WORKING CONDITIONS AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

OF KINYARA SUGAR WORKS LIMITED IN

MASINDI DISTRICT, UGANDA

A thesis
Presented to the School of
Post Graduate Studies and Research
Kampala International University
Kampala, Uganda

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of

Masters of Arts in Human Resource Management

BY:
KATUSABE LYDIA
MHR/40333/9 1/DU

October,2011
 DECLARATION A

This thesis is my original work and has not been submitted for a Degree or any
other academic award in any University or institution of learning.

-~fe1p t4Ø1~
Name and Signature of the Candidate

Date

M?J~ CA
/
 DECLARATION B

I confirm that the work reported in this thesis was carried out by the candidate
under my supervision.

ame and Signature of Supervisor

i’ili ~f2~-q_ Date

 APPROVAL SHEET
This thesis entitled “Working Conditions and Employee Performance of Kinyara
Sugar Works Limited in Masindi District, Uganda” prepared and submitted by Katusabe
Lydia in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in
Human Resource Management has been examined and approved by the panel on oral
examination with a grade of PASSED.

hj44
Name and Sig. of Chairman

Name and Sig. of Panelist

Date of Comprehensive Examination:

Grade:

Name and Sig of Director, SPGSR

Name and Sig of DVC, SPGSR

 DEDICATION

This book is dedicated with much love and appreciation to my

Parents and Siblings;
Daddy and Mummy,
Chris and Olive,
Harriet and Scovia.

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher wishes to acknowledge the almighty God for keeping her and her
family members healthy, safe and enabling me complete this course.
The researcher is very grateful to the Human Resource Manager for Kinyara
Sugar Works limited Mr. Bituura Albert who allowed her to use his station as a base and
rendered all the necessary assistance to make her study a success. More thanks go to
the other managerial officials and surbodinate staff of Kinyara Sugar Works Limited who
were active respondents of the study that assisted here to collect data for her thesis.
Heartfelt thanks go to the Deputy Vice Chancellor School of Post Graduate
Studies and Research Dr. Novembrieta R. Sumil.
The researcher is also grateful to her supervisor Mr. Malinga Ramadhan for
guiding and advising her throughout the study.
She is also grateful to the chairman of the panel Dr. Manuel 0. Sumil, Panelists
Dr. Jones, Dr. Kabir and Mr. Kasozi Geofrey who have enabled her excel in her thesis
through advising her and she appreciates their constructive criticisms. She goes ahead
to thank her course coordinators for their moral support, constructive criticisms,
guidance and patience that sustained her hope and courage.
Finally the researcher owes a debt of gratitude for what her family members;
Daddy, Mummy, Chris, Harriet, Olive and Scovia have contributed to see her through
this course.
May the Lord God Almighty Bless them abundantly and Grant them everlasting
lives, she is grateful to her friends’ advice and assistance as well.

v
 ABSTRACT
This study particularly examined the effect of working conditions on employee
performance at Kinyara Sugar Works Limited (KSWL) in Masindi District. This was
guided by specific objectives which include; i) to find out the working conditions of the
employees; ii) to find out other factors affecting the employee work, and iii) to establish
the significant relationship between working conditions and employee performance.
The study used the correlational research design to determine the relationship
between working conditions in particular and employee performance at KSWL. The
study is both quantitive and qualitative. It involved the use of questionnaires and
interviews for data collection from the sample size of 341 respondents which was
selected from a population size of 2287.
Particularly to substantiate the short comings of the work place condition of job
performance in KSWL an observation by Wehrich et al (1990) can be a suitable
example, working conditions have negative impact because they de-motivate or
increase stress levels of employees towards work and hence performance is
compromised. Research evidence shows that the working conditions, mainly
instituitonalfactors at the comapny are commonly fairly favourable to the employees
especially among the subordinate staff. Among the condtions ascertained include
employee remuneration and benefits, The majority of the employees were fairly
satisfied.
The findings concluded that the hypothesis was rejected thus indicating that
there is a significant relationship between working conditions and employee
performance which is in line with the findings of Wehrich et al (1990). It was thus
recommended that employee performance would significantly improve with improved
working conditions. That is to say employee motivation and organisational plan are to
take the first priority.

vi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page
Declaration A
Declaration B ii
Approval Sheet iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Abstract vi
Table of Contents vii
List of Tables x
List of Acronyms xi

One THEPROBLEMANDITSSCOPE 1
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 4
Purpose of the Study 5
Objectives of the Study 5
Research Questions 5
Null Hypothesis 6
Scope of the Study 6
Significance of the Study 7
Operational Definitions of Terms 9

Two REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 10

Theoretical Frame Work 10
Concepts, Ideas, Opinions from Authors/ Experts 10
Other Factors Affecting Employees 28
Three RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 37

vii
 Research Design 37
Research Population 37
Sampling Procedure 39
Sample Size 38
Research Instrument 39
Validity and Reliability of the instrument 40
Data Gathering Procedures 41
Data Analysis 41
Ethical Considerations 42
Limitations of the Study 42

Four PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 43

Five FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STUDY 50

Discussion of the findings 49
Conclusion 53
Recommendations 55

REFERENCES 58

APPEN DICES
Appendix A: Transmittal Letter 61
Appendix B: Informed Consent 62
Appendix C: Questionnaire For Surbordinate Staff 63
Appendix D Reliability Test 68
Appendix E: A map of Uganda showing Masindi district 69
Researcher’s Curricullum Vitae 71

vi
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Showing Profile Data 49
Table 2: Showing extent of working conditions 49
Table 3: Showing the level of employee performance 51
Table 4: Showing significance relationship between the extent of working
conditions and employee performance 52
Table 5: Showing the regression levels 52

ix
 LIST OF ACRONYMS

BT — Booker Tate
ENG — Engineer
ERISA — Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
FLSA — Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938
FUE — Federation of Uganda Employees
Fy — Financial Year
HR — Human Resource
HRM — Human Resource Management
HRM — Human Resource Manager
ILO — International Labour Organization
KSW — Kinyara Sugar Works
KSWL — Kinyara Sugar Works Limited
Ltd — Limited
NSW (K) — National Sugar Works (Kinyara)
NUPAW — National Union of Plantation and Agricultural Workers.
NUPAWU — National Union of plantation and Agricultural workers (UGANDA)
OHS — Occupational Health and Safety
P/ HR — Personnel or Human Resource
USCTA — Uganda Sugar Cane Technologist Association
WHO — World Health Organization

x
 CHAPTER ONE

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Background of the Study

Historically the workplace has been a major factor in compromising the health of
workers in America. Poor working conditions, long hours and little regard for the human
factor all took their toll on the health status of the workplace. Employee performance
depends on working conditions which are defined as all existing circumstances affecting
labour in the work place including job hours, Physical aspect legal rights and
responsibilities. Working conditions were characterized by remuneration, performance
appraisal, compensation packages, occupational health and safety, welfare services and
Employee benefits and Employee performance by rate of turnover, productivity,
absenteeism, accidents and job satisfaction / Performance. Early work reforms focused
on children at work, the physical plant and the length of the workday. Later health and
safety improvements were imposed on employers. Business and industry apparently
viewed the worker as a static commodity and had little appreciation for the relationship
between the health status of employees and productivity and profit. Today the worker
with compromised health represents a serious threat to our national economy.

Employee performance is the contribution made by an employee to make an

organization lead to it’s goal attainment. The determinants of employee performance
are competencies, motivation and work constraints (Harris, 2000). Globally, nature of
the work place has many implications for Human Resource Management (HRM) for
example consider the experience of Gillette Company which recently introduced a world
wide stock plan for its employees. Much to its surprise, the company discovered that
what works in the United States may not work in other countries. Employees in Belgium
were prevented from participating because of national wage controls. Workers in china
and Brazil were barred from the program because of laws prohibiting the purchase of
stocks listed on the new work stocks exchange. Mexican employees rejected the plan
1
because stocks are viewed as risky and cash is favoured over investments (Harris,
2000).

In today’s world organizations are constantly on the lookout for ways to improve
the organizations including employee training, implementing work redesign programs
and enhancing safety and health in the workplace (Harris, 2000). Managers in many
organizations believe that the most significant Personnel/Human Resource outcome
involves the contributions employees make to the organization goal attainment. These
contributions are called employee performance meaning how effectively employees
carry out their job responsibilities.

Performance is the organization’s ability to attain it’s goal by using resources in

an efficient and effective manner (Richard, 2003). performance not only refers to the
amount of work produced (for example number of sales made or dishes washed), but
to other aspects as well. For example the quality of work is impo~ant for many jobs. In
fact many organizations emphasize “quality” in the mission statements (Harris, 2000). A
critical factor related to an organization’s long term success is it’s ability to measure
how well employees perform and they use that information to ensure that performance
meets present standards and improves over time. The environment that people are
required to work in can have a significant effect on their ability to under take the tasks
that they have been asked to do. This can affect productivity, employee health and well
being.

Contextual performance refers to things an employee does on the job that are
not required as part of the job but still benefit the organization in some way (Angelo’s,
2001). These behaviours might include staying late at work, helping co-workers get
their work done, or any of the behaviours that benefit the general good of the
organization often referred to as Organization citizenship Behaviours. This was
supported by Harris, (2000) who also said contextual performance would include
2
behaviour such as volunteering to perform tasks beyond the official job duties, helping
other employees and activity supporting organizational and departmental decisions and
rules. According to Harris contextual performance is the third facet of performance also
called prosocial organizational citizenship behaviour. Organizational Citizenship
behaviour (OCB) is defined as behaviour that (a) goes beyond the basic requirements of
the job, (b) is to a large extent discretionary and (c) it is of benefit to the organization
(Lambert, 2006,,P.503-525).

In my own view performance is a continuous and flexible process that involves

managers and those whom they manage acting as partners with a framework which
sets out how they can best work together to achieve results. The researcher would like
to find out whether the sugar manufacturing companies are equally affected. These
have raised concern in several companies leading to the intervention of trade bodies
like USCTA and NUPAW. USCTA is the Uganda Sugarcane Technologists Association.
USCTA is the technical body representing the sugar industry in Uganda. Currently the
membership is made up of engineers, process and agricultural professionals and
farmers from Kakira, Kinyara, Scoul and Sango bay. They are as conscious and
concerned as the public in regarding the sugar supply situation and the volatile prices
that occur over certain periods. NUPAW is the national Union of plantation and
agricultural workers in Uganda.

Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd happens to be the chosen scope for the study. Kinyara
Sugar Works Ltd is the second largest sugar manufacturing company in Uganda after
Kakira Sugar works in Jinja. It also has a well established Business plan, viability and
Expansion study, and the corporate social responsibility which has been manifested
through the economic impact, employment, out growers, local suppliers, Education,
marketing, medical, recreation and roads. It is therefore considered appropriate for
providing a focal point for the study of working conditions and employee performance
in sugar manufacturing companies in Uganda.

