THE EFFECT OF OUTSOURCING CLEANING OPERATIONS DELIVERY IN THE

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OFFICE, NAIROBI BRANCH

BY

ANYANGO JERUSHA OTIENO

A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL AND

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE A WARD OF THE DIPLOMA IN PUBLIC RELATIONS AND

ADVERTISING, COOPERATIVEUNIVERSITY OF KENYA

JULY 2023
DECLARATION

Declaration by the candidate

This research project /proposal is my original work and has not been presented for a ward of a

Diploma in any other college or university for any other award.

Anyango Jerusha Otieno DPRCO1/0105/2017 24/8/2023

Declaration by the Supervisor

I/We confirm that the work reported in this proposal/project was carried out by the candidate

under our supervision and has been submitted with our approval as university supervisor.

___________________ __________________

Signature Date

Name of supervisor: Faith Cherono

Department: Department of Business and Economics

Faculty:

University: The Cooperative University of Kenya

This study is dedicated to my loving mother Mrs Pamella Danga, my sisters and my brothers for

their support during the entire period of study.

I thank the Almighty God for His guidance mercy and providence which enable me to write this

project/proposal that was too involving in terms of time and resources

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my loving mother, Mrs Pamella Danga, my sisters

Susan and Dorcas, brothers Kennith and Sospeter for their understanding and support during this

period.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my Supervisor, Mrs Faith Cherono for giving

me humble time correcting me where necessary and advising me and encouraging me throughout

the time.
TABLE OF CONTENT

Declaration……………………………………………………………………………… i

Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….. ii

Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………… iii

Table of contents……………………………………………………………………….. iv -v

List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….. vi

List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………. vii

List of abbreviations and acronyms…………………………………………………… viii

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….. iix

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….. 1

Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………….. 1-2

Objectives of the study………………………………………………………………….. 2

General objectives………………………………………………………………………. 2

Specific objectives………………………………………………………………………. 2

Research questions……………………………………………………………………… 3

Significance of the study……………………………………………………………….. 3

CHAPTER TWO

Literature review………………………………………………………………………. 5

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………. 5-8

Demerit of outsourcing…………………………………………………………………. 8

Requirement for success for outsourcing ………………………………………………. 9

CHAPTER THREE

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 10

Research design………………………………………………………………………. 10

The study area………………………………………………………………………… 10

Target population…………………………………………………………………….. 10

Sampling design……………………………………………………………………… 11

Data collection………………………………………………………………………..11

Data analysis and presentation……………………………………………………… 11

Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………. 12

Reference ………………………………………………………………………….. 13 – 14

Appendices………………………………………………………………………… 15
List of Tables

The effects of outsourcing cleaning operations on service delivery in the public service, Nairobi

Branch. The independent variables and dependent variables…..i3

Representation………………….....

Gender of the respondents

Age of the respondents

Duration the respondent will take in the public service office, Nairobi Branch
List of Abbreviations

PSC NB - Public Service Commission, Nairobi

GOK - Government of Kenya

IR - Industrial Relations
ABSTRACT

There have been a lot of issues raised by employers and customers of the public service

commission office in Nairobi branch concerning untidy offices, washrooms and environment.

The purpose of this study will be to determine the effects of outsourcing cleaning operation on

service delivery in the public service commission office, Nairobi Branch. The study will be

based on the descriptive research design, the target population will be ten employees (both male

and female) and eight customers (both male and female) of the public service commission

office, Nairobi Branch. A questionnaire will be used as a primary data collection instrument. The

questionnaire will be administered through drop and pick method to the employees and

customers of the public service commission, Nairobi Branch. The study will recommend that the

outsourcing of cleaning services to a private firm is the only solution to solve untidiness in the

public service commission offices Nairobi Branch.

Introduction

Most of the supporting staffs who are being employed by the government of Kenya to do

cleaning services in public service commission office Nairobi branch are dissatisfied with their

services and quite often are pushed to do their job. They would require strict supervision by their

supervisors in order to perform their duties; they are not concerned with their work. They would

like to perform other office duties than cleaning services, therefore there are complaints from the

employers and clients on the dirty condition of the offices.

