HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON SERVICE DELIVERY AMONG THE STATE CORPORATIONS IN KENYA

The study focused on the utilization of human resource management practices in enhancing service delivery among state corporations in Kenya. Critique of existing literature on the human resource management practices revealed that only few studies have focused on the relationship between human resource management practices and service delivery. This study, therefore, was guided by two variables namely: reward and recognition programs and HR audits as human resource management practices and their influence on service delivery in State Corporations in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design to gather data from the sampled respondents of the state corporations. Stratified random sampling was applied to select respondents from the state corporations to participate in the study. Information was gathered by use of questionnaires which were subjected to a pre-test to ensure both validity and reliability. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of analysis tool; statistical package for social Sciences (SPSS). The study found that reward and recognition programs have a positive influence on service delivery among state corporations in Kenya. Further, HR audit practices were found to have a significant positive effect on service delivery. The implication is that adoption of these hrpractices can drive service delivery in state corporations.Itis, therefore, recommended that state corporations in Kenya put in place appropriate reward and recognition programs and periodically carry out HR audits since they

The study focused on the utilization of human resource management practices in enhancing service delivery among state corporations in Kenya. Critique of existing literature on the human resource management practices revealed that only few studies have focused on the relationship between human resource management practices and service delivery. This study, therefore, was guided by two variables namely: reward and recognition programs and HR audits as human resource management practices and their influence on service delivery in State Corporations in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design to gather data from the sampled respondents of the state corporations. Stratified random sampling was applied to select respondents from the state corporations to participate in the study. Information was gathered by use of questionnaires which were subjected to a pre-test to ensure both validity and reliability. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of analysis tool; statistical package for social Sciences (SPSS). The study found that reward and recognition programs have a positive influence on service delivery among state corporations in Kenya. Further, HR audit practices were found to have a significant positive effect on service delivery. The implication is that adoption of these hrpractices can drive service delivery in state corporations.Itis, therefore, recommended that state corporations in Kenya put in place appropriate reward and recognition programs and periodically carry out HR audits since they significantly influence service delivery.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-
Globally, it has become undisputable that public service performance relies heavily on the effectiveness of human resource management practices (Paauwe, (2009). Armstrong (2009) defines Human Resource Management (HRM) as a strategic and coherent approach in managing the human capital of an organisation, the people who work individually and collectively to achieve its objectives. Organizations therefore, need to adopt bundles of human resource management practices that can lead to the achievement of intended objectives (Allen, Erickson, & Collins, 2013). If the intended objective is enhanced service delivery then the HR practices adopted should lead to its realization in order for them to be considered effective.
Effective human resource management practices should be those that are sensitive to changes in the internal and external environment of the organisation. This, therefore, calls for review, refocusing and reprioritising internal objectives when the changes are significant enough and redefining the internal objectives and priorities to critical parts of the organisation to ensure alignment of both at all times. An effective human resource management initiative is one that drivesemployees' performance towards contributing effectively and fruitfully to the attainment of the organization's goals and objectives. It makes employees to be committed to their work and elicits positive behavior that will enhance the organization's effectiveness. Effective human resource management practicesshould also be able to discourage employees from exhibiting negative behavior that would be counterproductive to the organisations objective (Chang and Chen, 2002).

State Corporations in Kenya
A state corporation is a legal entity created by a government to undertake activities on behalf of an owner government. Their legal status varies from being a part of government into stock companies with a state as a regular stockholder. The defining characteristics are that they have a distinct legal form and they are established to operate in commercial affairs (RoK, 2013). In Kenya, there are a wide range of State Corporations and related agencies and learning institutions. Some of them include: Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Airports Authority, public universities, National Cereals and Produce Board, Kenya Posts and Telecommunications, Kenya Seed Agency among others (Njagi&Malel, 2012).
The role of State Corporations in the national development effort includes promoting or accelerating economic growth and development, building the capability and technical capacity of the state in facilitating and/or promoting national development, important instruments in improving the delivery of public services, creation of good and widespread employment opportunities in various jurisdictions and judicious building of international partnerships (RoK, 2013).
Before the new constitution there were 262 state corporations in Kenya. In line with vision 2030 and envisioning a future where economic growth and efficiency are maximised, a commission was set up to review the roles of state corporations and make recommendations. The commission recommended a reduction of these corporations to 187 in number. The sate corporations were further reclassified while others were merged or dropped. The main aim for this according to the report was to enhance service delivery. This is owing to the fact that poor performance has been reported in State Corporations and this has affected the nation and the quality of lives of citizens is declining. Poverty, hunger, diseases, ignorance, social injustices and economic welfare have all become a major challenge and public trust in government by the citizens is slowly deteriorating. Some of the noted causes of poor performance in state corporations range from excessive controls, multiplicity of principals with multiple and sometimes conflicting objectives ,poor management as well as outright mismanagement (RoK, 2013).
Performance contracting was introduced in Kenya essentially as a strategy to reorient the management of public sector from focusing on processes, procedures and activities to focusing on results. This would in turn enable reengineering of operations to match the growing need of public demand for better services and therefore restore trust in government and dignity of public service (RoK, 2013).

