Business

Title
The relationship between professionalism among the personnel of an organization and profitability of the business enterprise a case study of the banking sector in Kenya.

Problem statement
The banking sector has been faced by many challenges in the effort to increase profitability despite the increasing competition in the sector. Many banks have employed personnel with different professional qualification as a strategy to improve service delivery to customers so as to increase profitability.

Research objectives
Main objective To study the relationship between professionalism among employees and profitability of the organization.

Other objectives
To investigate the impact of competition on the profitability of the banks
To study the strategies being used by the banks to overcome competition

ImportanceBenefits
i) The study will enable the banks change their strategies so as to adopt the best methods of increasing profitability.
ii) The survey will assist the banking sector improve service delivery to the customers, hence attract more customers.
iii) The study will investigate the importance of adopting modern methods of business management so as to improve on the competitive advantage.

Research Design
Study area and population
The research will be conducted in Kenya. The population includes the banks in the Kenyan economy where the sample will be drawn. The sample banks involve the Cooperative bank, Barclays bank, Commercial bank, Equity bank and Family bank. The selection of the branches of each bank to interview will be done at random (Siegel, 1999).

Data collection
Primary data will be collected through open ended and closed questionnaire (Fick, 2002). 120 questionnaires will be distributed to the banks sampled and collected by the research assistants after two weeks. Oral interviews will be administered where possible, particularly to the top management personnel (Siegel, 1999).

Secondary data will be collected through internet links into the websites of these banks, business magazines and journals, internal books of accounts and Human resources documents (Siegel, 1999).

Data Analysis
The data collected will be entered and analyzed using the SPSS program version 11.2. Double entry of the data and checking will be used to minimize errors (Fick, 2002). The two variables under investigation will be the different profits achieved by the banks sampled within duration of five years and the academic and professional qualification of employees employed within this duration. Correlation coefficients between the two variables will be calculated together with the standard deviation. The mean and standard deviations will be computed (Liaw, 1999).

Results Deliverables
All the banks sampled for interview responded well. 90 of the questionnaires distributed were returned out of the 128 copies distributed. The correlation coefficient was found to be 0.78. This indicates that there was a positive correlation between professionalism and profitability. A standard deviation of 98 was obtained. The mean observed was 102. Profitability increased as the banks continued employing professional. During the first two years of the study, period the banks registered low profits. The banks employed personnel with low professional qualifications as a strategy to reduce the costs on wages. The second phase of operation included the last three years. The banks recorded an increasing profitability. A different strategy has been employed by the banks and now they are employing personnel of high professional qualification. Most of the human resource managers who responded said that they found it easy dealing with professional workers than the non-professional. The working environment was reported to be favorable to the professional employees. The professionals found in these banks were IT specialist, accountants, Human Resources managers, Economists, Business consultants and analysts. The banks also outsource other professionals when circumstances demand their skills.

Discussion
The positive correlation coefficient indicates that there is a positive relationship between the two variables. As the banks increased the use of professionals in the job place, profitability increased. This indicates that professionals in the banking sector are required so as to run the businesses in a profitable manner. Professionals understand their jobs and can operate optimally. They spend most of their knowledge in generating ideas that bring innovation to the business. Professionals have a good understanding of their job and take less time to learn new environments and operations. The high profitability registered in the second phase of the study indicates that professionalism is required in the banking business. Most activities in an organization require the use of professional knowledge so as to avoid poor performance of duties. The use of modern technology can bring greater profits to the banks. This technology can only be adopted easily by the professionals since they have a higher ability to learn.

Conclusion and recommendations
Organizations should adopt employing professionals in their daily operations
(Farazmand, 2001). The survey shows that modern business requires the use of professional knowledge so as to increase profitability. The use of modern technology can be embraced rapidly by professionals. Businesses in all sectors should make proper use of professional knowledge to avoid long-term problems associated with employing non-professionals (Farazmand, 2001).

Budget
ParticularsAmount (US)Traveling expenses2,000Computers assembly, typing  printing715Internet surfing100Wages to research assistants5,000Stationery 500Copyrights registration200Telephone expenses 200Miscellaneous expenses1100Total 8,630