Adoption Of Learning Organization At The Kenya Power And Lighting Company Limted

Abstract

The concept of learning organization has grown in latest times due to the pressures facing modern organizations to adapt and stay competitive in the ever changing business environment. Many scholars of this concept agree that companies can only realize a viable competitive advantage if they can learn at a pace that is faster than their competitors. The environment in which the Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited operates has greatly changed in terms of technology, consumer awareness and demand for quality power supply and quality service as well as pressures of new competitors in the distribution and retail of electric power. The future of the company depends on its ability to adopt and apply learning organization dimensions whereas no known study on learning organization has been carried out within the company. This study therefore sought to establish the level of adoption of learning organization dimensions at the Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited using a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. Primary data was obtained from respondents located in diverse offices of the company by use of structured questionnaire. The study discovered that KPLC has adopted to a moderate extent the following learning organization dimensions; its ability to continuously change itself through incessant learning, use and application of systems that gather learning and distribute it to the entire firm, creation of a strong connection between itself and the environment, a leadership that creates suitable conditions for making the organization a learning organization and an emphasis on learning at both individual and team levels with an average mean of adoption of 3.2027, 3.14246, 3.2563, 3.0826, and 3.0383 respectively. Use of appropriate and suitable rewards that encourage learning was found to have been espoused by the organization to a less extent with an average mean of adoption of 2.9963. The implications of these findings to policy and practice is that for the organization to secure its place in the current and future dynamic business environment, adequate, agile and effective strategies and policies must be implemented to enable it to fully adopt and incorporate learning organization dimensions. Use of ICT to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing, provision of adequate budgets for learning, frequent use of team talk, and constant consultation with critical stakeholder are vital for the organization to grow into a learning organization. The study experienced certain limitations such as the low response rate, the limited variables or constructs for determining the level of adoption of learning organization dimensions and the limiting nature of the cross-sectional descriptive survey design that was adopted. For further studies, a longitudinal research design can be adopted to provide the degree of adoption of learning organization dimensions in the organization at various points in time. The model, hence the number of variables used can also be researched on further to determine its suitability and efficacy. Further study can also be done on other players in the electricity sub-sector of the wider energy sector.