Statement of the Problem
The need for efficient and effective service delivery has increased over the last two decades and the successful implementation and use of human resource management practices has become of paramount importance in enabling organisations to enhance service delivery. Performance contracting, as a performance management initiative, was introduced in state corporations as a strategy to tackle some of performance problems reported in different government establishments, some of which are, inadequate planning, poor management of projects, wastage of resources, inconsideration of public needs and poor service delivery (RoK, 2013).
Whereas service delivery will always happen with the expectation for responsiveness, responsibility and accountability placed upon public servants, the question of the effectiveness and efficiency with which these services are rendered and whether the clients get best value for their money arises. An exploratory survey on Kenyan service delivery and government interaction carried out by Crandal and Mutuku (2011) indicates that majority of the respondents have negative comments about service delivery by state corporations in Kenya. They cited that 45 % of the respondents had complaints in relation to efficient service delivery and customer care. This is especially concerning infrastructure development, water, electricity, and provision of health and education services. The study further indicates that the respondents on the whole had more negative experiences than positive experiences in relation to service delivery and customer care in Kenya. This indicates that there is room for improvement in Kenyan service delivery.
State corporations are expected to continuously find measures that can enable them to raise standards of services delivered to ensure client satisfaction. A number of studies relating to performance management in state corporations have been done, for instance Nzuve and Kaimuri (2013) investigated the factors affecting performance management in local authorities in Kenya. The study focused on how leadership, stakeholder involvement and organisational culture affect performance management but failed to link human resource management Practices to service delivery.
Wesonga, Tabitha and Muya (2012) did a study on the implementation of performance contracting in state corporations in Kenya where they evaluated how the implementation process can be managed through employee training and development. The failed to relate human resource management practices to service delivery by state corporations. A study done by Gichovi (2013) on the effect of performance contracting on service delivery of state corporations in Kenya focused on the coffee board of Kenya. His study was mainly a case study and therefore this makes it important to develop this study further by looking at all state corporations in Kenya. He also failed to relate human resource management practices to service delivery by state corporations.
Despite the numerous studies on the performance of state corporations, the aspect of service delivery in state corporations in Kenya, in relation to human resource management Practices, has been largely neglected. This study, therefore, is intended to bridge this knowledge gap and seeks to determine how the two interrelate with reference to state corporations in Kenya.

General Objective
The overall objective was to evaluate the influence of human resource management practices on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya

Specific objectives of the Study
The study sought to achieve the following specific objectives; 1. To establish the influence of reward and recognition programs on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya. 2. To determine the influence of HR audit on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya.

Research Hypotheses
Ho1: Rewards and recognition programs have no significant influence on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya.
Ho2: HR audit has no significant influence on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya.

Theoretical Review
Theoretical frameworks are explanations about the phenomenon. A theoretical framework provides the researcher the lens to view the world. The study was grounded on three major theories namely: principal-agent theory, expectancy theory and goal setting theory.

