Influence of county government human resource management practices in monitoring & evaluation on performance of road construction projects in Kirinyaga county, Kenya

Abstract

Human Resource Management is a distinct approach to staffing management which aim at obtaining competitive advantage through the deployment of a highly committed and skilled workforce, using various of techniques. Human Resource Management helps firms improve organizational behavior in such areas as staff commitment, competency and flexibility, which in turn leads to improved performance in monitoring and evaluation. The study concerns influence of human resource management practices in monitoring and evaluation on performance of road construction, a case of road projects in Kirinyaga County, Kenya. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of human resource management practices in monitoring and evaluation on performance of road construction in Kirinyaga County. The specific objectives were to determine how recruitment process of monitoring and evaluation staff, Training of monitoring and evaluation staff, compensation and performance appraisals on performance of road projects influence human resource management practices on project performance. The significance of the study generating knowledge and information on the influence of human resource management practice on project performance, assist the policy makers and program implementers, useful to students in this field of project management as the findings will form bankable empirical literature and also bring to the surface the efficacy of human resource management on project performance. Several theories were applied in this study which includes Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage, HRM Practices and Organization Performance Theory. There was empirical review and conceptual framework for this study. There was use of descriptive survey design and questionnaire was used to administer gathering of primary data. Secondary data validation was used for checking validity of primary data. The target population was 71 while sample was 58. Data was analyzed using SPSS. The findings showed a p-value of 0.0232 for variable recruitment process, and 0.0243 for the Training. Compensation variable had a p-value of 0.0214 and performance appraisals on performance of road projects 0.0244. This showed that the relationship was significant between the dependent and all the independent variables. Presentation was undertaken using frequency tables, charts. The recommendations are that there is need for enhancement of Human resource management practices on performance in monitoring and evaluation.