dc.description.abstract | The people who make up an organization -human resources- are considered to be one of the most
important resources of today’s firms. People and how they are managed are becoming more
important because many other sources of competitive success are less powerful than they used
to. Organizations in both the public and indeed the private sector consider their employees as a
critical asset towards the attainment of the organizational goals. However, the same objectives
can only be attained from a satisfied workforce. Thus, employees should be rewarded according
to their performance and those who perform better need to be offered a greater proportion of the
available rewards and vice versa. The objective of the study was to determine teacher perception
of the performance based rewards and commitment in public secondary schools in Kikuyu Sub-
County. The research design adopted was cross sectional study. The population of the study
comprised of 620 teachers in public secondary schools Kikuyu Sub-County of Kiambu County.
The researcher used stratified sampling. The sample comprised 10% from each strata of the
target population. The study used primary data which was collected using self-administered
questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences and
presented in tables and charts. Regression analysis was undertaken to determine the relationship
between performances based rewards and teacher commitment. The study found out that teachers
perceived performance based pay would increase teacher motivation to improve student
achievement provides incentive for teachers to work harder, encourages teachers to participate in
staff development and improve skills, and modification of assessment methods. Teachers were
found to be committed to the schools they teach and thus they are proud to tell others that they
are part of the school, enjoy working in the school, glad that they chose to work in the school and
quitting the teaching work was not being considered by the teachers as they have families to
support. The regression analysis showed that teachers commitment to the schools and profession
was influenced by performance based rewards. Most employees were found to be disposed to the
performance-reward linkage, provided the scheme is administered with objectivity and fairness.
Therefore, the schools reward system should also commensurate with the effort that each
individual staff offer as well as be at par with other firms of the same standard that operate in an
economy. It was also concluded that performance-based rewards affect the performance of
teachers in different ways and it was realized that performance based rewards motivate teachers
and increases their performance, improve teachers’ productivity and efficiency. The study found
that the current system of rewarding teachers as it is in schools is inadequate and limited in scope
because the rewards are given on levels of experience and formal qualifications instead of
performance. It is recommended therefore that reward based systems should be based on
performance considerations and the same be set after a fair and accurate evaluation has been
undertaken. | en_US |