Perceived quality of human resource management services devolved by teachers service commission Kenya to the counties: a case study of Narok county

Abstract

There has been little full-scale decentralization of teacher management to the school level in public education. Although teacher recruitment and management in Kenya was decentralized since 2001, perception of teachers on decentralization has not been looked into, yet teachers are among the main stakeholders in education. The objective of the study was to establish the perceived quality of human resource services devolved by TSC to the counties: a case of Narok County. This research used a descriptive survey whose target population consisted of all secondary school teachers in Narok County. According to Narok County TSC HR office there were a total of 771 secondary teachers employed by Teachers Service Commission. The researcher selected a total of 20 respondents from each constituency making a total of 80 respondents. Out of 80 questionnaires distributed for this research, 74 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 92.5 per cent which was considered satisfactory for subsequent analysis. The study used primary data, which was gathered from respondents using a semi structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was established that respondents were satisfied with quality of decentralization of human resource services in Narok County. Overall, results indicate that respondents were satisfied with quality of service delivery in Narok County. It was clear that not all respondents were satisfied with the quality of decentralization of human resource services in the four sub-counties in Narok County. To spur satisfaction with perceived quality of human resource services devolved by TSC in Narok county, it is recommended that respective human resource practitioners in these sub-counties as well as the TSC‟s national office need knowledge on human resource management practices more than just mere personnel management so that they proactively implement devolution policies related to education in the counties as well as sub-counties. Given that the study focused only on perceived quality of human resource services devolved by TSC in Narok County, the results may not apply to all counties in Kenya. It is recommended that a similar study is done cutting across all counties so as to allow for broader generalization and comparison of findings