Statement of the Problem

Supporting Staff at Public Service office Nairobi branch are being employed permanent under

the human resource unit; they are responsible for cleaning services in the offices. Most of these

workers are being pushed to do their work since they don’t want to be associated with the

cleaning services. They are not proud their jobs. In most cases, they will report to work late, and

will selectively clean some rooms and leave others unclean. There have been a continuous

complaint from the employers and clients about dirty environment, the offices and the

washrooms are depicting a negative image of the government institutions. Therefore the

government had an idea to start outsourcing the cleaning services to improve working conditions

of employees and the clients of the public service commission office Nairobi branch.

The government will render its cleaning services to a private firm in order to reduce burden of

routine supervision by the supervisors. The government objective will be to provide conducive
working environment to employees in the organization and this will increase employees and

clients satisfaction, hence increase labour productivity and restores a positive image in the

organization in terms of Industrial Relations. Therefore the aim of this study is to establish

whether outsourcing reform will achieve its main objective/goal.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The general objective

The general objective of study is to determine the effects of outsourcing cleaning operations on

service delivery in the Public Service Commission Office, Nairobi branch.

Specific Objective

i. To determine the effects of outsourcing of cleaning services on clients satisfaction in the

public service commission offices.

ii. To determine the effects of outsourcing of cleaning services on employees satisfaction

the public service commission offices.

iii. To determine the effects of outsourcing of cleaning services on environment in the public

service commission offices.

iv. To determine the effects of outsourcing of cleaning services on the government’s

reputation.
Research Questions

i. What is the effect of outsourcing of cleaning services in public service commission?

ii. What is the effect of outsourcing of cleaning services on the environment?

iii. What is the effect of outsourcing of cleaning services to the organization’s reputation?

iv. What is the effect of outsourcing of cleaning services to the government expenditure?

Significance of the Study

The government has been increasing outsourcing of its cleaning services in different

public service commission offices across the country.

The study will benefit various stakeholders e.g. suppliers, distributors and financial

institutions and employers. The working condition will improve; they will have a clean

working environment and job satisfaction and this also will improve on service delivery

to all clients and also clients will enjoy worm services being offered by the organization.

The Scope of the Study

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of outsourcing of cleaning operation on

service delivery in the public service commission offices, Nairobi branch. The study will

be conducted in Nairobi County and also data will be collected from the public service

commission employees and the clients of the same organization.

Customer Satisfaction Operating Hours

Value for Money Public Relations Skills

Effectiveness Individualized Attention

Customer Satisfaction
II. CHAPTER TWO

Literature Review

Outsourcing cleaning operation in public service Commission offices is relatively new practice

in Kenya. It is therefore a good idea to adopt theories that seek to explain how public service

offices make decision to outsource cleaning service.

This study is backed by the decision theory as discussed by Jurison (1995) and aspects of risk

theory (Bauer, 1967). Within the decision theory framework, the concept of risk-benefit analysis

compares the risks associated with the benefits expected from a decision that is made in order to

achieve an optimal result. When the concept is applied to outsourcing cleaning services, it means

that the manager or decision maker has to assess all the potential risk and benefits that may arise

from the outsourcing process before deciding whether or not to outsource.

Bauer (1967) explains that risk theory analyses the risk a person subjectively associates with the

consequences of a decision and impact of that decision on the intention to complete transaction.

Indeed Parlour (2001) noted that potential risk reduces individual intention to conclude a deal.

The individual perception towards outsourcing cleaning services could be either positive or

negative. Negative perceptions of outsourcing are often associated with risks of outsourcing, that

is, the possibility of outsourcing failure (Aulbert 1998). On the contrary, there also exist

outsourcing advantages which may be summarized as outsourcing benefits Dibbern (2004).

In outsourcing research, the analytical framework of balance between cost versus risks is well

documented (Jurison, 1995 and 2002). This suggests that in making outsourcing decisions in the

public service, assess all risks and benefits. These factors inform the final decision to outsource a
function or not. Consistent with the framework, the decision to outsource cleaning services is

positively influenced by perceived benefits of outsourcing.

