EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ONEMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN SUGAR INDUSTRY IN WESTERN REGION OF KENYA

Abstract

The success of an organization lies in the commitment of the individual human resource towards the attainment of a common goal. Organizations consider human capital significant in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Studies in the sugar industry in Kenya have indicated low employee performance and consequent decline in employee productivity. Owing to the foregoing facts the study sought to find out the effects of Human Resource Management practices on Employee performance. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of training practices on employee performance in sugar industries in Kenya. This study was guided by Resource–Based Theory as propagated by Werner Felt in 1984. Descriptive survey research design was used in this study. The target population of the study was 2,987 members of the two (Nzoia and Mumias) sugar manufacturing firms in Western region. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the 11 managers and Random sampling technique was used to select 331 subordinates’ employees, both primary and secondary data were used. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and interview schedules. Prior to the main study, a pilot study was carried out to ascertain the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Employees were stratified into managers and subordinates. Data was analyzed by use of both descriptive and inferential statistics. Multiple regression results indicated the value of R2 as 0.297 which tells us that human resource practices can account for 29.7% of the variation in the level of employee Performance. On overall, the study found out that the independent variables TP had a positive and significant influence on employee performance in sugar industry at 95% interval confidence level. The strength and significance of the correlation displayed showed that the variable TP was lowly related with TP (β1=0.226,p<0.000). It was therefore concluded that Training Program was one of the most preferred attributes of Human resource practices, though this human resource attribute was not effectively used. It was recommended that the Management of Sugar industry should embrace sensitization on the role of human resource practices in a competitive environment. The government ministries, on the other hand, may use the findings of this study to initiate reward programs that will improve employee performance. The ministries will benefit through integration of HRM practices in their business operations hence facilitate enhanced output at factory level. The study recommended that sugar industries should continue to improve on the aspects of on-the-job training, enhancement of employee morale, recognition of employees’ hardwork, paying employees best to reflect their efforts and sharing of formal levels of disciplinary sanctions among other recommendations.