Effect of the Structure of Guidance and Counselling Programme on the Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya

The discipline of guidance and counseling is a very important field in effective firm performance. However, most of the organizations tend to leave it to natural adjustments through peers, friends and close relatives. This may prove unproductive in the long run leading to high staff turnover without a proper remedy. A spiral over effect results to a tarnished image hence the justification of staff turnovers without getting to the real cause of this. At present the existing research on guidance and counseling is concentrated on developed countries and the policies and frameworks are developed from these countries that could be suitable only to developed countries. However, none of these studies identifies the effects of guidance and counseling on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya and therefore the need to carry out the research. The study specifically sought to determine if the structure of guidance and counseling affected the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The focus group was employees in commercial banks in Kenya. To achieve the objectives, the research study used descriptive research design with a total of 314 employees forming the sample size out of a target of 343 from a population of 3232 employees. The study employed a structured questionnaire to collect data. The study was carried out in Nairobi since most of the commercial banks’ headquarters are located there. The data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and MS Excel Platforms. Presentation of data used descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation analysis and linear regression). Reliability and validity was tested using Cronbach’s alpha and all the variables met the threshold for subsequent analysis. Both tests of significance using regression analysis and correlation analysis indicated a positive significant relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable. These results led to a rejection of the null hypothesis that the structure of guidance and counseling programmes does not affect the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. This enabled a conclusion to be made that the way the guiding and counseling programme is structured within any banking institution, affects its performance. From the results and findings, it was recommended that the structure of guidance and counseling programme in any of the banking institutions should be well planned and constituted and that its implementation should be taken seriously because it affects to some extent the performance of Kenya’s commercial banks.