<b>Total Quality Management Practices and Performance of Kenya Wildlife Service in Nairobi County, Kenya</b>

Abstract

The crucial element of the tourist industry in Kenya is its national parks. More than a million tourists from other countries travel to Kenya each year to take part in nature tourism, including wildlife safaris. However, Kenya Wildlife Services is being faced by various challenges one of them being decline in revenue collection by 14% between 2017 to 2020, (Kenya Wildlife Service’s Annual report, 2020). There has been decline in the volume of international tourists visiting the national parks, human wildlife conflict, encroachment and poaching, and poor infrastructure. Despite wide acceptability of total quality management as a process intervention to maintain organizational performance, the organization is still striving to improve their poor performance which has been attributed to poor implementing of total quality management practices. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the influence of total quality management practices and the performance of Kenya Wildlife Service in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The specific goals were to investigate how employee involvement, employee training, support from top management, and a focus on customers affected performance. The study was guided by social exchange theory, human capital theory and dynamic capability theory. A descriptive survey research design has been used in this study. The target population of this study was the Kenya Wildlife Service, Nairobi City County, Kenya, and it contained 271 managers and support staff from ten departments. In this study, the method of stratified sampling has been applied and a simplified random sample was selected from the collected respondents. The number of respondents was 81. Primary data, collected using questionnaires, were used in the research. A pilot study was conducted in which 10 random respondents from each department were selected and did not take part in the final study. Validity was ensured through construct validity and content validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficient has been used to measure reliability. The quantitative data have been analysed with descriptive statistical data like averages and standard deviations. Thematic analysis was used to examine qualitative data. The use of inferential statistics included regression and correlation analysis. Employee involvement, staff training, senior management commitment, and customer focus all had a significant impact on performance because of the study. According to the findings, employees become more trustworthy because of their participation in the organization. This makes them feel like they are a part of it. Employee training programs enhance employees' knowledge and abilities to meet the industry's ever-changing demands. Through leadership and dedication to the overall quality management objective of customer satisfaction, the organization's top management commits to fostering a culture of overall quality and customer satisfaction within the organization. The customer focus approach adds value to customers by meeting their needs and wants through personalized experiences and products. The study recommended that the management of organizations should be more involved in defining and communicating a strong vision for their organization, ensuring that they acquire and develop excellent talent, and ensuring that they are in a good position. Training Programmes for staff should be tailored to their needs, and they should have access to educational opportunities which are in line with the employees' needs. The general objectives of the company and its targets should be clearly communicated to all members of the organization by the Executive Management. To maintain customers' central role in the business, an organization should build a culture of customer centricity through its choice of qualified people that have been brought up with this mindset.