RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE IN KENYA PRISON SERVICE: A SURVEY OF GK PRISONS IN MERU COUNTY OF KENYA
Patrick Mwangi Muigai - Masters Student, Kenya Methodist University, Kenya
Abel Moguche - Kenya Methodist University, Kenya
Mutea Fredrick - Kenya Methodist University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The Kenyan Government acknowledges that over the years there has been poor performance in the public sector, especially in the management of public resources which has hindered the realization of sustainable economic growth. The government reiterates in the Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) some of the factors that adversely affect the performance of the public sector. Work-place stress has received a great deal of attention in social psychological research. Significant research findings have documented that prolonged stress has negative effects on individual health as well as on employee attitudes towards the organization. Employees work in a unique environment, subjecting themselves to potentially traumatic events in conditions that impact their emotional and physical well-being. Several measures of employee performance were analyzed which included environmental conditions, organizational demands, personal background and individual differences. Today Kenya Prison is a department in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government with a total of 110 prisons, 2 Borstal Institutions and 1 Youth Correctional Training Center. The study was carried out in the prisons department in Meru County of Kenya. Meru County has got 6 Prisons; Chuka, Kangeta, Maara, Marimanti, Meru and Uruku Prisons. All the top-level management (I.P, C.I.P, SP and SSP), middle level management (CPL, SGT and S/SGT) and lower level management (PC) employees of these prisons were used as the respondents where a total of 480 employees were involved in the study. Using stratified random sampling technique, the study selected a total of 115 respondents comprising of members of staff from the three levels Senior Officers, NCOs and Junior Officers where each of the 3 levels was treated as a stratum (group) from where the respondents were selected using simple random method from each of the 3 stratum. Data was collected through use of questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics. Multiple linear regression aided by SPSS (Version 20) was used to link the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The data was presented in frequency distribution tables, graphs and charts.
