By Muritala Awodun,Ph.D
The Kwara State Internal revenue Service right from inception understands the significance of continuous training of employees as a medium for innovative performance improvement and embedded it in its business strategy. To be able to assess how far this has been achieved, a study was carried out during the special field feedback session of the month of May, 2018. The purpose of the study was to establish the role of continuous training in maximising efficiency in tax administration using the case of Kwara Internal revenue Service (KW-IRS). The study examined the strategies adopted for continuous training by the Service and subsequently measured the impact of these strategies on the performance of all levels of management (low, middle and top) of the Service.
KW-IRS having identified the need for training from inception, had built into its process the entry training programme (of 3 months) for all staff, the monthly field feedback and training (of a day monthly) for all staff, directorates’ regular (weekly) technical training, professional trainings (as organised and available) within and outside the Service respectively, and leadership and management trainings (both local and international). These schedule trainings have become a closely knitted continuous training that has improved the skills of the employees of the Service to create the required capacities. To ascertain the extent to which the above have impacted on the employees, the SWOT ANALYSIS was adopted to appraise a set of questionnaires applied to 642 staff of KW-IRS present at a particular month field feedback session.
The questionnaires were designed to measure the state of change readiness and change resistance of the employee of the Service in an attempt to measure the impact of continuous training on the employees’ level of efficiency. This is in addition to the analysis of the individual strengths and weaknesses that another organisational strengths and weakness that another part of the set of questionnaire was to address. Also, the environmental opportunities and threats which have a significant role to play on the organisational performance was also included as part of the coverage of the questionnaires.
Our findings revealed that there is a very significant positive relationship between continuous training and employees’ commitment, a significant positive relationship between continuous training and job satisfaction, a significant positive relationship between employers’ capacities and employees’ commitment, and a significant positive relationship between employers’ capacities and job satisfaction, all leading to maximising efficiency and performance in tax administration which is the focus of the study.
This study could be considered as a pioneer study in tax administration that has extended the employee commitment debate to the Internal revenue Service, using KW-IRS as a case study. It provides an explanation with empirical evidence by demonstrating that continuous training extends direct positive effect on employee commitment, job satisfaction, employee capacities and performance in the revenue service. The study also revealed that, at KW-IRS, job satisfaction helps to transmit the effect of continuous training on employee commitment and performance. What this exercise is capable of doing for the Service is to assist in exposing the areas that requires attention, and convince the management of the need to continuously develop capacities to drive for performance in the organisation in the pursuit of the vision ‘to mobilize revenue for the strategic development of Kwara State’.
*Awodun is the Executive Chairman of Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS).
