Leadership behavior and employee satisfaction in the public service in Siaya District, Kenya

Abstract

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR AN""Q!t,1Il\~OYEE SATISFACTION PUBLIC SERVICE IN SIAYA DISTRICT, KENYA IN THE BY CAROLYNE AWUOR OLUOKO A RESEARCH THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT MOl UNIVERSITY ~ ...._--.--~..-.,."--- Th!~ book Is donate.I OCTOBER, Illiiiliili Satisfaction and dissatisfaction with one's job depends upon the positive or negative evaluation of one's own success on the realization of organizational goals. However,there are several factors that affect the levels of satisfaction; leadership behavior,incentives, team-work, involvement in decision making, career progression, job security,the work environment and the job itself. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of leadership behavior on the levels of job satisfaction among the Kenyan public servants. The specific objectives were to: evaluate what the leadership behavior of the public sector administrators entail; examine the extent of job satisfaction in the public sector and the challenges of using leadership behavior to determine job satisfaction of the staff in the public sector; establish the most appropriate way of solving the challenges facing leadership behavior and job satisfaction. The study was based on The Full Range Leadership Model that was developed by Bass and Avolio which advocates for a combination ofbothtransformationalandtransactional leadership. To execute the study,data was obtained by purposive random sampling, after stratifying the population per thevarious departments in the sector. Data was collected from 198 respondents who weresampled from a total population of 1777. Furthermore, the questionnaires for the studywere adopted from the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire; interviews were scheduled for the top managers who lacked the time for filling in the questionnaires. The study adopted the descriptive survey with the data being analyzed using SPSS version 16. The finding of the studywould be significant to; policymakers and project implementors in development of comprehensive program in enhancing job satisfaction among employees besides contributing both as reference material and a general knowledge base. The researcher concluded that the degree towhich the public employees were; involved in decision making, accorded effectivecommunication, appreciated, recognized, empowered, motivated, entrusted with responsibilities and engaged in team-work, the more they had higher levels of job contentment. The major recommendation was that a study be executed on the effect of other variables like job rotation, job design, job enlargement, organizational culture, employee involvement and working conditions on employee's satisfaction levels .