Effect of Financial Resources on Successful Strategy Implementation in Public Universities in Kenya: A survey of Selected Universities in Nairobi County (original) (raw)
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The Government of Kenya has adopted strategic planning in various institutions and Ministries to address distinct and prioritized strategic issues in order to upgrade service delivery and bolster employee and institutional efficiency. Institutions of higher learning and more so the public universities, have in the past years been adhering to this law by setting strategic plans and implementing them in the institutions. For instance, the JKUAT 2013-2017 strategic plans and UON 2013-2017 strategic plans to mention just but a few. The objectives of the study were to assess whether managerial support, resource allocation, performance appraisal system and organizational culture constitute factors affecting the implementation of strategic management plans in public universities in Kenya. The study focused on the Public universities in Kenya with a case study of JKUAT. Data was gathered through a structured questionnaire which was pre-tested on a 10% sample randomly selected from the study population to ensure reliability and validity of the tools. The data collected in the descriptive research design was analyzed by use of statistical package software for social sciences, SPSS. The stratified sampling technique was conducted to select the sample. These strata were; administration, teaching and non-teaching. The sample was composed of 100 respondents. The results were presented using tables. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used for inferential analysis. The results revealed that all the variables had a positive and statistical significance effect on the implementation of strategic plans in public universities in Kenya. The study concluded that all the variables significantly affected strategy implementation in public universities in Kenya. Therefore, it was recommended that the universities should implement a management support system, increase resources for strategy implementation including hiring competent staffs and offering regular training the existing employees to ensure that they are updated on the new principles of management.
EFFECTS OF STRATEGIC DECISIONS ON PERFORMANCE OF KENYAN UNIVERSITIES
The university education sector is becoming very competitive due to changes in the business environment. In order to be successful strategic decisions are a key to improving performance of universities. The purpose of this study is to establish the effects of strategic decisions on performance of universities in Kenya. Systems theory provided a theoretical basis for the study. The study adopted explanatory – cross sectional survey research design. Respondents were selected using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Descriptive statistics such as means and standard deviations were used, while in inferential statistics, structural equation modeling was used for model specification and hypothesis testing. The study unveiled that strategic decisions have a significant effect on performance of universities. The study concluded strategic decisions positively influence performance of universities. Top management in universities should make strategic decisions that have a positive long term effect on performance of universities. The study recommended that top management should evaluate all strategic decisions before implementation and also a further research to be conducted in other sectors to test the conceptualized model.
EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA
Financial management in public organizations is concerned with ensuring funds are available when needed and that they are obtained and used in the most efficient and effective way to the benefit of the citizens. Financial management practices requirements can impose a significant burden on public academic institutions. Managing the movement of funds in relation to the budget is essential for a public academic institutions performance. But experience reveals that the financial management processes of public academic institutions are generally weak and dominated by conditions of resource scarcity vis-à-vis the ever increasing agenda of development activities on which such funds could be spent. This has led to financial crisis in some of the universities in Kenya hence impairing the quality of services delivered. Therefore, this study sought to find out the effects of financial management practices on performance of public universities in Kenya. The study focused of annual budget adherence, financial monitoring, investment decision and financial planning as the specific objective and also as the independent variables while financial performance as the dependent variable. The study deployed four theories; Resource Based Theory, Theory of budgeting, Agency theory and Complexity Theory to form the basis of discussion for the variables. All the study variables; annual budget adherence, financial monitoring, investment decision and financial planning were found to have a significance effect on the financial performance of public universities in Kenya. Investment decision had the highest effect while financial planning being the least. Given that all the variables had a positive effect on financial performance, the study concluded that they are a key determinant to the progress of the universities. Based on the finding the study recommended the university management to puts stand measures and focus on the study objectives to enhance financial performance in the respective institutions. The gap in the R-square provide an area for further studies, in order to exploit all the financial management practices that affect financial performance in public universities in Kenya.
Strategic planning practices by universities in Kenya
2005
The objective of this study was to establish the strategic planning practices of universities in Kenya. To achieve this objective, primary data was collected by use of a questionnaire targeted at the Vice Chancellors or their Deputies with responsibilities for strategic planning. A census study was done. From the population of 23 universities, 14 responded to the questionnaire. The data collected was first checked for consistency, coded and then analysed to arrive at various conclusions. The study concluded that universities in Kenya use strategic planning to establish and clarify their mission, establish performance objectives, identify areas of future collaboration and appraise university strengths and weaknesses that are relevant to the long-term direction of the univer ity. In addition, they usc strategic planning as a management to I for allocating univer ity re. ur e to competing stratcgi' priorities, anticipating and designing appr priatc academic programmes that meet pub...
