DETERMINANTS OF EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AT THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION HEADQUARTERS IN KENYA

This study seeks to establish the determinants of employee performance at the Ministry of Education in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to determine the effect competence level on employee performance at the Ministry of Education in Kenya and to establish the effect of organization culture on employee performance at the Ministry of Education in Kenya. The study was grounded on hierarchy of needs and Durkheim’s theory of culture. The study adopted descriptive cross-sectional survey. The study population composed of 623 employees at the management levels currently working at headquarters of ministry of education in Nairobi City County. Krejcie and Morgan formula was used to establish the sample size of the study. Data was gathered using questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS version 23. Pearson R correlation was used to measure degree and direction of the linear association between the variables. Multiple regression models were fitted to the data in order to test the influence of the independent variables on dependent variable. The information was displayed by use of bar charts, graphs, tables and pie charts. The study found that competence level positively and significantly influences employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya; organization culture positively and significantly influences employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. There is need for more attention to be focused on the education level, which will lead to the production of employees that are competent and attract foreign direct investments. There is need to adopt a culture that allows employees views, opinions and suggestions to be taken into consideration when making decisions. Also, ministry of education should adopt transformational style role with leadership qualities such as role modelling, perseverance, empathy, pragmatism, visionary, innovative, coaching, stimulating, and valuing employees so as to enhance staff performance.

The level and the performance of staff are related with competence, and competence structure of a person refers to the situation where a person is able to perform their duties competently and the work runs smoothly, and the expected results are achieved. It can also be said to be performance that is comprehensive of the measures that can be measured and the features of a person which makes them be different from others and these features are inclusive of knowledge, model of thinking, skills, motivation of the society and model of thoughts (Robertson & Patrick, 2015).
It is important for a company to make it clear the features of competency they need to ensure that their staff are competent and to ensure that their staff members have the highest potential based on the strategies of the company, the key competency and the requirements on the position. The key resource that a company can have is its employees as they assist the company in attaining competitive advantage. The productivity of a company cannot be attained by Land, buildings or materials but the 'people capital' responsible for running a business and helps to produce value for the available resources. The main source through which a company can attain their competitive advantage is through their workers. Competitors can copy strategies, the model of the business, products and services but workers who are talented and competent are a source of sustainable differentiation (Wright & Nishii, 2017).
As explained by Greenberg and Baron (2016), Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory can be used in orienting the company and in motivating the workers. This theory will therefore be used in this study. It supports the competence level by explaining that employee competence level can be improved when their needs are met.
The values as well as behaviors that are thought to assist in the attainment of the goals of the company are referred to as organizational Culture . It can also be defined as the mindset of a person which enables one to differentiate each other in and out of the firm. They are values, beliefs, and behaviors of staff members that assist in distinguishing them from other firms (Hofstede, 2017). It is very important for a company to have a strong culture because it boosts the performance of the staff resulting to accomplishment of the goals of the company and increase in the firm's performance (Deal &amp;Kennedy, 2016). Stewart (2015) indicated that norms and values of a culture have a direct or indirect effect on the individuals attached to the firm. Despite the fact that the norms are not visible, they have positive impact on the profitability of the firm and also on the staff members.
Through a strong structure of culture, the employees are able to develop their skills and therefore get motivated towards the attainment of the objectives of the company; which in-turn shapes the behavior of the staff members and directs it towards operational and purposeful strategies (Daft, 2016). One of the fundamental aspects of company's culture is the shared worth (Cronje, 2016;Hellriegel et al., 2018).  indicated that worth could be social norms outlining principles for interaction with the social and the behaviour of communication of the members of the society, and it could mirror the assumptions of causative culture. It is argued by academicians and practitioners that the way a firm performs depends on the level to which cultural values are spread (Peters & Boatman, 2016). It is also widely argued that the values that are shared vastly and are strongly held help management in predicting the reaction of workers strategies and when the values are reduced the outcome may not be a desirable one (Ogbonna, 2017).
Culture is a very important aspect of the organization as it helps in guiding the organization on its daily activities so as to achieve set goals. Durkheim's Theory of Culture will be used in explaining the culture in the ministry of education. As explained by Durkheim (2016), disagreements may arise in a company because of several cultures but at the same time it can be a source of strength to the company. The theory therefore guides in understanding how cultural gaps could be profession, status, or even lines of division can be used as strength to improve employee performance.
Performance relates to output in terms of its quality, quantity, timeliness, presence, work attendance, efficiency and effectiveness of the job done (Mathis & Jackson 2019). Performance of the workers is the work that is being completed successfully by a bunch of people that were selected to perform the work and is determined based on the way the perspective of the supervisor of the work or by the company itself for the purpose of predetermining the level of acceptance while using the resources present in an effective and efficient manner (Christabella, 2018). Aguinis (2019) described performance as being not inclusive of the outcome as a result of the way an employee behaves but rather it is about the doings of the worker and not the results of their doings. Perceived workers performance is the general belief by a worker regarding their behavior and contribution towards the successfulness of the company. There are three main factors that are used in performance of staff members which allow them to better their performance in comparison to others. These are factors used in determining performance and they include; procedural declarative as well as motivation (McCloy et al., 1994). The manner in which an individual performs is affected by HR practices. Chebet (2015) studied factors that determine workers performance in Kenyan County government; the study was conducted in Bungoma County. The study found a significant association exists between compensation/remuneration, leadership style, employee training and development, working conditions and improved employee performance and there is need for the organization to improve on training and leadership in order to achieve continual improvement.

