlation table.


Low 0-16.6 0 0.0%

Average 16.7-33.3 16 23.5%

High 33.4-50 52 76.5%

Total 68 100%



161

4.1 RECOMMENDATION

In words, exposure time and employee’s awareness are having positive

relation towards health issue of the technical or production crew. In addition, there are

strong positive relation between management commitment and legal compliance

towards chlorine safety. As for findings, exposure time of the crew to the chlorine

inside the chlorine room must be limited. Risk of exposure must be minimizing as low

as possible.

To reduce the exposure rate towards chlorine it is suggested either shorten the

exposure or contact time or by reducing the concentration of chlorine (Wang et al.,

2012). In current practices, connection were using treaded coupling with single use of

lead seal without non-return valve (NRV). It means, the crew who doing the drum

replacement need to shut-off supply valve at the drum and it may cause the chlorine

residue inside the tube (at minimum 0.5 bar) will escape from the tubing. At that

particular moment, the crew are highly possibility will be exposed to chlorine. By

installing new brass or copper NRV at the connection tube will help to prevent

residue chlorine escape out.

Another alternative is redesign the suction nozzle for the LEV. It will

immediately suck all the asses or residue chlorine from the connection tube. Refer to

Figure 8. By implementing these two recommendation, will reduce the exposure rate

of chlorine to the technical crew during drum replacement activity.

Figure 8: Brass Non-return valve with teflon seat and extended suction hood for

LEV.

Whereas, employer commitment and legal compliance (Khan et. al., 2015) towards

occupational safety and health should be maintain and keep it up to ensure the

sustainability. These can be done by conducting more safety skill training to the

employees and improve motivation.

ExtendedSuction for LEV

NRV



162

5.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this study found that the risk management for the centralized

chlorine gas system needs to take further improvement. Extra cautions and special

safety control are needed for better and safer working environment. This study also

recommends further improvement in current control measures which will focus on

engineering control aspect besides, skill and competency of the workers. A concept of

safety by design, inherently safety and fail-safe system was taken into consideration

during the study.

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Alladi Mohan, S. Naveen Kumar, M.H. Rao, S. Bollineni and I.Chiranjeevi

Manohar (2010) Acute Accidental Exposure to Chlorine Gas : Clinical

Presentation, Pulmonary Functions and Outcomes (The Indian Journal of

Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences), 52, pp 149-152.

Ann Lurati (2015). Occupational-Related Chemical Injuries. A review of the

literature (Workplace Health & Safety), 63, 284-287.

Boris, J. P., & Patnaik, G. (2014). Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs)

For Time Varying Toxic Plumes (No. NRL/MR/6003--14-9493). Naval

Research Lab Washington DC Lab For Computational Physics and Fluid

Dynamics.

Carl W.White and James G. Martin (2010) Chlorine Gas Inhalation. Human

Clinical Evidence of Toxicity and Experience in Animal Models. (Proceedings

of The American Thoracic Society, Vol. 7, pp 257-263.

Elisabeth Wigenstam, Linda Elfsmark, Bo Koch, Anders Bucht and Sofia Jonasson

(2016) Acute Respiratory Changes and Pulmonary Inflammation Involving a

Pathway of TGF- Induction ia a Rat Model of Chlorine-induced Lung

Injury (Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology) Vol. 309, pp 44-54.

JIA Liu (2012). Analysis of Liquid Chlorine Leakage and Emergency

Response Measures (Advanced Materials Research, College of Safety Science

and Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, China), 518-523, pp 1859-

1862.

Jonasson, S., Koch, B., and Bucht, A. (2013). Inhalation of Chlorine Causes Long-

standing Lung Inflammation and Airway Hyperresponsiveness in a Murine

Model of Chemical - induced Lung Injury. Toxicology, 303, 34-42.

Khan, F., Rathnayaka, S., and Ahmed, S. (2015). Methods and Models in

Process Safety and Risk Management: Past, Present and Future. Process

Safety and Environmental Protection, 98, 116-147.



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MH Boskabady, M Esmaeilizadeh and M Boskabady (2012) The Effect of

Exposure to Chlorine on Pulmonary Function Tests and Respiratory and

Allergic Symptoms in Iranian Lifeguards (Toxicology and Industrial Health)

Vol. 30(3), pp 218-224.

Pallavi P. Balte, Kathleen A. Clark, Lawrence C. Mohr, Wilried J. Karmaus,

David Van Sickle and Erik R. Svendsen (2013) The Immediate Pulmonary

Disease Pattern following Exposure to High Concentrations of Chlorine Gas

(Hindawi Pulmonary Medicine)Vol. 2013, pp 1-8.

Purdy, G., and Wasilewski, M. (1994). Risk Management Strategies for Chlorine

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Sharyn Gaskin, Dino Pisaniello, John W.Edwards, David Bromwich, Sue Reed,

Micheal Logan and Christina Baxter (2013). Chlorine and Hydrogen Cyanide

Gas Interactions With Human Skin: In Vitro Studies to Inform Skin

Permeation and Decontamination in HAZMAT Incidents (Journal of

Hazardous Materials) Vol. 262, pp 759-765.

Sivaprakash, P. and Karthikeyan, L. M. (2014). A Study on Handling of

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Sung-Woo Han, Won-Jun Choi, Min-Kee Yi, Seng-Ho Song, Dong-Hoon Lee

and Sang-Hwan Han (2016) Acute Respiratory Symptoms and Evacuation-

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and Environmental Medicine, BioMed Central), (2016), 28:29

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Ware G.Kuschner (2011) Toxic Inhalation Exposures (Journal of Intensive

Care Medician)Vol. 28(6), pp 323-333.

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on Safety Capacity of Chemical Industrial Park in Operation Stage (2014

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Peraturan-Peraturan 1994, MDC PUBLISHERS SDN. BHD. January, 2005



164

Risk Assessment of Excavation Works in the

Vicinity of Underground Utilities at

Construction Site

Mohd Nazrul Mat Noora and Samira Albati Kamaruddin

b



[email protected]

Abstract – Excavation works is one of the risky activities in construction industry

that need hazards identification to control the risk. Risk assessment has become an

important way in preventing and minimizing accidents rate in construction industry.

The study was carried out with the aim to propose an improvement of the current

work procedure for safe excavation works in vicinity of underground utilities.

Questionnaire survey was distributed to foundation and drainage network installation

construction personnel consists of site managers, site engineers, site supervisors,

safety officers and safety supervisors. Analysis of mean index value and frequency

were performed and the results were aligned with likelihood and severity of hazards

based on DOSH risk matrix to determine the risk rating. The findings of risk

assessment show that hazards were rated as high risk and medium risk. Higher scores

of mean value greater than 4.0 were recorded for all suggested safe work practice for

excavation works in the vicinity of underground utilities. These suggest that the

proposed improvement of work procedure will include all safe work suggestion to

prevent and minimize accidents at construction sites.

Keywords: Safe work procedure, Safe excavation, Ground work, Risk matrix, Construction industry

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Unsafe conditions and practices in excavation works or ground works can cause

accident, fatality and injury to human, property damages, bad effects to environment

and poor production rate. Excavation works require high safety concern to avoid

serious accident occurrence to the involved workers. According to Aksorn and

Hadikusumo (2007), improper excavation methods is the major contributor to

accident in construction industry. Whereas Cheng and Teizer (2014) agreed that

accidents in construction projects frequently occurred due to construction process at

sites that are very closed to with the workers, property or other equipment. The results

are usually the fatality, serious injury and significant collateral damages to the

property. Based on a DOSH study (2015), construction workers were killed and

injured during excavation works because of no safety precaution. In 2015, five of 33

fatality cases in construction sites were caused by excavation works and ground work.

Excavation works in the vicinity of underground public utilities such as water

pipelines, sewer lines, utility cables and gas pipelines have uncertainty conditions



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which create opportunities for risk to cause over expenditure or financial loss. Any

accident occurrence also caused injury to people or damage to property (Jannadi,

2008). According to Jaw and Hashim (2013), many underground utilities were buried

under a road pavement or walkway many years ago by different utility installer

companies or contractors. Rapid demand of utility services has resulted new

underground utility construction, installation and maintenance. Interruption of

established and implemented utility services occurred due to excavation of unknown

existing underground utilities location. The interruption triggered inconvenient caused

to residential and building occupants and created hazards related to fire and explosion.

In the case of hazards, risk assessment is needed as a systematic method to identify

hazards associated with activities and analyse the level of risk for each hazard. The

identified hazards usually cannot be fully eliminated. Hence, the hazards need to be

defined and the risk level can be analysed through quantitative or qualitative method.

Results gathered from the risk assessment are very important to improve contractors’

performance during implementation of occupational safety and health management at

construction site (Paithankar, 2011). Risk assessment can show factors influencing an

occurrence of accident (Lee at al., 2012). The system of risk assessment calculated

risk indices based on statistical analysis and risk influences factor. The risk for each

task or job are estimated based on likelihood and severity with known specific type of

risk at the construction site. With the structured risk assessment, this study aimed to

improve the safe work procedures for excavation works in the vicinity of underground

utilities.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

Structured questionnaires that consists of three sections were developed based on

specific type of hazards for excavation work listed in Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA), Safe Work Australia and Health and Safety Executive

(HSE). From the list, cave-ins, fall into trench, struck by construction vehicles and

underground utilities were identified as the major type of hazards. First section

consists of demographic questions pertaining to respondent’s background including

age, roles, education level and working experience. Second section relates the risk

assessment based on likelihood of occurrence and severity of hazards. A five-point

Likert scale were used to represent the rating of risk matrix recommended by DOSH

(2008). The risk matrix is a multiplication of rating value between severity and

likelihood. In the third section, questions were formulated to indicate suggestion of

safe work practice for excavation works in the vicinity of underground utilities. A

five-point Likert scale ranging from one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree)

were used to measure each variable. Questionnaires were distributed to site personnel

at a Malaysia Rapid Transit (MRT) construction project near Damansara, Selangor

with total population of 50. By referring to Krejcie and Morgan (1970), the sampling

size needed is 44. The collected data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social

Science (SPSS) version 23 and Microsoft Excel 2010. Ten samples were used as a

pilot test and the reliability was determined by using Cronbach’ alpha. Frequency

analysis and mean index were used in the analysis.



