Role of Intellectual Stimulation and Inspirational Motivation on Performance of Commercial State Owned Enterprises in Kenya

Kenya state owned enterprises were design to spur growth and provide services in order to uplift the living standards of the Kenyans. However, over the years these state enterprises have face numerous challenges among them poor leadership. This paper sought to investigate the effect of transformational leadership on organizational performance of commercial state owned enterprises in Kenya, specifically the extent to which idealized influence and inspirational motivation affect organizational performance of commercial SOEs in Kenya. Data was collected from 170 senior managers from 34 commercial state corporations in Kenya using self-administered questionnaire.  Inspirational motivation was found to have a significant and a positive effect on organization performance implying that improving inspirational motivation will improve organization performance. However, idealized influence did not have any significant effect on organization performance. The study also found that inspirational motivation had a negative effect on organization performance through organization culture. This paper recommends that organizations targeting to improve organization performance must work on employee- friendly company culture, degree of employee’s inclination to be more productive than non-motivated employees, power of company financial incentives and team work. In addition, they must work towards discouraging delegation of tasks, career mentoring and couching, and creation of new learning opportunities alongside a supportive climate. Keywords: organizational motivation, inspirational motivation, State Owned Enterprise

The Effect of Individualized Consideration and Intellectual Stimulation on Organizational Performance of Commercial State Owned Enterprises in Kenya

There is a limited understanding about the role of leadership on organizational performance in the context of customer service sector. Customer service sector is getting more and more importance in recent years as firms are directing their attention towards proving the best quality of service to their customers along with manufacturing. Therefore, the motivation of this paper is to investigate the impact of leadership behaviour on organizational performance in the context of customer service sector. Data was collected from 170 senior managers from 34 commercial state corporations in Kenya using self-administered questionnaire. Using ordinary linear regression, the results show that individualized consideration had a significant and negative effect on organization performance implying that discouraging individual consideration in a commercially owned enterprise would improve organization performance. However, intellectual stimulation did not have any significant effect on organization performance. The paper recommends that organizations targeting to improve organization performance must work on employee- friendly company culture, degree of employee’s inclination to be more productive than non-motivated employees, power of company financial incentives and team work. In addition, they must work towards discouraging delegation of tasks, career mentoring and couching, and creation of new learning opportunities alongside a supportive climate. Keywords: Intellectual Stimulation, Individualized Consideration, Organizational Performance, State-Owned Enterprise

Effects of Transformational Leadership on Work Stress among Top Managers in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Kenya

Effective managerial leadership at all levels of society is essential for coping with the growing social and economic problems confronting a country. Currently most of the state owned enterprises (SOEs) are making losses or operating below their full potential. This poor performance could be influenced by the inability of top management to perform under stress. Work stress may reduce the productivity of the top management ultimately leading to poor performance. There are various factors that influence work stress among them is leadership styles. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of literature focusing on the effect of leadership styles on work stress in SOEs. This study sought to investigate the role of transformational leadership style on work stress in commercial SOEs in Kenya. Specifically, the study examines the effect of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart on work stress among the top managers of Kenya SOEs. To achieve these objectives the study targeted 175 top managers of commercial SOEs but collected data from 162 managers representing a response rate of 93 percent. The study used factor analysis to create indices for modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, encouraging the heart and work stress. Correlation analysis was used to test the strength of the relationship between work stress and each dimension of transformational leadership. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the magnitude and direction of each dimension of transformational leadership on work stress. The study found that model the way positively influence work stress and inspire a shared vision negatively influence work stress while other dimensions of transformational leadership have no significant effect on work stress among top managers of commercial SOEs in Kenya. The study recommends that managers should be trained and retrained in order to incorporate good leadership practices that will reduce work stress and increase productivity of the SOEs in Kenya. Keywords: Work Stress, Transformational Leadership, State Owned Enterprise

Effects of Climatological and Socioeconomic Factors on Chronic Poverty

Poverty remains one of the key development goals for developing countries. Achieving this goals may be far-fetched given the increasing vagaries from climate change. This paper sought to estimate the effect of climate and weather variability on chronic poverty using household panel data for Kenya. Using Chamberlain random effects probit model with control function, the paper found that weather variability reduces the likelihood of a household falling into chronic poverty. Household heads with post-secondary education were less likely to fall into chronic poverty and those who earned off-farm income and had access to credit facilities had lower probability of falling into poverty as compared to those who did not. The findings suggests the need to devise policies on climate mitigation in order to cushion households from devastating effects of weather variability and to create awareness through dissemination of climate information in easy and widely accessible formats

Effect of Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration on Staff Performance in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya

The aim of this study was to examine effect of Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration on performance of staff in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya. The study intended to answer the following research questions: does intellectual stimulation affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya?, and does individualized consideration affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya? Positivism research philosophy and descriptive research design were used in this study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 163 senior managers from the target population of 275 senior managers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the selected members of top management team in SOEs. The study used factor analysis to reduce data, correlation analysis to establish the relationship between staff performance and intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration, chi square test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression model to test the hypotheses. The study found that intellectual stimulation was positively and significantly related with staff performance, r(139) = .73, p < .00 and significantly predicted staff performance, β = .78, t (145) = 3.38, p< .001. Individualized consideration was strongly correlated with staff performance r (138) = .75, p < .00 and significantly predicted staff performance, β = 1.07, t (145) = 4.57, p< .00.The study concluded that Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration positively and significantly increased performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya. The study recommended in order for the SOEs to achieve their objectives, top management should inspire and motivate their followers so as to increase performance. Keywords: Intellectual Stimulation, Individualized Consideration, Staff Performance, State Owned Enterprise

