Effects of succession management on service delivery in the ministry of water and irrigation in Kenya

Abstract

Management promotes a systematic effort to ensure leadership continuity in key positions, retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital and encourage advancement. This study seeks to determine the effects of succession management and service delivery in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To find out the effect of career planning in service delivery at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. To establish the effect of training needs assessment on service delivery. To determine the influence of setting succession goals on service delivery in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. To find out the benefits of succession training and development programmes in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. This study adopted descriptive research design. The study was located in the Ministry of Water head office at Maji House. The respondents were drawn from the three categories of staff as presented in the organizational structure that is Head of departments, Managers and Supervisors. Stratified sampling design was used to select respondents from top, middle and lower level management from all the five departments. Questionnaires were used as the sole data collection method. Data collected was edited, coded and entered into the computer and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Correlation analysis that is, the use of statistical correlation to evaluate the strength of the relations between variables and Descriptive statistics was also used to describe the basic features of the data in the study. Together with simple graphics analysis, formed the basis of virtually every quantitative analysis of data. Presentation of the information was done using frequency tables and percentages. Data obtained from this study revealed that Career planning affects service delivery because it affects recruitment, succession planning, compensation and executive development. In relation to training needs assessment on service delivery it was noted that training needs assessment had improved service delivery. However it was noted that the ministry scored low on task analysis in relation to training need assessment. Succession goals in the Ministry Career Planning had improved service delivery because the employees receive training consistent with the succession management plan.