Total Quality Management Practices and Performance of Organizations in the Real Estate Industry, Case of Property Developers in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

The real estate industry is one of the most important industries for the development and economy of a nation and therefore important that adequate measures are put in place to ensure quality in the sector. Most of the studies reviewed locally provide no conclusive evidence on whether TQM is linked to performance in the real estate industry in Kenya. This study sought to determine the effect of adoption of TQM practices on performance of firms within the real estate industry in Kenya .The specific objectives of the study were: to assess the extent to which customer orientation, top management commitment to quality, employees’ empowerment and continuous improvement focus effect on performance of real estate firms in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population for this study was senior management and customer service officers within real estate property developers companies in Nairobi County, Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to select 20 firms from the published list of Kenya Private Developers Association (KPDA). Questionnaires were employed as the instrument of data collection whereby both closed and open-ended questions were asked. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive analysis was undertaken to examine the effects of TQM practices on performance. Data was presented in tables and interpretation was made based on research objectives. The organizational performance of the Real Estate Companies involved in the study was generally great. The extent to which customer orientation, top management commitment to quality, employees’ empowerment and continuous improvement has influenced the organizational performance of the Real Estate Companies was great. Pearson correlation coefficient showed there was a strong association between the organizational performance and customer orientation, top management commitment, employee empowerment and continuous improvement. Regression model established that 73.7% of the variation in organizational performance in real estate industry is explained by customer orientation, employee empowerment, top management commitment and continuous improvement leaving 26.3% unexplained. The study further recommended that the top management should ensure effective customer orientation process is carried out so as to ensure customers are satisfied with the products and services they receive. Top management should show more commitment to ensuring quality by channeling more resources on processes or activities focused towards ensuring delivery of high quality products and services. The management should empower their employees through frequent trainings on matters pertaining to quality as this will improve on their skills in ensuring delivery of quality products and services to customers. Organizations should always encourage efforts from their employees aimed at improving their products, services or processes.