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For the pilot test, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of all items is 0.899. It shows that

the items have relatively high internal consistency. No elimination is needed since the

reliability coefficient is higher than 0.70. Results of demographic, risk assessment and

safe work procedure are discussed here with the data shown in Tables 1 and 2.

3.1 Demographic

The demographic data shows that 38 of respondents were male aged between 30 to 40

years old. Majority of the respondents were site supervisor (31.8%) and site engineer

(38.6%). Most of the respondents (68.2%) have the working experience more than

five years. The percentage of working experience between five to ten years and more

than ten years are the same. Half respondents (50%) are graduated from university

with first degree and postgraduate level. It shows that, the respondents have sufficient

education level and knowledge to choose possible likelihood and severity rating value

of the excavation work hazards and give suggestion for the safe work procedure.

3.2 Risk Assessment

As mentioned above, four types of hazards for excavation work were identified from

three different safety organizations. The overall results of risk assessment for hazards

of excavation work in the vicinity of underground utilities at construction site are

shown in Table 1. Five hazards have high risk rating and the remaining hazards are

rated as medium risk. No low risk rating is obtained from this risk assessment.

For the cave-ins hazard, working in the trench without support or struts is considered

high risk. While load near to the top of trench has the lowest mean value. The highest

risk rating for working in the trench without support or strut was also mentioned as

serious hazard and pose the greatest risk to fatality in OSHA (2015). An unprotected

trench and excavation can be an early grave for the workers.

All causes of fall into trench hazards were rated as medium risk in which no fall

protection, barricade and guardrail surrounded the trench has the highest mean value.

The lowest mean value of this hazard is no signage near the trench. A study by Mosly

(2015) also found that the fall protection, barricade and guardrail surrounded the

trench can prevent workers or publics from fall into the trench. For the struck by

construction vehicle hazards, the highest mean value is belongs to operation without

flagman or banksman, meanwhile the lowest mean value is the operator’s blind spot

during machinery operation. Esmaeili and Hallowell (2012) also agreed that the

struck-by injuries is a leading proximal cause of fatal injuries. It is usually caused by

falls and contact that exists between workers and heavy equipment. In underground

utilities type of hazard, all causes are considered as high risk. These include

unavailable of underground utilities mapping, scanning inspection and trial pit.

3.3 Suggestion of Safe Work Practices

Table 2 shows the results of opinion for excavation safe work practices. The highest

mean value was 4.48 for the three (3) opinions of safe work practices. Most of the

respondents agreed with suggestion of approved permit to work prior start work,

standing supervision during excavation works and wearing personal protective



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equipment (PPE). It is very important to acquire permit to work before the work

commencement at construction site to allow managers and supervisors easily

understand the work plan for their workers. The work can be determined whether it is

at risk or require further safety analysis and assessment. A study by Sharma and

Kumar (2015) also mentioned that the permit to work is compulsory in the

construction safety checklist. During the excavation works, standing supervision is

crucial since the excavation at underground utilities should be supervised closely and

not leaving to machine operator did the work by themselves. As agreed, wearing

proper PPE while working at construction site is compulsory.

The second and third highest mean value were 4.43 and 4.38 which belong to

underground utilities scanner and implement manual excavation at shallow buried

utilities, respectively. The use of scanner is a must to ensure the existing underground

utilities are safe and not hit by excavator machines. Manual excavation at shallow

buried utilities is also important because the hand tools (e.g., shovel, hoe and rake)

can be used with care and will not hardly hit the existing utilities.

Table 1: Overall results of risk assessment

Causes of hazards for excavation

works in the vicinity of underground

utilities at construction site

Likelihood

of

occurrence

Severity of

hazards

Risk Risk

rating Mean Rating

scale

Excavation of weak/loose soil for

more than 1.2m depth

3.955 3.45 13.64 12 Medium

Working in the trench without support

or strut

3.93 3.68 14.46 16 High

Load near to the top of trench 3.79 3.43 13.00 12 Medium

No fall protection/ barricade/

guardrail surround the trench

4.18 3.39 14.16 12 Medium

No safety stop block provided for

mobile machinery

3.98 3.32 13.20 12 Medium

No signage near the trench 3.84 3.16 12.13 12 Medium

No speed limit at construction site 3.89 3.39 13.16 12 Medium

Operator blind spot during machinery

operational

3.70 3.32 12.29 12 Medium

Operation without flagman or

banksman

4.16 3.52 14.65 16 High

No underground utilities mapping 4.05 3.59 14.53 16 High

No inspection for scanning or

locational for underground utilities

3.93 3.68 14.48 16 High

No trial pit had carried out 3.91 3.64 14.22 16 High



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Table 2: Results of opinion for safe work practices for the excavation work

Safe work practices for the excavation works Mean value

Approved permit to work prior start work 4.48

Standing supervision during excavation works 4.48

Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) 4.48

Using underground utility scanner 4.43

Implement manual excavation at shallow buried utilities 4.39

Excavation checklist and site inspection 4.36

Provide safe access and egress 4.36

Provide temporary trench support for trench if more than 1.5m depth 4.36

Checking the underground utilities mapping drawing 4.34

Full time flagman or banksman 4.27

4.0 CONCLUSION

This paper presents an inclusive risk assessment for excavation works in the vicinity

of underground utilities. Hazards associated with excavation works in the vicinity of

underground utilities were assessed by involving respondents at the construction

project site. The mean index analysis was implemented to find the highest mean value

of the risk rating. Risk matrix was used to determine the risk rating for the risk

assessment. The findings show that working in the trench without support or strut;

operation without flagman or banksman; no underground utilities mapping; no

inspection for scanning or locational for underground utilities; and no trial pit had

carried out were rated as high risk. Improvement of the existing work procedure for

excavation works in the vicinity of underground utilities is proposed based on the

findings from this study. The findings also proved that all suggestion can be used to

improve the safe work procedure for excavation works in the vicinity of underground

utilities. From the suggestion, the highly recommended work procedure are the

approved permit to work prior start work; standing supervision during excavation

works; and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). In future, it is also useful if

the questionnaire survey could be distributed to other construction project sites that

related to excavation works in the vicinity of underground utilities.

REFERENCES

Aksorn & Hadikusumo (2007). The unsafe acts and the decision-to-err factors of Thai

construction workers. Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, 12, 1-

25.

Cheng, T. & Teizer, J. (2014). Crane Operator Visibility of Ground Operations.

Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 28, 15.

DOSH (2008). Guidelines for Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk

Control (HIRARC), Malaysia: Department of Occupational Safety and Health,

Ministry of Human Resources.



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DOSH 2015. Excavation Safety. Tapak Selamat: Bahagian Keselamatan Tapak Bina

Malaysia: Department of Occupational Safety And Health, Malaysia.

Esmaeili, B. & Hallowell, M. (2012). Attribute-based Risk Model for Measuring

Safety Risk of Struck-by Accidents. Construction Research Congress.

Jannadi, O. A. (2008). Risks Associated With Trenching Works in Saudi Arabia.

Building and Environment 43 776–781.

Jaw, S. W. & Hashim, M. (2013). Locational Accuracy of Underground Utility

Mapping Using Ground Penetrating Radar. Tunnelling and Underground

Space Technology 20-29.

Krejcie, R. V. & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research

Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement 30, 607-610.

Lee, H.-S., Kim, H., Park, M., Teo, E. A. L. & Lee, K.-P. (2012). Construction Risk

Assessment Using Site Influence Factors. Journal of Computing in Civil

Engineering, 26, 319-330.

Mosly, I. (2015). Safety Performance in the Construction Industry of Saudi Arabia.

International Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 4(6).

OSHA (2015). Trenching and Excavation Safety, USA: Occupational Safety and

Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.

Paithankar, A. (2011). Hazard Identification And Risk Analysis In Mining Industry.

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.



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5S Techniques at Neptune Air Warehouse

Nurul Amirah Jamaludina and Noor Hamizah Hussain

b


Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract – This paper presents an application of 5S Techniques at Neptune Air

Warehouse. Neptune Air Sdn. Bhd. is an aviation company located in Ara

Damansara, Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to design a warehouse layout based

on 5S Technique application. 5S is the foundation of lean manufacturing and it is a

part of Kaizen – a system of continual improvement. 5S was developed in Japan and

was founded by Hiroyuki Hirano. The 5S technique is used to organize, clean,

standardized and maintain the discipline at the workplace in pursuit of sustainable

improvements in the productivity, to optimize cost and to reduce waste in an

organization. Photos of before and after 5S Techniques application were taken for

comparison purposes. In addition, Google Sketchup 2017 was used to simulate the 5S

Techniques application of Neptune Air Warehouse. It can be concluded that Neptune

Air warehouse can be designed based on 5S technique as it will contribute to lots of

advantages and benefits.

Keywords: 5S Technique, Warehouse, Safety, Kaizen

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The 5S concept has been introduced to Japanese companies in early 1980s. The 5S is

precisely five abbreviations of Japanese terms with 5 initials of S such as Seiri (sort),

Seiton (set in order), Seiso(shine), Seiketsu (standardize) and Shitsuke (sustain). 5S is

a method or managing tool that can create quality, neat and safe working

environments in an organisation. It is also used to ensure compliance with standards

as well as to foster continuous improvements in any organisation. The 5S are used to

create a good working environment and to eliminate waste as well. It is a systematic

and methodical approach allowing an employer to organise their workplace in the

safest and most efficient manner. According to Occupational Safety and Health Act

Section 15(1), the duty of every employer and self-employed person are to ensure as

far as reasonably practicable the safety, health, and welfare of their employee at the

workplace (MDC, 2014).

