The Influence of Performance Appraisal on Delivery of Public Services: a Case Study of National Youth Service (Nys)

Abstract

The study sort to find out the influence of performance appraisal on delivery of public services in NYS Technical and Vocational Training Institutes. The study established how performance targets, monitoring employees performance, and aligning performance appraisal to rewards influence the delivery of public services. The target population was 110 employees from 4 NYS Technical and Vocational Training Institutes. Stratified random sampling was considered appropriate for this study, given the diversity of the target population, which consisted of 56 workers from four different training institutes in NYS, Ruaraka in Nairobi. Data collection was mainly done with the help of questionnaires given to the respective respondents by the researcher and mail survey which involved dropping and picking, for the respondents who were not easily available due to the busy work schedule. The data obtained was subjected to analysis using quantitative techniques. The results were presented in tables, pie charts as well as histograms. It was confirmed that performance appraisal positively influences the delivery of public services. Setting performance appraisal targets positively influenced performance and delivery of public services by employees. It was also found that performance monitoring was crucial in public service delivery by the public servants. The study established the existence of a mutual connection between performance based rewards and public service delivery. The study recommends setting of employees performance appraisal targets that: follow the SMART criteria, employees are involved in formulation and targets that are in line with job descriptions and specifications. Such targets enhance efficiency, integrity and accountability and responsiveness to the needs of the public. The study further recommends that employees performance monitoring need to be on agreed targets, done regularly, immediate feedback on performance and the appropriate action taken to address the variance in performance if any. The study also recommends that rewards given to the employees should be informed by performance appraisal reports. The employees performance report should be the determinant of career developmet.