Team Leadership as a Determinant of Employee Performance: The Case of Eldoret Water and Sanitation Company in Kenya

Abstract

The complexity of most of the processes that are operated in organizations places them beyond the control of any one individual. The only really efficient way to tackle process improvement or problems is through the use of some form of teamwork. Based on a study which sought to establish the effect of team building on employee performance in Eldoret Water and Sanitation (ELDOWAS) company, this paper examines how team leadership affects employee performance. The study was descriptive in nature. The research used both probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling techniques to obtain the required number of respondents. In particular, stratified, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used. A sample of 80 respondents was drawn from three departments in ELDOWAS, namely technical, commercial/financial and personnel departments. The study was conducted from June 2007 to September 2007. The nature of data collected was both qualitative and quantitative data. Data was collected through the use of structured questionnaires and interviews. The data was then analyzed and presented by use of both descriptive and inferential statistics. To analyze the degree of relationship between variables, a Chi-square was used to test the hypotheses. It was established that there was a significant relationship between team leadership and employee performance. It was recommended that management must keep constant reviews and monitoring of workloads of their employees and in teams and keep watch of any changes in the workload of individual employees, which may result in increasing pressure experienced by them.