Statement of the Problem
Empirical studies in Kenya include, Gitonga, Kingi and Jean (2016) who studied on the determinants of employee's performance in Kenya Ports Authority. Aluvisia (2016) did a study on factors influencing employee performance in the Kenyan public sector, a case of the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). In his study Kimeu (2015) studied on perceived factors affecting employee performance at Machakos county government, Kenya and Chebet (2015) studied the determinants of employees' performance in the county governments of Kenya; a case of Bungoma County.
Most of the studies done on employee performance have been conducted in State Corporation and county governments and little has been conducted in the government ministries. There is limited empirical evidence on determinants of employee performance in the Kenyan Public service. Therefore, the study intends to fill the existing gap by carrying out the study in Ministry of Education in Kenya. For any meaningful training to take place the employees must be knowledgeable, the knowledge is impacted through school which is the mandate of ministry of education. This study sought to establish the determinants of employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya

Objective of the Study
The general objective of the study was to establish the determinants of employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.
The study was guided by the following specific objective; 1. To determine the effect of competence level on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.

2.
To establish the effect of organization culture on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.

Research Hypotheses
The study sought to test the following hypothesis HA1 Competence level has a positive significant effect on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.
HA2 Organization culture has a positive significant effect on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.

Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework describes the relationship between the study variables. It is arranged in a logical structure to provide a picture or visual display of how ideas in a study relate to one another (Grant & Osanloo, 2018). In figure 1 the structure shows that competence level affects employee performance and organization culture affects employee performance.

Research Methodology
The study employed descriptive research design. Cooper and Schindler (2016) stated that this study is conducted once. This research design help the study to establish whether there exists a significant association between the variables at a particular point in time (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2018). According to Creswell and Clark (2016) a descriptive design is a design whose main concern is 'what, how and who' which is the concern of this research study. Employees at the headquarters of the ministry of education in Nairobi were the targeted population and therefore they formed the population of the study. The study population for this study comprised of 623 employees at different managerial levels currently working at the headquarters of ministry of education in Kenya.

Research Results and Discussions
The study selected a sample of 244 Management level employees at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. All selected respondents were issued with questionnaires for data collection but the researcher was able to receive back only 215 questionnaires. The returned questionnaires formed a response rate of 88.11%. Since our response rate was above 70% it was considered to be excellent and was used for further analysis and reporting.

Descriptive Results
In this section, the study presents findings mainly on Likert scale questions for each variable. The respondents were asked to give the level to which they agreed or disagreed with statements on each variable; they used a 5-point Likert scale. The results provided were analyzed and the findings interpreted using frequencies, means and standard deviation values.