The Principal-Agent Theory
The basic concept of principal-agent theory comes from the relationship between one party (the principal) and another (the agent). Principal-Agent theory is based in the business management area but can be applied also to the social sector (Carr& Brower, 1996;Elgie, 2002;Lewis, 2006;Broadbent, Dietrich & Laughlin, 1996). Principal agent theory developed from organisational management which is derived from economics in terms of links between pay and performance (Carr& Brower, 1996;Milgrom, 1987). In this theory, the basic starting point is the situation where one actor (the principal) has an incentive to delegate power to another actor (the agent) with the expectation that subsequently the latter will act in a way which is consistent with the initial preferences of the former (Elgie , 2002). The starting point of the theory corresponds to an assumption that the authority of superior organisations (the principal) is decentralised to subordinate organisations with expectations that agents will use their specialised information and capacities, and thus maximise the principal's benefits (Moe, 1984).
The principal-agent theory can be applied to public sector to demonstrate the relationship between principals and agents (Carr& Brower, 1996;Elgie, 2002;Lewis, 2006). More specifically, the main idea of this theory is the interacting relationship between organisations, called principals and agents, with regard to several assumptions (Ingraham & Joyce & Donahue, 2003;Moe, 1987;Carr& Brower, 1996). Firstly, the basic assumption of principalagent theory is that the principal has less information than the agent.
In terms of the principal-agent theory, the principal can control the agent in the light of the agent's performance, and can request or require more information from the agent if there is a problem of information asymmetry. The principal can guide the agent 'before-the-fact', through regulation, guidelines, and performance indicators, which can be set to require whatever level of performance the principal requires. In relation to rewards and recognition programs as an independent variable in this study, the Principal-agent theory recognises that incentives are an important tool for agents in controlling their behaviour, which is state corporations should focus on setting reward programs that will motivate expected performance and service delivery.

Expectancy Theory
According to Vroom (1964) the expectancy theory has three main motivational forces i.e. valence, instrumentality and expectancy. Valence means the value and therefore attractiveness of the outcomes. Instrumentality on the hand refers to the degree to which the improvement in job performance is expected to lead to the desired outcomes. It is the belief that when we do things in a certain manner they will lead to the desired ends. Finally, expectancy means the extent to which an increase in effort leads to an increase in job results. Whenever an individual chooses between alternatives which involve uncertainoutcomes, it seems clear that his behaviour is affected not only by his preferences among these outcomes but also by the degree to which he believes these outcomes to bepossible (Vroom, 1994). Expectancy is defined as a momentary belief concerning the likelihood that a particular act will be followed by a particular outcome. Expectancies can be described in terms of their strength. Maximal strength is indicated by subjective certainty that the act will be followed by the outcome, while minimal (or zero) strength is indicated by subjective certainty that the act will not be followed by the outcome.
For example performance related rewards work if the there is a clear link between performance and reward and the reward is also worth the effort. The expectancy theory was developed into a model by Lawler (1976) and he put forward two factors determining the effort people put into their jobs. Firstly, the value of the rewards to individuals in so far as they satisfy their needs for social, esteem, security, autonomy, and self-actualization and the probability that rewards depend on effort, as perceived by individuals or their expectations about the relationship between effort and reward.
This essentially means that the greater the value of rewards and the higher the probability of receiving this rewards depends upon employee effort then the greater the effort that will be put forward by employees in a given situation. In view of this research, it therefore means that, if employees and state corporations have to accept that they are able to achieve what is demanded of them and believe that if they put more efforts in achieving objectives then they will get more rewards. According to this theory it is also believed that if employees of state corporations don't think that the additional rewards are big enough then their performance may not be good and therefore service delivery will not be improved. Reward programs, therefore, need be market driven, timely, appropriate, and effective and performance based in order for them to be able to drive performance of employees towards achieving key organisational objectives.

Goal Setting Theory
Goal setting is a cognitive theory of motivation based on the premise that people have needs that can be thought of as specific outcomes or goals they hope to obtain (Locke, 1998). It makes the assumption that human behaviour is purposeful (Locke&Lathman, 1990) and goals direct and sustain (Ryan, 1970) individual energies towards performing a particular action. Goals have two primary attributes or dimensions i.e. content and intensity (Locke &lathman, 1990). Goal content refers to the features of the goals themselves specifically the difficulty and specificity of the goal. Goal intensity is the process by which a goal is set and accomplished (Lee et al., 1990).
Goal intensity relates to factors such as individual commitment and the cognitive processes involved in attaining and setting goals. The relevance of this theory in relation to this research lies in the fact that situational factors are a moderator for the effect of a goal on performance. The level of government where goals are set may also be a variable that limits or enhances the relationship between goal setting and an employee's performance. HR audits are able to reveal inefficiencies in HR systems and practices which when corrected can lead to performance improvement in human resource management practices and therefore service delivery.

Conceptual Framework
According to Mathieson (2001), a conceptual framework is a virtual or written product that explains, either graphically or in narrative form, the main things to be studied which includes, the key factors, concepts, or variables and the presumed relationships among them. The conceptual framework for this study will be consisted of reward and recognition programs, HR audit, as independent variables. The dependent variable is enhanced service delivery.

