Employee Empowerment and Job Satisfaction in Selected Construction Company in Meru Count’&Kenya

ABSTRACT This thesis is entitled “employee empowerment and job satisfaction in selected construction company, in Meru County, Kenya.” The study was carried out based on four specific objectives; to determine the demographic profile of respondents in terms of age, gender, education and construction industry experience, to establish the levels of employee empowerment in the construction industry, to determine the level of employee job satisfaction and to establish whether there is a significant relationship of employee empowerment and job satisfaction in the construction industry. The study was in form of a descriptive correlation design, to describe and analyze the conditions of the company being studied. The study population comprised 200 employees of selected construction company in Meru county- Kenya. Questionnaires were used in collecting primary and secondary data. The collected data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings showed that there was a strong agreement on employee empowerment and employee job satisfaction in selected construction company in Meru County-Kenya. The researcher concluded that the use of elements of empowerment, autonomy /freedom, authority/power, management support, decision making, resources accountability, communication arid benefits/perks directly led to employee job satisfaction. The researcher recommends that employers should empower and satisfy their employees as tools to improve the company’s bottom-line and market share. They should also provide stable and secure environment for their employees to control absenteeism and turnover. Companies should also give their employees regular training in order to improve the quality of the service and product. Management should also encourage participative management, information sharing trust, autonomy, power sharing and advancement opportunities. Management should improve channels of communication in the company.