The effects of rightsizing on service­ delivery: a case study of Egerton university

Abstract

The rightsizing exercise was aimed at catapulting better service delivery in the civil service. This change was part of a package delivered to third world countries i'l the form of Structural Adjustment Programmes by World Bank and International Monetary Fund as a prerequisite to receiving aid. Third world countries are required to restructure the civil service.

The result of this study is that reducing staff is not an end in itself in the road to better service delivery, in fact, far from it. The real challenge in better service delivery is in improving the propensity of the service-deliverer, (personnel) to deliver the service better through training, teamwork, better pay morale boosting and better conditions of work, among others. The null hypothesis for this study stands: That the right-sizing exercise has not brought about significant positive change in service delivery at Egerton University, in relation to the variables selected for the study.

The results of this study show that:

i) The rightsizing exercise has failed in realizing its objective of better service­ delivery in light of the variables selected for the study, namely, training, better remuneration, teamwork, and task-completion among others. ii) Motivation of staff is an important factor in realizing better service-delivery.