Neptune Air is a cargo airline company based in Malaysia, where its’

headquarter is located in Ara Damansara and has a branch office located in Penang

International Airport. Neptune Air has one warehouse that is located in Ara

Damansara. The warehouse is being used to keep furniture, documents, aircraft tools,

aircraft spare parts etc. Warehouse can be defined as a planned space for the storage

and handling of good and material. Accidents and injuries can happen at the



171

workplace such as a warehouse. The warehouse is playing a more critical role than it

ever has in the success or failure of businesses (Cakmak, Gunay, Aybakan, & Tanyas,

2012).Warehouse problems could affect the warehouse operations, therefore it is vital

for organizations to ensure the smooth running of their warehouses.


From day to day, large number of employees suffer from serious occupational injury

and disease at the workplace from all around the world (Vries, Koster, & Stam, 2016).

Warehouse, which is one of the supply chain elements, plays a vital role in the

success or failure of the company (Cakmak et. al, 2012). The crucial aspect that

needs to be considered in the process is utilizing the use of the space allocated to each

item. (Addy-Tayie, 2012). The total distribution systems and activities should be

considered external and internally before designing the warehouse (Moran, 2017).

5S is a basic foundation of Lean Manufacturing systems. It is a tool for cleaning,

sorting, organizing and providing the necessary groundwork for work place

improvement. By following the 5S methodology, it shows significant improvements

to safety, productivity, efficiency and housekeeping (Agrahari, Dangle, & Chandratre,

2015). A well-organised workplace contributes to a safe and efficient production

environment, which will increase the employee morale, promotes the feeling of

ownership, pride in their work and ownership of their responsibilities. (Randhawa &

Ahuja, 2017).

The relationship of the 5Ss with other improvement programmes, known as Lean-

thinking or Lean-Kaizen (Suárez‐Barraza & Ramis‐Pujol, 2012). Kaizen is a

Japanese word which means continual improvement. Kaizen events are related to lean

production. Proper action must then be taken to decrease the risk to the lowest level

reasonably practicable. Workers must follow correct work systems introduced by their

employer to encourage safety during the handling of loads. (Basahel, 2015)

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Researcher has applied the 5S technique based on studies from the previous

researchers. Steps of the 5S Techniques are as follows and were applied at Neptune

Air warehouse accordingly.

3.1 Seiri (Sorting)

The first step of the 5S technique is Seiri. By implementing Seiri where the sorting

process through the content of warehouse, keeping only the important items needed to

complete the task by removing unnecessary items. Aircraft parts, aircraft materials,

furniture, aircraft tools, boxes etc that are rarely used should be moved to a separate

and common storage area. Items that are not used were recycled or removed. Scrap

materials were sent directly to the recycling bin. In addition, aircraft parts were

divided into three categories namely serviceable, unserviceable and scrap. During

items classification, some of the items were returned to their owner. If the owner

cannot be identified, the items were brought to the fourth step in 5S sorting of red

tagging. If an item cannot be identified or classified, or if ownership cannot be



172

determined, then it should be red tagged. Red tagged items that were not claimed after

a long period such as two weeks were recycled or disposed off.

3.2 Seiton (Set in Order)

The second step of the 5S technique is Seiton. The process of seiton is organise,

arrange, and identify everything in the work area, as well as throughout warehouse so

that items can be efficiently and effectively retrieved and returned to their proper

storage location. This step was focusing on creating efficient and effective storage

systems to enable person-in-charge to find the tools, materials, and supplies they

need, and those tools, materials, and supplies could be returned to their proper storage

locations. Employees’ most frequently used tools should reside in easy-to-access

areas with the least restrictions possible. The purpose is to minimise the need for the

repeated movement to reach over the items required by placing the most frequently

used tools and supplies closest to the station operator and less utilised items were

shifted to other secluded areas. To accomplish these goals, all aircraft parts were put

in boxes and labeled according to their category. Storage areas, racks, shelves, and

cabinets were clearly marked with signs and labels. Labels were placed on the outside

of doors to identify the storage space. The interior shelves were properly labeled

therefore each individual item can be consistently and easily returned to their proper

storage locations.

3.3 Seiso (Shine)

The third step of the 5S technique is Seiso. The process of seiso can be defined as

thorough cleaning at the warehouse. In this phase, Neptune Air staff should clean,

sweep, polish and vacuum along with other thing needed to attain perfect order. 5S

shine is everyone’s responsibility not just the job of cleaner. The best idea is to have

those who work in the warehouse would also be the one who are responsible for

cleaning such area at the end of each day. Safety can be guaranteed by keeping the

entire warehouse clean and neat. For example, keeping floors clear of dust and debris

helps reducing the risk of trips, slips, and falls – an extremely common cause of

warehouse injury. Cleaning was used as an inspection tool. Clear expectations are

necessary for positive employee interactions and, ultimately gain better results. In

addition, regular and thorough cleaning help to prevent degradation of machinery and

tool as well as in ensuring the lifespan of these items and subsequently reduce future

cost of replacement and maintenance. Cleaning roster has been prepared for Neptune

Air staff as well.

3.4 Seiketsu (Standardize)

The fourth step of the 5S technique is Seiketsu. The process of seiketsu focused on

standardisation in making the first three S’s, Seiri, Seiton, and Seiso a constant

routine. The emphasis in this step focused on visual management as an important to

always act as quickly as possible (Osada, 1991).5S work structure has been developed

for the warehouse operation in order to support the new proposed practices and turn

them into real practice. The purpose of standardisation is to make sure that everyone

in the company follows the same procedure, the same names of items, the same size

of signalisation/floor marking, shapes, colours, etc. Standardisation will also help to

do the right thing the right way every time. The 5S checklist has been developed and



173

staff were trained to use the checklist. Failing to standardise procedures can lead to

work becoming unstructured, sloppy over time and loss of efficiency.

3.5 Shitsuke (Sustain)

The final step of the 5S technique is Shitsuke. The process of shitsuke can be defined

as sustain by having on-going training and maintaining the established 5S standards

and it is also known as discipline. It represents Neptune Air employees’ commitment

in practicing the first 3S as a way of life. In addition, it is also required Neptune Air

employees to show positive interest and at the same time to overcome resistant to

change. Shitsuke comprised of taking all of the previous steps of 5S, including the

standardised procedures, and transforming them into ongoing practices in ensuring

continuous improvement in the organisation. Training is vital for 5S success. Training

was done by using an effective methodology such as using 5S posters and signs.

There are lots of 5S posters and signage can be found in Neptune Air warehouse. In

order to ensure 5S successfully practised, 5S can be used as part of the evaluation

system. All staff from top management until lower management have taken part and

played their own roles. Evaluation of 5S performance will be included as a part of

each annual employee review and appraisal.


Data is analysed through photos comparison between before and after 5S technique

implementation and it was simulated by using Google Sketchup 2017 and real

application.

Figure 1 (a) and (b): Before and after 5S implementation

Before 5S implementation, the warehouse was not properly managed. The aircraft

parts and warehouse furniture were scattered on the floor. There were also lots of

rubbish and unknown items in the warehouse. After 5S implementation, the

warehouse was properly managed. The warehouse layout has been designed by using

Google Sketchup 2017. Result before and after 5S implementation were shown in

Figure 1 (a) and (b).



174


Before 5S implementation, the aircraft parts were scattered on the floor. The parts

were not properly labelled and were not segregated. The serviceable and

unserviceable parts were mixed with each other. After 5S implementation, the aircraft

parts were segregated accordingly to their categories – serviceable parts,

unserviceable parts and scrap parts. Heavy duty racks were also purchased and the

parts were properly labelled and put on the racks. Before and after 5S implementation

were revealed in Figure 2 (a) and (b).


Before 5S implementation, the warehouse areas were not properly been taken care of

by the employees and 5S corner was not available. After 5S implementation, the 5S

corner is available and the warehouse areas has been divided into three areas: Front,

middle and rear area. Three staff were responsible for each area and 5S cleaning

roaster was put on the 5S corner board. Before and after 5S implementation were

shown in Figure 3 (a) and (b).

Figure 4: After 5S implementation

Before 5S implementation, the 5S red tag area was not there because the 5S

Technique was not available yet. After 5S Technique implementation, the 5S Red Tag

area is available and the red tag label was put on the unknown items, then staff will

decide whether the items need to be sent to serviceable rack, unserviceable rack or



175

scrap rack. The warehouse inventory will be updated accordingly. After 5S

implementation was shown in Figure 4.

Figure 5: After 5S implementation

Before 5S implementation, first aid kit, safety signage and fire extinguisher were not

available in the warehouse. After 5S implementation, the first aid kit was made

available, safety signages were pasted on the wall and there was one extinguisher

available in the warehouse. Neptune staff have been sent to fire prevention course and

were taught on how to use the fire extinguisher. Result after 5S implementation was

revealed in Figure 5.

5.0 CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that Neptune Air warehouse was designed based on 5S technique

as it has contributed to lots of advantages and benefits. The findings have revealed

that additional costs were required to implement 5S since at present there was no

proper racks and signage system available at Neptune Air warehouse. Therefore, the

company needs to fully implement the 5S process from the beginning to gain full

benefits such as more systematic storage of parts and materials, shorter time taken to

identify parts/materials required and subsequently more profits will be gained in

future.

REFERENCES

Agrahari, R., Dangle, P., & Chandratre, K. (2015). Implementation Of 5S

Methodology In The Small Scale Industry: A Case Study. International

Journal, 3(1), 130-137.

