Influence of Staff Motivation on the Performance of Thika Level 5 Hospital in Kenya

The purpose of this paper was to establish influence of motivation on the performance of referral hospitals. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and performance and reward system and performance among medical staff drawn from different cadres dealing with outpatients at the public wing of Thika Level 5 Hospital. The research design used for the study was descriptive. The target population was 228 employees; a sample size of 145 employees was chosen using simple random sampling. The sample size was divided into four strata consisting of Doctors, Nurses, Clinical officers and Support staff. Questionnaires were used to collect the required data for the study. Data analysis was done through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics where measures of central tendencies and dispersion which include frequency counts, means and percentages; and regression models. Data analysis was done using SPSS v.20. In Kenya, previous studies have pointed out the need for staff motivation as one of the key factors that affect the performance of organizations. Based on this understanding the study was conducted to establish the level of motivation of the health care staff and improve performance in referral hospitals. The findings showed that Job Satisfaction and Employee Reward Systems had a positive effects on the performance of employee in Thika Level 5 Hospital in the sense that that the average work rate per employee per week increased, the average success rate per employee per week increased, and the average number of patient’s/customer complaints received per week decreased. The study recommended that human resource practitioners find creative ways of encouraging employee commitment, compensation, competence as it was seen that employee these improved performance. The study also recommended further research on other referral hospitals being run by both the national and county governments and the private sector. Key Words: Job Satisfaction, Reward Systems, Organization Performance