Effect of Strategic Performance Systems on Organizational Justice in the Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies in Kenya

Abstract

In a changing economic climate, characterized by pressures to improve productivity and reduce costs, performance management has a more central role in helping to ensure competitive advantage. As SAGAs have developed more formal strategic processes, there has been some movement towards the integration of organizational strategy with a more strategic approach from human resource management. This has involved many organizations in the introduction of formal performance systems, frequently characterized by appraisals or performance reviews. The strategic performance practices should be structured to include organizational justice for a good production from the employees to be attained and to prevent chaos and mistrusts in organization. From the previous studies, there is no single published study conducted on strategic performance systems. The study thus sought to investigate the effect of strategic performance systems on the organizational justice in semi- autonomous government agencies in Kenya. The study collected data from the ministry of education using questionnaires which were administered using drop and pick method. This study adopted the positivism approach which advocates the application of methods of the natural sciences to the study of social reality and beyond. The population of interest in this study was Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF), Kenya Institute of Education (KIE), Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) and Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE). The respondents for the study were employees in the SAGAs. Stratified random sampling method was used to come up with the sample for the study. The sample size was 124 respondents from the five selected SAGAs. The data collection instruments that were used were structured questionnaires which consisted of closed ended questions. The data collected was then coded and analyzed both by descriptive and inferential statistics. The result suggests that SAGAs in Kenya relatively observed distributive justice but hardly do they observe procedural justice and interactional justice. The study results showed that the level of justice in SAGAs in Kenya was moderate and leave more to be desired. The research indicates a positive link between organizational justice and satisfaction with various elements of strategic performance systems. The study established that employees perceived that there was scarcity of organizational justice in SAGAs in Kenya but it could not be wholly attributed to strategic performance systems. Other factors may as well have played a role on employees’ perception of organizational justice. The study further concludes that perception of organizational justice is correlated with several organizational factors, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, trust, and legitimacy. The study results further showed that justice perceptions can improve organizational-relevant attitudes and behaviors such as satisfaction, affective commitment, trust, and performance. The study recommends that strategic performance systems should be implemented in organization but with keenness to observe organizational justice.