HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND SUSTAINABILITY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT ORGANIZATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF GATEWAY BUS SERVICE LIMITED

Abstract

The transport industry is an important aspect of any growing economy like Uganda. Many private individuals and companies do participate in the transport business and Gateway bus service limited is one of them. Gateway bus service was established in 1982 and is one of the pioneer Bus Companies in Uganda with over 200 employees. It operates both locally and internationally. The study was aimed at examining the relationship between HRM practices and sustainability of Gateway bus service limited, focusing on recruitment and selection, training and development, and reward management. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used in the selection of respondents. Data was collected and analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods where questionnaires and interviews were used as the instruments to collect data. The findings of the study indicate that there was no recruitment and selection policy, no room for many people to apply and those who came looking for jobs rarely got employed. Head hunting and hand picking were most commonly used practices for recruitment and selection activities, it was inconsistent and discriminatory, hence recruitment and selection at Gateway bus service limited was not professionally handled. It was further discovered that the company had no training and development policy to help guide on issues of training of the staff, hence the company relied on informal programs of training done once at the time of entry. It was also discovered that the company had no reward policy; rewards were determined by the directors based on their judgement and were not uniform. Many were not satisfied with their remuneration, the staffs were mainly rewarded with allowances and salary. The researcher recommends that the management of Gateway bus service should set up a recruitment and selection policy to help in guiding on issues to do with employment of people into the company, and must be handled by a human resource specialist. The researcher further recommends that there must be an establishment of a training policy to provide a framework within which decisions can be made and supported with regard to the training and development of individuals and groups within the company. It was also recommended that a reward management policy be established to help in the formulation and implementation of ways to best handle issues to do with the rewarding of employees.