Employee Knowledge Management and Performance of Construction Companies in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2018-11
Authors
Ateka, Phillip Okebiro
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Most companies in the construction industry in Kenya have improved information
systems abilities and understanding control competencies. However, integrating and
utilizing those capabilities closer to higher enterprise performance still appears to be
the responsibility of the situation. Inefficiencies in facts waft in companies in the
construction enterprise, for an instance can create delayed responses to marketplace
change, affects organizational operations tactics and results in lack of profits and
decreased business performance. Knowledge management is important about getting
the proper knowledge to the right person at the right time. The main objective of this
study was to investigate the role of knowledge management on the performance
within the construction industry in Nairobi County. The specific objectives of the
study were to assess the extent to which techniques affect the performance of
construction companies in Nairobi County, to establish how information technology
affects the performance of construction companies in Nairobi County, to find out how
the organization barrier affects the performance of construction companies in Nairobi
County and to determine the extent to which an organization needs to affect the
performance of construction companies in Nairobi County. The study was anchored
on five theories which include the theory of reasoned action, theory of planned
behaviour, structuration theory, resource based theory and the contingency theory. A
descriptive research design was used in the study. The unit of observation was the
five main companies involved in construction in the County of Nairobi while the unit
of analysis was the employees of the firms who were classified as top management,
middle level and support staff and totaled to 101. Stratified random sampling
technique was used to develop a sample of 42 respondents which formed 28% of the
target population. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the
respondents through drop and pick later method. Descriptive and inferential statistics
were used to analyzed the data. The analyzed data was presented using means,
standard deviation, frequencies, percentages, graphs, charts and tables. The study
established that tools and techniques, information technology, organizational barriers
and organizational needs had a positive and significant influence on the performance
of construction companies in Nairobi City County. The Coefficient of variation of
0.799 indicated that employee knowledge management significantly influenced
performance of the construction firms. The study concluded that all the construction
companies offered technical training programs to their employees but they
concentrated on only a few areas ignoring the crucial aspects. Most of the
organizations were also found to apply information technology in their operations as a
means of improving their performance. The firms were found to come up with barrier
and risk mitigation strategies and also the organizational needs informed innovation
and quality of service delivery all of which contributed positively to productivity. The
study recommended that the construction companies should focus more on employee
knowledge management so as to offer high quality products and services. There
should be enhanced communication both horizontally and vertically to improve
information sharing. The firms should also embrace modern technology software and
hardware to enhance efficiency. The study recommends further that the firms should
learn from the barriers and be informed by needs to come up with new ways of
service and product delivery that are more effective and efficient.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of
the Degree of Masters in Business Administration
(Strategic Management) Kenyatta University