Determinants of Quality Management Practices in Kenyan Sugar Processing Industry: A Case of Chemelil Sugar Company

This study focused on determinants of quality management practices in Kenyan Sugar Processing Industry. Due to sparse distribution of the sugar processing firms in the country, Chemelil Sugar Company was used as a case for the study. Literature was reviewed on: Demographic factor; Top management commitment, Training factors, Organizational culture and Government policy. Qualitative research design was used; specifically descriptive survey. Probability sampling specifically stratified sampling at the departments of; Finance Reliability and Validity of instrument was tested by carrying out a pilot study involving 50 respondents. After fieldwork, the data was organized according to the population studied. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and by aid of SPSS computer software. Hypothesis `was used and tested using Chi-Square applied at 5% significant level. Data was presented in table format. Summary of findings revealed that|: Demographic characteristics with indicators of age, gender and education is a determinant of quality practice. It was evident that there was lack of top management commitment and training which has stagnated improvement of QMS. The study recommends that the organization need to benchmark their quality practices with organizations that have succeeded in quality management. There is need to train all staff on current quality practices and develop an all-inclusive policy that gives all the gender equal opportunity to suggest on quality assurance changes and ensure continuous improvement of quality process by applying principles like Kaizen that encourages small but significant changes is not an option. Crucially further research should be done to determine if hiring of employees at CSCL has influence on organizational culture, to find out sustainability factor and funding of Quality Assurance System at implementation stage and assess trailing and training succession program at CSCL.