Employees perception of the implementation of ISO 9001 Certification and process improvement initiatives The case of KENGEN

Abstract

The market environment in Kenya and the world over is very competitive and dynamic. To deliver seamless service, companies are embarking on continuous process improvement. One of the ways of achieving this is through embarking on certification programs such as (ISO) 9001 for constituting a quality assurance program. As employees are key to the success of any Quality Management System. To reap full benefits it is critical to establish their perception to the process improvement initiatives and this research project sought to establish the employees involvement and commitment to the ISO 9001 certification in KenGen. This was a descriptive study and the population of interest included all the 1500 KenGen staff in the country in the five key geographical areas, viz. Nairobi, Seven Forks, Upper Tana, Kipevu, Turkwell and Olkaria .. The research sampled 100 employees using simple random process. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire which was dispatched to all the selected respondents in the company. The study found out that most of the KenGen staff is well educated either at the college or the University level. A substantial number of the workers were male and this caused a gender imbalance at the company. The ownership of company shares was quite overwhelming amongst the staff members given that 93% of the employees had KenGen shares spread among all the staff cadres; an indication of the staffs confidence in the performance of the company at the stock market which is essential in the motivation and performance of the staff. In addition, the staff felt that ISO 9001 certification fitted into their circumstances and job roles thus creating even a more positive attitude towards the implementation of the certification. The staff commitment to the implementation of ISO 9001 was undoubted. This was shown by their commitment to deliver quality and reliable service to help the company achieve its goal of being an ISO 9001 certified company. This was encouraged by the management's commitment in the implementation process. Some of the major challenges in the development of the process were poor representation of lower cadre in the decision making. Failure to continue building on ISO 9001 foundation was also a major contributor to the sluggish development of the process. However, ignorance by some of the employees on ISO 9001 issues was the greatest of all the hindrances. This required the company invest more on sensitization of its employees on the ISO process. The researcher recommended the need for KenGen to maintain its good relationship between management and operation staff through constant communication between these two cadres in the company. Proper training should be put in place to motivate and educate the staff on sensitive issues involving the implementation of processes such as ISO Certification.