Effects of organizational climate on job satisfaction among middle level employees of the higher education Loans board in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of organizational climate on job satisfaction among middle level employees of the Higher Education Loans Board. The objectives of the study were to establish if manager's supervision style, job autonomy, recognition, involvement of employees in decision-making and clarity of objectives influence job satisfaction at HELB Hertzberg's Two-factor theory was reviewed basing on its assumption that dissatisfaction leads to avoidance of work and satisfaction leads to attraction of work. The researcher anchored his theoretical framework on Bolman and Deal four frame organizational theory which postulates that successful organizations are those that understand and utilize a multi-frame orientation of thinking in assessing situational and environmental characteristics. Descriptive survey was' used as the researcher design. The target population was the 106 employees of the Higher Education Loan Board. The researcher used a sample of 32 selected by stratified random sampling. Questionnaire with item on job satisfaction was used to collect data on employees' demographic characteristics, level of satisfaction and commitment to organizational obligation as well as employer's commitment to employees' obligation. Two managers selected by purposive sampling were interviewed .Expert advice was used to ascertain the validity of the instruments. test re-test technique xvi was used to test reliability and a reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained and found to be reliable hence used for data collection. Descriptive statistics that were used to analyze data were frequencies, percentages, and mean. The analysis was performed using Statistical package for social science. Thirty-two questionnaires were administered to the respondents out of whom 27 returned this translated into 87.3 percent return rate The findings revealed that generally the employees of the Higher Education were satisfied. The majority were of the opinion that they were satisfied with the organizational climate represented. Whereas 82.2 percent of respondents were of the opinion that they are fully committed to organizational commitment, 48.1 percent felt that the employer is committed to fulfilling their obligation to employees. Cumulatively, 88.9 percent of the respondents were of the opinion that they are satisfied with the manager's supervision style. They were equally satisfied with the job autonomy and clarity of objectives. However, the respondents were less satisfied with the being involved in decision making and felt that they are not recognized fully in what they do for the organization. In particular, employees were satisfied with the following task skills: activity, authority, autonomy, moral values, security, and nature of supervision, delegation, and staff relationship with other peers. They were dissatisfied with the following; ability utilization, communication, compensation and recognition. It was revealed that married people were more satisfied than single employees were. The older employees indicated that they were more satisfied than the young employees were and male employees were more satisfied than female employees were. Employees with post-graduate qualification were more satisfied than their colleagues without the same qualification. The researcher concluded that middle level employees of the Higher Education Loans Board were satisfied with their job though they feel that they should be more recognized and be fully involved in decision­ making. It was recommended that deliberate efforts should be put in place by the management to ensure that all employees are committed to the ownership of the institution by being involved in decision-making. There was also need to clarify the objectives to be attained by the employees besides the management developing a clear policy framework on promotion and career advancement. The researcher suggests. that a study be carried out on the effects of organizational climate on job satisfaction at any other semi autonomous government agency like TSC, CHE, and KIE. It was also suggested that the same study be replicated using a larger sample and with other variables other than what was used in this study. Study on the effects of organizational culture on job satisfaction at Higher Education Loans Board should also be carried out.