3
 Background of Kinyara sugar works limited (KSWL) Mehta carried out the initial
survey and presented to the government of Uganda the project viability report dated 3~
January 1969 concerning the installation of a sugar factory at Kinyara, Bunyoro.
National sugar works (Kinyara) limited was incorporated as a private company with
limited liability on 13th October 1969. At its inception, NSW (K) Ltd was intended to be a
joint venture company in which the government owned 87.5% while the Mehta group
provided management and owned the rest of the shares. The management agreement
between the government and Mehta was dated 12th September 1969.The concept of
it,s development was to establish a nucleus estate to produce Sugarcane, to encourage
out growers to grow and supply a significant quantity of cane and to erect and operate
a factory to process sugarcane. On 4th may 1990, the government decided to
incorporate a new company called Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd (KSWL) which was to 100%
owned by government. The shareholders with one share of U Shs 10,000 each were the
ministry of finance and the ministry of industry and technology.

Statement of the Pro b~em

It was asserted that work place conditions have been a major factor in compromising
the health of workers in America. They further said that poor working conditions, long
hours and little regard for human factor had effect on the health status of the work
place and workers. They further realized that businesses and industries apparently
viewed the worker as static commodity and had little appreciation for the relationship
between the health status of employees, productivity and profit. Thus today the worker
with compromised health represents a serious threat to a national economy and
organization’s performance. Based on the above account the researcher would like to
find out whether kinyara sugar manufacturing company is equally affected.

4
 Purpose of the Study
purpose of the study was to determine and describe the nature of relationship
between working conditions and employee performance of Managerial officials and
subordinate staff with a case study of Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd in Masindi District. In
particular the study determined and described the effect of remuneration,
compensation performance appraisal, and other conditions on the ability of staff to
increase productivity, change attitude towards work, reduce turnover rate and
absenteeism.

Genera~ Objective of the study

To investigate the relationship between the working conditions and employee
performance in Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd in Masindi District, Uganda

Specific objectives of the Study

1. To establish the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender,
educational qualification and length of service in the company.
2. To determine the extent of working conditions in Kinyara Sugar Works
Limited.
3. To establish the level of employee performance in Kinyara Sugar Works
Limited.
4. To determine if there is a significant relationship between the extent of
working conditions and level of employee performance in Kinyara Sugar
Works Limited.

Research Questions
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, educational
qualification and length of service in the Company?
2. What is the extent of working Conditions in Kinyara Sugar Works Limited?
3. What is the level of employee performance in Kinyara Sugar Works Limited?

5
 4. Is there a significant relationship between the extent of Working Conditions
and level of employee performance?

NuN Hypothes~s

There is no significant relationship between the extent of working conditions and the
level of employee performance.

Scope of the Study

Geographk& Scope
Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd is geographically located in Masindi District. Masindi is
located in the mid western part of Uganda on an all weather tarmac- highway with its
headquarters 214 km (133 miles) north western Kampala Uganda’s capital and largest
city. Masindi borders Gulu in the north, Apac in the East, Nakasongola in the South
East, Kiboga in the south, Hoima in the South west and the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) in the west. Uganda’s largest protected area, the Murchison falls National
Park, spills into Masindi making it a truly idyllic (peaceful and pleasant) area.
Kinyara sugar works is 20km and 13 miles away from Masindi town.

Content Scope
Through a correlation research design, a sample of 341 of Managerial Officials
and subordinates staff were selected from a Target population of 2287. Data was
collected by the researcher using questionnaires and interview techniques. The
researcher specifically sought to determine and describe the relationship between
remuneration, compensation, performance appraisal as well as other conditions and
turnover rates, stress levels, absenteeism, productivity and job performance of
employees of Kinyara Sugar works Ltd.

Theoretic& Scope
Theoretically the study was guided by the Two Factor Theory of Hygiene and
Motivation by Fredrick Hertzburg to establish the significant relationship between the
6
working conditions and employee performance, found out the effects of working
conditions on employee performance and other factors affecting employee
performance. The role played by the Uganda Sugarcane Technologist Association
(USCTA), trade unions like National Union of Plantation and Agricultural Workers
(NUPAW), Labour laws and weather conditions on working conditions were
investigated.

Time Scope
The study on working conditions and employee performance at Kinyara Sugar Works
Ltd in Masindi District was conducted between January 2011 and February 2O11~

Significance of the Study

Since the study aims at knowing the relationship between working conditions and
employee performance, it is hoped that the study would be useful to;

Contribution of the study to knowledge (students)

The researcher hoped that the study would form a basis for further research on working
conditions in general. This should lead to the generation of new ideas for the
improvement of working conditions in sugar manufacturing companies in Uganda and
the rest of the world.

Contribution of the study to practice (Employers)

The findings and the recommendations of the study would also be useful to the
managers and administrators of Kinyara Sugar Works Limited. Hence forth, they would
not rely on haphazard personal experiences or subjective expert judgments, or on
tradition or fashion in their management tasks, but base their methods, decisions and
actions on concrete knowledge of issues of the working conditions supported by
research findings. This would improve the employee performance.

7
 Contribution of the study to the Employees
The study would help employees find ways of adjusting on their performance as the
purpose of quality work life which is to develop jobs that are excellent for people as
well as for production. The employees would get to know that their conditions! reasons
for performance have been exposed and are to be addressed.

8
 operational Definitions of Tenns
Worldng conditions; are all edsting circumstances affecting labour in the work
place indudlng job hours, physical aspect legal rights and responsibilities.

Employee performance; Is the contribution made by an employee to make an

organization lead to it’s goal attainment.

Performance; is the organization’s ability to attain it’s goal by using resources

in an efficient and effective manner.

An Employee; is the agent of an empioyer, the principal. The employee is the

representative of the employer and acts in the place where the employer only has
authorized.

An Employer; means the government of Uganda, a company association, firm

partners or any other person dlrectiy that engages a worker or carries on the business
of hiring out the services of a worker.

Performance management refers to the more general set of activities carded

out by the company to improve performance.

9
 CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Theoretica~ Perspective
The theory framework adopted for this study is derived from the two- factor
theory /hygiene theory. Its founder, Fredrick Herztberg was concerned about the
satisfiers and dissatisfiers for employees at work. In the theory there are two sets of
needs i.e. there basic needs and motivational needs. The basic needs are the hygiene
factors. Khanka (2003), according to Hertzberg’s motivational hygiene theory; He
looked at hygiene factors as extrinsic to job environment and motivation factors as
intrinsic to the job itself. The hygiene factors in the job environment include company
policy and administration, interpersonal relations, supervision (leadership and
management, including perception which people receive while on the job), working
conditions (including Ergonomics which is the study of working conditions inoder to
improve people’s effeciecy), salary, status and security were related to the motivation
factors like achievement, recognition for accomplishment, challenging work, increased
work and growth in away that if they were not satisfied employees performance would
change. Intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction while extrinsic factors are
associated with dissatisfaction. Hertzterg devised his theory on the question: “What do
people want from their jobs?” He asked people to describe in detail, such situations
when they felt exceptionally good or exceptionally bad.

The researcher has chosen the theory for her study because the second
component in Herzberg’s theory involves what people actually do on the job and should
be engineered into jobs employees do in order to develop intrinsic motivation with the
workplace. The motivators are achievement recognition growth! advancement to higher
level tasks and interest in the job and responsibility for enlarged task.

10
As adopted in this study the 2 factor theory holds the view that working conditions
influence the employee performance at KSWL, and that Occupational Health and Safety,
remuneration, Compensation, Welfare services, influence turnover rates absenteeism,
productivity, attitude towards work and stress in the company. In application of the
two factor theory to this study on working conditions and employee performance, the
variables will be defined as:
Working Conditions are all existing circumstances affecting labour
in the work place including job hours, physical aspect, legal rights
and responsibilities (Cynthia et al, 1993).
o Employee performance is the contribution made by an employee to
make an organization lead to its goal attainment.
However in adopting the two factor theory for this study, the researcher is not ignorant
of its short comings.
o The job satisfaction explained by the theory is not measured on an overall basis.
It is unlikely that a person, who may dislike part of his /her job, still thinks the
job acceptable.
o The theory neglects situational variable to motivate the individual.
People generally tend to credit themselves when things go well. They blame failure on
the externa’ environment (Khanka, 2003).
Expectancy theory by Vroom is yet another competing theory but the two factory
theory is more appropriate for the study because it covers the work environment as
~jell as the motivational intrinsic factors. The expectancy theory only attributes
employee performance to individual factors such as personality skill, knowledge,
experience and abilities ignoring the work environment (Khanka, 2003).

Concepts, Ideas and Opinions from Authors/experts

The extent of Working Conditions at Kinyara Sugar Works Limited
Working Conditions are all existing circumstances affecting labour in the
workplace including job hours, physical aspect, legal rights and responsibility (Cynthia
et al, 1993). Among the working conditions in companies for employees, there are
11
welfare services. These include, employee services and benefits, compensation
(monetary and non monetary), remuneration, performance standards, occupational
health and safety policies and maintaining effective employer employee relationships.
Maintaining effective employer — employee relationship is important to companies as an
aspect of H~rnan Resource Management (Wendell, 2003).

Compensation is the human resource management function that deals with every
type of reward individuals receive in exchange for performing organizational tasks
(Cevich, 2001). Performance Appraisal is the specific and formal evaluation of an
employee in order to determine the degree to which she/he is performing his/her job
effectively (Angelos, 2001). Occupational health and safety policies and programs are
the policies concerned with protecting employees and other people affected by what
the company produces and does against the hazards arising from their employment or
their links with the company (Armstrong 2006). Remuneration is the value of cash
payments (total earnings) and benefits received by employees (Armstrong 2006).

Compensat~on
Compensation as earlier defined by Cevich (2001), is the human resource
management function that deals with every type of reward individuals receive in
exchange for performing organization tasks. This differs from other scholars like
Milkovich & Boudreau (1991) who excluded promotions, recognition for outstanding
work, feelings accomplishment and choice officer locations but included all financial
returns, tangible services and benefits an employee received as part of employment
relationship. To them the factors excluded, could be thought of as part of an
organization’s total reward system. From the worker’s guide to the workers
compensation Act 2000 point of view, compensation refers to paying for the losses
incurred by a worker as a result of a disease or any other form of loss in the course of
his/her employment. However, the administration of all these rewards is to be co
ordinated with compensation whenever possible.

12
 The 3 key objective compensation systems are to attract high quality workers
from the labour market, retain best employees company already has and initiate
employees to work harder and help the company achieve its strategic goals (Milkovich,
1991). Elements of a total compensation system include; Non Monetary
Compensation which includes employment security, flexible work, work
arrangements, recognition and development opportunities. Direct monetary
compensation includes wages and salary, overtime pay, bonuses and incentives and
skill based pay. Indirect monetary compensation includes required and voluntary
assurance, vacation and time off, family care, tuition reimbursement and health and
wellness prugrams (Hellriege, Jackson & Slocum, 2001). Raymond, (1995) talked about
manageria~ and executive pay. Because of their significant ability to influence
organization performance, top managers and executives is strategically an important
group whose compensation warrants special attention. Top executives pay was said to
be high regardless of profitability or stock market performance, and this gave a
relationship which was interpreted to mean that the compensation of top executives is
virtually independent of corporate performance.