Reward and Recognition Programs
What an organisation values strongly will be a drive to the employees' behaviour towards those values (Gardiner &Pohlman, 2000).This calls from managers to build an effective & value based organisation that will enable their success in achieving their objectives. If quality of products, quality improvement or quality of service is rewarded then the employees will always think of the quality that they deliver and this may lead to them devising better ways of doing their job (Mujtaba&Cavico, 2008). If customer satisfaction and intimacy is rewarded then employees will strive to mould their behaviours towards building good relationships with customers and so that they are able to know and satisfy their needs (Mujtaba, 2006). Rewards demonstrate to employees that their behavior is appropriate and should be repeated. Different scholars have spoken strongly on the use of team incentives, for example, Dessler (2008) says that firms that rely on teams to manage their work must develop incentive plans that encourage teamwork and focus team members' attention on performance.

Reward & Recognition
A related argument by Goel (2008) is that performance related pay is an effective motivator and conveys a clear message that high levels of performance are expected and will be rewarded. However they should not be distributed on the basis of narrow definition of the output of each individual, but also on the basis of appraisals of how well the individual contributes to the performance of the team, unit or company as a whole depending on the company structure. According to Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2006) planning of rewards should take on board the reality of more team working in delivering strategy.
State corporations need to design rewards programs that can be motivational to both employees and managers alike and for this, reward and recognition programmes need to be timely, market driven, appropriate and effective .Research and experience in the field of success reinforces the fact that effective and timely recognition can build morale and improve productivity of employees (Koch, 2007). Studies on motivation demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between the fairness of the reward, the amount of information exchanged between employees and managers, and the workers performance (Bakker &Schaufeli, 2004). Motivated employees are very productive (William & Kinicki, 2008) and hence help to improve performance.

Human Resource Audit
The HR audit is a Human Resource effectiveness too that is concerned with the examination of the HR policies, procedures and practices of the organisation (Khaef et al., 2010). It is in place to measure to effectiveness and efficiency of Human Resource management. It is an important tool in improving the performance of Human resource management in terms of compliance, service delivery, enabling innovation and development as well as the financial performance.
It focuses on matters such as how well the HR department presents the purpose and supports the strategy of the organisation (Curtice, 2004). It also looks at how well the structures support the organisation and how well the staffing policies of the department support the realization of the organisations strategic intentions. The extent to which the established Human resource functions support the performance of the organisation is very important. Through the HR audits areas of weakness and strength can be identified and this prompts for adjustments for improvements where necessary. A well executed HR audit should capture five different components namely: Functional audit, service audit, compliance audit, financial management audit and lastly a strategic audit which Each aims at evaluating the overall people management strategy with the aim of increasing the value of employees to the business (Bloom,et al., 2006). The strategic audit will examine whether the HR strategy, policies and processes are aligned with and support the achievement of the business's mission and objectives. State corporations need to audit the performance management systems to understand their status.
In line with this research, HR audits should be done with the aim of finding out the extent to which the present system is rational and establishing if the performance practices have coherence among them, are aligned with the objectives and are in compliance with the set policy and procedural guidelines. Most importantly an assessment of the overall performance of the HR department within state corporations as an enabling function towards achievement of the major organisational goals should also be periodically examined to provide insight into the level of performance of the function as well the strengths and weaknesses so that continuous improvement can be sought.

Service Delivery
The term service means an act of help or assistance. It can also mean a system that provides something needed by the public (Collins English Dictionary, 1993). Deliverables are outputs derived from inputs which can be materials, knowledge, ideas and equipment. State corporations perform services needed by the within the corporation, its departments and the general public. The reason for performance of these services can be inform of a request, which is translated by an organisation as a customer need and drives the organisation to initiate core processes to enable timely and efficient delivery of the need. The customer expectations form service standards and these are derived from a consultative process.
As O'Neill, (2008) asserts, a diverse collection of local governments now routinely use surveys to establish priorities, get feedback from residents regarding services, and examine community perceptions regarding quality of service indicators. The public sector reform recommendations call to public institutions to step up their game in ensuring improved service delivery. Such calls are to ensure the local demands and needs are met at grass root levels and the government's presence is positively felt at local levels (Esra, 2010).It is important to link performance management and service delivery. In regard to this research, delivery of service is directly dependent on the effectiveness of the Human Resource Management Practices established within state corporations.
A service delivered is the outcome of actions directed towards making that service available. Public services are rendered through government owned entities within its different machineries comprised of departments and collective units as well as employees. All this have to be managed effectively, efficiently and economically. The level of performance of the collective units in state corporations will determine the ultimate service delivered .Most state corporations are utilizing service charters and feedback mechanisms to gauge their level of customer service delivery to both their internal and external customers. A review of most service delivery charters in state corporations reveals that they comply with the SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman et al. (1988) which proposes five dimensions of perceived service quality: Tangibles; reliability; responsiveness; assurance & empathy as items reflecting both expectations and service performance.

