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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STAFF EMPOWERMENT PRACTICES AND EMPOYEE PRODUCTIVITY IN AIRLINE INDUSTRY IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF KENYA AIRWAYS
No full textFor an organization that minds about its future growth, it considers employee empowerment
as one of the key elements that enhances organizational performance. In the airline industry,
staff empowerment has not been effectively managed or taken seriously and as a result the
industry loses between 5%-15% of their sales revenues annually. In Kenya, this industry of
air transport has encountered a lot of conflicts in the work place due to introduction of new
business strategic options whose aim is to re-organize its competitive advantage. This
research sought to establish the association amidst staff empowerment practices and
employee productivity in Kenya Airways Limited. The specific objectives were to establish
the relationship between employee training, participative decision making, delegation of
authority, flexible work arrangement and staff productive in Kenya Airways Limited. The
study may benefit the Kenya Airways management, staff in various organizations, scholars
and academicians. The study was guided by Theory of Structural Empowerment, Goal
Setting Theory, accountability theory and work/family theory. The study employed
descriptive research design. The target population were top level management, middle level
management and lower level management staff who operate directly with the daily activities
in Kenya airways. Stratified random sampling technique was used to identify the sample size
which consisted of 64 participants from a total of 160 respondents. The study employed
primary data which was gathered by use of questionnaires. Presentation of Quantitative data
was in form of frequency tables and figures and quantitative data was presented in prose
form. Multiple regression was adopted to measure the correlation between the variables. The
research established that employee training contributes up to 45% to the employee
productivity in the institution. The study also established that there was a linear correlation
between employee training and employee productivity. The research established that
participative decision making contributes to 0.44% to employee productivity in Kenya
Airways. The research also found out that there was significance association among
participative decision making and employee productivity (sig=.017, sig <0.05). The study
also established that delegation of authority contributes to 47% to employee productivity in
Kenya airways. The research came to a conclusion that there was linear relationship between
participative decision making and employee productivity in Kenya Airways. There was a
significance relationship between participative decision making and employee productivity
(sig=.017, sig <0.05). The study established that delegation of authority contributes to 47% to
the employee productivity in Kenya airways. The study established that employee training
contributes to 52.7% to the employee productivity Kenya Airways. The research further
found out that there was significance association amidst flexible work arrangement and
employee productivity. Delegation of authority contributed most to employee productivity
followed by participative decision making and then flexible work arrangement while
employee training contributed little to employee productivity. The recommendations of the
research is that training must be carried out regularly to make sure the workers have required
engagement and knowledge to change processes, become innovative, enhance performance
and possess the job enthusiasm required for high organizational productivity. This will help
in achieving effective participatory decision-making activities by staff, managers need to
approach the method of employees‟ participation in decision making initiatives with an open
mind. Organisations should further consider delegation of authority as one way of enhancing
organizational output. The study also recommended the use of temporary contracts more in
organizations as a flexi work strategy
Staff Competence, Process Monitoring and Performance of the Automotive Industry in Kenya: A Case Study of Associated Battery Manufacturers East Africa Limited, Nairobi
Full text linkThe objective of this study was to determine the relationship between staff competence, process
monitoring andperformance of automotive industry in Kenya. The results of the study sought to benefit the
automotive industry, international bodies like the international automotive task force (IATF), customers in the
automotive sector as well as other scholars and researchers. The study was triggered by high cost inefficiency
in the automotive industry leading to most of the companies in the sector implementing the ISO/ TS 16949 to
reduce production variation and number of defective products.The study employed descriptive research design.
The target population for the study was 482 staff at Associated Battery Manufacturers (ABM) East Africa
Limited which is currently implementing ISO/TS 16949. During data collection, 145 staff working in the
organization were sampled using stratified simple random sampling. Questionnaires were physically
administered to the sample population. A pilot study was conducted to test the accuracy of the research
instruments to ensure reliability and validity of research data. Descriptive statistics including mean and
standard deviation was used to analyse data. The relationship between independent and dependent variables
was determined using regression model using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.
