A Survey of Quality Management Practices in the Large Kenyan Building Construction Firms
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Date
2006Author
Mandere, Andrew N.
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
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This study sought to determine the extent of quality management practices in the large
Kenyan building construction firms and to investigate the challenges that face these firms
in their quality management efforts.
The study surveyed the quality management practices being used by. the Kenyan building
construction firms by collecting primary data via self-administered questionnaires. Data
was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study has found out that the firms use
several quality management practices with the traditional practices being the most
common, though there are no significant differences in the preference of these practices.
The research established four major challenges facing the building construction firms in
their quality management endeavours as resource limitation, inadequacy of designs and
contract documents, lack of awareness and knowledge of quality management systems
and industry traditions. Those firms that have adopted quality management practices
enumerated three major benefits as reduction in costs of quality, client satisfaction and
increased profitability. The main conclusion of this study is that most of the Kenyan
building construction firms have not adopted modern quality management practices but
are still using traditional quality management practices that do not appear to be suitable in
this era of cut-throat competition in a liberalized world market.
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Citation
MBAPublisher
University of Nairobi School of Business, College of Humanities and Social Sciences