The Relationship Between Management Development Practices And Service Delivery In Kenyan Public Universities; Moderating Effect Of Organizational Variables And Top Management Characteristics

Abstract

Management development equips employees with relevant skills, abilities, knowledge and capabilities that enable them to perform their roles within the organization, once the employee can handle their roles with ease then they derive job satisfaction which in turn brings about employee engagement and finally employee service delivery. Universities in Kenya face management shortfall due to failure to meet the set goals and adhering to the laid down procedures. The situation calls for the need to equip management employees with skills, knowledge; capabilities and abilities to perform in the organization. However, it is worth noting that top management characteristics and organizational variables have an impact on the management development practices applied and their success. There is need to assess how management development practices contribute towards meeting market demands and enhancing performance in universities. The organizational variables under consideration are organizational strategy, organizational structure and organizational culture while the top management characteristics are Tenure, Age, Education, and management background. The study sought to establish the effect management development practices have on employee service delivery, the moderating effect of organizational variables on the relationship between management development practices and employee service delivery, the moderating effect of top management characteristics on the relationship between management development practices and service delivery, the moderating effect of organizational variables, top management characteristics on management development practices and employees service delivery and the joint effect of management development practices, organizational variables and top management characteristics on service delivery in Kenyan public universities. This study adopted descriptive survey research design and targeted top management both in academic and non-teaching divisions in the universities hence the study targeted1134 which is the total number of university management board (V. Cs, D.V. Cs and Registrars), Deans, directors, CODs, HODs and section Heads in the universities, the sample size for the study consisted of 400 management employees. The study Stratified respondents into two strata; teaching and non-teaching, within each stratum respondents were chosen using simple random sampling method. The data collection was done using questionnaires. Inferential and descriptive statistics percentages and frequencies, Inferential statistics included, simple and multiple regression, Pearson product Moment Correlation (r), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA =F test) and t-test were used to analyze the data. The study findings failed to accept the hypotheses that guided the study implying that management development practices contribute to service delivery in Kenyan public universities and organizational variables and Top management characteristics moderate the relationship between management development practices and service delivery in Kenyan public universities. This study has contributed to knowledge by linking organizational variables, top management characteristics, management development practices and service delivery. The results of the study provided a strong support for the human capital empowerment and upper echelon perspective. Although the objectives of the study were successfully accomplished, there are some areas which remain unclear and require further investigations. The study suggests a further research on the joint relationship of individual management development practices, top management characteristics, organizational variables and service delivery in public universities.