Competence Level
Respondents indicated their level of agreement with the following statements about the effect competence level on employee performance at the Ministry of Education in Kenya. Results in Table 4 shows that all the standard deviation values for each of the statement was small an indication that the responses did not differ. The findings also show that the mean values were greater than 3.5 but less than 4.5 an indication that the respondents were in agreement with the findings. Specifically, the findings show on knowledge that 161(74.9%) of respondents agreed that in our organization only qualified personnel are employed (M=3.948, SD=1.263); 168(78.1%) that knowledgeable employees in an organization are the main resource for acquiring competitive advantage (M=3.863, SD=1.326); and 157(73%) that in their organization employee knowledge improves their work efficiency (M=3.836, SD=1.220). These agree with Berman (2010) who assessed competency of a person and established that they are significant in predicting the way an employee performs and succeeds. In his study, competency was determined by knowledge level of the individual.  (2017) that training that is effective help employees acquire skill and competences that reduces time spent in solving problems and in the long run it helps save money through production of employees that are better.
On capabilities, 158(73.5%) respondents were agreed that employees' capabilities enable them to understand their day-to-day priorities (M=4.007, SD=1.251); 204(94.9%) that competence minimizes employee's turnover in the education ministry (M=3.961, SD=1.674); and 148(68.8%) that employees capabilities enables them to adjust to new conditions (M=3.817, SD=1.142). These findings show that competence lower turnover rates and capabilities employees have allow them in executing their daily priorities and adjusting to new conditions. The findings agree with those of Ismail and Abidin (2016) who found in their study that staff members' performance is greatly influenced by competencies of the staff members.
In regard to proficiency, 184(85.6%) respondents agreed that in their organization employee proficiency helps improve the quality of their work (M=3.988, SD=1.475); 191(88.8%) that proficiency is essential for getting a positive performance evaluation (M=3.955, SD=1.546); and 170(79.1%) that employees proficiency help them to pay attention to details and employees can find success in their professional and personal lives (M=3.915, SD=1.343). The findings agree with Mutsotso (2010) who indicated that the ability of staff members to perform their work is increased through education and training and it also betters their perspective on proficiency and adequacy in performing their duties; competency predicts the way an employee performs and succeeds.

Organization Culture
Respondents gave their level of agreement with the following statements about the effect of organization culture on employee performance at the Ministry of Education in Kenya. Table 5 show that all the standard deviation values for each statement were less than 2 an indication that all the responses did not differ. The findings also showed that the respondents agreed with the statements since the mean values were between 3.5 and 4.45 Regarding creativity, 161(74.9%) respondents agreed that employees creativity makes them more efficient (M=3.915, SD=1.267); 168(78.1%) that employees are encouraged to contribute ideas and participate in problem-solving (M=3.803, SD=1.331); and 167(77.7%) that employees devise new ways of doing their activities (M=3.699, SD=1.331). The findings concur with Janssen and Van Yperen (2014) that the most influential thing is the need to have a job that is creative and to have a job that is highly satisfying; this can only be achieved by boosting creativity of workers. This makes sure that the business maintains their competitive advantage and improves innovativeness of the company.

Results in
On customer relations, 184(85.6%) respondents agreed that customer relations help the organization to understand customer preferences (M=3.961, SD=1.476); 170(79.1%) customer relations helps the organization to deal with customers complaints (M=3.935, SD=1.341); and 188(87.4%) that customer relations are essential for achieving customer satisfaction (M=3.889, SD=1.522). The findings agree with Ekpenyong and Ekpenyong (2016) that companies that support culture have a tendency of experiencing great performance and improved satisfaction levels; this kind of culture motivates workers to be innovative and support teamwork as well as socialization.
On norms, the study found that 170(79.1%) respondents agreed that they deal with each other fairly, adhering to values, rules and regulations (M=3.975, SD=1.345); 191(88.8%) that all the employees understand the organization culture (M=3.948, SD=1.547); and 178(82.8%) that high importance is placed on organization rules, regulations values and obligations (M=3.817, SD=1.428). The findings show that norms explain what values, rules and regulations employees have to adhere to and therefore it's important that each employee understand them. The findings concurs with Stewart (2015) who indicated that norms and values of a culture have a direct or indirect effect on the individuals attached to the firm, they also have positive impact on the profitability of the firm and also on the staff members.
Regarding shared beliefs, 184(85.6%) respondents agreed that the organization encourage employees to be creative and innovative (M=3.994, SD=1.476); 157(73%) that the employees roles and responsibilities are defined to guide their activities (M=3.744, SD=1.229); and 167(77.7%) that the employees work towards achieving a common firm goal (M=3.678, SD=1.325). The study findings concurs with those of Odhiambo (2016) that espoused values and beliefs, rules and policies, artifacts and management behaviors influence various aspects of employee performance. Also, firm's culture positively influence the way staff members perform.

