Influence Of Performance Appraisal System On Employee Work Output Among Adult Education Officers In Meru County, Kenya

Abstract

The performance appraisal system (PAS) is a critical component of the overall human resource management function in the public service. Public sector reforms have become the norm in the present world. This has been necessitated by the poor performance of the state enterprises that have become a burden both financially and administratively. Tax payers have come out openly demanding the value for their money that is efficient, effective and ethical delivery of service to citizens. In Kenya, these public sector reforms have been embraced partly through the signing of Performance Contracts and Performance Appraisal Systems. Based on this concern, the research project looked at the influence of performance appraisal system on employee work output among Adult Education Officers in Meru County, Kenya. It tried to find out whether employee attitude, employee development and training, performance appraisal reward and performance appraisal feedback influences work output. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The design was used to solicit information from the respondents. Data was collected using a questionnaire which was administered to the staff of the Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education, Meru County, who comprised a target population of 170. The sample of the study was 63 Adult Education Officers representing 37.05% of the target population. The sampling procedure adopted in this study was stratified sampling and simple random sampling. The data gathered was presented using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. Statistical significance of variables was analyzed by use of correlational analyses. The study established that employee attitude, performance feedback, employee development and training as well as performance feedback contributes to employee work output among Adult Education Officers in Meru County. The study recommends that employee (staff) factors need to be built into the appraisal by incorporating performance feedback, skills, rewards and attitude as a basis of the appraisal process. There is also need to link the current appraisal system with the various aspects of organization development