INFLUENCE OF REWARDS AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP ON THE PERFORMANCE OF TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NYERI COUNTY, KENYA
Esther Wanjiku Kago - Department of Business Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Rosemarie Wanyoike (PhD) - Department of Business Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Nyeri County general data on the teacher’s competence and professionalism between the year 2015 and 2019 has been on the decline. Nyeri County is therefore representative enough of many other similar Counties in Kenya which have continuously posted low levels of reforms, lack of professionalism and incompetencies amongst teachers. The mean grades of students are a reflection of the teachers' performance and specifically how Human Resource aspects of the teachers are handled by the school management, TSC and the Ministry of Education. The relationship between teachers' engagement on their performance in Nyeri County is not clear since scanty of empirical literature done have presented contradicting findings and diverse operationalization of the study variables. The specific objectives were; to establish the effect of rewards on the performance of teachers in public secondary schools in Nyeri County, Kenya and to find out the effect of interpersonal relationships on performance of teachers in public secondary schools in Nyeri County, Kenya. Self-determination Theory, Hertzberg two factor theory and Job Demands Resource Theory were used to explain the variables interaction. Descriptive research design was used and the total population was 311 public secondary school teachers in Nyeri County. The sampled unit of analysis used was 175 teachers selected through stratified and simple random sampling. Semi-Structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Construct and content validity tests were carried out and tested through the supervisor's comments. Reliability was tested through the use of Cronbach Alpha and a threshold of 0.7 was accepted. Quantitative analysis used to analyze closed ended questions. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze open ended questionnaires. Tables and figures were used to present both qualitative and quantitative data. The results indicated that the teachers are dissatisfied with their current pay and do not get overtime benefits. The study found that welfare services from their employer such as health services, housing, security, educational and recreational services was below the expectations. The teacher-pupil’s interpersonal relationship and interaction have long been considered to have a crucial influence on teacher’s performance and development. The results revealed that teachers with good social relations with their fellow teachers and principal, with high performing friends, have significantly better chances in reaching a high-performance level. The study concluded that reward was significant in explaining changes in employee performance. The study concluded that there was a strong positive correlation between interpersonal relations and employee performance.