Relationship between High Performance Work Practices and Employee Performance: A Case of Mumias Sugar Company Limited, Kenya

Abstract

In order to cope with increasingly dynamic environments that demand rapid innovation and continuous changes, organizations shift its work nature to more decentralized and self-directed so that employees can use their initiatives to solve the problems and change the existing organizational settings. Organization's success and sustained competitive advantage depend on appropriate human resources (HR) strategies that promote employee well-being and care to foster employees' personal initiatives and proactive behavior. High performance Work Practices (HPWPs) are expected to increase workers effective discretionary effort, leading to improved employee performance in terms of product quality and higher profits as well as to a more satisfied workforce. Absence of High Performance Work Practices leads to increased labour turn over, poor organizational image, low profits, poor employee relations, increased work place accidents, emotional labour, burn out, intention to leave and lower levels of discretionary efforts. The international Labour Organization's global report on Work-life balance in 2010 found Kenya to have the highest prevalence of long working hours thus lack of Quality of work life which leads to reduced performance levels. The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between High Performance Work Practices and employee Performance at Mumias Sugar Company (MSC). The specific objective will be to determine how extensive Training  influence employee performance at Mumias Sugar Company,  To examine the influence of information sharing on employee performance at Mumias Sugar Company, To determine the extent to which self managed teams and decentralized decision making influence employee performance at Mumias Sugar Company, To investigate  the influence of flexible work arrangement on employee performance at Mumias Sugar Company and to establish the extent to which moderating effect of managerial support influence the relationship between High Performance work Practices and employee Performance at Mumias Sugar Company. Survey research design will be carried out at Mumias Sugar Company. Descriptive research design will be used in this study. Primary data will be collected by use of questionnaires and interviews while secondary data will be collected from journals, books and reports. Data will be analyzed through descriptive statistic and inferential (Multiple linear regression and correlation coefficient using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). This technique gives simple summary about the sample data and present quantitative descriptions in a manageable form