Performance appraisa’ is also another working condition which affects

employee performance. Angelos (2001), defined performance appraisal as the specific
and formal evaluation of an employee in order to determine the degree to which he/she
is performing his or her job effectively. According to Cynthia et al (1993), performance
appraisal is the process by which an employee’s contribution to the organization during
a specific period of time is assessed. Other scholars with ideas of performance appraisal
like Ivancevich (2001) have defined the term as the activity used to determine the
extent to which an employee performs work effectively. Other terms for performance
appraisal are merit rating, performance evaluation, employee appraisal employee
evaluation and annual review. Hellriegel et al, (2001) say performance appraisal is a
formal structure system for measuring, evaluating, and influencing an employee’s job

13
related attributes, behaviours and outcomes. Performance appraisal is covered under
performance management which is the process by which executives, managers and
supervisors work to align employee performance with the firm’s goals (Ivancevich,
2001), From a strategic and competitive advantage perspective it is important to
integrate employee performance with organizational performance goals.

Just as there can be different performance evaluators depending on the job,

several appraisal systems can be used. Some of the popular appraisal methods include
(1) ranking of all employees in a group (2) Using rating scales to define above average,
average and below average performances (3) recording favourable and known as
critical incidents and (4) managing by objectives or. Employee performance then is
important in the general model because it serves as a crucial outcome variable in
evaluating P/HR Management. Before performance can be used for managerial
decisions however, it must first be measured and that is why assessing outcome is a
human resource activity in the overall model (Heneman et al, 1986).

Traditionally organizations have used performance dissements primarily to make

administrative decision about employees. Performance appraisal serves several
purposes including (1) guiding human resource actions such as hiring and promoting
(2) rewarding employees through bonuses, promotion and so on (3) providing
feedback and noting areas of improvement (4) identifying training and development
needs in order to improve the individuals performance on the job and (5) producing job
related data useful in human resource planning. Anyone responsible for such decisions
will need to obtain and use measures of employee performance (Henman et al, 1986).

Performance management refers; to the more general set of activities carried out
by the company to improve employee performance. It is a broader and more
encompassing process and is the ultimate goal of performance appraisal activities.
Performance gap is the disparity between existing and desired performance. One way

14
managers sense there is need for change is when there is a performance gap (Richard,
2003).

Occupation& heafth and safety is another working condition; The Oxford

Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary of current English (1995, P.800) defined occupational as
what is caused by or connected with a person’s job. Occupational hazard is a risk or
danger connected with a particular job. A hazard is anything that can cause harm (e.g.
electricity defective plants, poor-house keeping) and a risk is the chance, large or small,
of harm actually being done by the hazard (Armstrong, 2006). The World Health
Organization (WHO) has defined health as a state of complete physical, mental and
social well being and not merely the absence of disease or illness or infirmity (Khanka,
2003). The term health is a positive and dynamic concept. In common parlance health
implies absence of disease. As regards the industrial health, it refers to a system of
public health and preventive medicine which is applicable to industrial concerns.
ILO/WHO committee on health is worth quoting, prevention among workers of ill-health
caused by the working conditions. Safety means freedom from the occurrence or risk of
injury or loss. As regards industrial safety means the protection of employees / workers
from the danger or risk of industrial accidents (Khanka, 2003). According to Munabi,
OHS encompasses the social, mental and physical well being of workers that is the
“whole person”.

Occupational health and safety therefore aims at protecting workers from health
hazards associated with work and the working environment, promoting their health and
providing a safe and health working environment (OHS Trainers manual). The Williams
steiger occupational safety and health Act of 1970 was enacted to ensure safe and
healthful working conditions. This act requires that employers conduct programs that
protect workers from occupational illness, injuries and death. It requires that employers
provide workers with a safe and healthful work environment in which recognized
hazards have been eliminated or controlled (Gary & Lane, 1988, P127). Munabi says

15
working conditions of any type have the potential to affect a worker’s health and safety.
Unhealthy and unsafe working conditions can be found any where whether the
workplace is indoors for example factories or out doors for example agricultural
workers.

Agriculture is a hazardous occupation carried out in difficult and sometimes

dangerous working conditions. The specific hazards facing plantation workers vary from
one plantation to another. The main areas of concern include injuries from machinery
and equipment, unsafe handling of and exposure to chemicals for crop protection, and
injuries from the crops themselves, especially during harvesting. Other common hazards
include long daily and weekly hours of physically strenuous work, and repeated —

shouldering of heavy loads, falls, insect and snake bites and adverse weather conditions
including harsh sunshine, heavy rains, morning dew and cold. A recent study of
occupational hazards on team estates found that almost two-thirds of employees had
suffered from work-related illness or injury.

Safety is primarily the responsibility of the management. This responsibility

should rest on the shoulders of all cadres of management, such as plant manager,
production manager, chief engineer, personnel manager, maintenance Engineer,
individual foreman, safety officer or Director (Rao, 2008). However Munabi says OHS is
everyone’s responsibility i.e. every employee must protect himself or herself and those
he/she works with. It is not just the responsibility of one’s manager or safety officer. He
goes a head to say successful occupational health and safety practice requires the
collaboration and participation of both employers and workers in health and safety
programs i.e. teamwork.

Remuneration as earlier defined in the third paragraph of chapter two was

supported by Rao (2008) who says “employee’s first preference is money-nothing could
change it so far”. According to Oso & Onen (2008), remuneration involves the basic

16
salary, housing i.e. staff houses and house allowances, health scheme reinstitution
doctor, sickbay facility and pension scheme i.e. retirement packages and contributory
retirement scheme. A swathappa (2008) defined remuneration in a broader perspective
covering employees, employers and HRM.
For tne employee, remuneration is the compensation an employee receives in
return for his or her contribution to the organization. Remuneration occupies an
important place in the life of an employee because it determines his/her standard of
living, status in the society, motivation, loyalty, and productivity.
For the employer, the remuneration is significant because of its contribution to
the cost of production besides, many battles (in the form of strikes and lock outs) are
fought between the employer and the employees on issues relating to wages or bonus.
For the HRM employee remuneration is a major function in a way that the HR
specialist has a difficult task of fixing wages and wage differentials acceptable to
employees and their leaders. Aswathappa further gave the specific components of
remuneration as wages and salary, incentives fringe benefits, perquisites and non—
monetary benefits.
- Wages and salaries represent hourly rates of pay and salary refers to the
monthly rate of pay, irrespective of the number of hours put in by an employee.
They depend on the nature of job, seniority and merit.
- Incentives also called payment by results are paid in addition to wages and
salaries. Incentives depend on productivity, sales, profit or cost reduction efforts.
- Fringe benefits include employee benefits and provident fund, gratuity, medical
care, hospitalization accidents relief, health and group insurance, canteen,
uniforms and recreation.
- Perquisites, these are allowed to executives and include company car, club
membership, paid holidays, furnished house stock option schemes, perquisites
are offered to retain competent executives.

17
 - Non-monetary benefits; These include challenging job responsibilities,
recognition of merit, growth prospects, competent supervision, comfortable
working conditions, job sharing and flexitime.
Aswathappa clarified on the remuneration of the top brass by highlighting the five
elements as salary, bonus, commission, long-term incentives and perquisites. When
considering remuneration, and executive is considered to be an individual who is in a
management position at the highest levels. Specifically the categories include
Presidents, Vice Presidents, Managing Directors and General Manager.

B&ow is a summary of the components of executive remuneration

~tives

Source: Aswathappa (2008) Human Resource Management P. 345., India: Tata

Mc Graw Hill Education Private Ltd.

Emp~oyee Benefits and Services

Before World War II, employers offered a few benefits and services because they
had the employees’ welfare at heart or because they wanted to keep a union out. But
most benefit programs began in earnest during the war, when wages were strictly
regulated (Ivancevich, 2001). Similarly the terms benefits and services are often used
interchangeably by some writers, but some maintain the distinction for the two.
18
According to Aswathappa, (2008) the term benefit applies to those items for which a
direct monetary value to the individual employee can be ascertained, as in the case of
pension, medical insurance or holiday pays. And a service applies to such items as a
company newspaper, company or purchasing service, for which a direct money value
for the individual employee cannot fully be established. Khanka (2003) defined benefits
as membership based non-financial rewards given to employees. Balcher defined
benefits as any wage cost not directly connected with employees’ productivity effort
performance service or sacrifice.

Employee benefits and services include any benefit that the employee receives in
addition to direct remuneration. (Aswathappa, 2008) benefits and services, however,
are indirect compensation because they are usually extended as a condition of
employment and are not directly related to performance. Employee benefits and
services are alternatively known as fringes, services programs, employee benefits or
hidden payroll (Aswathappa, 2008). According to Rao (2008), different terms are used
to denote fringe benefits. They are welfare measures, social charges; social security
measures supplements, sub-wages and employee benefits. The term covers bonus,
social security measures, retirement benefits like provident fund, gratuity, pension,
work men’s compensation, housing, medical, canteen, cooperative credit consumer
stores, educational facilities, recreational facilities, financial advice and so on. Thus
fringe benefits cover a number of employee services and facilities provided by an
employer to his employees and in some cases to their family members also. Armstrong
(2006) also gave more light on employee benefits. According to him they include
pension, sick pay, insurance cover, company cars and a number of other “Perks”. Perks
are benefits to which an employee is entitled. They comprise elements of remuneration
additional to the various forms of cash pay and also include provisions for employees
that are not strictly remuneration such as annual holidays.

19
 Employee services include employee counselling and welfare services. The
argument for employee services at work was well put by Martin, 1967. Staff spend at
least a half (1/2) their working time at work! in getting to it. They know they contribute
to the organization when they are reasonably free from worry and they feel, perhaps in
articulately that when they are in trouble they are due to get something back from the
organization. People are entitled to be treated as full human beings with personal
needs, hopes and anxieties. They are employed as people, they bring themselves to
work and they can not readily leave their troubles at home. The social argument for
employees’ welfare services is the most compelling one but there is also an economic
argument by Martin (1967).
“Increases in morale or loyalty may result
In commensurate or indeed many increases
in productivity but undue anxiety can result
in reduced effectiveness.”
Even if welfare services can not increase individual productivity, they can help to
minimize decreases. A further practical argument in favour of employee welfare services
is that reputation for showing concern helps to improve image of the firm as a good
employer and thus assist in recruitment. Welfare may not directly increase productivity,
but it may increase commitment and help ~n the retention of key employees (Martin,
1967).
Employee counselling is also a condition in the work environment. Many firms
prove individualized counselling for all employees beyond that experience in the give
and take of training and development programs. This helps to overcome the anxiety
and stress associated with family, legal, financial and other off the job problems that
can prevent any one from performing up to his or her abilities. (Wendell, 2003)

There are employee satisfaction measures where the degree to which employees
are satisfied with human resources policies and practices can be measured by attitude
survey. These can obtain opinions on matters such as their work, their views about

20
their managers, how they are treated, their pay, how they are kept informed,
opportunities for learning and career development and their working environment and
facilities (Wendell, 2003).

There are many benefits plans which Gary, (1988) classified into four types:
supplemental pay benefits (unemployment insurance) insurance benefits (such as
worker’s compensation) retirement benefits (such as pensions), employee services
(dining facilities). Gary explains that employee’s preferences for different benefits vary
with employee’s age, marital status and therefore it’s important to customize the
benefits package to ensure that it contributes to improving performance at work.

In an attempt to attract and retain superior personnel, employers offer

employees a range of benefits that generally are not required to be offered such as
dental, medical, pension and profit-sharing plans. (Bannet & Hartman, 2004). The
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) was enacted to protect
employee benefit plan participants. From retirement plan abuses by administrators; and
the fair labour standards, Act of 1938 (FLSA) was enacted to establish standards for
minimum wages, overtime pay, employer, record keeping, and child labour (Bannet &
Hartman, 2004).