Research findings were presented using graphs, pie charts and frequency tables. The research findings indicate
that process monitoring explains 58.5 percent of organizational performance at ABM (EA) Limited. The process
monitoring explains 63.9 percent of organizational performance at ABM (EA) Limited. The research findings
further indicated that staff competence did not have statistical significant impact on performance at ABM (EA)
Limited. The study therefore concluded that process monitoring had positive and significant impact on
performance at ABM (EA) Limited. The researcher therefore recommends that automotive industries should
continually improve on their process monitoring activities by carrying out regular audits on the manufacturing
process and on the product. The researcher further recommends future comparative research on automotive
industries to compare findings from different automotive companies
Open Source ERP Adoption-Use and Organisational Performance of Deposit-Taking Saccos in Kenya
Full text linkThe cost and benefits of an ERP system are arguably the reason why Deposit-Taking SACCOs are opting for adoption-use of open source ERP in an effort to achieve organisation performance. Technology adoption is only important if it truly leads to performance improvements and, as such the proper criteria by which to judge whether an ERP investment has been successful rest not simply in determining whether an organization adopts a technology, but whether the technology application or use actually improves performance. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the influence open source ERP adoption-use on the organisational performance of deposit taking SACCOs in Kenya. The study-specific objective was to determine the influence of open source ERP adoption-use on the organisational performance of Deposit-Taking SACCOs in Kenya. The target population was 168 Deposit-taking SACCOs with a sample size of 378 respondents. The questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. PLS-SEM using smart pls was used to analyse the data. The study concludes that adoption-use of open source ERP will have a significant effect on organisational performance; learning and growth, internal process, customers, and financial indicators. Open source ERP by itself cannot contribute to significant performance improvement or sustainable competitive advantage if organizational resources and work processes are not improved or changed to enable open source ERP to promote organizational performance. The organisation management and regulatory authority should create an enabling environment and policies that will increase the adoption-use of open source ERP by deposit-taking SACCOs in Kenya.
Keywords: open source ERP, adoption-use, learning and growth, internal process, customer finance, deposit-taking SACCOs
TECHNOLOGICAL, ORGANIZATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE ADOPTION OF CLOUD COMPUTING IN INSURANCE INDUSTRIES IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF UAP-OLD MUTUAL, NAIROBI, KENYA
Full text linkThe main objective of this study was to find out how the technological, organizational and environmental factors
affect the adoption of cloud computing services within insurance industries in Kenya with a case study of UAPOld
mutual. The study was anchored on Technological, Organizational and Environmental model; technology
acceptance model and Innovation Diffusion theory in its argument. The study used descriptive research design
and adopted the stratified random technique. The target population consisted of 483 employees at the
headquarters in Nairobi out of which a sample of 215 was picked. This study used questionnaires with closed
questions to extract responses from members of the sample population. Data collected was purely quantitative
and it was analyzed with the aid of SPSS V23 and presented on tables, figures and charts. Additionally, the study
used a multiple regression analysis for the purpose of analysing the relationship between the study variables.
From results, Technological factors, Organizational factors and Environment factors all have a significant
relationship with the adoption of cloud computing at 5% level of significance and 95% level of confidence.
However based on the explanatory power of coefficient of determination the indepedent variables organizational
factors had the highest expalantory power of 0.675 or 67.5%, P<0.05, thus being the most significant Variable;
Environmental Factors had 0.575 or 57.5%, P<0.05 while Technological factors were the least significant with
0.527 or 52.7%, P<0.05). This showed that all the variables have significantly relationship with the dependent
variable (adoption of Cloud Computing). The study also found that Technological factors affected the adoption of
Cloud Computing at UAP-Old mutual; Organizational Factors had a positive influence on the adoption of Cloud
computing at UAP-Old mutual; Further it was evident that Environmental factors have a significant influence on
adoption to cloud computing at UAP-Old mutual. This showed that all the variables have a significant
relationship with the dependent variable (Adoption of Cloud Computing). The study further recommended that to
be able to develop new ideas, employees must have enough knowledge about the field they operate in to move it
forward. To support this, a work environment that is tolerant and welcomes new ideas
