Selected Human Resource Management Practices and Organizational Learning in Private Chartered Universities in Kenya

Abstract

Organizational learning (OLN) is increasingly being incorporated by many organizations in today's highly competitive world to search ways to design organizations so that they fulfil their purposes effectively, inspire people to reach their full potential, and, at the same time, give their organizations the edge it needs to survive thereby keep fulfilling their purpose. The HRMP plays a new role in order to help the organization to apply the concepts of organizational learning successfully. The main objective of the study was to research on the influence of human resource management practices on organizational learning in private chartered universities in Kenya. The independent variables of the study were; employee training, structural empowerment, leadership styles and organizational communication while the dependent variable was organizational learning. Oorganizational culture was the moderating variable. The study was anchored on four theories: human capital theory, Kanter’s theory of empowerment, contingency theory and institution theory. A positivism paradigm guided the study while cross-sectional descriptive survey was adopted as the research design. The study population for the study was the 18 private charted Universities in Kenya. The target population was 327 employees at managerial levels; the sample population was 180 respondents obtained through stratified sampling technique. A pilot study was done. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 26. Primary data was collected through interview schedules and drop and pick questionnaire and analysed with the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics. Report analysis was undertaken to obtain secondary data. A response of 89% (n=156) was obtained. Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to measure degree and direction of the linear association between the variables. Multiple regression models were fitted to check on the goodness of fit between the independent and dependent variables. The information was displayed by use of tables, figures and chart. The study found that employee training had a strong significant relationship with organizational learning (r=0.654, p=0.000). Structural empowerment also had a positive significant relationship with organizational learning (r=0.804, p=0.000). Leadership styles had strong positive and significant relationship with organizational learning (r=0.781, p=0.000). And organizational communication had a strong positive and significant relationship with organizational learning (r=0.726, p=0.000). Theoretically the results support a contingency-based interpretation of HRMP effectiveness, where the moderator (organizational cultural) does not uniformly enhance all HRMP but interacts with specific practices such as empowerment to shape learning outcomes. Organizational cultural had a negative effect on the relationship between predictors (employee training, leadership styles, and organizational communication) and organizational learning at the private chartered universities in Kenya. The study thus recommends private chartered universities in Kenya to increase financial support for training, improve its working environment by ensuring that employees have access to opportunities, resources, information and support. A work environment that is open minded and welcomes new ideas, which includes freedom and challenges at work, shared objectives and open relationships between colleagues and managers were recommendable. The organizational structure should therefore permit systems and procedures to direct and motivate behaviour towards organizational learning. Continuous management capacity development for leaders was recommendable. There is need for more attention to be focused on forming intensive social networks to support learning, and the need to adopt a culture that allows employees views, opinions, and suggestions to be taken into consideration when making decisions.