Cakmak, E., Gunay, N. S., Aybakan, G., & Tanyas, M. (2012). Determining the Size

and Design of Flow Type and U-Type Warehouses. Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, 58, 1425-1433.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.1127

MDC, P. U.-u. (2014). Occupational Safety and Health Act and Regulations (M. P. S.

Bhd. Ed. Twenty Second Edition 2014 ed.). Kuala Lumpur: MDC Publisher

Sdn. Bhd.

Moran, S. (2017). Chapter 12 - Warehouse Storage Process Plant Layout (Second

Edition) (pp. 179-186). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Suárez‐Barraza, M. F., & Ramis‐Pujol, J. (2012). An exploratory study of 5S: a

multiple case study of multinational organizations in Mexico. Asian Journal

on Quality, 13(1), 77-99. doi:doi:10.1108/15982681211237842



176

Vries, J., Koster, R., & Stam, D. (2016). Safety does not happen by accident:

antecedents to a safer warehouse. Production and operations management.

Addy-Tayie, N. E. (2012). IMPROVING WAREHOUSE AND INVENTORY

MANAGEMENT: Operational Efficiency and Transport Safety, (October).

Randhawa, J. S., & Ahuja, I. S. (2017). 5S - a Quality Improvement Tool for

Sustainable Performance: Literature Review and Directions. International

Journal of Quality & Reliability Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-

03-2015-0045

Basahel, A. M. (2015). Investigation of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders

(MSDs) in Warehouse Workers in Saudi Arabia. Procedia Manufacturing,

3(Ahfe), 4643–4649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.551

Osada, T. (1991). The 5S's: five keys to a total quality environment. Asian

Productivity Organization. Handbook on Green Productivity, 120-128.



177

Safety Practices on Assembly Line at Al-

Ghazi Tractors Limited, Pakistan

Nausherwan Aadil 1a

, Astuty Amrin2,b

and Noor Hamizah Hussain2,c

1Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited, Pakistan

2UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi


[email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract - Al-Ghazi Tractor Factory is one of the biggest tractor factory in Pakistan.

The company has ISO 9001:2000 certification of quality control but the safety

situation is very poor. The most hazardous and injury prone area of Al-Ghazi

Tractors is the main assembly line which involves numerous light to heavy

machineries and tools, both manual and electrical as these machines and tools are

the backbone of assembling the parts. The aim of this study is to review and improve

the implementation of HSE Policy and improve the overall compliance of the OSH

requirements by both parties; workers and management. Hazard Identification Risk

Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) was employed to identify the risks and

hazards associated with main assembly line and their frequency and severity.

HIRARC indicates category V of risks present on assembly line, which are results of

non-compliance to international safety standards. HIRARC also identified major

significant hazards with high severity as well as pointed out applicable OSH

Regulations and Legal implications. The workers as well as the management from top

to bottom seemed less concerned about this very basic and mandatory requirement.

About 90% of the workers are illiterate and the remaining are having a maximum of

primary level of education, which shows that they do not aware of their OSH rights

and legal regulations. While, management is less concerned because there are no

proper OSH regulations directive from the government itself. The workers at

assembly line are supposed to be equipped with proper Occupational Safety and

Health (OSH) training and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) but at AGTL,

workers at all sections and more specifically at assembly line lack of these mandatory

aspects of industrial occupational requirement.

Keywords: Assembly Line, Workers, Management, HIRAR



178

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Al-Ghazi Tractor Factory is one of the biggest tractor factory in Pakistan. It was

incorporated on June 26, 1983 and started its operation in September 1983. The

factory was privatized in 1991 and currently a subsidiary company of Al-Futtaim

group of UAE. As per the company, it is recognized for corporate excellence and

“Best Corporate Performance”. In dealing with management and operational tasks

related to safety and health of the workers, the management has adopted a Safety

Policy as referred in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited OSH Policy (www.alghazitractors.com)

At AGTL safety situation is considered very poor. Overall workers are lack of basic

and proper health and safety services. More specifically, the workers at main

assembly line are more prone to occupational hazards and serious health injuries as

they are associated with different machines and tools ranging from light to heavy and

manual to electrical. Workers at assembly line are lack some of the basic safety

requirements like PPEs, machine handling, HSE training resulting in exposure to

serious injuries and health issues.

The figure 2 below is an actual image taken at the assembly line in the factory. It is

quite clear and highlighted that workers are not wearing proper PPEs during their

work on assembly. This image was basically taken for official website that is why

workers are at least wearing a common uniform but in reality, worker are in direr

situation despite the claim from management that they are keen on maintaining

optimum level of HSSEQ to provide safe working facilities to the workers.



179

Figure 2: Workers without PPEs (circled) at assembly line at Al-Ghazi

Tractor Factor

Eighty percent of Workers at assembly line in Al-Ghazi Tractor Factory are prone to

serious workplace injuries (Internal Audit Report 2013). Though company has

devised a safety policy and setup health and safety facilities, the workers as well as

top management are still not serious about HSE policy implementation and there is

intentional negligence of safety measures at both levels.

Workers at assembly line lack PPEs, either they are not provided with the PPEs or the

PPEs are inadequate which results in serious health hazards and workers are prone to

serious risks of injuries and permanent disability and in some cases casualty.They are

always exposed to potentially high risks of permanent injury and sometimes death

because of machines specifically the moving parts of the machines like drill

machines, bolting machines, welding machines etc. Studies have shown that machines

contain hazards of different nature and exposure to those hazards can result in injuries

or deaths and as such 106 reported accidents in the province of Quebec Canada were

related to the moving parts of machineries (Chinniah, 2015).

Different types of machinery hazards are listed in ISO 12100 (2010), CSA Z 432

(2004), ANSI B11-TR3 (2000) and Bluff (2014). As a result of these hazards, the

Bureau of Labour Statistics in the US (BLS, 2014) revealed that a total of 717 fatal

work injuries occurred as a result of contact with objects and equipment in 2013.

Furthermore, studies also found that improper use of machinery, easy access to

moving parts of the machinery without guards, intentional negligence in handling the

machinery, poor machine designs, inexperience, unsafe working methods, lack of

PPEs and bypassing the safety rules on the machinery had caused serious injuries like

broken limbs, deep cuts, amputations etc. (Chinniah, 2015)

2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Document Review

In terms of written HSE Policy document, no such instrument was produced and

available to be reviewed. Only short image as shown in Figure 1.1 is available, from

which it can only be deduced that company is only adopting it to fulfill the formality

of requirement.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753515000326#b0255








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2.2 Qualitative Interviews

A structured interview was conducted with the “Head of Assembly Line” who was

also in-charge of safety matters at assembly line. His main role is to solve technical

issues at assembly line but he is also responsible for safe work practices at assembly

line. Analyses of the interviews revealed that the company has no set policy of

occupational safety and health and offers only basic health facilities and emergency

first aid as part of the work contract with workers. Apart from these benefits, no

separate compensations are being provided in case of any workplace accidents and

injuries. There is no specific health and safety training for workers as well.

Apart from this structured interview, an unstructured interview was also conducted

with a worker at assembly line. From this interview, it can be deduced that workers

are aware of their safety but they don’t have any knowledge of occupational safety

and health standards and regulations. They are also unaware of their basic rights as

employees of the company set under international standards and regulations. The

analysis also showed that company has no designated safety officer or any safety

specialist person to provide safety guidelines.

2.3 HIRARC

Hazard Identification Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) is a qualitative

tool used in this study to identify the types and nature of risks and hazards present on

assembly line and their frequency and severity was assessed through a 4x4 risk

matrix.


As for document review is concerned, because there was no written document

provided and only source is the figure 1.1which shows AGTL’s safety policy, it is

clear that the only priority is product safety and there is very minimal focus on

worker’s health and safety. Only facility being provided is firs aid and medical

allowance which is part of their job contracts. Furthermore, the company is only

ISO9001:2000 certified which is for product quality. Company has neither OSH

certification nor it has proper safety guidelines.

From the analysis of HIRARC, it is evident that the company is not complying with

any safety standards. Company has no set policy for health and safety and lack a safe

system of work. There are numerous hazards and risks being posed to workers and no

proper supervision is provided. Frequent hazards and risk at assembly line are shown

in table 1.

Analyses of the interviews indicated clearly the company are lacking a proper

safety policy and has no safety department. Company just provides basic health

facility and has no safe working system in place. Workers on the other hand are least

bothered about their workplace safety and health. They are uneducated and have no

safety training and orientation. Their attitude towards safety is a barrier in developing

and implementing safety policy. Even though company has a safety committee but

that committee is more to product safety and has little contribution towards workers’



181

health and safety. There is no safety training program being offered by the company

to workers. In given situation, workers’ health and safety is being compromised.

Table 1: Frequent Hazards and Risks at AGTL Assembly Line

4.0 CONCLUSION

This paper provides an inclusive review on lack of safety measures and safety

standards on assembly line at Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited. The results from interviews

and HIRARC, indicate the lack of intent from top management as well as workers and

non-compliance of international safety regulations. No document article was available

to be reviewed. HIRARC indicates category V of risks present on assembly line,

which are results of non-compliance to international safety standards. HIRARC also

identified major significant hazards with high severity as well as pointed out

applicable OSH Regulations and Legal implications. OHSAS18001:2000 Standards to

be implemented and OHSAS18001:2007 Certification is required. Workers’ attitude

and behaviour is also a big barrier. Zero tolerance policy towards safety is required.

Provision of proper PPEs should be mandatory for safe working practices. Periodic

and continuous counselling and education of workers is also required. Safety Training

of workers is highly recommended.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express the greatest appreciation and utmost gratitude to

Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited, Pakistan and UTM Razak School of Engineering &

Advanced Technology and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for all support

given in making the study a success.

