MORALE BOOSTING ACTIVITIES AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN GOVERNMENT AIDED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UGANDA
Fred Mukasa Kijjambu
Corresponding Author
Faculty of Business Administration& Management, Ndejje University.
Oroma Annabella Asedri
Corresponding Author
Faculty of Business Administration& Management, Ndejje University.
Government aided secondary schools in Uganda face low employee moral emanating from continuous transfers of head teachers and staff from time to time. Despite the efforts made to improve employee performance in government secondary schools, the schools are still facing a gap in employee performance levels. The school management teams have been pursuing high performance goals for more than eight years through infrastructural development, employee engagement, reinforcement, delegation, incentives, grievance redress, and prompt salary payments, among others. This paper examines the effect of morale boosting activities on employee performance in government aided schools in Uganda. The study adopted a correlation research design.
The study targeted a population of 242 respondents from which a sample of 150 respondents was randomly selected. The study used structured self-administered questionnaires for all the study respondents, and conducted 12 in-depth key informant interviews. The study results on all the three aspects revealed an associative significant positive relationship as indicated below; engagement and employee performance (r=0.630**; p=0.000; Adjusted R-square= 0.393);
recognition and employee performance (r=0.823***; p=0.000; Adjusted R-square=0.690), empowerment and performance (r=0.888***; p=0.000; Adjusted R-square=0.788). Qualitative results revealed that employees are not willing to go an extra mile, supervisors hardly appreciate good performance and the extent to which employees are given access to job-related knowledge & skills is less. In conclusion, all the three aspects of morale boosting activities are significant predictors of performance.
To achieve optimal performance, policy makers should purpose to boost employee morale through formulation of friendly guidelines and flat organizational structures aimed at promoting employee empowerment, recognition and engagement. Most importantly, building healthy relationships and promoting employee dedication to the organization bring forth innumerable benefits, since good interpersonal relationships are more important than professional competency.
The study targeted a population of 242 respondents from which a sample of 150 respondents was randomly selected. The study used structured self-administered questionnaires for all the study respondents, and conducted 12 in-depth key informant interviews. The study results on all the three aspects revealed an associative significant positive relationship as indicated below; engagement and employee performance (r=0.630**; p=0.000; Adjusted R-square= 0.393);
recognition and employee performance (r=0.823***; p=0.000; Adjusted R-square=0.690), empowerment and performance (r=0.888***; p=0.000; Adjusted R-square=0.788). Qualitative results revealed that employees are not willing to go an extra mile, supervisors hardly appreciate good performance and the extent to which employees are given access to job-related knowledge & skills is less. In conclusion, all the three aspects of morale boosting activities are significant predictors of performance.
To achieve optimal performance, policy makers should purpose to boost employee morale through formulation of friendly guidelines and flat organizational structures aimed at promoting employee empowerment, recognition and engagement. Most importantly, building healthy relationships and promoting employee dedication to the organization bring forth innumerable benefits, since good interpersonal relationships are more important than professional competency.