Effect of Organizational Structure on the Delivery of Quality Education in Public Technical and Vocational Education Institutions in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of organizational structure on the delivery of quality education in public technical and vocational education institutions in Kenya. The study adopted Survey research design while target population was 689 employees in the Ministry of Educations’ Directorate of Technical Education, National Polytechnics and Technical Institutions. Simple random, stratified and purposive l sampling techniques were used to select 11 managers in Directorate of Technical Education, 15 administrators from National Polytechnics and other technical institutions, and 220 instructors from technical institutions. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 17.0. Descriptive and inferential statistics and content and analyses were used for specific data. The analysis was further amplified by subjecting selected results to graphical and tabular techniques. The study established that the structure of the institutions was both inclusive and bureaucratic with a few being described as flexible. The management of the institutions was responsible for the implementation of the educational reforms. However, special groups were charged with responsibility of spearheading the change process. The organizational structure was directly linked with the quality of education as was demonstrated by the regression analysis. This relationship was however, not very strong. The study recommended that technical educational institutions should be structured to suite the particular reform process for effectiveness and achievement of desired results so as to enhance the quality of technical education.