Role of Market Structure on Performance of MICE in Kenya

The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of market structure on performance of Kenya meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry. The specific objectives are to examine the direct effect of market structure on performance of the Kenyan M.I.C.E industry and to identify ways in which M.I.C.E industry in Kenya can be improved. The study targeted 324 but sampled 179 MICE stakeholders. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques were used. Additionally, factor analysis and multiple linear regression models were used. The study found that market structure has no effect on performance of the MICE industry in Kenya. The study recommended that government should develop MICE infrastructure, reduce interest rates, stabilise inflation and curb insecurity for the MICE industry to realize its full potential, and also suggested that the MICE stakeholders and the general public should work on their respective inputs to improve the performance of the MICE industry in Kenya

Effect of Idealized Influence and Inspirational Motivation on Staff Performance in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of Idealized Influence and Inspirational Motivation on performance of staff in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya. The study intended to answer the following research questions: does idealized influence affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya? and does inspirational motivation affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya? Positivism research philosophy and descriptive research design were used in this study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 163 senior managers from the target population of 275 senior managers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the selected members of top management team in SOEs. The study used factor analysis to reduce data, correlation analysis to establish the relationship between staff performance and transformational leadership, chi square test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression model to test the hypotheses. The study found that idealized influence was positively and significantly correlated with staff performance, r(138) = .64, p < .00. Multiple linear regression revealed that idealized influence significantly predicted staff performance, β = .78, t (145) = 2.99, p< .004. Inspirational motivation was positively and significantly related with staff performance, r(140) = .73, p < .00 and significantly predicted staff performance, β = 1.1, t (145) = 4.54, p< .00. The study concluded that Idealized Influence and Inspirational Motivation positively and significantly increased performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya. The study recommended that top management teams in SOEs should work towards encouraging delegation of tasks, career mentoring and coaching, and creation of new learning opportunities alongside a supportive climate for their employees. Keywords: Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Staff Performance, State Owned Enterprise

Role of Organizational and Personal Factors on Work Stress Among the Managers of State Owned Enterprises in Kenya

The current stagnation of both the public and private enterprise sectors in Kenya’s economy, suggests among other things that, Kenyan managers/leaders may not be performing to their full managerial and leadership potential.  This observation engenders the need for further investigations.  Managerial work stress is a major organizational problem that has not been adequately addressed neither by organizations nor researchers despite concerted attempts. This paper sought to examine how work stress may be impacted by organizational and personal factors in Kenya commercial State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). To achieve this, the paper examined how the organizational and personal factors affect work stress among top managers of commercial SOEs in Kenya. Primary data was collected using questionnaires administered to 175 senior managers of SOEs in Kenya. Using random sampling, the paper collected data from 162 managers representing a response rate of 93 percent. The paper found out that organizational factors significantly influenced work stress while organizational structure and climate were major sources of stress. The paper recommended that organization structures and work environment should be streamlined so as to reduce work stress among top managers of commercial SOEs in Kenya. Keywords: State-owned enterprises, work stress, personal factors, organizational factors

Effect of Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration on Staff Performance in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya

The aim of this study was to examine effect of Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration on performance of staff in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya. The study intended to answer the following research questions: does intellectual stimulation affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya?, and does individualized consideration affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya? Positivism research philosophy and descriptive research design were used in this study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 163 senior managers from the target population of 275 senior managers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the selected members of top management team in SOEs. The study used factor analysis to reduce data, correlation analysis to establish the relationship between staff performance and intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration, chi square test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression model to test the hypotheses. The study found that intellectual stimulation was positively and significantly related with staff performance, r(139) = .73, p < .00 and significantly predicted staff performance, β = .78, t (145) = 3.38, p< .001. Individualized consideration was strongly correlated with staff performance r (138) = .75, p < .00 and significantly predicted staff performance, β = 1.07, t (145) = 4.57, p< .00.The study concluded that Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration positively and significantly increased performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya. The study recommended in order for the SOEs to achieve their objectives, top management should inspire and motivate their followers so as to increase performance. Keywords: Intellectual Stimulation, Individualized Consideration, Staff Performance, State Owned Enterprise

Does Awareness Influence Choice of Waste Disposal Methods? A Case of Migori Town, Kenya

Rapid economic growth, urbanization and population increase have fueled the production of large amounts of waste to the environment. Even so, the management of such waste has become a huge problem in many towns in developing nations. This has also led to the emergence of different methods of dumping waste such as; dumping in the dustbins, by the roadside, burying and even burning. This paper sought to give insights and inform policy on waste disposal methods and the level of awareness on proper garbage disposal practices. The research was carried out in Migori County in Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to select the county while random sampling was used to select the respondents. Probit regression model was utilized. The findings indicate that awareness of proper waste disposal, education, age, gender and household size were the key determinants of the method one settles for while disposing waste. The most used waste disposal method was disposing off in the dustbins which was influenced by respondents being more aware and sensitized about the importance of proper waste disposal methods. The paper concludes that more information on proper waste disposal methods should be aired on radio and TV. Since public awareness and attitude has an impact on all stages of the waste management process, the government as well as NGOs should make efforts to increase public awareness on waste disposal methods and participation regarding waste management challenges in developing countries. Keywords:  Knowledge of waste disposal methods, Choice of disposal methods, Multivariate Probit model DOI: 10.7176/CER/11-7-04 Publication date: August 31st 201