Stakeholder Involvement and Project Outcome in Kalamba Fruit Processing Factory Project in Makueni County, Kenya
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Date
2021
Authors
Mecha, Vincent Nyamongo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Despite the quest for project success, many poverty eradication projects in Kenya have
continuously experienced time overrun, budget overrun, unmet end product specifications,
unmet customer needs and requirements and unmet management objectives due to lack of a
structured engagement with project stakeholders who range from project staff, donors,
community/beneficiaries, government among others. The high failure rate in these projects
could be due to failure to involve key stakeholders in project activities. Despite wide range of
knowledge on project planning and management, project failure is still reported.
Stakeholders expect to be involved in decision making process within the project cycle.
However this is not the case as complains of exclusion are still reported. There is low
community awareness and involvement inthe projects funded by both county and national
government in Kenya. This can be traced from the nationaloffice where initial plans were
drawn without wide consultation with organs representing the public. The study sought to
establish the influence of stakeholder involvement on the project outcome of the Kalamba
Fruit Processing Factory in Makueni County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to
determine the effect of the communication, stakeholder expecations, stakeholder resource
oversight and joint vision objectives on the projectoutcome of the Kalamba Fruit Processing
Factory in Makueni County, Kenya. The research was guided by three theories of
involvement which include Skinner‟s operant conditioning theory, Phil Treseder‟s „degrees
of involvement‟ model and the stakeholders‟ theory.The study used a descriptive research
design. The population of study were the main stakeholders of the project who include
Ministry of Agriculture,Factory Management and Farmers who total to 236 respondents. This
consisted of 236 respondents who are the major stakeholders of the Kalamba Fruit
Processing Project. A sample of 71 respondents was taken which forms 30% of the target
population which was evenly spread across the three categories of stakeholders. The primary
data was collected by use of self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis
was done by use of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean scores and
standard deviation with the aid of SPSS and presented through tables, charts, graphs,
frequencies and percentages. The study established that adoption of stakeholder invovlemnt
has a positive and signifincat effect on project outcome. The study concluded that there was
signifincant communication and awareness on the project among the stakeholders through
meetings, consultations, sensitizations, seminars, feedback and general public awareness
campaigns. It was concluded that the project management of the factory to a significant
extent met stakeholder expectations by accruing benefits to them, creating market,
recognizing their needs and addressing them, making them part of the project, consulting
them and having a favourable and responsive management structure. It was further concluded
that the stakehoders of the factory project were significantly. The study recommends that the
factory management needs to ensure all stakeholders are informed of the performance and
sustainability of the project regularly. The study recommended that the fruit processing
factory project needs to enhance joint monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning to
promote shared objectives mission and the project meets beneficiary and stakeholder
expecations.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of Degree in Master of Business Administration (Project Management) of Kenyatta University, May, 2021
Keywords
Stakeholder Involvement, Project Outcome, Kalamba Fruit Processing Factory Project, Makueni County, Kenya