Hazards Risks & Consequences

Cutting and Grinding Machines Cuts, bruises, amputation

Drill machines Deep cuts, electrocution

Unguarded Machines Amputation, cuts, permanent injuries

Paint thinner, fumes Skin diseases, respiratory disorders

Noise Hearing impairment

Lubricant and oil splashes Skin diseases, eye diseases

Electric wires on floor Electrocution, trips and falls

Falling objects Permanent injuries, fatality



182

REFERENCES

Chinniah, Yuvin. "Analysis and prevention of serious and fatal accidents related to

moving parts of machinery." Safety science 75 (2015): 163-173.

Naderpour, M., Lu, J., & Zhang, G. (2014). An intelligent situation awareness support

system for safety-critical environments. Decision Support Systems, 59, 325-

340.

Naderpour, Mohsen, Jie Lu, and Guangquan Zhang. "A safety-critical decision

support system evaluation using situation awareness and workload

measures." Reliability Engineering & System Safety 150 (2016): 147-159.



183

Level of Workers Awareness on the Globally

Harmonized System of Labelling and SDS at

Workplace

Zuriana Zainal a

and Shamsul Sarip b



[email protected],

Abstract - Chemical labelling and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) has been used around the

world, but there may have a significant difference between each country although the

hazard classification is similar. A system, known as the Global Harmonized System

(GHS) aimed to harmonize Classification, SDS and Labelling of Chemicals has been

introduced and endorsed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council

(ECOSOC). The objective of this study was to explore the awareness of employers,

contractors and workers toward the changes of GHS label and SDS format. A

questionnaire survey had been carried out in chemical plant for one hundred (n=100)

workers and factors that influence the awareness will be analysed using SPSS 23.

Most of the respondents somewhat aware with the adoption of the GHS SDS and label

format even though have never been trained on the system. The outcome of the studies

will be a good benchmark in developing training manual in the workplace.

Keywords: Label, SDS, GHS, Awareness, Training.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Chemical manufacturing companies are growing rapidly all over the world.

Each company has producing various type of chemicals. Chemicals that need to be

shipped out to distributor, supplier and users need to be labelled and to have Safety

Data sheet. Formerly, different country has a different design of pictogram used in the

label and different format of MSDS even though the hazard classification is similar.

Nowadays, chemicals can be very beneficial in life for people and

environment, but beside the benefits of these products, there is also potential for

adverse effects to health. As a result, in a way to convey the information through

labels or safety data sheets (SDS) most of countries and organizations have

established their own standard and regulation. There are various type of chemicals

available, harmonization and standardization of regulation is required. Protective

measures which will be implemented according to those who use substances with the

establishment of chemical hazard information systems (Nation, 2011).



184

Currently, OSHA (US) still not adopted the Globally Harmonized System as a

part of the regulation, even though it will have significant impact on the format of

Safety Data Sheet and labelling that will be used in trading and marketing

(Boelhouwer, 2009).

Globally Harmonized System for classification and labelling of chemicals is a

universally established system substances or the mixtures as physical, health and

environmental hazard. GHS is not only focusing on protecting human health and

environment but also will aid in promoting the chemical trade (Mohktar and Murad,

2010). Malaysia is among highest manufactures and exports chemical products after

electrical and electronic products.

In Malaysia, GHS implementation quite challenging especially on knowledge of

classification of chemicals such as mixture. This is due to in Malaysia there are very

limited number of expertise in toxicologist, industrial hygienist and occupational

health practitioner. The hazard classification in the GHS is highly technical and

required certain background and expertise to understand it accurately (Morita and

Morikawa, 2011).

Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) has adopted GHS via Classification,

Packaging and Safety Data Sheet Regulations 2013(CLASS 2013). It was issued in

October 2013 which had replaced the Occupational Safety and Health (Classification,

Packaging and Labelling of hazardous chemicals) Regulations 1997. Apart from

Classification, labelling and Safety Data Sheet Regulation 2013, Industry Code of

Practice on Chemicals Classification and Hazard Communication (ICOP) issued on

16 April 2014 had been established as a guidance document for classification, label

and SDS system for all industries in Malaysia. One year grace period has been given

to industry to comply with CLASS Regulations 2013 and ICOP since it was

published. Chemical manufacturers, importers, formulators, and distributors require to

classify, label and package chemicals, and compile safety data sheets according to the

Industry Code of Practice (ICOP) which is aligned with UN GHS.

GHS label and SDS adoption may cause four significant changes that will be

standardized which, signal word, hazard statement, pictograms and changes from

Material Safety Data sheet (MSDS) to Safety data sheet (SDS) (Campoverde and

Lamberts, 2014).

The goal of this study is to evaluate the level of workers awareness on the adoption of

GHS on the label and SDS format in chemical plant. This paper will present the

finding of the survey conducted at chemical plant in Kerteh to evaluate the worker’s

awareness on the SDS and label format changes due to adoption of Globally

Harmonize system.



185

2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Subject and study sites

This cross sectional study was conducted at chemical plant located in Kerteh between

month of November and December 2016. In this study, staff selected from various

department while for contractors the selection were based on their nature of work in

plant. The questionnaire has been distributed to the workers and researcher assisted

the participants by explaining the objective of the study to the respondents. The

respondents were given 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Two samples of

SDS and label were selected to evaluate the company commitment toward the

adoption GHS format of labelling and SDS.

2.2 Survey instrument

A pilot questionnaire entitled ‘‘Study on workers awareness on the Globally

Harmonize system on Label and SDS in workplace” was conducted in October 2016

involving plant staff, and HSE practitioner from other industries for reviewing.

Comments from five experts were received, and the questionnaire was modified

subsequently.

The questionnaire is designed to be a multi-choice question except for workers

experience and company commitment, Likert-type scale will be used with five

ratings: Extremely aware, Moderately aware, somewhat aware, slightly aware and not

at all aware. For section B, there are four Yes/No question in order to identify the

respondent understanding on GHS. Total 39 questions will be asked in the

questionnaire.

The data’s gathered from the questionnaire such as company scale, age, year of

experience, education levels and awareness of SDS and label were analyze using

SPSS 23 for Windows 13.0. The reliability of the questionnaire was analyzed through

the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Chi-square test was used to examine the relationship

between education background and level of awareness of adoption of GHS Label and

SDS.


3.1 Reliability test

Table 1 presented the reliability study for the tested questionnaire. This value is

accepted for reliability testing. The α-Cronbach’s coefficient need to be more than 0.7

to have a good acceptably in study.

Table 1: Reliability Test

Questionnaire Number of items Cronbach’s Alpha

Adoption of GHS Label and SDS system

at workplace

26 0.958



186

3.2 General information of respondent

One hundred (n=100) respondents had been selected to participate in this study.

Table 2 illustrated the results obtained from data background of the workers in this

study. The respondents comprised of 84% of male and 16% of female. Most of

participants work in the oil and gas industries and has a vast experience on handling

chemicals. For this study, the data collection involved of 64 staffs, 33 in-house

contractor and 3 from other expertise. Most of the respondents have a different

educational background, 13 % of the respondents only received education up to

certification, 32% received education in diploma level, 26 % received education in

bachelor degree and only 2 % received education up to master degrees. Respondent

age is between 20 and 59 year old.

Table 2: Demographic data of the population.

Aspect Descriptive Percentage

(%)

Gender Male

Female

84

16

Age distribution

Education level

Company scale

Working experience

>20

20 – 30

30 – 40

40 -50

50 – 59

Master degree

Bachelor Degree

Diploma

Certificates

Higher education level

Others

Staff

Contractor (in-house)

Others

< 1 year

> 1 years

5 - 10 years

11-15 years

>15 years

1

42

38

16

4

2

26

32

13

20

5

64

33

3

6

30

35

18

11

3.3 Adoption of GHS at Workplace

3.3.1 Management commitment

During the survey two sets of SDS documents and product label were selected. It

shows that SDS created was fully adopted GHS format. The SDS selection has 16

elements while the label has six standard elements. It shows that the company have

fully adopt the GHS system in the workplace whereby all SDS and label had followed

the format of GHS.

Based on the survey data, in average 58% of respondent somewhat aware on the

changes done by the management of GHS label and SDS. Figure 1 illustrated the

response of the respondents on the company commitment on adoption GHS SDS and

label. Almost 64% respondents indicate that the management contacting the



187

manufactures to changes the new SDS and label format, 58% of respondents mention

that management had change the chemical labeling with the new GHS label format

while 51% of the respondents observed that removal of inactive and unwanted

chemicals have been done by the management.

Figure 1: Response on workers awareness of adoption on GHS in the company.

3.3.2 Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

In order to understand the awareness of the workers on the SDS, the respondents were

asked to ascertain information in the SDS. Table 2 illustrated that, in average

respondent somewhat aware on information in the SDS with 54% of respond that

chemical name and classification can be identified in the SDS, 51 % respond that the

chemical toxicological is listed in the SDS, 41% respond that first aid and firefighting

information can be obtained in the SDS, 39% know that the chemicals hazard can be

identify through SDS, while 34% respond that label pictogram can be recognized in

the SDS.

Figure 2: Awareness of SDS element

Apart from that, the respondents were asked how to identify the chemical hazard.

Figure 3 shows that, only 28.5% of the respondent read the label, 28.5% read the



188

SDS, 22.50% through verbal instruction from counterpart and supervisor, 20.50 %

based on their knowledge on the chemical pictogram.

Figure 3: hazard identification

Moreover, during the emergency the respondents were asked how to respond to

chemical spillage. The data tabulated in Figure 4 shows that, 31.2% referred to SDS,

22.5% referred to the label description, 22% did not respond by his own, but will call

the emergency team, 13.9% will refer to the operator and 10.4% will respond based

on their knowledge and experience.

Figure 4: Emergency respond

Meanwhile, the respondents also were asked to identify how many elements in the

SDS. The data tabulated in Figure 5 shows that, only 18% mentioned that SDS should

have 16 elements, while 69% not sure how many elements in the SDS, 10%

mentioned more than five elements while 3% mentioned 10 elements.