Benefits differ from compensation and remuneration; this was supported by

Raymond et al (1995), he says although it makes sense to think of benefits as part of
total compensation, benefits have unique aspects.
1. There is a question of legal compliance, although direct compensation is subject
to government regulation, the scope and impact of regulation on benefits is far
greater. Some benefits such as social security are mandated by law.
2. The organizations which typically offer them (benefits and services) have come
to be institutionalized. Providing medical benefits of some sort has become
almost obligatory for many employers.

21
indirect effect on one’s social and psychological functioning. Harris (2000), supports the
given view by stressing the fact that high employee performance is obviously one of the
most important HRM goals, both from the organization and the employee’s viewpoint.
Sackett, Berry, wienmann & Roxanne (2006) categorized ineffective job performance as
forms of counter productive behaviours. According to them ineffective job performance
is often difficult to detect, diagnose the cause of, prevent or resolve, because most
performance measurement systems only asse~s the impact of various employee
behaviours rather than the behaviours themselves.

Heneman’s et al (1986) advice on performance measurement issues is that, to be

effective, performance measures must aid management in meeting two requirements;
o The measurement system must identify in what ways there can be positive

employee contribution to the organization (identifying the dimensions of

performance).
• The system must establish standards of contributions for each performance
dimension identified in the first step.

Sackett et al, (2006) adds on to say that performance data is the most common method
of evaluating ineffective job performance and often includes personnel data,
production data, subjective evaluations, and electronic performance monitoring.
According to Heneman et al (2006) job performance is usually multidimensional and the
problem becomes complex when one considers that jobs differ and hence the activities
necessary to make effective contributions differ across jobs.

(Harris, 2000) gives some factors which motivate job performance as pay
increases, bonuses and related financial incentives, extra vacation time, verbal
complement from supervisor, promotion to a better job, free tickets to sports events,
more interesting work, special projects, better office, employee-of-the month award,
your name in the company, newsletter, better job title and free movie tickets.

23
Turnover
Employee job turnover is the rate at which employees leave the organization.
According to Armstrong, (2006), the definition of labour turnover is the analysis of the
numbers of people leaving the organization. The causes were summed up into three;
Lower performance, lack of reward contingencies for performance, and better eternal
job opportunities (sackett et al, (2006). Armstrong (2006) says turnover may be a
function of negative job attitudes, low job satisfaction, combined with an ability to
secure employment elsewhere, i.e. the state of the labour market. He goes on to
support turnover on the other hand as a normal part of organizational functioning
although excessively high turnover may be dysfunctional, a certain level of turnover is
to be expected and can be beneficial to an organization.
Circumstances under which turnover can be good versus bad for the
organizations
Turnover is good when Turnover is bad when
1. Poor performance leaves 1. Company must spend money
2. New employees with innovative hiring replacements
ideas can be hired 2. Company must spend time and
3. New employees can be hired at money training replacements
lower wages and benefits 3. Remaining employees become
4. Remaining employees have new demoralized
promotion opportunities 4. Former employee takes business
away from company.
Source: Adapted from Harris M. A practical Approach, Human Resource Management (a
division of Harcourt College Publishers, USA, 2000)

Absenteeism
Absenteeism is the frequent absence from work especially without good reason.
Absent means not present or the state of being away. Sackett et al (2006) says that
absenteeism is typically measured by time lost measures and frequency measures it is

24
weakly linked to affective predictors such as job satisfaction and commitment. Job
satisfaction as defined by Harris (2000) refers to how pleased an employee is with
his/her job and organization. But other organizations view employee satisfaction as
important only because it can affect other factors such as turnover and unionized
interest.
If the absenteeism becomes more frequent, the superior or manager may have
to take time from work to counsel the employee. On the other hand absenteeism
sometimes serves legitimate personnel needs and may help reduce job —related stress
and tension. There are two basic factors which determine whether an employee will
have an unplanned absence. These are motivation to attend work and ability to attend
work. Motivation to attend work means the willingness to exert high levels of efforts to
wards organizational goals, conditioned by the effort ability to satisfy some individual
need (Robbins, 1996) according to Khanka (2003) Motivation is the willingness to exert
efforts towards the accomplishment of goal or need and ability means the power to do
something. An organization that has a high absenteeism rate may change its
disciplinary procedures (Harris, 2000).

Productivity
Personal productivity refers to the amount of resources including the time one
consumes to achieve a certain level of output (Dubrin, 2001). Today many
organizations are implementing improvement programs, often with major implications
for jobs and workers. Harris (2000) further listed the common work constraints that
affect productivity as insufficient information, inappropriate tools and equipment,
missing materials or supplies limited budget, insufficient support from others insufficient
task preparations, limited time, poor physical conditions, poor scheduling.

Productivity is also affected by counter productive behaviour. Counter productive

behaviour is the employee behaviour that goes against the goals of an organization
(Sackett et al, 2006) for example murder violent assault, theft of company property and

25
encouraging malicious rumours, claiming credit for others, work and attempting to
derail others’ careers. Employees are likely to engage in counterproductive behaviours
when they feel that they have received an unfair outcome. However it is not enough for
an employee to feel he/she has received unfair outcome. The employee generally must
also believe that the organization used unfair procedures to make the decision (Harris,
2000).

While productivity can be measured in terms of any one of the several factors
such as capital equipment, materials, fuel and labour what matters is labour
productivity. It is the relationship between the input of labour measured in man hours
and the output of the entire economy or of a particular industry or plant measured in
terms of money or in physical terms (Aswathappa, 2008).

Accidents
The ever increasing mechanization, electrification, chemicalisation and
sophistication have made industrial jobs more and more complex and intricate. This has
led to increased dangers to human life in industries through accidents and injuries. In
fact the same underlines the need for and importance of industrial safety. An industrial
accident is a sudden and unexpected occurrence in the industry which interrupts the
orderly progress of the work (Khanka, 2003). According to the factories Act 1948; “it is
an occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to a person which
makes him unfit to resume his duties in the next 48 hours”. Rao , (2008), also in line
with Khanka defines an accident as an occurrence which interrupts or interferes with
orderly progress of work in an industrial establishment.

In other words, an accident is an unexpected event in the course of employment

which is neither anticipated nor designed to occur. However Khanka (2003) gave a
clarification on the distinction of an accident and injury. He says it is important to note
that self —inflicted injuries cannot be regarded as accidents. And defines an industrial

26
injury as” a personal injury to an employee which has been caused by an accident or
an occupational disease and which arises out of or in the course of unemployment and
which could entitle such employee to compensation under worker’s compensation Act
1923”. Rao also supported Khanka’s view on an industrial injury. According to Wanzige
& Kitonsa an injury includes an accident caused by any of the occupational diseases.
Whereas Rao (2008) says occupational diseases are the results of physical conditions
and the presence of industrial poisonous and non poisonous dust in the atmosphere.
These include lead, poisoning, lead tetra-ethyl poisoning, phosphorous poisoning,
manganese poisoning or its sequel, mercury poisoning, arsenic, anthrax, silicosis,
chrome alteration. Khanka (2003), supported him by saying occupied diseases are these
which are caused by working conditions prevalent in industries.

Accidents may be of different types depending upon the severity, durability,

degree in injury. An accident causing death or permanent or prolonged disability to the
injured employee is called a major accident. A cut that does not render the employee
disabled is termed as minor accident. Accident when an employee gets injury with
external signs of it, it is external injury. Injury without showing external signs such as
fractured bone is called an internal one. When an injury renders an injured employee
disabled for a short period, say a day or a week, it is a temporary accident. On the
contrary making injured employee disabled for ever is called permanent accident.
Disability caused by accident may be partial or total, fatal or non fatal, (Khanka, 2003).
According to safety experts, there are three basic causes /factors that contribute to
accidents ir~ organizations. Theses are chance occurrences, unsafe conditions and
unsafe acts on the part of employees (Rao, 2008).

Unsafe condftions (work related cause) are one sort or another biggest cause of
accidents; such causes are associated with defective plant, equipment materials,
buildings those can be termed “as technical causes” which arise when there are
improper/inadequate safety guards on machines, when machines break down, when

27
protection equipment is installed improperly, when mechanical or construction designs
are defective and when control devices which have been installed to make the
operation of machines that are accident free are lacking or defective, or when there is
an absence of proper maintenance supervision of these devices. Other work related
causes of accidents are the job itself, work schedules, psychological climate of the
workplace.

Unsafe Acts, these may result from lack of knowledge or skill on the part of the
employee, certain physical defects and wrong attitudes. These acts include operating
without authority, lifting improperly, cleaning, adjusting, oiling or moving dangerous
equipment. Personality characteristics also influence accident behaviours of individuals
e.g. characteristics like personality and motivation serve as a basis for certain behaviour
tendencies.

Other causes; these causes arise out of unsafe situational and climate conditions and
variations — such as bad working conditions, rough and slippery floors, heat, humidity,
dust, fume-laden atmosphere, very long hours of work, unsatisfactory behaviour of
domineering supervisors, excessive noise and carelessness in handling of such
inflammable materials such as oil, grease and explosives (Rao, 2008) adequate safety
measures and precaution can avoid accidents.

Other Factors Affecting Em p~oyee performance

According to Vroom’s Expectancy theory, employee performance at work is
based on individual factors sLlch as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and
abilities. Armstrong (2006), says people’s worries and the resulting stress may well arise
from work like their concerns about security money, health and relationship with others.
But they also bring their personal problems like family issues, personal economic
problems and inherent personality characteristics (Robbins, 1996) to work and many of

28
these can not be solved without reference to the situation. They may require time off to
deal with sick children/partners or care for relatives or advice on how to solve their
problems and so minimize interference with their work.

According to Gary & Lane, (1988) personal affairs also affect employee
performance. They support the given views by saying having one’s personal affairs in
order, maintaining financial independence and security are important health practices.
This involves the ability to maintain employment, to budget one’s income and live with
in one’s means then keep legal document current. Problems with personal affairs are a
major cause of emotional disturbances. Individual differences have been divided into
five variables to be the relevant moderators. These are perception, job experience,
social support, belief in locus of control and hostility.

Soda~ Support involves meaningful interpersonal relationships, communication

skills and the ability to share affection. People who maintain intimate relationships
experience less illness have shorter convalescence periods and tend to live longer (Gary
& Lane, 1988).
According to Robbins, (1996) for individuals whose work associates are unhelpful
or even actively hostile, social support may be found outside the job. Involvement with
family friends and community can provide the support especially for those with a high
social need that is missing at work. This can make job stressors more tolerable.

Percept~on refers to a person’s interpretation of reality. In the process you select

organize and interpret all environmental stimuli through your senses (Lussier, 2002).

Locus of contr&; Employees with an internal locus of control believe they control their
own destiny. Those with an external locus of control believe their lives are controlled by
the outside forces. Evidence indicates that internals perceive their jobs to less stressful
than do the externals. When the two groups confront similar stressful situations, the

29
internals are likely to believe they can have a significant effect on the results (Robbins,
1996). Externals who are more likely to feel helpless in stressful situations are also
more likely to experience stress hence affecting performance.

