ROLE OF EMPLOYEE CAPACITY IN THE STRATEGIC POSITIONING OF NEWLY CHARTERED PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA: THE CASE OF LAIKIPIA UNIVERSITY (original) (raw)
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Generally, University education is recognized as neccesary for socio-economic and political development of society. With this appreciation, Kenya has invested heavily in expansion of University education in the recent past. However, a major pre-occupation of universities in the country today is how to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in a complex and challenging context of the higher education sector. Universities need to strategically re-position themselves to attract and retain students, win research grants and make optimal use of their resources by striving to be efficient and effective, and engaging in continuous improvement to ensure their survival and sustainability. The role of senior management support and leadership in this is core. However, the support and leadership of senior management in strategic positioning of newly chartered public universities in Kenya has not been documented. Through a cross-sectional survey, this study determined the role of senior management support and leadership in strategic positioning of newly chartered public universities. Results indicate that the University’s senior management support was crucial for the execution of strategic objectives of the University. The University’s senior management was at the conceptual and strategic levels that guided policy decisions and controlled requisite resources of the University. If the University’s senior management leadership skills are good, it can provide competitive advantage but loss if inadequate. Human resource management was one of the most critical elements for the University to respond to environmental factors of competition from other institutions of higher learning. Generally, it was apparent that support and leadership of the University’s senior management in the strategic positioning of the University was fairly strong. However, the University’s senior management would benefit more from training on soft skills as well as benchmarking with other universities in the country and the region to improve on the quality of their leadership. The findings of this study provide information that managers of newly chartered public universities and policy makers would
Journal of human resource and leadership, 2022
The objective of the study was to determine the effect of Strategic Human Resource Management Practices (SHRMPs) on performance of public universities. Methodology: This study was essentially guided by the Resource Based Theory, as exemplified by the philosophical inclination of the study was positivist ontology. The research used a descriptive research design, in a census approach. The target population of the study were all public universities in Kenya. Data was collected from 31 public universities in Kenya with the aid of a self-administered questionnaire. Out of the 117 questionnaires that were distributed, 110 were returned and were found to be usable providing a 71% response rate. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Findings: The main finding of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between the bundle of SHRMPs (rigorous recruitment, staff training, reward management and performance management), and performance of public universities in Kenya. The hypothesis of the study was that SHRMPs do not have an effect on the performance of public universities in Kenya. This finding was determined to be in tandem with the Resource Based Theory (Barney, 2001), which, among other points of emphasis, stresses the centrality of leveraging on people as key resources of an enterprise. The finding also resonated with empirical literature, including Al-Khaled & Chung (2020), who found that that entities which adopted strategic human resource management practices were able to sustainably improve their performance, and Mathushan & Kengatharan (2022), who found that the bundle of strategic human resource management practices, consisting of training, rewarding and performance management practices did positively impact on organizational performance. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The finding of this study, that SHRM practices positively and significantly influence the performance of public universities, are arguably expansionary to the Resource Based Theory (RBT), as proponed by Barney (2001). Although the Resource Based Theory does not directly address strategic human resource management practices as elements of performance, it postulated that business entities needed to focus internally to activate resources, the most important one of which is the people resource. It is the people resource which enables such entities to achieve competitive advantage in their operations, given that it is the human resource which mobilizes, and creates value from the other resources within the enterprise. In this respect, therefore, it follows that every intervention made towards creating and enhancing the human resource capacity, including, as conceptualized in this study; rigorous recruitment, staff training, rewarding them and strategically managing their performance, does count, towards enhancing the contribution of the human resources, as exemplified by the Resource Based Theory, and consequently, activating the essential asset, towards competitive organizational performance. More directly, this empirical finding, regarding the positive influence of strategic human resource management practices on performance of public universities in Kenya has implications with respect to the public universities in Kenya. The main one is that, the public universities ought to take deliberate measures in determining and selecting appropriate SHRMPs. Such practices, according to the Resource Based Theory (Barney, 2001), are expected to be valuable, inimitable, and rare and may not be substitutable, in ensuring that public universities, like any other organizations, are able to sustainably achieve competitive advantage in their markets. This is further corroborated by the findings of Sagwa, K'Obonyo and Ogutu (2014), who averred that investing in human resources was crucial in promoting organizational performance.