Research Design
The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. A research design is a logical thread which holds together all the crucial aspects of the research together so that they can derive meaning (Kothari, 2004). It is a process through which research questions are asked and answered (Mugenda&Mugenda, 2003). Descriptive surveys are done when the researcher intends to establish the relationship of events, processes or entities without interfering with the purpose of reporting the facts as they are. This design was chosen and considered as appropriate for this study since it would be able to give room for exploratory and descriptive data.
This form of data was important in understanding the HR management practices and their influence on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya. Gravetor and Forzano (2011) posit that descriptive research design involves the measurement of a set of variables as they naturally exist. The advantage of this design is that it captures the situation in its full form by describing a particular scenario as it is (Kothari, 2004).
The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative approach. Quantitative approach emphasizes data measurement and analysis in numerical form to give precise description. Quantitative approach places emphasis on methodology, procedure and statistical measures to test hypothesis and make predictions (Berg, 2004). Qualitative research approach helps in analysing information in a systematic way in order to come to some useful conclusions and recommendations on the social settings and the individuals who portray the characteristics (Cobertta, 2003).

Target Population
The target population for a survey was the entire set of units for which the survey data are to be used to make inferences (Kothari, 2008). Thus, the target population defines those units for which the findings of the survey are meant to generalize (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). For this research, the target population was made up of the170 state corporations in Kenya. According to the presidential taskforce report, the total number of state corporations in Kenya stands at 187. However 17 of them are yet to be enacted and developed (RoK, 2013).
These state corporations are further classified into five categories which are; purely commercial state corporations-34, State corporations with strategic functions-19, Executive agencies-52, Independent regulatory agencies-20, and Research institutions, Universities, Tertiary education and Training institutions -45. The unit of analysis for this research was the state corporations since they are instruments of service delivery for Kenyan citizens while the units of observation will be comprised of the line managers in state corporations in Kenya. The researcher issued questionnaires to the line managers and supervisors from all the sampled state corporations. The selection of this category of employees was justified by the fact that they are the ones responsible for the management of employee performance and service delivery in their respective state corporations.

Sampling Frame
The sampling frame describes the list of all population units from which the sample is selected (Cooper & Schindler, 2003). The sampling frame for this study comprised of a list of 170 state corporations as presented by the Presidential Taskforce Report of 2013. According to this report, the state corporations are further classified into five categories namely; purely commercial state corporations, executive agencies, Independent regulatory agencies, and research institutions, universities, tertiary education and training institutions. The main reason for the reclassification of state corporations was to enhance service delivery in the public sector as a major indicator of performance (RoK, 2013).

Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
Determination of Sample size is important since it is not possible to study the whole population due to time cost and personnel. A sample size was drawn from the population using the formula given by (Mugenda &Mugenda, 2003) and represented as: Z2pq n = d2 Where: n = the desired sample size (If the target population is greater than 10,000) Z = the standard normal deviate at the required confidence level. P= the proportion in the target population estimated to have characteristics being measured. q = 1-p d = the level of statistical significance set. If there is no estimate available of the proportion, the target population is assumed to have the characteristics of interest of which 50% should be used (Mugenda et al, 2003). The Z statistics is taken as 1.96 and desired accuracy at the 0.5 level. The sample size was therefore: (1.96)2(.50) (.50) n = (0.05)2 N=384 If the target population is less than 10, 000, the required sample size will be smaller and is calculated using the formula below (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). n nf = 1+ (n-1) N Where nf= the desired sample size (when the population is less than 10,000) n = the desired sample size (when the population is more than 10,000) N = the estimate of the population size.
Using the formula the sample size will be. 384 nf = 1+ (384-1) 170 nf =118 In order to get equal representation from each stratum, percentage presentation was computed by considering the size of each stratum as a percentage of the total population. The percentages of each stratum will then be mult iplied by 118 to get the representative proportionate sample from each stratum.