The main assumption for outsourcing of cleaning services, whether it is a business or in the

public service commission, it is because if an organization cannot provide a good service or

product at less cost, and of high quality, an external provider should purchase the service or a

product from the external provider.

The advocates of outsourcing argue that the private sector provides service more efficiently and

at a lower cost than the public sector which is unmotivated by profit (Jefferies, 1996). Kip (2004)

adds that if a public service commission is to thrive in service delivery, as the core functions

must remain the responsibility for its clients.

The jobs will shift from supporting staffs to the contractor who is performing the outsourcing

cleaning services, which will result in decrease in salaries and staffs retrenchment. The public

service offices will have staffs on contract basis.

There is no shortage of advice on how to go about the process of outsourcing. For instance,

Rush, Kempher and Goldstein (1993) suggest a core set of issues and questions that must be

followed when institutional management is deciding whether to outsource any function or not.

They propose a decision-making process with six categories thus include human resource, how

employers will be affected, service quality, legal, financial status of the institution and ethical

consideration.

This study will try to examine whether the government will consider these steps in order to make

the outsourcing of cleaning services in the public service commission offices will not only be

systematic but also be successful and it will be recommended in the future.

services. Many departments don’t have managers to effectively run largein-house cleaning

services and this is due to inadequate resources. And when the tasks are not well done,

employees and customers or the clientele will suffer. When the institution finds the best

outsourcing firm, employees will have morale and they will be motivated to deliver best services

to the customers.

Mutungi (2009) has been concerned with outsourcing practices in government ministries note

that outsourcing helps employers to focus on their core competence. Karani (2001) noted that the

companies adopt outsourcing strategy in order to deliver high quality and timely services to

customers and not access resources which are not available in in-house.

The study by Gicheru (2008) look at the employer’s experience with outsources urging that it has

enabled employees to be efficient and effective in service delivery and reduces administrative

cost of the company. Companies are able to gain competitive advantage, reduce greater risks if

they outsource their functions Kakabadse & Kakabadse (2001) states that by outsourcing, an

organization will achieve best practices, improve discipline in staffs, improve the quality of their

services and help senior managers to focus more clearly on the core competencies of the

organization.

Outsourcing of services is a means for companies to reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase

productivity, raise level standards and accessing the required expertise and skills sharing, and

reducing the problems of industrial relations ( Busi & Mclovor, 2008; Holcomb and Hitt, 2007.

Traditional outsourcing emphasizes on benefits between cost reduction, which has been replaced

by productivity, flexibility, speed and innovations, and access to new technology and skills
(Grien 1999). Organizations are able to expand since they concentrate on their core business

function hence increasing productivity and quality of services.Customers satisfaction will

improve because of production of better quality products and improve nature of business

practices.

M.C., Cutcheon (1995) agrees with Lutte (2003) and warns that if outsourcing is not well

implemented, it can lead to abdication situation instead of desired delegation on non-core

activities to supplier partner. M. C., Cutcheon (1995) further argued that the greatest danger in

outsourcing is the attitude of getting rid of what a company does not like by sub contracting them

out as opposed to the company outsourcing is non-core activities so as to enable it to focus on its

core activities. The result of the abdication process is a lack of process ownership, lack of

accountability, blame culture and eventually lose- lose situation for both parties.

Lyson & Farrigton (2006) observed that services that are most easily outsourced are resource

intensive, relatively discrete, require specialist competitiveness characterized by fluctuating work

patterns in loading throughout put a subject to a quick changing markets (for which it’s costly to

recruit and retain staffs), and subject to rapidly changing technology requires expensive

investments. Janitorial and security services are commonly outsourced in most firms in Kenya.

Demerits of Outsourcing

Lack of customer focus, an outsourced vendor may have to serve many companies and multiple

organization at a time; therefore they may lack a complete focus on your organization tasks and

job assignment (Wongladee 2006).

According to Randall (1993), successful outsourcing requires identification of a strong need for

outsourcing. Organization undergoing rapid changes due to changing in internal environment are

likely to benefit it, they embrace outsourcing as an operational strategy to reduce operation cost.

