Ethical Issues In Human Resource Management And Employee Performance In Public Universities In Nyeri County, Kenya

Abstract

Human resource is the key source of competitive advantage for an organization if properly managed. The main objective of the study was to examine how ethical issues in human resource management affect employee performance in two public universities in Nyeri County. It is therefore important to put in place ethical consideration to ensure fairness and equity in their practices. This would increase their morale, motivation and hence increase productivity for the entire organization. The study discussed ethical issues in four variables; recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, compensation and reward and health and safety. The study adopted descriptive research design in order to gather the required information. Target population for this study was 335 respondents who were non teaching staff from various departments at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology and Karatina University. The study used stratified random sampling as its sampling design whereby 101 respondents who are 30% of the target population were considered. Both open and closed ended questionnaires were used for data collection. Interview was also conducted to obtain a deeper understanding of ethical issues in human resource management in public universities. Out of the probable 101 respondents, 91 respondents representing 90.1 % of the target sample returned the questionnaires. Collected data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) to generate descriptive and inferential statistics. The relationship between ethical issues in human resource management and employees' performance was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The finding of the study revealed that ethical issues in recruitment and selection, compensation and reward management, and health and safety measures had positive and statistically significant effect on employee performance. Further, performance appraisal had positive but statistically insignificant effect employee performance. The researcher recommended that universities should come up with policy on ensuring that ethic and integrity is adhered to during recruitment and selection process. HR department should put in place ethical consideration by ensuring that there is fairness and equity in their practices when reviewing employees' compensation and reward system. Universities should ensure review health and safety policy and ensure that health and safety measures are put in place in order to enhance performance. In addition, public universities should ensure that objectivity during appraisal is maintained and appraisers are not being too lenient or very strict. The study suggests that future research could focus on the challenges faced by public universities when addressing ethical issues in human resource management.