Sampling Techniques
The study will adopt stratified random sampling technique to select a sample of 118 corporations from a population of 170 State Corporation in Kenya. The five functional categories of state corporation as categorized by the Presidential Taskforce Report of 2013 will be treated as strata after which simple random sampling will be done proportionate to the number of corporations in each stratum. The goal of stratified random sampling is to achieve the desired representation from various sub-groups in the population. The selected state corporations form 69% of the entire population this surpasses 30% of the population. Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), states that a sample of 30% is considered representative for a population less 500.
The population is made up of parastatal managers in different ranks which include the CEO, General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Operations Manager, Events External affairs manager, Human Resource manager, Public Relations Manager, CSR Strategy manager, Finance Manager and several other line managers. However, the researcher is interested in line managers since they are the ones responsible for the management of employee performance and service delivery of their respective state corporations. Therefore, one line manager will be selected to be the respondent for the study from each of the sampled state corporations.

Data Collection Instruments
Data for this study was collected from primary sources using self-administered questionnaires. Creswell (2008) defines data collection as a means by which information is obtained from the selected subjects of an investigation. Babbie (2010) indicates that data collection involves consulting both secondary and primary data sources in order to elicit information, facts, evidence, proofs or truths regarding the research problems. A standardised questionnaire, capturing the variables under study was prepared (Appendix I). Kothari (2004) defines a questionnaire as a set of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or a set of forms. They are a list of research questions asked to respondents and they are designed to extract specific information. The questionnaires contained both closed and open ended questions. The closed ended questions were used to limit the respondents to the variables under study while the open ended questions were to enable respondents to freely give their opinions in a more pragmatic way (Kothari, 2008). By use of questionnaires, the researcher was able to gather significant amount of data at a very low cost (Cooper & Schindler, 2006).

Pilot Study
To enhance reliability and validity, the questionnaire was pre-tested on eight respondents who were selected using purposive sampling from five state corporations forming the category of those with devolved functions. The category was not part of the target population and this guaranteed that those who participated in the pilot study had no chance of appearing in the actual sample.
In pretesting the instrument, half -split method where four respondents were in the HR management and the other four from the line management level was utilised. This made it possible to get a comparison of views from the two different categories of employees since owing to their experience both were considered to be knowledgeable in the research interest areas. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) have explained that pilot-testing helps to refine the questionnaire so that respondents have no problem in answering the questions and there will be no problem in recording the data. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess internal consistency and reliability of the questionnaire based on the feedback of the pilot test. The subjects were encouraged to make comments and suggestions concerning instructions, clarity of questions and relevance. This revealed vague questions, deficiencies in the questionnaire and provided an opportunity to analyze the data to see if the methods of analysis were appropriate.

Reliability of the questionnaire
The data from the pilot test was tested using cronbach alpha. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the internal consistency or average correlation of items in the survey instrument to gauge its reliability to assess and improve upon the reliability of variables derived from summated scales (Cronbach, 1951).The selected sample for pretesting were selected from ten respondents from five state corporations in Kenya. Measures were taken to ensure that those who participate in the pilot study do not appear in the final sample.
Data reliability was measured using cronbach's alpha coefficient with ranges between 0 and 1 (Sekaran, 2003). The Cronbach alpha values obtained for all the variables was higher than 0.5. According to Klein & Ford (2003), if the cronbach alpha coefficient value realized is higher than 0.5, it means that the scales are reliable.

Validity of the Instrument
The validity of the questionnaire was determined using construct validity method. Construct validity is the degree to which a test measures an intended hypothetical construct (Mugenda, 2003). Using a panel of experts familiar with 421 the construct is a way in which this type of validity can be assessed. The experts can examine the items and decide what that specific item is intended to measure (Kothari, 2004). The study used different groups of experts in the field of human resource management and issued them with the questionnaires. The experts were required to assess if the questionnaires could effectively be used in establishing Human Resource Management Practices and their influence of service delivery within state corporations in Kenya. This was inorder to establish content and construct validity. The recommendations from the Human resource experts and the pilot study respondents were used to improve on data collection instruments.

Data Collection Procedure
The questionnaires were delivered to the sampled respondents by the researcher, follow ups were made through calls and visits and the questionnaires were collected upon completion. Permission was sought from the management of the state corporations before data collection. The researcher made use of two research assistants who underwent prior training on administering the questionnaire. To enhance response rate the researcher identified and made use of contact persons in each state corporations.

