Influence of work environment and leader behavior on the Performance of Employees in the County Government of Makueni
Keywords:
work environment, leader behavior, Performance, Employees, County Government, MakueniAbstract
Employee performance and productivity is of major concern in any economy worldwide. In Kenya there was establishment of the county government in 2010 after the promulgation of the constitution. This new system of governance in Kenya, devolution, is associated with greater participation in key decisions by members of society; a greater sense of shared vision and mission; an improved societal confidence and support based on greater knowledge and involvement. Although when the government was devolved into Counties most people left their original place of work and sought employment in the County Government, the challenge is that 20% of the jobs in the County Government are basically on contract and 80% are on permanent basis therefore this study tries to study the ways that the County government will have to adopt in order to retain their employees on job and ensure good performance. The study used descriptive research design. The study targeted the management and staff from the ten ministries/ departments in the county government of Makueni who were 220 in number. The study used the convenience sampling technique to select 96 managers who oversee the employees in executing their duties, the staff/ employees will also be sampled in regard to reporting to their managers in the county government of Makueni. The study found out that work environment and leader behavior has a significant effect on employee performance. Some challenges cannot be avoided but can be handled to reassure employees and impact on their performance positively for example unhealthy interaction with peers or leaders must be solved early enough to avoid ugly outcomes that affect work output. The leadership fraternity should ensure the county with a good brand from the community in order to serve them better without unnecessary conflicts. Leaders should be genuine evaluating, implementation and application of the set rules other that pretense. Once the employees loose trust in the leader, it becomes very difficult to be given attention and respect. The County Government to come up with measures on how leaders should account for their performance so as to have them put to task to deliver without fear of favourism.
Keywords: work environment, leader behavior, Performance, Employees, County Government, Makueni
References
Ali, A. S. A., Elmi, H. O., & Mohamed, A. I. (2013). The Effect of Leadership Behaviors On Staff Performance In Somalia. Educational Research International, 2(2).
Ansoff, H. I., & McDonnell, E. J. (1990). Implanting strategic management. Prentice hall.
Ansoff, H. I., & Sullivan, P. A. (1993). Optimizing profitability in turbulent environments: A formula for strategic success. Long range planning, 26(5), 11- 23.
Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, London, UK: Kogan Page, Ltd.
Bruce, A. (2004). How to motivate every employee: 24 proven tactics to spark productivity in the workplace. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Collis, D. J., & Montgomery, C. A. (1995). Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990s.
Cramer, M. E., Atwood, J. R., & Stoner, J. A. (2006). A conceptual model for understanding effective coalitions involved in health promotion programing. Public Health Nursing, 23(1), 67-73.
Crowe, E., & Higgins, E. T. (1997). Regulatory focus and strategic inclinations: Promotion and prevention in decision-making. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 69(2), 117-132.
Garnett, D. R. (1992). Electron temperature variations and the measurement of nebular abundances. The Astronomical Journal, 103, 1330-1337.
Greenberg, M. E., Lai, M. H., Hartel, G. F., Wichems, C. H., Gittleson, C., Bennet, J., ... & Basser, R. L. (2009). Response to a monovalent 2009 influenza A (H1N1) vaccine. New England Journal of Medicine, 361(25), 2405-2413.
Haliso, Y. (2014). Factors affecting information and communication technologies (ICTs) use by academic librarians in Southwestern Nigeria. Library Philosophy and Practice (ejournal). Paper 571.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). The balanced scorecard: translating strategy into action. Harvard Business Press.
Khan, N. R., Ghouri, A. M., & Awang, M. (2013). Leadership styles and organizational citizenship behavior in small and medium scale firms. Researchers World-Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce, 4(2), 153-163.
Kim, H.K (2014). Work-life Balance and Performance: The Meditating Role of Affective Commitment. Global business and management research: an international journal, 6(37-51.
Kiragu, K. (2002). Improving service delivery through public service reform: lessons of experience from select sub-Saharan Africa countries. In 2nd Meeting of the DAC Network on Good Governance and Capacity Development (pp. 14-15).
Kothari, C. (2004). Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques. 2nd Ed. New Delhi, India: New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers, ISBN
McSwain, L. L. (2010). The Calling of Congregational Leadership: Being, Knowing, Doing Ministry. Chalice Press.
Mostashari, E. (2009). Impact of organizational leadership on organizational performance: a study on small and medium size private companies in three cities of Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Iran (Doctoral dissertation, British University in Dubai).
Mugenda, O. M. & Mugenda, A. G. (2003). Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Nairobi, KE: Acts Press
Obong'o, S. O. (2009). Implementation of performance contracting in Kenya. International Public Management Review, 10(2), 66-84.
Okiy, R. B. (2013). Strengthening information provision in Nigerian university libraries through information communication technologies. The Electronic Library, 23.3, 311-318.
Osborn, A. M., Moore, E. R., & Timmis, K. N. (2000). An evaluation of terminal‐ restriction fragment length polymorphism (T‐RFLP) analysis for the study of microbial community structure and dynamics. Environmental microbiology, 2(1), 39-50.
Pfeffer, (1996). Investment behavior of target-date fund users having other funds in 401(k) plan accounts. EBRI Notes 30(12): 2–11. Washington, DC: Employee Benefit Research Institute.Available at http://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_12-Nov09.TDFs.pdf
Porter, L. J., Hrstich, L. N., & Chan, B. G. (1985). The conversion of procyanidins and prodelphinidins to cyanidin and delphinidin. Phytochemistry, 25(1), 223-230.
Rost, J. (2003). Leadership for the Twenty-First Century, Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Tandoh, V. C. (2011). Effect of leadership behaviours on employee performance in Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (Doctoral dissertation, Institute Of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology).
World Bank (2005) Issues and Options for Improving Engagement between the World Bank and Civil Society Organizations, Washington D.C; USA.
