Influence Of Organisational Structure On Project Performance: A Case Of Taylor Nelson Sofres Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This research sought to investigate the influence of organisational structures on project performance. It was guided by four research objectives namely: to establish the influence of leadership on project performance at the Taylor Nelson Sofres; to examine how organisational size affects projects performance at Taylor Nelson Sofres; to determine decision-making influence projects performance at Taylor Nelson Sofres, and; to investigate how departmentalisation affects projects performance at Taylor Nelson Sofres. The research pitched camp at the Taylor Nelson Sofres Kenya’s head office in Nairobi, from where all projects are centrally managed. In an effort to shade more light on the research topic, literature was reviewed on areas that focus on or those that are closely related to the research topic. Project management was overseen by a team of project managers from different departments, all with different skills and expertise, who worked closely with other functional units such as sales and marketing, finance, quality and audit, technical units, customer support and procurement. Descriptive survey research design will be adopted for the study. The population of this study consisted of a total of 113 staff. In particular, key persons involved in running the projects were interviewed. The research used stratified random sampling in identifying the 80 research respondents who formed the sample size. The number 80, was arrived at using the Bartlett, Kotrlik and Higgins table for determining the sample size (see Appendix IV). Questionnaires with both open and close-ended questions were administered on the respondents to gain the required information. In order to ensure consistency, the completed questionnaires were checked for completeness after which, the collected data was coded and categorised. The categorised data was eventually analysed using SPSS (v20) and presented in form of tables and frequencies that are easy to interpret. The study used stratified random sampling to sample 80 respondents. Questionnaires with both open and close-ended questions were used to collect data. The completed questionnaires were checked for completeness to ascertain consistency. From the findings, 73% of the respondents indicated that leadership influenced project performance to a very great extent; 48% of the respondents agreed that organisational type influenced project performance to a very great extent; 88% of the respondents recommended changes they look forward to for overall improved project performance. The respondents also agreed that decision-making influences project performance with means ranging from 2.12 to 2.56, with corresponding standard deviations of 1.021 to 1.294. However, respondents were in less agreement that the organisation’s departments affected project performance or even the organisation’s market share with a mean of 1.01 and a corresponding standard deviation of 0.402. The study concluded that there was a significant relationship between organisational structure and project performance. The findings led to the conclusion that decision-making had the highest influence on project performance. It was also concluded that the organisational type had the least influence on project performance. The study recommended that: top-notch decision-making processes involving all or most of the stakeholders be inculcated in all projects and programmes implemented by organisations; effective and efficient leadership must be shown in all project stages to provide the needed direction; every project stage should be monitored and evaluated against set clients specifications to avert issues related to rejection of deliverables; and that resources needed for every project stage should be identified and acquired prior to project execution as this will help guard against unnecessary delays brought about by project redesign, stoppage and mid-stage monitoring.