Data Processing and Analysis
Before processing the responses, data preparation was done on the completed questionnaires by editing, coding, entering and cleaning the data. The raw data collected ws organised in a manner that enabled systematic analysis. The data was coded to enable easy quantitative processing. The codes were assigned to each response category for each item in the questionnaire. Once coding was done, the data was then entered into the computer and analysis followed by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
Data analysis involves reducing accumulated data into manageable size, developing summaries, looking for patterns and applying statistical techniques such as bar charts, percentages, frequency tables and pie charts (Cooper & Schindler 2003). Data collected for this study was analysed using descriptive statistics. The mean, median and standard deviation were used to describe the characteristics of the sample. SPSS was used to quantitatively analyze the data. Inferential data was analysed by use of Factor analysis and correlation analysis to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between the independent and independent variables.
The analysis enabled prediction to be made as to how the variable deviates from the normal. Hierarchical models were fitted and hypothesis testing was carried out by use of t-tests. Chi square tests were used to establish the strength of dependence between variables. Scatter plots were used to enable the researcher to meaningfully describe a distribution of scores. These showed if the relationships of the dependent variable and the independent variables were linear (Klara, 2010). According to Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) qualitative data analysis seeks to make statements on how categories or themes of data are related. The study, therefore, categorized and analyzed qualitative data in themes along the lines of the predetermined research objectives. The data was then be presented in bar charts, pie charts and frequency distribution tables for ease of understanding.

Measurement of the Variables
This study involved measurement of three variables namely: Rewards and recognition, HR audits and service delivery. The Human Resource Management Practices for this study include; Rewards and recognition and HR audits. A five point likert scale (5-1) was used for each of the statements corresponding to the various parameters of the Human Resource Management Practices.
The dependent variable for this study which is service delivery was measured by the subjective and objective measures of existence of the service delivery charter. A likert scale (5-1) was used to collect views on the levels of service delivery relation to the SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman et al. (1988) which proposes five dimensions of perceived service quality: Tangibles; reliability; responsiveness; assurance & empathy as items reflecting both expectations and service performance.

Multiple Regression Analysis Model
A statistical model was used to examine the validity of the research and existing relationship of the independent and dependent variables. In developing this model, both the independent and dependent variable were used. Service delivery in state corporations in Kenya, as the dependent variable was regressed against two variables namely reward and recognition programs and HR audits as independent variables.

Research Findings Reward Recognition and Service Delivery
Pearson correlation analysis was used to measure of linear association between the study variables. The findings indicated that reward recognition and service delivery had a coefficient of 0.411 and p-value of 0.000. The positive coefficient implied that reward recognition is positively related with service delivery; that is, increase in reward recognition will lead to increase in service delivery level and vice versa. The p<0.01 indicated that the positive relationship between reward and recognition and service delivery was statistically significant at 99% confidence level. HR audit practice had a coefficient of correlation of 0.556 and a p-value of 0.000. This meant that as HR audit practices increase, service delivery will also increase. The relationship was significant at 99% confidence level (P<0.01). The coefficient of correlation between reward recognition and service delivery was 0.411 indicating positive effect of reward recognition on service delivery. The coefficient of determination (R squared) of 0.169 indicated that 16.9% of service delivery could be explained by reward recognition systems. The adjusted R-square of 16% indicated that reward recognition in exclusion of the constant variable explained the change in service delivery by 16%, the remaining percentage could be explained by other factors excluded from the model. The standard error of estimate (0.73256) showed the average deviation of the independent variables from the line of best fit.. The result of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for regression coefficient as shown in Table 4.3 revealed (F=19.058, p value = 0.000a). The results indicate that the significance of the F is 0.00 which is less than 0.05, this therefore implies that the regression model statistically significantly predicts the outcome variable and is therefore a good fit for the data. This means that there exists a significant relationship between reward recognition and service delivery among the state corporations in Kenya. The study hypothesized that rewards and recognition programs have no significant influence on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya. The study findings indicated that there was a positive significant relationship between rewards and recognition programs and service delivery (β=0.411, t= 4.366 and p value 0.000). Therefore, increase in reward systems will increase service delivery significantly. Since the t was 4.366 which is greater than zero, the null hypothesis that rewards and recognition programs have no significant influence on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya was rejected and the alternative hypothesis accepted. It was therefore concluded that rewards and recognition programs have positive significant influence on service delivery among the state corporations in Kenya. These results were consistent with those of Ron (1999) who found that reward and recognition systems were an important part of the change that is necessary for organizational transformation to be effective. Further Mujtaba (2006) indicated that if customer satisfaction and intimacy is rewarded then employees will strive to mould their behaviours towards building good relationships with customers and so that they are able to know and satisfy their needs. Dessler (2008) noted that firms that rely on teams to manage their work must develop incentive plans that encourage teamwork and focus team members' attention on performance. Goal (2008) argued that performance related pay was an effective motivator and conveyed a clear message that high levels of performance was expected and was being rewarded. According to Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2006) planning of rewards should take on board the reality of more team working in delivering strategy.

