Impact of Human Resource Management on Academic Performance: Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

The dire need for capacity building of man power in both public educational and private sector institutions has become critical lately. Need Theory which represents an internal energy force that directs behaviour toward actions that permit the satisfaction and release of the need itself. There are three fundamental needs (winter, 1996): need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and need for power. Need for achievement is deriving pleasure from overcoming obstacles, need for affiliation intimacy is deriving pleasure from socializing and sharing with people and need for power is deriving pleasure from gaining strength or prestige, particularly by affecting one?s well-being. However, these needs are not stable but tend to fluctuate in intensity, ranging from a slumbering satisfaction to an absolute craving. Management of schools is thought to be driven by the need for exemplary performance in national examinations. Therefore, this calls for incorporation of efficient communication systems, participative approach in decision making, accountability and performance evaluation as some of the means and ways that can lead to improved academic performance in the national examinations.