Management Involvement in Process Improvement: a Survey of Kenyan Banking Sector

Abstract

The study was aimed at establishing the level of management involvement in process improvement in the Kenyan banking sector. The study was aimed at determining the extent of management involvement in process improvement in the Kenyan banking sector and extent of the adoption of Business Process Improvement (BPI) methodologies in the Kenyan banking sector. The study used a census survey targeting all the 44 commercial banks registered and licensed to carry out banking business in Kenya. Data was collected from primary sources through a semi-structured questionnaire and administered to the target banks. The study found out that management involvement in process improvement is majorly from the middle level and partly from the top level management and that the banks have extensively adopted business process improvement methodologies in their operations. Of the business process improvement initiatives the study found out that Lean production, six sigma, business process reengineering and total quality management initiatives improved all aspects of operations in the banks. The study recommends that banks should adopt BPI methodologies to a greater extent to improve their efficiency and focus on strategies that benefit the banks in reducing over production/processing and operational wastes, those that lead to clear definition, improvement, and control of problems, those that facilitate measurement of the problem and leads to proper analysis, improvement and control of the of the problem. The top management should also engage a participatory approach geared towards problem identification, solution and feedback communication on the actions taken.