189

Figure 5: Element in the SDS

The respondent was asked the difficulty they face when reading the SDS. Table 6

illustrated the difficulty on reading SDS, four major issue had been identified that

contributed to this problem, firstly, lacking training on SDS (35%), the SDS too long

and details (26.8%), the content of SDS find out to be complicated (22.3%) especially

on toxicology data and lastly the information in the SDS is not complete (15.9%).

Figure 6: Difficulty in reading SDS

3.3.3 Labelling

The respondent was asked to determine the information on the label. Figure 7 shows

that, on average 50% of the respondents somewhat aware on the element that should

be listed in the label.



190

Figure 7: Label awareness

3.3.4 Pictogram

The respondents were asked to identify nine different types of pictograms. Table 3.3

illustrated that, most of the respondent understand the key word of the pictogram

except for “exclamation mark” and “oxidizing”. The “flammable” was the one that

has been understood most of the workers (99%). Study that has been done by (Ta et

al. 2006) also shown that “flammable” pictogram is easy to identify compared to

other pictogram. The “exclamation mark” pictogram was the least understood

pictogram (8%). Respond for the “oxidizing” pictogram also slightly low compare to

other pictogram (71%) due to most of respondent said that the pictogram is slightly

same as flammable pictogram. A similar confusion was also discovered by Hara et al.

(2007) and Ta et.al (2010) whereby many respondents getting confused between

“flammable” pictogram and “oxidizing” pictogram.



191

Table 3: Results on comprehension of GHS pictogram

GHS pictogram Key word Percentage (%)

Toxic 98

Flammable

Environmental Hazards

Compressed gas

Corrosive

Explosive

Oxidizing

Exclamation mark

Health Hazards

99

97

92

95

95

71

8

94

3.3.5 Training

From the survey, it shows that 88 % of the respondents never attended the training

either in classroom or through online, while 11 % had attended one to two times and

only 1 % attended more than three times. Figure 8 shows the number of training had

been attended by the respondents.



192

Figure 8: GHS label and SDS training

4.0 Discussion

SDS is a guidance document that exemplify the details information associated with

the chemical. The data gathered from the study revealed that, the workers somewhat

aware about the SDS document, but the document is too details, complicated and

difficult to understand lead to workers more preferred to read and relied on the

general information written on the label compared to SDS. From the survey shown

that, most of respondent did not know how many elements should be in the SDS.

Label was the common sources to gain the information compared to other sources (Ta

et.al., 2010).

Label is a summary of the element in the SDS and it is not as details as SDS. GHS

label format had introduced new pictogram which all chemical label all around the

world will use a same pictogram compared to previous system whereby each country

had their own pictogram. Nine pictograms for chemical hazard have been introduced

that shall be used in the labeling system. From the study, 92% of the workers

understood that the exclamation mark pictogram as a harmful signage’s based

response from the respondents in the questionnaire survey. This is because

“exclamation mark” term itself did not define the hazard of the chemical compared to

another pictogram such flammable and corrosive. While for oxidizer pictogram, 29%

of the respondent had facing confusion between the oxidizing pictogram and

flammable pictogram due to the symbol is slightly similar. Pictogram commonly use

to convey information to people[8]. Furthermore, the label should have six elements

and 80% of respondents overlooked on the manufacture or company name elements

requirement in the label.

GHS system has been endorsed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council

(ECOSOC and introduced to worldwide since 2008. Due to this new system adoption,

employers need to provide an adequate training to the worker to educate on the new

system. The survey data demonstrate that only 12% of the respondents had attended

the GHS training of label and SDS and 88% respondents never attended any training.

From the survey, it is shown that the respondent aware about the changes based on

pictograms on the label because previously the pictogram has been used had a

different color and shape. However, the respondent did not know the changes are due

to adoption of GHS format. The respondents mentioned that there is no training or

communication had been conducted to educate them about the changes. In addition,



193

the company has just in operated for two years and most of the chemical purchases

will use GHS labels and SDS format. Almost 90% of respondents agreed by attending

training it will enhance their knowledge on the new GHS Label and SDS format.

SDS and label training will educate the respondent on how to identify the chemical

hazard, proper handling of chemical, first aid responds, chemical toxicological,

transportation’s and emergency respond during incident and accident involve of

chemicals. Each chemical has a different hazard and method of response during

emergency. For instance, in case there is an accident involve of major chemical

spillages, the workers need to know which section in SDS need to be referred so that

it will ease the workers to identify type material to be used to clean up the spillage

and to dispose the chemical in proper way. A study done by Phillips (1999) revealed

that workers had read the SDS after been trained. As such, it was suggested to

develop a training manual which will help overcome these obstacles of understanding

and awareness among the workers.

According to Dalvie et al. (2014) training need to be developed to ensure the users

recognize the items that not really remember or comprehend, but it is important to

understand. Training can be divided into two categories, which is formal and informal

training. For this study, it was suggested to develop the SDS and label guideline in

order to guide the workers to comprehend the element in SDS and label. The

guideline which will be focused on the sixteen elements listed in SDS and each

section will discuss in detail. While for formal training it was suggested to develop a

learning module.

5.0 CONCLUSION

The study found out that the awareness of respondent towards GHS SDS and label is

still moderate. Even though, most of the respondent never attended any GHS label &

SDS training but still somewhat aware on the changes. From the results, it was

suggested to develop a training manual to equip the workers on the GHS SDS and

label system.

REFERENCES

Nation, U., Globally harmonized system of classification and labelling of chemicals.:

New York. United Nation, 2011.

Boelhouwer, E.J., A.K. Piper, and J. Davis. The Use of Hazard and Precautionary

Symbols on GHS Safety Data Sheets. in Proceedings of the Human Factors

and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 2009. Sage Publications.

Mokhtar, M.B., G.C. Ta, and M.W. Murad, An essential step for environmental

protection: Towards a sound chemical management system in Malaysia.

Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, 2010. 17(5): p. 13-20.

Morita, T. and K. Morikawa, Expert review for GHS classification of chemicals on

health effects. Industrial health, 2011. 49(5): p. 559-565.

E.V.Campoverde, H.M., M.Lamberts, How do the Hazard Communication Standard

(HCS) and the globally Harmonized system (GHS) apply to your client.

Floride State Horticultural society, 2014. Proc.Fla.State

Hort.Soc.127:2014(2014): p. 174-176.

Ta, G.C., et al., Analysis of the comprehensibility of chemical hazard communication

tools at the industrial workplace. Industrial health, 2010. 48(6): p. 835-844.



194

Hara, K., et al., Results of recognition tests on Japanese subjects of the labels

presently used in Japan and the UN-GHS labels. Journal of occupational

health, 2007. 49(4): p. 260-267.

Boelhouwer, E., et al., Comprehension of hazard communication: Effects of

pictograms on safety data sheets and labels. Journal of safety research, 2013.

46: p. 145-155.

Phillips, C.C., et al., The efficacy of material safety data sheets and worker

acceptability. Journal of safety research, 1999. 30(2): p. 113-122.

Dalvie, M.A., H.-A. Rother, and L. London, Chemical hazard communication

comprehensibility in South Africa: Safety implications for the adoption of the

globally harmonised system of classification and labelling of chemicals.

Safety science, 2014. 61: p. 51-58.



195

Heat Exposure Assessment among Technicians

in Machinery Room onboard 24th Corvette

Laksamana Class Warship

Ahmad Tarmidzi Mohd Ideris a

and Siti Armiza Mohd Arisb

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology,UniversitiTeknologi

Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected],

[email protected],

Abstract – Some warship compartments are undoubtedly considered severe hot

environment due to high-temperature values produced by rotating machinery.

Besides, it also depended on the external conditions such as weather and design of the

warship, which contributes to high-temperature in specific compartments. Such

inconvenient situations which related to space, noise, vibration and poor air quality

inside the warship compartment further increase high prevalence risk to the

associated technicians. The technicians on board 24th Corvette, Laksamana Class

Warship are exposed to this high temperature especially in machinery room during

maintenance or rectification routine. This situation has increased the prevalence risk

of heat exposure which may cause heat stroke, dehydration, excessive fatigue, light-

headedness to convulsions and unconsciousness. Thus, this research is to examine the

awareness state among technicians regarding the heat exposure they faced in

machinery room during the daily routine and to propose an action plan to increase

awareness state among technicians regarding heat exposure in the workplace. The

variables that have been chosen in the study were knowledge awareness, personal

influences, environmental influences, interpersonal influences and management

influences. The statistical analysis technique was applied in the study by using The

Pearson-correlation coefficient, and the result shows that the environmental impacts

and management authorities have a significant positive relationship with awareness

state among technicians. Therefore, Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) should consider a

guideline for improvements.

Keywords: Ship Compartment, Machineries, Heat Exposure, Prevalence Risk, Awareness State.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Warship spaces contain environments of high heat and low humidity, including

engineering spaces, galleys, sculleries, laundries, and weather decks in hot climates

especially during flight deck operations, exercises and drills. Sustained high

temperatures leading to heat stress conditions can lower work performance and

morale and impair mental alertness, increasing the risk of workplace accidents, and

ultimately compromising the readiness of the ship. Severe heat stress can lead to heat-

related illnesses, disabilities, and even death.




196

Unlike internal living and service areas which can be easily equipped with air-

conditioning systems and decks which affected only by the external climate, thermo-

hygrometric conditions in machinery room are affected by the external climate, the

ventilation and the heat given off by the rotating and heat produced components such

as heat exchangers, pipes, cooling, and fuel pre-heaters, pumps, motors, compressor

and etcetera through convection and radiation. This occurrence results in increasing

air temperature values from 10°C to 30°C higher than the external temperature.

