International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2016 645 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org Role of Employee Delegation and Consultation on Organizational Performance of Government Health Care Institutions in Kenya Lucy Kagwiria Kuria 1 , Professor G. S. Namusonge 2 , Dr. Mike Iravo 3 Doctor of philosophy in Human Resources Management of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology 1 Supervisor, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya 2 Supervisor, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya 3 Abstract- Employee delegation and consultation has been identified in research to promote organizational commitment, employee job satisfaction and improved individual productivity which in turn leads to organizational performance. Lack of employee delegation and consultation in decision making, either individually or through representatives, in the health sector in Kenya, has been identified as the major factor perpetuating strikes and lack of commitment of health workers. This has resulted in loss of lives in the hospitals and poor health services. This study aimed at assessing the role of employee delegation and consultation on organizational performance among health workers in Kenya. Descriptive survey design was adopted in conducting the study and Stratified sampling techniques was employed to select 384 employees from the selected Kiambu and Machakos Level 5 hospitals as well as Kenyatta National Hospital as the respondents to the study. A response of 87.5% was achieved and both primary and secondary data was used for the study. Questionnaires and interview guides were used as data collection instruments. Data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative procedure. In addition, a multiple linear regression model was applied to examine the relationship between the variables. SPSS version 24 was used for data analysis and generation of tables, figures and relationships. In conclusion, delegation and consultation was found to influence organizational performance in Kenya. The study recommends that in the process of ensuring effective delegation and consultation among employees in the workplace, the management should increase the level of commitment in the organization by increasing satisfaction with compensation, policies, and work conditions. Index Terms- Employee delegation, Employee participation, Participative management I. INTRODUCTION ompanies are facing severe competitive pressures and rapidly changing markets. The changes mostly involve new trends and technologies, among other factors that make organizations seek ways to become more flexible, adaptive, and competitive. Subsequently, organizations are always very curious in their continuous search for competitive policies to gear up their performance (Singh, 2009). The public sector in Kenya has undergone several reforms that have seen the government adopt new human resource management practices that focus on employee empowerment to enhance productivity. The reforms, although has not focused directly in employee participation, has focused in creating an environment that is conducive for further human resource development strategies to enhance employee participation. Such reforms dates back from the introduction of the New Public Management (NPM) practices that focused on fostering a performance-oriented culture focusing on continuous assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees in delivering their duties, to a more employee focused practices that focus on employee development rather than putting up measures to grade employee performance (Isahakia, 2010). The health sectors, being one of the most sensitive sectors in service delivery in the public sector by the virtue that the employee in this sector hold the key to healthy living of the general public, has been the focus of attention in employee empowerment (Kimutai et a., 2013). Of these practices, employee delegation and consultation has been advocated for by most managers and organizations in the public sector based on the premise that when the employees are allowed to participate in decision making, they will feel responsible for all the decisions made and therefore their commitment to their duties will improve subsequently increasing their productivity and organizational performance. Following this premise, and tandem to this background, this study seeks to assess the role of employee delegation and consultation on organizational performance of the health sector in Kenya. II. LITERATURE REVIEW Delegation and consultative participation can potentially touch all workers directly in relation to their work tasks, work organization and working conditions. Such participation is strongly contingent on a voluntary management decision and can be seen as HRM-practices (Kuye& Sulaimon, 2011). Despite the vast amount of research on the performance and effects of HRM- practices, very little work has been done to illuminate the contribution of delegation and consultative participation to organizational performance. The EPOC (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions) Group (1997) showed it was valuable to investigate this relationship. C