Effect of Fund Management Practices on Performance of Public Universities in Kenya
The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of Fund management practices on performance of public universities in Kenya. Taking a case study of Kisii University, the study sampled 126 employees, however only 109 questionnaires were found usable to be included in the analysis. After Data collection, spreadsheet was prepared on SPSS and simple descriptive statistics was applied after which inferential statistics was applied to test the hypothesis. The Findings indicated that the fund management practice at Kisii University was very regular and well managed. Mechanisms are put in place for internal controls like auditing and all expenditures are authorized. It was concluded that the government allocates funds to all public universities and this funds are distributed to all needy departments as per their requirements and university' performance is effective as it has performed well in terms of development.
Strategic Innovation and Growth of Public Universities in Kenya
The Kenya's education sector is a dynamic one and highly competitive with the increase of both private and public universities. Public universities have been relying on capitation fund and own source revenue. Many of them are getting government sponsored programs allocations lower than their declared capacity and they have been unable to get adequate numbers of students for self sponsored programs. With this precarious scenario the management of public universities are realizing the need for strategic innovations on own source revenue. This study aimed at finding the relationship between strategic innovation and growth of public universities in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the influence of marketing innovation and product innovation on growth of public universities in Kenya. The study was based on descriptive research design. Census survey was used to select all public universities and a purposive sampling was used to select the Finance officer and Registrar Administration, of all public universities in Kenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Study findings reveal that Marketing Innovation (β =0.627, p < 0.05), and product innovation (β = 0.334, p < 0.05) had significant effect on growth of public universities. It was established and concluded that there existed a positive relationship between strategic innovation and growth of public universities in Kenya. The researcher recommends that there is the need for university management to adopt strategic innovations in order to enhance growth of their institutions and their long term survival.
Determining Strategy Orientation Adopted by Public Universities in Western Kenya
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The education sector contributed to 6.7% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product in 2009/10. According to Kenya National Audit Report 2011/2012, Public Universities are running on deficits with those in Western Kenya incurring deficits of over Kshs.300 million. Public Universities though non-profit, are still expected by the government to raise funds for effective operations. The deficits have resulted to poor performance, lack of innovation, ineffective processes, customer dissatisfaction and stalled projects, indicating ineffective implementation of strategies. Strategy orientation has been linked to positive performance; however information on adoption of strategy orientations in public universities in Western Kenya is unknown. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent of strategy orientation adopted by public universities in Western Kenya, a region with relatively many newly created universities, whose growth, if well managed, has the potential for driving socio-economic d...
THE DETERMINANTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIES IN A PUBLIC RESEARCH INSTITUTION IN KENYA
Martin Otundo is a freelance researcher. +254721246744 PhD Fellow JKUAT Kenya 1.1 Background to the study Pearce and Robinson (2007) defines strategy as the company's "game plan" in which a company's future oriented plans interrelate with the competitive environment in which a company operates to achieve the company's objectives. Jauch and Glueck (1984) In the same line of thought indicated that, strategy is a combined plan that speaks of the strategic advantages of the firm to the challenges of its environment and that is formulated to ensure that the objectives of an organization are achieved through appropriate execution by the organization. Strategy is a fundamental management tool. It is a multi-dimensional concept that multiple authors have defined in different ways. Mintzberg et al. (1998) defines strategy as: a directional plan guided by a course of action into the future, a pattern that guides consistency of behavior over time, and a perspective, which refers to the fundamental manner of accomplishing goals, and a specific manoeuvre intended to outwit competitors. The fundamental aspects of what strategy brings to organisations are in (Minzberg et al.1998): exploration of what strategy brings into and organisation by setting direction, strategy focuses effort and resources, defining the organisation, and providing consistency. Thompson (1993) defined it as the match between an organization's resources, skills and the environmental opportunities as well as the risks it faces and the purposes it wishes to accomplish. Strategy is at the heart of strategic management as it helps an organization to plan, formulate and implement various tasks in its attempts to prosper and attain its
Influence of Strategic Management Practices on the Performance of Private Universities in Kenya
Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 2017
The study sought to examine the influence of strategic management practices on the performance of private universities in Kenya. The study targeted 30 private universities in Kenya both chartered and those with the letter of interim authority. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the relationship between customer processes and organisational performance; to determine the relationship between internal business process and organisational performance and to establish the relationship between employee growth and organisational performance. The study applied correlational research design. The author used judgmental procedure to select 120 representatives from the following categories of individuals in the private universities; vice chancellors, deputy vice chancellors, deans of schools and heads of sections. Applying multiple regression model and content analysis tools the study analysed quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Results showed that service culture, ...
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