Total Quality Management and Operational Performance of United Nations Agencies Based in Nairobi Kenya

Abstract

Total Quality Management is a fundamental tool of management that enables modern-day organizational leaders to utilize strategic composites of management to run the business into success. It enables managers to enhance the quality of the products or services by integrating key processes that improve the customer service, employee engagement and the commitment of organizational leadership towards the goals of the company. Organizations such as United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON) require tools such as the Total Quality Management in order to ensure operational performance is attained. The quality, reliability, effectiveness, dependability and efficiency of the services that the organization offers can be attained by utilizing the key components of Total Quality Management. The study therefore sought to establish the influence of Total Quality Management on the operational performance of United Nations Agencies in Nairobi. While there are other components of Total Quality Management, this study focused on the main four components that have been applauded by previous studies to be integral in the effectiveness of TQM. These components are leadership competency, employee involvement, customer focus and continuous improvement. The study was anchored on Deming theory of Total Quality Management, the Resource-Based view theory, and the stakeholder theory. A descriptive research design was used to guide the study on data collection and analyse the data. The 25 UN agencies in Nairobi were targeted where a representative was picked from each of the agencies. The data for the study was collected using a self-administered questionnaire comprising of Likert’s scale questions. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that Total Quality Management was an instrumental driver for operational performance of the UN agencies in Nairobi. The findings revealed that leadership competency (β = 0.243; P =0.032<0.05), employee involvement (β = 0.273; P =0.006<0.05), customer focus (β = 0.349; P =0.000<0.05), and continuous improvement (β = 0.167; P =0.007<0.05) had a significant and positive influence on the operational performance of the UN agencies in Nairobi. The study concluded that the operational performance of the UN agencies in Nairobi was significantly influenced by leadership competency, employee involvement, customer focus and continuous improvement. It is therefore recommended that the management of the UN agencies in Nairobi embraces leadership competency, employee involvement, customer focus and continuous improvement in order to enhance their operational performance.