Factors Influencing The Implementation Of Hoshin Kanri Tool Project: A Case Of Unga Holdings Limited, Kenya

Abstract

Hoshin Kanri is considered as the means through which performance management is enabled. It is a strategic policy management tool which is a unique as it combines planning, objectives deployment, and an operational review process which synchronizes activities that are aimed at achieving the designed strategic objectives. It has often been referred to as the secret weapon in Japanese management system. It has two broad dimensions namely Strategic planning (Planning and Deployment) and Execution (Implementation and Control). Strategic planning is a process through which organizations set the direction that governs their operations while focusing energies and resources to strengthening those operations and ensuring that all stakeholders work towards realization of the strategies. Execution involves the realization of the strategy which leads to achievement of set goals and objectives for the organization thus better Organizational Performance. The main purpose of the study was to look into the factors influencing the implementation of Hoshin Kanri tool project: A case of Unga holdings limited, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study was to; establish how technological factors influence the implementation of Hoshin Kanri; to assess in what ways human resource factors influence the implementation of Hoshin Kanri; to establish how organizational culture influences the implementation of Hoshin Kanri; and to establish how target setting impacts on the identified strategies at Unga Holdings. Literature review was organized around the following sub headings: Hoshin Kanri Models; Factors Influencing Hoshin Kanri Implementation and the Conceptual Framework. The target population comprised of the three major business divisions of Unga Holdings (Unga) which are Unga Limited, Unga Millers Uganda Limited and Unga Farm Care (EA) Limited. Unga has a total of 483 permanent employees, Unga Limited-253, Unga Farm Care-208 and Unga Millers Uganda Limited 22. The sample size was 47 employees from the organization. Study concluded that cross-functional management system promotes organizational culture through the improvement of processes spanning the entire organization; addressing issues such as quality of a product or services. The study also concluded that most organizations tend to operate using three levels of managerial thinking: enterprise-level thinking that focuses on the long-term viability of the organization; strategic-level thinking that focuses on products, markets and customers; and operational-level thinking that focuses on the daily work required to deliver the output of the organization. It also recommends that the organization maximizes employee’s multi-dimensional abilities for better performance. Finally, the researcher recommends that company should align its employees’ goals through the implementation of Hoshin Kanri and they have done so severally. The study suggested that the organization should build a high performance culture and measure the progress of culture change toward a high performance. The study suggested that further study be done on factors influencing the implementation of Hoshin Kanri tool project in Unga Holdings Limited, Kenya.