HostiNty; Attention was directed at the type A personality. The type is characterized by
feeling a chronic sense of time urgency and by an excessive competitive drive. A type A
individual is aggressively involved in a chronic incessant struggle to achieve more and
more in less and less time if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other
things or persons. Recent researchers believed Type ‘A’s were more likely to experience
stress on and off the job (Robbins, 1996).

Job Experience; Experience is said to be a great teacher. It can also be a great stress
reducer in work situations. Senior members of the organization are more likely to be
fully adapted to working conditions than the new members. Hence the varying changes
in employee performance.

Environmenta~ Factors; This covers Environmental Safety. Safety means freedom

from the occurrence of risk injury or loss. Environmental safety incorporates self-
protection and risk reduction. The use of protective equipment, driving practices,
accident prevention and fire protection are some of the lifestyle behaviours to consider
(Gary & Lane, 1988). The typical individual only works about 40 to 50 hours a week.
The experiences and problems that people encounter in those other 120 plus non work
hours each week can spill over to the job. (Robbins, 1996) Under environmental factors
employees are also stressed by the political instability and economic uncertainty.

The significant R&ationship between Working Conditions and Employee

Performance
According to Armstrong, the achievement of the highest standards of health and
safety in the workplace is important because there’s the elimination or at least

30
minimization of health and safety hazards and risks. He gave an example of research by
health and safety executive such as Astrazeneca, severn trent water and Transco which
established that the tangible benefits from better health and safety management
include higher productivity, lower absence, avoiding the cost of accidents and litigation,
meeting client demand and improved staff morale and employee relations. These
organizations have managed to overcome the common perception that health and
safety is a compliance or staff welfare issue and use initiatives in this area to add value
to the business. Employers in the study made a number of headline savings from
investing on occupational health and safety (Armstrong, 2006).

Just as environmental uncertainty influences the design of an organization

structure, the organizational structure also influences stress levels among employees in
that organization (Robbins, 1996). Stress is an emotional and br physical reaction to
environmental activities and events (Lussier, 2002). Likewise Dubrin, (2001) notes that
stress refers to reaction to the situation, not the situation or force itself. He defines
stress as ar adaptive response that is the consequence of any action, situation or event
that places special demands on a person. There are four common stressors related to
work and these include personality type, organizational climate, management behaviour
and degree of satisfaction (Lussier, 2002). Individuals differ in their responses to
situations of strategies which management would like to consider like improved
personnel selection and job placement, use of realistic goal setting, redesigning of jobs,
increased employee involvement, improved organizational communication and
establishment of corporate wellness program (Robbins, 1996).

Wehrich et al (1990), went ahead to give other working conditions which

increase stress levels of employees and also defined the term stress as an adaptive
response, mediated by individual differences or physiological processes, say a sequence
of any external action situation that places excessive physiological or physical demands
on a person. There are many physical sources of stress such as a work overload,

31
irregular work hours, loss of sleep, loud noises, these may to be due to a particular
situation such as boring job, inability to socialize, lack of autonomy, responsibility for
results without sufficient authority, unrealistic objective and role ambiguity or role
conflict. Stress will lead to low performances as it results in psychological symptoms
(Anxiety, Depression, Decrease job satisfaction). Prolonged stress may lead to burnout,
a condition of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion in response to long term
stressors. Burned out people are often cynical. Burnout is a complex phenomenon, but
it often occurs when one feels out of control,

The relationship between stress and job performance

High

Performance is generally best at

levels of stress
cL
L
C

E
C
4-

Performance
decline as
stress
becomes too

Low moderate

Source: Durbin, Human relations interpersonal job oriented skills 7th Edition, London,
Prentice Hall 2001 (P. 303)

Turnover is the rate of employee separation in an organization that is to say a

measure of the rate at which employees leave the firm. Employee turnover can be
voluntary or involuntary (Gomez 1995). Turnover rate is a result of not matching the
best people to the right jobs. Other reasons for employee turnover have been classified
32
under more pay, better prospect (career move), more security, more opportunities to
develop skills; better working conditions poor relationships with managers/team leader
and colleagues. (Milkovich and Boudreau, 1991) many causes of employee turnover can
be controlled by employers i.e. unfair Human Resource practices that increase turnover
rates include lower compensation and poor benefits which increase the rate at which
employees voluntarily leave their employers.

Remuneration is another factor which affects employee performance in one

way or the other. In order to understand which components of remuneration are more
effective, there is need to understand the conceptual framework or theories of
remuneration. Three such theories are reinforcement and expectancy, equity theory
and agency theory. Reinforcement theory postulates that a behaviour which has a
rewarding experience is likely to be repeated, Vroom’s Expectancy theory focuses
on the link between rewards and behaviour and Equity theory posits that an
employee who receives inequity in his or her rewards seeks to restore equity~ Agency
theory focuses on the divergent interests and goals of the organization’s stakeholders
and the way employee remuneration can be used to align these interests and goals
The implication for remuneration is that high employee performance followed by a
monetary reward will make future employee performance more likely. By the same
token, a high performance not followed by a reward will make its recurrence unlikely in
future (Aswathappa, 2008).

The desired outcome for health enhancement programs is increased

performance capability. The benefits of programs that provide a knowledge base,
positive attitudes, behaviour change and enhance health result in increased
performance capability. The rewards to workers and employers include increased
availability at work, decreased absenteeism and health care utilization and increased
energy, strength, stamina concentration emotional stability and self- confidence. All

33
these benefits to individual employees are likely to generate increased productivity for
the company (Gary & Lane, 1988, p. 133.

Heneman et al, (1986) points out the effect of performance appraisal on

employee performance. Performance appraisal meets administrative challenges which in
turn affect employee performance. The line managers are usually responsible for
actually conducting the appraisals once the instrumentation is developed (Performance
measures, uses and measurement procedures involving performance appraisal).
Unfortunately the results of their efforts often prove problematical. The greatest difficult
stems from the fact that the individuals must conduct performance appraisal and
individuals are prone to many errors of judgment. The scholars give a scenario of a task
of confronting the manager who must do the appraisal;
o S/he must select the information to be obtained about employees to be
evaluated.
o Observe that information on the employees.
Organize and store the information often over a fairly long period of time
(as much as a year to 18 months).
o Combine and integrate the information in what ultimately becomes the
performance appraisal.
Clearly there are many opportunities for the appraiser to misjudge the performance of
employees. For example the highest performing employees may not receive the highest
evaluations. As a consequence, human resource management is often called on to
improve the results of appraisals (Heneman et al, 1986).

Compensation as well has effects on employees’ performance. Rao (2008),

Managerial compensation which is dealt with differently from that of other employees
has yielded greater results. Managers are live wires of the organization and that’s why
their compensation packages are designed following the managerial compensation
policy. The policy should contain the following components. Basic pay plus allowances,

34
Fringe benefits, retirement benefits, sample to administer, establish parity with other
companies externally, establish parity with other managerial positions internally,
establish rational basis with positions and grades and pay benefits level should attract
and retain talent.

Among the benefits are the child care programs and there’s some indication that
parents feel positively about employer supported child care programs. As a small part of
the national Employer supported child care project, the author surveyed 691 parents
using 19-employer-surpported centers and compared their expressed satisfaction
responses to a group of parents using non- employer services. Parents using employer
services expressed significantly higher satisfaction with all aspects of care. In addition
the parents said that child care affected their job performance positively In terms of
recruitment (38%), less turnover (69%), better performance (4l%), and positive
morale (63%), reduced absenteeism (47%) and recommending their employer to
potential employees because of the child care program (53%) (Gary & Lane 1988).

Among the poor working conditions is the payment of low wages! salaries which
results in differing levels of interests creating an atmosphere of opposing forces that
inhibits desirable co-operative efforts. In organized industrial life ways must be sought
to minimize tensions and promote bargaining. This is when collective bargaining
initiated by Trade Unions bodies comes in for example NUPAW (U). Collective
bargaining is a method by which trade unions protect and improve the conditions of
their members working lives. This is coined by Sydney and Beatrice according to Rao,
(2008)

The ILO defined collective bargaining as negotiations about working conditions

and terms of employment between an employer and a group of employees or one or
more employees’ organizations with a view to come to an agreement wherein the terms
serve as a code of defining the rights and obligations of each party in their

35
employment, relations with one another; Fix a large number of detailed conditions of
employment; and during its validity, none of the matters it deals with can in normal
circumstances be given as a ground for a dispute concerning an individual worker (Rao,
2008). Poor employer- employee relations can create many problems for the company.
Seeking a union to represent employees is a move that most companies would oppose
(Harris, 2000).

However collective bargaining remains the cornerstone of congenial industrial

relations and of constructive peace. It helps to bring the unreserved co-operation
between employees and employer by minimizing the Lacuna (a gap or missing portion)
between the varying interests of union and management (Rao, 2008).

36
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

Research Design
The study employed descriptive correlation research design to describe and
explain the relationship between working conditions and employee performance.
The method involved collecting data in order to determine whether and to what degree
a relationship exists between two variables. The study therefore employed the
correlation research design to describe and explain the relationship between working
conditions and employee performance at Kinyara sugar works limited in Masindi.

Research Popu~ation
The research population consisted of all the managerial staff and subordinate
staff of Kinyara Sugar works Limited. The population included staff in 7grades of
General Management, Heads of Department, section heads, senior Managers,
supritenders, supervisors and skilled man power from all departments. The total
population of managerial and subordinate staff is 2287 as depicted in Table 3.1.

Research Popu~ation Tab’e 3.1

Agric Cane Agric. Human Factory Finance Company Material Marketing General Total
dept. dev’t w/shop resource secretariat & manager
stores

~ No. 145 736 529 208 550 24 2 64 19 10 2287

staff

o Under the Agriculture department there are staff members involved in activities
of harvesting, transportation of sugarcane and out growers.
o The cane development department includes staff members involved in agronomy
(Agronomy is the science of soil management and crop production).

37
 Agriculture workshop includes staff members under engineering. These activities
include land preparation, ploughing and planting on the Estate.
o The Human Resource department involves staff members under the personnel
administration, medical, training for staff and staff welfare of the company.
o The Factory department is responsible for Engineering, production and building
on the company Estate.
o Finance department involves the staff members for Accounts and information
technology.
o The Company Secretariat as a department is responsible for or handles the legal
affairs of the company.
Store and materials are the department responsible for the issuing, making
orders and procurement.
o Marketing is the department responsible for maintaining the good reputation of
the Company or improving the perception of the public towards the Company.
Finally the overall top department is that of the General Manager. This covers
the general management and Auditing.
Here the researcher had an intention of representing all sub-groups proportionately.

Samp’e Size
The researcher used the sloven’s formula to determine the sample size. Out of
the research population of 2287 staff members of Kinyara Sugar Works Limited, the
researcher selected a sample of 341 respondents. Below is the formula applied to derive
sample size from the research population already given
Sloven’s Formula

N= N
1+Nx2
= 2287
1+(2287 x (0.05)2

38
 = 2287
6.7175
= 340A5
= 341

Samphng Procedure
The grades of staff were selected us~ng stratified sampling technique where the
researcher identified sub-groups in the population and selected respondents from each
sub-group to form a sample. The researcher used purposive sampling technique to
determine which staff to interview from the departments given with an intention of
maximizing the number of respondents. By selecting typical and useful cases only
purposive sampling was used because there were 7 significant grades that the
researcher was interested in getting the primary data from. These were the General
management, Heads of department; section Heads, senior managers, supretenders,
supervisors and skilled manpower of Kinyara sugar works ltd.

