A survey of managers' attitudes towards employee empowerment in selected oil companies in Kenya
Abstract
Human Resource planning and development is dynamic and continues to face challenges
with the changing times. In order for organizations to be able to cope with these changes,
they must be flexible and respond to the evolutions that are part and parcel of everyday life.
Organizations seek to maximize profits while minimizing costs, not only in raw materials
but in their personnel as well. A useful model for building a self sufficient workforce
centers. on some of these questions: how well are the employees trained to cope with
continuous changes? How willing is the organization to relinquish power and share it
among employees? How well is teamwork developed within the organization? what
opportunities exist in these organizations for self growth? How well are the employees
committed to the organizations goals and objectives? How does employee decision
making affect the organization's day to day running?
This research set out to survey the attitudes of managers towards employee empowerment
in the face of recent and on going retrenchment which in effect translates to more work
for fewer staff. The study used the survey design. The research was to determine the
attitude of managers towards employees' empowerment in the oil industry in Kenya. The
five leading oil companies were chosen for this research.
The population of the study consisted of departmental oil managers of the leading oil
companies, i.e. Mobil Oil Kenya, Kenol/Kobil Kenya, Caltex Kenya Ltd, ShelllBP Kenya
Ltd and Total Kenya Ltd. Primary data was obtained using a structured questionnaire
administered through the drop- and- pick-later- method. The questionnaire was divided
into sections according to the research questions. There were 30 respondents which
translated to 88% response rate. The data was analyzed using narrative frequencies and
tables. The main findings were as follows:
Majority of the respondents felt positively towards empowering their employees.
In addition, employees' ideas have the potential to unleash innovation and
profitability for the organization.
Citation
Masters Of Business Administration (MBA) Degree, University of NairobiPublisher
University of Nairobi School of Business
Description
A management research project submitted in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Of
Master of Business Administration (Mba), Faculty of
Commerce, University of Nairobi