CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1.1 Background of the study

Employee performance management is an organizational process that aligns the employee measures, skills, competency, development plans and delivery of results. The business dictionary defines it as activities related to a job that is required of an employee, and how well these are done. In an organizational setting, there are different types of resources that are used to enhance the smooth operations of an organization such as human capital, money, machinery and raw materials. Out of all these resources, human capital is the only living resource that an organization has. Any organization can be able to afford the right materials or enough money or even up-to-date machinery to conduct their operations smoothly but not every organization can afford the right human capital. Human resource is a very vital asset to an organization because it helps an organization achieve its competitive edge against its competition in the same industry. For this reason, employee performance is very important to the twenty first century organizations for this will enable them compete favorably against the changing environment with other organizations. Robin (1998), as cited by (M’Mbui, 2011) indicates that performance may be influenced by a number of factors which include; individual personality, the values instilled in them, attitudes and competence of an individual which is a mixture of how they perceive things and their motivation. However, it was also indicated that biographical characteristics like their age, their sex, status of marriage and seniority level could not really give exact and reproductive facts of links to improve employee accomplishments and their job satisfaction. For one to get to know how well or badly they may have performed, a performance management tool has to be used to assess them. There are various tools that could be used in measuring success in an organization according to Guck (2013). The first tool is the 360 – degree feedback that is used on managers by the people that work with them on a day-today basis. Secondly, the balanced score-card may be used which entails a combination of quantifiable information such as sales quotas and budget position. Another tool that can be used is management by objectives where managers come up with goals for the employees then they get to be measured at the end of a period to see whether these goals have been attained. Self-evaluation is a tool used by an individual to measure their own performance in comparison with that of their superior (Gunk, 2013).

Organizations are facing increased competition due to globalization, and external environmental factors. Each and every organization has the responsibility to enhance the performance of their employees because of its importance in achieving optimal goals

(Nassazi, 2013). The effective management of your employees’ performance should: contribute to business success by ensuring that individual efforts are linked to business objectives; improve the motivation and performance of staff by giving them positive feedback and by providing them with opportunities for training and development; provide a basis for linking rewards to performance; give the company more information about individuals and their needs (Cushway, 2015).A job performance that is good gives an individual an assurance of security hence they do not hop from one job to another in search of a new position. This happens when their managers are able to understand their expectations and professional goals, as well as giving them feedback from time to time just to make sure that they are at their best. All in all, good job performance enhances the reputation of an employee hence enhancing them in developing their careers (McQuerrey, 2014). Recruitment of the right staff, employee redundancy, talent retention, development of staff as well as issues with performance management processes tend to be the major obstacle that Cameroon faces in achieving optimum productivity in their organizations. This may be resolved however by good ssssrewarding systems and development and training (Onyije, 2014 and Kyakulumbye, 2013) as cited by (Kibichii, Kiptum, & Chege,2016). Productivity in Cameroon is perceived as a threat to many organizations because many managers do not practice good performance management techniques. This can be suctioned by implementing proper performance management techniques such as motivation to increase the psych of employees. (Karimi, Malik and Hussain, 2011 and Khan and Gautam 2014) as cited by (Kibichii, Kiptum, & Chege, 2016).

There is no question that productivity in any organization is important for the good performance of the organization. Identifying the factors that influence productivity is a
research done over the years all over the world indicate that productivity is affected by
relatively few factors, some of which are organizational specific while others can be seen
as universal. According to Armstrong, (2006), workers are generally aware of the factors
that inhibit their performance. However, the way the government works is case specific
and as such the need to identify those factors. Identification of the specific productivity
factors relevant the government sector workforce may yield opportunities for significant
productivity gains in public sector. According to Lawrence (2010), a comparison between productivity advancement in governmental organizations and those in the private sector reveals that the governmental organizations have not kept pace with the increases in productivity as found in the private sector. According to Armstrong (20002) an organization’s success mostly depends on the employees. The level of employee performance determines the level of organizational success in any industry. Chebet, (2015) argues that exploring and understanding those factors that affect the employee performance and hence productivity is of major concern in every Economy worldwide. A study by Coole in 2009 found that productivity level in 2009 in sub Saharan Africa economies have been reported as having the lowest level of productivity (Coole, 2009). Nigel, (2009) points out that Human Resources Management practices have significant impact on organizations productivity. According to Nigel training and development, team work, human resources planning and performance appraisal are doing influence employee performance. The main reason cited is poor service delivery by the employees. His is nothing other than poor performance meaning that the employee productivity is very low. This has challenged the researcher to examine the factors
that influences the employee performance in BAPCCUL Nkwen Bamenda. Understanding such factors could enable BAPCCUL raise the employees’ performance so as to provide satisfactory services and in a better way.

1.2 Statement of the problem

After the Promulgation of BAPCCUL, general election, a number of people left other sectors of the economy including renowned companies and joined the work force of BAPCCUL. This was as a result of perceived attractive compensation and better terms of engagement, coupled by high level of optimism which a lot of people had. It was then expected that the quality of
services, effectiveness and efficiency by employees would be irreproachable. This is
not the case as quite a number of studies have pointed out the poor performance of
employees in various departments of BAPCCUL. Various reasons have been cited for this state of affairs. Some of the reasons cited include subjective performance appraisal, poor
working conditions, leadership method, employee management method, training,
compensation, and political factors. This study embarks on trying to determine those
factors which affect employees’ productivity in the BAPCCUL organization due to many
complaints documented on the poor services offered to members by the employees of BAPCCUL. Better performance can only be achieved when the employees use their unique wits to enhance the productivity of the organization.

1.3 Research Questions

The main research question is:

What is the effect of the factors that can lead to an increase in employee productivity  in BAPCCUL?
i. What is the relationship of skills on employee productivity in BAPCCUL.?

1. What is the relationship of leadership style on employee productivity in BAPCCUL.?

iii. What is the relationship of motivation on employees’ productivity in BAPCCUL.?
iv. What is the relationship of performance appraisal on employee productivity in BAPCCUL?

1.4 Research objectives

The main research objective is

To determine the factors that can lead to an increase in employees’ productivity in BAPCCUL?

The specific research objectives are
i. To investigate the relationship of staff skills on employee’s productivity in BAPCCUL.
ii. To examine the relationship  of leadership style on employees productivity in BAPCCUL
iii. To investigate the relationship of Motivation on employees productivity in BAPCCUL.
iv. To examine the relationship of Performance Appraisal on employees productivity in
BAPCCUL.