dc.description.abstract | The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the timely completion of
community initiated tea buying centers construction projects in Kisii County. The success
of any project is highly dependent on its completion time from start to delivery of results
as this has a direct bearing on management decisions such as budgets, targets and
standards. This study was guided by the following objectives: To ascertain the influence
of community participation on the timely completion community initiated tea buying
center construction projects in Kisii County; To assess how availability of funds affects
the timely completion community initiated tea buying center construction projects in
Kisii County; To establish the extent to which technical competence of the project
manager impacts on the timely completion of community initiated tea buying center
construction projects in Kisii County; and To assess the influence of regular supervision
on the timely completion of community initiated tea buying center construction projects
in Kisii County. This study adopted a descriptive survey. The target population for this
study comprised of all the 76221 tea farmers from the 4 KTDA tea factories in Kisii
County totaling 76221, the 219 employees and the 28 respective members of the factory
boards. Stratified and Purposive random sampling techniques were used to arrive at the
sample size of 132, in order to gather data required in this research. Data was collected
using structured questionnaires. A Pilot test of the measures was conducted against
prospective sample population in order to measure validity. Test retest method was used
to measure the validity of the research instruments. Data was presented using tables to
make them reader friendly. There were ethical issues related to the study and they were
addressed by maintaining high level confidentiality of the information volunteered by the
respondents. The study found out that community participation, availability of funds,
project manager’s technical competence and routine supervision affected the timely
completion of community initiated tea buying centers construction projects. The study
therefore concluded that there is a great influence of community participation for the
timely completion of CIPs. The study also established that the participation was weak in
that as much as the community was involved in the efforts to increase resources, it they
had little control over the said resources and how they were utilized. The study also
concluded that the availability of funds influenced the timely completion of construction
projects. It is also concluded from the study that there is a relationship between staff
competency and timely completion of construction projects. Finally, the study also
concluded that routine supervision plays also a vital role in ensuring projects completes
in time and it is critical to set aside adequate financial and human resources at the
planning stage. Major recommendations were that; community participation be boosted
and utilized from project scope identification and planning; that project manager’s be
equipped with relevant skills to better carry out their work, that planning for monitoring
and evaluation be done at the project planning phase and finances be put aside for the
same. Areas for further research work included a study on; establish other factors
affecting timely completion of construction of community initiated tea buying centres
and the generality to which that may apply to other community initiated construction
projects given their roles as vehicles for poverty reduction and eventual eradication. | en_US |