Influence of Project Management Committee (PMC) factors on the performance of water projects in Kenya: a case of kibwezi East Sub County, Makueni County

Abstract

Governments and non-governmental organizations have promoted interventions aimed at improving water projects’ performance in the country. Makueni county government has put in place mechanisms of ensuring that every county funded project has a project management committee competitively elected by the project beneficiaries from amongst themselves to enhance project performance. However, there is a gap in the performance of water projects and there is thus need to look at how project management committee factors influence performance of water projects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of project management committees’ factors on performance of water projects in Kibwezi East Sub county, Makueni County. This study’s main formation was based on four objectives namely; to establish the extent to which project management committees’ human capital influence performance of water projects; to establish the contribution of project management committees’ social capital performance of water projects; and to investigate the influence of project management committees’ leadership styles on performance of water projects in Kibwezi East Sub county. This study was guided by three theories; Coordination Theory, Transformational leadership Theory and social networks theory. This study employed descriptive survey design with a sample size of 124 members of project committees randomly selected from a population of 240.This sample size was determined through Krecjie &Morgan (1970) calculator. Ten (10) focus group discussions were done reaching to 200 beneficiaries who were randomly sampled. Twelve (12) key informants were interviewed from the four wards. Questionnaires, interview guides together with focus group discussions were employed in the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from the respondents. Reliability of the questionnaires were tested using the split-half method; research assistants were carefully selected and trained to enhance equivalency. Quantitative data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The results show that inadequate human capital (β=.353, t=5.911, p<0.000), inadequate social capital (β=.153, t=2.516, p<0.004), and weak leadership style, (β=.312, t=5.169, p<0.000), had a significant negative influence on water projects’ performance in Kibwezi East Sub county, Makueni County. The study therefore recommends: The Project Management Committee members should enroll into training and skilling workshops and seminars to help in their acquisition of competence that would serve them in their water projects management. The Project Management Committee members should introduce consistent consultative forums with the beneficiaries of the projects to get the beneficiaries’ opinions and offer quality feedback. They should also build their social capital by building a conducive organizational culture that motivates and seeks the best-fit management model for the water projects. They should also employ the use of transformational leadership style that is both charismatic and inspirational to improve their water management and consequently improve the water projects’ performance. Finally, the County of Makueni should introduce legal frameworks that strengthen the qualifications of the PMCs and improves the interactions between the PMC and the water projects’ beneficiaries. This would help to improve the overall water projects’ performance in terms of cost, time of completion and quality of projects.