EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE KENYAN COUNTY GOVERNMENTS: A CASE STUDY OF NAROK COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Abstract

The phrase "organizational structure" describes the methodical division of a company's many divisions and activities. It discusses how businesses set up their management structures and how workers are expected to fulfill the many requirements put on them. Local studies on the relationship between organizational structure and productivity have produced a range of results. Therefore, further study is required in these areas to fill up the gaps. In the Narok County Government, the study's stated objectives were to "examine the effect of organizational structure complexity on employee productivity; establish the effect of characteristics of the organization general framework; and determine the effect of organizational structural centralization." The foundation of this study was the Theory of Fairness and the Goal Theory. For this examination, a descriptive research methodology was used. The poll included all 5,345 members of the Narok County Government staff. From the whole population, 372 people were chosen at random and interviewed. Primary data were gathered using questionnaires, while secondary data came from existing organizational records. The County Executives, senior officials, and board members are all county residents. A pilot study was conducted to make sure the instrument's validity and reliability. The data were examined using descriptive and inferential statistics. The data were processed and analyzed using SPSS Version 26.0, and descriptive analysis was performed to compute the means, frequencies, and percentages as well as linear regression to establish the relationship between the two sets of variables (structural complexity, structural formalization, structural centralization and employee performance). The results showed that respondents mostly agreed on all issues. This shows that the structural complexity of the Narok county government's organizational structure is insufficient. Regression and correlation analysis support the conclusions even more. Structure centralization and employee performance (r =.585**, p =.000), structural complexity and employee performance (r =.232**, p =.000), and structure formalization (r =.236**, p =.000) all showed statistically significant associations. As a result, since the estimated F values were higher than the critical F values, all three of the null hypotheses (F (0.05, 1,268) = 15.784, F (0.05, 1,268) = 3.873, and F (0.05, 1,268) = 15.181) were rejected. It has been shown that elements including the complexity, formalization, and centralization of the county government's institutions all have an impact on employee performance. The combined effect of the three factors on county government worker productivity is statistically significant (R = 0.604, R square of 0.365, F = 50.874, p 0.0001). We infer that organizational structure and productivity are statistically significantly related. On the other hand, structural centralization has a bigger effect on productivity. The study advises organizations to better understand and modify their organizational structure in order to motivate employees to put forth effort and enhance their performance.