Empowerment of outsourced employees among the mobile telephone service providers customer care centres in Kisumu, Kenya.

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the approaches used to empower outsourced employees among the mobile telephone service providers customer care centres in Kisumu, Kenya. A survey design was used and data was collected by means of a questionnaire containing close ended questions on employee empowerment practices. The response of 34 employees out of 35 revealed that outsourced employees in the mobile telephone industry are empowered to achieve performance outcomes that are expected of them. The study was able to identify the practices of employee empowerment that outsourced employees in the customer care centres appreciated in terms of importance based on the frequency of the responses.

Sharing information about the organizations strategies and performance was the most important at 91.18%, followed by power to make decisions that influence organizational direction and performance (90.4%). The third most important approach is access to job- related knowledge and skills (89.7%) that enable employees to understand and contribute to organizational performance. Last but not the least is performance-based rewards systems (83.81%). Managers should be in the forefront in giving intrinsic motivation to the frontline employees The study suggests that employee empowerment should be a priority of managers of businesses in the mobile telephone industry.