The human resources of an organization play an important role in an organization. This study sought to establish the effect of human resources on successful strategy implementation in public universities in Nairobi County. Nairobi County has four public universities: Co-operative University, Multimedia University, Technical university of Kenya and University of Nairobi. The study was guided by resource based view and dynamic capabilities theory. The study used an explanatory survey research design. The target population of the study was 1304 employees from four public Universities in Nairobi County. The sample size of the study was 306 respondents comprising of 23 senior managers, 51 middle managers, and 232 academic staff. A structured questionnaire with a five-point scale was used to collect data. Supervisors were used to verify the content validity of the questionnaires. Reliability was tested by conducting a pilot study at Kenyatta University using 31 questionnaires and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated using split half method with all data instruments having a value of above 0.7 which indicated reliability. Analysis of data was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. Simple and multiple regression analysis were used. ANOVA was used to test null hypothesis by comparing whether there were statistically significant differences in the null hypothesis. Presentation of data was done using tables, graphs and figures. The study established that the institutions trained employees with needed skills and that team work was supported. The study found out that employees underwent orientation and induction training. The study also established that the institution awards incentives to employees who performed well at work. The study recommended that staff development policy should be out into use and followed so that management can be trusted and believed in. Public universities need to continue training employees with relevant skills for successful execution of strategies. This study recommended the need to ensure continuous encouragement of teamwork by the institution which facilitates successful strategy implementation
The International Journal of Business & Management, 2021
This paper reports a study that sought to investigate the moderating role of top management support on the relationship between utilization of human resource strategy evaluation and the performance of the human resource strategy in universities in Kenya. Over the past two decades, universities have utilized strategy through strategic planning. Macdonald (2019) quoting Elizabeth Buckner notes strategic planning in universities a huge global trend. Fredua-Kwarteng (2020) observes majority of African tertiary education institutions have strategic plans. The environment, in complexity and dynamism, has compelled institutions to adopt market-like mechanisms so as to survive and thrive. Citing Keller (1983), Shattock (2010), Bayenetet al. (2000), and Groves et al. (1997), Parakhina, Godina, Boris, and Ushvitsky (2017) outline some of the pressures on universities: turbulence in context; high velocity evolution of international competition; changed demand requirements to university education; fading lines of distinction of the education market; inadequate qualified scientific and instructional human resources; and demands for innovations. Higher education institutions have found themselves in a competitive marketplace; the main variables being attraction of exceptionally respected scholars, top-rate students, sponsors, as well as raising their profile and reputation (Goldman and Salem, 2015). Notably, public universities have transformed from being 'state-controlled to statesupervised' (Fredua-Kwarteng, 2020). And the university institution is now considered an 'organization like any other' (Macdonald, 2019, quoting Elizabeth Bruckner). Thus, the identity of the university, 'half-public, half-private', has become problematic (Tavernier, 2005); and the varied stakeholder demands have added on to this identity crisis. Thus, according to proponents, strategic planning, a rigorously critical brainstorming process university administrations deploy to direct their activities (Ofori&Atiogbe, 2012), help institutions confront hostile environments; and in particular to efficiently allocate resources for attainment of key milestones (Ofori&Atiogbe, 2012, citing Bain and Company, 2003). Goldman and Salem (2015) suggest strategic planning portend success for complex entities among them universities and colleges.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022
Contrary to empirical evidence that Strategic Human Resource Management Practices (SHRMPs) positively impacted performance of enterprises worldwide, public universities in Kenya, which are expected to apply SHRMPs have continued to perform below expectations, in terms of financial prospects, research and innovation, new programs development rate, learner enrolment rates, graduation rates, and employee promotion rates. Available empirical literature does not seem to address the role of employee outcomes in the link between SHRMPs and performance of public universities as conceptualized in this study. This study addressed this gap. The specific objective of this study was to determine the intervening effect of employee outcomes on the link between SHRMPs and performance of public universities in Kenya. The study tested the hypothesis that employee outcomes do not have an intervening effect on the link between SHRMPs and performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was anchored on the Human Capital Theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design in a census approach. The target population was academic and non-academic employees of the 31 public universities in Kenya, using a sample of 155 respondents purposively selected from the three union representatives respectively; University Academic Staff Union (UASU), Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU), Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA), as well as one senior representative each from Academic Registrar and HR departments respectively. A self-administered five-level Likert type questionnaire was used for data collection. Based on the 110(71%) response rate, data was descriptively and inferentially analyzed using stepwise multiple linear regressions. It was found that there was a positive and statistically significant intervening influence of employee outcomes on the SHRMPs-public universities' performance relationship. The study recommended that public universities in Kenya evidenced to be facing declining performance, exacerbated by dwindling government capitation ought to strategically select SHRMPs bundles that can enable them to optimize on the generation of desired employee outcomes, which would result in enhanced performance, sustainably and creatively.
