Effects of Managerial Cognition on Organization Performance- A Case Study of Inchcape Shipping Services Mombasa

Abstract

Managerial cognition is generally mental process functioning involving acquisition maintenance and usage of knowledge and understanding through thought, experience or senses and thus using this knowledge in control and decision making in a business or organization. Cognition can be in many forms such as perception, attention, and pattern recognition, learning memory, language processing problem solving, thinking and reasoning. The resultant product of cognition is knowledge which is stored and maintained. This knowledge was typically utilized by people to make decisions and judgments. The abilities of managers to make decisions naturally mainly rely on this knowledge. The general objective of the study was to examine the effects of managerial cognition on organizational performance of Inchcape shipping services. The specific objective of the study was to examine the effects of decision making on organizational performance; to establish the effects of innovation on organizational performance; to establish the effects of employee motivation on organizational performance and to establish the effects of quality of management on organizational performance. The study theoretical theory was strengthened with two theories that are Maslow theory of needs and the Herzberg two factor theories. The study relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable was represented though the conceptual framework. The research design was descriptive in nature. The target population was 237 and the sample size was 75 which were obtained through proportionate simple random sampling. Data was collected through a questionnaire which was given to staff members drawn from the various management levels of the sampled employees of Inchcape in Mombasa County. Prior to data processing and analysis, the completeness of the collected questionnaires was assessed. The collected data was edited and then coded. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22.0. Descriptive statistics included, frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations.  Correlation facilitated drawing of infrences on relationship between each of the independent variables (decision making, innovation, employee motivation and quality of management) and the dependent variable (organizational performance). Multiple regression  enabled assessment of the effect of the independent variables on organizational performance as a whole. From the study majority of respondents were between 25-35 years, male holding senior managers position having either a master or bachelor's degree. The study results revealed that good managerial performance increased organizational performance. Innovation, employee motivation and quality of management had a great impact on organizational performance. The study revealed that there was a strong positive correlation between the independent variable and dependent variable with employee motivation contributing much to the dependent variable. The cofficient of determination was 58.8%.  The study concluded that the four factors have a significant effect on the dependent variable that is organizational performance. The study recommended that decision making should be consistent with best practices and experience if the company, that employee motivation should be benchmarked and that innovation should be embraced by the organization.