An Investigation of Psychosocial Factors Affecting Married Employees at the Kenya Ports Authority, Mombasa.
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Date
2012-05
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School of Human and Social Sciences, Daystar University
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Psychosocial factors affecting married employees pose a great challenge to organizations and families. The proper functioning of Kenya Ports Authority, like any other organization, depends heavily on the psychosocial stability of its employees. Various institutions in Kenya and by extension East and Central African region depend on the efficient functioning of KPA. A number of employees of KPA have displayed chronic absenteeism, alcohol-related issues, stress, professional burnout, family instability and reduced work motivation, among others. Various researchers have underscored the relatively greater magnitude of the effect of various psychosocial issues on married employees as compared to the unmarried. KPA is not an exception in this regard; it is on this background that the current study was conducted. The objectives of the study were to investigate the working conditions of married employees at K.P.A, establish the counseling needs, investigate the impact of social support and to come up with intervention measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate psychosocial factors affecting married employees at the Kenya Ports Authority. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research designs. A sample of (504) employees was selected from a population of (5040) employees. Stratified sampling procedure was used to obtain a sample size of 10%. Out of the 504, 421 subjects returned the questionnaire. The main tools of data collections were
questionnaires, focus group discussion and in-depth interview. The study established that the key factors affecting married employees at the Kenya Ports Authority were long working hours, lack of free time and limited opportunities in decision making. The study further indicated that lack of breaks as working hours were long, night shifts, stress, professional burnout, interference with employees’ free time and ignoring off duty days had negative impact on the employees. The employees had serious counselling needs. A number of intervention measures were identified, namely, there should be work-life balance, training employees on stress management, planned leave and off days, having clear management structure and employing counselling psychologists. The following recommendations were proposed based on the results; employers should improve the working conditions of employees, working hours to be flexible, K.P.A needs to provide dependent care facilities, comparative studies to be done to establish any differences, there should be research to establish the impact of training employees on personal financial management, a study on a narrower scope to focus on a particular aspect of psychosocial factor to be conducted.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Investigation of, Psychosocial Factors, Married Employees, Kenya Ports Authority, Mombasa
Citation
Nudi, Julius Okoth (2012). An Investigation of Psychosocial Factors Affecting Married Employees at the Kenya Ports Authority, Mombasa. School of Human and Social Sciences, Daystar University: Thesis