Monitoring and evaluation practices towards academic staff motivation A case study of Kigali Institute of Education

This study sought to determine the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practices and academic staff motivation in higher education, case of Kigali Institute of Education (KIE). The study employed a survey research method to collect data from academic staff of KIE. The research was guided by two objectives aiming at determining the monitoring and evaluation practices applied at KIE; and determining the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practices and staff motivation. The job content theoretical framework guided this study, with reference to the job characteristic model which assumes that autonomy and control over work, as well as feedback and recognition, increase employee motivation. The concepts in this study have been operationalized and measured using existing scales. A total of 123 (69.1%) staff was sampled out of a population of 178 academic staff at KIE. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to measure the research variables. The study established that monitoring and evaluation practices, including staff self-evaluation, students-staff evaluation, peer evaluation, and Evaluation by supervisor, are applied at varying emphasis. Furthermore, both the supervisees and supervisors agreed that the quality of feedback is fairly effective, while the recognition was found to be not well expressed. Significant correlations ranging from 0.268 to 0.4460 at 0.01 level were found between Monitoring and Evaluation Practices statements and Motivational Impact of Monitoring and Evaluation statements; while the significant correlations ranging from .262 to .631 at 0.01 level were also found between Perceptions towards Quality of Feedback statements and Motivational Impact of Monitoring and Evaluation statements, both suggesting a weak to moderate relationship between variables of the study. The findings of the study were therefore found consistent with previous researches findings. In conclusion, the study established that monitoring and evaluation at Kigali Institute of Education is applied under various approaches, and the M&E practices together with the subsequent feedback have the ability to stimulate staff motivation if applied effectively by the supervisors. Recommendations for future studies would be to replicate the study using different cases, sample size, and selection strategy