SUPERVISOR-SUPERVISEE INTERACTION AND STAFF PERFORMANCE IN UGANDA: A CASE OF MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of supervisor–supervisee interactions on staff performance at Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in Uganda. The researcher’s motive was to find out whether supervisor-supervisee interaction could in any way influence or bear positive or negative effect on performance. The study was guided by specific objectives which were to examine the influence of communication flow on staff performance at ministry of energy and mineral development in Uganda, to examine the influence of decision making on staff performance at Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and to explore the influence of non- monetary support systems on staff performance at Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. Research data was collected from a sample of 152 respondents including; Executive management (Assistant Commissioner, Undersecretary), Principle officers, senior officers, permanent officers, contract and temporally officers using, simple random sampling and purposive methods. The researcher used a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire and two interview guides to collect data. Pearson product of moment correlation coefficient test was used to establish the relationship between the supervisor-supervisee interactions and staff performance while Linear regression-analysis was used to establish the degree to which independent variable influences the dependent variable. The results of the study revealed that the selected supervisor supervisee interaction practice/dimensions explained 47.3% of staff performance while 52.7% was explained by other factors. The results of the study also indicated that non-financial support system with the highest beta coefficient of (  =0.310, p<0.05) has the greatest influence on staff performance followed by communication flow (  =0.244, p<0.05) and last Participatory decision making (  =229, p<0.05). This implied that the three dimensions of supervisor-supervisee interaction have a significant influence on staff performance at MEMD.