Effect of Employee Involvement on Job Performance at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Center for Global Health Research) Kisumu

Abstract

The highly competitive environment needs a different approach to manage employees and various studies have shown that employee involvement is a critical component of human resources management. The level of employee involvement in their job is a measure of the success of individual performance on their jobs and overall organization performance. This research investigated the correlation between employee involvement and job performance to the organization. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of employee involvement and job performance at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Centre for Global Health Research) in Kisumu. The study adopted a descriptive study survey as the research design. The population for the study included all the employees of Kenya Medical Research Institute (Centre for Global Health Research) in Kisumu who were 867 in total. The study used a scientific formula by fisher et al. to select the sample after which simple random sampling was used to select 174 respondents from the organization. The main primary data collection instrument of this study was structured questionnaires. Data obtained was analyzed using descriptive analysis approach for the general information. The data was presented using tables and measurement for the test variables was done using regression analysis to determine the effect of employee involvement on job performance. The study established that the employees of KEMRI (CGHR) had well defined goals and objectives and that the employees understood how their individual performance contributed to the overall organisation goals. The study revealed that supervisors kept employees updated about the future direction of the organisation. Representative participation was also found by the study to be an important means to involve employees for efficient job performance. The study also evidenced that teams at KEMRI participate in deciding how the work gets done however teams are not given control and autonomy to perform their functions. Thus it can be concluded that enabling employees participate and be involved in matters that affect their jobs increases job performance and overall organizational performance. The study recommended that managers within the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Centre for Global Health Research) in Kisumu involve employees more in setting goals, hold employee accountable for their activities and that managers should allow employees be innovative and creative to enable enhancement of processes and productivity in the organization.