Research Instrument
The main instrument for data collection included questionnaires and oral
interviews. The researcher made use of the researcher made questionnaires and
interviews to obtain primary data from KSWL as well as other secondary sources such
as records, books, reports and news papers to attain secondary data. The questionnaire
contained both open ended and close ended questions. These helped the researcher to
get sufficient information to establish the relationship between employee performance
and working conditions with focus on products and general competitiveness with other
sugar companies.

Subordinate Questionnaire
The researcher devised questionnaires were used since the study was concerned
with variables that can not be directly observed such as views, opinions perceptions and
feelings of the respondents. Such information is best collected through questionnaires.
39
There were two sets of Subordinate staff questionnaires which were; the questionnaire
showing the level of employee performance and the second one showing the extent of
working conditions.

Vaildity and ReNability of the instrument

The researcher discussed the content of the instrument with the Human resource
manager before the instrument is administered to the respondents. This would assure
the researcher that her tool was appropriate for the data she wanted to collect.
The validity of the research instrument was guaranteed through pre-testing research
instrument.
The Questionnaire had 12 items of which 10 were valid.
The CVI is the number of valid items divided by the total number of items.
Therefore the content validity index is 0.8 making the Questionnaire used by the
Researcher valid enough to collected the necessary required data.
In this study, the reliability of the research instruments particularly, the questionnaire
was established using the SPSS Cronbach Alpha Coefficient test. Specifically, this test
covered the research items systematically arranged in the questionnaire (Appendix C)
according to the research questions. All the variables reflected in these grouped
research items of the questionnaire were particularly tested using the Cronbach’s Alpha
Coefficient (CAC). As a result, SPSS Reliability test yielded a CAC output of ‘0.789’
(Appendix E).
In relation to this analysis, the reliability of a research instrument can be determined
within the range of 0.7- 1.0. Thus, since the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient stated above is
within this range, then the questionnaire was reliable and hence reliable data was
collected. The key informants interview guide (Appendix D) was equally reliable
because it contains the same variables as the questionnaire.

40
Data Gathering Procedures
Before going to the fi&d
After agreeing on the topic between the researcher and the research supervisor,
the researcher continued to work hand in hand with the supervisor to produce the
proposal that was used in the study. The researcher then sought a letter of introduction
from Kampala International University.

During data collection

The Researcher then went to the field and discussed with the Human Resource
Manager on how the self administered questionnaires were to be given to the
respondents and how long it would take them to be filled so that she could collect them
at the agreed time. To the managerial Officials, interviews were conducted by the
researcher to enable her get clarification on what subordinate staff had answered and
got information on how the company can improve the working conditions which are not
favorable.

After data collection

After collecting data from all various respondents, the researcher organized
analyzed data and made a report that was submitted to the relevant department for
examination.

Data Ana~y~is
The study used correlation (r) as the data analysis technique which is used when
the researcher wants to describe the association between two or more variables. The
relationship between the Variables was investigated using the Pearson’s correlation. The
researcher used Frequencies, Percentages and Simple Correlation to describe the
relationship between Variables, diagrams such as frequency distribution, Tables and all
Quantitative data was expressed inform of percentages. Thereafter the information was

41
transformed into Tables by use of computer package of statistical packages for social
sciences (SPSS).

Ethica~ Considerations
The major ethical issues of concern are informed consent, Privacy and
confidentiality, anonymity and researcher’s responsibility. The Researcher consulted the
Human Resource Manager for KSWL in regard to the proposed study and sought his
approval before the study was carried out. And the study participants were assured of
confidentiality, privacy and anonymity before participating.

Limitations of the Study

o The distance from the Head office to the divisions was long and this
affected the numbers of questionnaires returned from those respective
departments.

42
 CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Persona~ profNe data

This data covers the bio-data of subordinate employees that formed the most
majority of the sample population. According to the field survey, the majority 82.4% of
these employees was male and the rest l7.6% were females. In regard to their level of
education, 25.S% of these employees were Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE)
holders with ordinary secondary education, 24.3% were Uganda advanced certificate of
education (UACE) holders with Advanced secondary education while 1O.6% others had
tertiary education certificates. In addition, the majority 3l.7% were diploma holders,
6.2% were degree holders and the rest l.4% of the employees were holders of
masters’ degrees.

In respect of the period of service at Kinyara Sugar Factory limited, 7.3% of

subordinate employees revealed that they had served for less than a year, 28.7% had
been at the factory for 1-3 years, while the majority 35.2% had spent there 4-7 years
of service. Similarly 25.5% of these employees indicated that they had 8-11 years
experience at the factory and the rest 3.2% revealed that they had worked there for
over 12 years.

43
 Table 1
The profile data of the respondents at Kinyara Sugar works Limited.
Item Frequency Percentage
Gender
Male 281 82.4
Female 60 17.6
Total 341 100
Educational
Qua ification
Basic Primary 00 00
Secondary Level 88 25.8
Advanced Level 83 24.3
Certificate Level 36 10.6
Diploma Level 108 31.7
Degree Level 21 6.2
Masters Level 05 1.4
Total 341 100
Age
18-25 years 70 . 20.5
26-35 years 100 29.3
36-45 years 100 29.3
46-55 years 50 14.7
56-65 years 21 6.2
Total 341 100
Years of Service
Less than a year 25 7.3
1-3 years 98 28.7
4-7 years 120 35.2
8-11 years 87 25.5
12-15 years 11 3.2
Total 341 100
Source: Primary data

44
 Tab~e 2
Extent of Working Conditions
(N = 341)
Indicators of Working Mean Interpretation Rank
Conditions
System of communication 2.45 Fairly satisfactory 1
Employer-employee relationship 2.32 Fairly satisfactory 2
Performance appraisal system 2.29 Fairly satisfactory 3
The remuneration package offered 2.11 Fairly satisfactory 4
Grievances handling procedure 2.10 Fairly satisfactory 5
Occupational safety 2.05 Fairly satisfactory 6
Employee job in general 2.03 Fairly satisfactory 7
Employee benefits 2.00 Fairly satisfactory 8
Average Mean 2.17 FaiHy satisfactory
Source: Primary data
Interpretation guide
Mean Range Response Mode Interpretation
3.26 — 4.00 Strongly agree Very satisfactory
2.51 — 3.25 Agree Satisfactory
1.76 — 2.50 Disagree Fairly satisfactory
1.00 — 1.75 Strongly disagree Unsatisfactory

Tab~ 2 shows the extent of working conditions at Kinyara Sugar Works Limited.
The findings show that the employees of the Company are fully satisfied with the
working conditions. That’s why the performance is not very high to increase
productivity.

45
 Table 3
Level of Employee Performance
(N = 341)
Indkators of Employee Mean Interpretation rank
Performance
Working conditions and productivity - 2.07 Low 1
Working conditions and job performance or 2.00 Low 2
satisfaction
Employee ~performance improve with improved 1.96 Low 3
working conditions
Work relationships 1.89 Low 4
Employee Turn Over in 2010/11 FY 1.84 Low 5
Employee work perception 1.73 Very low 6
Off work employee safety 1.71 Very low 7
Employee confidence 1.68 Very low 8
Employee absenteeism in 2010/11 FY 1.67 Very low 9
Employee receptivity/humility 1.60 Very low 10
Employee job experience 1.55 Very low 11
Employee bccupational Accidents in 2010/11 1.48 Very low 12
FY
Average Mean 1.76 low
Source: Primary data
Interpretation guide
Mean Range Response Mode Interpretation
3.26 — 4.00 Strongly agree Very high
2.51 — 3.25 Agree High
1.76 — 2.50 Disagree Low
1.00— 1.75 Strongly disagree Very low
46
 Table 3 shows the level of employee performance. This portrays that the level
goes on declining if the working conditions are not improved. And when the working
conditions are improved then the level of performance will be high.

Table 4
Relationship between Extent of Working Conditions and Level of
Employee Performance
(Level of Significance = 0M5)
Variables Correlated r-vallue sig. Interpretation Decision on Ho
Extent of Working .589 MOO Positive and Rejected
Conditions Vs Level of significant correlation
Employee Performance

The Correlation is significantly positive.

There is a significance of 0.05 and the sig is O.000.This shows that there is a very
strong positive significant relationship between the extent of working conditions and the
level of employee performance. Therefore the hypothesis is rejected. This means there
is a significant relationship between working conditions and employee performance.
Only a few employees were satisfied with the working conditions while many others
were not. It is thus recommended that employee performance would significantly
improve with working conditions.

47
TabDe 4.6 shows the regress~on resuilts

Model Unstandardised coefficients standardized t Sig.

B Std. Error Beta
1 (constant) 1.471 .115 12.757 .000
Working
conditions 240 .052 .249 4.647 .000
and
productivity
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Performance improves with improved working
conditions.

The findings show that there’s a .000 significance which means the relationship
between the working conditions and employee performance is strong and positive.
The regression model shows that the standardized beta is 0.249, the unstandardized
coefficient of B and std.error as 1.471 for working conditions and 0.240 for productivity
and 0.115 for working conditions and 0.052 for productivity respectively. The regression
result therefore show that the employee performance will improve with improved
working conditions thus increasing productivity. According to the regression results, the
hypothesis was rejected and it was recommended that employee performance with
improve with improved working conditions.

48
 CHAPTER FIVE

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STUDY

Findings
The discussion was made by relating the findings to the existing info that reflects
the relevant research objectives and/or questions stated in chapter one, respectively.
Thus, this is arranged under respective themes reflected in each of these objectives
and/or questions.

This study ascertained the working conditions of employees at KSWL. Working

conditions, according to (Cynthia et al, 1993), are all existing circumstances, affecting
labor in the workplace. Particularly It examined employee contentment with the several
working conditions in the company. They include employee remuneration, benefits,
occupational safety, communication, employee-employer relationship, grievances
handling, performance standards and appraisal and the management style. This was
persistent with Wendell (2003) study of the work place environment which involves all
the above factors.

This particular analysis of KSWL was done because of the correlation between
the employee, such conditions and the job. Despite their relevancy to employee
motivation as cited by Cynthia et al (1993), accordingly, each of these working
conditions is un satisfactory to certain employees. They are not entirely favorable
enough for effective employee management, majority of the respondents’ perceptions
suggest inconsistency in such employment conditions for which some thing has to be
done for the better. This situation at KSWL contradicts the very principle for which
these work conditions subsist in companies. Various scholars and/or research have
underscored the significance of working conditions to the employees and the company

49
(Oso and onen 2008, Ivancevich, 2001, the OHS Trained manual, and Hellriegel et al,
2001)

The working conditions at the company, since they are generally not good
enough and it was deduced are liable for improvement. This is consistent with
Wendell’s (2003) submission who highlighted the significance of maintaining
effectiveness of institutional work environment an aspect of human resource
management in companies. In this study, it was realized that relevant conditions would
be more impressive if at all they are enhanced otherwise; in their current status most of
the working conditions at KSWL are contestable.
Particularly more attention is needed for some conditions namely, the
management style, remuneration package, employee benefits, occupational safety,
work communication employer-employee relationship, grievances handling,
performance standards and performance appraisal.

