Effect of Employee Communication on Organisation Performance in Kenya’s Horticultural Sector

Abstract

The horticulture sector is estimated to employ over 50,000-60,000 people directly and 500,000 people indirectly through affiliated services to the industry for example farm inputs, transport, packaging and banking (Kenya Flower Council, 2010). It is therefore imperative that the welfare of the workers working in this sector is given paramount importance by both government and the stakeholders as a whole. This study therefore sought to explore the effect of employee communication on organization performance in Kenya’s horticultural sector. This study was carried out in flower farms in Kenya. The population of this study was all flower farms in Kenya which were the 14 flower farms registered in the KFC directory (2013) and based in Naivasha. The study targeted the employees in the identified farms. Cross sectional survey research design was used for the study. Stratified sampling technique was used to sample the study respondents. A total of 2460 respondents were targeted by the study out of which 1888 responded giving a response rate of 76.7%. Questionnaires were used as instrument for data collection. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Inferential statistics such as correlation and regression analysis were used to test on the relationship between the variables of the study. The study found that 65% of the respondents strongly agreed that communication facilitates exchange of information and opinion with the organization. It was also found that that 63% of the respondents were found by the study to agree that communication helps in improving operational efficiency thus improving organization performance. The results of correlation analysis show that employee communication is statistically significant with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.466 at a level of significance of 0.000. The study concluded that employee communication is a major determinant of organization performance in the horticultural sector in Kenya. The study recommended that organizations should develop effective communication strategies. This will facilitate passing of information both within and outside the organization thus improving performance.