Factors affecting training of employees on performance in Eldoret municipal council, Kenya

Abstract

Employees in various local authorities across the globe play a significant role in provision of essential services to people within their areas of jurisdiction. In many developing countries such as Tanzania, local governments are however, faced with challenges in service delivery due to external and internal forces such as inadequacy of finance, centralized decision making by the central government, emergence of private organizations providing similar services and the changing technology. This study assessed the factors affecting training of employees on performance in Eldoret Municipal Council in Kenya. The research was guided by the following objectives: to find out the factors that necessitate the need for employees’ training, to assess the various modes of employees’ training and to examine the challenges facing employees training in Eldoret Municipal Council. The study adopted open systems theory propounded by Von Bertanlaffy (1962), and a survey research design. A total study sample of 261 respondents was considered for this study of which 254 were field officers from the seven departments and all the seven heads of departments. Stratified sampling was used to group employees based on departments. A study sample of 30 percent of field officers from each department was drawn through simple random sampling technique but all the seven heads of departments were purposively sampled. Data for this study were collected through the use of questionnaires containing both open and closed ended items and document analysis. Analysis of data involved the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences as well as qualitative analysis. Descriptive techniques such as the use of percentages and frequencies were then used in the presentation of the findings. The findings revealed that among the needs for training included the need by employees to acquire more skills and knowledge, personal initiative for promotion and salary increment, changing technology at work place, and competition from private entities offering similar services for a fee. It was also established that there were both on the job and off the job training in EMC but not all employees benefit from the trainings. The challenges facing employees training included insufficient funds allocation for training, lack of formalized criteria for selecting trainees, corruption and bribery, and tribalism. A training gap which had manifested itself in poor service delivery had been experienced resulting in emergence of private organization that provided similar services. Frequent systematic training blended with an all-inclusive departmental needs assessment for employees should be established to bridge this gap. With the change of the Kenyan constitution, a similar research should be done in the county government to evaluate training and employees’ performance in service delivery. In addition, further research should also be conducted on other monetary and non monetary incentives to establish their impact on employees’ performance in the current county governments