Thesis:

Assessment of the influence of rapid result initiative On service delivery: a case of Kakamega County.

The ever increasing demand for quality service delivery in the public sector triggered the development of Rapid Result Initiative as a result-focused learning process aimed at jump starting major change efforts through a series of small-scale, results producing and momentum-building initiatives. The main purpose of the study is to assess the influence of Rapid Result Initiative on service delivery of National Government Administrative Officers at Kakamega County. The objectives of the study are; to examine the extent to which setting of realistic targets influence service delivery, to establish the influence of staff training on service delivery, and to determine how staff appraisal influence service delivery of National Government Administrative Officers. To check the reliability and validity of the adopted instruments the Cranach’s coefficient alpha test and the construct and content validity test was carried out. To determine the sample from the total population of 347 employees, first, the target population was stratified into five stratum and then to select respondents from each stratum simple random sampling technique was applied; having this, the researcher used Fisher’s formula based-sample size determination. Basically, a total of 105 questionnaires were distributed to the sampled employees, among these 97 were returned, of which, 11 responses were uncompleted. Thus, 86 returned questionnaires (i.e. representing 82.6% of response rate) were analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS version 21). In the analysis descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and simple regression analysis was performed. From the study, most National Government Administrative Officer’s agreed that, setting of realistic targets improves service delivery. However, the respondents were dissatisfied with the current practice of the organization involving them in setting targets, rewarding/recognizing them for meetings set targets and not tailoring targets towards their individual abilities. There was low level of satisfaction towards the current performance appraisal system in Kakamega County. The respondents are dissatisfied with the current performance appraisal system especially on involvement, feedback, monitoring/reporting and rewarding for good performance. Otherwise, they agree that performance appraisal helps to improve service delivery. Major findings indicated that there is a positive correlation among all the variables. The study recommended participatory approach in setting of targets to enhance ownership by staff, the need to motivate staff who performed exceptionally well and making the appraisal system more participatory & communicating the results between the appraisers and appraise clearly and enhancing monitoring and reporting.