INFLUENCE OF COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT IN ADOPTION OF QMS IN KENYA’S ISO CERTIFIED STATE CORPORATIONS

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of competence management in adoption of QMS in Kenya ISO certified state corporations. Methodology: The proposed research consisted of a descriptive survey. The population comprised of fifty nine state corporations that were ISO certified on 9001:2008 series by the Kenya Bureau of Statistics. The study applied a stratified random sampling technique to select a sample size of twenty one state corporations. Purposive sampling technique was further applied to select a total of four respondents in each of the twenty one selected state corporations. Questionnaires were used as the main data collection instruments and a pilot study was undertaken to pretest the questionnaires for validity and reliability. The gathered data was analyzed by use of Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20. The analysis involved factor analysis; descriptive statistics where the means Standard Deviations and variances were established for all the factors tested in the questionnaires; Correlation analysis was done between the independent sub variables and the dependent variable; Linear regression analysis was also done; and t-test was used for the test of significance of individual coefficients. R-squared was used for the explanatory power of the model. The analysis was presented using tables and charts. The interpretations of data were also given as per the research objectives of the studies. Results: Results indicate that the organization does not carry out competence management base assessment regularly. Further findings indicate that Kenya‟s state corporation lack best hiring practices as a result competence is not emphasized in the organizations. Additional results indicate that employees in State owned corporations in Kenya are not well motivated thus there is no drive to achieve organizational goals and in adoption of organizational motivation. Inferential statistics indicate that competence management has a strong positive influence on the adoption of quality management systems. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Hiring should be done in line with the competence required to fill in a particular vacancy. Managing competence may be costly to any organization but through proper planning and budgeting organizations are able to achieve this.