Strategic responses of commercial banks to the threat of substitute products
Abstract
The objectives of the study were to establish the strategies for management development
at Kenyatta National Hospital and determine the challenges faced in implementing those
strategies. A case study was used. An interview guide was used to collect data. The
respondents were heads of functional units at the hospital. Content analysis was used to
analyze data. The hospital is concerned for its management population and is using
numerous management development strategies such as assessing deficiencies in
managerial skills, selecting managers to be developed through endorsements by heads of
departments, designing appropriate infrastructure to support the management
development initiatives such as allocation of funds for scholarships, and adoption of
various strategies for management development like education programmes, conferences,
management retreats, job rotations and committees. However, development needs
assessment and programme evaluation phases are highly deficient.
Despite having management development programmes, the hospital faces various
challenges in their implementation. These include lack of specific procedures for
evaluating their management development function; lack of reliable information that
relate particularly to the hospital's skill reservoir; lack of adequate communication about
the development programmes in place; lack of team work among various departments in
the implementation of management development programmes; lack of adequate
documentation to guide management development; lack of resources for management
development; lack of appropriate actions on past development programmes; lack of
follow ups on developed managers to see if they are applying the learned skills and
competencies; and lack of rewards for developed managers. It is recommended that
Kenyatta National Hospital evaluates its development activities so as to have information
about what they have achieved in the past and the present and that management
development should be linked with other activities.
Further research is necessary to establish the extent to which the management
development strategies at the hospital have led to improved performance of management
staff at the hospital.
Citation
Masters of Business Administration, University of Nairobi (2009)Publisher
University of Nairobi School of Business