Consequently, the thermo-hygrometric conditions in the machinery room can be

extremely dangerous towards maintenance personnel.

Even in the recent past, several surveys which have been devoted to the

characterization of working conditions onboard ships have shown that the engine

crew suffer the highest overall levels of stress followed by the deck and engine

officers especially because of the higher levels of heat stress. Moreover, although it is

widely accepted that the machinery room is a very hazardous environment, the

interest of researchers in the field has been mainly focused on the identification of the

main risk factors to be taken into account at the design and management level rather

than on systematic studies devoted to the thermo-hygrometric characterization of such

special work environments.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Materials and Method

This study uses a quantitative method where the questions were prepared

constructively, to gather awareness among technicians regarding heat exposure.

Technicians who participated in this study worked in machinery room daily. Through

the survey, the questions reflected the awareness state of technicians regarding heat

exposure by knowledge awareness, personal influences, environmental influences,

interpersonal influences and management influences. The quantitative method was

chosen to collect data due to its flexibility to obtain results regardless of differences in

demographics background.

2.1.1 Population and Sample

The focus population in the study were the technicians who worked onboard the

Laksamana Class Warship. The sample size was taken using Krejcie and Morgan

Table, which involves 60 technicians. The questionnaires were distributed to all

targeted respondents that work inside the machinery room daily. Before the primary

survey started, a pilot test survey was conducted among 10 of the sample population.

The questionnaires were edited according to the comments for easy understanding by

the respondents.

2.1.2 Survey

A structured questionnaire was developed based on the pilot test survey outcome. The

questionnaire was divided into six sections based on the awareness state of heat

exposure among technicians. The questions included the demographic factors such as

age, rank and years of service in the RMN, marital status and academic qualification

followed by five influences factors that contribute to the awareness state. The

influences factors that were analysed included the knowledge awareness, personal

influences, environmental influences, interpersonal influences and management



197

influences. The scale of answer is constructed on the scale of 1 to 5 as 1 = strongly

disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = not sure, 4 = agree and 5 = strongly agree. All of the five

factors will lead to the state of awareness among technicians regarding heat exposure

they faced in the machinery room.

2.1.3 Data Analysis

Data was analysed by using IBM SPSS Software, version 16 to evaluate the

relationship between factors influencing heat exposure awareness and awareness state

among technicians. Descriptive data were presented in percentage, mean and

deviations.


Analysis of the results was based on 2 (two) sections which are demographic and five

more variables that were assessed equivalent to the research objectives. One of the

objectives is to identify the awareness state among technicians regarding heat

exposure by using the following variables; (i) Knowledge Awareness, (ii) Personal

Influences, (iii) Environment Influences, (iv) Interpersonal Influences, (v)

Management Influences. By referring to Table 1, the study reveals that environment

influences (M=3.09, SD=1.049) and Management influences (M=3.25, SD=1.046)

has contribute to the lower awareness state of heat exposure among technicians.

Meanwhile other factors which are knowledge awareness (M=3.92, SD=0.840),

personal influence (M=3.90, SD=0.733) and interpersonal influences (M=3.80,

SD=0.741) has high influence on awareness state among technicians. However, the

awareness of environmental influences did not give so much impact on the

technicians which means that the technicians lacked in knowledge. Thus, the

management should consider a guideline and action plan to increase awareness state

among technicians regarding heat exposure in the workplace.

Table 1: Factors Influencing Heat Exposure Awareness among Technicians.

Factors Mean (M) Level of Score

Mean

Knowledge Awareness 3.92 High

Personal Influences 3.90 High

Environment Influences 3.09 Medium

Interpersonal Influences 3.80 High

Management Influences 3.25 Medium

Overall Mean 3.59 Medium

Another objective of the study is to investigate the relationship of knowledge

awareness with factors influencing the perception of heat exposure in machinery room

among technicians. Knowledge awareness has been set as dependent variable

meanwhile another four factors as independent variable. The results were shown in

Table 2.



198

Table 2: Relationship between factor influencing the perception of heat exposure

with knowledge awareness

Influence Heat Exposure Factor

Knowledge Awareness

Significant Score Strenght of Correlation

Personal Influences r = 0.564**

sig (2-tailed) = 0.000 Moderate

Environment Influences r = 0.207

sig (2-tailed) = 0.112 No

Interpersonal Influences r = 0.296*

sig (2-tailed) = 0.022 Weak

Management Influences r = 0.013

sig (2-tailed) = 0.919 No

Based on Pearson Correlation Coefficient, (r) personal influences has a moderate

relationship with knowledge awareness where (r = 0.564**, sig (2-tailed) = 0.000).

Meanwhile interpersonal influences have a weak Pearson Correlation Coefficient with

knowledge awareness where (r = 0.296*, sig (2-tailed) = 0.022). Other 2 (two) factors

which are environmental influences and management influences seems does not have

any correlation with knowledge awareness.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this study has highlighted the factors influencing heat exposure

awareness among technicians in machinery room. The findings indicate that

management influences and environment influences have lower impact to awareness

state among technicians. Since the management of the warship is responsible for all

the ship crews especially who are working in dangerous or high-risk job, the

management should consider an appropriate guideline and action plan to increase

awareness state among technicians regarding heat exposure in the workplace. Besides

that, further studies are needed to assess the environmental influences such as

engineering control to decrease the surrounding temperature inside machinery room.

REFERENCE

A. Marszalek, M. K. (2005). Assessment of work ability in a hot environment of

workers of different ages.

Boris Igor Palella, F. Q. (2015). On the management and prevention of heat stress for

crews onboard ships. Ocean Engineering .

Chuanzhi Liang, G. Z. (2011). A new environmental heat stress index for indoor hot

and humid. Building and Environment .



199

Dandan Shen, N. Z. (2015). Influence of the temperature and Relative humidity on

human heat acclimatization during training in extremely hot environments.

Building and Environment .

E.K. O’Neal, P. B. (2010). Effects of work in a hot environment on repeated

performances of multiple types of simple mental tasks. International Journal of

Industrial Ergonomics .

HORIE, S. (2013). Prevention of Heat Stress Disorders in the Workplace.



200

Safety Awareness and Practices among

XYZSB Workers towards Occupational Safety

and Health

Muhammad Faiz Md Haled,a

and Wan Normeza Wan Zakaria,b

UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advance Technology, UniversitiTeknolgi

Malaysia, JalanSultaYahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract - This study is to identify the safety awareness among workers at the

construction site for underground cable installation job. This issue was raised due to

accidents that happened at the site. Accidents at workplace had caused company’s

expenses increase and affect its reputation. After identified the level of awareness

based on worker’s perception and officer observation, the next step is to improve the

safety awareness at construction site. Methodology used to collect the data is using

questionnaire to 55 total respondents (workers) and 1 respondent (officer). The

questionnaire pertaining about demographic, PPE, working training, safety

instruction, working manual and tool box.

Keywords: Safety, OSH, Accident

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays telecommunication has become an essential to everybody. Every aspect of

telecommunication is needed to keep people stay connected. Besides that,

telecommunication is a root for a company to keep operating. This all prove that

telecommunication is very important in this modern day.

First before we can enjoy the telecommunication facility, it started with the first stage

which is cable installation. The first phase of telecommunication is installation of

cable from one point to other point. Recently most of the copper cable was changed to

fibre cable. By changing to fibre cable, telecommunication service has become faster

due to all data is transferred using light speed. The usage of fibre cable has proven to

be efficient than copper cable.

Underground cable installation is a main job that done by XYZSB. XYZSB is a

Malaysian company incorporated in 1987. It is a well-established, dynamic enterprise

with its activities in mechanical and electrical (M&E) and telecommunication

industries. The company’s main activity is underground telecommunication cable

installation, civil work for underground telecommunication cable installation, and

telecommunication cable termination.



201


This chapter will provide the overview of literature that related to the problem stated

in previous chapter.

2.1 Level of Safety Awareness among Workers

Many research was done in order to measure the worker’s safety awareness and their

understanding towards safety in term of work procedure and usage of machinery at

workplace. Studied stated there are many perceptions indicating that accidents in

construction projects, which can range from minor injuries to loss of life, are

originated from workers’ unsafe acts (Hinze, J.W., Construction Safety. New Jersey

Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997)

2.2 Company Contribution

Company plays important role to implement the safety and health in workplace.

cording to Reason, 1997, safety program should be initiated from top management of

an organization. The top management should formulate a policy indicating a

commitment to safety.Marsh et al. (1998) have shown that management commitment

was the most significant measure to determine and influence safety performance.

2.3 Safety Attitude among Workers

The result of accident is due to the workers itself on how their behaviour at

workplace. The term "attitude" is derived from the subjects of social sciences,

particularly in the field of social psychology or psychology in general. "Attitudes"

simply stated, are defined as "a tendency to react positively or negatively towards an

object or a person" (Sartain et al. 1974).

2.4 Training

M.N. Vinodkum ar*, M. Bhasib (2010), identifying Safety training as the most

important safety management practice that predicts safety knowledge, safety

motivation, safety compliance and safety participation.

Management need to provide training to avoid and eliminate accident and workplace

hazard, the contractors should establish and implement procedures for education and

training of their employees about OSH.



202

3.0 RESEARCE METHODOLOGY

Figure 1: Flow Chart for Research Methodology

3.1 Survey Questionnaire& Literature review

This research will involve compilation from primary and secondary sources, which

some are featured for literature review and obtain the data. The secondary data

consists of information that was retrieved from journal, articles, websites and other

sources of information. The process of collected the primary data which through the

questionnaire distribution. At least 55 questionnaires distribute to workers of

underground fibre cable installation at BEESB and to a safety officer. Data was

collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The data collected from

questionnaire survey was then analysed using the percentage of quantity. The

questions asked in the questionnaire are based on an open ended question. The

questionnaire required respondents to choose yes/no answer to the particular question.