Employee Performance
Respondents gave their level of agreement with the following statements about employee performance.
Results in Table 6 show that all the mean values were above 3.5 but less than 4.45; suggesting that the respondents agreed with the different statements on employee performance. The findings also show that the responses provided did not differ because he standard deviation values were less than two. Specifically, the findings show that on service delivery, 155(72.1%) respondents agreed that their work environment help to improve efficiency (M=3.797, SD=1.220); 167(77.7%) that career progression improves their efficiency (M=3.790, SD=1.318); and 160(74.4%) that employees creativity improves their efficiency (M=3.784, SD=1.250). These findings show that efficiency of employees can be increased by ensuring that their work environment encourage creativity, providing career progression opportunities and ensuring there is creativity. The findings concur with Christian, Bradley, Wallace and Burke (2016) that organizations will upgrade their efficiency by improving the structure of their working environment.
Regarding productivity, 160(74.4%) respondents agreed that productivity shows how efficient the employees are for a task (M=4.001, SD=1.267); 150(69.8%) that productivity helps to determine whether a task needs more or less workers (M=3.955, SD=1.186); and 171(79.5%) that employee productivity is enhanced through skills acquired (M=3.942, SD=1.355). These findings show that productivity can be used to determine employee efficiency, whether there is need for more employees and whether the employees require skill training to complete the task more efficiently. The findings agree with Salleh, Yaakub and Dzulkifli (2016) that poor performance of an individual employee might affect productivity of a group of workers and therefore put the whole organization at risk. It also agrees with Rotundo and Sackett (2017) that organizations can benefit from provision of training to their workers this is because employees that are well trained acquire skills and competences that assist in improving the productivity of the company.

Correlation Results
Correlation analysis was used to test the strength and the direction of the relationship between the dependent (employee performance) and the independent variables (competence level, and organization culture). Also, correlation analysis was used to show whether there was any relationship between the independent variables; thus determined whether there was any multicollinearity. Table 7 presents the findings obtained. The association was considered to be: small if ±0.1 <r< ±0.29; medium if ±0.3 <r< ±0.49; and strong if r> ±0.5.
Competence level and employee performance are seen to have strong, positive and significant relationship (r=0.843, p=0.000). The relationship was significant since the p-value obtained (0.000) was less than the selected level of significance. The variables had direct relationship meaning an increase in competence level would result to an increase in employee performance. Therefore, the competence levels of employees can be used to determine their level of performance. The findings agree with those of Winarno and Perdana (2015) that competence and motivation significantly and positively affected performance.
Finally, organization culture is seen to have a strong positive and significant relationship with employee performance (r=0.868, p=0.000). Since the p-value is less than 0.05, the relationship between the two variables is considered to be significant. The relationship was further seen to be positive meaning the variables have direct relationship, meaning an increase in organization culture will result to an increase in employee performance. The culture in an organization can therefore be used to determine the level of its employee performance. The findings agree with Paschal and Nizam (2016) that common ritual activities of a company greatly and positively affects performance of staff. These findings show that competence level, and organization culture have significant influence on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. To further understand the level of influence these variables have on employee performance, the study computed regression analysis.

Tests of Hypotheses
The hypothesis of the study was tested by performing ANOVA and F-test. The association existing between the variables was established using t-test, while the fit of the entire model was established using F-test (Cohen & West, 2003). If the F-statistic is less than F-critical then we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative and vice versa (Gathenya, 2012;Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003;Cooper & Shindler, 2011).

