Browsing by Author "Marima, Lynette"

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    Effect of Employee Engagement Practices on Organization Competitiveness A Case of Four-Star Hotels in Kenya
    (Daystar University, School of Business and Economics, 2021-10) Marima, Lynette
    The recent increase in uncertainty and job insecurity in the hospitality industry has had adverse effects on the level of employee engagement. Hotels need to identify effective employee engagement practices to harness staff potential to compete effectively. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of employee engagement practices on organization competitiveness in four-star hotels in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to establish the employee engagement practices observed in four-star hotels, evaluate the level of organization competitiveness in four-star hotels, and determine the effect of employee engagement practices on organization competitiveness. This study was anchored on the resource-based view theory. Descriptive research design was used. The population of the study was 63 four-star hotels, and the target population was 19 four-star hotels dispersed across 6 geographical regions in the country. The study had a sample size of 57 respondents conveniently selected. A response rate of 89.5% was obtained. Secondary data was sought from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics to assess competitiveness of the four-star hotels in the market. Data was collected through an electronically disbursed questionnaire and analysed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 28. The findings showed that the four employee engagement practices studied were applied widely in the hotels with each having an affirmative rate of greater than 75%. Four-star hotels in five of the six regions were performing more competitively than their rivals, with market penetration indices greater than a hundred. The findings also indicated that the employee engagement practices studied explained 59.6% of the variance of organization competitiveness. One of the recommendations of the study was that to be more competitive, hotels need to heighten employees’ innovation orientation through empowering job designs, effective training, and development programs.
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    Financing & Investment Decisions Amid Covid-19 Lockdown: Interviews Conducted From Various Businesses In Nairobi
    (Daystar University, School of Business and Economics., 2020) Kagwaini, Dorothy Muthoka; Marima, Lynette; Kioko, Maurice; Ronald, Grace; Mwaura, Julia; Odhiambo, David; Bharaj, Raven; Nyanumba, Phillip; Oduor, Lovine; Nderitu, Edwin; Chege, Edwin; Mutunge, Winfred; Kyule, Jonathan; Ndambuki, Nelson
    A mid the COVID-19 pandemic that has entered the fourth month since the first case was reported in March 2020, it has indeed brought unprecedented environment in the business arena. Actually, not only to businesses that are referred to as artificial persons, but also to the biological persons that are feeling the heat of the pandemic. In Kenya, most of the sectors of economy have been closed down as a result of the measures put in place by the government. This has led to loss of jobs, termination of contracts between businesses as well as low or cut payments to employees and suppliers. The Government has asked companies and business institutions to allow staff to work from home with the exception of some of the critical businesses making operations difficult. This has forced some of the organizations to rely on the digital platforms such as the Zoom, Google meet and Microsoft teams as their interaction platform with their clients thus ensuring their businesses continue even under the pandemic circumstances. The consequences have been felt globally with decline on global remittances, risks of accelerating mobile money with cyber-risks and digital fraud, risk of unhealthy diets, and even unintended consequences of health care for chronic people suffering from other diseases apart from COVID-19 and such like (World Economic Forum, 2020). With the expectation of the President Uhuru Kenyatta to open the economy and remove the lock down of counties, businesses analysts and chartists are struggling with the tussle between the bulls and bears. The bad news is that they are in favour of the bears in the near term. Looking at Europe, Asia and America, various governments have injected capital in to their economy while Kenya was not left out in this strategy. President, Uhuru Kenyatta announced some fiscal measures as well as monetary measures to help the economy recover from the downtrends of the pandemic. However, Kenya is still facing far more serious economic issues and with rising cases of COVID-19 pandemic, solemn thinking must be done by organisations as well as business leaders. On one hand, businesses are being required to invest in health and safety measures and on the other hand, businesses are wondering where the finances for those investment will be sourced from. The purpose of this article was to examine the various investment decisions as well as financing decisions businesses/or organizations are using in the midst of this COVID-19 Pandemic. The contribution of this paper is for institutions such like universities and schools to be aware of the eventualities and use the findings to learn from other organisations on what they have been able to achieve to maintain their sustainability. Other organisations a can use the results of this article to startegise on how to remain afloat; and individuals can also draw lessons from the artificial persons and be able to strategically plan for the days ahead. The paper was structured in five sections: Section 1 carried the introduction. Section 2 gave a brief literature review. Sections 3 explained the methodology; section 4 showed the findings and discussion while section 5 provided the conclusion and recommendation.