Effects of Total Quality Management implementation on business performance in service institutions: A case of Kenya Wildlife Services

Abstract

The service sector is getting competitive every day. In order to be successful Quality Management (QM) practices ought to be the integral part of any organization’s strategic management. Kenya’s national parks form the pillar of the country’s tourism industry. Over one million international tourists visit Kenya annually to partake in wildlife safari and other forms of nature-based tourism. However, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) is being faced by some challenges which they are trying to manage. These include; decline in the volume of international tourists visiting the national parks, human wildlife conflict, encroachment and poaching, and poor infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to establish how Total Quality Management (TQM) practices are employed while addressing these challenges by examining whether there are any gaps or discrepancies (positive or negative) between the service quality management offered by KWS and the actual TQM practices by (KEBS, 2008). The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine the TQM principles used, to obtain the effects of TQM implementation on organizational business performance, to determine challenges in the implementation of TQM.