EFFECT OF MICRO-ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING PROJECTS AMONG YOUTH IN KENYA: A CASE OF NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL TRAINING AUTHORITY
Musyoki Festus Kitave - Master of Business Administration in Project Management, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. J. M. Kilika - Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Modern technical training in industry is an integral part of development. It aims at providing the technical knowledge and/or skills required for industrial operations. It is through technical training and technological research that industrial organizations are able to develop skilled manpower that will assist them in achieving economic prosperity. In the face of unprecedented changes in technology and global competition in industrial businesses, which characterize the new global economy, both the modes and roles of technical training in industry are evolving. The trend is towards Competency development.This involves analysis of an Occupation. Any occupation can be described in terms of tasks. All tasks imply knowledge, skills and attitude. In developed countries, technological training has created a human resources base that satisfies the continually changing demands of society. This achievement has partly been driven by the Information Technology revolution, which has made conducting technical training and business operations easier. In developing countries, Industrial training is just beginning to take root. This research presents the main aspects of modern industrial technical training and the important role it plays in further developing technical skills and the economic development of a nation. The study sought to find out the micro environmental variables of project management strategies that affect effective delivery of industrial training in Kenya and come up with possible recommendations to improve its delivery. The specific objectives of the study were the influence of project planning, top management support, communication modes and information technology on implementation of NITA projects. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study targeted the various firms who benefited from industrial training as administered via National Industrial Training Authority’s industrial training Centers and any other NITA accredited industrial training institutions. Therefore, the accessible population was 250 firms. The sample size was 70 firms whose respondentswere the training managers in these firms, and in their absence then the Human resource managers were the respondents. In this study, questionnaires and interview schedules were used. The instruments were used to supplement each other and to give a deeper and wider exploration into research perspective which would give the research more quality. Study data was organized, presented, analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistical techniques. The descriptive statistics that were used to summarize data included percentages and frequencies. The effects of micro environmental variables in project management strategies on implementation of effective industrial training was measured through measures on a Likert Scale whose weights were analyzed and weighted averages enumerated which were used to show the influence levels of Project management practices. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 22.0). It was concluded that National Industrial Training Authority must embrace Project management micro environmental variables in industrial training to advance the country economically and develop the required skills to enable Kenyan firms to compete globally.
