| dc.description.abstract | Various excellence studies have been conducted in the developed world
however most of the studies have tended to focus on manufacturing
industries. The researchers suggested further studies in the service industry.
It is due to this that I chose to research in the education industry. This is
because the output of this industry becomes the input in other industries as
far as labour and managerial skills are concerned. Primary education was
particularly of interest because it forms the basis for higher learning.
The population was of 30 schools that met the criteria of being consistently in
the top in national examinations for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999 based in
Nairobi. Since the population was small, all the schools were sampled. The
effective sample was 23, the ones who responded. A questionnaire was
personally administered. Observation was also used.
SPSS was used to develop data sets and for analysis. There were cross
tabulations, percentages, mean frequencies, bar charts and pie
charts.
The study revealed that there was use of teams in problem solving and
facilitation of communication in the schools. Regular communication was
encouraged. There were various ways of ensuring the satisfaction of the
customer through participatory decision making, commitment to excellence
and continuous training of staff.
There was motivation and rewarding of effort, tolerance for failure and
learning from the result. Both formal and informal communication was used
within the schools, but communication was mostly informal.
Face to face communication was the norm to a large and very large extent.
Focus on individual respect and learning from others was found to be critical.
95.7% of the schools had well defined inspirational, guiding beliefs, expressed
as a motte.
All schools revealed that they diversified internally, but confirmed that they
tended to stay close to their core competencies and set targets. The study
also revealed that all the schools had relatively simple basic structure. Most
of the structures devolved authority to the lower cadres. The heads were coworkers,
the hands-on, living by example types. The top was thus very lean.
There was tight that allowed for creativity, experimentation and
innovation. This was done through effective delegation.
Factors that may threaten performance were exactly a lack of the above
practices. Even when a factor was not mentioned, it could be inferred from
other responses. By and large the findings seem to concur with those of other
excellence studies. | |
