Workplace Environment and employee Performance in Judicial Service of Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

The judiciary of Kenya is one of the three arms of government whose primary function is administration of justice through a system of Courts that interprets and applies the law in Kenya and its success depends on the performance of the judicial service employees who are influenced by the workplace environment consisting of physical working environment, work-life balance, leadership styles and organization culture.Despite many efforts gearedtowards improving the service delivery of the Kenyan judiciary, many cases took long to be adjudicated, there were some instances of case files missing, claims of unfair trials and judgments and an increase in the cost of settling cases, this study therefore sought to investigate the influence of workplace environment on employee performance in the judicial service, KituiCounty. The specific objectives were to investigate the influence of physical working environment, work-lifebalance, leadership styles and organizational culture on judicial service employees’ performance in Kitui County, Kenya. This study was anchored on Fredrick Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, Compensation Theory, McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y and Institutional Theory. This study useda descriptive research design on a target population of 93 judicial service employees from fourLaw Courts in Kitui County, Kenya. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data concerningworkplace environment and employee performance by carrying out a census of judicial service employees in Kitui County. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were ascertained through pretesting using ten respondents drawn from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, KituiKenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages. Further, inferential statistics such as linear regression wasused to test for the relationship between independent and the dependent variables in each of the study objectives at 95%confidence level while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis in a narrative form guided by the study objectives.The study concluded that employees’ performance is important for the organization succession and achieving the goals. Physical working environment has a positive and significant effect on employee’s performance in judicial service. Work life balance affected employees’ performance in judiciary service. Employees felt that too much work, lack of an in-house child care among others contributed to stress at work.Leadership styles also affected employees’ performance. The selection of the right type of leadership style will largely depend on the situation, context and the employees who are the followers. Furthermore, organizational culture does not only give meaning to institutional conformity but also influence the attitudes and behavior of the staff.The study recommends that JSC should improve the work environment to motivate employees as well as adopt flexible work schedule strategies since it was found that work life balance positively affected employee performance. Since the leadership style employed by a leader is crucial to the success of the organization, the JSC should not only gain the trust of their sub-ordinates but also stimulate their commitment towards realization of judicial roles and goals. The findings of the study have shown that workplace environment influences employee performance in the judicial service, however,more elaborate research is necessary to accurately quantify the effects of workplace environment on employees’ performance in other organizations and institutions. The outcome of the research therefore may not necessarily be generalized as a representative of all the other 46 counties. Another research could be necessary to complement this one to cover a wider geographical scope; research grants from government and non-governmental organizations would come in handy to foot the cost of subsequent research studies thereof.