Influence of employees empowerment on employee perfomance in technical training Institutes in Meru County, Kenya
Abstract
According to Riechi (2010) dynamics and the ambiguity and complexity of today's
organizations is accepted as unavoidable. In order to overcome the uncertainty,
complexity and dynamic environment, the management is empowering and benefiting
from the cooperation and participation of employees through the acquisition of
knowledge and skills that quickly becomes obsolete. Among the factors that affect the
very survival of organizations is human resources factor. Therefore, a critical mass of
educated people who are equipped with appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes is
required in order to achieve the country's political, economic and social goals that are
articulated in Kenya Vision 2030, (2008) policy document. Therefore, to bridge this gap
we sought to find out the factors that influence employee empowerment on employee
performance in Technical Training Institutions with special focus on Technical Training
Institutes in Meru County, Kenya. The specific objectives that guided this study were: to
determine whether participative management affects performance of Technical Training
Institutes' employees, to establish how rewards and recognition influence performance of
Technical Training Institutes employees, to establish how teamwork affects performance
of Technical Training Institutes employees, to investigate the effects of training on
performance of Technical Training Institutes employees and to investigate the effects of
work environment on performance of Technical Training Institutes employees .The target
population composed of 227 teaching staff and 93 non-teaching members as per the three
Technical Training Institutes registry, as at 2nd May 2013. The sampling method used
was probability sampling technique where the researcher employed simple random
sampling method to select the respondents. Data was collected through administration of
questionnaires designed based on the research objectives. Quantitative approach was used
in data analysis. The data collected was then be coded, entered, and analyzed using
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics included
frequencies, measures of central tendencies and dispersion. Inferential statistics included
regression and analysis of variances and these was used to determine whether
participative management, rewards and recognition, teamwork, training and work
environment affects employee performance. The study found out that a good number of
employees in the technical training institute were familiar with a matters of employee
empowerment. Participative management easily empowers employee where it practiced
because the employee feel a sense of trust and belonging. The extent to which reward and
recognition influence employee empowerment in the organization was observed to very
high influence sited by majority of the respondent study. Teamwork is considered to very
important to determine how work in the organization is performed. It was clear on how
presence or lack of training and development influence employee empowerment
considering some of the technical institutions were doing in terms of performance hence
it was noted that training prevailed in technical training institution. Finally working
environment is also key to employee toward daily their performance. Therefore, we can
conclude that participative management, reward and recognition, teamwork, training and
work environment that influence employee empowerment on employee performance in
Technical Training Institutions.