Prepare questionnaires

Survey Questionnaire to

55 Respondents

(workers)

Survey Questionnaire to

1 Respondents (officer)

Data analysis using percentage

Results and Discussion

Data analysis using

percentage

Preparation

Execution

Analysing

Result



203

3.2 Data Analysing Using Percentage

Table 1: Percentage Rank Analysis

Percentage Rank Analysis

Workers Safety Officer

>51% from total workers (YES)

= High (good)

>51% from 20 days (NO)

= Low (bad)

<50% from total workers (YES)

= Low (bad)

<50% from 20 days (NO)

= Yes (good)


Figure 2 shows that, the highest percentage of respondents answered this

questionnaire are from age 20 – 25 and no workers are above 45 years old. While

figure 3 showed 55% from the workers are without education and the highest

education are high school.

• Survey Questionnaire

(workers)

• 55 respondents

• Total of 11 questions for

55 workers include:

* company provided, behavior,

supervisor role, & training

• Answer by choosing YES

or NO

Survey Questionnaire (safety

officer)

• 1 respondents

• Total of 11 questions for

20days include:

* company provided, behavior,

supervisor role, & training

• Answer by choosing YES or

NO



204

55%

27%

18% 0%

EDUCATION

No education Primary School

High school Diploma

Figure 2: Distribution of workers’ age Figure 3: Distribution of workers’

education level

4.1 Level of Safety Awareness (Questionnaire)& Safety Practices (checklist)

Figure 4: workers question on safety awareness

37%

27%

36%

0%

AGE

20-25

26-35

36-45

45++



205

Figure 5: Safety Officer Checklist on safety practices

Based on the result of questionnaire& checklist, it can be concluding as below:

Q2: 100% total of Workers know they must be wearing PPE during work but 75% not

complied it as per SHO observation

Q3: 55% total of Workers know the important of wearing PPE but 60% not complied

it as per SHO observation

Q7: 67% total of workers aware of the hazards around workplace but 75% take for

granted from SHO observation

Q8: 100% total of workers claimed they are in good health while working but 85%

observed otherwise from SHO observation

Q11: 73% total of workers claimed they follow the supervisor safety instruction but

75% from SHO observation didn’t obey it


The research paper is focus to determine the level of awareness of workers on

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management systems. The findings have

demonstrated that most of the workers are aware that the occupational safety and

health management system is important and should be practiced to achieve zero

accident and death on site. Only a few part of safety requirement that not been taking

seriously by the workers. Overall, the safety and health awareness can be improved

among the workers. In order to increase the safety and health awareness among the

worker, company can provide more training and education. Besides that, management

must improve their commitment to applied and complied the safety standard.



206

REFERENCE

Andi, 2008 - Construction Workers Perceptions Toward Safety Culture

Edwin Omo-Ono Sawacha, 1993 -An Investigation Into Safety Attitudes And Safety

Performance In The Construction Industry

Rómel G. Solís-Carcaño, Ricardo J. Franco-Poot, 2014 -Construction Workers’

Perceptions of Safety Practices: A Case Study in Mexico

Brikend Aziri. Job Satisfaction: A Literature Review, Faculti of Business and

Economics, South European University, Ilindeska 1200, Tetovo Makedonia.

Management Research and Practice Vol. 3 Issues 4 (2011) PP: 77-86

F.A. Zulkefli, N. Md Ulang, F. Baharum, 2014 - Construction Health and Safety:

Effectiveness of Safety Incentive Programme

Patrick L. Yorio*, Jan K. Wachter, 2014-The impact of human performance focused

safety and health management practices on injury and illness rates: Do size

and industry matter?

Jan K. Wachter*, Patrick L. Yorio / 2013 - A system of safety management practices

and worker engagement for reducing and preventing accidents: An empirical

and theoretical investigation



207

Index A

Accident (128-131), 133, 135, 146, 148, 149, (151-153), 162, 164, 165, 169, 170,

176, 179, 180, 182, 193, 195, 200, 201, 205, 206

Affective Commitment 39, 43

Antenna (99-101), (103-106)

Assembly Line 94, 96, (177-181)

Awareness 6, 12, 27, 51, 77, 78, 146, 151, 158, 159, 161, 182, 183, 184, 185, 187,

190, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201, 204, 205

Awareness State (195-198)

B

Building Service (84-91)

C

Chemical Hazard 153, 183, 187, (192-194)

Chlorine (153-163)

Chlorine Health Effect 153

Citizen Relationship Management (CiRM) 8

Computer Simulation Technology 99

Construction 28, 40, (46-53), (63-65), (68-72), 74, 75, 84, 85, 90, 91, 100, 114, 120,

(128-135), (164-169), 200, 201, 206

Construction delay (46-48), (50-53), 68, 69

Construction industry 46, 47, 53, 63, 69, 70, 72, 75, 129, 134, 164, 169, 206

Continuance Commitment 39, 43

Critical success factors 8, 13, (32-37)

CSF 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 36

D Database 64, (114-117), 119, 120

E

Effective communication (70-75)

Elements (40-42), 65, 129, 146, 149, 150, 171, 186, 188, 192, 193

Eliminate Waste 92, 94, 170

Emotional Intelligence (75-83), 135

F

Factors 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, (25-37), (46-53), 55, 62, 65, 70, (72-75), 78,

90, 91, 123, 124, 126, (128-131), 133, 134, 136, 143, 144, (146-148), 151, 152, 160,

165, 168, 169, 183, 193, (196-198)

Fiber Reinforced Plastic 99, 100

G

Global Harmonized System 183

GHS (183-187), (191-194)

Government (1-3), (8-10), 12, 13, 26, 30, 46, 47, (50-53), 63, 64, 69, 84, 85, 89, 90,

108, 132, 144, 146, 147, 177



208

Ground work 164

H

HIRARC 168, 177, 180, 181

I

ICT 8, 11, 37,

Implementation Coordination Unit, Malaysia 63

Information and Communication Technology 8

Inventory Management 114, 115, 117, 120, 176

J

Job Satisfaction (39-45), 72, (122-127), (136-140), (142-145), 206

K

Kaizen 92, (96-98), 170, 171

Knowledge management (10-12), (32-38), 65, 69

L

Label 11, 27, 28, 172, 174, (183-190), (192-194)

Lean Manufacturing 92, 98, 170, 171

Linear Programming (114-117)

Line Balancing 92, 94

Local Government 8, 9, 12, 13

H

Heat Exposure (195-198)

High Speed Broadband 1, 2, 7

M

Machineries 66, 177, 179, 195

Management 1, (3-6), (8-18), (21-38), 40, 44, 48, 50, 51, 53, 58, 59, (61-65),

68, 69, 72, 74, 75, (77-79), (82-86), (88-93), 98, 107, (113-118), 120, 121,

(127-131), 135, 136, (143-145), 152, 155, (159-163), 165, 169, 172, 173,

(176-179), 181, 186, 187, 193, (195-198), 201, 205, 206

Ministry of Health, Malaysia 46

Monitoring tools 51, 52, 63, 64, 66, 68

Motorcycle safety 146

N

Naval Personnel 121, 127

NIOSH Generic Job Stress Questionnaire 121, 123

Normative Commitment 39, 43

O

Occupational Safety and Health 121, 123, 127, 129, 131, 133, 147, 155, 157,

159, 161, 165, (168-170), 175, 177, 180, 184, 200, 205

Occupational Stress (121-127), 144

Oil and Gas 39, 41, 44, 114, 154, 186

Organizational Commitment (39-45), 77, 143, 144



209

OSH 147, 177, 178, 180, 181, 200, 201, 205

P

Personal Behavior 146,(149-151)

Prevalence Risk 195

Project delivery performance 70, (72-74)

Project Documentation 1, 2

Project monitoring 46, 47, 51, 52, (63-66), 68

Public Low Cost Housing 84, 90

Public project delay (63-66), 68

Q

Queue system performance parameter 107

Queuing system 107, 109, 112, 113

Queuing theory 107, 108, 110, 111, 113

R

Radio Frequency 99

Riders (146-151)

Risk matrix 164, 165, 168, 180

S

Safe behaviour 128, 131

Safe excavation 164

Safety 72, 86, 88, 91, 121, 123, (127-135), 146, 147, (149-151), 153, (155-172), (175-

184), 187, 193, 194, (200-206)

Safety Culture (128-130), (132-135), 147, 206

Safety Data Sheets 183, 184, 193, 194

Safety issues 146

Safe work procedure (164-166), 168

Sales engineer (54-61), (76-82)

Sales skills (54-61)

Sales Performance 15, 16, (18-22), (54-61), (76-82)

SDS (183-189), 192, 193

Ship Compartment 195

Small and Medium-sized company 25

Source of uncertainty 15, 16, 18

Stock 15, (17-22), (114-120)

Supply chain management (15-18), (21-24), 75

T

Team integration (70-75)

Telekom Malaysia 1, 2, 6

Training (25-31), (34-36), 44, (54-58), (60-62), (77-79), 81, 82, 128, 136, (143-146),

151, 154, 161, 173, 177, 178, 180, 181, 183, 189, (191-193), 199, 200, 201, 203, 205

Training and development (25-31), 44, (77-79), 82

Tuition centre 32

W

Warehouse 21, (170-176)



210

Worker 6, 40, (42-44), (49-51), (54-56), 94, 96, 113, 117, 119, 128, (130-133),

143, 144, 147, 153, 154, 156, 157, 162, 164, (166-168), 171, (176-181), (183-

187), 190, (192-194), 198, (200-206)

5S Technique (170-175)

Documents

razak.utm.my · iii Editors: Nor Raihana Mohd Ali Hayati @ Habibah Abdul Talib Siti Zura A. Jalil @ Zainuddin Habibah @ Norehan Hj. Haron Samira Albati Kamaruddin Roslina Mohammad