KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES OF LOCAL COUNCILS’ EMPLOYEES IN IMPLEMENTING RAINWATER HARVESTING POLICY

Abstract

Employee policy adherence is enhanced by their competency in their work scope. The aim of this paper is to emphasise the importance of local council's employees' knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) in implementing the Uniform Building By-Laws on rainwater harvesting in Malaysia. The methods employed to gather data were document reviews, interviews and focus group discussion. The findings reveal that the local councils’ employees knew the provisions of the rainwater harvesting in the By-Laws as well as the existence of additional guidelines that may be used to support the project implementation and approvals. However, their knowledge was limited by the insufficient information about those processes. Their technical skills in terms of the standard of rainwater harvesting installation were not well-developed. It was found that the key local councils’ employees in rainwater harvesting implementation were unable to provide the appropriate advice to the stakeholders to ensure proper implementation and maintenance. The lack of knowledge, skills, and abilities influenced employee competency, jeopardising the local council's fidelity to rainwater harvesting implementation. This paper identifies the key issues related to competency and suggests areas where local councils can improve so that employees can do their tasks effectively while adhering to the By-Laws.