Total Quality Management and Operational Performance of Construction Companies in Nairobi

Abstract

Construction industry has been growing and expanding over the last 20 years, quality management and proper operational performances is an inevitable necessity for survival. Quality has forced many construction companies to re-evaluate their operating strategies to enable them to gain competitive advantage, remain relevant and successful in the industry. TQM strategy promises tremendous benefits in operational performance and enriches organizational culture. TQM is positively linked to firm‟s operational performance in terms of quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. This study sought to gather knowledge of TQM practices and their implications on operational performance in the construction firms based in Nairobi County. The study was guided by resource based view (RBV) institutional theory and market based view theories. The target population consisted of 167 registered construction firms in Nairobi County, Stratified Sampling method was adopted in this study, and this study used 100 manufacturing firms as sample size. Semi structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data. A “drop and pick later” method was used to administer questionnaires to the managers of the construction companies. This is to ensure respondents have enough time to fill in the required information. Data analysis was descriptive and inferential statistics. Correlation and regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to generate both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study concludes that customer focus, continuous improvement, top management commitment and supplier partnering practices all had a significant positive impact on operational performance of construction companies in Kenya, therefore the study recommends that construction companies should adopt customers focus culture within the organisation; this will help to the firm to indentify the needs and expectations of the customers accurately, produce high quality reliable products, and deliver products timely manner. Construction companies should continuously embrace continuous innovation practice in delivery of their products, adopts the continuous improvement approach will see immeasurable benefits, including: increased productivity improved quality , lowered costs decreased delivery times, improved employee satisfaction/morale and reduced employee turnover rate thus promoting operational performance. Since strong leadership was found to improve operational performance, this study therefore recommends that top leaders in construction companies should demonstrate willing and portray great enthusiasm in all implementation of organisational process, leaders should encourage employees to participate in decision-making and that construction companies should build strong supplier partnerships, this will help the firm achieve greater Improvement of products through contributions to product design, technology, or ideas for producing new products, achieve