Regarding the question of other social factors most of these conditions,

according to experience at KSWL, were found out to be mainly personal variables
among employees. This is in agreement with Vroom’s Expectancy theory, which
observes that employee performance at work is based on individual factors such as
personality, skills, knowledge experience and abilities. Specifically variables disclosed in
this study include work relationships, off work employee safety, employee
receptivity/humility, confidence, and job experience and employee perception. These
are non institutional factors. This is also reflected in the book of Robbins (1996) where
it noted that besides institutional factors such as those specified above employees also
bring their personal problems like family issues, personal economic problems and
inherent personality characteristics.

As analyzed in the study, employee social factors are largely favourable since
they are satisfactory among the majority of the employees investigated, just very few of

50
the informants expressed concern over such conditions. Nonetheless there are some
among such social conditions that require attention. And these include employee
confidence, job experience and out off-work employee security. The work consistency in
these personal social conditions equally imperative and thus situational among
employees at KSWL deserves due attention always for effective job commitment. This
realization watches Robbins, (1996) assertion that non institutional work problems can
not be solved without reference to the situation.

Armstrong (2006) was also concerned about the suitability of similar work social
factors. He says people’s worries and the resulting stress may well arise from like their
concerns about security, money, health and relationship with others fortunately, such
social variables at KSWL are generally favorable for most of the employees and un
favorable to very few others regarding their work at KSWL.

In regard to the effect of working conditions on employee performance; All

relevant working conditions analyzed in this study are significant factors in determining
employee motivation at the company. This is also reflected by Robbins (1996), the
organizational structure which is mainly made of similar institutional working conditions
also influences motivation, controls employee stress which is an emotional and/or
physical reaction to environmental activities and events (Lussier, 2002). In this study
job performance is however not satisfactory enough because of such conditions among
most of the employees at KSWL. Many of the employees are not adequately satisfied
for all such institutional conditions.

Nonetheless, grievances management and employer employee relationship were

cited as most compromising because besides being inconsistent, they are control factors
which when enhanced can help in improving other working conditions specified above.
RemuneraUun is also widely complained about because it is one of the core working
conditions since it is a monetary reward that is most sensitive not only to the

51
employees but also the company as a profit making venture besides the economic
costs. Occupational safety is equally perceived most prominent among many of the
employees because of the nature of the company. Kinyara Sugar Works Limited is a
production dnd processing company that is mainly associated with agricultural and
factory work. This is very prone to occupational accidents

The situation at KSWL is identifiable to similar studies which indicate the

inevitable impact of company institutional set-up on the effectiveness in employee
performance. One of such studies is by Gary and Lane (1988) who asserted that work
place conditions have been a major factor in compromising the health of workers in
America, poor working conditions, had a negative effect on the work place and workers’
consistency.

Particularly to substantiate the short comings of the work place conditions of job
performance in KSWL is an observation by Wehrich et al (1990) can be a suitable
example, working conditions have negative impact because they de-motivate or
increase stress levels of employees towards work and hence performance is
compromised.

In light of the above argument research evidence re-affirms the role of work
conditions on employee performance. Evidence at KSWL shows that employee
performance can greatly improve with improved working conditions. These it was found
out, are more compromising compared to employee personal social factors specified in
this study as other social factors regarding performance. Truly the impact of such social
factors can not be ignored but more concern from employees at the company is about
working conditions.

52
 Condus~on
Considering the research findings, working conditions, which are mainly
institutional factors play a vital role in motivating employees to perform their assigned
work. Besides, there are other equally influential social factors; these, in respect of the
research evidence at KSWL, are mostly employee personal variables.

Though such personal variables have an impact on workplace performance,

managers or supervisors and particularly employees at KSWL are more concerned with
the aptness of institutional factors which include the management style, remuneration
package, employee benefits, occupational safety, communication, employee- employer
relationship, grievances handling, performance standards and appraisal Employees can
be more comfortable working in whole gamut of workplace institutional factors that
influence their motivation.

Accordingly employees that are not satisfied or contented with such conditions at
KSWL are not committed and consistent enough for effective job performance and the
reverse is true. Notably however, majority of the workforce at the company are fairly
contented and so are their job satisfaction and productivity. By implication KSWL can do
much better if the institutional concerns of the employees are considerately addressed.
Thus, to drive an organization whether or not private to peak performance employers
must rise up for a pleased and motivated human capital. This study has implications for
similar domestic industrial investments in Uganda.

Recommendations
In light of the research conclusions, the following recommendations were made.

Emp~oyee motivation and enabllng organ~zat~on& p~an Workers in

indigenously owned manufacturing firms such as KSWL work very hard, but the
majority of~.~hem are dissatisfied with their remuneration and other extrinsic factors of

53
work. However there is no doubt that owners of such enterprises want them to grow
and endure. One of the ways to achieve that is to create conditions in which workers
see a promising future in their workplace. This will make them see themselves as part
of the enterprise. Therefore, in addition to improvement of wages and employee
benefits suLh as on job social welfare provisions extrinsic conditions of employment
such as occupation safety should be built into the organizational plan.

Promotion of a harmonious organizational structure In order to minimize

employee- management friction, companies like SWL can develop a harmonious
organizational structure. This may involve establishing an organizational culture and
managerial practice that can foster the growth, continuity and stability of the private-
public investment firms such KSWL. To do this, employers and workers should undergo
education by way of training workshops on the demands and strategies of operating
complex organizations. Universities or institutes of Management can take on this role.

This is necessary because such enterprises are in fact formal organizations, even
though their ownership is often informal. Given that some of the entrepreneurs have
little human resource management education while some have none at all, training
should focus on simple discussions of the rationale for, and methods, of integrating the
personal goals of the worker with those of the employers and their managers. Workers
and employers should find themselves united in their effort to achieve the mutually
beneficial objectives of growth, continuity and stability.

Human resource dev&opment For purposes of propping up employee

personal variables such as work relations, confidence and experience besides
motivation, entrepreneurs should invest in the short and long-term goals of their
employees. Two elements of these goals are important to the latter, namely, training
followed by promotion and commensurate material benefits, and post-employment
security in the form of gratuity and! or pension. Workers will always maintain a birds

54
of passage’ orientation if they are not sure that a job will help them to meet their
material needs and those of the extended family, build a nuclear family, pay the bills for
their children’s education, and have a sense of fulfillment in old age.

Solutions to the problems of post-employment security in the form of

gratuity/pension should not be left to the discretion of entrepreneurs alone. The profit
motive may prevent them from according it the attention it deserves. Government
should, therefore, enact and monitor legislation making it mandatory for firms to build
such security into the conditions of service. Such legislation will in the long run benefit
the Firms such KSWL, because they will be better placed to retain an experienced and
loyal workforce.

Allowing emp’oyees ho~d shares in the company Employers may consider

letting employees buy some company shares as a strategy for making them have a
stake in and identification with the enterprises. Selling a small portion of a company’s
shares to its employees is a winning strategy because it elicits their devotion to the
enterprise. The intent here is to bind the worker to the firm. This is fundamentally
imperative because employee share-ownership plans can also help to prevent the
formation and crystallization of the militant unionism loathed by employers. Workers will
be less like!y to disrupt structures in which they share ownership than structures in
which the owner is viewed as a distant exploiter.

Dev&opment of emp~oyee Unions Employers of large-scale indigenous

manufacturing firms such as KSWL should co-operate and promote the development of
unions as an integral part of industrial organization since there is an apparent lack of
commitment to unions at KSWL. This is commonly because entrepreneurs believe that
prevention of unionisation will ensure sustained industrial calm. However, employer
aversion to unionism has its costs as well. One perspective of industrial relations holds
that workers unionise to establish and consolidate avenues of ensuring their security.

55
 As Chamberlain and Cullen (1971) observed, the union is the worker’s
representative, his/her ‘spokesperson’ and agent in dealing with the employer. Besides
employee grievances, where the worker is denied the freedom of association in the
workplace, his/her feeling of insecurity increases. Instead of getting him integrated with
the enterprise, he is alienated, a situation which increases employee tendency toward
spontaneous and unceremonious abandonment of the organisation. The latter
constantly suffers losses because of its inability to retain a viable workforce. By dealing
with workers’ problems individually, employers and/or managers cannot undertake a
holistic, systemic appreciation of the problems of the enterprise. Therefore, unionization
can be of use to both workers and employers.

Future research Similar research in future should probe the reasons for the de
emphasis of the content and physical environment of work by employees in such
enterprises. If survival is central to workers, as implied by Maslow’s needs theory, how
do they survive with their meagre earnings? Do they engage in other economic
activities outside their factory employment in order to earn additional income? If so,
what kinds of activities are these, and where and when do they take place, given that
work in the factory occupies most of their time? Because of their scale and scope in the
present Uganda’s economy, medium/large scale indigenous manufacturing enterprises
such as KSWL urgently need the attention of scholars interested in the strengthening of
indigenous managerial capabilities in a developing country like Uganda.

56
 REFRENCES
A Company Booklet on the Development of Kinyara Sugar works Limited.
Amin, E.. Martin. (2005). Social Science Research. Conception, methodology and
Analysis. Kampala: Makerere University Printery.
Angelo’s, D. Griffin. (2001) .Human Resource management. New York: Houghton
Mifflin company.
Armstrong M. (2006). Human resource management (1Qth ed.) London: Kogan
page.
Aswathappa, K. (2008). Human Resource Management. Text and Cases. (5th ed).
India: Tata MC Graw Hill Education Private Limited.
Bannet, D. & Hartman L.P. (2004). Employment Law for Business. (4th ed). Irwin.
Bateman S. (2002). Management Competing in the New Era. (5th ed.) USA:
Prentice Hall.
Ceasar, J, E, (1998). Educational Research, Statistics and Measuremment. (2nd

ed). (Editors JR. Ijoka- Odongo, F. Olal- Odur) Kampala: Department of Distance
Education.
Cynthia, Fisher, Lyle & James B shaw. (1993). Human Resource Management.
(~Y7d ed.). USA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Davis, K. (1981). Human Behavior at Work Organi~ation Behavior New York: Mc

Graw — hill book company.
Dubrin. A. (2001). Human Relations. Interpersonal Job- oriented Skills. (7th ed).
London: Prentice Hall.
Garry D. (1988). Personnel Management. (4th ed) USA: prentice hall.
Garry D. (2008). Human resource management. New Jersey: Prentice hall.
Gary, M,G & Lane M.S. (Eds). (1988). Social Work in the WorkPlace. Practice and
Principles. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Gomeze M, Balkan B.D. & Julius R. (1948). Management New York: Mc Graw Hill.

