| dc.description.abstract | Educational institutions in Europe began to implement the ISO 9000 family of standards in the
1990s followed by United States and Asia. These institutions encountered enormous challenges
because the ISO 9001 :2008 standard was designed mainly for manufacturing. However the
interpretation of the term "product" in educational organizations is not uniform. Performance of
Maseno University as ranked among public universities in Performance Contracting has
deteriorated in the last three years. These may be attributed to its approach to Product
Identification and Product Realization. The status and relationship between the two at Maseno
University is not known. The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of perceived ISO
9001:2008 Quality Management System product identification on product realization at Maseno
University, Kenya. The study specifically sought to establish the perception of a Product by
academic staff of Maseno University, determine the perceived sequential flow of Product
Realization process and finally determine the effect of Product Identification' on Product
Realization at Maseno University. The study used correlation case study design with a target
population of 393 academic staff, a sample of 194 respondents was generated through stratified
random sampling. A questionnaire was used to collect data and analysis done from generated
percentages and means. The instruments were reliable at alpha (a) equal to 0.8. Findings showed
68.9% of staff perceived the product as a combination of Qualified Student, Learning
Programmes and Research work, implying that staff regarded the three as product of Maseno
University. The respondents however do not have a common understanding of" the Product
Realization process with the highest number (11.5%) perceiving a process that is different from
the documented process and describing Product Realization process in 24 different patterns. The
effect of Product Identification ~1 on Product Realization was found to be -.838 (p = .021)
implying that a unit standard deviation in Product Identification causes 0.838 unit decrease in
Product Realization. The study concludes that the combination of Qualified Student, Learning
Programmes and Research is the product of Maseno University and that Sequential flow is
different from what is documented in the standard and the quality manual. Product Identification
affects Product Realization inversely. The study recommends that quality management system
documents be revised to reflect the Product of Maseno University; Maseno University should
endeavor to have staff conduct the Product Realization process as documented in the standard
and its quality management systems documents. The University should carry out sensitization of
staff on the quality management system documents. This may help in matching Product
Identification with Product Realization processes. Further studies should be carried in other
service organizations: | en_US |
