Capacity Development and Employee Productivity in the Public Health Sector Case Study: Mbale Regional Referral Hospital

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between CD and Employee Productivity in the Public Health Sector, a case study of MRRH. The research was conducted under the following objectives; to determine the effect of orientation, to establish the effect of Professional Development and to find out the effect of delegation, respectively on employee productivity in MRRH. The following theories were explored to understand and give insight into the study; the deficit model theory by B.F Skinner (1999) who attributes the prevailing community development challenges to the community’s inability or deficiency or lack of capacity to address them; on the other hand, the latent capacity release model by Taylor (1995) sees communities as potentially resourceful and as essential and equal partners with vital and immense untapped and underutilized resources (skills, knowledge and abilities) for addressing their community development challenges. Case study design was adopted using a mixed approach where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. A sample size of 139 respondents was studied. Structured questionnaires, interview and document reviews were administered. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS software and presented in tables. Correlation and regression results were presented objective by objective. Orientation had a regression coefficient of R2 =0.321 meaning that orientation accounted for 32.1% of employee productivity at MRRH. Employee Professional development had a regression coefficient of R2 = 0.101 meaning that professional development accounted for 10.1% of employee productivity at MRRH; while employee delegation had a regression coefficient of R2 = 0.160 meaning that delegation accounted for 16% of employee productivity at MRRH. There was a positive moderately significant relationship between employee orientation, professional development and delegation and employee productivity given by the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.566**, 0.318** and 0.400**, at p=0.001 respectively, meaning employee Orientation had the greatest relationship with employee productivity at MRRH followed by Delegation. The study reveals that although CD in MRRH has a positive correlation with employee productivity there is still significant room for improvement in the way CD is practiced at MRRH.

With effective CD programs, it is possible to step up employee productivity without necessarily injecting additional resources which are oftentimes scarce. The study therefore recommends that management of MRRH needs to step upon employee CD since there is a positive correlation between professional development, delegation, orientation and employee productivity at MRRH. MRRH should institutionalize employee orientation for all departments since it aids in settling of new employee and has the greatest effect on productivity.

Login to download()