The Effect of Employee Motivation on Performance among Workers in Kenya: A Case of Kenya Cooperative Creameries Kitale Branch

The Study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Motivation and employee performance in an organization. The main objective was to determine the effects of financial incentives on employee performance at the New Kenya cooperative creameries-Kitale.
When employees work hard, come to work regularly and continue making positive contributions to the organization, the business will be able to cut cost and yield more profit, both of which are the ultimate goals of any organization. Job performance is a function of motivation. It determines the extent to which an organizational member contributes to achieving the objectives of the organization. Employers who expect the best from employees will get their best while those who expect little from employees will get low performance in return. Many people feel like they are not recognized or appreciated by their employers for their hard work and in turn develop decreased motivation. The achievements of individuals and organizational goals are independent processes linked to employee work motivation.
The study applied both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was collected using a combination of questionnaires and interview schedules. Secondary data was obtained from published thesis Publications, research reports and the internet. The Dependent variables was the effect of employee motivation on performance. From the study, it can be noticed that, over 80% of the respondents are in agreement that indeed motivation at a work place influences performance. Poor leadership and lack of motivation is a major cause of low performance up to a level of 27.5% among workers at the KCC Kitale branch. Low salaries and lack of allowances accounted for 17.5% cause of low performance among workers. Over 50% of the workers worked only for less than 3 hours daily as a result of poor management styles leading to low performance. Over 50% of the respondents attended to a maximum of 5 clients in a day due to lacking of job security an indication of low commitment and performance. They expressed fear that their services could be terminated any time and hence were not in the best mood to work hard and give their best. Poor Management styles accounted to about35% of low performance and productivity. The study found that there was a positive relationship between employee performance and Motivation since employees were able to achieve high performance levels when certain motivational factors were clearly offered to them. The study revealed that if management withdrew motivational packages it would have serious repercussions on employees? performance. The findings of this research will be important to the government; to all employers and human resource policy developers to help them put in place policy that help in motivating the employees to better performance. The findings of this research will lead institutions diagnose areas that need further attention in the formulation of policies