THE IMPACT OF WORKING ENVIRONMENT ON EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE THE CASE OF INSTITUTE OF FINANCE MANAGEMENT IN DAR ES SALAAM REGION

ABSTRACT

Organizations must step outside their traditional roles and comfort zones to look at new ways of working. They have to create a work environment where people enjoy what they do, feel like they have a purpose, have pride in what they do, and can reach their potential. The study aimed to assess the impact of working environment on employees’ performance at Institute of Finance Management in Dar es Salaam Region. For the purpose of this study, descriptive research design was used. Simple random sampling technique was respectively used to select the respondents for the study. Respondents for this study were fifty (50) made up of twenty-five (25) senior staff and twenty-five (25) junior staff. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection.

The study findings indicate that, organization working environment had an impact on members as far as respondents are concerned. The study also revealed that employees’ will improve their performance if the problems identified during the research are tackled by the management. The problems are flexibility of working environment, work noise distraction, supervisor’s interpersonal relationship with subordinates, presence of job aid, the use of performance feedback and improve of work incentives in the organization so that to motivate employees to perform their job.

In conclusion based on the findings the study recommended that, the organization needs to have periodic meetings with employees to air their grievances to management and serve as a motivating factor to the employees. Management should find ways and means of communicating their goals and strategies to their employees in order to achieve what the organization is in business for, its mission and vision.

Background to the Study

Working environment plays an important role towards the employees ‘performance. Working environment is argued to impact immensely on employees’ performance either towards negative or the positive outcomes (Chandrasekar2001).In the world, there are international organizations who debate the rights of employee. Most people spend fifty percent of their lives within indoor environments, which greatly influence their mental status, actions, abilities and performance (Dorgan, 1994). Better outcomes and increased productivity is assumed to be the result of better workplace environment. Better physical environment of office will boosts the employees and ultimately improve their productivity. Various literature pertain to the study of multiple offices and office buildings indicated that the factors such as dissatisfaction, cluttered workplaces and the physical environment are playing a major role in the loss of employees’ productivity (Carnevale 1992,Clements- Croome 1997).

In the 1990’s, the factors of work environment had changed due to the changes in several factors such as the social environment, information technology and the flexible ways of organizing work processes (Hasun & Makhbul, 2005). When employees’ are physically and emotionally fit will have the desire to work and their performance outcomes shall be increased. Moreover, a proper workplace environment helps in reducing the number of absenteeism and thus can increase thee mployees’ performance which leads to increased productivity at the workplace (Boles et al.2004).

2

As the Economic and Social Council reported in 2007, global economic growth is increasingly failing to create the kinds of new and better jobs that can lead to a reduction in poverty. Despite high and sustained economic growth in many developing countries, unemployment is rising, a large proportion of the labour force is working below poverty level wages, and the majority of non-agricultural employment is situated in the informal economy. It is of little surprise that in recent years there has been a shift of focus from a singular interest in economic growth to an enlarged concern with improving the quality of work. Governments from across Africa have forcefully called for action to overcome these challenges. The African Union Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa (Ouagadougou, September 2004) overwhelmingly endorsed the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda with an emphasis on the creation of quality jobs. The Government of the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania supports this pan-African call for the integration of employment growth and improved quality of work, as reflected in its National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty 2005– 2010 and its National Employment Policy of 2008.

1.2 Statement of the Research Problem

Noble (2009) states that more attention should be paid in identifying and dealing with working environment because when employee have negative perception to their environment they sometimes suffer from chronic stress. Opperman (2002) stated that, working environment means those processes, systems, structures, tools or conditions inthe workplace that impact favorably or unfavorably individual performance. The working environment also includes policies, rules, culture, resources, working relationships, work location, internal and external environmental factors, all of which influence the ways that employee perform their job functions.

This study is designed to examine the impact of working environment on employee’s performance at the institute of finance management. This is the public institution which operates at the center of Dar es Salaam city with about 9000 students and 320 employees. The problem identified which made to undergo this research is based on the physical work environment which mostly affect employees’ performance. The institute is located in an area of 4 acres which is small compared to the number of students and employees. This resulted to lack of enough offices for employees to do their work effectively, noise which cause discomfort depending on the task they are given and the environment of the place they are working.

Through this study the employer will get to know how its work environment impacts greatly on the employee’s level of motivation and performance. A well designed office signals the values and objectives of the organization and the use of design in office interior communicates an organization values and identity. Office design therefore should be one of the factors in affecting employee’s productivity. Employee’s morale is often interrelated when it comes to productivity in the work environment. It is therefore important to find out the impact of working environment on employees’ performance at this institute which will provide knowledge and measures to other public institutions in Tanzania.