Abstract
Numerous worldwide institutions have encountered challenges in achieving their intended objectives. These difficulties have even caused some organizations to collapse, resulting in more significant and costly issues. Performance management systems in organizations have been considered the most significant. Therefore, effective performance management systems have numerous benefits for any organization, and performance management stands as a primary responsibility of HR. The performance management system within media organizations aims to boost employee effectiveness by aligning individual goals with the overall objectives of the company. It entails performance planning, performance appraisals and reviews, ongoing feedback, performance improvement plans, and rewards. Despite the media houses having PMS, performance remains relatively poor. The objective of the research, therefore, was to analyze the effectiveness of performance management on employee productivity in media houses in Busia and Bungoma counties found in the Kenyan western region. The study’s specific objective was to determine the effect of performance planning on employee job productivity in media outlets in Bungoma and Busia counties. The descriptive research design was utilized. A total of 153 participants were selected based on the calculation from Slovin's formula, and stratified sampling was employed to classify management into top, middle, and low tiers. Questionnaires were utilized to gather data, and the credibility and consistency of the tool were verified. The outcomes indicated that performance planning (t = 2.858; p<0.05) had a statistically positive and significant effect on employee productivity in broadcast media outlets.