RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REWARD MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND DISCIPLINE OF EMPLOYEES IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN UGANDA

In private universities, like any other organisation reward management is one of the strategies used by Human Resource Managers for attracting and retaining suitable employees as well as facilitating them to improve their performance through motivation and to comply with employment legislation and regulation. This study investigated the relationship between reward management strategies and employee discipline in private universities in Uganda. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design. Qualitative and Quantitative approaches were also employed. The sampled universities are the sampling units and lecturers, University administrators and the human resource personnel formed the sampling frame. A sample size of 380 respondents was obtained from a population of 7,184 using Krejcie and Morgan formula. Purposive, Cluster and simple random sampling techniques were used to obtain the respondents. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analysed using frequencies, Percentages, Pearson correlation and regression analysis while qualitative data were arranged thematically and reported as narrations. The findings were The findings revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between remuneration and employee discipline (r = .341; p =.000), employee benefits and employee discipline (r = .590; p = .000) and promotion and discipline of employees (r=.679; p=.010). The conclusions showed that there was a significant correlation between remuneration and employee discipline. There was a significant positive correlation between employee benefits and employee discipline. The study further found out that there was a significant and positive correlation between promotion and discipline of employees. The study recommended that better remuneration of employees in an organization have influence on employee discipline. Therefore, private universities need to embrace better ways of remunerating employees as this improves commitment to work and discipline.