HR Audit Practice and Service Delivery
The coefficient of correlation between HR audit practice and service delivery was 0.556 indicating positive relationship between audit practice and service delivery. The coefficient of determination R squared of 0.31 indicated that 31% of service delivery could be explained by audit practice. The adjusted R-square of 30.2% indicated that HR audit practice in exclusion of the constant variable explained the change in service delivery by 30.2%, the remaining percentage could be explained by other factors excluded from the model. The standard error of estimate (0.66759) showed the average deviation of the independent variables from the line of best fit. Since the p-value is less than 0.05 it meant that there existed a significant relationship between HR audit practices and service delivery among the state corporations in Kenya. The study hypothesized that HR audit practices have no significant influence on service delivery in state corporations in Kenya. The study findings indicated that there was a positive significant relationship between HR audit practices and service delivery among state corporations in Kenya with (β=0.556, t= 6.491 and p value 0.000). Therefore, improvements in HR audit practices will lead to an increase in service delivery. Since the t was 6.491, the null hypothesis that HR audit practices have no significant influence on service delivery among state corporations in Kenya was rejected and the alternative hypothesis accepted. It was therefore conclude that HR audit practices have positive significant influence on service delivery among the state corporations in Kenya. The study found that HR audit practices have significant positive effect on service delivery among state corporations in Kenya (r=0.556, t=6.491, p=0.000). This meant that as the state corporations adopt better HR audit practices, service delivery will improve. These findings support the argument by Khaefet al., (2010) that HR audit leads to human resources effectiveness and hence service delivery. Further, Bloom et al., (2006) found that through the HR audits, areas of weakness and strength could be identified and thus prompting for adjustments for improvements where necessary. Eagle (2003) indicate that the primary techniques such as interviews, surveys, questionnaires and critical incidents can be used to elicit views from employees or their perceptions of the existing performance related management. Further, Bloom, et al. (2006) indicate that secondary tools such as policy papers and pertinent records or analysis of the decisions taken or studying the company's financials can be used to trace the history and the system of performance management .

Summary of Findings
The results of data analysis confirmed the positive relationship between HR management practices and service delivery among state corporations in Kenya. Therefore, state corporations need to design rewards programs that can be motivational to both employees and managers alike and for this, reward and recognition programmes need to be timely, market driven, appropriate and effective. With improvement in reward and recognition programs, service delivery among state corporations will significantly improve. State corporations also need to adopt HR audit practices that can enable them understand how well the Human resource management policies and practices are performing in relation to the objectives of the organisation.

Conclusions:-
The study concludes that reward and recognition programs as have been used by state corporations in Kenya positively and significantly affect service delivery. If customer satisfaction and intimacy is rewarded then employees will strive to mould their behaviours towards building good relationships with customers and so that they are able to know and satisfy their needs. Further, rewards demonstrate to employees that their behaviour is appropriate and should be repeated. Hence, state corporations that adopt superior reward and recognition programs will deliver superior services. State corporations need to design rewards programs that can be motivational to both employees and managers alike and for this, reward and recognition programmes need to be timely, market driven, appropriate and effective.
The study concludes that HR audit practices have significant positive effect on service delivery among state corporations in Kenya. This means that as the state corporations adopt better HR audit practices, service delivery will improve. State corporations therefore need to adopt HR audits to understand how well the firms are doing in having appropriate HR policies and practices. HR audit practices ensures effectiveness and efficiency of Human Resource management and is an important tool in improving the performance of Human resource management in terms of compliance, service delivery, enabling innovation and development as well as the financial performance.

Recommendations:-
The study recommends that state corporations in Kenya to adopt reward and recognition as they positively and significantly affect service delivery. If customer satisfaction and intimacy is rewarded then employees will strive to mould their behaviours towards building good relationships with customers and so that they are able to know and satisfy their needs. State corporations therefore need to design rewards programs that can be motivational to both employees and managers alike and for this, reward and recognition programmes need to be timely, market driven, appropriate and effective.
The study recommends that state corporations in Kenya to continuously adopt HR audit practices since they will lead to improved service delivery. State corporations therefore need to conduct HR audits to enable understanding of how well the firms are doing in having appropriate HR policies and practices. HR audit practices will ensure effectiveness and efficiency of Human resource management and is an important tool in improving the performance of Human resource management in terms of compliance, service delivery, enabling innovation and development as well as the financial performance.