Effect of Competence Level on Employee Performance
The third research hypothesis was HA1 Competence level has a positive significant effect on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. This hypothesis was tested by regressing competence level with employee performance and the findings were as presented in Table 8.
From the findings in Table 8, the value of adjusted R 2 was 0.688. This implies that 68.8% of variations in employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya can be attributed to changes in competence level. The remaining 31.2% variations in employee performance can be attributed to other aspects other than competence level. The findings also show that competence level and employee performance are strongly and positively related as indicated by a correlation coefficient (R) value of 0.843. The study finding concurs with Mwithi (2016) that leadership competency positively and significantly relates with the performance of state corporations in Kenya. From the Anova findings, the p-value obtained was 0.000 which is less than 0.05, an indication that the model was significant. The findings also show that the f-statistic value (17.769) is greater than the F-critical value (F1,213=3.885). Since the f-statistic value is greater than the f-critical value it shows that the model is reliable and competence level can be used to predict employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. From the equation above, when competence level is held to a constant zero, employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya will be at a constant value of 1.154. The findings also show that a unit improvement in competence level will lead to a 0.545 unit increase in employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. The findings also show that the t-statistic (4.360) has a p-value (0.000) which is less than the selected level of significance (0.05). Therefore, we accept the third null hypothesis (HA1) and conclude that competence level has a positive significant effect on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. The findings concur with the findings of Winarno and Perdana (2015) that competence and motivation significantly and positively affected performance.

Effect of Organizational Culture on Employee Performance
The fourth hypothesis of the study was HA2 Organization culture has a positive significant effect on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. This hypothesis was tested by regressing organizational culture with employee performance. Table 9 presents the findings obtained.
From the findings presented in Table 9, the value of adjusted R 2 was 0.719 which implies that 71.6% of variations in employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya can be attributed to changes in organizational culture. The remaining 28.4% variations in employee performance can be attributed to other aspects other than organizational culture. The findings also show that organizational culture and employee performance are strongly and positively related as indicated by a correlation coefficient (R) value of 0.868. The study finding concurs with Paschal and Nizam (2016) that culture of a firm has a significant impact on performance of staff; common ritual activities of a company greatly and positively affect performance of staff. From the Anova findings, the p-value obtained was 0.000 which is less than 0.05, an indication that the model was significant. The findings also show that the f-statistic value (16.494) is greater than the F-critical value (F1,213=3.885). Since the f-statistic value is greater than the f-critical value it shows that the model is reliable and organizational culture can be used to predict employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. From the equation above, when organizational culture is held to a constant zero, employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya will be at a constant value of 1.256. The findings also show that a unit improvement in organizational culture will lead to a 0.567 unit increase in employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. The findings also show that the t-statistic (4.930) has a p-value (0.000) which is less than the selected level of significance (0.05). Therefore accept the fourth null hypothesis (HA4) and conclude that organization culture has a positive significant effect on employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. The findings concur with the findings of Rasool, Arfeen, Mothi, and Aslam (2015) that culture of the firm significantly and positively affected performance of workers.

Conclusions
Competence level was found to have significant influence on employee performance. The study also showed that the influence of competence level on employee performance was positive. These findings suggested that a competence level positively and significantly influences employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. Based on the finding, the study concluded that an increase in competence level will result to an increase in employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.
Organization culture was also seen to have a positive influence on employee performance. The influence of organization culture on employee performance was found to be significant. These findings suggested that organization culture positively and significantly influences employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya. Based on the findings, the study concluded that improvement in organization culture will result to an increase in employee performance at the ministry of education headquarters in Kenya.

Management Recommendations
The study recommends ministry of education to increase its training to its employees. Effective training helps employees acquire skill and competences that reduces time spent in solving problems and in the long run it helps save money through improved production of employees. Training should also be offered to management employees because managerial competencies are crucial towards the improvement of employee performance.
The company should adopt a culture that allows employees views, opinions and suggestions to be taken into consideration when making decisions; this is because the best way to attain the goals of the company is to ensure the participation of workers in decision making. The management should also strengthen the culture of the organization and invest in training and developing their staff for the purpose of improving their abilities in all levels.
The study also recommends the ministry of education to introduce stringent recruitment controls to ensure recruited employees are best suited for the job position and therefore improve performance.