Career Plateauing and Employee Performance Among Middle Management Staff in the Kenya Power Company

ABSTRACT This study established the relationship between career plateauing and employee performance in Kenya Power Company in Kenya. The study was guided by five objectives, determine; profile of respondents, level of career plateauing, level of employee performance, whether there significant difference in level of career plateauing and employee performance of Kenya Power Company and whether there was significant relationship in the level of career plateauing and employee performance of Kenya Power Company. A descriptive research design was used to collect data from 116 respondents using self administered questionnaires as the main data collection instruments in the four administrative regions of Kenya Power Company. The findings established that there were high level of career plateauing, high level of employee performance, no significant difference between career plateauing and employee performance and there was no significant relationship between career plateauing and employee performance, accepting the Null hypothesis. Arising from the findings, appropriate conclusions, recommendations and areas of further research were made. Conclusions were made in line with the purpose of the study; the study concurred with Maslow’s (1954) theory of needs which assert that indeed there are factors influencing career plateauing. The theory of needs, which hold that within every individual, there exists a hierarchy of five needs and that each must be satisfied before an individual pursues the next higher level of need, no significance difference (F= 113.34, Sig=0.000), significant relationship between career platauing and employee performance was established(r= 0.656, sig.0.000) and regression indicated by high adjusted R squared of 66% was established. Recommendations based on findings were that Kenya Power Company; enrich jobs for staff, develop a mentoring program, differentiate between plateaued and permanently stalled staff, develop system of participative /consultative performance review and identify causes of career plateauing, Research on identifying other dimensions of career plateauing and effects of self consolidation as a factor of human resource on employee performance are suggested as areas of further study.