Perceived relationship between learning and development practices and employee performance at Kenya Airways Ltd

Abstract

Employee learning and development is one of the most important strategies for organizations to help employees gain proper experience, knowledge and skills needed to meet the environmental challenges in serving customers. Learning enables employees to be self-directed, work based which leads to increase adaptive capacity. The objective of the study was to determine the perceived relationship between learning and development practices and employee performance at Kenya Airways Limited. The study was guided by the following specific research objectives: to determine the perception of employees towards learning and development; to assess the perception of employees towards performance and to establish the relationship between Learning and Development and employee. This study was based on the human capital theory. Human capital theory advocates that education or training imparts useful knowledge and skills to workers which in turn increase their productivity and incomes. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and targeted the 4,024 employees at Kenya airways. The data was to be collected by use of self administered questionnaires that had both the open and close ended questionnaires. Data analysis was done by SPSS (V 21.0). The study established that employees at KQ were moved through a schedule of assignments to give them a wide exposure to the entire operations, the study also established that knowledge acquired by the employees in the job rotation and transfers improved employee productivity. On employee performance, study established that majority of the respondents agreed that knowledge on the job affected employees‟ performance at the Kenya Airways. The study also established that there was employees‟ level of accuracy or precision in their work was high. From the correlation analysis, the study established that there is a significant relationship between learning and development practices and employee performance. The study concluded that employees at Kenya Airways were moved through a schedule of assignments to give them a wide exposure to the entire operations, the study also concluded that study also concluded that formal training offered to staff had motivated more staff to work with Kenya Airways. The study also concluded that the study also concludes that on joining Kenya Airways, they were made aware of the rules and regulations governing the organization. The study recommended that all the new entrants at the Kenya Airways should be put through a formal induction programme immediately after being oriented. The study also recommended that job shadowing should be purposed at improving employees‟ skills.