RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STAFF EMPOWERMENT PRACTICES AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY IN AIRLINE INDUSTRY IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF KENYA AIRWAYS
Mwangi Jacinta Wanjira - Master of Management and Leadership, Management University of Africa, Kenya
Kanyanjua David - Management University of Africa, Kenya
ABSTRACT
For an organization that minds about its future growth, it considers employee empowerment as one of the key elements that enhances organizational performance. In the airline industry, staff empowerment has not been effectively managed or taken seriously and as a result the industry loses between 5%-15% of their sales revenues annually. In Kenya, the air transport industry has been battling with increased work place conflicts emanating from its new business strategic options aimed at re-organizing its competitive edge. The current study investigated the relationship between staff empowerment practices and employee productivity in Kenya Airways Limited. The specific objectives were to establish the relationship between employee training, participative decision making, delegation of authority, flexible work arrangement and staff productive in Kenya Airways Limited. The study may benefit the Kenya Airways management, staff in various organizations, scholars and academicians. The study was guided by Theory of Structural Empowerment, Goal Setting Theory, accountability theory and work/family theory. The study employed descriptive research design. The target population were top level management staff and middle level management staff who deal directly with the day to day operations in Kenya airways. Stratified random sampling technique was used to come up with a sample size of 64 respondents from a total of 160 respondents. The study relied on primary data which was collected using questionnaires. Quantitative data was presented in frequency tables and figures while quantitative data was presented in prose form. Multiple regression was used to measure the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. The study established that employee training contributes up to 45% to the employee productivity in the institution. The study found that there was a linear relationship between employee training and employee productivity. The study established that participative decision making contributes to 0.44% to employee productivity in Kenya Airways. The study also established that there was significance relationship between participative decision making and employee productivity (sig=.017, sig <0.05). The study also established that delegation of authority contributes to 47% to employee productivity in Kenya airways. The study concluded that there was linear relationship between participative decision making and employee productivity in Kenya Airways. There was a significance relationship between participative decision making and employee productivity (sig=.017, sig <0.05). The study established that delegation of authority contributes to 47% to the employee productivity in Kenya airways. The study established that employee training contributes to 52.7% to the employee productivity Kenya Airways. The study further established that there was significance relationship between flexible work arrangement and employee productivity. Delegation of authority contributed most to employee productivity followed by participative decision making and then flexible work arrangement while employee training contributed little to employee productivity. The study recommends that training should be conducted time to time to ensure that employees have the necessary engagement and knowledge to change processes, become innovative, enhance performance and possess the job enthusiasm required for high organizational productivity. Organisations should further consider delegation of authority as one way of enhancing organizational output. The study also recommended the use of temporary contracts more in organizations as a flexi work strategy.
