Factors Affecting Employee Satisfaction in Non- Governmental Organizations: A Case Study of Africa Yoga Project

A Research Project Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Executive Master of Organizational Development (EMOD)Employee satisfaction is the combination of affective reactions to the differential perceptions of what the employees wants to receive compared with what they actually receive. It describes how contented an individual is with his or her job. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors affecting employee satisfaction in non-governmental organizations with focus on Africa Yoga Project. The study was guided by three research questions; influence of working conditions on employee satisfaction; influence of compensation on employee satisfaction and the influence of decision making on employee satisfaction. The study used descriptive survey design. The target population comprised all the staff of Africa Yoga Project located in Nairobi, Parklands Area Diamond Plaza. It comprised of 97 employees stratified into three different categories; lower level, middle level and top level management. Sampling frame was drawn from the three levels of management at Africa Yoga Project. This was drawn to ensure that the sampling frame is current, complete and relevant for the attainment of the study objective. Because of the relatively small population, a sample size of 100% was the accessible population, hence a census. This research collected primary data using questionnaires. The questionnaires included both open and close ended in line with the objectives of the study. Descriptive statistics was used to collect data. The descriptive statistical tools helped in describing the data and determining the respondents’ degree of agreement with the various statements under each objective. The researcher analyzed the data using mean and standard deviation, frequencies and percentages. The study established that Africa Yoga Project has the ability to provide policies that suit the situation confronting the organization environment; leaders show interest and offer praise for good performance and that there are tools and equipments that all affect employee satisfaction to a moderate extent. The study found that there is a little privacy to work at the Africa Yoga Project. The study further established that the employees were satisfied with the current salary to a little extent, matching individual characteristics and job improves performance and employee satisfaction to a moderate extent and the organization understands the employees’ attributes towards the job to a moderate extent. The study concludes that Africa Yoga Project has the ability to provide policies that suit the situation confronting the organization environment; leaders show interest and offer praise for good performance and that there are tools and equipments that all affect employee satisfaction to a moderate extent. The study further concludes that there is a little privacy to work at the Africa Yoga Project. This implies that the working conditions influenced employee satisfaction. The study also concludes that the employees were satisfied with the current salary to a little extent, matching individual characteristics and job improves performance and employee satisfaction to a moderate extent and the organization understands the employees’ attributes towards the job to a moderate extent. The study concludes that the employees’ wages are reviewed yearly and employee is satisfied with the flexibility of the working hours to a great extent. Thus all aspects of compensation influenced employee satisfaction. Employees’ involvement in decision making increases administrative efficiency to a great extent, employee is fully committed to the organization and its future prospects to a great extent and employee’s involvement in goal setting or problem solving activities result in higher employee performance to a great extent. Thus decision making influenced employees’ satisfaction. The study recommends Africa Yoga Project provide privacy to work, leaders should show more interest and offer praise for better performance since it builds the employees’ esteem and satisfaction and employees should work to a greater extent as teams to achieve common objectives. The study also recommends the current employee salary be reviewed since the employees were unsatisfied with the pay, Africa Yoga Project should increase the incentives used to induce employees as there are different levels of employee satisfaction across the sectors and also extensively adopt matching of individual characteristics and job as it improves performance and employee satisfaction. The study further recommends Africa Yoga Project to adopt a greater involvement of employees in decision making process, improve on the performance appraisal policy and ensure affective and continuance commitment of the employee for better organizational performance