Article Published In Vol.4 (July-Aug-2016)

Non-Directive Counselling Strategy and Staff Performance in Selected Public Universities in Kenya

Author : Vudembu Pamela Inzai, Dr. Janet Manyasi and Dr. Rev. Otuya Willis

In today’s world of business, employees are perceived to be the greatest assets an organization can have in order to sustain a competitive edge and remain relevant in the business world. For an employee to be beneficial in terms of greater production and attainability of the organizational goals, they must be well taken care of by the employer. Staff in Public Universities in Kenya is faced with a lot of challenges both at their place of work and in their homes, which in turn affects their performance. Implementation of non-directive counselling strategy is therefore an intervention for better staff performance, which when done correctly and objectively, will achieve better results. The purpose of this study was therefore to establish the effect of non-directive counselling strategy on staff performance in selected Public Universities in Kenya. The study used descriptive survey research design. The study population comprised of both academic and non-academic staff drawn from three universities namely Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Maseno University and Kibabii University. Target population of 4, 300 respondents was used for the study. The study utilized Yamane formula to come up with a sample size of 366 respondents out of which 250 questionnaires were returned and completely filled by the respondents, giving a response rate of 68.31%. To test the reliability of research instruments, Cronbach’s Alpha of coefficient of 0.891 was obtained which is higher that the accepted 0.7 in social sciences, this imply that the tools for data collection were reliable. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Inferential statistic was aided by the use of Spearman’s rank-order correlation and regression model. Data was presented in form of tables and figures using frequencies and percentages. The study found out that non-directive counselling strategy is positively and significantly related to staff performance. The study recommends that public universities need to use non-directive counselling strategy in order to address their work related problems, this may lead to increase in staff performance. This can be effected through establishing an operational counselling department packed with professional counselors to ensure that staff in Public Universities have easy access to counselling services.

Keywords: Workplace counseling, non-directive counseling strategy, staff performance