He adds that company facing significant capital and headcount constraints are also like to benefit

by outsourcing expensive assets and personnel services. Before committing to outsourcing,

companies need strong evidence that tangible benefits will be achieved. To qualify the benefits, a

comprehensive feasibility study needs to be carried out, to benchmark existing practices and

identify the opportunity for improvement.

Introduction

This chapter entails research design and methodology and will give full explanation and

description of the design and selection of the target population. The sampling procedures, the

research instruments, data collection, study area and data analysis.

Research Design

The quantitative method is going to be used in this research study. A class structure

questionnaire is developed as a research tool of collecting data of a primary information from the

respondent.

Study Area

The research is going to take place at the Public Service Commission Offices, Nairobi branch.

Target Population

Target population is putting group of individual, events or objects having common

characteristics. The target population of this study will be ten (10) public service commission

employees and eight (8) customers or clientele of the public service commission, Nairobi office.
Sampling Design

According to Orodho & Kombo (2002) sampling is the process of collecting a number of

individuals or objects from a population such as selecting group containing element

representative of the characteristics found in the entire group. These will be 10 public service

commission employees and 8 customers of the public service commission, Nairobi offices. A

sample list of 18 respondents are going to be selected using a purpose sapling method due to

limitations, funds and convenience.

Data Collection

Data will be collected using questionnaire for both employees and customers. A closed ended

structure questionnaire is going to be used to the respondents who are the public service

commission employees and customers. The questionnaires contain ten (10) closed ended

questions and two (2) general questionnaires. The questions will be based on the effect of

outsourcing of cleaning services on the employees and customer satisfaction, clean work

environment and cost effectiveness of resources.

Data will be collected on 12/11/2023 on Monday from 9.00am to 1.00pm at the public service

commission offices.

Data Analysis and Presentation

This section addresses the measurements of variables, analysis of data, hypothesis testing and or

modeling.
Data Analysis

This will include analysis of data to summarize the essential features are relationships of data in

order to generalize from the analysis to determine patterns of behaviours and particular

outcomes.

A descriptive statistic analysis is to be employed and then quantitative data will be coded to

enable the responses to be grouped in various categories. Data will be grouped into frequency

distribution to indicate variables, values and number of occurrences in terms of frequency.

Frequency distribution table will be informative to summarize the data from respondents.

The data will be represented on account of occurrence and standard deviation to objectives using

assistance of computation package, i.e Microsoft Office Excel, to explain proposal findings.
References

Gicheru, DM (2008) : A Survey of Employee experience with outsourcing at Kenya Power &

Lighting Company.

Busi, M., & Mclovor, R (2000). Setting the outsourcing Research Agenda.

Barako, D.J. & Gatere, P.K. (2008).Outsourcing Practices of the Kenya Banking Sector.

Holcom, T. I., & Hitt, M. A. (2007). Towards a model Strategic Outsourcing Journal of

Operation Management, 25,464 – 481.

Jefferies, C.L.,(1996).The Privatization Debate: Examining the Decision to Outsource a

Service.26 -30.

Jurrison J. (1995). “The Role of Risk and Return in Information Technology Outsourcing

Decisions”.

Kakabadse, A., & Kakabadse, N. (2001). Outsourcing in the Public Service. A comparative

Analysis of Practice, Capability and impact. Public Administrations and Development, 21, 401 –

413.

Karani, C.M, (2008). Factors Affecting Adoption of Outsourcing Strategies in Parastatals: A

Case Study of Kenya Tourist Development Corporations.

Mutungi., I. (2008) An Analysis of Outsourcing Practices in Government Ministries’ case Study

of the Ministry of Education.

Rajabsadeh, A., Rostamy, A. A., & Hosseini, A. (2008) Designing a Generic Model for

outsourcing Process in Public Sector: Evidence of Iran. Management Decisions, 46,521 -538.
Kirp, D. (2004) “Outsourcing the Soul of the University”: A Keynote Speech, Association of

Academic Health Centres.

 Research Instrument

Questionnaire

Research permit/authorization letter

I am the student with admission DPRC01/0105/2017, this is my research proposal (The

effects of outsourcing cleaning operation delivery in the public service Commission office,

Nairobi Branch) which will be carried in the month of October 2023 at the public service

commission office, Nairobi.