MANAGING STAFF DIVERSITY AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A STUDY OF GULU CITY
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Date
2026-09
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Gulu University
Abstract
The study was about staff diversity on employee performance in the public secondary schools in Northern Uganda, Gulu city. The study was guided by four objectives as follow to describe the level of staff diversity in the public secondary schools, to establish the status of employee performance in public secondary schools, to examine the relationship between managing staff diversity and employee performance in public secondary schools and to analyze the moderating effect of human resource factors on the relationship between staff diversity and employee performance in Public secondary schools in Gulu city. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design, adopting both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. By use of a questionnaire and interview guide, data was collected from 166 respondents from the selected public secondary schools in Gulu city and analyzed using a statistical software called Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The study found out that public secondary schools in Gulu city embrace diversity as a whole as reflected in ethnicity, gender and age. In addition, the findings indicated that employee performance was generally rated high among respondents as reflected in selected schools despite a few challenges. The study found that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between diversity and employee performance reflected in gender, ethnicity and age respectively. Findings further indicated that human resource factors play a significant moderating role in the relationship between diversity and performance. The study concluded that staff diversity is positively acknowledged and effectively managed in public secondary schools in Gulu City and concluded that employee performance in public secondary schools in Gulu city is generally satisfactory despite challenges in participatory decision-making and resource allocation. The study concluded that there is a significant and positive relationship between managing staff diversity and employee performance. The study concluded that human resource factors significantly affect the relationship between diversity and performance. The study recommends that school administrators should strengthen inclusive recruitment and retention policies that promote ethnic, gender, and age diversity, School administration and management should provide clear performance expectations, schools should integrate diversity management into their organizational strategy with the aim of improving performance.