Application Of Project Design Tools ,managers’ Competencies And Performance Of Community Based Projects In Bungoma County,kenya

Abstract

Project design is an early phase of a project where its key features, structure, criteria for success, and major deliverables are all planned out. The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of selected project design tools on performance of community based projects. The project design tools under consideration were the application of logical framework, application of stakeholder analysis, application of problem tree analysis, application of gantt chart and the moderating effect of managers competencies. The theoretical orientation used in this study entailed: systems theory, stakeholder theory and resource-based view of the firm theory. The study employed the descriptive research design targeting 15 community based projects with 192 project employees excluding project managers. The sample size was 128 respondents obtained through stratified random sampling procedure from different community based organizations. An interview was carried out on 15 project managers who were purposefully sampled. Primary data was obtained through administration of a questionnaire and an interview guide. Qualitative data was analysed through checking data, developing codes, identifying themes and patterns and then summarizing the data and linking them to the hypothesis and objectives. Descriptive results were presented as frequency Tables, percentages, arithmetic means and standard deviation while inferential statistics were obtained using Pearson’s Product Moment correlation (r) and from both simple regression and multiple regression analysis. F-test was used to test the hypotheses. Tests of statistical assumptions were carried out before analysis. For objective one, the coefficient of determination R2=0.015, F (0.494) with p=0.688>0.05; therefore, the null hypothesis H0 failed to be rejected and it was concluded that logical framework has no statistically significant influence on the performance of community based projects. For objective two, R2=0.332, F (4.095) at p=0.004<0.05; therefore, H0 was rejected and it was concluded that application of stakeholder analysis has a statistically significant influence on the performance of community based projects. For objective three, R2=0.214; F (8.971) at p=0.000<0.05; therefore, H0 was rejected and it was concluded that the application of project tree analysis has statistically significant influence on the performance of community based projects. For objective four, R2= 0.112, F (4.177) at p=0.03<0.05; therefore, H0 was rejected and it was concluded that application of Gantt chart has a statistically significant influence on the performance of community based projects. For objective five, R2= 0.208, F (7.822)2 at p<0.001<0.05; therefore, H0 was rejected and concluded that combined project design tools has a statistically significant influence on the performance of community based projects. For objective six; R2 = 0.358 ΔR2= 0.150, F(8.832) at p=0.000<0.05; therefore, H0 was rejected and it was concluded that the strength of the relationship between project design tools and performance of community based projects depends on a manager`s competencies. In conclusion, the study findings provide evidence that for increased performance of community based projects in Bungoma County, aspects of project design tools should be comprehensively addressed. It is therefore recommended that organizations operating community based projects need to work on inclusion systems so as to enhance their relationship with the community and performance.