ABSTRACT

Performance appraisal is the basic tendency to make an evaluation of an individual's work performance in order to arrive at objective personal decisions. It systematically reviews a person's work and achievements over a recent period, leading to plans for the future in personnel psychology. Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs) are voluntary associations to which members contribute regularly their pooled savings and from which they obtain loans for provident and other purposes. Generally, SACCOs are established with the objective of promoting savings and credit with training opportunities on the wise use of their funds. An extensive use of performance appraisal in SACCOs helps in the improvement of individual job performance, promote employee training and development, focus on SACCO goals, encourage teamwork, promote co-operation, improve ability of SACCOs to hire' qualified employees and enable employees determine what it takes to be successful in SACCO movement. The general objective of the study was to investigate the extent of implementation of performance appraisal in SACCOs in Kisii Central district. A descriptive survey design was adopted to conduct the study. It was relevant because it is used to assess attitudes and opinions about events, individuals or procedures. The study focused on employees of active SACCOs in Kisii Central District, Kenya. The data was collected using questionnaires, arranged and grouped according to particular research questions, tabulated and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics . by Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study showed that a large proportion of SACCOs (76.0%) lacked performance appraisal. Those SACCOS that had performance appraisal (24%), carried it out once a year and it was largely conducted by the general manager. To a less extent, the performance appraisal helped the SACCOs to rate the workers strengths and weaknesses. Although it was revealed that performance appraisal helped SACCOs in overcoming challenges at work; unfortunately, many SACCOs did not use it in implementing decisions that concerned workers welfare and job mobility.