The Effect of Performance Appraisal Systems on Employees in Kenya Tea Development Agency: A Survey of Selected Tea Factories in Meru County-Kenya

Abstract

At an organizational level, the performance appraisal system impacts other HR systems as well as organizational strategy. The effectiveness of an organization's performance appraisal system is a prerequisite for ensuring the success of its selection, training, and employee motivation practices. At a strategic level, the need for rapid and effective organizational change in today's dynamic social, economic, and political environment requires that employees continually re-align their performance with the evolving goals and objectives of the organization. The need to continually re-align performance characterizes many organizational departments which continue to struggle with getting their members to embrace the philosophy and practices that are geared at enhancing performance. None of these local and international studies has focused on the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in the Kenyan context.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in Kenya Tea Development Agency with special focus on, Githongo, Imenti Tea Factory, Kiegoi and Miciimikuru Tea factories in Meru County in Kenya. This research adopted a descriptive research design where the population of interest in the selected tea estate were visited. 70 respondents were selected out of representing a population of 348 possible respondents using stratified random sampling by taking 20% of the target population in each stratum.