Motivation strategies to improve job performance of support staff in public secondary schools, a case of Bomet district, Bomet county.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Education plays a crucial role in the social economic development of any country in the world today. Due to this reason many of the world nations are giving education a lion's share in the yearly budget. Parents are also investing heavily in their children's education in the recent years. However, for education programme to succeed, both the teachers and the support staff must be motivated. Motivation is a key ingredient in job performance in any organization. However, motivating employees is a great challenge to many employers because different people require different ways of motivation. The purpose of this study was to investigate on the strategies to motivate the support staff in public secondary schools in order to improve their job performance. Motivated support staff helps in achieving educational goals in Kenya. The researcher collected data from the support staff, P.T.A and BOM members, and school principals. The researcher used descriptive survey research design. A survey research design involves the selection of respondents and administering questionnaires or conducting interviews to gather information on variables of interest. The literature reviewed revealed that rewards, leadership style, training and career growth and support staff welfare influenced their job support The research was conducted in Bomet District, Bomet Sub County, in the Rift Valley. Data was collected from all the 13 schools and by extension, 13 principals. The sample size of 143 subjects was selected out of the target population: of 1672 composed of 53 principals, 318 support staff, 212 P.T.A and 689 BOM members. Data collection was done using questionnaires. The questionnaires were based on the research objectives. The validity of the questionnaires was assessed through pilot testing. Validity of the instruments was also assessed by ensuring that instruments were based on the research objectives. Supervisors also reviewed the instruments for further validation. Test-retest was used to assess the reliability of the instruments. The objectives of this research were to find out how rewards. Leadership style, training, career growth and employee welfare influence support staff's job performance in public secondary schools in Kenya. Principals, support staff and BOM members in two public secondary schools outside the study area were used for the pilot study. Results from the two secondary schools were then correlated. Only a reliability of ~0.7 was accepted. The data collected was organized, coded and analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) computer software. It was eventually concluded that effective rewarding system of support staff greatly motivated them for better job performance. In addition, the leadership style used by the school management determined the level of support staff. It was also concluded that the training and career growth enhancement by the School management is likely to lead to better job performance. The study recommended that the school principal being the chief executive officer in a secondary school should initiate a consistent effective reward system for the support staff as the rewards motive their job performance. The principal as the secretary to the BOM should work towards initiating and improving employee welfare as this motivate their job performance.