An investigation into factors affecting work performance of employees of Church supported educational institutions in Nyanza Province : a case study of S.D.A Church institutions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting work performance of employees of church supported educational institutions in Nyanza province (A case of S.D.A institutions). Specifically, the study aimed at establishing whether employees had the relevant academic and professional qualifications; the extent to which working conditions in the said institutions were conducive and promoted work performance; if the rewards and compensation systems in place were motivating enough; the extent to which the human resources development programs affected employees work performance; And finally, to develop guidelines that could be used to address the problem of low morale among employees in the said institutions. Data prevalent to this study was gathered using two self-constructed questionnaires, one for the administrators and the other for the teaching and support staff. The population of the study comprised of the employees in SDA Church supported education institutions in Nyanza Province. Institutions were stratified on the basis of their district of location and purposefully selected. All the administrators from the institutions were selected, while the teaching and support staffs were randomly selected to constitute the sample of the study. Fifty percent of the employees in the education institutions were sampled for the study, which was equivalent to 134 out of 260 employees. The statistic package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. The statistical tools used in the analysis of the data were the pie chart, bar graph, frequencies, mode and percentages. After the study, the following was found. First, in most church institutions, administrators and the teaching staff had the required academic and professional qualifications. However, a great percentage of the support staff were wanting as far as academic and professional qualifications were concerned. Second, the working conditions in most of the institutions were a hindrance in the performance of work. Third, most church institutions lacked comprehensive human resources and development policies for the professional growth of their employees. Fourth, the rewards and the compensation systems in most church supported education institutions were not satisfactory and motivating enough. On the overall, the study found that the morale of most employees in the church supported education institutions was low. Most of them were not motivated to give their best service. On the basis of the above, recommendations, having policy, practice implications and further research were made.