Influence of Stakeholders’ engagement strategies on performance of projects A case of Tullow Oil in Kenya

Abstract

Unsatisfactory community engagement by the government and Tullow Limited Company has left doubt as to whether the oil exploration will lead to improvements in the lives of the people of Turkana. This is despite counter arguments that they have been involved. They argued that the land in which the oil was found is their cultural heritage and they should be part of the process. The aim of the study is to analyze Stakeholders’ engagement strategies and its influence on project performance: A case of Tullow Oil in Kenya. The study will be guided by the following research objectives; to; examine the influence of Stakeholders’ partnerships on project performance, assess the influence of Stakeholders’ participation on project performance, assess the influence of Stakeholders’ consultations on project performance, determine the influence of Stakeholders’ communication on project performance at Tullow Oil Kenya and how government policy affects the relationship between stakeholders engagement strategies and project performance. The study will use a cross sectional research design and target population 88 respondents from where a sample of 70 respondents will be selected. Multi stage sampling will be used to select the respondents of the study. Stratified sampling will be used to select the regions, key informants will be selected through convenience sampling and purposive sampling will be used to select the management and supervisory staff at Tullow Limited and the County staff. The questionnaire will be used to collect the required data and this will be tested for reliability through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and for validity through expert opinion. A pilot study will be conducted among the government representatives for the Tullow Oil projects. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages and means and inferential statistics including multiple regression and Pearson Product Moment Correlation will be used to analyze the data collected. The study will be of great importance to the management of Tullow Oil Kenya PLC, to also project managers to reorganize their view on stakeholder engagement strategies, to the government to assist to improve the prevailing policy and regulation on the community engagement strategies and to scholars who will employ the research as a basis for future research. Study results indicated that there is a significant relationship between stakeholders partnerships and project performance at Tullow Oil Kenya (β = 0.077, p = 0.003), participation and project performance at Tullow Oil Kenya (β = 0.299, p = 0.000), consultation and project performance at Tullow Oil Kenya (β = 0.147, p = 0.005) and consultation and project performance at Tullow Oil Kenya (β = 0.388, p = 0.000). Study therefore rejected the null hypothesis and failed to reject the alternate hypothesis in all cases. The concluded that the community supports project activities generally and the community is benefiting from the company operations, that there are policies to direct need for partnerships with locals and that there are many activities that the company partners with locals (residents)/local companies to undertake, community stakeholders are selected from immediate communities and that Community stakeholders views are incorporated in projects, company meets community members to consult them on key activities and that consultation of community involves taking views for consideration not necessarily for implementation and that all company activities performance are communicated to the community and that communication to the community is done through mass media. The study made the following research recommendations; Tullow oil Management should engage in outsourcing activities to ensure that it partners with more local communities professionals in various drilling and logistics activities, The company’s management should select key stakeholders whom they should ensure participate in all decisions made by the company in the region, The public relations and operations department of the Tullow oil limited should develop modalities of consultations with stakeholders in the region and the company should organize baraza’s to communicate its activities to the locals to ensure they don’t only hear the communication but also understand what the company is planning to do