DETERMINANTS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT AT THE TEACHERS SERVICE COMMISSION HEADQUARTERS, NAIROBI, KENYA

Abstract

Organizations have implemented overall quality management methods in today's rapidly changing environment with high expectations, a quick-fix attitude, and the belief that quality management is a crucial component of success for competitiveness that will support their delivery of high-quality services. Teachers Service Commission of Kenya is an organization that facilitates coordination as well as ensures that the expectations of the commission's mandate are met. Despite this, the commission has not been able to fully accomplish its tasks toward the provision of high-quality services. This study set out to analyse the determinants the commission use on total quality management approaches, based on this premise the study had following the six objectives on the implementation of total quality management at the Teachers Service Commission Headquarters, Kenya which served as the basis for this: commitment from top management officers, adequacy of resources, employee training, level of communication, organizational culture and organizational structure. The proper aims, theoretical underpinnings, and conceptual framework were the main topics of the literature review. The Crossby and Jurans theories served as the theoretical foundation since they provided a methodology for identifying ideals while investigating quality management. As a result, the study employed a mixed method research design because it gave the researcher access to precise data for both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The target group consisted of 292 workers at the commission's headquarters, including 53 lower-level employees and 160 clerks as well as 12 members of high management and 55 middle-level supervisors. A total of 92 respondents were included in the sample using the formula n=0.3N, of which 4 were top management, 18 were middle level supervisors, 53 were clerks, and 17 were junior workers. Three directorates out of seven were selected via purposeful sampling since they represented big, medium, and small numbers of personnel, respectively. The categories of staff in the sections under each directorate were sampled using stratified random sampling. The supervisory staff and lower cadre workers were surveyed to gather data. Schedules for interviews with top management officers were employed to gather data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was then used to evaluate the data, and qualitative data was assessed utilizing key themes from published content to draw logical conclusions about the research findings. To examine the statistical link between research variables, quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics like mean scores, standard deviations, and percentages as well as inferential statistics like correlation and multiple regression analysis approach. All the variables rejected the null hypothesis. Employee training had the biggest influence on the criterion variable for top management commitment, according to the results of multiple linear regression between the independent variables and total quality management (t=.5.934, p<.005) while degree of communication (t=.418, p<.05 had the lowest influence. For the commission as well as any connected organizations to successfully apply comprehensive quality management as a method for effective performance and service delivery, the study recommended that strategic determinants be continuously embraced.