International journal of scientific and research publications, 2016
Institutions of higher learning, from the start of their history, have experienced internal and external pressures to meet the needs of stakeholders, needs that go well beyond the pursuit of academic study for the purpose of adding to a knowledge base. The study sought to determine the influence of market penetration strategy on competitive advantage at the University of Nairobi. The justification was driven by the higher education sector in Kenya which has been undergoing rapidly changing environmental conditions in terms of the regulatory framework and competition. The study used descriptive research design. The target population was 400 administrators while the sample size was 40 administrators. The study used primary data; original information was collected from a first-hand experience. The data from the study was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using percentages, means and frequency distribution with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Since dat...
Effect of human resource management practices on performance 0f public universities in kenya
International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management United Kingdom Vol. III, Issue 10, October 2015 Licensed under Creative Common Page 696 http://ijecm.co.uk/ ISSN 2348 0386' EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA Naftal Mutahi [Author] Department of Business Administration, Egerton University, Kenya kenydf@gmail.com DR J. R. Busienei [Supervisor]] Department of Business Administration, Egerton University, Kenya. Abstract Public universities are labor intensive institutions which depend on people for effective service delivery. This study sought to establish the relationship between strategic human resources management practices and performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To establish the effect of resourcing practices on performance of public universities; to determine the effect of reward management on performance of public universities; to assess the effect of training and development on performance of public universities and to determine the combined effect of resourcing practices, reward management and training and development on performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was a census with a target population of the public universities in Kenya and their constituent colleges. Senior HR officers and administrators were the units of analysis where a response rate of 58% was obtained. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire and was subsequently analyzed using SPSS. Research findings suggested that strategic human resource management practices have a significant effect on the performance of public universities in Kenya. Further, findings revealed that reward management, training and development and resourcing practices respectively influenced the performance of public universities. Based on the findings following key recommendations were made: Management of public universities to develop employment policy that encourages job security; invest in HR information systems to automate resourcing practices; government to ensure that selection in public universities is based on equal employment opportunity principle, management to conduct a staff competency analysis in order to address training and development needs. Keywords: Human resource, HR policies, Public universities, Employee performance, Kenya I
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA - A QUALITATIVE STUDY
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that make universities gain Competitive Advantage in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory qualitative research. A total of 378 respondents from 17 universities participated in the research. A questionnaire comprising of two open ended research questions was distributed to both students and faculty. Thereafter data was analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings – Regarding how universities enhanced quality, five themes emerged namely: research, staff focus, student focus and governance and planning. As to the sources of competitive advantage four themes emerged; strong brand name, research, methodology of teaching and learning environment. Research limitations/implications – The study has been carried out only among universities operating in Kenya. Furthermore, the study has been only in service industry. This limits applicability to universities operating outside Kenya and other non-service industry. Practical implications – The study supports developing and focusing on distinctive competences in order to gain competitive advantage. Management then need to work on crafting strategies that best combines resources in order to generate sustainable competitive advantage. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies that focuses on competitive advantage of universities in Kenya and uses the resource based view to anchor the research.
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The importance attached to the role played by Universities in realization of the vision 2030 Kenya is anchored in the social economic pillar of the vision’s strategic plan. Universities are charged with creation and dissemination of knowledge for development. At the heart of knowledge creation is the human capital as a valued resources that manipulates other organizational resources to achieve the goals and objectives of the institution. The study focused on Human Capital initiatives among public universities in Kenya on value creation. The study was guided by the following objective: To examine the relationship between human capital initiatives and value creation in public universities. The study adopted a mixed research design and was therefore both quantitative and qualitative in nature. A survey was conducted among public universities charted before the year 2010. The study employed a questionnaire administered to academic staff who hold managerial positions. The sampling proced...