57
 Gomezi L R, Balkin, D.B, cardy R.L & Dimick D.E. (1995). Management Human
Resources. (2fld ed.) USA: Prentice Hall.
Halsey, D, George. (1947). A hand book of personnel management. New York:
Milling Machine Company.
Harris M. (2000). Human Resource Management. Practical Approach (2nd ed.)
New York: Division of Harcourt college publishers.
Hellr~gel D, Jackson & slocum J.W. (2001). Management Acompetency Based
Approach. (gth ed.). Canada.
Henman, H,schwab. D, fossum 3 & Dyeri (1986). Personnel/Human Resource
Management. (31d ed.) New York: IRWIN Home wood illinos (co).
http//www. i/o.org/public/libdoc/2003/103B09-265-eng/. Pdf Retrieved on
01/19/2011 from the world wide web:
Human Relations Contributions. Retrieved on April , 19 2010) from the world
wide web: Htto/!www.accel.team. coml Human-Relations! Hrels- 05-herlsberg. Html.
Ivancevich. J. M. (2001). Human Resource Management. (8t~~ ed.) Mc Graw - Hill
I rwi n.
Jonathan. (Ed). (1995). The Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of Current
English. (5th ed). New York. Oxford University Press.
Khanka s.s (2003).Human Resource Management.India: S Chanda & companies
Ltd.
Krejcie,R,V & Morgan,D.W. (1990). Determining Sample sLze for Research.
Educational and Measurement, Sage Publications
Lambert, S. 3. (2006). Both Art and Science: Employing Organisational
Documentation in Workplace-Based Research. In Pitt-Catsouphes M. Kossek, E.E. &
Sweet, S.(Eds). The Work and Family Handbook: Multi- Disciplinary Perspectives
Methods and approaches. (pp.503-525). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erobaum
Associates.

58
 Lee. K & Allen,NJ (2002). Organisational Citizenshi~ Behaviour and Workplace
Deviance. The role of affected and cognitions. Journal Of Applied Psychology 87(1) 131-
142
Lussier R. N. (2002) Human Relations in Organisatlons. Applications and skill
Building. (5th ed). New York: MC Graw Hill Irwin.

Mlikovich G.T & Banderal 1W (1991). Human Resource Management. (6th ed.)
New York: Irwin.
Mugenda 0, M &Mugenda A, G. (2003). Research Methods. Quantitative and
Qualitative Approaches. Nairobi: African Centre for Technology Studies ACTS Press.
Munabi,L.C. Occcupational Health and Safety Trainers Manual. Developed by the
Uganda Tea Association in Conjunction with FUE with Financial Assistance from
Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO). Kampala:
Paul R. Sackett, Christopher M. Berry Shelling A Wemann & Roxanne M. Laczo.
(2006). Citizenship and counterproductive Behaviour. Clarifying Relations Between the
Two Domains. Human Performance, 19 (4), 441-464.
Peak Performance Instructor Manual. (2003). (4th ed.) New York: Mc Graw Hill.
Ra nda I s.s. & suza n E,G. (2000) Managing Human Resources. Paftnershi~
.

Perspective. New York: south western publishing.

Raymond. N, Hollenbeck. B, & Gerhart P, M. (1995) . Human Resource
Management, Gaining Competitive Advantage. U.S.A: Irwin Custory Publishing.
Richard L. Daft (2003). Management. (6th ed.) USA: Thomson south western.
Subba Rao. (2008). Essentials of Human Resource Management Industrial
Relations. Text, Cases and Games. (3ft~ ed). India: Himalaya Pulishing House. PVT.
Wanzige L.S & Kitonsa S. B. The Worker~ Guide to the workers Compensation
Act 2000. Kampala: JEP & GRACE ENTERPRISES.
Weiman, lis (2000). Human resource management. (2i~ ed.) International
Thomson publishing company.

59
 Wendell, LF. (2003). Human resources management. (5th ed.) New York:
Houghton mifflin company.
Wendell. F. (2003). Human Resources management. New York: Houghton Mifflin
corn pa ny.
Willis Yuko Oso & Onen David (2008). A General Guide to writing Research
Proposal and Report A handbook for Beginning Researchers. (2~ ed). Kampala:
Author.
http://directory.africa-business.com/product desc.php?id=4245
Retrieved on 04/02” 2Ollfrom the World Wide Web:
http : //www. maltprod ucts.corn/?gcl id = CJ PuxKuI7gYCFcgf4Qod6jiOGA
Retrieved on 04/02/ 2011 from the World Wide Web:

60
 APPENDIX A:

TRANSMITTAL LETTER

~ i)~(~ Kas~-~r~a
P1) FF~x 2U000 K~r4I~ Laa~i

W
____
I V KAMPALA
INTERNATIONAL
ci ‘256 ai~ 26cB13
Fa~ --256 4P *197-1
2101- 41 -267634

UNIVERSITY F- ccl admIO2)kPu.cc uq.

______—____ ____________ ___________

OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR, BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH (SPGSR)
— 2(1

Dear Xir!Pv!adarn.

Rit: REQUEST FOR NATt3SAI~I1 LYI)I~\ MllRf4O333/91J1)~ 1

TO CONm)UT RESI4ARUII iN YoUR ORCANIZATION

The above mentioned is a honafide student of Kampala Inrornahonal University

pursuing a Masters of Arts in Human Resource Manaqement.
She is currently conducting a field research of which the title is ‘~Working Conditions
and Employee Performance of Kinyara Sugar Works Limited (KSWL) in
Masindi, Uganda.” As part of her research work; she has to collect relevant
information through questionnaires, interviews and other relevant, reading materials.

Your organization has been identified as a valuable source of informauon pertaiflinq to

her research prolect. The purpose pf this letter is to-request you to avail her with the
pertinent information she may need.

Any information shared with her in your organization shall be treated with utmost
confidentiality.

Any assc~tanCe rer~der’ed to her will be highly appreciated

Yours trul ~

Mr. Malinga$fl
Coordinator -

Business and Management (SPGSR)

“rvr,Ir.r,-’n fj,i_’.
 APPENDIX B

INFORMED CONSENT

17th March, 2010

I-lead of Department
Kampala international University
P 0 Box 20000
Kampala

Dear Sir

Re: MS. KATUSABE LYDIA

We are glad to inform you that, the above named student, Ms. Katusabe Lydia conducted
her research project in our company.

in canving out this study, the questionnaires were distributed to various responsible
persons in the company sections, who responded to the questions on the routine activities
taking place in the Organization.

We therefore hope she will present to you a true record of the relevant information about
our company operations.

Finally we urge Ms. Katusabe to ensure that all what she learned and information/data
she collected from our Company will be kept confidential and be used jealously purely
for academic purposes.

Sincerely.

~W/~ /~?
Patrick Adirnola.
Ag. Staff Development Manager

Kiriyara Sugar Works Ltd

RO.8ox179 P.O.Box74
Mashidi, Uganda. Kampala, U~an
Tel: t256) 036 2 600200 Fax: (256) 0362 600211 ww~.kinyara.co.ug Tel: 1256) 041 4236382 Fax: (256) 041 42363
 APPENDIX C

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SURBORDINATE STAFF SHOWING THE EXTENT

OF WORKING CONDITIONS

Dear Respondents,
This questionnaire is for the purpose of collecting data that will assist in writing a thesis
that is a partial requirement for a Master of Human Resource management of Kampala
International University. It is NOT meant for any other purpose, and the information
provided here in will be kept with almost confidentiality. You are therefore kindly
requested to co-operate in answering the questions honestly to provide the required
information.
The topic of study is “working conditions and employee performance in Kinyara
Sugar Works Limited, Masindi District Uganda.”

Respondent Personat ProfNe

L Gender:
) M-~
~. I...~

3. Female LD

2. Educat~on Lev&
1. Basic Primary
2. Secondary Level
3. Advanced Level
4. Certificate Level
5. Diploma Level
6. Degree Level
7. Mdsters Level
4. Age
1. 18-25
63
 2. 26-35
3. 36-45
4. 46-55
5. 56-65

5. Years of Service
1. Less than a year
2. 1-3 years
3. 4-7 years
4. 8-11 years
5. 12-15 years

6. The current Working Conditions at Kinyara Sugar Works Limited

. Employees are satisfied with the Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree
current working Conditions at Kinyara Agree Disagree
Sugar Works Limited.
a) The remuneration package?
b) Benefits offered
c) Occupational safety
d) System of communication
e)Employer- employee relationship
f) Grievances handling procedure
g) P~~rformance appraisal system
h) Your job in general

7. The system of communication adopted by the company is favourable to the

employees?
a) Strongly Agree D
b) Agree
64
 c) Strongly DisagreeEl
d) Disagree El

8. As a staff member are I am contented with the performance standards that I follow
when executing my duties?
1. Strongly Agree E]
2. Agree
3. Strongly DisagreeED
4. Disagree

9. All the working Conditions are good enough to the employees.

1. Strongly Agree I

2. Agree I
3. Strongly Disagree
4. Disagree I

10. The relationship between the management relationship and employee performance
is very strong?
1. Strongly Agree ED
2. Agree ED
3. Strongly DisagreeD
4. Disagree ED’

65
12. The most unfavourable working conditions to employee performance in the
company are

Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree

Disagree
Remuneration
Management
Relationships
Occupation
Safety
Grievance
Management

66
 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SURBORDINATE STAFF SHOWING THE LEVEL OF
EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

1. The following are the non institutional factors affecting employee

performance
Stron~ly Agree Strongly Disagree
Agree Disagree
i) Work relationships
ii) Employee perception
iii) Employee receptivity
iv) Employee confidence
v) Employee job experience
vi) Off work employee safety

2. The following employee inconsistencies were common in the financial year

2010/2011
Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree
Agree Disagree
i) Employee Turn Over
ii) Absenteeism
iii) Occupational Accidents

3. Employee performance can improve with improved working conditions in your

company to a greater extent.
1. Strongly Agree LZ
2. Agree EZ
3. Strongly DisagreeD
4. Disagree D

67
4. The following factors are common among the employees in the company.
Strongly agree Agree - Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Poor work
relationsh I PS
Poor employee
perception
Employees Lack
of Confidence
Less Employee
Job Experience
Off- Work
Employee
insecurity

5. The Working Conditions are favourable to job performance and productivity

Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree

Agree Disagree
a) Job performance
or satisfaction
b) Productivity

68
 APPENDIX D

RELIABILITY TEST
(SPSS Output) Scale al Variables

Case Processing Summary

N %
Cases Valid 327 99.4
Excluded a 2 .6
Total 329 100.0
a. Listwise deletion based on all
variables in the procedure.

RelliabONty Statllstics

Cronbach~s
Alpha N of Items
189 24

69
 APENDIX E

A MAP OF UGANDA SHOWING MASINDI DISTRICT

Sudan

**

~-~.-~-— —~_J***
D~R.
L

~ i
K
~ I _~1.
— —. ~

L.
* —

L.

Masindi

70
 APPENDIX F
Area harvested in 2004/2005 was 5,231 ha. of Estate cane and
2,777 ha. of out growers’ cane.

Kinyara Sugar works ltd. — Area harvested (Hectares)

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05

KEY
Estate — Area harvested
Out growers — area harvested

71
 RESEARCHER’S CURRICULLUM VITEA

PERSONAL PROFILE
NAME KATUSABE LYDIA
NATIONALITY UGANDAN
AGE 27
RELIGION ANGLICAN
CONTACT ADDRESS 0782938034
EMAIL ADDRESS kahundelydia@yahoo.com

The researcher considers herself innovative and creative, result oriented with the
sense of self accountability, transparent with appositive attitude towards conditions.
Iso dynamic to easily adapt to new environment and above all interested in
I III I~.

Education back ground

Year Institution Award
2002-2005 Kampala BAE-second upper
International University class
2000-2001 Kyebambe Girls’ UACE
School
1996-1999 Kyebambe Girls’ UCE
School
1989-1995 Kyebambe Model PLE
Primary School

Working experience
The researcher worked as a welfare officer for Tamteco (Toro and Mityana Tea
Company Ltd) for two years (2007 August to 2009 August).

II
72
I.~ Li j

~ IN CA 1~ S